Arthur Lee.

    First, it must be said that it’s a little unfair to call this an official album from Love, as many of the songs on this collection were later used in Arthur Lee’s solo albums (particularly, 1972’s “Vindicator,” in which many of the players in this incarnation of Love were session musicians). However, yes, these were the tracks destined for Love’s major label debut with Columbia Records, tentatively titled “Dear You,” in addition to a few acoustic demos, interjected in between a few key tracks.  

“Love Lost” is a collection that marks the band’s transition from folk-psych/garage rockers to the more conventional hard rock of the time. Gone are the delicate, complex acoustic-based compositions of 1967’s “Forever Changes,” as are jazz and latin influences of that particular album. However, even as these songs are simpler, they do not show a regression into the punk-like styles of “My Little Red Book” or “7 and 7 Is.” Instead, Arthur and this second line-up of Love embracing the blues rock that was becoming increasingly popular. Yet, with so many of these tracks being demos of later fully realized songs, it retains some of the original gentle qualities of the folk side of Arthur Lee, making the transition between ”Forever Changes” and Arthur’s solo material clear. For instance, more than just the loudness and distortion of the instruments, Lee trades his lilting croon of “Forever Changes” for the more soulful wail that gives these tracks their strength. Even in simpler form, Arthur Lee still has a mystic, profound understanding of melody and color.  

While the album as a whole is a mixed bag due to its execution, the majority of the tracks are stellar stand-outs. Opening with “Love Jumped Through My Window” (a demo version; it later appears on “Vindicator”), the simpler mix illustrates Lee’s sense of songcraft, while still being unafraid to wear his influences with pride (the demo sounds like Lee was influenced by the country-fried rock that The Who were doing at the time, while the final cut in ‘72 is more Led Zeppelin-sounding). Yet the one name that comes to mind when hearing the fully realized tracks like “Can’t Find It” and “Midnight Sun” is ‘Hendrix.’ While guitarists Jay Donnellan and Craig Tarwater are not virtuosos at the level of Jimi, it’s Lee’s sense of layering of the guitars, tone, and song structure that forces these tracks to sound like lost Hendrix tracks. In fact, listen to how many Hendrix songs you can pull out of “Midnight Sun.” 

As with all Sundazed releases, Bob Irwin masters and mixes these tracks with loving tenderness that lets everything stand out, yet still retain the loose and raw qualities that you seek in good garage. Arthur Lee’s screams and exclamations throughout the album has all the anguish of a man with a twisted leg, while the instruments come in with a rich balance. “Find Somebody” has this funky groove quality, while “Looking Glass” and “Trippin’ and Slippin’” (which liberally quotes from Jimi’s ”Ezy Rider”) have the same slinky blues rock of Cream’s finest moments. 

GRADE: B-. While not being essential to a casual Love fan, it’s definitely for somebody with a devotion to Arthur Lee, and seek a looser experience than “Vindicator” turned out to be. It’s only failing is that it’s not a well-arranged package of material, but the songs (and Michael Simmons’ liner notes) are all worth it.

Sometimes when dreams come true, it's not a good thing

Now is always the craziest time of year for me. I even have the numbers to prove it. My website stats are through the roof, my email box is full of frantic interactions, and now my blog is getting more action than ever. In the past, I have barely survived the mayhem, only to become ill afterwards and burn out for the rest of the year and months afterword. Last November was a great example. I was working 2 jobs, playing in 4 bands, releasing a record (which involved flying people into town and many rehearsals), and playing way too many shows back-to-back. I remember sometimes hopping from one gig to the next, calling people to ask them to turn on my amp for me. 

I’ve gotten pretty tired of overburdening myself and not sleeping right for weeks. It seems every time I burn out it takes 3 months just to get back on my feet. I could see how being a musician working for a record label that keeps pushing them when they’re burned out probably contributed to the demise of many a great talent (and Britney Spears). This year was no exception in the busy department. I released yet another album and had a great record release party at the Make-Out Room. All the cd’s and their packaging was hand-constructed, and I had to organize the entire night of 3 bands (it’s hard enough to organize one band!). Now I find myself embarking on a short 1-week tour (my third of the year), only to be faced with the daunting task of booking a longer one in March (tours book 2-3 months in advance). Meanwhile, I’ve been bouncing back and forth between SF and LA in what spare time I have to record new material and am still in the process of moving all my stuff next door, getting two new roommates, and dealing with the insanity of the remaining roomie.

But this year I made myself a promise:  I Shall Not Burn Out. I know it’s like saying that I won’t get old and die, but I’ve prepared as much as possible to avoid the inevitable. After having gone through this routine a few times, I’m able to anticipate the onslaught of insanity and avoid stress by eliminating things that aren’t important. I have taken as much time to get good rest and lay off the booze a little. I’ve taken on less work for money in exchange for the things I really love, and spent time socializing with good people and eating good food. I walk at least a couple of miles every day, and I try to focus on the most overwhelming tasks first and deal with the less important details later because most things come together at the last minute in my life anyway.

So far I am doing ok, although I can already sense the inevitable overwhelming sensation that follows accomplishing so many tasks and makes me wonder if I’ll want to do anything else ever again after surviving the experience. Accomplishing so many goals in such a short time is a wonderful feeling. It’s as if the entire year has built up to one maelstrom of events, and it’s all very climatic. I’ve had some great moments recently that I will remember for the rest of my life. But with the feeling of accomplishment comes a vacancy of inspiration, and it always takes time to realize new dreams and think them through enough to gain the confidence to enact them and following through. I plan on taking some time off in the second half of December to recover, but not for very long. I hope I make it through to the other side this time with a positive attitude and desire to keep moving forward. I don’t want to take another step back like I have so many times before. I’ll see you on the other side and let you know how it goes.

One of the most difficult things for a singer-songwriter to accomplish is to capture the energy, excitement, and presence conveyed at a live performance in a limited CD track list.  While albums offer clean, crisp recordings, mixed and mastered to the artist’s content, chock full of special instruments, overdubs, and sounds that can only be soaked up in a studio, the dynamic vibe a performer exudes during his/her live set is unmatchable.

The beauty of singer-songwriter Caleb Hawley’s sophomore album, Steps, is the way it blends his classic, controlled, and powerful music with the same energy as his live performance and the professionalism of a perfectly mastered record.  From the opening track “Small Steps,” which brilliantly captures the struggling artist’s desire to make it to the top to the final piece “Fade,” a hauntingly beautiful song that mesmerizes it’s listeners with it’s trance-like quality, Steps plays strong from start to finish, with no need to push the “skip” button on your iPod.

Hawley has made huge strides artistically since his debut album, ironically titled Greatest Hits, a name that gives a small window into Caleb’s quirky, dry sense of humor and tendency to not take things too seriously.  In Steps we see a variety of level’s in Caleb’s personality, such as the sensitive, loving husband doting on his wife in “Samantha’s Song,” and his humorous, playful side in “Who’s Your Doggy?”  Some highlights of the record include “Real Vacation,” a track laced with light ukulele, catchy lyrics, and a melody that begs to be placed on a Sandals commercial, and “My Own Two Feet,” Hawley’s hit song that won him a top spot in the prestigious New York Songwriter’s Circle contest last year.

Engineered, mixed and mastered by Glenn Barratt of Morningstar Studios and featuring a cast of musicians and instruments fit to challenge the finest band in NYC, Steps is a definite album to add to your collection of outstanding indie artists.  Caleb’s vocal mastery and musical genius can be witnessed this coming Thursday, October 29 at his Bitter End Record Release, 8:30pm.  Chock full of special guests, light laughter, and amazing talent, this is an evening not to be missed.

Steps is now available for purchase and download… Please visit www.calebhawley.com or www.myspace.com/calebhawley for details and tour dates.

It’s not really a review, but if you head on over to my Flickr page there are some photos from last night’s BOAT record release show at Neumos with longer than normal captions.  Think of it as the new style review.  In case you can’t be arsed to click over, just know it was a blast: giant cardboard art, shakers, confetti, Jeff Fell masks and songs from one of the best bands in Seattle.  ‘Nuff said.

Rapper Michael Nhat’s new self-titled album releases Tuesday, Oct. 27, on How To Be A Microwave and his record release show is this Saturday at the House of Vermont. He presents L.A. RECORD with a mixtape—which he titled I Love Bread—and a story to go with every song.

Mozart “Fantasy In F Minor”
One of my girlfriends in 1997 played it live at her school and it made me really appreciate classical music because I didn’t before.

Sonic Youth “Panty Lies”
This song influenced me to start rapping. I had been doing it for fun but this one encouraged me to rap professionally. When people ask me one of my greatest influences, I refer to this—Kim Gordon and Sonic Youth.

Wu-Tang Clan “Can It Be It Was All So Simple”
This is what I was listening to in 1993. I bought my first 4-track and was making music for fun. I played this a lot. The beats and the music inspired me because it was at a time when rap had just finished its MC Hammer era and they were dividing themselves on East and West Coast. And I was East Coast.

Wayne Newton “Danke Schoen”
When I was a kid I heard it in the Ferris Bueller’s Day Off movie. I didn’t know who sang it. But this song started my obsession with hunting down songs I would hear places. This was before the Internet.

Etta James “Trust In Me”
This came on in Chicago at a party on the Southside, and it was my first time encountering her. I immediately liked it. I wish I could sound like Etta James.

PJ Harvey “Is That All There Is?”
I heard it when it first came out in 1996 and maybe a little after that my dad died. This is the first song I played after that so it takes me back there.

Radiohead “Fitter Happier”
The writing of this song is probably the deepest influence in how I write my songs. It changed how I see the writing process. I didn’t get it at first. I just liked it for music’s sake. But as I started paying attention—I would say I emulate this style, as opposed to what everyone else confuses me with. People think I am influenced by Anticon and Busdriver. I am not. I’d never even heard of these people until I moved out here.

Johnny Mathis “It’s Not For Me To Say”
This was when I decided to quit making music as a hobby in 1997. I wanted to be normal and go to school and get a job. I had a daughter and this makes me think of her. I was going to school for film and I made a short and put this song in for her.

Otis Redding “I’ve Got Dreams”
This reminds me of the last time I robbed a house. We were looking up obituaries and found someone who had just died and went to his place. We tried to get as much as we could, but ended up just with his guns and sold them. This was something I’d been doing since I was 16. Also at that time, I got in trouble for storing crack for a friend. My dad found it and flushed it down the toilet. My friends thought I sold it or smoked it.

Sesame Street Kid “Sesame Street”
In Iowa at the parties, DJs would play songs like this at the end of their set. It opened my ears to this type of funny happy song. I started collecting songs like that. Eventually this began to influence my music, which is why my songs are so poppy.

DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE “I LOVE BREAD” MIXTAPE here: http://larecord.com/radio/2009/10/22/mixtape-michael-nhat-i-love-bread/

MICHAEL NHAT WITH VOICE ON TAPE, HALLOWEEN SWIM TEAM, NARWHAL PARTY, REDEMER, BLUE TAPE RED TAPE AND LUNA IS HONEY ON SAT., OCT. 24, AT THE RELEASE PARTY FOR MICHAEL NHAT’S SELF-TITLED ALBUM AT THE HOUSE OF VERMONT, 1515 S. VERMONT AVE., LOS ANGELES. 9 PM / DONATIONS / ALL AGES. HOWTOBEAMICROWAVE.COM. MICHAEL NHAT’S SELF-TITLED ALBUM RELEASES TUE., OCT. 27, ON HOW TO BE A MICROWAVE. VISIT MICHAEL NHAT AT MICHAELNHAT.COM OR MYSPACE.COM/MICHAELNHAT.

According to British music mag-site NME.com, the White Stripes will be releasing demos of some of their earliest tracks, including alternate takes of the single “Let’s Shake Hands” and B-Side ”Look Me Over Closely.” The music will be posted at the website of Jack’s own record label, Third Man Records, and is being included in a special offer to members of “The Vault,” the label’s subscription program. Also included in the package is a vinyl copy of a live London performance of the Raconteurs and a screen print poster of Jack’s latest project, The Dead Weather.

A subscription to the Vault is priced at $7 a month, and promises regular giveaways to members in addition to other exclusive content. Registration ends October 22nd.

In other Jack White news, “It Might Get Loud,” the documentary of a summit between Jack, Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and U2’s the Edge on the artistry of the electric guitar, will be released December 22nd on both DVD and Blu-Ray. The DVD is priced $27.96; the Blu-Ray will cost extra. More info on that over at Movieweb.com

- SAN DIEGO -

SD / OCT 29 / 09

BAR DYNAMITE

RECORD RELEASE PARTY for Audio/Visual. Hope to see you there!

ZOOTED

Rob at the Ruiner Record Release last Saturday

Shafiq En’ A-Free-Ka Drops October 6th, 2009 on Plug Research!!!

enafreeka.com

Im coming for you.  Playing alongside my pal Spinnerty @ Thread!  Heaters! Celebrating the release of AUDIO/VISUAL.  The Following day ill be in San Diego at Bar Dynamite as well.  Tying to take Cali by storm but sometimes I feel like a drip.  Anyhoo, should be lots of fun.  Come out!

THREAD w/ SPINNERTY + ANT.VALA

So yesterday we went into the studio, recorded 4 songs, and came home with a final copy for everyone. Not bad for a days work. It is 100% Free. Spread it around, give it to your friends, post it on your site or music blog, do whatever you like, we just want people to check it out.
Here is a link to a zip folder with the 4 songs, a cover image for your media player, and lyrics and such.
FREE 4-SONG EP!: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ni4dozjdjmi
Its free…did I say that? Check it out.

This was that neat thing I didn’t want to talk about until it was ready. We have terrible luck (for example, I got strep throat the day before we recorded this, haha), and I didn’t want to jinx it. Anyways, we hope you like it, let us know.
This was recorded by a very sexy man known as Matt “Buckwheat” Buckley. If you give him a day, he’ll make your band sound like you know what you’re doing, haha. Check out his studio myspace here:
http://www.myspace.com/bowlingotterstudios

I’ve added the songs to our myspace page, our last.fm, and our reverb nation page. I’ll probably be posting them in some other spots as well. You can download the songs individually on those sites, too (except for myspace I guess since they seem to have disabled the download feature?!). All the lyrics are available in the download file, on myspace, or on this site. Learn them and take the mic next time you see us.

- Scotch.

Mellowdrone celebrated officially dropping their new album “Angry Bear” with a performance at Spaceland last night. Typically I’m not a big fan of the sound at the club, but last night sounded amazing. It was definitely my favorite performances by them this year, they seemed very confident and comfortable on stage.

The album is available at Insound.com and CHR store.

http://www.insound.com/search/searchmain.jsp?query=mellowdrone

http://cominghomerecords.bigcartel.com/artist/mellowdrone

Tour Dates:
Oct 3rd @ Knitting Factory w/MODWHEELMOOD

Remember the days when instead of having just a few stand-out tracks, albums were decent as a whole or told some sort of continuous story? Ok. I was only born in 1986, so maybe I don’t actually remember those days, but I hear it was nice. With the advent of MP3 players and massive computer-based libraries, it’s easy to get music ADD. You’re not sure what you’re in the mood for, so you throw your music on shuffle… and then promptly change songs midway through because you’re desperate to hear what comes next in your 29 GB library. (1)

The fact is, many albums today just aren’t good enough to listen to all the way through in one sitting. But then there are albums like Hospice by The Antlers. This is the kind of album that begs to be listened to as a whole. The songs effortlessly flow together to create a single rich body that  naturally crescendos and decrescendos as if it were inhaling and exhaling.

Another thing that sets Hospice apart is the story that subtly runs through it. Unlike albums like The Decemberists’ Hazards of Love or Duncan Sheik’s Whisper House, Hospice avoids being a straight-up story album or a rock opera. It is a delicate concept album that hinges on themes of sickness, mania, nightmares, suicide, and hospital machinery that somehow manages to avoid coming off as whiny or emo. The bleak story line slowly unfolds as the album progresses: a young nurse of sorts falls in love with an unresponsive out-patient and is haunted by imagined conversations and exchanges that never quite come to pass. The songs alternate in point of view between the care-giver and the patient. At times, the care-giver likens the condition of the patient to that of Sylvia Plath on the verge of suicide, begging her desperately to take her head out of the oven. Later in “Thirteen,” the tempo slows, and ‘Sylvia’ responds:

“Pull me out… pull me out… can’t you stop this all from happening? Close the doors and keep them out.

Dig me out… Oh, dig me out… Couldn’t you have kept this all from happening? Dig me out from under our house.” (2)

By the ‘Epilogue,’ the patient has died and the care-giver, unemployed, but the two are still united… at least through dreams:

“But you return to me at night, just when I think I may have fallen asleep. Your face is up against mine, and I’m too terrified to speak.”

Hospice came out Tuesday, August 18th. Their album release show took place Friday night in a sweltering and packed Mercury Lounge. You can download the show and listen to it in it’s entirety here.

–
(1) I’m not claiming that listening to music on shuffle doesn’t have its merits. Not at all.

(2) Before Sylvia Plath succeeded in killing herself by sticking her head in the oven, she took a number of pills and crawled under her parents’ house where she stayed, barely alive, for three days before they found her and pulled her out.

hello.

Foxtails Brigade – Pan Asian Delight

amazing song.  it’s like a beautiful breath of fresh air but at the same time haunting. (in a good way of course! )

they just released a 7″ with third culture records. and they just finished the record release tour with judgement day and other great bands.

check out their performance on this months Chasing The Moon Podcast

Foxtails Brigade MySpace

order their 7″ HERE!!

hope you all are well!

peace&love always.

Indie/emo power-trio Gray Young are on a jaunt through August, in support of Firmament, their self-released full-length.  The band will also be performing love on an upcoming episode of NPR’s The State Of Things.

Check out the dates below.

-

AUG 06 – Washington, DC @ Comet Ping Pong w/ Eat People, Prisms, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer
AUG 07 – Frederick, MD @ Braddock Community Center w/ Eat People, My Best Friend’s Birthday, Solar Powered Sun Destroyer
AUG 08 – Manassas, VA @ El Taco w/ Eat People, Me Monster
AUG 14 – Winston Salem, NC @ Elliot’s Revue w/ Jews and Catholics
AUG 28 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Live on NPR 91.5 “The State of Things”
AUG 29 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Jack Sprat w/ Battle Rockets and Goodbye, Titan

Flew back from the first half of my “Love Like Everyone” record release tour on Thursday (two gigs in LA and SF) and came to the Pennsylvania countryside last night. It’s gorgeous here and just the break I need before rehearsals start up again for my two New York gigs. 

T&T's backyard... it's 100 times prettier than this crap photo I took

I’ve been back in the States now for about three weeks and I’m really loving it, especially being back in NYC. I noticed it on my ride back into the city from the airport. The West Coast is chill and the weather rocks, but I love New York. I guess you can take the girl out of New York…

I’ve been happy, too, because I’m finally walking again (yay!) but I’m also doing what I love, which is playing music. I read something today about how doing things that make you happy engenders more happiness. If you don’t necessarily believe that, well, you just have to look around and see how miserable so many people are doing things they don’t want to do, whether it’s working at a job they hate or staying with someone they hate (!)

I’m really trying to get out of doing the “shoulds” in my life. I’m not that kind of person, anyway, but inevitably something comes up and you feel guilted into doing something. But I’ve noticed that most people don’t care *too* much what you do or don’t do, when it comes down to it. Quite frankly, we’re our own biggest obsessions and greatest concern.

Here’s to doing what makes us happy to make us even happier! For me, that means skipping a party tonight and relaxing with the doggies here in the country. (And maybe some more frequent blogging, too.)

So I was thinking about how nice it turned out that our record release show on April 14 will technically be on Passover (the seventh night, though it seems like most American Jews celebrate on the first and/or second nights, next Wednesday and Thursday, straddling the seder in Israel).

It’s funny because one of my initial song ideas– predating the Fellowship by a couple of years– was a song that somehow got “Adir Hu” worked into it. “Adir Hu” is a song that’s sung towards the end of the Passover seder.

Not sure how this happened. I had a very simple two-chord progression that worked really well with one of the traditional melodic standards for the song. I couldn’t help but think that some Jews at some point (50 years ago? a century? more? less? the origins of these melodies are always controversial, and I don’t really like it when Jews argue too much) had a little bit of Joey Ramone in them. Or a little Mambo-X, or Camera Obscura, or etc. etc. Milli Vanilli etc.

Just found this really old demo of “Ancillary Devices” (before the demo version on my myspace was made) from 2005.

Do you know what Passover is? Is it a Jewish thing?

Do some Christians celebrate it?

If you’re Jewish or not do you have any Passover plans for next week?

Do you have any Passover family traditions?

Click here to hear another version of “Adir Hu,” compliments of the Florida Atlantic University Jewish Sound Archives.

Hebrew School //CD release

w/ Julia Barry, Mappa Mundi, and Will Dailey

Tues., Apr. 14., 2009, 9pm
Public Assembly
70 N. 6th St., Brooklyn

map

Hebrew School is excited to be sharing a bill with singer-songwriter and H.S. collaborator Julia Barry, ukelele-driven psychsters Mappa Mundi, and a rising star from my childhood street, Will Dailey.

From Filmmaker via Pitchfork, Iggy Pop is preparing a jazzish album based off Michel Houellebecq’s ‘The Possibility of an Island’. Iggy also contributed 7 songs for last year’s documentary Derniers Mots/Last Words, which follows Houellebecq as he transforms the novel into A film. Pitchfork also includes other links, Iggy news, and a potential album cover. The album, called ‘Preliminaires’ should be released 18 May.

When: Wednesday, October 14
Where: Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
Cost: $35.00 +

A lot of sites like to look back at past years in music to revisit what the albums and artists of that year contributed to the progression of music. In the case of Monsters of Folk – whose album was released on Septemer 22 – one can look back to 2004 and the contributions of three talented projects collaborating on the Vote for Change tour.

Gelled from the likes of Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis), She & Him (M. Ward), and My Morning Jacket (Jim James), the parts actually stand up to the audacious moniker, “Supergroup.”

Their purposefully ambitious title is a playful wink at the musical muscle they tout, but also their range. That’s because “folk” is defined broadly on the album, which encompasses everything from trip-hop to roots rock to homespun pop. While distantly rooted in folk, the Monsters actually strum more of a classic rock note with their multi-faceted show.

On their website, the Monsters describe it as, “a two-and-a-half hour musical event” featuring new tracks from the recent release and the respective catalogues of Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket and M. Ward. The site also goes into detail regarding the group’s 17-date North American theater tour that kicks off on October 13 in Vancouver, B.C. Canada.

Each of the celebrated indie rockers brings a slightly different tune to the table, but share an immense camaraderie and passion for music. This is largely what allows them to take turns on instruments, and in roles, with all four songwriters sharing vocal and songwriting duties on their self-titled premier.

The album – years in the planning and months in the making – tackles religion, nature, love, and lust. Stretching 15 tracks, the work is highlighted by harmony vocals and atmospheric arrangements. All in all, the album holds undeniable genius, and when the musicians pitch their voices atop one another the benefits of teamwork are more than audible.