GASLIGHT ANTHEM – HEADLINING U.S./CANADA DATES Mar 18 La Tulipe – Montreal, Quebec % Mar 20 The Opera House – Toronto, Ontario % Mar 21 Call The Office – London, Ontario % Mar 27 Webster Hall – New York, NY Mar 28 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA # Mar 29 Mr. Small’s – Pittsburgh, PA # Apr 2 Turner Hall – Milwaukee, WI # Apr 3 The Bottom Lounge – Chicago, IL # Apr 4 Varsity Theater – Minneapolis, MN # Apr 7 The Warehouse – Calgary, Alberta # Apr 8 The Starlite Room – Edmonton, Alberta # Apr 10 The Plaza – Vancouver, British Columbia # Apr 15 The Boardwalk – Orangevale, CA # Apr 16 Slim’s – San Francisco, CA # Apr 21 The Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ # Apr 24 Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO #
There are nights when I think that this simple song may be one of the most perfect things ever penned.
dance with me my old friend once before we go let’s pretend this song won’t end and we never have to go home and we’ll dance among the chandeliers
and nothing matters when we’re dancing in tat or tatters you’re entrancing be we in Paris or in Lansing nothing matters when we’re dancing
you’ve never been more beautiful your eyes like two full moons than here in this poor old dancehall among the dreadful tunes the awful songs we don’t even hear
I saw Grace Potter and the Nocturnals rock a bluesy, soulful set last night before a packed Ogden Theater. In addition to a powerful selection of songs from their own catalog, they worked in a ferocious cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black.”
Just listen to Grace wail on the line about, “I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes…”
This is a gorgeously serpentine Elliott Smith cover from Oakland, CA foursome The Audrye Sessions. The first handful of times I listened to this I thought for sure it was a woman singing in that mournful alto. Now I realize that this band is fronted by a guy, Ryan Karazija. His voice reminds me of when Jeff Buckley would cover Nina Simone, or Thom Yorke’s otherworldy falsetto. This spare rendition is altogether haunting.
This last week I started twittering. Suddenly all the small moments in my life are memorialized in 140 characters or less. So now in addition to being able to keep up with what some of my favorite real-life friends are doing RIGHT THIS MINUTE, I’ve also laughed daily at the twitter feed of writer Joshua Green Allen aka fireland. I don’t know him for reals but I first read about him over on Heather’s Dooce blog, and he turns out to live up in Denver. Now, my Denver is never as fun as his Denver, but now I can chuckle at his twitter feeds like: “First time I’ve ever been fired for sexual harassment during a job interview, but your sick gams ARE my biggest managerial weakness.”
Allen also penned a great article about the perfect length for a song, and posits that it “had to be closer to three minutes than two, but definitely shorter than three minutes. Three minutes is where bloat starts to set in. Where the band thinks: Hey, let’s do the chorus seven times. Hey, let’s give the saxophone guy a real moment to shine on this one. Hey, let’s add another bridge.”
He goes on to give some love to The La’s “There She Goes” as the ultimately perfect song of that perfect length. In sum, a man after my own heart. Listen to the 2:42 muxtape too if you’re in an abbreviated mood.
Music for this week:
Pop Song Starfucker This Portland band played on Saturday at Denver’s Hi-Dive but I was literally still trying to thaw under my comforter from a freezing afternoon attempting to understand Australian Rules Football in a friend’s tournament over at the Air Force Academy. Starfucker rocked the joint, and I dozed cozily. But I’ll bet the cool kids there enjoyed their sound — sexy but not sleazy, light but with an undercurrent of electronic grime. I think this song should have played in Empire Records; it’s got that mid-90s innocence and pop heft. Starfucker’s self-titled debut is out now on Badman, and their cover of Madonna’s “Burnin’ Up” is also streaming on RCRDLBL. Worth noting, they are neither the NIN song nor the Belgian band of the same name, but apparently this recreational hobby seems to be hitting its stride.
Balloons (Foals cover)- Holy Fuck Balloons (original) – Foals Hey, while we’re already using words that make my mom blush, let’s throw this little nugget in here as well. This week Foalsand Holy Fuck released a collaboration/mutual admiration society 12″ where they each covered one of the other’s songs. These dudes both played Monolith, so I like to picture them sitting down at the oxygen bar and coming up with this idea amidst the red rocks. It could happen. To get the vice-versa cover (Super Inuit), click here. The split 12″ is out now on white vinyl via Young Turks, or on their tour(s).
Satanic Messiah Mountain Goats As I write this Sunday night (35° outside!), I’ve been listening to Mountain Goats on shuffle while I pack and go through stuff I’d rather not look through in prep for moving this next weekend. The poetic ache of Darnielle’s lyrics, his indignation and passion keep these songs on repeat. The newly-released Satanic Messiah EP is not Darnielle’s foray into black metal but rather a lovely 4-song acoustic collection with religious metaphor themes (not uncommon in his songs). Of these songs, Darnielle writes, “I am fond of them; they remind me of old vanished things.” This particular tune is ostensibly about going to see a show or performance, and how “we were all made young when he stepped onto the stage, like an animal escaping from his cage,” and then sings about how they all were “too dazed to leave when it was over.” Mountain Goats play Denver on Friday night with Kaki King, and I’m going to hope for something similar.
I Can’t Make You Love Me (Bonnie Raitt cover) Denison Witmer No, really. Listen to this cover, even if you haven’t given Bonnie Raitt much thought since you (like my sister) sang this song in Pops Choir in high school. Philadelphia folk artist Denison Witmer loves covers as much as I do, and he’s taken to releasing a whole slew of them for free in his achingly stripped-down style. Through his MySpace and a partnership with the ace Cover Lay Down blog, Denison has been giving away free songs on a regular basis, including ones originally by Band of Horses, Oasis, Van Morrison and Red House Painters. This particular one is my favorite of the batch. It starts with a settling in a room; you can hear the grey empty space starkly bouncing back his plaintive, resigned voice. It is an absolutely devastating song, and especially the way he does it — all void and defeated. Witmer’s new album Carry The Weight is out November 11th, and side project alert: check out his River Bends band with Steve Yutzey-Burkey of The Swimmers.
Urban Lull (At Once Charmed) The Umbrella Sequence I’ve said it before, but our local community college radio station is one of the best I’ve ever listened to. They have turned my ears on to so many things that I previously missed, like The Umbrella Sequence from Minneapolis. This song came over my car speakers the other day and I was instantly addicted and turned it way up. With sunshiney chiming pop melodies that fight valiantly (and occasionally win) through a scratchy wall of fuzz and electronica, they garner comparisons to Flaming Lips and Super Furry Animals. This is the lead-off track from last year’s Events (on Princess Records), and like a good aspiring rock star, Ryan Rupprecht sings over and over “We’re all getting bored” — but no, I am definitely not. Great song.
OH, A CLOSING PLEA: Help me think of fabulous Halloween costume ideas, potentially surrounding a long red dress with marvelous sequin trim I found in my basement? I also have a red feather boa, if that helps (or perhaps doesn’t). Or suggest something completely different. I’ll probably be at the Girl Talk show first that night, so I could go dressed as a hipster in neon sunglasses.
Or just this, I suppose. That would be amazing. [via]
On August 21Eddie Vedder began a two night stand in Chicago, part of his ongoing his solo tour (which I was fortunate to catch in Berkeley back in April). I’d heard that he covered both Nick Cave and Trent Reznor during his inventive set. Fascinating.
When I posted the new Rogue Wave video at the beginning of the summer, a reader posted a comment looking for Rogue Wave‘s cover of the 1970 Neil Young song “Birds” that they’d just covered at the Fillmore in San Francisco. Intriguing.
Well, after months of fruitless searching, I finally was pointed in the direction of a superb-quality acoustic version from FNX Radio in Boston. Warm, sparkling, and heartfelt:
When you see me Fly away without you Shadow on the things you know Feathers fall around you And show you the way to go It’s over
Bon Iver has said that Sarah Siskind‘s 2006 album Studio.Living Room changed his life, and he’s been closing his sets all summer with a haunting cover of her song “Lovin’s For Fools.” Sarah finally joined him onstage at Nashville’s Exit/In on August 11th to sing it with him.
If this isn’t enough to make you want to never give your heart again, then I don’t know what would be:
Sarah’s voice has a chill-inducing Appalachian edge to it that conjures the unflinching starkness of Gillian Welch, and this song sounds like sleepwalking and bad dreams. There’s also another fantastic rendition of this cover with Bon Iver and The Bowerbirds at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC on July 29.
Knowing how excited the Fleet Foxes were to be touring with Wilco, I smile to watch them stand all crowded around one microphone in this video, shuffling their weight back and forth in what seems like “still flabbergasted” anticipation. Taken 8/21/08 at the Opera House in Spokane, this Dylan cover is just lovely, especially when Tweedy breaks into hearty and unabashed falsetto around the 2 minute mark.
As I approached from blocks away, the crowd was spilling in the street as they waited to get in through the half-lowered garage door entrance. A converted police car flashed multimedia exhibits onto the faded warehouse wall, with music pulsing loud enough to be heard at the Convention Center. Pandemonium!
Inside the thousand-degree gallery, I did some general browsing of the political artwork covering the walls, and then the requisite gawking and people-watching (most eclectic crowd ever – mixing political pinstripes with the indie kids and watching them try to dance side-by-side). This non-Dem was admittedly a little creeped out by a few of the near-deistic portrayals of Obama in various painted settings; a friend and I were talking about how we felt like we’d entered his shrine. But overall it was a cool expression of passion and commitment by the artists who contributed, with a few ace lighthearted inclusions (Stephen Colbert! Slaying evil!).
Comedienne Sarah Silverman started things off with her hilariously deadpan ruminations on the convention and the election, and she was dipped into an enthusiastic two-armed welcome (totally almost like this) by San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom (SCU Broncos represent!). Newsom then introduced Seattle’s mayor Greg Nickels, and after many words and rousing rhetoric, the five musicians finally climbed onto the small stage. Throughout the 70-minute show each artist took turns on lead, with various duets, group singalongs and covers. It was lighthearted and felt like a rare living-room collaboration.
This Is Not A Test (live 8/2/08, Newport Folk) – Zooey Deschanel & M. Ward Zooey was completely charming, and performed this song with her guitar. Halfway through she stopped abruptly and laughed at a small mistake she made, saying it was the first time she’d ever played guitar in public since she usually rocks the piano.
Love Hurts – Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris Johnathan Rice and Jenny Lewis sang this ’70s staple, and in a move of complete awesomeness, they dedicated it to Obama and Hillary.
Little Boxes (Malvina Reynolds cover) – Jenny Lewis & Johnathan Rice They didn’t sing this song. But they did lots of duets together, all lovey and gazing into each other’s indie-alt-country-couple eyes, and sounding good.
See These Bones (live on MOKB Sirius) – Nada Surf I loved every note and word that spilled from Matthew Caws last night (recall my fondness). I was unabashed dork fangirl, coincidentally ending up right at Matthew’s feet for the set, and I didn’t even bother to check my singalong enthusiasm. He kept eying me in bemusement as I sang “the lights of this city are more or less blinking…” with possibly more enthusiasm than he did.
Weightless (live on Leno) – Nada Surf You know those gorgeous Beach Boys harmonies at the end of this song? Picture the full gallery crowd and those other four voices on stage all swelling together behind Caws’ lead vocals. Jenny Lewis admirably played band leader, cupping her hand around her ear and waving her arms in encouragement. Nada Surf drummer Ira Elliott stood off to the right (in front of that massive Obama/Lincoln meld) and kept time with fancy claps for the whole song. You can take the drummer off the stage …
Cath (live at BBC6) – Ben Gibbard This song appeared on last night’s setlist but was substituted with “Sound of Settling,” which was great by me because we all got to “Ba baaa! Ba baaa!” heartily instead.
Military Madness (live 10-22-06, Bridge School) – Death Cab for Cutie, Gillian Welch, Neil Young The five musicians closed with this Graham Nash cover about military madness and solitary sadness. Ben Gibbard led on the piano, and despite one false ending (another chorus? should we stop? let’s do both) it was a stirring closer. This live mp3 is one I saw at the Bridge School Benefit in CA a few years ago with a slightly different lineup. ZIP: UNCONVENTIONAL ’08
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
GASLIGHT ANTHEM – HEADLINING U.S./CANADA DATES
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Name: Heather Browne
