Now Hear This » Daytrotter http://www.nowhearthismusic.com "There are two kinds of music, good and bad. I like both." - Duke Ellington Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:52:59 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Aimee Mann Daytrotter Session, Bimbo’s tickets on sale http://www.nowhearthismusic.com/2008/10/10/aimee-mann-daytrotter-session/ http://www.nowhearthismusic.com/2008/10/10/aimee-mann-daytrotter-session/#comments Fri, 10 Oct 2008 22:36:21 +0000 Michael http://www.nowhearthismusic.com/?p=155

The good folks at Daytrotter posted a live session by Aimee Mann this week. If you’ve never been to Daytrotter give yourself plenty of time to wander about the place. It’s an endless treasure trove of intimate performances from up & comers as well as some of indie rock’s bigger names. Mann’s session features four selections from her 7th solo album, @#%&*! Smilers, a collection of lush, urgently gorgeous pop vignettes of brutally honest personal exploration focusing on the fractured and flawed. In short, Mann at what she does best.

Here’s a taste:

31 Today (live on Daytrotter)

Click on the picture above to get the whole session. I highly recommend picking up a copy of @#%&*! Smilers here. The 3rd installment of Aimee Mann’s Annual Christmas Show pulls into Bimbo’s 365 Club in SF on December 9. Tickets went on sale today and can be purchased right here.

]]> http://www.nowhearthismusic.com/2008/10/10/aimee-mann-daytrotter-session/feed/ 0 New music/dvd from The National http://www.nowhearthismusic.com/2008/05/14/new-musicdvd-from-the-national/ http://www.nowhearthismusic.com/2008/05/14/new-musicdvd-from-the-national/#comments Wed, 14 May 2008 02:18:00 +0000 Michael http://nowhearthismusic.com/?p=37
So what does The National do after releasing one of the hottest records of last year? Well of course they enlist old pal and current La Blogotheque auteur Vincent Moon to direct a movie that’s kinda about the making of said record but also about, if I may quote from Beggar’s Group USA, “how music is made today — not with classic rock bravado, or debauched indulgence, but through novelistic attention to detail, a collective implosion of personality, and worried worried nights”.

But a simple dvd won’t slake the thirst of all those new fans clamoring for more material so you have to slap an odds and (surprisingly few) sods ep to go with it. Bravo! Moon’s movie “A Skin, A Night” and accompanying The Virginia EP comes out next Tuesday, almost a year to the day after their fantastic Boxer full length.

The Virginia EP tracklist:
1) You’ve Done It Again, Virginia (w/ Sufjan Stevens, previously unreleased)
2) Santa Clara (UK b-side)
3) Blank Slate (UK b-side)
4) Tall Saint (demo)
5) Without Permission (unreleased cover of UK alt. folkster Caroline Martin)
6) Forever After Days (demo)
7) Rest Of Years (demo)
8) Slow Show (demo)
9) Lucky You (from last year’s Daytrotter session)
10) Mansion On The Hill (live Springsteen cover)
11) Fake Empire (live)
12) About Today (live)

Check two of my favorite tracks so far:
You’ve Done It Again, Virginia
Without Permission

It’s all more of their distinctive brand of after hours indie pop that feels like the bastard love child of Tindersticks and Spoon. A couple of the demos sound to these ears like full fledged songs ready for release, particularly “Forever After Days” while others are intimate sketches recorded in the Dessner home. The live tracks include the Springsteen cover that’s been all over the international network lately and a robust 8+ minute version of “About Today”.

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