There’s no debating that Joni Mitchell is one of the greatest artists of our lifetimes. Between her music, lyrics, vocals, arrangements and paintings, her artistry is unmatched. We recently read Malka Marom’s illuminating book Joni Mitchell: In Her Own Words in which Marom recorded and recounts decades worth of conversations with Mitchell. We consider ourselves well-versed in Mitchell’s songs, but clearly we are not know-it-alls when it comes to her discography. While reading Marom’s book we came upon a passage in which Mitchell states:

“I love the arrangement of ‘Both Sides Now,’ with the big London Symphony Orchestra. That was a live performance in England, and there’s a place where I get emotional and the orchestra swells up. Everybody’s feeling it at the same time. You don’t find that on a lot of records…, that so many people are emotionally engaged simultaneously. The men were blowing their noses at the end of that [third] take and the women were wiping their eyes. And they all huddle into the playback booth, to hear it like they were little kids at the back of the room. It’s very exciting…. And that performance then begat a movie called Love Actually. It was conceived when the movie director [Richard Curtis] put that cut of ‘Both Sides Now‘ on and much to his surprise, he was crying. It caught him off guard. And so he built a whole movie around it, Love Actually.”

Naturally, we couldn’t resist tracking down that performance of Both Sides Now. Along the way we also found an orchestrated and rearranged performance of A Case Of You. Both are so completely wondrous and sagaciously-performed that we couldn’t resist passing them along. Check both out below. The first video is of Mitchell performing the orchestrated Both Sides Now live at an all-star tribute to her at a Lifetime Award concert for her on April 16, 2000. The second is, we believe, the London Symphony Orchestra version that is included in the movie Love Actually and featured in Mitchell’s highly-acclaimed 2000 concept album Both Sides Now (album cover above featuring Mitchell’s painting).  Though we may prefer the latter recording, with its meandering mien and Mitchell’s deliberate delivery, the first is similarly wondrous and features Mitchell’s instinctual shimmy and sway along the way.

While you’re at it, check out at bottom the similarly omniscient and orchestrated performance of A Case Of You (off of that same Both Sides Now album).

Beauty.

We were always weak in the knees for The Weakerthans. Though that band is on indefinite hiatus (i.e. kaput), its singer/songwriter/leader John K. Samson has just released his sensational second solo album entitled, Winter Wheat, which is available now from Epitaph/ANTI. We have been anxiously awaiting Winter Wheat since Samson’s sublime debut album, Provincial, was No. 3 on our Best Albums of 2012.

Samson’s songs are always phenomenally well-crafted (especially true of his oft-poetic lyrics) and never fail to affect, particularly as matched with his evocative vocals that inevitably engender an emotional response from listeners. Our first listens to Winter Wheat lead us to believe that the album will once again place very highly on our Best Albums of 2016 list.

Word is that the album was inspired by “the search for connection and community, his hometown of Winnipeg, and our individual and collective struggles with addictions to drugs, screens, and fossil fuels.” Several of the album’s songs were further inspired by Neil Young’s seminal On the Beach album. Winter Wheat was produced by Samson’s partner and frequent-collaborator, Christine Fellows, and backed by his Weakerthans rhythm section (Jason Tait and Greg Smith), Leanne Zacharias on cello, and Shotgun Jimmie on electric guitar.

As usual, Samson’s songs tell literate stories of loss, longing and lift. Postdoc Blues “follows an aging student struggling to maintain faith in the possibility of a better world.” Fellow Traveller is a take-off “on the life of the British art critic and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt.” Oldest Oak at Brookside aspires to capture 150 years of Winnipeg’s history. And the recurring Virtute the Cat makes a return for her final appearances in 17th Street Treatment Centre and the grievous Virtute at Rest.

Though the entire album is a tour de force and a songwriter’s treasure trove, on first listen our favorite songs are the devastating Select All Delete (with its lines “I don’t mean to miss the good old days. The good old days were mostly bad.”) and the castigating Vampire Alberta Blues (with its re-purposing of Neil Young’s Vampire Blues and its scintillating homage to Young’s guitar-playing that starts at 2:34). Oh and Capital and every single song on the album are favorites too.

Do yourselves a favor and go buy the vinyl HERE or a digital copy HERE.

As an added bonus, check out the sanguine lyrics to Alpha Adept at bottom.  So very good.

Alpha Adept:

“For now I know we are alone here
Still, we should be prepared to leave
I’ve found a place where I have hidden
Supplies and books and sleeping bags
And I’ll sing in my prescriptions
From our fort out in the forest near a stream
And they’ll place them in a tiny yellow sailboat
And sail them to me
All I can say is I’m excited
All I can do is let you know
You are the one I wanna be with
When they return to claim the
Earth For a planet near Orion’s Belt
Where everyone is happier and tall
And they sing a billion stories with their minds
While flying all around the sky
I have heard them singing each to each
And who’s to say that they won’t sing to me
I’m not certain but I’m pretty sure
They’re gonna sing a song for you and me.”

The seminal R.E.M. has contributed a previously-unreleased live performance of their song World Leader Pretend (off their 1988 Green album) for 30 Days, 30 Songs. As one can see from the song’s lyrics (see below), although it was written nearly 30 years ago, the song is a perfect match for the 30 Days anti-Trump campaign.  Check it out and make sure to vote.

World Leader Pretend:

“I sit at my table and wage war on myself
It seems like it’s all, it’s all for nothing
I know the barricades
And I know the mortar in the wall breaks
I recognize the weapons, I’ve used them well

This is my mistake
Let me make it good
I raised the wall
And I will be the one to knock it down

I’ve a rich understanding of my finest defenses
I proclaim that claims are left unstated
I demand a rematch

I decree a stalemate
I divine my deeper motives
I recognize the weapons
I’ve practiced them well
I fitted them myself

It’s amazing what devices you can sympathize (empathize)
This is my mistake, let me make it good
I raised the wall
And I will be the one to knock it down

Reach out for me
Hold me tight
Hold that memory
Let my machine talk to me
Let my machine talk to me

This is my world, and I am the World Leader Pretend
This is my life, and this is my time
I have been given the freedom to do as I see fit
It’s high time I razed the walls that I’ve constructed

It’s amazing what devices you can sympathize (empathize)
This is my mistake, let me make it good
I raised the wall
And I will be the one to knock it down

You fill in the mortar
You fill in the harmony
You fill in the mortar
I raised the wall
And I’m the only one
I will be the one to knock it down“

Lefort-faves EL VY ((The National’s singer Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf of Menomena/Ramona Falls) has joined the anti-Trump 30 Days, 30 Songs campaign by contributing a great new song entitled Are These My Jets?  The campaign attempts to convey the thoughts curdling inside Donald Trump’s conceited cranium (his “moving staircase” per Are These My Jets?). Mixing stellar keys, strings, Spanish and a children’s choir, EL VY fittingly fantasizes the fantasies coursing through the Donald’s churlish hate-field. The lyrics are at bottom.

Berninger had this to say about the song: “This song isn’t specifically about Trump. There are delusional maniacs around every corner. Sadly, he won’t be the last. The song is about walrus penis jewelry, which is a real thing. Look it up. My sister, Rachel, was given some by a Canadian bush pilot when she worked for Alaska Airlines in the ’90s. With regard to the game [which you can play HERE], we called our colleagues, Sodman and Solimine, and said, ‘We’d like a cathartic interactive experience. We’d also like to shoot bluebirds and meat with a sniff blaster.’ They were like, ‘What for?’ and we were like ‘It’s time to start healing.'”

Check out the song/video below, and ferheavensake go vote.

Are These My Jets?:

“Bluebirds blow their brains out on my shoulders while I have long evenings with Steve and Roger.
Before I fall asleep I always talk to my father’s Lego skull.
Last night I had an American feeling up at the top of my moving staircase.
This is the place where I dream my dreams. This is the place where I dream my dreams.
I was rocking back and forth, feeding on the fear of course.
Wonder what I’m gonna do today.
Are these my jets? I like to mix ladies drinks with my fingers. Are these my jets?
Seems like everyday somebody from college comes by to tell me his life is in ruins.
I like to tell him my stories from college and how I was so lonely.
I was rocking back and forth, feeding on the fear of course. Wonder what I’m gonna do today.
Are these my jets? I like to mix ladies drinks with my fingers. Are these my jets?
Oh no, so sad. Oh no, so mad.
Walrus dick jewelry for everyone in America….
Are these my jets? I like to drink ladies drinks with my fingers. Are these my jets?
Are these my jets? I like to drink ladies drinks with my gingers. Are these my jets?
Oh no, so sad. Oh no, so mad.
Oh no, so sad. Oh no, so mad.
Esta es la joya que les prometi. La verga de la morsa….
(This is the jewel that was promised them. Walrus cock.)
Are these my jets? Walrus dick jewelry for everyone in America…”

Music-curator and impresario Jools Holland continues to hold his captivating battle-of-the-bands contests on his Later…with Jools Holland show on the BBC.  One of our all-time favorite (and criminally under-appreciated in the U.S.) artists Jamie T. recently appeared on Holland’s show and performed his new song Power Over Men (lyrics at bottom) off of his acclaimed new album Trick (which you can pick up HERE).  Here’s hoping that Jamie T. crosses the pond to America again in support of the new album.  His December 2014 show at the Roxy in LA was one of the best shows of 2014 or any other year.  Don’t ya miss him.

Power Over Men:

“In the square, I waited for you
Trick, trick, trick

She’s the eye of the storm born in the city I live
Her vanity’s dressed up as virtue in brogue shoes
In art schools with tattoos upon the skin
She used to make do, but now she makes men
Fall at her feet, weak, their tongues leak, they try to stop talking cause now they don’t make any sense

She was never academic
She couldn’t draw a thing
But she had power over men
She had power over men
She had power over

So I drove to the bar now I’m sipping on gin
I stare into space as the place seemed to get that little bit of something it was missing
As she walked in, I could say she looked good, I could say she’s just a friend
But that would just be me throwing you off the scent, she’s everything an understatement has
She’s under my skin

Like an anesthetic
You’ll never feel a thing
Cause she had power over men
She had power over men
She had power over

But as with any gift, there’s always a twist
She can never really kiss, ’cause there’s never a risk
Like if you never lost, you can never really win
It’s the burden and a cost of a power over…
Men

She had power over men
She had power over men….”

Death Cab For Cutie began the new 30 Days, 30 Songs campaign today by releasing new song Million Dollar Loan. DCFC leader Ben Gibbard said this about the song:

“Lyrically, ‘Million Dollar Loan‘ deals with a particularly tone deaf moment in Donald Trump’s ascent to the Republican nomination. While campaigning in New Hampshire last year, he attempted to cast himself as a self-made man by claiming he built his fortune with just a “small loan of a million dollars” from his father. Not only has this statement been proven to be wildly untrue, he was so flippant about it. It truly disgusted me. Donald Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he is unworthy of the honor and responsibility of being President of the United States of America, and in no way, shape or form represents what this country truly stands for. He is beneath us.”

Evidently 30 Days, 30 Songs, which is edited/curated by illustrious author Dave Eggers and Death Cab’s manager Jordan Kurland, is dedicated to quelling the tremulous Trump threat:

“30 Days, 30 Songs will feature one song per day from October 10 until Election Day. The artists are united in their desire to speak out against the ignorant, divisive, and hateful campaign of Donald Trump. Stay tuned over the coming days as the playlist unfolds, and don’t forget to go vote.” The campaign will also include new songs from Aimee Mann, Thao Nguyen, and Jim James, among others.

Check out the Death Cab song and video below, and if you haven’t, ferheavensake go register to vote!

Anyone who’s seen Anderson .Paak live knows he is a ferocious dynamo.  .Paak seized the moment this morning on The Ellen Show with his Free Nationals and a huge troupe of dancers.  Watch below as .Paak performs the captivating Come Down from his breakout album Malibu and rips the roof off the joint.  So. Dang. Good!  Suffice it to say, you will never again be able to catch him in a smallish venue such as the immajestic Ventura Theater. .Paak is blowin’ up. And well-deserved!

The world fell to its knees when Nick Cave lost his 15-year-old son, Arthur, in a tragic accident last year. Cave and The Bad Seeds have somehow managed to release a harrowing new album entitled Skeleton Tree. As with the raw emotion of Neil Young’s Tonight’s The Night or On The Beach albums, or Richard and Linda Thompson’s I Want To See the Bright Lights Tonight, Skeleton Tree is rife with soul-churning devastation and loss.

While recording the new album, Cave invited director Andrew Dominik to video the process, ultimately resulting in the documentary One More Time With Feeling. Cave has previously released videos from that movie for album songs Jesus Alone and I Need You, but frankly we couldn’t handle the harrow and didn’t watch for fear of coming unglued. Today Cave has released another video for song Girl In Amber (lyrics at bottom), and while we still are discomfited by the devastation and voyeuristic sensations, Girl In Amber is so hauntingly beautiful that we cannot not sing it’s praises. The wordless choral vocals alone are enough to shade the staggering sorrow. May the girl in amber find healing. Check it out below.

Girl In Amber (emphasis added):

“Some go and some stay behind
Some never move at all
Girl in amber trapped forever, spinning down the hall
Let no part of her go unremembered, clothes across the floor
Girl in amber lumber slumber shuts the bathroom door

The phone, the phone, the phone it rings, it rings, it rings no more
The song, the song, the song it spins since nineteen eighty-four
The phone, the phone, the phone, it rings, the phone, it rings no more
The song, the song it’s been spinning now since nineteen
And if you want to bleed, just bleed
And if you want to bleed, just bleed
And if you want to bleed, don’t breathe
A word

Just step away and let the world spin
And now in turn, you turn
You kneel, lace up his shoes, your little blue-eyed boy
Take him by his hand, go move and spin him down the hall
I get lucky, I get lucky cause I tried again
I knew the world it would stop spinning now since you’ve been gone
I used to think that when you died you kind of wandered the world
In a slumber till you crumbled, were absorbed into the earth
Well, I don’t think that any more

The phone it rings no more
The song, the song it spins now since nineteen eighty-four
The song, the song, the song it spins, it’s been a spinning now
And if you’ll hold me I will tell you that you know that
And if you want to leave, don’t breathe
And if you want to leave, don’t breathe
And if you want to leave, don’t breathe a word
And let the world turn

The song, the song it spins, the song, it spins, it spins no more
The phone, it rings, it rings
And you won’t stay

Don’t touch me
Don’t touch me
Don’t touch me
Don’t touch me”

Though it’s admittedly early, Radiohead’s A Moon Shaped Pool is almost assuredly the Best Album of 2016 (though Cymbals Eat Guitar’s Pretty Years presents strong competition–more to come on Pretty Years). Director Paul Thomas Anderson has been intimately bound-up in A Moon Shaped Pool’s fanfare, having previously directed the official video for Daydreaming off the album. Following on the heals of Anderson’s lovely live performance video of Present Tense (in case you missed, watch below) as rendered by Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, today Anderson and Radiohead give us another intimate glimpse into a stripped-down, but similarly impressive take by the same two on song The Numbers. While we love the added strings and coloratura of the studio versions, these performances wow completely. Speaking of “stripped-down,” it’s great to see Tarzana, California (decidedly NOT a rain forest) used for other film activities. Radiohead remains at the height of its powers, which are immense.