Episode 106

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Psychedlia meets funk in The Flaming Lips
A Pink Floyd cover from Ambulance LTD
Japan's imaginative Yoshida Brothers
Classic railroad songs from Furry Lewis
The way we try from Birdie Busch
An ode to a forgotten time by Peter Mulvey
The remarkable voice of Tom Brosseau
Brilliant ramblings from Kimya Dawson

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The Flaming Lips are Oklahoma's most famous art rockers and have been making music that both challenges and inspires for nearly a quarter century. Their latest CD is a mix of multi-layered psychedlia and spacey rock.

The Flaming Lips

CD: At War With the Mystics
Song: "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"
Label: Warner

Listen to "Yeah Yeah Yeah Song"

Ambulance LTD is a New York rock group. On their new EP they offer a few new tracks and one beautifully constructed cover of Pink Floyd's "Fearless," a song that originally appeared on the 1971 LP Meddle.

Ambulance LTD

CD: New English EP
Song: "Fearless "
Label: TVT

Listen to "Fearless"

The Yoshida Brothers are from Japan and play the ancient Tsugaru-shamisen. It's an instrument similar to three-stringed banjo. Wearing traditional Japanese clothing, the brothers sport dyed, spiked hair and play with the spirit of Jimi Hendrix, while incorporating jazz-like improvisation and pop-rock sensibilities.

Yoshida Brothers

CD: III
Song: "Overland Blues"
Label: Domo

Listen to "Overland Blues"

Known for its exhaustive and inspired collections of hard-to-find music, the Smithsonian Folkways label compiles classic railroad songs for its latest collection. The work songs and ballads inspired crews as they laid tracks from coast to coast. Furry Lewis is one of several artists featured on these vintage recordings.

Furry Lewis

CD: Classic Railroad Songs
Song: "Kassie Jones"
Label: Smithsonian Folkways

Listen to "Kassie Jones"

Birdie Busch is a singer-songwriter from Philadelphia. She says, "I made the executive decision that something would gather itself in song and started telling my life's experiences through words and melodies, rhythms and rhyme."

Birdie Busch

CD: The Ways We Try
Song: "The Cup"
Label: Bar None

Listen to "The Cup"

Peter Mulvey is a contemporary folk singer originally from Wisconsin. On his ninth album, Mulvey offers subtle but effective twists on traditional folk themes with clever rhyming schemes and surprising melodies.

Peter Mulvey

CD: The Knuckleball Suite
Song: "Abilene (The Eisenhower Waltz)"
Label: Signature Sounds

Listen to "Abilene (The Eisenhower Waltz)"

If you didn't know better, you'd swear the voice on Tom Brosseau's self-titled album was a woman's. But the lonesome, lilting call belongs entirely to the North Dakota native. Brosseau writes songs of lost love that shimmer, drawing on influences like Nick Drake, Cole Porter, and Woody Guthrie.

Tom Brosseau

CD: Tom Brosseau
Song: "The Young and the Free"
Label: Loveless

Listen to "The Young and the Free"

Kimya Dawson is a Seattle singer-songwriter and one of the leading voices in the so-called anti-folk movement. Her music is both sweet and brash, funny and poignant. Her ideas come so quickly, she doesn't sing them as much as babble them like stream of consciousness.

Kimya Dawson

CD: Remember That I Love You
Song: "12/26"
Label: K Records

Listen to "12/26"


This CD is not yet available. You can download an MP3 of this song from the artist's Web site.

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