Josh Rouse: “Love Vibration” (live in Denver last night) and bonus EP tunes; new Jason Collett

Josh Rouse kicked off his current tour last night in Denver in support of his excellent new album Country Mouse, City House. I’ve been trying to catch Rouse live for over two years, but this was my first success – I very thoroughly enjoyed his unique fusion of soulful songwriter rock with elements of jazz, blues and funk, along with his velvety smooth voice. It was excellent and I highly recommend catching him when you can.

The Bluebird was very full for a Tuesday night, with lots of enthusiastic fans — and Josh’s family who came in from Nebraska for the show. I randomly found myself talking to his mom after the concert, who was charming and just pleased as punch at both the show and the support. It was sweet. Here was the setlist, and it’s always dim in the Bluebird but I tried with a few still shots also:

I’ve been really digging the little bonus EP of nine songs that comes with the new album. It’s called Country Mouse Companion, and it digs up demo versions, lost tunes, old recordings and different versions of songs that made it to the album. Here’s a sample, it’s for sale at the shows too:

It Looks Like Love (live in studio demo)
Clear Coast (again with band at Eric Fritch’s house)
Hollywood Bass Player (demo in Valencia at home)

Support was provided by the wonderful Jason Collett from Broken Social Scene, whose lyrical imagery is amazing, and has a lovely voice with an unexpectedly sharp, raw crackle to it that pierces me. Here’s a short clip of him performing Hangover Days last night, which he’s also duetted with Feist on. He has a new album due in January on Arts & Crafts, and he told us the title last night for the first time and I am a failure to you all and I forgot it.

Sorry Lori – Jason Collett (new song from forthcoming album)
Hangover Days (with Feist) – Jason Collett

JOSH ROUSE ON TOUR
(first eleven dates with Jason Collett)
Sep 19 – Urban Lounge, Salt Lake City, UT
Sep 21 – North Shore PAC, Seattle, WA
Sep 22 – Night Light, Bellingham, WA
Sep 24 – Plaza Nightclub, Vancouver, BC
Sep 25 – Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR
Sep 27 – Independent, San Francisco, CA
Sep 28 – El Rey, Los Angeles, CA
Sep 29 – Hotel Congress, Tucson, AZ
Sep 30 – Golden West Saloon, Albuquerque, NM
Oct 3 – Workplay, Birmingham, AL
Oct 4 – Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
Oct 5 – Exit/In, Nashville, TN
Oct 6 – Exit/In, Nashville, TN
Oct 23 – Southgate House, Cincinnati, OH
Oct 25 – Park West, Chicago, IL
Oct 26 – Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI
Oct 27 – Fineline Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MI
Oct 28 – The Annex, Madison, WI
Nov 1 – Somerville Theater, Boston, MA
Nov 2 – Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY
Nov 3 – Gramercy Theatre, New York, NY
Nov 21 – Theatre, Murcia, Spain
Nov 22 – Joy Eslava, Madrid, Spain
Nov 23 – Cormoran, Valencia, Spain
Nov 24 – Bikini, Barcelona, Spain
Nov 26 – Aula Magna, Lisbon, Portugal
Nov 27 – Theatro Circo, Braga, Portugal
Nov 29 – The Plug, Sheffield, United Kingdom
Nov 30 – Academy 2, Manchester, United Kingdom
Dec 1 – QMU, Glasgow, United Kingdom
Dec 3 – The Sage 2, Gateshead, United Kingdom
Dec 4 – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham, United Kingdom
Dec 5 – Academy, Bristol, United Kingdom
Dec 7 – Academy, Oxford, United Kingdom
Dec 8 – Concorde 2, Brighton, United Kingdom
Dec 9 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London, United Kingdom
Dec 11 – The Village, Dublin, Ireland
Dec 12 – Dolan’s, Limerick, Ireland
Dec 13 – Cyprus Avenue, Cork, Ireland
Feb 4 – Cayamo Music Cruise, Caribbean

Photos from Monolith, Day Two

In addition to the independent acts I profiled on Monday and the big names from Friday at the Monolith Festival this past weekend, I enjoyed an absolutely packed lineup on Saturday and some gorgeous weather. I was wishing all afternoon that I had worn shorts instead of jeans, and in September in Colorado, that’s a good day when it’s that warm and delicious.

BRIAN JONESTOWN MASSACRE
Okay, so even though I’ve had the DiG documentary (about the BJM, eccentric frontman Anton Newcombe, and their love/hate relationship with the Dandy Warhols) sitting in its pert little red Netflix envelope staring at me from the kitchen counter for about a week before Monolith, I didn’t get the chance to watch it until Monday. I sooo would have appreciated this performance more if I had.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre was more influential and buzzworthy in the mid-90s than I previously knew, mixing psychedelica guitar rock, Britpop, and shoegaze into a unique San Francisco-grown blend. This concert represented at least a partial reunion of original members of a band that dissolved several times, actually, as Anton Newcombe is surly, egotistical and notoriously hard to work with (verbally destroying and punching out members of his own band on stage, kicking audience members in the head, and basically thinking he’s some kind of son of God). We were marvelling a bit about his diatribes even during the Monolith set (“How about you give me a F*CKING D?“) and now, oh now it’s all clear. If you were at all wondering during the set who this guy thought he was, rent the documentary and it will all make sense exactly who he thinks he is.

There he is, looking like Neil Young off to the left, with original tambourine man Joel Gion front and center again. Joel says he’s quit the band dozens of times, and he retains that same odd panache of years past, that blase smirk on his face as he jangles his stuff – not bad, just kind of looks like a monkey. Or a Gallagher brother.

Not to let the personalities obscure the music – I thought they were really good and I seriously need to check out a few of their back catalog albums. They have a retrospective called Tepid Peppermint Wonderland out now, and also have a new album called We Are The Radio available on TeePee Records.

Wisdom – Brian Jonestown Massacre

ART BRUT
London’s Art Brut played as the sun was starting to set, and they put on a fun show with lead singer Eddie Argos’s spoken/sung lyrics in the Streets-meets-Sex Pistols vein, and general frolickery, all running out into the crowd. They were another one that I thought I might have appreciated more in a smaller venue where the energy would have been more concentrated and refracted.

Moving To L.A. – Art Brut

EARL GREYHOUND
I was anticipating this set, and Earl Greyhound from NYC didn’t disappoint. We saw this threesome walking around during the day and man alive they just carry themselves like rockstars. I mean seriously – those are some pink velvet pants. We had it stuck in our minds that Earl Greyhound had said about themselves that they were “as heavy as Led Zeppelin, but way less obnoxious,” but in reality, SPIN wrote that, so now I feel relieved that I can like them without secretly holding that statement against them. They were blistering, just oozing confidence and rock ‘n’ roll strut with a lush heavy sound. I also loved what Kamara Thomas brought to the band with her intense basslines and vocals that perfectly complemented Matt Whyte. I didn’t get any pictures of drummer Ricc Sheridan, but he was unrelenting.

S.O.S. – Earl Greyhound

SPOON

VIDEO: THE WAY WE GET BY (LIVE AT MONOLITH)

Spoon was fantastic, absolutely one of my favorite acts that I saw all weekend. I love their varied and soulful rhythms, the howling lyrics, the general cleverness of their music. You can see how they rocked “The Way We Get By,” as well as my favorite song on the new album “You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb” (when was the last time you heard a modern day lyric reference a dressing gown? Here, that’s where), and “I Turn My Camera On.” I love you Britt Daniel.

I Turn My Camera On – Spoon

THE FESTIVAL “SCENE”
Merry Swankster has also written some commentary on the fest and, although the overall review from those shores is positive, the writer said, “However excellent the lineup was, nothing about Monolith conveyed the feeling of a real ‘festival’. If the long term goal of Monolith includes efforts in making it a destination festival which attracts audiences located outside immediate driving areas, organizers will need to seriously think how something unique can added to the experience. . . I don’t know if kettle corn, funnel cakes, and hippie knick knacks (none available at Monolith) change things, but slapping the word festival on all day music concerts doesn’t either.”

My personal opinion of Monolith would be completely different — I thought it was top notch, and I got what I came for. What else should be added? It had a fantastic, formidable lineup of artists to both rival other fests last weekend like Austin City Limits and Treasure Island Music Festival (in fact, there were a lot of overlapping appearances). As a Colorado festival, it also set itself apart with roughly fifteen acts hailing from our own great state. I loved the blending of the hot indie buzz bands along with a very solid sampling of our own finest. There were some cool diversions — local artists . . .

An interactive music exhibit in the Visitor’s Center (congas and keyboards; we saw all of Earl Greyhound playing around on it before their set) . . .

Frankly, I kinda think adding more festivally “fun things” (whatever those may be) would just distract me even further from my goal of seeing as much great music as possible. I am looking forward to seeing how the festival will grow in future years as word gets out about this little gem. I think this guy (Matt Fecher) did a top notch job in bringing a classy festival experience to one of the most stunning venues in the U.S.

I’d like to thank the folks who decided to give me a photo pass for the Monolith Festival. I have a secret desire to be a rock photographer (now I just need a better camera for low light) and so I had a ton of fun taking some halfway decent shots this past weekend, having time to compose what I wanted, and passing the joy on to you.

Y’all come next year!

Photos from Monolith, Day One

I’d call the Monolith Festival this weekend a rousing success in terms of quality, diversity, and incorporation of local musicians and artists. Here’s some highlights from my Friday.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah played in the daylight to a 1/3-full main stage audience. We all know that the lead singer Alec Ounsworth has an unusual warble, to say the least, and after seeing them I was kinda lamenting the way that the “Saaaatan, Saaaatan…” line stuck with an iron will in my brain all afternoon. But all the reasons that made them the blog sensation superstars are still in full effect – their exuberant and melodic sound, the catchy, solid, danceable tunes. The Talking Head comparisons are unavoidable in my mind, and I really enjoyed their show. Next time, smaller venue for me.

Upon This Tidal Wave of Young Blood – CYHSY

KINGS OF LEON
Oh Kings of Leon. I’ve been waiting for you guys. After seeing them at the Ogden Theatre a few months ago and being completely converted, this was one of my most anticipated sets and they didn’t fail me, bringing an hour of excoriating rock (okay, 56 minutes) which was more than I expected for a festival act at 7pm.

They played a fantastic set, including the claptastic Spiral Staircase, Four Kicks (which always makes me feel all pugilistic), and a slightly-sped-up version of Fans which sounded great to these ears — it’s one of my current favorite tunes. I took a video of Charmer that regrettably starts with some too-loud audio and an out of focus bit, but then it shapes up and ain’t too bad — it gives you a sense of the swagger in their show and how they project a huge enough sound to challenge those red rocks.

I think they were one of the best-suited bands to the huge venue; as I wrote in the little blurb for the festival program, “Their live show pulls songs from all three of their full-length studio releases, a catalog of material that grows and shimmers in a live setting. The songs seem to pull air from the ether around them in a supernova of raw and unbridled Southern garage rock.”

Fans – Kings of Leon


Black Rebel Motorcycle Club electrified the second stage in a set that I’ll talk more about when I post that interview soon. The Decemberists also played the main stage and it sounded superb from up above, but I regrettably didn’t make it back down those billion stairs until Cake, who I thought played a great show as usual. There was some skepticism from folks who haven’t followed their consistently fun, intelligent, clever output since the “Going The Distance” hit, but I think they converted a few. I only got one picture – John McCrea rockin the white-rimmed sunglasses, fedora, and track jacket like a child molestor on vacation (sorry but come on).

You Part The Waters – Cake

Saturday dawned clear and lovely. More pics coming.

Monday Music Roundup, Monolith edition

Attending a music festival could be my favorite way to spend a weekend. But you always end up seeing fewer shows than you thought, especially when there are five geographically disparate stages. Next time I go to a festival, I am going to hire me a scheduling assistant to do nothing but look at the clock and tell me when to move it along, please, to the next show. And then physically force me to do it (“Get up, Heather. Walk now.”).

So I didn’t see all the bands I wanted to, but what I saw was pretty rad. Festivals are like big appetizer samplers where you really just get your appetite whetted to know who you oughta see when they come back through to the small clubs near you. This week’s roundup is five finger-lickin’ bands from Monolith that were more or less new to me, and perked up my ears.

Sad, Sad City
Ghostland Observatory
I missed almost all of Ghostland Observatory‘s set on the main stage early on the first day because my interview with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club went so well that we just kept talking and lost track of real time. I emerged from the cavernous maze of backstage hallways to see an imposing DJ dude in a spangly blue cape with a huge star on the back, a frantic lead singer, and bunches of indie rock kids wildly flailing in time to the beat in the broad daylight. It was awesome. I will absolutely make time to see these guys when they come back, because the song and a half that I got to see only left me wanting more of this stuff. Ghostland Observatory is from Austin, TX and their newest album is called Paparazzi Lightning (2006, Trashy Moped).

Kid On My Shoulders
White Rabbits
We saw these guys on Saturday afternoon on the indoor WOXY.com stage with about 12,482 people all crammed into a very small space. It was hot and I couldn’t get any pictures worth crap. But I loved the sounds emanating from the White Rabbits. The band had a disproprotionately high number of short guys wearing dapper suits in it, and I thought that it was fronted by Fred Savage at first, which was awesome. This song boasts a ferocious thrumming piano line that I miss each time it stops, and ska-pop harmonies that blend with a welcome aggressiveness. I like it! Fort Nightly is out now on Say Hey Records.

Duck & Cover
The Hot IQs
I am all in favor of girl drummers (being an aspiring one myself), and I was pleased to see a few this weekend. Elaine A of the Hot IQs kept a fierce beat, and I loved her style. She played with panache and confidence, giving backbone to the new-wave/Devo/danceable sounds of her band. Not only is this Denver band hot, they are also smart, and took home the Best Indie Pop Band award from our local alt-weekly The Westword. This tune is off their Dangling Modifier EP (that title just wants someone to make a joke about it. Yeah, I’ll dangle your modifier. What?). To hear more, check out their recent feature on WOXY.com with some exclusive in-studio performances.

Yea Yeah
Matt & Kim
Yeah, so speaking of girl drummers, Kim from NYC duo Matt & Kim is insane. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a pair perform with as much energy as they did Saturday afternoon. They were, like, vibrating with sheer unbounded elation, just like that picture above. I was kind of expecting fey poppiness like Mates of State, but Matt stormed the stage like an even-more-enthusiastic-for-life Ben Folds, accompanied by a wide-mouthed-in-excitement, about to fall off her drum stool whirlwind of Kim. This tune is off their self-titled album (IHEARTCOMIX Records), and they pack a lot of punch for just two people. Sebastian from Merry Swankster was standing a few rows in front of me for the show and took a tiny video clip so you can see a bird’s eye view of the stage.

The Start of It
Meese
If the Hot IQs are the best indie pop band, then The Westword anointed Meese the best pop band in Denver. Go figure the difference. Both are good. While I speculated that perhaps their name referred to more than one mouse, it’s actually the last name of the two brother-member-founders Patrick & Nathan in the band. To borrow a lyric from the song, these “kids of the frozen Front Range” surprised me with a much poppier sound than I had remembered – keyboard-driven indie rock. This particular song sounds like something lost from the Third Eye Blind files, and is listed on their MySpace as “Winter 2007 Recordings.” Solid.

[the New Belgium second stage with Meese playing]

For each artist I saw and enjoyed (see more pics; other reviews coming), there were at least three that I missed. Didn’t see Rocky Votolato, Born In The Flood, Monster Maker, Bob Log III, Cat-A-Tac, Kid Sister, YACHT, Broken West, Das EFX . . . so many more. I guess there’s always next year to try again (happily).

Sing loud cuz it’s outside, sing loud cuz you’re still alive. Just sing loud, alright?

Last night at Monolith, the Flaming Lips closed the festival with a visually dazzling carnival of floating orbs and shimmering lights and confetti and dancing Santas. Sitting there under the stars, I had a moment. Maybe I was all festivalled out from the two nonstop days of sun, music, sponsored-by-New-Belgium-Brewery drinks, and lots (and lots) of stairs up and down, but during the song “Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots” I found myself sitting back, looking up at the stars, and all around me at the gorgeous silent beasts of red rock rising up to both sides, listening to the swell of the crowd singing along at the top of their voices. I felt something twist and swell and stab inside of me.

It was just a split second that can strike you anywhere, even at a crazy music festival on an indian summer night. Despite all odds, it was this faith-affirming moment (even if everyone around me was singing about not letting robots eat them) that made me glad for the power of something that beautiful through music. My mind started to wander to one of its favorite subjects, as it often does, wondering what it would have been like to hear the lovely and pure “Ship Song” bouncing off those rocks when Pearl Jam played there in 1995. I’ve heard the recorded moment dozens of times, but it’s got such an innocence and immediacy that I can now picture it hovering and echoing live in that specific setting.

On the dark and winding drive home, I was explaining the perfection of that particular cover to my friend & rockstar concert companion Jake, who is [wonderfully enough] as big of a Pearl Jam addict as I am. He asked if I’d heard the “It’s OK” tag from the Virginia Beach show in 2000. That Dead Moon song is one that they often work in as a tag at the end of “Daughter” and I’ve even posted another live version of it before from a few weeks after the Virginia Beach show. It’s absolutely one of my favorites, the simple strength of the creed-like lyrics and the way the crowd always sings at their very strongest. But I hadn’t heard this exact one he spoke of.

So we cued it up. And it kicked the wind out of me:

It’s OK (Virginia Beach 8/3/00) – Pearl Jam

This concert was Pearl Jam’s first time back on stage since nine fans in the crowd had lost their lives during their set at the Roskilde Festival on June 30, 2000. With the melody of the song starting to pulse and build and carry through the night air, Ed says to the crowd:

“The last time we had to ask the crowd to do something it was under completely different circumstances than this. So, it’s a little nervewracking to . . .
It’d be nice to start, uh, anew.
So, I was gonna ask you to do something and maybe you’ll do it?
[crowd cheers]
And it’s uh . . . singing.
Sing.
Sing loud cuz it’s outside, sing loud cuz you’re st-. . . you’re still alive.

Just sing loud, alright?“

Man. I know that it makes me sound like a weepy emotionalist to just come right out and say it, but Ed’s speech and the way the crowd sings along with all their hearts fairly reverberates with redemption, and listening to that moment made hot tears spring into my eyes last night that just would not stop coming even as I looked out the car window and tried to make them go back into my eyes. But at the same time, I was so glad for it, glad that music could still move me like that twice in one night for such different reasons.

The real, non-rambling reviews from Monolith start soon.

[thanks to Five Horizons for the mp3 clip]

The open arms of Red Rocks wait to embrace me as one of their own

Well kids, in just a bit here I’ll be heading out the door to the superb natural wonder of Red Rocks for the fabulousness of the first Monolith Festival, all day today and tomorrow. It’s a first for such a massive music festival here in Colorado, and it’s also the maiden voyage of this blogger to the natural stone arena, if you can believe it.

I’ll be interviewing Black Rebel Motorcycle Club this afternoon, and by Sunday I’ll try to have rocked my socks to the sounds of Cake, Kings of Leon, Spoon, The Broken West, The Flaming Lips, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Decemberists, Ghostland Observatory, Art Brut, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Earl Greyhound, Matt & Kim, Meese, Rocky Votolato, Born In The Flood, and Gregory Alan Isakov. At least.

I might not survive. But I will enjoy the effort and experience.
Stay tuned.

Josh Homme looks so foxy in spangly Christmas tree knitwear. Who knew?

Admittedly it is way too early for anything related to Christmas, but that photo was so priceless that I couldn’t resist. I’ve always been strangely drawn to the alarmingly lame allure of Christmas sweaters. I often want to walk up to people wearing them and just say, “Why? WHY?” [*see footnote]. When I find myself in JCPenney in November, I enjoy threatening my husband that I will start wearing them every year when I get old, along with elastic-waisted polyester pants in a complimentary tone. Sometime we even pick put the best sequined seasonal confection for my coloring (I’m a Winter).

So Queens of the Stone Age have proven themselves to be men after my own holly-jolly heart during a show they recently taped in Berlin with Travel Channel chef/music-loving mofo Anthony Bourdain. On his show No Reservations (which I’ve never seen because I prefer watching Rachael Ray eat pie), the QOTSA played their own special version of Silver Bells (“Turkey Bells”), as well as a few of their own songs to set a festive mood for cooking.

So that you can decide whether or not to set your TiVos come December, here’s the plot: “While Bourdain cooks a traditional holiday feast at his Connecticut home, the Queens are rocking tracks including ‘Sick, Sick, Sick,’ ‘3s & 7s’ and ‘Make It Wit Chu’ at an ungodly volume in the basement rec room. When the band emerges, they’re sporting appalling Christmas sweaters.”

“QVC graciously sent us the worst sweaters of all time,” Homme explains. “I think someone Googled the word ‘horrible’ and that’s how we found them.” Bourdain, ever the arbiter of good taste, hasn’t recovered: “Those Christmas sweaters were just the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen in my life. Beyond Sandra Lee on some really awful hallucinogen.”

The idea was apparently hatched as a semi-dare over crazy amounts of alcoholic beverages in Germany’s cosmopolitan capital city. Homme says of Bourdain; “Most of the time, if you tried to suggest that we get into sweaters like that we would probably just drink you under the table and leave you for dead, but this is a special case. That bastard.”

I am assuming this gem will air in December, and it gives me a reason to post this early version of one of the songs they played for the fête. A few months ago, Homme was interviewed by Rolling Stone and they asked him:

RS: You included “I Wanna Make It Wit Chu,” from one of your Desert Sessions compilations, on “Vulgaris.” Why?

Homme: Because it’s the best song I’ve ever been associated with that’s about screwing.

Maybe not so much if you wear that sweater, Josh, but I do like this early version a little bit more than the what ended up on this year’s Era Vulgaris. They’re obviously similar, but this one is looser, sultry.

Make It Wit Chu (Desert Sessions version)

*Footnote: The Christmas sweater interrogation I dream of reminds me of a passage from Dave Eggers’ 2003 book that I am currently reading, You Shall Know Our Velocity. I laughed out loud in public on this one:

[I argued with strangers constantly, if only in my cloudy skull]
Passing a middle-aged couple in matching jackets:
–You two need to change
–What? Why? the middle-aged couple said, to my head, in my head.
–Because you are wearing the same jacket.
–We bought them while on vacation in Newport.
–You must be hidden from view.
–The jackets are nice.
–They are not nice. Think of the children.

Bravely maintaining the counter-culture aesthetic

VIDEO: THE HIPSTER OLYMPICS

This was a new diversion for me this afternoon, thanks to my equally-bored-at-work sister. Hard to say which made me laugh harder: the “spontaneous, yet well-composed” (ideally from the point of view of an anonymous, third-party photographer) MySpace profile photo contest, or the Music Collection Brag-A-Thon, where it’s a neck and neck race to pick the band you liked before they sold out and got popular. Divine.

Come with me and Vedder off “Into The Wild” [with a FULL album stream!]

Ed and I are totally going on a journey into the backcountry and you are invited to join us.

We’re just a few weeks from the opening of the movie Into The Wild that Vedder soundtracked, based on the Jon Krakauer book of the same name. Reports from the Telluride Film Festival had folks leaving the theater screening with tears running down their faces, so people, get ready. I still haven’t read the book so I don’t know the ending (but . . . I’m guessing he dies).

GO LISTEN: The entire Into The Wild solo Vedder album is now streaming at WROV The Rock of Virginia (with voiceovers at the start and end of each song, but who’s complaining?).

I’d heard about half the tracks on this album from little leaks, but this is the first time I’ve experienced it start-to-finish. My impression is that it’s a superbly nuanced, ramblingly organic album. But to allay concerns of going soft or being coddled — even though it is acoustic, it’s not at all boring or sedate or old-mannish. There are several tracks that borderline wanna bust out the rock and yowl, with fierce strumming and solid drum action. There are even a few scarcely suppressed growl-screams that Vedder does best, to the delight of this rocker girl.

We’ve gotten lots of warm acoustic Pearl Jam songs over the years (think Thumbing My Way, You’re True, Soon Forget, Off He Goes) but they’re always sandwiched on albums between other rockers. This cohesive effort feels like a long Saturday afternoon in late summer with the right proportions of relaxed rambling and more intense energies.

As far as first impressions go, one of my favorite songs so far is the closing track, “Guaranteed,” which I’ve listened to about a dozen times. It captures an ineffable, unspeakable sweetness and emotion for me, a song to a soul adrift in a figurative sea. I also am drawn to the humble ukulele meandering of “Rise.” The soundtrack opens with the short and spirited “Setting Forth,” which is acoustic but impassioned. Despite having the same name as both the Candlebox screamer and the new Social D song, “Far Behind” is neither of the two. Instead it is one of those almost-rockers I was mentioning above, and I love that. “Society” is a slightly heavy-handed collaboration with North SF-Bay singer songwriter Jerry Hannan about our modern wants and needs, and both “Tuolumne” and “The Wolf” are instrumentals, with the latter containing some chill-inducing ethereal yips and howls from Vedder.

If the goal of a soundtrack is to effectively score the emotional terrain of a film, and tease out a feeling into the foreground, Vedder seems to succeed with this effort. I look forward to seeing the movie and adding the visual storyline to my impressions of the heart of this film that Ed has scored.

PearlJam.com is currently doing a special presale of the solo album bundled with a limited-edition commemorative tshirt. The album will officially be released next Tuesday the 18th.

[In related PJ bundle news, they’re also taking preorders of the new Immagine nel Cornice DVD with a tshirt as well. Like a good little Ten Club member, I’ve already placed my order, and am waiting with bated breath]

Ryan Adams EP due October 23

According to the folks at Lost Highway, Ryan Adams fans accustomed to prolificacy will not be disappointed in 2007 — a seven song EP is due to hit shelves in a mere six weeks.

The excellent Paste Magazine (who will feature Ryan on the cover of their November issue) reported today:

The EP will include two brand new songs, “Follow The Lights” and “My Love For You Is Real,” both of which will be featured prominently on the upcoming season of ABC’s October Road.

Also on the EP are live-in-the-studio versions of “Blue Hotel,” a song Adams wrote for Willie Nelson that appeared on the country legend’s Adams-produced album Songbird; new versions of previously released tracks “Dear John” (Jacksonville City Nights), “This Is It” (Rock N Roll) and “If I Am A Stranger” (Cold Roses); and a cover of Alice In Chains’ “Down In A Hole.”

This joins the purported box set of unreleased Ryan goodness now due sometime in 2008. Yeehaw!

To get you all excited-like, here is what you can expect to hear on the EP (well, five-sevenths of it) — these are a few live + alternate versions of songs that will be featured:

My Love For You Is Real (live in Sweden 2001, great version)
Blue Hotel (live at the End Of The Road Festival, 9/17/06)
This Is It (live 5/6/05, Columbus, OH)
Down In A Hole (Alice in Chains cover, live 5/16/07)
If I’m A Stranger (alternate version; a delicious crackly rip from the Now That You’re Gone 7″ vinyl)