There’s been a lot of Mountain Man live recordings in scenic places floating around the internet for quite sometime, but this video showcasing Alexandra, Amelia, and Molly’s vocal talent at Iveagh Gardens in Dublin, Ireland — in the rain, nonetheless — might be the best I’ve seen since Yours Truly captured the trio “from a tunnel on a hill.” Featured in the video are the delectably sweet songs “Mouthwings”, “Arabella”, and “Animal Tracks” as well as a beautiful new track loosely titled “Whale Song”, so prepare yourself for not doing anything for the next ten minutes while watching/listening to this vid.
Unfortunately, I haven’t copped their Underwater Peoples 10” or their Bella Union 12” yet, but after watching these videos I’ve certainly bumped them further up the queue, so that should be remedied in the near future. For the uninitiated, check out a lengthy post of mine about the spiritual experience of witnessing their live show as well as a couple of mp3s (courtesy their bandcamp page) below:
Haven’t put together one of these round-ups in a while, so let’s ease back into things with this mini-collection of my favorite video finds of the past week or so.
Speaking of amazing music vids, check this one for His Clancyness’s latest single “Summer Majestic”, as first premiered on Delicious Scopitone:
I always love the ingenuity of creative music listeners and the stuff they’re able to come up with. Take this weather channel heavy fan vid for Ariel Pink’s track “Reminiscences” for example:
Another cool archival video snipped together, this time for Baths’ track “Maximalist” [via: yvynyl]
Lastly, here is a great stripped-down version of the Norwegian electro-pop group Casiokids performing in Austria, recorded by the folks over at They Shoot Music:
Got a great collection of video finds from the past week, so let’s jump right into it:
Georgia down at Microphone Memory Emotionre-posted this video of Mountain Man singing “Animal Tracks” sometime during their lengthy stay at SXSW this past March. I swear, I’ll never get tired of this song…
The next video is of Neon Indian performing “Should Have Taken Acid With You” (arguably my favorite song by Mr. Palamo) from a show back in March recorded by Extraneous Noise:
I have to admit, the Electrical Engineer in me squealed a little with delight when I caught Born Ruffian’s latest oscilloscope-tastic music video for their track “What to Say”:
The second week in a row Toro y Moi has made my weekend round-up, this time with a live performance of his track “You Hid” shot by videographer Jon Casey:
Interstellar, space-y, or “lunar limelight” as Chocolate Bobka called it, are all apt adjectives to describe this live video of Oneohtrix Point Never’s performance of “Star Looks”:
The next video find is courtesy of Lou down at Salad Fork for unearthing this great Beach House cover by chanteuse Emily Reo:
The final video by Philly band U.S. Girls must have had a budget of $20 because it was made entirely on a B&W photocopier. The result is absolutely amazing:
No amount of videos you’ve seen or tracks you’ve heard can really prepare you for a Mountain Man show. In this day and age where you can achieve near digital perfection in the studio, I’m still convinced that no recording will ever do them justice and that in order to truly experience what these three girls from Vermont are all about, you have to see them sing in person. Even the phrase “breathtakingly beautiful” seems to fall incredibly short when trying to describe their sound. Last night, I had a chance to witness them play a twelve song set at the acoustically perfect Reed College Chapel, and it was probably the most spiritual experience I’ve had in quite a while.
After braving through a sample-crazy electro soloist, a singer / songwriter acoustic performance, and a full band arrangement — an interesting collection of Reed College musicians — the time finally arrived for Molly, Amelia, and Alex to take the stage. Holding only a single acoustic guitar (makes it easy to pack their green sedan and drive cross country on a whim), their mostly a cappella set was about as simple of a performance instrument-wise I’ve ever seen. In fact, the group noted how this was the first time ever they’ve performed with a microphone on stage; quite a feat for it being 2010, not 1910.
And their timelessness is one of the best qualities of their music. If it wasn’t for the Appalachian-infused vocals of the group that automatically makes you think of past greats like Cousin Emmy (popular from the 20s-50s), you wouldn’t be able to pinpoint even the century this music belongs to. I mean, small groups of singers huddled together forming beautiful harmonies is one of the oldest arrangements in the books and can probably be traced back to the dawn of humankind.
Although the gravity of their music is intense, during breaks they would counter their emotionally draining performance with lighthearted banter. The most fun conversation they had was when Molly divulged an arrangement she had with her then boyfriend that, if given the opportunity, they would be OK with each other kissing Connor Oberst. Not surprisingly, this spun into a lengthy talk about their first concerts they attended with Amelia proudly declaring it was 98 degrees, even mimicking their choreographed dance moves to the t. Maybe I just have this thing about elevating musicians to higher tiers of humanity, but it’s always refreshing to see down-to-earth personalities from performers.
As anyone who has seen them live can attest to, you really need near silence to fully appreciate their music. Although I berate the arms-crossed crowd of Portland concert goers almost every live show I go to, at the very least I can say it made for good practice for this performance. With the crowd frozen on the front pews and seated attentively on the ground in front of the stage, it was so still that I felt guilty when my stomach started growling — making it impossible to even consider taking photos of the show with my loud ass shutter sound.
Opening with the track “Honeybee” with their hands clasped to each other, it was amazing to see the three only needing to hit the first note a couple of times as warm-up before going into a jaw-dropping rendition of the track, something reminiscent of the sound check I saw Neko Case do almost a year. Since the only recording I have of theirs is composed of six songs, naturally there were some surprises (at least for me) as well as some covers thrown into the mix. Regardless of how unfamiliar some of the newer songs might have been, you wouldn’t have known the difference as every track was spot-on. It didn’t matter if it was the recently-premiered “Babylon” or the Jana Hunter cover song they closed with (which Amelia told me was “the first song we learned as a band”), everything was about as picture perfect as you could get. Here is a rough setlist from the evening:
I haven’t seen the “How I’m Doing Hey Hey” track anywhere online, so I went ahead and uploaded a “video” of their performance of it tonight (more like audio because the lighting was bad and my camera sucks majorly):
It was cool because the Portland crowd pitched in some improvised snapping that went along with the music and the girls looked like they were having a great time performing it on stage.
Well that’s it for last night’s performance. All I can say is that if you get a chance to see them live, do yourself a favor and go. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed.
At the show, I got a copy of their limited edition self-titled CD-R (with one-of-a-kind handmade sleeve) that I’ll be giving away. I’m pretty sure this is a tour-only release, as it contains eight tracks as opposed to the six songs on their past release (“Loon Song” and “Buffalo” are the two additions). Anyways, if you won’t get an opportunity to catch them live or if you can’t wait for their almost-ready Underwater Peoples’s 10” to drop, go ahead and retweet this (or if you don’t have twitter, drop a comment) and I’ll pick a winner at random in the coming days (US residents only)!
I’ll start off with my favorite video posted by, as usual, Chris from GvB. I can’t come up with a better description than what’s given by the the artist’s Belgium label Crammed Discs:
The world has ended. All that’s left is a jungle on a floating rock where a paradise nightclub band is playing at the last cabaret on earth: the Las Vênus Resort Palace Hotel. The singer’s name is Sonja Khalecallon, and her band are Los Stroboscopious Luminous. Sonja Khalecallon is in fact one of the alter egos of Cibelle, the London-based tropical punkster whose take on music is entirely her own and “Lightworks” is her cover of seminal exotica producer and 1950s electronic music pioneer Raymond Scott’s track.
Videographer Ray Concepcioñ never ceases to amaze me. Evidently, I’m not the only one who’s captured by his cinematic talent as The Great Pumpkin included this video on an awesome recent post about Vermont’s folksy female group Mountain Man:
I seriously can’t get enough of this stripped down version of a new track entitled “Little Bright Fires” by West Texans Daniel Fluitt and Colt Miller of Thrift Store Cowboys (who you may remember put out one of my favorite 7′’s of ‘09). Take a listen for yourself and see how wonderful this song is:
Got to love the genius that is Michel Gondry. Here’s his latest music video for LA’s singer/songwriter Mia Doi Todd track “Open Your Heart”:
Words can’t not describe how pumped I am to check out St. Vincent this weekend when she plays Doug Fir Lounge. She had two great videos crop up this past week (the more official being her video for “Laughing With a Mouth Full of Blood” with Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s comic troupe Thunderant), however I prefer the cover of The National’s “Taken for Strangers”:
After hopping the pond for a handful of European dates, New Jersey native Dayve Hawk (aka Memory Tapes) finally got around to playing his first US show when he opened for Atlas Sound at Brooklyn’s Bell House this past week. Here’s a video of his rather nervous performance:
Finally, a video recap wouldn’t be complete with at least one Vincent Moon recording! This week’s pick is an early 2009 Montreal performance by recently deceased singer/songwriter Lhasa de Sela:
If these videos don’t take you through the weekend, head on over to my blog friend Adult Acid and check out what he has posted!
We’ve all had those moments waking up late on a Saturday morning after a long night of partying where the only plans for the day is laying on the couch, mindlessly surfing the net, and drifting in and out of sleep. Well my new mix Laid & Paid: Weak ‘n Mixxx is the soundtrack for these times — keeping it nice and chill so not to exacerbate the hungover headaches.
You can download the mix directly from here (EDIT: rapidshare seems to be having problems this morning, so here’s a more direct link) and after which sit back, relax, and enjoy the 75+ of smooth tunes while drinking your Bloody Marys and downing your Ibuprofen. There’s a good blend of foreign/domestic, popular/obscure, full-band/instrumentals, so you’re sure to be able to pick up a couple of new favorites while revisiting some classic songs you might not have heard in a while. Here’s the tracklist:
Well if you didn’t know it by the Beach House and Toro y Moi leaks, 2010 is just around the corner. Although we should have some idea about what’s going to happen next year, there are still a series of unknown events yet to be experienced. Well one such gap that has been filled this past week is the initial line-up for Austin’s annual massive cult-like gathering disguised as the South By Southwest Music Festival.
In typical SXSW fashion, most of the 230 bands slated to descend upon the Lone Star State capitol next spring are unknowns, however, after sifting through the 4+ pages of acts, I’ve found some well respected names that are guaranteed to put on a good show. When it comes to bands, you have the whole gamut to choose from. You like international acts, you say? Well they have obscure Norwegian singer/songwriter Julian Berntzen, popular Scottish indie-rockers Frightened Rabbit, and Colbert-approved Swedish swing/hip-hop/jazz group Movits! to choose from. Like the blog-buzzed bands? Well IGIF-approved acts Arms and Fanfarlo are scheduled to appear as well as GorrillavsBear-ed band Fergus & Geronimo and Aquarium Drunkard’s fave Warpaint. Looking for local flavor? Austin has that too with great homegrown acts Harlem and Daniel Francis Doyle.
As for my own personal favorites, quite a few caught my eye. Although I’ve been disappointed with his latest effort Summer of Fear, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson put out one of my favorite albums of 2008 with his self-titled debut, so I wouldn’t mind checking out his unsteady vocals live. The all-girl Atlanta garage rockers The Coathangers are another act that would be cool to check out since I missed their performance in Lubbock earlier this year. However of all the groups, the two bands I am most looking forward to see are the Vermont female folk trio ironically named Mountain Man as well as San Fran indie-rockers The Mantles. Both feature some incredibly thought out, easily listenable tunes that I think would work great offsetting the hustle-and-bustle nature of the festival itself.
No doubt, about a million more acts will start popping up on the schedule (both officially and unofficially), so I’ll keep you posted on any recent developments.
