Depeche Mode
The Joint - November 26, 2005
Playing The Angel Tour
Michael Jackson
L.A. Sports Arena - January 26, 1989
Bad Tour
Aimee Mann
Paris Hotel Pool L.V. - July 26, 2003
Liz Phair
HOB Las Vegas - July 27, 2003
Cowboy Junkies
HOB Las Vegas - June 26, 2002
Go-Go's
Mandalay Bay Beach L.V. - August 18, 2001
David Bowie
L.A. Forum - August 15, 1983
Serious Moonlight Tour
The Cure
Dodger Stadium - September 8, 1989
Disintegration Tour
Howard Jones
Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre - June 4, 1985
Dream Into Action Tour
The Mars Volta
Sam Boyd Field L.V. - October 28, 2006
Vegoose Music Festival
Still more at a later time.
K
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Friday, July 17, 2009
Clearlake "Cedars"
'Sup?
Lately, I have been listening to alot of indie music from the past that I am just now discovering. I saw a CD in the bins at work recently and I had to give it a spin. Sometimes this approach works out and you pat yourself on the back for taking the chance. Sometimes you wonder what the fuck you were thinking. This time it worked out well.
The name of the band is Clearlake. They formed in late-1999 and released their first single in 2000. After some early critical acclaim and an appearance on Jools Holland's show, they cut their first album in 2001. Cedars is their second release and even though alot of people believe in the sophomore jinx, it did not happen here.
Their sound is definitely Brit Indie. Their sensibilities remind me alot of two other UK bands that I adore, The Delgados and Elbow. A few of the songs on this recording, including the first track "Almost The Same", have real radio hit potential. The track that I latched onto after the third run through is one called "Treat Yourself With Kindness". It starts out with a real jangly dischord sound with guitar feedback and lack of direction. It makes you wonder just where it is heading. Then Jason Pegg, lead vocalist, comes in and offsets the dischord with a real catchy vocal hook. The song builds into a crescendo and eases back down. It really shouldn't work but it does in a big way. I found a rather bizarre YouTube video of it last week. When I went back to attach the link to it, the freakin' thing was gone! You can find the song on Last.FM, if you are a member, or a few other sites if you want to get a listen to it.
They are currently working on a fourth release, Dark Blue, due sometime in 2009 that I will now be anxiously awaiting. Here is a video from their third album, Amber, called "It's Getting Light Outside"...it's worth a gander:
They recorded a pretty cool cover of Neil Young's song "Cinnamon Girl" on the single CD called "I Wonder If The Snow Will Settle". It's got a slightly heavier guitar sound than Neil's version did. It brings back memories of when when it was first released back when I was in 7th grade.
If you like indie music at all, you should like Cedars. I will be supporting this band now that I have heard their first few releases. Check it out, you might be pleasantly surprised like I was.
K
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Slowdive I Am The Elephant, U Are The Mouse ST
Hi,
I stumbled upon this recording done in 1999 by Slowdive on Ebay recently. I was not aware that it even existed, which made even more exciting when I saw it!
Apparently, Slowdive recorded the ST and it was never "officially" released. I have seen postings for it on the Mojave 3 site looking for it from 2006. The director of the film, Forest Wise, supposedly was negotiating with Neil Halstead about the possible official release of the soundtrack. At this point nothing has materialized. Someone has obviously leaked it, though, as I have found several sources on-line where you can download it. What I find most unusual is that several sites have versions of to DL but all of them have a different number of tracks and song titles. It probably means that I'll need to get them all to see if I can find any other hidden gems not on the one that I found originally.
Now that I have the brief history of this out of the effin' way, I would like to talk a little bit about the recording. It does sound alot like a soundtrack as certain tracks are refined and repeated in different incarnations. I refer to this mostly as a score and not as a compilation soundtrack of hits from various bands.
As I'm listening to it, I am reminded of the tone and structure of the final official Slowdive recording, Pygmalion. It is very ambient and I am imagining that these tracks could all have been released as "Pygmalion-Revisited", if they had chosen to do so. Continuing on into the heart of the recording, I hear the song called "Cranium". I am positive that this song was on Pygmalion as I've heard the song a million times. I know that there is no song by that title on that recording and come to realize that it is the song titled "Blue Skied An' Cleared"! They took the song and re-worked it slightly, keeping the same words and basic structure. I'm not sure whether I have an issue with this or not. If you want to put the song on the soundtrack, at least call it by the original title. It is my favorite Slowdive album and it is a beautiful song so I understand why they wanted to use it.
The Rachel Goswell vocals on the song "Ambient" are outstanding. She doesn't have alot of vocals in these offerings but what she does contribute is solid, as usual. She has mostly backing vocals to Neil's lead vocals on the songs with words. There are lots of short, sweet instrumentals to fill in gaps in between scenes, I'm sure, as many movie scores do. I have not seen the movie, yet, but I will track it down soon.
The best song from beginning to end on the version I have is called "Like Up". There are two versions of it on here, the second one called the rough mix. The latter version downplays the vocals and accentuates the instrumental side of it. It seems more acoustic with a little less of the subtle reverb in the final version. A very nice discovery, indeed.
There is a nice little mixed song at the end of the recording called "Watch Me". It reminds me of some of the mixes that you hear on the EP "5". Alot of reverb and drum machine percussion. The best acoustic instrumental is called "Painting/Lost". It is very slow and sweet and left me wanting more of it as it was far too short at only 1:44. There are also six different short versions of an instrumental titled "River Man" . It sounds like a bridge piece from one scene to the next. It is very acoustic but with less strings or keyboard string effects than other similar instrumentals on the recording.
If Slowdive is your thing, it is worth checking out at least one of the versions of this underground recording. I like finding little treasures like this and will delve into the many other variations I've seen on-line of the soundtrack.
Until later,
K
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)