and in your soul they poked a million holes: DeVotchKa with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra tonight

A handful of Colorado’s favorite sons (and daughter), DeVotchKa, took the stage tonight with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra for an immense evening of their mariachi-gypsy laced music made even bigger.

Tonight was an electric, flawless, intuitive pairing. Coupled with the ululating vibrato of Nick Urata, which is an instrument in itself, DeVotchKa writes complex, challenging songs that have been ripe for this sort of reinvention. Songs that are already brilliant to begin with shot into the sky tonight with a thousand colors.

It’s a brilliant phenomenon lately, some of my favorite musicians recording sessions with anything from small string quartets to the sixty-person symphony orchestra I saw tonight. As I sat damp-eyed during the final gorgeous explosion of “How It Ends,” I tried to put my finger on what exactly it is that these songs gain from going through the transformation from guy-on-a-guitar to full-blown-orchestra. Best I can articulate is that I feel like it has something to do with colors, and with size.

Hearing a pop musician play with a symphony makes their songs balloon into ten thousand gradations of hue where there once were five or six. It feels like a chorus of voices (instruments) all swelling with you to agree, yes, this is a terrific song and all eleven of us violins will speak with you on that — as will a half-dozen trumpets, and those plinky wood-box percussion things. It was deeply thrilling to hear these songs get so colossally huge, and tremendously more expressive. I found myself picturing stars coming out into the sky at night during “Dearly Departed” when all the string instruments began a complex plucking pattern, the song so immense that it transcended the hall we were in. It got at that effect I am always longing and looking for in music: an overpowering sense of the vast other, the cresting of the tidal wave, the moment when it knocks you down.

We don’t, as a young-people whole, go to see the Symphony much — at least, I know I don’t. I’m sure you’ve spent many times more money in the past year on live popular music than on the symphony or other forms of “high culture,” even the raddest former band-geeks among us. I wonder if more of these incredible pairings could help remind us all why we sometimes need to sit ourselves beneath the cerulean thunder of the waves of sound that sixty people can create.

I was also watching the joy radiating around the musicians in the symphony as they performed, and from the young ones to the rad ponytailed older dudes on percussion, there was a definite energy created by this merger of forces, and what it teased out of the crowd. I would absolutely love to see more nights like tonight; I think of recordings I cherish that have captured this sort of pairing (Augie March, Josh Ritter, Joe Pug) and then fantasize about ones that would probably kill me dead if I ever were to see them live with a symphony (The National, mostly). This is a good idea with only good effects, as we stretch our musical boundaries and conceptions.

Tonight left me breathless. Musicians, let’s do this again.

and if you return to me

One of my favorite songs off one of the albums I’ve listened to the most in the last year, this new cover of Damien Jurado’s “Beacon Hill” is suffused through the warmed-up, knowing rasp of Jon Russell (of The Head and The Heart). It’s been on constant repeat for me this week, since it was unveiled as part of an extremely cool mini-series of covers over on Andrew Matson’s music column in the Seattle Times.

Beacon Hill (Damien Jurado) – Jon Russell

Jon takes an icy, somber song that originally aches of that echoey sort of desperation, and infuses it with his own glowing embers. The harmonies of Brenna Carlson are enveloping, and perfect.

Beacon Hill – Damien Jurado

Get Saint Bartlett if you never did, and stream Damien’s entire new forthcoming record, Maraqopa, here. Highly recommended — is anyone else also hung up on “Life Away From The Garden” (in addition to “Working Titles,” of course) like I am?

Keep your ears tuned to Matson’s column for the Seattle Times (check out Pickwick’s!). I don’t know what covers are coming next, but they can’t help but be amazing if this is the magnetic songwriting fodder we have to work with.

UPDATE: JUST GET RIGHT ON OUT OF TOWN. Magic will do what magic does.

[photo by Marcelle Davidse]

classy girls don’t kiss in bars like this

Denver’s own Lumineers released a free EP this morning called Tracks From The Attic, nicely showcasing their floor-stomping, instrument-clanging, yell-out-loud goodness that first made me fall in love with them at this Denver house show in 2010.

Download the full EP now for the price of your email address (worth it): it includes this redone version of “Classy Girls,” originally from their old handmade self-released EP that we got back in the day.

Classy Girls (Lost EP version) – The Lumineers


If we recall, Paste Magazine also called them one of the best new bands of last year, and I am excited to hear their forthcoming debut record, out in April on Dualtone Records. You can also still snag my Chapel Session recording with them – so much visceral ebullience.

LUMINEERS “BIG PARADE” TOUR 2012
Fri-Mar-2 – Vail, CO @ Snowball Fest
Tue-Mar-13-18 – Austin, TX @ SXSW
Wed-Mar-21 – San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
Thu-Mar-22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Hotel Café
Sat-Mar-24 – San Francisco, CA @ Café Du Nord
Sun-Mar-25 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Crepe Place
Thu-Mar-29 – Eugene, OR @ Axe & Fiddle
Fri-Mar-30 – Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
Sat-Mar-31 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
Sun-Apr-01 – Vancouver, BC @ Media Club
Wed-Apr-04 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
Thu-Apr-05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room
Fri-Apr-06 – Bellvue, CO @ Misawaka Indoors
Mon-Apr-09 – Ames, IA @ The Maintenance Shop
Wed-Apr-11 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry
Thu-Apr-12 – Madison, WI @ The Frequency
Fri-Apr-13 – Chicago/Evanston, IL @ SPACE
Tue-Apr-17 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Lounge
Wed-Apr-18 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
Thu-Apr-19 – Fairfield, CT @ StageOne
Fri-Apr-20 – Berklee, MA @ Café 939
Sat-Apr-21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sun-Apr-22 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java
Tue-Apr-24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas
Thu-Apr-26 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Fri-Apr-27 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement
Sat-Apr-28 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill
Sun-Apr-29 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room
Fri-May-11 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theatre
Sun-May-20 – Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Fest
Sat-Jun-2 – Ozark, AR @ Wakarusa

i undressed someone’s daughter / then complained about her looks

I love the wrenching, tentative beauty in Joe Pug‘s hesitation.
(With a symphony orchestra a few weeks ago)

Freshly Hatched :: A Fuel/Friends Mix For New People

In January, the marvelous website couchsurfing.org brought us a terrific set of houseguests: a couple from the beaches of California asked to stay in my home while they came to Colorado to pick up the due-any-day baby that they had just been chosen to be the adoptive parents of. For two weeks we got to host them and their brand new little guy, all wide eyes and stretching fingers. It was, in a word, magnificent. We forget that they make people that little, that new. Light as air and just about perfect.

As I am wont to do, I made up a mix to send to them back in California (I take seriously my obligation to set the kiddo on the right musical path, since I was the first home he came back to), and thought that you probably know someone in your life who could appreciate it as well. It’s music that little kiddos can love, but also will not drive adults crazy in any way. I tried to throw in some foreign languages for the ole’ neuron connections, and (of course) paid special attention to the lyrics. You could even put it on with no kids around, if you wanted, and I wouldn’t tell. The last half is good for falling asleep to, whatever your age.

I also found myself gravitating towards a lot of self-reflective songs that celebrate and delve into the metamorphosis of welcoming new life into our communities – the breaking up of the earthen crust that hardens over our lives, not even realizing how dry we were until the new green shoot comes pushing up through the cracks. This is a mix about falling in love.

FRESHLY HATCHED: A FUEL/FRIENDS MIX FOR NEW PEOPLE
*the mix fits on one CD, meaning you now have the awesomest (no-cost) present to bring to the next baby shower you get invited to, or for your coworker/cousin/pal. You’re welcome.

The Littlest Birds – The Be Good Tanyas
Iwoya – Angélique Kidjo & Dave Matthews
Nothing I Can Do – Ben Taylor
Wrapped Up In You – Garth Brooks
Mushaboom – Feist
Mahna Mahna (Muppets) – Cake
Like A Star – Corinne Bailey Rae
Dream A Little Dream of Me – Mama Cass
The Rainbow Connection (Muppets) – Sarah McLachlan
When You Are Still (Live on WNRN) – David Wax Museum
This Moment (Victoria Williams) – Matthew Sweet
La Noyee – Carla Bruni
Out Of The Woods – Nickel Creek
Goodnight Moon – Will Kimbrough
Per Te – Jovanotti *my translation here
Didn’t Leave Nobody But The Baby – Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, & Gillian Welch
Godspeed (Sweet Dreams) – Dixie Chicks
Common Thread – Bobby McFerrin
The Sea & The Rhythm – Iron & Wine
Can’t Help Falling In Love (Elvis) – Eels

ZIP: FRESHLY HATCHED MIX

[wonderful artwork from Ryan Hollingsworth, who also has a great new February mix up on his site]

i don’t want love or conquered rome / just your voice and a sleeping pill

I was talking with a friend the other night about songwriting, and this is a great song: evocative, sad, plunging us right into the middle of the life on the road. That slide guitar feels like a train whistle in the dark, somehow, and the title of this post is a perfect lyric. I’ve been listening afresh to The Damnwells‘ 2006 album Air Stereo all day today, because there is never a Sunday afternoon that doesn’t sound better with that record reverberating off the walls.

Louisville – The Damnwells


Everyone should own this album.

[image via]

why spend your only life waiting

From the surprise new EP from Josh Ritter of “immediate” and “small” songs that he is excited to share; I am excited to receive.

“It’s always a fun process, and what you’re trying to do is balance the art form of the recording with the excitement of recording it. I think there’s a certain spark when something’s written and it rolls off the tongue easily, and you can always hear the person’s excitement when it’s happening.”
[Josh, via]

That’s one of the reasons that Josh is one of my favorite musicians. That spark of joy is palpable in the immediacy.

he asked me not to go so fast

Perhaps you, like many other late night denizens, saw Alabama Shakes nearly burn down Conan’s studios with their performance on last night’s show, and sat there on your couch shaking your head and saying “what the hell was that?!” Maybe you’ve caught them live on this tour (LUCKY), or watched some of their immensely dynamic videos online. One thing is, I believe, for certain. Alabama Shakes are a force of nature akin to a hurricane or a tidal wave, and they are conquering something serious.

A few weeks ago they played The Independent in San Francisco, and one of my fabulous readers (“B”) taped it and sent it to me in a simple padded envelope, as he often awesomely does. I was slack-jawed listening in the car on my next long drive up to Denver. Brittany Howard’s tremendous, ferocious wail of a voice is one that has the volcanic potential make a dent on this thing we call musical history.

Enjoy this magnificent show, from a band that is rightfully poised to explode. Their debut album Boys & Girls is out April 10th.

ALABAMA SHAKES
THE INDEPENDENT – SAN FRANCISCO (JAN 26, 2012)

Goin’ to the Party
Hold On
Hang Loose
I Found You
Always Alright
Boys & Girls
Be Mine
Rise to the Sun
Hurricane Strut
Mama
You Ain’t Alone
Heavy Chevy *possibly my favorite
Heat Lightning
I Ain’t the Same
On Your Way
How Many More Times (Led Zeppelin cover)

ZIP: ALABAMA SHAKES IN SF (1/26/12)

Also, pretty much all you need to know about why Brittany Howard is so rad can be heard when she introduces the band during “Hurricane Strut,” with none of their real names, but nevertheless their perfect names:

“Let me introduce you…to the 100% legit…Alabama Shakes. Right over here on this ebony guitar, I got Cobra Snake Jackson. Let him know you love him. This gentleman right here… why this is Mahogany T Jones. What’s up Mahogany. Right back here… you know I got Scooter Johnson. Awww Scooter… keep it on time, keep it on time. Right over here, aha… I got Styrofoam Jones. Let’em know what’s up Styrofoam. Ya know…that’s all there is to it.”

Damn straight.

[top image by Joseph Lanford, second photo (from that SF show) by Pam Torno. Thanks to Adam Sharp for helping me with clerical work – you’re hired.]

i want you and the skyline / these are my demands

I keep trying to get further into the new Damien Jurado record, Maraqopa, but then I get stuck and stuck and stalled on this marvelous (melodic, melancholy) song. Not a bad place to be, there swimming in the ghostly doo-wop sadness. Of all them, Damien consistently slays me the most.

Working Titles – Damien Jurado

I didn’t listen to Saint Bartlett (2010) adequately until 2011, so it was voided from my ‘favorite albums of the year’ eligibility, but it totally was one of the very best things released that year. Maraqopa is Damien’s follow-up to Saint Bartlett, also collaborating with the production of Richard Swift, and will be out February 21 on Secretly Canadian. Damien possesses the ability to sledgehammer in on a sentiment with only a handful of words.

Preorder Maraqopa here. It is just completely marvelous.

[image credit]

Ryan Adams shines radiantly at Denver’s Temple Buell (2/4/12)

Ryan Adams’ music has been woven taut and wooly through so many parts of my life in the last seven years, and writing objectively about his jaw-droppingly good show last night at Denver’s Temple Buell Theater is tough. For me it was a parade of ventricle-punching, flushed-cheek-inducing song after song, and it felt like it was just for me. I was off in my own stratosphere.

The show for me was intensely personal, hearing these passionately executed, pure renditions of songs I never really thought I’d get to hear live, and especially not with that much potency and perfection. “Wonderwall”? “Please Do Not Let Me Go” (oh my heart), right into “English Girls Approximately”? He started with “Oh My Sweet Carolina” and encored with a cover of Alice in Chains’ “Nutshell”? It was almost too much for this one girl to take. Just like my mix I posted on Friday night, this was a personal thing for me — no detachment, just marveling. Hoping for the best, and –for once– getting it.

I’ve seen Ryan Adams a handful of other times, in 2006 and 2007, chasing after the magic I heard in all his records that I learned about and then started gorging myself on. When I saw him during those years, he was alternately in a very scattered, rambly place the one time I heard him play acoustic (at San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts) and long-form electric jammy, the three times with the Cardinals. Every time I’ve seen him has been worth it, in its own way, but I have never been as satisfied as I was last night. This was something else entirely.

Ryan was focused and amiable, sang passionately with a voice that is sounding the best I’ve ever heard it, and lavished well-crafted songs on the spoiled crowd for two hours. All told, he sang 24 songs — well, 28 if you count fantastic on-the-spot creations like:

-”Climbing a Tree In My Yellow Pants (What Kind Of Cake Will I Have?)” (a brilliant example of the kind of song he would have written if Prozac had been around when he was a kid)
-”Mr. Cat You Are Soft As Fuck” (a somber piano ballad about his pet he misses at home)
-”Mr. Heckles” (a sweetly soaring, apologetic guitar tune for the man near me who yelled “play the good one!”):

-a final “Thank You” ditty to us all, before launching into “Come Pick Me Up” with harmonica that felt like it stopped hearts in that room. Even his fake songs sounded really good, showcasing just how amazingly effortless it seems for him to write solid songs, even on the fly. Last night he played almost twice as many songs as the only other acoustic set of his I’d seen, in SF.

After the 2006 San Francisco show, I lamented. I worried that I would never get to see my favorite, favorite gorgeous songs live and delivered well from Ryan, since he seemed to be teetering and veering off in another direction. I worried I’d missed the catharsis, the beauty I first fell so hard for. Therefore last night was deeply rewarding, to see him pull all his skill and eloquence together, to wow the (mostly) silent crowd with a cherry-picked setlist of new and old, to make my heart beat so hard I could hear it in my eardrums.

SETLIST, RYAN ADAMS IN DENVER (2/4/12)
Oh My Sweet Carolina
Ashes & Fire
If I Am A Stranger
Dirty Rain
Winding Wheel
Sweet Lil Gal (23rd/1st)
Invisible Riverside
Everybody Knows
Firecracker
Let it Ride
Rescue Blues
Please Do Not Let Me Go
English Girls Approximately
Chains of Love
Two
Lucky Now
Avenues (!!) (Whiskeytown)
New York, New York
Wonderwall (Oasis)
The End
16 Days (Whiskeytown)
Come Pick Me Up

Encore:
Nutshell (Alice in Chains)
When Will You Come Back Home


Ryan rivals Jeff Tweedy for my favorite in the stage banter category. He was relaxed, funny, constantly talking to the audience (in that silent hall some people really ran with that privilege, yelling every blessed thing that flitted into their minds). But the night felt totally unvarnished — reminding me of the very best things about the house concerts we put together (the atmosphere of this one, in particular).

Ryan’s voice shone in this setting — the Temple Buell Theater has impeccable acoustics (we could even hear him shifting in his chair) and oozed quiet dignity. As I listened to him hold the whole crowd transfixed, singing these songs that he’s sang hundreds and thousands of times, I marveled at how nothing seemed trite. When the song started, he was fully present in the moment and giving it his all. His face scrunched, that slightly pouty lower lip wailed. Even when he took to the piano with his back to me, I could see his face reflected back in the glossy black instrument, brow furrowed. This wasn’t a mechanical night.

The warm feeling spreading over me during the show felt closest to the night my friend Andrew and I laid around on the floor of my living room and listened to Heartbreaker on vinyl. You appreciate the space and the sanctuary created to just sit and listen. There was nothing catchy or flashy about last night’s show. But it riveted me to my seat and took me off somewhere else completely. It felt like course after course of the perfect-sized small plates kept arriving at the table, each so rich and delicious. I left totally satisfied, glowing, and sated. Everyone around me had huge smiles on their faces, and there was a crackle of ebullience in the air. If I never see Ryan Adams live again, I will be happy after last night.

[photo by my friend Andrew, who was with me and has more megapixels in his phone camera than my retro-mazing Nokia. If you’re a visual learner, there’s a spot-on drawing here, down to the labels on Ryan’s shoes]