Mixtape/Playlist of the Month

1. The Black Kids - I'm Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How to Dance with You
2. Conor Oberst - Cape Canaveral
3. Wild Sweet Orange - An Atlas to Follow
4. Frightened Rabbit - Old, Old Fashioned
5. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
6. Backyard Tire Fire - Everybody's Down
7. Tom Waits - I Don't Wanna Grow Up
8. MGMT - Kids
9. The Walkmen - In the New Year
10. Blue Mountain - By Your Side
11. Okkervil River - Singer Songwriter
12. Eric Bachmann - Man O War
13. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
14. Noah and the Whale - 5 Years Time
15. The Avett Brothers - The Greatest Sum (electric)

Conor Oberst Live in Oxford, MS

Before the show, I met Conor at the City Grocery in Oxford and was pleased at how friendly and social he was.
The show was fantastic. The band sounded perfect, and the new songs (some sung by other members of the band) were a delight. I wish I knew the name of the song sung by Nik Freitas. (anyone?) Highlight of the night was probably "I Don't Wanna Die (in a hospital)." Below are videos of "Cape Canaveral" and "Sausalito." Some meathead bouncer made me stop recording at the end of "cape," bummer.

Jenny Lewis' new material sounded much more pleasing than her Rilo Kiley material (of which I am not a fan). Crowd was wonderful, and the new lyric theater had excellent acoustics.




Setlist:

Moab
Sausalito
Get Well Cards
?
?
Danny Callahan
Cape Canaveral
?
Eagle on a Pole
?
Felt the Same Way Too?
NYC - Gone, Gone
Souled Out
Milk Thistle
___________
Corrina, Corrina (traditional/Bob Dylan)
Kodachrome (Paul Simon cover)
I Don't Wanna Die (in the Hospital)
?


The question marks above are likely the below tunes:
Gentleman's Pact (Smoke Signals)
I Gotta Reason 2
Synathstete (Let Them In)
Breezy
Sundown

Reminder: Conor Oberst Live Tonight in Oxford

As Oxford, MS prepares for the presidential debate, Conor Oberst rolls into town to play at the new Lyric Theater. You better believe Conor will be political, so if you are a republican or hate politics, don't wear your heart on your sleeve. I personally go to shows to hear music not what some indie rocker thinks, but, whatever, I will be there awaiting Conor's "meat out." Should be a good show nonetheless.

New Music Tuesday

TV on the Radio - Dear Science.

Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night

Blitzen Trapper - Furr

Brightblack Morning Light - Motion to Rejoin

Golden Smog - Stay Golden, Smog, The Best of Golden Smog

Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile - S/T

Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher

Thievery Corporation - Radio Retaliation

Music Books

Amanda Petrusich's new book, It Still Moves: Lost Songs Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music, is sure to be a favorite for fans of good tunes. Amanda describes the book:

It Still Moves is a travelogue about “Americana” music, tracing the sound (and the notion) from its earliest incarnations (Delta blues, Appalachian folk) through its newer, more contemporary forms (everything from Cracker Barrel to Garth Brooks to Animal Collective). It seemed obvious to me from the start that this story was very much about the road – about movement and discovery and escape and what we think of when we think about America. Luckily for me, that allowed me to combine two of the world’s most freeing pastimes: driving and listening to records. I hope you’ll think of this mix as a road story, too – it’s got some of my all-time favorite tracks, as well as a few examples of the incredible ways in which Americana music has reinvented itself and endured.

The Musician's Guide to the Road: A Survival Handbook & All-Access Backstage Pass to Touring by Susan Voelz

From Amazon:
Product Description
What’s a tour bus like? What are the band members saying to each other on stage? Exactly how much sex, how many drugs, how much rock ‘n’ roll are we talking here? The Musician’s Guide to the Road answers all these questions and many, many, many more. Both a valuable primer designed to prepare young musicians for life on the road and an entertaining memoir of the touring life written by a seasoned musician, this is the book that reveals the scene behind the scenes. Chapters focus on preparing to tour, touring by van and bus, the day of the show, the afternoon before the show, the night of the show and the morning after, life on the road, and the end of the road.



1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die by Tom Moon

From the Publisher:
The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz—author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die—does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.

This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners’ horizons— it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.

Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote—"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.

eMusic Becoming More and More of a No Brainer

I am not sure what I would do if I did not have eMusic. Fifteen dollars a month for 50 songs is just unbeatable. If you join, you get a slough of free songs AND if you get one of your friends to help you join, he/she will get 50 songs. I compiled a list of recent additions I found buzzworthy:

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Conor Oberst - Conor Oberst
Fredrik - Na Na Ni
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Backyard Tire Fire - The Places We Lived
The Broken West - Now or Heaven
Damien Jurado - Caught in the Trees
The Walkmen - You and Me
Girl Talk - Night Ripper
Avett Brothers - Mignonette
Blue Mountain - Midnight in Mississippi

New Release Tuesday

Okkervil River - The Stand Ins

Sounds great so far, a little banjo in the second tune! The critics have loved it.


Also:

The Broken West - Now or Heaven
Damien Jurado - Caught in the Trees
Horse Feathers - House with No Home
Calexico - Carried to Dust
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane

Tom Waits: Overrated or America's Best Kept Secret?

At first blush, I shoved Tom Waits into my unpublished "overrated artists" list. I guess I figured out why this list remains unpublished. My opinion of Tom Waits has turned a complete 180. I now see why so many have a love for the man's music. While some of his tunes remain inaccessible to me, I have found many jewels in the rough and have become infatuated with Waits' dusty whiskey gruffs. This will be mostly his slower tunes. Consider this a Tom Waits starter kit.

1. Hold On
2. Long Way Home
3. Falling Down
4. Bottom of the World
5. Downtown Train
6. Come on Up to the House
7. Never Let Go
8. Widow's Grove
9. Rains on Me
10.Pony
11.Take It With Me
12.House Where Nobody Lives
13. You Can Never Hold Back Spring

Stereogum Hits the Nail on Head with Fredrik

Stereogum recently posted Bands to Watch and included the band Fredrik out of Sweden. I am truly impressed. The new album Na Na Ni is out on October 28th. The album is available NOW on emusic!!!! Fredrik's crispy eclectic sound is sure to please lovers of Sufjan, Stars, and the music of Sigur Ros. Head over to Stereogum for two free and legal mp3's from the upcoming album.

New Wilco coming this spring!

Tweedster reveals a new album is coming this Spring. Read the full run down over at Billboard.