Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Fruit Bats


In memorium, here are The Fruit Bats from a 2011 session for Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

La Bulat

Basia Bulat at The Earl, April 30, 2013
Oh look. Our old friend, Basia Bulat, recorded a Take Away Show in Toronto for Paris' La Blogotheque. According to La Blogotheque, she performed "une jolie chanson qui vous trompe d’abord par sa joliesse, une qui vous plonge immédiatement plus profond, jusqu’à ce que vous donniez plus que ce que vous quémandiez. Et avant que ce ne soit terminé, vous êtes changé. en mieux." (a pretty song that fools you at first with its appearance, one that immediately draws you further in until you are giving more than you bargained for, and before it is over, you are changed for the better.)



Saturday, November 16, 2013

Spark & Whisper At The 142 Throckmorton


According to researchers Stephen Bank and Michael Kahn, siblings are the central molding factor involved in the development of one's personality, more so even than that of parental influence. Their view is that "brothers and sisters, whether the relationship has been contentious or calm, satisfying or frustrating, filled with conflict or deeply comforting, can provide the touchstones and templates which mold each other’s lives."

As evidence, I offer my kid sister, with whom I haven't shared a roof since at least 1974, and who now lives on the opposite side of the great North American continent from me, apparently in a house full of children and living a life that really couldn't be more different than mine.  Since the templates that mold our lives work at a subconscious level, I can't say if I impacted her or she I, or if we both molded each other, but sometime around the turn of the Millennium and totally independent of each another, we both became Buddhists at about the same time, even though there were no Buddhist influences in our upbringing.  Could it have been that old copy of Motorcycle Maintenance I left laying around the house, or were we both left wanting the same thing that Eastern wisdom can provide?

As further evidence of our mutual templates, here are some videos of her Marin County friends, the fine folk duo of Spark & Whisper, that she emailed me this week



Friday, November 15, 2013

Witchi Tai To



Here's one of my favorite bands, London's Fanfarlo, covering one of my favorite songs from the late 60s, Jim Peppers' Witchi Tai To.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Basia Bulat, Eddie's Attic, Decatur, Georgia, November 13, 2013


According to a preview in The New Yorker magazine:
The twenty-nine-year-old Canadian singer-songwriter Basia Bulat plays the Autoharp, the piano, the violin, and a variety of other instruments, but she can make remarkable music without any of them. Bulat has a singular voice, with a confident yet vulnerable tone, and she sings with an impassioned yearning that suggests the vast wilderness of her homeland. She’s been nominated for a Juno Award and short-listed for the Polaris Music Prize, and her third album, Tall Tall Shadow, recently released, shows her maturing as a songwriter. Bulat is touring the States, and is at the Bowery Ballroom on Nov. 23, with backing musicians—not that she really needs them.
She also appeared at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Georgia last night.  But first, Nashville's Foreign Fields opened.


Foreign Fields are the duo of Eric Hillman and Brian Holl, originally from Wisconsin.  They both play electric guitar and both sing and sing well, but the magic in their music is their almost telepathic harmonies and the soothing gentleness of their songs.


Comparisons to Bon Iver are inevitable, but one can also hear influences or at least similarities to bands as diverse as Grizzly Bear, Gem Club, The Album Leaf, and Fleet Foxes.  I had never heard them, or heard of them, before last evening, but they were a most pleasant discovery, and gently eased the audience into a receptive mood for Basia Bulat's set that followed.  They were, quite simply, marvelous. 




We saw Toronto's Basia Bulat earlier this year opening for Pickwick at The Earl, and were charmed by her voice, her musicianship, and her adorable stage presence.  Eddie's Attic is a little off the beaten track for me, and not my favorite place to hear music due to all it's rules and required seating at tables, but not only was this show worth it, it might have been the perfect venue for both of these bands.  I'd rather get a lecture about not talking during the performance before a Basia Bulat set at Eddie's Attic than forego the lecture at The Earl but have to contend with all the chatter and socializing from the noisy patrons at the bar.

But anyway, last night was only her second appearance in Atlanta, and this time Basia was backed by a drummer and bass for much of her set (she performed solo when she opened for Pickwick). 


“Ms. Bulat’s voice is rich and nuanced," says the New York Times, "and her songs are as sophisticated as they are charming."  I would have to agree.  


Basia’s third album, Tall Tall Shadow, was released on October 1 and was co-produced with Tim Kingsbury of Arcade Fire and Mark Lawson, the engineer for The Suburbs. Basia has said, “This time around, I felt braver—I wanted to play with exploring the boundaries of the folk music some people know me for.”  In this regard, she reminds me of Sharon Van Etten, another singer-songwriter who's gaining confidence and bravery with each successive release and expanding her boundaries beyond the niche in which she started. 




Comparisons to early Joni Mitchell are inevitable and not unflattering, but Basia has moved far beyond the folk of Blue and Court & Spark.  You can hear a recapitulaton of her sound in her song Tall Tall Shadow, that starts in Mitchell territory with Basia solo on keyboards, but as the band starts to fill in, Basia's voice acquires that "impassioned yearning" referred to by The New Yorker, before soaring into the song's climax and moving into Van Ettten indie-rock territory.  



During the course of her set last night, she played guitar, 10-string mandolin, autoharp, and keyboards, and played them all well.  For her encore, she played a hammered dulcimer, and the middle segment of her set had her on stage alone, without the band.  Whatever context she found herself in, whatever instrument found its way into her hands, she played with honesty, emotion, and charm, and warmed the hearts of everybody in the Attic last night.    

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

A Children's Treasury of The Head & The Heart Pictures, Buckhead Theater, Atlanta, 11-12-13


The current Head & The Heart tour with Thao & The Get Down Stay Down reached Atlanta's Buckhead Theater last night.  Quiet Life opened.

Not to imply any disrespect, but I don't have much time to comment on the show in any great detail today. So instead, here are some pictures and I'll just shut my mouth for once.

QUIET LIFE



THAO & THE GET DOWN STAY DOWN



THE HEAD & THE HEART