Technologically inclined readers can probably get their hands on the new Joanna Newsom album, which is really indescribable. I can't decide whether it is brilliant or overly indulgent, but it's probably both and has me transfixed in the meantime. People have and will mock me, but there is something about her way with words (not to mention unconventional vocal style) that reminds me of Dylan. Obviously she's not at that level, but she really is an amazing poet stuck in a fairy's body. Here's a live version of one of the tracks.
Sad news. These guys (and girl) put on one of the most entertaining live shows I've ever seen and (though I hate to say it) are one of the first bands to open me up to the world of bluegrass music, which I have come to adore. This was a band that made great records and generated a loyal fanbase outside of any distinct musical circle. They were often too "out there" (translation: not Toby Keith) for mainstream country radio, too poppy for indie circles and though they were incredible musicians capable of improvising with the best of them, too song-oriented for the jam band scene. And after writing a magazine article on local old school bluegrass musicians, I learned that they are seen with downright contempt in some hardcore bluegrass circles. (Of course so is any music made in the last 50 years) Despite it (or maybe because of it) I loved these guys to death for a short period a couple of years ago, and it's sad to see them go. It was always awesome to be able to listen to a bluegrass rendition of a Pavement song ("Spit On A Stranger" from This Side) with my parents. You could always count on them for great taste in covers. RIP. Nickel Creek- Just (Radiohead cover)
America's greatest living songwriter released Modern Times, his 31st studio album, on Tuesday, and it's already getting obscenely good reviews. At this point, the guy could fart into an analog tape recorder and the critics would eat it up. Lucky for us, Dylan's voice hasn't gotten to that point yet.
In the last year or so I have absolutely fallen in love with Dylan's recent output. 1993's all solo World Gone Wrong, 1997's brilliant (read: up there with some of his 1960's output) Time Out of Mind and 2001's critically-lauded Love And Theft are all genuinely great examples of someone who has mastered the songwriting craft coasting along on cruise control. Dylan has nothing left to prove. His effect on modern pop music is matched only by a handful of bands and is certainly unmatched by any single man. He perfected folk music with 1964's The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan before single-handedly making rock music more literate and influencing artists in just about every genre of music with Highway 61 Revisited and his output after that. At this point his new albums are merely epilogues of one of the most important careers in the history of American pop music.
With neither the desire nor expectation that he break any new ground, Dylan sticks to the tried-and-true formula on Modern Times. Old standards are tweaked and new tunes are written just like the old ones, with one of the best country-and-western backing bands in the business behind him. Some of the hyperbole tossed around already is kind of silly, but without a doubt this is an album that will appear (and belongs) on many a year-end list. That Dylan on auto-pilot commands such praise is telling - this man is a legend.
Check out the delivery on "Nettie Moore." Unbelievable. Some old and new Dylan follows:
Everyone's (my) favorite drugged out, shirtless, psychedelic-hippie-folk musicians are backing someone by the name of Baby Gramps on Letterman tonight. In all likelihood this is past my bedtime (I gots to get up early to pay the bills), but someone hook a brother up and capture it and put it online for me. K.thanx. Here's to hoping they dance around like the picture above. (Thanks to Brooklyn Vegan for the pic)
Not an EP, not quite a full length, (I need more corny Britney references on here) Meek Warrior comes out on September 25 and shows the band fighting their never-ceasing battle with self-indulgence with varied amounts of success.
Mark my words, these guys' self-titled album was one of the best pieces of music of 2005 and they have the talent and the drive to make a classic, genre-defining album. Focus, guys.
Meek Warrior tracklist:
01 Blessing Force 02 Gone Beyond 03 Meek Warrior 04 No Space in This Realm 05 The Lightning Bolt of Compassion 06 The Rider (Dolphin Song) 07 Love and Space
A full grown Grizzly Bear can reach close to 1,800 pounds and reach heights of close to 7 feet when standing on its hind legs. In the wild, Grizzlies can live between 25 and 30 years. But what can't a Grizzly Bear do that a group of four Brooklyn-based musicians that perform under the moniker of Grizzly Bear can? Make one of the year's most impressive experimental indie folk albums, that's what. Did you appreciate what Animal Collective was going for, but find yourself kind of creeped out and confused at times? Try these guys, who perfectly blend gentle, detached folk (The Microphones, Nick Drake) with symphonic atmospherics (Sigur Ros) and incredible multi-part harmonies (Beach Boys). "Knife" is a standout track that actually has a bit of an old-school r&b/soul/doo-wop feel to it that reminds me of Brightblack Morning Light. Freak-wop? Alterna-soul?
Their new album Yellow House comes out on September 4th. The guys are opening for indie superstars TV On The Radio this fall, which is yet another concert that I can't afford but will probably cave in and go to anyways.
Tour Dates:
10-02 Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom # 10-03 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom # 10-04 Seattle, WA - Showbox # 10-07 Fargo, ND - Playmakers Pavilion # 10-08 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue # 10-09 Chicago, IL - Metro # 10-10 Detroit, MI - Saint Andrew's Hall # 10-12 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House Concert Venue # 10-13 Montreal, Quebec - Le National # 10-14 Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club # 10-19 Washington, DC - TBA 10-20 Baltimore, MD - Sonar Lounge # 10-21 Philadelphia, PA - Starlight Ballroom #
His Tweedy-ness is releasing a DVD of his recent West Coast solo tour, entitled Sunken Treasure: Live in the Pacific Northwest. (West Coast, hollajiggawordtoyamutha) I attended the Seattle show and had a great time despite being in the very last row of the Moore Theater. Not enough can be said about this guy's songwriting chops. His solo shows are a testament to how affecting a guy with a guitar can be.
Tracklist: Sunken Treasure, Theologians, The Ruling Class, How to Fight Loneliness, Summerteeth, The Thanks I Get, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, ELT, Shot in the Arm, In a Future Age, Laminated Cat, (Was I) In Your Dreams, Airline to Heaven, Heavy Metal Drummer, War on War, Acuff Rose
Here's some tracks from a solo webcast a few months ago:
Bands like Vancouver, B.C.'s Ladyhawk make me think this whole "reinventing the wheel" and "being experimental" thing is so last year. I mean what is the point when you can just get together with a few of your friends, drink a few Pabst, turn your amps up to 11 and crank out some rock n roll music like your dad used to? Not everyone has to try to be Radiohead. There's no shame in making strait-up rock music, as long as you do it like these guys do: sloppy, loud and passionate as hell. These guys are one of the more promising parts of this whole indie "return to rock" thing. (Translation: fuck Wolfmother.)
Here's a tralier for the upcoming live My Morning Jacket DVD, which should be proof enough that these guys are one of the best live rock and roll bands around these days. CD comes out on September 26th and is very good as far as live CD's go. DVD (complete with killer 5.1 Surround Sound) comes out on Oct. 31.
Here's a video from the single from Chad VanGaalen'sSkelliconnection, which is for sale at local CD stores and on the internets. VanGaalen did all the animation for the video as well. His stuff is all over the map, but the guy has some great talent and produces some of the best bedroom pop you're going to hear.
The Muso has a couple tracks from the new Decemberists album, The Crane Wife, which comes out October 3rd. A little bird told me the album is an interesting departure for the band, and includes a couple passages of Jefferson Airplane organ and some hot disco beats alongside some more normal Decemberists fare. Is that as bad as it sounds? Remains to be seen. Suffice it to say, though, that The Tain is still the band's magnum opus.
Late 60's/early 70's : The Band :: 2000's : The Sadies
And The Sadies' new live double album, In Concert, Vol. 1, bears striking resemblance to The Band's 1978 farewell concert, The Last Waltz. Start-studded guest appearances (or as star-studded as the Toronto Americana scene gets) including Neko Case (the same one that released one of the best records this year, Fox Confessor Brings The Flood), Garth Hudson of The Band (see, I'm not insane), Gary Louis of The Jayhawks and Jon Langford of The Mekons. The Sadies have been providing the perfectly orchestrated background for Case's records for a couple years now, and their cross-genre musical talent is even more obvious on In Concert, Vol. 1. Americana is really just where it starts - there's the occasional instrumental surf tune, Neil Young rock out and post-punky guitar lick in there too. These guys are pretty much guaranteed a spot on my upcoming "Fuck you, Tody Keith (So You Think You Hate Country Music)" mix, which is still in the theoretical stages.
Tom Waits will release a 3-CD album of B-sides and outtakes, entitled (in true Waits style) Orphans. Not as good of news as brand new material or a large-scale tour, but good news all the same. I'm sure I've covered it before, but Waits and his wife Kathleen Brennan deserve to be mentioned in the same breath as Elton John/Bernie Taupin and Lennon/McCartney when it comes to songwriting teams. Waits has an incredible hold on the nuts and bolts of pop songwriting, though it is sometimes hard to see through the gravelly voice, sparse instrumentation and macabre lyrical themes.
What does Waits have to say about the album?
"Orphans [contains] rough and tender tunes. Rumbas about mermaids, shuffles about train wrecks, tarantellas about insects, madrigals about drowning. Scared, mean, orphaned songs of rapture and melancholy. Songs that grew up hard. Songs of dubious origin rescued from cruel fate and now left wanting only to be cared for. Show that you are not afraid and take them home. They don't bite, they just need attention."
Jason Molina is back with a solo and Magnolia Electric Co. album, proving once again that he is the closest thing we currently have to a 1970's Neil Young (you know, the drugged out, depressive as hell, Tonight's The Night one). The guy has a voice to kill things for. Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go is just the guy and a piano or guitar, lo-fi like The Microphones- The Glow, Pt. 2, all insular, dark and lonesome. Fading Trails is Crazy Horse-era rocking and contains some of the guy's best songwriting to date. For the uninitiated, I've included "Farewell Transmission," which ranks as one of the best songs of the last 6 years.
In addition to having a boss band name, The Heartless Bastards make awesome female-led garage rock. Their newest album is titled All This Time. Think of a less post-punky, more Midwestern Yeah Yeah Yeahs or a bluesier Sleater-Kinney. It's very simple yet anthemic in a Ragged Glory-era Neil Young sort of way.
Four days between posts? What a bad blogger I am. Apologies; learning half-assed bluegrass songs for a friend's wedding, entertaining another friend in the country from Brazil and working for no pay keeps me busy. But speaking of Brazil, I have something for you. You may hate it - you'd be well within your rights to do so. But I promise you'll be entertained at least for a bit. Guillemots are the newest British export, and are above average as far as British-hyped bands go. Think Coldplay/Jamie Cullum, but slightly less annoying (only slightly) and with extravagant symphonic work behind it all. My disdain for a majority of Britpop keeps me from really enjoying it, but this track, the album's closer, is pretty damn impressive, I must say.
It's August, the sun it out, the birds and the bees are doing their thing and even those of us that are more predisposed to mellowness feel the need to drive real fast with the windows down and listen to loud, fast and happy music. August is made for rocking out. It is, therefore, time for some Ted Leo & The Pharmacists. Guy knows how to blend all the good parts of punk, pop and indie music. Plus you have be pretty balls-to-the-wall to be able to bang your head to a bloody pulp on the microphone to end your set, as Leo reportedly did at the Pitchfork Festival last week. Guy puts on a bonkers live show if you get the chance. Ted Leo & The Pharmacists- Timorous Me from The Tyranny of Distance
First track from the upcoming Swan Lake project from Dan Bejar (Destroyer), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade/Sunset Rubdown) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes). Hopefully just the beginning of the awesomeness to come. Supergroup of the year. So awesome that complete sentences are pointless.
Here's a three-part mini-documentary on The National, complete with band drama and kinda silly commentary. In hind sight, I was wrong when I thought Alligator was really good. It was fucking awesome - hands down one of the best albums of last year. Like all of the best albums, it only gets better with each listen. This thing is full of one-liners that say more than most full songs.
New album is apparently called The Ys. 11/14. A self-indulgent review about how no one but me seems to understand the brilliance of this woman's earlier work, The Milk-Eyed Mender, is in the future. Can't wait to explain to the new roommates why I'm listening to what sounds like a ten-year-old girl singing and playing harp for two weeks. For now, just enjoy and admire the beauty (I'd be her Fireman):
MP3s are for sampling only. If you like what you hear, please buy the albums and support the artists. Anyone with concerns over material posted on Tall Buildings Shake can email me at heeringa@gmail.com to have material taken down.
Technologically inclined readers can probably get their hands on the new Joanna Newsom album, which is really indescribable. I can't decide whether it is brilliant or overly indulgent, but it's probably both and has me transfixed in the meantime. People have and will mock me, but there is something about her way with words (not to mention unconventional vocal style) that reminds me of Dylan. Obviously she's not at that level, but she really is an amazing poet stuck in a fairy's body. Here's a live version of one of the tracks.
