They Will Do It Themselves- The Lone Bellow

I wondered how the country-gospel-soul sound on the album would translate live for the band, The Lone Bellow. Their harmonies are so lush, rich, deep, clear and full, I did not see how they could do it live. One of the great advantages of working the merchandise tables for bands coming through Baltimore, is I am there early and usually get to hear the sound check. I had fretted for days before the show worried about the live sound. All my worries went away the second they started to play. Their harmonies are the “send chills up your spine” variety. They mesh together like they have been singing with one another their whole lives. Some bands just have “it” and The Lone Bellow is one of them.

The song lyrics came from Zach Williams journal entries after his wife had a catastrophic injury after being thrown from a horse. The doctors said she would never walk again. Zach poured his heart and thoughts into this journal and a friend of his encouraged him to turn them into songs. His wife miraculously recovered and his songs went from pain and despair to redemption, rescue and recovery. Zach and his wife moved to Brooklyn and Zach began to perform as a solo artist. Zach was looking to form a band and he was eating at a diner when he ran into an old musician college friend, Brian Elmquist, who worked there. He asked Brian if he could rehearse some songs with him at the diner after it closes. Brian said sure and also invited Kanene Pipkin along. Late that night The Lone Bellow was formed. They knew the magic of the music and harmonies would tie them together as they go forward in the music business. Very quickly good things have happened to them. They were signed to Descendant Records, which is an off shoot of Sony Records, and released their self-titled album in January of this year. It has created a lot of buzz in the indie rock world and deservedly so. It is full of beautiful songs about all the ups and downs of life that they have gone through. Please be prepared to be amazed and enjoy the single "You Never Need Nobody":

The rest of the album is just as strong as that song. I highly recommend it to anybody. I loved listening to them live and wasn't disappointed at all in the translation from album to live show. As a matter of fact I think their live show only strengthens the studio songs. If it makes any difference, they are also really nice and genuine people. They were a pleasure to work the merch table for. Many bloggers are catching on to this band quickly, so I expect that they will have quite a year in 2013. I was talking to one of them and they told me they are just hoping to make enough money to be able to really afford their Brooklyn brownstones. I believe that they will easily accomplish that task this year and more!!

Update: From time to time Larry and I will post some updates of bands we have previously written about. I wanted to inform you of two amazing albums that are out and one that is out next week. The first is Vampire Weekends Modern Vampire of the City. A real step forward in this bands already amazing career. The second album out is Dawes newest Stories Don't End. It is full of reflective songs of a band on the road. Portugal the Man newest is Evil Friends. I have heard most of it and it is fantastic. By the time you read this it will be released.

This Rose Is No Stand-In

It begins with the sound of a heavily punched and distorted guitar chord immediately followed by the sound of a gorgeous female voice exclaiming, "I'm making a call to any line that's open." From that moment on, Caitlin Rose captured my full attention, no easy task these days, and thus I remained riveted as I listened intently to her second full-length album, The Stand-In, for the first time.  The opening track, "No One to Call," starts off like a rock anthem, but quickly and adeptly morphs into an alt-country lament. Much to this listener's delight, this album is full of delightfully surprising sounds.

Throughout the album, Rose creates, with a cool aplomb, a mosaic of musical styles including rock, alt-country, country, and a bit of swing. The stories in her songs are compelling and deftly written. Scanning the credits, I note that two of this album's terrific tracks, "Only A Clown" and "Silver Sings" were co-written with one of my favorite songwriters, Gary Louris.

I also note that Rose acknowledges the author Joan Didion for inspiring the moving tune, "Pink Champagne." An early Joan Didion essay, "Marrying Absurd," about the quick passions of a Vegas wedding, proves to be the source for Rose's song.

Throughout the album, Rose and her co-writers create an album full of meaningful and witty musical lamentations. A prime example is the music video to "Only A Clown":

It's easy to see how Rose was drawn into songwriting. It's what her mother, Liz Rose, does for a living. The younger Rose was raised in Nashville.  She began writing songs at the age of 16.  Originally, her work was much more Punk influenced.  Over time she has integrated increasing amounts of the Nashville sound into her music,  and the resulting sound is what is revealed on this album.

I encourage you to answer Caitlin Rose's call and open your line to her music.  Her album is easily one of my favorites so far for 2013, and I expect that it will be in the running to be one of my top albums of the year.

A Rise From the Mountains-Birds and Arrows

I have written before and continue to say that when you go out and see live music, you need to make sure that you see all of the bands on the bill. A few years ago I went to a show and saw Birds and Arrows,  who have become one of my favorite bands. They were actually the first of four bands that night and truthfully I did not expect much from them. They walk out on stage with a guitar, drums, and a cello, and I had even less expectations from them. They launch into their first song and I was mesmerized by them. Richness, depth, clarity, and beautiful harmonies set a spell on me that continues until this day. I champion them to everyone I meet and talk about music. Now I want to introduce them to you. I will admit that I have become very good friends with them, so I am bias, but the beauty of this blog is that Larry and I are trying to introduce you to bands that we love to listen to and therefore are biased about. We don’t pretend that these are critical reviews of records or live shows. It is just bands we love.

Birds and Arrows formed in 2006 by the husband-wife team of Andrea and Pete Connolly. They still live in the Chapel Hill-Durham, North Carolina area, which is a hotbed for bands now like The Rosebuds, Love Language, and The Bowerbirds. Their name comes from a cross of wanting a good masculine-feminine sound and when Andrea had flying birds tattooed on her arms and Pete was making folk art arrow sculptures, the name made sense to the two of them. They produced two Birds and Arrows EP’s on their own. Then in 2009 Josh Starmer joined them with his cello and the group’s sound really took off. They released Starmaker through 307 Knox Records. This is when I saw them for the first time. I fell in love with their mountain and folk influenced sound, which made you feel like you are sitting on the porch of their house and listening. Andrea and Pete’s harmonies are so beautiful and lush and when combined with Josh’s cello, the depth of the music is stunning. They then released We’re Gonna Run in 2011. This year they just released their new album Coyotes, which is a huge step forward in their career. You can hear the inspiration of their rural school house-turned-cabin country home in the mountains outside of Durham. Please enjoy a song from Coyotes called Firefly. The video was done in one continuous shot, no cuts or edits.Very cool.

I also want to include a live video my favorite Birds and Arrows song Mountain Air:

The new album is fantastic.  It is produced by Chris Stamey of the dB’s and he has done a great job with it. It features other musicians from Ben Folds Five, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Mount Moriah (another N.C. band on the rise). However while these people help support Birds and Arrows, the songs and music stand on their own. I can feel the confidence in the new songs and I look forward to their continued growth. I have worked their merch table many times and I can also tell you that they are some of the nicest people I have ever met in the music business. They are kind, considerate, humble, and very down to earth as people. I really encourage you to visit their web site and purchase the new album. It will be worth it.

Wayne Shorter's CQ, PQ, and IQ

Our Curiosity Quotient, or CQ, and Passion Quotient, or PQ, are becoming as important as our Intelligence Quotient, familiarly known as IQ, according to a recent brilliant column by  New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.  I couldn't agree more.  For my day job, I work with educators and students to promote that mindset. Now I'm thinking about how it relates to the the music I listen to.

Wayne Shorter's CQ, PQ, and IQ

Wayne Shorter's music has impressed me for decades with its delightful cocktail of CQ, PQ, and IQ.   I stumbled upon the music of Weather Report, which he co-led with the late and great Joe Zawinul, when I was in high school.  Their music was vastly different from most of the other music I listened to then.  While each player's virtuosity was self-evident by virtue of his technical dexterity, I was mostly moved by the beautiful melodies Weather Report wrote and how its songs painted musical landscapes. Listen to Black Market in a quiet space with your eyes closed to experience this. Back then I was also taken by the complexities of the improvisations in Weather Report's music.

A few years later, I learned that Wayne Shorter had played with Miles Davis Quintet in the 1960s.  Over time I have become a fan of many of the other alums of that amazing group, including Herbie Hancock, and Ron Carter. 

Recently I was delighted to read that Wayne Shorter's quartet was releasing a new album.  I downloaded it as soon as it came out and found it to be a total joy.  Wayne Shorter,  now 80,  has not lost any of his CQ, PQ, or IQ.  Listening to Without a Net, I find it's immediately apparent that the music he is creating today is much more abstract and less structured than the music of Weather Report.  While performed using acoustical rather than electronic instruments, the music is nonetheless electrifying. The quartet's improvisations and musical conversations tell complex stories.

The opening riff of the first tune, "Orbits," played both on the string bass and bass notes of the piano,  told me that that I was for a treat. The riff, played in an odd time signature and with adventurous syncopation, is tantalizing. I was immediately taken with the CQ. 

From there the fun begins. Nine compositions are performed on the album.  All deserve multiple listens, and it's far too early for me to settle on a favorite.  That said, I'm particularly drawn to the deconstruction of Vincent Youmans's, Gus Kahn's, and Edward Eliscu's 1933 tune (from the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film of the same name) "Flying down to Rio." Clearly Shorter loves this tune.  The PQ jumps out at the listener.

Enjoy listening to the IQ in "Plaza Real":



 If you are a Wayne Shorter fan, or simply a fan of musicians who dare to go where few others do, I think you will love Without a Net.

Other Notes: 

February has been a great month for enjoying terrific new music from old friends.  If you were a fan of the group Roxy Music, I encourage you to check out Bryan Ferry's new release, The Jazz Age, in which he recasts many Roxy Music tunes, such as "Do the Strand" and "Love is the Drug," as if they had been written and performed in the 1920s.  No ironic humor here.  The band plays these tunes seriously, and result is a joy.

Lastly, I want to give a shout out to my co-blogger, Fletcher McNeill, for turning me on to First Aid Kit.  Thanks to his post I've been listening to and enjoying this terrific band.
 

The Roar From Sweden- First Aid Kit

Where does one go to hear the most authentic Nashville sound today? Why Sweden of course! The Swedish duo First Aid Kit is producing some of the most faithful country tinged Nashville music today (and that includes bands out of Nashville). They sing these incredible heartfelt lyrics such as “I’ll be your Emmylou and I’ll be your June/and you’ll be my Gram and my Johnny too” as a tribute to those who were there before them. They however don’t live in the past and are producing some of the best county and folk music I heard last year.

First Aid Kit is composed of sister’s Johanna and Klara Soderberg. They grew up outside of Stockholm and their father was a working musician who always had music playing. The two sisters can never remember a time when they weren’t singing together. This singing grew into a demo that they sent out in 2007 to radio stations in their native country, who immediately picked up on the sound and gave them airplay.  They were quickly signed to a local label and opened for Fleet Foxes when the group toured Sweden in 2008. First Aid Kit then signed with a larger label, Wichita Recordings who put out their first full length in 2010. Jack White and Conor Oberst  fell in love with their sound. Jack had them record a single for his Third Man Records and they toured with Conor. Last year the band released their second album titled The Lion’s Roar which featured a song with Conor Oberst/Bright Eyes. The album gained a lot of attention on Triple A radio stations who were in disbelief this Americana sound was coming from Sweden. Please enjoy this video of “Emmylou”.

They took their name from an English dictionary because it suggested both care and protection. I think it is hard not to fall for the charm of these sisters who are passionate about American country/folk and roots music from the 1960’s and who put today's spin on it. I hope you fall for them, as many have, and hopefully many others will. I know I have.