it’s only a change of time, love

My week just started wonderfully, with a free download in my inbox for “Change of Time” off Josh Ritter‘s forthcoming So Runs The World Away (May 4th in the US). The songs which fall from Josh’s pen and lilt from his guitar make him one of the most important songwriters of our generation (which some people disagree with me saying, because he’s not as commercially viable as, say, Green Day).

But it’s an interesting discussion (can art be “important” without being popular?) — and in the meantime I am thrilled to hear finished versions like this. I’ve been completely mesmerized by this song ever since I first posted a live version back on my birthday, and now I can untangle all the words.

Sometimes I feel like my memories are battered hulls and broken heart-ships, leviathan and lonely, too. I closed my eyes and kept on swimming.

Josh is writing a new blog called “(If there’s a) Book of Jubilations (we’ll have to write it for ourselves)” while he’s on tour this winter. I cannot wait for the full new album. Folks I know who have heard it were rendered void of meaningful speech, only able to say things to me in acronyms like “omg.”

Winter in the Hamptons, springtime somewhere in Barcelona

Watching Josh Rouse strum his guitar on a hidden-away Barcelona sidestreet while I ate a Cara Cara orange for breakfast (I accidentally grabbed this variety at the market; it’s rosy pink inside and tastes like sunrises) made today feel like a decadent moment of defiance in wintry February.

I love the new Blogotheque footage by Vincent Moon of Rouse out and about in his (now native) Spain. Rouse blends two songs from his forthcoming El Turista album with one from his 2004 gem Nashville, and it all somehow works together like he was always meant to end up in Spain. His music is consistently satisfying, every time I sit down with him.

I’ve always thought that “Winter in the Hamptons” (ba da da ba da…) also went especially nicely when paired with “Princess on the Porch,” another one from Rouse that I listen to a lot.

I’m always taken by the line, “And baby it’s not you I was searching for, it’s only me…”

Princess on the Porch – Josh Rouse (rarity from Smooth Sounds of Josh Rouse CD)
Winter In The Hamptons – Josh Rouse (from Nashville)

…and this one is still my utter favorite. Four minutes of sublime perfection.

Saturday – Josh Rouse (also from Nashville)

Rouse’s new album El Turista is coming out on March 9th on Yep Roc, and if you head over to this site now, you can stream tracks from the new release, and download a free mp3 of “I Will Live On Islands.” The album just got a 4-star review in Q Magazine, where they call it “a glorious cross-cultural hopscotch game that lands on Spanish lyrics, Brazilian samba, and Cuban beats.”

He mightily impressed me that one time I saw him at the Bluebird with Jason Collett; you should try and catch him on this tour.

JBM

I first came across Lake Clear, New York artist JBM (Jesse Marchant) via his Daytrotter session, where the acoustic finger-picking of “Years/Cleo’s Song” immediately sounded to me like something that should be artfully placed in a Woodshed Films/Malloy brothers surfing film, replete with dappled sunlight and crystalline water.

As I dug into his catalog, I discovered not only a heartbreakingly earnest voice (which on the “From Me To You…” track sounds like my favorite eras of sad-bastard Ryan Adams) but a muted melancholy that permeates his music, reminiscent of Red House Painters or José González. I can’t stop listening these days.

From Me To You and You To Me – JBM

Years/Cleo’s Song – JBM
(from the Daytrotter session)

JBM was just signed to Partisan Records (home of them Deer Tick fellas), and they will be re-releasing his independent 2009 album Not Even in July (out April 13th). The album was recorded in a 19th-century church in NY.

JBM WINTER TOUR – WITH SONDRE LERCHE
2/2 – Dallas, TX @ The Cambridge Room @ the House of Blues
2/3 – Austin, TX @ The Parish
2/5 – Houston, TX @ The Meridian
2/6 – New Orleans, LA @ The Parish @ the House of Blues
2/8 – Tallahassee, FL @ Club Downunder
2/9 – Orlando, Fl @ The Social
2/11 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
2/12 – Birmingham, AL @ Workplay Theatre
2/13 – Nashville, TN @ 12th & Porter
2/15 – St. Louis, MO @ The Old Rock House
2/16 – Kansas City, MO @ Record Bar
2/17 – Minneapolis, MN @ The Varsity Theatre
2/19 – Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
2/20 – Madison, WI @ The Frequency
2/21 – Milwaukee, WI @ Shank Hall
2/22 – East Lansing, MI @ Mac’s Bar
2/23 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic Cafe
2/25 – Louisville, KY @ Zanza Bar
2/26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Cafe
2/27 – Ithaca, NY @ Castaways
3/4 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
3/5 – Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
3/6 – Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s