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

Cover art on a Sunday

Just a little post of some of my favourite cover art. I've done one of these posts before, that one was called "Sundazed on a Sunday". So here you go.

Kim Hiorthøy - Hopeness EP
(Smalltown Supersound, 2004)


Tom Waits - Mule Variations
(Anti, 1999)


Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
(Drag City, 2009)


Richmond Fontaine - Thirteen Cities
(Decor, 2007)

Three words that became hard to say

The Avett Brothers - I and Love and You
from the album I and Love and You (American, 2009)


One of the best songs of the year from one of the best albums this year. Have a nice weekend.

Most of us hate anything that we don't understand

Kris Kristofferson - Jesus Was A Capricorn
from the album Jesus Was A Capricorn (Monument, 1972)


One of my favourite Kristofferson songs and albums. The melody of this track is borrowed from John Prine's "Grandpa Was A Carpenter". You can say that's fitting since Kris Kristofferson was the guy who got Prine a recording contract. Thank God for that. Love them both. Prine may be the best singer and songwriter but Kristofferson is the absolute coolest. And he still is.

Great lyrics on this song, so here you go.

"Jesus was a Capricorn, he ate organic foods
He believed in love and peace and never wore any shoes
Long hair, beard and sandals and a funky bunch of friends
Reckon they'd just nail him up if He ever come down again.."

...

"Egg Head's cousin Red Neck's cussin' hippies for their hair
Others laugh at straights who laugh at freaks who laugh at squares
Some folks hate the whites who hate the blacks who hate the clan
Most of us hate anything that we don't understand.."

A live version from the Ottawa Folk Festival, August 17th 2007
"It ain't Dylan, but it's all we got.."