Last night’s show at Mad Planet was great. Old favorites like Dinosaur Feathers and The Rural Alberta Advantage were great as expected. I really loved James Vincent McMorrow who I completely missed at SXSW, but was happy to have finally gotten a chance to see live. If you’re in Madison go see them tonight at the High Noon Saloon.

MP3: James Vincent McMorrow – “If I Had A Boat”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “North Star”

Speaking of SXSW, I should mention that I went and had a great time. The festival rapidly swells in popularity and this was the first year that I attended the interactive portion of the festival. I found the entire time to be supremely educational and of course saw some great music. The acts that stood out the most for me this year were: James Blake, Little Scream, Suuns, Low, Wye Oak, and Josh T. Pearson.

Small Sur hails from Baltimore and came up on several occasions while in Austin. Go here to download two tracks for free.

There’s a new Bon Iver album coming in June.

Tiny Mix Tapes shares a new song from Bill Callahan.

TV On The Radio have a new video for “Will Do.” Watch it at Stereogum.

Get Smith Westerns album Dye It Blonde for only $2.99 at Amazon.

(Sad Songs & Waltzes is a recurring feature on Muzzle of Bees, where artists share their favorite sad songs. Previous contributors include Megafaun, Delta Spirit, Damien Jurado, Conrad Plymouth, Frontier Ruckus, Ben Weaver, and Roadside Graves.)

I first heard Judson Clairborne when they opened one of our shows at the Cactus Club last year. Since then, I’ve taken to their 2010 release, Time And Temperature. I’ve always thought you could learn a lot about artists by taking a look at who’s records are in their collections. In this case, anyone that selects Vic Chesnutt is fine by me.

By Chris Salveter

Ricky Nelson – “Lonesome Town” [listen]

When I was a cub, Ricky Nelson, Elvis, The Everly Brothers, and Roy Orbison howled through the radio in my bedroom at night. I listened with my whole being and felt what they were transcending.

Lisa Gerrard – “Sanvean (I Am Your Shadow)” [listen]

I’ve been going through a Dead Can Dance phase for a year now. The progression of this band and what they’ve gone on to do after is very admirable. There’s always so much soul in their music, especially this track of Lisa Gerrard’s. It’s what drowning must feel like.

Low – “Point of Disgust” [listen]

Sad songs can and will make you cry. By shedding tears we make space for new ideas and emotions. New life brings happiness, curiosity, and wonder. Sad songs can and will play an important role in your life, if you let them. Low is one of the finest bands around in my opinion.

Vic Chesnutt – “Flirted With You All My Life” [listen]

Perhaps most of us there in Chicago that night could tell this may be the last time we saw Vic in the flesh. I could barely feel him there, but the love for him and the reverence for his struggle was so present in his band and the audience. He was a man who fought hard and told it straight, hilarious, and gorgeous like no one else.

Feelings – Nina Simone – “Feelings” [listen]

To let thousands of people into your house all at once isn’t an easy thing to do. It’s a sacrificial act and must come from a place of compassion and love. There should be soup and bread. The truth must be framed or scribbled on the walls. You should ask strangers to dance.

Buy: Judson Clairborne – Time And Temperature
++
MP3: Judson Clairborne – Song For Dreaming (Good Ol’ Wobbly Version)

(Sad Songs & Waltzes is a recurring feature on Muzzle of Bees, where artists share their favorite sad songs. Previous contributors include Megafaun, Delta Spirit, Damien Jurado, Conrad Plymouth, Frontier Ruckus, and Roadside Graves.)

I’ve spent the last week enjoying the forthcoming White Pines record, The Falls. I met Joseph Scott, the man behind the White Pines moniker last year while he was touring with Strand of Oaks. We had a couple of great days together in Milwaukee. For this installment of Sad Songs & Waltzes, Joe discusses Low’s “That’s How You Sing Amazing Grace.”

MP3: Low – “(That’s How You Sing) Amazing Grace”
Album: Trust

I was fortunate enough to see Low a few years back, in an intimate venue with a small crowd, in Northern Michigan. Much of the audience was younger than me, maybe less aware of the history of the band, and certainly not aware of what was about to happen. Chatter echoed through the room, people were getting a little drunk, and I was worried that no one would pay attention to Low’s sparse, intense, and painfully beautiful arrangements. They opened the set with this song, and 5 seconds in, the room was silent. Conversations stopped mid-sentence, people milling around the room halted mid-step, and I even saw people who were about to leave, re-enter the venue. This song had everyone awestruck. And for me, it was like I was hearing it for the first time again, right along with the bulk of the audience. Low wields that kind of quiet power, and this song is a prime example.

Beautiful and haunting, sparse sometimes to the point of absurdity, this song rules. Its an exercise in restraint, remaining tense to the very end – a long and slow build to achieve the status quo. Even the vocal harmonies are kept from reaching any conclusion – at the end of the verses, they forgo their logical end-notes, changing instead to ones just slightly off-key. The guitar constantly builds to a crescendo that will never come, and at the end is left as sparse and muted as it began. It takes the idea of the sad song beyond just lyrical content, and creates an atmosphere of sadness that, if you’ll let it, can be incredibly effective. Not to take away from Alan Sparhawk’s lyricism, but what really makes this a great ‘sad song’ is the ambient feeling of darkness created by the music and structure. Its like swimming in tar.

I’ve often told my girlfriend that if she suspects I might be having a bad day, a great way to know for sure is to check my turntable. If this record is on it, then yes – its not been a great day, and I might need a hug.

MP3: White Pines – “Woods”

I first saw Haley Bonar opening for Andrew Bird at the High Noon Saloon in 2006. I was hooked and have since lost count of how many times I’ve played her fabulous album, Lure the Fox. Since then, Madison has been fortunate to have Haley return on many occasions, most recently behind her equally great album, Big Star.

Haley Bonar returns to the High Noon Saloon for a $10 show on Friday, November 20th. Haley was kind enough to share with us 5 of her favorite albums, one of them being her own. I have no problems with artists feeling proud of their own work, and her selection is one we have no problem lending our recommendation to.

Nirvana – Nevermind
I got this record from my cousin when I was all of 12 years old, and remember listening to it on headphones while laying in bed at my grandma’s house. It was one of the best feelings I have ever had about music. It was so loud and naughty and I barely understood it at all. And there was a naked baby fetching a dollar bill under water. It seemed so… wrong. I loved it. When “Something In The Way” came on at the end, I remember thinking it was so strange to end a loud, bizarre record with a song with a cello in it, and then those last haunting notes of Kurt’s voice. I thought it was the most beautiful voice I’d ever heard. I don’t think I slept without listening to Nirvana until I was about 16, when I discovered Low.

Low – Secret Name
I bought it on vinyl when I was 16 and visiting a relative in Duluth, MN, where I eventually moved to go to college. I had heard some of their songs, but never owned any of their records. I chose this one in the store because I liked the pretty flowers on the front. When I listened to it back in my room in South Dakota, I felt like I was the only person in the world who owned it, like it was my secret. I felt alone, but comforted. The first song, “I remember” is so strange and beautiful, especially to a girl who knew little or nothing about “indie rock music”. But then “Starfire” comes on, and you feel like you are riding through a cold night in a car without a roof, the sky opening up above, stars shining bright, driving toward something great and unknown and amazing. “Two Step”, which was one of the first Low songs I had heard, is another song that transports you to another place. When Mimi Parker’s voice comes in, its like a blanket. Their harmonies never cease to amaze me to this day because they are so simple and yet no one can sing quite like they do together.

Joni Mitchell – Blue
My mom used to put this record on when I was little, and Joni’s voice may as well have been an alien it sounded so strange and foreign and fluttery. I only remember how high she could sing, and how I was neither impressed nor annoyed by it, only used to it and the reedy sound of the piano and guitars. I must’ve been about 18 when I purchased it for myself, and it took me a long time to warm up to her style. But once I got there, it was like “where has she been?” Or, “where have I been?” Sure, Joni Mitchell is pretty famous, and regarded as one of the moret important songwriters of the 1960′s and 1970′s, but for some reason, I think she is highly underrated. Is it because she’s female? Is it because a lot of people need ‘warming up’ before they fully comprehend how truly amazing she is at writing, playing, and singing? To this day, nobody sounds like her. Joni Mitchell is royalty. Blue is the people’s record. Her metaphors for the worship of a lover are unlike any I’ve come across- “I could drink a case of you and still be on my feet” or “he’s the warmest chord I ever heard, play that warm chord, play, stay”. Or one of my favorite verses on the record, from “My old man”, “But when he’s gone reeling lonesome blues collide, the bed’s too big, the fryin’ pan’s too wide”. I think I listened to “Carey” on repeat for a month. She’s political, but never preachy, love sick but never desperate, complicated but never over the listener’s head, and always honest.

John Lennon – Plastic Ono Band
Growing up listening and obsessing about the Beatles is a rather common story, and mine is no different. Though I loved the McCartney jams, I usually favored the more brooding songs of John Lennon, and when a friend played this record for me when i was 19, it knocked my socks off upon the first listen. Apparently, this was Lennon’s “therapy” record- there were issues from his childhood that he hadn’t dealt with, along with breaking off from the crazy fame of The Beatles. He rages, swears, lays it all out on the table raw, and manages to pull it off without a completely sour taste in the listener’s, or his own, mouth. Songs like “Look at me”, “Mother” and “my mummy’s dead”, reveal the sad and innocent side of him- just look at that haunting picture of him as a little boy on the back- while songs like “God” (‘I don’t believe in Beatles, I just believe in me’), “Working Class Hero”, and “Isolation”- (‘I don’t expect you to understand after you’ve caused so much pain, but then again, you’re not to blame, you’re just a human, a victim of the insane’) reveal the dark, at times bitter, bleeding heart. And then you have the song “Hold On”, for Yoko Ono, where a growly and panned voice says “cookie”? I do not, however, like the digitally remastered version that includes the incredibly annoying “Do the Oz” and “Power to the People”. Stick with the original master and you’ve got yourself a solid work of art.

Haley Bonar – Lure the Fox
Not sure if I’m allowed to write myself in here, but oh well. This is one of my proudest moments as a musician. It was recorded at the famed Pachyderm studio in Cannon Falls, MN, a small, semi-industrial town about 50 minutes south of St. Paul. I was under a fair amount of stress before it was recorded, having already recorded it and in Duluth a year or so before, had it mixed, mastered, and decided that I couldn’t live with it the way it was. So I decided to redo it. I had no money, no label, and a woman named Mary Lewis (Mike Lewis of Happy Apple/Andrew Bird fame’s ma) came to one of my shows and said she wanted to make an investment and pay for my record. Things fell into place in their own magical way, and this record was recorded and mixed in one week, on tape, while we camped out in the dilapidated 1970′s Pachyderm Mansion 20 yards from the studio. But it’s not just about the experience. Years later, every 6 months or so, I put this record on my headphones and find new things that I like about it. Not that I don’t feel a certain amount of pride or nostalgia for my other albums, but for some reason this one’s solid mood throughout stands out to me. It’s no pop record, not really folk, or ‘neo folk’, or rock, but just a bit of it all wrapped up into one weird little disc. I hope to release it on vinyl someday.

Previously: 5 Questions with Haley Bonar
Previously: Photos: Haley Bonar + The Dodos – Terrace, Madison

Buy: Haley Bonar – Big Star
++
Myspace: Haley Bonar
MP3: Haley Bonar – “Something Great”