They are called The Gaslight Anthem, they’re from New Jersey (natch) and they have struck chords of urgency and passion inside of me something fierce. Lead singer Brian Fallon grew up in a home four blocks from E Street (yes, that one) and their music pays a nod to urgent elements of Springsteen, the Hold Steady and Lucero. Bringing a punk aesthetic to the music of their idols, they embody an audacious belief that music can still be heard “like a shot through my skull to my brain.”
I’ve been listening to this acoustic set all afternoon, and identifying so strongly with the high-resolution magnification of emotions laid bare in these lines. There is a resignation that becomes razor-sharp when all the punk defiance in the ragged yell of the album version is stripped away. The way Fallon sings in “Great Expectations” about seeing tail lights last night in dreams about his old life, and the baldfaced line “everybody left me, Mary, why wouldn’t you?” just absolutely kills me.
Not that it needed it (their album The ’59 Sound is easily one of my tops this year), but these acoustic versions completely reinvent their music in sepia shades of Nebraska.
I saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals rock a bluesy, soulful set last night before a packed Ogden Theater. In addition to a powerful selection of songs from their own catalog, they worked in a ferocious cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black.”
Just listen to Grace wail on the line about, “I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes…”
This is a gorgeously serpentine Elliott Smith cover from Oakland, CA foursome The Audrye Sessions. The first handful of times I listened to this I thought for sure it was a woman singing in that mournful alto. Now I realize that this band is fronted by a guy, Ryan Karazija. His voice reminds me of when Jeff Buckley would cover Nina Simone, or Thom Yorke’s otherworldy falsetto. This spare rendition is altogether haunting.
What Made Milwaukee Famous are named after a Jerry Lee Lewis lyric, and completely not from Milwaukee. These guys from Austin Texas just released a free five-song EP on Barsuk Records, featuring stripped-down renditions of songs from both 2006′s Trying To Never Catch Up and their new release What Doesn’t Kill Us. One of the tracks is a vibrant pop-heaven version of “Sweet Lady,” a song that I once called “toe-tapping and fantastic — this song really wants to be the first track on your next mixtape.” I still agree.
The free SugarHill Sessions EP was recorded at “the Abbey Road of the South” — SugarHill is the oldest continually operating studio in Texas. Having played host to the likes of Willie Nelson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, and Johnny Bush, SugarHill has been quietly contributing to the musical legacy of Texas for the past 67 years.
WHAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS TOUR DATES 11-10 Seattle, WA – Chop Suey 11-11 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge 11-13 San Francisco, CA – Popscene 11-14 Los Angeles, CA – Echo 11-15 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
Last week, Ryan Adams and the Cardinals stopped by the Austin, Texas studio of KUT Public Radio and performed two songs off Cardinology: a gorgeous slow piano version of “Fix It,” one of my favorite tracks on the new album, and the sweet sorrow of “Go Easy.”
In between songs Ryan discusses the Cardinals shimmering in the sunlight of purity, and how anyone who sees his ex-ex-girlfriend should run.
But in terms of viscerally potent performances, I can’t stop watching the way he sings the line at 2:23 – “Look what I did to you, look what you did to me — FIX IT!” (two days later on Letterman). If only wishing that much could make it so.
Finally — according to his marvelously random blog, work is underway on songwriting for the follow-up to Cardinology (shocker!). He writes:
i have been working on sketches for our next record. The paperback dictionary you see here, and the (if you squint) book next to it, are old-school. I have used that little dictionary when song-writing since my first solo album and strangely pack it without thinking from time to time. when i do new songs come round.
the book next to it has all the new songs in it. i found it at the chelsea street markets recently. it’s falling apart some but i don’t mind. so am i.
…You’ll be driving along depressed when suddenly a cloud will move and the sun will muscle through and ignite the hills. It may not last. Probably won’t last. But for a moment the whole world comes to. Wakes up. Proves it lives. It lives red, yellow, orange, brown, russet, ocher, vermilion, gold. Flame and rust. Flame and rust, the permutations of burning. You’re on fire. Your eyes are on fire. It won’t last, you don’t want it to last. You can’t stand any more. But you don’t want it to stop. It’s what you’ve come for. It’s what you’ll come back for. It won’t stay with you, but you’ll
remember that it felt like nothing else you’ve felt or something you’ve felt that also didn’t last.
I have family from Georgia who always felt very strongly about civil rights throughout the years when that was a potentially dangerous stance to hold. I was blessed with a wonderfully strong and graceful Grammy who relentlessly worked in her neighborhood, in her small and quiet ways, to stand up for what is right. What happened yesterday has been a long time coming, and this article above blew my mind. Young people forget that within the last 50 years, black people lacked the ability to freely vote, and people were killed in this country for trying to register black voters.
Last night, I smiled when Obama referenced this Sam Cooke song in his victory speech; this version from Otis Redding is one of my favorites:
Yesterday, I voted for change, and today I am inspired, excited and full of hope for our country. As I poured my coffee, I found myself thinking about what I could specifically do to get involved in what lies ahead.
On this rather historic U.S. election day, I can almost feel the crackle of excitement in the air around town. I am pleased with this. I am excited for people getting involved and for the sense of personal commitment and ability to make a difference. As the wise Italian hip-hop sage Jovanotti once said in his song “Dal Basso” with Michael Franti: “tutto nasce dal basso (e poi va su)” — all change is birthed from the bottom (and then rises up). Let’s go out and do it.
The music of the week for me includes:
Black Rice Women As demonstrated at their scuzzy-loud, pop-layered, feedback-drenched show last night in Denver, there aren’t actually any women in this Canadian band. They are, however, engaged in a fierce battle for “Worst Band Name To Google, Ever.” Currently Air and Bread hold the title, but Cake and Spoon are close behind. Nice try, Women. Their self-titled debut album (out now on Flemish Eye) was recorded by labelmate Chad VanGaalen, and possesses a delightfully unclassifiable combo of ’50s reverb, Warhol’s art experimentation, and ’90s spaceyness. The night seemed abuzz with folks wondering who this band was.
Steal Away Murder by Death It is not possible to hear this song and deny that the spirit of the Man In Black is back walking among us in fresh new incarnations. The moniker Murder By Death sounds vaguely emo, but actually they take their name from the 1976 Neil Simon/Robert Moore movie. This four-piece from Indiana turns an inventive and melancholic ear to their craft to create a uniquely brooding blend of creatively dark Americana. Red Of Tooth And Claw is their fourth album, their first on Vagrant Records, and the excellent Eric caused me to take a closer look at them when he wrote that it’s “full of fatally-doomed antebellum romance and directly descended from the Southern gothic tradition.” Yes.
Wicked Blitzen Trapper Currently on tour with Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus and his Jicks, Portland’s Blitzen Trapper comes through Denver later this week in support of their rad Sub Pop debut Furr. The title track is one of the loveliest songs to add to my playlist in recent months, and one creative friend wrote that it “makes me well up like I am watching that movie about sled dogs by disney,” a description that amused me greatly. This previously unreleased tune from BT carries on a bit of that wild playfulness, and can be found on the soundtrack to the movie adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk’s Choke, which also includes the 2004 Ben Kweller song “The Rules,” and a Doors cover by Nicole Atkins & The Sea.
The Sun Smells Too Loud Mogwai The sweeping cinematic grandeur of Scottish band Mogwai will take the willing off onto mental escapades, much like what Sigur Ros does for me. The last I heard from Mogwai they were weaving their atmospherically gorgeous contribution to the Zidane documentary, but the newest free Matador Records sampler highlights this cut off their sixth album The Hawk Is Howling. It is dizzying like a bright sun, elegant in the build and cascade.
Good Arms vs. Bad Arms (live) Frightened Rabbit As I’ll probably sum up in some sort of end-of-the-year retrospective, Scotland’s Frightened Rabbit put on one of my top 5 shows this year. Some might shy from the guttingly brutal lyrics in their introspective-but-ferocious songs chronicling the death of a relationship, but I’ll jump in. I’ll do the catharsis, and they do it so well. Frightened Rabbit have a new live album out now on FatCat UK called Liver! Lung! FR!, which is an unconventional but fitting title for a band that eviscerates me like this. This version of Good Arms vs Bad Arms is slower, sadder and somehow more beautiful than the album version. It sounds almost like a eulogy, and in a way I guess it is.
NOVEMBER BLUE by The Avett Brothers If I weren’t leavin’ would I catch you dreamin’? And if I weren’t gonna be gone now could I take you home?
And if I told you I love you would it change what you see? And if I was staying would you stay with me?
And if I had money would it all look good? And if I had a job now, like a good man should And if I came to you tomorrow and said let’s run away Would you roll like the wind does? Baby, would you stay?
My heart is dancing to a November tune And I hope that you hear it singing songs about you I sing songs of sorrow because you’re not around See babe if I’m gone tomorrow baby follow me down
I don’t know why I have to, but this man must move on I love my time here, didn’t know ’til I was gone November shadows shade November change November spells sweet memory the season blue remains
Your yellow hair is like the sunlight however sweet it shines Bit by the cold of December I’m warm beside your smile
Oh lady tell me I’m not leaving you’re everything I dream I’m killing myself thinking I’ve fallen like the leaves
I’m killing myself thinking I’ve fallen like the leaves
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.
They are called The Gaslight Anthem, they’re from New Jersey (natch) and they have struck chords of urgency and passion inside of me something fierce. Lead singer Brian Fallon grew up in a home four blocks from E Street (yes, that one) and their music pays a nod to urgent elements of Springsteen, the Hold Steady and Lucero. Bringing a punk aesthetic to the music of their idols, they embody an audacious belief that music can still be heard “like a shot through my skull to my brain.”
Name: Heather Browne
