if i could be who you wanted all the time… (it wears me out)

The vulnerability in Tweedy’s voice does something to me in this song.

[via/more info]

Okkervil River and Joni Mitchell, before the goldrush

Since you know you’re probably not gonna quit your job and Teach For America (unless you are one of my idealistic college-student readers in which case: DO it!) there’s a new compilation out that will let you toss them a few kopeks instead to help them carry on their noble educational goals.

Before The Goldrush is a benefit album of freshfaced up-and-coming types (along with some moderate heavies like The Swell Season and Neko Case) covering some of the very best songwriters of the halcyon days gone by. The song selection is spot-on fantastic, and all the proceeds benefit Teach For America.

The Swell Season‘s amazing cover of “Into The Mystic” from the bonus version of the Once soundtrack appears on the digital-only release, as does this song that Okkervil River first released on their free covers EP in December 2007:

Blonde In The Bleachers – Okkervil River
Blonde In The Bleachers – Joni Mitchell

Full tracklisting:

[thanks Bodie!]

Booey Gibbanel or Zen Deschbard?

The comments over on the Stereogum post about the pending nuptials of Ben Gibbard (DCFC) and Zooey Deschanel (She & Him, Almost Famous, and, most importantly, Elf) have made me double over with silent laughter about ten times. Well played, Stereogum commenters. It’s worth a post just to note the guy wondering what their celebrity couple name will be (“Booey Gibbanel or Zen Deschbard? I like Zen Deschbard. Or maybe Booey Deschbard.”)

Inciting the most indignation is the fact that people didn’t know they were dating (I know, right?! I thought we were BFFs). I generally don’t care about romances of famous people, but I have to admit being pleased in my heart when I heard this announcement because I totally called it back in August when they both appeared at that awesome music supergroup event at the Democratic National Convention event in Denver:

Female intuition INTACT!

And then they went and covered the Everly Brothers together all sweet-like, and I was like, CLEARLY.

So yeah. Sorry, heartbroken guys.

[…and whoa I am just noticed I’m totally at the end of the crowd panorama in that video. Carry on.]

New contest :: Flight of the Conchords Season 1 on DVD

I got me a sweet kiwi-bird necklace from New Zealand the other day, one that you wish you had. Its shiny loveliness hails from the same shores as one of NZ’s finest recent exports, the Flight of the Conchords folk duo. If you missed out on Season One, you can catch up on the hilariousness here (and maybe start with this) and prepare for Season Two which launches January 18th on HBO. You can stream the first episode of the new season in its entirety.

We also gots a new Fuel/Friends contest to win you some Flight of the Conchords swag! Leave a comment (maybe with your favorite FotC line if you’ve seen it) to win:
+ Season 1 of Flight of the Conchords on DVD
+ an FotC notebook
+ an FotC guitar pick (rock. on.)
+ an FotC poster and some FotC postcards (“Born to Folk”)

I’ll pick a random winner after one week. And I’m mandated to be all ethnocentric and imperialistic here, and only have this contest open to U.S. residents (I know! I know there are lots of you elsewhere). Sor-ry.

Bowie dream-sequence awesomeness

Bowie – Flight of the Conchords (one of the funniest things about David Bowie ever recorded. I love his music but I have an ongoing, chronic fear of him.)
Ladies Of The World – Flight of the Conchords

BONUS: Rip of the Flight Of The Conchords theme song
(makes a great ‘lil addition to a mix)

Michael Benjamin Lerner has telekinesis, and magic

Last summer, Chris Walla (Death Cab for Cutie) wrote a guest post on Stereogum about his newest, favoritest band — which is really just one super-talented guy named Michael Benjamin Lerner. Under the name Telekinesis, Lerner is making some of the most divinely catchy powerpop, reminding me of The Kinks, Nada Surf and The Shins kinda all jamming together in a community center somewhere. It’s energetic, and it feels great. Walla wrote:

“…His is pretty much my favorite record right now, even though it’s not a record yet. He plays and writes and records everything. I think I’ll be recording with him in September, on the 8 track, all ’70s style. That’s the idea anyway.”

Well that idea has now come to fruition with a full-length, Walla-produced debut in the can — recorded in a process Lerner calls “insanely fun.”

If the sublime stuff on their MySpace player, and this particular song “Tokyo,” is any indication, this could be one of the great records of 2009. WATCH:

All Of A Sudden – Telekinesis
Coast of Carolina (demo) – Telekinesis

See?!

Download the KEXP set here (5 songs!), and they also recorded a Kinks cover for the Hard To Find a Friend Holiday comp. Nice fit.

Telekinesis is playing a string of dates in February & March with Ra Ra Riot, including San Francisco’s Noise Pop! Hmmm…

Buffalo Tom frontman on a free covers rampage

Everyone’s got a blog these days.

One trend I am particularly thrilled about is musicians who try their hand at regular posting, and use blog technology to share their music directly with the fans. Buffalo Tom (rad ’90s rock band from Boston) frontman Bill Janovitz has started one of his own and, in a powerplay to capture all the love in my hot-pulsating heart, is offering a free cover each week, along with an interesting backstory about the tune. Well … some of the writing is about the tune; in true blog form, some is just poetic rambling. And I adore it.

BILL JANOVITZ (BUFFALO TOM)
COVERS OF THE WEEK
#1 Little Mascara (The Replacements) [orig post]
#2 Johnsburg, Illinois (Tom Waits) [orig post]
#3 One Step Up (Springsteen) [orig post]
#4 Dreaming (Blondie) – Till The Next Goodbye (Rolling Stones) Medley [orig post]
#6 In A Misty Morning (Gene Clark) [orig post]
#7 Slip Sliding Away (Paul Simon) [orig post]

ZIP THEM UP AND ENJOY; subscribe to get future editions

There’s also a holly jolly Christmas one (#5) and New Year’s (#8) that I’ll let y’all figger out for yourselves since those days are passed and we now set our stony faces back to a work week tomorrow and I don’t want to talk about it.

[photo credit Stephen Dowling; thanks Kevin for the tip]

if my heart would do just one single thing my head told it to

Viking Moses recently recorded a session for the fabulous Daytrotter folks, and I was reeled in by one song that clocks in at barely a minute. It was the simple story that Viking Moses (Brendon Massei) tells to go along with it:

…Probably the song I’m most proud of. It’s so short, maybe about a minute long, so I hope it’s not very burdensome on a listener. But I just love the melody, and the intention is about as pure as it can be. I wrote the song after I met Laura, and the whole encounter just turned me upside down in the best ways. I’d just met her, and invited her to tour with me, and we parted ways in Saint Louis, Missouri. She went back to New York. I went to my Mom’s in Belton, Missouri, wrote the song at her kitchen table.

Syracuse (Daytrotter session) – Viking Moses

The entire Daytrotter session is ace (and free!). It’s sent me scurrying off to download more from this artist.

The Parts That Showed is the thoroughly enjoyable sophomore release from Viking Moses, recorded on the Oldham family farm in central Kentucky by Paul Oldham (brother to Will). Massei has been making music as Viking Moses since 2004, and was previously signed by Alan McGee (Creation Records founder, and manager of Oasis, Jesus & Mary Chain, Primal Scream, Teenage Fanclub, Mogwai, Libertines, etc). He currently releases music with a rotating cast of fellow musicians on Connecticut’s Music Fellowship label.

After contributing a song to Devendra Banhart’s 2004 compilation Golden Apples Of The Sun, he’s often been filed under the freak-folk header. But despite sharing a touch of Devendra’s quavery delicacy from time to time, I don’t hear much freakiness at all.

There’s the occasional burst of warm electric alt-rock reverb, the glorious retro echo of Grizzly Bear, and the appealing acoustic warmth of wild mountain nation folks like Blitzen Trapper or the other brother Oldham. As the Viking Moses Myspace page says, “They only call it FOLK so you’ll BUY it!”

This melody has stuck in my head for days:

Sole Command Of The Day – Viking Moses
(from The Parts That Showed)

ADDENDUM: An EP of Neutral Milk Hotel covers?!

[top photo credit Sarah Cass]

i am mesmerized

There are a handful of artists I’ve seen live who absolutely transfix me as they craft their songs: Trent Reznor acoustic at Bridge School, Andrew Bird, El Ten Eleven, and other wizards. The science of layering and looping still ignite wonder in me, and as I wrote when I saw El Ten Eleven:

“The vague confusion that I felt when I first walked in on their set (‘Wait — I am hearing sounds that are not currently being played by those hands I see in front of me…‘) slowly melted into a hot flush of wonder. I’m a sucker for cool loops. Watching Kristian lay down one bit of melody and then another, effortlessly weaving in and out of different sounds with a flick of a finger across the strings — it was sort of like watching a magician at work, albeit in sneakers and a striped t-shirt.”

Well heck, Emily Wells just swooped in and hovered in front of me for a few minutes with her ethereal, evocative music while my cheeks flushed hot watching. My friend taped this in the Utah radio station where he has a show; jaded radio people were apparently coming out of their offices, craning their necks, and whispering questions about who this impressive young lady was.

Just off tour with Thao Nguyen, Wells says of her live performance: “All the live looping is like a sporting event, or keeping the first take of every recording. I could fall off the balance beam . . . which makes it all so much more exciting.” A violin whiz by elementary school and fielding major-label deals by 17, Wells held out instead for her own independent music-crafting career and unfettered creative exploration. Over virtuoso violin, her fearlessness in vocal range and experimentation calls to mind artists like Bjork or Tori Amos — and she lists Joanna Newsom, Aphex Twin, and Biggie Smalls among her influences.

Symphony 1: In The Barrel Of A Gun

Her self-released current album is called The Symphonies: Dreams, Memories, and Parties (“10 songs heavily influenced by classical music and hip-hop production”) and you can find information on buying it here. I hear when you buy it, she usually includes a note on a postcard.

You must also now watch her cover of Notorious B.I.G.’s “Juicy” (also captured live at KRCL in Utah). How can you not adore this woman?

A new look and a new home for Fuel/Friends

Welcome to the new Fuel/Friends. It’s been a long time coming, long-desired in my little blogger heart. Please update your bookmarks, subscribe to the new feed, and let me know how these digs work for you. The old blogger site will no longer be updated.

Immeasurable thanks to Luke Flowers for designing the new Fuel/Friends illustration, and to the guys at Dayjob for the wonderfully fresh new design and layout. I would highly recommend both of them to other bloggers and those aspiring to their own web fifedom.