Hi there, readers! I'm the new guy in town, Karthik. (Well, I've actually been in DC for 5 years now, but I'm the new guy in this digital town.)
I go to way too many concerts, and I'll be doing a lot of live concert recaps for you. I guess there'll be more about me in the contributors page soon enough, but for now, screw it, let's just jump right in. You can find me on twitter here, but my posting is probably 10% music, 90% hippie liberal, so your mileage may vary. (No matter what, you get one song a day from me, if nothing else.)
I'm recapping two concerts that were 3 days apart because honestly, other than the concerts, there's not much linking the worlds of Sunday, November 6th, pre-election day and Wednesday, November 9th, post-election day.
The reason I link these two guys is that, way back in the Spring of 2001, your intrepid blogger and then-college freshman found out about this really cool music service called Pandora that was supposed to replace Napster (RIP). It was super cool - you could put in an artist (or two or more) and it would play songs based on their sound. While I first made stations based on bands, I started to create stations based on moods, and one of my favorite stations was called "Wistful Singer-Songwriters" and was just a station based on six artists (in alphabetical order): Howie Day, Damien Jurado, Greg Laswell, Matt Nathanson, Joshua Radin, and Damien Rice. One of my (obviously ex-)girlfriends referred to that station as "Music to Kill Yourself By," and while she wasn't completely wrong, I still love it and listen to it pretty often.
Getting to see two of those guys in a week was something that 17-year-old me would have thought made up an awesome week, and it's one of the few things teen me would think was awesome about old me.
The first show (Radin/GOW) started off amazingly - if you haven't seen Good Old War, put them on your list immediately. (If you've seen them, you already know what I mean.) You'll come for Dan's amazing guitar solos, but you'll stay for Keith's endearingly awkward white boy dancing. (Tim's drum fills are great, as are his backing vocals: didn't want you to think I forgot about him.)
They started energetic, and then went sappy to sing an anniversary song to two of their friends in the audience, and, honestly, I think I've found a new song in the running for "my first wedding dance" song: "Amazing Eyes," (another post for another time) which they immediately followed with the fun and catchy "Small World."
Good Old War: "Amazing Eyes"
Good Old War: "Small World"
And that was just the first half of their set! By the end of their set, I knew that I had a new band to start mainlining right into my ear holes, and while I'd suggest getting all of their music, their newest album "Broken Into Better Shape" was put out by Nettwerk and is beautifully produced if you're looking for just one to grab.
Before we move to Joshua Radin's set, here's links to his new single, "High and Low": itunes | spotify | amazon
And now, after Good Old War blew our minds, it was time for Joshua Radin to bring the mellow, and the mellow is strong with this one. It seemed that every song had to do with a girl, and every story pretty much had to do with almost breaking up, breaking up, trying to get back together, or explaining why they would never get back together... yup, story checks out. Then he went into "Winter" to close his set, and it took me back to my days of when I got all my music from Scrubs. He came out for two more songs, closing with a Bob Dylan cover ("Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"), continuing to prove the point that Bob Dylan's music is better when played by anyone other than Bob Dylan. (But damn if that Nobel Prize winner isn't an amazing poet.)
Joshua Radin: "I'd Rather Be With You"
The show was awesome overall, and after, I was able to grab a couple of albums and get them signed by Good Old War. The guys are way too nice, and we ALL need to reward them with fame and fortune, or at least with a few more listens. The Birchmere is also a unique venue, with tables and servers and semi-open seating. It's hard to describe in words, but I'd suggest going there for a show if there's someone you're 50/50 on seeing instead of skipping the venue.
Three days and a devastating presidential election later...
I'm not going to lie, I didn't sleep Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, I spent a lot of the day crying, and put in an almost 12 hour work day just to avoid thinking about things. That's part of why I forced myself to go to the Damien Jurado show with a friend, because there was no way I should have been home alone that evening, even if it was to go to a concert based on the "Music to Kill Yourself By" station.
Getting there a little early, there were maybe 25 people in the room when Doug Keith came out, but you wouldn't know it by the power he put into strumming his guitar. He came out, knowing the room was filled with those, like me, who had just had existential dread unexpectedly thrust upon them by 'Murica. He talked about how he was feeling - how we were all feeling - and then he gave us some folksy blues songs that honestly reminded me of an acoustic version of some Stevie Ray Vaughan picks, but with a voice that resembles a less-growly Springsteen. And, after 45 minutes, he jumped off stage, letting us wait for the main act.
Doug Keith: "The Lowest Low"
By then, the room had filled a little more, with probably over 150 people, but still enough that space wasn't at a premium.
Before jumping into Mr. Jurado's show, here's a link to a new single from his upcoming album of covers with Richard Swift called "Other People's Songs, Volume 1": Hello Sunshine.
Damien got up and without saying a word, jumped into a powerful ballad, and then, immediately upon finishing, started joking with the audience and putting us at ease, interjecting hilarity between each wistful song. He even brought up an audience member to be his percussion, and then after his powerful rendition of "Ohio" - which is maybe only powerful to me as someone from Ohio - he told us the story of how instead of getting into the story of the song, he just imagines himself behind a large sheet, hiding from the audience as he played. Best quip of the night: "My last name is pronounced Hu-rado like the question, but I guess I should go with Ju-rado given what happened last night."
Damien Jurado: "Ohio"
In contrast with the energy we had on Sunday, the Wednesday show was a combination of painkiller and gallows humor that was just what we needed.
Doug Keith's blues guitar just hurt so good, and I was lucky to catch him after the show to sign a vinyl for me.
In addition to thrilling teenaged me, this music has kept me level this week, and I hope you all find some good concerts! I'll do my best to keep people informed of concerts in the DC area, as well as artists you should be looking out for.
This weekend I headed over to dinkytown's quirky Varsity Theater to catch Heartless Bastards and Good Old War. The headlining act was supposed to be Gaslight Anthem, but due to a medical emergency (apparently someone had a serious abscessed tooth), they had to cancel, so Heartless Bastards took over as the headliner.
Good Old War is a band I've written about before and thus was quite excited to see how they translated in a live setting. I was mainly interested in finding out how much of their sound was cleaned up by production magic, because as someone who has been to many a concert where vocals have failed the perfection of album work (I'm looking at you, Imogen Heap), I'm always a tad weary of what a band actually sounds like live. Turns out I had nothing the worry about, for these boys can sing -GOW can harmonize beautifully, certainly earning their common comparisons to Crosby, Stills and Nash and Dispatch. Their perfectly pitched and clear voices blend in a effortless and natural manner, sailing off the winds of remarkably fresh acoustic folk-rock that strolls along. "Coney Island" was their most well-known number, as the audience whooped the loudest when those opening chords were strummed and folks really started to get up and moving.
Throughout the concert, guitarist Dan was always happy and almost danced while playing, and won mega points with the audience when he went up to the propped guitar to do some extra solo work. Heartless Bastards' Jesse Ebaugh was borrowed to add some pedal steel guitar for a song (Tim and Dan both got on their knees and bowed, I'm-not-worthy style to Jesse after), Keith manned the lead vocals and a synth bass for the evening, and drummer Tim came up front with an accordion for a few numbers. You may be wondering how the band sounds sans-drums when Tim is up front, and I got to tell you, when three men like that stand up on the very front of a stage and sing in perfect 3-part harmony, it's a beautiful thing. A beautiful thing.
Good Old War's set was sweet and too short (my friend turned to me and said, "aw, they're done already?") but it was time for the Heartless Bastards to rock out. Heartless Bastards are a rock-alt-garage-y band with a bluesy kick that formed in 2003 and recently released their third album The Mountain in February. They opened up with "Into the Open," an excellent choice to start things off relatively soft and to introduce all who were not previously familiar to frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom's distinctive deep and husky rock voice. Its an odd thing to finally hear it live and up close - if anyone were to call it similar to Adele's (in an alto-way), I would now agree, although that's not something I picked up listening to recorded album tracks.
Things you should know when attending a Heartless Bastards concert: one, if you stand in the front, prepare to have your soul blown away by the intense drumming and gut-wrenching bass lines and two, if you like end-of-song jams that make you rock your body and your mind scream "YES," then you're where you're supposed to be.
Drummer Dave Colvin nearly steals the show at points - his drumming spot-on, down-right ingenious and his rhythmic rampages are one of the main attractions of seeing this band live. Not to say any of the other members are any lesser at their respective crafts- Erika knows how to work the guitar in fine touch with her powerful vocals while making all the rocker-chick goddesses out there proud, Jesse has the extraordinary skill that one requires to work a pedal steel guitar (as he studied under Neil Flanz), and Mark and Jesse both can jam with the best of them. The highlights of the concert included the songs that Heartless Bastards know how to build up well - "Sway" starts off almost poppy and simple, but swells with each added rock-induced melody until it finally resounds with crashing and triumphant guitar jams and the nodding heads of the crowd. "The Mountain" is an instant pleaser, starting off with grainy electric guitar powerchords and classic rock drums only to end with an awesome trippy pedal guitar jam. Things were brought down a touch in the encore with the acoustic number "So Quiet" before hitting up "Runnin" and "Grey" to close the alternative-rock lovefest that was the evening at the Varsity.
Not only do I get to venture into the gorgeous mountains of Wyoming (favorite state I've been to yet), I get to listen to copious amounts of great music in the car while cruising at a nice 85 mph. Lately I've found I really enjoy listening to Good Old War, a 3-man harmonizing group equipped with nothing more than fast-moving acoustic guitars, keys and drums. Good Old War consists of Keith Goodwin, Daniel Schwartz, and Tim Arnold - some of you may recognize Schwartz's name from his days in the band Unlikely Cowboy, and Tim and Keith from the band Days Away.
The Good Old War sound has a bit of a western rock feel, which their sxsw page calls a "throwback to the days of Crosby, Stills, & Nash" (& Young), and their music definitely has the rustic flair that a great acoustic rock-folk cocktail can offer, which is perfect for my current location. Plus, I love me some CSNY, so any music that can be compared to them is good in my book. Good Old War is also on my list of "best of SXSW" this year and they are touring all over the place after they finish in Austin, so make sure to check out the tour dates below and on their myspace.
Mar 29- Mr. Smalls Funhouse - Millvale, PY Mar 30 - Newport Music Hall - Columbus, OH Mar 31 - Agora Ballroom - Cleveland, OH Apr 1 - St. Andrews Hall - Detroit, MI Apr 2 - Turner's Ballroom - Milwaukee, WI Apr 4- The Varsity Theater - Minneapolis, MN Apr 5 - House of Bricks - Des Moines, IA Apr 6 - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI Apr 7 - Reggie's Live - Chicago, IL
