This song, originally part of Benji’s lost 24 Karat Band album, now appears on a free compilation mixtape curated by the black dice’s eric copeland called Favorites 03: Eric Copeland (SBR53)
BENJI COSSA: FAVORITES 03: Daniel Strange
SBR55 is the third installment in BENJI COSSA’s Favorites series. The Favorites are series of free Cossa greatest-hits mixtapes curated by his friends and loved ones. So far we’ve heard the hits as chosen by Sebastian Blanck and Eric Copeland. Now it’s Daniel Strange’s turn!
get it free! bandcamp / free music archive / soundcloud
Daniel Strange is a Los Angeles-based writer-director. In the last few years, he has directed episodes of “Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis,” written a Spider-Man video game for Activision (“Shattered Dimensions”), co-written and directed “The Ballad of G.I. Joe” for Funny Or Die, and been the voice of Gideon Jura in a “Magic: The Gathering” video game. He also helped Benji record some of these songs back in college.
“This is a lo-fi mix; for some reason that’s the stuff of Benji’s that resonates with me. Maybe it’s because he only had this little 4-track to work with when he started out, so that’s how I always think his stuff should sound. Anyway, beneath the rawness of these recordings are songs of incredible craft and power - from the catchy simplicity of ‘Feel Like a Man’ to the minimalistic majesty of ‘Love is Like Lightning’; from the psychological darkness of ‘If I Were U’ to the wordless perfection of ‘Ice Skating.’ Also, this mix starts off with my favorite Cossa composition ever, a song we recorded together called ‘Circus Love.’ I think he’s never released it before out of respect for it as a collaborative effort, but it’s too good not to be shared with the world. Just listen to that chorus…”
SBR53 / 2011
Experimental musician Eric Copeland of Black Dice and Terrestrial Tones lives as a longtime Cossa enabler, enourager, co-conspirator and confidante. Here he chooses his ultimate collection of Benji Cossa classics. Eric served as the drummer in Benji’s fabled 24 Karat Band trio in the mid 00’s. His choices reflect a man with a taste for life’s finest things.
“I dug deep, pulled out some old tapes and went through, trying to avoid the easies… so some are not a stretch, but hopefully some will surprise you too.”
-Eric Copeland
bandcamp / free music archive / soundcloud
other Cossa favorites include…
Favorites 01: Sebastian Blanck
BENJI COSSA: It’s Coming to You (from Favorites 02: Eric Copeland)
The good folks at the free music blog Bolachas had the following to say about Benji Cossa’s new Bandcamp page.
Benji Cossa, one of the greatest, has just put a load of albums up on his Bandcamp for pay-what-you-want download. We’ve posted about him quite some times in the last couple of years – along with other artists from the beautiful Serious Business Records – but if you’re new to him, go grab all that stuff. I suggest you start with Benji Cossa and the Tightens, streamable below. It’s also one of the most beautiful vinyl packages I own.
Here is the tip of the spear. An onslaught of free mixtapes curated by Benji’s friends and
family ensues with this half-hour of power from beloved artist Sebastian Blanck. More details here. The first place it is available is WFMU’s Free Music Archive. It will be on iTunes by next week. But it’s free so you’ll only buy it on iTunes or another digital store like Amazon or something if you are a very nice person and you want to directly support Benji, one of the best living songwriters in the U.S.A. If you want to really support Benji you might “pay-what-you-want” for some music on Bandcamp.
Anyway I will make a more official announcement about this series of releases but for now, taste the spear…
SBR51 / 2011 / a digital single on Serious Business Records.
This is one song from the forthcoming new HIGGINS album called Straight A’s. Amongst the few people who have heard this album, many of them consider “Do You Still” to be of their favorite. Kevin’s vocal sounds beautiful donchya think?
HIGGINS - Do You Still by seriousbusiness
Artwork by Kara Smith and Brian Kantor
Hasn’t The Secret Life of Plants been debunked by now? Yet strange stories still circulate like how a plant won’t flower for years and years until a clipping is taken and sent to some lab where scientists make it bloom. When the mother plant is revisited, it seems they have both flowered at the same time! Is this evidence of ESP, a ghostly gardener, or some invisible interconnection between like beings? Can a twin really feel pain when his sibling is injured? Remember when Little Nicky turned that guy’s Coke into a Pepsi?
Tips on fun from Cossa.
Building an unbeatable deck and having a genius strategy in Magic the Gathering is a recipe for having no fun. Don’t get too good at Foosball, tether-ball, or fighting video games, either. Your friends won’t want to play with you.
Benji’s third post on his new tumblr -> songs pouring out of every pore. He’s got thousands…
Unlike the movie, the 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth is short and sweet, poignant and focused. Science Fiction can be taken seriously, used as a vehicle to illustrate a metaphor, or carry out a what-if scenario in a playful and imaginative way. Please don’t dismiss The Man Who Fell to Earth because the movie was a piece of crap (repeated viewings at various ages does not increase the level of enjoyment despite the desire for Bowie appreciation); the book is different. For those who enjoyed the film, disregard the aforementioned.
Take it. Love it. Buy it. Play it. Eat it. Digest it. Live it. Touch it. Thank you.
SBR48: ROCKETSHIP PARK: Cakes and Cookies. Hi. This record is sweet. You need to hear it to understand. Just download it. It’s free. You’ll share it if you love it. If you really love it you’ll buy the ridiculous physical manifestation we’ve concocted or you’ll pay some $ on iTunes or Amazon or Bandcamp to support this sweetness. Please. Thank you!
Serious Business Records proudly announces the digital and physical release of ROCKETSHIP PARK’s second album CAKES & COOKIES.
For the next month, we are offering the entire album as a free download from WFMU’s Free Music Archive and on Bandcamp. “Fast Friends” can be downloaded right here.
The record is also available starting today from iTunes, Amazon digital or your favorite digital retailer.
The physical edition of Cakes & Cooki es is a limited 7” single + CD + cookie set. The CD is packaged with a 7” single of “Fast Friends” b/w “Catherine” and “Pistachio.” The first 100 records will be pressed on black and white split vinyl like a black and white cookie. Hand numbered. Letter-pressed. 300 piece pressing. Art by Kara Smith. Each order comes with a delicious homemade cookie or sweet treat from the Kaufman-Nero kitchen. The records will ship on or around July 26, 2011.
PRE-ORDER HERE: http://seriousbusinessrecords.com/releases/show/66-Cakes-and-Cookies
Rocketship Park is masterminded by a multi-instrumentalist, song-man, producer, vocalist, and auteur by the name of Josh Kaufman who also collaborates with Jack and the Pulpits, Dawn Landes, Caithlin De Marrais, Yellowbirds, the National, Josh Ritter, Balthrop, Alabama, Benji Cossa, Higgins, Seb Leon, and too many more to list.
Rocketship Park:
CD tracklist
1. Swan 2. Fast Friends 3. Stuck With Me 4. Pistachio 5. It’s Not You 6. Catherine 7. Crossing the Street 8. Cakes and Cookies 9. Head 10. See You 11. Standing There
7” tracklist
A. Fast Friends
B. Catherine / Pistachio
Cookie tracklist
Chococate, butter, sugar, yummies.
Lyrics, credits, high-res photos can be found here.
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CAKES AND COOKIES
If you’re looking for something to tell you the band in question tours extensively and has enjoyed the good favor of the blogosphere, has pioneered its own micro-genre or commands legions of street-teaming fans, forget it. Rocketship Park is simply a hidden musical diamond in the infinite clutter of the twenty first century. Unless you’ve been directly involved in the growth of this project, there is only one point of entry for you.
Listen to the record!
Once you’ve done this, if you need more information, read further. Rocketship Park is masterminded by a musical auteur by the name of Josh Kaufman. Josh spent many years writing and recording hours and hours of fantastic songs beloved and worshiped by his friends but never officially compiled or released, much less promoted. It wasn’t until 2006 that he mobilized Rocketship Park, an entity designed as a band but ultimately evolving as his solo vehicle. In 2007, with the help of some incredibly talented friends, Josh and his band made Off and Away, the first Rocketship Park record. NPR described how Kaufman “fleshed out smooth, folky songs about life and loss, family and friendship, while harnessing a simple, seemingly effortless beauty.” These songs scored the lives of a loyal and devoted few.
In the intervening years since Off and Away’s release Kaufman has become a busy side-man, a working musician and producer whose unique talents have brought him to the studio and/or the stage with the likes of Dawn Landes, Caithlin de Marrais (of Rainer Maria), the National, Josh Ritter, Yellowbirds, Balthrop Alabama, Benji Cossa, Higgins and too many more to list here. These artists play with Josh because nobody can do what he does. He’s not just a guitar player, a keyboardist, a bassist, a drummer, a producer, an arranger, a singer, a composer, a song-man, a lyricist, or the greatest guy ever, although he is all of these things exquisitely and without peer; Josh is a force of Josh. Nowhere is this force better embodied than on the eleven pop songs that comprise Cakes and Cookies.
Kaufman’s busy touring and recording schedule kept him from finishing the second Rocketship Park record for nearly three years but ultimately allowed him the time to mold an utterly seamless work. Cakes and Cookies resulted from several years of sporadic sessions with Serious Business’ Travis Harrison, engineer Halsey Quemere, and an expanding cast of collaborators including Dawn Landes and the National’s Bryan Devendorf. Kaufman’s pop songs speak multitudes in verse and chorus. To deem his compositions “catchy” would be accurate but would undersell their eloquence and power. He makes beautiful, utterly delightful pop music no one else could ever make.
Listen to the record!
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ROCKETSHIP PARK Facebook /// Tumblr /// Bandcamp /// Serious Business —- 
