Like many people, I like to give my friends who hail from New Jersey crap for their home state. Ragging on NJ is just the American way. Obviously, Jersey has produced some excellent music in the past (I recently stole my dad's record collection, but have yet to throw The Boss on the turntable) and the state is staring to really get my attention. I've been listening to the Gaslight Anthem for around a year or so and their most recent effort - "American Slang" - is proving to be just as strong as "The'59 Sound". I can talk about the Gaslight Anthem some other time, though, because I can't get Steel Train out of my head right now. I heard the song "Bullet" on the consistently high quality summer mix tape from Heather Browne's I Am Fuel, You Are Friends blog and just can't seem to shake it from my brain. This is not a bad thing. The tone of the Gaslight Anthem strikes me as a combination of regret and redemption, but Steel Train's sound seems to be at the other end of the spectrum, swelling with hope and dreams. I would definitely pay for a concert lineup of Steel Train opening for the Gaslight Anthem. Hope and Dreams followed by Regret and Redemption. That may sound depressing on paper, but would sound fantastic in a concert hall.
I've been away from this space for too long, so I'll offer up 3 Steel Train videos as a peace offering to my endless amount of readers (I hope that reads with the intended sarcasm...anyway, enjoy).
"Bullet" live in Cleveland:
"S.O.G. Burning in Hell" also live in Cleveland:
"Bullet" stripped down to just one guitar:
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Living in Colour with Frightened Rabbit
Most of the time, I can't seem to understand exactly what Scott Hutchison sings through his Scottish accent, but the raw emotion laid out in every Frightened Rabbit song I've heard is enough to sell me on the band. Every songwriting session must be laden with catharsis. Until seeing/listening to their recent stop by the KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic program, I didn't realize how sweeping, soaring, and darn near epic (ok, so I might be exaggerating a bit, but the point is that there's more to it than I originally thought) their live performance can be. See for yourself:
Friday, June 11, 2010
MOP II: Josh Rouse - 1972
Funny thing about ambition is that it only really works when coupled with discipline. Months ago, I posted something I call the Music Organization Project (MOP for short) and wrote about my rediscovery of "The Garden" by Zero 7 and I haven't really taken the time to do any laptop organization since. Due to some newfound organizational discipline stemming from some extensive filing work around my house (yeah, that's how exciting our weekends have been lately) and my slightly diminished to do list at work, I was able to dive back into the MOP today.
The fruit of my lunchtime labor is a return to the warm and sunny "1972" by Josh Rouse. I owe my introduction to Josh Rouse to catching a snippet of his song "Directions" while watching the movie Vanilla Sky. I ended up impulse buying his album "Under Cold Blue Stars" and couldn't have been happier with my blind spending. To this day, "Under Cold Blue Stars" remains one of my favorite albums and gets regular play on my stereo system, mp3 player, and work computer. My next Rouse purchase was backtracking to his debut album, "Dressed Up Like Nebraska". "1972" was the first Josh Rouse album I was able to get my hands on at the time of its release. It was a little strange to hear at first, because my 2 album Josh Rouse experience had me expecting some kind of modern folk/alt-country/americana to come out of the speakers. Instead (looking back, I can see that it was his goal), I was treated to something that could have come right out of the early 70s. I love it when something can be both new and somehow familiar, and Rouse hit it right on the head with "1972". I think this'll have to be the soundtrack for my ride home so I can smile my way through the inevitable weekend beach traffic I'm going to get stuck in.
Josh Rouse - Love Vibration
And because this makes me smile, here are 2 kids dancing to "Come Back (Light Therapy)" (also off of 1972)
The fruit of my lunchtime labor is a return to the warm and sunny "1972" by Josh Rouse. I owe my introduction to Josh Rouse to catching a snippet of his song "Directions" while watching the movie Vanilla Sky. I ended up impulse buying his album "Under Cold Blue Stars" and couldn't have been happier with my blind spending. To this day, "Under Cold Blue Stars" remains one of my favorite albums and gets regular play on my stereo system, mp3 player, and work computer. My next Rouse purchase was backtracking to his debut album, "Dressed Up Like Nebraska". "1972" was the first Josh Rouse album I was able to get my hands on at the time of its release. It was a little strange to hear at first, because my 2 album Josh Rouse experience had me expecting some kind of modern folk/alt-country/americana to come out of the speakers. Instead (looking back, I can see that it was his goal), I was treated to something that could have come right out of the early 70s. I love it when something can be both new and somehow familiar, and Rouse hit it right on the head with "1972". I think this'll have to be the soundtrack for my ride home so I can smile my way through the inevitable weekend beach traffic I'm going to get stuck in.
Josh Rouse - Love Vibration
And because this makes me smile, here are 2 kids dancing to "Come Back (Light Therapy)" (also off of 1972)
Thursday, May 27, 2010
We should always know that we can do anything
It is getting hot here by the Chesapeake Bay. The one thing I may never get used to around here is the amount of humidity we deal with on a regular basis in the summer. Just too sticky of a climate for me, I think. Good thing I don't live any further (or is that farther?) south.
So anyway, getting to the musical point of the post, I love how songs and weather can play off of each other and enhance the listening experience. I can even manage to get a smile on my face with the sun out, the windows down, and the right song coming through my speakers on the way into work in the morning. A song that keeps popping up on my random playlist of everything I can think to include is "Go Do" off of the recent solo effort "Go" by Sigur Ros frontman, Jonsi. Its no secret that Sigur Ros is a favorite of mine even if some of my friends and old roommates weren't too keen on their sound. While Sigur Ros's music has this kind of epic, contemplative, dreamlike feel to it, Jonsi's solo work is all exuberance, hope, and sunshine.
"Go Do" is a perfect example of the kind of music that can take a hot, sunny day and just shine it up a bit more. If you're a pure cynic, I don't know if Jonsi is for you. There is just way too much hope that shines through the songs on "Go". On "Go Do", I'm personally drawn to the Baba O'Reily-esque manic chaos of the music that Jonsi's voice soars over. See for yourself. Here's 2 versions of the song (one with full band and one as a duo with a peacock strutting around the stage...did I mention Jonsi is a crazy person? Of course that makes me like his music even more).
Jonsi - Go Do:
So anyway, getting to the musical point of the post, I love how songs and weather can play off of each other and enhance the listening experience. I can even manage to get a smile on my face with the sun out, the windows down, and the right song coming through my speakers on the way into work in the morning. A song that keeps popping up on my random playlist of everything I can think to include is "Go Do" off of the recent solo effort "Go" by Sigur Ros frontman, Jonsi. Its no secret that Sigur Ros is a favorite of mine even if some of my friends and old roommates weren't too keen on their sound. While Sigur Ros's music has this kind of epic, contemplative, dreamlike feel to it, Jonsi's solo work is all exuberance, hope, and sunshine.
"Go Do" is a perfect example of the kind of music that can take a hot, sunny day and just shine it up a bit more. If you're a pure cynic, I don't know if Jonsi is for you. There is just way too much hope that shines through the songs on "Go". On "Go Do", I'm personally drawn to the Baba O'Reily-esque manic chaos of the music that Jonsi's voice soars over. See for yourself. Here's 2 versions of the song (one with full band and one as a duo with a peacock strutting around the stage...did I mention Jonsi is a crazy person? Of course that makes me like his music even more).
Jonsi - Go Do:
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Tracking down "So Runs the World Away" and Josh Ritter's continued brilliance
Today brings what will probably go down as my most anticipated album of the year. The new effort from Josh Ritter, "So Runs the World Away," hit the shelves and I escaped my office to go track it down over lunch. I learned a few things during my little lunchtime adventure: Best Buy hates Josh Ritter, Borders wins the award for store of the day, and Annapolis really needs a decent music store. Anyway, I ended my adventure with a copy of the album in hand and I was soon richly rewarded for my struggles.
In short, Josh Ritter continues to be fantastic. I've listened to the new album thrice already and will probably leave it in my car for at least the rest of the summer.
I first came across Ritter's music via a download of a handful of live tracks from a performance in Berlin (or some other European city I haven't been to). I think I listened to "Girl in the War" about 20teen times that day (of course 20teen is a number...it means "a lot"). Soon after, I made my way to City Lights Records and got my hands on a copy of "The Animal Years" while noting that Greg already had the album poster mounted proudly to one of the few bare spots left on the store walls. To this day, "The Animal Years" remains one of my favorite and most revisitable albums.
Shortly after my wife and I moved to Annpolis, we bought tickets to see Josh Ritter play at not-too-far-away the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. I think we can both agree that it was one of the best concert experiences of our lives. Ritter's backing band was nothing more than a side table with a lamp and a water bottle on it. He took the stage in his best Mark Twainesque white suit and proceeded to own the room for what could have been 2 hours or 2 years. He really was that good. There was a moment during that set that I think solidified his place in my just now made up Pantheon of songwriters. He started into an - as of then - unreleased song, "The Temptation of Adam," with the audience eating up every word of his witty and literate storytelling (I believe every great singer/songwriter is just a storyteller that needed something to do with their hands and managed to find a suitable instrument) and then hit us with the WWIII line (see/hear below). I'm not doing the experience justice with my meandering description here, but it was just a galvanizing moment in the crowd. Not so much that it was a funny line that we all "got," but that we were all witnessing something truly unique and special and mostly unknown. Sadly, Josh Ritter still seems mostly unknown, as shown by the fact that the store that is supposed to have new albums for sale every Tuesday seems to hat him (no Josh Ritter tab at all in the 'R' section and only 1 lonely copy of "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" to show that the artist even exists). I guess I'll really see how well known he has become in the years since I last saw him live, as my wife and I are catching him again this weekend in DC. I may be setting the bar too high, but if the continued quality of his albums are any indication, the show should be a happy repeat of that last concert, but with a full band to complement Josh, instead of just a little table.
I could write for days about how much I enjoy Josh Ritter's music, but I'll just leave you with my current favorite of his, a little missle silo love story that I mentioned above.
In short, Josh Ritter continues to be fantastic. I've listened to the new album thrice already and will probably leave it in my car for at least the rest of the summer.
I first came across Ritter's music via a download of a handful of live tracks from a performance in Berlin (or some other European city I haven't been to). I think I listened to "Girl in the War" about 20teen times that day (of course 20teen is a number...it means "a lot"). Soon after, I made my way to City Lights Records and got my hands on a copy of "The Animal Years" while noting that Greg already had the album poster mounted proudly to one of the few bare spots left on the store walls. To this day, "The Animal Years" remains one of my favorite and most revisitable albums.
Shortly after my wife and I moved to Annpolis, we bought tickets to see Josh Ritter play at not-too-far-away the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. I think we can both agree that it was one of the best concert experiences of our lives. Ritter's backing band was nothing more than a side table with a lamp and a water bottle on it. He took the stage in his best Mark Twainesque white suit and proceeded to own the room for what could have been 2 hours or 2 years. He really was that good. There was a moment during that set that I think solidified his place in my just now made up Pantheon of songwriters. He started into an - as of then - unreleased song, "The Temptation of Adam," with the audience eating up every word of his witty and literate storytelling (I believe every great singer/songwriter is just a storyteller that needed something to do with their hands and managed to find a suitable instrument) and then hit us with the WWIII line (see/hear below). I'm not doing the experience justice with my meandering description here, but it was just a galvanizing moment in the crowd. Not so much that it was a funny line that we all "got," but that we were all witnessing something truly unique and special and mostly unknown. Sadly, Josh Ritter still seems mostly unknown, as shown by the fact that the store that is supposed to have new albums for sale every Tuesday seems to hat him (no Josh Ritter tab at all in the 'R' section and only 1 lonely copy of "The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter" to show that the artist even exists). I guess I'll really see how well known he has become in the years since I last saw him live, as my wife and I are catching him again this weekend in DC. I may be setting the bar too high, but if the continued quality of his albums are any indication, the show should be a happy repeat of that last concert, but with a full band to complement Josh, instead of just a little table.
I could write for days about how much I enjoy Josh Ritter's music, but I'll just leave you with my current favorite of his, a little missle silo love story that I mentioned above.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
M. Ward is too cool for school
Don't believe me? I have proof:
She & Him - In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.
The sun is out, but it's supposed to rain soon, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts with some new She & Him. My wife and I just got the new album ("Volume Two") last Friday and "In the Sun" jumped out immediately as an early favorite. My short opinion on She & Him: I like them. The music is familiar and fresh at the same time, and just the right amount of sweet. It makes me smile and somtimes that's all a band needs to do.
One more for the road: "Thieves" live on Kimmel
She & Him - In The Sun from Merge Records on Vimeo.
The sun is out, but it's supposed to rain soon, so I'm enjoying it while it lasts with some new She & Him. My wife and I just got the new album ("Volume Two") last Friday and "In the Sun" jumped out immediately as an early favorite. My short opinion on She & Him: I like them. The music is familiar and fresh at the same time, and just the right amount of sweet. It makes me smile and somtimes that's all a band needs to do.
One more for the road: "Thieves" live on Kimmel
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Getting back to normalcy
On this day of reckoning, I'm back to inject some life into Seabass Says. Though it is Tax Day, it is also my last day of preparation for my big day long exam tomorrow. I'm off from work, putting my suitcase full of reference material together, and trying to relax and fend off the stress. As I'm transitioning from full on study mode back to normalcy, I'm cleaning up the stack of CDs I've amassed over the last couple weeks of reading and problem solving. So I guess I'll just go ahead and recommend the whole stack for anyone in need of some good relaxing background music to study by, or just pass some time with.
In no particular order, here are my study albums:
Oren Lavie - The Opposite Side of the Sea
The Beta Band - Hot Shots II
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Sigur Ros - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Iron and Wine - Around the Well
Beth Orton - Pass in Time
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
The Postal Service - Give Up
Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Norah Jones - The Fall
Olafur Arnalds - Found Songs
Nick Drake - Way To Blue (An Introduction to Nick Drake)
Eastmountainsouth - Eastmountainsouth
Yo La Tengo - Prisoners of Love
Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy Soundtrack
Son Volt - Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Duncan Sheik - White Limousine
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Bringing two of my study music providers together (from a show I missed about a year ago) is The Shins covering the Beta Band...enjoy.
The Shins - Dry the Rain
In no particular order, here are my study albums:
Oren Lavie - The Opposite Side of the Sea
The Beta Band - Hot Shots II
Mogwai - The Hawk is Howling
Sigur Ros - með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Iron and Wine - Around the Well
Beth Orton - Pass in Time
The Shins - Chutes Too Narrow
The Postal Service - Give Up
Iron and Wine - Our Endless Numbered Days
Norah Jones - The Fall
Olafur Arnalds - Found Songs
Nick Drake - Way To Blue (An Introduction to Nick Drake)
Eastmountainsouth - Eastmountainsouth
Yo La Tengo - Prisoners of Love
Badly Drawn Boy - About a Boy Soundtrack
Son Volt - Okemah and the Melody of Riot
Duncan Sheik - White Limousine
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Bringing two of my study music providers together (from a show I missed about a year ago) is The Shins covering the Beta Band...enjoy.
The Shins - Dry the Rain
Friday, March 19, 2010
I just can't find the time to write my mind the way I want it to read
While I acknowledge that there has been little to no activity here at Seabass Says lately, I do have an explaination for all 4 of you concerned citizens of the internet. After weathering a round of layoffs at work, I'm now responsible for 2 jobs worth of work, so I don't even have lunchtime to take care of feeding rambling and YouTube links to my hungry blog. In addition to my work time demands, I'm busy studying for a big important certification exam when I have free time at home (and if I'm not studying, I'm catching up on Tivoed shows because my brain has turned to complete mush). The exam is in the middle of April, so I hope to post more often after that. In the meantime, I'll try to get a few quick posts up here and there. To further explain my plight, I turn to Messers Tweedy and Browne:
Wilco - Box Full of Letters
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
Wilco - Box Full of Letters
Jackson Browne - Running on Empty
Friday, March 5, 2010
Beautiful Blues Indeed
In bittersweet celebration of yours truly weathering the storm of layoffs that has been gathering for the last month or more, I offer the somehow perfectly fitting group of songs that played on my work computer as the fit hit the shan (I picked ridiculous videos to bookend this on purpose...I need a good dose of silly right now):
"Countdown" by Phoenix
"Caring is Creepy" by The Shins
"Adrift" by Jack Johnson
"Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" by Eels
"Countdown" by Phoenix
"Caring is Creepy" by The Shins
"Adrift" by Jack Johnson
"Mr. E's Beautiful Blues" by Eels
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Lost Month of Febtober
It was the thirteenth day of the thirteenth month...
So February was a bit of a lost month here at Seabass Says. I plan on getting back into this and picking up the pace through March. In the meantime, I leave you with this gem (stick around at least through the 1:30 mark. I don't really have the words in me to describe it):
So February was a bit of a lost month here at Seabass Says. I plan on getting back into this and picking up the pace through March. In the meantime, I leave you with this gem (stick around at least through the 1:30 mark. I don't really have the words in me to describe it):
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