I haven’t heard too much from Sufjan Stevens lately. Greetings From Michigan was a great album, but frankly SevenSwans was a tad too religious, and I just couldn’t get into his album about Illinois. This set looks prety good, though. He sounds a little tired when he starts to sing on “Sister,” but then he kicks in with his request for the audience to refer to him as “The Majesty Songbird” for the duration of the show.
Magic Hour - Fruit Bats
Pretty Foolish Things - Harlan T. Bobo
Wingbone - Califone
Sparks - Brandon L. Butler
On Jesus’ Program - Mark Lanegan
Biomusicology - Ted Leo/Pharmacists
Jesus Saves, I Spend - St. Vincent
Goin’ To Acapulco - Jim James & Calexico
Flume - Bon Iver
Halloweenhead - Ryan Adams
Life On Mars? - David Bowie
Your Poison - Low
Demon Valley (Live) - Bobby Bare Jr.
Nothin’ In The World Can Stop Me Worrying About That Girl - The Kinks
Sin City - Gram Parsons
Blood In My Eyes - Bob Dylan
I Didn’t Understand - Elliott Smith
In case I ever become famous and die under mysterious and/or sketchy circumstances, I have already instructed several close friends to release a statement to the press informing them officially that I suffered a heart attack while sodomizing an underage male prostitute. I’m not gay, nor do I have an affinity for sodomy with minors, nor do I have a weak heart; the idea is to horrify people so totally that they cut out any idle, empty, and meaningless speculation about my (hypothetical) death.
We reviewed School of Language’s upcoming Thrill Jockey release Sea From Shore last week. Here’s a YouTube of David Brewis singing “Rockist” & “Extended Holiday.” Pretty good stuff.
For Emma (Live) - Bon Iver
The Gold Finch and the Red Oak Tree - Ted Leo/Pharmacists
Revolver (Part 2) - Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan
Violent Past (Live) - Low
2 O’Clock - Kaki King
Marry Me (Live) - St. Vincent
Solitary Man (Live) - Jim James & Yo La Tengo
Keep Your Water - School Of Language
Hard To Live (In The City) - Albert Hammond Jr.
Honey Honey - Feist
Hymn Amerika - Human Bell
White Tooth Man - Iron & Wine
Was I In Your Dreams? - Wilco
Vegas - Man/Miracle
Dumb (Live) - Nirvana
Gulag Orkestar - Beirut
This is night three of Yo La Tengo’s 6-night Hannukah stint at Maxwell’s in Hoboken. Nights 4-5 (forthcoming) are all soundboard/audience mixes. Night two is here. Ira Kaplan’s Hannukah journal is here.