Monday Music Roundup

Ah, Radiohead, you win.

I did in fact watch most of the Grammys last night in between sorting mail and promo CDs and going through bills. It was that riveting. And just like when I cried last year when Kanye started singing ’bout his mama, I also cried this year when Jennifer Hudson sang (so sad), and just like last year I was also left largely disaffected by the pop music industry in general. Except Radiohead. I actually yelped –out loud– during their performance of 15 Step, watching the faces of the USC kids pound their big drums so ferociously. That is easily the single most electrifying performance I’ve seen on the Grammys. And now I want to travel somewhere, anywhere, and see Radiohead again. Bless their hearts. [watch and listen]

That, and I couldn’t help but noticing in the Memorial montage that a guy named Pervis died this year and I really feel that should be the new hipster baby name because it’s awesome.

La musica nuova:

Swagger
The Vox Jaguars
These kids play with, well, a swagger and a band name that sums up what it’s like to be 19 and bursting with confidence. I heard The Vox Jaguars over on Some Velvet Blog, all fuzz and scowl and garage rock, replete with fake British accents asking, “wot?”. They’re also from the coastal town of Santa Cruz, just over the hill from where I grew up. Two are in high school still, which I guess means they go to San Lorenzo Valley or Harbor High. Weird. They have an EP out tomorrow on Anodyne Records, home to the Meat Puppets — and they show fun and promising verve.

The Park (Feist cover)
Bon Iver
There’s a sensual and spine-tingling mournfulness in this cover (from a live session on Triple-J radio in Australia) that reminds me so very much of Jeff Buckley taking on the sweet and mournful sorrow of Nina Simone’s “Lilac Wine.” It’s unexpected, and uncanny.

Missing Piece
Illinois
This unadorned song sounds like someone sitting up at an old piano on your grandparents’ sunporch, the honeyed notes floating through the air and swirling around with the dust motes. Evocative very much of Ben Kweller’s prettiest numbers, our protagonist wonders here if he is someone’s missing piece. I guess you never know until you try. Illinois is still not from Illinois, but they are giving away all kinds of free music leading up to their new album The Adventures of Kid Catastrophe on May 5th. Check out the other goodness.

Spirited
Laura Gibson
Redolent with a richness in her warble that feels more at home in the 1930s than today, Laura Gibson‘s music feels very grounded and a bit otherworldly all at once. I’d like to see her play with Elvis Perkins in Dearland because they are some sort of soul siblings and might not know it yet but omg. She is actually on tour in the coming months with Juana Molina and also Fuel favorites Blind Pilot (but only for the SLC stop!). Her new album Beasts of Seasons is out February 24th on Hush Records.

1940 (Submarines cover)
The Morning Benders
Berkeley’s Morning Benders bring their pleasing super-sunny pop harmonies to Denver next Saturday, and in a charming little gesture with their tourmates The Submarines, they’ve each covered one another’s work and released it for free to the adoring fans. I like the way this song takes a minute to get its training wheels straight and rolling on the merry way, with the hints of Sixties psychedelica throughout.

Eddie Vedder does karaoke at the Best Western in Mesa, Arizona

I hate singing those songs like “Where The Streets Have No Name” for karaoke — those long musical intros will kill ya. What do I do with myself for those 45 seconds? I’ll make awkward conversation with the audience, and shuffle my feet. Maybe let out a “whooo!” of anticipation before the lyrics begin.

He also sang “Yellow S(C)ubmarine” (gotta love the guy in the audience trying to sing “Hunger Strike”), and duetted with a girl for “I Got You Babe.” Vedder is in Arizona for the 2009 Cubs Fantasy Camp.

He loves the Cubbies.

[via]

Dark Was The Night / New National

Curated by brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National, the Dark Was The Night compilation (Feb 17th, 4AD) is so stuffed full with amazing covers and duets and original songs from so many of my favorite artists, it’s almost ridiculous. The double-disc album benefits the Red Hot Organization, an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS.

The one track on here that I’ve been most itchin to hear is the new one from The National (although the Dessner brothers’ musical contributions reach further throughout the album, with collaborations with Bon Iver/Justin Vernon above, and Antony heartbreakingly covering Bob Dylan). “So Far Around The Bend” sounds like a time warp to me, like it foxtrotted in from some other era. It is almost jaunty, but with that rich gray undercurrent swirls, and drums thump like a pounding heartbeat.

The Gillian Welch/Conor Oberst duet on “Lua” is absolutely murdering me right now (listen in about a week on the MySpace player, it will rotate through to its day in the sun), and Jose Gonzalez and The Books covering Nick Drake? Really? Sigh. It really is an exceptionally high-quality and eminently listenable collection; the full tracklisting is here.

Aaron Dessner writes more about the process of how this album came to be, and the end results:

As we invited friends and peers to contribute, our collective social awareness became apparent: anyone that had the time was willing to donate their time and their music to the Red Hot cause. But there were many different stories behind each song: some we had heard live and knew had to be on the record (The Books “Cello Song”, My Brightest Diamond’s “Feelin Good”); close friends whose arms we knew we could twist enough to give us special tracks (Arcade Fire, and Sufjan Stevens); bands we asked who were too busy but had solo projects or side projects they could include (Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio and Jonsi Birgisson of Sigur Ros); songs we had always imagined certain artists singing (Cat Power’s “Amazing Grace” and Antony’s “I Was Young When I Left Home”); and dream collaborations (David Byrne and The Dirty Projectors, Feist with Grizzly Bear and Ben Gibbard, and my own song with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver).

In the end, there was enough great music to produce two discs–one dark and homegrown with almost classical arrangements of folk themes; the other more bright and evocative of the best of independent rock music at the beginning of the 21st century. “Dark Was The Night” and the Dore illustrations for Milton’s Paradise Lost, which make up the art imagery in this booklet, evoke a “fallen” world of struggle, but also the capacity of art to inspire us to rise above the obstacles put in our path. Our nights may be dark, but music gives us inspiration and hope of brighter days to come.

Ben Kweller covers Neil Young + plays some new songs

Although he still looks eternally (and preternaturally) adolescent, 27 year-old Ben Kweller has been making music for fifteen years now, from catchy pop to punk rock and all shades in between. Recently returned to his home state to settle in Austin, Kweller’s bright new country-inflected album Changing Horses is out this week  on ATO Records.

“I wear my Texas roots on my sleeve,” Ben says on this interview from the BBC a few weeks ago. He’s apparently been writing these Southwestern songs for years (some hints broke through notably on 2006′s superb self-titled album and more recently on his How Ya Lookin’, Southbound? EP), and squirreling away the twang for the perfect time to gather them all into a slide-guitar + dusty heartbreak tour de force.

Kweller is comfortable letting his roots show. “I grew up bass-fishing, playing in creeks, and shooting BB guns,” Kweller says. “Country music was the soundtrack to my life. It’s still a big part of who I am. When Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson come on the radio, somethin’ happens inside. Brings me back to the trees, back to pushin’ cars out of the mud. Reminds me of my hometown.”

BEN KWELLER – Live on BBC2 (Dec 13, 2008)
Intro/Chat I
Sawdust Man (new)
Chat II
From Hank To Hendrix (Neil Young cover)
Chat III
Lizzy (from 2002′s Sha Sha)

ZIP: BEN KWELLER ON BBC

And also — man. I love that Neil Young song he covers (from 1992′s Harvest Moon), and just like everything Kweller does, the way he sings it is here is so purely unaffected and honest:

Sometime it’s distorted
Not clear to you
Sometimes the beauty of love
Just comes ringin’ through

New glass in the window
New leaf on the tree
New distance between us
You and me

Can we get it together?
Can we still walk side by side?
Can we make it last
Like a musical ride?

Changing Horses is out February 3rd in the U.S. (today in Europe!), and there’s a sweeeet Daytrotter session recently posted as well.

Steve Earle covers Townes Van Zandt

In a Rolling Stone article published last week, Steve Earle talked about his relationship with the late singer-songwriter iconoclast Townes Van Zandt, and revealed that he’s currently putting the finishing touches on an entire album of Townes covers.

To get you thinkin’ in that direction, here are some live versions Earle has done of songs either written or performed by Townes the years.

STEVE EARLE COVERS TOWNES VAN ZANDT
Rex Blues
Tom Dooley
Brand New Companion
No Deal
Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold
Lungs
White Freightliner

ZIP: EARLE DOES TVZ

BONUS UNRELATED COVER because it sounded good:
Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way? (Waylon Jennings) – Steve Earle

BONUS MOVIE: You can still be here to love Townes Van Zandt:

.

If you ever change your mind about leaving Jim James behind…

My Morning Jacket covered Sam Cooke’s masterpiece “Bring It On Home To Me,” New Years Eve 2008 at Madison Square Garden.

We have a bit of an ongoing fascination with cover versions of this song ’round these parts.

Bring It On Home To Me (Sam Cooke cover) – My Morning Jacket

The entire NYE show was a scorcher.

[top photo by the amazing Kyle Dean Reinford, poster photo via Brooklyn Vegan]

the bed is unmade, like everything is

I listened to (and sang along with) the music of Stars this weekend after too many months of not getting around to enjoying their fabulousness. I listened a lot to Stars in 2006 and 2007, but feel like I neglected them last year and have spent all day today apologizing to them, as we caught up.

Their new EP is called Sad Robots, but today at sunset I took a long walk through the neighborhood and rested on their ’07 album of covers and remixes. Do You Trust Your Friends? finds Stars turning their songs from their seminal Set Yourself On Fire album (2004) over to the creative powers of their Canadian friends on the Arts & Crafts label. These versions distill new angles and meanings from already amazing songs.

Apostle of Hustle takes on a song that traces an unnervingly creepy tale of possessive love. The original soars with strings and a terse drumbeat, but Apostle of Hustle infuses it with a clattery energy and their cinematic, Latin-tinged gyspy folk. Now it feels appropriately off-kilter. Towards the end of their cover, they weave in loops of old movie dialogue that you can almost feel flashing in black and white like a dated reel. The song explodes under their touch.

One More Night (Stars cover) – Apostle of Hustle

Jason Collett brings his marvelous alt-country, slightly squawky croon to the electric sheen of the original, like Dwight Yoakam & Tom Petty strolling the streets of Montreal. That same funky bassline weaves through both the original and this cover, but I love how his voice cracks here when he pleads, “All I want is one more chance to be young and wild and free . . . All I want is one more chance to show you you were right for me.”

Reunion (Stars cover) – Jason Collett

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND:

Do You Trust Your Friends? (2007)

Set Yourself On Fire (2004)

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!]

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]