Hello I Hope Your Ears Bleed world!My name is Alex “Ceach” McEachin and I have been blessed to begin a new series entitled “Lessons from Late Night” in which I will review notable performances that take place on the many late night shows.
In this inaugural post I would like to draw attention to the newest late night show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.I have begun following his show closely after taking over for the legendary Conan O’Brien.I have honestly been pretty impressed with how well he has assumed this new role. I love how he has gone to great lengths to become relevant by embracing all of the new cultural and technological norms such as Twitter and Facebook (although it seems the show tries too hard at times). And I am especially impressed with the musical guests he has been able to line up thus far.The debut show, that aired March 5, 2009, included the legendary artist Van Morrison in which he played “Sweet Thing.”The two performances I would like to highlight are Glen Hansard of The Frames performing a cover of “Hair Shirt” by R.E.M. on March 12, 2009; a very intimate performance of a man and his Mandolin.The second is Vampire Weekend on March 18, 2009 debuting a brand new song, “White Sky.” This song will be included on their new album that will hopefully be released this coming fall.I bring attention to each of these notable performances so that you may venture over to hulu.com and watch them for yourselves.
We have embedded the March 18th episode so that you can watch the Vampire Weekend performance right here, right now. This is truly one of the best late night performances I have ever seen. For those of you who have been living underground for the past year and have yet to hear their debut album, you must go out and get it immediately. You won’t be disappointed. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a video with just their performance, so what you have here is the entire episode. But if you want to jump straight to Vampire Weekend’s performance, just click on the second to last white dot at the bottom of the video. Unfortunately the Van Morrison performance is no longer available, but if you head over to hulu.com, you can find the Glen Hansard performance and many more. I hope they bring you as much joy as they brought to me.I hope your ears bleed and maybe even your eyes a little with these amazing performances. More to come soon.
Patrick Wolf releases the first single off of his upcoming fan-funded album, The Bachelor, via myspace. The new song is titled Vultures and is as odd as ever, which is to be expected from such and eccentric guy as Wolf. Like many other artists these days, Wolf will be using an unconventional method to get his music out to an audience. His new album, set to be released on June 1st of this year, he is partnering with his listners to release the album through site called Bandstocks. First you log on and vote for which artist you want to make an album. Then once an artist gets enough votes, you have the option to invest in their album by buying a bandstock for about $14. As an investor, you get a free download of the album once it is released along with a few more small perks. So right now Wolf’s album is still in the investment stage but is well on its way to entering the production stage, which is the third and final stage.
Musically Wolf is said to be experimenting with some “rougher textures” musically. Apparently there will be a “heavy metal” track along with some collaboration with the Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton. So it should be interesting to say the least.
Earlier today Justin shared with you some new releases from this week that he was excited about, and now I’m gonna draw your attention to a couple more that I can’t believe he didn’t bother mentioning. The first of which was my most anticipated album of the year.
The Decemberists Hazards of Love (Capitol)
These guys just keep getting better and better. I found it very obvious that this project began as the score for a broadway play. Even if he’s never able to bring anything to the stage, I hope he continues to use this same approach to each of his records. It just brought a cohesiveness to the album that is so rare to find in this digital age. Thankfully, Meloy is not obsessed with the single, like the rest of the mass media. So after day one, it hasn’t disappointed me. My anticipation was well warranted.
This is the sophomore effort from the musical fusion of Daniel Bejar (New Pornographers), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade), and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes). It may not match up to the works of original groups, but I am still a big fan. As far as anyone knows, this is the first known use of a “court painting” as a record cover. Thus the early working title for this album had been “Before the Law”, a beloved Kafka parable and a reference to the court painting. However, the band is sick of being referred to as “literary”, so they went with “Enemy Mine”, which is a movie from Bejar’s youth and a serves as a metaphor for collaboration. I hope more artists will venture to take the time to make such a collaboration.
This is the debut album from the band whose self-released EP, Burning Birthdays, earned generous praise from Pitchfork, SPIN, Rolling Stone and a myriad of blogs back in 20o7, and then went on tour in support of many great acts such as Beirut, Vampire Weekend, and Deerhoof. It won’t be long before these guys are on their own headlining tour, for they have picked up right where they left off with Technicolor Health. It’s just fun blend of garage rock and psychedellic pop, with some fantastic harmonies throughout.
MonoHymn to the Immortal Wind (Temporary Residence)
I’ve actually never heard of these guys until I received some promo material on Hymn, their first album in over 3 years, but their fifth LP and apparently their “most expansive album to date.” It is an awesome and majestic record. The best instrumental record I’ve heard since Explosions in the Sky’s The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place. The 28-piece chamber orchestra that plays throughout the album helps to create such a gorgeous and grandiose sound.
Various Artists – The Very Best of Prestige Records (Prestige)
So I usually don’t pay much attention to “best of” records, or jazz music for that matter. But I just enjoyed this album so much, I couldn’t not mention it on this list. It is a fantastic collection of songs and is great for many occasions. If you’re looking for a good dinner party mix, this would be a great one. And I have found it to be a great record to put on while I’m working in the office. After listening to this record you will surely become just as infatuated with the trumpet as I am.
Lots of great new music released today, thought I would share a couple that stood out to me:
Beep Beep Enchanted Islands (Saddle Creek)
As you might expect from Saddle Creek this album leans towards the folk rock side of things, but don’t let that shallow genre association fool you. Beep Beep travels beyond those simple expectations into an eclectic sound, skewing rythyms and notes to achieve something unique but not inaccessible.
Yes, the cover on this album is ridiculous. Is that an alien squid sitting atop her shoulder? And what in the world are they trying to tell us about her music with such an outrageous picture? Fortunately, it has nothing to do with the music. Her playfully sweet voice marries well with the heavily distorted (but rarely distracting) instrumentation and progressive beats.
The title of this album does a pretty good job of letting you know what you are going to get, 10 songs with seemingly nothing tying them together other than the fact that they are on the same album. Sometimes while listening to these songs I start to understand what it is like to have A.D.D. Constantly shifting and morphing, none of these songs tend to stay in the same place for too long. Certainly an interesting album, just don’t try and listen to this while doing something you need to focus on.
