In stark contrast to the many and massive sounds contained on their captivating first album, An Awesome Wave, new Brit band Alt-J showed up on a bench up on Montmartre on a Take Away Show and played songs Matilda and Dissolve Me.  We love the winning, spare delivery featuring only a glockenspiel, two acoustic guitars and a malleted snare.  The result is rightful focus on the lyrics and the group’s superb harmonies (on Dissolve Me, starting at 3:46 and especially at 5:40 and after–the song reminds of Noah and the Whale).  They’re new on the scene, but already you can tell:  this band is here to stay.  Vive le Alt-J!

At the very beginning of their tour behind last year’s eponymous album, Bon Iver was already a phenomenal live band. By the time they closed out the last leg of their tour a week or so ago in New York City, they had jelled completely and exponentially expanded their sound spectrum in magnificent ways. To get another good feel for what we’re saying, check out their Austin City Limits episode (recorded only a few days after their revelatory Santa Barbara Bowl show) below that was broadcast for the first time last night. They are MAGNIFICENT.

On the third and last day of the ever-invigorating 2012 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival, the great weather and magnificent music continued unabated.  On this day, we frankly had lower expectations but higher anxiety over the circus crowds.  In the end our expectations were far exceeded, and though the crowds were daunting, they were not insurmountable.

The clear highlight of the day was Giant Giant Sand, one of Howe Gelb’s many fine collectives.  While we have known and liked Gelb’s music and discography, we had never seen him live, and nothing could prepare us for the sounds crafted onstage by the incredibly talented Gelb and his band of cohorts out of Tucson.  The depth and variety of the music was stunning, shifting between southwestern high-country rock, cumbia, bolero, twang and country-folk balladry and jazz.  Gelb is a magnanimous leader, letting the other players (great singers/players Brian Lopez and Gabriel Sullivan) take the lead.  To give up the spotlight in this high-level setting speaks volumes of the heart of Howe Gelb.  Later in the set the chameleonic and multifaceted Gelb suddenly downshifted to electric piano and subtly sang and played a beautiful jazz ballad (with fine trumpet accompaniment) of the highest order.  It was as if the love child of Mose Allison and Diane Schurr was delivered and delivering.  Gelb and the Giants closed out with a rollicking rocker of the highest order (with Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones on mandolin), leaving the crowd awestruck and wanting more.

Here’s an example of Howe Gelb performing in the future:

We’re trying not to repeat ourselves.  But when it comes to Shara Worden (a.k.a. My Brightest Diamond), and her song I Have Never Loved Someone, we can’t help ourselves.  We featured both on Father’s Day, but stumbled upon the poignant new performance of the song below in a bar in Paris on a Sunday (courtesy of A Take Away Show for La Blogotheque).  Simply superb.  At end, not a dry eye in the place, including Ms. Worden’s.

My Brightest Diamond | I Have Never Loved Someone | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to drop into the Fox Theater in Oakland last Tuesday and check out one of our favorite live bands, Grizzly Bear, out touring behind their phenomenal new album, Shields.  We had caught them early in their Veckatimest tour at the Wiltern after the album’s release and been blown away by their unique sound, instrumental acumen and off-center, but perfect harmonies.  We were slightly disappointed by their later, end-of-tour show at the Palladium, but what do you expect after touring behind an album for a year (and it was after all, in the glossy, soulless Palladium).  Following Tuesday’s Fox show, all we can tell you is we have newfound faith in first impressions.  Once again we were wowed by the onslaught and vocal delivery of the band.  Their new songs translate particularly well live, and the band packed a ferocious punch (drums and bass dominating where necessary), but also downshifted where appropriate to ethereal vocalese with ease (see their sweet performance below of encore closer All We Ask below).  Highlights of their show included Yet Again and Gun Shy off of Shields, our all-time fave While We Wait For Others (on which the crowd joined in emphatic unison), and (naturally) Cheerleader.  They played songs from throughout their catalog, including seven from Veckatimest.  The setlist from the Fox show follows the video.

Setlist:

Speak In Rounds
Adelma
Sleeping Ute
Cheerleader
Lullabye
Yet Again
Shift
Gun-Shy
Ready, Able
A Simple Answer
I Live With You
Foreground
While You Wait For The Others
What’s Wrong
Two Weeks
Half Gate
Sun In Your Eyes

Encore:

Knife
On A Neck, On A Spit
All We Ask

Two nights later the band appeared on the Tonight Show to sing Speak in Rounds. See what we are yammering about below (by moving the video-ball to the fifth hash mark at the 37:40 mark and enduring an ad).

Speaking of Austin City Limits, this weekend you can catch many of your favorite bands as they are webcast from the Austin City Limits Music Festival in Austin, Tx.  Notables include Jack White, The Shins, Afghan Whigs, First Aid Kit, Avett Brothers, Two Door Cinema Club, The Roots, War On Drugs, Alt-J, Florence & the Machine, Polica and countless other acts.  Tune in and watch the webcasts HERE.

We’ve been preoccupied with a music festival and travel, and glossed over the fact that Radiohead’s Austin City Limits show was broadcast last Saturday. While it will always be tough to match their From the Basement performance for sound and video quality, for those that didn’t catch a show on their recent tour (we were blessed to eek our way into the Santa Barbara Bowl for the show of the year) watch the entire stellar ACL episode of the best band in the world doing what they do best.  Especially enjoyable is the rare sound mix in which Thom Yorke’s vocals are featured high in the mix.  The band plays old/new song The Amazing Sounds of Orgy, the backstory of which is explained in an intro to the song.  Thereafter, the sequence of Staircase, Identikit and There There is particularly stunning.  The group vocal on the latter provides THE highlight of the show.  The episode ends strongly with older crowd-favorites Idioteque and seminal Paranoid Android.  It doesn’t get any better.  Hang in for the short interview of Yorke and Ed Greenwood at the end, in which Yorke compares the band’s internal politics to the United Nations while he is “the United States.”

Recent controversies regarding PBS notwithstanding, it is the network’s presentation of great art such as this that will always be “worth it.”  Long live PBS!

The episode setlist is below the video.  Compare the episode’s songs to all the songs shown in the picture at bottom–by Tim Griffin, via the BV Austin Instagram–of the band’s full setlist played at the ACL show. Hopefully ACL will one day release the remaining song footage.

And for you musicians and gear-heads you can go HERE for ACL’s  inside view of the band’s gear and set-up.

Watch Radiohead on PBS. See more from Austin City Limits.

Setlist:

Bloom
The Daily Mail
Myxomatosis
Morning Mr. Magpie
The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
Staircase
Identikit
There There
Feral
Idioteque
Paranoid Android

We have sung the praises of Nneka again and again.  Check out her new, seriously-affecting video for Lucifer (No Doubt) off of her new Soul Is Heavy album.  As the Jamaicans have said: ” ‘dem dat knows it feels it.”  We here have no idea what goes on there.  But we feel it.  Go buy this album.

Check out the new official video for Ramada Inn from Neil Young & Crazy Horse’s impending double-album Psychedelic Pill, which will be released October 30th.  The song is a scant 16:53 long, and the video is filled with current, psychedelic and nostalgic footage.  To our ears this is a great addition to the Young/Crazy Horse collaboration collection.

As mentioned, our now-annual Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival musical madness began on Friday and didn’t end until 7pm last night on Sunday.  As usual with HSB, we saw some outstanding music that we had anticipated, some unexpected magical sets, and one or two that sorely disappointed.  As with every music festival, hard stage choices have to be made so when you guess wrong, it can hurt.

On Friday we saw John C. Reilly, Tom Brosseau and Becky Stark, Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express, Beachwood Sparks, Ben Kweller, Jenny Lewis (with the Watson Twins) and Conor Oberst.  All were outstanding (though Beachwood Sparks took a while to spark).  Reilly-Brosseau-Stark have been playing together for a good long period now, and they have truly jelled, with Reilly really ratcheting up his singing chops and comfortableness on stage since we saw them last in Santa Barbara. We then moved over to Conor Oberst’s annually-curated stage (Rooster) for Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express (including Prophet’s talented wife, Stephanie Finch), who were one of the highlights of HSB this year.  They primarily played songs from Prophet’s outstanding recent album (Temple Beautiful), regaling the local crowd with locally-set lyrics and songs.  Prophet and band showed themselves to be fine musicians with great feel for the express lane.  Prophet blazed on guitar throughout and especially fired-up the crowd in the last third of his set (no small feat when you begin at noon on Friday).  Beachwood Sparks started a little sleepily after Prophet’s firebrand performance, but eventually ignited and got at least one festival dancer dancing.  As for the next hand-picked performer, Ben Kweller simply killed.  Kweller is one of our better songwriters and singers, and playing solo on acoustic guitar (which he pedaled into electric-fuzz), he quickly won the crowd over with his energy, voice, playing and well-crafted songs.  He’s a must-see when on tour.  Jenny Lewis then came out with Jonny, the Watson Twins and a great band and stormed the stage and airwaves with fan-favorites and couple of new songs (one an homage to her recently-passed father).  Lewis’ voice was in fantastic form and her fans ate the show up.  Following Lewis, Friday’s finale was, of course, Conor Oberst who came out with his Mystic Valley Band, with Nate Walcott added on keys and horns.  Oberst and band gradually built their set with Oberst’s well-crafted songs, culminating in several soaring highlights.  The first was a stunning delivery of favorite Lua with Jenny Watson and the Watson Twins vamping perfectly on backup vocals in support.  The second was an excoriating delivery of Roosevelt Room, with the band raging and Conor literally spitting the lyrics as if the world’s survival depended upon its heeding his message.  It was a perfect way to end the day in San Francisco.  All was well again.

Check out some photos from Day 1 below.

John C. Reilly and Tom Brosseau:

John C. Reilly, Becky Stark and Tom Brosseau:

Chuck Prophet:

Chuck Prophet and wife, Stephanie Finch:

Beachwood Sparks:

Ben Kweller:

Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins:

Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, with Nathan Walcott:

Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis and Watson Twins on Lua:

Conor and band on Roosevelt Room: