TMI

A few years ago I was trolling the internet looking to stream the new Cass Mccombs single (which, at the time, was "That's That") and I stumbled upon an internet "arts & culture website made by an ever-growing gang of rascally, intrepid personalities engaged in an ongoing dialogue about the world around us" called Take The Handle. It's a great looking, interactive periodical with some truly interesting content. It also seems like it might be made by well-intentioned, privileged young people from NYC with an unwitting singular world view. I had to remove myself from their mailing list because most of their announcements were not for the interesting cultural stuff but were for alcohol drinking parties. They're trying, though, and there really is some fantastic stuff in the magazine. But, I digress...

Within each issue they include a "mixtape" (which included "That's That" which is how I found it) that is essentially a playlist of mp3s of known and unknown bands that the editors like. On that same playlist with Cass Mccombs was a song by a band called Glass Ghost. The song was called "Like A Diamond", and I loved it as soon as I heard it. I couldn't find much info on Glass Ghost on the internet, but somehow I came up with an email address and contacted them, and bought some mp3s from them. All the songs were good.

Soon after that, I somehow found out that Glass Ghost had worked out a deal with Western Vinyl, who is a great little record label from Texas, to release their debut LP. I was already a fan of WV, and of Glass Ghost, so I was excited to see and hear what they came up with. What they came up with was Idol Omen, and groovy, catchy, weird record that has become one of my favorites to listen to.

Fast forward to 2011, and I'm on a spring tour with husband&wife. The best show of the entire tour was at Brooklyn's "The Rock Shop". The room was full of friends, the other bands were all buddies of ours (not to mention super-talented and engaging and GOOD)...AND Glass Ghost was headlining the show! Ultimately, I'm not really sure who was responsible for putting that show together, but I have my suspects...Anyway, Glass Ghost was great that night, and as it turns out they're also very friendly and fun to hang and chat with. The experience solidified my love for their music and I really hope I get to cross paths with them again soon.

All this to say, Western Vinyl had this callabo-version of "Like A Diamond" on their website recently, and it's really nice. I don't know who Sharon Von Etten is, but her voice is pretty and suits the song well.
Like A Diamond sung by Sharon Van Etten by western.vinyl

Also, if you go snooping around Take The Handle, check out the Becca Mann paintings in the Romantic issue.