The good folks at Bar/None did the work for me today, with three spooky little songs, all good and not cheesy haunted-house sounding. Although there would be nothing wrong with that (but really. How many times can you hear Monster Mash?)
It’s nice working on a college campus on a day like today, even though I got almost nothing done because my blood sugar level is probably illegal. A guy in a small toga and a grape leaf garland just came into my office looking for glue, and out the window I can see my co-worker dressed as Dog The Bounty Hunter at the copy machine. Love it.
I’m out to make some mischief. Be good and pls save the Milk Duds for me.
Seeing Ray LaMontagne the first time was pretty dang incredible. It was early 2005 and I had just experienced the beginnings of my slow musical rebirth (snatched from the jaws of grownup musical apathy) through his groundshaking Trouble. I listened to it non-stop, feeling like something I had been missing out of music was slowly being diffused back into me. The rough-hewn beauty of the music, the incisive daggers in his lyrics, and most of all that unbelievable voice — it all felt so raw and beautiful. I went to see him at the Fillmore in S.F., and as I wrote:
“This skinny guy comes walking out on stage, looking as uncomfortable as all get out. Big beard. Quiet voice. Hiding behind his guitar. I almost thought he was going to bolt.
But then he opens his mouth and begins to play.
He has this vulnerable, raspy, velvety, pure voice, and he absolutely pours his soul into his music . . . He feels each word and resonates with each chord.
[One] non-album track that I remember vividly from the show is “Can I Stay.” He ended with this song. The venue went still, as if we were all transfixed in the moment, like you could almost feel the song hanging there above our heads. The spotlight shone on him, with the dust motes swirling in the heavy air. Absolutely beautiful song. I almost felt like I couldn’t breathe.”
On Monday night, I made the long drive up to Boulder for my fourth time seeing Ray. As jaded and cynical as I sometimes worry that my little critic’s heart is becoming, wouldn’t you know it – it happened again for me. The chills and the lump in the throat. Several times. The potency and passion still lives in Ray’s music, and I was so glad to meet up with it again.
Dressed in the same plaid shirt/jeans/workboots ensemble of his Maine roots, Ray is really hitting an amazing stride and finding his subtle confidence as a performer. Instead of feeling bad for even looking at him on-stage, as I sometimes did that first night, Ray now exhales a quiet sense of purpose, a level of comfort as he melds with his backing band, and occasionally a wickedly funny streak. (One gal in the crowd yelled out that it was her birthday, 26. Ray first claimed not to remember that long ago in his life, and then he thought for a moment and pensively but determinedly said, “Now I said I didn’t know what I was doing at 26, and that’s not true. I was getting stoned, that’s what I was doin’”).
Ray’s set skillfully wove his older material together with the bigger, brighter, shiner songs from his new album Gossip In The Grain. From the robust opening notes of “You Are The Best Thing,” to the rocking blues of his ode to Meg White (while the stage was saturated in a very White-Stripesy crimson light), it was exciting to see this different side of him bloom. The country flavor ran deep, with pedal steel replacing the elegant strings on songs like “Shelter.” Songs were laced through with high and lonesome whistles, and harmonicas unbounded like a runaway train.
I was nothing short of captivated, that he could still move those puzzle pieces around inside me. In a moment, Ray’s music conjures up a hard-working world of faded wood cabins on the plain, country dresses, and going home at night exhausted to someone who really loves you. There may be some cornbread involved, maybe a passel of children. All that flashed through my mind (and I thought about various Steinbeck books I’ve read) in the way he sang the line from Empty about, “kiss me with that country mouth so plain.” Overactive constructs, perhaps, but I loved it nonetheless in its simplicity, and in his absolute gut-wrenching conviction. He still doesn’t sing songs as much as they are yanked out from his insides.
Since you all already know that I’m a sap sometimes, I’ll totally cop to crying on his solo acoustic version of “Burn.” I didn’t expect that. It was very much like this video from a few days prior, and just bleeding raw and damn gorgeous:
A guy in the balcony said it best when he yelled out during one of the many quiet moments of guitar tuning between songs: “You sound good, Ray!”
And good it was. Very good.
SETLIST
You Are The Best Thing
Hold You In My Arms
Let It Be Me
I Still Care For You (with Leona Naess) Empty
Henry Nearly Killed Me (It’s A Shame)
Narrow Escape
Meg White
Burn (solo acoustic) Winter Birds (solo acoustic) Hey Me, Hey Mama
You Can Bring Me Flowers
Shelter
Trouble
–Encore–
3 More Days
Jolene
Gossip In The Grain (with Leona Naess)
Yeah, it’s that good — the 1:11 mark in Heaven’s Helping is one of my absolute favorite moments in any song ever. It borders on celestially sublime; sixteen seconds of downright musical perfection.
I discovered Harrison’s work only after Cotton Mather broke up, and now their albums are often solely the purview of lucky record store cratediggers and used-on-Amazon buyers. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when Austin-based frontman Robert Harrison came back to musical life last year with a cinematic new band, Future Clouds and Radar. The sound is evolving into something a bit more psychedelic and sweeping, but that Lennonesque voice obviously remains the same.
After 2007′s self-titled double disc, Future Clouds and Radar is back with their sophomore effort, Peoria. The opening track has a rosy glow that builds and shimmers, as it sings about “an Epcot view of the stars.”
Also, a flabbergasted thanks (!!) to one of my favorite writers/fellow music lover Nick Hornby for the Fuel/Friends mention today on the New York Times site. He must have known that I have Songbook on my nightstand right now, not even lying.
No two ways about it — I’m pretty proud of those Halloween carving adventure results. First time I ever tried one of those fancy kit things with tracing wheels and all (mine is on the right), and I still popped the eyeball out of the left eye and had to tape it back on (shhhh, don’t tell). Since we always used dull carving knives and grabbed the gooey innards with our bare hands when we were kids, I felt a little out of my element when handed mini saws and ridged plastic scrapers. But what I lack in inborn creativity, I make up for in being able to trace.
I also solidified my costume this weekend at the Buffalo Exchange secondhand shop in Capitol Hill (Denver) with my friend Laurie. When she screamed and then died laughing after I tried said element on, I knew it was a keeper. My mom took out a needle and thread yesterday to make some alterations to the dress (because she is the best mom ever) and I am set. Boo!
Music for this week:
If You Want Blood (AC/DC cover) Mark Kozelek Gathering a wide variety of covers from his days with Red House Painters and also his solo career, Mark Kozelek is releasing The Finally LP on December 9th. Always staggering in the ways he reinvents originals, many of the tracks collected here were first featured on compilation albums that are no longer available. If you know me at all, you might know that I am a sucker for covers (and love his) so I will be picking this one up. AC/DC never sounded so pensive, so sensual, so sad. Listen to his previously unreleased cover of Husker Du’s “Celebrated Summer” here, and pre-order the record on his Caldo Verde imprint.
Fresh Feeling (live in 2005) Eels This song takes me back vividly to a perfectly encapsulated feeling of, well, freshness. Possibility. Old paint peeling and new horizons suddenly coming into sharp focus. I never tire of the the sweet melancholic strings combining with the crispness of the sharp clean beat. This live version of Fresh Feeling is from Manchester in 2005, and part of a free 4-song EP for download on the Eels website as part of a promotion for the new Blinking Lights deluxe version. Lately I’ve been quite impressed with Eels reissues and special collections – the packaging and liner notes alone are a journey. And since I’ve never caught E live, I can always use more free live Eels. You have until tomorrow to go and get it!
Born In The ’80s The Boat People While I watched Game 1 of the World Series, Bruce from Philly and I were electronically bantering, and he recommended I check out The Boat People from Brisbane and Melbourne. Their music is jaunty and bright and catchy – like Phantom Planet and the cousin Coconut Records. Even though the song talks about being born in the Eighties (and they likely were) don’t let it mislead you — the music isn’t bound to that decade. Their album Chandeliersis out now, with colors and lines on that wonderful cover art that echo the feel of the music inside.
Black White The Raveonettes Julio feels nauseous when he thinks about how effortlessly cool Danish duo The Raveonettesare, and listening to this new attitude-laden slowburner from their fresh Beauty Dies EP makes me jealous as well. All I know is that when they make a movie of my life I kinda want a scene where I get to walk down the street with this playing. I will probably wear sunglasses. In keeping with their vibe, this feels like such a stark, spacious song while vibrating with those warm surf-retro guitar tones. So sexy. Stream the full EP here, it came out last week on Vice Records.
Duet (with Ray LaMontagne) Rachel Yamagata So one more song featuring Ray’s warm voice before I head out the door to his show in a few minutes — and this is an incredible tune that has knocked me flat. The duet here is from Rachel Yamagata‘s new album Elephants… Teeth Sinking Into Heart, and it is exceptional. One of my favorite Ray moments falls within the nakedness of early renditions of “Can I Stay,” and this feels like its musical twin, or its postscript. Yamagata’s voice has innate qualities that have always reminded me of a female Ray (or perhaps the sadness wound deeply into Lisa Hannigan’s songs). Now the twain shall meet in this flawless, delicate, intimate bedroom classic.
After the the earnest beauty in his last album Learning To Bend (which included that Southern-sweet cover of “A Change Is Gonna Come“), Kentucky’s Ben Sollee is back this month with a 2-song EP, currently available only on tour.
The opening track finds Sollee pairing with another musician friend from Louisville that you may know: Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Their simply-strummed acoustic duet blends Sollee’s gentle musings of optimism with Jim’s distinctively gorgeous harmonies. It is a timely song of hope in the face of seemingly overwhelming hopelessness.
I wouldn’t make a sound if I wasn’t so angry
I wouldn’t be running if there wasn’t so far to go
I wouldn’t keep on if there wasn’t something worth keeping
I want to believe the mountain can be moved
But this is only a song
It can’t change the world
But why try? Why even sing at all?
… There is beauty in freedom and folks like me
Came over on boats, flew in on planes, crawled under fences and fought wars
to find some unity
Touring in support of his new third album Gossip In The Grain, the skinny bearded man with the immensely warm & rough voice comes through Boulder tonight. I fell hard for Ray LaMontagne in early 2005 and his music has accompanied me through all sorts of highs and lows since then. Every now and again I still get a hard lump in my throat that’s hard to swallow past when I listen to his music; even after knowing most of it by heart, it still suckerpunches. This is one of my favorite qualities.
The effortlessly wonderful songbird Leona Naess lends her talents on Ray’s newest album, and also opens this tour. I am quite excited to see her live after also being a fan for several years and never managing to catch her on tour. I was out at the record store on Friday night and I saw that her long-awaited album Thirteensis finally, finally out with little fanfare. It’s excellent.
It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly how I found myself dancing in a music video about bacon and Obama — but I know when one gets an invitation to wear bacon-hued clothes and come prepared to dance on a Sunday afternoon, you best listen. Plus, I guess I’ve always wanted to be a girl in a hip-hop video, really ever since my days of watching In Living Color. So it’s kind of a no-brainer.
After the taping a few weekends ago, I was singing this song for days (“heat up the griddle cuz that bacon got sizzle!”). Oh, watch at your own risk.
On Thursday night, the prodigal sons of preacher Leon were out in fine form at the Fillmore in Denver. Playing to a sold-out crowd, Kings of Leon opened with their current steamy single “Sex on Fire” and pushed through the early technical difficulties with the swagger of “My Party.”
Minus the long hair and cleaned up like school photo day, the clan kept it tight through through pent-up rockers like “Four Kicks” (which always makes me feel like I want to, well, kick somebody) and my favorite song off Because Of The Times, “Fans” (to my unbridled delight). Some of their newer material felt a little sludgy but definitely hit a high point with “Use Somebody,” which is a fantastic song and sounds epic live. Although for me they never quite hit the same sweaty frenzy of the last time I saw them at the smaller Ogden Theater, they –and possibly their sex, although this is unverified at press time– were still on fire.
Off Canada’s Arts & Crafts label, The Stills opened the night (always the bridesmaids, never the brides — although they totally could bring it as headliners themselves) followed by New York’s We Are Scientists. The Gigbot photo booth was also out to capture all the fine looking hipsters in the crowd, and then there was me and Julio.
Today marks the release of All Aboard: A Tribute To Johnny Cash, featuring The Gaslight Anthem and Ben Nichols of Lucero in a one-two punch, along with artists like Chuck Ragan, Dresden Dolls (featuring Franz Nicolay of The Hold Steady) and a variety of other punk/indie/Americana bands. Some artists I’ve not previously heard of, but they do the songs an interesting turn. Aside from a few missteps, in general the rough edges of this collection suit the songs well.
TRACKLISTING: 1. Man In Black – The Bouncing Souls 2. Country Boy – Fallen From The Sky 3. Wreck Of The Old ’97 – Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) 4. Let The Train Whistle Blow – Joe McMahon (Smoke or Fire) 5. Delia’s Gone – Ben Nichols (Lucero) 6. God’s Gonna Cut You Down – The Gaslight Anthem 7. Cocaine Blues – The Loved Ones 8. Give My Love To Rose – OnGuard (feat. Jason Shevchuk of Kid Dynamite and None More Black) 9. I Still Miss Someone – Casey James Prestwood (Hot Rod Circuit) 10. Hey Porter – MxPx 11. Cry, Cry, Cry – The Flatliners 12. Ballad of a Teenage Queen – The Dresden Dolls feat. Franz Nicolay of The Hold Steady 13. Folsom Prison Blues – Chon Travis (Love = Death) 14. There You Go – The Sainte Catherines 15. I Walk The Line – Russ Rankin (Good Riddance, Only Crime)
All proceeds benefit the Syrentha Savio Endowment for underprivileged breast cancer patients; we can all rock for breasts. That seems like a pretty unifying and worthy cause. Buy the album for ten bucks on Anchorless Records.
Also, good neighbors take note: Ben Nichols and Chuck Ragan are playing (along with Tim Barry, Jon Snodgrass and Austin Lucas) tomorrow and Thursday nights in Colorado as part of this “Revival Tour.” Hallelujah.
Insound is partnering with Fuel/Friends to offer a sweet limited-edition Calexicoposter designed by the fearsome Jason Munn of Small Stakes in San Francisco. If you are a fan of the burnished southwestern wilderness in Calexico’s music, moustaches, or excellent poster design, this is the contest for you. Enter to win here, and the lucky reader will be announced next Tuesday.
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.
Zombies On Parade – Greg Camp
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Name: Heather Browne
