Occasionally you find bands that simply blow you away with their uniqueness. Occasionally you find bands that blow you away with their uniqueness, and who are amazing to boot.

Wildbirds and Peacedrums fall into the latter category, and we managed to catch two partial shows at SXSW this year before we saw a full one and loved every minute of all three.

The band is a duo from Sweden - Mariam Wallentin and Andreas Werliin. Andreas plays (or rather, beats the living crap) out of the drums and Mariam primarily sings and also plays an assortment of instruments including the steel drum.

Now I listened to the studio tracks at MySpace, and they are pretty damn good - but in no way do they capture the sheer intensity of their live shows. Mariam channels the finest female singers of all time, including two of my favorite - Bjork and Nina Simone. She stomps, dances, wails, Jim Morrison's the mic and basically transcends into the performance. Andreas clearly loves every second as well. Setting aside Dave Grohl, I've rarely seen someone hit their drums harder. They are a truly magnificent pair.

I managed to get an audience recording of a couple of their songs - and again, though good, they aren't soundboard. If anyone out there has some soundboard recordings, let me know - I'd love one.

In the interim, check out these recordings and their MySpace. I especially love My Heart as it's pretty representative of the live experience and features Mariam plowing into the steel drum and vocally channeling some Post-era Bjork (Hyper Ballad comes to mind). If they come by your town, GO SEE THEM.

Live MP3 MP3s:
My Heart
Doubt Hope

Labels: audience mp3s, austin, indie, live mp3s, side bar, sxsw, wildbirds and peacedrums

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I had pretty good day on January 24th. Got to see Thomas Jane and the rest of the RAW Comics guys in the early afternoon at the 12th annual Dallas Comic Con, then saw Erin McCarley that evening at the Loft in downtown Dallas.

So if you don't know Thomas Jane, he's an actor who's starred in films like the Mist, the Punisher (the 2004 variant), Boogie Nights and Deep Blue Sea. What I didn't know until recently is that he also founded a company called RAW Studios, with Tim Bradstreet a Eisner nominated illustrator, who amongst other things develop films and comics.

To support RAW Studios, Thomas, Tim along with writer Todd Farmer (My Bloody Valentine 3D/Jason X) served on a panel at Dallas Comic Con 12. Though the panel started out as an overview of RAW Studios and their works, it quickly delved into a general Q&A on Thomas Jane's acting career and a commentary on the general state of the comic and film industry.

I particularly enjoyed the Thomas Jane vs Burt Reynolds story, the commentary on the ending of the Mist, as well as the panels thoughts on the upcoming Watchmen movie and the effect (or lack there of) of comic book movies on the comic book industry.

Enjoy!

Live MP3s MP3:
Intro
Raw Studios Overview
Thomas Jane Big Hit
Homeless Dad
Jonah Hex
Upcoming Movie
Punisher - Dolph or War Zone
Watchmen
Do Movies Help Comic Industry
Dark Country
Economy Impacting Movies
Thomas Jane Quality
Comics On Line
Thomas Jane vs Burt Reynolds
Video On Demand
Comics as Soap Operas
Oscars and Comics
The Mist Ending
Watchmen HBO vs Movie
Comic Book Movies
Friday the 13th

Labels: audience mp3s, dallas comic con, live mp3s, raw studios, thomas jane, tim bradstreet, todd farmer

Those who've been reading the blog for a while know I'm a science fiction fan. Love Doctor Who, Red Dwarf, Star Wars, Star Trek, Stargate, X-Files and of course, all things Joss Whedon (the man is a genius.)

Oddly enough, I never watched Buffy, Angel or Firefly during their initial runs on TV. I bought Buffy Season 1 at Best Buy when it came out (it was a whim, I think I was attracted to Sarah Michelle Gellar), then ended up watching the bulk of the season one day when I was sick in bed with the flu. That pretty much did it and after that I bought every season of Buffy and Angel as they came out on DVD.

Now with Firefly, I did watch the "Pilot" (which wasn't really meant to be the Pilot) on Fox when it first aired. I remember being turned off in the first 15 minutes and not watching any subsequent episodes. Of course, by the time I was a few seasons into Buffy and Angel I was worshiping at the alter of Whedon, and decided to pick up all the Firefly episodes. At this point I also knew that Fox had aired the Firefly episodes out of order. On watching the true Pilot I realized that Whedon (once again) had created something new, beautiful and unique. After I watched the whole series (all 14 episodes) I was convinced that Firefly was one of the greatest shows to air, and saddened that it had been canceled without even a full season.

Unbelievably, Joss managed to get funding to film Serenity, a movie based on Firefly, which also ended up being one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time.

If you haven't seen the show I highly recommend picking up the box set, which can be found cheap at most online stores.

So it's safe to say I'm a Firefly/Serenity fan. This afternoon, I had the pleasure of seeing Jewel Staite, who played Kaylee Frye, one of the lead characters on Firefly, at the "Star Wars Fan Days II" convention in Plano Texas. She came to town for a 45 minute Q&A session, and was a total delight. With no pre-set spiel, Jewel just answered question after question for the whole session, and kept the audience in constant laughter.

Here's the first 15 minutes for your pleasure, with Jewel addressing a variety of topics, from her days on "Are You Afraid Of The Dark" to Nathan Fillion's prop stealing antics during the filming of Firefly and Serenity, to her thoughts on her StarGate SG1 character's choice in love interests. Enjoy!

Live MP3 MP3s:
Introduction
Hello
Gummy Strawberry
Are You Afraid Of The Dark
Next Project
Mechanic vs Doctor
Firefly Favorite Line
Kaylee Joss vs Jewel
Kaylee Character Dynamic
Keller Love Intrest Choice
If Jewel Was Keller
Firefly Favorite Episode
White Vines
Firefly Props Kept

Labels: audience mp3s, jewel staite, live mp3s, plano, spoken word, star wars fan days

Ms Jenny Lewis. With the Watson Twins. And Jonathon Rice, Jason Boesel and Michael Runion = An amazing night of Music.

I found this show in my old "draft" folder. For whatever reason I meant to post it about 18 months ago and it never happened. It's an audience recording (no soundboards at this show), but still lovely.

I'm about to run out for the day, but I thought I'd put it out there in anticipation of her new record coming out in September. Looking forward to it!! Now where's that Dallas date I've been waiting on...

Live MP3s:
Intro
Long Black Dress (Run Devil Run)
The Big Guns
You Are What You Love
Melt Your Heart
The Charging Sky
Happy
Intro to...
Fernando
Rise Up With Fists!!
Carpet Baggers
Met Him On A Sunday
Into to...
When Jack Killed Mom
Born Secular
Encore Break
Acid Tounge
Handle With Care

Tour Dates:
Tue 09/16/08 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
Wed 09/17/08 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
Fri 09/19/08 Chicago, IL Epiphany Church
Sat 09/20/08 Omaha, NE Anchor Inn
Sun 09/21/08 Nashville, TN Ryman Auditorium
Mon 09/22/08 Knoxville, TN Bijou Theatre
Tue 09/23/08 Fayetteville, AR George's Majestic Lounge
Wed 09/24/08 Oxford, MS The Lyric Oxford
Thu 09/25/08 Tulsa, OK Cain's Ballroom
Fri 09/26/08 Austin, TX Zilker Park
Tue 09/30/08 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Thu 10/02/08 Washington, DC Sixth & I Historic Synagogue
Fri 10/03/08 Wilmington, DE Grand Opera House
Sat 10/04/08 New York, NY Apollo Theater

Labels: audience mp3s, concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, numbers, tour dates

Here's the companion set to yesterday's post on Sondre Lerche.

Opening for Sondre was former Semisonic guitarist, lead singer and primary song-writer Dan Wilson. As we've mentioned several times over the last couple of months, Dan Wilson recently released 'Free Life' - his first solo record since the break up of Semisonic a few years ago.

Great set, my only regret was that I couldn't capture it from the soundboard - rather, I had to revert back to my trusty mics.

Featuring Semisonic classics (as well as the back-story for 'Closing Time' - you've got to hear it to believe it), the bulk of the tracks from his new solo record, as well as a song that he wrote for 'the Chicks' (aka the Dixie Chicks), the set was absolutely beautiful - and to be totally honest, I think that I prefer the live solo arrangements of the tracks from 'Free Life' to the studio recorded versions.

You of course can make up your mind! If you don't listen to anything else, be sure to grab and check out 'All Kinds'. Beautiful.

Enjoy.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Hand On My Heart
Breathless
'Dixie Chicks'
Easy Silence
'2 Things'
Sugar
Baby Doll
'Junior'
Closing Time
'Seattle'
Free Life
'Sing With Me'
All Kinds

Labels: audience mp3s, club dada, concerts, dallas, indie, live mp3s

So I got engaged. Sweeet!

I also unknowingly scheduled an engagement party on the same night Rilo Kiley is coming to town. Oh well - I'd be sleeping in the guest room if I mentioned any regrets. ;)

But since I won't see them this weekend, I pulled out some old shows to listen to.

Here's my favorite one from the Jenny/Blake solo tour back in early 2004 - where they were trying out cuts from the (at that point) forthcoming album, More Adventurous. Lots of great banter and low key acoustic versions of rocking tracks.

Enjoy! (I've got a 2 cam video mix of this somewhere, ill see if I can find it)


Live MP3 MP3s:
Intro
Better Son-Daughter
Bulletproof
So Long
Go Ahead
More Adventurous
Somebody Elses Clothes
(Simply Irresistible Banter)
Simply Irresistible (Robert Palmer)
Absence of God
It Just Is
I Never
(With Arms Outstretched Banter)
With Arms Outstretched
(Panty Banter)
Rock N Roll Suicide (David Bowie)
(Encore Break)
(Glendora Banter)
Steve - Take 1
Steve - Take 2
Salute My Shorts
Spectacular Views

Labels: audience mp3s, concerts, indie, live mp3s, los angeles, pomona

Good Records got a visit from Bishop Allen on Sunday - a kind gesture to all the good people of Dallas who didn't want to drive up to Denton to see them on Saturday night.

Another great set from Bishop Allen - and in many ways the quieter, in-store set up at Good Records was even more enjoyable then seeing them in rock mode, in Denton.

This ended up as a matrix recording - combining two different recordings, one that captured the vocals, keyboards and acoustic instruments through the mixing console, and a second using audience mics to get the "room" sound. Since the drums, electric guitars, and the bass weren't mic'ed this was the best way to ensure the recording actually sounded like the bands performance.

I think it came out pretty well - let me know what you think. And on a side note, this may quite possibly be one of the loveliest versions of Butterfly Nets I've heard yet.

Enjoy.

Live MP3s MP3:

Intro
Click Click Click Click
Like Castanets
The Monitor
The Same Fire
Rain
Butterfly Nets

Labels: audience mp3s, concerts, dallas, good records, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s

I had the great joy of seeing Bishop Allen a couple of times over the weekend.

On Saturday they played at Haileys in Denton, and were kind enough to record a little exclusive track for Lullabyes a few hours before the show.

Recorded in a parking lot down the street from Haileys - Justin, Christian and Colly crowded round some stereo mics and played a stripped down acoustic version of Click Click Click Click against the gentle hum of traffic cruising down the nearby street.

Click Click Click Click

Labels: audience mp3s, denton, haileys, indie, live mp3s

Darting around town, we were constantly racing againt the clock to make it to the next must-see show. One particularly close call involved Bishop Allen - we managed to make it from the Bonde do Role show at the Victory Cafe, back over to the Hot Freaks! show at the Mohawk, with about 4 minutes to spare. There was a reason our legs felt like they were going to fall off at the end of each day. Back to the story, the good news was that band was beginning to sound check as we walked back, and we sighed in subdued relief.

Putting on a great show, Bishop Allen featured an expanded line up of six members, up from the four piece I saw when they come through Houston a few years ago (listen to that show here). They'd also clearly grown as artists with a subtantialy more musically varied set list. Castanets was definitely the highlight of the show for me.

Our friend Matt at You Ain't No Picasso gave a great recap of this show last week - check it out here.

More great photos of Bishop Allen at the Mohawk can be found at Staciaann's Flickr account - here.

In other Bishop Allen SXSW news - check out My Old Kentucky Blog with an interview with Justin Rice, lead singer of Bishop Allen.

Live MP3s:
Intro
The Monitor
Busted Heart
The Same Fire
Click Click Click
Castanets
Little Black Ache
Chinatown Bus
Flight 180
Butterfly Nets

Labels: audience mp3s, austin, concerts, indie, live mp3s, mohawk, soundboard mp3s, sxsw

As SXSW 2007 gets closer my excitement continues to mount. I've been (slowly) listening to the first batch of 700 or so MP3s that were released via bittorrent (get here) and I've managed to make my way up to Artists beginning with the letter E. Here's the goodness I've discovered so far -

Ana Laan
Ana Egge
Anais Mitchell
Andrew Winton Duo
Art in Manila
Astrid Swan
au revoir simone
beangrowers
bedroom walls
bermuda triangle
bishop allen
black moth
bonde do role
buddy
call me poupee
Carly Binding
Carmen Rodgers & Geno Young
Ceci Bastida
Chris Lee
colour revolt
Creature
Dan Mangan
dana falconberry
Danielia Cotton
David Karsten Daniels
dawn kinnard
Daylights For The Birds
Death Ships
Dionysos
doujah raze
drew smith and his band
Dujeous

Highlights include... everyone above - seriously though check out Au Revoir Simone, Ana Laan, Daylights for the Birds and Dana Falconberry. Im hoping to actually listen to everyone this year - I think last year I made it to the P's or something.

But getting back to Ghosts of SXSW Past - I got to see Toby Lightman for the 2nd time at SXSW 2004.. The name of the venue totally escapes me right now. I had seen her about 5 months before this show opening up for Howie Day in Houston. That show (which you can download here) was a stripped-down acoustic venture, while SXSW saw Toby (and her label) pulling out the full band and fairly-faithfully recreating the sound of her first record, Little Things.

Great show - full of energy, big drums and fat bass lines. Toby was at peak performance - soulful, sultry and sublime. And for you R&B fans, Toby belts out a fantastic acoustic version of Mary Blige's Real Love to wrap up the show.

Live MP3s:
Intro
Intro 2
Time For A Change
Coming Back In
The River
Front Row
Is This Right
Devils And Angels
Real Love

Labels: audience mp3s, austin, concerts, major, soundboard mp3s, sxsw

I got to catch Mutlu, another funky artist out of Philly, in December opening for Amos Lee. A killer set, Mutlu let his likable voice and stylish delivery charm the audience. It was obvious that most of the crowd had no idea who Mutlu was - but by the end of the set there was a long line waiting for his autograph.
Here's a snippet from his official bio -

Mutlu’s music is a clever blend of soul, reggae, hip-hop, and Brazilian jazz deriving inspiration from Marvin Gaye, Bill Withers, Bob Marley, and Antonio Carlos Jobim. He avoids falling into retro phonic traps with cool grooves and a quick wit. His songs feel foreign and familiar, risky and romantic. The worldly sound of Mutlu finds the groove that makes his thoughtful, clever lyrics dance.

Enjoy (and be sure to check out Board Games - his Justin Timberlake inspired tune - fairly amusing.)

Live MP3s:
Intro
Livin' It
See What It Brings
Little Things
Intro to...
Board Games
The Man In Me
I'm Tellin' You
Outro

Labels: audience mp3s, concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s, warehouse live

There's an inordinate number of amazing, amazing shows coming to Dallas (and Austin) over the next few months. Dozens, in fact. March may be the best single month for live shows I've ever seen. I think I'm going to shows 20+ days out of 30 - and I'm not even guessing at the number of shows Im going to see at SXSW and the Open:Ellum festival.

Polyphonic Spree, Page France, Matt Wertz, Grizzly Bear, Of Montreal, Stephen Kellog, Snow Patrol, Tom Brosseu, Justin Timberlake (yes, JT), Ben Kweller, Gomez, Mo Pair, Lemonheads, G Love, Abra Moore, Kill Hannah, Sparklehorse. Sweet.

Trust me, I'll be there with my Microtrack in hand for as many as possible.

With that said, yesterday I got some amazing news. Maria Taylor is coming to town.

I began to love Maria while she was in Azure Ray - but her last solo record, 11:11 was absolutely beautiful - and I've managed to pick up a promo version of her upcoming record, Lynn Teeter Flower, scheduled to come out in March, and it's just as good if not better then her first record.

Ill stick up another post later tonight with her tour dates and a MP3 from the new record but in celebration of the good news I decided to dig into the archives and pull out this Azure Ray show I taped a few years ago, when they were opening for the Elected.

Live MP3s:
Soundcheck
Displaced
Look to Me
No Signs of Pain
Sea of Doubts
The Drinks We Drank Last Night
Hold On Love
If You Fall
Invisible Ones Guard the Gate
These White Lights Will Bend to Make Blue
Raining in Athens
November
Beautiful Things Can Come From The Dark

Labels: audience mp3s, concerts, fat cats., houston, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s

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