New Thing #77: Music From The Outlaw Roadshow

I'll take any opportunity I can to write about my brother on these Music Mondays. Unfortunately, his last new album came out in the 2012 calendar year, so I can't exactly promote new music as a New Thing.

(Although he talked about playing a new song down in Texas this week...so maybe he'll get his own featured week at some point.)

But I can keep him in the conversation as I write about other new music he's helped expose me to.

Because for the past week (actually, more) he's been in Austin, Texas, living the South by Southwest life.

He did this last year, too, though by his own admission he did it better this year.

He also played in a higher-profile way this year, as part of "The Outlaw Roadshow"...and that's where the New Thing comes in.

"The Outlaw Roadshow" is a music event presented by Ryan Spaulding - a music blogger - and Adam Duritz,  who you probably know from the Counting Crows.

This year they invited my brother to perform along with about 30 other artists. He played the first weekend, then there was another show on the second weekend of SXSW.

I was kind of stuck about what to do for this Music Monday. I was hung up on the number 77 - my birthday is 7/7, and I wanted to do something new featuring the number 7. I didn't really get anything good.

Then I realized the Outlaw Roadshow's website has a song from each of the artists who played each of the shows. So I sat and listened to each one. Two things made this seem less daunting to me - 1) My brother was at most (if not all) of both shows, and was raving about each of the bands that played, and 2) If they, like my brother, were invited to play here, they have to be good.

So I listened to 33 new songs this weekend.

I liked Bridges and Powerlines' "The Jameson," "I Can't Wait" by Star & Micey, Air Traffic Controller's "You Know Me," "Need You" by Daniel and The Lion, and "Television" by You Won't from the March 16th collection.

From the March 9th set, the PHOX and Animal Talk songs were kind of fun, and actually there was an upbeat, fast-paced tone to most of that lineup. I liked a lot of the songs, including "The Arsonist" by Tyler Stenson. My wife had been talking up Stenson since the early rounds of voting for some of the artists for the event.

A definitive highlight for my brother came when he was invited (I think? Maybe he just went up there on his own. Just kidding. I don't know how this transpired, though - he and a number of others closed out the night on stage.) on stage Saturday night to sing with Duritz. (See the video below.)

My favorite SXSW artist is back from Texas today. He's heading on the road again soon, playing in Tennessee later this week. Keep tabs on him and check him out when he's in your area.

New Thing #70: Death Cab For Cutie

We have a radio station here in the Greater Boston area that calls itself independent radio. I'm not sure exactly what that means other than the fact that occasionally they'll play some songs that you don't usually hear on the radio.

They're also the first to play some of the music that becomes popular later and appears on the Top 40-type radio stations.

I tell you this because it was probably on this station that I first heard Death Cab For Cutie years ago - probably with the song, "Soul Meets Body."

But I'd never heard an entire album by the band.

Last week when I was down in New York, Justin gave me his phone to scroll through the music so I could pick out some new music ideas for 'Music Monday'.

I thought about Wilco, because I'm fairly sure I've never heard a Wilco song, though I've heard lots about the band.

He said that would be a good idea...then said it might be better to start with Death Cab For Cutie before that, and appreciate the songwriting of Benjamin Gibbard. (Interestingly, twice this week on the way to school when I turned on the radio I heard 'Stay Young, Go Dancing' - that helped clinch the decision for me.)

I looked at the band's discography, and saw the songs I recognized - In addition to "Soul Meets Body" there was "I Will Possess Your Soul."

I decided that to start with I'd get the album that featured "Soul Meets Body" - 'Plans.'

It's easy, I think, with Death Cab For Cutie to just say that all of the songs sound the same, because Benjamin Gibbard's voice and the band's style is so distinctive. When you really tune in to the lyrics, you realize that the songs, though stylistically sounding the same, are quite different.

It's great when you listen to a new album for the first time and can pick out a good song. I particularly liked "I Will Follow You Into The Dark", mostly because the first line stood out to me: "Love of mine/someday you will die/but I'll be close behind/I'll follow you into the dark."

Justin shared that his favorite is from the album 'Narrow Stairs' - "Your New Twin Sized Bed".

"What I really like about Benjamin Gibbard's writing," Justin told me, "Is that it's almost visual. He doesn't tell you what's going on. Instead he describes the scene and then you figure it out for yourself. That's why I like 'Your New Twin Sized Bed'."

What's funny is that Justin also used "Brothers On A Hotel Bed", from 'Plans', as an example of Gibbard's writing, which is another song that I liked and listened closely to the words on - mostly because it's just such a strange title. (A glance at the discography hints at the wealth of strange titles - and probable stories told through song.)

(For what it's worth: Justin added this, "I hate when people use the phrase "painting a word picture," but...that's what he does." He wrote this to me just two days after I used the phrase "picture he painted there" to describe the Jason Motte interview with Buster Olney in a post for New Thing #67.)

One last night about Death Cab For Cutie and their distinctive style - Remember when Owl City had that 'Fireflies' hit a couple of summers ago? I knew enough about Death Cab For Cutie's sound to never love that song because I felt like they were absolutely ripping off Benjamin Gibbard's style. I suppose there's a fine line between flattery/inspiration and ripping someone off...but I didn't like it.

I love getting familiar with new music every Monday. This is fun.

New Thing #63: Billy Joel Sings With A Student

It's been a while since Billy Joel has released a new (non-classical) album. 1993's 'River of Dreams' (20 years!) was the last one.

So I didn't really think at any point in 2013 I'd be featuring a New Thing from Billy Joel.

But I do have something.

Allow me first, though, to give you a little history on the subject.

I love Billy Joel. With the death last year of Gary Carter, Billy Joel is my last living childhood hero. Truth be told, I loved Gary Carter for a lot longer than I loved Billy Joel, but once I gained a musical sense I went all in on Billy Joel and held him in the same esteem.

It pained me that shortly after I discovered Billy Joel's full catalog, he was essentially done releasing music. Every so often I would find a bootleg concert recording or a collection of studio demos, but most of my Billy Joel fanhood has been spent seeing him live furthering the legend of Billy Joel, but not necessarily promoting new music.

(One of those live performances was probably the best concert I'll ever see, thanks to the surrounding circumstances - The Last Play At Shea. I wrote about it on one of my previous blogs five years ago.)

One of the live performances I saw came in 1996, at an event that as far as I can tell Billy Joel has been doing since the 1970s. It was called "An Evening of Questions and Answers, and Perhaps A Few Songs", where Joel tours colleges (he still does this, as evidenced by this Music Monday entry), takes questions from the audience, and performs a few songs.

Seeing him in this intimate setting was one of the best Billy Joel performances I've seen (and it's probably one of the more embarrassing things I've done personally). First, the embarrassing story: I worked at a sporting goods store in the late 90s. A girl I worked with attended Queens College, knew how much I liked Billy Joel, and told me when she heard he was doing a Q&A at the school. She offered to get me tickets. I was thrilled. She got them, I paid her for them, and  I went with a friend. It was only in retrospect years later, when I thought about how things soured with that girl at work later on, that I realized that she might have been hinting that I take her to see Billy Joel on a date. But I was a pretty naive 17-year-old...that really didn't cross my mind at the time. My dad might have hinted at it, saying something like, "Are you sure she wasn't expecting to go with you?" But I was convinced that since I had paid her for the tickets her role was solely as middleman. Yikes. What a dope.

Anyway, the event was great for two reasons: 1) often Billy Joel played songs that he didn't normally perform live (he played a good chunk of 'The Nylon Curtain' album at this show. I know because at the time I kept a journal of events I attended, and I wrote about this show. That's also how I could so easily still find the ticket stub you see below.). He also played songs like 'Vienna' and 'Summer, Highland Falls'. 2) It allowed Billy Joel's personality to show through. He always comes across like a genuinely down-to-earth performer, and he is quite funny. The Q&A performances, to mostly young audiences, allow this side of him to shine through more than stadium concerts, I think.

And they also allow for situations like this: I was checking out his website recently, as I do every so often in hopes that there might be an announcement about new music, and came across a video from a Q&A he did at Vanderbilt at the end of January. In it, a student asks if he can accompany Billy Joel on "New York State of Mind"...and he says yes. So I'm going to stretch 'new' a bit and call this new music. (If you think that's a stretch for a New Thing, go with this instead - I think the old me would have been insanely jealous of this kid who got to play the piano with Billy Joel...but I'm going to be big and give you this link to check it out...and I'll admit that he's a really good piano player.)

I don't think I can embed this video, so I'll just send you over to the site with this link. Enjoy.

New Thing #56: New York Girl

Todd Kramer is not a new artist to me. For me, this week's New Thing is his new music : He just released two songs - "New York Girl" and "We're Not Communicating".

I'm hoping this week's music entry introduces you to Todd Kramer.

Actually, I'm hoping to use this space to every so often support musician friends of my brother.

I think my brother is extremely talented - you probably know that already. Perhaps, if he does something new this year, I'll feature him on a Music Monday.

What impresses me as much - maybe even more -  is the collegiality shown by my brother and the people he has met in the music world.

I expected it would be cutthroat - everyone out for themselves. But I'm blown away by how supportive they all are of each other.

So in that spirit, I present to you the music of Todd Kramer.

I can't remember the first time I saw Kramer perform. He plays the New York scene, so it could have been that he played before my brother one time that I saw Matt play. But the more I think about it, the more I think I saw Todd Kramer at a show he and Matt did together in Boston.

It was upbeat - always a plus for me - and I remember immediately liking his music.

Then I saw him perform at an open mic in Queens - he's good. (Actually, I can't believe the talent level of all the musicians my brother hangs out with.)

This week Todd released the two new songs I mentioned above - you can check out all of his music, including the new ones, on his website.

If you like what you hear - and I'm betting that you will - name your price and buy it here.

Todd's on Twitter @tlkramer. And if it matters to you - he's a heck of a nice guy. He has a bunch of shows coming up...get out and support him if you can. And my brother too.

New Thing #49: NPR Music

One of the things my brother suggested to me when I first mentioned I was going to try to listen to something new musically each week was that I should follow NPR's All Songs Considered on Twitter for some ideas. (Well, that was a long sentence.)

This week, Monday kind of snuck up on me without much new music exposure.

So, remembering his advice, I clicked over to NPR's web site and clicked the 'Music' tab to see if there might be something there to help me out.

There was.

There's an occasional entry there called 'Heavy Rotation', with 5 suggestions from public radio music experts.

This week featured 2 slow-paced songs, 1 rap, a faster-paced pop song, and another song that I think featured a Zimbabwean thumb piano. All from artists I had never heard before.

So instead of just one new music experience this week, I had five. The rap was nothing special, the slow songs were OK (though Miranda Dodson, who sang one of the slower ones, definitely reminded me of someone that I can't immediately place and it was probably my favorite of the five songs), the thumb piano one was unique and it was fine, and I wanted to like the pop-py song but it was just OK.

So none of the songs will stick beyond the couple of listens I gave them over the weekend.

But I gained a new source for some new music.

A couple of things about that: Do you ever get overwhelmed by the internet? I do. It's just so massive, and sometimes I feel like I lose direction and freeze wondering where to go to next, so I just get in the habit of visiting two or three sites and that's it.  But now I can maybe mix the NPR Music site into that rotation, so I can look at their Heavy Rotation suggestions.

And then this on NPR - I should probably listen to it more. Sometimes I think I'm the only one who doesn't. I got into a groove for a little while when one of my good friends worked there, and I figured I owed it to him to know what he was doing for a living. And while I did I felt like I belonged to an exclusive little club. But then he left there, and I stopped listening, and my only relationship to NPR is listening to affiliated podcasts. But there's a lot of good listening happening on NPR, isn't there? At least for current events? I guess maybe I should get back into it. Maybe it would make me smarter.

***UPDATE*** - So this is kind of coincidental. Remember back when Music Monday debuted with New Thing #7 - The Modern Lovers? Well, Sunday in the Boston Globe there was an article about how a couple of Massachusetts lawmakers are moving to make 'Roadrunner' an official state song. I told Justin and he suspected they read my post, which spurred the action. Well, obviously.

New Thing #42: Mates of State

I maybe shouldn't call this entry "Mates of State", because I'm not exactly looking at the band as a whole. But I am talking about them in a little bit more of a global way than just focusing on the one song I really enjoyed, so I'm keeping it that way.

The song is called "My Only Offer", and it's very good. (I've included the video at the end of this post.)

I get the impression, though, that I'd like other songs from the duo.

A couple of things: I'm not sure I'm allowed to use the picture I've used for this post, but I figure if I plug the band's site - matesofstate.com - and send you there to buy a poster of it if you like it (I really liked it, which is why I used it), maybe all will even out. You can also go to the site to find out more about the band - you'll definitely learn more there than here.

All I know is that I think they hail from Kansas, but live now in Connecticut, and started out more than a decade ago. They're a guy and a girl and they formed their band when it seems like they were dating, and then got married not too much later. (Or they started dating after they started playing together, and unlike the script of most musical acts who follow that path they've stayed together.) They've been married since 2001. I kind of like that. I imagine it might be the best thing in the world to be touring and performing with your spouse, but it might also be the worst thing in the world. I hope it works out for them. I find them likable.

This 'Music Monday' is a Justin suggestion - he told me to check out "My Only Offer" and "Rearranger", off the album "Re-Arrange Us". "Rearranger" ("Re-Arranger"?) was good, but I really liked "My Only Offer". Justin doesn't know much more about 'Mates of State' than I do. He had told a friend that he liked the 'Juno' soundtrack, and a friend suggested some music he also might like, and 'Mates of State' was included in that music.

So that's it. I could see myself pursuing these two beyond this one song. There's a solid keyboard sound - I always like that. But for now, here's that one song:

New Thing #35: One Way Trigger

I hope you have 4 minutes and 2 seconds. Because you need to go over to the website for the Strokes and listen to their new single, "One Way Trigger".

Go ahead, I'll wait.

Then when you come back click below to continue reading and we'll discuss further.

This is another 'Music Monday' suggestion from my brother: "I think you'd really like the Strokes' new song," he wrote.

His description nails it:

"It's A-Ha meets Keane."

He's right. That hook (I think it's called a hook - the catchy part? I think I saw my brother tweet something about the "hook") reminds you of "Take On Me", A-Ha's 1980's hit (1985?). And the rising lyrics definitely have a 'Hopes & Fears' Keane sound...maybe from "Everybody's Changing".

I know little about the Strokes. I know they're from England, and they date back to the late 1990's. But I don't know if I've ever heard any of their other songs.

The album that includes "One Way Trigger" will be the band's fifth and it's due out this year. I don't know if it'll feature anything as catchy as this song.

But I know this: my brother was right. I really like the Strokes' new song.

New Thing #28: The Lone Bellow

My brother first forwarded me a YouTube video of The Lone Bellow on January 15th. Accompanying the video was a text:

"The Lone Bellow are blowing up. New band. Lots of great reviews. You might enjoy them."

He told me they were getting a lot of love in New York - WFUV was playing them a lot, and a video (the aforementioned YouTube video) was going viral.

My brother knows good music, and he knows my tastes.

So I put The Lone Bellow on my radar for a Music Monday.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

This past week The Lone Bellow performed on Conan, which makes the timing of my brother's note to me pretty spot-on - I would imagine that's about when Conan's show might have booked them. (It also turns out their appearance was the day their album became available.)

They've apparently also been getting quite a bit of press - appearances in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, and Esquire dot their Facebook page. (And apparently Esquire does a Music Monday too. I'm not going to worry about it...I'm sure there are a zillion Music Mondays, because Sonorous Saturdays just doesn't work as well.)

It seems like "You Never Need Nobody" is the big hit right now, but YouTube has a couple of other songs to check out.

I don't know much else about them because their web page is pretty terrible. It's just a picture of the band with links to their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube pages.  I'm going to go ahead and assume it's still under development - because if you're going to hit it big and someone like me wants to know where you're from and all that, someone like me would expect to be able to find that information on your web page.

They're called country, gospel - it's good. It's new. I don't know if I'll buy the album - it's not exactly my favorite kind of music. But I'm glad I know about them.

Here's the video of them on Conan from January 22nd. And here's the first video I saw that my brother sent me:

New Thing #21: The Lumineers

I think lately I have a "type" when it comes to musical taste. I like something really upbeat, something happy.

I didn't know what to expect from The Lumineers album other than the fact that I liked "Ho Hey" a lot.

But as it turned out, it wasn't all that different from Mumford & Sons, which I wrote about a week ago.

Which is a long way of saying: I like the album.

I have a few things to say about The Lumineers' eponymous album. (I'm so glad I got to use the word 'eponymous'!) One is that other than the catchiness, Mumford & Sons was not the first band that comes to mind when I heard the album - there are more direct parallels than that. The closest comparison, I think, that I can make is David Gray. Very similar singing voices there. Musically, they remind me a lot of my brother, actually, and it reinforced my belief that his music is better than good and would be enjoyed by a wider audience than currently exists. (But it's growing. He'll be fine. And while we're at it - click here, watch his video, and click "Support Now" to help get him a wider audience. Maybe you'll have more success than I did trying to support him - the 'support' link wasn't working for me. Thank you for helping out.)

Back to The Lumineers: Besides "Ho Hey" there are a number of good songs on the album - I particularly like "Submarines", "Stubborn Love", "Big Parade", and "Dead Sea". (I didn't even realize the timeliness of The Lumineers for this "Music Monday". They performed on 'Saturday Night Live' this week, and in addition to "Ho Hey" they played "Stubborn Love". They were good live too.)

There's a really raw feeling to the album. It's definitely not over-produced, but it seems like they went out of their way to make it sound simple. You can kind of hear that when you hear "Ho Hey" on the radio - there's background noise. There are a few of those instances on the album. It works. It makes you feel like you're listening to the band at some music hall.

This is exactly what I was hoping would happen with '365 New Things In 2013' and  the "Music Monday" aspect of that venture - I think I have a new favorite band. I'm bummed I didn't get this album in time to go to their show in Boston in early February, but at least now I know to keep an eye out for the next time they're in town. I definitely want to see them live.

**Side note: I think the first time I heard "Ho Hey" might have been in the commercials for 'Silver Linings Playbook' back when that movie first came out. (Then I think I started hearing it on the radio.) But I bet the song has nothing to do with the movie, and isn't even on the soundtrack. (Do they still make soundtracks?) I remember this happening a lot in the past 20 years or so...and weirdly, I feel like 'Twister' used a really good song in its commercials that had nothing to do with the movie. I wonder what the deal is there where a company decides to use a song to help promote a movie but then they part ways and have nothing to do with one another. It's mutually beneficial I'm sure. Of course, I haven't seen 'Silver Linings Playbook' yet, so it may be in there and this whole point is moot. But I hope you get my point and I'm not the only one noticing this. Anyway. I also like The Lumineers' website. Check it out - I endorse this band.

New Thing #14: Mumford & Sons (Babel)

I think it's safe to say at this point that I'll like anything by Mumford & Sons that makes it onto the radio. I'd bet most people do - it's catchy stuff.

Makes you want to get up and dance or tap your foot or something like that.

I suppose a whole album can't be that good.

But I'd still recommend their latest.

Before we talk about 'Babel', the new Mumford & Sons album (well, it's been out for a while, but I just listened to it, hence "New Thing #14"), let's talk about 'Sigh No More', the last Mumford & Sons album. It's a pretty high bar they've set for themselves. That's a pretty good first 4-5 songs, and I absolutely love the first 4, followed by "Little Lion Man", which I think was their first hit, at Track #7.

'Babel' has almost more of an up-tempo feel throughout the album (the title track is, like the last album, the first song on the album. I wonder how often that happens. And, like the song 'Sigh No More', 'Babel' the song is pretty good.), and it also has a strong first 7 or so songs.

Among those first 7 is "I Will Wait", easily my favorite Mumford & Songs song. (I've heard it countless times and I still can't figure out all the words. I wonder if that's due to their style or me getting older?) I think "I Will Wait" sounds even better in the context of the album than by itself. There's an interesting thing about 'Babel' - many of the songs are linked. There's a hum (I'm sure there's a better musical term here, but I'll use 'hum'...or 'undertone'. Is that a thing?) that builds up at the end of one song and blends right into the next. It's not constant, but there's definitely a strong flow to the album. If you're just listening without looking at the switching of tracks you can't really tell when one song ends and another one begins. Sometimes I think that's a bad thing...but on this album it's great.

"Lover of the Light" is also a good one - that's the new single. At least, I'm pretty sure I heard it on the radio before I heard it here.

And an unexpected surprise - a cover (which the description says features Paul Simon, though I couldn't pick him out on the song) of Simon's "The Boxer" - one of three bonus tracks.

I like Mumford & Sons. I like this album. Take it for what it's worth.

New Thing #7: The Modern Lovers

Each week on Monday I'm hoping to talk about some new music I've encountered along this journey of '365 New Things In 2013'. It may be brand-new music, or a brand-new band. It could be a single, it could be an entire album. It may be something that's been around forever that I've never heard before.

This week it's a band that I didn't know anything about, and it's perfect for a number of reasons as a kick-off for 'Music Monday'.

I'm going to be relying on some outside help for 52 weeks' worth of new music to write about.

One person I'll be turning to often will be my brother, a musician in his own right.

Another person whose judgment in music I trust is my friend Justin. Allow me to give you some background: Justin and I met as freshmen at Boston University. I think our first encounter happened at a meeting for the college radio station, and we paired up to do a sports show. Eventually that led to us also co-hosting a music show. My musical tastes were very narrow back then, and Justin exposed me to a lot of music then that it would be embarrassing for me not to know of now.

And now he'll do it again.

When I asked him for ideas his first suggestion was for me to go to YouTube and look up "Roadrunner" by the Modern Lovers. He calls it his favorite song to put on when he's leaving the house. "It's a great 'first song of a walk' song," he says.

So here's a little bit about the Modern Lovers, pieced together from a little research I've done and what Justin has told me:

They're a Boston band, and the great majority of their lyrics makes references to the greater Boston area. (And that's where I met Justin, so that's part of why it's perfect for this occasion!)

The lead singer and main songwriter is Jonathan Richman. Justin tells me he's also "the guy with the guitar who showed up from time to time in 'There's Something About Mary'." Wikipedia tells me he grew up in Natick, Massachusetts, which is the town that neighbors Framingham, where I now live. (Yet another reason this is a perfect starting point for Music Monday!)

The band recorded one album in their original time together from 1970-1974, the label didn't like it, dropped the band, and the band broke up. A couple of years later someone else at the label heard the album, loved it, and decided to release it. The record did OK, but the band no longer existed - one guy joined 'The Talking Heads', another co-founded 'The Cars'. "It's like this one perfect moment in time that was never recreated," describes Justin.

So that's The Modern Lovers. Justin also suggested I listen to a few of their other songs: 'Pablo Picasso', 'Government Center', and 'Modern World'.  ('Modern World' includes references to Boston University.) I don't love the songs (although a couple, after repeated listenings, definitely were growing on me), but I certainly don't hate them.

I learned something new about music, though, and that's the point. I wanted to share with you the video for 'Modern World' - it's from 1976, and it shows scenes from around Boston at the time. I'm a little obsessed with Boston before I lived up here. I was transfixed by it, and the song's not bad: