1-8-12 - "Innocents Abroad" ~ Meeting Of Important People

If you live in Pittsburgh and missed last night's Brillobox lineup, you should be ashamed.  Or at least saddened.  My first time seeing Whiskey Holler, a fun little outfit with some steel guitar, mini organ, and a hint of banjo.  1,2,3 closed out the night with a bang.  But I was most stoked for Meeting Of Important People's set, and they delivered as usual.


I snagged a couple of concert videos, including I Know Every Street (from their eponymous debut LP), a brand new track extolling the virtues of getting up and dancing (on the proverbial "floor"), and this one - a nod to Mark Twain, and according to the band, their "Pitchfork song."  


Here's my video from last night:

And here's the Draw Us Lines Echo Chamber video - you may recall (but likely don't) that last July, I typed out my internal debate as to whether to post this track or "Oh, Will You Finally Go?" Guess it worked out that I can now post my own concert vid plus this gem:

EDIT (3-2-12):  Here's a link to a video of Josh performing the song solo, which I filmed at the AIR gallery show on 2-18-12:

"and now I'm - I'm runnin' scared
my kitchen cabinets are bare..."

1-7-12 - "Live Forever" ~ Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors

Sometimes a song just strikes you as genuine and sincere.  There's nothing particularly amazing about this song musically, but I'm drawn to it nonetheless.  Simple chords, simple lyrics, simple and heartfelt message - it works here.  Not every song has to be groundbreaking.  And you know any artists who have toured with The Avett Brothers have some musical chops, because Seth and Scott have impeccable taste.  Anyway, check it out, I think you'll enjoy:

"Sing me a song, sing me a melody

Sing out loud, you’re a symphony..."

1-5-12 - "The Weirds" ~ Katie Costello

Heard this one on TV radio channel tonight (yea, left my iPod at work, so was listening to the Singer/Songwriter channel whilst doing some chores...)  It's a bit... weird... but pretty cool and chill.  Check it out:

I'm sure you know the feeling about which Costello coined this term and is singing.  She describes it such: " I think having "The Weirds" is a sign of growing pains... Meaning, one probably has that feeling when they are destined to somehow move forward or make a change in their life."  Happens to me all the time.

"I’ve overstayed my welcome in this life

and it seems as though time won’t tell you exactly what you’d like

I’ve given up on waving off the flies that have blackened my mind -

my sugarcoated mind..."

1-4-12 - "Into The Sun" ~ The Parlor Mob

I'm going to admit that I found out about this band/song from a commercial.  But in my defense, it's a Pittsburgh Penguins commercial, and they're pretty awesome, so I feel like whatever hipster cred I may have had remains intact.  They're not an obscure indie band, anyway... they're a quickly-becoming-less-obscure rock band.


The Parlor Mob is named after a New York City gang which was one of many famous gangs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries - I give them points for a sweet historical nod there.  The song itself is blistering rock and speaks of clawing and fighting to make one's way in a challenging world.  

"Out of the darkness

and into the light of love

though for now it seems this struggle has only begun

I'm still believing

our day is gonna come

when we step out of the shadows and into the sun…"

1-3-12 - "Snow" ~ The Zolas

I have several good reasons (at least in my own mind) to post this song tonight:


1)  Today was the first day with a legitimate snowfall in Pittsburgh since last winter.  Just my luck it was the morning I had to go to work... I swear, people in this city forget how to drive in inclement weather every summer.  But I love snow even when it means extra traffic headaches and waking up earlier to shovel.  It's better though when you can go sledding and whatnot, so who wants to quit our jobs and just enjoy the best part of the year, eh?


2)  One year ago today, I posted a song by The Zolas, and I love symmetry.


3)  There's an awesome video of Zach Gray playing the song with a children's choir singing along (the St. James Music Academy in Vancouver):


"Snow" ~ The Zolas featuring the St. James Music Academy Choir (on vimeo.com)


Along with the acoustic+kids video, here's the recorded version:

And a concert video, if that's more your thing:

"and it's hard not to call you
when it starts to cover the road
...'cause we kissed in the snow..."


PS - I found a sweet stripped down version of "Green Light" by Leisure (originally posted 8-26-11).  Check it out!

1-1-12 - "Riding The Wooly Bug To Dreamland" ~ 1,2,3

Since I just poured my heart out about life, love, and blogging, I'm going to do a quickie post to let you know about some free tunes from Pittsburgh / NYC band 1,2,3 - they just dropped a freebie EP which was originally conceived as a few lullaby tunes for the niece of one of the band members, but they decided to share it with us.


You can read about it and get the download link here; it's definitely some chill but sweet stuff.  Early indicators are that the first track, "Riding The Wooly Bug To Dreamland", is my fave of the five, so we'll call that today's song, but the others ain't half bad either.  I may drop this EP into my iTunes sleep playlist tonight and see if it works better than my standards at putting me out...


Listen on Soundcloud:  "Riding The Wooly Bug To Dreamland"


If you like these tunes, go pick up the band's album and support their future endeavors!  The ever-evolving music industry is using the power of the internet to allow bands to do stuff like this, but those bands still need to pay the bills for studio time and whatnot in order to continue bringing you the tunes.  So, whether it's this band or others, take advantage of the free songs, but also be sure to support bands you love so they can keep making awesome music!

New Year, New Ideas

Time flies when you're having fun!  I had a blast this past year posting a song every day (ok, fine, I only managed to post 362 songs in 365 days - sue me!)  Many of the posts stemmed from surreal and amazing concert experiences, or time spent with close friends listening to and discussing the latest songs/artists/albums to blow our minds.  It became clear, however, that my writing method could sometimes eat up a lot of time, listening to a track repeatedly while dissecting the lyrics and whatnot.


As part of an effort to dedicate a bit more time to other endeavors this year (like working on some of my own music), I have decided that I'm going to back off a bit here.  I'll still try to post a song every day, or most days anyway; but you may get less exposition and insight.  It may be I post a link or video with little to no comment more frequently, and leave it to you to listen, decide if you like it, and do some research if you do enjoy the artist.


Conversely, I think there's something to be said for quality over quantity as well.  There are tons of great songs and artists out there, and I love discovering as many of them as possible and passing along the good word.  However, sometimes in the past year when I had a busy day, and it's late at night, and I haven't had a particular song catch my ear, I found myself throwing up a song that might not have been quite up to snuff.  Then again, since musical value is in the ear of the beholder (Willow Smith has a lot of fans, I hear), maybe it's not so bad if I post some songs that I personally only kind of like - maybe those songs will turn out to be some of your favorites.  Bottom line, I'm not going to worry about it too much if I miss a day here or there and only post when a song actually inspires me to do so.


At any rate, if you have enjoyed at least a few songs I posted in 2011, you should definitely put my blog in your Google Reader or whatever you use and check it out from time to time, but don't get heartbroken if a day or two goes by without a post.  If I let you down in that regard, check out sites like DrawUsLines (PGH music blog gurus), HughShows (PGH concert photos and more), or Tympanogram (Rochester, NY counterparts of the DUL crew).  All of these sites put more time and effort into providing quality AND quantity content on their sites than I am able to dedicate right now.


Even better, go exploring yourself and turn up some sweet new tunes, then pass them my way and yell at me to blog about them!


May 2012 be full of joy and love and awesome songs for all of us.


~ Matt