the arcade fire - concerts à emporter

Are they fucking serious? Figure me a cooler notion of video live music performance. Go on - you can't do it. Anyway, The Arcade Fire did a little ditty recently. Here it is, and if I were you, dear reader, I would expect a few more of these posts before I lose the chills I get when I watch their shows :)

the national

The National, about whom I've raved on numerous occasions, is releasing a new album in May. I seriously chill with anticipation. Totally pumped. Can I say that enough? TOTALLY PUMPED!

A preview track:
The National - Fake Empire

Here's one of the coolest live performances I've ever seen, and it's a rendition of a new song off the upcoming album. Concerts à Emporter is badass in its own right; coupled with The National...off the charts, baby. Enjoy:

paulo nutini

Wow. Great voice. Hot as hell. What else is there?



Paulo Nutini, everyone.

tim myers

If you like Coldplay, go here and here. Check out "A Revolution Song" if it doesn't do this really high-pitched funky thing on his site that it did on mine... Thank me later... ;-)

i'm a punkrocker, yes i am

my style is di bom digi bom di deng di deng digi digi

...and I know I suck for not having posted any of my finds from the new treasure trove, but Things have been Going On which make me Very Tired. Soon!

overload...

I've spent the last four hours in frantic overload, discovering or rediscovering the following little pieces of heaven on earth:

Internet Archive :: NetLabels

Jamendo

ccMixter

And I'm finding the Blogger "New Post" procedure to be far too cumbersome to post the hundred thousand sweetnesses I've found this morning. I'm going to go breathe now and I will return later to share the finds...

Meanwhile, enjoy the links...

ukelele...

So here's an interesting find I came across while making a "world" music mix for my friend Boone. (It's a protest mix against the label "world" being used to encompass literally (no pun) a world of music)...

Anyway, from Hawaii, I bring you the (late) Israel Kamikawiwo'ole, playing a "Somewhere Over The Rainbow + What A Wonderful World" medley live...

Israel Kamikawiwo'ole - Somewhere Over The Rainbow (medley)

o.c.m.s.

I don't care what the fags say... There ain't nothing like a banjo. Unless it's a mandolin... But we'll save Chris Thile for a later post. I think these guys are awfully listen-able... Classic instrumentation, good vocal harmonies. And refrains penned by Dylan.

Plus they're trés cute...

Check them out at La Zona Rosa in Austin next Saturday, if you're so inclined...



To avoid any confusion, Mr. Thile is definitely trés cute, too...

meta

Fair warning, fair readers: if you're the owner of a BlogSpot blog, "upgrading your template" when prompted is easy. So easy, in fact, it's easy to make very hard. Especially at 4AM, before you've finished your first cup of coffee. It might make some...of us...want to cry.

This is true, even if your coffee has an extra jolt, like the morning dew currently in my pot.

Fair warning...

i'm (back) from barcelona...

Here's the song, provided to you from the arguably more controlled environment of their album, Let Me Introduce My Friends...

I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona

We're From Barcelona
by I'M FROM BARCELONA

I'm gonna sing this song with all of my friends
and we're I'm from Barcelona
Love is a feeling that we don't understand
but we're gonna give it to ya

We'll aim for the stars
We'll aim for your heart when the night comes
And we'll bring you love
You'll be one of us when the night comes

This band is further evidence supporting my theory that the Swedes, Seasonal Affective Disorder notwithstanding, know how to make chirpy, feel-good pop like nobody else...

i'm from barcelona...

Well, I'm not, and neither are they. But that's what they're called. (They're actually a 29-person "supergroup" from Sweden...) I've been digging their sound for a while now, but I hadn't bothered to check out the band. Then, in an inspired-yet-ultimately unsatisfactory search of Belgian blogs for an explanation of an elusively-titled album in my collection ("Presents", in a folder entitled "Adrian Boult") I found this live acoustic session.

This is one of the coolest little videos I've run across yet...try to see for yourself exactly what they're using to create this Up With People sound and be amazed! SCISSORS PLAY A PART FOR CHRISTSAKES! How awesome...?

Here's I'm From Barcelona, performing "We're From Barcelona"...



And by the way, it was really "Adrian Bouldt" and you'd be scandalized to discover how unhelpful Google is in finding a missing 'd'...

Video shamelessly un-embedded and imported here to the States from a certain podcaster Vox...

jeff mangum

Here's a little clip I stumbled across on YouTube. It's Jeff Mangum singing his outfit's (Neutral Milk Hotel) album's title track (In The Aeroplane Over The Sea), solo. Hella lyrics, y'all, hella lyrics.

Neutral Milk Hotel
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
What a beautiful dream
That could flash on the screen
In a blink of an eye and be gone from me
Soft and sweet
Let me hold it close and keep it here with me

And one day we will die
And our ashes will fly from the aeroplane over the sea
But for now we are young
Let us lay in the sun
And count every beautiful thing we can see
Love to be
In the arms of all I'm keeping here with me

What a curious life we have found here tonight
There is music that sounds from the street
There are lights in the clouds
Anna's ghost all around
Hear her voice as it's rolling and ringing through me
Soft and sweet
How the notes all bend and reach above the trees

Now how I remember you
How I would push my fingers through
Your mouth to make those muscles move
That made your voice so smooth and sweet
And now we keep where we don't know
All secrets sleep in winter clothes
With one you loved so long ago
Now he don't even know his name

What a beautiful face
I have found in this place
That is circling all round the sun
And when we meet on a cloud
I'll be laughing out loud
I'll be laughing with everyone I see
Can't believe how strange it is to be anything at all

Here's to hoping the re-unite...

happy valentine's day!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Hallmark Holiday today. I have a little treat to post, but unfortunately it's a blogging transgression which is unprecedented in this most formal of online music review houses. (tongue firmly planted in cheek...)

So the last song I posted - the "mood" song - was by Andrew Bird. So is today's track. But I just stumbled upon a pre-release single from his upcoming new album, Armchair Apocrypha. And it's really good! Do check it out, and go be Valentine-y!

Andrew Bird - Heretics

Props to Pitchfork. They're good for something, at least.

mood

Here's a mood song because it's past my bed time...

Andrew Bird - Don't Be Scared

Don't Be Scared
by Andrew Bird

whenever paul thinks of rain, swallows fall in a wave and tap on his window with their beaks. whenever paul thinks of snow, soft winds blow round his head and his phone rings just once late at night-like a bird calling out, "wake up, paul. don't be scared. don't believe you're all alone."
"wake up, paul," whisper clouds rolling by and the seeds falling softly from the branches of the trees.

Sleep tight, fair readers...