My friend Brandon seems to think he knows me better than I know myself. Which is fine, most likely he does. He can also categorize my taste in music as sappy and depressing. Fair, Brandon. But as much as I try to prove him otherwise, I was, at the time, listening to Bon Iver (live in Milwaukee). So he wins.

 Justin Vernon’s performance at the Riverside on October 11th for what was to be Bon Iver’s final, before an indefinite hiatus, while Vernon continues with his side project Volcano Choir. Vernon’s gratitude was extended and expressed repeatedly, followed by apologies for ‘over-thankfulness’ which makes you feel like he really thinks it’s all a dream, and he really wants to let you know how baffled he is, like he still can’t believe it all. What a beautiful thing- humility. The set includes a cover of ‘Your Love’, the 80s band, ‘The Outfield’, Blood Bank, Skinny Love, Beach Baby, and a few more thank yous to every ear willing to hear it. 

The song ‘Wolves’ allows for audience participation, when a rumble of ‘what might have been lost’ repeating turns into a wave of howels and screams and shouts- the joyful kind. It sounds as if it were a magical evening, with second best experienced in the comfort of a quiet room on an overcast afternoon streaming through speakers, eyes closed.

Bon Iver- The Wolves

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Bon Iver- Your Love (The Outfield cover)

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Bon Iver- Skinny Love

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Surise/Sunset is the second full-length for The Dutchess and The Duke and it’s decidedly darker and matured from She’s the Dutchess, He’s the Duke. It’s got more production, and less of that raw lo-fi sound. It’s still got those campfire jams, but the songs that are sung are sadder, fearful, romantic and anticipitory for a birth. I love girl/boy duos, and I especially love country-folk duos. Very much in the key of Edwarde Sharpe, or Deertick. My favorite tracks are ‘Let it Die’, ‘Live This Life’ and ‘Hands’. Jesse Lortz is working out all the damaged nerves in his own heart, falling in love with his soon-to-be child and running away from his wife and the responsibilities that follow.

Kimberly Morrison provides more backup vocals than anything- but she takes the stage for Sunrise/Sunset singing, “the world is broken down, you know you’re going to drown/ Look for a hand to hold there ain’t a single hand around”. They sing about dysfunctional relationships and dysfunctional people trying to sift their way through the struggle to arrive at a gleam of hope. If you don’t pay too much attention, however, it ends up being a really up beat, joyful country-folk album for the bon-fire type.

The Dutchess and The Duke- Living This Life

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The Dutchess and The Duke- Hands

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The Dutchess and The Duke- Strangers (off She’s the Dutchess/He’s the Duke)

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Getting down to the depths of why I relate most with sad, lonely old dudes singing Americana/bluegrass/folk is dangerous territory. I’ll chalk it up to a solidarity with the struggle. Beard-bearers aren’t the only ones who know misery- they just sing it better than the rest of us.

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson is his full name. No acronyms, short-forms or nicknames will do. It’s the whole thing, or nothing. That is a commanding name, if I’ve ever seen one. His sophmore album ‘Summer of Fear’ was made with a little help from friend Kyp Malone of TV on the Radio. He sheds new light on the pain of self-examination and why we all do it anyway. He’s got a soulful voice, but a boy’s face. But the heartache he sings of are for old men- the rage, the frustration and the lingering sadness- all arranged for catharsis- but licks it’s own wounds. 

I thought what Kyp Malone said was pretty powerful, “He is in my opinion without a contemporary rival when it comes to storytelling. Creating nuances, breathing character portraits inside of pop structures. Like a lot of good music his songs feel like they are filling a predetermined space, like the ether was just waiting for him to connect the dots and give voice to them.” That idea- the one that the songs were there waiting for him, the stories were waiting to have words and be told. It gives his songs a soul. 

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson- Buriefed

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Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson- Shake a Shot

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Devendra Banhart

I wrote about Devendra Banhart a little earlier, but now that I have his record, ‘What Will We Be’ I wanted to share my thoughts on this hippie boy wonder born in an unnatural era, that’s likely messing with his aura or something.

I love Devendra, his music has that soulful, eccentric blues- meets- rock/acoustic, thrown together with Banhart’s strange and delicate vocals. The song, ‘foolin’ takes it, “one day, one day at a time” with that island/ fifties pop feel, with required palm tree backdrops and lemonades in hand. ‘Rats’ is my favorite track, it’s a little like The Beatles- starting out real slow, speeding up, then slowing down for a mellow break down midway through. It plays with these rhythms and tempos throughout. ‘Cant Help But Smiling’ sounds like Mason Jennings, and ‘Chin Chin and Muck Muck’ starts off like a jazz piano number, and trails off into an airy nature-jam, bobbing back and forth- very Jack Johnson. 

Devendra Banhart- 16th and Valencia Roxy Music

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Devendra Banhart- Goin’ Back

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Julian Casablancas

Along the same vein,  The Strokes frontman- Julian Casablancas’ album ‘Phrazes for the Young’ is out Nov. 3rd. Sounding quite like the distant cousin of Phoenix, borrowing from Radiohead (Ludlow St.) , and older sounds of The Strokes (Out Of The Blue) – this album is pretty diverse.

The vocals don’t really range, however- he kind of rides along the same melodies, fairly safely. I was less excited about the electronic tracks like 11th Dimension, but that twangy southern vibe in ‘Ludlow St.’ is probably my most favorite. The rest are different variations of  futuristic beats and drum machines and synth and keyboards.

His futuristic tunes whail, ‘ I feel like a tourist stuck in the suburbs’ complete with talks of other dimensions, the apolcalypse, dark corners and streets. Lending to all the dancefloor songs one could ever need from one of rock’s most notable frontmen- through a lens never worn by the much beloved Strokes.

There is something spooky about his dragging, slow vocals over chaotic noises and beats, something that I’m sure will be well received and remixed in the months to come. I miss the Strokes. 

Julian Casablancas- Glass

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Julian Casablancas- Left & Right In The Dark

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After surviving a metal show the night before, I told myself I wouldn’t make it out to the city the next night. I would stay in doors wondering why people like metal and write reminder notes to myself not to go to a metal show again in my life. I’d only gone to see a friend who was working on the tour, and after enduring weeks of noise and painfully awkward teenagers asking for XXLs, he decided to quit after being punched in the face by their busdriver. Awesome.

But 9pm came around the next night and Ross and I decided to go out, considering we seemed to be the only two people who didn’t go to the Boys Night Out reunion show. I found out Suckers and White Rabbits were playing at the Horseshoe- so we went. We found out the show was $18, and White Rabbit was the last to go on, so I observed the hand stamps, took out a black marker, smudged my way right in. Perfect! (I never usually do this, but I am currently on a modest budget). 

I had never heard White Rabbit before, and I suspiciously recognized how uncomfortably packed it was. Not only that, but for an indie band from Brooklyn- people were going nuts, they were actually dancing. Toronto doesn’t dance. I had no expectations, but I immediately fell in love. The six piece included two drummers, with a heavy percussion throughout that was sweaty and steady and alive. Everyone seemed really happy to be there. I like being around people who feel that way. They seemed to switch roles for their encore, showing their own versatility and ease with the music. Everything seemed to blend organically, the vocals were beautiful- very much Cold War Kids, along with piano that gives them that big band sound- the choir echoes, and the drums- like a collision of multi rhythmic patterns- like every song is building up like a massive crescendo, rising so explosively. I’ve been listening to their sophmore album ‘It’s Frightening’ all day and I really wish I’d seen them live after the fact, to be even more enthralled with this band and their incredible live show. 

White Rabbits- Percussion Drum

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White Rabbits- The Plot

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Check out their Takeaway Show–

The Hold Steady have made their brief appearances in mixes made for me by my friend Billy- and that fact alone made me believe they were worth listening to. Right now, I’m watching their DVD ‘Positive Rage’ that was released back in April along with their live CD, and I’m falling in love with these dudes. Whatever affections I may have previously had for their music have only been magnified by their contagious positivity. They are ‘those’ guys, the ones that want to play music to connect with you, they want you to celebrate. They’re so accessible, like they’d sit down and talk with you if they had the time. They talk about real shit that happens to real people. They are a legitimate portrayal of what America should be, and how American rock should sound. They want you to have fun. 

Earning what you’ve worked so hard towards is a long-forgotten pursuit. Immediate gratification, trends, music blog-approved fame is what everyone seems to be aiming for. But there is a goodness in working at it, being consistent, thanking people along the way. The greatest blessing is knowing where you want to go, and willing to sacrifice for it. Not knowing where you want to go can be far worse, because then all that energy gets channelled somewhere else. With the Hold Steady- it’s like they’ve got these energy reserves, and they’re flowing in the direction they were always meant to flow. Apparently, they can win you over with their live performance, something that I have yet to witness. From their DVD it looks like a giant celebration- literal raging positivity. There is something so insanely sacred about that- and it what makes me envious of that thing, the creative process that I will never be apart of or understand, so I can only appreciate and celebrate in whatever medium I can. 

The Hold Steady- You Can Make Him Like You

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The Hold Steady- You Gotta Dance (With Who You Came With)

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The Hold Steady- Chips Ahoy

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Enduring all the unpleasantries of suffocated libraries and their quiet shuffles of the walking dead is enough to break anyone’s heart and just slip, slip away into the abyss of fluffy snow piled outside it’s small windows. It took me seven months to finish my university thesis. I spent three days a week at the library. The entire seven months was devoted to meditations on emergent christian movements, the kind of stuff to evoke a spiritual awakening if you read a few more chapters, I was sure. I was on a search, a search for both my soul- and the faint finish line of one of some of the most tiresome and tedious years of my life.

Not a minute was quiet during those times while both ears filled with a steady and consistent few albums. Pedro the Lion’s Control, It’s Hard To Find a Friend and whatever solo stuff David Bazan had out at that point. Cold Beer and Cigarettes will remain in the vaults of my memory as the sounds and tastes and touch of rough text books. That was the season when music grew it’s own legs and waltzed straight into the depths of my young  mind and told me stories, answered questions, asked some more that I’d always wanted to ask but was too afraid. It had a hand at more than helping me write a paper- David Bazan’s voice was about as comforting and frightening as the idea of eternity itself. I strayed from Christianity a while after that, as he surely has as well- but I find my way back following all his laments on the original sin, the validity of medieval promises and the irrationality of something he can’t seem to fully shake. 

As much as I’d like to believe that my relationship with his music is something of a unique occurrence, there are many more that follow the gospel according to Bazan, because he is just as lost as the rest of us. There’s a certain solidarity that feels as though- if we all wade in the doubt long enough, and keep asking questions, we’ll be satisfied. That’s the thing about faith- it wouldn’t be faith without the possibility of doubt. 

Last night, Bazan took the stage at Lee’s Palace and it was one of those shows that was collectively nodded among strangers, with the knowledge that this performance- beyond all others, was rather special- and with no proof, no history or evidence to prove otherwise, we were content with that idea. There is a soothing sound to his voice, amplified by a full band mixing Pedro with newer songs of Curse Your Branches, with his version of The Man in Me, and a Headphones’ song called ‘I Never Wanted You’- a song first heard on a mix my friend David made me last Christmas as I drove around San Diego in his beloved Skeletal Lightning, and we would talk about cheap meals to hold me over for the six unpaid months ahead. I tried explaining the night to friends who weren’t there, and one of them said- you know that’s cool, it’s a bummer I wouldn’t have experienced it the same way as you even if I were there. I thought that was interesting.

Maybe I’m putting too much pressure on the man ‘in him’, because you’ve got to believe that it’s more than that. It’s about yourself- projected on the music. It’s your beautiful or painful interpretation and connection to something independent from yourself. It’s about exercising all the muscles in your heart to make sure you can still feel. Even if it’s just during a three-minute song. If you can feel something for music, you can feeling something for anything. That’s a needed reminder for all of us who feel like we already gave up, and our apathy has brushed off whatever remains of enthusiasm our childhood selves held onto. And that’s all that matters. 

David’s Q/A is always evidence of his own awkward, relative normalcy. That he is just a dude that plays music, and he wants you to remember that. To me, that only further solidifies music as it’s own magical elements that cannot be owned by even the hands that play them.

David Bazan- Please Baby Please

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David Bazan- I Never Wanted You

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David Bazan- Cold Beer and Cigarettes

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David Bazan- Bless This Mess

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Julie Doiron is something of an iconic indie legend in Canadian music, becaues of her simple, honest songwriting- but also in her humility and we Canadians tend to pride ourselves on self-proclaimed humility. She sings about love, mostly, in her latest album, ‘I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day’ and for those of us who arent’ as consumed with ourselves, it’s a good and curious thing to wonder.

Her song, Consolation Prize is a little more than a few plucks of a guitar, but the rest of the album promises nothing but. She sings sweetly about simple things, like how it’s nice to come home after you’ve had a productive day, and slipping into comfortable clothes, thinking about people that are far away, with a naivety, with a youthful fascination about a dear friend’s day. She’s got the faint echo of a Canadian accent, while she talks instead of sings, undetectable from any New Brunswick (er?) that shares the same sharp O’s, and uncomplicated vocabulary.  She’ playing in Toronto Oct. 27th 

Below is a fairly old video for her song, ‘Me and My Friend’ I think it’s adorable.

Julie Doiron- Consolation Prize

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Julie Doiron- Nice To Come Home

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Julie Doiron- Will You Still Love Me In December

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‘End Times’ or more accurately, 2012 is the hypothetical dawn of a new era, in universal consciousness caused by some planetary alignment, or it’s Judgment day- or, it’s a non existent time that has been fear mongering the ill-informed masses for the passed few years all thanks to the Mayans. Whatever it is, it can be discussed at length every evening around 11pm on AM640 Radio, on a little program called ‘Coast to Coast’ with host- George Noory.

‘Coast to Coast’ is a strange, yet wildly entertaining program often listened to on night drives back from the city- where topics of UFOs, the paranormal, the illuminati and the like can be discussed among scholars in these fields- thinkers, writers, experts etc. They’ll speak of Vampires, for example, with great conviction- never questioning the irrationality to claiming their existence, just advising you on how to stay protected- and they’re serious about it. Sometimes I wonder about the End Times and if these whackos actually are right, and leave that slice of doubt in my mind reserved for them just so I don’t feel like a total idiot when the aliens arrive, or whatever is supposed to happen.

Anyway, I started thinking about that because the EELS new record, ‘End Times’ is out in Jan 19. 2010, just six months after the release of Hombre Lobo. In fact, if you go to their website, there’s a giant stop watch counting down to the ‘End Times’. I like EELS, not just because Michael Everett’s beard is a grand wonder, (note: according to his beard-related facts, occasionally it is accidentally zipped into his jacket, which is painful.) But because his music is always painfully hopeless, and permeates the heart of a lonely man like a warm drink. There is a solidarity in that kind of blues. If the End truly is near, then I’d say- let’s work on that whole solidarity thing, because we belong together, and we’ll go out together too. 

Tracklist:

01 The Beginning
02 Gone Man
03 In My Younger Days
04 Mansions of Los Feliz
05 A Line In The Dirt
06 End Times
07 Apple Trees
08 Paradise Blues
09 Nowadays
10 Unhinged
11 High and Lonesome
12 I Need a Mother
13 Little Bird
14 On My Feet

Their single, ‘That Look You Give That Guy’ off Hombre Lobo has a new video featuring a moderately well known super babe Padma Lakshmi.

EELS- That Look You Give That Guy

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There’s a lot that I like about Chicago’s ‘Yourself and The Air‘- they’ve got a song about the bicycle scene in ET, a movie I just got around to sometime this year, on a projector screen outside my friend’s house in San Diego, to a background that look eerily the same as the scene. Their full length was also titled, ‘Cold Outside Brings Heavy Thoughts To Think’ which makes me think they really get it. I am fully aware of the Northern references that weasle their way into these posts, but I cant seem to shake the dangerous contemplation that can come from staying in doors, and the rude slaps of wind that await you outside. I often think that when we all get to heaven, those who have endured the majority of their days layering defenseless against the harsh elements will eternally bask in the sun drenched beaches in the sky. The rest won’t know true joy, because well- they’ve had a lifetime of it. But the rest of us- we will know it well. 

Their second EP ‘Friends of All Breeds’ was a quick maturation, with evolving sound as rapidly as their widespread acclaim, Yourself and The Air may have just found their ticket out of the Midwest. That ticket is often laced with gold, and the promise of nothing except less monotony and corn fields. Their music makes me feeling like they’re floating around our galaxy, and shimmering keyboard taps are just giant meteor showers, while a nervous and cracking adolescent voice sings of loss of love, hometown angst, and beloved 80′s films. 

Yourself and The Air- Bicycle Plus

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Yourself and The Air- So You’ve Come to Mingle

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