Sarah Jaffe

I saw Sarah Jaffe in concert last night, the video above I shot along with two others. I embedded Even Born Again because it is the most indicative of the three to what you should expect with most of her music. It is the title track of her 2008 EP, which was recently reissued digitally and on CD. I was thrilled to pick up a vinyl copy of the EP, because (1) I had never heard the EP and had considered buying it on Amazon, (2) had no clue it even existed on vinyl, and can find no mention of the vinyl anywhere online, and (3) it is a limited edition dated 2009 and hand-numbered 251/500. The vinyl itself is a gorgeous earth-tones marble swirl.

I became aware of Sarah Jaffe last spring with the released of her debut LP, Suburban Nature. I ranked it my #10 album of 2010. She blew away my expectations of what her concert would be like, as I assumed she would play solo with an acoustic guitar. Her studio tracks are relatively mellow, but live she rocked, partially due to a full backing band. She had a keyboardist, bassist, and drummer, all of whom also sang background vocals. I was surprised to see Jaffe switch instruments; first for the bass (as you will see in this video I filmed) and then for drums! (as you can see in this video I shot). I found an interview today from about six months ago about how last year she bought a bass and drum set with the intention of incorporating them into her live show.

Not only did the show rock more than I expected, it was much more quirky. The song she played drums on was a Harry Nilsson cover, Me and My Arrow. And then a couple of the newer songs she played were far more up-tempo and experimental than what she has released thus far. A Sucker for Your Marketing will be on an upcoming EP, set to release in August. (...Arrow and ...Marketing are the two other videos I shot.) Jaffe worked her own merch table and I was able to talk to her after the show. She said they are working on the finishing touches of the artwork for the new EP and then will have a release date.

Sarah was gracious, humble, and funny. She was able to perform for about 40 minutes as the opener for Centro-Matic. She played her most well-known song, Clementine, and here is a terrific live video of that song from earlier this year: Paste at SXSW: [Video] Sarah Jaffe :: Featured Videos

Lastly, I had not been the Earl since 1999, when I saw Luxury there. The venue leaves a lot to be desired. Number one, it is almost impossible to identify from the street. Secondly, after you find it, when you walk in, you assume you are in the wrong place because all you see is a restaurant. After you make your way to the back you will find yourself in a small, smoky room with poor lighting and poor sound. The Gum Creek Killers opened. I had never heard of them, they were good musicians but not my style. The crowd was surprisingly small, but did grow a little by the time Jaffe started. It was apparent that most of the people there were huge Centro-Matic fans. I had never even heard of the band until a month ago when I was researching this show. They have been around for over 15 years and have more than one release per year during that time. I was curious but only stayed for the first song as it was already 11:15 p.m.

Watch some other excellent Sarah Jaffe videos on Kirtland Records' Vimeo page.

Paranoid Android

Wow.

Adam Again & Gene Eugene

If you were ever a fan of Adam Again or into the Christian underground scene at all in the 80's and 90's, you should watch this short (26 min.) documentary. It reminded me how much I loved the band and Gene Eugune in general. The number of artists he produced, worked with, inspired, etc. is unreal.


WORLDWIDE {film}| ROUGH CUT 2000 from Eden Z Films | Todd Zeller on Vimeo.

Mates of State & Coldplay

The biggest news first: Mates of State will release a new album, Mountaintops, on 9/13 via Barsuk. Check the tracklist out below. So that means the bands that are currently #1 and #3 in my Last.fm stats are going to release albums a week from one another in September (Thrice- Major/Minor is the other); going to be some auditory overload!

01. Palomino
02. Maracas
03. Sway
04. Unless I'm Led
05. Total Serendipity
06. Basement Money
07. At Least I Have You
08. Desire
09. Change10. Mistakes

Secondly, Coldplay has a new single, and some guy did a mash-up of of it with an old Mates of State song ("Goods"). So you've got three videos below:

1. Mates of State/Coldplay mash-up

2. Mates of State- Goods

3. Coldplay- Every Teardrop is a Waterfall

Thrice- Major/Minor

4th Installment of "In Studio" videos from Official Thrice on Vimeo.


I posted the first installment, skipped the 2nd and 3rd, here is the 4th (but watch the other two if you haven't already). Besides being interesting, it gives some new, important information. The album title is "Major/Minor" and the due date is September 20!

Thrice studio update

The audio song clips are all old songs, but you get great insight with the interviews. Album due out Fall 2011.


Studio Video #1 from Official Thrice on Vimeo.

Sleigh Bells and Freelance Whales

Two of my top 6 albums of 2010 are both $3.99 right now on Amazon. Get 'em if you haven't already!

My blog's all-time page views, and Sixpence

Blogger now provides stats in which one can see which posts have been viewed the most. Here are my top 5:
1. Sixpence None the Richer- Strange Conversation 941 views
2. Best of 2010 512 views
3. Appleseed Cast- Middle States preview 476 views
4. Best of 1997 357 views
5. Chris Simpson interview 357 views

So back to that #1 post. What is interesting is that there is little or no content to it. But people are that desperate for information regarding Sixpence None the Richer's unreleased and delayed album, Strange Conversation. But there is no new information. Original release date was August, 24 2010. Second release date was March 8, 2011. What is the current release date? No idea. It was recorded over one year ago.

Leigh Nash posted this on her Twitter two weeks ago (March 28): Very good news on the Sixpence front today. Should have a release date very soon:). But she has not announced the date. So all that to say, I don't know anything.

New Death Cab and Manchester Orchestra tracks

The albums aren't out yet, but here are two songs from each band you can stream. I recently commented on my mixed feelings for Death Cab, and I have even more intense mixed feelings for Manchester Orchestra. I saw them in concert about a year ago and honestly it was a horrendous experience. I liked most of the songs, but the antics and stage presence of the band, especially frontman Andy Hull, were practically intolerable. However, their albums are very good and I am impressed by the first two songs released from Simple Math.

DEATH CAB for CUTIE - Home Is A Fire by ATL REC.

DEATH CAB for CUTIE - You Are A Tourist [Album Version] by ATL REC.

April Fool by Manchester Orchestra

Simple Math by Manchester Orchestra

New Blindside single streaming today...