Spotlight: TW Walsh
I suppose the title of this post should read ‘Spotlight: Headphones’ to match the fundraiser contribution, but it was TW Walsh who sent the test pressing to us. He played drums in Headphones behind his Pedro The Lion bandmate David Bazan and Frank Lenz.
My introduction to TW Walsh came earlier this year, thanks to Brad Searles and his fantastic music blog ‘Bradley’s Almanac.’ Brad was talking about TW Walsh and one of his projects called The Soft Drugs. Minutes later I found a page on TW’s website modestly titled ‘songs‘ and I was listening to The Soft Drugs’ In Moderation EP and loving it. It quickly became one of my favorites of 2009, regardless of its 2006 release date. It’s frank, well written, and TW sings so matter-of-factly that it’s hard to avoid his charms.
There are 3 other albums (2 full-length, 1 EP) and a collection of MP3s available on his site, all worth checking out.
This morning I had no idea who I should write about for my daily post. If anything I had too many ideas, and I couldn’t find a place to start. Around midday I saw a tweet from TW Walsh talking about a benefit album he was part of called Ciao My Shining Star: The Songs of Mark Mulcahy.
I don’t know Mark, and I won’t claim to be overly familiar with his work. But his music made an impact on the lives of a lot of musicians. When he suffered personal tragedy many of them came together to help him in a beautiful gesture elegantly executed. 41 tracks from an array of artists featuring Thom Yorke, Michael Stipe, Mercury Rev, Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom, and TW Walsh. I still haven’t given all the tracks the time they deserve, but as an album it’s wide, rich, and wonderfully diverse — a great look at Mark Mulcahy’s body of work from the perspective of an amazing group of people touched by his music.
You can hear TW Walsh’s version of ‘I Hate To Need You’ here. But Ciao My Shining Star has one major standout: it’s letting a man continue to make music while raising his daughters as a single father.
TW Walsh/Headphones CASH fundraiser contribution
twwalsh.com
davidbazan.com
