Tom Morello, Let Freedom Ring, Live @Amoeba

Click here to watch Amoeba's video of The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello, playing Let Freedom Ring in a live in-store at Amoeba Hollywood.

Here's a fan video of the same performance:



Own One Man Revolution.

Enter the world that longs to take you in.

And you? Maybe a moment will come when you’ll hesitate, hearing a word. In that instant lies your salvation. Heed the hesitation. Search out the space, the rift. Under this world there is another, waiting to be born. You can remain where you are, in the old world, tasting the bitter berries of disenchantment, or you can overcome yourself, rip yourself free of the word-lie, and enter the world that longs to take you in.

-from History of a Disturbance, by Steven Millhauser.

Philip Glass - The Locket (mp3)
Philip Glass - The Orange Tree (mp3)

From The Illusionist (Music From The Film)

Own the fantastic The Illusionist (Widescreen Edition), based on the short story Eisenheim the Illusionist, also by Millhauser, in The Barnum Museum: Stories (American Literature Series).

Outside the City I See

Young Galaxy was created at the intersection of Catherine McCandless and Stars' (there they are again) Stephen Ramsey, and expanded from there. Their songs shimmer & glow, even as their guitar solos rage and burn. Here's the video for their new song, Outside the City. I love the chorus: Outside the city I see/I see I'm inside out.



Here's the mp3:

Young Galaxy - Outside the City (mp3)

And Come and See, which sounds like a friendly duel between Stars and The Islands:

Download "Come And See" (mp3)
from "Young Galaxy"
by Young Galaxy
Arts & Crafts

Buy at eMusic

It's In The Stars.

Totally unrelated to anything except that this song played a few songs after the Jade McNelis track on my iTunes playlist, and I recently saw Zodiac, and in the last post I mentioned the Stars, and all this can't be a coincidence, can it? It's a sign that I have to post this, right??

Jesse Anderson - Readings In Astrology (mp3)

From the Superfly Soul comp I posted some tracks from a few days back.

The Reason That Jade McNelis Hasn't Saturated The Hype Machine...

...eludes me. Maybe it's lack of exposure; if that's true, then let's change that right now. Her voice is flawless, and she projects it with equal parts power and sensuality across an impressive range. She's convincing whether her compositions are lush and harmonically complex, or electronic, hard, and beat-driven.

A Montreal resident from Tallahassee, born in Taiwan and adopted at 42 days old by American parents, Jade began playing piano at age 4. By the sound of it, she never stopped. The Stars' Chris Seligman recognized her talent, and co-produced her debut EP with Drew Malamud, who worked with The Stars, The Dears, and DFA 1979.

Here's Life In Grey, which begins with a playful piano melody, speckled with Beck-esque electronic noises, and interrupted only by and abrupt and appropriate ending that prompts an immediate repeat play.

Jade McNelis - Life In Grey (mp3)

If you can't get enough of Jade, find "more" of her in this video:


Download All The Fables (EP) here:

The Postmarks are Fair Game

There are sad songs, complete with such defense mechanisms as sarcasm, wit, and sometimes even humor, and then there are songs that leave the extras out, that get straight to the essence of sadness, clearly born of a broken heart - songs meant to be listened to in a parking lot while staring at rivulets of rain streaming down the windshield. The Postmarks make the latter variety, which is naturally the more beautiful of the two. Their lyrics are rare in that they can stand alone, with shoulders slouched and eyes toward the ground, of course.

The Postmarks played four songs on PRI's Fair Game last week.

The Postmarks - Live on Fair Game, 4-26-2007 (mp3):

Winter Spring Summer Fall
Watercolors
Let Go
Goodbye

Own The Postmarks.


By the way, everybody wish The Keoki good luck...he'll be travelling very soon, and I'm going to miss him. I'll do my best to be there close to the time he comes back, though.

Soul Sisters

Music is the shorthand of emotion.
-Leo Tolstoy

Judy Clay - I Got To Love Somebody's Baby (mp3)
Jackie Moore - It Ain't Who You Know (mp3)

from Atlantic Unearthed: Soul Sisters

City-State.

Do you still have Echo & The Bunnymen's Crocodiles and their self titled album in your rotation? Do you still listen to Interpol's Turn on the Bright Lights, and are you still religious about The Church's Starfish and Seance? Can you name more than one Mission U.K. song? If you answered yes to any of the above, then mark your calendars for the 10th and the 15th of May. On the 15th, Washington, D.C.'s City-State will release their dark and bewitching debut album, Monument. On the 10th, the band will play at the Black Cat.



I'll be writing more on City-State soon. Until then, listen to the band cast its spell with beautifully disquieting parallel piano and guitar melodies in Great Lakes, and the searing guitar at the end of the entrancing Mary.

City-State - Great Lakes (mp3)
City-State - Mary (mp3)

Atrophy is another fantastic song, from their "Wolves +4" EP.

Mavis amazes.

This is the sound of passion, soul, and rebellion. It's the sound of unbreakable spirit. It's more than a revisitation of civil rights-era classics; it's a reawakening of convictions. Listen, and be stirred.

Mavis Staples - Turn Me Around (mp3)
Mavis Staples - On My Way (mp3)

Own We'll Never Turn Back.

Eleni Mandell, Live on KCRW, 4-18-2007

Girls, girls.......girls.

Eleni Mandell's singing stops me cold. It's the things she does with her voice - the way she drags out the word "moon" for just a moment longer than it should be in "Moonglow." It's the pause between "you" and "sleep" in the song "Girls," and a twin pause between the second and third "girls." Her style falls somewhere between country languor and smoky jazz, with hints of k.d. lang, Norah Jones, and Hope Sandoval. Her album has been over there on the right, under "The Smudge Recommends," for most of the year already, but I think I like this live KCRW performance even more. She just seems so much closer.

Eleni Mandell - Live on KCRW (4-18-2007) (mp3s)

Moonglow
Girls
Salt Truck
My Twin
The Makeout King
Front Door
Needle
Miss Me (alt.)

Watch the performance here, including the interview in which Eleni Mandell says "I fell in love, and he loved me back, for a change," and where Nic Harcourt asks "Do you use your songs to work stuff out?"

Riding Through The Ghetto

This is how you shake out the Monday morning blues.

Mr. Jamo - Shake What You Brought With You (Part 1) (mp3)
Elvans Road - Summer Free-Fo-All (mp3)

From Superfly Soul: Riding Through the Ghetto (First Class Funk & Capital Grooves)

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Live on KEXP, 4-19-2007

This might be my favorite in-studio performance of the year so far. Ted Leo declared that he & the Pharmacists would try to fit as much into 45 minutes as they could. They served up ten stellar songs and a side order of kickass.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists, Live on KEXP, 4-19-2007 (mp3):

The Sons of Cain
Me & Mia/Army Bound
Old Souls Know
Colleen
A Bottle of Buckie
Where Have All The Rude Boys Gone?
The Unwanted Things
La Costa Brava
CIA

Own Living with the Living.

Klaxons, live on The Current.

Can't get enough of The Klaxons? I can relate. Lucky for us, The Klaxons played three songs for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, and MPR aired the stripped-down performance yesterday.

The Klaxons - Live on MPR, aired 4-18-2007 (mp3s):

It's Not Over Yet
Golden Skans
As Above, So Below

Own Myths of the Near Future.

Pete P.

There's something about this song. This is a song about something there.
- Black Francis, in the Pixies' Subbacultcha

I'm not sure whether this Islaya song is about something there, or nothing there, or neither of the above. There's something about this song that makes me feel like it's a song about something there. Something in the way it starts as an assured pop song, supported by a repeating guitar chord, Merja Kerkkonen's warm, unwavering voice, and a throbbing bass. Then, without warning, it unravels, transformed into a mess of tension, a place for nothing, but everything's still in there, lost. And then, as quickly as the deconstruction, the recovery.

Islaja - Pete P. (mp3)

Own Ulual Yyy.

Hyperklaxomania.

If you haven't been floored, literally, with the Klaxons' Myths of the Near Future, if you're not singing along with it daily, it's because you haven't heard it yet. And if you haven't heard them yet, it's because you've been living in a hole with no access to the Hype Machine. Because the Klaxons are everywhere, and so am I, every time I listen to them. If the band is about anything at all, they're about motion. Take this track, Atlantis to Interzone. The title implies a journey, and the opening alarm sounds and call for "DJ!" bring perked ears and a reflex to get up and bug out. It sounds like a mashup of the Chemical Brothers and every early Dischord band at once. An adrenalin kickstart with a hard dance beat and propelling bass and guitar lines.

Don't plan on taking your seat for the rest of the album, either. An ominous drumbeat like an approaching dark cavalry introduces the first track, Two Receivers, while simple arpeggiated piano chords add a touch of fragility - an anticipation of something about to break. Totem On The Timeline is a guitar assault that you go with because it feels great to be pummeled like that. And Gravity's Rainbow is an invitation to travel with them to infinity, and however beautiful or sinister that may be, there will be riffs and beats, and nobody will be sitting in their chairs, because they will all have been smashed.

The Klaxons - Atlantis To Interzone (mp3)

Heimdalsgate on Conan

Of Montreal made millions of Conan O'Brien viewers ask, "What the hell is that??" last Thursday, like they did here at my house. My answer? "Derr. It's Of Montreal's Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse, from Hissing Fauna, Are You The Destroyer. Obviously." The video and the album track are here at Shameless Complacency. The mp3 of the performance is here:

Of Montreal - Heimdalsgate Like A Promethean Curse (Live on Conan, 4-12-2007)(mp3)

Get the Hissing Fauna warped carnival ride of an album over there on the right, under "The Smudge Recommends."

Bright Eyes - Live, KCRW, Broadcast 4-10-2007

Bright Eyes recently taped a live in-studio set for KCRW, which was broadcast on Tuesday afternoon. If you missed it, you not only missed Conor Oberst, you also missed the other members of this installment of the Bright Eyes collective:

Mike Mogis: Guitar / Mandolin/ Pedal Steel / Dobro
Nate Walcott: Trumpet / Nord / Piano
Jake Bellows: Guitar / Bass / Vocals
Rayche Bloomberg: Drums / Ukelelaele/ Vocals
M. Ward: Guitar / Acoustic / Harp / Vocals
Anton Patzner: Fiddle

Listen to M. Ward's soothing, melancholy timbre blend with the southern guitar twang on Smoke Without Fire. As expected, Conor and all vocalists ooze confidence and sincerity as they sing their stories.

Bright Eyes - Live, KCRW, Broadcast 4-10-2007 (mp3s):

Soul Singer
Smoke Without Fire
Yellow Datsun
Tourist Trap
Middleman
Lullaby in Exile
June on the West Coast

Own Cassadaga at a criminally low price.

Let's just all fail together.

On May 8th, the British band Fields will release Everything Last Winter, the full-length follow up to their well-received EP, 7 from The Village. This track, If You Fail, We All Fail, is a lush guitar rush, begun with rich dissonance, spaces filled with sweet feedback, voices in perfect harmony, each part a snug fit with the whole. A composition beautifully planned and executed.

Fields - If You Fail, We All Fail (mp3)

Can You Feel It?

Do you feel it?

Yes, I feel it. I feel my beloved barrio. My ghetto.

We didn't need any ocean breeze. To the left we had the Hudson River. To the right, the East River. When we wanted to refresh ourselves, who needed the ocean? We had the pump. Ha!

- Joe Cuba, in Tu Lo Sientes? (mp3), an organ and rhythm-based barrio reminiscence.

There are those who swear it's true that brother are we all
But there are still so very few who'll answer a brother's call

- Ralfi Pagan, in the sweetly voiced Brother, Where Are You? (mp3)

Both from Salsa Explosion: The Sound of Fania Records. If you like these, most of the CD is even better.

Go ahead and laugh. He's everybody's clown.

The Smudge has Len Wade's Everybody's Clown (mp3), from Soul Resurrection Volume One: From Deep Inside the Playground Vault, ready to play at a whim, and the whims for this slow, patient burn come hard and often. Lord, how the brass hits that spot deep down inside in this one. So nice.

Fresh on the heels of Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neal Hemphill Vol 1 [which The Smudge recently highly recommended], Rabbit Factory, Inc is preparing to release their second studio-based soul compilation. Soul Resurrection Volume One: From Deep Inside the Playground Vault collects material from Valparaiso, Florida’s Playground Studios, a stomping ground for numerous soul and funk artists associated with some of the top names in the genre (Minaret’s Big John Hamilton and Doris Allen, members of Roy Orbison’s band The Candymen, and more).

In 2005, Playground Studios and the masters produced there were purchased by Memphis producer Jim Lancaster (also known for his production on The Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me) with plans to renovate the studio and again produce records in the spirit of former owner Finley Duncan, who built the studio in 1969. Lancaster was the impetus behind Soul Resurrection and plans to re-open the studio later this spring. In the meantime, the record, which collects 20 tracks recorded at Playground studios, will be available beginning April 24th. [It's available now at Dusty Groove.]

Dusty Groove says:

There's an approach here that's wonderfully sensitive, and free from cliche -- a way of adapting to each new talent with a level of sophistication that was still a bit rare for southern soul at the time. Some of the best known Playground work was issued on the Minaret and SSS International labels -- some of which has been compiled recently by Sundazed -- but this collection here is all unreissued work, with no crossover with other compilations -- a wonderfully fresh look at this under-recognized force in southern soul, presented with some really great liner notes and photos!

Dean & Britta, Live on KCRW, 4-6-2007

Ahhh....Britta.


Oooh....Lara.

The talented Luna founders Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips recently visited the KCRW studio to play seven songs for Morning Becomes Eclectic. Maybe it's just me, but they look a lot younger in the MBE video than they do on the album cover and in their press photos. In the video, you'll also see the well-travelled keyboardist Lara Meyerattken, a.k.a. El May, whose talented fingers also harmonized with Luna, Ben Lee, and Crooked Fingers, among others.

Dean & Britta - Live on KCRW, 4-6-2007 (mp3s)

The Sun Is Still Sunny
Singer Sing
Words You Used To Say
You Turn My Head Around (Lee Hazelwood)
Night Nurse
Ginger Snaps
Our Love Will Still Be There (Troggs)

Experience the sweet harmonies of Dean & Britta's Back Numbers.

The Bad Veins

Benjamin Davis and Sebastien Schultz are the new Cincinnati-based band, The Bad Veins. Their new song, Gold and Warm, is immediately arresting. Gothamist described their sound as "a little bit Sparklehorse, a little bit Postal Service. A raw, almost 'old-fashioned' sound with a new twist..." I'm thinking a little bit Strokes, a little bit Jesus & Mary Chain, and a whole lot of plays on the iPod.

Bad Veins - Gold & Warm (mp3)

Down Home Gospel Classics

It's Good Friday, made better with great gospel from the dirt cheap 15 Down Home Gospel Classics.

The Paramount Singers - There's A Leak In This Old Building (mp3)
Robert Pete Williams - Sinner, Don't You Know (mp3)
Black Ace - Farther Along (mp3)

Je Connais Les Prototypes.

Here's a Prototypes performance from SXSW, broadcast by Minnesota Public Radio. It's pure spark and drive. Wish I were there to feel the buzz.

Prototypes - Live @SXSW on The Current, 3-15-2007 (mp3s):

Je Ne Te Connais Pas
Medicalement
Who's Gonna Sing?

CéU

Her self-titled album has been out elsewhere for a couple of years now, and yesterday, CéU hit stores in the U.S. In keeping with the electro-jazz trend that artists such as Bebel Gilberto and Cibelle successfully imported, CéU and her band fuse jazz, electronic music, and diverse rhythms to create unique grooves. Not that any of that is necessary; her voice alone is enough to hold an audience. The impossibly sexy songstress is supporting the release with live dates, including one this coming Saturday at the National Geographic Society Headquarters. According to the NG website,

CéU's unique sound combines Afro-beat, soul, and electro-jazz with a voice of unforgettable beauty. Born into a musical family in the artistically diverse city of São Paulo, she decided to become a singer at the age of 15, pursued music studies in lieu of a college education, and developed into a composer of great complexity as well as popular appeal. A sensation in both Brazil and France, she was nominated for a 2006 Latin Grammy Award as the Best New Artist.

CéU - Lenda (mp3)
CéU - Concrete Jungle (mp3)

Let CéU delight you.

Treat yourself to a drink and watch this:

Bloc Party, The Prayer, Live on Letterman

Bloc Party played The Prayer, my favorite song from A Weekend in the City, on Letterman last week. Unsurprisingly, it sounds much better live, in its raw form. The boys know how to bear down on their Fenders. And, of course, the drums. Damn. The skills, the talent. The plain white t-shirt. I still need to get my tickets.

Bloc Party - The Prayer (Live on Letterman, 4-30-2007) (mp3)

Here's the vid:

Low, Live on MPR 3-30-2007

Low's outstanding new album, Drums and Guns, deservedly scored a whopping 8.1 on Pitchfork. It's resignation rock at its best, music in no hurry to get anywhere, each track a perfect closing requiem for CBS' Cold Case.

Last week, they played four songs for Minnesota Public Radio's The Current. It took a while to play them, but the best things are worth slowing down for.

Low, Live on MPR 3-30-2007 (mp3s):

Sandinista
Murderer
Violent Past
Breaker

Ted Leo @ the 9:30

The Ted Leo & The Pharmacists show at the 9:30 Club on March 29th is available here (right click, save as), from the NPR Live Concert Series.

Abange Ab'eno

This is music from the hearts and spirits of Ugandans who have struggled and made significant strides against AIDS in their country. The songs onSinging for Life: HIV/AIDS, Music in Uganda are deeply affecting.

Meeting Point Kampala - Abange Ab'eno (Is Someone There?) (mp3)

Vilimina Nakiranda and the Bakuseka Majja Group, Kibaale Village - Olembe Lubiibe (Death Is Bad) (mp3)

Nellie McKay Live

The Nellie McKay concert at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA, originally broadcast on NPR on Tuesday, is available for download here (right-click, save as). The Good, The Bad, and The Queen's 9:30 Club show (14 March) is also available for download, here. The Ted Leo 9:30 Club show, broadcast last night, sounded magnificent, and should be up in a few days.

Get Nellie McKay's Pretty Little Head, The Good, the Bad & the Queen, and Ted Leo and The Pharmacists' Living with the Living.

I Love You, Imaginary You

Mike Semple, the songwriter/musician behind Secretary Bird, has the vocal delivery to make you believe anything he has to say, lyrics that will stick to your brain like little tacks, and chord progressions to hammer down the points. And how about that friendly brass at the end of Imaginary You, and the annihilating guitar at the end of Cornerstone.

Secretary Bird - Imaginary You (mp3)
Secretary Bird - Cornerstone (mp3)

Here's the self-titled Secretary Birddebut. You buy.

Kings of Leon on Letterman

Kings of Leon performed on Letterman on Monday night. Please take the time to thank them for the inspired guitar solo, which the late shows could use more of these days...

Kings of Leon - On Call (Live on Letterman 3-26-2007) (mp3)

Because of the Timesis a preorder steal from Amazon.com for a mere $7.99.

Toys to Boys.

As children in Chicago's south side, Jeanette, Wanda, and Sheila Hutchinson were originally known as the Hutchinson Sunbeams, with humble beginnings in church choirs and basement practice sessions. Eventually, they changed their name to The Emotions, and their number-one single "Best of My Love" spent five weeks at #1 on the U.S. pop chart. These songs are less popular, but it's clear that the sisters carried a little bit of that sunbeam along with them throughout their career.

The Emotions, from Chronicle: (mp3s)

From Toys To Boys
My Honey & Me
Runnin' Back And Forth

Arcade Fire In An Elevator

Have you seen Arcade Fire's Neon Bible, as performed in an elevator, with torn magazine pages as percussion?

Watch it here at blogotheque. Go to about 4:50 in.

Georgie James - live, acoustic, on WTMD

Laura on the keys

One day this year, Georgie James will release their full-length. Until then, I'll just have to keep e-stalking them, just like this.

A little over a month ago, they stopped in the WTMD studio for a live acoustic performance on Baltimore Unsigned. Even with just the two of them, the pop is catchy, the soul is deep, and the vocal harmonies are bliss.

Georgie James, Live, Acoustic on WTMD 1-30-2007 (mp3):

Look Me Up
Cake Parade
You Can Have It
More Lights

SoKo

On Monday, Dan from Said The Gramophone posted SoKo's tender love song called "I'll Kill Her." I thought it was just beautiful, and it reminded me of a scene from Memories of My Melancholy Whores, in which our hero goes into a jealous rampage over the beautiful young prostitute he frequents, and the brothel's Madame laments that she wishes that someone in her lifetime loved her as much. Kinda makes you want to cry, doesn't it.

Anyway, here's the video for the SoKo song. You're gonna love it.

Soko - I'll kill her
Uploaded by Rkst

Grizzly Bear on Carson

Grizzly Bear played Knife on Carson last Thursday, and their bittersweet harmonies left their fans thirsting for more. As for the Say Anything fans in the Carson crowd (from the Grizzly Bear blog):

Carson <3’s Grizzly
March 13th, 2007

Just kidding! He essentially had no clue who we were, but his music booker did and she was real nice. So to prep for our first ever late night TV appearance, I decided it was time to blog about it.

...

So here we are playing our SECOND song for Carson, the first “Knife” went over pretty well, considering we were a last minute fill in for an Emo band I’d never heard of called “Say Anything”. Needless the say, Say Anything’s fans were slightly confused, if not shocked and bewildered by the time the middle of “Lullabye” kicked in. Of course they clapped and hooted because there are about 3 stage dudes telling the crowd to cheer and for how long, and how loud. We were inwardly dying of laughter.

Grizzly Bear - Knife (Live on Carson, 3-15-2007) (mp3)

Own Yellow House.

Also, download or stream videos of six songs, including Knife and He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss), from a recent performanc in Minneapolis, here.

Okkervil River, Live at SXSW on KEXP, 3-16-2007

If you don't already subscribe to the KEXP Live Performances Podcast, now's the time. They've got SXSW performances up from Earl Greyhound, Ghostland Observatory, Apples in Stereo, Peter Bjorn & John, Beirut, and many other great shows, including this performance from Okkervil River, with essential versions of The President's Dead and Okkervil River Song.

Okkervil River, Live at SXSW on KEXP, 3-16-2007 (mp3s):

The President's Dead
The Latest Toughs
Life Is Not A Movie
Westfall
For Real
Okkervil River Song

Own Black Sheep Boy: Definitive Edition.