Live: My Brightest Diamond Live at Le Poisson Rouge
My Brightest Diamond, “From the Top of the World” (Video)
Shara Worden‘s voice is nothing short of truly amazing, add to it a string quartet and you’ve got a recipe for something astounding. Recorded back in December you can view the full concert at Baeblmusic.
Buy A Thousand Shark’s Teeth: Amazon | iTunes
Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
100 Words on “Daylight”
I honestly don’t think that I’ve ever taken a cue from MTV but I was flipping through the channels and came across the video for “Daylight (mp3)” by NYC hipster hype du jour Matt & Kim. The hook was embedded deep and after finding the track (free & legal, go figure) it’s gotten more then a few spins in just a few days. It’s fun yet abrasive and quite frankly disposable, but I dig the hell out of it. I played it for my wife and she dropped this gem “It’s catchy, but catchy doesn’t mean its good”. Take that Brooklyn!
[audio:01 Daylight.mp3]Links: Official Site | on Last.fm | on MySpace
The Olympic Symphonium
The Olympic Symphonium – More in Sorrow Than in Anger (Forward Music Group, 2008)
What is it about the great white north that fosters such beautiful, introspective and intimate music? I suppose that I could make some crack about folks being locked up in their cabins for months on end, but in reality it’s more attributed to the fact that the Canadian government actually provides funding for the arts. Regardless, there is an abundance of wonderful music coming from our neighbors to the north and my most recent find is The Olympic Symphonium.
The trio of singer/songwriters share vocal duties with a roster of guest musicians filling in the blanks. Contemplative and complex the 10 tracks on More in Sorrow Than in Anger range from pop tinged twangy folk to heartfelt dirge. Where this record truly shines is when it’s pared down to the trio such as on “Malleable” where the intimacy abounds to the point where you can hear birds chirping in the background, the creak of a chair and the slight harmonic overtones of the guitar.
This is a perfect Sunday morning (or snowy afternoon) record. It stood up to many back to back repeat listens and did not for a moment lose its charm. Take a listen to the sunny “Intentions Alone” for a view into More in Sorrow Than in Anger.
The Olympic Symphonium – Intentions Alone (mp3)
Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland
If I knew Photoshop / Image Ready a little better, I would’ve added some sweet wintry sparkles to this picture of Alan Parsons. But it involves things like rasters and vectors and “noise”, and I’m just not up to that level yet.
As the man behind the Alan Parsons Project, and the man who manned the controls in studio for Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon, Mr. Parsons is clearly not someone to be messed with. But Jason Lytle and his now defunct band Grandaddy had some fun with him in this holiday ditty.
Jason’s web site has shown promises of his first solo album sometime in 2008, but the clock is ticking, and there is no word from Mr. Lytle. So enjoy this. And if you don’t have The Sophtware Slump, go get it
!
Grandaddy – Alan Parsons in a Winter Wonderland (mp3)
BUY
Jenny Lewis
So Jenny Lewis has been doing her thing for a while now – solo, with the Watson Twins, and with her band Rilo Kiley. She’s also a former child actor who moved on to the righteous musical path.
But it took me until last week to finally discover her.
It all started when I stumbled across the video of “Rise Up With Fists”, a song from her 2006 debut solo album ‘Rabbit Fur Coat
‘ (with the Watson Twins). The video is a parody of the old C&W variety show Hee Haw, and also features Sarah Silverman. I’m not sure if it’s from Sarah’s show or if it’s a music video of its own. But suffice it to say that I’ve watched this video about 50 times over the past week or so.
A couple days ago, I was watching it, and looked behind me to see my kindergarten age daughter transfixed as well. She now proudly states that her three favorite artists are “Gogol Bordello, Led Zeppelin, and Jenny Lewis”. Never mind the fact she thinks Led Zeppelin is Jack Black, because “The Immigrant Song” was in ‘School of Rock’. But that’s quite a top three for a girl about to turn 5.
But back to Jenny Lewis. I love the folksy/indie/country vibe she exudes. I love her stage presence (watch her recent Letterman performance below). I love the effortlessness and clean quality of her singing voice. And face it, she’s pretty easy on the eyes too.
Here’s “Rise Up With Fists”
And here’s Jenny and her band with Elvis Costello, from last Monday’s Late Show with David Letterman. The song is “Carpetbaggers”, from her most recent album, ‘Acid Tongue
‘, which came out a couple months back. This is a country-rock barnburner. I love this tune. And like I said, the presence she exudes…. Great stuff.
Me gusto Jenny Lewis!
Band of Horses recording in Muscle Shoals
I can easily say that for me, Band of Horses has had the fastest trajectory from off-the-radar status to obsessive, can’t-get-enough status of any band in a long, long time. And they’re just getting started, with only two studio albums to date.
A couple weeks ago, the boys made the pilgrimage to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, a legendary town in the music recording spectrum. They have holed up at Fame Recording Studios to record their third album.
Keep up with the band on their blog. They just updated it with some great pics from Saturday’s Bridge School Benefit concert.
Fame studios has hosted the likes of Duane Allman, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and a bunch of others. Hell, even the Backstreet Boys, Liza Minnelli and the Osmonds have recorded there.
Here’s a legendary track that came out of Fame Studios…
Wilson Pickett w/ Duane Allman – “Hey Jude”
100 Words on Time
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.” (Douglas Adams)Time may be on Mick’s side but these days I can’t seem to find time to dedicate to writing insightful reviews of the stacks of CD’s sitting on my desk and all the news swirling around the internets. Did you hear that Chinese Democracy is actually coming out? I could go on for hours about that one but alas, the salt mines are beckoning for my return and I want to be sure to have time for The Friday Five tomorrow. To tide you over until tomorrow here are three rather disparate variations on the theme for your enjoyment. Shalom!
The S.O.S Band – Take Your Time (Do It Right), Part 1 (mp3)
Skid Row – Wasted Time (mp3)
Willie Nelson – Medley: Funny How Time Slips Away / Crazy / Night Life (mp3)
Arriving at Fort Nightly
A tip o’ the hat to Last.fm‘s recommendation engine, which graciously passed White Rabbits’ “Fort Nightly” through my ears last night. There’s something exotic – nay, sexy, my friends! – about this song. Maybe it’s the multirhythmic quality that drives the song. And by multirhythmic I mean White Rabbits employ two drummers. Bang Bang!
And the piano interlude at 01:28 make me think of a smoky French ballroom, where a Scarlett Johanssen-esque figure emerges through an ornate 15 foot archway, a glass of champagne in her hand – her gaze seductively fixed on you – er – I mean me. She walks up to me, leans into my ear – her perfume intoxicating – and whispers: “That’ll be $8”.
I hand her a ten, say “Keep the change” and hand the glass to my even sexier wife. [Editor’s Note: Hey, the Mrs. reads my posts. I’m not stupid, you know!!]
Photo credit: Lucy HamblinGreat tune. Five stars. What a first impression!
White Rabbits – Fort Nightly (mp3) – from their 2007 (and latest) album Fort Nightly
Links: Official Site | MySpace
Band of Horses on Morning Becomes Eclectic
Okay, yes, I am in a rather obsessive Band of Horses phase at the moment. And I feel the need to gather any embeddable BoH action and post it on my site so I can refer to it in 50 years when I’m an 88 year old geezer with a hankering to show my grandchildren one of my all time faves.
This is just over a year old, from KCRW’s Morning Becomes Eclectic.
Austin City Limits and a Band of Horses
I think I have enough energy to muster up an ACL post tonight. There’s so much to get transferred from brain to keyboard that it’s a little overwhelming. So I’m starting with baby steps, people.
First, who did I see? Well, it goes exactly like this:
Friday: The Jones Family Singers, Dan Dyer, Rodney Crowell, Yeasayers, Strange Boys, Vampire Weekend, Gogol Bordello, David Byrne, Antibalas, and Manu Chao.
Saturday: Old 97’s, the Fratellis, Back Door Slam, Erykah Badu, John Fogerty, Robert Plant & Allison Krauss
Sunday: Octopus Project, Against Me!, Blues Traveler, Band of Horses, Foo Fighters
I’ll give you a day by day breakdown later. Tonight, I focus my brainpower on the highlight of my weekend: Band of Horses.
BAND of HORSES
Okay, anyone who knows the music geek in me is aware of my fondness for this band, and therefore won’t be surprised when I say BoH was the highlight of my trip to Austin. Until Sunday, I had never seen BoH live, and quite frankly, this set stood out since I first saw the ACL lineup earlier in the year. So my expectations were pretty damn high. And? Well, they jumped leaps and bounds beyond those expectations with their Sunday night set.
I managed to squeeze my old(er) butt down to the front of the stage, about four rows back. Yup, nuts to butts. I was looking straight on to center stage. I was primed.
Just after the sun set, the band strode out on stage, and singer/guitarist Ben Bridwell – shades on – squatted on the stool before his pedal steel. The first song of the night was, well, “The First Song”, from their debut Everything All The Time. That was all the sitting Ben would do for the set. He grabbed his guitar, launched into my 2 year old’s favorite tune, “Is There a Ghost”, and we were off…
For the next hour, the band showed us why they’re so great – building up and launching into those great guitar-driven crescendos on songs like “The Great Salt Lake”, “The Funeral”, and “No One’s Gonna Love You”, and slaying the crowd with the gorgeous, ethereal harmonies of Bridwell and keys-man Ryan Monroe on songs like “Marry Song” and the new ditty “Why You Never Get Older” (see the video below).
We got Bridwell banging away on his tambourine for the fun “The General Specific”. And we got great tunes like “Island on the Coast” and “Ode to LRC”. I don’t have the set list yet. If anyone can help me track it down (or a recording of the show), I’d appreciate it.
The final tune was a great one called “Am I A Good Man”, a cover by an R&B group called Them Two, who have no web presence at all, it seems. In the final moments, Ben jumped down among us, right in front of me (the person holding the camera in this picture probably took this video).
The live Band of Horse experience was everything I wanted, folks, and left me and the thousands and thousands of others fully satisfied. There’s something about their energy – and Bridwell’s voice in particular – that taps into my soul. Sounds about as corny as you can get, but it’s true.
We stumbled over to the Foo Fighters with smiles on our faces.
The Morning After: So the next morning, I guess it was about 10am, I was sitting at my gate at the Austin airport. I put my feet up on my carry on bag, and launched into ‘Cease to Begin’ (the second and latest Band of Horses album) on my iPhone. I think I was listening to “No One’s Gonna Love You”, having some great flashbacks to the night before, when who walks by? Ben Bridwell.
Have you ever been sitting around listening to one of your favorite artists, when he walks by right in front of you? It’s pretty cool, let me tell ya.
So, I decided not to be shy, and I followed Ben, his wife/girlfriend (?) and cute little infant over to the food stand. I walked up and asked politely – and rhetorically, I guess – “Excuse me, are you Ben Bridwell?” I told him there were some cosmic forces at work, and showed him my iPhone with the ‘Cease to Begin’ album cover, telling him how strange it was to watch him walk by as I listened to his music. He really could not have been cooler. He was very gracious and appreciative, and was kind enough to snap a photo with me (taken by his wife/girlfriend).
It was the morning after ACL, so you have to excuse our exhausted demeanors…
Lots more to come on ACL, just a few things here…
Check out some live vid-action I shot of their unreleased tune “Why You Never Get Older” (which I’m only assuming is the title).
Check out some more photos of their ACL set at Brooklyn Vegan.
For the love of all that is good in this world, buy these two albums if you don’t own them…
If you want a great video introduction to Band of Horses, watch their entire in-store performance at Amoeba Records in Hollywood from last year.
Visit their web site: Band of Horses.com
Yes. I am a fan.
Oh, biggest regret of the weekend? Missing the Band of Horses surprise gig at the Parish on Saturday night – a club I walked by every night on my way back to the hotel! Bill Murray was there hanging out too (big BoH fan, I hear)…
