and it is stupid / but it is true

I’ve been transfixed these last few weeks by the snippets of the Vincent Moon film about the Danish band Efterklang, called An Island. The movie was indeed filmed on an island, in the summer, with over 200 musical collaborators for their haunting, magnificent music. I heard about this film late one Oregon night recently, when the rain was pouring outside and I sat, mesmerized by this film from one of my favorite current filmmakers.

Alike – Efterklang

Vincent Moon is best known to me for being the messy, moody, impressionistic mastermind behind not only much of the Blogotheque series, but also so many of my favorite videos from The National. Meeting him once at Noise Pop in San Francisco still ranks as one of my very best nights.

The lyric I chose for the title of this post gets at me in a way I think the film will — that tug between heady intelligence and inherent truth. An Island was filmed in August 2010, released around this time last year, and spurred 1178 private screenings in homes, clubs, common houses, dorm rooms, theaters, parks, and bars all over Europe and the world. The only caveat was that the screening had to be free, and had to bring more than five people to watch together. I like every aspect of that, and am so sorry I missed being part of that community as it was unfolding.

So now I undoubtedly have to get my hands on this full DVD (you can buy it here), as I am generally a fan of transformative island music experiences. I might even host a screening myself outdoors this summer, late to the game but nonetheless inspired. Who’s in?

Also, the word “efterklang” translates from Danish into “echo,” in English. Which just goes to show that the Danes know how to craft themselves some dang fine onomatopoeia.

and i don’t rock the boat, but it’s always unsteady

With a skiffly, radiant backbeat and a prowling baseline, this first song I heard from Dr. Dog‘s new album Be The Void sounds to me like the opening credits of some Seventies blaxploitation film. One can practically see the satin man-blouses and the corduroy bellbottoms, sunlight glinting off badass shades, no? It is completely terrific and I can’t stop listening to it.

That Old Black Hole – Dr Dog

The rapid-fire impressionism of the video above is completely fantastic, but in my mind I definitely see this:

Be The Void is the sixth album from the Philadelphia band, and I love what Scott McMicken said about how it feels to him: “It was reminiscent of when we were starting out and were these fearless weirdoes in a basement, so confident and reckless and bold.” Those are some of my favorite things in music.

Listen to the fuzzy, bluesy, messy opening track off Be The Void below, and preorder it from the ANTI website.

Dr. Dog – Lonesome by antirecords

noticing the ratty little dead things

The New French Hacker-Artist Underground, Wired Magazine

Why do they care about these places? Kunstmann answers this question with questions of his own. “Do you have plants in your home?” he asks impatiently. “Do you water them every day? Why do you water them? Because,” he goes on, “otherwise they’re ratty little dead things.” That’s why these forgotten cultural icons are important.

One of the most electrifying articles I’ve read in years. I’m probably considering a career change.

[image credit: UX]

if you counted all this wanting / from the signal to the silver shiver mines

Portland was an unrelenting adventure of starting an intense graduate program (80 class hours in two weeks), trying to taste all the beers in the city (failed), and also seeing five tremendous shows at four different Portland venues. I slept little, laughed much, and met rad folks. As the dad of the host family I stayed with bemusedly told me, his eyes crinkled with a smile as I clung to the coffee pot one early morning: “Well, you sure are squeezing every last bit out of this city, aren’t you?”

But I’ve felt tense and dry since my plane landed home, throat closing a little at the magnitude of the schoolwork I gotta be on top of in a self-directed way for the next six months until my next residency in July. Music? What’s that?

And then I shut up and stopped the spiral, and just put the headphones on and laid flat on my bed. I put the opening song on the new, marvelously stunning Adam Arcuragi album on, and it was like a churning, splashing river just poured all through me, striking fear. From that earthquake rumble drumroll that starts the song, how can any of us doubt our reserves when there is music like this to explain the questions?

We have wells they don’t even know about.

Oh, I See – Adam Arcuragi


I have been listening to Like a fire that consumes all before it… (Adam’s incredibly-aptly-titled new record) without ceasing since early December. Stream the full album now on NPR, then go preorder it immediately so at the end of the year when I am naming my favorite albums of 2012 you can pull this out and we can excitedly discuss.

The album is out next week on Thirty Tigers (Centro-matic, The Avett Brothers, Jason Isbell, Jessica Lea Mayfield – they’ve got some of my favorite ears in the business). Every track is phenomenal, laced with stomping feet, ebullient golden-bright banjo, weighty piano that cascades just when you need it to, and choruses of voices. Also, track 8 “The Well” is worthy of being played at my funeral: “When we ache no more (oh won’t it be something to see)”…

Then while you are waiting for January 31 for the new album, go get their Daytrotter sessions, because there have been full days where all I want to listen to is “Broken Throat” from Daytrotter 2009, a bluesy bittersweet tune that stuns me every time with the opening lyrics: “Like swinging your arms in the dark to find out how the light sits…” and then just keeps walloping me over and over. You guys, it’s ridiculous.

You might remember the Blogotheque video I posted last month of Adam and his friends singing their pure little hearts out in a NYC market; I said if I ever got to see them live I’d probably be like that ancient Chinese lady sitting by her booth, grinning and clapping along. Well, we’re recording a Chapel Session on Saturday morning. That’ll be me, grinning and clapping along.

Oh I see them coming.

ADAM ARCURAGI WILL WARM UP YOUR WINTER TOUR
Jan 27 (Fuel/Friends presents!) – Hi-Dive, Denver, CO
Jan 29 – Cicero’s, University City, MO
Jan 30 – The Empty Bottle, Chicago, IL
Jan 31 – Cafe Bourbon Street, Columbus, OH
Feb 01 – Garfield Artworks, Pittsburgh, PA
Feb 02 – Union Pool, Brooklyn, NY
Feb 03 – PA’S Lounge, Somerville, MA
Feb 04 – Cafe Nine, New Haven, CT
Feb 06 – Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA
Feb 07 – IOTA, Arlington, VA
FEb 08 – Cedars Lounge, Youngstown, OH
Feb 09 – Musica, Akron, OH
Feb 11 – MOTR Pub, Cincinnati, OH
Feb 12 – The End, Nashville, TN
Feb 13 – Bottletree, Birmingham, AL
Feb 14 – The Earl, East Atlanta, GA
Mar 14 – The Green Room at Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
Mar 21 – Sail Inn, Tempe, AZ

I told myself it was all something in her / but as we drove I knew it was something in me

This happened tonight not far from my home in Colorado. Gregory Alan Isakov is a state treasure, and I am a sucker for Springsteen covers that make me take in my breath sharply when I really should be sleeping.

Fuel/Friends Chapel Session #11 :: Bryan John Appleby

I am enjoying my attempts to weave myself into the city of Portland these last few days, jogging on mossy sidewalks while the grey sky spits rain, breathing the deep smoky-damp smell through my nostrils as I walk to catch the bus, and listening to a lot of music that helps spark and warm that seeping coldness away.

Bryan John Appleby is one of those artists whose music I have been leaning heavily on since I got here for this grad school residency; his music is smart and sharp, steeped in intelligent songwriting and crowned with a piercingly pure voice that resonates with me. He was one of the first artists we welcomed into the chapel when the seasons started to turn from summer to autumn, and the night he came also brought a cold snap that sent us all inside seeking a glow.

Bryan’s debut album Fire On The Vine is thoroughly superb, from front to back. I wrote about him last summer, after seeing him live (it was “decimatingly muscular”) and before the full-length was released. I have been delighted in the craftsmanship and the illumination in this album, which takes a thousand tiny moments and holds them up to let the sun shoot through.

BRYAN JOHN APPLEBY – FUEL/FRIENDS CHAPEL SESSION
SEPTEMBER 15, 2011

Glory
As I sat on the edge of the stage, I had to suppress every fiber of my everloving harmony-singing self here, because this song on the album has incredible, exuberant multi-part choral joy potential. But I found it every bit as wonderful as a solo acoustic creation – something laden with truth and honesty.

Sprout
Perhaps it is my unique spiritual heritage that seems to connect on several flashpoints with Bryan, but when I listen to his music I see this complicated map of faith sprawl out before me — one that has been folded and refolded til it is faded and worn, trying to figure out how to make it fit, now. This particular song seems to be one of hope, despite lines like: “When I woke, I had been slain in the spirit of reason / Baptized in the rolling dark waters of doubt / ‘Cause I’m told it’s Your will to withhold, but it feels like treason / A rain cloud refusing to pour in a season of drought.”

Duncan (Paul Simon)
Bryan’s tenor radiates a clarity in the song that you come across just every once in a while – Paul Simon does it for me in a similar vein, and so I smiled about a thousand feet wide when Bryan launched into this cover of Simon’s 1972 song “Duncan” — so, so perfect. Listen to this and tell me he doesn’t nail it. Plus, he whistles. Yup.

…And The Revelation
This is 1/2 of the sibling duo of songs on his album that repeats the brilliant, brilliant line “you, you will not dig a hole in me, you will not chop down my tree, hold me under the water…” When I saw him live last summer, I just stood there jaw-dropped with the power of that declaration, hearing his defiant howl in concert on these words. For the full effect, also hop over to his Bandcamp and listen to the other part of the thought, “The Words of The Revelator.”

And here is one bonus song that we only have (incredible) video of. Chills:

ZIP: BRYAN JOHN APPLEBY CHAPEL SESSION

Later this night, after we recorded in the chapel, Bryan came to do a house show for me and my friends, and in honor of the stormy night, we decided to illuminate the show simply with candles, and sent out a Facebook request for guests to bring a candle or two. We got dozens, and the room flickered and glowed around his stunningly rich music. It was a good night; these are good songs.

I am seeing BJA this very Friday, at the Doug Fir with Pickwick and Jessica Dobson (The Shins, Deep Sea Diver). It is going to be a pret-ty amazing Friday, if I can make it through the week.

[video and that gorgeous still photo with the chapel ceiling by Kevin Ihle]

when i write my master’s thesis

I board a plane early this morning to Portland, Oregon, for the first of four short-term graduate school residencies I’ll be completing in two-week chunks over the next couple of years, contributing to a shiny Master’s degree in Intercultural Relations. This new song from John K. Samson (The Weakerthans) is just about the most perfect soundtrack for the precipice I stand on that I can think of.

John K. Samson – When I Write My Master’s Thesis by antirecords

John’s work with The Weakerthans (especially on 2007′s Reunion Tour) pierces me through more effortlessly than most other records I can think of. There’s something in the timbre of his voice that is so completely honest, with literate lyrics that twist and roll over each other. I agree with Craig Finn (of the Hold Steady) in the video below, where he says that John’s songs are “beautiful, brutal, honest and comforting, all at the same time.” After releasing an acoustic EP this past November, Samson is bringing us his first full-length solo album Provincial (Epitaph/ANTI) on January 24.

“Letter In Icelandic From The Ninette San” is another heart-stoppingly gorgeous track from the new album, and you should listen immediately. And no, I don’t know what that title means. If I’ve lived this long with “Elegy For Gump Worsley,” I can live with this one too, when the music is this good.

Preorder Provincial here.

JOHN K. SAMSON SPRING TOUR DATES
(More US & Canadian dates TBA soon!)

3/10 – Boston, MA at Brighton Music Hall
3/11 – Philadelphia, PA at Union Transfer
3/13 – Washington DC at Black Cat
3/15 – New York, NY at Bowery Ballroom
3/16 – Pittsburgh, PA at Club Cafe
3/17 – Buffalo, NY at Mohawk
4/1 – Seattle,WA at Tractor Tavern
4/2 – Portland, OR at Doug Fir
4/5 – San Diego, CA at The Casbah
4/6 – Los Angeles, CA at The Troubadour
4/7 – San Francisco, CA at Bottom of the Hill

My NPR appearance this weekend

This last week has been a delightful unplugging for me, off exploring Colorado via its craft beers and its snow-covered mountains with a good friend in from out of town (he’s a Red Sox fan but I overlook that).

On Friday, we caught my NPR’s World Cafe with David Dye interview segment, and in case you missed it or live somewhere that you can’t stream it, I’ve made an mp3 for ease. Here I am talking about some of my favorite picks from 2011 with the always-wonderful David Dye — I love doing this because I’ve found I really like playing DJ. And cracking lame 30 Rock jokes.

My World Cafe Appearance – Dec 30, 2011

The “A” Chord

This was one of my favorite pictures I came across in the last year, and is a joyful way to start off this new one. A student of mine recently placed first in a photography contest for images taken while studying abroad; that photo above was taken in Tanzania by Ian Heyse, and is called “The A Chord.” Ian wrote:

Leboi is a traditional Maasai healer at Gibb’s Farm, a working farm and living museum where I had an internship. During my time there, we became close friends and learned a great deal from each other. He told me stories about hunting lions and the plants he gives to cattle when they are sick.

One day, I taught him the A chord. He played the same chord for over an hour, singing in Maa and dancing until he had to sit and rest.

I wish you all the same in 2012.