Left Out: Peter Bjorn and John

Seems like there's always gotta be one artist or group that every blogger in the world is hailing as the up-and-coming next thing--that leaves me completely cold. Last year it was Joanna Newsom, whose jumpy, feathery concoctions make me want to, well, turn them off; right now, it's Peter Bjorn and John. They're not bad; but they don't give me any reason to listen to them. Like most bands that come with strong recommendations from good sources, I'll keep listening until I get to the same point I did with Cassandra Wilson, Joanna Newsom, and all the others who didn't convert me: when I realize that I know the music fairly well, and still don't particularly want to hear it. I even think I have a fair sample--their KEXP performance at SxSW. I've heard them called power-pop, or the Swedish Spoon; but although Stars and Magic Numbers are major contributors to Earworms both written-up and otherwise, and Spoon has been a favorite for years, nothing about PB&J is interesting to me. Except maybe the abbreviation--d'you suppose they did that on purpose?

Peter Bjorn & John for KEXP in Austin, TX
Paris 2004
Amsterdam
Young Folks
Let's Call It Off
Object Of My Affection

tags: [Music], [mp3], [SxSW], [KEXP], [Peter Bjorn and John]

It's a Josh Ritter Kind of Day

It would seem, since Chromewaves is covering his show in Toronto last Thursday, and Kwaya Na Kisser posting his live set from KCRW's Morning Becomes Eclectic, the world is in agreement. The Animal Years makes up most of the set, but Other Side (from Golden Age of Radio) makes a welcome appearance as well. Josh looks so much like a young Tom Waits that it always surprises me how edgeless his sentimentality is; this is clearest in a live cover of Chelsea Hotel, which is played quietly and soberly, downplaying its anger.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Josh Ritter]

R.E.M. Bootleg

There's a very impressive R.E.M. bootleg from 1981 at rbally--it's a nice opportunity to hear R.E.M. from an era when Michael Stipe hadn't yet endorsed the cancer-patient look and R.E.M. hadn't yet morphed into mellow sweetrock. My favorite track's gotta be Gardening at Night, partially because of the title, and partially because of the intervals of vocal harmony, which contrast nicely with the drive of the rest of the song.

tags: [Music], [Live music], [mp3], [R.E.M.]

Virtuoso Performance: Regina Spektor

Okay, I give up entirely; I'm going to have to retitle this blog All Regina All the Damn Time; I find her such a compelling, versatile, expressive performer, at once sweet and acidic, vintage and sharply new, that, well, let's just say I'm running out of new images to use. Recently found a live performance from The Cabaret Voltaire in Edinburgh, on Good Weather for Airstrikes, and Consequence of Sound from the unfortunately unfindable Songs has just bowled me over. It's a virtuoso performance: angular and graceful by turns, syncopated and strange as Bjork contrasting with interludes of velvety flowing piano phrases, dexterous and funny. She'd best hang around and give us some more--and somebody had best bring out another run of Songs.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [Regina Spektor]

NPR Streaming Ecce Cor Meum

I don't know what I think of Paul McCartney these days; the Ecce Cor Meum project seems over the top and not even very original, given that the late Ben Britten and the live John Tavener (among others) have been doing this kind of thing for, oh, round about fifty years now between them.

Be that as it may, NPR is streaming last night's performance. Maybe that will help me make up my mind.

(Sample Tavener and Britten mp3s'll go up once YouSendIt is back on its feet.)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [NPR], [Paul McCartney], [Ecce Cor Meum]

Unwed Sailor Tour Dates

Unwed Sailor is one of those bands I keep meaning to catch up with, in fact I was just thinking about it the other day; turns out I might get a chance to do that live, since he's announced new tour dates. Johnathon Ford has a hell of a resume: Pedro the Lion, Damien Jurado, Roadside Monument, Rosie Thomas, Seldom, Early Day Miners, and Decahedron. Unwed Sailor has Mogwai's wandering, cyclical vibe without the epic sweep or the predilection for noise; sometimes it sounds more like typical guitar-driven rock, but those songs aren't its strongest, lacking the focal line of a voice part. It'd be interesting to see live, I think; that's where these wandering, instrumental things either come sharp or fall apart.

Ruby's Wishes from the Firecracker EP
Cuckoo Clock from The Marionette and the Music Box

16 November - O´leavers - Omaha NE
17 November - The Belmonte - Springfield MO
18 November - The Vaudeville Mews - Des Moines IA
19 November - Schuba's w/ Early Day Miners - Chicago IL
20 November - The Ballroom @ Ball State University - Muncie IN
21 November - The DAAC - Grand Rapids MI
22 November - The Nite Owl - Dayton OH
23 November - Southgate House - Newport KY
24 November - Jacob's Well - Traverse City MI
25 November - Brillobox - Pittsburgh PA
26 November - Champion Ship - Lemoyne PA
27 November - The Middle East - Cambridge MA
28 November - Johnny Brendas, w/ Parts & Labor - Philadelphia PA
29 November - Pianos - N.Y.C
01 December - Emmaus - Gettysburg PA
02 December - Relative Theory Records - Norfolk VA
03 December - The Flat Iron - Greensboro NC
04 December - New Brookland Tavern - West Columbia SC
05 December - Soapbox Laundro-Lounge - Wilmington, North Carolina
06 December - Gypsy G's Roadhouse, w/ The Dark Romantics - Greenville SC
07 December - The Backbooth, w/ The Dark Romantics - Orlando FL
08 December - Jackrabbits, w/ The Dark Romantics - Jacksonville FL
09 December - Transitions Art Gallery/Skatepark Of Tampa, w/ The Dark Romantics - Tampa FL
10 December - Lillian's, w/ The Dark Romantics - Lakeland FL
11 December - The Beta Bar, w/ The Dark Romantics - Tallahassee FL
12 December - Drunken Unicorn - Atlanta GA
13 December - The End - Nashville TN
14 December - Hi-Tone - Memphis TN
15 December - The Cavern, w/ Shapes & Sizes, Oh No! Oh My! - Dallas TX
16 Dec - The Conservatory - Oklahoma City OK


tags: [Music], [tour dates], [mp3], [Unwed Sailor]

John Vanderslice - Charles Rennie Mackintosh Numbered Lithograph (live)

New track from Vanderslice, which is aimed to be on the next album. My attempt at the lyrics is below; I like the song, but I think the lyrics are uneven. The repeated "I've never been lonelier"s are self-pitying and annoying, but I like the images in between the mawkish interludes, and the abrupt end makes the ambiguous last image very powerful.

Charles Rennie Mackintosh Numbered Lithograph, from his set in Karlsruhe on Hallowe'en

when you left me at the table
to go to the ATM
I've never been lonelier
and your cell phone it shuddered and blinked
it was your boyfriend again
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
a light-skinned black held up a
Charles Rennie Mackintosh numbered lithograph
I moved to the edge of the suburbs
and lost most of my friends
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
bird crashed through my window
and he panicked and thrashed
up against the window glass
he crashed and crashed
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
I've never been lonelier
the boy recoiled as he
got out of the heated pool
it was midnight


tags: [Music], [mp3], [Live music], [John Vanderslice]

Earworm: Electrelane

I've caved once again and paid for Last.fm personal radio, and I love it; but I'm not sure I understand it--songs I'd swear I've never listened to keep coming up on my personal radio, where I didn't think recommendations figured. This is hardly a bad thing, since one of them was Electrelane's Gone Darker from their live CD Axes.

Ambient instrumental semi-electronica (math-rock, is it?) like Explosions in the Sky or This is a Process of a Still Life, or Mogwai in their less dissonant moods, are good working music: there're no distracting lyrics, but they're not as shapeless as true ambient music. I'm not sure what I think of the tempo change in this track, but given how useful this kind of music is, it's just good to have another name.

Stream it (M3U)

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Electrelane]

Swearing at Motorists, Singing in the Ubahn

Swearing at Motorists has been on my eMusic queue forever, just because of the name; but now I find out that Dave Doughman has been recording in Ubahnhof stations while making a different CD in studio, which should be enough to get anybody's attention.

The echoing Ubahn adds a nice kind of melancholy, which is saved from being lugubrious by the occasional odd echo that certainly wouldn't have been added in a studio. Maybe oddly, my favorite tracks are the ones that have the sounds of the passengers in them; Time Zones and Area Codes ends with the the rebounding flat-strike sound of heeled shoes, and Ten Dollars (False Start)is interruped by train passengers--I wish he'd kept singing and just let that be the backdrop; the German chatter is an appealing counterpoint, and the way it appears gradually couldn't have been better done in a studio. Maybe it wouldn't have ended as neatly as it began--it almost certainly wouldn't have--but it's an eerie break in the solitude of the rest.

tags: [Music], [mp3], [Swearing At Motorists]

Chan Marshall and Neko

Kwaya Na Kisser has a great pair of live sets from Chan and Neko on KCRW up. Get 'em while they're hot! Chan wins me over by covering of Nina Simone songs, one really hers (Wild is the Wind) and one only covered by her to great effect (House of the Rising Sun)--but I'm still not going to see her live; trainwrecks aren't my idea of a good show.

Neko doesn't have to win me over, but apparently nobody's told her this, because she does my favorite song anyway.

tags: [Music], [KCRW], [Live music], [Cat Power], [Neko Case]

Meltdown Reports: Chan Marshall & Nickel Creek

Well, so much for Chan Marshall's vaunted new stability--her show last night was a classic stage meltdown-cum-trainwreck where she obsessed over sound, the sound guy, and unsuccessfully tuning the guitar, broke off songs to go pee. . . damn. I'm sorry it happened, but glad I didn't go. Wonder if her stage issues will get in the way of her recording career? Seems like they'd have to, but she's been around for a few years and not gone away yet--no way of telling where she'd be now if she could reliably handle a live set, I guess.

Nickel Creek has officially melted down to its components; Billboard's running an interview with them in which we learn that song-writing feels less natural than it has for the group, and that Sean will focus on movie-scoring, Sara on collaboration, and Chris on a solo record. Chris' solo CD is called How to Grow a Woman from the Ground--the first time I read about it, it had been mis-written as "How to Grow a Woman from a Gourd." I might like the wrong title better. I liked them very well a few years ago, but lost track of them when I left the country. Too bad, though--even beside Chris' remarkable mandolin virtuosity, Sara's voice was the main draw for me at the time; now I suspect I might find it too sugary and twee. No new material to let me find out, anyway!

tags: [Music], [Music news], [Cat Power], [Nickel Creek], [Chris Thile]

Stephin Merritt @ Bumbershoot

Damn, I'm not even going to pretend not to be jealous. Stephin Merritt is playing a benefit show for 826 Seattle, a nonprofit writing & tutoring youth center, at Bumbershoot on Friday 1 September. It's part of People Talking and Singing, which was already featuring readings or live sets from Dave Eggers, Sarah Vowell, Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket), Smoosh, Zach Rogue of Rogue Wave, and Colin Meloy. The only downside is they're selling tickets through the evil ticket overlords.

Do I need to move to Seattle?

tags: [Music], [Bumbershoot], [Seattle], [Magnetic Fields]

Unexpected Covers: The Laura Veirs Chorus?

So it seems there's a CD called The Young Rapture Choir; this album is a collection of songs written by Laura Veirs and performed by a choir of school children in Cognac, France. The one track that's floating around is their version of Magnetized; aside from the oddness of hearing Laura's lyrics in a French accent, it's even odder to hear one of her songs done rhythmically straight, with all of her odd leaps and syncopations ellipsized. It's no better or worse than one might expect, I think, but still interesting to hear.



tags: [Music], [Covers], [Laura Veirs], [Choral music]

Live Colin Meloy Set

I'm still pissed that I was out of town for the Laura Veirs/Colin Meloy show early this year; but NPR broadcast them from The Birchmere a couple days later, and now You Ain't No Picasso has a live set from him, too. The universe seems determined to make it up to me with live Meloy goodness--but I still want the real thing. This one pointed out a Decemberists EP I don't own, called 5 Songs. Shocker! I must have it.

"Shiny" (live) from YSI




Relevant tags: [Colin Meloy], [live music], [Decemberists], [mp3]