Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and his two sons, Spencer and Sam, have a new band, the Racoonists. Spencer, who is 15 years old, is on drums. Sam is younger. I’m not sure what he plays. Probably bass. This song was recorded in their bedroom. Own it:
Earlier this month, the BBC recorded Radiohead playing the entire album live. It’s great to be able to watch how the band makes many of the synthesized and ambient sounds. Here’s a track: Thom loves his dance. The rest of the videos are on Pitchfork here.
I just heard the sad news that Clarence Clemons, the sax player from the E Street Band, died over the weekend after having a stroke last week. I remember discovering how great rock saxophone could be when I first heard Clarence playing on The River about ten years ago. Here’s a small tribute: And this is classic:
I have to thank my brother for letting me know about the Mother Hips show at Cafe du Nord last night. The venue was great – it’s an old Swedish hall that was build over 100 years ago in Upper Market. I’ve been meaning to see the Hips for a while now, and they put on a good show, although there were definitely a few parts of the set that dragged a bit. Here’s a clip of a Stones cover I shot: But they didn’t play my favorite song:
Via Chartporn: I’ll be at the Outside Lands festival.
Oddly, via Paul Krugman, a great Arcade Fire performance: On a side note, the Arcade Fire definitely “borrowed” this song from Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros. I noticed this by accident a few years ago, when I made a mix CD and unintentionally (or subconsciously?) put these tracks back to back.
I’ve been discovering a lot of great music lately, and thought I’d share a few album recommendations: Blakroc (2009): I’m not sure how I missed this one, but my friend Nirav just loaned it to me on vinyl a few weeks ago. It’s a pretty sweet hip-hop album recorded by The Black Keys featuring a ton of artists including Mos Def, Ludacris, RZA, and Jim Jones. Raw blues hip-hop fusion. Amazing. Old Crow Medecine Show – O.C.M.S. (2004): Everyone loves bluesgrass. Some people just don’t know it yet. These guys are a good place to start. Lupe Fiasco – Lasers (2011): It’s just solid. Not much else to say. The Strokes – Angles (2011): The Strokes are back with their first album
My guitar teacher can really pick:
I’m working my way through Keith Richards’ autobiography, ‘Life’, which has been a surprisingly great read so far. It’s helped me to really appreciate what the Stones contributed to the evolution of blues rock, as I previously knew little about their early days, and it has been very entertaining. Keith was a completely ridiculous individual for many years. Here are a couple representative passages about some of his crazier years: “One time in Chicago there was a big party in my room…I was getting sick of it, and I kept telling them to go and they wouldn’t. I wanted to clear the room and no one would listen to me. Get the fuck out. For five minutes I tried. So