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CXCW Highlight: Water Tower, Town/Come Down Easy

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One of the many awesome things about CXCW is catching up with old favorites. I developed a deep fondness for Water Tower back when they were the Water Tower Bucket Boys and singing awesome bluegrass songs about acid tripping in San Francisco, and then I lost track of them a little bit. So I was super pleased when their video featuring their new song Town and a cover of Spaceman 3’s Come Down Easy popped up yesterday. They’ve evolved from their bluegrass roots, though not that far – just enough to settle into a psychedelic groove.

WATER TOWER "CXCW2015" TOWN/COME DOWN EASY

Water Tower will be at That Other Festival as well (multi-tasking! excellent!), and to follow their adventures, you may consult Facebook, here.

To follow CouchxCouchWest, you may consult Facebook, Twitter, or refresh the Festival page several times a day.

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Festival Alert: Couch x CouchWest 2015

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Now in its fifth year (!!!) Couch x CouchWest is once again coming to a screen near you. Very near you. Like, in your hand right now, if you’re reading this on your phone. Though if you want to make a YouTube playlist of the videos and project them on the nearest wall-like surface, YOU CAN. Such is the beauty of Couch x CouchWest!

Lineup: Anyone who sends in a video. Are you a musician? In a band? You should sit down on your couch / favorite chair / front porch / elevator shaft / etc and sing a song for in the internet. It will be awesome. DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS IS NOON EASTERN MARCH 21st.

Dates: March 15-21

Location: Anywhere you want. In bed, in the bath (Carefully! Make sure your device is well protected from the water!), on a train, on a plane, on the bus, you are all welcome, come join us, where-ever you are.

Survival guide: As with That Other Festival, you will probably want snacks and cold beverages and comfortable clothes. The major differences: Pants are optional, pets are encouraged, there are no lines, you’ll never be shut out of a show unless your internet falls apart, and the only hipster is you. Plus the beer is way cheaper and the odds of people talking through/over music you are trying to listen to are WAY lower.

Highlights: The entire festival is a special experience, and I urge all y’all to catch as many sets as you can. The following are some things I personally am looking forward to:

1) The Irish Showcase. Tony Fitz has once again rounded up some luminaries and persuaded them to record some videos, and I can’t wait to see them.

Here’s one he recorded last year, featuring Rónán Ó Snodaigh (Kila) & Kristina Aspeqvist (Stockholm Vodou Orchestra), who literally met 10 minutes before this was filmed and did not discuss or rehearse their performance:

Rónán Ó Snodaigh & Kristina Aspeqvist | Cara Liom (CXCW 2014)

2) Unexpected gems of cover songs. There were thirty-four last year, and this one, a wholesale reinvention of NIN’s Closer by The Tonk Honkys quite justifiably got Best In Show. Not going to lie, I dolphin-clapped and squeaked with joy.

The Tonk Honkys cover Closer by Nine Inch Nails - CXCW2014

3) Surprise special guests. Last year, Rosanne Cash (!!) joined in the fun. This year Glen Hansard is going to be part of the Irish Showcase. (Okay, that kind of ruins the surprise, but – there might be more. ONE NEVER KNOWS.)

Here’s Roseanne Cash and The Thread from last year:

Rosanne Cash & The Thread - A Feather's Not A Bird (CXCW2014)

4) Finding out what Two Mule Blues will blow up this year. Spoiler alert: it will probably be a couch. Last year it was a white couch, neatly matching the snow on the mountains behind them:

Two Mule Blues - Old Vinyl and Innocence CXCW 2014

To attend the festival, click here, starting on March 15!

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Video: Mumblr, Got It

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This is the video for Got It, by Mumblr, from Full of Snakes, and it contains: Philadelphia, wet, gray and grimy and somehow more dear for it; inexplicable pantslessness; joyous headbanging and moshing; and a chorus that will probably get lodged in your head.

Also, while I have only attended one of their shows so far, I can tell you those crowd shots are not the product of artful editing or careful staging, that is what it’s actually like, them going full throttle while the room winds up into an explosion of punk rock joy. That moment where everyone bangs their head at once? That is the sweet spot, and they know how to hit it.

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The Honorable South, Faithful Brave & Honest

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Faithful Brave & Honest is the second full-length from The Honorable South, and while a little bit more mellow than I Love My Tribe, it is no less delightful. Their funky soul vibe is very much intact; if anything the slightly slower pace gives one more space to appreciate their complex jams and Charm Taylor’s beautiful voice.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Overdue, which has trippy alternating tones floating over a slow, hypnotic beat:

Champagne, which is built around a heavy, aggressive rock and roll guitar:

And finally The Sun Dance, which is fluid and mellow and a call to try harder and shine brighter:

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Two Songs From: Jeffrey Martin

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Earlier this week I was, once again, noodling around Soundcloud looking for one thing when I found something else: Dogs in the Daylight by Jeffrey Martin.

Old Good Friend was the first song I heard, and I’ve been sitting with it these last few days, letting it simmer. Thinking about some of my old good friends, and olive branches, and whether I want to extend them. Whether I can extend them. I still haven’t decided.

Dogs in the Daylight is the title track. It’s less of a gut punch than Old Good Friend but really that’s like saying aged whiskey is smoother than new.

Most of the rest of the record is available for test-listening at Soundcloud; I say “most” because it was recently re-issued with four additional songs. It’s excellent, and all y’all should go and listen to it.

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Video: Bethany Weimers and Merlin Porter, Winter Heart

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I always appreciate a good stop-motion video, and this one, for Winter Heart by Bethany Weimers, is especially delicious. The best part: she and her artist partner Merlin Porter created it with sets they built themselves, in their living room, and a borrowed camera.

The final result is wistful, whimsical, and really quite lovely. I’ve watched it twice and I already feel a little less Grinchy about both snow and Valentine’s Day.

Bethany Weimers - Winter Heart [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

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Video: T’dòz, Ogou

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After many years playing drums and producing with Boukman Eksperyans, the Haitian roots music group founded by his family, T’dòz (Ted G. Beaubrun) is striking out on his own. This is the video for Ogou from Lâcher Prise (“Letting Go”), his first solo record. The song is a call to Ogou, the spirit of fire and strength, and both it and the video are beautiful.

T'doz - Ogou [CLIP OFFICIEL]

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We Were Strangers, I Believe

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I Believe, by We Were Strangers: This one is easy to sink into and get lost in. I made it through twice before I paused to wonder what, exactly, was going on here – were the rich piano tones and lush strings disguising a dark tale of love and kidnapping? Or being kidnapped by love?

The answer, as it turns out, is somewhere between “maybe” and “kind of,” depending on how you feel about settling on one person; per singer and chief lyricist Stefan Melbourne, it’s about “letting yourself commit to someone, and sustaining that.”

Also appearing on this track: James Kenosha (drums and piano) and Lins Wilson (cello). Kenosha, who initially heard the songs when Melbourne posted them under the name The Works of Isaac, also acted as producer. The band is from Manchester, but their first show will be at the Bedroom Bar in London on February 25th; check it out if you’re in town.

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Friday Morning Jam: Smoking Ghosts, Maybe Tonight I’ll Find You

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Ok kids, let’s start this weekend off right, with Maybe Tonight I’ll Find You, a jaunty noir-inflected romp about looking for true love in mildly unsavory places by Smoking Ghosts, featuring Liana Lewis Agredo. It’s from their new EP, Flores De los Muertos, which is, on the whole, quite good. Refreshing is probably the best word for it; I heartily recommend it

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HT Heartache, Sundowner

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Sundowner is the second record from HT Heartache (Mary Roth), of Los Angeles, CA. And, for a record named after a biker gang, it’s surprising mellow. It’s also awesome: there isn’t a single song that’s filler, not even one note out of place.

I like to put it on in the evening and sink into it like a warm bath.

Ok, a warm bath with strong noir undertones that – just to totally mix metaphors here – if it was a person, very likely wear red lipstick and would regularly be asked to surrender all of her knives. She wouldn’t, of course, she’d just hand over the ones people can see. But they’d try.

The first song is Trenton, and it sets the tone for the whole record: meditative, melancholy, sharp and lovely:

These next two are just my favorites.

Soft Rain, for the velvety texture of the interplay of her voice and the melody:

And Darkside, because it’s the most up-tempo tune on the record, and fun to sing along to: