Monday Music Roundup, Tuesday edition

People, I tell you — this month is going to be the death of me. I can’t manage much banter, but I can offer you music.

No One’s Better Sake
Little Joy
I love songs where something is a little off-kilter – syncopated or otherwise, just to keep you a bit ajar. Little Joy is the new sideband of Fabrizio Moretti (perhaps my favorite Stroke because of his divine percussive gifts), and the beginning of this song sounds a bit like your car radio has been jarred loose from its dashboard moorings. In Puerto Rico. In 1967. The eponymous Little Joy debut is out November 4th on Rough Trade.

Caroline Says, Part II
Lou Reed
I also love songs that bring you into them mid-thought, mid-scene. Songs are so ephemeral and short by nature that there’s usually no way you can tell a cohesive story, as you would in a novel (well, unless you’re maybe Josh Ritter but not many are). Lou Reed starts this song with Caroline getting up off the floor and finishing her sentence. She’s angry, and I would be too because she apparently wants him to stop hitting her. Fair enough, and a bit heartbreaking. This snapshot comes from the live re-recording of the entire 1973 album Berlin: Live At St. Ann’s Warehouse is out November 4th on Matador. When Berlin was first released, Rolling Stone reviewed it as one of “certain records so patently offensive that one wishes to take some kind of physical vengeance on the artists that perpetrate them…a distorted and degenerate demimonde of paranoia, schizophrenia, degradation, pill-induced violence and suicide.” Thirty years later, the magazine named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Either/Or
Wild Sweet Orange
Their band name sounds like Celestial Seasonings, but this song from Birmingham’s Wild Sweet Orange is a lot more vibrant than a cup of tea. I think I first listened to this album upon reading ace-eared Bruce write that lead singer Preston Lovinggood –yes, that’s his real name– had a voice that was “just earnest enough to satisfy the needs of Grey’s Anatomyrock fans (listen to “Aretha’s Gold”) but also disaffected and lethargically-not caring enough for you indie-rockers (listen to the Malkmus-like “House of Regret”). We Have Cause To Be Uneasy is out now on Canvasback Music, and was produced by Mike McCarthy (Spoon). WSO is on tour with Counting Crows and Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s in the coming months.

Talk About
Dear And The Headlights
This tune from Arizona band Dear And The Headlights is about our differences, those foibles that drive the ones who love us crazy. It starts with lines about being warm and naked, come to save each other, and (like it goes for many of us) the song progresses from well-thought out guitar chords to a sort of jangly angry cacophony with yelled lyrics like “I said oh God damn it, you’re so mean” by the end. The mood of the song is so perfect to soundtrack their argument, and the way he yells when he gets truly frustrated echoes the cracks in Conor Oberst’s vocals. Their album is called Drunk Like Bible Times (stream it here) with song titles fitting the album moniker, like “I’m Not Crying. You’re Not Crying, Are You?” That sounds about correct. Their next album is going to be called, And Verily Adam Lay With Eve, And The Lord Saw That It Was Good.

Done With Love
Whispertown 2000
I missed the Jenny Lewis/Whispertown2000 show in Denver last week, but my friend Jake made it out to see the fair Rilo Kileyan and her new favorite band. He spent most of his time going jelly-kneed over Jenny (what can you expect from a blog called I’d Leave My Girlfriend For Jenny Lewis?), but he also enjoyed the “Cat Power vibe” and eighties-tastic denim shorts of these ladies, Morgan Nagler and Vanesa Corbala of Whispertown2000 (who also appear on Lewis’s new record). I saw WT2k open for She & Him at the Noise Pop fest in San Francisco in March, and they’ve got an alt-country vibe mixed with those doo-wop girl group harmonies. Their sophomore album Swim is due out October 21 on Acony Records.

when i leave your arms / the things that i think of

This brand new Avett Brothers video for their song “Murder In The City” (off the Second Gleam EP) went live over on the Paste Magazine site today. It’s quiet and gorgeous, but full of small moments that make me smile; the way his Seth’s hands pause on the ivories, the smile shared when the brothers remember the trouble they got into when they were younger, the dark look that flits across Scott’s face when he sings about “when I leave your arms, the things that I think of . . .” He looks so concerned. I know the feeling.

Murder In The City – The Avett Brothers

It’s a whole different side of them than this; equally wonderful.

Dr. Dog at Denver’s Hi-Dive on Saturday (with Delta Spirit and Hacienda)

Saturday night was a fantastic night for shows in Denver. I split my time equally between the Hi-Dive and the Gothic and caught a few superb and passionate performances.

First up, Hacienda opened the night at the Hi-Dive, in a sold out show with Dr. Dog and Delta Spirit. I didn’t know what to expect from this band of Mexican-American brothers (+1 cousin) from San Antonio, Texas, but their sound fit in nicely with the serrated retro vibes of their tourmates. Their 6-song demo landed in the hands of Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys (who is quite the producer lately), and their debut album was recorded in his Akron, Ohio studio with members of Dr. Dog. Loud Is The Night is out now on Bomp Records.

She’s Got A Hold On Me – Hacienda
(also stream the delicious “Hear Me Crying” on their MySpace)

Next up was Delta Spirit, who I already raved about here, and were just as good as I had hoped. I smiled a ridiculously huge smile throughout their whole set. They are heading out on the road with none other than the fantastic Nada Surf in the coming months; be sure to catch them if you can.

Two pics, then a video below (in the low light, but how great is that apt trashcan-percussion lid?):

[all photos from the first two acts here]

“TRASHCAN” – DELTA SPIRIT (LIVE IN DENVER)

Finally . . . I left. No, really. Not out of spite for the wonderful Dr. Dog from Philly, but because the Dandy Warhols were taking the stage over at the Gothic. That’s a story for another day. Luckily, I stumbled across a wonderful local taper who recorded the Dr. Dog set! If I close my eyes, spill a beer on my foot, and turn up the heater it’s almost like being there.

DR. DOG IN DENVER
09/27/08 – HI-DIVE
The Old Days
Hang On
The Way the Lazy Do
Army of Ancients
Ain’t It Strange
The Girl
The Breeze
Fool’s Life
From
The Ark
My Friend
100 Years
My Old Ways
The Beach
The Rabbit, The Bat, and The Reindeer
Worst Trip

(Encore)
Easy Beat
Die, Die, Die
Oh No
Fuck It

ZIP FILE: DR. DOG AT THE HI-DIVE

Taper Notes:
- Some PA/bass distortion was present in the later part of the show.
- Members of Delta Spirit were on stage for 2-3 songs.

[thanks to the awesome local Flat Response for taping!]

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds bring fire, brimstone and rock ‘n’ roll to Denver

Friday night around 2am I was having a conversation out in a dark alley, next to broken-out windows and dumpsters, with a fellow who told me that Nick Cave saved his life.

Back in high school he listened to punk and often felt alienated from the other kids, from the metalhead contingent, the popular rock and the hair bands. Discovering music like Nick Cave’s work with The Birthday Party, and then his early albums with the Bad Seeds in the mid-’80s, had opened up whole new worlds of literate music to him that intelligently and ferociously reached across all boundaries and grabbed hold of him.

As we loitered in the darkness waiting for Nick Cave to emerge from the bowels of the Ogden Theatre after a mindblowingly amazing show, he told me how much Cave had resonated with him over the years. Standing there with his girlfriend, he held a copy of the 1985 album The Firstborn Is Dead to his chest, and in twenty minutes he would be walking away with Nick’s writing across the front, lyrics to “A Train Long-Suffering” written in silver ink still wet around his picture on the black cover. As I touched his shoulder to say bye, he was shaking like a leaf.

I am a latecomer to the cult of Cave, but after Friday night’s sold-out and powerful show, count me as a convert. Apocalyptic and spiritual metaphors are the strongest that come up after you are baptized by fire into a Nick Cave show. As he dances, stomps, writhes and howls onstage, slim and strong in his suit, sweating through his clothes, you feel like you are seeing some sort of punk-rock preacher come to save us from our sins (and planting ideas about a few new ones while he’s at it).

It’s not a gimmick nor a schtick like some Reverends in the rock world, but just the force of his personality, his intense band (with two drummers!!) and the raging quality of his songs. To get some idea of what the entire night was like, watch my favorite video of the year:

DIG, LAZARUS DIG!!!

Cave is one of the most intelligent songwriters I know of, not afraid to mix the sacred and the profane to illustrate new meanings with a punch, or to take on old stories like the closing “Stagger Lee” and make it his own with lyrics I nearly blush to repeat. The music was potent, the performance pure undiluted rock ‘n’ roll. Cave performed everything from the title track from his latest album with aplomb (second in the set), to the earliest songs like “Tupelo” as well as beloved favorites like “Red Right Hand” and “The Mercy Seat.” They held the stage for more than two visceral hours with no signs of letting up until the bitter end.

Setlist: Night of the Lotus Eaters / Dig Lazarus Dig!!! / Tupelo / Today’s Lesson / The Weeping Song / Red Right Hand / Love Letter / Hold on to Yourself / The Mercy Seat / Moonland / Midnight Man / Deanna / We Call Upon the Author / Hard On For Love / Papa Won’t Leave you, Henry ==encore== Wanted Man / Lyre of Orpheus / Stagger Lee

Friday night was one of the best shows I have seen in many moons, as I told Cave after the show. He replied that it had been his favorite of the tour as well despite some sound problems that plagued the beginning, leading to a hapless broken keyboard getting kicked off its stand by the towering Cave and his solid boots. Like everything else about the night, he was unrelenting.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds play Chicago tomorrow night, then a quick lap into Canada, and back to NYC and DC before heading back to Europe.

GO.

[Laurie Scavo got the shots of the show this time around;
I only got some after]

God bless Paul Newman

Ah, Paul. What a legend.

Plastic Jesus (from Cool Hand Luke) – Paul Newman

Another new contest :: Delta Spirit/Dr. Dog on Saturday in Denver

Here’s a quicklike last-minute contest for a show in Denver this weekend, since the last one went over so well. On Saturday night, Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog is playing the illustrious Hi-Dive with the sunshiney sounds of San Diego’s Delta Spirit, and I’ve got a pair of tickets to give away.

People, Delta Spirit has put out one of my favorite albums of the year with their aptly-titled Ode To Sunshine. There’s a raw and vital early ’60s Rolling Stones rock taste laced through those sweet bluesy piano melodies. Songs like “Strange Vine” and “Parade” flirt with the reverb-laden surf guitar of a thousand Southern California beach parties from summers long faded. There’s a yearning and an excitement running through the handclaps and hearty singalong sections of this album that are the domain of the young and the hopeful.

But my favorite description of Delta Spirit might be the one that said they’re “the Violent Femmes gone sepia.” Although they don’t scrape those same depths of streetpunk/outsider yowl that the Femmes always evoke for me, singer Matt Vasquez definitely does let all the ragged edges of his voice bleed in a very real way that keeps the album authentic. This album lovingly revives the sound of vintage America but with a rough-hewn edge, and is absolutely delightful.

Plus — if we’re gonna go on looks, I’ve always remembered (with a smile) the way that Amrit wrote that Vasquez looks like he unwinds between shows at The Peach Pit.

Trashcan – Delta Spirit

NEW CONTEST — WINNER GETS:
- One pair of tickets to Delta Spirit & Dr. Dog @ Hi-Dive (Sat. 9/27)
- Delta Spirit’s Ode To Sunshine CD
- Copy of RAGGED Magazine (www.raggedmag.com)

To enter, please EMAIL ME with DELTA SPIRIT SHOW as the subject line, and I’ll decide on a random winner over my coffee on Saturday morning. Because of the short notice, I’ll probably call you to let you know, so please include a phone number if you’re cool with that. I promise not to crank call or drunk dial you.

Ode to Sunshine is out now, seeing a wide re-release on Rounder Records, who were wise to snap these guys up.

New contest :: Fujiya and Miyagi’s knickerbocker glory

I have no idea what Brighton’s Fujiya & Miyagi are enticingly chanting over their sleek electronic beats in this song, the first single from their new album Lightbulbs (out now on Deaf, Dumb & Blind Records). With a sound described as “maybe Serge Gainsbourg with a PhD in electronics backed by David Byrne’s Eno-produced scratchy guitar mixed by MF Doom,” this album is effortlessly cool.

FUJIYA & MIYAGI: “KNICKERBOCKER”

If you are confused by the lyrics but dig F&M as much as I do (or want to give em a shot) I have a prize pack for a lucky winner — one copy of the new album Lightbulbs and a Fujiya & Miyagi tshirt.

Have at it in the comments if you’d like to win.

F&M OCTOBER SHOWS
Oct 22 – MERCURY LOUNGE NEW YORK
Oct 23 – WEBSTER HALL NEW YORK
Oct 24 – PARADISE BOSTON
Oct 25 – BOTTOM LOUNGE CHICAGO
Oct 27 – CHOP SUEY SEATTLE
Oct 28 – THE INDEPENDENT SAN FRANCISCO
Oct 30 – THE TROUBADOUR LOS ANGELES

Side note: Pretty sure he might have gotten that shirt at Target.

OTHER CONTEST UPDATE:
The winners of the Brian Wilson contest are:
Vinyl album – jeremy v.
7″ vinyl single – kouzie
CD – Jamoo

All the comments were marvelous and I very much enjoyed being transported for a bit while reading through them all. Winners, please email me with your addresses (although you are all winners in my book).

Vedder covers Nick Cave and Trent Reznor

On August 21 Eddie Vedder began a two night stand in Chicago, part of his ongoing his solo tour (which I was fortunate to catch in Berkeley back in April). I’d heard that he covered both Nick Cave and Trent Reznor during his inventive set. Fascinating.

In honor of me planning to see Nick Cave tomorrow night with his Bad Seeds, it seemed a good time to dig up the mp3s. I love it when Eddie covers Ship Song.

Ship Song (Nick Cave cover) – Eddie Vedder [stream]
Hurt (Nine Inch Nails cover) – Eddie Vedder

10/1/08: mp3 links removed again at the request of the Ten Club.
Hmmm, starting to leave a sour taste in my mouth.

[photo credit Andrea Latina]

Last night :: Spiritualized and N.E.R.D. (no, not together)

Last night I had high aspirations of a rare two-show/one-night venture. I went to the Fillmore to see Chester French, but they played earlier than quoted and I missed the set. I was confused when I got there and asked the older black security guard if anyone had played yet and he sniffed, “A few skinny white boys. They was good.” I found this amusing, and frustrating that I didn’t get to see them myself. I had time and stayed for N.E.R.D., then headed to the loud, uplifting rock-and-gospel sounds of Spiritualized. It was quite the head-swirling show.

SEE ‘EM:
N.E.R.D. pictures
Spiritualized pictures

August and everything after

I had plans tonight to go see Counting Crows play Fiddlers Green in this gorgeous Indian summer twilight, and looking forward to it greatly — but life conspired against me. This is a song I’ve been wanting to post for a long time, the title track from their debut album that never made it on the record, but whose lyrics can be seen scrawled all over the cover:

August and Everything After (live) – Counting Crows