Death Cab For Cutie – Halloween 2003 – Atl, Ga.

Happy Halloween Everyone!
Lots of people have posted Halloween music today; the one I recommend most is YANP’s mix of Halloween-themed goodies. I decided to do a little something different and post a Halloween show. The show in question is a Death Cab For Cutie show from Halloween night in 2003 at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta. It’s a great show complete with stage banter about the band’s costumes (I won’t ruin the surprise) and Ben’s favorite Halloween memories. The setlist is particularly great, spanning everything from You can play these songs with chords to Transatlanticism. There is a Cure cover, a Tom Petty cover (with Mates of State!) and one of the only recorded performances of The Face That Launched 1000 Shits, a Rev. Hydra cover that was released on Something About Airplanes.
Below is the setlist and a sendspace link to a zip of the whole show. Happy Halloween, and enjoy!

Death Cab for Cutie @ The Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.31.2003
Champagne From a Paper Cup
A Movie Script Ending
We Laugh Indoors
The New Year
Ben & Chris – Halloween talk
Title and Registration
Photobooth
President of What?
For What Reason
Lightness
Costume Talk
Company Calls
Expo 86
We Have the Facts…
The Face that Launched 1000…
More costume talk
Nick’s costume banter
We Looked Like Giants
Styrofoam Plates
Lovesong (Cure Cover)
Halloween talk
Tiny Vessels
Transatlanticism
Freefallin’ (Tom Petty cover w/ Mates of State)

Enjoy!

The Winter Blanket

The Winter Blanket is a great band from Minnesota that makes warm, spacious, and beautiful pop music. They have a wonderful new disc out called Golden Sun.
You may listen to two of the tracks from said record below.

[mp3] The Winter Blanket – Sleepy Eyes
[mp3] The Winter Blanket – Cold

Noise Floor

Oh, Conor. Let me count the ways we loathe thee. As I ahve said before, you either love or hate bright Eyes. I tend to do a little of both. I will for the record say that Lifted is one of my favorite albums. I will also say that Wide Awake is a great album. All this being said, Fevers and Mirrors, Digital Ash, and Happiness are only about 30 percent listenable. By now you probably know that Conor has released a collection of rarities, B-sides, and demos on Saddle Creek called Noise Floor (Rarities: 1998-2005), one would assume it’s a continuation of his previous collection of such (Collection of songs: written and recorded 1995-1997.)

I’ll admit that I was a bit dissapointed in Saddle Creeks blatant push for attention for Oberst by releasing this between albums. All of these songs (except two, from sessions he did with M. Ward, which are posted below) have been floating around the web, even on saddle creek’s own forums, for years now. Regardless there are a few gems here, but ONLY a few.
Below are the two afformentioned and two other unreleased songs from Conor that have only been preformed live over the past few years. I cannot speculate as to whether or not they will find a place on his next proper record. I can however tell you that Conor, Nate Walcott, and Saddle creek savior Mike Mogis have been working on an album which is supposedly due in 07 for a while now. Conor says the album will “blend folk, psychedelia, rock,” and will also be completely “Politics-free,” a lofty promise from the likes of a guy who brought us When The President Talks to God.

[mp3] Bright Eyes – Seashell Tale (M. Ward cover)
[mp3] Bright Eyes – Weather Reports

Bonus mp3’s:
Bright Eyes – I Must Belong Somwhere (Unreleased, Live on Kexp).mp3
Bright Eyes – Hell is Coming, Hell is Here.mp3

Tell me how you’re so in love with me…

You know those bands that you know you’re supposed to like? Those are always bad for me because I end up just assuming I will like them, and never actually listen to them. This is exactly the case with Clem Snide and Eef Barzelay’s solo work for me. About a year and a half ago I finally bought Moment in the Sun and End of Love, and am better for doing so. Once I finally gave these a good listen I was shocked at the quality of music being made by these four fine fellows. There was one particular track on Moment in the sun that I enjoyed, the track was I Believe Your Lies. I never really grasped the beauty of this song until I heard it performed acoustic on NYC’s WFMU. Just the man who loved it enough to present it to us and a guitar. Below is that performance and a few extras for you to enjoy.

[mp3] Clem Snide – I Believe your Lies.mp3 (Acoustic)

Bonus:
[mp3] Clem Snide – Bad Boys for Life.mp3 (Diddy Cover)
[mp3] Clem Snide – Moment in the Sun.mp3 (Live)

The HTFAF City Series Vol 1: Nashville

Volume one: Nashville, Tn.

[mp3] David Mead – Nashville.mp3
David Mead is a local favorite but a national success. He releases his folky rock songs on the Nettwerk Collective.
This particular song is an acoustic number featuring bits of instrumentation here and there. It is a lovely listen and proves to be a very fitting anthem for the city it name checks.

[mp3] Imaginary Baseball League – From Arkansas, With Love.mp3
IBL were local favorites, until they disbanded last year. Various members of the band can be found making GREAT music with The Young Professionals and Sleeptalker.
One particular line of the song I enjoy is when lead vocalist Aaron Robinson sings “I might stay in tonight and write you a letter. About my day, my week, and the fickle Tennesse weather.” Any true Nashvillian can atest that this is true. This hits especially close to home for me, since the very weather he speakes of gave me an awful cold all of three days ago. Thirty degree temp. differences day to day can do that to a guy ya know…

[mp3] My Morning Jacket – Nashville to Kentucky.mp3
From Nashville to Kentucky,
My heart it draws the line,
Somewhere someone thinks of me,
I just wish it was somewhere I could find.
You know a My Morning Jacket song when you hear one. James’ voice is practically drenched in reverb, the guitars, at times expansive, at times clostraphobic are also reverb soaked. The background vocals, in this case the oohs, are striking if not hauntingly beautiful. At first this song will fool you, but it’s only kidding with you. Afer the gorgeous verse, the oohs kick in, and then this song starts, albeit to end soon. James plays his clean guitar like a toy, giving the impression that this take was nothing more than a scratch track that somehow got leaked. All of these things make the song what it is, which is quite spectacular, I mean read those lyrics, dylanesque and yet so unassuming.

[mp3] Pavement – Strings of Nashville.mp3
I throw this one on alot to this day. It’s such a soothing song, Malkmus it at his calmest for the most part. Theres something really special about songs that clearly should be played on an acoustic guitar, but instead are played on electric. Malkmus even puts a little twang in his voice for this one, how thoughtful.
“Sing along, sing along, sing along…”

[The Local Scene]
Some Great Venues:
Exit In
The Belcourt Theatre
Grimey’s / The Basement (The best record store in the world and it’s lower level venue)
The 5 Spot
Mercy Lounge / Cannery Ballroom

Some Great Bands:
Sleeptalker
The Young Professionals
De Novo Dahl
Glossary
Autovaughn
Death Comesto Matteson
Forget Cassetes
The Features

That does it for the first edition of this here series. Let me know if theres a city you’d like to see covered next. Additionally, if you have any insight on what bands/venues should be featured for said city, leave it in the comments!

I hope you’re having a better day than I am, since I totaled my car a few hours ago!

Cheers.

Rainy days and Mondays…

Monday Morning comes in a few hours friends. Here are some songs to help you through your morning commute, walk across campus, or whatever it is you have to start doing again tommorow.

[mp3] Jens Lekman – Maple Leaves.mp3
How anyone could listen to this song and not be hapy, is beyond me. The cleverness of the lyrics alone is enough to warrant a chuckle, but the delightfully strange toms, the chimes, the oohs, the strings. It’s like the Flaming lips but really lo fi.
“She said that we were just make beleive, but I thought she said maple Leaves.”

[mp3] Bishop Allen – Like Castanets.mp3
This is without a doubt my favorite Bishop Allen song ever, and that is saying something. Such a lovely song, the horns, the noodling guitars, the latin elements, mixed with the olde english minstrel feel of the whole tale, it’s so freaking fun! Inspired by a trip to Chile and written on the road, it shines in every way a piece of art can.

[mp3] Summer Hymns – Pitty and Envy.mp3
Charm abounds on this catchy reminiscent track. Steel guitar, tinkling piano, hoppy guitars and a heck of a melody. This one also works if you’re sick of the world series keeping your favorite shows off the air. “Baseball sucks and so does life, I’m going on strike.”

Other things that have got me through the weekend:
The music of Matt Smith *Highly Reccomended.
The Shins leak
The Lovely Cold weather
M. Ward on the Interface (Free Podcast!)

Then It Rained all Night

It’s been rainy and overcast in Nashville the past few days. These are the songs that have been in constant rotation in my car. I really love the sound of winshield wipers wiping rain away. I really like the visual aspect of it to, it’s like your window on life is new every 4 seconds, it’s a pretty cool thing to think about….

[mp3] Styrofoam & Ben Gibbard – Couches in Aleys.mp3
Gibbard’s voice gets an interesting treatment, slightly modulated and tuned by the genius that is styrofoam. Everything blends really well the choppy frantic beat, the synths, it all works together to make a really good song.

[mp3] Sunny Day Real Estate – Rain Song.mp3
Jeremy Enigk has a very good new album out on October 17, called World Waits. You should buy said album and you should enjoy this SDRE track, with an incredibly wonderful string section. Why wasn’t Sunny Day as big as say…a certain band from Bellingham which happens to be fronted by a man featured previously on this entry? I will never know.

[mp3] Thom Yorke – And it Rained all night.mp3
One of my favorites off of Yorke’s new album, it’s such a dizzying robotic tale of human routine. I feel like I’m walking home in the rain after a 12 hour shift at some dead end job in New York City…I know that sounds awful, but I actually love this song.

In other news:
Watch Jeff Tweedy kick a guys ass for getting on stage at a wilco show the other night here

[Links]
Jeremy Enigk Tour Dates
Styrofoam
Thom Yorke

Some Lovely Covers

Very Busy, no time to write, here are some great covers for you to enjoy though!

[mp3]Andrew Bird – Oh, Sister (Bob Dylan).mp3
Lovely in every way, this is truly one of the better covers in the past few years. There is a delicate balance found here between keeping the song in tact, and making it his own, it works in every way. The violins are of course breath taking, because Andrew Bird is playing them, the guitar is present but not overbearing, and the harmonies are a thing of great beauty.

[mp3]Beck – Your Cheatin’ Heart (Hank Williams).mp3
This one is pure gold, Beck was made to sing country songs, and this is a legendary one, the steel guitar is the story, Beck is just the narrator.

[mp3]Death Cab for Cutie & Mates of State – Freefallin’ (Tom Petty).mp3
This is truly in every way pop gold. Death cab and Mates of state doing what is probably one of the catchiest pop rock songs ever written, BRILLIANT! . This one is from a Haloween show from back in 2003 in Atlanta. The band dressed up as girls, and Travis Morrison (Gibbard). Please, for your own sake download this.

[mp3]Pedro the Lion – Political Science (Randy Newman).mp3
Besides the fact that this is one of the unniest songs ever written by one of the best songwriters of our time, it still rings true 30 years later. This one is from PTL’s 2004 tour ep, which is fantastic and available on iTunes for your downloading pleasure. It features some PTL originals, and covers of Radiohead and Cat Power.

[mp3]Nickel Creek – Spit on a Stranger (Pavement).mp3
What’s better than Pavement? Pavement with a mandolin and 3 part harmonies, that’s what!

Sorry for the short entry and lack of activity the past few days, let me know which ones you’re digging and which ones you could do without, I have been getting about 100-150 hits a day and no comments, what’s up with that folks?

Edit: Tw Walsh (of Tw walsh, Pedro the Lion, and Soft drugs fame) has made the FANTASTIC debut ep from the soft drugs (his current project) available for free in gloriously hi-hi 256 kbps mp3’s on his site. If you don’t get this you are making a huge mistake, it’s great in every way.

Cheers!

Songs for the Weekend

(Photo Cred.)
Hello friends,
Do you know what I am doing today? Nothing. I am spending time with music, and making a Christmas list for my mother per her request. I don’t know if you realize this, but Christmas is 71 days away. Seventy-one days is not long at all, so make your list and check it twice, and in the mean time go here for some Christmas cheer. On to buisness, here is what I have been listening to today.

[mp3] The Decemberists – I don’t Mind.mp3
This track is off the 5 Songs EP, and god what a song it is. Do you hear that meloday? Never have my ears been graced by such a deliciously beautiful symphony of melancholy. There is something about what Meloy does with the melody and the chords here, the timbre of everything blending, it just works so wonderfully well. I don’t even know what else to say, just please download it and spend some quality time getting to know it’s ins and outs.

[mp3] My Morning Jacket – Where to Begin.mp3
I am a sucker for a steel guitar. If you know me, you surely know this. There has never been an instrument so happily sad, so content with wasting away in it’s own misery. I mean a pedal steel when played properly is like listening to an ensemble of tears harmonizing with each other. My friends, Jim James and co. know how to use a steel guitar, and this track is proof. I don’t need to tell you how beautiful James reverb marinated voice is, because you alredy know, listen to this one when the sun sets tonight.

[mp3] Bright Eyes – I’ve Been Eating for You.mp3
I know half of you…or more, will hate me for this, but I enjoy Oberst, and I enjoy this little rare track of his. It will be on his new release of b-sides and rare stuff called Noise Floor, even though the mp3’s have been floating around for years. If you are bitter at someone of the opposite sex I would reccomend this one, otherwise you may leave it alone.

[mp3] The Thrills – Whatever Happened to Corey Haim?.mp3
Besides having an awesome title, this one has a huge string section, a steel guitar, and a killer pop melody. You need nothing more than this song to enjoy your Saturday Night out on the town, I gurantee that. This may very well be what pop music is supposed to sound like. And all this from a pretty undrrated band, relatively speaking. The strings remind me of Woman’s Realm by Belle & Sebastian and that is a very good song, album, and band to be derivative of.

[mp3] Chris Walla (Martin Youth Auxilary) – Doubts.mp3
This song is a short little burner. Walla sounds bitter, but hopeful, Hopeful that everything will end, that is. I’m not sure exactly what everything is in this case. I do know this song was recorded around the same time Death cab had a little falling out on their 2001 fall tour, the details of which were made public by Ben and Chris in an interview with the A.V. Club last year. I suppose you will have to decide for yourself about this song, but I can promise you it’s worth your two minutes and thiry six seconds, if not for the chimey panned guitars, or the intent drums, then for Walla’s musings on disenfranchisement.

I’m just coming here to come down…

New Broken Social Scene video released today for Major Label Debut . The video is super cool and made entirely of BSS shot footage from the road, and even features a suprise sing-a-long at the end of a tune by one Mr. McCartney!
The song is off the bands most recent and self-titled album released on Arts & Crafts.
The version you hear in the video however, is an alternate mix (I believe it is simply called the fast drums mix) which appeared on “EP To be You and Me” a limtied edition EP, which was packaged with the first run of cds pressed.

Below is the video to download (It’s only about 14 mb) and some mp3’s from that limtied edition EP.

Enjoy!

[MOV]Broken Social Scene – Major Label Debut (iPod compatible)
[m4a]Broken Social Scene – Major Label Debut (Fast Mix)
[m4a]Broken Social Scene – All My Friends

In other news, I’m going to see David Bazan tonight at the Exit/In, which I am pretty excited about, but more on that later!