Current Musical Obsessions

03May08

This is a group called Fleet Foxes who performed in San Francisco at Bottom of the Hill during the Noise Pop Music Festival, singing White Winter Hymnal. I’ve posted for you the recorded version, which is really clean, and a live version, which is a bit sloppier (as most live versions are) so you can have some visuals. The visuals are key here because I want to show those not fortunate enough to have already attended (or who may be contemplating attending) one of their shows how, given a combination of the right dosage of alcoholic beverages and a prime front row location at a small venue, can cause one to think the lead singer (with his melodious voice) is Jesus: a euphoric state sets in as even the most secular are swept up in a blissful listening experience. Also, they are remarkably good live and I believe a comparison between the two substantiates that statement.

This is Elliott Smith’s version of the song Thirteen; it’s posted because an artist never covers a song without purpose or agenda and I believe this song (and the video) speak volumes about his interior, about his exterior, about the state of the world after his departure and the state of his world before his departure. 

Because Laura Marling, this impish, less animated and coked out British version of Courtney Love, has given us a contemplative excoriation of destructive men that appealed to me, and because the Alice in Wonderland angle is also interesting.

And last but not least, Baby Dee singing Safe Inside the Day on a chapter of Black Cab Sessions (which can be found on my Music blog roll. This is the epitome of authenticity: the man himself and his music; he is what he is, and this is merely one version of a song that seems to change melodic forms upon each performance, but still manages to retain it’s impact. 

 

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Tags: folk, Music, pop