9 posts tagged “music”

Just came back from a Jens Lekman concert at Neumo's, but first I need to tell you about the weird warm up act -- the Honeydrips. Note the plural. In actuality, just one guy. And a MacBook Pro with iTunes. Which was his band, and his backing vocals. He did have a guitar which he picked up, but never actually played. He was okay, he had a sort of New Order-type sound at the beginning, then it was kind of all over the place... I think I was distracted, watching him intently to see if he was actually going to pluck some strings on that damn guitar.

Jens though was awesome. The main draw of his songs (aside from their 50's - 60's infectious pop vibe) is the sweet lyrics, the story that he tells in each song. Even more so that, during the set, he would occasionally provide even more back story to fill in the gaps -- e.g. Postcard to Nina, in which he describes how a lesbian friend convinces him to beard for her when visiting her family in Berlin. The audience was clapping along, even whistling... Jens displayed an understated showmanship that you appreciated as something a little out of the ordinary; through his story-telling you definitely felt more connected to the guy on stage than you might otherwise.

Oh, another point in his favour: Wikipedia claims he moved to Melbourne in early 2008 :).

Oh-oh I'm behind already in my blog updates... more Las Vegas/Grand Canyon photos to come but not this time...

Just came back from skiing with Hugo and Atul, leaving behind Tommer, Beau, Kieran and Wu to enjoy more of their snowboarding up at Snoqualmie. We stuck to Central (there's also West, East and Alpental), which has quite a few beginner and intermediate runs (which suits me just fine). Lesson for me: stick to greens and easy blues for now! I bet my legs will be sore in the morning but it was good to get out there for probably the last time this season before...

I start work with my new team in Windows Mobile on Monday. I can't really say what I'm working on (I've always wanted to say that), but I think it's going to be exciting coming almost full circle from when I first got out of uni working for Ericsson in Melbourne, to finally being able to work with the mobile devices I always dreamt about. The best part is that the office will be moving to a new building in South Lake Union in May, which will cut down my commute dramatically!

Okay time to go, I'm about to head out to a Missy Higgins gig at the Tractor Tavern... It's funny, I've probably seen more Aussie acts here in Seattle than I ever did back home (at least pro rata); off the top of my head: Ben Lee, Bernard Fanning, Cat Empire, Tim Finn, JBT... Now Missy Higgins, and probably The Waifs soon too!

When I find an album I like, I tend to play it over and over until I get sick of it. So far my iPhone has seen many, many repeat plays of Eddie Vedder's latest from the Into the Wild soundtrack, which I highly recommend. (Guess I'm a sucker for folksy acoustic guitar stuff.) There are two tracks on the Deluxe edition that I bought from iTunes though that I particularly like but which were not featured in the film (in fact they were written for a documentary about the Iraq war). I thought I'd share a couple YouTube vids of Eddie playing them live. The first one is "Here's to the State":

And the second one, "No More":

Oh and the movie Into the Wild is worth watching too :).

In keeping with my penchant for pop-folk-country chicks, I've recently gotten into KT Tunstall, some of whose songs people will probably be familiar with, like Suddenly I See. So on the strength of a few songs, I bought a couple of her acoustic albums on iTunes and wow I've had them on loop on my iPod ever since, even springing for the DRM-free versions (which convert nicely into MP3 for playing in the car...). This one-click purchasing thing can be addictive...

Ok just came home from seeing John Butler Trio at the Moore Theatre in downtown Seattle, and I have to say John Butler is an amazing musician. His guitar skills are out of this world -- he did a 10 minute solo (maybe longer?), and his fingers ought to have been bleeding at the end of it. Highlight was Peaches and Cream in the encore (how could he get away with not playing that song?) with Kaki King accompanying on flattop guitar (she was also the opening act), and the crowd singing along towards the end. Great stuff... even if JB is a long-haired tree-hugging hippy ;).

Saw Rocky Votolato at Neumo's last night with Milly -- my first gig since Snow Patrol back in January! The night got off to a bad start: after initially thinking I might be late because I had a bug that needed fixing before the weekend started, I thought I made it right on the dot only to discover Milly had left the tickets back at her apartment. And wouldn't you know that she asked me to remind her not to forget to bring them during an IM earlier in the day... So we had to traipse from Cap Hill to Belltown and back; not a bad walk -- half an hour perhaps? -- but not something I'd want to do on a regular basis and/or in the Seattle rain!

What I found interesting was the demographic of the line circling the block outside Neumo's to get in: late teens, early 20's? Ok it was an all ages gig but that doesn't mean the older crowd are barred; I just didn't think Rocky's music would have such appeal to the younger set (btw younger == anyone younger than me, not that I'm sensitive about it). I always thought folk music (and that's "folk" with the "l" enunciated for those interested in the nuances of American English) appealed to shall we say a more mature audience? Pleasant surprise nonetheless.

As for the gig itself, it was not quite what I expected. After madly wolfing down pizza from Mama's to get back in time, we discovered he didn't come on stage until 11.30pm! So we dilly-dallied down to Cafe Dilletante to kill time over chai and cake (mocha praline, mmmm). Rocky started his show with The Night's Disguise, one of my favourites from Makers, except that rather than the stripped back and raw version from the album, it was a more rock-like arrangement with two other guys on guitars. Half of the other songs I didn't really recognise, so I should have probably listened to Suicide Medicine before I came; I just expected more from Makers... At least we got White Daisy Passing and Makers, my other two faves. Poor Rocky, his voice was very hoarse (I think this was one of the final shows of the tour). I think he might have done better were it not for that. Still a good show, and listening to Rocky's other stuff makes me realise what a preoccupation he has with death and alcohol!

Just got back from Snow Patrol, which I saw with Milly, Astha, Sam and Alice. SP were great live, and of course they played the obligatory suspects "Chasing Cars", "Run" and "Open Your Eyes". There was a great moment when they brought up a girl from the audience to sing Martha Wainwright's part in the duet of "Set the Fire to the Third Bar". She was a bit nervous but she managed to pull it off okay considering the circumstances; I'm sure it will be a night she'll remember forever!

The other thing I noticed: it was an underage gig, so at least where I was on the floor of the arena in the general admission area, I was surrounded by munchkins half of whom I'm sure were born in the 90's. It was a truly freaky feeling brought home by the fact I could actually see the stage without standing on tiptoe such was their collective mid-pubescence. Yay for delayed growth spurts.

This is the MySpace generation, who come to know bands because they get featured on Grey's Anatomy, and who have never known not having a mobile phone -- we even had one song where the lead singer (whose name I don't actually know such is my Snow Patrol-fandom) asked everyone to raise their phones in unison for the second verse of a song whose name I also don't remember, in lieu of waving cigarette lighters as we might have done back when smoking wasn't verboten in most public places.

I hope I don't sound like I'm railing against youth or progress, it's just an acknowledgment that time is passing and I'm no longer part of the "next" generation anymore... It's really quite humbling! Another example: SP paid tribute to the bands that influenced them the most, and being in Seattle they chose to call out Nirvana in particular -- when Smells Like Teen Spirit was released I was twelve, whereas half the audience would've been in nappies! Mind-blowing!

Oh, did I mention how sore my back is from standing up for four hours straight??? Oh to be young(er) again... Carpe diem people, carpe diem!

Melbourne and Vancouver beat Seattle hands down imho, but if there's one thing Seattle is good for, it's music. Tomorrow I'm seeing Snow Patrol, Ok Go and the Silversun Pickups for a fraction of the price similar tickets would cost back in Oz. It amazes me how much I was paying back then, whereas now because it's so cheap and more readily accessible, I'm sure I've seen more live music in the past seven months than I have in the past seven years (ok maybe not that far back but it sounds more poetic doesn't it?).

I'm hoping to see Brett Dennen at Chop Suey in a couple weeks' time too... a recent discovery thanks to iTunes. Imagine a 6-foot-5 red-headed giant with a voice almost like a woman's, backed by a guitar and matched with some really thought-provoking lyrics on his latest album, So Much More. Oh and I found Brett Dennen because iTunes suggested I might like them since I bought an Iron & Wine EP (I think). And now I can't remember how I found Iron & Wine... maybe because I like Rocky Votolato...?

It's moments like these I wish Apple would support the subscription model for the iPod -- I can definitely see a compelling reason to sign up for unlimited music downloads if I pay a set fee per month; if Zune can do it for $15/month, Apple could too (I could almost live with onerous DRM in return for the kind of all-you-can-eat that would really take advantage of my broadband connection here).

The first week of the year and I already need a holiday... Oh how I wish for the 4 weeks per year I was blessed with in Australia! Not that it's likely I'll be able to use any of it soon -- as it stands, I suspect my upcoming projects will mean I'm tied up until after March at least. Maybe then I can take a breath and go back home for a bit and see family and friends in Melbourne and Sydney. Which also means until that time I have to bear the full brunt of the Seattle winter, which is really in a different league to what I'm used to... Melbourne was bleak, but not this bleak!

A new year and I'm listening to some new music too (new to me anyways). So far:

• Ben Kweller's eponymous album (it's a grower)
  
• Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood
• Sarah Blasko's What the Sea Wants the Sea Will Have

I've always been a big fan of Sarah Blasko's in particular, and her new album is not as poppy as her previous effort but I'm finding it strangely addictive...

Ok heading out for dinner with friends in Cap Hill. We're having Vietnamese -- I'm sure it will leave me yearning for good ol' Richmond St not to mention Springy and Footscray :).