think less but see it grow like a riot...

The French gentlemen that make up the band Phoenix perform for the NPR Tiny Desk concert series. yes + please.



enjoy.

BS

now we're apart, though not through choice. do we stay mute? or raise our voice?

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is on the horizon. Because of my excitement level for the event and with a little help from my friend PD, I started hunting for US Men's National Team videos, which then lead me to searching for Liverpool videos (because I love Liverpool). Thanks to this video, I found the song "He Films the Clouds, Pt. 2" by Maybeshewill (not to be confused with the song "Maybe She Will" by Montell Jordan). They are, at the very least, three things: clear musical descendants of Explosions in the Sky, British, and awesome. If you like what you hear/see below, check out their myspace. I really wanted to post a live version, but the few out there with high quality video have poor quality audio, and the one with high quality audio has poor quality video. Thus, the album version.

He Films the Clouds, Pt. 2


turn it up, so you know it's got soul.

BS

steve earle: yes + please.

I've spent the afternoon with Steve Earle, and now I offer up three of my favorite tunes of his up to you. If you enjoy Talladega Nights, Townes Van Zandt or most any party I threw or attended between 2003-2005, then you may know these songs.

Hard-core Troubadour


Colorado Girl


Copperhead Road


sing.

BS

under the covers, chapter twenty-three: long may you run.

This one's for Lane.

The legendary Neil Young performing Long May You Run at the closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics and then covered by his friend + admirer, the man himself, Eddie Vedder (how lucky he is that he gets to refer to Neil Young as Uncle Neil?).

Neil


Eddie


long may you run, friends.

BS

you know i don't find this stuff amusing anymore...

This is for all you Paul Simon lovers out there (I know there are at least two of you).
Perfect for a sunny near-summer day, right KG?

Father and Daughter/You Can Call Me Al


tap your feet.
bob your head.
and don't forget to have fun.

BS

i woke beneath a clear blue sky, the sun was a shout and the breeze a sigh.

I am aware that some of you could be getting sick of my affection for and frequent posting of Josh Ritter...but here comes another one. He played at The Brown in Louisville last night and all reports are that it was a great show (no shocker) but that he didn't play Thin Blue Flame. The one time I saw him he didn't play it then either (massively disappointing, even thought the show was still incredible). Thin Blue Flame is the first Ritter song I ever heard, back in 2006, right after I'd moved to Louisville. It's what hooked me on him and opened the door to his entire catalog. And so, after hearing he didn't play it last night I went youtubing for it (as I've done several times before) and found a version I'd not yet seen yet, and it's beyond words. Four years after first hearing it, I'm still trying to get underneath the lyrics and understand it for what he meant it to be. From the dedication/explanation to the new verses, the only word that comes to mind that could do this version justice is, well, fuck (in the best possible way). Enjoy.

Thin Blue Flame


listen.

BS

can money pay for all the days I lived awake but half asleep?

Remember the Primitive Radio Gods?

Standing Outside a Broken Telephone Booth With Money In My Hand


Fading Out


The first track was huge in 1996. Should fit right in when we have our middle school party...

listen.
love.
sing.

BS

you can't stop us on the road to freedom, you can't keep us cause our eyes can see.

Van Morrison, though in the interviews I've watched seems completely off his head, has been a musician I've long admired (I bought Bang Masters in the ninth grade), but in the last year has become what I believe he is to the generations that precede ours: the man. All kinds of people claim Astral Weeks (1968) is his best album, but for this music fan Moondance (1970) and Into the Music (1979), along with Astral Weeks, are three examples of musical mastery. There aren't many quality videos on youtube featuring Morrison (I shared a performance of Caravan on facebook last week), and so I share the wonderful Richie Havens merging my favorite Morrison song, Tupelo Honey with Dylan's Just Like a Woman. It's effing tremendous.



Turn it up so you know it's got soul.

BS

holy fuck

Holy Fuck, riding boatloads of steam that came from their performances at SWSW, released their latest album, Latin, this week. If you dig on anything along the lines The Knife, Animal Collective, Four Tet, or even Phoenix, MGMT, or Passion Pit, Holy Fuck is up your alley. If not, perhaps, if you're willing to let them, they'll expand your musical parameters...

Holy Fuck - Red Lights


bounce to it.

your shoulder blades, your spine were shorelines in the moonlight...

Let me first say that if you don't read any of my words below, at least read these words that belong to Josh Ritter, concerning his newest album, the focus of this post.

Josh Ritter has done it again. His energy, music, words, and personality are all infectious. All that said, this post is more than a week late (his album, So Runs the World Away, came out May 4), and I apologize for my tardiness, but travels, school, and my desire to soak in every word and note on the album were the causes of the delay. I've written on this blog several times that I firmly believe Ritter is supplanting himself as one of the strongest voices and songwriters of OUR generation. He's not Bob Dylan. He's not Van Morrison. He's not Eddie Vedder. He's just Josh Ritter and his winding, imaginative, creative, meaningful lyrics are to this music lover, absolutely top drawer.

His latest work has a more historical (which is ironic) feel to it, and while some of his songs are just as straight out of left field as some of his previous ones (The Temptation of Adam), this album flows more fluidly from track to track, it's softer than his previous album (The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter), and overall it's more intriguing. It takes time and to get underneath the veil that coats his stories, to understand them for what he meant them to be or even what you as a listener need to them to be. And that journey through the music is a rare one, not offered up by many artists, and one worth enjoying slowly and devouring quickly all at the same time.

Below are some absolutely tremendous versions of tracks off the album. Try and listen to the below version of Change of Time without hitting repeat. I'm incapable of such a feat at this point.

If he's coming near you, go see him (click here for tour schedule).

Change of Time


Lark


The Curse


Buy the album.

BS

then they wrote it all down as the progress of man...

Josh Glauber (post coming soon) was kind enough to tell the audience the story behind this beauty of a John Prine song before he covered it so well (as he does with every song he covers). Instead of me retelling it, you can read it here, and then listen to a fabulous version that includes Amos Lee...there are versions of Josh Ritter joining Prine on stage for this track, but none of them are high quality audio (bummer). Prine's music offers so much simple substance, and I think many folks in my generation have overlooked his importance in the history of American music.

Paradise


enjoy.

BS

don't tell them your bigger than jesus, don't give it away.

I have all kinds of love for the Drive-By Truckers pre and post Jason Isbell and have an equal amount of love for Isbell as a solo artist (Seven Mile Island was on AVSH 2009). While listening to an array of DBT and solo Isbell yesterday, I landed on a few videos worth sharing. Outfit is a a DBT tune, Dress Blues and Chicago Promenade are Isbell tracks and Into the Mystic is a Van Morrison cover. All of these versions are nothing short of tremendous. Enjoy, friends.

Dress Blues


Outfit


Chicago Promenade


Into the Mystic (Van Morrison cover)


listen + share.

BS

everything sparkles and it feels like we're on wheels...

Craig Finn and the rest of The Hold Steady released their latest album, Heaven Is Whenever, last Tuesday (May 4). Though their becoming more popular among mainstream music fans, what these Minneapolis/Brooklyn based boys are doing is worth paying attention to. The album, to me, isn't quite as good as Boys and Girls In America but it's not far off either. The first track, The Sweet Part of the City, is my favorite through my first few listens. Enjoy.



listen + share.

BS

you don't know it's right until it's wrong, you don't know it's yours until it's gone...

Forthcoming posts regarding the new albums from The Hold Steady and Josh Ritter (both tremendous) as well as a post on Josh Glauber's live performance on the banks of the Ohio River on Monday night. But, before I get to all of that, I must share what's stopped me in my tracks this evening: Glen Hansard and Josh Ritter. Hansard, as you might already know, is a musician I hold in the highest regard. His raw and brutally honest approach just about knocks me over ever time I listen. And Ritter, well, I've said before he's one of the best songwriters of our generation, and his performances are packed full of positive, focused energy. Together, these two men make me so genuinely happy, and finding this performance of this Ritter song couldn't have come at a more perfect time for me. I hope you enjoy it.

Come and Find Me


listen. really listen.

BS