Our Six Apart Holiday Video from last year still holds up! Anil, you've got to do another one this year.
Our Six Apart Holiday Video from last year still holds up! Anil, you've got to do another one this year.
I have an extra ticket to see the mesmerizing and magical Miss Newsom with the Austin Symphony Orchestra at Riverbend Centre tomorrow night. If you or someone you know wants it, send me a message.
I'm going to see Fair To Midland at Stubb's outdoor stage tonight (after dinner with the Case family at East Side Cafe, yummm).
FTM, who I've written about several times before, play on my love for creative singers with a wide vocal range, interesting instrumentation, art-rawk and general over-the-top-ness. (See: Tool, Mars Volta, Faith No More.)
Watch the video for "Dance of the Manatee"*:
* That growly nonsense he does before the bridge? He doesn't do much more of that on the rest of the record.
I heard Big Country's "In A Big Country" during today's morning commute. Normally I'm opposed to bands who have song titles that include their band name, but I make an exception here and there. This is such a great song but I never really paid attention to the lyrics before.
So take that look out of here, it doesn't fit you.
Because it's happened doesn't mean you've been discarded.
Pull up your head off the floor, come up screaming.
Cry out for everything you ever might have wanted.
I thought that pain and truth were things that really mattered
But you can't stay here with every single hope you had shattered.
Here they are lip-synching the song on Top of the Pops circa 1983:
This was my morning drive-time jam today, courtesy of Kiss-FM:
I missed the Bat For Lashes show Monday night because I was sick, but nothing's stopping me from seeing Hall & Oates tonight. My +1 is already spoken for, so you're out of touch luck.
And now I'll post this video for the fourth time, because it's just that good.
I'm on the list +1 for tonight's all-acoustic Eisley show at Swedish American Hall, and I still haven't found someone to go with me. It shouldn't be this hard to take someone to a free show.
Eisley are a quintet of three sisters and a brother, plus another guy, all in their early 20's and hailing from Tyler, Texas, a small town I know too well. I wrote a lot about their major label debut Room Noises (one of my Top 12 of 2005) and I can't wait to hear their new CD Combinations (out August 14th). What I've heard from their MySpace page so far is the ethereal harmonies and pop melodies we expect (think The Sundays, Sixpence None The Richer) with even more weirdness added in, no doubt developed during their extensive touring over the last few years.
Watch the video for their new single "Invasion". (I'd put it in the post, but Warner Bros. has inexplicably turned off embedding for the video. Why do people do that?)
Or just watch this old video for "Marvelous Things".
One of my favorite discoveries as of late is Bat For Lashes' Fur & Gold. My friend Chad told me about them months ago and I finally got the record when I was in Austin. I love singer Natasha Khan's voice and style and the songs are pretty addictive. She brings a modern take on a mystical, fairies-in-the-woods vibe, a la Ms. Nicks.
Jeff just sent me the link to their latest video for "What's A Girl To Do". It's a really simple concept, but still manages to mesmerize me. I also included a video of a live performance of "Moon for Moon".
I just read Ben's post about the New York by New York Of Montreal karaoke jam in NYC with special guests Craig Wedren, David Wain, Paul Rudd, and many more. It's these kinds of events that make me miss living in NYC and seeing my talented friends. Check out Craig rocking "Suffragette City" and all the videos on Stereogum.
The countdown to Feist's new record continues. Could I possibly love her any more than I already do? I've been anxiously awaiting this record since I talked to her about it in an interview two years ago. Let these new videos transport you in the meantime:
And finally, this video from The Go! Team makes me giddy:
The good news is that Heart is playing in San Francisco tomorrow!
The bad news is that they're playing at the Cow Palace, as part of the rodeo.
Heart is one of my favorite bands. Anyone who knows me well knows that in my next life I want to come back as Nancy Wilson. I envy her talent, her band, her husband, her look. For this life, all I can have is her music and my own rendition of her haircut. And as for her sister Ann, she has one of the best voices in the history of rock.
Why do I love Heart so? Watch this video of Heart performing "Little Queen" back in 1978. (Embedding was disabled, so you'll have to click.) The vocals finally kick in around 2:30. The woman in the audience with the bowtie (around 5:20) is awesome. Wait for the double-neck guitar solo at the end. I was born a few decades too late.
Thirty years later (thirty!) they still put on an amazing live show. I've seen them twice now at the intimate Mountain Winery, once from the side of the stage (one of my dreams come true.) So, Ann and Nancy, because of that wonderful experience, I don't think I can bring myself to see your show tomorrow night at the dusty ol' Cow Palace. Being a Texan, I've been to rodeos before and seeing y'all in that context just wouldn't be right.
There are a whole bunch of other options for shows in San Francisco tomorrow, in fact I dedicated my SFist column today to a bunch of great Friday night shows.
