Album Review: Amos Lee

Amos Lee's back with his third album, Last Days at the Lodge, which seems to firmly cement his existence as a fantastic musician with Blue Note Records. As his last album, Supply and Demand changed things up from his folk/acoustic self titled start, this one once again changes a bit, with a different sound. I like change, and this year seems to be the year for it, with the big bands, such as Death Cab for Cutie, Coldplay and a couple others releasing albums with a very different sound.

Last Days at the Lodge introduces some new sounds to Lee's repertoire. Listen is energetic. Won't Let Me Go sounds very R&B to me, with which he does wonders. Truth has a great country/folk feel to it, and Street Corner Preacher feels funky. Lee doesn't abandon his roots, however. Baby, I Want You feels a lot like Arms of a Woman, a little more refined, while What's Been Going On pulls the feel from Supply and Demand. There's new territory here as well - Jails and Bombs, Kid, and Listen have a sort of new sound that blends everything together nicely.

With the various styles that Lee has here, Last Days at the Lodge is charting somewhat unfamiliar territory - it's almost like he's trying to figure out which way to do, and with this varied and rich album, there's feelers out everywhere. This is the biggest strength of the album - we see an artist who is experimenting with his sound, who shows that he still has the same fantastic songwriting skills that we saw from him when he began, but also that he's creating a new and ever richer sound as time goes on.

Quite simply, this is one of the best albums of the year.

Ease Back - Amos Lee

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Concert Review: Twi the Humble Feather and José González

(Picture J.Muntz)

Last night, one of my favorite artists came to town - José González. I've been a huge fan of his for nearly three years now, and seeing him in person has been on my MUST DO list for about that entire time. I've thought about driving down to Boston several times when he's been in time, but things like real life have gotten in the way.
Last night, he played a set at the Higher Ground music hall in South Burlington, his first time in Vermont, alongside a Brooklyn called Twi the Humble Feather.

I did a quick listen to these guys on myspace prior to the concert, and I don't know what it was, but I wasn't that into them. However, seeing them in person and with my brother (who's a music major), I loved their performance. They have a unique, complex and layered sound from the trio, who are all playing in the classical style that just blew me away. The vocals were really interesting, and they really varied their sound and pacing throughout their short set.

Space Ships
The Adventures of Castle One
Music for Spaceships and Forests
Higher At the End
Unknown

José González blew me away even more. Completely, and I can say that this was one of the best concerts that I've ever been to, despite the fact that I couldn't see him half the time because of the tall people in front of me.
I've long been a fan of his guitarwork but what I've never gotten listening to his albums is the physical presence and feel of his playing. The reverb from his guitar along was felt through the entire room, and his voice was clearer than most of the artists that I've seen play in that room. Soundwise, this was the clearest, perfect type of sound - it was sublime, and I was getting chills listening to it.
González's set was fantastic, playing a nice mix of songs from his two albums, hitting the really big songs, such as Heartbeats, Teardrop, Killing for Love, and Crosses, but some of the other ones, such as Fold, The Nest and Abram.
González's voice was incredible. It was strong, and soft, absolutely perfect for this style of music, and combined with his guitar playing, I can easily say that this was one of the best shows I've ever seen.

How Low
Hints
Fold
Hearbeats (The Knife)
The Nest
All You Deliver
Stay in the Shade
Lovestain
Down the Line
Broken Arrows
Deadweight on Velvetine
Crosses
Cycling Trivialities
Teardrop (Massive Attack)
Encore:
Abram
Killing For Love
Time To Send Someone Away
Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division)

Higher Than the End - Twi the Humble Feather

Heartbeats (The Knife) - José González
Down the Line - José González

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New Artist: AM

I came across this singer/songwriter the other day in my e-mail: AM. While his name makes him harder to find when doing a Google search, I've found that he's an interesting singer with a sound that I'm really enjoying. To me, he sounds somewhat like Cary Brothers and Chris Stills, two artists that I've really enjoyed recently.
This is one reason why I really like blogging about music - I can come up across artists who I'd probably not come across otherwise, and I get to help get their sound out a bit. AM's sound is one that I can easily see being featured on TV shows, given the quality and style of the music that's typically featured.
This album has a nice, laid back sound to it. There's a good rhythm to all of the songs, and some very good guitarwork for a couple of them. Soul Variations is this guy's second album, with a smaller release this year called Side By Side: Duets, Vol 1, with some interesting pairups, including Meiko and Tina Dico.


Old Song - AM
Endings Are Beginnings - AM

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RIP George Carlin

George Carlin passed away last night at the age of 71. No doubt that he'd have something funny to say about it, but man, this sucks. He was possibly one of the greatest comedians of this half of the century, and I've seen him twice. Sigh.

Seven Words You Can't Say on Television - George Carlin

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Cover and Original: Coldplay Covers

Continuing with Coldplay things this week, I did a little digging around and found a couple of good covers that Coldplay has done recently of other artists, and a couple of Coldplay songs that have been covered by other artists.

Coldplay's done two pretty good covers - 2000 Miles, originally by the Pretenders, and Can't Get You Out Of My Head, originally by Kylie Minogue. In both instances, they provide their own solid sound to each, which is pretty nice to hear. Helena Noguerra also does her own version of Can't Get You Out Of My Head, which is pretty neat.

As far as Coldplay covers go, I've found two. Clocks, by Jeff Bujak, which is a fair cover. I heard a couple mistakes here and there, but it's a pretty faithful version of the song. The second cover is by one of my favorite artists, Gregory Douglass, who's doing covers on Youtube, this one of Coldplay's newest hit, Viva La Vida. It's also a pretty fair cover. This is certainly something that's new with the youtube era, for artists to cover something for their fans, using Youtube as a way to distribute things.

2000 Miles (The Pretenders) - Coldplay
2000 Miles - The Pretenders

Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Kylie Minogue) - Coldplay
Can't Get You Out Of My Head (Kylie Minogue) - Helena Noguerra
Can't Get You Out Of My Head - Kylie Minogue

Clocks (Coldplay) - Jeff Bujak
Clocks - Coldplay

Viva La Vida (Coldplay) - Gregory Douglass
Viva La Vida - Coldplay

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Duet - Coldplay & Others

To celebrate (not sure that's the right word or not) the release of Coldplay's latest album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, I'm bringing back the Duets feature with a couple of favorite times that Coldplay has performed with some other people. This time around, it's In The Sun, originally a Joseph Arthur song, where they perform with Michael Stipe, of R.E.M. fame. The second one is of a very favorite song of mine, Bittersweet Symphony, where they play with Verve's lead singer Richard Ashcroft.
Both duets are really fun to listen to, although in both cases, Chris Martin says of each song: This is the best song ever written. So, which is better?

In The Sun (Joseph Arthur) - Coldplay & Michael Stipe
Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve) - Coldplay & Richard Ashcroft

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Review: Viva La Vida, or, Coldplay Returns

Coldplay's back with their latest album in a couple of years. I've long been a Coldplay fan, and this album is particularly welcome. A Rush of Blood to the Head and Parachutes were fantastic albums, but X&Y was more of a letdown, and it took me some time to really get into it. Viva La Vida reverses the trend, and in my humble opinion, is one of the best Coldplay albums out there.

Viva La Vida is lively, full of energy and intensity, right from the first track of the album, Life in Technicolor. The rest of the album follows suit - Cemeteries of London, Lovers in Japan/Reign of Love, Yes, Viva La Vida, Violet Hill, Strawberry Swing, all full of life. This album really shows a transition with the group, and I like the shift in sound. The album is tighter, intense and interesting to listen to. There are songs here that are on par with Clocks and Speed of Sound, and I suspect that Viva La Vida will be the band's biggest album thus far.

One of the things that I really like here is that they group manages to pack a lot of material into the album. It's relatively short - 45 minutes or so. But several songs could almost become two songs, changing completely into different sounds halfway through, such as Yes and Lovers in Japan.

I'm hoping to see these guys in August, (although I'm a little worried that the date will conflict with something else) because I'm sure that their live shows this summer will be outstanding.

Viva La Vida - Coldplay

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And, We're Back!

(This isn't music related - I'm just plugging another site that I work for.)

This has me really, really excited. The Unofficial Clone Wars site is now back and running!

From 2003 to 2006, I worked on this webpage in the leadup to the movie Revenge of the Sith, helping put together one of the biggest and most comprehensive Clone Wars databases out there, with information on the characters, locations, battles, reviews and interviews. After Revenge of the Sith, we all took a break, and the site went by the wayside.

Until now - with the movie coming out this August, we decided to dust it off and start again, and the side can now be seen at its new home: http://theclonewarz.net. Go check it out and let us know what you think!

New Artist: Oren Lavie

I've often found that the television is a good medium for coming across new songs and artists. The use of an artist's song in any number of TV shows, from House to Scrubs to Grey's Anatomy and more, have led to a number of artist's rise and/or popularity, from Alexi Murdoch, the Shins, Brandi Carlile, and Feist, to name just a couple. While watching TV last night, I came across a new song, which really grabbed me, and prompted me to look it up on the intraweb earlier today to come across a really fantastic new artist named Orin Lavie.

The commercial was for the Chevy Malibu, and it's actually a pretty clever one (watch it below.) But what really grabbed me was the song, Her Morning Elegance. It's soft, easy going and really really good.

..

Oren, as I've listened to him this morning, has a sound somewhere along the lines of Sting, Rufus Wainwright, Chris Stills, but along with his own unique aspects. What's nice is that he's not a copy of any of these artists. With some that I've listened to, they have all the right aspects that I'm looking for, but sound too much like other people that I like. This is not the case here.

Lavie hails from Israel, although he's since moved around a bit, ending up in Berlin, where he started recording his first album, The Opposite Side In The Sea, which has been in the works for the past couple of years, being released in Europe in 2007, and in the US digitally in January of this year - apparently, we'll be getting a hard copy sometime this year here.

Her Morning Elegance - Oren Lavie

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New Video - Thirty One Today

The video for Aimee Mann's latest single, Thirty One Today, off of her 7th album, @#x%x*! Smilers is now up:

..

I'm not entirely sure what I think about it. It's a fantastic, if depressing song, but the video doesn't really fit all that well with it.

Thirty-One Today - Aimee Mann

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Jon Regen - Let It Go

One of my favorite 2008 discoveries, Jon Regen, has written in with a couple updates. He's back from his European tour and is planning another that will kick off in July:

• July 19 2008 8:00 PM
  GRIZANE FESTIVAL Griziane, Italy
• July 20-28 2008 TBA
  LA GHIRONDA FESTIVAL Puglia, Italy
• September 25-27 2008 8:00 PM
  PIZZA EXPRESS JAZZ CLUB London, UK

I'm guessing that there will be more added to this.

In the meantime, you can download the title track to his latest album, Let It Go, for free from his website.

Let It Go - Jon Regen

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Coldplay Revises Tour Schedule

Coldplay, who's new album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends (Say that ten times fast) is being released today in the Japan, tomorrow in the UK and next week in the US, has released an updated list of concert dates, pushing the tour further into the summer. Here's the list:

July 14 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
July 15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Forum
July 18 - San Jose, CA - HP Pavilion
July 19 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
July 23 - Chicago, IL - United Center
July 25 - Philadelphia, PA - Wachovia Center
July 27 - Pemberton Festival
July 29 - Montreal, QB - Bell Centre
July 30 - Toronto, ON - Air Canada Centre
August 02 - Hartford, CT - XL Center
August 03 - Washington, DC - Verizon Center
August 04 - Boston, MA - TD Banknorth Arena
October 20 - Ottawa, ON - Scotiabank Place
October 21 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
October 26 - East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Center
November 03 - Detroit, MI - The Palace of Auburn Hills
November 07 - Orlando, FL - Amway Arena
November 09 - Ft Lauderdale, FL - BankAtlantic Center
November 11 - Atlanta, GA - Philips Arena
November 13 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
November 14 - St Paul, MO - Xcel Energy Center
November 16 - Oklahoma City, OK - Ford Center
November 18 - Houston, TX - Toyota Center
November 19 - Dallas, TX - American Airlines Center
November 21 - Denver, CO - Pepsi Center Arena
November 22 - Salt Lake City, UT - Energy Solutions Arena
November 26 - Phoenix, AZ - Jobing.com Arena

Oooh, they're coming to Boston. I'd love to get tickets to that show. Or the Hartford one. Hm...

Sleeping Sun - Coldplay

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John Adams out on DVD Today

This is what I'm getting today - John Adams, the HBO Miniseries. From the first couple episodes that I've watched, it's pretty impressive. Somewhat flawed, from what I've heard (like where is Thomas Paine?) but from the looks of things, I can't wait to finish watching this. I'll most likely put reviews of each episode on my other blog, Worlds in a Grain of Sand.

John Adams Theme - Robert Lane

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Summer!

Temperatures over the weekend here in Vermont peaked at 93 degrees, with a nice dose of humidity to boot. Summer has officially returned to Vermont. I'm not a huge fan of excessive, damp heat, but warmer temperatures are always nice after a Vermont winter. Here's a handful of songs to help celebrate:

In The Summertime - Mungo Jerry
Boys of Summer - Don Henley
Summer - Goodtimes Goodtimes
Hot Fun in the Summertime - Sly & The Family Stone
Girls in their Summer Clothes - Bruce Springsteen
Summer - Sara Wheeler
Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft
Under the Warm Sun - A Girl Called Eddy
Hard Sun (Indio) - Eddie Vedder
Mr. Blue Sky - Electric Light Orchestra
Sunshine Sunshine - Goodtimes Goodtimes
Hot Sand - Shocking Blue

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New Artist: The Indiaman Traitor

One of my friends from High School, Julian Rumney DeFelice (a neighbor actually) has been working over the past couple of years on various music projects. His latest is his most interesting thus far, the Indiaman Traitor. He's recently finished recording what seems to be an upcoming album, 5 Stories, which is free through his myspace account, listed below under Look.

The Indiaman Traitor has an interesting sound, somewhere between Radiohead and Bon Iver, with some compelling lyrics. There's a rich collaboration of guitar, trumpet, drums and some creative editing here. The music is all over the place, making it a really interesting listen.

I'm really digging Julian's sound - it's different, interesting, experimental, all that. A nice change of pace.

The Baleful - The Indiaman Traitor
The Lost Souls in Our Time - The Indiaman Traitor
The Eyes of the Hideaway - The Indiaman Traitor

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Overlord

Remember.

The War Was In Color (Live) - Carbon Leaf

Look

Cover and Original: Nothing But The Water

It's raining out here today, so this song seems somewhat appropriate, given the title. As regular readers probably know, I'm a huge fan of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. She's a native Vermonter, the best group to come out of VT since Phish, and is just an amazing presence on stage.

Her last album, This Is Somewhere, was fantastic, but she's also got two other albums, independently released, which are also just as good. One of her concert favorites, Nothing But The Water, parts 1 and 2, are concert favorites, and typically include a great drum solo. When searching through Archive.org, I found that this one group, Chinese Fingertrap, has performed the song before as well.

This is one of the covers that I'm not a big fan of. Where Grace's song is full of energy, this one just doesn't. Their female vocalist sounds similar to Grace, but she doesn't come close. Listen to this live track of Grace in New York last month, you'll see the difference.

Nothing But The Water 2 (Grace Potter & The Nocturnals) - Chinese Fingertrap
Nothing But The Water 2 (Live) - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals

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When We Left Earth

This weekend, the Discovery Channel will be releasing their upcoming series, When We Left Earth, on Sunday at 9 pm. The program, which lasts six hours over three episodes, chronicles the history of NASA, and takes a look at it in high def.
Space history is something that I've gotten really interested in over the past year or two. There's been a lot that's covered, and I'll be interested to see what the program brings that's new to the field. Currently, my favorite space history resource is a book series called Outward Odyssey (U of Nebraska Press) which is extremely detailed. I guess this new series has a lot of unseen footage, which should be cool to see.

Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones

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New Video from Fairline Parkway

Fairline Parkway is one of the recent groups that I got hooked on and have really enjoyed listening to recently. Their first single, Westward Bound, was one of my picks for the best of April last month, and it's got one of those great, easygoing paces that is perfect for summer, and for this video.

Westward Bound from g. perris on Vimeo.

Westward Bound - The Fairline Parkway

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The Best of May

This past month has been really, really rich with music. There's been a lot of really good songs that've come through this way, and I'm really excited for what the rest of the summer will bring. Bring on the noise:

Ease Back - Amos Lee
Listen - Amos Lee
Amos Lee is one of my favorite musicians, and judging from the tracks that I've heard from his upcoming 3rd album (Due out June 24th), I'm betting that this one will be his best yet.

Life in Technicolor - Coldplay
Viva La Vida - Coldplay
Coldplay's changing things up a little with a bit of a newer sound, and like Lee, I'm thinking that this will be one of their better albums. I can't wait to hear the rest of it.

Cath... - Death Cab for Cutie
Grapevine Fires - Death Cab for Cutie
Death Cab for Cutie's latest album also changed things up quite a bit, and on the whole, it's stronger, edgier and it sounds fantastic.

Robots - Flight of the Conchords
I love these guys, they're absolutely hilarious. Robots is just a geeky song to begin with, and they just make me want to burst out laughing.

Lucky - Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat
This is a nice, cute duet from these two.

Killing for Love (Beatfanatic Remix) - José González
I love Gonzalez's work, and while I'm not a huge fan of remixes, this is a really good one that I've been listening to a lot.

Magnetismo (Magnatism) - Landon Pigg
Landon Pigg's off to a good start with his first EP, and I think this is the strongest song on the album.

Meet Me By The River - Matthew Ryan
This song is raspy, emotional and really, really good. I suspect that Ryan's album will make it to the end of the year as one of the best.

Dream - Priscilla Ahn
I saw Ahn last year with Cary Brothers, and I really liked her sound, it's sweet and calm. I picked up her EP, and have been waiting eagerly for more news about her next album, due to be released this June. I can't wait.

The World, The People Together - The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are back, and they've got energy. This reminds me a lot of Bohemian Like You, which is a fantastic song.

Orbiting - The Weepies
I really dug these guys 2nd album, and this is one of the best songs on there. Very sweet, easy on the ears.

Hype - Buy

Matthew Ryan & The Silver State

I've been on a bit of a folk-rock kick lately, and came across these guys, Matthew Ryan with his recently released Matthew Ryan vs. The Silver State. This is his 11th album, and I'm wondering how I've missed him so far with such an extensive recording history. In listening to the album, I'm realizing that there's a real layering here, that this is a really complex and emotional album. There's a tinge of Tom Waits here, and Josh Ritter.
There's a raw intensity to Ryan's music, with a really minimal, yet interesting sound to his music, with some additional instruments that really add to the sound. This is possibly one of the best albums that I've listened to this year.

They Were Wrong - Matthew Ryan
It Could've Been Worse - Matthew Ryan

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Coldplay on the MTV Awards

Coldplay performed at last night's MTV Awards. Here's their performance:

Man, I want to see these guys live.

Hype - Buy