A Live One

Jo is here from the States this week and - bless her - she's brought me presents. Most of the presents are things that I've ordered from Amazon or such and had shipped to her, including the DVD and soundtrack for TLG's "Rock and Roll Band," the concert film that Justin Kreutzmann made of the boys at the Fox Theater in Boulder earlier this year.

I have been waiting for this set for a while and I can say unequivocally that it's worth the wait. But not for the reasons I thought it would be, however. The music is excellent - it's as good a show as anything I've heard them play this year, the jams are interesting and the songs are strong. Trevor and Josh are both becoming more refined, picking their moments and playing to their strengths. Ben's equally more creative and expressive, stamping around the stage like a fool in love with the groove. And Scotty is Scotty...understated and lovin' it (though I did think he got ahead of himself in places). The CD sounds wonderful, too. It's always great to get a CD-quality soundboard recording, especially when the show behind it is so good. And there's a Jezebel, which is always always welcome.

The DVD...well...Justin's dad may be a genius, but the DVD leaves a lot to be desired. It's a solid concert movie: the band's only demand was that the DVD leave the full jams intact - no cutting in and out just when the music's going somewhere - and that makes for a satisfying listening experience. But sadly, while there's so much exploration in the music the exploration of what makes TLG tick is stunningly anemic.

I've never ever thought that these guys don't have a lot to say - I wouldn't be listening to them if that were the case. I guarantee you that's why I woke up the morning after the first show of theirs I saw - a disastrous night for reasons I won't go into here - humming their music despite having left the concert early. What they're writing and singing about may not be the most original concepts but how they express them is certainly unique. Trevor has a way with words and with lyrics that he himself admits is born out of immersion in the "old" San Francisco sound: Jefferson Airplane, Country Joe and the Fish, the Dead, etc. etc. Josh admits that he's "a pretty big fan of the psychedelic jam." Scotty chokes up a bit explaining what headlining the Fillmore meant to them. Ben grooves his way down Haight St. with just the right amount of respect and goofy self-awareness. They have a lot of thoughts collectively on what makes music such a vital part of San Francisco and there's a lot to be said about what makes them such a vital part of San Francisco music...but Kreutzmann allows them to say very little and says nothing else himself.

Maybe he's trying to strip it back and let the audience draw their own conclusions, but I think it just feels unfinished. I've done a lot of thinking about the "new San Francisco sound" this year and I think there's really something there - something interesting and true and worth exploring. And I thought this would be a great vehicle in which to explore it. When the son of the drummer for the Grateful Dead makes a concert film about a young San Francisco band just starting to come into their own you expect great things from both the band and the filmmaker. I'm still just as impressed with the band as I ever was, but the filmmaker leaves me cold.

I wholeheartedly recommend this to anyone who wants to hear truly excellent music. But put the DVD on in the background and just listen to the music. Go to a show if you want to see for yourself what TLG really has to say.

Posted by jmakunas at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I have been doing a bit of exploring British music to try and figure out why everyone's so obsessed with it, and why they're so obsessed with bands that no one else in the world has ever seemed to have heard of. Why is Pete Doherty such a "legend?" What is NME? Who the heck is Jools Holland? Where did Top of the Pops go? Why does everyone listen to the same thing? At the same time? And why oh why oh why do people like Jarvis Cocker and Oasis and Morrisey and Kate Bush still hold such mythical status?

Part of my exploration has involved picking a few really popular bands and buying their albums to try to figure out why they're so damn popular. So far, so good, actually. (I did some selective picking...sorry, but I'm never going to like McFly, no matter what.)

One of the nicest surprises has been Lily Allen - the teenage wunderkind that was this summer's hottest of the hot. The Observer Music Mag (really a wonderful publication...shockingly unpretentious and democratic writing, if a bit indulgent of wankers like the aforementioned Jarvis Cocker) "broke" Lily Allen last summer after she'd been discovered through her MySpace page. She's the daughter of an old English TV star or something or other and has lived somewhat of a vagabond life and is now currently settled on music, producing a weird hybrid of reggae and pop that's somewhat chavvy and totally addictive.

She was EVERYWHERE this summer and I was determined not to like her precisely because she was everywhere. I hate the flavor of the moment just on principle. But I saw one of her videos on Yahoo! Music one day and it was good. Not just good, REALLY good. Funny and silly with great lyrics and a totally infectious hook. Everything that good pop should be. So I bought the album and I love it. Sad to say, but the hype was right on...she sounds like what Liz Phair would have sounded like if Exile in Guyville was made 15 years later. She's equally wise and dirty and vulnerable and tough and I haven't heard a grrrl as authentic since - well - Liz Phair. Totally worth my time. Totally worth yours.

Does this mean I'm going to have to listen to Keane, Kasabian, and The Magic Numbers now?

Posted by jmakunas at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I know you were all looking forward to my continued series entitled "Jenny continues to gush over a band that I've never freaking heard of and when will she shut up already," aka "You should really be listening to The Slip." But I know when I've been beaten, and I'm happily conceeding this race to Mr. Sam Gustin, who has written a review of Eisenhower (did I mention you should buy it?) that hits the nail on the head so hard it hurts.

I wish very much I'd written this myself, but of course could never have. Sam knows the boys in an entirely different way: as a musician, as a traveling partner, and as a stunningly devoted fan who has embraced their entire ethos and evolution. He's as in love with Eisenhower as I am, and hears the same influences and ambitions I do. Yes, the Beatles! I told you so. We both dearly want this album to succeed, he's just managed to say it more eloquently that I could have ever hoped to. It's very much worth your while:

Reasons 4 through 100 why The Slip is the best band you've never heard of.

No, outside of anxiously awaiting my Amazon.co.uk package containing Eisenhower (heh), nothing much else is new. We're heading out to Bath this weekend with some friends who have just moved from the States for our first road trip in England. No I am not driving (thank GOD). We're going to stop at Stonehenge on the way back and play tourist. Work continues, and we're all set for New Year's Eve in San Francisco. We've ordered our turkey and ham for Thanksgiving (6 people + teeny oven = need for two meats). It's cold out. You know...November.

Posted by jmakunas at 07:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For the record before we start, let’s set the stage: Liked Trey Anastasio, loved Plasma, HATED Shine so much that I couldn’t actually tell you where the physical disc is in our flat. And our flat’s not that big. I didn’t even rip it to iTunes, kids. Liked Seis de Mayo and Surrender to the Air for their experimental natures. Loved the 2001-2003 incarnation of Trey Band, travelled to see them, still think the Santana show was one of the best shows I’ve ever been to. Adore Oysterhead – album and live. Think that Phil Lesh is good for Trey’s head and Trey with Phil is good for everyone’s heart.

So.

Bar 17.

I've had this review kicking around the computer for about a month now, ever since the album came out. I have been at a complete loss for how to really make sense of it as a complete work, and maybe that's because I'm not sure it is a complete work. It's certainly more ambitious than anything he's done on his own (outside of Plasma, which isn't really fair, since it's live) and there are some amazing, AMAZING songs on here. But after that first week of listening to it non stop I haven't listened at all in the past three. When I realized that I hadn't actually posted the review yet, I turned it back on to see if I still felt the same way. Some songs had really mellowed well ("What's Done is Done," for example) but some I didn't miss at all ("Empty House" and, despite M's efforts to dissuade me, "Let it Lie").

Since the album does feel very disparate to me, I decided to break it down song by song:

Songs I love:
Bar 17: It’s about Phish. It’s got to be. The minute I heard the first line, I thought “Of course.” My Mike thought so too, but for different reasons. That aside, it’s probably one of the best pieces of music Trey’s written in the past 5 years…understated, lush, gorgeous. It’s modern and completely new. What a great sound.

Dragonfly: I don’t understand why people don’t love this. I loved this from the minute I heard a gritty GRAB version. I cannot help but dance when it comes on, and for the LIFE of me I don’t get why a crowd that gets giddy over “Rye, rye, rocco” despite it being – in Trey’s words “just some thing that Tom said when he came walking in the door” – thinks they’re above “Boots and your dragonfly.” It’s the same joyful nonsense. Get into it!

Cincinnati: But then we already knew that, huh?

Songs I like:
Host across the Potomac: This is a good one too: complex enough to be interesting, jams that could go anywhere, not over-orchestrated. In fact, it already has Mike, and there’s lots of room for Page and Fish ifyouknowwhatImeanandIthinkyoudo. I’d love to hear this get Trey’s “beast” treatment live. And yes, I can forgive the exploding skyrockets and elevating desks and chairs…at least it’s more figurative than “we all shiiiiiiiine on.”

What’s Done is Done: This one stood up to my listening hiatus well. The end of the song soars. I think it does a better job than Host Across at conveying "emotional elevation." Just very pretty. I know Trey's voice isn't for everyone but I love it, and I love it even more on this song – it makes me happy.

Goodbye Head: His daughter wrote it with him. Too cute. Thank God it's actually a good song, too.

Gloomy Sky: A totally gorgeous melody stuck in a song in dire need of de-orchestration. I’d love to see this deconstructed and pieced back together by fewer instruments in a simpler fashion. I’ve got to believe that will happen live.

Jury’s still out on:
When You’re Walking: Pretty. Has potential. I'd have to hear this one live, though.

A Case of Ice and Snow: I can't decide if I like this, or if I think it's cheesy. I've read reviews that compliment the lyrics here, but I can't get my head around them. Maybe in the right setting or at the right point in a set this would work for me. As is on the album, I'm just not sure.

Mud City: I know this is supposed to be Trey's answer to the Stones, but it doesn't work as a rocker for me the same way that Dragonfly does. It sounds a lot like the Stones, sure, but does the world really need any more songs that sound like the Stones? Just go see the Stones…they're still together, hint hint.

Let it Lie: I cannot get over the "Gonna take my bike out" lyrics. I know they're Tom's, but I just can't do it. I keep thinking about Freddy Mercury singing "I want to ride my bi-cy-cle" and it totally ruins what is otherwise a gorgeous song, in the "Army of One" vein, with a really pretty guitar solo at the end. I do hope that if Phish ever gets back together they don't decide to have Page sing this with Trey doing the stupid background chant. It just makes me squirm. Keep your shirt on, dude.

Empty House: The idea is good – spare acoustics and a folksy melody – but the execution just doesn't work. Again, another one that could work well live but not hold up to anything but Trey, a stool, and a guitar.

Oh Trey, no…
Shadow: Sounds like the theme song to a cheesy 80's sitcom staring Candace Cameron, Ricky Schroeder, and Mark Linn-Baker. So bad.

So (again).

Thinking through all these songs, I guess I've made sense of the album thusly: it's a Phish record in disguise. And as with almost everything Trey or Phish has recorded, it's merely a skeleton upon which to build live shows - even more so because this album desperately needs Page, Mike, and Fish. I am sure that would disappoint Trey to hear, but from what I hear his live shows are killing lately…proving that he clearly has good material. Sadly, I think it's material that's much better than his current band (Ray, Sipe, and the horns aside). There are spaces in this music where just imagining how creative Phish could be gives me shivers. There are songs that are begging to be played to amphitheaters. There's a complexity to these tunes that makes me think that – consciously or unconsciously – Trey wants to be writing songs for the only other three guys he knows can really play them.

They’ll be back. Bet it all on 17.

#2: They can write a damn good pop song

I've written before about how I think that writing a perfect pop song is truly an art. Anyone can write shitty pop (and there's a lot of it out there) but a well-crafted, interesting, meaningful, catchy, complex pop tune is hard to come by. The Beatles did it, of course, and that's why we're still listening to them. Talking Heads was great at it…"Once in a Lifetime" is the best example of what I'm talking about, a song where the form belies the meaning and musicality. I honestly think The Slip is in that category, and Even Rats was the first song that made me believe.

(And for those of you who think I'm indulging in a bit of hyperbole, I've just spent the day listening to songs from Eisenhower while waiting for our pre-order to arrive and know of what I speak. Yes, The Beatles. Yes, it's that good. Go get it!)

(Hey! Did you know that you can actually download the music on here – just click to listen to it with Quicktime (or your favourite player) or right click and "Save As" to keep it. You'll have to do that with Even Rats because it's an M4P - I'll get the MP3 up there as soon as I get the album in my hot little hands. Trust me, it'll be worth it.)

Posted by jmakunas at 08:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo by Aislinn Leggett

I just realized today that I've been listening to The Slip for 7 years now. I saw my first show in April of 1999 downstairs at the Middle East with M, right before he moved out to SF. M went to high school with these guys, and unlike every great band in my high school they actually stayed together, went to music school, and pursued being a real band. When I first saw them, they were a straight up jazz trio and had more musicianship in their little fingers than any band I'd seen in a long, long time. But they were - dare I say - a little boring. Tight for the sake of being tight...incredibly nimble and mind-blowingly agile musicians, but not actually mind-blowing. I didn't listen to them actively for a long while after that.

Today, though, as they prepare to release their new album Eisenhower (on election day, natch), I'm convinced they're the best band no one's heard of. They have evolved from jazz masters to genre-hopping rock stars and listening to them today finally - and constantly - delivers that mind-blowing experience that was missing the first time I saw them.

In honor of Eisenhower, and because I truly believe everyone should be listening to The Slip, I now present the first of "Jenny's Reasons Why You Should Listen to The Slip:"

#1: Big, BIG sound
I think I first reconnected to these guys by listening to their amazing Alivelectric album. This is truly a headphones album - deep, resonant, and layered. And it's recorded live, which is even more amazing...they don't need a studio to create a sound that's bigger than the three of them, and this album proves it. It also represents a transitional time for the band, as they started to move from pure jazz to something...else. I listened to this almost every day on the train to work for about 6 months when I really needed to...it's one of those rare albums that never fails to put me in a different headspace.

Give Headshot a listen...it's got the same jazzy spirit and complex musicianship that defines the band, but with the benefits of a simpler, more melodic song structure. Like the band, though, it's anything but simple.

Posted by jmakunas at 02:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I am well aware that it's been over two months and I haven't written anything about High Sierra. Yes, fine, I haven't written anything at all and there are a million good reasons and no good reasons why that's so. For a while the thought of writing about HS was so overwhelming that I just didn't want to tackle it...but as time passed and I had a chance to digest and discuss the music I realized that there were only two things about High Sierra this year that were truly overwhelming enough to be scary and I should be writing about both of them. So be nice.

Being a Phish fan – a hardcore, crazy-ass, nowhere-I'd-rather-be-than-on-tour Phish fan – conditions you to approach other bands in certain ways: You're more likely than not to think a quartet is the perfect number for a band; you gamely search for meaning behind nonsense and are skeptical of the obvious (lyrically, musically, emotionally, or experientially); and you have a hard time letting yourself love something as much as you did (or do!) Phish.

And that's not even counting what you expect from the music: creative, perfectly executed, constantly engaging, surprising, varied, funny, inclusive, exclusive (unless you get the joke), mind-blowing, rage-inducing, perfect, imperfect, mundane, moving, but never boring. It's no surprise that after years of too many good shows to count or recount I've seen exactly 2 shows since Coventry that have blown me away, and neither of them were at festivals or easily replicable.*

So while I have a soft spot in my heart for Surprise Me Mr. Davis, it doesn't stand to reason that I would be so completely enthralled with their performances at High Sierra that I have spent the last two months and some weeks struggling to write about it. I mean, I know these guys – I saw them last year, I know their other bands and side projects, I listen to the recordings, I get it. Hell, Michael KNOWS them, like really knows Brad and Andrew and has been listening to The Slip since they were in high school together. We're evangelists...I think that The Slip are really doing something outrageous and special and watching Brad come into his own as a rock star has been a pleasure. This is not unknown.

But Surprise Me Mr. Davis has me questioning whether or not The Slip even needs to exist anymore. Seriously. For a band that started as amusement during a snowstorm and has slunk into nothing more than a small side project when it's geographically advantageous, there is something wildly exciting about these guys. Maybe it is because I feel like I know them and after publicly extolling their potential it's satisfying to be proven right. Maybe it was timing: a brilliant late night set with everyone I love around me followed by a gorgeous sunset show after a long, lazy, funky afternoon in the meadow. Maybe it was the beer. (It wasn't the beer.) These guys are the real deal.

Put plainly, they're the most genuinely exciting band I've seen in a long, long, long time. And that's just it – they're genuine, and I don't question a second of it. I listen to them and hear a clarity of purpose that belies their part-time status. I don't know if it's organic or calculated (likely the former, equally brilliant if the latter), but I think of great big things when I hear them – Truth, Beauty, Love – and I believe in them. I believe the same way I used to believe at Phish, in the infinite possibility of the good and the gorgeous and the transcendent. When Nathan sings "Back in 15 minutes...write a novel" I want to write one for him. When the bass bottoms out in the chorus of Sleepy Head I can feel their intention in the soles of my feet. The jam in For the Paper Boy makes me wish I knew Max Pelta, just to thank him for moving them to write something so touching and true. And all that from only three hours of music.

They are everything I love about The Slip without the pressure on Brad to be the reluctant rock star. With Nathan as raconteur and ringleader Brad seems more creative than ever. And his ability to relax – to hide behind his guitar (and in a mask nonetheless!) – reflects on the other guys. I've never heard Marc sound so simultaneously melodic and funky. I can actually hear Andrew listening to everyone and responding in kind. The music is as pretty as anything The Slip's ever written, and the lyrics as good a story as anything that Nathan's ever told. It makes you proud and political and empathetic and lucid and completely inspired. They're magical. They must be. Beyond the rubber balls and dancing red lights and card tricks and cereal boxes there's no way to explain it but pure alchemy.

Rare and unexpected. And deeply needed.

* Feb '05: Phil and Friends Mardi Gras show in SF with Jimmy Herring, Chris Robinson, RRE, Steve Molitz, and Houseman and March '06: Black Crowes in Amsterdam at the Paradiso

Posted by jmakunas at 09:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What am I listening to these days?

Shockingly, it's the same three albums over and over and over:

My Morning Jacket: "Z"

JQ's been trying to convince me for months that this is one of the best albums of the past year and you know what? He's right. It's Air + Radiohead + Uncle Tupelo + The White Stripes without being derivative or identical to any one of them. I've said a million times that it's hard to write a good pop song...these guys are writing scary good pop songs with a lot more to them than you'll hear on your first listen. Maybe that's why I've listened to this album at least twice a day for the past two weeks.

Listen to "Knot Comes Loose" and then go buy the album.

Aimee Mann: "The Forgotten Arm"

As far as I'm concerned, there's nothing bad to say about Aimee Man. Ever. This album is more mature, more cohesive, and more achingly beautiful that anything she's done before. And it's pretty and witty and tough and tender and everything that she does better than almost anyone else out there. Bachelor No.2 will always be the soundtrack to which I fell in love with San Francisco. There's a good chance this album will be the same for London...I may not fall in love with the city in the same way, but I'll always associate "Little Bombs" with the winter flowers outside St. Paul's.

Listen to "Video" and then go buy the album.

The Arcade Fire: "Funeral"

I'm not one to buy into the New! Indie! Hype! that's dished at every young/angry/punky/pretty band out there. But I admittedly bought this album because people I respected (and Trey) were saying that the Arcade Fire was the brightest thing out there. The fact that this is still on repeat probably bears out that hyperbole. It's one of those brilliant end-to-end albums that manages to be simultaneously gorgeous and gritty and really, really interesting. I do wonder what they're going to do next and which of their many obvious influences are going to win out...here's hoping they continue their unique trajectory.

Listen to "Rebellion (Lies)" and then go buy the album.

Posted by jmakunas at 10:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello little fella. You've changed my life.

For my 30th birthday this past January, M gave me one of the best (and coolest) presents I've ever received: that nifty little device you see above called Squeezebox.

Basically, this shiny little thing connects to our computer over our wireless network and allows us to access and play ALL the music on our hard drives (all 100 gigs of it...no...I am not kidding...) regardless of file type, location, etc. through our stereo.

I cannot overstate how amazing this is. 100 gigs is a LOT of music, yo, and it's very hard to manage it all. It takes time to burn, label, and archive all the live stuff we have onto CDs (we're both really anal about how this is done, as I'm sure you can imagine, so we're really slow at doing it...I have hundreds of CDs that I haven't labeled yet and there's just so much music we haven't even attempted to burn). There are shows that I've wanted to listen to for years that I can't because they're not on a CD or in MP3 format for my (also overflowing) iPod. Now we can (and do!) listen to whatever the heck we want. And since I've already ripped a lot of our CDs onto the computer for my iPod, it's totally cut back on the time we have to spend searching through the massive binders of CDs we brought with us. (Yes, we brought ALL our CDs with us...they took me 4 days to pack. I kid you not.)

It also plays podcasts and internet radio, which has been super-cool (I highly recommend the awesome mix of funk, rap, and old-school hip hop on WeFunk radio from Montreal) and we've actually mixed up our standard Sunday morning newspaper music (the Dead) to include some great stuff from nugs.net.

So today I was working from home and we turned the Squeezebox on "random" to see what it would spit out. First song...Stevie Wonder...ass-shakingly fantastic. And then, out of 100 gigs of music, the next song the thing picks is...more Stevie. Heh. It got a lot more random (and fun) from there on out though. I especially liked the old school/new school Space > Triple Wide and the 36 minute LMLYP from Ween, which pretty much encapsulates everything I love about that band in one dirty, dirty song.

Ultimately, the Random feature made for a pretty cool setlist. (And it was MUCH better than the shitty dance music that's been blasting through Marketing in the office these days.)

...read on to see what we listened to today...

Continue reading "Mixed Bizness" »

Posted by jmakunas at 07:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Some things I learned in Amsterdam over the past week:

The Duo kicks the musical asses of all those other bands (and I have a feeling that Joe Russo was trying to kick some not-so-metaphorical ass backstage too). They were the musical highlight of the week, always creative, super-groovy, funny as hell, and brilliant beyond belief. I bitch about hearing �Becky� for the 43rd time, and then still boogie like a madwoman when they play it. The spontaneous �super jam� with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey, Bobby Previte (!), and Charlie Hunter (!!) was gorgeous, fun, and completely unexpected. They�re gifted, gifted boys and are doing nothing but good stuff. I sincerely wish I could catch them with Mike this summer.

I will never, EVER be able to pronounce anything in Dutch. I know that straat is street, and that gracht is canal, and that kerk is church, and that plein is place, but I will never be able to say �Reguliersgracht� or �Nieuve Spiegelstraat� (at least not with a straight face). And �D'Vijff Vlieghen?� HELL no.

Umphrey�s does not melt my face. Their music is creative and challenging but it just does not resonate. Mike and I speculated all weekend as to why we just can�t get into them, but have no concrete answers: they�re too Midwestern, too laddish, too scripted, TOO tight, trying too hard�something. And their fans are nuts�walking into the bathroom between shows on the first night, I commented to a girl walking out that I don�t think I�d ever been in an empty womens� room during a show before and she turned and yelled (yes, yelled!) at me �That�s �cause Umphrey�s are getting ready to melt everyone�s FACES off!� Um�OK. Thanks, sweetie.

And speaking of Umphrey�s, I miss Tea Leaf Green. Michael summed it up perfectly: on paper, Umphrey�s sounds perfect and TLG sounds lame. In person, Umphrey�s falls flat and TLG is dazzling. They play their first true headlining gig at the Fillmore in two weeks. Go boys go!!

Something about the making of Heineken beer, though honestly I can�t really remember much of the tour because I was too busy fucking around in the DJ room pretending I was Orbital. Why they had a DJ room at the Heineken brewery, I can�t tell you.

The Paradiso is easily the coolest (and prettiest!) indoor venue I�ve ever been to. (The Melkweg wasn�t half-bad either.) The acoustics sucked during the second set, though.

The Disco Biscuits are actually pretty groovy. I enjoyed their sets a lot more than I expected. They�re in great command of their audience � it doesn�t feel like a frat-boy free-for-all (see above, Umphrey�s), yet it�s still a total blast. I see an all night High Sierra dance party in my future. (Also, �Disco Biscuit� is fun to say.)

The Black Crowes are a REAL rock band. Damn, these guys can play.

Thanks to Kevin Quinn on JamBase for the photo of Joe and Brendan and Kark on TLG for the one of Josh

Posted by jmakunas at 07:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

M and I have WAY too many CDs that we never listen to. So, to remedy that, I've decided to share with you all bits and pieces of our gigantic CD collection. Featured under "Now Playing" for a while will be songs from CDs in our collection chosen in this super-scientific manner: Stand in front of CD racks, close eyes, spin around, point finger, grab first CD finger lands on.

We have lots of great stuff, and lots of weird stuff. You never know what you're gonna get. Hopefully, you'll find it as amusing as I do.

Posted by jmakunas at 11:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yep, this is a long one. However, it was shockingly easy to write, given how much I like this album and how much I want to convey why. Enjoy�.

Dave Matthews: Some Devil

The first time I heard Dave Matthews Band�s Remember Two Things it was a true revelation: stunning melodies, surprising instrumentation, and true, articulated passion from the front man. I actively sought them out on tour, and enjoyed their live interpretations of my favorite songs. I thought they were new, and different, and interesting; their music made me happy, and parts of it were so beautiful that they made me gasp.

The last album I remember listening to with any enthusiasm, though, was 1996�s Crash, and not because of the ubiquitous title song....

Continue reading "Alive Again" »

Posted by jmakunas at 03:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Two short reviews today. The length of my comments are in no way indicative of the worth of these albums, which are both excellent.

The Bad Plus: These Are the Vistas

After seeing Midwest-grown jazz trio The Bad Plus open for Garage � Trois last month, I�ve been aching for this album. They were by far the best opening band discovery we�ve made in quite a while; in my mind they are more than worthy of any �future of jazz� hyperbole that has been heaped upon them by music critics (who range from The New Yorker to Rolling Stone)....

Continue reading "Boo-Wah" »

Posted by jmakunas at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So M and I finally had a chance to get up to Amoeba yesterday and purchase some new CDs. We had a looong list�it seems like there�s a lot of great new music out there all of a sudden. It�s been so long since we bought studio albums, and all of a sudden we have six new ones. So, for the next few days I�m going to review our new albums here�for my own entertainment, really, and to �keep my voice up� as Larry says. Plus, my GAT review was cut from Relix, so I should have some music writing out there, right?

Anyway. This first review has more of a personal slant than anything I�d usually publish, and I�m feeling a little rusty, but indulge me all the same.

Twinemen: Twinemen
Currently spinning in my CD player is the debut album from Twinemen � the two remaining men from Morphine (saxophonist Dana Colley and drummer Billy Conway) and Conway�s partner and local Cambridge vocalist Laurie Sargent. Having thought about it for a day or so, I find it impossible to evaluate this album on its own merits without both delving into history and revealing my personal biases (hence the �personal� caveat above�it�s hard to take this album at face value).

I love Morphine. I still remember where I was the first time I heard a Morphine song at Harvard, and the first album of theirs that I bought could have been subtitled �Soundtrack to My Thesis� senior year....

Continue reading "Signs of Life" »

Posted by jmakunas at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)