30/5/09

DARK WAS THE NIGHT, a one-of-a-kind concert at Radio City Music Hall.


Before I post the outcome of last night's The National concert in Philadelphia (which by the way was magnificent), I thought we should take a moment to listen to the live performance early in the month of the "Dark Was The Night" compilation.

Back in January I talked about "Dark Was The Night", a compilation produced by twin brothers Aaron and Bryce Dessner of The National, including 31 exclusive tracks from various artists in benefit of the Red Hot Organization – an international charity dedicated to raising money and awareness for HIV and AIDS through popular culture.

Early in the month (May 3), the collection organized a unique concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. Not everyone was present, but certainly it was a night to remember.

Fortunately folks at NPR (Live concerts from All Songs Considered) have just made the concert available in their website. You can listen to the entire concert and also download it as a podcast when you subscribe to the show podcast, something that I highly recommend. As said in their review (a much better written and professional one) "The lively dynamics of the night made for some wonderful pairings and odd duets: Feist and Bon Iver, David Byrne and The Dirty Projectors, David Byrne with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, The National with My Brightest Diamond and Sharon Jones with everyone."

Worth listening to, without a doubt.

MM

NPR-Dark Was The Night Concert

27/5/09

Dark Night of the Soul


Muy buenos posts ha habido últimamente en Musical Soulmate, y no quiero dejar pasar la oportunidad de postear una gran obra que está rondando estos últimos días.

Se trata del talentoso Danger Mouse, como muchos de ustedes saben, Brian Joseph Burton aka Danger Mouse es un afamado y talentoso productor que también ha mostrado al mundo su creatividad por medio de la música. 
Algunas de sus producciones son:

Danger Mouse - The Grey Album (2004)
Gorillaz - Demon Days (2005)
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love (2006)
Sparklehorse - Dreamt for Light Years in the Belly of a Mountain (2006)
The Good, the Bad and the Queen (2007)
The Black Keys - Attack & Release (2008)
The Shortwave Set - Replica Sun Machine (2008)
Beck - Modern Guilt (2008)

No dejemos de lado su parte creativa mas representativa a lado de Cee-Lo:

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere (2006)
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd couple (2008)

También tuvo una intervención con el artista urbano Banksy en donde cambiaron 500 copias del album de Paris Hilton en tiendas de música inglesas por un album con el arte alterado y una canción instrumental de 40 minutos con declaraciones de Hilton.

Danger Mouse se autodenomina como un "Auteur" basando su filosofía musical en la filosofía del film y tomando como role model a directores como Woody Allen quien es un verdadero "Auteur".

Es aquí donde cabe su nueva producción la cual genera atención extra de los medios no sólo por su contenido sino por los eventos que atraviesa. Dark night of the soul es coproducido por Sparklehorse, con colaboraciones de James Mercer de The Shins, Wayne Cohen de The Flaming Lips, Gruff Rhys de Super Furry Animals, Jason Lytle de Grandaddy, Julian Casablancas de The Strokes, Frank Black de the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Nina Persson de The Cardigans, Suzanne Vega, Vic Chesnutt, David Lynch, y Scott Spillane de Neutral Milk Hotel.

Debido a complicaciones legales con EMI music, el disco no saldrá a la venta y sólo se puede escuchar vía streaming por medio de la NPR, así como descargar desde torrents y por medio de descarga directa.

La colaboración de David Lynch incluye un libro de 100 páginas con fotografías inspiradas en la música del disco, algo como una interpretación visual de la música. También el set contendrá un CD en blanco con la siguiente leyenda: "For legal reasons enclosed CD-R contains no music. Use it as you will".

En verdad me ha llamado mucho la atención esta obra y es por eso que la comparto con ustedes. Danger Mouse y David Lynch se complementaron bastante bien creando una música para unos excelentes visuales y viceversa, sin dejar a un lado las buenísimas colaboraciones de todos los involucrados. Escuchen el disco, en verdad es muy bueno.

Aquí el link para su descarga directa, el link para escucharlo vía streaming por NPR y el link de la página oficial en caso de que quieran comprar el libro con la galería de fotos de David Lynch que por cierto estará exhibiendose del 30 de Mayo al 11 de Julio en Kohn Gallery en Los Angeles, CA.


25/5/09

Half Awake...The National coming back to Philly on Friday




The National will play again in Philadelphia after almost a year when they opened to REM at the Mann Center for Performing Arts along with Modest Mouse..After that, I heard them for the last time at NYC during Central Park's Summer Stage series in August 2008. This, was probably the best of the 4 The National's concerts I have been to, and since then I have waited patiently for the right time to see this band again...

Those who know me well would recognize that this band has certainly contributed to a large extent to the playlist of my life and represent without a doubt one of my favorite bands ever...

I am ready for the fifth, which I am sure will satisfy my expectations once more...The Electric Factory in Philly seems like the right venue for what I expect to be an amazing night...

Here's a taste of last year's performance at Central Park



Half awake

MM

23/5/09

Musical Soulmate's pics uploaded to The Dears Website




Quick update...Some of Musical Soulmate's pics from The Dears' May 5th concert in Philly were uploaded to the official website of the band...

The Dears-Official Website


You can see the pics directly here

They will remain in the Tour Archives section of the band's website.

Cheers,

MM

17/5/09

Fire!!!

A manera de bienvenida de la pandilla que seguía en Europa, y después de semanas sin postear por los preparativos del viaje, el trabajo y la peda, les dejo el último sencillo del esperado tercer disco de los ingleses Kasabian, "The West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum". El track se llama "Fire", y definitivo es bueno. Junto con "Vlad, The Impaler" nos hacen emocionarnos con un disco que esperamos lleno de actitud y buenos beats, ideales para iniciar los preparativos de la próxima aventura. Buena semana amigos!


Les dejo además el cartel del Austin City Limits, festival ya confirmado para varios de nosotros. Ya salió la información oficial incluso de la distribución por días. Se pronostica que este año la comitiva que asistirá será mucho más numerosa, esperemos que así sea, el cartel está muy bueno, por fin veremos a Bon Iver en vivo, ya que solo MM ha tenido la oportunidad. Que sean los tres días esta vez, tenemos que estar ahí para ver cerrar el domingo a Pearl Jam otra aventura musical.

8/5/09

The Dears at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia



After all the fuzz from their show in Mexico and getting familiar with their music, I was really looking forward to seeing The Dears live. They came back on a triumphant return to Philly on a CINCO DE MAYO night and the venue they chose for this was simply perfect. Johnny Brenda’s is a local bar in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia that offers not only great concerts but a nice selection of locally brewed beers and a nice menu. Shows at JB had grown from small bands to important indie groups such as The National and Broken Social Scene.



Eulogies and Great Northern opening acts were good, and I think that everyone at JB felt that way. However, I do not think I could say enough about how great The Dears performance was. They showed again what a great band they are and they kept everyone of us wanting for more. They do know drama and their epic arrangements, swelling crescendos and theatrical stage attitude made the experience far beyond a weekday rock concert.



The band led by the husband-and-wife team of front-man Murray Lightburn and keyboardist Natalia Yanchak covered most of the tunes from their 2008 release Missiles with additions here and there from Gang of Losers and even No Cities Left…And they did it all good from the beginning. They started the show almost seamlessly when Lightburn snuck into the audience – black leather jacket and wireless mic – with transitioning sounds of “Sinthro” that effortlessly evolved into “Saviour”. All of a sudden, there it was Lightburn in front of everyone, singing each syllable magnificently, almost painfully chanting “I’ll make it right…This time” like some sort of rock star preacher. Once up in the stage the band smoothly transitioned to “Money Babies” turning the switch to a glorious ON position…and that was just the beginning.



In addition to all the pics from their show in Philly, I leave a nice vid for you from their show in Toronto last week (April 30), showing their awesome way to kick-off their concert…enjoy.

MM



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UPDATE:

More cool links for The Dears

The Dears Live at KCRW-Morning Becomes Eclectic - OCT 30 2008

Vids from The Dears in QTV







Cheers,

MM