Pavement @ Rumsey Playfield in Central Park 9/23/2010
Grounded / Gold Soundz / Silent Kid / Date With IKEA / Unfair / Spit On A Stranger / Rattled By The Rush / Stereo / Loretta’s Scars / Frontwards / Stop Breathin’ / Shoot The Singer / Trigger Cut / Cut Your Hair / Fight This Generation / Two States / Fin / Summer Babe / She Believes / Range Life // Kennel District / Shady Lane / Starlings of the Slipstream / Our Singer / Heckler Spray - Mellow Jazz Docent tease / In The Mouth A Desert / We Dance / Box Elder

Sunday was the warm-up, Tuesday was the classic, Wednesday was the rain night, and this…this was the weird show. Malkmus was in an odd mood — lower energy than the past few nights, a little cranky, a little sloppy — but it came together, especially as the set went on and things became more loose and goofy. I appreciate that each of these shows has had its own character, that I’m seeing different types of Pavement concerts. Ultimately, this was the kind of show the band is best known for. Even if this wasn’t them at their very best, it was a very good and entertaining show with some very memorable and emotional moments tossed in with lots of self-deprecating jokes from Malkmus, especially silly antics from Bob, and a noticeably dark tone in the improvised sequences.

Pavement - “Our Singer” “Our Singer” was very rarely played in the old days; it only just came back to the sets in the final weeks of this reunion tour. When it’s performed, it’s just Malkmus and Steve West, and in last night’s performance, Spiral and Bob walked on for a couple shouts. This was one of the best and most moving performances of the week, spare and loose but very much in touch with the raw, anxious emotion at the heart of the song. A lot of songs from the Slanted & Enchanted era are about waiting for things to happen or bracing for potential failure; “Our Singer” is the one that puts that theme front and center without doing anything to obscure the point. There’s a lot of hope in the lyrics, a feeling that he’s right on the cusp of something worthwhile even when he’s singing “I’ve dreamt of this but it never comes.” I’ve always thought of this song as music for the dawn, alert and awake and about to face the day. Maybe it’s the day. Maybe it’s just another day. You never get a sense of the stakes. That sounds true to me.

Buy it from Amazon.

Elsewhere, I did a chat interview with NPR’s Jacob Ganz about these reunion shows over at The Record blog.

Of Montreal visits The Current studio for an interview and live performance.

The Wall Street Journal offers a field guide to live music online.

The Herald profiles singer-songwriter Caitlin Rose.

There are all sorts of influences swirling around in Rose’s songs – 70s AOR, indie-folk, 60s girl-pop – but there’s little doubt that country music runs in her blood. That much was clear from the moment she first popped up on the radar late last year with the Dead Flowers EP. Featuring a sparse but faithful cover of Cline’s Three Cigarettes in an Ashtray, it suggested that this was someone who instinctively knew her way around the dusty heartlands of old-time country.

WalletPop interviews singer-songwriter Aimee Mann about making a living as an indie musician.

The Boston Globe profiles singer-songwriter Amelia Emmet, who performs under the moniker of Mr. Sister.

Emmet performs as Mr. Sister, whose dark-hearted songs sound like they could have been released yesterday or nearly 60 years ago on Harry Smith's "Anthology of American Folk Music."

Stream the new Baseball Project song, "Don't Call Them the Twinkies," which features vocals by Craig Finn of the Hold Steady.

Wikipedia's comparison of online digital music stores.

Adam CK VollickWhen it was announced that Neil Young was working with Daniel Lanois on a new record, you couldn’t help but pay attention. Not only did you have two Canadian musical icons working together for the first time, but Lanois was behind records that rejuvenated more than a few legendary careers, including those of Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris. Whether Young’s career – 40 years old and defined by numerous artistic swerves – needed rejuvenation is another matter but the fruits of his collaboration with Lanois, entitled Le Noise and out next Tuesday, will certainly stand as an interesting addition to his catalog.

It’s a solo record in the purest sense, featuring Young and Young alone on acoustic and electric guitar and perhaps due to the stripped down aesthetic and recording in his own home, it finds him sounding particularly introspective and vulnerable. Lanois mainly makes his presence felt in the post-production, looping Young’s parts over themselves, adding delays and reverbs and generally adding his sonic signature. Initial listens might leave even long-time Young fans used to his twists and turns a bit disoriented – “Angry World” is the most bent track on the record and was, of course, the first released taste – but it doesn’t take long to find one’s footing and appreciate one of the more interesting and revealing works he’s turned out in recent years.

NPR is streaming Le Noise right now, and over the past week, there’s been a number of fittingly lo-fi videos released for some of the songs; I suspect we can expect more before they’re done. The Los Angeles Times has a photo gallery of Neil Young through the years.

Video: Neil Young – “Walk With Me”
Video: Neil Young – “Hitchhiker”
Video: Neil Young – “Angry World”
Stream: Neil Young / Le Noise

Look at What the Light Did Now is a documentary about the making of Feist’s last record The Reminder. It will premiere at Pop Montreal in a couple weeks and then make a circuit of festivals and special screenings.

Trailer: Look At What The Light Did Now

NPR is streaming a session with Sarah Harmer.

After a few delays, Woodpigeon’s Balladeer: To All The Guys I’ve Loved Before, released earlier this year as a bonus CD with Die Stadt Muzikanten, should be available on its own in both digital and vinyl editions. Also new for Woodpigeon completists (a futile quest if ever there was one) is a digital EP for “Our Love Is As Tall As The Calgary Tower” and accompanying video.

Video: Woodpigeon – “Our Love Is As Tall As The Calgary Tower”

The two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney who are not Corin Tucker have teamed with Mary Timony, ex of Helium, to form a new band called Wild Flag. There’s no fruits of their labours to hear yet but they’ve already signed to Merge and are looking to have a record out in early 2011.

Spinner continues to milk an interview with Nick Cave of Grinderman (that link is a two-fer) while Pitchfork talks to Cave and drummer Jim Sclavunos.

Clash talks cultural differences with Phoenix.

The Lightning Bug Situation - “This Body” The ghost stayed out late with friends. He came home with his cell-phone over his heart, the lawns smelling like white wine. His apartment was empty. He disrobed in the glow of the streetlight through the blinds, and as he lay in bed he realised he was still smiling.

The ghost woke up with his alarm. He stood under a cold shower. The ghost had recently fallen in love, but he had not told her yet. He bought a wholegrain muffin at the bakery, crossed the road and into the office where he worked. The ghost was a copywriter. He had two computer monitors. At lunch-time he went with some colleagues to Magpie and they shared a large margherita pizza. They did not argue over the pieces. He walked home from work through the park, watched the dogs run past him.

The ghost was sitting at home listening to Gillian Welch when he began pursuing a strange line of thought. It began with his recollection of the dogs, at the park, running raggedly past. They had not even looked at him. This was not so strange; they were running. But the ghost had this odd sense, this shadowing or premonition, that animals never looked at him. It felt like a premonition because it was something the ghost felt he was on the verge of realising, but hadn't yet. He felt himself suppressing it. He thought of Neale and Raffi's cats, and how they wove between his feet, and never looked up.

Continue reading at Said the Gramophone →

British Sea Power – “Zeus” From the band’s new Zeus EP, out 10/5 (digitally) and 10/12 (12″) on Rough Trade.

Pavement @ Rumsey Playfield, Central Park 9/22/2010
Heckler Spray / In The Mouth A Desert / Perfume-V / Trigger Cut / Unfair / Range Life / Starlings Of The Slipstream / Spizzle Trunk / Shady Lane / Fight This Generation / Summer Babe / Cut Your Hair / Kennel District / Gold Soundz / Zurich Is Stained / Stereo / [break while lightning storm clears the field] / The Hexx / Two States / Spit On A Stranger / Grounded / Silent Kid / Father To A Sister Of Thought / Stop Breathin’ / Date With IKEA / Feed ‘Em To The Lions (Linden) / Here // Conduit For Sale!

It had to rain at one of these shows, right? There was a thunder and lightning storm through the majority of this set, necessitating a 8-10 minute break after “Stereo” to let the storm pass over the park area. This was obviously not optimal conditions for the show, but it was a bonding experience for the audience, and only emboldened people’s enthusiasms. You don’t wait an entire year, eleven years, or your whole life to get put off by a bit of rain, right? The band was in good form — not as spectacular as the previous night, but still more or less in the zone. “The Hexx” and “Zurich Is Stained” were my personal highlights, though I think the most memorable moments came during major crowd-pleasers like “Stereo,” “Here”, and the triumphant, defiant version of “Conduit For Sale!” that closed out the night.

Pavement - “Conduit For Sale!” [Live in London, 12/14/1992] “Conduit” has always been one of Pavement’s great live songs. It’s one of the few that inspires a lot of thrashing about, and the only one that allows a significant spotlight for every member of the band. I still have a very vivid memory of the first time I saw them play it when I was 17. I remember Bob stalking the stage as the song shifted into the “no one’s gonna save me, no one’s gonna make me rearrange” part, and Spiral was kinda shimmying, and Malkmus was manhandling his guitar and shouting wordless exclamations after each refrain. There’s such a strange and wonderful dynamic between these very, very specific personalities, and “Conduit For Sale!” is the ideal showcase. Last night, it was a surreal, vaguely violent catharsis. Playing “Here” and “Conduit” at the end was like Pavement’s version of ending the show on “We Will Rock You”/”We Are The Champions,” but in reverse order of sentiment.

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