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

Cursive frontman Tim Kasher's ventured out again, releasing his second record of material of alt-country influenced tunes under the "Good Life" moniker. Help Wanted Nights showcases 12 tunes that are tied to a screenplay he wrote featuring the same title.

The concept works well - and the songs, while containing their own little identifies, fit well into the greater whole. Check out the mp3 for "You Don't Feel Like Home To Me" - my favorite track from the record - below for a flavor of the album. Check out their MySpace for more tracks.

I had a chance to catch Kasher as the Good Life a few years ago in Houston, in support of his record, Album of the Year. An interesting show - I remember Kasher being slightly disengaged from the crowd, still pretty good recording.

Studio MP3 MP3s:
You Don't Feel Like Home To Me

Live MP3 MP3s:
Album of the Year
The Beaten Path
The Moon Red Handed
Always A Bridesmaid
You're Not You
A New Friend
Intro to...
Lovers Need Lawyers
An Acquaintance Strikes a Chord
O'Rourke's, 120AM
I Am An Island
Inmates
Outro

Labels: concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, mary janes, soundboard mp3s, studio mp3s

Last year I posted on Beaumont, Texas native Mo Pair. I taped him lusciously covering early Pink Floyd material with nothing more than an acoustic, and a harmonica for company.

It ended up being a lovely recording, and Mo Pair released the show as a record late last year. The Pink Floyd Happy Hour - buy it here.

I had a chance to see him 3-4 more times last year, and caught most of the shows on tape. Here's my favorite - a great recording from Brasil, a coffee house and bar in the Montrose area of Houston. Mo Pair performs numerous covers, including Pink Floyd's Wots.. Uh The Deal as well as interesting choices from the Grateful Dead and Woody Guthrie.

Live MP3 MP3s:
Soundcheck
Balmorhea (The Trebelmakers)
Dire Wolf (Grateful Dead)
The Promised Land (Ethan Azarian)
Whiskey
Green is the Colour (Pink Floyd)
Poor Boy (Woody Guthrie)
Child
God Moves Over The Water (Blind Willie Johnson)
And I'll Be With You
Hand Me the Bottle (Max Baker)
Bundle
As Sure As the Eagle Flies
Wots... Uh the Deal (Pink Floyd)

Labels: brasil, concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s

I seem to be getting sick. Flu-ish sick. Coughs. Pains. Massive headache. General blah blah blah feeling. I'm trying to figure out how I got sick. I think it was Maria Taylor's fault. We went to see her Saturday night in Denton and after talking to her for a few minutes she told me she had the flu. Lovely. Still she put on an amazing set. I think it was probably worth getting sick to see her play.

Anyway - it's been a long and hectic week. Shows pretty much every day for the last 6 - and we've ended up with some spectacular recordings. For those (few) of you who don't read Gorilla Vs Bear - check out this post on Grizzly Bear. It was a team effort at Good Records last week, with yours truly on soundboard audio and various other Dallas bloggers manning the video cameras. Chris will be playing the entire set on his Sirius radio show tomorrow night after which you will be able to download the whole thing here. Stay tuned.

Also managed to tape the Grizzly Bear electric from Club DaDa later that night - along with fun sets from Peter and the Wolf and the Papercuts. Also taped Matt Wertz, Maria Taylor and the Lemurs over the last few days. Probably the highlight of the week was seeing Eric Clapton from 4th row - but sorry kids, he doesn't allow taping.

But back, er on, to the current post. Blue October - Houston's home town rock stars. Had the pleasure of getting to see them play at their latest record release party, in support of Foiled. They played at Soundwaves record store - which is actually a pretty large store - and it was PACKED - must have been at least 300 people there. Even though the guys played an acoustic set, it was still one of the most straight-forward rock sets I've seen in a long time.

If you've never heard tham and like your rock, pretty, then check out 18th Floor Balcony. If you prefer radio-friendly sing alongs go with Hate Me. Enjoy!

Live MP3s:
Intro
Into The Ocean
Hate Me
Schizophrenia
Overweight
18th Floor Balcony
Outro

Labels: concerts, houston, live mp3s, major, soundboard mp3s, soundwaves

A very special show today.

Of all the records coming out in 2007, there are two that I'm most excited about. One, Page France's ...and the Family Telephone, which comes out in early May and two, Biirdie's as-of-yet unnamed sophmore effort.

Songs from Page France's record are beginning to show up, in a promotional manner, online - click out Spin for Mr. Violin and Dancing Bear and Pitchfork for Hat and Rabbit. You can also check out a live version of The Ruby Ring Man (the first track from the new record) over at Daytrotter.

I got to catch Page France a couple of months ago at Walters on Washington in Houston - and the band was in top form, a far more rocking and emotionally raw contrast to the smooth stdio goodness of their records. I always wondered what Michael Nau and the rest of kids from Page France would sound like if they really let loose - and now I know.

I got to meet the lovely Whitney McGraw, Page France backing singer and keyboardist, after the show and asked what the new recordings were sounding like - she paused for a second and said, "a lot like that."

Nice.

Live MP3s:
Junkyard
Kansas & Utah
Say Wolf In The Summertime
Dogs
Elephant
Antarctica
Windy
Chariot

Labels: concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s, walters on wash ington

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

Quick post tonight! A few weeks back I posted on Matt Wertz and made some comparisons to John Mayer. That post lead me to pull out some of my older Mayer shows and listen to them again. I know I said I'd post the University of Norman show - but that show is over 20 songs and I'd need to 1) find it 2) rip it 3) tag it. I will definitely get around to it, but not tonight (you can blame Prison Break if you like!)

Instead - you get this short but beautiful soundboard in-store performance from Houston's famous (and now closed) Cactus Music & Video store. I saw and taped some of the best acoustic performances I've ever seen at that venue.

To give credit where credit is due - I didn't actually tape this one - one of my buddies in Houston did, but I still feel like its one of "my" shows since I got him permission to tape. ;)

Live MP3s:
Intro
3x5
Why Georgia
Your Body is a Wonderland
No Such Thing

Labels: cactus music/video, concerts, houston, live mp3s, major, soundboard mp3s

Ah the children's-presenter turned rawkster himself, Steve Burns.

To be honest, I almost feel like I need to apologize up front. I remember reading about this show - and thinking, you've got to be kidding me - the Blue's Clues presenter is putting out an indie record, and some of the guys from the Flaming Lips are actually going to produce his record? Yes - I know - I was a lad who thought he knew better, and yes, I came to know I was wrong.

For once I arrived at Stuka, witnessed Steve rawking out and the crowd going absolutely wild - I had to make a swift and sudden reassessment of the situation.

Listen to him. Listen to the swirling guitars, the off the wall lyrics and the man's obvious need to learn you. In honour of Sacha taking the Golden Globe tonight, I'll just say - it was very nice.

So Steve's claiming that his new record - Deep Sea Recovery Efforts - is coming out soon, and you can listen to a few new tracks over on his ourspace. Check out The Unbeliever, its my current favorite. Also - check out Steve's lovable fans over at Steve Burns Rocks!!!

Oh and someone tell me how I managed to miss two other Steve Burns shows in Houston?! When the man comes back to Texas, I'll be there.

And last, sorry for the first track being slightly cut off - there was a long line, and it took me more then just a few minutes to get in. Yes, I know I've been slacking on the opening bands for a while - but hey look at the good news, I've been doing it for years!

Live MP3s:
What I Do On A Saturday
Greater Than 1
Troposphere
Superstrings
Henry Krinkle's Lament
Stick Around
Mighty Little Man
A Song For Dustmites

Labels: concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s, stuka

A blast from the past tonight!

Over the last week or three, I've been going through a lot of my older shows - I've had a fairly sizable collection of shows from 2002-2005 that I'd taped but never got around to tagging.

Two such shows were the Starlight Mints and Steve Burns (of Blue's Clues fame) from the now-defunct Stuka Bar in Houston back in 2003. It had actually been a couple of years since I'd even listened to the shows, and when I reheard them I realized a couple of things. 1 - Both bands are absolutely amazing, and 2 - these were really really good recordings. Starlight Mints actually played as Steve Burns' backing band before bringing the roof down during their own set.

If you've never heard of the Mints you should definitely check out their last two records - Drowaton and Built on Sqaures. Though the Mints do an amazing job live, their multi-layered and straight-spacey records are something to behold (especially with headphones on.)

Live MP3s:
Intro
Sir Prize
Black Cat
Rinky-Dinky
Sugar Blaster
Goldstar
Pages
Brass Digger
Valerie Flames
Margarita
Please Please Please
Blinded By You
Submarine #3
Cracker Jack
San Diego

Labels: concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s, stuka

Here's the Tilly and the Wall companion show that I referenced a couple of days ago - Pony Up's set from Houston. Unfortunately I missed 2-3 songs - but caught the bulk of the set.

So if you haven't heard of Pony Up! heres your chance - their another one of those fun bands from Montreal and formed on New Years Eve 2002, so I thought that we would celebrate their 4 year anniversay by posting a show.

Interesting note - Pony Up played a new and unreleased song during this set called "Wet", and posted it on their MySpace account - check it out here. The take they used was from the Houston performance that - but sounds like a completely different mix then what I got. Again, playing off the different performance/different sound discussion that I went into on Tilly the other day, here is another example of how two recordings of the exact same song (and both off of the soundboard, mind you) can sound like they came from two different shows.

A note on my recording - I actually got a stereo mix of this show - ie, you could hear unique instruments and vocals in each channel. Though I really liked the mix, I ended up combining the two seperate channels into a pseudo-mono recordining. A lot of the vocals were coming out of one channel (and were then alternatingh channels, depending on who was singing). It sounded a bit jarring, the "mono" mix is a lot easier to listen to, especially in a car.


Live MP3s:
Make, Model, Number
Only Feelgood
Possible Harm
Wet
The Truth About Cats And Dogs (Is That They Die)

Labels: concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, numbers, soundboard mp3s

I love looking for images to go along with my posts - usually I run into something stunning - like this photo of Kianna Alarid from Tilly and the Wall, taken in the UK by wunderkind photographer Andrew Kendall. Check out more pictures from this show at Andrew's page here.

So here's the Tilly show from their recent stop in Houston - fantastic show with Pony Up and Houston's own The Western Civilization opening. For whatever stupid reason I didn't tape The Western Civilization, and I still regret it. Good news is that I did get Pony Up's set - and that will be coming later this week.

This was the 2nd time in 2006 that I've taped Tilly and the Wall - you can hear the one from June, here - and check out this one from their 2004 tour opening for Rilo Kiley. It's interesting to hear the sonic differences between the two shows - its not often that I get to tape the same band multiple times in the same year, and this opportunity presented a unique opportunity for me to hear the same band, with the same soundguy, at two different venues, taped off of two different boards.

This show, taped at Numbers Nightclub has a lot more of a "arena" rock feel to it - more prominent vocals, heavy reverb giving it a "big" sound - while the show from Walters on Washington was more keyboard and treble heavy, giving a more intimate feel to the audio. Check them both out and let me know what you think.

As always though, Tilly rocked - putting on a totally kick-ass and over-the-top performance encouraging wild crowd particaption. Someone had brought a bubble machine to the show and kept generating hundreds of bubbles which flow above the crowds head and exploding into various band members. If you have pictures, send em on!

Live MP3s:
Intro
Rainbows in the Dark
Reckless
Black and Blue
Love Song
Bessa
Fell Down The Stairs
The Freest Man
Sing Songs Along
You And I Misbehaving
Bad Education
Brave Day
A Perfect Fit
Lost Girls
Nights Of The Living Dead

Labels: concerts, houston, indie, live mp3s, numbers, soundboard mp3s

Justin Rosolino opened up for Matt Wertz at his recent gig in Houston - playing an intimate solo set. Proving he's got some stamina, he then also played with Matt during his set, providing backup vocals and guitar.

I can't remember why, but I ended up arriving at the show a little later then I planned and missed the first 2-3 songs from Justin's set. Never one to cry over spilled milk, I plugged in and got what I could.

Enjoy!

Live MP3s:
Anyone
I Want To Know Why
Oprah
Henry Fonda
St. Francis
Come Sweet Day
Outro

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

I remember back in early 2001, one of my friends asked me - have y0u heard of John Mayer?

No, I have not - I responded.

Man - he said - check out this live show - he's playing at a Sorority Party at the University of Oklahoma, and he's a really amazing singer-songwriter.

I put in the show, listened and loved it - here was an amazingly talented guitar player with obvious Blues influences who was also working in some Sting (and the Police) for good measure. And the boy could sing. (Speaking of this show, I'll pull it out one of these days and post it.)

In 2006 its easy to look at the uber-popular Mayer and dismiss him as a Top 40 golden child, producing music for the masses - but I tell you, I show him 5 times in 3 years, and the popularity he gained was directly attributable to his talent.

2001 - Contintal Club (300 people)
2002 - Numbers (1200 people)
2002 - Verizon Wireless Theate (2000 people)
2003 - Houston Rodeo (10s of thousands of people)
2004 - Woodlands Pavillion (14k people)

I tell this story, because listening to Matt Wertz reminds me of those first few Mayer shows - a guy and his guitar, singing his heart out, with a bunch of really cute girls singing along. He even reminds me of Mayer a little bit - though the songs as a whole are definitely happier.

I haven't actually seen any articles that talk about Matt being a Christian, but the crowd at this show was definitely focused on Jesus as Christ and Lord. A LOT of Younglife shirts around - and I think Matt even commented on a Younglife group coming out to see him.

Whatever the religious focus - these kids could sing. When mixing this show I tried to crank up all the sections with sing alongs. Check out Red Meets Blue for a particularly spectular audience participation moment - I've never heard a crowd be as in key as this one.

Beautiful show - Houston lucked out - Matt was actually on tour opening for Jars of Clay, had a night off, and played in Houston. So rather then a 45 minute opening set, Houston got a near hour and a half headlining one.

This was one of the few shows from the last several months that my girlfriend did not come to. When I played it for her she started moaning about how could I let her miss it. Don't make the same mistake she did - Matt's on tour for the next few months, be sure to check him out if he's coming near you.

Live Dates:
Wed 01/24/07 College Park, MD Santa Fe Cafe
Thu 01/25/07 Providence, RI Century Lounge
Fri 01/26/07 Boston, MA Boston University
Sat 01/27/07 Worcester, MA College Of The Holy Cross
Tue 01/30/07 Pittsburgh, PA Club Cafe
Wed 01/31/07 Cleveland, OH House Of Blues
Thu 02/01/07 Ann Arbor, MI The Ark
Fri 02/02/07 Madison, WI Majestic Theatre
Sat 02/03/07 Saint Paul, MN O'Shaughnessy Aud.
Mon 02/05/07 Ames, IA Maintenance Shop
Tue 02/06/07 Saint Louis, MO Blueberry Hill's Duck Room
Wed 02/07/07 Lawrence, KS Granada Theatre
Thu 02/08/07 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
Sat 03/24/07 Athens, GA University Of Georgia
Sat 04/14/07 Chicago, IL House Of Blues
Wed 04/25/07 Conway, AR The Burrow

Live MP3s:
Intro
Come Away
Everything's Right
The Way I Feel
Intro to...
Heartbreaker
Counting to 100
Sweetness in Starlight
Carolina
519
Capitol City
Wesley, Why
Marianne
Over You
Wandering Eyes
Like the Last Time
Matt on Ringtones
Matt on Mocha Club
With You Tonight
Matt on Hect
That For You
Into to...
Red Meets Blue - One - Red Meets Blue
Outro

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

Check out these beautiful photos of Jude taken during his show a couple of months ago at the Continental Club in Houston. I was looking for some photos of Jude to use on these last couple of posts - and found this one on Flickr, taken by local Houston resident "Slight Clutter". Check out her photography skills here.

Unfortunately I cant seem to be able to figure out how to download pics from Flickr so you're going to have to go over there to see them.

Since I prattled on about Jude for a while on my last post, I'll keep this short and sweet. Here's the Houston show from his short US tour to promote the release of his new record, Redemption. Be sure to pick it up from CDBABY.

Various highlights from this show - a lot of the requests got played, including Gnarls Barkleys Crazy, Save Me, Crescent Heights Shuffle (which became Main Street Shuffle), Battered Broken and my own personal request, Isnt It Over.

Oh and as a side note, I also videotaped both the Dallas and Houston show, when Ive got some time I'll convert them into MPG4 format and post them online for you all to download.

Live MP3s
Intro
Married
Im Sorry Now
Prophet
Jude Story - France
Break-Up Song
Your Eyes
Intro to...
Run To My Room
Rick James
I Know
Intro to...
Crescent Height Shuffle
Gay Cowboy
Intro to...
Indian Lover
Jude Story - I Do
I Do
You Mama You
Isnt It Over
Cuba
Brad & Suzy
Jude Story - Save Me & The OC
Save Me
Crazy
The Asshole Song
Intro to...
Battered Broken
Out of LA

Labels: concerts, continental club, houston, indie, jude, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s

So you may have noticed a slow down in posts lately. Well, there's a reasons for that - Lullabyes is moving all the way down the street (ie I-45) from H-Town aka Houston, to the Big D. Dallas, Texas. I've been in transition stage lately, and haven't had an Internet connection, thus no Blog Posts.

Now I've got to admit, I'm pretty excited about this move. Don't get me wrong, I love Houston. Of the (many) cities that I've lived in (including a previous stint in Dallas), Houston has been my absolute favorite. Beautiful town, great people, diverse cultures, more restuarants then you can shake a stick at, and of course its Space City. As a bit of sci-fi fan I've always liked knowing that NASA was just down the street.

With that said, from a musical perspective, its clear that Dallas gets a lot more concerts then Houston does - especially when it comes to Indie music. There's been many a night when I've been reading Gorilla vs Bear and been slightly pissed that some band is playing in Dallas, and skipping over Houston.

So - 2007 is going to be a good year. If anyone knows of a good show in Dallas that should get taped and shared, let me know!

More to come.

Labels: concerts, dallas, houston, indie, move