Thursday, April 28, 2011

TnJ 167 (4/28/11)

-HOUR ONE-

WILLIE NELSON – Uncloudy Day (1976 the Troublemaker)
JOHN MELLENCAMP – I Couldn’t Believe It Was True (2003 Willie Nelson & Friends – Live & Kickin’)
AVETT BROTHERS – I Killed Sally’s Lover (2010 Live, Volume 3)
WILCO – Heavy Metal Drummer (6/21/03 Three Rivers Arts Festival, Pittsburgh, PA)
moe. – Y.o.Y. > George (2007 Warts & All, Vol. 5, 2/22/05 Des Moines, IA) moe.org
BUXTER HOOT’N – Cover Band (2011 Buxter Hoot’n) buxterhootn.com

-HOUR TWO-

ZAC BROWN BAND – the Night They Drove Old Dixie Down (2010 Pass the Jar)
TARA NEVINS – Wood and Stone (2011 Wood and Stone)
INFAMOUS STRINGDUSTERS – Walking on the Moon (3/18/11 Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO)
CLUB D’ELF – So Below (2011 Electric Moroccoland / So Below) clubdelf.com
MAGGI, PIERCE and E.J. – 12/12 (2000 For)
JASON ISBELL and the 400 UNIT – Daisy Mae (2011 Here We Rest) jasonisbell.com
SONNY ROLLINS – Alfie’s Theme (1966 Alfie OST)
CHICK COREA NEW TRIO – Rhumba Flamenco (2001 Past, Present & Futures)

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Monday, April 25, 2011

FROG FEST VI

Crikey! It's going 2 days this year...


Click here for more info and tickets (^_^)

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Thursday, April 21, 2011

TnJ 166 (4/21/11)

-HOUR ONE-

PAUL SIMON
– So Beautiful or So What (2011 So Beautiful or So What)
LEFTOVER SALMON – Out in the Woods (2002 Live, c. 2001)
JOHN BROWN’S BODY – Heart and Soul (2005 Pressure Points)
SOULIVE w/ the SHADY HORNS – El Ron (2011 Bowlive – Live at the Brooklyn Bowl, c. 2010)
TONY FURTADO – Devil’s Dust (2010 Golden)
TV on the RADIO – Killer Crane (2011 Nine Types of Light)
MICHAEL FRANTI & SPEARHEAD w/ ROBERT MIRABAL – East to the West (7/1/07 Taos Solar Music Festival) festivalink.net

-HOUR TWO-

PHIL & FRIENDS
– Jam (10/1/00 Memorial Auditorium, Burlington, VT)
PHIL & FRIENDS – Dire Wolf (10/24/00 the Fillmore, Denver, CO)
PHIL & FRIENDS – Brown-Eyed Woman (7/20/02 Tweeter Center at the Waterfront, Camden, NJ)
ZEN TRICKSTERS – Jam (4/23/90 Raoul’s, Freeport, NY)
GOV’T MULE – She Said She Said (2/21/02 Hard Hat Café, Toledo, OH)
ZEN TRICKSTERS – Say That I Am (10/29/99 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY)
ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND – Why Does Love Got to Be So Sad? > Franklin’s Tower (3/19/04 Beacon Theatre, New York, NY)
CHRIS ROBINSON & NEW EARTH MUD – Deal (7/10/04 Fox Theatre, Boulder, CO)

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Thanks to John Barraco for guest toasting the second hour tonight, all featuring his second cousin, Rob Barraco, who's got a birthday coming up next week (^_^)

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Wednesday, April 20, 2011

CONCERT REVIEW

ARCADE FIRE - 4/18/11 Convention Center, Santa Fe, NM


For anyone not yet aware: this band is incredible. They exude an unnatural level of contagious energy through the entire set, all 8 of them wielding a panoply of instruments and skill.

Friends who had, apparently, been dragged to the show by their significant others asked me before the show what kind of band Arcade Fire were. I said, "folky new wave," and now, having seen them live and not just heard their records, I think that's fair, though I might've added energetic and atmospheric to the description.

The opener, "Ready to Start," from the award-winning album The Suburbs (their 3rd), set the pace for the night and the song closed out with an extended jam I ddn't expect from such a "songy" band. Not that they're particularly jammy, but they are great live, and allow many of their songs to breathe more in that setting. I wish the room they'd been playing in hadn't owned the most cavernous echo of any live music venue in history, but the band's greatness overshadowed the poor acoustics.

Another of the new songs, "Modern Man," had a distinct Talking Heads flavor, satirizing the "quiet desperation" of suburban life while somehow glorifying it. Nearly everyone can relate to lines like "In line for a number."

"Intervention," a desperately bitter but beautiful track from 2007's "Neon Bible," was a late-in-the-game surprise, and by the time the first encore came "Keep the Car Running," I had decided that, though their brand of social commentary is somewhat derogatory gospel, merely knowing that you have a problem is hope enough for recovery. I came away a believer.

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Sunday, April 17, 2011

ALBUM REVIEW 3-FER

For the Toast-n-Jammer on the go, here are some quickie album reviews of recent releases in the “genre.” Of course, I dislike using the word “genre” to describe the Toast-n-Jam oeuvre, since “jambands” are less a “genre” than a collection of genres with a similar mindset. Calling jambands a genre is like calling the Adult Contemporary radio format a genre.

Also, I must admit these are less “reviews” than a listening diary, more trying to describe the initial feeling-through-audio experience. At the outset, I will say they all possess a certain tasty goodness, otherwise I wouldn’t have felt the need to write about them.

~ Chris Diestler

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TV on the RADIO “Nine Types of Light” (Apr 12, 2011 – Interscope Records)

Anyone who thinks this Brooklyn combo aren’t one of the most psychedelic around obviously hasn’t listened to them, or had a psychedelic experience, though this album (their 4th) plays more like a righteous come-down than some of the agitated or angry trips they’ve brought us in the past. The opener, “Second Song” is exhilarating and fresh, and makes me all smiles. It sets the tone for the nearly hypnotic-yet-electrifying series of songs which follow.

The band seems less obsessed with impressing its audience with art-funk-rock showmanship than with actually acquiring an audience, for a change.

Aside from the opener, which is already a shoo-in for my year-end best-of list, “Nine Types of Light” has several outstanding tracks I plan to enjoy repeatedly over the next few months, namely “You,” “No Future Shock,” “Killer Crane,” and “Will Do,” likely to be the best 4 songs-in-a-row on any album this year. “Killer Crane” pours actual atmosphere out of the speakers.

Although possibly by design, it’s a shame TV on the Radio seem less interested in writing hooks than just plain being groovy. It’s really difficult to recommend a band without a hook to most people simply because they’re groovy. Not that there aren’t melodies, they just aren’t what we’re used to thinking of as melodies. The opening riff to “You” is as catchy as any melody, but isn’t a vocal. The vocal backup on “Will Do” is catchy enough to be the chorus of most band’s songs, but gets buried in the background here.

Well, “New Cannonball Blues” makes it the best 5 songs in-a-row I’ll likely hear this year. This is a well planned set of songs that deserves to be called an “album,” unlike most albums these days.

And “Repetition” makes it the best 6 songs in-a-row. The last 4th album from a band I remember impressing me this much was “Ghost in the Machine” by the Police, 1981.

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P.S. [4/21/11] Sadly, TV on the Radio announced yesterday their bass player, Gerard Smith, had lost his battle with lung cancer and passed away. The band has cancelled several shows, including a date in Denver. Here's the link to their official website. R.I.P.

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HOT TUNA “Steady as She Goes” (Apr 5, 2011 – Red House Records)

Wow, this is not what I expected at all. Those who’ve followed Jorma and Jack through their transition from Jefferson Airplane (before it morphed into Jefferson Starship and later, sadly, just Starship) into the more front-porch friendly Hot Tuna may have expected this, but not me. This sounds more like a straight up Jorma Kaukonen record than a Hot Tuna record to me, but maybe the coke-addled A&R men of the 70s weren’t about to allow something this down-home onto a “rock” record.

It is slightly less concerned with acoustics and olde-timey song preservation than most Kaukonen albums, but it still has that feel. Even at Hot Tuna’s folkiest, I expect a certain extravagant density in the recording. These songs are almost Spartan in their lack of appointment. If the last 20 or 30 years of Tuna gigs have been classified as either an “Acoustic Hot Tuna” or “Electric Hot Tuna” show, this set is definitely the “Acoustic Hot Tuna” variety.

Not to say it doesn’t have its charm, I was just hoping for something (anything) along the lines of a swampy, electrified “Bowlegged Woman” or “Funky #7.” Sorry to say, not to be found here.

On the plus side, “Second Chances” is just plain gorgeous, old-fashioned songsmanship. “Children of Zion” and “Mama Let Me Lay It on You” are catchy updates of Reverend Gary Davis, an artist whose catalog Kaukonen seems intent on eventually remaking in its entirety.

“A Little Faster” and “If This Is Love” are likewise catchy, and do their best to push the collection in a more electric direction, but come off a little naïve and clunky.

The fantastic opener “Angel of Darkness” may prove to be the gem of the set, and “Mourning Interrupted” at least hints at being timeless.

All in all a very pleasant listen, if not a historical one.

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TONY FURTADO “Golden” (Dec 14, 2010 – Funzalo Records)

This guy is one of the best musicians and songwriters almost nobody’s heard of. Unfortunately for Tony Furtado, I’d have said the same thing when I first heard him nearly a decade ago. Maybe he’s content flying under the radar, being as kick-ass as he is, and doesn’t need the adoration of millions.

Even among his always-impressive albums of sounds, “Golden” is a standout. Songs like “Toe the Line” and “Can’t Lie Down” are instantly memorable, and the instrumental “Portlandia” does a nice job of showing off Furtado’s virtuosity without being too baroque.

“Angelina” has an unusual ranchero-country flavor and finds itself in a rare category indeed: the beautiful sad song.

“Devil’s Dust” has an impressive, thumping rock-n-roll swagger, even though it also comes off like a folk song, which may be one of Furtado’s biggest strengths: combining genres to make interesting sounds. If Tom Petty were singing it, I could believe it was one of his outtakes that, insanely, had never made it to an album.

One of the last tracks on the album, “River Song,” is as fine an entry into Furtado’s songbook as you’re likely to find, hitting on at least two of the things which drew me to him in the first place: extraordinary musicianship and an unashamed revival of folky, almost archetypal themes.

Earthy yes, but with ecstatic, soaring moments, “Golden” is a splendid trip that many might dismiss as merely ordinary.

And, if you’re reading this before April 27, 2011, and happen to be in New Mexico, you’re in luck – he’s playing the Cooperage in Albuquerque. Here’s the link.

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Thursday, April 14, 2011

TnJ 165 (4/14/11)

Got to spin a couple of premieres tonight, made me feel downright special (^_^) THX

-HOUR ONE-

PHISH – Alaska (2010 Alpine Valley [box set], 8/14/10 Alpine Valley Music Theatre, Troy, WI) phish.com
GALACTIC w/ CYRIL NEVILLE – You Don’t Know (2011 the Other Side of Midnight – Live in New Orleans) *** due out 5/3/11 ***
DELTA GENERATORS – Hard River to Row (2011 Hard River to Row) deltagenerators.com
WARREN HAYNES – Man in Motion (2011 Man in Motion) *** due out 5/10/11 ***
the BRIDGE – Rosie (2011 National Bohemian) thebridgemusic.com
HOT TUNA – Children of Zion (2011 Steady as She Goes) hottuna.com
BORIS McCUTCHEON & the SALTLICKS – No Place to Fall (2010 Wheel of Life) borismccutcheon.com
MILKDRIVE – Dry Creek Inn (2011 Road from Home) milkdrive.com
ELEPHANT REVIVAL – Go On (2011 Break in the Clouds) elephantrevival.com

-HOUR TWO-

GRATEFUL DEAD – Candyman (9/15/90 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY)
ARCADE FIRE – No Cars Go (2007 Neon Bible) arcadefire.com
LARRY SCHMID – Seeds and Stems (2011 Seeds and Stems) greatcaesarsghost.com
WIDESPREAD PANIC – Machine > Barstools and Dreamers (2010 Live in the Classic City II, MM) widespreadpanic.com
GARAGE á TROIS – Baby Mama Drama (2011 Always be Happy, but Stay Evil) garageatrois.net
DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS – Go-Go Boots (2011 Go-Go Boots) drivebytruckers.com
the DECEMBERISTS – Dear Avery (2011 the King Is Dead) decemberists.com

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NEXT WEEK: Guest toast John Barraco brings the birthday jams for his cousin, Rob! Be listening...

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Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Thursday, April 7, 2011

TnJ 164 (4/7/11)

-HOUR ONE-

EUFÓRQUESTRA – Dr. Standby (2009 Soup) euforquestra.com
Interview > Mike Tallman [Eufórquestra] (recorded 4/6/11 KBAC-FM, Santa Fe, NM)
HERBIE HANCOCK – Watermelon Man (1962 Takin’ Off)
LITTLE FEAT – Sailin’ Shoes > Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (1978 Waiting for Columbus, c. 1977)
SOULIVE w/ the SHADY HORNS – Hat Trick (2011 Bowlive – Live at the Brooklyn Bowl, c. 2010) soulive.com
GREGG ALLMAN – Tears, Tears, Tears (2011 Low Country Blues)

-HOUR TWO-

FREDDIE KING – Dust My Broom > Hide Away Medley (1996 Live at the Electric Ballroom, 1974)
WALTER TROUT – Hudson Had Help (2010 Common Ground) waltertrout.com
DAN HICKS – the Diplomat (2009 Tangled Tales)
DeVotchKa – Interlude > the Man from San Sebastian (2011 100 Lovers) devotchka.net
SAM BUSH BAND – Mahavishnu Mountain Boys (12/31/03 Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO) sambush.com
JERRY GARCIA ACOUSTIC BAND – Casey Jones (1988/2010 Almost Acoustic)
BOB MARLEY & the WAILERS – Exodus (2011 Live Forever, 9/23/80 Stanley Theatre, Pittsburgh, PA)

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Thanks to Jams of Enchantment for turning me on to the Eufórquestra shows coming up this weekend, and to Mike Tallman for checking in from the road. Playback his interview here.

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Wednesday, April 6, 2011

YMSB / RRE / ISD @ RED ROCKS


General tickets on sale Saturday 4/9 @ 10 a.m. MDT

Pre-sale tickets on sale Friday 4/8 @ 10 a.m. MDT

This one'll be a hoot 'n' a holler 4 sho (^_^)

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Link to Yonder's official site here.

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