Monday Music Roundup

My heart is still pounding and my hands are shaking from the intensity of the Italy v. Australia match that Italy just won on a penalty kick (during which my ability to breathe momentarily left me). FORZA ITALIA! That was gorgeous.

And as of this very moment I am #1 all by myself in the World Cup Bloggers Pool. That is a feat unto itself, since, as we have discussed, I am no kind of soccer superstar. I just have a way of predicting what glistening, lovely European men will do next.

It’s a gift, really.

Diventa Blu
Arizona
Translated from Italian, this song title means “Become Blue,” and is my salute to Gli Azzurri, the beautiful Italian national calcio (soccer) team in their blue jerseys. According to Connor over at iGIF, this band Arizona is going to be huge, but the fact that this song is sung in a breathy, ethereal Italian (almost Radiohead-esque), combined with the layered and interesting low-key electronica is enough to get me to listen. From their debut album Welcome Back Dear Children (coming out in August).

Thirteen
Wilco
This song, this whole tribute album is amazingly good. As I mentioned before, and as you have probably read on assorted other music sites, the Big Star tribute album (Big Star, Small World) has finally been released, after being recorded and then shelved for several years. Wilco‘s turn is sad and rich, nostalgic and truly lovely. I’ve listened to it over and over, but this whole CD is great, with contributions by Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub, The Posies, Whiskeytown, Juliana Hatfield and more. Highly recommended and available on eMusic.

Dancing On The Highway
Elliott Smith
Chad over at Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands has pointed me in the direction of this unearthed studio recording, a lost “new” song, courtesy of the Elliott Smith fans over at B-Sides And Other Songs. It’s a lyrically rich love song, known also as “Still Here” — a rough mix demo from either the Figure 8 era, or the Basement Sessions. Take a listen. Thanks, Chad!

Eleanor
The Low Millions
I have been meaning to post this for months, but somehow forgot. Fronted by Leonard Cohen’s son Adam Cohen (who has released French-language albums in his native Canada), California’s Low Millions were named an Artist To Watch by Filter Magazine. This track, which did get some radio play, is yet another upbeat song about a breakup (!) with catchy hooks and a fabulous beat that kicks in at about 20 seconds. From their 2004 debut album Ex-Girlfriends (Manhattan Records).

Notice The Ring
Chris Isaak
This one is in honor of Mr. Chris Isaak‘s 50th (!!) birthday today. I tell ya, that man does not look a day over handsome to me. For his special day, his hometown of Stockton, CA dedicated today as “Chris Isaak Day.” This song celebrates all that is rogue, feisty, and wonderful about Isaak. A retro-rocker from 2002′s Always Got Tonight.

Splashing around in the Live Music Archive

Ahhh, it is so much fun (and so time-consuming!) to just browse around and see what kind of good stuff there is for the listening in the Live Music Archive. It really is a phenomenal resource for music lovers. Late one night recently I spent some time immersed in the archives and I wanted to share with you what I sauntered away with, happily. Oh, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s like the Smithsonian, which I once got lost in during the class trip to Washington D.C. in junior high. It’s easy to wander off.

COLLECTIONS:
All kinds of great KFOG in-studio sessions (Matt Nathanson, Jack Johnson, Cracker, Cowboy Junkies, etc)

Lots of KCRW stuff (Ben Lee, David Gray, My Morning Jacket)

A bunch of Amoeba Records in-stores (Rogue Wave, Michael Franti & Spearhead, etc.)

NEIL HALSTEAD of MOJAVE 3
10/10/04, Moonshine Festival in Laguna Beach
See You On Rooftops
(and note that the cringe-inducing hissing at the beginning stops shortly after the song starts)
**He was also featured on the surf-movie soundtrack Sprout that I posted about a while back

MIKE DOUGHTY
(formerly of Soul Coughing)
June 22, 2002 at the Aladdin Theatre, Portland OR
Grey Ghost (partly because it is a good song, and also because it is written about Jeff Buckley)

ELLIOTT SMITH
Recently added: February 26, 2000, The Empty Bottle in Chicago
Angeles


MATT NATHANSON
Bent > Anna Begins
(one of his great original songs segueing into -!!!- a Counting Crows cover. Really lovely.)
(From his 10/29/04 show at the 9:30 Club, Washington DC).

MY MORNING JACKET
FM Broadcast (= great quality) of the show at The Palace Theater in Louisville on November 23, 2005.
Off The Record

ROGER CLYNE AND THE PEACEMAKERS
My favorite show of theirs to listen to from the Live Music Archive is still the August 19 show at the Gothic Theatre last year: It was my birthday, and my first inauguration to the sweaty, rockin’ goodness that is a Roger Clyne show. Plus, Clyne kissed my hand after the show for a birthday present. The whole show is top notch, and I love how it captures all the audience participation as well.
Banditos

ANIMAL LIBERATION ORCHESTRA (ALO)
Loving Cup (Rolling Stones cover)
From their New Year’s Eve 2005 show, Mountain House, Santa Barbara

SPOON
A great show from last month: 2/2/06, La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX
I Turn My Camera On

RYAN ADAMS
Recent show: February 15, 2006 at the Carling Academy in Glasgow
(excellent setlist & show quality!):
Dear Chicago, an absolutely heartwrenching version of Please Do Not Let Me Go, and Ryan’s banter about receiving text messages from his mom.

G. LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE
Some goodness from his January 18, 2006 show at the Belly-Up Tavern in Solana Beach, CA:
Cold Beverage > Gold Digger (Cold Beverage is a guilty pleasure of mine. Hidden talent: I can rap ALL the lyrics, stemming from the same SPIN Magazine cassette sampler in 1994 that introduced me to Jeff Buckley, oddly enough)
The Times They Are A Changin’ (yes, a Bob Dylan cover, since Garrett knows how to play the harmonica)
– And, why not: a little Booty Call action

JACK JOHNSON
Sitting, Waiting, Wishing (with a little Just What I Needed thrown in) From August 5, 2005, Dodge Theatre, Phoenix

Soon Forget (Pearl Jam ukulele song)
From June 11, 2005 at the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester, TN

Free (with Donovan Frankenreiter)
From May 10, 2005, Palladium, Cologne, Germany

Three Is A Magic Number/3 Rs (a little Schoolhouse Rock love)
From the August 10, 2005 show at the Santa Barbara County Bowl
(Tip: don’t make drunken concertgoers chant counting answers!
Jack: “And the eighteenth letter of the alphabet is . . . “
(no response – crickets from the crowd) -
“Well, that’s kind of a hard one, it’s actually hard…”)

Plus, they have the whole Jack Johnson show at Santa Clara University (my alma mater) from Feb 10, 2002. I thought that was pretty cool, an excellent sound-quality recording.

It’s in the .shn format (like a lot of the stuff on the Live Music Archive), but there are some free converters that you can use to change it into .wav, then mp3 (I use FreeRip).

That should keep you well-stocked for the weekend, muchachos, wherever it takes you! Be good.

To: Elliott, From: Portland

Musicians from the great city of Portland, Oregon (where I have never been, despite being a California native – shameful!) are teaming up to release an album of Elliott Smith covers. From the Sweet Adeline fansite:

“To: Elliott From: Portland, a tribute to the late Elliott Smith, will be released February 7, 2006 on Portland-based independent label Expunged Records . . . The compilation features notable Portland bands The Decemberists (“Clementine”), Helio Sequence (“Satellite”), The Thermals (“Ballad of Big Nothing”), Swords (“I Didn’t Understand”), Dolorean (“The Biggest Lie”), and Sean Croghan (“Hard Times”). “Hard Times”, the song chosen by Croghan, a close friend and former roommate of Smith’s, is previously unreleased.”

For you, one very pretty track from the album; the Clementine cover. Now I am not yet all fawny over the Decemberists like it seems the rest of the blogosphere is, but I have to admit that this track is quite good. There is a wonderfully warm “crackle and pop” sound, and some melancholy harmonica throughout, which *always* gets me (you want to get me, write me a song with harmonica and/or strings. Easy.).

“Clementine” – The Decemberists

Lots of good stuff coming out February 7th!

Previously unreleased studio version of Elliott Smith song

So this song surfaced on the internet a few days ago. It’s called Stickman, and until this point it has only been around as a live version, not studio. It’s quite pretty with a definite Beatles-esque feeling to it.

It is one of apparently several unreleased studio cuts from his sessions to record From A Basement On The Hill. Let’s hope that whoever released this out there will give up a few more.

Elliott Smith – “Stickman” (studio)