FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM

Like mostly everyone who is into The Swell Season (Glen Hansard of The Frames with Markéta Irglová), I got into them via the movie ONCE.  They came through Eugene after I had moved to town, but before I had gotten into them.  My brother made me watch it when we were home for my other brother’s wedding (July 2008), and I suppose I should thank him for that.   With The Swell Season’s original 2009 Strict Joy tour date press release, they didn’t have a Eugene date, but I’m glad they added one…

The opener was Doveman’s frontman Thomas Bartlett.  He played about a half of an hour of whispy piano tunes.  He seemed slightly shy, rarely looking towards the crowd… but maybe that’s just his style or how the piano was set up for him.  Due to his whispy vocals, he struck me as similar to Jeff Hanson or slimmer, beardless Sam Beam of Iron & Wine – but on piano.  He’s worked with The Frames, Swell Season, Antony & the Johnsons, Laurie Anderson, Arto Lindsay, The National, and Yoko Ono in the past – so that put him in my “he’s cool” book.  Songs he played included “Angel’s Share ” (about whisky), “The Burgundy Stain” (about wine), and a medley to the Footloose soundtrack.  The Footloose songs were fantastically mournful and sad.  Classic!

The show opened with Glen and Markéta coming out and crouching down in front of the center mic.  I wasn’t close enough to see if someone was playing the electronics / keyboards, but they started out with “Fallen From the Sky” – staying crouched down for the whole song.  Luckily that didn’t continue for the rest of the show (or my continued photos would have been lame).

After the initial song, the band came out.  The band was made up of the rest of The Frames, Glen’s band that was the precursor to Once and The Swell Season.  I’m very rapidly becoming a serious fan of Glen’s vocals… which I suppose means that I need to get The Frames’ back catalog.  Vocally Glen reminds me a lot of my buddy, Ashley Peacock.  Most of the set was Glen on vocals, but Markéta covered lead vocals for “If You Want Me,” “Fantasy Man,” and “I Have Loved You Wrong.”  As far as most powerful vocal performance… I’ll have to go with “Say It To Me Now,” where Glen played solo and off microphone.  A few songs later, Glen was killin’ his guitar on Van Morrison’s “Astral Weeks,” and he shredded at least a couple of strings – luckily his roadie was on top of things and brought out a replacement guitar right away.

Setlist: just over 2 hours

• Fallen From The Sky
• Lies
• Low Rising
• In These Arms *a fave of the night*
• The Rain *a fave of the night*
• The Moon
• If You Want Me
• Fantasy Man
• Say It To Me Now (Glen solo, off mic) *a fave of the night*
• Leave
• Lay Me Down
• Astral Weeks [Van Morrison]
• The Blue Shoes (Colin solo violin song)
• I Have Loved You Wrong
• Once *a fave of the night*
• When Your Mind’s Made Up *a fave of the night*
• Encore: Falling Slowly *a fave of the night*
• High Hope (new song)
• High Horses
• Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy
• It All Falls Down (with Doveman)
• Red Chord [The Frames]
• The Parting Glass [The Clancy Brothers]

After leaving the venue, I bet everyone thought they got their money’s worth… a great show, great vocals by Glen & Markéta.  While I know this was a break-up record of sort, I’m glad that they’re still able to work together.  And while it may be a long shot, I hope they do continue to work together in the future.

many more pictures below

The “Low Rising” video directed by Sam Beam (from Iron & Wine):

The Swell Season’s new record, Strict Joy, is better than the Once soundtrack, if you ask me.  You can get it at Amazon below:

The Appropriate Linkage:

• The Swell Season’s Site
• The Swell Season on MySpace
• Jason Segel guesting with Swell Season (in L.A.) (youtube link)
• The Frames’ Site
• The Frames on MySpace
• Doveman’s Site
• Doveman on MySpace
• McDonald Theatre

Check out more tour dates below.

~Dan – np: Pearl Jam – Backspacer

THE SWELL SEASON & DOVEMAN PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution

(click for larger)

Higher Resolution (8 pics)

Limited to 1200 pixels wide or tall (30 pics)

Tour Dates
1 – Milwaukee, Wisc. @ The Pabst
2 – Indianapolis, Ind. @ Clowes Memorial Hall
3 – Toronto, Ontario @ Massey Hall
4 – Montreal, Quebec @ L’Olympia de Montreal
6 – Boston, Mass. @ Berklee College of Music Performance Center
7 – Providence, R.I. @ Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
8 – Philadelphia, Pa. @ Merriam Theater
9 – Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club
12 – New Orleans, La. @ House of Blues
13 – Houston, Texas @ Warehouse Live
14 – Dallas, Texas @ Palladium
15 – Austin, Texas @ Paramount Theatre
17 – Mesa, Ariz. @ Mesa Arts Center
18 – Los Angeles, Calif. @ The Wiltern
20 – San Francisco, Calif. @ The Paramount
22 – Seattle, Wash. @ The Paramount
23 – Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
24 – Portland, Ore. @ Crystal Ballroom
25 – Vancouver, B.C. @ Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts
27 – Boise, Idaho @ Egyptian Theatre
28 – Salt Lake City, Utah @ Jeanne Wagner Theatre
29 – Denver, Colo. @ Ogden Theatre
30 – Kansas City, Mo. @ Uptown Theater

December 2009
3 – Chicago, Ill. @ Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University
4 – St. Louis, Mo. @ The Pageant
5 – Minneapolis, Minn. @ State Theatre

The Swell Season just played at the Paramount this evening. My insides are still spinning. This is the second concert I have seen this week and this one, hands down, blew the other one out of the water, and I love the other band, I’ve seen them at the Triple Door three years in a row! There was something so Authentic about these two. Glen told stories that gave context to many of his songs. They had us sing along. They met a girl singing on the streets of Seattle today and asked her to play at their concert tonight… so she did!!!  He honored the Clancy Brothers, The Frames (his band before the Swell Season), a woman in an elevator with a blue coat, the woman up in the third tier who “opened up” to him and the entire audience, and he honored us, his audience… each with a song. He played one of his songs as he stepped away from all the mics… and the place was silent, you could have heard a pin drop. The Van Morrison song he played, made me nearly float, it was so amazing. The man can play a guitar!!! He broke strings on 3 guitars before the song was over!!! He told stories of real people in a way that you knew he valued them, not just the story he was telling about them. All of that was bonus… because then, they played their sweet music…. and all was well within me. …and did I mention the 6-song encore???? There is something so nice about seeing someone be who they are instead of putting on a show.

… I continuously get mixed up in my head.

Actor Simon Pegg (Sean of the Dead, Run Fatboy Run), Singer/Songwriter/Actor Glen Hansard (lead singer of The Frames, movie & album Once w/ Marketa Irglova), and Actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family)

Not the names and who’s known for what, but their faces. They’re just a ruddy, ginge-tinted mush in my head.

I’m an optimist at heart.  For all my grumbling and complaining, I really do believe in the power of people to do good, and in the importance of being good to one another.  No matter how disappointed I become in what I see around me, it’s these beliefs – and the small kindnesses that I witness – that keep me going.  There’s no better band to reflect this optimism than Ireland’s The Frames.  Singer Glen Hansard is now better known as part of the Oscar-winning duo The Swell Season, but his day job has been a going concern since the mid-90’s, and their euphoric, soaring sets are amazingly communal experiences that make you believe, as I do, in the power of music to make a difference.  It’s a little cheesy, but cynicism will only get you so far, but with optimism, well … the sky’s the limit.

Here’s The Frames performing the simply astounding “People Get Ready” at my spiritual homeland, The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

Depois dos créditos, eles ficam juntos. Ela, tcheca, tímida e com uma voz angelical. Ele, irlandês, toca um violão – o mesmo do filme – que traz as marcas de sua descarga emocional quando canta. É ele que , com sua virtuosidade e bom-humor, está à frente de tudo. Não mais um casal, Glan Hansard e Marketa Irglova são agora o duo The Swell Season. E mostram que, fora da tela, também sabem nos entreter.

O duo, acompanhado de integrantes do The Frames, está em turnê divulgando seu segundo cd. Seguindo a linha das músicas de Once, mas com um som um pouco mais maduro, Strict Joy mostra que, o que pode parecer apenas um ato conveniente para suceder o filme, é, na verdade, um projeto a ser levado a sério.

Na passagem por Montreal, a noite contou também com músicas de Van Morrison, Bob Dylan e  Leonard Cohen. Veja alguns vídeos do show:

Primeira música do show (o gorrinho logo vai embora)

Lembrando seu papel de músico de rua, Hansard não precisa de microfone

Em homenagem à cidade, o dua canta Leonard Cohen

I’m not sure how many of you are fans of the Irish band The Frames, but… Back in 2005 their lead singer Glen Hansard was in Prague working with Marketa Irglova on a score for the film Beauty In Trouble. They ended up recording some tunes and released a self titled album, The Swell Season, in 06′. It’s been a couple of years and The Swell Season has released another album titled Strict Joy. I’ve been listening to it on and off for the past few weeks and it’s really growing on me. Their voices are amazing, it’s a relaxing and lyrically powerful album.

The Swell Season – Feeling the Pull

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t like to watch a movie more than once (in my lifetime), unless I really like it. Movies that I’ve actually watched and enjoyed multiple times include Good Will Hunting, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Lizzie McGuire Movie…you know, the classics. Then this one time, back over a winter break in college when all I had to do was lie on my couch at home and get yelled at for eating too many pretzels (as opposed to now, when I go home for winter break and get yelled at for eating too many pretzels AND using too much profanity on my blog), I rented a movie called Once. I probably intended to watch it with my mom, and she probably fell asleep reading a magazine four minutes into the credits. The next day, when everyone was “at work,” and I was, you know, “figuring out what I wanted to do with my life,” I watched Once. And then I watched it again. And then I watched it a third time, this time with actor commentary.

As someone who doesn’t like to watch movies more than once, this was HUGE. I mean I watched the thing three times in a row! And it’s sort of kind of a musical, which is even huger because I almost always hate musicals! I promptly emailed all of my friends and insisted that they see this movie immediately.

Long story short, I really love Once, and the movie made me love Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Tonight, I finally got to see them in concert, and they were spectacular, which is to say that both the performance and Glen’s beard were top notch. I mean, who doesn’t love a great ginger beard?

Exactly.

Anyway, tonight was lovely and I got to dress like a faux hipster (though SOME of my friends claim that maybe I looked like a full hipster, if one were to assume that my flowery J.Crew headband was ironic) and you guys should listen to this, because they played it well tonight:

To quote the Clancy Brothers, goodnight and joy be with you all.

[Posted by Mallory]

I’m writing this blog post during class. Yes…during class. I have cognitively “checked-out.” I CHOSE this. I’ll tell you why in a second. The class? Personal Fitness and Wellness–a general education requirement. On fridays in Fit & Well, we have a lecture. Last week it was on personal fitness, exploring benefits of aerobic , strength, and endurance training, a solid lecture. This week, the woman giving our lecture is an academic support employee at the college. I checked out when she brought up the “Millennial Generation” slide on her yin-yang ridden powerpoint. Here is the text:

Millennial Generation observations:

Trophy Kid

Grade Inflation

Resume Builders

Keeping up with the Jones

Helicopter Parents

The “texting” generation

She went through each observation, (dare I say generalization?) and explained each. We have been awarded for simply what is expected of us since childhood, grades have inflated considerably–it’s easier to get an A these days. Our choices are ultimately oriented towards improving our resumes–getting an edge on others. We do things to keep up with everyone else. We have parents that are “overly protective and concerned” about us. We are constantly on the phone texting, emailing and “facebooking.” We confront our problems online, we end our relationships online. I am skeptical.

Now I understand where some of these sweeping generalizations come from. There is evidence for some of these trends, but are they all that radical or even bad? Everything she had to say about our generation had a negative connotation. Being a part of the Millennials myself, I might naturally be more defensive, but I feel like these trends should be explored and considered again. More to come. I have to pack for the last tournament of the fall season.

Currently Listening:

“In the Deep Shade” – The Frames

Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova — who nowadays go by The Swell Season, more or less — are musicians who know the power of small moments. After all, they won fame for their roles in the movie Once, a film that’s about as tiny and intimate as they come, and one of my favorite songs they’ve yet recorded is their cover of Dylan’s “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere,” a small-scale, acoustic singalong that eschewed the flashy in favor of heart-on-sleeve emotions. Then again, they’re also well-versed in large gestures: Their signature song, “Falling Slowly,” takes very personal expressions and translates them into an anthem of uncommon grandiosity. And who can forget Irglova’s meek acceptance speech at the Oscars — a moment of humility and heartfelt gratitude, amidst Hollywood’s gaudiest display of glitz and razzle-dazzle.

For Strict Joy, their first post-Once collaboration — and their ANTI- Records debut — the duo seeks something of a middle ground. This is a grander production than anything they’ve ever done; There are horns and winds and plenty of production flourishes that take this music well outside the cozy little bedroom from the movie. And yet, this is also an album about little moments, small gestures, human emotions: It’s unashamedly confessional, and it uses the word “feelings” enough to make it clear that this is music about matters of the heart.

Read the rest at Stereo Subversion.

Ayer por la tarde estaba en casa disfrutando de una recopilación de Nick Lowe, cuando sonó All Men Are Liars, una canción que me parece cojonuda (¡esa referencia a Rick Astley es genial!). Me pareció un título chulo para un disco y, además, tenía delante de mí una foto que había hecho en una tienda de Londres (en la Burlington Arcade) que era perfecta para la portada (las letras del título tienen los colores de las corbatas de la tienda).

Descarga la recopilación "All Men Are Liars"

Así que la cosa empezó con Nick Lowe y siguó con Orange Juice, Modern Skirt, The Electric Soft Parade, The Jeevas, Luthea Salom, Stoned Emotion, Death Cab For Cutie, The Frames, My Morning Jacket, Tapes ‘n Tapes, Trashmonkeys, Islands, Benjamin Biolay, The Rentals, Josh Ritter, The Changes, Paper Or Plastic, Steve Wynn & The Miracle 3, James Dean Bradfield, The Higsons, Metric, Nada Surf, The Like y Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.

Creo que sólo hay un tema nuevo (el de Benjamin Biolay) y he incluido versiones de Julian Cope, David Bowie, Elvis Costello y Creedence Clearwater Revival. Este mediodía he rehecho la recopilación: he eliminado algún tema e incluido otros, hasta que ha quedado la que os dejo aquí, que espero que la disfrutéis.

AQUÍ tenéis el listado de temas y, como siempre, pinchando en la portada os podéis descargar las canciones en mp3 y la carátula en pdf.

A while back, my friend Monster lent me a DVD. “You have to watch this. You’re gonna love it.”

Monster’s tastes and mine run in the same circles, so I trusted her and watched the movie.

A film like this only comes along once in a lifetime.

That movie was Once. The rest is history.

I had the opportunity to see The Swell Season the last time they were in town, and they were amazing. When I heard that they were back in town, I breathed a heavy sigh. You see, I’m an out-of-work writer, masquerading as an underpaid all-purpose girl at a wretched Korean property management company. I can’t afford luxuries like a mind-blowing live performance on a perfect autumn evening.

But thank God for Fingerprints. Located in beautiful Belmont Shore, Fingerprints is the indie record store to end all indie record stores. Championship Vinyl’s got nothin’ on them.

They occasionally have musicians come and play special acoustic sets for a small crowd. When Monster found out that The Swell Season was coming to Fingerprints, she wasted no time (or effort — she had to redial for two hours before she finally got through) in procuring entrance for both of us.

When I arrived at Fingerprints on Tuesday evening (thanks to my fat commute), the place was packed. I found Monster quickly and we waited for the show to begin. And then the owner came out to introduce the band, and the rest of the world just fell away.

Glen Hansard, formerly of The Frames, plays with a vigor that you’d expect from someone as energetic as he is. The moment he takes the stage, you can feel his passion. There is no mellow with this guy. Even his slower songs are charged with electric emotion. He doesn’t sing sad songs — he sings heart-wrenchingly mournful ones. Whatever he does has movement to it.

And that’s not even counting his physical movement. Hansard is so fun to watch — he doesn’t wear his heart on his sleeve, he wears it right on his face. And his quick sense of humor adds to the fun. He loves interacting with his audience and it shows.

And that voice — oh, that voice. That’s what raw emotion sounds like, people. It has a roughness to it that seems to embody the heart behind his songs — this is a guy who’s been kicked down by love time and time again, but continues to believe in it enough to keep wanting it. Some would call it rough — I call it real.

Contrast this to the calm beauty of Markéta Irglová. Her voice is so pure — almost childlike in its innocence. But it has an almost deceptive versatility. When she’s harmonizing to Hansard, she provides a delicate counterbalance to his raw emotion. But when she takes the lead herself, her voice conveys all the same yearning behind Hansard’s loudest shouts.

When I first heard her sing, I thought she had a nice voice, but nothing special. But something about it just cuts right to the soul and makes you think about the most broken your heart has ever been. Hansard wears his heart on his face. Irglová wears hers in her voice.

I’ve just described two completely different artists. But like French fries and soft serve ice cream, you wouldn’t think they’d work together, but combine the two, and — magic.

Afterwards, they signed autographs for a really long time. Despite having just played an amazing show and the sight of a line of fans around the block, which couldn’t have been wholly welcome at 9pm, they stuck around and signed autographs and took pictures and were generally really nice to everyone.

Just me and Monster and The Swell Season (and some dude who works at Fingerprints -- lucky).

I saw Hansard initiate handshakes with anyone who seemed too shy to proffer their own hand (including me — I was momentarily flustered at being so close to a musician right after a show. The shekinah glory must have temporarily blinded me). Irglová, who was fighting a cold on top of having just performed, smiled bravely as she signed posters and posed for pictures. She even complimented my Czech.

They asked for each fan’s name and personalized every autograph. These are people that care about their fans and understand that they owe a lot to these people who pay money (well, except for me — thanks, Monster!) to hear them play.

And this is part of why “The Swell Season” is such an appropriate name for the band. Their music, their talent, even who they are — it swells the heart to almost bursting. I’ll take that over boredom any day.

The Swell Season’s latest album, Strict Joy, drops on October 27, 2009. You can click here to pre-order from Amazon.com or, if you’re too cool for Amazon, go to fingerprintsmusic.com.

Topics: Best TV Spin-offs, Football Talk (not really), Disappointing Gifts, Planet of The Apes, uStream Video, Canned Beer, Classic Albums with a Great 1-2-3 Punch, Twitter Celebrity World News!, Todd vs. Conservative Blogger, Aziz Ansari, Beatles Rock Band and The Worst Smell Ever!

Playlist: Sky Larkin, Cursive, Colin MacIntyre and All Smiles.

Preview: “Shaq? Like Shaquille O’Neal, is that who you’re talkin’ about?” “I don’t think that guy has a monopoly on the word Shaq…”

Play Now: http://www.usedwigs.com/pod/podcast67.mp3

iTunes: Download, Listen and Subscribe

Related Links:

• UWR Test Video on uStream.tv
• Sly Fox Beer
• XTC
• The Frames – “Burns The Maps”
• Urge Overkill – “Saturation”
• The Grundles
• Daytrotter
• Twitter Verified Account
• @jonwurster
• Parks & Recreation
• Aziz Ansari
• The Really Rottens
• Entire Butt English Porter
• Mark David’s Box Of Tapes
• Lawrence Arms – “Buttsweat and Tears”

~*~ My favourite makeout playlist ~*~

Alright ~ Kinnie Star

How My Heart Behaves ~ Feist

Five String Serendade ~ Mazzy Star

Fallen ~ Sarah MacLachlan

Been Let Down ~ Mazzy Star

Tell Me ~ Carly Rae Jepsen

Sweet Talker ~ Carly Rae Jepsen

Drifing ~ Sarah McLachlan

Stay With Me ~ Colbie Caillat

Sweet Jane ~ Mazzy Star

Dirty Little Secret ~ Sarah McLachlan

Glitter In The Air ~ Pink

Madly ~ Tristan Prettyman

Interviews ~ Tristan Prettyman

In My Head ~ Anna Nalick

Push ~ Sarah McLachlan

All Your Sisters ~ Mazzy Star

Give Me Your Lovin ~ Mazzy Star

Falling Slowly ~ The Frames

¡Esta es una grandiosa noticia! The Swell Season, el proyecto alternativo de Glen Hansard (más conocido como el vocalista de la banda irlandesa The Frames) junto a Marketa Irglova acaba de lanzar su último trabajo titulado Strict Joy. Los vimos en Once, precioso musical, en donde pudimos disfrutar de baladas intimistas cargadas de sentimiento y letras esperanzadoras. En este album, Hansard vuelve a ser el protagonista pero es Irglova quien regala ese toque de sutileza que nos hace suspirar hondo.

El album será recién lanzado al mercado americano este 27 de Octubre, con doce temas en total, que incluyen dos versiones en vivo  (Say it to me now, All the way down) y un bonus track (Somebody Good).

Para aquellos que no pueden esperar estas dos semanas que aún quedan, el fabuloso site NPR acaba de colgar el album completo para ser escuchado en streaming ¡sólo por esta única semana!.

100%. Recomendado.

om even stil van te worden…

gelukkig ‘mag’ ik het weer bloggen… wat een ultradom gedoe was dat zeg! ik blijf erbij dat het delen van dit soort videos de beste online word-of-mouth is. fijn toch als je dit tof vindt en er misschien op die manier achter komt dat je mijn muziek ook wel kunt waarderen. of omgekeerd. of gewoon, dat we een beetje smaak delen en verder op dit blog ook nog wel dingen van je gading staan.

which reminds me: Once. heel mooie/fijne film met prachtige muziek van de man hierboven (zanger van The Frames, for those who didn’t recognize him)

kijk, wellicht heb ik een stukje weekend zo mooi versierd voor je. genietze

Nuevo curso, nuevo ritmo, nuevas caras. Y la misma sensación de resaca en la cabeza.

Your will changes everyday
It’s a road you’ve come upon
I can’t help you if you want to
Down here nothing gets a chance
It’s a threat that’s real enough
We can burn this bridge or stay here
It’s a breeze everlasting like time
Making so sure that
I can return just to see it from your side again

Always never seems to work
It’s a word you never learned
I don’t really see a way clear
It’s a sea ever churning in tides
In the sureness of time
And our words will repeat now forever again
Well this might take a while to figure out
So don’t you rush it
And hold your head up high right through the doubt
‘Cause it’s just a matter of time
You’ve been running so fast
It’s the seven day mile
Has you torn in-between here and running away

I don’t have a choice in this
It’s a road I’ve come upon
You can join us if you want to

Always never seems to work
It’s a word we never learned
Time will be the judge of all here
This might take a while to figure out now
So don’t you rush it
And hold you’re head up high
Right through the doubt now
‘Cause its just a matter of time
You’ve been running so fast
It’s the seven day mile
Has you torn in-between here and running away
It’s line you’ve been wanting
It’s your time
It’s the seven day mile
Has you torn in-between here and never again
Never again

And down here nothing gets chance

It’s a world too big for us
Time will be the judge of all here
This might take a while to figure out now
So don’t you rush it
And hold you’re head up high
Right through the doubt now
‘Cause its just a matter of time
You’ve been running so fast
It’s the seven day mile
Has you torn in-between yeah and never again
Never again

The first of many frames I expect to use over the next couple of years (I don’t expect there to ever be an end to this project)!

Frame #1 was purchased for £2.50 from the Sue Ryder charity shop in Crossgates, Leeds.

The poster, a 1920’s replica of a Coca Cola advertisement, is spray mounted on card – I’ll keep it in case we can make some money for charity auctioning it off (watch this space).