Greg Macpherson Band - "Slow Stroke". I've been reading Michael Turner's Hardcore Logo and since I'm not a fan of British Columbian 80s punk, I've been kinda imagining Greg Macpherson in place of Joe Dick. The substitution doesn't really work - the novel-poem's protagonist is a proud, well-meaning incompetent. (Macpherson, meanwhile, is wholly competent.) Macpherson is one of the finest voices in contemporary Canadian music - like a snarling Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer raised on Woody Guthrie and Winnipeg winters. Nevertheless, he's mostly unknown here, kept in the long shadow of former labelmates The Weakerthans. While I'm a fan of those folk-punkers (and we'll likely hear them on Gramophone some time soon), I'm willing to assert that Macpherson is in fact the stronger talent. The coals in his eyes smoulder and flare more brightly. His songs are fierce but instantly catchy - pop hooks with stark, clear-cut lyrics, a fighter's spirit. They blaze. Live, Macpherson's a monster, yelling and consumed by sound. "Slow Stroke" is fairly straight-forward, but there's nothing to yawn at in the yellow guitar licks and goofy, fabulous "hoo-oo-oo"s. Dig.
Nacho Vegas - "Seronda". A mesmerizing sliver of Spanish alt.folk - a doubletracked voice over acoustic guitar, organ, and a lazylaidback palette of drums. There are little blossoms, too, of horns and fiddle, as well as a brazen, smiling theremin (or something), whinsomely singing in the dawn. Howe Gelb teamed with Hayden, en español. Since recording this album (2001's Actos Inexplicables), Nacho's become a permanent member of Acaruela/Sub Pop signees Migala, who play black-and-red post-rock. This is better.
Elsewhere:
A downright enormous folk music library (with RealAudio and AIFF files) at Southwest Missouri State University: The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection.