12.31.08
From the Archive #7: Matt Nathanson @ Recher Theatre
Matt Nathanson at Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. (Photo by Jason Tang)
Matt Nathanson is one of those artists who have established a loyal fan base in the States, but haven’t really toured elsewhere. His live shows sound like so much fun that I hope we’ll get to see him in Europe too. Currently I’m just happy listening to the recordings on the Live Music Archive.
This one is recorded with a pair of small-sized microphones at Recher Theatre in Towson, MD. The sound quality is pretty good and the audience sounds fantastic. The recording is available in Flac, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, or can be played in the onsite player.
Matt Nathanson Live at Recher Theatre on 2008-10-03
The show starts with two songs off his latest album Some Mad Hope, they are Car Crash and Gone. Towards the end of the song Princess we get to the part that the audience just seems to love on Matt Nathanson shows: sing-a-longs with older hit songs. Here the audience is excited singing Rick Springfield’s ’80s hit Jessie’s Girl.
Still and Falling Apart are also from the latest album, that latter being Matt’s own favorite on the record. The cover of the ’90s hit Laid is another big sing-a-long. That’s the one Matt recorded for the movie American Wedding. This show turns out to be such a dirty one. Somebody has thrown a book of erotic stories up on stage, Matt picks it up and starts reading in between songs! Besides that, Matt always likes to joke a lot during the shows.
His song Amazing Again has a verse out of a popular song by R.E.M. Matt does a couple of songs solo, but for the rest of the show he is backed by his band. The audience sings surprisingly well on the AC/DC cover You Shook Me All Night Long. A new song Detroit Waves contains a sing-a-long of Kids of America. The encore has Come On Get Higher, which is currently my favorite song by Matt Nathanson. Then show ends with a nice sing-a-long, an older Matty song called Answering Machine. “I could fall alone if all if I could fall away”, that’s how it goes.
And there’s much more. I feel this was a show with many good moments. Recently a couple of videos of Matt Nathanson went up on ATT Blue Room. That’s three songs and an interview. Go on and and take a look.
12.29.08
Song of the Week #1: Ani DiFranco – Shy
Ani DiFranco performing at Paradiso in Amsterdam in 2008.
Starting today, I’ll be posting a new “song of the week” every Monday until the end of 2009. The idea of weekly or daily songs has been going on in many blogs, I’m starting it mostly as an excuse to talk about music both old and new.
The first one is one of my favorite songs by Ani DiFranco, called Shy. It appeared on her 1995 studio album Not a Pretty Girl. It’s also on her compilation album Canon that contains songs from all through her career until 2006, when it was released. If you’re looking to buy something from Ani DiFranco and don’t quite know which album to get, that’s the one to go for. It’s also released by her Righteous Babe label, giving her the right to make all the decisions and don’t let record companies get in the way.
This is a live solo performance from 2003 at Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet, IL. “Yes we’re being documented for posterity… God forbid it… I’ll try not to suck…”
12.23.08
Merry Holidays!
I’ve been listening to lots of Christmas music this year while I’ve been blogging about it. It’s been fun, much of it has been by my favorite artists or other interesting arrangements. This is going to be my last take on it before settling down for the holidays.
Other blogs have also been talking about Christmas music. Try JM offers a recording of John Mayer playing a fantastic set at a children’s hospital yesterday. The Umbilical Chord gives you a Christmas album by Sufjan Stevens. And thanks to Lisa for letting me know about a holiday greeting by Jason Mraz that really made me laugh and was where I got the title for this post.
I’ve been glad to see more and more people find this blog, and I want to wish all of you Happy Holidays! Finally, this is a song from early ’90s by Dave Matthews that is a staple for me at Christmas time.
12.22.08
From the Archive #6: My Morning Jacket Christmas Special
Continuing the Christmas music theme from a week ago, this week the music goes more in the rock direction. All of the previous recordings have been live concerts, but this time it’s a recording of a radio show, another common way for tapers to record music.
My Morning Jacket performing at Greek Theatre on UC Berkeley campus. (Photo by Joe Lazarus)
The recording is available as Flac, MP3, Ogg Vorbis, or can be played in the onsite player, so all it takes is just a few clicks to listen to it.
My Morning Jacket Live at WFPK 91.9 FM on 2001-12-25
My Morning Jacket is one of those bands that are keen on playing Christmas music. In 2000 they released an album My Morning Jacket Does Xmas Fiasco Style and their later song One Big Holiday has been quite popular. This recording was made on December 21 and it aired on Christmas Day, so it’s not like the band spent the holidays in studio.
Elvis song Santa Claus Is Back In Town opens the show. Next they perform their own song X Mas Curtain, and after that, a beautiful acoustic version of the Christmas carol O Holy Night. Lead singer Jim James gets interviewed by the radio show host, then another song of their own, Xmas Time Is Here Again, is played acoustically.
Silent Night is the only Christmas song left here. Three other songs Old Sept. Blues, I Will Sing You Songs, and Come Closer bring something more than just Christmas music to the show and fit in perfectly.
There’s still many shows in the Live Music Archive I want to cover as part of this series. If you’ve missed some of the six written so far, you can read them all here or click on one of the links below.
12.19.08
Free Music by Brian Dunn
Brian Dunn, a rising singer-songwriter from Maine, currently has three of his albums up for free MP3 download on Last.fm. I’m digging the albums All Ways Home (the Home Side) and All Ways Home (the Way Side). They are fresh and peaceful folk albums, acoustic guitar well audible. For starters, I recommend the song State of Maine.
I’m not quite sure what I think of the humorous album The Off Key. That sort of stuff usually works best live. The comic songs have lots of explicit lyrics in them. It’s not something I like to listen to extensively on record.
Brian is setting up a good example by giving some of his music for free. I believe that’s the best way for most starting artists to go. There’s just so much good music in the world today that it takes a lot to convince people to buy records. But giving something out for free gets more people to listen to the music and makes the artist more popular. And if the artist becomes popular enough, there will be many ways to make money out of the music.
Moreover, Last.fm is a great place to find new music and people. Just create an account, listen to music you like on your favorite music player, and you’ll get recommendations about bands you might like and you can find people who are likely to have a similar music taste to you.
12.16.08
From the Archive #5: The Flecktones @ MACC
Béla Fleck fretting a note with his nose! (Photo by Rick Gordon)
Only one week till Christmas, so it’s time for some music to get you in the spirit. And to keep things interesting, in 12 time signatures! This week’s recording is just over two weeks old, and it’s by a band consisting of four musicians with unbelievable talent, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones. They released their holiday album Jingle All the Way already in September, and have now been on tour to support it.
This recording is from a show at Maui Arts & Cultural Center on Hawaii. It’s available as Flac, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis, and can be played in the onsite player.
Béla Fleck and the Flecktones Live at MACC on 2008-11-30
The Flecktones have been playing since 1988 and released 13 albums. The band has been in its current form since 1998 when saxophonist Jeff Coffin joined the band. Frontman Béla Fleck plays a range of different banjos. Victor Wooten plays bass, often in highly imaginative and complex styles. His brother Roy “Futureman” Wooten plays percussion, sometimes on an instrument called Drumitar, which he has created himself. Their music is a unique combination of bluegrass, jazz and much else, and it’s usually instrumental.
Futureman with the Drumitar. (Photo by Rick Gordon)
The show starts with their song Throwdown at the Hoedown, next up is a medley of traditional Christmas songs. I like listening to instrumental versions of these familiar songs, not having to hear the lyrics over and over again, just the melody.
Next up is a song written by Victor Wooten, Sex In a Pan, after that Christmas Time Is Here. Linus And Lucy is an old song written by American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Victor Wooten’s solo is great as usual containing some Beatles and Amazing Grace.
Some other Christmas songs on this show are Silent Night, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and Jingle Bells. What’s most fun is Twelve Days of Christmas, which they play in 12 different time signatures. This was an experiment to make playing the familiar song more challenging.
Béla’s banjo solo closes the set. The encore has their popular song, Big Country. If you like this show, you’ll most likely also enjoy their new Christmas album. Here’s a good review.
I’ll be back with more Christmas music from the Live Music Archive next week.
12.15.08
In Memory of LeRoi Moore, 1961-2008
Courtesy of dmband.com
LeRoi Moore, saxophonist and founding member of Dave Matthews Band, passed away in August this year. This blog wasn’t around that time yet, so I wanted to take this chance now to say goodbye.
It’s a strange thing to lose a beloved musician unless you see the band live. You know he’s no longer here, but he still continues to be present on recordings you listen to and videos you watch, so it’s like nothing is changed. Last Friday I got a mail from the DMB fan association Warehouse saying that new tour dates will be announced on Monday. While I was very excited about the news in hopes of some Europe dates, the mail showed a picture of the band, and one member was missing. Then it finally hit me that he’s gone. It was quite shocking to see the picture.
Below is a picture montage of LeRoi. Playing on the background is the cover song Long Black Veil, which Dave Matthews Band used to perform a lot around year 2000. Many other artists have also covered the song, most notably Johnny Cash. It’s a Johnny Cash song for Dave Matthews.
Rest In Peace, LeRoi.
12.13.08
Seeing Jason Mraz!
I was glad to read awhile ago that Jason Mraz is making a European tour in spring 2009. He’s not coming to Finland, but that just gave me a perfect excuse to make a trip to France. All I’ve been to France is a short day trip from Germany to Strasbourg, so it’s great to get to see the country.
I’m first flying in to Paris to see the show in the famous Paris Olympia and take a couple of days to see the city, then visit a friend and see the show in Toulouse. It’s not the first time I’ve traveled abroad to see live music, and it’s been great. If you’re coming to one of those shows, I’d be glad to hear from you!
The first song of Jason’s I remember listening to was an acoustic version of The Remedy. What I thought about his music at first was “good but girly.” He was just another good artist for me for quite some time. It wasn’t until I got to hear more of his live stuff that I really came to like his music. Particularly the acoustic release, Live at Java Joe’s (goes by the name of Jason Mraz Live & Acoustic on iTunes these days) was en eye opener. His music became so great to me that I no longer cared if it was girly or not.
Toca Rivera playing percussion for Jason.
I also love to read Jason’s blog. He has a nice sense of humor and he’s often saying things people should put more thought into. I know most people don’t, which is just ironic. Recently he was talking about how to develop your own awareness during the holidays, among other things. Now, I’m a pretty down-to-earth person, and I didn’t use to think much of yoga or other Eastern philosophies. But in the battle against the anxiety caused by today’s busy living, those are starting to look like the best ways to find the “inner peace,” so I’m glad Jason has found them too.
Last night I was watching the Nobel Peace Prize concert where Jason performed two songs with his percussionist Toca Rivera. What made it interesting for me was that the Peace Prize winner this year is the former Finnish President, Martti Ahtisaari, and he was – of course – sitting right there in the front row. Jason performed I’m Yours and A Beautiful Mess, and he was wise enough not to say any cheesy lines to the Peace Prize winner.
Thanks to Renee for the great photos! This is Jason and the band performing the song 0% Interest in 2003. If you’ve never heard it, it may not sound much at first, but it sure will get better with time. At least be sure to listen to the sing-a-longs towards the end.
12.09.08
From the Archive #4: O.A.R. @ MSG
O.A.R.'s singer Marc Roberge (Photo by Jason Morneau)
Fourth in the series of introducing recordings from the Live Music Archive is O.A.R.’s show at Madison Square Garden. This is not the same concert as their release, Live from Madison Square Garden. O.A.R. is actually the first band I remember listening from the archive. Usually their music works best for me in the summer, but listening to the show now has definitely brightened up my December.
O.A.R. is also one of the bands whose rise to fame has been largely aided by online trading of recordings, so it’s only fitting to make the band part of this series. This is a soundboard recording mixed with a recording of the audience, so you get the best of both worlds. Great work by the tapers!
The recording is available as FLAC, MP3 or Ogg Vorbis. It can also be played in the onsite player, so listening shouldn’t be too hard.
O.A.R. Live at Madison Square Garden
In addition to your typical rock band lineup, O.A.R. has Jerry DePizzo on saxophone. Their music is a nice combination of rock and chilly reggae sounds. The show starts with a song from their 2005 studio release, Stories of a Stranger. Like many O.A.R. songs, it’s pretty long, letting the guys jam. Most other songs from that album are also played as it was their latest at the time.
The show features hit songs from last years as well as old songs well regarded by the fans. There are O.A.R. classics like The Wanderer, Black Rock, Hey Girl, and that real crowd favorite, City on Down. Recent hits include Love And Memories, Heard the World and Lay Down.
Two guests sit in for a song. On Daylight the Dog, there’s Colin Smith. The warm-up act, Matisyahu joins the band for Program Director in the encore. Matisyahu’s own set is also available as a soundboard recording. The other two songs in the encore are those that the band has been playing for over a decade: About Mr. Brown and That Was a Crazy Game of Poker, the former being my favorite song by the band.
There’s over 500 recordings of O.A.R. in the Live Music Archive. When their album Stories of a Stranger came out, many of their records could be listened to on their website, if not all of them. Currently some tracks from their latest studio release All Sides are available, as well as many videos. This band has realized it very well that letting people listen to the music helps make it popular.
12.07.08
How to Follow a Blog
There are so many ways to subscribe to blogs that it gets confusing and most people just check the sites for new posts themselves. That way it can easily become a burden to follow all the interesting blogs.
I wrote a page that explains the easiest ways to stay in touch with this blog and others. If you have any other recommendations you want to share, just leave a comment there.
I recently joined two blog directories: Blog Listing and Blogged. Both were quick to accept the blog and Blogged even provided a review by an editor right away. I was glad to see how good the rating was, given how new this blog is. Blogged also looks like a nice social web site where you can find other blogs of interest.
