Following up on the last post, I promised to put up all of the other Rilo Kiley related shows that I've taped over the years, that haven't made it up.

I figured I'd start with a quick post on Pierre de Reeder, Rilo Kiley's bass player, who released his solo album, "The Way That It Was" last August. Well in advance of that release, Pierre played a short 4 song gig, opening for The Elected and Jenny Lewis, back in June of 2004.

There were four bands playing, Pierre, Whispertown2000, Jenny and the Elected, and Pierre went first. There weren't a whole lot of folks there, but I was glad to be able to capture this rare (at the time) solo recording, which featured three originals and a cover of Neil Young's Harvest.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Open Frame of Mind
Where Ever You May Be
Foolish Heart
Harvest (Neil Young)

Labels: indie, live mp3s, los angeles, pierre de reeder, rilo kiley, soundboard mp3s, the echo

The other day I found myself with a hankering for some Rilo Kiley. My iTunes library randomly shuffled over to a recording of Room 8 that I captured in Houston back in 2003, and it led me to click on some of these old shows that I'd posted to hear some more live Rilo Kiley goodness.

After a couple of failed clicks I found that the links to the songs were broken and realized that it had happened when I transitioned from one hosting company to another. Since Rilo Kiley is still one of my favorite bands, I wanted to take a few minutes and fix all of the links.

Fixing these links has also reminded me that I've recorded more Rilo Kiley, Pierre, Elected (and an M Ward show where Rilo played as his back up band) shows that have not yet been posted. Need to work on that soon.

So, with that said - here's links to those posts, and the tracks now work!
02/21/2003 RubberGloves Denton TX
02/23/2003 Fat Cats Houston TX
01/09/2004 Glass House Jenny/Blake Acoustic Pomona CA
10/23/2004 Good Records In Store Dallas TX
05/05/2004 Austin City Limits Austin TX
09/25/2005 Austin City Limits Festival Austin TX

And while we focusing on Rilo Kiley - here's some related shows
06/10/2004 & 08/23/2004 Jenny Lewis The Echo Los Angeles CA
06/10/2004 Jenny Lewis Video The Echo Los Angeles CA
06/10/2004 The Elected The Echo Los Angeles CA
03/04/2006 Jenny Lewis San Fransisco CA
10/22/2006 Jenny Lewis Numbers Houston TX

AND. If this wasn't enough for you, head over to rilokiley.net multimedia boards for many more recordings.

Labels: austin, dallas, denton, houston, indie, jenny lewis, live mp3s, los angeles, soundboard mp3s, the elected

I have a bit habit of occasionally (or slightly more than occasionally) recording amazing shows, and then posting them days... months... years later.

I think in this case it was because I taped two Grizzly Bear shows on that particular day in February 2007, and all the attention went to the earlier show - an acoustic performance hosted at Good Records by Gorilla vs Bear, recorded by yours truly, and video taped by several other local Bloggers. Check out the audio, and several of the video tracks at the earlier post here.

So, back to the later show - the actual "tour stop", a full on electric gig at Club DaDa, brought me a whole new appreciation for the band. I'd been a bit hit or miss on the production choices on their records, and the particular slant they gave the tracks - but the live electric experience brought the focus back to the songs and I was particularly impressed by the near Pink Floyd vibe that permeated the whole set. The band also pulled out a particularly inspired rendition of the Crystals "He Hit Me", though I think my favorite was Colorado.

The entire set also benefits from having been mixed in stereo, with every instrument having their own clearly defined space in the mix. Make sure you give a listen to the show with headphones on - these guys are masters with their effects pedals. Good stuff.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Easier
Showcase
Lullabye
Little Brother
Service Bell
Knife
Final Round
Don't Ask
Colorado
He Hit Me (The Crystals)
Fix It
On A Neck, On A Spit

Labels: club dada, dallas, grizzly bear, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s

So last year I posted on a Michael Runion show that I attended back in 2006. As I mentioned at the time, I managed to screw up the recording and came away with only a couple of songs - though I'm glad I got that. So since then I've been waiting, very very patiently, for Michael to come back through Texas.

To be honest, it wasn't very hard. I can safely say that Runion is a fantastic singer-songwriter, just one of those guys who can sit down with an acoustic and dazzle you with gentle strumming, and lyrics that pull you into a 4 minute story, then get on stage with his band and tear it up, rock and roll style.

So good news for all of us, Runion and his band, the Royal Family, went out on tour wandering around the country opening for Conor Oberst. After their run with the Bright Eyes front man, they did a handful of headlining shows as they headed home to Los Angeles, and like all bands should, their last show was in Texas (Austin, that is).

Seeing that I've been harassing him for the last few years, Runion was kind enough to play an exclusive little acoustic show for us, on the streets of Austin, before their headlining gig at Lamberts (a fantastic BBQ joint on 2nd Street).

It was a brutal 103 degrees outside, yet it didn't seem to faze Runion while he played through a 5 song set, that featured 3 brand new tracks and 2 songs from his last record, Our Time Will Come. It was a fantastic set, and I've barely listened to anything else since we got back from Austin. There's just something special about these street recordings. They seem honest. Just a guy playing his guitar and singing songs about his life while buses buzz past, construction workers clang, and birds chirp melodies in the background.

It's always interesting to me how I can love certain songs on a record, and other songs live. I've had "Our Time Will Come" since it came out last year - and my favorite song has consistently been the title track. After the acoustic set my favorite song is definitely "Where I'm From". I always enjoyed it on the record, but something about this particular rendition really grabbed me. I think it's just a lot more tonally dynamic as Runion's voice rises and falls, accenting the story about how he wanders from city to city, meeting women and the common question they all ask him.

So, with that said, quit reading and check out the tracks! I was lucky enough to get to record the full band session that evening, and some or all of those tracks will be coming at a later time. As I mentioned earlier, both variants of the Michael Runion experience are fantastic - and it was especially cool to get to see several of these acoustic tracks transformed into pure rock later the same day... More to come.

Oh, and check out Michael Runion's MySpace for studio track goodness.

This is the third "On The Streets Of..." recording session for Lullabyes, where we capture great bands playing stripped down acoustic sets on random streets in Texas. You can also check out Bishop Allen back in 2007 and The Whispertown 2000 earlier this year at SXSW.

Live MP3 MP3s:
No Friend
Keep It To Yourself
Back and Forth
Our Time Will Come
Where I'm From

Labels: austin, from the streets of, live mp3s, michael runion, soundboard mp3s