so im not trying to make this blog totally rilo related, cause god knows ive taped lots of shows, but recently i keep finding myself coming back to this band.. cause i love them

so Jenny Lewis is the lead singer, and both she and the lead guitarist, Blake Sennett, have been working on their side project records while they've been touring in support of their 2004 record More Adventurous.

Jennys releasing a solo record called "Rabbit Fur Coat" and its credited to Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins on the Team Love record label. Team Love has actually put out some pretty good shit including the Tilly and the Wall record. Check out their site here.

Check out Jennys new My Space page - I got the pic above this site and Its currently my wallpaper. I know this question is kinda wrong, but is it just me - or is the twin on the right hotter?

Blake's side project is called the Elected and their second record is called "Sun, Sun, Sun," coming out on Sub Pop. Both records are coming out on January 24th, 2005. It should a pretty damn good day.

So back in 2004 the Elected announced they were going to have a show at the Echo in Los Angeles. This was a little bit after the end of their national tour opening for Azure Ray, in support of their first LP. What made this show interesting was that Pierre (bassist for Rilo), Jenny (singer for Rilo) and Vagtown2000 (now Whispertown2000, featuring Jennys best friend Morgan) were opening.

Realizing that this was probably a once in a lifetime opportunity, I bought tickets and booked a flight to Los Angeles. Im here to tell you that that was about the best decision that I've ever made. I ended up triple angle filming and getting soundboard for every band. I have no idea how I pulled this off. I actually ended up going to Frys the day before the show and bought a big ass Sony camcorder (a really nice one) and I took it to the show. I swear I walked in with a veritable arsenal of recording gear.

On entry into the club the security guy at the door asked me to open my bag(s) and when he looked inside, said - "Shit, what the hell are you doing with all that." He then conferred with another security guard who told him - its cool let him in. Well thank God - I think that I and legions of Jenny internet fans have that second guard to thank for the recordings that have been floating around for the last year and a half.

So a few days after the show I released all of the audio from the soundboard and the rest is history. Its actually pretty cool now to see all the kids on the various Rilo boards referencing how much they are looking forward to the Jenny record, because they love the live recording of "X" or "Y" from the Echo show. Remember kids - tape shows you go to and give them freely to everyone who wants a copy. The love you give will be returned.

You can download the Soundboard versions of the various sets at the following locations -
Jenny Lewis - Shelma's Cutting Room Floor
Pierre - Shelma's Cutting Room Floor
Elected - Shelma's Cutting Room Floor
Vagtown2000 - Whispertown2000

So fast forward a few months - I went back and rendered a matrix version of the Jenny audio - incorporating the soundboard version wih the audio from the external mic on the big ass sony camcorder referenced above. The results were absolutely beautiful - with the vocal clarity of the soundboard version, coupled with the live ambience of being in the Echo. Ive made these files available here for you. Spread the word kids - I want Jenny to immediately become the highest selling artist on Team Love. ;)

Matrix 01 Intro
Matrix 02 Run Devil Run
Matrix 03 The Big Guns
Matrix 04 Melt Your Heart
Matrix 05 You Are What You Love - False Start
Matrix 06 You Are What You Love
Matrix 07 Somebody Elses Clothes
Matrix 08 Rabbit Fur Coat
Matrix 09 Rise Up With Fists!
Matrix 10 Outro

Okay - Im not sure how many people know this but Jennys done at least 2 more live solo shows since June 2004. One was in August 2004 opening for the Elected and then there was a show opening for Jonathon Rice in Nashville (date escapes me right now.)

So this lovely girl I know actually went out and taped Jenny playing in August 2004 and sent me the masters to copy. Jenny ended up doing a couple more unreleased songs - which are not going to be on her solo record. The first is "Dorothy's Song", and the second is "A Warm Bed Is Something" which is the Dntel song she contributed vocals too. The Dntel record was supposed to come out by the end of 2003... and for those of you who havent noticed we're closing in on the end of 2005. Every once in a while I google Dntel wondering when the hell the record is coming out, but no news yet. Keep your fingers crossed.

Here are these two songs from the 08/23/2004 Jenny show opening for the Elected at Hotel Cafe in LA.

Dorothys Song
A Warm Bed Is Something
Portions For Foxes (Sung by Mike Runion)
Sword

Aight - its my bed time.. I hope you enjoy. Remeber Rabbit Fur Coat drops on Jan 24 2006 - pre order a copy, tell your friends, and play these mp3s in your car as often as possible and tell your friends to buy copies too...

Nite..