In addition to humorously and gently mocking multi-instrumental indie rock spectacles (“Well, the band that’s playing tonight has three triangle players“), this short film will also help you bring your A-Game to whatever activities this weekend has in store for you.
Jake Troth (a musician we love ’round these parts) helped produce and stars in this 3-minute film for the Apple Insomnia Film Festival. It’s an innovative student competition where teams are given a list of elements to include in their film (props, dialogue, setting, etc) and they have just 24 hours to write, cast, shoot, edit, score, and upload their creation. Watch as Jake tries to muster up the stuff to pick up on a rocker chick out on the Georgia pier, then is magically transported to a desert, where he gets help from a very special mystical friend . . . his A-Game.
A-GAME
That made me laugh. I don’t recommend using those pick-up lines — although she might feel so bad for you, you’d win sympathy points.
In my estimation, the covers that are really worth their salt take a song that you think you know, and then go right ahead to completely re-imagine it. My favorite revisions unearth a hidden nugget of emotional truth, or get at something that you might have missed the first time around. As The Bangles say, “I see you in a different light.”
WAZ is a musician from Southern California who first rose to prominence as the guitarist for Pete Yorn during the musicforthemorningafter era, but now has a solo career in his own right. Waz is a shortening of his last name (no it’s not Mike Wazowski) and everyone ‘cept his momma calls him that. His cover of U2′s “I Will Follow” is bittersweetly intimate and stopped me in my tracks.
I never knew that this song was originally written about the death of Bono’s mother; it has such a huge anthemic blazing image to me, as does much of the U2 from that early era. The original is majestic and almost defiant; it wants to be sung from a thousand enormous arenas. But this version aches, a meandering confessional in front of a backdrop of delicate strings. I love what WAZ does here to reach a different place with this song.
WAZ just opened for Frank Black of the Pixies on some solo shows, culminating at the rad Hotel Utah in SF. More tour dates are anticipated in 2008 to go along with the self-release of his full-length album coming out at the end of January. That album will be released without this track due to some legal wrangling, but he gives his blessing for you to enjoy it here. So do.
So here I go traipsing perilously into US Magazine territory, but bear with me, there’s good music herewith. AOL Spinner blog posted a slideshow the other day of the 20+ musicians that Winona Ryder has been romantically linked to over the years. Quite unfathomable — it reads like the most-played list on my iPod [er, no pun intended]. Amongst the mostly-vicious comments on the original post was this laughable one:
“She dated MICHAEL NESMITH? UGH. If you’re planning to date a Monkee, then choose Mickey Dolenz because at least he could sing. On the other hand, don’t choose ANY Monkee.”
Take these things with a grain of salt, sure, but as I clicked through the somewhat unbelievable slideshow of dudes, I said out loud, several times, “SHUT UP.” If it’s true, someone get this woman a Gatorade.
. . . and then I agreed with the person who sent this to me that said I should make a mix of all their music. Clearly.
After listening to the Damnwells demo “She’s The New York City Skyline” about, oh, a thousand times on my recent sojourn out of Dodge, I was stoked to click onto their MySpace page from the kitchen table of my friend Jenn’s apartment in Queens and hear a brand new song streaming.
“Hey what’s your number Chicago? What time is it in Japan?”
I first listened to this while watching the morning greyness outside her 6th floor window, half-contemplating what would happen if I climbed out onto the fire escape to feel the cool air. It’s a sweetly melancholy acoustic tune with a falsetto chorus of aching vulnerability, perfect for finding yourself in some strange, new city.
I was all set to post a ripped copy, but then The Damnwells were so kind as to send me this spiff mp3, so a thank you to them:
No new tour news or album news from The Damnwells but for the love of all that’s good and holy, try to find a way to see their documentary Golden Days. Recommend it to your local film fest, or music channel, or whomever will listen. It’s a piercing story full of musical heart — a film that should be seen.
This weekend was an unexpectedly gorgeous Indian summer weekend in Colorado, with temps in the 70s and me completely loving the feeling of the sunshine soaking into my skin for what could be the last time in a while. On Saturday I made it up to the top of Castle Rock which gave amazing panoramic views of the whole Front Range area. I’ve driven past it a million times (every time I see a show in Denver or Boulder) but never thought to see what it looked like from the top.
In order to tackle the easy hike up (2 miles or so) I had to face my icy-grip-of-death fear of mountain lions and other large carnivores with big teeth and claws that sometimes eat people. I despise being afraid of anything, really, so I get hotly mad at myself for flinching at underbrush crackles. But after seeing pawprints in the mud, it took some serious steeling of the will to overcome my natural inclination to go somewhere indoors. So as lame as it sounds to you rugged types, I was proud of my little mini-feat in overcoming fear — and the view from the top of the rock formation was worth it.
Delivery (demo) – Babyshambles This song could have easily flowed from Ray Davies’ pen + guitar. Pete Doherty lays off the smack and blatant self-destruction long enough to record one of the catchiest tunes of recent memory. This is an ’06 demo version from the Stookie + Jim Bumfest sessions available on French Dog Blues (Doherty’s site), while the finished version is even snappier and out now on the new album Shotter’s Nation (Astralwerks). And as Pete says in the song, the vibe of this is your basic “make pretend it’s 1969 forever, find a girl, have a drink, have a dance and play.” Okay Pete. You convinced me. [photo]
I Just Want The Girl In The Blue Dress To Keep Dancing Mike Doughty This is my new favorite song. Mike Doughty was the lead singer for Soul Coughing, and his uniquely gravely voice and badass sense of killer rhythm always gets me. He’s announced a new album called Golden Delicious, out on ATO Records in 2008. This preview tune manages to combine indie-rock sensibilities with a retro feel, using some fun little vocal repetitions imitating the band that he wants this girl to keep dancing to — “Ba-rumpa-doh-bum-bum.” It’s like the little drummer Boy, but significantly less annoying. Love it.
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (Neil Young cover) Lions In The Street This scorching cover of Neil Young’s 1969 classic comes from fellow Canadians Lions In The Street when they visited the XM Radio studios recently. Here’s a band that has the crazy idea that music should be shared and loved freely, so to that effect, they give away quite a bit of it on their website, despite some disagreements with their label. When I wrote about these guys last summer, I cited the obvious swagger and strut of the Stones in the vocals and the boozy riffs, but in this song I can also hear a bit of the warm tone of some of my favorite Adam Duritz vocal moments. So if you like those bands, you should check out LITS, go download some free tunes on their site — my favorite is still probably “Mine Ain’t Yours.” New full-length from these guys is expected in 2008.
The Future Is Nothing New (the toolbox song) The Alternate Routes This was one of the coolest tunes that Connecticut’s Alternate Routes did when I saw them live in concert last month, using an amplified toolbox to provide the uniquely crashing hurrumph beats throughout. There’s also a Latin-tinged feisty feel to this that reminds me of Justin Timberlake’s “Senorita,” and so I am pleased to finally have an mp3 of this (courtesy Andrew). The Alternate Routes are finalists in this ‘lil Hennessey/Rolling Stone contest so you can go over and vote for them. Matt Nathanson is also listed and I felt guilty for not voting for him, but the Alternate Routes asked me to go out with them first.
My Favorite Mutiny (feat. Talib Kweli) The Coup This past February when I saw Oakland, CA band The Coup as part of the Noise Pop Music Fest (now accepting apps for 2008) I was completely and totally blown away. It was one of the best and most thoroughly fun shows that I have seen in a long time. They made those dusty historic floorboards at the Fillmore shake up and down. Therefore, news of their 2002 live double album being available on eMusic is welcome (although, really, you just need to go see Boots Riley & Co in concert for yourself). So Much Silence has ripped an mp3 “Shipment” from that live album for your listening pleasure, but this particular song from their 2006 album Pick A Bigger Weapon still kills it as one of my favorite tunes I discovered in this past year; I am not yet weary of listening to it. I doubt I ever will be.
So it’s not like I light a candle or get a tear in my eye, but I do always smile when I write the date on November 4th because the dork in my brain will always remember that as the first time I saw Pearl Jam live in concert.
Nov 4th 1995 was the rescheduled make-up Bay Area date for the aborted Golden Gate Park show five months earlier where Vedder bailed after seven songs due to food poisoning and the remaining members played a scorching set with Neil Young, dubbed “Neil Jam.” As you can see above, this was their alternate ticketing tour using non-Ticketmaster venues. This translated into really cool [Ames Bros] ticket art.
It was my junior year of high school and I had been waiting for almost two years to see Pearl Jam live. The show was held at San Jose State’s Spartan Stadium, an outdoor amphitheater. I remember joining the front end of a snaking line around the venue with my friends early in the day for the 2pm show, after purchasing a Mr. Point t-shirt (that I still wear on rare occasion).
In the late morning, the garbled but powerful melody of a soundcheck chorus and thundering drums rose through the autumn air. Hence I’ll always remember that the first song I ever heard Pearl Jam do live was “I Got Id” during the soundcheck.
We had arrived early enough to wedge ourselves right up in the front section, and settled in for some hours of waiting. Ed came on for the pre-show before The Fastbacks and Ben Harper, playing a hushed acoustic version of the then-unreleased song “Dead Man.” He wore a fedora and smiled at all of us wryly, remarking, “So these are the faces I would have seen if I could have lifted my head up in San Francisco.”
As for the show itself, I hung on for as long as I could in the roiling masses of circa-1995 PJ fans — as it turned out, my capacity was about six songs. Once “Not For You” kicked in, I thought I was going to die and had to get pulled out in favor of a spot a bit further back.
I know.
SELECTED TUNES, SAN JOSE 11/4/95
Release (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam unexpectedly languid opening song for the main set, but hearing this even tonight I get little tingles and can feel the electric excitement in the air and the whole sea of people ebbing and churning against me
Corduroy (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam I remember facing the cooling dusk air and singing along with my full lung capacity, especially for the opening lines, “The waiting drove me mad . . .”
I Got Id/Shit (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam After hearing it a few hours before at soundcheck, I got the full treatment of this almost eerie, soaring songwith some of those great visceral screams
Leaving Here (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam still one of my favorite covers they do, a feisty feministic anthem with kick and (dare I say) sass. A Holland-Dozier-Holland tune from 1963, the PJ studio version was released two months after this performance, on the Home Alive benefit album
Porch (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam memorable because this is an excoriating version, and Ed returned to 1992 form and climbed an enormous tower of scaffolding, hanging in a way to make me hold my breath a bit. There’s also a “Three Little Birds” tag thrown in here as well – every little things gonna be alright indeed
Indifference (live 11/4/95) – Pearl Jam from the opening tambourine shakes and the near-mystic melody, this was the perfect final song in an exhilarating concert. My first of many PJ-induced exhausted/euphoric-bliss moments. When everyone chorused “I’ll swallow poison until I grow immune, I will scream my lungs out ’til it fills this room. . .” I was right there in the thick of that. As I walked out, I remember feeling urgently within my 16-year-old self that everything was going to be okay if that kind of connection existed in the world.
Looks like the whole show is available here [and thanks jake for loaning me the CD!]
In other Pearl Jam news –
A new hardcover book was announced last week on the fantastic topic of Pearl Jam artwork: Pearl Jam vs. Ames Bros. PJ’s been blessed as a band to have longstanding partnerships with artists Ames Brothers (Jeff’s brother Barry Ament, and Coby Schultz — they actually designed the Mr. Point shirt & ticket stub above) and since 1999 with Denver-bred artist Brad Klausen. Collectively these guys have produced some of the most unique and energetic original posters of any other band I know.
The new book is 264 pages, and features commentary on individual posters from all five members of Pearl Jam and from the poster designers — offering insight into the inspiration, concepts and process of poster creation. There was a little excerpt of the new book in the most recent PJ magazine Deep, and it was fascinating even to me (a very-very-non-artist) to see the way that the poster concept develops and emerges, and reflects something of the music and the mood of the city. Your coffee table will be 86% cooler.
Say what you will about Oasis (and believe me, for years I did) but two facts that I find undeniably true about them are these: 1) They have made some stomping rock and roll 2) They are never, ever boring to listen to when they talk (when you can understand them)
The contest I launched last weekend was for folks to provide me with the best Gallagher brothers quote that they know of, with two lucky winners getting the new Oasis song “Lord Don’t Slow Me Down“ on a 12-inch vinyl. I don’t exactly understand why you need all those inches for one song –I thought it was 7″– but I ain’t complaining. Maybe the winners can let me know what the extra five inches are for (that’s what she said–sorry, Office joke).
So these winners I picked based on whose quotes made me laugh out loud. Pretty simple.
The two winners are Tony and Christopher:
tony said…
The conversation between Carson Daly and Liam Gallagher on TRL: Carson – “How are you feeling?” Liam – “God-like”
Christopher said…
“Some stuff got damaged, a fire extinguisher got let off in the house. As rock’n'roll as I am, you can’t be making record with foam all over the fucking place.”
- Noel Gallagher, in a Mojo article talking about a 1995 fight between he and Liam in their studio that ended with the ‘doors kicked off, the kitchen wrecked, fridges overturned’, the guitar player locking away air rifles and both of them ‘rolling in the grass, hitting each other with a cricket bat’.
Now that’s just good fun. I’d kinda want to be there for that.
A close runner-up was also this one, who might get something yet:
“What would you rather read? ‘The guy from Keane’s been to a rabbit sanctuary ‘cos one of the rabbits needed a kidney implant, so he swapped his with it’ — or ‘Liam Gallagher sets fire to a policeman in cocaine madness while his brother Noel runs down Oxford Street nude’?”
- Noel Gallagher on why he speaks the truth to the press
And finally, if I were entering my own contest, here is what I would quote: “I was walking along and this chair came flying past me, and another, and another, and I thought, man, is this gonna be a good night.” -Liam Gallagher
Bon soir tout le monde! I am Brian, and you are still Heather’s friends. In my second iteration of awesome world-centered music, I’m going to be writing about all things French.
Just like the baklava that we ate at the Starlite Diner in NYC, long after midnight last Thursday . . . there is enough dense, layered, substantial goodness in this post to stick in your ribs for a while. The National is a band of friends from Ohio who now call Brooklyn home, with four albums to their name since 2001.
As I recently wrote to a friend, there is something so bottomless and untouchably good about their music. They release albums to critical acclaim and rapturous blog praise that is (actually) merited; their music has been called “Gothic,” a descriptor that I completely get — all at once you can see the dark cold-granite shadows, the elegantly arched architecture, and the soaring stained glass in one song.
So much of this is 4am music. It’s the end of a beautiful night, where all your pretenses are stripped. The girls are starting to get that smudge of mascara under their eyes, and the shirts that the guys put on so crisply at 8pm are now wrinkled with a button undone. You’re bleary-tired, but your heart is full. It’s that kind of music, the late-night special, flawed but transcendent.
The lyrics read like stark, eviscerating poems:
Bottle eyes, glassy blue I watch the rain come out of you Sky is white with the flu I’m terrified of losing you
(from Cold Girl Fever)
And I really couldn’t tell you why, but I somewhat tragically missed their recent swing through Denver about a month ago. They have been blowing minds all over the States with their live show, and right now they are in the midst of a massive European tour, followed by Australia.
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.
In my estimation, the covers that are really worth their salt take a song that you think you know, and then go right ahead to completely re-imagine it. My favorite revisions unearth a hidden nugget of emotional truth, or get at something that you might have missed the first time around. As The Bangles say, “I see you in a different light.”
[
A new hardcover book was announced last week on the fantastic topic of Pearl Jam artwork: 
The new book is 264 pages, and features commentary on individual posters from all five members of Pearl Jam and from the poster designers — offering insight into the inspiration, concepts and process of poster creation. There was a little excerpt of the new book in the most recent PJ magazine Deep, and it was fascinating even to me (a very-very-non-artist) to see the way that the poster concept develops and emerges, and reflects something of the music and the mood of the city. Your coffee table will be 86% cooler.
THE BLACK SESSION
THE WHITE SESSION
Name: Heather Browne
