By Jed
Sunday night's !!!/Indian Jewelry show at the Troubadour ended up to have been a wise choice. I caught most of Indian Jewelry's psych-rock set from the Loft, but traveled downstairs for the final extremely rewarding two songs. They play so often in Los Angeles, that somehow I had no idea they are from Houston. !!! vastly exceeded my expectations, front band Nick Offer leading the packed venue in over an hour of fist pumping, hip gyrating early-mid 2000s style dance punk rocking out.
Besides the Eagle Rock Music Festival on Saturday (for which we should have a preview up some time this week), there's not too many shows on my personal radar, although the following seem worth mentioning....
1) Already love the song, and was more than pleased with the first video, but Los Angeles supergroup Fool's Gold have released yet another for their smash single "Surprise Hotel." Features 1) what looks like a small komodo dragon in the swimming pool (is it an iguana?), 2) a group of old guys have more than than a barell of monkeys and 3) a girl in a bikini playing the sax. Nice. Fool's Gold will be playing on Saturday, 10/3/2009 at Pappy and Harriet's in Joshua Tree, California, at the Manimal Festival with Devendra Banhart.
2) The ironic, eye rolling cover of the top-40 pop song is so done, I know, but I really enjoy this version of "Single Ladies" by Pomplamoose. Besides that they are located in Corte Madera, California and consist of Jack Conte and Nataly Dawn (thank you, Myspace), I know nothing about these guys, besides that Ms. Dawn has an incredible, Mia Doi Toddish voice (best I've heard in a while), both are quite talented musicians, and they do a fine job at producing music videos that transparently (in a good way) reveal the structure of the song's production and arrangement.
And what appears to be an original song, "Centrifuge":
3) Monday was, for the observant Jews of the world, Yom Kippur. While I haven't attended services in years (I was checking out !!! and Indian Jewelry on Sunday night...), I always enjoyed the Unetanneh Tokef prayer (although I didn't know what it was called until looking it up just now...) It includes some fairly dire language, which is typically chanted in a typically dramatic (and moving) fashion at services: "On Rosh Hashanah will be inscribed and on Yom Kippur will be sealed how many will pass from the earth and how many will be created; who will live and who will die; who will die at his predestined time and who before his time; who by water and who by fire, who by sword, who by beast..." This is my kind of prayer.
On Leonard Cohen's 1974 album New Skin For the Old Ceremony is included a brilliant reworking of the prayer called "Who By Fire," which as far as I'm concerned, is equally powerful. The idea that the year ahead is already set, and that the various manners in which we may continue to be, or continue no longer to be have already been inscribed has always struck me as, for lack of a better word "truthful." The last line of each verse in the Cohen song, "And who shall I say...is calling?" gives me chills. In recognition of the holiday I no longer celebrate, and in hope that Leonard Cohen's recent on-stage collapse in Barcelona will not be repeated any time soon, here are two versions of "Who By Fire." First, a 1979 interview and life performance, and next a live version with jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins from (most likely 1989) on an episode of David Sanborn and Jools Holland-hosted "Sunday Night" (later renamed "Night Music"). Both worth checking out.
1979 Interview
"Night Music"
4) New video for Fables from the Dodos' recent release, Time to Die. Definitely mellower than what I've heard from the previous album, and a surprisingly straightforward video of a studio performance.
5) Loggins and Messina are playing on Friday, October 2 at the Greek Theatre. I'm so glad they worked out their differences and joined forces in the pursuit of "smooth" music!
6) Taken By Trees, the most recent project by former Concretes singer and Peter Bjorn and John collaborator Victoria Bergsman has a video for their cover of Animal Collective's "My Girls." I've not caught on to Animal Collective (yet), so I find this less crowded arrangement much more pleasing.
7) Seattle's Cave Singers are playing at the Echo on October 1. I've loved their song "Seeds of Night" since I downloaded it a few years ago:
8) This 1980s dating video has absolutely nothing to do with music, but I couldn't help myself. I have a pretty high cringe threshold for awkwardness, but I think it has finally been shattered by these dudes.
Dating Montage
Uploaded by smithy00101. - Independent web videos.
9) Finally, this Jimmy Fallon Show performance by the Dirty Projectors of "When the World Comes to an End" on Monday night, was really something special. I love Bitte Orca, but this track (which is not on the album) features some truly amazing vocal arrangement.
Anything I missed? Anything you want to tell me about? Just want to talk? Email me at RFSLJed@gmail.com.
yay for pomplamoose!
Posted by: p | October 01, 2009 at 10:17 AM
very nice videos!!!
Posted by: invierta proyectos | February 09, 2010 at 10:58 AM