M. Ward rocks the Music Box in L.A.

Wednesday night while I was being wowed by Murder By Death (more on that in a minute), I had two friends separately attending the very sold-out M. Ward show at the Henry Fonda Music Box in Los Angeles. In between enthusiastic texts telling me about how awesome the show was, these two friends who hadn’t yet met tried to find each other to say hello, with me as an intermediary. “tell her i have close-cropped hair, a goatee, and a black jacket,” he helpfully supplied. “that is EVERY GUY HERE,” she replied. I found this amusing. They never found each other.

But Zooey Deschanel came out to both introduce the night and sing four songs with Ward, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings played near the end of the set, and opening band Delta Spirit also shared the stage. Talk about star-studded — it was a hootenanny.

UPDATE: “M. Ward’s management does not allow unauthorized fan recordings of his shows.” Files removed by request. That’s unfortunate.

M. WARD
MARCH 4th, 2009
MUSIC BOX @ HENRY FONDA THEATER
Hold Time
One Hundred Million Years
Paul’s Song
Lullaby & Exile
Chinese Translation
Epistemology
Requiem
Fisher of Men
Post-War
Poison Cup
O, Lonesome Me
Rag Medley
Zooey’s intro / You Really Got a Hold on Me
Change Is Hard (with Zooey)
Rave On (with Zooey)
Never Had Nobody Like You (with Zooey)
Fahey
Vincent O’Brien
Roll Over Beethoven (cover)
Big Boat
Encore Break
Gillian Welch / David Rawlings Intro
To Save Me
Magic Trick

ZIP: M WARD AT THE MUSIC BOX

[thanks to Philip for emailing me his taping of the show (!!),
photo by Andrew Youssef for Stereogum]

Free M. Ward demos over at Merge Records

The good folks over at Merge are offering free downloads of three demos from M. Ward‘s third album Transfiguration of Vincent, to celebrate the re-release of the album on 180 gram translucent sky-blue vinyl through Jealous Butcher Records.

Undertaker (demo) – M. Ward
[get the other two here; registration required]

M. Ward is also playing a few solo tour dates later this summer, in addition to the She & Him tour. And speaking of She & Him, if you’re totally hanging out in your basement tonight to watch Pete Wentz on MTV, their video for “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” will premiere tonight at 8pm on FNMTV.

RELATED LISTENING: That M. Ward / Jim James / Conor Oberst show is still live, as is the M. Ward demo tape.

Before They Were Blogged: M. Ward demo tape

Before M. Ward embarked on his own glowing solo career making mind-bogglingly terrific albums, and before he met Zooey Deschanel and started recording some (She & Him) music and playing festivals with her, Matt was part of a band called Rodriguez in the mid ’90s with a strong college circuit following.

During one such university show around 1997, a kind future Fuel/Friends reader happened to pick up a modest cassette tape of solo material that Ward was experimenting with. Two years later, a similar (or maybe the same) collection of songs would end up in the hands of Howe Gelb (Giant Sand), who became fond of this Portland troubadour’s warm, stark folk sounds and released his first album Duet For Guitars #2 on his own Ow Om label.

Third in a mini-series of “Before They Were Blogged,” it has taken me over a year to realize exactly how buried and forgotten these tunes are. Since my reader actually converted them from that original cassette tape he still has, I’m fairly sure this is an unheard sonic collection — one that M. Ward’s fans will enjoy listening to as much as I have. Unfortunately I don’t have much more information to go on other than what my reader tells me, but all the things I love about M. Ward are certainly here in all their humble, honey-drenched, warm, raspy vibrancy.

M. WARD
SOLO CASSETTE/DEMO TAPE
If The Devil Came And Promised Me Joy
Don’t Crack
Made of Glass
Tom Violence (Sonic Youth cover)
Intermission
Must Be Waiting
No, You Can Never Make It New Again
Bye Bye Love (re-working of the Everly Brothers hit)
I’m Going Higher

M WARD CASSETTE/DEMO ZIP

M. Ward + Zooey Deschanel collaboration is near :: Four new songs from KCRW!

I’d heard last summer that my #1 artist from 2006 and the honey voiced starlet from Elf (among other projects) were collaborating on a full-length album, but it slipped from my radar for a bit there. Now look, we only have 2 more months to wait! M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel will be collaborating under the name She & Him with an album called Volume One (they are wildly creative in both namings) due out March 2008 on Merge Records.

Recently the duo stopped by the KCRW Open Road program to play several songs together. M. Ward has that humid, scratchy, atmospheric sound that balances out the velvety old-fashioned (sexy) croon of the delighful Ms. Deschanel. This is one highly anticipated album for me in 2008; I am hoping for a higher ratio of original compositions to covers, but I’ll take whatever they deal. Listen:

M. WARD AND ZOOEY DESCHANEL
KCRW OPEN ROAD, JAN 2008
Change Is Hard
You Really Got A Hold On Me
Magic Trick
Sentimental Heart


ZIP UP M AND ZOOEY

I’m heading out the door now to see this guy tonight. I am hoping there will be some digeridooing. I’ll keep you posted.

New duet from M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel

Actress Zooey Deschanel has a swanky cabaret-tinged lilt to her voice that’s resonated well with me ever since she cautiously sang along with Will Ferrell in the movie Elf, and you know how much I love the humid crackle of M. Ward.

Now they’ve joined forces to record a cover of the Richard and Linda Thompson duet “When I Get To The Border” for the new independent film The Go-Getter. The film is directed by Martin Hynes (Stealing Harvard) and stars Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker), Jena Malone (who sings now too) and Zooey Deschanel. It was debuted at Sundance this past February and is on the hunt for a distributor to bring the goodness to the masses, hopefully by the end of the year.

When I Get To The Border – M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel

M.’s been on a soundtrack kick lately (such expressive atmospheric tunes add richness to any film) — note his performance of the Jesse-Harris-penned tune “Crooked Lines” for the new Ethan Hawke film The Hottest State. That soundtrack is out next week, August 7th, on the newly-resurrected Hickory Records.

A few noteworthy releases today: M. Ward, Foo Fighters, and (surprise!) Stars

News of three releases today that I found to be of interest:

M. Ward‘s debut solo album Duet For Guitars #2 (tricky, naming your first album something with a #2 in it….) is finally back in print, re-released today by Merge Records. Originally out in 1999 on the Co-Dependent label and then also re-released in 2000 by M’s friend Howe Gelb (Giant Sand) on his Ow-Om label, it’s been out of print for a few years now. If you, like me, may just be hearing about Ward for the first time with his superb Post-War album last year, delve into the rich back catalog.

The Foo Fighters have re-issued The Colour and The Shape today for the ten year anniversary, with the addition of 6 bonus tracks. Coming on the heels of the news of their 6th album forthcoming this fall (rumored to be called Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace) this is an exciting week for Foo fans.

Also, an eagle-eyed reader sent me the news that Arts & Crafts has unexpectedly digitally released the new Stars album In Our Bedroom After The War today, three months in advance of the physical release date.

Slow on the uptake: M. Ward on Conan tonight

I got an email earlier today from Merge Records and just now got to it – but this sounds cool:

M. Ward will be performing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien TONIGHT Thursday, May 17th.

M. Ward will be joined by an impressive band of friends including Neko Case, Kelly Hogan, Jim James, Mike Coykendall, Than Luu, & Adam Selzer to perform “Chinese Translation” from Post-War
(note: my #1 last year!)

Don’t miss this just-for-TV slice of musical magic positioned just a little later than what will no doubt be an action-packed season finale of The Office!

(Team Pam! Team Pam!)

M. Ward vinyl rip

Thanks to Kevin, who rocks all sorts of goodness over on his blog So Much Silence, I’ve added an audio rip of that limited 7″ remix from M. Ward and Jim James. Kevin is the master of vinyl ripping, so you get all that snap, crackle, and pop at no added charge. Thanks Kevin!

Head over to the original post for the mp3.

A splash of Southern Comfort with M. Ward

The freezing walk to the mailbox was all made worth it yesterday afternoon by the discovery of a very cool flat package containing a 7″ limited-run vinyl from FADER Magazine/blog in a partnership with Southern Comfort. Part of a new series this whole year to release “up-and-coming” artists on limited edition vinyl, the first in the lineup contains:

Side A: Magic Trick (Kansas City Remix) (Thanks Kevin!!)
M. Ward with Jim James

Side B: Soap
Ladyhawk

Post-War (from whence comes the lovely harmonies of “Magic Trick”) is an album that sounds all rich and scratchy and warm –an effect which is doubled on a record player– and I derived great joy from sitting in front of my stereo listening to this small gem. The remix takes out the drums and remixes the vocals a bit more distinctly so the harmonies don’t mesh as seamlessly. It also brings forward the bittersweet harmonica line, giving the overall effect of a Kansas City backporch BBQ. You can win your own copy here. Oh, and check the solo M. Ward shows added. San Francisco gets all the fun. Come to Denver, “M.”!

M. Ward: Scene From #12 EP

Now THIS makes me feel nice and happy today. As you may recall, I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with M. Ward‘s latest release, Post-War, and have been on a spirited jaunt to seek out his earlier material. I love the warmth of his songs and the way so many of them just envelop you with a sense of immediacy.

One of his earliest solo releases, the Scene From #12 EP (2000, 62 TV Records) is currently not commercially available, but it’s a seamless little collection of four songs that make me contentedly smile. I think you’ll be happy if you enjoy these along with me today:

01. Scene From #12
02. Wild Minds
03. Carolina
04. Going Away

SCENE FROM #12 EP AS ZIP FILE (re-upped June 2010, by request)

Buy Post-War if you haven’t already.