Saturday Sessions :: Billy Strings and Chris Thile :: CBS Saturday Sessions (2024)
By now I’m sure you’ve seen the videos of Billy Strings and Chris Thile for CBS’ Saturday Sessions. That’s OK. You can watch them again and again and still be amazed by the interplay between these two master musicians. The duo performed three songs (I don’t know the order they originally appeared):
"I've Been All Around This World,”
"I Am A Pilgrim,”
"Wild Bill Jones.”
Enjoy.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard Live At KEXP (2017)
KEXP presents King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded October 11, 2017.
Setlist:
Welcome to an Altered Future
Digital Black
Han-Tyumi The Confused Cyborg
The Lord of Lightning
Altered Beast I
Alter Me I
Altered Beast II
Alter Me II
Altered Beast III
Alter Me III
Altered Beast IV
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily :: Tiny Desk Concert
Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily live at NPR’s Tiny Desk (May 12, 2023).
Setlist:
Eyes Of The Endless
The Deets:
Musicians:
Vijay Iyer: Fender Rhodes, piano
Arooj Aftab: vocals
Shahzad Ismaily: bass, Moog
Tiny Desk Team:
Producer: Bob Boilen
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Engineer: Josh Rogosin
Series Producer: Bobby Carter
Videographers: Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Sofia Seidel
Audio Assistant: Hannah Gluvna
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Tiny Desk Team: Suraya Mohamed, Joshua Bryant, Marissa Lorusso, Hazel Cills, Ashley Pointer, Pilar Galván, Jill Britton
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins
Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann
Raz Mesinai and Shahzad Ismaily Live
Today we feature a live duo performance from Raz Mesinai and Shahzad Ismaily.
The Deets:
Raz Mesinai - frame drum, effects
Shahzad Ismaily - bass
Bob Marley and the Wailers :: Live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl :: 11/25/79
Bob Marley and the Wailers, live at the Santa Barbara County Bowl, 11/25/79.
Setlist:
Positive Vibration
Wake Up And Live
I Shot The Sheriff
Ambush In The Night
Concrete Jungle
Running Away
Crazy Baldhead
Them Belly Full
Heathen
Ride Natty Ride
Africa Unite
One Drop
Exodus
So Much Things To Say
Zimbabwe
Jamming
Is This Love
Kinky Reggae
Stir It Up
Get Up Stand Up
Talking Heads :: Live at Montreux Jazz Festival (1982)
Saw this come across my Twitter feed. Sorry, I can’t remember who posted it if it was you, THANK YOU!
From the show’s Youtube page:
“This is full footage of Talking Heads performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, July 9th 1982. Originally broadcasted on Swiss TV and radio, but this footage is from an archive of the master tapes (except the last song)”
Setlist:
Psycho Killer
Cities
Big Blue Plymouth (Eyes Wide Open)
Once in a Lifetime
Mind
My Big Hands (Fall Through the Cracks)
Big Business
I Zimbra
Swamp
Slink
Houses in Motion
What a Day That Was
Life During Wartime
Take Me To The River
Goat :: Live at Le Guess Who? (2022)
We recently highlighted Goat’s fabulous 2023 album “Medicine” as one that we heard too late to make our favorites list. I still can’t believe we missed it. Goat has been a long-time favorite around the Holiday at the Sea Fake Offices.
In penance, I offer you this short but terrific live set from 2022.
From the Youtube page: “Swedish psych outfit Goat perform live at Le Guess Who? 2022 following the release of their latest album 'Oh Death' via Rocket Recordings.”
Setlist:
Under No Nation
Gathering of Ancient Tribes
Do The Dance
Disco Fever
Goatman
Deets and Credits:
Captured at TivoliVredenburg’s Ronda on Saturday, 12 November during Le Guess Who? 2022.
Direction: Dammes Kieft
Camera: Anaïs Saebu, Jonathan Sipkema, Nicky Pajkić, Rikash Gobardhan, Yuma Eekman, Dammes Kieft
Production: Claudia Rison, Studio Dammes
Coordination: Barry Spooren Montage: Nicky Pajkić S
ound recording: Marc Broer
Heard Too Late 2023 :: Goat :: Medicine
Welcome to the third and pen-ultimate (for now) of our Heard Too Late 2023 series. Today, I humbly present to you a band I love with an album I somehow missed last year. Scandinavian Pscy-Rock-Folk-Space Voyagers Goat put out a solid album of space out music called Medicine. It is indeed medicine for what ails ya.
This one’s right up my alley for working and studying. I think you’ll dig it too.
Watch the video for “Join The Resistance”
Watch the video for “Tripping In The Graveyard”
Heard Too Late 2023 :: Dosh, Ismaily, Young
Yesterday we began a short series of posts highlighting 2023 albums I didn’t get a chance to spend enough time with prior to compiling my year-end list with Lee Gallagher and the Hallelujah’s “The Falcon Ate The Flower.”
Next up is the self-titled release from Dosh, Ismaily, Young. Featuring “drummer Marty Dosh (Dosh, Andrew Bird, Fog), bassist Shahzad Ismaily (Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Secret Chiefs 3, Arooj Aftub), and guitarist Tim Young (Wayne Horvitz’s Zony Mash, David Sylvian, Michael White).”
With Shazad already appearing on the 2023 round up with Love In Exile by Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, Shahzad Ismaily, this marks Ismaily’s second appearance on my favorite albums of 2023.
This is not so much a review as a profile, so I take no shame in quoting the Bandcamp page to help you get a picture of this wild ride: “On their debut self-titled release, these master musicians effortlessly deliver six solid tracks including an 11-minute krautrock mindblower, a meditation on the end of the world, and explorations into Stax-soul, space-rock, and free-jazz.”
If you’ve taken the time and effort to read this far, it’s probably because we share the same music vibes. I highly recommend this release, especially since physical copies are in short supply.
Watch the official video for the opening track, “Blast:”
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard :: Live at Lowlands 2023
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard :: Live at Lowlands 2023.
Setlist:
Gila Monster
Converge
Witchcraft
Self-Immolate
This Thing
The Garden Goblin
Hypertension
Magma
20 Songs That Make Me Happy
Many of you have probably seen the “Name 20 songs that make you happy” thing going around the social medias. Well, I took the time to make a quick playlist of 20 songs that make me happy. Listen/stream/download below.
Hope you enjoy.
Manchester by Kishi Bashi
I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Time) by Jaimie xx
Funky Kingston by Toots and the Maytals
Love, Love, Love 2 (Reprise) by Akron/Family
Mustt Mustt (Extended) by Kiran Ahluwalia
Konkon by Oki Dub Ainu Band
Scenario by A Tribe Called Quest
Baba O’Riley by the Who
Here Comes Sunshine by Grateful Dead
Sweet Jane by the Velvet Underground
Sun Hands by Local Natives
Reality Used to be a Friend by P.M. Dawn
Swerve . . . The reeping . . . by Shabazz Palaces
Bam Bam by Sister Nancy
Lalo Schifrin by Blue Scholars
I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Creedence Clearwater Revival
Baby Baby by the Vibrators
Love of My Life Worldwide by Erykah Badu
Boogie on Reggae Woman by Stevie Wonder
Ooh La La by Faces
Download a PDF of some pretty bland CD artwork
Chitinous Mandible
When asked to describe his music in 3 words by Secret Eclectic, Tom Herman Jr. (aka Chitinous Mandible) responded with:
Enveloping surrealistic familiarity
That seems to be as good a description as any.
Prior to the Chitinous Mandible moniker, New Jersey’s Herman recorded as Old Smile, who Aquarium Drunkard described as “a wave of lo-fi, bedroom psych,” and of whom The Quietus said: “After countless recent waves of revivalist bands embracing jangly psych and sixties music - Temples, Tame Impala, Ty Segall, etc. - Old Smile is the best I've come across.” That’s high praise indeed! And as The Quietus points out: “And this dude managed to do it all himself at home!” Herman continues to ride tht independent spirit, saying of this new, self-titled project as Chitinous Mandible: “I wrote/performed/recorded/mixed everything on it aside from a couple tracks where my dad plays drums.”
Rolling in like a lo-fi swamp fog and wrapping you up in its shimmery swirls, this is music to get lost in or focus down on the details. Because there are layers if you’re willing to dig. And dig, I do. cosmic psychedelic blues for the laid-back set. Hints of Krautrock throb over Devo keyboards. More quirky non sequiturs for great music here.
I asked Hermon how his songwriting has progressed over the last few albums. He said:
“In Arches the sound was kind of slow and melancholy. The sound of Old Smile was more all over the place, there were a lot of detours. Chitinous Mandible is a bit all over the place too but it’s more concise.”
Chitinous Mandible is a bit all over the place, but more concise. That’s as good a description as any. Swampy music for sweaty afternoons. The best thing you can do is go listen for yourself. I highly recommend.
For those interested, Bandcamp reveals that "Pops plays drums on the songs "Time Design" and "Summertime Drive."
Watch “Summertime Drive:”
Watch “Connection In A Parking Lot”
RIYL: Rose City Band, Los Halos
Oki Dub Ainu Band Live For KeenStream
From the Youtube page:
“Festival TV on KEENSTREAM, a YouTube program that started in April 2020, hoping that the day will come when we can enjoy the music and outdoor activities that we love. We welcome over 100 artists in total and liven up the program with MC George Williams.”
Harry Belafonte Live in Germany (1988)
Harry Belafonte live in Ravensburg, Germany, Nov 1988.
Setlist:
Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)
Kwela (Listen to the Man)
Skin to Skin (with Sharon Brooks)
Matilda, Martin Luther King
Island in the Sun
Try to Remember (with Ty Stephens)
Jamaica Farewell
Paradise in Gazankulu
Purchase Harry Belafonte’s music at Amazon
Meet Some Of My Friends (the Velvet Underground Edition) :: A Holiday At The Sea Playlist
Welcome to the first installment of what I hope will be an ongoing playlist series throughout 2023 where I introduce you to some of my favorite music. I often make playlists for my car and I thought I might as well share them here.
We kick off the series with the Velvet Underground. I tried to keep it to cuts from the studio albums, but I really like “I’m Beginning To See the Light” from 1969: The Velvet Underground Live. Whether you know them or not, I hope you enjoy this playlist.
Setlist:
Who Loves The Sun
Some Kinda Love
Sweet Jane
Sister Ray
I'm Waiting For The Man
Rock & Roll
Beginning To See The Light
Here She Comes Now
I'm Set Free
White Light/White Heat
Run Run Run
Oh! Sweet Nuthin'
What Goes On
There She Goes Again
New Age
Dogwood Tales :: 13 Summers 13 Falls
The days get shorter and the nights get longer. And colder. As the darkness settles in we wrap ourselves in Harmonies, heartbreak, and hope. The ashes of loss still contain the embers of hope.
Wilco, Son Volt, and Whiskeytown will be obvious touch-points for many, but Dogwood Tales have crafted their own voice (with killer harmonies).
Album opener circles the refrain:
“It’s hard to be in the right place
for the right thing all the time.
It’s hard to be anywhere when I got you on my mind.”
There’s a sense of being caught in a winter storm here sometimes. Our protagonists sometimes don’t quite sure where’ they’re going or even who they are. But there is a pervasive sense of hope throughout the EP. Pedal steel laces through the often forlorn lyrics ushering us in to moments of hope. Even though the nights are long, morning’s on its way. These songs explore love, loss, and heartbreak with clear-eyed honesty. Sometimes it’s hard and we’re not sure where we’re going or if we’ll make it, but the days will again wash in and the light will eventually return. Sometimes the best we can do is hold out for the hope of a better day to see us through the long winter nights.
“Hold You Again” doesn’t back down from the truth of lost chances and lonely new realities. “I know I may never feel it again,” they sing, but we get the sense that it was still worth it. The bright melody and washes of feedback are a sonic blanket against the cold reality. The push and pull; the give and take of life and love try to find their balance in these 5 songs. “It feels like a matter of time before the dark gets hold of me.”
“25” opens with the lines “I just want to wake up and feel like I’m alive because I’ve got some cousins that didn’t see 25.” There is a stark wrestling with reality. These lyrics don’t shy away from death and loss but they don’t swirl the pity party drain either. There’s a search throughout these songs; here’s the reality; we love, we lose, we die, and we try to make sense of it all. What’s it all about? What’s it’s all for? Is the power of love enough to see us through these long dark nights? Dogwood Tales think so and invite you into their sunbaked cosmic Americana world to see what you think. Whatever your conclusion, this is music for those long dark winter nights when we need to be reminded that the light will eventually return. “we’ve still got miles of road to go” they sing on the title track and there is a sense of surety that we’ll get there eventually.
Highly recommended
The Deets:
WH065
Dogwood Tales - 13 Summers 13 Falls
01. Hard To Be Anywhere
02. Hold You Again
03. 25
04. Since Yesterday
05. 13 Summers
credits
releases November 18, 2023 on WarHen Records
Kyle Grim - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Ben Ryan - Electric Guitar, Vocals
Stephen Kuester - Pedal Steel
Danny Gibney - Bass, Organ, Wurlitzer & Piano
Jake Golibart - Drums & Percussion
Produced by Erik Kase Romero
Recorded by Erik Kase Romero and Danny Gibney
All tracks Mixed by Danny Gibney except Hold You Again by Adrian Olsen
Mastered by Garrett Haines
Photograph by Kyle Grim
Check out a recent live session from earlier this year:
jaimie "breezy" branch forever :: Roulette, Brooklyn :: XXIII Vision Festival :: 05.28.18
As the recent Aquarium Drunkard e-mail says: jaimie "breezy" branch forever!
We are all deeply saddened by branch’s passing. Let’s visit some live breezy.
So far we’ve visited a solo set, a trio set and a two-part live show. Let’s round out the week with this quartet setup, live from 2018. This one includes a bit more information, including the players, which include branch on Trumpet, Anton Hatwich on Bass ,Lester St. Louis on Cello, Chad Taylor on Drums.
This was at: Roulette Intermedium, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn May 28th 2018
jaimie "breezy" branch forever :: First St. Green : Arts For Art :: Paris :: 09/29/19
As the recent Aquarium Drunkard e-mail says: jaimie "breezy" branch forever!
We are all deeply saddened by branch’s passing. Let’s visit some live breezy.
So far, we/ve visited a solo set and examined two of her songs with lyrics and another one Yesterday we covered a band set, and today is branch in a trio format. As with the other sets, not a lot of information or tracklisting here, but ti’s great nonetheless. This set features Branch on trumpet, Luke Stewart on bass, Mike Pride on drums.
OH, and apparently this was “on Roy Campbell & Steve Dalachinsky's birthday.”
jaimie "breezy" branch forever :: New Morning :: Paris :: 07/12/21
As the recent Aquarium Drunkard e-mail says: jaimie "breezy" branch forever!
We are all deeply saddened by branch’s passing. Let’s visit some live breezy.
Yesterday, we visited a solo set and examined one of her songs with lyrics and another one today. Here is branch with branch on trumpet, Lester St. Louis on cello, Jason Ajemian on bass, and Chad Taylor on drums.
As with the other one, not much information to go by here other than “Jaimie Branch - First Set (New Morning - Paris - July 12th 2021).” No setlist or anything, but you can figure it out if you really want to. I’m just grooving.
Set One:
Set Two: