So I got into Feist in a kind of roundabout way. You'd think that with the amount of attention she's been getting on the Blogs, I would have heard about her sooner - but obviously I've been living under a rock.

I'm going to see Jenny Lewis in San Francisco next week, at Bimbos 365. Since I was curious about Bimbo's recording policy, I looked up their site and was surfing around. Checking out the Calendar I saw that there was a upcoming SF music festival towards the end of March, and some girl named Feist was playing.

She's cute - I thought - lets click on the link and check out her tunes. I went to her website and listened to some of the streaming tracks. Wow - I thought - this girl's amazing.

Next day I was at the RiloKiley.net site and saw that someone had posted a link to Feist performing Mushaboom on Jimmy Kimmel. I clicked on it - and again was suitably impressed. I went and picked up a copy of Let It Die and within a day I was completely hooked.

A week later one of my internet buddies IM'd me - a new Feist remix had showed up on the Blogs - Mushaboom as reimagined by The Postal Service. Whoa.

According to my last FM account I've managed to listen to the Postal Service Remix a total of 25 times this week - and that's not even counting the spins in my car and on my Zen Micro.

What really amazed me was how well the song translated into from the original version into what in essence is a true Postal Service song. It made me realize that in many ways I prefer the Postal Service version - with Feists swooning voice seemingly made for the blips and pulses of Jimmy T's instrumentation.

With this in mind I went on a Google and Blogger hunt for every other Feist remix that might exist. On my way I managed to find a whole lot more then just remixes, so I thought I'd share the links of my blog-hunting with you.

I especially love her collaboration with The New Deal, "Don't Blame Yourself."

Remixes:
Mushaboom (Postal Service Remix)
Mushaboom (mc DJ Dirty Remix)
Feist -- Mushaboom (VV Remix)
Feist -- One Evening (VV Remix)
Gatekeeper (Do Right Remix Vocal)
Gatekeeper (Do Right Remix Instrumental)
Gatekeeper (Grooveblaster Remix)
One Evening (ReneGouletMezcla Remix)
Inside and Out (Pearson and Usher elektronische dub)

Demos:
Complete Red Demos

Radio Shows:
CBC 2004
NPR 2005
KCRW 2005
WOXY (SXSW 2005)

Covers:
Bright Eyes covering Mushaboom: FM Quality
Feist Covering Nina Simone - See Line Woman

Live Videos:
Mushaboom @ Good Records in Dallas
Ann Arbor Show - Under Media
Bazar Curieux 2004
Varsity Theater - July 2005

Collaborations:
Kings Of Convienence: Cayman Islands
19 Track Compilation
Gonzalez: 5 Songs

Random Songs:
Tout Doucement
Amourissima

Every once in a while you find a band that frees your mind from the preconceptions of what music is supposed to sound like.

Tilly and the Wall is one of those bands.

When I found out they would be opening for Rilo Kiley on a slew of shows in late 2004, I looked them up and read their bio from Team Love, their record label. Excerpts below.

Tilly and the Wall sprang out of Nowheresville, USA ? a Midwestern band of like-minded friends with pockets full of melodies?.and a lot of pockets. The serendipitous result of five Omaha residents with a penchant for the same classic ?60s pop, boy/girl harmonies and Americana folk records, Tilly and the Wall celebrates the petulant, determined, feisty nature of youth. They rejoice in tales of dreams followed, mistakes made, and hearts broken.

With an album inspired by love, friendship, music and dancing, it?s obvious that Tilly and the Wall like to dance. In particular, Tilly and the Wall like to tap dance. In fact, they forego a drummer. Instead Tilly and the Wall's star percussionist Jamie provides beats with her own nimble-toed tap-dances. Sometimes she bangs some old leather suitcases with drumsticks while Neely and Kianna play tambourine and bells. You can listen to Tilly songs and tap along in your own bedroom in your own house in your own town. They hope that you do.

Tap Dancing instead of drums? P'Shaw. Yea, that was my first reaction too. Then I listened to the record. Pure pop goodness. Multiple vocalists. Cute girls in the band. Suddenly, the prospect of seeing them live got a lot more exciting.

Unfortunately, Rilo had modified their taping policy and were no longer allowing Soundboard recording. My chances of getting some soundboard sourced tap-dancing-loving looked to be near nil. Forunately at the Austin show at Emo's, the venue opted to have Tilly play inside, and Fiery Furnaces "open" for Rilo Kiley outside. Seeing an opportunity I found some of the girls in the band and asked about taping - no problem! they replied, thanks for coming to the show. Lovely.

So I plugged in the old recorder, set it up to record the set, then wandered outside to get video of Elected.

Here's some tap dancing goodness for you too.

Links:
Team Love
Home Page
Tilly New Album Blog!

MP3s:
Intro
Reckless
Ice Storm, Big Gust, and You
You and I Misbehaving
Shake It Out
Fell Down the Stairs
A Perfect Fit
Nights of the Living Dead
Sad Sad Song

Parachutes had been a defining record for me, during a very difficult year - 2001. I still can't listen to Yellow or Everythings Not Lost without thinking about hurtling down Dallas highways in the middle of the night in a state of post-relationship depression.

I remember when In My Place hit the radio. It was Coldplay's first single from Rush of Blood to the Head and I had been dying to hear what the new record would sound like. To put it simply, I was enthralled. I found the promo single. I listed to it over and over again. I drove my friends nuts, and I basically didn't care. When the album dropped I felt a bit disappointed - In My Place was very Parachutes-eque, but I wasn't real keen on the direction the album had taken.

Over time I came to love Rush of Blood (and I much prefer it to X&Y) and was pumped when the tour was announced. Whatever I thought of the album, I knew the live show would be impressive. I ended up seeing shows in multiple cities but the best was yet to come.

Shortly after the (sold out) Houston show, one of the local radio stations announced that the ENTIRE concert would be broadcast a few weeks later. Not only did I get to see the show, but the RADIO was giving me a perfect copy of it! It just doesn't get any better then that.

An amazing show - with amazing quality versions of the tour-only songs Moses and Ladder to the Sun.

MP3s:
Politik
Shiver
Spies
Daylight
Intro to...
Warning Sign
One I Love
Don't Panic
Everythings Not Lost
Intro to...
Moses
God Put a Smile Upon Your Face
Intro to...
Yellow
The Scientist
Intro to...
Clocks
In My Place
Trouble
Ladder to the Sun

Videos:
Ladder to the Sun

There seem to be mixed feelings on Johnathan Rice. I read posts that compare him to John Mayer (negatively) and/or dump him into the atypical singer/songwriter clone category.

Personally I loved his record. Unfortunately I've never had an opportunity to see him live - he's never come to this side of the universe, and though he's opening for Jenny Lewis on part of her next tour, I won't be able to attend any of the dates he's playing on. Sigh.

The good news is that a show from last week in Manchester, UK has surfaced, and he played 6 new songs! I'm not a fan of putting up other people's recordings, but I'm making an exception since a bunch of good people out there can't get it from Dimeadozen.

Please note that the following files are in FLAC format. The taper has asked they not be converted to mp3. As a taper, I respect other tapers. Remember, they spend a lot of time and money taping shows for the rest of us.

FLACs:
Who Do You Love
It Couldn't Be Me
Middle Of The Road
Keep It All Inside
I Got Willpower
Behind the Frontlines
A Girl Called Miami
The Acrobat
text file

Oh and I got his picture from Autumn De Wilde's website - she is a stunning photographer. Check out her site - she's taken pictures of lots of musicians including Spoon, Death Cab, Elliot Smith, Fiona, Jenny Lewis, etc...

I've been backing up my hard drive and stumbled across a folder I hadnt seen in... a while. In fact, im not really sure when I saw it last. The folder contained a slew of videos from the Ryan Adams set at Austin City Limits in 2002. These were videos from some private camera crew - not the videos taken for official ACL usage.

I was at this show with one my buddies, Jay - and we were at the soundboard getting audio. We met the guys who were filming the set and ended up chatting for a while. I always wondered what became of the footage until one day I found it online.

Enjoy!

MP3s:
Intro
Nuclear
Firecracker
Wharf Rat -> Answering Bell
Touch, Feel & Lose
La Cienga Just Smiled
To Be Young
Shakedown on 9th Street
New York, New York
Brown Sugar
Nobody Girl

Videos:
Nuclear
Answering Bell
Touch, Feel & Lose
La Cienga Just Smiled
'Old Man'
To Be Young

I have this friend Ed. If i'm a coconut - then he's a banana. Quite possibly the whitest Asian lad I have ever met.

We've been friends for years - I could write books on our misadventures. He's also a mean, mean guitarist, and we've recorded lots of beautiful songs together. I have lots of funny stories about kids throwing down, thinking that they are a better guitar player then he is. Of course he shames them with his blazing fingers. Got to love the kids.

You can read more about his antics over at this blog, Rabid Dust Bunnies. Yea I dont know what the hell a Rabid Dust Bunny is either.

Well we went to Austin City Limits (and got very very sun burnt) together last year and for the most part went to the same shows. Before every band went on, I would wander over to the soundboard and politely ask if I could plug into the soundboard. The responses ranged from the mild - No, to the amused - Fuck Off, Mate.

You'd think I'd get tired of asking. But you know, perserverance is a good thing.

So towards the end of the 2nd day he suggested we go see Bloc Party. For some reason I'd never even heard of Bloc Party, which was suprising to ol' Ed.

We wandered over to the AMD Stage, and of course I wanted to go up to the Soundboard to ask permission. I think he was getting a bit tired of my antics by this point, and asked if I really thought there was a point to asking.

Always gots to ask, man, was my reply.

Well the stars must have aligned, because the sound man looked at me and said, sure - we set up a breakout box just for that. Glancing down I saw that the box only had XLR outs on it. Shit!! I only had RCA and 1/4inch with me. Fortunately there was a taper set up with mics, and when I gave him the scoop he pulled out some XLR to 1/8th inch converters and helped a brother out.

The end result? You get Bloc Party courtesy of the Soundboard.

MP3s:
Intro
So Here We Are
Positive Tension
Banquet
Blue Light
She's Hearing Voices
This Modern Love
Two More Years
Like Eating Glass
Little Thoughts
Helicopter
Pioneers

So this post has been a long time coming..

I posted a couple of months ago about the Jenny show at the Echo in LA, and you can read that write up here.

I've been tinkering around with the video for the better part of a year now - and was never happy with the color balance.. For some reason it ended up with way too much red in the mix and it hurt me to watch it.

Well I was talking to a friend up in NYC yesterday, and he suggested a particular plug in for the software I use to do my video editing. Though I didnt use his suggestion, I did get to playing and found a way to dramatically improve the color balance, thus negating a years worth of reasons as to why I shouldn't put this up.

I watched it a couple of times today, and its so heart breaking and beautiful, I had to break down and post it.

Now the files 200meg - so PLEASE right click and save. Do not link directly to it. I will take it down when bandwidth constraints dictate.

I love Jenny's music, I hope you do too.

Check out her site.
Buy her record.
Buy tickets for her tour.

Video:
Download the Echo Show