It’s Sunday, it’s hot, I’m pretty sure it’s about to rain. This song, and video, by Allman Brown and Liz Lawrence matches my current state of static anticipation. It’s also sweet, dreamy, and three and half minutes of soft-focus romantic escapism.
The song is from Brown’s upcoming EP of the same name. You can listen to more of his work here, and more of the lovely Liz Lawrence can be found here.
When people say the camera loves someone, what they really mean is the people behind the camera and in front of it love each other. This love can last forever, changing as the shadows do; it can also fade with the light.
Ivan Ives, from Los Angeles via Russia, has made a song, and a video, about the state of being the person left with nothing but flickering images.
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Z Berg (JJAMZ, The Like) has kicked off her solo career with some acoustic tunes. There are four altogether, all quite good. The acoustic format showcases both her voice – sunny with a touch of smoke, delicate, sweet but not cloyingly so – and the glimmering sharpness of the lyrics.
These two are the ones I particularly like.
First up: Charades, which I have a feeling is the one I will be humming while walking barefoot in summer rainstorms from now on:
And second: I Fall For the Same Face, which is for anyone who has ever, like me, looked at the rogue’s gallery of their objets d’affection and muttered I have a type and a problem with rueful amusement.
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These are two songs my father loved, and passed on to me:
First, The Gambler, by Kenny Rogers, from the record of the same name. We had a tape which I think we about wore out listening to in the car, and he was still quoting the lyrics as advice last month.
Some examples of their delightful tunes:
Fireworks is the lead single; I like it for the sweet melody and also for the simple, powerful, evocation/illustration of the experience of watching fireworks:
And then there is Cedar Beach, which I love because it’s a story about a golem as a sea creature:
And finally, Seeds, because I always enjoy a good solid love song:
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In which I went to Boston for Fall Out Boy, and it was an awesome, sweaty, raucous festival of joy.
But to back up a little bit: Up first was NK, which is Ryan Hunter and Brian Byrne (Envy on The Coast) and Billy Rymer (Dillinger Escape Plan), and they’re currently touring with Isaac Bolivar and Matt Fazzi (Taking Back Sunday).
They have a heavy rap-rock Rage Against The Machine vibe going. I didn’t know any of their songs but I could nonetheless appreciate the barely controlled surge and snarl of their drums and guitars. I’m pretty sure it isn’t possible to listen to their set and not suddenly find yourself banging your head.
Some highlights:
And then it was time for the main event. Fall Out Boy came out in a burst of light and noise and kicked it off with Thriller – their Thriller, not Michael Jackson’s – which was an absolute perfect choice and caused my heart to clench with pain and affection even as I was grinning at them like an idiot.
I have a medium-sized number of thinky thoughts about the show / spectacle, specifically: that both Thriller and This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race have gained new, sharper edges over time; that The Phoenix is both the thrilling rally cry of a band coming back wrapped around a reminder to hold on, hold on, even when your band has gone away; that if you don’t start jumping during The Phoenix, I think you might be dead inside; that Fall Out Boy has emerged from their hiatus as an energized and cohesive unit, ready to rally the troops and take on the world (and maybe take over the world, too); that calling their record Save Rock and Roll might be brash and a little obnoxious but, well, Fall Out Boy would not be Fall Out Boy if they were not brash and a little obnoxious; and that brash, a little obnoxious, overblown and sometimes overwrought is why we love them. It’s why we jump up and down and and wave our hands in the air. It’s what makes the room sing.
And now, some pictures. I was three rows back from the stage and, as you will see, deep in a forest of hands, but these are some of the good shots:
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Klassik is from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and his music is a delicate fusion of jazz and hip-hop. His latest video features a great tune, some truly trippy special effects, awesome dancing, and inexplicable destruction of an innocent piano.
Check it:
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There are actually two songs here; I’ve embedded them together rather than separately because they flow into each other so neatly and naturally.
The first one is Imagerial Denouement by AF THE NAYSAYER, with Myka Nyne on vocals. The second song has the same name, but is an instrumental track.
They are, collectively, a little bit funky and a little bit bluesy and all excellent.
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Reasons I sometimes wish I lived in Los Angeles, #8781323: We Are The West host and perform in a concert series in the underground parking garage of an office building in Santa Monica the Saturday night before each full moon.
I’m not going to say anything else. I’m just going to let y’all listen to my two favorite songs, and contemplate what it would be like to hear them deep in the earth, amid steel and stone.
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Tallahassee is: Brian Barthelmes (Vocals, Guitar, Banjo, Resonator), Scott Thompson (Guitar, Banjo, Keys), Shawn Carney (Electric Bass, Upright Bass) and Matt Raskopf (Drums, Percussion), and they are from Rhode Island, not Florida.
Despite taking their name from a Native American word meaning “Old Town” and calling their most recent record “Old Ways,” this is not a band that is facing backwards or hewing closely to traditional lines. Or at least not just one traditional line; their tunes are a rich stew of country, blues, and funk lightly spiced with shoegaze, the kind of thing that will warm you up and stick to your ribs at the same time.
These are three of my favorite songs from the record:
Old Brown Shoes: Because Meet me down at the Greyhound station / What have you got left to lose resonates in weird ways right now, mainly because I’ve spent a lot of time on the bus these last couple of months. Sometimes it’s been awful; other times it’s been shared hash browns and shared stories in the chilly light of dawn.
Riding With the Devil: I don’t ramble as much as I used to, but I’d still sing this song around a campfire, while toasting marshmellows for s’mores.
Minor Blues IV: It was a tie between this one and I’ll Be Damned; I finally picked this one to share to highlight the way they weave shoegaze shimmer and drone between funk bounce in deft and interesting ways.
And in conclusion, here are some pictures of them from a recent show at the Bowery Electric, in New York:
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