Morphine is a band more people should listen to. Their sound is an entirely unique blend of gritty tuned-down riffs, dark melodies and killer saxophone. With only three members, Morphine has an energy that’s so peppy it could substitute for your morning coffee. Paradoxically, a cool, laid-back, loungey aspect gives them a subduing edge, much like…well, morphine.
Frontman Mark Sandman (vocals/bass) is a man of true musical vision. Believing that low notes carry a certain relaxing quality, he combined his deep vocals with a baritone sax and his electric bass to create this irresistible experiment.
Note that he’s strung his bass with only two strings–the lowest two; the only two he’s interested in. He’s also known to play using a glass slide, creating a sound unlike like any you’ve heard before.
Another interesting point about Morphine is that, for a few songs, Dana Colley plays two saxophones at once. The blasting harmonies of two deep-throated saxes sounds like a run-away semi careening wildly down a mountain. Watch out below.
Mark Sandman died of a hear-attack while performing on-stage in 1999 …talk about playing your heart out. Seriously though, what a tragedy it is to only be able to experience Morphine through the Internet. I truly envy any one who’s seen them live.
The Tripwire reported on Monday that Jarvis Cocker, of Pulp fame, debuted a new song during a concert in Buenos Aires. According to Cocker, “Girls Like It Too” is a song about guys chasing girls and during the chase get drunk on “about 3 bottles of wine, so if he calls her, nothing would really happen…or if it happened it certainly wouldn’t last very long.”
Does this mean another album is in the future? Let’s hope because based on this song, and on last year’s Jarvis, his pop sensibilities on the indie love song are in full force.
The video says its from 2000 and it looks like they’re playing in a gymnasium or something. They do a pretty tight rendition of 3rd Planet that sounds about as good as you can expect from a bootleg recording. This video captures the band well before they hit the corporate world, in what I consider their prime.
From Eddie: This is another feature we want to be a regular thing on the site, looking for rare/cool/weird live videos of our favorite bands. If you got one, send it to info@52shows.com and we’ll post it (and give you credit).
The greatest band in the world reunited last night (Dec. 10) in London. Above is video from the opening I found on YouTube from the user “backpackdave” (sadly, not our Dave).
Sadly, my co-worker with the disturbingly loud bowel movements may have to wait a long time…you know, forever.
Plant has already started saying that this was a “one-off concert,” which warms my heart since it ensures that I’ll never see the band live. That’s fine. I’ll never crap gold either.
It’s Monday and here in Boston it’s cold, wet and crappy outside, which means the weather is perfect for some Portishead (you try listening to them when it’s sunny out. It sounds…weird-er).
Anyway, the video comes from TheTripwire.com (and there are two more from the show on their post) and I think it’s a perfect way to welcome the week.
Songza isn’t a new religion, a made-up holiday or the latest profanity that Don Imus will utter on his show. No friends, it’s much cooler than that and more addictive than crack.
It’s a new music site that gives you exactly what you want: Music. Right now.
Visit Songza, type in an artist/band in the search bad, press enter and tracks quickly appear on the screen, all of which are ready to be streamed.
And it gets better. A lot of the tracks are rarities or live recordings (which is how I found the video above).
Other gems I’ve uncovered are:
-Elton John, Freddie Mercury and Axl Rose doing “Bohemian Rhapsody.”
-Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (from the movie “Once,” a must-see for music fans) performing “Falling Slowly” on Letterman and at Sundance.
-A rare freestyle with Eminem and the late Proof.
But there’s more. There’s a built in playlist on the right. So if you like a particular track, you can save it for later listens. There’s also a rating system which helps future listeners (giving it a thumbs up moves the track further up the list in searches).
The site was developed by 23-year-old Aza Raskin, who is the president of Chicago-based software company Humanized and the son of Apple Macintosh founder Jef Raskin. So yea, he’s kind of a big deal.
I’ve spent the entire day on this thing, searching for the odd, rare, and crazy (which are also good search words for the site).
Right now I’m listening to Pete Seeger. And I think next up is to look for some live Johnny Cash.
To be honest, some of this sounds like it’s taken from videos. I don’t know how that’s possible. But there’s one track, where Pete Seeger is explaining how he came up with “Turn Turn Turn,” that definitely sounds like it’s from a documentary…mostly because there are people talking who are never introduced.
Stop reading. Enjoy yourself on the site. I’m listening to a rare recording of Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
And since there’s a host of live music on it, expect to hear more about it from us.
Till then, I’m going to continue wasting the rest of my day.
*UPDATE
OK in the process of writing this, I searched for “Secret Stars” and what popped up? The audio track from the Youtube video I shot a couple months back of Geoff Farina performing “Some Sinatra” This explains the random interview-esque tracks that seem misplaced. So it’s kind of like a Google just for music? This is getting interesting…and a little scary that I’m involved somehow.
Marc Anthony looks a lot like Skeletor. You have to wonder what J-Lo sees in the guy. Well apparently they share an intense love… for Journey.
Anthony performed his rendition of Journey’s least-powerful power-ballad Faithfully last week at the Staples Center in LA where he was double billing with his wife.
This was from a performance at Greensboro, NC on Sept. 29, 2007 and features the great Eddie Van Halen on a not-so-great guitar.
No one really knows what happens. Was it the amp? Was it the synth? Or did someone hand Eddie the wrong guitar (Gary Cherone, I’m looking in your general direction….and I KNOW you got time on your hands if you’re spending it celebrating a high school’s 150th birthday).
Or was it the scorned and original bassist Michael Anthony (he was replaced by Wolfgang, the 16-year-old spawn of Eddie)?
But here’s what’s impressive about this concert misstep. They keep going. They’re freak’n Van Halen and instead of saying “Whoa, that sounds weird” they continue the song possibly hoping that the horrible, irritable sound would right itself eventually (insert your Cherone joke here).
Instead, they plowed through it and embraced the bad situation. Because that’s what Van Halen does when something is wrong. They run the problem into the ground until everyone feels their pain.
Seriously, how did David Lee Roth not lose it on stage? Or is the problem worse? Can Van Halen not hear anymore?
Even more distressing than that is the giant, inflatable mic that Roth humps towards the end of the song and brings up on stage (and if you’re gonna do that, shouldn’t you change the chorus to “might as well hump!” at least once?).
After the band bows, the massive mic is left on the stage and, after a while, starts to look like a penis without a party to go to. Which, if you want to be a little poetic on a Monday morning, could be a nice description of the reunited Van Halen.
At the very least, the video brightened my Monday morning. Rock on friends.
For a long time, I assumed it was dead, that the music industry had finally choked it to death, leaving only bands like Nickeback and Hinder as a cruel form of punishment like an obese stripper who has convinced you to pay for a lap dance.
Minutes before the Kings of Leon took the stage, the smell of cannabis floated through the air, as if it were introducing and welcoming the band at the same time.
But the buzz from the cannabis and $9 Harpoons (seriously, $9? WTF??) was soon replaced by the Kings’ brand of seductive and penetrating rock that inspires women to lose their morals, convinces men to buy $40 t-shirts, and incites random violence in Bank of America ATM vestibules after the show.
If your surprised to hear this much praise, it probably means you haven’t heard the Kings latest album “Because of the Times,” a stark departure from their other work. How do I know? Because I was once like you, passing on the Kings, thinking they weren’t anything special. Now I know better.
What other band can write a song about seeing a girl in a Camero and eye-fucking her at the intersection as you rev up your bike? (“Camero”) Or a song about waking up on the ground with your faced busted in, seeing a girl glance at you and be convinced that, from that small interaction, that she suddenly wants you? (“Arizona”)
Yes, they sound like silly premises for songs, but when played with the right combination of guitars, bass, drums and deliberate bravado, you have a dangerous mixture of awesomeness that can’t be contained, controlled or properly described.
In an effort to dispense with the inane babble, I’ve incorporated videos from the concert so you’ll somewhat understand what I’m talking about. Watch them and just pretend that there’s skinny, stripper-esque women around you dancing to get the full effect. Also, check out out Flickr photo group where I posted pics from the show.
Here’s a quick vid that a co-worker show from the Rilo Kiley concert over the weekend. It’s the end of the song “Breakn’ Up” off their new album “Under the Blacklight.” According to him, she’s pounding on a cowbell on stage which, as any fan of Christopher Walken will tell you, songs can never have too much cowbell. If anything, they need more.
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, his pop sensibilities on the indie love song are in full force.
