I have been a John Mayer fan for the better part of the decade now. I could appreciate his debut record for the pop candy that it was. I would enjoy it when the hits off of that record would interrupt the shallow repetitiveness that is pop radio. But then, when I purchased his less popular sophomore effort, Heavier Things, on a whim, I fell in love instantly. So if you are reading this and wondering why I care about Mayer, it’s probably because you have never seen him live and you haven’t listened to anything other than Room for Squares or his radio hits. So stop what you are doing, purchase and download either Heavier Things or Continuum and take the time to listen to it all the way through. Each of those albums are just so rich and layered both musically and lyrically. They both continue to grow on me with every listen.
Well a couple of weeks ago a friend and I were bonding over our mutual love for guitar aficionado John Mayer and he shared with me a video series called “This Will All Make Perfect Sense Someday.” The eight part series documents the making of his first record and the beginning of his professional musical career. As a Mayer fan, I really enjoyed getting a glimpse of who he was as a musician and artist in his early days. I found it really fascinating how much of a vision he had for his music and his career at such an early age. I just kind of assumed that a guy like him who penned his first big record at the end of high school would just kind of do what he was told while in the studio and just simply follow the direction of his producers and managers. But as you will see in the videos, Mayer had a real sense of purpose and intentionality from the very beginning that I find very admirable and probably has a lot to do with his success thus far. You can watch the first part of the series below and I have also included for you one of my favorites, “Wheel,” the final track off of his sophomore effort Heavier Things.
One of my favorite piano driven pop groups, Sleeping At Last, have taken a unique approach in presenting their music to their fans. Forgoing the typical bi-annual, 10-song, hour long album, the Chicago-dwelling crooners will be releasing a 3-song EP every month for a year. Each mini-album under the new “Yearbook” project will be named for the corresponding month in which it was released. They began the project earlier this month, releasing October on the 1st of the month. You can purchase each EP individually for $3 each on either Amazon or iTunes, or you can subscribe via sleepingatlast.com for $30 and you will save $6 overall.
October was mixed by John Goodmanson who has worked with them on both Storyboards and Keep No Score, and who has produced records for the likes of Death Cab For Cutie and Nada Surf to name a few. Thanks to the help of Alex Kruser, this first edition in the series has some very lovely string arrangements that almost steal the spotlight away from Ryan O’Neal’s intoxicating voice. I highly recommend logging on to the band’s site and signing up for the entire series. If you are not yet convinced, take a listen to “Next To Me,” featuring Stacy Dupree of Eisley.
Earlier this year The National released their follow up to Paste Magazine’s Best Album of 2007 (Boxer) with an album that is slowly climbing it’s way up my list of favorites for the year. High Violet was definitely a slow burner for me. I was pretty disappointed with the album all summer, probably because I kept trying to compare it to their previous albums. But once fall came around I fell head over heels for this record. I don’t know if it was just a matter of time or if it’s more of a fall/winter record, but I have really been digging it lately.
So I was pleasantly surprised when The National announced that on November 22nd they will be releasing an expanded edition of High Violet. The new album will come with an 8-track limited edition bonus disc, featuring an alternate version of Terrible Love (in the video below), 2 brand new songs, “Wake Up Your Saints” and “You Were A Kindness”, b-sides “Walk Off” and “Sin-Eaters” and three live recordings.
1. Terrible Love [Alternate Version]
2. Wake Up Your Saints
3. You Were A Kindness
4. Walk Off
5. Sin-Eaters
6. Bloodbuzz Ohio [Live on The Current]
7. Anyone’s Ghost [Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music]
8. England [Live at Brooklyn Academy of Music]
Everyone’s favorite alt-country band, The Avett Brothers, have stepped out into new territory this year. After discovering a musical kinship with Garret Dutton (aka G Love), they will be producing, for the first time, a record that is not their own. According to Paste Magazine, the band will be joining up with G Love at Echo Mountain Recording Studio, a beautiful converted church, in Asheville to produce his newest album, set to be released sometime in the Spring of 2011. Below you can see a video of the beginnings of what should prove to be a very fruitful musical friendship.
I have been a John Mayer fan for the better part of the decade now. I could appreciate his debut record for the pop candy that it was. I would enjoy it when the hits off of that record would interrupt the shallow repetitiveness that is pop radio. But then, when I purchased his less popular sophomore effort, Heavier Things, on a whim, I fell in love instantly. So if you are reading this and wondering why I care about Mayer, it’s probably because you have never seen him live and you haven’t listened to anything other than Room for Squares or his radio hits. So stop what you are doing, purchase and download either Heavier Things or Continuum and take the time to listen to it all the way through. Each of those albums are just so rich and layered both musically and lyrically. They both continue to grow on me with every listen.
