They Say It's Your Birthday!

Happy belated (by 1 1/2 hours) birthday to my favourite Beatle, the late, great George Harrison.

Harrison brought the Indian music influence to the band (after falling in love with the sitar) and greatly increased Americans' awareness of Indian culture in the 60s (attn: Hare Krishna Movement). Acknowledged as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Harrison added the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" to "Eleanor Rigby." Where would that song be without that line?? He penned the beautiful Beatles tunes: "Here Comes the Sun," "Something," "I, Me, Mine," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," to name a few. Old George's awesomeness didn't stop there. In the 1980s he participated in the forming of the supergroup, The Traveling Wilburys. His bandmates included Jeff Lyne (of Electric Light Orchestra), Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan. Yes, when I say "supergroup" I mean "SUPERGROUP!!!"

In honour (thank Britain!) of our beloved George, I give Harrison, along with the rest of the Fab Four, singing himself a birthday song:



And "Within or Without You," a song that represents a major influence on Harrison, which majorly influenced (in a beautiful, evolutionary way) the US through Harrison (get your sitar on, man!):



And I just can't leave of one of my favorite Beatles songs, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps:"



Happy birthday, Harrison. Thanks for the music.

Notables:

1. Jason Schwartman is amazing. Great actor & writer, as well as a great musician. Some were aware of his role as drummer in the band Phantom Planet, but his new solo project, Coconut Records, is a definite winner. In addition to the most excellent track, "West Coast" (as can be heard in the following video endorsing an excellent project called "Opening Ceremony" that you should look into):

non plus one final from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.

he also wrote the theme song for his HBO series, "Bored to Death." My lack of HBO has prevented me from watching the show, but the theme song is excellent!



2. I just learned (ridiculously late), that Johnny Marr, the guitarist of the Smiths, joined Modest Mouse in 2006, guitaring it up on the album "We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank," and touring with the band through 07. Go Marr! I love consistent awesomeness. He's currently the guitarist in the new band, the Cribs. I caught a couple tracks, which weren't bad. Still I have yet to form a strong opinion. It's nearing my bedtime, so the time is limited and the attention waning.



3. Jimmy Page (of Led Zeppelin), Jack White (of the White Stripes) and the Edge (of U2) have gotten together on a music documentary. I'm excited. To the Edge-haters out there, give the thing a chance. I can't imagine how this much greatness can end badly!

Wildbirds & Peacedrums

I've been in need of some playlist refreshment from over-saturating myself with good stuff. Not to mention I need to recharge myself in the way that only an excellent concert can do. So I went to Bowery Presents website, picked out the bands with upcoming shows and interesting names, and gave them a listen to plug myself in. Enter Wildbirds & Peacedrums. The name of this Swedish duet alone is music to my ears. It calls to mind images of brightly sunlit dark green forests, colorful feathers, and heavy percussive puncuation. An excellent juxtaposition of polar opposites, heavy and light, dark and bright, that blend perfectly without losing any of its flavor. This is not a melting pot, nor is it oil & water. It's chocolate covered pretzels...perfectly complimentary to bring out the best in what wouldn't exist without the other. Yes, it's wonderfully fantastical. I am correct, sir! The singer has a Feist-y thing going on (especially in the second of the tunes I posted), but somehow she makes it interesting. Maybe it's the backdrop upon which she sings her melodies, or the quirks she throws in just when you think she's too close to coffeehouse acoustic. Eitherway, it makes me want to Billy-Elliot in a less graceful, but much more fun, fashion. Have a listen or two:

Bluesy Native American chanting & drumming wonder:


This is the semi-watered down version, but it's still good.


The great thing about "My Heart" is this: all the recordings are practically the same, no matter which you choose to listen to, but still somehow they have enough variation so that if you listen to one, it's more pop, another is jazzier, and yet another is heavier blues. Whatever your mood, there's a version of the same song to please you. Unless you're looking for death metal. I don't think they swing that way, sorry.

ENJOY!

Sufjan Stevens & DM Stith

Since moving to NYC, I've been to a couple of Sufjan Stevens concerts & events, including the screening of his film, The BQE. The screening was opened by MC Sufjan Stevens, DM Stith (an artist from Stevens' label, Asthmatic Kitty), and Osso, a string quartet that played orchestral variations of Stevens' album, Enjoy Your Rabbit.

First I want to note that the currently unreleased songs Stevens played at the concerts I attended, one at Bower Ballroom on October 4, and the other at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 6, are completely amazing. Sufjan doesn't disappoint. Here is one example...imagine this one live, with the piano filling the room, completely enveloping you. I'm sorry I can't let you feel the actual feeling, but it was heavy:

"Barn Owl, Night Killer"

Maybe I'll discuss these shows in detail on another occasion, but for now I want to move on to Steven's label-buddy, DM Stith. He's absolutely amazing. His often dark style may be a lot to handle at times, but they are entirely beautiful. His soft-flowing yet wide-ranging melodic vocals, earthy acoustics and production, all married together perfectly, giving his music great depth and his audience a great many pleasant surprises. Sith somehow gives even his darkest, heaviest songs a heavenly sound that might leave a listener uplifted and downtrodden at the same time, certainly perplexed. Here are a few that I've been listening to on repeat:

"Pity Dance"

"Around the Lion Legs" (one of his lighter songs)

"Thanksgiving Moon"

I would also really recommend listening to Stith's "Fire of Birds." I know that's a lot of recommendations, but understand that you can't go wrong with Stith.

"The Question" by Elvis Perkins, All Night Without Love EP

What do you do when someone you love, w/o question or warning, is swallowed by a bird, who is swallowed by a mountain or swallowed by a dream come true? Unlucky children is the question of my life, the riddle of my body, the air I breathe.

New York, New York!

Today's tunes of the day are classics. Forgive me if you're not a fan of Mr. Sinatra, ol' blue eyes, but you have to give him some props, for as clean-cut as his corrupted form of jazz was, it did and still can make for good entertainment. As for Billy, forget about it...it's just so good. I'm moving to NY to start my career in the music industry (not the devil-machine, but the artist promotion world that makes good music known...just what I try to do here, except hopefully I'll have more reach than I do now...hopefully to REAL people), so here are a couple of songs in honor of this big step of my life, and the music I can't wait to experience!

"New York, New York" Frank Sinatra


"New York State of Mind" Billy Joel


I'm almost officially a New Yorker! Music industry & concert expenses, here I come! Sing me a song, Bowery man, I'm in the mood for a cool melody every night of the week, and I want it sung to me live, under the stars or the bright stage lights.... I want my organs to dance and be made to feel almost uncomfortable, but still good, via the sonic glory that is the vibrations of bass. Yes, there is a dance party. All the time.

Elvis Perkins' FALL TOUR DATES

Elvis Perkins in Dearland is going on tour for the release of the new Doomsday EP. I STRONGLY SUGGEST you catch one of these dates as Perkins is rising fast. I saw him with his band about 4 months ago at Brattle Theater, capacity 235. He then played both the Newport Folk Festival and Bonnaroo. Now he's playing at the Bowery Ballroom and the Music Hall of Williamsburg, each one a 550-capacity venue whose rosters have included the likes of the great Sufjan Stevens! There's a date here for everyone, so don't miss experiencing this wonderful music in its live excellence (and trust me, they are excellent live!):

9/2 - Elvis Perkins (Solo) at Housing Works - New York, NY (Yellow Bird Projects Presents)
9/3 - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
9/5 - Bumbershoot Festival - Seattle, WA
10/02 - The Casbah - San Diego, CA
10/03 - Troubadour - Los Angeles, CA
11/04 - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival - San Francisco, CA
10/31 - Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble - Woodstock, NY
11/1 - Mountain Stage - Charleston, WV
11/3 - The Southern - Charlottesville, VA
11/4 - Grey Eagle Tavern & Music Hall - Asheville, NC
11/5 - The Earl - Atlanta, GA
11/6 - Cafe 11 - St. Augustine, FL
11/7 - The Social - Orlando, FL
11/9 - Club Downunder - Tallahassee, FL
11/10 - Bottletree - Birmingham, AL
11/11 - The Parish - New Orleans, LA
11/12 - Walters On Washington - Houston, TX
11/13 - The Parish - Austin, TX
11/14 - House of Blues - Cambridge Room - Dallas, TX
11/16 - Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack - Little Rock, AR
11/17 - TBD - Nashville, TN
11/18 - TBD
11/19 - TBD
11/20 - Gargoyle Club - St. Louis, MO
11/21 - TBD - Chicago, IL
11/30 - Paradise Rock Club - Boston, MA
12/01 - The Hi Hat - Providence, RI
12/02 - Rock and Roll Hotel - Washington, DC
12/03 - First Unitarian Church - Philadelphia, PA
12/04 - Bowery Ballroom - New York, NY
12/05 - Music Hall of Williamsburg - Brooklyn, NY

10/02 - with Cave Singers
10/03 - with Other Lives
11/03 - 11/21 with A.A. Bondy
11/30 - 12/4 with Bowerbirds