The watchtower

As in “all along the.”

Teenage Fanclub in Minneapolis

Greetings from the land of the Hold Steady, The Replacements, Prince, The Jayhawks, Mason Jennings, and Semisonic. I hope to see the latter two in Minneapolis on Friday night at a special First Avenue benefit show, and I’m betting Craig Finn is in town for the Twins games. But the first show I am going to try to catch in between work meetings tomorrow (and televised Giants games) is from far, far away – Scotland, to be exact.

Teenage Fanclub plays here tomorrow night, in the middle of a string of U.S. dates. Although the band has been around for twenty years, I only heard them a few years ago, when in the span of a month a friend first played me the chiming, luminescent “Start Again,” and then I read Nick Hornby’s Songbook, whose first chapter is dedicated to their song “Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From.” I immediately loved their power-pop harmonies with a grown-up guitar grit and crunch.

Here’s a sparkler off their latest album Shadows (Merge Records), a tune that is hummable from the first listen:

Baby Lee – Teenage Fanclub

and a classic…
Everything Flows – Teenage Fanclub

It’s an early show tomorrow night with labelmates The Radar Brothers (7pm), so meet me there!

TEENAGE FANCLUB ON TOUR
10/07 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue w/ Radar Brothers
10/11 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theater w/ Radar Brothers
10/12 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore w/ Radar Brothers
10/14 Seattle, WA Showbox w/ Superchunk & Telekinesis
10/15 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom w/ Superchunk & Telekinesis
10/16 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret

this is an old song, these are old blues

As much as I tried to appreciate the music of Joanna Newsom, her childish mew always made me feel a bit like I was watching Sesame Street, and I stalled each time I tried. But she is no doubt an intensely poetic, smart lyricist, and I found today that hearing her song “Sadie” covered by Texas artist Danny Malone finally brings it out somewhere that I can dig into it.

Danny Malone is from Austin, and this cover is a few years old, off his I Am Not Alive EP. His raw tenor with a hint of warble reminds me of Conor Oberst, or Nate Ruess from The Format (coming to Boulder next Friday with fun.!), both artists I enjoy immensely. The gal who recommended I listen to this cover said, “I didn’t decide that I liked it until the second time through,” but me, the affinity was more immediate.

Disguised as a rambling alt-country tune, this builds and then explodes like some sort of orange sunrise. But hell — what a sad song.

Sadie (Joanna Newsom cover) – Danny Malone

This is an old song, these are old blues
and this is not my tune, but it’s mine to use
and the seabirds where the fear once grew
will flock with a fury and they will bury what’d come for you

And the mealy worms in the brine will burn
in a salty pyre among the fauns and ferns
And the love we hold, and the love we spurn
Will never grow cold, only taciturn…