Friday, September 28, 2007

Artist Comparison: Seven Nations and Great Big Sea




This week's comparison is between two Amercan Artists whom I have really enjoyed for their Irish flavor. While neither are from the country, they have a good sound, mixed with a good dose of rock. The two groups are Great Big Sea and Seven Nations. In both instances, both bands cover numerous traditional songs in their albums. Great Big Sea covers Mary Mac, Rant and Roar and The Night that Patty Murphy Died, while Seven Nations covers Blarney Pilgrim and The Surprise Ceilidh Band Set (which has some elements that I recognize). In addition, both bands use insturments such as bagpipes and and accordians to get a proper 'Irish' sound. They supliment this with regular guitars and bass, which gives their music a rich, very cool sound.
What really caught my ears was two songs that were similar thematically between the two - Chemical Worker's Song and the Factory Song, both of which essentially talk about labor - a theme that I've heard much in the little Irish music that I've listened to, as well as the American-Irish folk that I've been partial to.


The Factory Song - Seven Nations



Thursday, September 27, 2007

Weird Al & The 501st

If you haven't figured out that I'm a big science fiction geek yet, I think that this'll prove it to you - I've got a suit of the armor from the movie Star Wars (Storm Trooper), and I've trooped around in it before at a convention and hopefully a couple of events later this fall. I was hoping to go to this, but it filled up quickly. My legion, the New England Garrison, just helped out with a recent Weird Al concert down in Mass.



That looked like a lot of fun.

The Saga Begins - Weird Al

Hype - Buy - Look

When Women are Outfitted with Hightech Prosthetics

Last night, the pilot for the show Bionic Woman aired on NBC. I've been paticularly excited to watch this one because it's another remake by the same people who did the fantastic Battlestar Galactica (Which is my all time favorite SciFi show at the moment.)



I just finished the episode, and I thought it was quite good. The pilot seems a little directionless, unlike Battlestar, where there was a very clear storyline from the start. This one will hopefully get a good storyline started quickly, and not just be a bunch of standalone episodes for a while.
Fairly good acting, action, camera work's average - good story though. I'll be keeping my eyes on it. There were even a couple of other Battlestar Galactica alums in there. It's interesting to see another take on a 1970s TV show and how they have modernized it to be much more realistic and in step with today's world. Battlestar worked fantastically, making it one of the best SciFi shows out there. Let's hope this'll be similar.

During the episode, I was happy to hear a song that I recognized, Breathe Me, by Sia, which has also been used in Six Feet Under and Veronica Mars. I wonder if we'll get some good songs out of this one....

Breathe Me - Sia




Five Bands that I've Seen


Ray Charles




- Ray Charles was probably one of the first artists that I saw in person who was a really big star. I don't remember a whole lot of the show, because I was very young at the time, but I do remember that he played a number of his classics and that in general, it was a fantastic night.

Georgia on my Mind - Ray Charles



Carbon Leaf





- I've seen these guys five times already, and they're certainly one of my favorite bands. I've enjoyed all of their concerts immencely, although some have been better than others. I can't wait to see them again at some point in the future.

Love Loss Hope Repeat - Carbon Leaf



Gordon Lightfoot



- Gordon Lightfoot has been a staple of my listening habits for a very long time, but it's only been within the past couple of years that I've really gotten to like his music. The concert that I was at really surprised me a little, but like the Ray Charles one, I was thrilled to hear a number of songs that I knew and enjoyed.

Canadian Railroad Trilogy - Gordon Lightfoot



Cary Brothers




- Cary Brothers just got his main album out, and I was able to see him at the Higher Ground earlier this year, which was a very fun concert. He played a number of songs from his album, and had a duet with Priscilla Ahn, who opened for him. I got a chance to talk with him a little after the show, and he was a pleasure to talk with. I'll be seeing him later on this year.

Ride - Cary Brothers


Grace Potter & The Nocturnals



- I've been out to see Grace Potter & The Nocturnals twice already this year and man, they're fantastic. Grace has an incredible sound, and the amount of energy that they had was just stunning. Plus, their music just rocks, and they look like they're having an absolutley fantastic time on in front of everyone.


Some Kind of Ride - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals



Other bands that I've seen:


The Wood's Tea Co. (Too many times to count)
The Alternate Routes
Priscilla Ahn
Stars of Track & Field
Steven Kellogg and the Sixers
Matt Nathanson
Paolo Nutini
Rane
Sara Wheeler

And ones that I'm planning on seeing:
B.J. Thomas
Billy Joe Royal
Brandi Carlile
A Fine Frenzy
Matt Nathanson
Cary Brothers
Dropkick Murphys (Maybe)


Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Duet - Shins / Iron & Wine


This week's duet is of two Subpop artists who I paticularly like, covering a song from an album that really helped them break into the larger public consiousness, New Slang. It's originally by the Shins, and Sam Beam (I&W), joined them for this concert, I believe in Australia. It's a fantastic duet between the two of them, with their sounds really complementing one another's.


New Slang - The Shins and Iron & Wine


C&O


This week's Cover and Original is one where the covering artist's style really fits well with the original. John Mayer (indie-fans groan), is a favorite of mine, someone that I've enjoyed to varying degrees pretty consistantly over the years. In recent years, he's trended towards blues-rock more and more, which is good with his music style.
Thus, I think that he fits well with a track from his live album, Try!, where he covers a Jimi Hendrix tune, Wait Until Tomorrow. Hendrix is known for his outstanding guitarwork, and Mayer's certainly influenced by that, and it rubs off well...
Wait Until Tomorrow - Jimi Hendrix
Wait Until Tomorrow - John Mayer

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

New Music: Foo Fighters, Jose Gonzalez & Iron and Wine

Three albums out today that I'm looking to pick up from three of my favorite artists. I've really been looking forwards to these for a while, and can't wait to add them to my collection.





Foo Fighters- Echoes Silence Patience & Grace

This album sounds really good, and the lead single, the Pretender, is a really fun song, right up in line with Best of You, which is one of my favorites anyway.

The Pretender - Foo Fighters











Buy


Iron & Wine- The Shepherd's Dog


This album sounds incredible - Iron & Wine (aka Sam Beam) has really come a long way with his sound from his first album, bringing us an incredibly rich and wonderful sounding set of music.



Pagen Angel and a Borrowed Car - Iron & Wine







Buy


José González- In Our Nature



Gonzalez is back this week with his followup to Veneer, his first really good album. This one's got a fantastic cover of Massive Attack's Teardrop, but also a great set of his own songs that just sounds incredible.



Killing for Love - José González






Buy





Heroes

I mentioned that House, MD was one of my favorite shows. Another favorite show is Heroes, which is, in my opinion, one of the best Sci-Fi shows that I've ever seen. And it came back last night, and just amazing, once again. I can't wait to see the entire season. Right now. Ahem.

Eyes - Rogue Wave

iTunes Free Music of the Week


This week's picks for iTunes free music of the week.

Car Crash - Matt Nathanson (Recommended)

(I actually already had this song - pretty good one, highly recommended)

Joya - Funky C


There's also a Grey's Anatomy music video for Mat Kerney's Breathe In Breathe Out, here.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Is There A Doctor in the House?



Earlier last week, the soundtrack for the fantastic show, House, MD was released, featuring a good lineup of songs that were featured in the show, just in time for the arrival of Season 4, which starts this next Tuesday. House, for those who haven't heard about it, is a brilliant show about Dr. Gregory House, a brilliant, bitter and sarcastic doctor who's generally always right and tends to drive most people away from him from his attitude. He's loosely based off of Sherlock Holmes.
The soundtrack, which I just picked up, features some music that's commonly available, but some other songs that haven't made it onto albums in the US, such as Elvis Costello's cover of Beautiful.

Here's a couple of songs that didn't make the lineup:

Orange Sky - Alexi Murdoch
In The Deep - Bird York
Some Devil - Dave Matthews
In The Waiting Line - Zero 7

Review: Drastic Fantastic

As previewed earlier, Drastic Fantastic is the sophomore album by Scottish singer KT Tunstall. It’s a fine addition to her repertoire, and as expected (at least for me) it’s not a clone of her prior work, Eye to the Telescope.

Little Favours – This song feels like a Cranberries song for some reason – there’s elements here that sound like Dreams by them. It’s a good start to the album, with a steady beat that’s not too fast or slow.

If Only – This track starts off cool. It’s got a really neat sound with the guitar, and the vocals don’t really follow any typical routes – it sounds as if she’s singing on a weird key, but its been years since I’ve taken any sort of music class, so I’m not sure. This is another pretty good one.

White Bird – This has some cool guitar picking, really delicate, which fits interestingly with the background drum work. The lyrics here are pretty cool as well, and Tunstall sounds really good throughout the track here.


Funnyman – This song feels a bit restrained, from the muted guitar work and the slight pickup of energy that comes in a minute or so with the song. It’s rich with sound, from the bass and guitar work, and while this sounds like it should be a faster song, it feels laid back a little.

Hold On – The energy picks up with the lead single off this album from the fast guitar and drum work here, and when KT enters, the song really picks up nicely.

Hopeless – This song’s got a pretty good feel to it. The vocals are really what stand out with this song, as Tunstall goes up and down the scale easily.

I Don’t Want You Now – I’m not quite sure what I think about this song yet.

Saving My Face – This one starts off a bit slower, with just the vocals and guitar, but it quickly speeds up when the bass and drums kick in. Has a good sound here, although the vocals seem a little disjointed from the rest of the set.

Beauty of Uncertainty – This song is very different from the rest of the album. It’s more stripped down, with less movement, with the focus completely on KT, with the background music completely supporting her voice, something that’s pretty different from just about everything else on here. This, I think is the best song on the album.

Someday Soon – This song feels pretty delicate, with the focus once again more on the vocals rather than the background music. It works pretty well here, with some superb vocals and some really nice guitar work.

Paper Aeroplane – This one also feels to be pretty delicate, vocally and instrumentally. A flute is introduced, with gives it a good feel. KT’s voice clashes a litter here. The lyrics are solid, and the guitar work is just as good.


Overall, this album feels different from Eye to the Telescope. Where that album was more varied, with songs being either fast or slow, Drastic Fantastic feels like it takes more of the middle road, with a bit less energy, and with more attention paid towards the instruments, rather than the vocals, although this isn’t the case with every song there. The guitar work seems to have a bit more in the way of picking, with some really good work done here.

Furthermore, songs don’t really stand out here, as they did in Telescope. A couple of songs do, such as Hold On and Hopeless, but the first half of the album sort of blends together in a pleasant mix. For KT Tunstall fans, this is a fantastic album, but a different, more sentimental, less wild. It’s a maturing, and it’s an interesting and good direction for Tunstall.

My favorite songs off of this album are White Bird, Hopeless, Hold On and Beauty of Uncertainty. I’m really hoping that she’ll swing back up towards Vermont again, because this time around, I’m going to go see her.

HypeBuyLook

Friday, September 21, 2007

Women Who Rock - CYA's Top Ten


I've been looking up information on Regina Spektor, as she's got a concert here next week, and I'm contemplating on going over to see that at some point. While looking around, I came across a reference that she was #5 on Spinner.com's
Women Who Rock list. I took a look and decided to come up with my own list.



10 - Brandi Carlile
It took me a little while to get into Brandi Carlile. It wasn't until she released The Story that I started getting into her unique sound, and really started listening. She's got one helluva vocal range, and a fantastic voice to go along with it. She'll be up here in October and I'm planning on seeing that.


The Story - Brandi Carlile

9 - Regina Spektor
I've started to get into Regina Spektor. She's got a very cool sound that borders on a bunch of things. Originally from Russia, she's come to New York and is doing quite well for herself with her first album, Begin to Hope. She's coming to Middlebury next week. Should I see her?


On the Radio - Regina Spektor


8 - Tristan Prettyman
My first exposure to Tristan Prettyman was through the show Six Degrees with Love, Love, Love, and since then, I've loved, loved, loved her music. Acoustic guitar and great vocals is what she's all about.


Evaporated - Tristan Prettyman


7 - A Fine Frenzy
A Fine Frenzy is another one that I've picked up from the television world, this time when they used Hope for the Hopeless in House. Her fantastic voice couples well with her piano work, along with some absolutely stellar lyrics. I'll be seeing her in October with Brandi.

Rangers - A Fine Frenzy

6 - Feist
I got into Feist with her first single, Let It Die, and I've really enjoyed her upbeat, pop sound, as well as her work with Broken Social Scene. I just missed her show up here in Vermont with Rogue Wave, and I'm kicking myself about that...



1 2 3 4 - Feist


5 - Sara Wheeler
I came across Sara Wheeler at my school five years ago, and just got one of her newer albums. Like Prettyman, she's got the whole acoustic guitar and fantastic vocals going for her, with some great songs. I hope that she'll be back out and about soon.


Freedom - Sara Wheeler


4 - Rilo Kiley
Rilo Kiley is a new band for me - I got Under the Blacklight and loved it. They've got a great feel and variety to all their music, and are quite standoffish in a way that's not overdone.


Dreamworld - Rilo Kiley


3 - KT Tunstall
Where to start with KT Tunstall? I loved her first album, Eye to the Telescope, as well as her second album, Drastic Fantastic (review coming next week) and just love this woman's sound and style. She did some time here in Vermont, and hopefully, will be returning.


Black Horse and the Cherry Tree - KT Tunstall


2 - Sara Bareilles
I just got into Sara Bareilles a couple weeks ago when I came across her fantastic first album Little Voice. She's got great lyrics and sound here with this first album, and I'm hoping that we'll see more from her in the near future.


Love Song - Sara Bareilles


1 - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
No contest for me - Grace Potter is the best female vocalist out there at the moment. She rocks hard, her live concerts are just out of this world, and she's got some deep influences with Rock & Roll. Plus, her songs, sound and voice are all just amazing. Go out and buy This is Somewhere, you won't regret it. Or, get her other two albums, Nothing But The Water or Original Voice.


Mr. Columbus - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals



Thursday, September 20, 2007

Two New Carbon Leaf Demos

Carbon Leaf's one of my favorite bands out there. They've got an incredible range of music out there, and I like just about 90 % of it, especially their latest stuff.

They've been undergoing some changes recently, when their drummer left the band. Since then, he's been replaced, and apparently, the guys are out writing some new stuff. They just posted some very, very different demos up on their webpage. I'm not sure what I think about them yet. (Given that they're just demos.)


Saturn Disco - Carbon Leaf
Die Raumdisko - Carbon Leaf
And a couple of tracks from their amazing album Echo Echo:
Toy Soldiers - Carbon Leaf
The Boxer - Carbon Leaf


Into the Wild - Eddy Vedder


I've never been a huge fan of Pearl Jam over the years, although there's a couple of songs that I remember from my days in High School, but lead singer Eddie Vedder's first solo album, based off of his work with the film soundtrack Into the Wild seems to be a pretty solid work.


I got a copy of Hard Sun, and really can't stop listening to that - very good track.

Hard Sun - Eddie Vedder

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Cover and Original



This week's Cover and Original is from two well known indie artists from the same label, Sub Pop Records. Back in 2004, The Postal Service released their first (and thus far, only) record, Give Up, with the track We Will Become Silhouettes. The video was directed by Jared Hess, who directed the somewhat over-rated movie Napoleon Dynamite. Like that movie, it's got it's own quirky feel to it that really fits with this song. Later, in 2006, The Shins covered the song (I think as a demo). They really give it their own acoustic sound, speeding it up, stripping away the electronic sound. The lead vocals here really suit the song well, and the song really fits as one of their own. They certainly make it sound that way.




We Will Become Silhouettes - The Postal Service
We Will Become Silhouettes (The Postal Service) - The Shins



As a bonus, there's another C&O that I wanted to share. For background, has anyone heard of the cult show Veronica Mars? Teenage detective drama that was on the WB and later, CW, starring Kristan Bell as the title character. Absolutely fantastic show, and one with an absolutely fantastic soundtrack to go along with it, one that's hundreds of indie, alternative rock, rock, classic rock and electronic songs. There's a complete list here. (Link to Veronica Mars Music Blog). Apparently, the creator, Rob Thomas (not the lead singer of Matchbox Twenty), is a huge fan of Spoon, because their songs are used a lot, and in one episode, Britt Daniels, the lead singer of Spoon has his own cameo during a Kereoke scene, where he sings Elvis Costello's song Veronica. I was able to rip a little of the audio from the scene, but only 30 seconds of it, as dialog kicks in for the rest of the scene.


Veronica - Elvis Costello
Veronica (Elvis Costello) - Britt Daniels



Hype - Buy

Duet - LaMontagne & Rice

In addition to the Covers and Original feature that I'm doing, there's a couple of other similar things that I like to collect and listen to - collaborations between artists during concerts or in the studio. It's always something cool to take a listen to. There's some familiar couplings out there, and sometimes, there's the occasional concert collaborations.
To start off, one such pairing that I've come across really worked - Damien Rice and Ray LaMontagne, where they covered To Love Somebody (Originally the Bee Gees) before a French audience. This is a fantastic pairing - Both artists work extensively with the acoustic guitar, and their playing compliments each other's fantastically. LaMontagne takes the lead for this song while Rice picks up after the first chorus, but their voices are so similar that it's hard to tell them apart most of the time, without really listening to it.




The song also really fits with some of their music. Damien Rice has a sort of brooding thing that goes on, and Ray LaMontagne has some of his more senimental moments, for which this song really suits the two of them. I like this song - it's the perfect one for my current mood at the moment.


To Love Somebody - Ray LaMontagne & Damien Rice


Hype - Buy

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

On This Day...


September 18th, 1970, singer Jimi Hendrix was found dead at the age of 27. He was considered onf of the most influencial singers and musicians of his age, building on the influences of the blue and rock & roll. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and was named the #1 Guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine.

Who Knows? - Jimi Hendrix

Hype - Buy - Look

This is the Reason to See Grace Potter Live

iTunes Free Music of the Week


This week for free music from iTunes:

Rainin In Paradize - Manu Chao
The Swarm - Noble Society

Monday, September 17, 2007

1, 2, 3, 4 + iPod

Apple always seems to come up with some cool commercials for their iPods and iTunes. This is the latest, featuring Feist's 1, 2, 3, 4, which comes out fantastically for this ad.

1, 2, 3, 4 - Feist

Hype - Buy - Look

Album Preview: Drastic Fantastic

One of the best albums of last year was K.T. Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope, which had several really, really good singles, such as Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, Suddenly I See, and Other Side of the World, but several others as well - Another Place to Fall, Under the Weather, Silent Sea, and pretty much the rest of the album, a solid, rocking album.








Now, KT Tunstall is back with a followup album, entitled Drastic Fantastic. The first single released was Hold On, which picks up KT's fantastic energy and style right off and doesn't let go. Other tracks, such as Little Favours stay true to familiar ground with her style, while keeping a little distance, keeping this album from a total copy of her debut. She slows down for a couple songs, such as White Bird, Paper Aeroplane and Beauty of Uncertainty, but for the most part, this album is a bit faster than the last one, with Hopeless, I Don't Want You Now and Funny Man maintaining a steady, consistant beat throughout.




I haven't seen a list of tour dates yet, but I'm more than sure that she'll be out in full force across the US. I'm still kicking myself for missing out on a concert here at the Higher Ground, and the publicity thing that she did on Church Street (she went out and did some busking - free of charge. Unfortunently, it was on the day that I started a new job. Blah). Tunstall actually spent some time here in Vermont, apparently getting her start with public performance on Church Street.

Little Favours - KT Tunstall


Friday, September 14, 2007

Torn To Tattered

This is just the perfect song for right now. It's Friday, everyone else in my department here is on time off, and I just don't feel like working.


In a classroom somewhere alone
Looking at the window scene
Tune out the tutor in me
Sun is going down through the line of trees
I day dream


Torn to Tattered - Carbon Leaf

Everybody's Going to the Moon

The New York Times is reporting today that the group who financed the X-Prize has come back with a second challenge for the fledgling, but growing private space industry - The first group to land a rover on the moon, move around and take video, will win the new prize, this time at $25 million dollars.
The first X-Prize was valued at $10 million, for the first group to create a privately funded and built space ship that could travel to a certain height and back again within two weeks, and was won in 2004 by SpaceShipOne, which was helped along by Paul Allen, who is the co-founded of the Microsoft corperation.

$25 Million in Prizes Is Offered for Trip to Moon

The NYT has posted up a discussion thing on whether this is a good or bad idea, and the result from readers seems to be fairly positive. Although it still puzzles me that people on there, in this day and age still maintain that we never went to the moon, that it was filmed in the desert somewhere. Other people have said that it's a waste of money, that the focus should be here at home, on big issues such as global warming and things like that that'll help benefit humanity down here.

I personally think that we should go to the stars, now. I've begun to read more on the space industry and it's history. Two books that I've gone through have been extremely interesting. The first is called Rocketeers, and is about the race for the X-Prize a couple years ago. I was introduced to a band of people who want to go to space, and have started building real rockets in their garages and private hangers on a shoestring budget to reach into space. Often, these people are the age of my parents, and remember seeing the lunar landings on the TV, and were inspired by that sort of thing. The other book that I read was called In the Shadow of the Moon, and is about the Gemini to Apollo missions that NASA conducted to reach the moon. If anything, I'm a bit more convinced that NASA really screwed up our chances at long term space habitation and exploration. For starters, it was essentially given it's purpose to win a race, one that we ultimately one, with several lunar landings before interest vanished. What happens once a race is won? NASA's turned it's focus on more scientific endevours, rather than exploration, which is a fine goal, but not one that's likely to go out and start poking everything above us. Plus, NASA's a governmental agency, and with a waning in public interest, politicians have their way with the agency, and now that we don't have to beat the Russians at something, we're back down with the Space Shuttle (Which I think was a bit of a crappy idea. Looks cool, but ultimately doesn't serve our interests in exploration).
This is why the X-Prizes are so important. Commercial enterprises are what will bring us to space. It's always been the key behind exploration, whether it was the Spanish coming to the New World, Lewis & Clark's expeditions into the Western United States and the British interests in India, all because money was to be made from those locations. I'm sure that we can find some way to make space travel profitable. Asteroids have high metal contents. Tourism in space has already started, with various people going to Russia for trips into orbit. I'm sure that there could be a market for a number of other things in and around our planet, whether it's a week trip to a space station, the Moon or Mars or whether it's for private science enterprises. Publicly administrated space exploration doesn't work. The two shuttle disasters, the Challenger and the Columbia, both shut down American manned space missions for years afterwards while the problem was sought and people debated whether the risk was too high. Not to sound callous, but those crews are a relatively small price to pay, and are the ultimate heroes for the coming future, because they risked everything to further humanity along this path. There will be more deaths - all exploration is fraught with peril, and these might be necessary, or maybe not, but it should not stop us from getting out there.

Man on the Moon - R.E.M.
Moons - Josh Ritter
Moon and Sun - Gomez


Thursday, September 13, 2007

New and Old Dave Matthews

I'm a big DMB fan, have been ever since I'd gotten their first album frmo my aunt when she moved, and had some CDs that she wanted to get rid of. Since then, I've followed them, to varying degrees of fanatasism throughout high school and college. Currently, I'm awaiting for his next album (due out in the next year or so), and was very excited for the new (extremely weird) music video a couple weeks ago.



Just for comparison purposes, here's Eh Hee, his latest single, and the original demo of Granny, which was originally intended for Under The Table and Dreaming, but was cut. It's now played at a couple concerts every now and then, while Eh Hee made it's debut in a couple of concerts and seems to have evolved a little over the past year.
Eh Hee is a huge change from Matthew's typical songs - but then again, they've never really been afraid of changing around their sound, thinking back to Everyday and Stand Up. Eh Hee is heavily edited, with Dave playing every part of the song, and has a very different sound from just about everything out there. Granny, (which was supposed to be the first single off the album) on the other hand, features some very classic DMB guitar work and lyrics, and is a good song from the Under the Table days. It's a real pity this one didn't make it onto the album.

Eh Hee - Dave Matthews
Granny (Demo) - Dave Matthews Band



Preview: The Shepherd's Dog


Acoustic wonder Sam Beam is back next week with album number three, the Shepherd's Dog, his first work as Iron & Wine since 2004's Our Endless Numbered Days. This album represents a large jump in style from his prior works, especially 2002's The Creek Drank The Cradle, from a very stark acoustic guitar to something much richer. The Shepherd's Dog is Iron & Wine's best album to date, with a much richer sound coming from a bigger background support. Where his earlier works were essentially solo guitar songs, the works here carry a much larger range of sound, from electric organs and pianos to complex drumwork, not to mention his guitar style. The lead single off of this album is Boy With A Coin, which has a very relaxed and effortless rythmn to it, as well as some fantastic lyrics to go along with everything. Other songs on this album are just as good, however, such as Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car and Lovesong of the Buzzard, all of which display the same, rich, fantastic sound. This is a fantastic album to check out, whether you're an Iron & Wine fan, or if you just want something really good to listen to.

This winter, Iron & Wine is on tour to support the new album, visiting the following locations:

September 23, 2007
Chicago, IL Metro
September 24, 2007
Cleveland, OH Beachland Ballroom
September 25, 2007
Toronto, Ontario Danforth Music Hall
September 26, 2007
Montreal, Canada Metropolis
September 27, 2007
Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
September 28, 2007
Upper Darby, PA Tower Theatre
September 29, 2007
Washington, DC 9:30 Club
September 30, 2007
New York City, NY Town Hall Theatre
October 23, 2007
Leeds, UK City Varieties Music Hall
October 24, 2007
Gateshead, UK Sage Gateshead
October 25, 2007
Manchester, UK Academy 2
October 26, 2007
Belfast, Ireland Belfast Festival at Queens (Spiegel Tent)
October 27, 2007
Dublin, Ireland Ambassador Theatre
October 28, 2007
Bristol, UK St. George's
October 29, 2007
Edinburgh, Scotland Queen's Hall
October 31, 2007
London, UK Shepherd's Bush Empire
November 1, 2007
Cardiff, UK The Point
November 2, 2007
Brighton, UK St. George's Church
November 3, 2007
Nottingham, UK Rescue Rooms
November 4, 2007
Reading, UK Reading Concert Hall


Boy With A Coin - Iron & Wine
Pagan Angel and a Borrowed Car - Iron & Wine


Hype - Buy - Look

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

C&O



This week's C&O stems from the concert that I went to earlier this week with Paolo Nutini. During his set, he said that he had a cover of a song by Vera Hall, which I wrote down as Trouble So High, and when I went off to look up the lyrics, I found that it was also a song by Moby. A little research later and I found that the song was originally Hall's and called Trouble So Hard, an American folk singer from Alabama. In 2000, Moby sampled the song for the song Natural Blues, which was on the album Play.
Since then, Paolo Nutini has picked up the song, crediting Hall in concerts, rather than Moby, although it's likely that more audiences will recognize the song as Moby's.
Hall's original is a stark, haunting song that feels right down to the southern - hymnal roots fantastically. It's a beautiful song on it's own. Moby has taken the song and sped it up a little with a faster drum track and piano section, adding a bit of richness to the song, although I think that it looses it's original flavor. It's still not a bad song though. Finally, Paolo Nutini has taken the song and given it an almost Reggae sound with some pretty cool guitar work to go along with it.

Trouble So Hard - Vera Hall
Natural Blues - Moby
Trouble So Hard - Paolo Nutini

Hype - Buy - Look

Evolution of... The Shins





The Shins are one of the bigger indie-pop bands out there, with considerable coverage and fame with their three main releases, Oh, Inverted World (2001), Chutes Too Narrow (2004) and Wincing The Night Away (2007). They've remained signed to Sub Pop records, which also has such bands such as The Postal Service, Death Cab for Cutie and Iron & Wine.


The Shins formed in 1997 in New Mexico as a side project to another band. They produced their first two songs, When I Goosestep and Nature Bears a Vacuum and released their first album, Oh, Inverted World in 2001 with a good sound, with their James Mercer's distinctive vocals and their retro-sounding guitar work. The group set themselves apart with their complex sets of lyrics that really makes one look twice or three times at the liner notes before moving on. Notable songs on the album include Know Your Onion! and The Past And Pending, as well as New Slang and Caring Is Creepy.



Know Your Onion! - The Shins
The Past and Pending - The Shins


It was those two songs that helped propel The Shins into a wider spotlight as filmmaker and actor Zach Braff used the two songs in the soundtrack for his film Garden State, with a direct mention of the band. While most indie-hipsters cringe at this, for the once relatively unknown band was now exposed to everyone who liked it simply for being in the movie. That might be true, but it's certainly exposed the band to huge number of people (and you have to admit, the Garden State Soundtrack is one of the best compilations out there) and it's brought the Shins from obscurity to fame.







New Slang - The Shins
Caring Is Creepy - The Shins


In 2003, they released their second album, Chutes Too Narrow, where they continued much on the same track, although this time, they've kept the same vocal work, but added a nice mix of acoustic and electronic guitar work with a laid back energy. This album feels to me to be more dynamic as there are fast and slower songs over the entire thing. Pink Bullets and So Says I are the best tracks on the album


Pink Bullets - The Shins
So Says I - The Shins



Earlier in 2007, they released their third full length album, entitled Wincing the Night Away, with Phantom Limb as the lead single. The band continued their streak with a third album with fantastic writing, and with a fantastic sound. Their sound has started to change a little bit, with less jangle from the lead guitar, with a bit of a softer, more rounded sound, abit one that's still highly unique. Wincing The Night Away produced several other fantastic new songs, such as Phantom Limb, Split Needles, Sea Legs and Turn On Me.


Phantom Limb - The Shins
Turn On Me - The Shins


The band continues to go out and tour, with a number of music videos out on the web. They'll be around for a while, and as long as they remain on the independent market, they'll certainly be the indie-darling band out there for people to listen to.



More Free Music


Here's the last free iTunes song of the week:


Marcha - The May Fire

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Remaining Pictures from Concert

As promised, here's all the pictures from the concert last night:

http://norwich.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2012458&l=a5765&id=70000497

iTunes Free Music of the Week


They're still getting the songs up this week, and currently, it's looking like meager helpings this time around:

Ambush - Rage Ambush (As of posting, still $.99)
Become Who You Are - Maintstay

There's another one listed, The May Fire, but it's not ready yet.

09-11-01



The Rising - Bruce Springsteen

Concert Review: The Alternate Routes and Paolo Nutini

I went out to the Higher Ground to catch The Alternate Routes and Paolo Nutini as they played a couple of good sets of music up here. The Alternate Routes have been up here in Vermont before, and I was able to see them at their free concert back in July. Paolo Nutini, I'd heard of, as he's been on the radio with his two singles.





The Alternate Routes opened, and played a fairly good set this time around. It was a bit of an improvement over their July performance, and it was a bit of a shorter set, and they had concentrated on their better songs. Consequencely, their songs were pretty fast, which brought the crowd into full gear by the middle of their set until their finale. They once again used their toolbox & microphone combination during Fourtune Teller (I really hope that this makes it into their next album, whenever that is.) and they got the crowd singing along for My Old Lady. They pulled out an incredible amoung of energy for their time on stage. They're still a new band, and had a couple of moments where they stumbled a little. They talked a little much between songs, but they've really started playing much better together as a group. Above all, it looked like they were having fun.

Set List:
- Shelly
- Time Is A Runaway
- California
- Going Home With You
- Roxanne (Tease, The Police)
- Fortune Teller (Toolbox)
- Aftermath
- Ordinary
- My Old Lady






Paolo Nutini is an artist that I don't know a whole lot about, andreally didn't have a whole lot of time to research them. I've listenedto New Shoes a number of times, and was fairly surprised at how raspy hesounded, as if he's been on tour for a long time. He was also a bithunched over and seemed shy on stage in front of everyone, and took acouple of songs to really get a good flow going. They really kicked inwhen they got Trouble So High, a cover song, where the reggae sound really complimented his vocal work.





It took a while to get used to his voice, but it's different, and worked pretty well with his songs. The faster songs worked the best with him, such as New Shoes, Last Request and Trouble So High, as well as a couple of others. He also did a number of covers - 3 - which seemed like quite a bit compared to other concerts that I've gone to. By the end, it looked like he was beginning to enjoy himself, and the crowd certainly seemed to be enjoying the act - he was the main focus of the night, and the crowd got into his music much faster than they did with the Alternate Routes.

Set List
- Alloway Groove
- New Shoes
- Rewind
- These Streets
- Autumn
- Natural Blues (Moby Cover)
- Millions Faces
- 55 to 1 (New Song)
- Everybody's Talking (Harry Nielssen Cover)
- Last Request
- Rainbows
- Jenny, Don't Be Hasty
Encore
- Alloway Groove (Second Part)
- I Wan'na Be Like You (Louis Prima & Phil Harris Cover - From the Jungle Book)
- Funky Cigarette





Both performers did very well on stage. The Alternate Routes seems to be improving their act, at least since I'd last seen them in July, and they performed a really good, if a short, set. They demonstrated a considerable amount of energy and really seemed to enjoy their time on stage.
Paolo Nutini seemed to be a bit more shy in front of the crowd, but played a fun set that really got the crowd going, which was fun to watch, with a good blend of fast and slow songs.
In both cases, they both played their radio singles early in the sets, which surprised me, but it seemed to work nicely. They built up to a finale with their faster songs and settled into some of the deeper tracks from their albums over course of the sets.
A couple of people asked me what I was doing while I was writing down the set lists, which was interesting. I handed out this address to a couple of people, and if you're reading this, thanks for your interest and hope that you found this okay. I also talked with a husband and wife who were there with their daughter, and they seemed to enjoy their time there.

I'll get more pictures online at some point later today.

Hype - Buy - Look


Monday, September 10, 2007

Iron Man!

Paramount pictures just released the first trailer with good footage of the upcoming Iron Man movie, and damn, I'm excited to see that film. I'm a huge comic book fan, and Iron Man has always been a favorite of mine, along with Spiderman.

This may, shellhead is finally getting the big picture treatment, and it looks like they're doing a really good job with this version - good cast, really good CGI and action. I can't wait for May.




View the trailer here.





Iron Man - Black Sabbath



Friday, September 7, 2007

New Artist: Sara Bareilles




I just came across this artist earlier today while randomly going through iTunes. Sara Bareilles, who's recently released her first album, entitled Little Voice. I haven't listened to the whole album yet, but Love Song and Fairytale are two songs that really stand out, although there's a couple of others that really sound good on that album.


I always try to compare artists to one another. Interestingly, I can think of a couple of female artists that sort of fit her style, but the artist who seems to fit with her really well is Josh Ritter. I'm sure that there's some others out there, but I'm happy with that fit. She's got a fantastic voice, ranging from rock to blues and does some really cool piano work to follow along.

Earlier in June, she made a splash when her first song, Love Song, was released as an iTunes free song of the week (This is why I watch that list) and it propelled her album to some really spectacular sales over the next couple months.

Love Song - Sara Bareilles
Fairytales - Sara Bareilles