“Some people say…at the end of the day…that there’s a life that’s magnificent…”

Those are some lyrics from The Uglysuit‘s “The Magnificent Life,” which you can hear below. I dunno if it’s the fading pangs of a hangover or the fact that one is given a sense of clarity after a friend’s bachelor party, but this song really makes sense to me right now (and no, I can’t explain why).

It also gives an excuse to start our SXSW (or the music event I never get to go to) watch list a bit early this year.

Though I’m not one to heavily rely on press releases from a band’s PR company, something did ring true in this particular document. It mentions a word about honesty, and how these six Oklahoma friends approach music the same way most Okies react to pop culture: sans pretension.

Because of that, there is something different, almost Band of Horses-esque with songs “The Magnificent Life” and “…And We Became Sunshine.” Or maybe I’m just a fan of repeating chords and soaring vocals.

Either way, this is a band that has piqued my interest in 2010, and something tells me it won’t be the last. At the very least, they have reminded me to get off my ass and to try to find a way to get to SXSW on a meager budget (read: I can’t afford tickets).

The Uglysuit – The Magnificent Life
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/the_magnificent_life1.mp3]

Feb 13 2010 8:00P, Belle Isle Brew Pub Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Mar 4 2010 8:00P, Town Ballroom w/ Umphrey’s McGee Buffalo, New York

Mar 5 2010 8:30P, Newport Music Hall w/ Umphreys McGee Columbus, Ohio

Mar 6 2010 9:00P, Madison Theatre w/ Umphrey’s McGee Covington, Kentucky

Mar 10 2010 8:00P, Canadian Music Week Toronto, Ontario

Mar 11 2010 8:00P, Canadian Music Week Toronto, Ontario

Mar 12 2010 12:00A, Lee’s Palace – CMW Billion’s Showcase Toronto, Ontario

Mar 13 2010 12:00A, Canadian Music Week Toronto, Ontario

Mar 17 2010 8:00P, SXSW Austin, Texas

Mar 18 2010 8:00P, SXSW Austin, Texas

Mar 19 2010 8:00P, SXSW Austin, Texas

Mar 20 2010 8:00P, SXSW Austin, Texas

May 15 2010 8:00P, Private Event Kingston, Jamaica

Jun 5 2010 8:00P, WAKARUSA Ozark, Arkansas

Jun 6 2010 8:00P, WAKARUSA Ozark, Arkansas

After battling the strange area in Boston near the Harbor/Dock Area (I always get lost there and I inevitablly think of that Emilio Estevez movie “Judgment Night” where the dudes take a wrong turn and end up wrestling with the mob or something), I literally ran into the Bank of America Pavilion to catch what was left of the Sigur Rós show. Thankfully, I was only about ten minutes late and only briefly cursed Google Maps before handing over $9 for a Bud Lite in a plastic cup (ugh).

It’s difficult to describe a Sigur Rós concert without comparing it to a movie soundtrack or talking about various epiphanies one may have during a song. Mine revolved around the idea that the hoodie sweatshirt will never go out of style. At any give point in the future, it will either be embraced by the “cool kids” or the vagrants, and therefore, forever cool. The same thinking applies for smoking and girls who wear high-heeled boots.

Which led me to think of porn…but I digress.

There’s also something special when a band sings the majority of its songs in another language (Icelandic), and yet can still command a crowd emotionally. For some, Sigur Rós may just be background music, something to put on while they do work or walk around an outdoor concert venue, taking whiffs of weed and watching the Red Sox game on the televisions set up in the back (who comes to a concert and then watches the entire game on a small 13-inch screen with no sound?).

But there’s more to this music than that. There’s something inate and natural, that every time they strike a chord on stage, it strikes a human chord inside of us and helps us remember the tiny nuances in our life: the job you hate to love, the girl you’re gonna marry someday, the frozen pizza waiting for you in fridge. These are all littly Sigur Rós songs waiting to happen and when you hear them live, you experience these moments almost every minute.

All around the venue, which is open air with seats in the main area, people swayed and danced to the music. Most, I suspect, were unaware of the English translation of the songs (the band is still promising to put them up on their site). But it didn’t matter.

Through their music alone, one becomes philosophical and introspective. The picture in the middle of the post was from the end of the show, where confetti was blasted out, allowing it to gently fall on the crowd.

Sure, it’s just bits of colorful paper being thrown into the air, but that combined with the soft tunes of Sigur Rós can make a person feel invigorated and even hopeful. You forget about getting lost and about your diarrhea-prone dog at home.

Instead, you look up at the stars, breath deep and sip your beer and not worry about how overpriced it is.

If life is a movie, then the music of Sigur Rós is for those epic moments when the entire world feels like it’s folding into you.

Sigur Rós – Hoppipolla (live from the Bank of America Pav)
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/sigur-ros-hoppipolla.mp3]

Weren’t we just talking about live albums and how some fool thinks they are dead?

This one came to us free from Wakey! Wakey!, a piano-playing, fun-loving guy who has a soul of jovial humor.

To be honest, I was put off by the name. Just looking at “Wakey! Wakey!” sends obnoxious chills down my spine and produces images of a strict parental figure.

But, I’m happy to report, the music is closer to Ben Folds than your crazy aunt.

Wakey! Wakey! “Blame You”
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/04-blame-you.mp3]

If you like that, download the entire live album for free. It was taped on June 25, 2008 at the Bowery Ballroom.

i wasn’t expecting this. I was expecting children’s music or irritating lyrics about the morning time. Instead, Wakey! Wakey! gave me piano-based ballads that warm my indie rock mind. Oh, he also does a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy,” which seems to be the thing people do.

Enjoy…and let me know if anyone has seen this cat live.

*I did not take this picture…and I love her rabbit too.

Aside from her creepy video about clown love, (it’s probably the only song you know from her. It’s “The Way I Am”) I didn’t know much about Ingrid Michaelson and, to be honest, the girlfriend and I were going to see Ari Hest (NYC singer/songwriter who’s in the middle of a project called “52″ where he writes one song a week for a year).

So I was ill-equipped with information and assumed I was going to see a piano-driven show filled with songs about love. Like every experience I have in my life, I found I was totally wrong.

From the onset, Michaelson approached the mic on stage as her own personal therapist, talking about past relationships, her problems with drooling on planes and even testing out the various sounds on her keyboard that turned into an impromptu sing-a-long of Richard Marx’s “Right Here Waiting” (it’s true…you totally had to be there…oh wait, now you can).

[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ws310142.mp3]

When she wasn’t crooning along on stage, she was entertaining the audience with her personality and talking about her secret hobby of searching Youtube for fan videos of her songs.

So not only is the “Grid” a pretty girl with glasses, but she’s hilarious…making her my new music crush (for those who are keeping up, my previous one was with the girl in the Office…the band not the show).

This is the third time I’ve been surprised at a musician’s stage presence, straddling that line between singer and stand-up comedian. In Ingrid’s case (or her hip-hop name which she revealed was “Grid”) this worked in her favor.

Piano-driven songs are nice, but I can’t listen to it for an entire evening without wanting to nap. In Grid’s case, it was great to have these songs coupled with hilarious stories about her life, like this one about the time she fell asleep on a plane.

Drooling Story
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ws310146.mp3]

I know. It’s hilarious and I want to give her a hug. The last time I experienced what Grid called “frivolous frivolity” at a concert was at Tegan & Sara, who have elevated the act of bantering with the audience to an art form.

Ingrid admitted that it was a strange night for her and that she was talking about things she normally doesn’t (like her ex-boyfriend). It’ s funny what a little comedy and audience interaction can do for a singer. And in Grid’s case, makes her stick out in a world that seems to be constantly churning out female singer-songwriters who write emotional ballads for Grey’s Anatomy.

Before, she was just another female singer/songwriter that seemed to be jumping on the I-wear-glasses bandwagon, but now whenever I hear her songs, all I remember is the comedy and laughing about her silliness. Maybe the future of albums should be adding little personality bits from the artist. Kind of like the skits on hip-hop albums, only funnier. Eh maybe not.

The girlfriend enjoyed her, even though it was past her bedtime (she’s a teacher) and, like me, only knew one song. Now we listen to album all the time and wonder if she’s still drooling on herself on airplanes (seriously, listen to that track. It’s a hilarious).

For now, I’ll leave you with the funniest moment of the night. It happened right after she sang “The Chain,” a song only available on her Myspace page.

(and hey, someone took video of it. I was told to put my camera away, mostly because the ushers at Berklee let people in the front section do whatever they want).

There’s a lyric in there that has her go “Glide away on soapy heels” and apparently people on Youtube have been covering it, but saying “Glide away and so be healed” (I think this is the video she was talking about).

Ingrid thought it was hilarious and, with one of her band members, did a song with the new lyrics in an epic, religious sort of way. After that, she went into a remix version of her hit “The Way I Am.” Again, both worth your time.

“The Chain” discussion and intro to “The Way I Am”
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ws310154.mp3]

The Live Remix of “The Way I Am”
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/ws310155.mp3]

Ingrid Michaelson, I don’t care that you had creepy clowns in your video…I think I love you.

We got this yesterday and we’re excited for two reasons. One, Aimee Mann kicks ass and two, we’ve finally been respected enough (at least by one agency, thanks Girle Action!) to pass along MP3s.

This is especially exciting since we were recently webslapped by the long arm of the Raconteurs who didn’t want us to stream their song.

Enough anger. Below you will find a new song from Mann titled “Thirty One Today” that will be off her seventh studio album @#%*! Smilers due out on June 3.

And, as you can probably guess, the song is about Mann’s personal best at chicken nugget eating. Don’t buy it? Fine. It’s about the depressive state of aging.

“I thought my life would be different somehow/ I thought my life would be better by now…”

Thanks Mann. Whenever I need a melodic song with depressive undertones, you constantly deliver the goods. In fact, to prepare, I’m going to take your advice and get loaded and watch CNN.

Check out the song below and download at will.

Aimee Mann – Thirty One Today
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/aimeemann.mp3]

June 2 Los Angeles, CA Largo
June 6 Anaheim, CA House of Blues
June 10 Los Angeles, CA Largo
June 12 Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis Zoo
June 13 Milwaukee WI Pabst Theater
June 15 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music Festival
July 9 Boulder, CO Chautauqua Auditorium
July 11 Denver, CO Denver Botanical Gardens
July 12 Park City, UT Deer Valley Resort
July 14 Saratoga, CA Mountain Winery
July 15 Rosebud, OR Stewart Park
July 16 Seattle, WA Seattle Zoo
July 24 Calgary, Alberta Calgary Music Festival

Tucked away in the back streets of London’s Marylebone area is a little hidden gem that’s home toome of the most interesting new singer-songwriters the city has to offer. The Perseverance Pub is a pretty unsuspecting place. Your standard English pub; grubby carpets and brown wall paper all included in the free entry.

Tonight (late November) the downstairs area is reserved for an old folks Xmas party and they seem to be enjoying all the free sherry & cucumber sandwiches they can. The upstairs’ venue would feel ram-packed with all of about 15 people in it. I’m one of about half that number tonight but it feels homely & inviting. Noise from the old folks downstairs aside, I’m ready for some introverted singer-songwriters to strut!

Cellar Door goes on stage, quite unassumingly; scratching away at guitar leads and whispering to each other which songs they should do first. When she’s asked how she’d best describe her music, by a slightly out of place looking compare, singer Aimee Grinter hushes “we like to let the music do the talking”. Tell it like it is.

It’s difficult to get sucked into acoustic music at times because it’s a hard listen and it requires all of your attention. Cellar Door don’t have that problem at all. Not for me at least. Beautiful vocal melodies and clever witty lyrics.

I’m happy to say this isn’t the usual “oh it hurts so bad” singer-songwriter rhetoric, the lyrics themselves are not what you might expect to hear over the technical guitar playing of Mike Brown. They’re very matter of fact, very English in all the best ways. Scenes about drinking in a car park with your friends when you’re too young to get into the pub are crossed with a sticking “you don’t need me like I need you.”

And it’s this crossing of styles that happens throughout their set that makes this duo work so well. Vocally, I’m reminded a little of Joni Mitchell & maybe also Gillian Welch. The guitar playing goes from ambient to a harsh blues in a stroke so I’m a little lost for comparisons in that sense. Anyway, don’t get stuck on these feeble comparisons. Go and listen to this group for yourself. They deserve your attention immediately.

I can’t help but wonder how outstanding this would sound with a band & some strings behind them. Although if they did that at the Perseverance Pub there wouldn’t be much space left in the pace for the audience!

[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/comets-12-01-082-01-1.mp3]
Cellar Door – Comets

I love this band. Back in April, someone over at Big Hassle Media told me about the Black Angels and, after listening to a couple of songs on their Myspace page, was convinced to check them out.

I was blown. BLOWN. There are six people in this Austin band and attacked the Middle East club in Cambridge with a loud bass that I can still feel reverberating through my soul.

The other reason I like them? I always imagine strippers dancing to the bass lines in “Black Grease,” and, if you like scantily-clad women dancing around in your head, it’s a nice image to have.

The Black Angels, thanks to the strength of their release “Passover,” have been tapped to support Queens of the Stone Age during their fall tour. This is rock that takes over your body and makes you crazy. You will not be sorry.

Listen to The Black Angels song “The First Vietnamese War” MP3 from Passover:
[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/02-passover-the_first_vietnamese_war.mp3]

(* denotes a date when they are NOT with the QOTSA):

September 26: Tucson, AZ: Plush*
September 27: Phoenix, AZ: Rhythm Room*
September 29: Los Angeles, CA: Barnsdall Art Space (SwerveFest)*
October 2: Solana Beach, CA: Belly Up Tavern*
October 6: San Francisco, CA: Download Festival*
October 12: Boston, MA: Orpheum Theatre
October 13: New York, NY: Theatre at Madison Square Garden
October 15: Toronto, ON: Hummingbird Centre for the Performing Arts
October, 16: Montreal, QC: Metropolis
October 17: Clifton Park, NY: Northern Lights
October 20: Columbus, OH: The LC Pavilion
October 22: Grand Rapids, MI: Orbit Room
October 23: Detroit, MI: The Fillmore Detroit
October 24; Milwaukee, WI: The Rave
October 25: Chicago, IL: Riviera Theater

Lowell Thompson is an extremely talented young musician from Burlington, VT. On Saturday he made a stop at The Living Room in NYC’s east village for a special acoustic set. The Living Room is one of my favorite venues for acoustic music- intimate- and the crowd is always there to listen. Thompson treated the crowd to cuts from his excellent self titled album including “Anna,” and “Turn Me Home” in addition to some new cuts and a couple of covers from Neil Young and Gram Parsons. Bill Mullins, the guitarist from Lowell’s band, accompanied also playing acoustic. Bill took a solo on almost every cut- which typically I would find excessive at an acoustic show. But Mullins was up to the task- pulling out some very impressive and appropriate chops. Lowell plays regularly in the Burlington but you can check him out in NYC again on September 28^th at Pianos.

Check out one of my favorite Lowell songs “Anna”.

[audio:http://www.52shows.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/Anna.mp3]

Live music fans, the Black Keys feel you’re pain. They know without the proper equipment, taped shows sound muffled and inevitably have a recording of the drunk guy yelling something ridiculous like “Freebird!” or “Winger!”

To save the world from howling drunken bastards, the bluesy-rock duo from Akron, Ohio have released a free live EP on their Myspace site. The four tracks were all taped during the band’s 2006 Fall Tour.

The Troubador in LA on 9/13/06
No Trust
Girl Is On My Mind

The Mercy Lounge in Nashville on 12/15/2006
10am Automatic
Elevator

And for those who have yelled “Freebird” and have never gotten the pleasure, let out a howl right now and watch a homeless guy perform the infamous Lynyrd Skynyrd song, complete with a guy named “Sarge” doing an interpretive dance.