Don’t Break The Needle - J. Roddy Walston & the Business

Fair warning, internet. It’s the last chance to get in on this band at the ground level before they go to SXSW this spring.

“If the Bible Belt had soccer hooligans, J Roddy would compose their hymns. Imagine Animal the Muppet playing piano and you’re getting close.

Legions of “J-Rowdies” scattered throughout the Continental US eagerly await the arrival of Roddy Walston and The Business to the local roadhouse for a one-of-a-kind religious experience, one known for its redemptive atmosphere, melodies that all but dare women to keep their tops on, and adrenaline-fueled grooves which can even get the toes tapping on a tone deaf corpse.”

(Source: jroddywalstonandthebusiness.com)

Always Be Your Man - Farewell Milwaukee

Minnesota has more to its musical scene than Prince, Semisonic, Soul Asylum, and The Replacements.

Frank Turner is playing Wembley Stadium in 2012. A few days ago, he played a club in Minneapolis for 300 people with his backing band and they sung a lot of songs on a very small stage. If you’ve never heard of the fella, imagine the alternative English folk punk rock of Billy Bragg, the cynicism of Doug Stanhope, and the crowd control of Bruce Springsteen all mashed together into one neat package that vaguely looks like Edward Norton.

I’m always excited when both of my two components for a good concert are met in the same night. (These components: two or more un-mic’d band members singling along and the lead singer going to venue bar twenty minutes after show ends by himself.)

(Source: bringmeabourbon)

Best of Times - Sage Francis

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Skinny Love - Birdy (Bon Iver

When you find a cover like this done by a FOURTEEN year old, it is very worth the $1.29 on iTunes. In related news, my covers blog is ON lately.

Alone in this Together - Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs

I feel like if you took Adele and Tom Petty and mashed them at the hips, this lady rocker from Seattle would be the result.

She has a new album out today.

(Source: staranna.com)

Falling Slowly - Glen Hansard & Eddie Vedder (The Swell Season)

So I saw Eddie Vedder in concert, and it was the third time I’ve seen him solo and the first time I saw him was three years ago in a Washington Heights church (how fitting!), and then in Memphis in 2009, and then ten minutes away from my house in Minneapolis a few days ago.

The day started while we were walking around near the venue, as we run into some fellow fans and are telling them not to be late because they will probably want to kill themselves if they miss the opener— Glen Hansard, so as I am trying to explain who Hansard is, I find it easier to point over their shoulders as Glen and his manager/security/buddy dude are walking past us to the venue, and we wave and Glen gives us a thumbs up and I am all like, “wow, what a nice fellow he is,” but also a little bit like, “why is that nice fellow wearing a long sleeve flannel shirt and a stocking cap when it’s 86 degrees out?”

So Glen Hansard opened the show, which is silly because Glen Hansard shouldn’t be opening for anyone at this stage in his career, but he came out and said —in his very handsome Irish accent— “this is a song aboot when you jus’ say: fook it,” and played the song “Leave,” which is a really great song.

He played some other songs too, including a Van Morrison cover that his guitar clearly despises, because his old Takamine has a giant hole in it from being wailed on so passionately since he was a teenager, and anyway, he was real good and his short set deservedly got one of the biggest ovations of the night.

Here is a picture of his guitar if you don’t believe me, but why wouldn’t you do that?

Then Ed came out and sang some songs, and I don’t know if he was just burnt out from being midway through a grinding tour or under the weather or just annoyed at the 35 year-old men screaming “I love you Eddie” in between songs, or if I have just seen him too many times and am growing jaded and spoiled, but he went through the motions a bit. Though it was probably the most times I’ve heard the word “fuck” used in a big, fancy, velvet-chaired theater so who can really complain?

Here is a picture of the big, fancy, velvet-chaired theater.

After the concert, we walked around downtown Minneapolis and then we were walking back towards my car and saw people standing by the venue’s loading dock. We stopped and watched the crowd, and saw Bill Pohlad (Minnesota Twins owner and Into the Wild producer) come out of the backstage area with a vinyl record tucked under his well-dressed arm that was probably autographed or something because he’s a somebody and fuck that guy.

Everyone was waiting for Ed to come out and girlfriends were tugging on sleeves asking if they could finally go home since it was so late, and the boyfriends were ignoring them in hopes of meeting their idol but Eddie was not in the mood to greet fans and snuck out a side door and made his getaway which caused people to get really bummed and confrontational when they found out. Like he literally had his van of people race to the other side of the building, pick him up, and squeal away to his hotel.

The neatest parts of the night was when Glen & Ed teamed up and sang songs together, such as a spectacular version of the Oscar winning “Falling Slowly” from the movie Once, which is a movie I fell asleep to the first time I watched it. The song posted above is just that, from when they played it at the Beacon Theatre in New York last week and is really good, I think.

Little Bit of Everything - Dawes

This is the last song on the upcoming album. Nice little song about jumping off the Golden Gate. Looks like someone else watched The Bridge!

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Sleepless Nights - Eddie Vedder & Glen Hansard (Everly Brothers)

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