Did anyone else see Fleet Foxes perform on Conan O’Brien last night? My keyboardist, Jesse turned me onto their Sun Giant EP and I’ve been hooked ever since. I saw them at my neighborhood club Spaceland here in LA this past summer and the live show was equally as compelling. It also didn’t hurt that before the show they were playing a track from Turkish psychedelic queen Selda. I knew before the show even started that it was going to be good. This is music you can believe in. It’s coming from an honest place and it’s made by people that are fans of music…good music. I was talking to a friend of mine a while back and I was marveling at how young Robin Pecknold is, the lead singer and songwriter of the band (22?) and how impressive it is that such a young guy could come up with such sophisticated melodies. My friend replied and said “it’s not that big of a deal man. Some of the greatest records in the 60′s and 70′s were recorded by people that young…we’re just not as used to that right now. Back then that shit was commonplace.” And he’s right. The Beatles broke up before any of them were 30 years old. James Taylor was 20 when he recorded his debut, Neil Young was 23 when he released his solo debut (and that was AFTER Buffalo Springfield)…and not to mention Stevie Wonder (11?). How much timeless music is being created by people in their teens/early twenties today? Hmmm. Robin Pecknold and the rest of the guys in Fleet Foxes deserve serious props. He’s doing what many people his age can’t. Working hard towards a vision and arming himself with all the right tools…listening to great music.
Growing up in Tulsa, OK, I heard Woody Guthrie’s name often (as well as some of the other Oklahoma greats- Leon Russell, J.J. Cale, Gary Busey- no lie…he was and/or is a badass drummer). After my migration to New Orleans and later Los Angeles Woody Guthrie’s music continued to be an unavoidable force. He’s had such an overwhelming influence on songwriters we are compelled to keep his music alive. And although I am familiar with Guthrie’s music I was not as familiar with his early life, so when an unexpected opportunity arose to see “Bound for Glory” on TCM I was all over it. The film was directed by one of my favorite filmmakers, Hal Ashby (Harold and Maude, Being There) and I was shocked I hadn’t seen it. David Carradine plays Guthrie and simply slays the part…and a young Randy Quaid also makes an appearance sporting the same gentle giant qualities as he did in another Ashby great “The Last Detail”. The film also briefly debut’s actress Mary Kay Place (Terms of Endearment, HBO’s “Big Love”)…another Tulsa native who my mom knew in high school…crazy. The film focuses on Guthrie’s early life in Pampa, Texas and his migration to Los Angeles (via a box car). His life and the sacrifices he makes for his art are so beyond most (if not all) songwriters today…but that topic is another discussion. So if you’re itching to find out more about the great Woody Guthrie’s early life, and you want to see an amazingly beautiful film in the process, check out “Bound for Glory”.
The Deli LA, LA’s independent online blog and website about emerging LA based indie artists, is featuring AM in their “Band of the Month” poll. You can only vote once a day. So be sure and tell your family, friends, coworkers, peers, neighbors, anyone and everyone. Voting ends MAY 31st.
Los Angeles based record store, Amoeba Records, is featuring AM’s newest album “Side By Side – Duets Vol. 1″ on their website for this month. You can find his album in the Home Grown section or in copies of LA Weekly and Campus Circle.
AM – TROUBLED TIMES (CD FOR PROMOTIONAL PURPOSES ONLY – 2006 DEFEND
MUSIC)
Straziami
ma di baci saziami… Spacciami il tuo amore per vero… Guidami
lentamente verso il tuo corpo caldo… Sì se in questo esatto momento
dovessi scomparire dalla faccia dalla terra mi piacerebbe farlo
ascoltando il lavoro del cantautore statunitense che si fa chiamare
Am. Il suo “Troubled Times” è un piccolo condensato di pregevole pop
music insaporita da un pizzico di cultura folk. E così, ancora una
volta, siamo rimasti accecati da un sovversivo bagliore sonoro.
Giustizia malinconica che mi fai piangere ogni mattina quando mi alzo
(e non vorrei destarmi) ridammi i miei scossoni quotidiani di sana e
celeste tristezza. “So Lonely” (il brano migliore di questo album)
pare veramente riconciliare la malattia cronica del pianto
sull’autostrada della verità del cuore. Compact da struscio mentale e
non solo. Quasi un capolavoro!
