Live: The Can't Tells - Nothing Heavy

Mohammed Ali - "They must have the skill and the will, but the will must be stronger than the skill"

The best under 1,000 hits song you'll ever hear. His soprano is elegant and understated, wistful, and full of mood and is so well counterbalanced by a forward bass and drums part. This is the will exceeding the skill. These are young budding musicians who have written something that is so much more than the sum of it's parts. Enjoy

Song Here

Live Performance Special: I Don't Wanna Go There

Live Performance Special: I Don't Wanna Go There - Dinosaur Jr

This is another one I have meant to share since way back in '09. It's a pretty cool performance, I get a kick out of seeing any kind of loud live music, and I really dig just the general sound of the band here. The washed out guitar sounds with some mellow vocals over top are definitely 90's but the lick is bluesy enough to not get lost in it all. Something I forgot is how generally loud it was, especially after listening to some more volume dynamic music, this stuff really is just a block of distorted loud.

I also think I remember listening to the original song and really preferring this version because it actually had less soloing, and was just generally tighter and more exciting. As a small aside I love that they play in separate rooms in the performance.

Here's the Performance,

and Here's the Original.

Live Performance Special: Civilian

Civilian - Wye Oak - Civilian

I love this song live and in studio. The vocalist has a beautiful swirling delivery which is a perfect match for the distortion and reverb of her guitar, matched with the simple, thumping kick drum. The amount of passion and loud she puts into that guitar solo is just fantastic. It's not technical, it's just simple and brutally emotive. Wow.

Live.

Studio.

New Release: Elzhi - The Elmatic

Elzhi - The Elmatic

This album has gotten a lot of press recently and it is absolutely deserved. If there's one thing i hate it's jumping on a bandwagon and just bumping up what other people have said without any original thought. That being said, believe what you hear, this is special.

The Elmatic, is not just a tribute, it's an update, a reworking, and a cover. It takes every track off of the Illmatic, a classic album for any genre, and rerecords them with a live band, and Elzhi rapping over them in a similar style, rhythm, or beat pattern to the original. No one is here to say that Elzhi is a better rapper than nas, or that this album is better than the original, but this album is great in its own way! Performing these songs with a live band gives it a much fresher feel, and Elzhi does a wonderful job emulating Nas while still telling his own story and leaving his own mark on the aalbum.

Halftime, one of my absolute favorites off the original, gets a spectacular rendition by Elzhi and his backing band, but also represents the two albums well. It sounds different in the best way possible. I just love both of them so much. Nas rapping, it's better, and more memorable ("You couldn't catch me in the streets without a ton of reefer//That's like Malcolm X, catchin the Jungle Fever"), but I LOVE Elzhi's smooth quick agile delivery. See and compare for yourself. The Original. The Update.

I don't think I even mentioned the best part. It's Free. All of it. It's not a pay as much as you want, its just free. I'm trying to find someway to buy it, because I want to support Elzhi now, but so far as i can tell this is free mp3 download only.

If you didn't click on any of the download links here it is.

Live Performance Special: In the Valley

In the Valley - Chief - Modern Rituals

My last few posts have really been moving towards a more summer feel, and this song is certainly following this trend. More along the calm bittersweet side of the summer feel than upbeat and optimistic, more "The Good Times are Killing Me" than say "Use Me" as an example. It has a very calming California sound but also its message definitely focuses on loneliness. I guess its kind of finding sadness in a good place, and that the sadness isn't from the setting, but from yourself. Just "Sitting in the valley alone". Anyway you cut the meaning, the band really performs well live, the vocalist is fantastic in a mellow singsong way that is not overblown or over dramatic. It's as though he's just singing to himself, but with real shine and beauty in his voice. Enjoy.

Song: Here

Song of the Week: Don't Let It Bring You Down

Dont Let it Bring you Down - Neil Young - After the Gold Rush

The lyrics for this are simply amazing. Neil Young's voice is not for everyone, but this was the absolute standout for me on an album of amazing songs (Southern Man, Etc...). For some reason I find the phrase "Dont let it bring you down, It's only castles burning, Just find someone who's turning, And you will come around" oddly reassuring and sad. For me it deals with loss of material items and things, and that the relationships we have with people, who have also lost like you have, is what will ultimately turn us around and make us alright. Anyway, I've included all the lyrics, they are really potent! A phrase that always gets stuck in my head is the "Blind man running through the light of the night, With an answer in his hand, Come on down to the river of sight, And you can really understand" it's just all one big contradiction but I still love it and find it very powerful.

Song Here

Lyrics Below
---------------
Old man lying by the side of the road
With the lorries rolling by,
Blue moon sinking from the weight of the load
And the building scrape the sky,
Cold wind ripping down the allay at dawn
And the morning paper flies,
Dead man lying by the side of the road
With the daylight in his eyes.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Blind man running through the light of the night
With an answer in his hand,
Come on down to the river of sight
And you can really understand,
Red lights flashing through the window in the rain,
Can you hear the sirens moan?
White cane lying in a gutter in the lane,
If you're walking home alone.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Don't let it bring you down
It's only castles burning,
Just find someone who's turning
And you will come around.

Live Performance Special: Tempel - Colour Haze

This live performance of Colour Haze was filmed during the “Dunajam Festival” which seems to be an absolute Mecca for those that enjoy psychedelic or stoner rock. Dunajam is (from what I can gather) a week long festival that takes place on a small Mediterranean island, featuring about 20 or so bands that play live outdoor concerts all over the largely unpopulated island. Those who go get intimate concerts and enjoy some of the best weather, and background the Mediterranean has to offer. The reason I chose Colour Haze and their song Tempel over other performances was because there could not be a more fitting setting for their music. Rolling drums are complimented by a sea crashing on cliff side behind them, while the thunderous guitar is as impressive as the mountains that litter the background. Dynamic highs and lows of tone and volume are as stark as the blue of the sky against the white and yellow sandstone. The images that music brings to mind are literally brought into view in perfect synchronization with what the band is playing. The only knock is the poor quality of the video, and even that isn’t so bad (you can try the 480p not sure if it makes a difference).

Performance: Here

Live Performance Special: To the Grain - Junip

Till today I had never heard of this band, and it was purely by chance (accidentally clicking on a related video) that I did stumble on them. The guitarist is definitely an apt folk player, and the overall sound immediately made me think of Pentangle except, of course, with a male vocalist. The reason I chose the live entry of this over the album version was that it captures the strongest part of Junip's music, the vocals, and puts them even more into the forefront of the music. It makes a very powerful ethereal voice very real. It always amazes me to watch someone sing beautifully, and to do it live, with what looks like little effort. The tone is minimalist in its instrumentation and orchestration (reminiscent of The XX and Crystallized, which the Gorillaz did a fantastic live cover of) but I view this as a strength as all the focus can be put on the beautiful guitar and voice.

Performance: Here

Live Performace Special: Night Goat - The Melvins

In trying to pick out a song for this segment, I wasn't just looking for a song that was good live, but was better than the studio version, and I think Night Goat achieves that. On the album Houdini it was a thundering heavy track, and live (with the addition of Joe Preston on bass and an extra drummer) it's dynamics are much more enunciated as it begins with sequels of feed back before a throbbing bass line enters. Add on almost operetic vocals that did not quite come out on the original and you have a song that went from good n' gritty to Pure, Rumbling, Four-Horsemen-Are-Coming, Rock and Roll. Lyrically speaking the line "I can make your teeth grind" sums up perfectly the live performance of this song.

Performance: Here