After painfully interminable phone calls with the server peeps, all the files should be back and working now. Although I have definitely reached my limit on hold music. If I have to hear any more of it in the next 72 hours, I seriously just might snap and go all medieval on you.
Sorry for the inconvenience, all the music hosted on my server is currently unavailable. I am in the process of being shaken down by The Man for a track that I cross-posted recently that was offered as a legal download on a certain band’s website through a pop-up for the committed fans. Apparently no one told the RIAA this and they’re going after the little guy (or little gal, as it may be).
My tech supporter Paul told me last night through the customer service line that my server should be back up in “12-24 hours.” Let’s hope we can get this straightened out soon.
In happier news, I also just crossed the 2 millionth hit mark last night. A sincere and heartfelt thanks to all of you for reading what I have to say, and for being such kind and wonderful folks.
If you’ve known me for more than a week, you might know that two of my favorite things in life are Pearl Jam and all things italiano. I lived and studied in Italy for a time, and I am completely smitten with the language, the culture, the people, the coffee, the food, and even the music.
So this new DVD forthcoming from Pearl Jam is enough to make me fairly pass out from the pleasure wiring in my brain short-circuiting with a zillion tiny sparks.
I believe the official title of the DVD is Immagine In Cornice (“Eemah-geenay een Cor-nee-chay — “Picture in a Frame,” named after the Tom Waits cover performed in Milan) although they’ve gone back and forth on translation issues (it could be “Telaio”). The DVD is due out September 25, with a presale starting through pearljam.com on August 22.
The film was shot in a variety of formats from Super-8 to Hi Def, and was directed by Danny Clinch, a man who has worked with tons of greats. Some of my favorites from Clinch are the September feature with Ryan Adams, the Pleasure and Pain documentary with Ben Harper, and the recent Broken Radio video with Jesse Malin & Springsteen. You can also explore Clinch’s very cool Three on the Tree Productions site to learn more about the rad work he does. I want his job.
Clinch says, “Picture in a Frame is a film I’ve really wanted to make. The band invited me to Italy and gave me the access I needed to show a side seldom seen by their fans. It has become a collaboration as well. The band even offered me some music that has never been heard and Mike went into the studio to create some more music for the soundscapes. This is a look at Pearl Jam that no one has seen yet. A trip through northern Italy with the band, through the document and through abstraction.”
Here is the first glance at the trailer. I’m dying . . .
Hearing Eddie speak in Italian makes me so happy, you seriously have no idea. He doesn’t do too badly, either.
The last three seconds of this trailer are priceless (“Jam? Like [spreading motion] jam?”)
Consider this a mini-addendum to my recent post on Rogue Wave’s newest album, Asleep At Heaven’s Gate, out 9/18. We have audio!
Lake Michigan – Rogue Wave
I had a movie weekend — being inside to escape the heat of the day and the monsoon thunderstorms of the evenings. First up, despite the film being about music, I found Dreamgirls to be schmaltzy, poorly constructed, and pretty much unbearable. My friends who recommended it to me owe me a ticket to a show containing at least 97% fewer full-length, improbably placed songs in the middle of normal scenes. I also saw Bourne Ultimatum as a date with my Dad for his 60th birthday this weekend and it was absolutely fantastic. Bourne is my kind of man right there. He is practically omniscient (“In ten meters, turn left and bend down to tie your shoe! TIE YOUR SHOE!“), unbreakable, unbeatable, and he kills people with his bare hands even if there are, like, nine of them. It was a roller-coaster ride of a film that ended with a remix of the explosive Moby theme “Extreme Ways” that I had forgotten about but remembered the words to within the first 20 seconds (I would stand in line for this), a feat which impressed my dad greatly. He is always one of my biggest fans.
I am more excited than usual about the new music I found this week:
Electricity + Drums
The Apparitions
Okay, click that play arrow immediately.
Do it.
Hear that?
Every once in a while out of the dozens of songs I seem to listen to in a week, something stands out in a big way — the kind of song that makes me stop everything I am doing and say, “What the heck IS that?!” This fantastic song from The Apparitions [from Lexington, Kentucky and Washington D.C.] has been absolutely at the tip-top of my playlists for the week. I think if you just listen, you will agree with me, and we can handclap around together and try to figure out all the words. As This Is Futuristic came out in January on Machine Records, and it is terrific.
Scar That Never Heals
Jeremy Fisher
Dude, hand me a tambourine. The song that I heard raves about off this album from Canadian Jeremy Fisher is track 3, “Cigarette,” which boasts one of the best choruses of the summer. But this song is the opening track, and is just so filled with infectious ’60s/’70s pop goodness — think Monkees meet Neil Diamond’s “Cherry” in a modern and non-cheesy way that absolutely makes you want to sing along. Goodbye Blue Monday is a refreshing album from start to finish, and finally gained U.S. release two weeks ago (on Aquarius Records). Check it out.
Heavy Load
Deadstring Brothers
The obvious vocal comparison as soon as you hear anything by Detroit’s Deadstring Brothers has to be the bendy-voiced swagger of Mick Jagger, but they also experiment with strong female harmonies (and she occasionally takes the lead) and have a wonderful rollicking sound all their own. I loved their Starving Winter Report (2005) and have listened to “Sacred Heart” off that album 86 times, according to my iTunes. This is more sloppy fabulousness from “the new high priests of soulful rock ‘n’ roll.” Special thanks to Songs:Illinois for this first preview off their newest rootsy-country romp, Silver Mountain (October 8, Bloodshot Records).
Theologians (Wilco cover)
Donavon Frankenreiter
I do like Donavon Frankenreiter‘s echoey-folksy voice, like he’s a troubadour transplant from a few decades past. I enjoyed the Venice-Beach-meets-Stax Records-funk sound of 2005′s Move By Yourself, and he’s done some nice collaborations and soundtrack contributions in recent years. But it is a fraught-ridden endeavor to release an EP of covers of well-known and well-loved songs (his new Recycled Recipes, on Lost Highway) unless you radically rework the tunes like, say, Cat Power or Mark Ronson. This Wilco cover is servicable, but I think that’s more due to the quality of the original song than anything he necessarily adds to it. Hate to say it, but stick with originals.
Ah Mary
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Grace Potter is 24 year-old firecracker, a consummate performer & band frontwoman who has a voice that sounds much bigger and surer than her years should allow. Reminiscent of bold rockers from years past like Janis Joplin with inflections of Bonnie Raitt (who makes Ryan Adams cry), this is an album custom-built for playing loud with the car windows down. It’s been a while since I spent time with an album like that, and I only wish it had been released earlier in the summer. This Is Somewhere is her third release, it came out last week on Hollywood Records, and my friend says he wants to convert to that sect of Mormonism that allows polygamy so he can make Grace Potter his second wife. Good luck with that.
I am generally a really upbeat person but I can’t help myself — I truly despise heat coupled with humidity. This is why it is good that I don’t live in, say, Georgia or West Virginia because I would be the most grumpy person you know all through the month of August. Plus my hair would be very frizzy.
I am rambling about hot weather as a seamless tie-in to my newest contest: two lucky winners will win a soundtrack+book prize pack for the upcoming Ethan Hawke film The Hottest State. My first listens have been very enjoyable – it’s a fairly mellow and eclectic collection, and features the superb songwriting of new Fuel-favorite Jesse Harris. When forming the concept for the film adaptation, Hawke and Harris delved into the collection of 80+ songs that Harris had penned over the years, and then enlisted a dream team of folks like M. Ward, Feist, Bright Eyes, Cat Power, Black Keys, Willie Nelson, and Emmylou Harris to record them. You can stream the entire record here and then pop over to see the full tracklisting on their MySpace.
The movie is based on Hawke’s book (I didn’t know he wrote), so the two winners will each get a CD soundtrack plus the book for good end-of-summer reading as you lay by the pool and perfect that tan that will have to sustain you as the last vestiges of summer slip away.
So depressing, I know, stop it.
I’ll pick TWO random winners from all entrants by next Friday August 17th. If you’d like to win, please leave me a way to contact you (or promise to check here to see if you won, and then email me if you do) and answer this question:
What is one of your favorite hot weather/summertime memories? Random, funny, serious, whatever – it just has to effectively include that “hot” business. Godspeed.
From the soundtrack:
If You Ever Slip – The Black Keys
It Will Stay With Us – Jesse Harris
Like a sno-cone on a hot afternoon, I’ve got a sweet treat for you today kids – Fuel/Friends is pleased to host an exclusive first listen of the brand new Matt Costa.
I’ve written before about this earnest 25-year-old singer/songwriter from California, and this autumn will bring us Unfamiliar Faces, his dang catchy follow-up album to 2005′s Songs We Sing. If you thought you had his sound pegged . . . think again. This new stuff blows the old out of the water (and I like the old stuff).
This is just a short clip, but I think you’ll like the taste:
Unfamiliar Faces is out October 2nd on Brushfire Records and it is absolutely delightful, showing both a depth and a playfulness from Costa. Although he’s always been an amiable listen, this album brings both a greater musical inventiveness and maturity to his sound.
I’ve been listening to it all day and have no intentions of stopping anytime soon.
TRACKLISTING: Unfamiliar Faces
Mr. Pitiful (that’s the toe-tapping song in the video)
Lilacs
Never Looking Back
Emergency Call
Vienna
Unfamiliar Faces
Cigarette Eyes
Downfall
Trying To Lose My Mind
Bound
Heart Of Stone
Miss Magnolia
Okay, so I never really, truly got deep into Michael Jackson. I mean sure I adore singing along to “Man In The Mirror” in my car (shmoa) as much as the next girl, have roller-skated to “Rock With You,” and I do know the whole rap part from “Black or White” (I’m not gonna spend my life bein’ a color). However, I think I may be the only one of my generation that doesn’t know the Thriller dance (as was sadly evidenced at a recent wedding reception I attended), I was never tempted to wear a single white glove at any stage in my adolescence, and I can’t moonwalk. Truthfully, I can’t even really look at Michael anymore without thinking of that scene in South Park where his nose crumbles off.
But I do love me some Jackson 5. I have a weak spot for prepubescents singing sugarplum layers of pop-soul (that kinda sounded wrong but whatever). My fourth memorable music moment for the WXPN series is a cool snippet I unearthed showing a very young supergroup in the making, auditioning for Motown Records by covering some James Brown — and boy can Michael move even at that young age.
July 23, 1968: Jackson 5 Audition for Motown Records
The Jackson Five were signed to Motown after this audition was videotaped and sent to label founder Berry Gordy who couldn’t attend. After watching the above clip, he decided to sign them and in early 1969, the boys got to work recording in Motown’s Hitsville U.S.A. studio in Detroit.
The results of these sessions were mostly covers of other hits by artists in the doo-wop/R&B/soul catalog, such as Sly & The Family Stone’s “Stand!” and Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Loving You.” They also recorded a new version of “You’ve Changed,” a song by Gordon Keith which they had recorded for his small Steeltown label before signing with Motown. Their songwriters (known as “The Corporation“) were working on penning their original soon-to-be megahit, “I Want You Back.”
As the Jacksons rehearsed and performed in clubs around L.A., the PR machines kicked into high gear and truth-telling was not at the forefront of the agenda in promoting this new discovery. The marketing team at Motown started changing facts about the band in press kits to increase their appeal. Michael’s age was lowered from 11 to 8 to make him “appear cuter”, two band members who were not related (Johnny Jackson and Ronnie Rancifer) became cousins of the Jacksons with the stroke of a publicist’s pen.
Diana Ross was also credited with discovering the group — a fanciful bit of wishful thinking, as she wasn’t even present for any of the performances or meetings leading up to their signing. In fact, the real credit goes to fellow Motown artists Bobby Taylor (who would go on to produce most of their first album) and Gladys Knight. Ross did, however, attach her name with their very first record to help vet this new group: Diana Ross Presents The Jackson 5 (1969). And they were off and running.
Stand! (Sly and The Family Stone cover) – The Jackson 5
You’ve Changed – Jackson 5
I Want You Back – Jackson 5
LISTEN AGAIN: This track stands up as one of my all-time favorite remixes ever. I love the way Z-Trip strips off everything from the beginning and just brings in each instrument one layer at a time so you can fully appreciate it. It actually reminds me of a funkdafied soul version of Pachelbel’s “Canon” (no, listen) the way each sound, each instrument gets its own spotlighted solo entrance into the game. Absolutely wonderful:
I Want You Back (Z-Trip remix) – Jackson 5
In news of related tastes, Chris at Gorilla vs. Bear recently pointed out the newest album in the undeniably awesome “library of the lost” collection from the Numero Group, which I’ve lavished love on in the past. It’s called Home Schooled: The ABCs of Kid Soul, and is the story in song of countless groups in the same vein as Jackson 5 who have been forgotten in the halls of history but are so worth a listen. Here’s a sampling:
Can’t Let You Break My Heart – The Quantrells
In addition to being a writer & performer of catchy tunes that still feel substantial, possessing a fantastic sense of humor, and being multi-talented enough to make stellar albums wherein he plays all the instruments himself, indie rocker Ben Kweller also loves himself some covers.
One of my readers Katie saw BK last weekend (8/5) in Atlanta and captured this feel-good cover medley: “La Bamba,” “Twist and Shout,” and a spot on cover of Weezer’s “Sweater Song,” even effectively capturing the banal banter between verses, customized for the occasion. It’s kitschy fun; you kinda wish he’d play your school dance.
I’m mostly just impressed that he knows all the words to “La Bamba.” Even though I am generally a lyrical conquistadora, that’s one you’ll catch me mumbling on.
It was a dark and stormy night in May (all the best stories start with dark and stormy) when I got a phone call from a friend: “Hey, I’m heading out to Rogue Wave‘s Oakland studio for a huge jam session for their new album!” Along with thirty of their friends, ranging in age from teensy to old, experienced musican to absolute novice, Rogue Wave staged a melodic cacophony for in their song “Own Your Own Home” on their newest album Asleep At Heaven’s Gate. It sounded like an insufferably cool idea to me at the time, and guess what?
It was.
ROGUE WAVE: The Making of Asleep At Heaven’s Gate
Impressions of the third studio release from this talented Bay Area band are extremely positive. This record could go huge for Rogue Wave if people have their ears on right. It is fresh and musically rich — apparently over 150 instruments were used on the album, and my ears love it.
The album has a jangle and a shimmer a la former Sub-Pop labelmates The Shins or Band of Horses, but I also find it echoing another one of my favorite records lately, The Swimmers from Philadelphia. If you recall, The Swimmers made an album centered around a short story of a man who swims home through a series of his neighbors’ suburban swimming pools, and the entire thing is rife with the feelings of floating, or sinking, or sometimes drowning. Several songs on Asleep At Heaven’s Gate evoke that for me as well.
Much of this album strikes me immediately and viscerally. Example: the first time I listened to it, I was doing sit-ups at the gym and had to keep stopping to drum along on my solar plexus (um, gym talk) to some of these potent rhythms. And while it is not unusual for me to feel like the rhythm is gonna get me, I loved the variety on this album — they experimented with everything from drumming on walls & doors to handclaps and “ass slaps” (according to their MySpace).
The album opens with a newly-rejuvenated Pat Spurgeon machine gun rat-a-tatting his healthy-kidney insides out (he got a transplant in January) on “Harmonium,” which swirls and sounds more epic than anything they’ve done that I can recall. There’s a flow to the whole album, but some standout tracks for me are “Chicago x 12″ (which features Matthew Caws of Nada Surf), the unrelenting “Phony Town,” and the alt-country inflected album closer “Cheaper Than Therapy.”
Zach Rogue says that the band was listening to a lot of Wendy Carlos while they were writing this album — she scored movies like The Shining and A Clockwork Orange. I can hear that ambient influence on songs like the infectious “Like I Needed,” which starts out just creepily enough. “Own Your Own Home” begins with the directive to the crowd heard in the video above, and ratchets up the group-clamoring and feverish strumming to a cult-like din at the end of the song. It’s a combination of celebration & “bust out the grape Kool-Aid.” I love it.
Asleep At Heaven’s Gate is out September 18th on the fine little Brushfire Records label, and they’ll be touring in support of it this fall (some shows with none other than the fabulous Feist).
TUNES: Since I’ll be drawn and quartered if I post any of the new goodness from Rogue Wave, I’ll have to go with some of the old goodness. This is a nice little set from one of my favorite record stores, the warehouse/Mecca of Amoeba Records on Haight in San Francisco:
ROGUE WAVE
Live @ Amoeba Records, 1/21/06 [thx]
Are You On My Side
Bird On A Wire
Sewn Up
Odorono (The Who cover)
Publish My Love
Endless Shovel
Catform
Love’s Lost Guarantee
Name: Heather Browne
Location: Colorado, originally by way of California
Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel."
—Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
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