Sometimes in life you arrive at the train station to find that the express that you had counted on waiting until you got there had actually gotten weary of waiting for you, and gone ahead to pull out to the next station. And really, who can blame it?
I thought that maybe since this fantastic Radiohead show happened almost two months ago, the mp3s would be gone off most of my favorite online haunts by now — but luckily I wasn’t too late. For a variety of debatable reasons, I am just arriving to listen to it now.
ZIP: RADIOHEAD BBC EVENING (please someone let me know if the zip is incomplete. I’m obv having uploading difficulties with the dodgy net access I have on the road)
D.C. travel update: After eating dinner last night with some friends at Polly’s (which I hear also fed dinner to the Raconteurs on Tuesday night), I found myself alone in this jazz club on U Street (the historic jazz district of DC). Under the heady velvet curtain of that music, it seemed like an appropriate place and time to drink alone, and I taxied home feeling sedated.
Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”
One of the disciples asked, “What of the man who builds his house inside the house built on the rock? Surely his house will be even less damaged by water and wind. Is this what we should do?”
In early 2001, Ryan Adams was riding high on the critical acclaim of his debut solo album Heartbreaker (Sept 2000), while simultaneously letting off some punk steam through the recording of the excellent Pink Hearts sessions (starting in December of that year).
The set that he played at South by Southwest that year was heavy on Pink Hearts selections, some of my favorite unreleased songs by him. In my book, the 1-2-3 punch in this set of “Candy Doll,” “Gimme A Sign” and “Mega-Superior Gold” would be one that I’d pay good cash to see again. I love those songs.
Travel notes from D.C.: Saw Raconteurs last night at the 930 Club; more on that super-loud awesomeness later. And hey, you know what’s really nice? Waking up East-Coast early in a hotel room and crawling a few inches from the bed over into one of these things. Yeah. That’s what I’m talkin about.
The rigors of travel, they slay me — and tonight I find myself far from home. Doin’ alright except for a slicing cut on my toe which makes everything involving walking and shoes difficult. Seems like I should have worn “real shoes,” instead of pedi-vulnerable flipflops on my way to the capital. Thanks to everyone for the Washington DC recommendations, I look forward to trying out as many as I can squeeze into the midst of conferencing. More on my travel adventures later.
When I can connect to the hotel wireless, here are a few new songs I’ve enjoyed downloading that you might like too:
Big Star Haley Bonar I first heard Haley Bonar a few years ago on her blue and lonesome “have-a-whiskey-alone-(or ten)” song Drinking Again, where her honeyed voice sings a tale of drinking to forget someone who’s just left town so she doesn’t have to sit around and talk to walls again. Haley is back with a new album on Afternoon Records (June 12), and this first taste of the title track sounds like she’s possibly even less happy than we last left her. This song laments a relationship of changed expectations and unfulfilled needs: “I can’t make you happy, I can’t make you money, I can only fold your laundry,” she sings. But in a fortunate move towards redemption, the gorgeous chorus is about big stars and big wishes she’s making. This song is highly recommended.
My Only Offer Mates of State Sometimes I mistakenly caricaturize the husband-wife duo Mates of State into overly-simplistic terms. It’s easy to think of them as simply harmonies, a nauseatingly happy partnership, and really great hair. When I saw them perform back at my college they were truly charming and their songs infectiously simple, all effervescent springtime and “bah-bah-bah”s. But their new album Re-Arrange Us (out last week on Barsuk) shows a bit more mood and weight as it explores issues of family, long-term relationships, parenting, etc. The heft of the subject matter blends with some of the darker threads of their shimmering indie-pop music, and makes for a very pleasing effort.
This Is How I Know Ron Sexsmith Canadian musician Ron Sexsmith crafts songs with impeccable melodies, the kind that stick in your head for hours and days. Ever since I heard that collaboration he did with Paul McCartney, I hear so many similarities in their voices and their style. This is one that will stay with your mental jukebox for a while, at least until the full album comes out to tempt us with other pleasures (like his version of “Brandy Alexander,” a song he co-wrote with Feist). Exit Strategy For The Soul is out July 8th, and will be his debut album for Yep Roc.
Josephine Street I Love Math Spare and immediately winning, Dallas foursome I Love Math makes songs in the classic vein of Kinks or Zombies, along with more current contemporaries like Jon Brion. They also cite Maker’s Mark in their MySpace influences, which is not a bad selection. This song is a lazy summery tune with gentle handclaps and a foreign language chattering in the background like an old transistor radio. Getting To The Point Is Beside It is out tomorrow on Glurp Records, and the band is on tour next month opening for the Old 97s.
J. Smith Travis While we weren’t watching, Travis has been working on finishing a new album, their follow-up to last year’s The Boy With No Name. This song is a borderline-operatic tale of a reclusive, bitter man around whom they seem to have written a whole album. Ode To J. Smith is due out sometime later in 2008, and this first song from it was recently debuted on KCRW earlier in the month. Travis fans have compared this song to Queen, and without all the Freddie Mercury there definitely is a hint of the dramatic that wouldn’t seem out of place in a rhapsody all its own. Although it’s got the angular Britpop electric guitars at the start and end, those celestial choruses certainly lift this song up into bigger proportions than anything I’ve heard them do in the past. [thanks Kevin!]
There’s a great read over on the Guardian website by Chuck Klosterman about fans who look like their idols, accompanied by a gallery of portraits where you try to guess the band by looking at the fans (and who do you guess is represented above?). I got most of them right and found the guessing process to be delightful.
Klosterman ranks the following ten groups as having the most dedicated, least rational fans. Discuss:
1. Slayer 2. Tori Amos 3. Sublime 4. Kiss 5. Bruce Springsteen 6. Black Sabbath (particularly the Tony Martin era, for some reason) 7. Jimmy Buffett 8. Iron Maiden 9. Guided By Voices 10. Morrissey
Read his rationale and the whole entertaining article here. Images are taken from the forthcoming book Disciples by James Mollison. If you’re going to be in NYC, these prints will be exhibited at New York’s Hasted Hunt Gallery June 12 through August 16.
Last time I was in Washington D.C. I was in the eighth grade and we were learning about government and politics and history. I remember running squealing up and down hotel hallways between our room and that of the cute (really short) guys in 604. I remember torrential summer rainstorms and getting lost at the Smithsonian.
I’m heading back to D.C. next week for a conference for my new job and would love some recommendations for any fun music-related stuff to do in my downtime from natives (since I’ve already done all the things listed in the first paragraph). I’m not lying, there is actually a workshop as part of the conference called “The History and Evolution of Black Music in Washington D.C.” which has really nothing directly to do with international education but hey, I will gladly take it. So that covers Wednesday from 3:45-5pm. After that — what else should I entertain myself with?
As we’ve mentioned before, The Blakes hail from Seattle and have this cool amped up retro-punk vibe going on, recommended for fans of groups like the Redwalls, or perhaps the Strokes. This catchy new song is one of six from the live iTunes EP that was recorded when the band was in San Francisco recently. It’s got a bright surf vibe with a driving beat, and laments that fact that she left him in a basket and that it’s not so hard to do. So maybe they are also an exceptionally tiny & portable band.
I love the aching and honest timbre to Leona Naess‘ luminous voice, combined with her fearless lyrics and incisive wit. We’ve been waiting, oh, forever for her new album Thirteens to come out. News on the street is that it is still forthcoming through the label Polydor, but no exact date.
While we anticipate the full LP (and kick around possible track inclusions), Leona is releasing a single called “Heavy Like Sunday” through the performance night-cum-record label Blue Flowers on June 2. This release is a limited edition of 500 on 7″ vinyl, and each one comes with an individual polaroid taken by Leona. She’s also made a charmingly lo-fi video of herself singing her heart out while sitting on her piano, her balcony, and then all over London (back of a bus, flower market, overlooking the ferris wheel). Sounds good to me.
HEAVY LIKE SUNDAY – LEONA NAESS
Londoners — there is a gig on June 5th to celebrate the release of the single. That’ll be at Soho Revue Bar, 11 Walkers Court, Brewer Street, W1F 0ED.
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.
Sometimes in life you arrive at the train station to find that the express that you had counted on waiting until you got there had actually gotten weary of waiting for you, and gone ahead to pull out to the next station. And really, who can blame it? 
Name: Heather Browne
