Bruce “I was the best keyboard player the Grateful Dead ever had” Hornsby counts many amateur and professional musicians among his myriad fans. And some of these musicians have collaborated
When Ace first asked me to work with him on Hidden Track a little more than a year ago, I would have never guessed how much I’d enjoy writing for y’all. One of the first ideas I presented to Ace was a column highlighting the best live shows that turned up on the torrent sites each week. Now please allow me to toot my horn a bit: I began my writing career — really, my first published article — on October 22nd, 2006 by posting the first edition of Grousing The Aisles, and I followed that up with 380 other posts this year, including 48 editions of GTA.
We’ve turned you onto to some terrific shows this year, but a few stand out from the pack. First up is a Steely Dan DVD that is the best unofficial concert video we’ve ever seen. Next up is Crowded House’s American coming-out party from The Bottom Line in 1987. After that we’ve got recent shows from two of our favorite bands: Apollo Sunshine and Wilco. So make the most of your high speed connection and check out the best of Grousing The Aisles…
Steely Dan w/ Michael McDonald 08/12/2006 PROSHOT (VIDEO, AUDIO):
Nearly every shed in America these days has those screens that show video of the concert to people with bad views. Most of the footage from these screens either doesn’t get recorded or gets stashed in the archives of the venue or the performer. Once in a while, though, video from one of these concerts leaks onto the ‘net. The latest of these leaks comes from last summer’s Steely Dan tour, which featured special guest and longtime HT idol Michael McDonald.
The Dan was feelin’ it this night, rolling through magnificent performances of hits such as Hey 19, Green Earrings, and Josie. Mikey Mac adds his husky vocals to the last seven songs of the set, including the kickass My Old School closer. The Steely Dan Orchestra backing band is made up of extremely talented musicians. Keith Carlock is a revelation on the drums — at times there is so much going on that you wonder whether there are two drummers behind the kit. Backup vocalists Carolyn Leonhart-Escoffery and Cindy Mizelle both look and sing beautifully.
The quality of this footage is unbelievably good, allowing a nice look at the ladies as they sing their hearts out during Dirty Work. The crispy soundboard feed that supplies the audio is also top notch, and worth the download by itself. I can honestly say that in my four years of collecting live concert DVDs, this puppy may take the cake as the best in my collection. It’s that good. Read on for more…
Whenever I visit my parents’ house and flip through the channels on their flat screen, I’d often land on The Tube Music Network. I’ve been waiting for my shitty cable
Over the past 10 years there’s been a steady migration of New York-based musicians and venues from Manhattan to Brooklyn. Subsequent to that trend, recording studios and rehearsal spaces are headed southbound as well. Enter Rough Magic Studios, a five-room studio and rehearsal space in Greenpoint.
Rough Magic is catching the attention of many acts with its musician-friendly vibe, laid-back atmosphere and professional staff. Albert Cohen, a partner in the studio, explains why bands appreciate it: “We’re not just trying to bring in people to make money; we really want people to feel comfortable in our space.”
Their client list reads like a who’s who of some top bands from the area. So far members of Soulive, American Babies, Beirut, and many others have recorded at the studio. Cohen explains how Soulive became a regular client: “We brought them in for a session, and they said it’s a really comfortable place and the vibe is good. So much so that now they rent from us.”
Recently Brad Barr and Sonya Kitchell stopped by Rough Magic to record a track. Barr is a founding member of The Slip, and Kitchell is an 18-year-old singer/songwriter who is currently on tour with Herbie Hancock. Brad Barr was kind enough to share some thoughts with us about recording with Kitchell at Rough Magic, other projects he’s currently working on and more. Read on…
Recently we told you about the mindblowing new album from Bill Frisell’s Floratone project. Wanna make it better from your momma’s basement? Aspiring musicians can now put together their own take on the tracks by participating in Acidplanet and Blue Note’s Floratone remix contest. Blue Note has provided the tracks, you supply the magic. The winner will receive a prize package that includes a Playstation portable and tons of audio software. Go play.
And congratulations to RowJimmy for winning our giveway, because I’d kill a man to see Frisell play with ?uestlove, Christian McBride and McCoy Tyner.
And as always on Mondays, read on after the jump for a full slate of setlists and downloadable torrents from this weekend’s shows from around the world…
When I first started downloading music from the Internet in the late ’90s, the best place to find live shows from the bands I liked was from the little site with a heady name called nugs.net. Nugs has always been ahead of the times, and they shocked the world in 2002 when they teamed up with Phish to make official recordings of their first post-hiatus shows available for download within 48 hours of the concert’s encore. Hell, I used to be excited to get a shitty fourth-generation audience tape of a Phish show, three weeks after it happened, and then all of the sudden we were able to download pristine copies of their shows quickly.
The success of livephish showed the major labels were behind the times when it came to selling recordings of live bands. Nugs.net knew what was up, and their reputation caught the attention of other bands who have started selling their shows through Nugs’ pay portal livedownloads.com Huge touring acts such as Metallica, Widespread Panic and Crowded House now make every show they play available for download through sites run by the Nugs guys, while smaller bands have also found a willing partner.
We’ve teamed up with the folks at livedownloads.com to feature one show from their vast catalog each and every week. First up, let’s check out their recording of a recent Widespread Panic show from September 27th in Oakland, California.
Usually when touring bands head out to the bay area they play any of the numerous amazing venues in San Francisco. Widespread Panic has always done things a little differently, and they decided to play their three night fall run at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. Read on for a full review of this show…
Friday [all times Eastern]: Larry King has a rare one-on-one interview with Eric Clapton about his new autobiography [CNN 9:00 PM] They Might Be Giants pay a visit to the
Jennifer Hartswick is best known for playing with a variety of jambands, but that isn’t necessarily the style of music that’s always been true to her heart.
On True, her second album, Hartswick explores more traditional jazz music that more defines who she is as an artist. Jen’s voice combines power with polish, a formula that draws you in and makes you want to hear more. The new album features a mix of both familiar and a bit more obscure standards, plus a beautiful original love song entitled You Own Me.
Photo by Regan Teti
True is the first release on Rubber Jungle Records, a label founded by her old bandmate Trey Anastasio. The album is available now on Jen’s website, and soon it’ll be up for download on iTunes. We caught up with the Vermont native as she prepared for her first record release party to discuss the making of True…
Scott Bernstein: Why did you call the album ‘True’?
Jennifer Hartswick: Jazz is what I grew up listening to. This album features music that is true to who I am. The way that everything occured was real. There were no overdubs; everything is live. We never did more than two takes. I made sure to choose musicians who feel the same way about this music that I do.
Read on after the jump for more from Jen and Scotty’s conversation…
Sure we may call this column MP3 Boot Camp, but we’ll also highlight any shows that bloggers put up in a lossless format. Sadly, there aren’t many of them pumping
We explained back in August that we’ve been suckers for bootlegged live concert videos since we were mere newbs. Nay, n00bs. This week we’ve come across another batch of amazing videos freely available for the taking on the torrent sites, so it’s time for another All-DVD edition of Grousing The Aisles.
David Byrne 11/15/1997 Pro-Shot [DVD]:
David Byrne keeps everyone happy at his shows by playing a nice mix of his wonderfully cool solo songs and the Talking Heads classics we all love. In 1997 Byrne and his band performed on Sessions at West 54th, a television show he hosted at the time. We were hoping Byrne would interview himself a la the Stop Making Sense extras, but John Hiatt does the honors this time around. Thankfully a kind collector taped an airing of the show and uploaded the DVD files to a torrent site so we can all enjoy Byrne’s energetic performance.
When you watch this DVD, you’ll notice that everyone in the crowd sits down during the performance. The show’s producers must have fed the audience valium, as I couldn’t help but dance when I watched this video on my computer. No one can get my ass shaking like David Byrne can (no homo). David opens the show with Freaky Fuzzy, a tune from 1997’s Feelings that has a catchy chorus and a funky beat. Miss America and Dance on Vaseline are two other Feelings songs that Byrne and his band absolutely tear through at this taping. Byrne will never shake his billing as “ex-Talking Head,” but his solo stuff really deserves much more credit. That being said, the best tune of the night was Making Flippy Floppy. David assembled quite the backing band for this tour, and they add new life to a buncha old nuggets from the Heads’ catalog. Read on after the jump for more DVDs from Neil Young, the White Stripes and some pretty cool indie bands on late-night TV…
