CONCERT REVIEW - Matt Nathanson/Mat Kearney
March 27, 2009 * Bellarmine Collge * Louisville, KY
MP3: Matt Nathanson - Church Clothes

“You guys watch Gossip Girl?” a grinning Matt Nathanson asked the crowd at Bellarmine College on Friday night, just one song into his solo acoustic set. “I love that sh*t!” he exclaimed. “I am sure that John Television – or whatever his name was – knew that one day his little invention would broadcast ridiculous teenage nakedness in prime time.”

Such commentary is appropriate coming from Nathanson, a man who has built his career around songs that often soundtrack shows like Gossip Girl. To just hear his lyrics, one could be convinced that Nathanson must have a recording studio in his bedroom closet – used to concoct musical recreations of his every romantic endeavor. His songs yell with longing and lust, carried by Nathanson’s simultaneously strong but vulnerable tenor soar. It is a formula that would get annoying fast if it wasn’t clear that Nathanson knows exactly what he is doing and doesn’t take himself too seriously.

Throughout his 90-minute set Friday night, Nathanson took stabs at his ego – “All my songs are about girls…I’m such a loser…” – and multiple shots at his own musical catalogue, admitting that different selections he was playing were very close to songs by Rick Springfield and Enrique Iglesias. On stage Nathanson is a flirty, singing comedian to who little is sacred. Whether he was goofing on the Twilight books or taking a quasi-political shot at the institution that was paying him to perform (he openly mocked a promotional poster for the school he found backstage that featured only white people), Nathanson makes sure that the audience is entertained between the songs as much as they might be during.

And the songs are nothing to ignore. Though he may be a new face to the VH1 crowd, Nathanson has been playing his sensitive-guitar-guy rock in coffee shops and auditoriums for the better part of two decades and he is a seasoned performer with a genuinely beautiful voice. His set consisted of a large chunk of his latest release Some Mad Hope, along with a smattering of back catalogue – including the excellent 12-year-old song “Church Clothes,” and his covers of James’ “Laid” and Prince’s “Starfish & Coffee.”

Nathanson closed the evening with his current radio hit “Come on, Get Higher” and an enthusiastic crowd sing-along of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

Mat Kearney opened the evening with a 45-minute mix of songs from his major-label debut record Nothing Left to Lose and tunes from his newest project, set to be released in May. Kearney had a little more trouble captivating the audience with his one man/one acoustic set-up than Nathanson, but proved that he is capable as both a writer and singer. This was Kearney’s first performance in nearly a year, as he has been writing and recording his new record. He graciously thanked the crowd and ended his set with the title track from his debut to much applause and sing-along.

Culture Stop : Virus Music
32 Songs in 8 Minutes
I can't take credit for finding this. Neil Patrick Harris mentioned it on Twitter. The guy's name is Fredde Gredde. It has been viewed almost 350,000 times. Download the MP3 (which you WILL want to do, I promise!) HERE. There is something to be said for being able to combine TV show theme songs, Tenacious D, internet phenoms, 80's tunes, Avril Lavigne, The Beatles and another couple dozen songs all on a classical guitar...

But there may be more to be said about how a guy with a novel musical trick and a webcam can suddenly become noticed by an accomplished TV actor. Mr. Gredde is only one of many getting temporary notariety on the internet - but notice that a good part of his lyrical material is culled from OTHER people who have gotten temporary fame on the internet. This is recycled material, twisted and turned into new entertainment.

How can forward thinking marketers use technology in the same way? What ideas can be borrowed and reinvented to give your product or property the moment in the sun that is long overdue?

One might venture that these things don't happen on purpose - or at least not with the devious forethought of a corporate business meeting. But that doesn't mean they can't...

CONCERT REVIEW - The Cardinals

March 16, 2009 * Louisville Palace Theatre* Louisville, KY
MP3: The Cardinals - Fix It (Live 10.04.08)

There is no disputing that Ryan Adams is a talented man. Often overshadowed by his bizarre behavior in the past, Mr. Adams has recently become sober and taken to stages across the country showing off – with the help of his band The Cardinals - what a good singer and songwriter he truly is. Bootlegs (allowed and encouraged by Adams as of recent) have been floating around the internet for months showcasing Adams and company playing with vigor and energy and sampling Ryan’s entire catalogue.

Monday night at the Louisville Palace, though, The Cardinals seemed a little less vibrant. Sure, there was fun being had by the band – and the amazing talent of all players on stage was undeniable. But that pizzazz that has been characterizing the leaked tapes was seen only in small bursts. When the band played their now famous amped-up version of the somber Adams classic “Come Pick Me Up,” the room became electric in sing-along energy and passion. Adams wailed on the harmonica and belted out each profane line of the song with absolute conviction. The same dedication was glimpsed later with the full-band re-working of another sad and slow Adams deep cut, “I See Monsters.”

But the rest of the night dragged. The band loped through most of their latest release Cardinology and hit many of the particularly slower and more mellow moments from their last few releases. The band never built momentum, playing their entire set without any real transitions, but also without much on-stage banter. A song would end, the stage would go dark, tuning would be heard for 15 to 30 seconds and then another selection would slowly start-up.

Another distraction came from the incredibly low amount of light used on stage. The band played in front of two giant neon-blue lights shaped to resemble the album art from their Cold Roses project. The blue glow from these objects was the main source of light throughout the entire evening. There was subtle stage lighting at different moments, but nothing that caused much illumination.

Combine slow songs, low-light and little talking and all you get is a very sleepy experience.

CONCERT REVIEW - Ben Kweller

March 03, 2009 * Headliner's Music Hall * Louisville, KY
MP3: Ben Kweller - Fight!

Ben Kweller is widely regarded as a hit-and-miss artist. His quirky, lo-fi indie pop debut Sha Sha is still regarded by many as a masterpiece, but since then, Kweller has had trouble maintaining his appeal. So it didn’t seem all that odd when the Texas songwriter announced last year that he was “going country.”

Changing Horses, Kweller’s honky-tonk debut, hit ATO records in January and offers a glimpse of Kweller that almost seems fitting. At times playing like an ode to Willie – at other times playing like an ode to Ryan Adams trying to be Willie – Changing Horses is a fun listen and a strong new addition to an already established and accomplished library of songs.

But it is live on stage where Kweller truly sells his transition to country crooner.

Leading on acoustic guitar (and the occasional number on piano), Kweller was supported by an accomplished and well-oiled 3 piece band manning steel guitar, drums and bass. The crew emerged on stage with the lights dim and the worked-up crowd in a frenzy.

“Heeeeeey!” Ben clamored with southern charm. “We’re here! Thanks for waiting. This song is called ‘Walk On Me’ from my first album Sha Sha.” The room exploded.

Kweller and company kept their set tight and lively. Pauses were few as the quartet tumbled through most of Changing Horses and a large sampling of the Kweller back catalogue. To maintain consistency, Kweller has tweaked most of his deep cuts, dusting them with steel guitar and slight mood changes. Sha Sha’s “Family Tree” now floats with an upbeat twang. On My Way’s “The Rules” shimmies with strong steel guitar.

Many have tried this transition in the past, but few have succeeded like this. Kweller’s updated versions make his songs sound new and fully-realized. As much as this genre move looked and felt like a gimmick initially, it may have actually been the sunshine pop of Kweller’s past that was the real fake.

The band said goodnight and led the crowd through “Falling” with Kweller on piano. The venue was in full-tilt sing-along. After an extremely genuine encore call, Kweller and company returned to whip the crowd into a Gospel-sing style frenzy with Changing Horses’ “Fight” and the 2006 fan favorite “Penny on a Train Track.”

Photo courtesy of http://backseatsandbar.com

ON DVD - The Lucky Ones

Rachel McAdams is a truly underrated talent. Whether she is a devious teen queen (Mean Girls) or the fair maiden in the ultimate love story (The Notebook), McAdams is one of the few working actresses in Hollywood who is really able to disappear into her characters. Her turn in The Lucky Ones as a naïve, lower class twenty-something who enlisted into the army as a way to a better life does nothing to disprove this.

The Lucky Ones really is all about the performances. At times feeling like a stage play with its long sequences of dialogue, McAdams, Tim Robbins and the excellent (though continually type-cast) Michael Pena help create the story of three very different soldiers on leave who end up on a road trip together.

The script is problematic. The movie flirts with predictable road-trip and army movie clichés and then avoids them at the last minute. But instead of coming off as fresh, this maneuvering just makes the film feel choppy and indecisive.

But McAdams is consistent and helps save the film from utter failure. In the hands of a lesser talent, Collee would have been a ridiculous caricature. McAdams portrayal of the sweet but socially awkward soldier is deep and believable, played with enough vulnerability and child-like innocence to make scenes like the one in which Collee airs her friends’ private problems in front of a church full of strangers sadly endearing instead of just shocking or funny.

The Season Of Giving

Call it Christmas in (almost) March - or just call it another indication that the record industry as a business model is in the final stages of failure...

Just follow the links for 2 full-lengths and an EP for free and legal.

1. The Damnwells - One Last Century

Lead guy Alex Dezen offers this explanation as to why he has teamed with Paste Magazine to hand out his latest opus:

I suppose the hardest thing to explain to people is why I’m giving this record away. “You’re just going to give it away?” seems antithetical to the human brain. “Is this just a bunch of b-sides or something? Some ‘give away’ material you don’t mind releasing into the ether?” No. Quite the contrary. I have never worked so hard or put so much of myself into a collection of recorded songs. It is for just this reason that I want to give it away. To me it makes perfect sense. I just want people to hear this music, and I don’t want them to have to enter into some kind of contractual agreement with a third party to do so. Download the record, copy it and give it to your friends, lovers, and enemies. Whatever. It’s so hard these days just to get the actual music into people’s houses and cars, let alone their ears. Besides, I know everyone’s broke, maybe I can supply the soundtrack. So, I just want to give this music away because I want people to hear it. I should have done this years ago. I’m starting over.

It may also be worth pointing out that it is a lot harder to be critical of art that is given to you with no pretention. So what if it isn't the best record in the collection (or in The Damnwells collection for that matter...)? Alex gave it to me. I can at least spin it and enjoy it without evaluating it as an investment.

Download One Last Century

2. The Hush Now - The Hush Now

Boston's The Hush Now (not to be confused with Illinois emo-poppers The Hush Sound) play dreamy fuzz pop with a little indie rock and tight-jean attitude around the edges.

Imagine Minus the Bear without the math rock theatrics or Someone Still Loves You, Boris Yeltsin without the '60s pop song obsession.

Download The Hush Now

3. F*** Her, or the Terrorists Win - EP

Music that is performed in another language offers a unique twist to the normal listening procedures. The auditory experience becomes solely about sound - not about what is being said. So it might say a lot about the electronic atmospherics that F*** Her is able to create that this 6-song collection is incredibly engaging despite being sung entirely in Spanish.

Ignore the ridiculous name and let the songs stand on their own.

Download F*** Her, or the Terrorists Win

CULTURE STOP : And the Oscar Goes To...

What is "Mainstream Cinema"?

The Daily Beast ran an article this week about what will happen to the physical statue if Heath Ledger wins an Academy Award this weekend. The first reader comment under the story was posted by a reader who called him/herself Issywise. It read like this:

I, for one, walked out of that little bit of "superhero" nonsense.
For the sake of our culture, let's hope nobody in that film wins an Oscar. Such an award would be evidence of cultural decline. When one dimensional, hero fantasy movies based on kids comic books are taken as serious art, the artistic soul of movie making has been shown to be a vacuum.

Caligula's plan to make his favorite horse Incitatus a consul was proof of cultural decline in those times. Giving awards for making movies like Batman--The Dark Night is proof of cultural decline in these times.

How irrelevant and silly--indeed childish, can Hollywood get?

Making this particularly interesting is the fact that Time magazine just this week ran an article from critic Richard Corliss positing something of nearly the exact opposite sentiment. Corliss softly criticizes the Academy for usually choosing movies he calls "TV movies: sensitive explorations of major political themes, little pictures on big subjects." He contends that because moviemakers make up the Academy they approach movie watching completely differently than the average moviegoer, and thus reward films using a completely different set of rules than an average American consumer would.

Can we assume the commenter of The Daily Beast site might be a member of the Academy?

THOU SHALL BE RELEASED
A Look At What Is New In Music

MP3s:
Morrissey - Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed

Morrissey has become a bit of a caricature of himself (Well, he has always been a bit over-the-top...)

Even if you dismiss the ridiculous album cover photo featuring the former-Smith’s sad boy looking muscle-bound with a random infant, there is the music to contend with. Morrissey’s lyrics are trademark despondent and a bit reaching (i.e. “When I die I want to go to hell/that is when goodbye will be farewell”), but this time are set to what sounds at times like a lost ‘90s grunge record. The guitars are muddy and loud and the vocal production is so crisp it all almost sounds incongruent.

But despite all of this – it somehow works…

Maybe it is simply because he is Morrissey. The Smith’s front man has never really been subtle. And while Years may sway and rock a little, there is plenty vintage Moz – Spanish horns sneak in “One Day…” and “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” is full of the phrasing and verbiage that makes a Morrissey song standout.

MP3s:

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Seven-Mile Island

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Streetlights

Jason Isbell is an Alabama boy. He’s not NYC, LA, or Hollywood – he doesn’t try to be, want to be, or want you to think he is. He is dirty, southern and proud, wearing his home on the sleeve of his songs with no apologies. It’s what made him a good Drive-By Trucker and what is making him even better as an artist fronting his own band. His lyrical voice is so unique it needs to stand on its own.

And it does so quite well. Isbell’s second effort since leaving the DBT brotherhood, Jason Isbell and 400 Unit shakes and quivers with the sweat and energy of a summer night in the dankest of Birmingham bar rooms. Isbell bellows lines like “I can’t make myself be good/ I wish I could” with undeniable conviction. Personal stories of unwed mothers and troubled soldiers are infused with thick and vague scriptural references (fitting of a conflicted member of the Bible Belt) and pledges of loyalty – to alcohol, cigarettes, and friendships.

Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit picks ups where Isbell’s debut, Sirens of the Ditch, left off, building up the bigger and heavier side of the Isbell musical library. It is not without its moments of diversity, though. “No Choice in the Matter” is filled with enough horn parts and blue-eyed soul to warrant a Van Morrison comparison, while lead track “Seven Mile Island” meshes rolling drums, hand claps and a hint of bluegrass with trademark Isbell storytelling lines like “She used to say that she wanted a daughter/now she only wants a Saturday night.”

If Isbell keeps it up, he may very well become the Springsteen of the South – blue-collar, brisk, and full of stories and opinions that are painfully relatable to anyone who has ever been there.