Campilongo plays every Monday night at The Living Room on the Lower East Side.  There is no doubt that he is a straight up virtuoso, unrivaled by about 96.5% of guitar players on earth.  I took a lesson with him once, and he certainly knows his stuff, and is a flawless player.  Having said that, he just isn’t my thing.  I cant explain it, but it just doesn’t connect with me, lots of notes and bending.  Nels Cline on the other hand, well, we know how I feel about Nels.

Nels In The Greatest Suit Ever

This show was clearly the place to be on this particular monday, many notable NY musicians were in the crowd, it was standing room only, the one waitress could not nearly get to everyone.  In recent years, as my twenties have passed the halfway point, I find myself getting less and less excited over my childhood guitar heroes.  I don’t know what it is, maybe its just harder to be enthusiastic as we get older.  In my early days I would go to a show hours early to get right up front and do the guitar dude thing…ya know, checkin’ out the pedals…but these days, I feel more comfortable in whichever seat has a good view and is not surrounded by loud people.  That all kind of went out the window when Nels walked in, I felt like a kid hanging around his favorite pro athlete or something.

Anyhoo, the Campilongo trio went on, and um, as their name indicates, they played for a loonnnnng time (sorry, had to do it) before Nels came on.  The first few songs were entertaining, full of virtuosity, clearly a tight band.  But after a while, the crowd thinned out a bit…I saw one dad and his kid leave around 11:30, the kid looking clearly disappointed he did not get to see Nels play.  I mean, its a monday man, come on.

Eventually, preceded by a long disclaimer about how they were ill rehearsed…Nels came to the stage.  Some ridiculous hippy looking kids in the front row just completely lost their shit. Screaming, headbanging, fist pumping, just going nuts.  In this one instance, I’ll forgive them, because this shit was just crazy.  Well, the first song The Beatles’ “Yer Blues”  was a little sloppy, but really, who cares.  Its supposed to be sloppy.  Next, a cinematic sounding western instrumental standard I do not know the name of, featuring a tasteful solo by Camilongo, followed by a short one by Cline…and they closed with Third Stone From The Sun by Jimi Hendrix (not to be confused with 3rd rock from the sun, the John Lithgow comedy classic)

That’s pretty much where it all exploded.  Nels was just hanging in the crowd looking antsy before he came up, and he seemed to let it all out on this tune.  They did a short noise improv intro, in which he picked up some type of mini megaphone and would scream into the guitar pickups, sending feedback throughout the tiny club.  The bass and drums segued into the classic Hendrix rhythm section riff, and they took off from there.  Campilongo just got out of the way musically, and Nels took over.  I’m fairly sure he began to levitate, as his guitar shot out flames of psychedelic fire, covered in diamonds, towing a trailer full of centaurs each playing their own flying V made of solid gold.  Yes, that’s exactly what it was like.

All completely accurate descriptions aside…It really did feel like watching a player with no equal.  Sure, anyone could play the same notes (well, not anyone)  But you instantly know it was Nels style.  I imagine this is what it was like to watch someone like Hendrix play.  He inflicted such emotion into everything he did, If he had spontaneously combusted on that stage, I would have completely understood, left, got a crepe, and gone home.

In this day of whatever the fuck passes for popular music, its very reassuring to know that there are still masters of their craft alive and well.  Nels may be in his fifties (although he looks about 35) but no one is playing stuff like that, past or present.  He had some weird cheapo Danelectro type guitar, played through a few pedals into whatever the house guitar amp was, so it’s clearly not any specific gear that makes his sound, he could have picked up an ESP Screaming Skull through a Mesa Triple Rectifier, and would still have sounded like himself.  The question that comes up these days, is why did it take until he joined Wilco in 2004 for the world to discover him?  Not that I was at all ahead of the curve, The first time I heard his name was about his 8th show with the band at Irving Plaza.  But if it took Jeff Tweedy to bring the world a guitar hero, I’m fully ok with that.  What I want to know, is when will they release his signature video game?

The Wellmont is Bowery Presents newest venue, in the unlikely location of Montclair NJ.  Home to Montclair State University, former home of the Bloomfield ave Cafe, and rumored home of Stephen Colbert.  That really all I can say about this town, lets keep moving.  My previous experience at this venue was to see Ray Lamontagne, a flawless musical performance, yet a mess of a crowd.  Lots of Frat Dudes yelling out songs, general rudeness.  But the sound….yeah, the room was built for that type of music.  It looks like the Beacon Theater, but doesn’t sound all boomy and terrible.   Wilco though in recent years has been primarily a blaring electric monster truck of fury, sometimes including an acoustic guitar, but not so much centered around it.  So I was interested to see what would happen in this room.

They removed the seats from the orchestra, so it felt like a more traditional rock show, and Wilco pretty much had 6 bands worth of gear on the stage.  It was mildly hilarious.  2 full keyboard rigs, probably 30 guitars on the wings of the stage, tons of amps, tables full of effects pedals, dream-theater-esque acrylic drum kit complete with a full orchestral gong, there was not much joking around.  This tour it was announced there would be no opener, and was billed as “an evening with”  so I guess they pulled out all the stops.

check out the SG Jr/Special/whatever it is!

The show began with the microsoft computer voice giving instructions not to take photos, but to please exhibit general merriment.  I really do wonder what this was about.  Further in the show, Jeff Tweedy even called out some guy for taking pictures…I can understand sans flash, but they were completely anti-photography.  Im guessing he’s feeling self conscious in his old age.  Anyhoo, the computer voice made a reappearance, announcing each band member during the breakdown of “Wilco The Song”  which confused and delighted pretty much everyone.

I took this off flickr, I didnt take it, relax Tweedy.

The set chugged along with the standard electric Wilco classics, lots of Sky Blue Sky, at one point Tweedy also called out someone for requesting “Impossible Germany” when giving out a free dinner…yeah, i don’t know, they gave out 2 free dinners.  Anyway, he was all “way to waste a request dude, like we weren’t gonna play that one?”  So it was standard electric fare.  Midway through though, during a particularly noisy outro to “poor Places”  The crew came out with an entire 2nd set of instruments, mini drum kit, 2 more keyboards, upright bass, new acoustic guitars, complete with old school living room style lamps, and set up as the band faded down.  Without so much as a breath, they went into the most mentally refreshing version of “Spiders” I have ever heard.  Occasionally when done electric, it gets a bit stale, with 14 minutes of noise rock jamming, it gets to be a little much.  They changed some of the chords, toned it waaaaay down, and let the song itself come out.  Several Bro Dudes behind me commented how it was a waste of a song…whatever, go see nickleback.  Spiders was followed by “More Like The Moon”  a buried gem from the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot outtake sessions which was never released.  Let me just say, as fanatic as I am, there are a few songs I have never heard performed, and this was one.  I think the whole crowd was in the same boat, you could hear a pin drop.  I dont even know what to say, it was fucking beautiful.  Lets just move on, Im getting too emotional.  You just couldn’t stop this acoustic set.  “Forget The Flowers”, followed by “Someday Some Morning Sometime” followed by a kick ass “Laminated Cat” as true to the original as possible, complete with the modular synth making some buzz type sounds.  They closed it out with “Airline to Heaven”  in the same fashion…the song started, the crew pulled off all the gear, and the band went into full on electric mode. Impressive.

There was no stopping this set, it just went on forever!  I mean, I truly enjoyed every minute of it, but the friends I went with did not enjoy it so much.  If you aren’t familiar with a band, you dont want to be repeatedly smacked in the face by them for 3 hours.  1 hour, sure, but 3 can get excessive.  They took no set break either.  What was that Phish?  Yeah, thats what I thought.  A friend also commented that Tweedy didn’t even take a sip of water the entire show, and I think this is true.  He had some type of big denim jacket on, he just fucking blasted through every song.  I’ve been trying to figure out the psychology behind this.  They have fanatical fans who love everything they do, so it’s not like they have anything to prove, they’re a very widely respected independent band.  All I can think of, is that they really just want to play a ton of music.  If you were at their stage of career, wouldn’t you too?  I mean, in an ideal world, where you’re not jaded by the industry or whatever, its just about playing every night, and I have endless respect for that.  Its like in that documentary from last year “It Might Get Loud”  with Jimmy Page and The Edge.  Even at their age and level of success, particularly with Page, you could just see that he loved every minute of playing, like a kid.  Is Wilco Led Zeppelin?  Yes.  Really?  Sure, why not?  Just deal with it already, ok?  This is my blog, you’re going to have to go along with whatever shenanigans I pull here, its in the user agreement.

Several years and shows later, he has rarely disappointed. I don’t know why more artists dont take this approach – solo electric guitar. You see a guy on stage with an acoustic, and you pretty much imagine what you’re going to get, with rare exceptions. But seeing a guy plugged in with no band, it really keeps you guessing. I’ve seen Ted Leo do this, and he does in fact deliver, but no one else comes to mind. One consistent thing Sondre has going for him is his use of weird Brazilian/Jazz chords all over the place. You rarely hear some simple standard voiced open chord, he’s throwing in major 7ths, augmented 9ths, triumphant 14ths, and so forth. I heard somewhere that he started out listening to Jobim, and that would explain everything. I’ve often wished there were an album of jobim standards played on solo jazz guitar by some master, if Wes Montgomery were still alive, maybe Jim Hall back in the day, hell, I would trust Marc Ribot to do it. That album would win an Oscar. I dont care if there’s no visual accompaniment, it would work. But we’ve gotten off track.

notice the wine barrells as the backdrop

Last week, the show was at City Winery, a relatively new venue downtown, with all good intentions. The space is very cool, good stage and sound, and they actually make wine, so there’s all sorts of barrells and whatnot lying about. Their one downfall is that they seem to want to run it like a restaurant, while everyone is in attendance to see a show. They reserve your seats at big long tables, where its easy to get confused or miscalculate. I was at their first sold out show last year – Medeski Martin & Wood, and it was a straight up clusterfuck. No one knew what was going on, and it took foreverrrrr to get seated. On this particualr evening, there was a seating mishap, which they rectified by giving us some delicious wine, so pretty much, im ok with it. City Winery, we’re still friends.

Sondre appeared on stage in his usual fashion, I would say like a lightning bolt, but he’s a tiny dude, so let’s say more like a static shock that really catches you by surprise. He wasted no time, and came out swinging. He played some new hits, opening with Good Luck off the album of the same title, and Heartbeat Radio, one of his finer recent songs. Before the release of the Good Luck album, he had an EP, called the Polaroid Pumpkin Party EP, only sold at shows, which included a few songs off the Good Luck album, done solo acoustic. I preferred these to the produced versions, so its always nice to hear them performed live in this fashion.

Some rousing versions of Sleep On Needles and Dead Passengers, spiced up with some delay and distortion had everyone feeling good. He pulled out a Big Star cover in tribute to Alex Chilton, and even Im A Boy by The Who. My favorite cover of all time, though, was absent. On the Dan In Real Life soundtrack, he does a kick ass jazz version of Elvis Costello’s Human Hands, which I believe even surpasses the original. Want as I may, I will never…ever…be the dude who calls out a request. Its just not my thing, and this point was only hammered in by the table behind us. A group of maybe 10, well dressed peolpe on appearance, but as soon as the wine began to flow, they became “Bro Dudes” immediately, and there was no turning back. The line was so crossed by one request. During a quiet moment, Broseph yelled out “Yo! Play Tragic Mirror Bro!” Yeah. He called the Norwegian on stage bro. And did it while requesting a song called “Tragic Mirror”. I don’t even know where to go with this. Its not like he was gonna play “Ants Marching” Lets imagine this is some other contexts. “Don’t Think Twice, Its Alright Bro!” “My Heart Will Go On, Bro!” “Candle In The Wind, Bro!” “Times They Are A Changin, Bro!” I think this would apply to every Dylan song though. Lets not get too deep, or I might burst into tears.

My one request, non show oriented For Son Lerch (like Ton Loc) is for the next record. OK bro, here’s what we gotta do. Go into the studio, bring the big ass Gretsch Hollowbody, get a really great sounding amp, at some big studio with a really old school reverb chamber and maybe a tape delay. Hell, go to Abbey Road. Plug in, roll tape, and play 13 songs, no overdubs, no band, just go for it. Have you ever heard Elvis’ recording of Blue Moon? It will be like that. Throw any Jobim tune on there, and that shit might even win an oscar. Listen to me Sondre, I have your best interest in mind here.

Also, just for the hell of it, here is the smallest recording setup in history.  Cigarette amp, trash found delay pedal, Sennheiser e609, tuner.

Their presentation is always delicate, usually all acoustic, with the exception of their album Distortion (based on my previous two examples, you can imagine what this one sounded like) rarely with any drums, the lyrics always take center stage. But when presented live, with many bands, intricate lyrical material can be problematic. How many times have you had a song ruined by a frat boy yelling something in the most quiet part of a song? Often, I’ll tell you that much. But for some reason, this doesn’t apply to The Magnetic Fields.

I once read in a review that the Magnetic Fields perform like they’re doing you a favor by being there. This is certainly true. To get around anyone talking, the band plays SO incredibly quiet. Quiet enough that if you whisper to the person next to you, everyone in the house can hear it. Maybe this is just their sense of humor. You want to talk during our show? Well smart guy, hows about we turn it DOWN!? It works though, rarely is a word spoken during the show. Their setup is Merritt on ukulele, a cello, acoustic guitar, piano, and autoharp, with the women playing autoharp and piano adding occasional vocals.

Last year they played the greatest venue in the world, the Historic Loews Theater In Jersey City. It was the perfect combination, a ghostly ancient theater, and the weirdest fold band ever. But last week, they rolled through town and played Town Hall in NY, a legendary venue among folk musicians…I mean come on, A Mighty Wind was filmed there. Again, the sound was as quiet as can be, the band barely miked, no theatrics at all.

Opening the show was Dewanatron. Yes, as the name might suggest, they were an electronic music duo- two middle aged cousin playing a dual modular synth. I mean, obviously, that’s what I was expecting. Im not going to kid with you here, they were awesome. It was completely experimental and nerdy, and was exactly right for the room. The low fi analog sounds, bleeps and bops, minimal 808 sounding drums, with 2 dudes who looked like middle school teachers, there was just something about it that was just right.

The Magnetic Fields followed with some classic jams. Well, not necessarily classic in the sense of hits, but classic in the sense that they were enjoyed by all. They’re one of the few bands that I feel like whatever I hear, its going to be ok. Merritt is more of a story teller than a singer. You’re going to be entertained, even if (or maybe especially if) you’ve never heard the song before. One highlight was “The Nun’s Litany” off Distortion, which on the album its a little hard to get the message of the song with all the ridiculous reverb and fuzzed out tones happening, but performed acoustic, it was hilarious yet somehow meaningful. With lyrics about someone wanting to be a Playboy Bunny, Topless Waitress, and Tattooed Lady, im not even going to try to figure out the meaning, but Im sure there is one in there if you dig even slightly beneath the surface.

A blurry photo...there was barely any PA and barely any light.

They did not play my and everyone elses favorite song “The Book Of Love”, a song so magnificent Peter Gabriel covered it on his most recent album. But they did play my 2nd favorite jam, “I’m Tongue Tied” These may be 2 of the greatest love songs ever written. “I’m Tongue Tied” pretty much has the message “Im an idiot, but you’re great” which I like. Anyway, they changed the arrangement just so, maybe omitting one chord or something, that it gave the song a whole new musical feel, less traditional waltz like it is on the album, more country ballad. Both of which, I approve. Along the country lines, they closed with Papa Was A Rodeo, another song that rides the line between comedic and heartbreak (again, the analysis portion of this conversation is something we can discuss in person or at an intellectual dinner function, not on the blog right now)

After the show though, I found myself singing lyrics of songs I had never heard before (which in the case of The Magnetic Fields would certainly sound odd had I been singing them out loud on the subway.) If a lyricist can play you a song once, and you remember more than one verse and a chorus, they’ve succeeded. Merritt may write some very odd jams, but he is a true original.

First off these are 2 artists with some of the most distinct voices in the world.  No one else will ever be mistaken for Simone, same goes for Dylan.  But the thing that constantly amazes me is how his songs really take on new life in the hands of other artists.  A few years back there was the film “I’m Not There”  where various actors portrayed Dylan at different periods in his life.  Now, not gonna lie, I didn’t have much interest in seeing Heath Ledger play Bob Dylan.  I did however, buy the soundtrack.  A double disc affair containing all covers of Dylan classics and lesser known tunes.

There are high points and low points just as with any giant film soundtrack.  Some of my favorites include a great Cat Power cover of “Stuck Inside A Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again”  Backed by a crazy group of studio musicians including Lee Renaldo, Smokey Hormel, and John Medeski.  Jim James of My Morning Jacket and Calexico do a reverb soaked “Goin To Aculpoco”  reminiscent of The Band days.  Richie Havens doing “Tombstone Blues” and also from highway 61, Ramblin Jack Eliot does “Just Like Tom Thumbs Blues”

From the ages of about 12-16, this was possibly my favorite album in existence.  The beginning of the electric years, Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper and Harvey Brooks in the band, Dylan at the top of his game.  Tom Thumb may consistently be my favorite track on there. Other than Ramblin Jack and Nina Simone, the only other cover of this song I had heard was on some Grateful Dead bootleg, and that just didn’t do it for me, so lets forget it ever happened.  Something in these 2 voices though (Jack and Nina)  really seems to make the song speak out.  The dylan version maybe has some bitterness to it, basically its like “screw you guys, I’ve had it with this BS”  Where as Simone’s seems more sentimental, and Ramblin Jacks is kind of “I’m tired of this shit, I’m out”  yet he’s not pissed about leaving.

This version though, literally heard for the first time about 5 minutes ago, I just can’t get over.  That piano against the conga rhythm sounds like the basics of hip hop right there. Kanye West is totally ripping this shit off in “Heard Em Say”.  The little lead guitar coming in has a little Sam and Dave, but pays the most direct homage to the original track.  The vocal though, how does something like that even happen.  Her rhythm is all her own, but perfectly fits into the track.  Who the hell else is gonna sing like that.  Lets not turn this into “nothing like this would ever happen today”  discussion..but ya know…nothing like this would ever happen today.  The production is so perfect I just want to go out and throw every computer in a giant bonfire and find a tape deck somewhere to record on.

This is one of the two greatest Dylan covers ever done, among the hundreds or thousands out there.  This one, and Allen Toussaints version of “Momma You Been On My Mind”  which I don’t think was ever recorded, but which I have heard live not once but twice, and will be in my head forever.  What is with soul singers and Dylan?  It just blows my mind every time.

Daniel Lanois confuses me at times.  There is not much debate that he is one of the most significant producers of the last 20 years- He’s partially responsible for U2’s most memorable work and Dylan’s Time Out Of Mind, that’s enough for me to buy anyone a sandwich.  His sound on record is instantly recognizable.  It’s as if you took only the good parts of 1980’s production, matched it with a gritty guitar sound, add some New Orleans style drumming, and put lots of delay on everything.  I would say he has created one of the great American sounds, but he’s Canadian.

Now it may be just me, but his solo work seems a tad self indulgent as of late.  While I am a junky for any documentary style film about studio recording, his film “Here Is What Is”, a companion film to the album of the same name, definitely included some parts that were like “Oh Hey, here I am, and this is why I’m awesome, and I hang out with Billy Bob Thorton”.  Don’t get me wrong, the album has a few great tracks, and the production is amazing, but it seemed to just be an experiment of him making sounds for the sake of sounds.  Now, is there anything wrong with that?  Not really…but I still feel torn about it.  His aim does in fact seem true, he hires great musicians, is mindful of the vibe of the whole album, does not use any digital workstation trickery…but there is something that just doesn’t sit right with me.

Last week was a prime example.  My sister and I went to see Lanois new band Black Dub at the Bowery Ballroom.  The main draw, in addition to Lanois himself, was Brian Blade on drums.  Blade is a straight up monster, and there is not one person alive who could argue this.  He has some magical power behind the kit, no note ever seems excessive, any beat he plays just makes you smile.  The entire front row was made up of drummers just trying to get a look at Blade.  More on him later.  The band was fronted, and kind of seems like a Lanois inspired vehicle for, Trixie Whitley- a young vocalist, who’s basically a model.  This is where it gets weird and confusing.

Have you ever heard that old story of how some oil tycoon in the 1930’s rented out Carniege Hall so his wife could play piano there or something?  I think this is kind of like that.  Whitley is a capable singer…but is she worthy of a band of the finest studio musicians in the world and a tour to support it?  I’m gonna come out and say no.  She sounds like one of those girls you hear playing a set at Kennys Castaways who has an overly put on, immitation soul voice, singing an octave below her natural range trying not to sound like the tiny white girl she is.  I felt betrayed slightly.  She sounded kind of like a Christina Aguilera immitator, and looked like Taylor Swift.  Really Lanois?

Brian Blade...in the shadows

On the stage were 2 drum kits, a keyboard, giant bass rig, pedal steel and guitar amp.  Lanois played one beautiful guitar the whole night, just one delay effect on it.  Blade had his drum kit, the bassist (whose name ecsapes me but was fantastic) also kept it simple…..Trixie had her own drum kit, which she futzed about with for a few songs, a keyboard which she played one song on and was barely audible, and a badass black Les Paul, which she played for one song, and only plucked a few notes.   Again Lanois, really??  First off, you have Brian Blade up there.  The only other drummer who has added something while playing with him, is Jim Keltner on Time Out of Mind, thats because he’s one of the greatest drummers of all time.  But this girl who can barely play?  WTF man.  To his credit, Blade took it like a champ, I don’t think its possible for him to sound bad.  Any time she got on the kit, he just kept straight ahead time, throwing in a simple accent fill when necessary, he’s like Bacon, he makes anything better.

But there was really no need for her to have a drum kit, or guitar, or keyboard.  Focus on someones strengths, which in her case i think were backing vocals, when Lanois took the lead on his hit “The Maker”.  Not awkwardly trying to play guitar, drums, or keys, it just took away from whatever she had.  The thing is….LANOIS HAS TO KNOW THIS!  He produced Achtung Baby!  And Time Out Of Mind!  COME ON MAN!  I really dont want to say it…he has to just want to bang her, or has to be banging her, something in that realm.  You know how when two people are talking, and one clearly likes the other, and the other clearly does not like that person back, and its kinda painful to watch?  This seemed a little like that.  Lanois would move his mic stand towards her, she would kind of just stand in the same place.  He’d hug her and shit between songs, it just seemed a little weird. During the encore, they finished their song, the plan seemed to be for Lanois to finish the show solo with guitar, and he was like “you wanna sing one more with me?”  and shes all “nah, you finish this one, do your thing”.  That seemed the equivelant of, “you wanna go get a drink after dinner?”  “Nah I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I need to be up early, I’m just gonna head home”  Tough break Lanois, Tough Break.

I guess he’ll just have to take solace in his millions of dollars, incredible talent as a producer and musician, and worldwide acclaim.  It must be a tough life.

Now my dilemma only continued a few days after the show when I spoke to my sister to ask her opinion.  She enthusiastically loved the show.  Now, we both loved the band, but she enjoyed the vocalist far more than I did.  Im pretty confused right now, and Im questioning all I believe is right and holy.  Maybe I’m being too harsh on Trixie, maybe in any other context I would have enjoyed her performance.  But when someone is presented to you with such a powerful band, I feel its accurate to raise your expectations.  And that is the story I am sticking to.

So on a Friday night with a heavy snow prediction, we trekked out to the Gowanus, ready to hear some worldly jams.  I have always enjoyed the Bell House.  Even when sold out, its not overly crowded, its always easy to get to the bar, I’ve never seen an overly douchey crowd in attendance, the sound is consistently good.  This may be because its in the middle of nowhere…but I’m ok with that.  Sometimes you have to think outside the box.  That box being easily accessible by public transit locations.  They do have minimal lighting though, which explains the blurriness of my photos.

Lets get right down to it, I’m getting over a stomach flu, and there is no time to waste.  This is a solid band, who in the future will do even greater things, but they do have a few obstacles to overcome. Tuneyards is primarily Merril Garbus , who plays ukulele, drums, and sings, accompanied by a bassist…and that’s it.  Its very stripped down, but sounds quite full due to the use of loops, and her fantastically huge voice.  Surprisingly though, I think she was suffering from some stage fright!  When it comes down to it, she is the show.  500 people are standing there, waiting for you to do something completely awesome, and you have to deliver.  She even said “I’m a little nervous right now, I’ve never had this many people know they’re here to see me!”  You could just feel the nervous energy.  Her voice shook at times, she seemed a little self conscious.  You wanted to just shake her and be like “You’re fucking awesome, stop thinking so much, just go for it!”

Even through the nerves…there were some shining moments.  She without a doubt has that special quality in a front person where you re like “yep, I can see why you’re going to be successful”  She has two tones of voice, there is one quiet and one loud.  The quiet…well, its quiet.  That was mostly where you could hear any apprehension, or maybe she justwasn ‘t warmed up, who knows.  But as soon as she opened up, it jumped about 50 decibels, and she just belted out the jams.  It was fantastic. It was like watching Aretha Franklin or something.  It makes you wonder how a person could produce so much sound.

It was interesting watching her craft loops during live performance.  This basically means, she records a few seconds of sound, plays it over and over while adding more sound to it, eventually creating the sound of a full band.  Her percussion ideas were pretty interesting.  Itwasn’t always just Boom-Chick stuff, there were some ghost notes, some interesting fills, I was enjoying it.

I do hope she can accept the fact that shes amazing, and worthy of a crowd’s attention, I think that’s what it comes down to.  While the last performance was a straight up 10, i’d give this one an 8.  While still good, they are going to need to turn it up for next time.  And there will be a next time!

Notice the mic drilled into the book case...

Moving on, here’s a quick note.  At a studio I was in recently, there is this little card on top of a speaker that says “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have”  And I really think those are words to live by when entering into any production endeavor.  DanielLanois frequently mentions that no matter the scenario, you have to work with your situation.  He records Bono live in the control room, no headphones with an SM58.  The Traveling Wilburys vocals were recorded in a pool house (bob dylan ’s pool house, but that’s beside the point)  with 1 microphone in the center of the room.   This weekend I had the chance to adapt to a situation, and the results were overwhelmingly positive.  The band was recording some vocals, at my wonderful chateau in beautifully historic downtown Jersey City.  About 10 minutes before the session, I was setting up.   Mic, MicPre , Converter, Headphones……..mic stand?  no.   There was no mic stand in attendance.  OK, there had to be a way around this.  Broomstick?  no.  Tie a rope to the ceiling and hang it down?  nah.  Stereo Mic Bar?  That had to work.  That’s basically a 6″ flat bar with a mic mount on it.  So, I removed one end of it, leaving a threaded hole, found a piece of flat metal in a tool box, and drilled that shit into my bookshelf.  The results?  Perfect.  Well, i mean, its not like it had an impact on the sound.  But it certainly did the job, it added a bit of an improvisational style to the session, and that’s always a plus.

Keyspan Park on Coney Island

In an effort to encourage people to donate to the relief effort in Haiti, Wilco posted 2 shows on their website in exchange for a donation (its the honors system, they link to a few charities, don’t screw your karma here!) Of course, we shouldn’t need incentives to help those in need…but a few live concerts is a nice touch. One of the recordings is this summers show from Keyspan Park in Coney Island. It was a beautiful summer evening, outdoor small stadium, free ice cream trucks in the parking lot, Nathans hot dogs, Feist and the dude from Grizzly Bear sat in, all good things. But listening back, as is often the case, the energy doesn’t translate as well. A live album is a tricky and mysterious thing. For every “Live At Budokan” there are hundreds of “Kiss Alive XXVII”.

In my earliest days of audiophile aspirations, I traded cassettes of live shows. This was in the early days of the Internet, we still mailed cassettes, CD burners were not commercially available…and you could barely send a jpeg…UPHILL IN THE SNOW BOTH WAYS! Recently when my parents moved from their house, I found all these original cassettes in the basement in several racks. There were hundreds of them. Sometimes you would get lucky, as in the case of The Black Crowes, i believe it was the Palace Theater, in Syracuse 1996. Someone leaked a soundboard recording of the show, I still remember the insert card on the case, it was bright pink photocopied, with some Fillmore style text on it. Even on that crappy inconsistent speed of the cassette, probably 9th generation, you could feel the incredible multiple drug infused energy of this band at their peak. On the other hand, pick any one of thousands of Grateful Dead tapes from XYZ Arena, and you have the opposite effect.

As far as official live releases go, the classic AC/DC life is pretty near flawless.  The Stones live classic “Get Yer Yayas Out”  Is a perfect picture of a sloppy burnt out bunch of English rockers at their best, just about to fall apart and create a masterpiece in the studio.  It seems like back in the day, more thought was put into a live album, since so much preparation had to be taken in order to make it happen.  With remote recording rigs so readily available, I would venture to say that most larger bands record nearly everything they do. Sometimes they all get released- as is the case with the Live Phish series, as well as current Black Crowes shows. Others, as in the case with Wilco, they filter the releases a little more. The Keyspan Park show probably suffers in the technical mix a bit, maybe we were just distracted by the beautiful surroundings of Coney Island at the time, who knows. But in some cases, I think my new philosophy will be to live in the moment as far as shows go, and not seek recordings after the fact.

Who is Lady Gaga? Chances are you know better than I do. I have no idea. Her name is thrown around by pop culture fanatics and esoteric hipsters alike. She apparently is the new Madonna? I don’t know, you don’t come here to hear about Lady Gaga. In all this hubbub, I feel the need to be in on the action. Steps have been taken to clear my mind of all preconceived notions, I’ve done some stretching exercises, my subscription to Lala.com has been created (this site seems absolutely kick amazing, thanks to Eric Tarn for the recommendation). I will listen to 30 seconds of each song from whichever album I find first, then do about a minute of stream of conscious writing. Ok, the album will be Fame Monster. Ready? GO.

BAD ROMANCE: This seems like the opening of a meatloaf album. I feel like some giant guy is going to descend from the ceiling in a cage carrying a red rose and pluck a woman from the top of the empire state building. After that fog will fill up the stage and various scantily clad dancers will come out until suddenly the action stops and that song “Ya’ll Ready For This!” comes on and Lady Gaga appears in an 18th century ball gown, which is being carried at the ends by various doves, all dyed different colors and glowing in the dark. NEXT SONG.

ALEJANDRO: Ok this one i had to extend to 35 sec since the first 30 is all intro. She puts on a french accent, some violins are playing. We’re on a dark street corner (not an actual corner, but some type of film set) and the fog machines are once again blasting. Meatloaf, who is still in the cage from the first song is the subject of her desire, after a wardrobe change, she makes various hand gestures, maybe in Kabuki style makeup perhaps? When she tells our beloved Loaf that she just can’t be with him anymore, the cage explodes in a fantastic pyrotechnic explosion of glitter, and Loaf is now her dance partner, in some type of tuxedo with a rose in his teeth. Lady Gaga is in some type of S&M getup (ok, shes basically Madonna, even after 1:05 of music I have come to this conclusion) and various backup dancers each dressed as a different historical figure shadow their every move. There is Napoleon, Einstein, Patrick Ewing, and Andy Warhol…NEXT!

MONSTER: How is it that every song so far fits into my idea that Meatloaf is a constant character on this album? Meat is now back in a different cage…a jail cell! He has been re-incarcerated after his glittery escape from captivity, at least he got to enjoy a night on the town with his lady, Gaga. He sobs, as she looks on longingly, yet with an heir of confidence, that her life will now be free and easy without a giant Meatloaf/gorilla shadowing her every move, preventing her from getting in taxicabs, things like that. As the auto tune of “He Ate My Heart” comes in, the prison guards turn out to be her backup dancers, the dramatic lighting kicks in, you know where it goes from here.

SPEECHLESS: Oh my god, its a meatloaf album. Seriously, this song is like Rocky Horror Picture Show. Loaf remains in the cell as Gaga has run off, and left him a single red rose. A spotlight appears and a piano is rolled out next to him. As the power ballad drums come in, he dramatically switches back to tuxedo, the single rose in a vase atop the piano. I’m only listening to 30 seconds of each song, but I’m willing to wager that this one ends with a dramatic piano/vocal outro, which in our imaginary live Broadway production, Loaf would remove the rose, give it a dramatic sniff, and a single tear would run down his cheek. (again, the fact that Lady Gaga is singing is irrelevant, this song clearly belongs to Jim Steinman and Meatloaf)

DANCE IN THE DARK: Gaga now begins her dark descent into the seedy underworld as her one true love has been taken away. The intro carries her through various back alleys, with our trusty fog machines working full force (they really are helpful with this album) She becomes more and more disheveled as these first 30 seconds of the song continue. By the end she looks like one of those heroin chic models from the mid 90’s, with that crazy black eyeliner. Shes in a bad part of town with a sketchy clientele as the music kicks in, and the various vagrants once again become her backup dancers. When this goes to broadway, we’ll save a lot of money by just using the same 5 backup dancers, but dressing them as prison guards, historical figures, homeless junkies, you get the idea.

TELEPHONE: She is in the midst of embracing her 2nd act life struggles. Shes in the club, as the lyrics state, blocking out memories of one Meat Q. Loaf, remaining alone in captivity, for reasons we do not yet know or understand. The lyric “I Got No Service In The Club, Sorry I Cant Hear You I’m Kinda Busy” is clearly a metaphor for her running away from her problems and embracing a life of crime and substance abuse. She has various visions of scary things, maybe theres even a guy in some type of demon suit (a la that scene in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in the hotel lobby) Yet in the midst of all this, there is a sure to be classic dance sequence on the club floor. This will rival both Travolta in Saturday Night Fever and Jackson in Thriller. I’m willing to bet the next song will be some type of ballad….lets see.

SO HAPPY I COULD DIE: Ok, i should really look at titles before I predict the next song. But this is truly live, no preparation or extra time has been taken. Lets call this one Conflict Resolution. Shes getting her life back together. This could be where the Training Montage comes in, various scenes of her becoming independent and powerful, taking life by the horns. Buying expensive clothes, having high powered meetings, volunteering with young children, shes on the path for success. She passes by some of her old associates on the street who are not doing well, she doesn’t even stop to look. She has business to attend to. And that business sang Paradise By The Dashboard Light. NEXT!

TEETH: Man, Whats with this last track? It just doesn’t make sense with the rest of the album. There is no conflict resolution, no final romance, no triumphant ending (well at least in the first 30 seconds) I Hate to leave this unfinished, so maybe we can come up with some type of ending? Maybe its a really artsy film where the end doesn’t have to make sense? Or like Kubrick where he says “you won’t understand this for 20 years” I don’t know. Gaga, I mean, its a catchy track, but you’re really not working with me on this one. Mabye Jim Steinman who seems to have wrote most of the previous material we have discussed took a lunch break, and while he was having a sandwich she finished up the album. That’s what I’m sticking to.

Whew! Well that was grueling. I guess after a look back (I made no edits, that was truly live) this was less of a live blog and more of a “Live Dramatic Interpretation.” As a closing thought, I would agree with the Madonna comparisons that are so present in her media criticism. But I really think they’re missing the boat with her Meatloaf influence. The obviously put on drama, the introductions, its all there.

When I initially learned of the new Spoon album, Transference, I was not so excited to go out and get it.  Gagagagaga was a good recording, but I felt like my relationship with the band had ended there.  We would remain friends, acting cordially towards each other at gatherings, but never rekindle the magic we once had.  Really, it was that live show that did it.  Spoon’s albums are well crafted in my favorite sense.  The sounds are not too polished, the arrangements kind of stripped down, the groove is always good, and the melody always obvious yet not too in your face.  Its got a minimalist thing that I love.  The guitars always sounded great.  “Commercial Appeal” was a fantastic track, go listen to that just for posterity then we’ll continue.

Spoon at Terminal Five last year

But a few years back they played Terminal 5, and I was left so unsatisfied that I had trouble listening to the band afterwards.  It was not as if they were horrible, or even sub-par, they were really just….par.  Nothing jumped out at me, its like they weren’t connecting with the audience.  And maybe its unfair to judge a band based on one show, but it just left me feeling uncomfortable.   So Spoon records went unplayed on my ipod, new of the band went overlooked by my short blog related attention span.

But this morning while listening to the Sound Opinions Podcast (a great podcast which I highly recommend from Greg Kot and Jim DeRegotis from Chicago) they reviewed the new Spoon album.  I heard some clips, and the fire was re-ignited.  They claimed the tunes were more stripped down than on Gagagagaga, no fancy horn arrangements or attempts at pop masterpieces, just a straight ahead kind of artsy minimal rock record.  Well Jim and Greg, lets have at it.  I went through the morning considering the options of how to purchase (or illegally download) and made a decision.  Normally, such decisions would be kept between Trent Reznor and I, but I bought it through iTunes, strictly because it came with a Digital Booklet.

This is one of the most overlooked concepts in the digital download world.  Why does every album not include one?  Its not like there are any extra printing costs, you’re just including a .pdf file with the artwork.  It really gives a context to an album. The greatest thing that everyone misses about the CD and even Vinyl days is the artwork and liner notes.  Its a little insight into the feel of an album, perhaps even some notes from the band.  For tech junkies like me, I love to see where it was recorded, or if i know the engineer or any guest musicians.  Maybe some in studio photos?  I’m getting nostalgic just thinking about it.  But anyway, whats keeping this from being included with every album on iTunes?  For real, I would like to know.  Someone get Steve Jobs on the phone, patch him through to my secretary, I’ll be in meetings until after lunch.

It turns out this album was self produced.  I like the sound of that, to me that says “we had success with our last release, now we’re just going to do what we want, we’ve already got your money, so lets enjoy ourselves”  whether this is true or not, I can only speculate, but the album delivers that feel.  It sounds like it was recorded in 4 days, with not too much attention paid to detail (that’s a good thing).  Songs end abruptly or with a quick fade, delays and other effects seem hastily piled on, orchestrations are minimal and song structure is simple.  It was moving in the right direction.   Overall, this is a Bass and Drums record.  I can barely remember one interesting guitar part, yet all the drum and bass parts connected instantly.  Some great fuzzed out bass tones, some punchy Motown style licks, I enjoyed all of it.  On the drum side of things, it was like they went into my brain, picked out some ideal drum sounds, and ran back to the studio with them.  (Yes, I am accusing Spoon of intellectual thievery, you will be hearing from my imaginary lawyer any moment.)  One thing that stands out, is the use of shaker over hi hat. This has been my new goal in life, ever since I listened to Jay Bellerose (T Bone Burnett and Ray Lamontagne’s main drummer.)  The snare is always very flat and present, there are no extraneous drum fills, its as if the drums walked in the room where you are currently sitting, greeted you warmly, sat in a chair directly in front of you, and started tapping on your head in a pleasing yet interesting manner.

Lets select some highlights from the record, as we don’t have time to go through the whole thing, we’re all busy people, with important government related business to attend to.  Based on initial listening, my favorite tack is “Who Makes Your Money”  and not just because I’ve recently really been into AC/DC’s “Money Talks”.  It makes use of all my favorite elements, but not just in a trivial way, they all serve the song.  Shaker instead of hi hat, incredibly consistent bass line, weird delay on either a guitar or keyboard, very basic etherial sounding melody.  The song achieves almost a hypnotic trance feel, its so even and driving that you begin tapping your foot, and maybe even swaying a little bit on the PATH train on your morning commute while the guy in an uncomfortable looking suit sitting in front of you gives you a quizzical look.  I’m just sayin in general, not specifically.  The song clocks in at just over 3 minutes, there is no messing around.  The background vocals have this weird tremelo-delay thing happening, its kind of like if 50’s rockabilly met some dub reggae music.  The prechorus breaks down to just bass and drums, a technique I’m very much a fan of- subtraction rather than addition.

One key characteristic tying many of these songs together is the lack of a bridge.  This I also support.  Don’t just add extra stuff for the sake of adding it.  There was that Death Cab For Cutie “Open Door EP” released recently, which featured the fantastic song “My Mirror Speaks”, which might have been one of the best songs ever, had it not included a pointless and distracting bridge.  Lets stop this before it gets too far to turn back.

“The Mystery Zone”  runs along similar lines as “Who Makes Your Money”  with a great consistent feel, almost as if your brain is on autopilot being driven by delay effects, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but lets talk about another song.  “Written In Reverse”  slams along like a White Album Beatles track, with more soul.  Slamming on piano and guitar, with some lower octave background vocals and big distorted bass fills, it all comes together. It might just be one chord for most of the song, which again, I fully support.  Its not even a riff, its more of a drone, accented by dynamic changes and sloppy guitar fills.

If there is any immediate criticism, I would say that for such a driving and consistent album in the middle, it starts off kind of hodge-podge with “Before Destruction”  which seems to lack a little focus.  These days, who cares, we just put the songs we like on our ipods and shuffle away.  BUT, since the digital booklet was split up into “side a” and “side b”  for the track listing, I am holding Spoon to it.  The also include the phrase “buying records at actual record stores is cool”  which I respect, even though I bought it on iTunes.  Overall, Transference is a solid album, it veers towards the weird side.  Its like a giant drone, flavored with some rock music.  You’ve won this round Britt, see you next time.

Coming up next week, I’m going to listen to 30 seconds of each track of the most recent Lady Gaga album, which I have never heard, and write stream-of-consciousness for 20 minutes after.  What results, is any-one’s guess.