So Mister Mo Pair is a local boy from Texas.

Here's the bio from his site -
As lead singer/guitarist for two of Austin's more interesting bands (Grass, Groovin Ground) many Austin music fans know Mo Pair as an animated, chapeau-topped rocker. His solo work is from a whole 'nuther place.

Native American chants and songs, recounts of magical journeys and of people and loves lost are ingredients in a Mo Pair stew. He is often accompanied by other sympathetic musicians and singers that add a symphonic texture to his music.

I was lucky enough to catch Mo Pair at a small bar in the Montrose area in Houston and see him play through his "Old Pink Floyd Happy Hour," a collection of Barrett and Gilmour/Rogers tracks from the first few Pink Floyd record. Amazing source material that's luciously translated into a solo acoustic performance.

The bar that they played at didn't actually have their own PA, so Mo and his harmonica-playing friend, Wayne, set up a couple of amps that were powering the guitar, vocals and harmonica. Fortunately, both amps had effects outs and we ran a couple of 1/4inch cables straight out of each amp straight into the Microtrack. Awesome.

Mo Pair has several shows coming up in South East Texas - so if you are around go check him out. List of shows - here.

Intro
Burning Bridges (Obscured by Clounds)
Fat Old Sun (Atom Heart Mother)
Whats Wots...uh the Deal (Obscured by Clounds)
Jug Band Blues (Saucerful of Secrets)
San Tropez (Mettle)
Mother Matilda (Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
Wish You Were Here (Wish You Were Here)
Green Is The Colour (More)
Bike (Piper at the Gates of Dawn)
Stay (Obscured by Clounds)
Cirrus Minor (More)
(break)
Leaving On A Jet Plane
Country Roads
Sunshine On My Shoulder

Uncle Bob. Prolific songwriter and former lead man of guided by voices.

This show was PACKED. The Brunettes opened this show with about 20 people - Bob closed it and must have had over 1000 cheering fans singing along. I always knew Guided By Voices was popular but I didn't realize that they would have the "hard core" fans I saw at this show.

Couple of quick notes. There was some serious mixing issues at the shoe, though it got better. During the first few songs Bob's voice was clearing clipping and too loud. By the fifth or sixth song all mixing issues had been resolved - and the rest of the show came out great.

MP3s:
Intro
Gold
I Surroud You Naked
Get A Face Full
Blessed In An Open Head
Light Show
The Right Thing
Dancing Girls And Dancing Men
U.S. Mustard Company
Fresh Threats Salad Shooters & Zip Guns
Conquerer Of The Moon
Dolphins of Color
Boxing About
Love Is Stronger Than Witchcraft
Recovering
Outro

This guy,Mo Pair, a local musician from Texas came through town the other night.

He was amazing. He played an hour of old school Pink Floyd then a mini set of John Denver standards.

The whole show ill be up later, but I just wanted to put up this one song - Wots...uh the Deal, an old Waters & Gilmour song from Obscured by Clouds. It's so heart wrenching, and well done that I just wanted to share it now.

Wots...uh the Deal

So Robert (Uncle Bob) Pollard is being uploaded right now. I know thats what you want. I know you've been waiting patiently, its just not ready yet.

BUT - to tide you over, there's a little comedic segway.

As an intro to Bob's free SXSW day party, Patton Oswalt came out and did a fairly hilarious, 3 minute bit on the irony of America's love for Cirque De Soleil ("its cat nip for old people").

In the words of Homer Simpson, "its funny because its true!"

Enjoy.

Cirque De Soleil

Biirdie's playing a run at the Tangier Restaurant in Los Angeles, during April. They are going to appear every Tuesday, starting on April 4th and running til April 28th.

After that, they were heading back into the Studio to finish their follow up to "Morning Kills the Dark."

If any of you live in Los Angeles and could tape one or all of these shows, please let me know! I'm really hoping someone gets one of these. Biirdie has an open taping policy, it would be crime if they weren't recorded. ;)

(thanks to Jenyk for the photo)

thanks!

Quick non musical note! if you have subscribed to this site using the old atom feed, would you please replace it with the new feedburner one?

If you don't currently subscribe - then what are you waiting for! ;)

thanks!

I'm taking a quick break from SXSW to post this set as it's been on repeat for me the last few days.

Have you head of this guy? Im not sure how well known he is in the US - but Sondre Lerche, a Norweigan born Singer Songwriter is one of the finest craftsmen of sugary pop out there today.

This show was just.. sweet. I'm sure once you hear the tracks you will know exactly what Im talking about. Sondre has a beautiful, pristine voice that rides a top his boppy-acoustic-guitar based tunes. You just can't help but love the songs after one listen.

I actually discovered him the day before this show. I make it a habit to check the sites that keep me abreast of what shows are playing every day, and saw Sondre's name listed on Space City Rock and google'd him to learn more. After listening to 3 mp3s on his site I knew I had to attend his shows.

As described above, this is an absolutely lovely performance - with Sondre playing solo with a collection of acoustic and electric guitars. Start with All Luck Ran Out if you want a flavor of what he's like.

MP3s:
You Know So Well
No One's Gonna Come
All Luck Ran Out
Virtue and Wine
Days That Are Over
Sleep on Needles
Night and Day

Technically, Abra Moore's set in Austin during SXSW wasn't part of the official festival. Rather, it was part of the Heart of Texas Quadruple Bypass Music Festival - an alternate Austin music fest that runs concurrently with SXSW>.

A few years ago, the founders of "Music Rock Fest" were looking over the SXSW lineup and found themselves disappointed with the number of local Austin and Texas musicians that were represented. Soon they set up a "local" artist showcase for the week of SXSW, that ran at a nonSXSW club. Over the next few years they quickly grew into their own respected Festival - with 2006 featuring musicians for 4 nights, spread out over 6 stages.

Plus - I love their site, they've got a little video clip showing celeberities promoting the Festival. Shaq's In Are You? Nice.

So - I went to see Abra, cause I love her tunes, and to support the cause of local artists.

I haven't seen Abra in a couple of years - not since this show, so I was pretty excited. I dragged my girl and one of her friends along to the show, and then was harrassed by my girl about "luving" Abra Moore for the rest of the evening.

It was actually a fairly different Abra live experience for me - I've seen her about 10 times, and its usually been a more acoustic/emotive set or straight ahead rock. This was the first time I'd heard a more country oriented effort, with the traditional steel lap guitar bringing more of Texas Country feel. Personally, I liked it.

Several new songs - and assorted cuts from the past. I particularly like the first track Sugarite - prounced Sugar-ee, and probably my all time favorite Abra track, Guitar Song. In this telling Guitar Song features a fairly well realized lead guitar solo. It make me realize I'd kinda been missing some kick ass solo coming in from nowhere, right after the bridge. Ah, Smashing Pumpkins - where did you go?

MP3s:
Sugarite
Taking Chances
Into the Sunset
I Believe
If You Want Me To
Guitar Song
Outro

Who Wanna Rock With The Aqueduct?
The Ladies Line Up For The Aqueduct!

And so begins the Aqueduct experience.

Here's how they describe themselves -

Stuck somewhere between lo & hi-fi, a love of beats, melody, and clever songwriting come together with keyboards, drum machines, buzzing guitars, and bass lines that put the bump in your booty.

If you've never heard these guys - skip down, start downloading their SXSW Poke e Joe's show right now and come right back.

Technically (ie in the studio) Aqueduct is one guy - David Terry, who brings along his friends for the booty bumping live experience. To cop their own phrase, Aqueduct is Good Music. And It Is. Creating truly melodic and fun instrumental leads, David lays down absolultey dead-on lyrics that don't take themselves too seriously. Probably my favorite example from the new songs played at the showcase, "People Never Change, Bitch Don't Even Try." from Keep It Together.

I've actually known David for a long time. Quite a few years ago he was in a band called Epperly, based out of Tulsa Oklahoma. Epperly was probably the most popular of a ring of really amazing power pop (ie Indie) bands who created the local youth-oriented local scene in Tulsa back in the mid 90s. I WAS going to post a couple of Epperley tracks - but I can't locate them right now!

If you love Aquaduct you should really try to locate the Epperley CDs - you will not be disappointed.

Back to the live show - this set rocked. The guys we're playing as a 3 piece, rather then the current line up of 4 - so there was less electric guitar then there would have normally been. What we get is a boards, bass heavy mix with a throbbin' low end and a perfect mix of electronic and live drums. Its nice...


Note - Keep It Together, Add It Up and (I think) Promises Broken are all new songs, and are not the official titles. I selected them as the most probable title. Livin' A Lie is also new, but David referenced the title before the band started it. If you know the names of any of these songs, let me know.

MP3s:
Intro
Metal Jam
Who Wanna Rock
Frantic (Roman Polanksi Version)
Heart Design
Keep It Together
Add It Up
Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights
Livin' A Lie
Promises Broken

Quick shout out for a new site I just discovered, TexasGigs

They found about our little site and linked to it. I wandered over there to check them out - and kids, if you live in Texas and care about the music thats going on here, you should be reading them every day.

Nuff said.

Big thanks to all the sites that have linked to me lately - I've been looking over who's been linked to me and finding all sorts of great blogs. Thanks!

More music coming later tonight!

I've been loving me bands with alternating guy and girl singers lately.

Biirdie
Stars
Page France
The Most Serene Republic

and of course - The Brunettes, quite possibly the quirkiest of all current boy/girl bands.

I picked up their last full length "Mars Loves Venus" a month ago and soon was bopping my head along to fun beats and oddly delightful lyrics like -

I could be as faithful as a seahorse
And if you were a marine biologist
You'd know how tender that line was

I got to see the band at the Merge/Sub Pop Showcase at Pok E Joes during SXSW - they were the first band of the day, and there was probably.. 15 people there. Small intimate shows are my favorite - especially when the band has let me plug into the soundboard, and point a video camera at them.

Enjoy!

(Note - Track 3, Polyester... dies mid stream. The power went out at the show and they didn't restart the song. It Is As It Was. Also, check out "Mary Kate and Ashley". That has to be the most random song I've ever heard, the band put on Mary Kate & Ashley masks - Full House era, while playing it.)

MP3s:
Intro
B A B Y
Polyester Meets Acetate
Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks
Talk To Jesus
Mars Loves Venus
Cotton Candy
Your Heart Dies
Mary Kate and Ashley
Outro

I haven't made up my mind on the whole My Space phenomenon - but I've got to admit, its pretty damn handy to hear of a new band, be able to drop it in after "myspace.com/" and 9 times out of 10 get to listen to a few tunes.

Such was the case with Magnet. I'm not sure where I first heard of Even Johansen (aka Magnet) - I think maybe he was linked as a "friend" under some artist I was checking out. Either which way, when I first heard his songs on My Space I knew I was going to be hooked.

As I usually do - I immediately checked out tour dates and was pleased to find out he was playing (a lot of) shows at SXSW. In fact, Magnet was the very first show I saw on arrival in Austin. It went like this.

Drive into Austin ->
Check Into Hotel ->
Drop off bags and leave immediately ->
Review day-show schedule trying to find some happy medium with the friend ->
Friend notices show at Urban Outfitters ->
I watch show, while Friend shops ->
Everyones a WINNER!

With that said, both my friend and I loved the show. Magnet played solo - with a (modified?) steel lap guitar. I think. He used it in conjunction with looping delay pedals - playing a part, looping it, then playing other parts on top of it. Beautiful. I sat near the board to get the audio, and my friend ran the video.

Magnet was actually working in conjunction with a fellow who was standing at the soundboard. The man in the yellow t-shirt listened via headphones and actually fiddled with various buttons and delay knobs, leaving Magnet with the freedom to focus on the songs.


As you'll notice, the show was really two long songs - I took some liberties with the splits as it was pretty difficult to pinpoint where one song ended and the next began.

Enjoy!

MP3s:
Intro
Where Happiness Lives
On Your Side
Ill Come Along
My Darling Curse
White Cliffs of Dover

Labels: austin, concerts, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s, urban outfitters

It was a tough decision on which SXSW show should get posted first - but after listening through Britt's set again, it quickly became a pretty easy decision.

The bad news - Britt played for less then 15minutes, but dont worry I gave him a hard time about it when I saw him wandering through the crowd.

The good news - a fantastic, brand new, Spoon song, perfectly captured from the soundboard. I'm guessing that its called "Don't Make Me A Target", but if you know otherwise, drop me a note.

MP3s:
Intro
I Summon You
Don't Make Me A Target
Everything Hits At Once
Me and the Bean
Outro

I just got back from SXSW. What a fantastic trip. A friend came down to visit, and together we headed up to Austin for the weekend. We arrived on Thursday and came back on Saturday evening.

There were ups and downs - notably, that it was near impossible to get into the evening showcases without a badge or wristband (we didnt have either) and Jude cancelled his CD Baby showcase (which effectively ruined our Saturday evening, and caused me to miss taping the rest of the Barsuk showcase at Pok e Joes..) but all inall it was a great trip. I got lots of more free CDs and T Shirts and the day parties featured great music, free beer, and artists who were just wandering around taking to everyone. Oh and I met Autumn De Wilde - who is much bigger then I would have imagined in real life.

I ended up taping a bunch of shows, almost all from the soundboard. Ill be posting (nearly) all of these over the next few weeks.

Heres the line up.

03/16/06
Magnet - Urban Outfitters
Ben Taylor - Ginger Man
Abra Moore - Spill

03/17/06
Of Montreal - Urban Outfitters
The Brunettes - Pok e Joes BBQ
KT Tunstall - Waterloo Records
Britt Daniels (Spoon)
Camera Obscura
Robert Pollard (Guided By Voices)

03/18/06
Jim Noir - Pok e Joes BBQ
Rocky Voltolato - Pok e Joes BBQ
The Most Serene Republic - Pok e Joes BBQ
Aquaduct - Pok e Joes BBQ
Andrew Kenny - Pok e Joes BBQ

Quick post tonight - im tired and want to go to sleep.

A friend of mine called me a few months ago and told me she was coming to Houston and taking me to see Sigur Ros. I was pretty excited even though it was on the same night as Coldplay & Fiona Apple. I've seen Coldplay numerous times over the last few years - but I've been waiting to see Fiona since 1997. Still free tickets and getting to see a friend from out of town takes priority.

So to Sigur Ros we went.

The opening band AminA was stunning - 4 girls who each played multiple instruments. Mostly instrumentals - the songs featured instruments as diverse as strings, xylophones and glasses of water. The girls also played backing strings on about half of Sigur Ros' set.
Sigur Ros is near indescribable - with instrumentation in the vein of OK Computer-era Radiohead - and lryics made up of their own made up language "Hopelandic."

Unfortunately my recording was near unlistenable - I was dead center about 7 rows back and the recording clipped in a bad way. One song came out perfect - and really captures the beauty of their music.

MP3:
heysatan

Damn, isn't this just the most stunning picture of Jenny you have ever seen?

Sorry to digress - I've been waiting to use this photo in a post since I saw it in the Winter issue of Filter magazine. If you dont read the mag you should, they have good taste.

So I went to San Francisco last weekend - and the visit coincided with Jenny's stop in the city. Sweet.

All I've got to say is that I LOVE Jenny with a full band - much better then the first few acoustic shows that she did after her record came out. She also played a few new songs including "Jack Killed Mom" which may be the best solo song she's done yet (though "Happy", "Big Guns" and the Echo version of "Rise Up With Fists" are definite runner ups.) Other highlights from the show include Cold Jordan and Paradise.

Couple of notes on the show - theres some serious variance in volume between songs. I could have "fixed" this but I didn't since it was representative of the actual vibe at the show. Jenny played quiet songs, then she played rocking songs. I adjusted the volume on two songs - Met Him On a Sunday and Cold Jordan. Met Him On A Sunday had the volume increased 6 fold. For some reason Jenny and the Twins shared one mic on this song, and it barely picked them up. Also - Jenny's guitar was missing throughout all of Big Guns. You can barely hear it in the recording - it was that way at the show. The guitar you hear kick in at the chorus was Johnathan Rice's.

Quick story before we get to icing. I was staying with a friend at a fantastic (and unbelievably cheap) hotel on Van Ness street - about 6 blocks from Fisherman's Wharf. The morning of the show we decided to walk to the Wharf rather then take the bus, and had barely walked a block from our hotel when we saw a large tour bus outside a nearby Comfort Inn. I turned to my friend and said jokingly - "Look its Jenny's tour bus." Exactly TWO seconds later Jenny stepped out of the bus and walked into the hotel. Go ESP.

MP3s:
Run Devil Run
The Big Guns
Happy.
You Are What You Love
Melt Your Heart
The Charging Sky
New Song
Paradise
Rabbit Fur Coat
Rise Up With Fists
Jack Killed Mom
Born Secular
(Break)
Met Him On A Sunday
Cold Jordan

Labels: audience mp3s, bimbos, concerts, indie, live mp3s, san francisco

Gorilla Vs Bear first introduced me to the pop stylings of Biirdie. One of my best friends from high school, ms melissa had just started dating mrGvsB - Chris, and had introduced me to the site. The very first post I saw was promoting Biirdie's new web single for Estelle/We Cant Work It Out. On a whim, I downloaded both songs and played Estelle first. It totally blew me away.

I didn't even know what to compare it to - maybe the Beach Boys or something from a eccentric movie soundtrack. Either way I thought it was amazing - and We Can't Work It Out was solid too. After the sixth listen I went straight to eBay and bought "Morning Kills the Dark" for a dollar. Hands down, it was my best buy in 2005.

So - the record ruled - I was now ready to see them live. Unfortunately, they weren't really touring - just sporadic dates in California, and nothing that was coinciding with my visits to the Golden State.

Fortunately I've got a good friend out there who can help out in a tight spot.

Biirdie announced a stop in San Diego playing at the Bean Bar and my friend was there with a minidisc in hand. Sadly, the soundguy wanted to control the Minidisc herself - and the first couple of songs are absolutely unlistenable due to the signal being way hot. The good news is that she got a couple of brand new songs that at least I had never heard before...

MP3s:
Im Going to Tell You Something
Dont Let Your Petals Fall
I Am Into Him

Biirdie's got a couple of shows coming up - then a month long residency at the Tangier in LA during April

Shows:
March 13 and 14 Redding and San Francisco, CA
Tue Apr 04: Tangier, Los Angeles, CA 9PM
Tue Apr 11: Tangier, Los Angeles, CA 9PM
Tue Apr 18: Tangier, Los Angeles, CA 9PM
Tue Apr 25: Tangier, Los Angeles, CA 9PM

Other Live Audio:
eMusic Show - Live at Schubas 04/06/2005

Labels: concerts, indie, live mp3s, san diego, soundboard mp3s, the bean bar

Jude just dropped the studio version of his instant classic - Gay Cowboy - the other day, and has asked for assistance in passing it far and wide.

If you havent heard this song - you should, its a good laugh. With that said, its not at all representative of Jude's true talent as one of the best singer songwriters of the last few decades.

MP3:
Jude - Gay Cowboy

Video:
Vidlink Version

Check out the live show my girl Ana taped in San Diego if you want a better sense of what he's really capable of.

And to throw in something truly rare here's Homerun Hilary - a track that can only be found on the promo-only CD - You're So Hot I Love You. Great story about how I got this track.. One of the lovely twins that runs the Jude news site had sent me a copy of the song that sounded like it had come off of a cassette tape - just had this analog hiss in the background. Unfortunately she didnt have a copy of the promo CD, and I had never seen it on eBay.. Of course I've wanted it for years.

One night I'm out watching a (decent) local band. After about 3 songs I decide I really don't want to be there and leave. Hopping in the car I throw in a mix CD with Homerun... on it. To kill some time I decide I'm going to swing by a local Half Price Book store to check out the CDs. As I'm driving I think to myself - wouldn't it be wonderful if I found a copy of You're So Hot...?

Long story short - by some merciful act of our Lord, some fool had sold THREE Jude promo CDs to this bookstore. THREE. Yes, thats THREE CDs - that were each going for $2. I literally gasped and freaked out the staff when I saw them all sitting there side by side in the bargain bin. It's moments like these that make you a believer.

The stars aligned and I walked out of that Half Price Book store wih the biggest smile you have ever seen.

MP3:
Jude - Homerun Hilary