Glen Hansard has continued to win fans with his new album Didn’t He Ramble and while out on his tour streaking across America.  We caught his superb show at the Walt Disney Concert Hall last month, and it was one of the Best Concerts of 2015.   To get a feel, watch Hansard’s (and his heavenly horde’s) performance below of Winning Streak from the album last night on Conan.

Hansard recently told NPR that “Winning Streak is simply a well wish to a friend, to someone who’s been finding it hard to see the goodness in their lives. It’s a pat on the back and an encouragement to try see the good and a blessing in the everyday. Each day we’re alive is a day we can reinvent or look at life from a different perspective. Nothing changes until we do, so it’s a song of encouragement to see these things and act on them.”

Amen.

The song’s lyrics are at bottom.

Winning Streak:

“Through summers long and winters cold
May you always have someone good to hold,
And may good fortune wait on every bend,
And may your winning streak,
May it never end

So, roll the dice, boy, ‘cause my money’s on you,
Take my advice now and put your money down too,
Because there’s something in the eye you can’t pretend,
And may your winning streak,
May it never end

And may the sign
Of the Southern Cross
Be some comfort to you when you’re lost,
And may the devil’s evil eye
Pass you by

Well, it’s not for glory, I tell you true,
That I do these things I do for you,
But for a promise I made now I must defend,
And may your winning streak,
May it never end

And may the sign of the cross
Be some comfort when you’re lost,
Help you when you’re all broke down,
May the spirit of good brethren
Turn you around

And may the devil’s evil eye
Pass you right by,
Don’t you look back my friend,
And may the sisters of good charity
Take you in

Through summers long and winters cold
May you always have someone good to hold,
And may good fortune wait on every bend,
And may your winning streak,
May it never end

May your winning streak,
May it never end.”

Been a long, long time since ma regularly dialed up This Is Tom Jones on the idiot-box and repeatedly dropped the needle on Delilah and her vinyl paramours.  After all the water and hip-thrusts under the bridge, Tom Jones still shows up intermittently (e.g., the 2012 Ethan Johns-produced album Spirit In The Room) to deliver the vocal goods that have stood the test of time.  Last night Jones appeared on Conan and gave a magnificently-reserved reading of Gillian Welch’s evocative homage, Elvis Presley Blues.  It was a 75-year old performer paying proper tribute to the iconic Presley, who would have turned 85 years old a month from now.  The song is off of Jones’ recently released, Johns-produced Long Lost Suitcase.  Jones has great taste in songwriters.  Bravo Sir!

At bottom, check out Welch and Dave Rawlings performing her song for the BBC.

“And he shook it like a hurricane
He shook it like to make it break
And he shook it like a holy roller, baby
With his soul at stake.”

Indeed.

We’re huge fans of Nada Surf.  Several of their recordings register very high on our all-time favorite albums list (the consecutive triumvirate of Let Go, The Weight is a Gift, and Lucky remains one of the great triples of all time).  Beyond their impressive discography, their live performances are not to be missed.  Following their under-appreciated 2012 album, The Stars are Indifferent to Astronomy, the band embarked on various outside projects but, thankfully, that is about to change.  Today the band announced the release in March 2016 of a new album entitled You Know Who You Are, which you can pre-order HERE.  The band also teased with a great new track entitled Believe You’re Mine, which you can listen to below (with some additive Clash-crunch guitar).  Tour dates and tickets for their 2016 tour can be found HERE, including a meander through California in May.  Great to have the jangle and harmonies of Nada Surf back!

Having just driven almost the entirety of the state in the last five days, we’ve had Grimes‘ captivating California in our ears and minds.  The multi-talented Grimes has written one of the most infectious songs of the year in California.  Whether it be a kiss-off of Pitchfork (amen!) or other music blogs (fo’ shame!), the song’s (Dolly) Parton-esque vocals over Swiftian pop/country and Rhianna samples is as catchy as chlamydia, and we can’t stop listening to it.  Check it out below (lyrics at bottom).

Afterwards, check out the equally catchy Flesh without Blood.  Both songs are off of Grimes’ universally-acclaimed new album Art Angels, which is on 4AD and is out now digitally but which will be released in full on December 11th.

California:

“This, this music makes me cry
It sounds just like my soul, oh
Oh I’m not ready to win
Oh lord cause I don’t wanna know what they say
Cause I get carried away
Commodifying all the pain

The things they see in me, I cannot see myself
When you get bored of me, I’ll be back on the shelf
And when the ocean rises up above the ground
Baby I’ll drown in…

[Chorus]
California
You only like me when you think I’m looking sad
California
I didn’t think you’d end up treating me so bad

Oh, I, I, I
Come Monday, it’s a dream
Oh, I, I, I
Broken my own heart again
Chasing something beautiful
Oh, but I don’t understand what they say
Cause I get carried away
Commodifying all the pain

The things they see in me, I cannot see myself
When you get bored of me, I’ll be back on the shelf
And when the ocean rises up above the ground
Baby I’ll drown in…

[Chorus]
California
You only like me when you think I’m looking sad
California
I didn’t think you’d end up treating me so bad
California
You only like me when you think I’m looking sad
California
I didn’t think you’d end up treating me so bad”

Here in the land of level-headed EL VY acolytes, and contrary to a couple of cranky critics (Pitchfork you are ridiculously callow and shrill*), we hold firm to the belief that EL VY’s album, Return to the Moon, is one of the Best Albums of 2015.  In EL VY, Matt Berninger and Brent Knopf provide each other the perfect foil with which to make great indie-rock-pop music.

Today one of the best and most affecting songs from that album, No Time to Crank the Sun, received its official video release.  Check it out below with its time-lapse video depicting the group’s exhausting efforts to get the word (in song) out.  You may have missed their North American tour, but catch them if you can in Europe (dates/tix HERE) starting next week, and pick up Return to the Moon.

*unless, with your 4.8 score, you were damning-with-faint-praise to creatively address Matt Berninger’s I’m the Man lament “I score an 8.6 on a f@#king par 4.”  But we do over-credit p4k.

Though we were ecstatic to have caught Robbie Fulks in Santa Barbara last month, as a result we were chagrined to have missed the great Dave Rawlings Machine the same night at the Lobero Theater when DRM rolled through town in support of its superb new album Nashville Obsolete. We took some solace that we had caught Gillian Welch and Rawlings two weeks before at the same venue when they gave one of the Best Concerts of 2015.  We now have further consolation thanks to KEXP’s release of the video of DRM’s set in their studios.

Watch below as Rawlings, Welch, Willie Watson, Paul Kowert, and Brittany Haas sing and play your heart out.  The opening song, Short Haired Woman Blues, manages to mesmerizingly mesh threads of Neil Young, the Stones’ Wild Horses and House of the Rising Son into an instant classic.  They also performed The Last Pharaoh, The Weekend (another favorite off the new album) and Sweet Tooth on KEXP.  Check it out below and pick up the great new album. Dave Rawlings Machine continues on tour this month and next, returning to Cali on January 16th at the Ace Hotel.  Tour info and tix can be found HERE.   Don’t ya miss ’em.

Confidantes and cohorts have been murmuring about LA artist Miya Folick while we prattled away ponderous pixels.  No more.  We’ve had Folick’s debut EP Strange Darling on repeat at Chez Lefort for the last few days and and are heavily enamored by Folick’s artistry.

So jump on the burgeoning bandwagon and check out/buy the EP below. Favorites so far are Talking With Strangers (lyrics below) and I Got Drunk, but there’s not a flat song in the six-pack.  Folick’s craft and passion are obvious on first listen, as are the affecting coming-of-age lyrics.

Word is Folick is a great live performer so if you’re in or around LA on December 3rd, catch her at the Bootleg Theater or, on December 17th, at The Satellite.  Stay tuned for more Folick-les.

Talking With Strangers

“today I talked to a semi-stranger
a girl that I sorta know
but every encounter at the corner grocery
holds potential for our relationship to grow
and half of my brain was totally afraid
that she’d hate me, never want to see me again
and half of my brain was equally afraid
that she’d like me, want to be my friend

I am learning to love
I am learning to let myself be loved
how did I miss this lesson when I was young?
how did I miss this lesson when I was young?
how did I miss this lesson when I was young?

yesterday I was anxious and alone
so I called a friend to make me feel ok
and for a moment I found myself
angry at him for offering help
when I should have just been grateful
for what he gave

I am learning to love
I am learning to let myself be loved
how did I miss this lesson when I was young?
how did I miss this lesson when I was young?
how did I miss this lesson when I was young?

be gentle with me
I might not be ready
be gentle with me
I might not be ready”

As we have written before, The Silver Lake Chorus performs arrangements of indie-pop songs.  For their eponymously-titled debut album, Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) gave TSLC his pastoral song From the Snow-Tipped Hills, and they did it perfect justice.  Now the group has released the official video for the song, featuring drone video (directed by bass vocalist Charlie Maas) above their home-base of Silver Lake.  Check it out below.  Tomorrow’s another day; go pick up The Silver Lake Chorus debut album HERE.

We caught EL VY at the tiny Troubadour a couple weeks ago in support of their album Return to the Moon (sure to be one of our Best Albums of 2015), and the show was one of the (many) highlights of the fall concert constellation.  Brent Knopf particularly impressed with his ambidextrous instrumental plate-spinning, along with the project’s fantastic rhythm section (drummer Andy Stack from Wye Oak and bassist Matt Sheehy from Lost Lander), special backup singers and, of course, The National’s Matt Berninger out front and doing what he does best.   Their sad-cap medley of Sad Case/Happiness, Missouri was a particular highlight and by itself made the night memorable at the Troubadour.

To get a feel watch the comparatively staid, but compelling KEXP studio performance below followed by a more-animated, get-your-Ian-Curtis-on live version at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC.  Catch ’em if you can.