Doing the E-Street shuffle..?

Well, not exactly. This is going to be a new recurring post on Heartworn Highways. The plan is that every once in a while, once a week or something, I will set my iPod on shuffle and write down the first five songs and publish them here. No hocus pocus there. Just letting you know what's going in to my ears from time to time.

Entry #6.
November 30th, 2009


1. Pavement - Fame Throwa (Live)
From the album Slanted & Enchanted: Luxe & Redux (Matador, 2002)


2. Wovenhand - The Beautiful Axe
From the album Ten Stones (Sounds Familyre, 2008)


3. Stephen Stills - Helplessly Hoping
From the album Just Roll Tape: April 26th 1968 (Rhino, 2007)


4. I-Nine - Same in Any Language
From the album Elizabethtown (Original Soundtrack) (RCA Records, 2005)


5. Dennis Wilson - Farewell My Friend
From the album Pacific Ocean Blue (Caribou, 1977)

"Neil Young" goes to Bel-Air

Jimmy Fallon as "Neil Young" - Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (2009)



This is the best thing I've seen all day, in fact, it's the best thing I've seen in a long long time. Not only is it really funny, but it's so damn good that it makes you wonder if it's the real Neil Young sitting there. Fallon looks just like the Harvest-era Young and he sounds just like him to. This is good comedy.

One more thing, never noticed how good that Will Smith song really is. Hah..

I will fight like hell to hide that I'm giving up

Monsters of Folk - Live at The Troxy, London, November 17th 2009


Back from a great week in London. Lots of shopping and just walking aimlessly around and some sightseeing as well. The highlight probably was the Monsters of Folk gig at The Troxy. I was pretty psyched before this gig and still it lived up to my expectations. The lovely gentlemen, Mike Mogis, Conor Oberst, Jim James and M. Ward got to the stage and started off with "Say Please", the single from their selftitled album. From there on they didn't leave the stage before some two and a half hour later when they closed their set with "His Masters Voice".

Two and a half hour is an awful long time to entertain a sold out theatre when you as a group only has released one album which clocks in at about 45 minutes. That said, this group really did it. The touch of genius this night was the way that they filled up the set with solo sections where they sometimes backed each other and at other times did their own songs solo. So for me, a huge Bright Eyes fan, I sort of got my very own Bright Eyes concert within the Monsters of Folk concert. The highlights for me this evening was "We Are Nowhere And It's Now", "What A Wonderful Man", "Bermuda Highway", "Map of the World" and the fantastic closer with "Losin' Yo Head", "At the Bottom of Everything", "Whole Lotta Losin'" and "Another Travellin' Song". The two latter rocking so hard and showing of such a joy in the playing that I just sat there grinning. Another highlight worth mentioning was when the band let their "hired" drummer, Will Johnson, have the spotlight for a great solo rendition of his instant goosebump song "Just to Know What You've Been Dreaming".

A great evening. Thank you very very much to Conor, Jim, Mike and M.



Bright Eyes - We Are Nowhere And It's Now


My Morning Jacket - What a Wonderful Man


Will Johnson - Just to Know What You've Been Dreaming


Monsters of Folk - Whole Lotta Losin'

I was waiting for the cross-town train in the London underground

The Postal Service - Clark Gable
from the album Give Up (Sub Pop, 2003)


Tomorrow I will be heading over the North Sea for a trip to London. I have never been there so I'm really looking forward to it. There will probably be some touristy things I will have to do, like visiting the zebra-crossing at Abbey Road and that sort of stuff. We also have tickets to see the great Monsters of Folk on Tuesday. This is the third time I have had tickets to see Jim James in concert. Both of the previous gigs with My Morning Jacket were cancelled so, Jim, you better not get sick this time. Third time is the charm and that sort of thing. Getting really psyched about that gig. Hopefully it will be a classic. I'll post something about it when I come home.


The Postal Service - Clark Gable


Bonus:
Monsters of Folk - Losin' Yo' Head

(500) Days of Summer

Went to the cinema tonight and saw the movie (500) Days of Summer. A great movie to see on a sunday. It is easygoing, kinda funny, has a great soundtrack and the leading roles are played by the gorgeous and cool Zooey Deschanel and equally cool Joseph Gordon-Lewitt. So this film is the inspiration for todays song of the day.

The Smiths - Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want



Zooey Deschanel's own band She & Him also does a cover of this song on the soundtrack from the movie.

Envy

I really really really wish I was in Cali right about now. A fine group of my favourite gentlemen are doing a little tour of Northern California this week. The merry gentlemen are the following: Andy Cabic, Johnathan Rice, Jonathan Wilson, Farmer Dave Scher and Neal Casal. What a supergroup. Friday they will be playing in glorious Sonoma. Man, I wish I could teleport,..

Here you can see them in a short clip from the gig in San Francisco on November 1st.

Emerald Triangle Live in SF 11/02 from (((folkYEAH!))) on Vimeo.

Seven songs shaping this autumn

Tag, I'm it. Got taged by the fantastic folks over at When You Awake for this thing which is a kind of blog chain letter called the “Seven Songs Shaping Your Life”. The instructions are simple: List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your life. Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs. Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

I'm not sure if I will be "tagging" as many as seven other people, but we'll see. A good idea it is, and here I go.



1. The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
No news for the people who read this blog that I really love this song. I love the whole album, but as this is the first song it is the one I have to get past to get to the others. I especially love the "..shape I'm in" lyrical hook that reminds me of one of my favourite bands, the truly fantastic The Band.

2. Grateful Dead - Bird Song
You're always gonna need some Grateful Dead in your life and for the moment I have been really hooked on this great jazzy ditty. The studio recording is great but recently I've been hooked on a live version from August 27th, 1972. Go check it out on archive.org.

3. Kristofer Åström - When Her Eyes Turn Blue
Kristofer Åström have been one of my favourite artists for a long time. I haven't really gotten my head around his latest album Sinkadus, but this is nonetheless a favourite from that very album.

4. Jens Carelius - Face of a Dream
A track taken from Norwegian singer/songwriter Jens Carelius second album The Beat of the Travel. His first album was mostly a solo recording rooted in British folkers like Bert Jansch. This one has more of a band feeling and while we are still in the sixties folkrock landscape Carelius has found his own voice.

5. Hoola Bandola Band - Keops Pyramid
Swedish folkrock from the early seventies. Sounding a bit like the Band meet Crosby, Stills & Nash. Great song with great harmonies and heavy early seventies politics. These guys looked exactly like you presume the teachers in the schools in the seventies did.

6. Broder Daniel - Shoreline
Just saw a heartbreaking documentary about this Swedish rockband. One of the most important rockbands in the whole of scandinavia in nineties. This song is from their last and perhaps best album, released in 2003.

7. Devendra Banhart - Baby
Good ol' friend Devendra is back with another great album. An album perfect for lazy dark Norwegian autumn nights. Play this loud and all your troubles will be gone.

So, it seems that I listen to a lot of Swedish music at the moment. But mostly I listen to the Avett Brothers, Jens Carelius and Devendra Banhart albums. Check them out, maybe you'll like them to.

I tag:
You Can Put Me In Your Hair, I'll Be Happy There
Perfect Sounds
Lille Fnugg
I am Fuel, You are Friends
This Mornin' I am Born Again