Category: helloMike

Old Things That Are New To Me: Treat Your Mother Right

Tonight I was watching last night’s Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien and in a joke about NASA accidentally taping over the original tape of the moonlanding, they showed a brief clip of this beauty:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_rBidCkJxo[/youtube]

I don’t know what else I can say about this. It’s amazing. The end.

I Used To Hate This Song: Wilco’s ‘You And I’

…Now I kinda like it. This is one of my favorite quotes from the movie High Fidelity, still one of my favorite movies. Obviously, these are the words of record store owner Rob Gordon (played by John Cusack) as he admits to his ultra-hip music snob friends that he might actually be enjoying Peter Frampton’s “Baby I Love Your Way” — a song he used to once loathe.

When I first heard Wilco’s “You And I,” a new tune featuring Feist on the latest record Wilco (The Album), I felt it was easily one of the most blandly treated songs in the band’s repertoire. On paper, this song — in which Jeff Tweedy and Leslie Feist coo a sweet duet to each other — seemed like a no brainer; a surefire win. What’s not to like?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USjuOWLyWIQ[/youtube]

To be honest, my first impressions were no doubt soiled (unfairly perhaps) by high expectations of what I want a Wilco album to sound like. This is now second Wilco album that, while a sturdy and and generally “good” record, seemed to fall a bit flat for me. It could be argued that the band’s stellar live concerts — with the band’s virtuosic musicianship and instrumental prowess and high energy — has become the best way to experience the band. It could also be argued that what I want from Wilco, may not be what Wilco wants from Wilco anymore.

The Album finds the band for the most part still in a relaxed mode, playing good, unfussy songs well. But it’s a far cry from the deconstructionist rock I fell in love with.

“You And I” in particular, at least on first listens, jumped out by not jumping out at all. It’s certainly the most calculated and straight-ahead song on the record: not offensive or even particularly bad, but dull.

But then I caught a couple homemade videos on YouTube of Feist sitting in with Wilco on tour to perform the song. And again, this past week, they took the song on the Late Show, playing the song for David Letterman:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4NPMjmZ-5A&hl[/youtube]

Suddenly, I was noticing fragments of the song’s melodies rattling around in my head and began to wonder if there was more to this song than I had thought. I looked up the song’s chords online, worked up the song on guitar within an hour — still is a really simple and unfussy song structure — and found that I really loved the chord progression.

The best part of the song to me is the bridge (mistakenly labeled as the “chorus” in that chord sheet link), where the song has brief, and subtle key change:

F Fmaj7
Oh, I don’t wanna know
Em
Oh, I don’t wanna know
C Am9
Oh, I don’t need to know everything about you
F Fmaj7
Oh I don’t wanna know and
C Bb Am Dm G6 G7
You don’t need to know that much about me

That C > Bb > Am > Dm > G6 > G7 progression fits just perfectly and truly makes the song for me. My only wish is that they would play that section more than once. Oh well.

Over the last few days, I’ve decided that “You And I” may be one of the best “songs” on the records. Even if the rather glossy production and uninteresting instrumentation might paint the song as a bit tepid sonically, I think there is something to be said about the overall restraint in the melodies, the beauty of Feist and Tweedy’s vocals and the way the chords snugly fit together. Well done Tweedy, well done.

Reblogging: Jazz Labels That Matter And The Dead Weather

I had a few more things I’ve written go up in the last week to shamelessly promote. Here’s a three bulleted rundown:

On Monday, All Songs Considered asked the question ‘Do Labels Matter?‘ While they discussed that in their show and blog, I helped spotlight two jazz labels that DO still matter for A Blog Supreme: Tzadik and Nonesuch.

Then today, we put up a ‘First Listen’ for The Dead Weather’s fiery new album Horehound. You can hear that here and read what I had to say about the record.

Here is the video for their single “Treat Me Like Your Mother:”

The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother

Oh and if you haven’t checked out my John Vanderslice review on Song of the Day, here it is again.

Best Video* I’ve Seen All Day — Secret Agent Caper Edition

(part 703 in a 1001 part series)

*I’m fudging a little with my original concept of ‘Best Song’ I’ve heard all day, because really, this video outweighs the song for me. But what the hell…

I came across this great new video for Jenny Lewis’ song “See Fernando” from last year’s album Acid Tongue. Never really got into that record compared to her first solo effort Rabbit Fur Coat, but this song really works in this context. It’s a fun little homage to those old 1960’s spy action caper movies and tv shows.

Jenny Lewis “See Fernando” from Team G on Vimeo.

Nice little cameo from the lovely Watson Twins as well.

Reblogging: A Remembrance, A Weird Sax, And A Song For America

Again, I have a few new things go up this week on NPR:

For NPR’s jazz blog, A Blog Supreme, I wrote a quick blurb about Kansas City artist and musician Mark Southerland, and his incredibly weird saxophone creations.

I also wrote a remembrance of jazz bass legend Ray Brown, who died July 2nd 2002, seven years ago today.

And finally, I shine a spotlight on a song by Talking Heads in honor of the Fourth of July.

Best Song I’ve Heard All Day — Llama Edition

(part 687 in a 1001 part series)

I’ve really been enjoying the new album by Dirty Projectors, Bitte Orca. It’s a complicated and challenging record, but the complexities are rewarding if you spend some time with these songs.

Take a listen to one of the highlights “Stillness Is the Move” and watch this great new video directed by Matthew Lessner.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMPF6lpM0XM[/youtube]

*Note: You may or may not recall that I first covered Dirty Projectors in 2007 in this Song of the Day review.

Talk Show Music Roundup

Lately, I seem to have gotten back into the routine of watching late night talk shows again. Not sure if it’s because of Conan taking over the Tonight Show, the Roots serving as house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon or just a recent string of good musical guests, but there have been some incredible bookings of late.

Here is a quick rundown of a few from just the last week:

The Dead Weather on Conan O’Brien:

Elvis Costello on Conan:

Wilco on Conan:

Sonic Youth on Jimmy Fallon:

St. Vincent on Letterman:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGG6ukPDgVA[/youtube]

and even The Roots themselves debuted a new song on Fallon:

Reblogging: Icons and Record Club

Had a couple new things go up on the NPR blogs in the last week or two, but thought I’d continue to share them here as well.

Last week, I interviewed the filmmakers behind a fantastic new jazz documentary Icons Among Us. In part one, I talked with one of the co-directors Michael Rivoira for NPR’s jazz blog, A Blog Supreme.

In part two, I talk with the executive producer, John Comerford.

On the All Songs Considered blog I wrote a quick bit about a new Beck project, where he and bunch of musicians and friends will start covering albums in their entirety, starting with the classic The Velvet Underground and Nico. You can read that, and see the first song “Sunday Morning” here.

Since I heard Beck cover this song, I have been revisiting this album, and even learning to play “Sunday Morning.” It’s such a great simple pop song. Check out this cool, rare footage video of an early version of the song:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cWzxJvgWc8[/youtube]

UPDATE 6/26: Beck has posted the second song from The Velvet Underground and Nico, “Waiting For My Man:”