You've Got the Perfect Disguise and You're Looking Okay

As far as a lot of people are concerned, The Moon and Antarctica is the ultimate in Modest Mouse. I'm not entirely sure I agree (I'm a Lonesome Crowded West man myself), but there's no denying that it's a great record. It's mighty hard to argue with a song like "The Stars are Projectors." But that's not what that post is about, mostly because I can't find a version of it I feel comfortable posting.

However, I do have a pretty clean version of one of the record's other great songs, the opener, "3rd Planet". This was done for KVRX, the student station at UT-Austin. One time I went scavenging in their archives and found all sorts of great stuff; this MM set was one of the highlights. Can't quite figure the date, but I would guess 2000-ish. It's not quite on par with the album version but it's a) legal and b) still pretty good. You should buy the album anyway. Enjoy.

Modest Mouse - 3rd Planet (live on KVRX)

And Now That I'm in Your Shadow

I have heard good things about Damien Jurado for a long time, but for some reason, I never really made much of an effort to check out his music until recently. I had no idea what I was missing. Simply put, Jurado is a great songwriter with a unique voice and a range of stylistic abilities. Probably my favorite record of his of the ones I've heard to date is 2006's And Now That I'm in Your Shadow, available on Secretly Canadian.

The record is mostly acoustic, with singer-songwriter, folk, and traces of country influences. Here is the title track, a slow, brooding number of the sort that regular readers of this blog will know I tend to favor.

Damien Jurado - And Now That I'm in Your Shadow

Jurado was just on tour in Europe, and has no further dates scheduled for the time being. I'm hoping for some east coast dates at some point, as I'd like to check out his live show myself.

YouTube Roundup II

This was supposed to be a regular feature, but then I got lazy.

First up, King Crimson circa 1982 on The Old Grey Whistle Test:


Next, the ever-awesome Ted Leo rocking an acoustic "Me and Mia", which is a fantastic song even stripped to its barest elements:


And, much like last time, a video shot live at the Current, which is even better than the one I posted last time around. Low, performing "Murderer". The live version is much better than the studio version (and I like the studio version).

I Know There's Pain Inside that Truth

From about 13-17 years old, Our Lady Peace were one of my favorite bands. Those of you only familiar with their output over the last five plus years might wonder why I wouldn't keep that to myself. However, prior to guitarist Mike Turner's departure during the recording of Bob Rock-produced pop atrocity Gravity, they were one of the most innovative bands in mainstream rock.

Consider "Clumsy", their first single to receive significant US radio play, (at least as best as I can remember). Stylistically, it's not that far removed from a lot of post-grunge pop-rock. However, it certainly has some weird touches. The spooky piano intro and somewhat violent lyrics, for instance. And it's a great, great song.

Or consider "Happiness is Not a Fish that You Can Catch", their followup, when they really came into their own. The nearly atonal guitar solo on "One Many Army", the pop breakout hit "Is Anybody Home?" (strangely enough), drumming by late jazz legend Elvin Jones on "Stealing Babies." Great songs, all.

In fact, they were good up through Gravity. Even that had some good songs, despite the lame Bob "Black Album" Rock (over)production. But that was certainly the beginning of the end.

Anyway, here is a drastically different alternate live take on "Julia", from their first record, Naveed. I've had this for years, and I don't think it's super well circulated, but it's definitely worth a listen.

Our Lady Peace - Naveed (alternate live version)

We Tried to Reach Beyond the Emptiness, but Neither One Knew How

Here's a little seasonal depression / New Years-related music for you. Somehow I totally missed this, but the great songwriter Dan Fogelberg died a couple weeks back of prostate cancer. My father is a big fan of Fogelberg's work, so I first heard his music when I was very young. He is best known for the classic "Same Old Lang Syne," which it turns out was about 99% a true story. It's a song about two former lovers who meet in a grocery store and remember what they loved about one another, basically. It's an incredibly powerful song, partly because of its melody, which is based on Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Here are a couple good versions of it I yanked from YouTube. This first one is a fairly recent solo performance. He takes some liberties with the melody in the chorus that I can't say I love in this one, but it has the advantage of being played on a real piano.



The second one is older, from 1991. It's a little truer to the album version, but is played on a cheesy electric piano that I can't say I'm a big fan of.

David Broderick

My e-quaintance (ha!) David Broderick asked me to give his band a shout-out here, and so I shall. He's a few years younger than me and his recordings sound a lot better than mine. And he sings better too. So, I'll give props where props are due. Plus, I really dig his song "Give a Hand." You'd think I'd have some more info on this matter, but you'd be wrong. Here is what I do know: he lives in Denton, Texas and isn't touring right now. You can check out his music on MySpace here. Anyway, enjoy.

Yes, There Is Something You Can Send Back to Me

I am a big fan of Ida. I have posted about this fact before here. Just like the last time I posted, there isn't much going on with them as far as I can tell. They had a new song in Esopus magazine a few months back. I didn't hear it, but it happened. They also played some shows in NY back in November, but nothing much since then. No word on a new record for the time being.

Anyway, the other day I was poking around to see if I could find any covers of "Boots of Spanish Leather", because I've been listening to a lot of Times They Are A'Changin' lately. It's a wonderful cover, too. I'm not sure why they decided not to divide the verses up between them, since the lyrics are in the voice of a man and a woman, but nonetheless. Some very nice harmony, singing, and playing. Seems to be from this tribute album, which is apparently out of print. Anyway, enjoy.

Ida - Boots of Spanish Leather