Josh Ritter - Philadelphia - World Cafe Live - 8/24/07
Photos by Doug Seymour at World Cafe Live Related links: Paste: Josh Ritter: Songs for Days of Doubt Josh Ritter on the Paste Culture Club podcast JoshRitter.com ... read more
I spy with my Feisty little eye…
How long do you think YouTube will stick around? I really hope it’s at least twenty years or so, because I so want to blow my kids’ minds with this clip. Whether I will actually have children is somewhat negotiable, but if I do, they will definitely be cool. Or at least cool by 2007 standards. This will explode their brains with awesomeness, though in my old middle age I will probably still have to refer to Stereogum for the who’s who. It’s like The Last Waltz (which I watched a lot with my dad when I was a kid),... read more
Uncle Tupelo’s Kids
It’s been almost fifteen years since the Great Uncle Tupelo Schism rocked the music world. Okay, perhaps I exaggerate. Outside of Belleville, Illinois and the minds and hearts of a few thousand dedicated fans, probably not many people even noticed. But I did, and I mourned for a couple years before the first Wilco and Son Volt albums appeared. The chief protagonists, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Farrar, have certainly moved on to bigger and better things in the intervening years – Tweedy with Wilco, and Farrar with Son Volt. But, truth be told, as much as I like them now,... read more
People Take Warning!
In 1930, commercial radio was still a novelty, and television and CNN were as fanciful as the notion of travel to Alpha Centauri. In the rural southern United States, still largely bereft of electrical power, news traveled slowly, and was usually conveyed not by professional journalists, but by itinerant musicians who set up shop on the steps of the general store, or in the jukejoint on the outskirts of town. People Take Warning!, a 3-CD box set about to be released by Tompkins Square Records, collects 70 topical songs recorded between 1927 and 1938. These are songs you might have... read more
The Best Way to Waste Ten Minutes On This Agrrravating Monday
Just when you think Monday had nothing to offer, I give you Corey: ... read more
All Dentist Office, All The Time
Sitting in the waiting room at the dentist office is the worst. Every time the door opens to call the next victim you can hear the scraping of metal on enamel, the buzzing drill, and the screams of children. Today’s KNATE post is a double playlist to help you through your next visit to hell. Here is a pre-dental appointment playlist to listen as you imagine the dentist diagnosing you with meth mouth while the hygenists point and laugh. But mostly, this is to help get Orin Scrivello out of your head. 1.Modest Mouse - Teeth Like God’s ShoeShine 2.... read more
Garfield’s Houses
Former President James Garfield’s impressive home (called Lawnfield, as opposed to my own home, called TractHome) is about a mile down the street from my sister-in-law’s place in Mentor, Ohio. Because there isn’t a lot to do in Mentor, Ohio, particularly when it’s raining or snowing, as it often is, Lawnfield is a favorite destination during our visits. As befitting an ex-president, it’s a showy, ostentatious Victorian castle with some friendly midwest trimmings, including a wide front verandah that stretches the length of the very long house. The ol’ homestead fell into disrepair for a few years, but since then... read more
Lollapallooza & Newport Folk: My weekend with Elvis Perkins, G. Love, Tom Morello Grace Potter, etc
Many mark their summers by days at the beach or tan lines. This summer I seem to be collecting festival days, which are typically on weekends, thus my weeks are filled with work while my weekends are filled with well…more work. Thankfully, I will argue, I have one of the best jobs in the world if you happen to live and breathe music, so punching the clock on an 80 hour work week suits me just fine. To give you an idea here are my notes on a typical weekend: Wed: 8/1/07: Received call from Guitar Hero. They are... read more
White Rabbits - New York - Bowery Ballroom - 8/9/07
Photos taken at Bowery Ballroom by Stephen Lindley Related links: Band of the Week: White Rabbits Paste’s Top 7 of 2007 before month seven WhiteRabbitsMusic.com ... read more
All Facial Hair, All The Time
I have been blessed/cursed with ability to grow a beard in just a few hours. It’s a power I have guarded carefully with semi-regular grooming. I have never unleashed the full fury of my facial hair. Maybe one day, wife permitting, the world will be ready for Bearded Nate. Until then, let us celebrate artists that embrace the joy of facial hair with wild abandon. This installment of KNATE is a tribute to beards, moustaches, fu man chus and the artists that wear them or sing about them. 1. ZZ Top - “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” (This is the... read more
A New D****?
There are few curses more dire than to be tagged the New Dylan. Anybody remember Steve Forbert these days? So I won’t say it. I’ll keep it vague and say that Ezra Furman’s nasal vocals, harmonica work, and wildly poetic imagery might remind you of somebody. Ezra Furman is a twenty-year-old kid from Chicago, via Tufts University in Boston. He’s got a band, The Harpoons, and he’s titled his debut album Banging Down the Doors. It’s been out for a couple days now, and you ought to buy it. Today. He has got, as they say, one hell of a... read more
Lollapalooza - Chicago - 8/5/07
Above: Paolo Nutini Photos by Mark Austin, except where noted (photo by Sean Edgar) Above: Amy Winehouse Above: Heartless Bastards (photo by Sean Edgar) Above: Ben Harper Above: Modest Mouse (photo by Sean Edgar) (photo by Sean Edgar) Above: The Stooges (photo by Sean Edgar) Above: Pearl Jam Related links: Lollapalooza 2007: Day One Lollapalooza 2007: Day Two Lollapalooza 2007: Day Three ... read more
Lollapalooza - Chicago - 8/4/07
Above: Ryan Shaw Photos by Mark Austin, except where noted Above: concert attendees goofing off Above: Pete Yorn Above: Spoon (photo by Sean Edgar) Above: Kevin Michael Above: The Hold Steady (photo by Sean Edgar) Above: Silverchair Above: Jim James Above: The Roots Above: crowd Above: Regina Spektor Above: Yeah Yeah Yeahs Above: Interpol Related links: Lollapalooza 2007: Day One Lollapalooza 2007: Day Two Lollapalooza.com ... read more
Stay Tuned in Week 32 - Budos Band, Sharon Jones, BRMC, Jesse Harris
Okay….as usual crazy Monday…need to catch up quickly on the inbox nuggets before breaking into my crazy Lollapalooza > Newport Folk Festival Weekend extravaganza. Here it is: • Budos Band – Budos Band II –listening to the newest set of hip gyrating Staten Island Soul tracks climbing out of the Daptone basement and all I can say is their crew just keeps delivering the goods. People music, all ages, all genders…just righteous, people music. Grab it and start imagining what the new Sharon Jones album is going to sound like because word on the street is that it’s coming. Amy... read more
Lollapalooza - Chicago - 8/3/07
Photos by Mark Austin Above: Ghostland Observatory Above: Ted Leo Above: Beatle Bob and Tim DeLaughter Above: Polyphonic Spree Above: G. Love Above: Perry Farrell Above: moe. Above: The Rapture Above: Satellite Party Above: M.I.A. Above: Daft Punk Related links: Lollapalooza 2007 Preview Lollapalooza is happening right now Lollapalooza.com ... read more
All Movie Songs, All the Time
I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately, and one thing I’ve noticed is that the soundtrack or score can really make or break a film. Enjoy this list of our favorite songs from movies. Yes, we love Whitney Houston. Always, Knate 1. Aimee Mann “Deathly” (Magnolia)2. Elliott Smith “Because” (American Beauty)3. Yann Tiersen “La Valse d’Amelie” (Amelie) 4. Gipsy Kings “Hotel California” (The Big Lebowski) 5. Gary Jules “Mad World” (Donnie Darko) 6. Coolio “Gangsta’s Paradise” (Dangerous Minds) 7. Radiohead “Talk Show Host” (Romeo and Juliet) 8. Peter Gabriel “Your Eyes” (Say Anything) 9. Damien Rice “The Blower’s Daughter”... read more
The Appetite for Difficulty
I was struck by New York Times film critic A.O. Scott’s appreciation of the great Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman, who died earlier this week. Like fellow searcher/director Michelangelo Antonioni, who died the same day, Bergman asked the tough questions and probed the great mysteries in his films. They were not easy going, these films. They were dark, obtuse, freighted with symbolism that asked the viewer to actually work at its meaning, and that implied that it might take more than one viewing, and a fair amount of thinking and discussion, to adequately explore that meaning. Scott wrote, in part:... read more
Unfiltered Camels and Jack Daniels Roundup
It’s been a mediocre year for the usual Americana suspects. Lucinda Williams and Son Volt delivered disappointing efforts, and Emmylou, Neko, Gillian, Buddy Miller and John Prine have been missing in action. Except for the ever-delightful Patty Griffin, the latest from The Avett Brothers, Devon Sproule’s wondrous Keep the Silver Shined and Ryan Adams’ surprisingly consistent Easy Tiger, nothing has really wowed me. Until the last few weeks, that is. Steve Earle’s latest, Washington Square Serenade, due out in a couple months, is a fine return to form. And these three albums, all made by relative unknowns, make me remember... read more
If I Were You
I’ve been listening to Chris Knight’s The Trailer Tapes pretty much non-stop all day. Knight’s a great, gravel-voiced folk rocker with a twang, Bob Dylan with a Stetson, but unlike Dylan he’s considerably more plainspoken, if no less intense. He’s got four good alt-country/rock albums that are well worth your time, but these trailer tapes (yep, recorded in the living room of his single-wide in Slaughter, Kentucky) are something else again, raw and plaintive and stripped down to the bare essentials, including the lyrics. It’s just Chris, his acoustic guitar, and his piercing words. Here are some of them:... read more
Observations after a Morrissey concert
Observations after a Morrissey concert It’s clear even before the show begins that there’s something a little odd about this event. Tonight is August 20 and we're at Atlanta's Chastain Park Amphitheater waiting for the headlining act, Morrissey, to come on stage and show why we've been fans of his music for so long. But still, things are off. While the tour is nominally for Morrissey, you can see a 50 ft. tall, black and white picture of James Dean behind the curtains where the stage crew makes their preparations. Old movies are projected onto a sheet, and while maybe... read more
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