THE MUSIC MADE ME DO IT

Foreign Born Live

Foreign Born opened for St. Vincent on Friday night. Per the advice of some friends who had been to see shows at the Cedar before, I got there early so I could get a good spot to see everything. Caught Foreign Born's full set and have to say I was pleasantly surprised.

They had abundant energy and were very entertaining. I wasn't a fan of every song, but found myself liking most of what they played. If you're going to catch any of this short tour, I highly suggest you get there in time to see a little bit of their performance, if not all of it.

Foreign Born's site | MySpace | VIRB | Last.fm | iTunes | Amazon

St. Vincent Show / I <3 Annie Clark

It's official. I have a crush on Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent. I can't help it. Last night at the Cedar Cultural Center she disarmed me with her charm, humility and all-around resplendence. Then she blew me away with her ambrosial vocal dexterity and gift of being able to strum a delicate string of chords together on the guitar one minute and completely shred it with mastery the next.

I had some notion of what to expect going into the night and had been looking forward to it all week. At the end of the evening, all of my expectations were greatly surpassed and I now have a new-found appreciation for Ms. Clark not only as a chanteuse, but also as a delightful woman willing to share more than just her music with her fans.

Some artists use pedals, effects and a variety of microphones to cover for a lack of talent. Not Annie. She uses these tools to take her music and natural abilities to another level. She kept the pace of the show undulating expertly throughout the night, starting off with a couple of her more popular/known songs*, moving into a mix of stuff off of Marry Me, bringing out one or two new songs and rocking out a phenomenal solo cover of The Beatles song "Dig A Pony."

(*I think she opened with Now Now and Jesus Saves, I Spend. I could be off though.)

Her interactions with the crowd were endearing and engaging. Between songs, she responded to louder comments made by enamored members of the audience and shared stories from recent adventures on the road. She was genuine and playful. At times, she was even a bit demure. She appeared to be truly flattered that people applauded and cheered after each song. When she couldn't quite get her guitar tuned to the perfect note, rather than continue fussing with it, she'd just stop, say something to the effect of, "Oh, the hell with it. It's a rock show, right?" and then begin playing.

Every glowing review that has been written of her live performances is well deserved. I can honestly say this was one of the best shows I've been to in quite some time. It was one of those shows where nobody in the audience wanted to see it come to an end, least of all, myself. I will definitely go back to see her the next time she comes to town or if she happens to be playing somewhere I also am at the moment.

Thank you, Annie. Thank you for not only sharing your music with the world, but for also being so open, real, elegant and interesting when performing it.

ilovestvincent.com | MySpace | VIRB | Last.fm | iTunes | Amazon

Related: Here's a video of her performing "Dig A Pony" in a NY music store:

Bon Iver (Justin Vernon)

photo via Aaron Landry

One of my co-workers tipped me off to Justin Vernon's new band/role, Bon Iver, on Thursday. She saw him play at Electric Fetus on Wednesday night. DOH! Why couldn't I have found out about this before! And why and I just finding out about him now! Oh well. At least I know of him now and will be all over his new album, For Emma, Forever Ago, when it is relaunched on Tuesday. (Unless when I swing by Electric Fetus in a bit, they have it.)

The story behind Bon Iver's new album is quite possibly one of the most interesting back stories to an album I've heard in quite some time. The story goes:

It wasn't planned.  The goal was to hibernate.

Justin Vernon moved to a remote cabin in the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin at the onset of winter.  Tailing from the swirling breakup of his long time band, he escaped to the property and surrounded himself with simple work, quiet, and space.  He lived there alone for three months, filling his days with wood splitting and other chores around the land.  This special time slowly began feeding a bold, uninhibited new musical focus.

This slowly evolved into days filled with twelve-hour recording blocks, breaking only for trips on the tractor into the pines to saw and haul firewood, or for frozen sunrises high up a deer stand.  All of his personal trouble, lack of perspective, heartache, longing, love, loss and guilt that had been stock piled over the course of the past six years, was suddenly purged into the form of song.  The end result is, For Emma, Forever Ago, a nine-song album comprised of what's been dubbed a striking debut by critics and fans alike. 

Bon Iver (pronounced: bohn eevair; French for "good winter" and spelled wrong on purpose) is a greeting, a celebration and a sentiment.  It is a new statement of an artist moving on and establishing the groundwork for a lasting career.  For Emma, Forever Ago is the debut of this lineage of songs.  As a whole, the record is entirely cohesive throughout and remains centered around a particular aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded. Vernon seems to have tested his boundaries to the utmost, and in doing so has managed to break free form any pre-cursing or finished forms.

For Emma's tracks consist of thick layers draped in lush choral walls, with rarely more than an ancient acoustic guitar or the occasional bass drum providing structure.  Vernon sings the majority of the record in falsetto, which painfully expresses the meanings behind its overt, yet strangely entangled words. This newfound vocal path acts as each song's main character and source of melody.

Despite its complexity, the record was created entirely by Vernon with nothing more than a few microphones and some aged recording equipment.  This homemade aspect shows itself in sections as creaks and accidentals are exposed in the folds of the songs, but is hidden well by the highly impressive and almost orchestral sound that Vernon managed to produce by his lonesome, within the creaky skeleton of his father's cabin.

In addition to the above videos, there's another one from The Current for the song Lump Sum on their YouTube channel, plus many more on YouTube.

Reviews, interviews, etc.: Pitchfork, Stereogum, Reveille, Newsvine, Muzzle of Bees, My Old Kentucky Blog

Performances, tracks: MPR, Hype Machine, Brooklyn Vegan

Tour dates

For Emma, Forever Ago comes out on Tuesday (2/19), but you can pre-order it from his label (Jagjaguwar) or Amazon.com now. According to the note on the Jagjaguwar page, their pre-order comes with an offset-printed poster.

Jagjaguwar Records Page | VIRB | MySpace |  Last.fm  |   iTunes | Amazon

Liam Finn - Second Chance (Live)

Liam Finn, the singer-songwriter son of Crowded House’s Neil Finn, is on several "Artists to Watch" or "Bands to Watch" lists and for very good reason, in my opinion. Just watching these two takes on the same song make me want to go see him. It's a good thing then that he's on tour now.

Playing 400 Bar in Minneapolis 3/1

Playing Hi Dive in Denver 3/10

LiamFinn.tv | MySpace | VIRB | Last.fm | iTunes | Amazon

Liam Finn - Second Chance Video

St. Vincent Live

I didn't get to the St. Vincent & The National show early enough last fall to see Annie Clark perform, so I decided to go see her this coming Friday. Then I remembered that Scheduletwo.com left me a note on my Last.fm page that they had videos of her live, so went to check it out. This makes me really look forward to Friday.

photo via sarahana_sh

In looking up info on her and the show, I came across this. There are plenty more great pics and a review of her show at Bowery Ballroom  there.

ilovestvincent.com | MySpace | VIRB | Last.fm | iTunes | Amazon

89.3 FM The Current - Minneapolis, MN

Just came across this video looking for a video on another artist on YouTube. I'm very glad I did as I discovered that my favorite radio station up here has a great YouTube channel. If you'd like to listen in on their broadcasts, and I highly recommend that you do, you can get their stream here.

Related note: If you're a fan of Cloud Cult, here's the video for Pretty Voice.

Cat Power (Chan Marshall) Live

photo credit

Went to see Cat Power last Monday night at First Avenue. Ms. Marshall was backed by the outstanding Dirty Delta Blues. I went into the show not knowing what to expect. I'd heard that she had been known in the past to have "outbursts" on stage. I'd also heard that she has pretty much gotten through that and has been putting on incredible shows. This show certainly fell into the latter.

She definitely seemed a little uncomfortable/fidgety at times. She was constantly messing with the buttons on her shirt and ducking off to the side of the stage to grab a sip of Sugar-Free Red Bull while the band played out a chorus or section of a song. But she pushed through those moments and sang both her own songs and her own versions of other peoples' songs gorgeously.

As with the covers, she sang her own material different than it sounds on the albums, which I really enjoyed. I have always admired her voice and it came through beautifully clear on this night. She was charming, sweet and as the night went on and she became more comfortable, engaging. While it wasn't the most energetic show you'll go to, it was more so than I expected and I'd go see her again in a second.

For a sample of what the Minneapolis show was like, here's a clip from the same tour, two nights prior in Toronto. This very well could have been last Monday night here in regard to her motions and movements on stage. Anyway, here you go:

Matador Records | catpowerthegreatest.com | MySpace | Last.fm | iTunes | Amazon

My Music Blog: v2.0

This didn't go so well in version one. So, we'll give it a go with version two. This time, I'll just look to share music related things I enjoy as I come across them. Videos that aren't interesting enough creatively to go on the planning blog, but still a song I like or something interesting. Music blogs that I find helpful and enjoy reading. Shows I go to or am going to. You get the picture. Just stuff about music by someone who LOVES music above all his other interests except for maybe what he does for a living.