A Bunch of Degrees of Awesome Music Separation

I've recently become obsessed with my iPod (though it is a Gen3 and probably getting close to death). I'm fortunate enough to have friends who constantly keep me up to date with amazing new music. After hitting ACL in the fall, I made it my goal for the rest of 2007 and all of 2008, until I return to Austin, to see as many concerts as possible. Thanks to the use of my trusty volvo, I've been able to get to shows in Providence, NYC and Boston:

Blonde Redhead
LCD Soundsystem
The National
Talk Demonic
Arcade Fire
Band of Horses
Cold War Kids
Mute Math
Spoon

I also had tickets to New Pornographers, but had to sell them last minute. Brutal. Fortunately for me, ACL the TV show has been rocking all winter with Arcade Fire, Wilco, Ghostland Observatory, Bloc Party, Patsy Kline, Paolo Nutini and others. Not the same, but it helps. All the music got me thinking, I wonder if all of these awesome musicians, aside from just being flat out awesome (awesome of course being a trait of their awesomeness) were connected. Had they ever played together? Had the written songs together? Been on the same compilation? You get the drift.

So, I did a little work to see if I could connect the redheaded ladies of the New Pornographers (Neko Case) and Rilo Kiley (the gorgeous Jenny Lewis). I think I was able to do it with only one stretch (two bands on the same compilation album) and found some sweet videos in the process. So here we go with "X Degrees of Win Butler" (I chose Win Butler because he is a) the lead singer of one of the hottest bands around (Arcade Fire) b) because he appears sort of in the middle of the game and c) because Win Butler is just weird and random enough to show up on stage somewhere and fill the void left by Kevin Bacon's wonderously mulleted shoes):

First up, the Canadian group, The New Pornographers. Their newest album, Challangers might be their best. I had tickets to seem them here in Boston, but got stuck at work and had to sell my tickets last minute. I hear the show was fantastic (every member of the band was there) and caught the previous night's show via "All Songs Considered" podcast. Gotta love NPR. Below is the title track from "Challengers":


As mentioned, the lovely redheaded lead singer is Neko Case. Ms. Case has had a pretty prolific solo career (as have all of the members of NP). Below is the song "Favorite":


This track, is from her 2001 album, "Canadian Amp," which featured a number of different musicians. Among them, on violin, was Andrew Bird. Andrew Bird is an immensely talented violin player and whistler. I've tried to see him live a number of times and finally succeeded at ACL. His performance was amazing. I'm not quite sure what the spinning things on the back of the stage are (or were doing), but his sound is unique and his whistling is piercing. Below is a live performance of "Plasticities":


While his sound makes me think of a Tim Burton movie (almost "Eerie Classical" for lack of a better classification), that doesn't mean that he can't rock out or appreciate real rock music. After staking out a great spot for nearly an hour for My Morning Jacket at ACL (and being immensely pleased with the opening part of the set), I was blown away when Andrew Bird moseyed on stage in shorts, a Hawaiian shirt and a lei to play accompaniment for a few songs. Fortunately, someone captured it. "Gideon":


There seem to be very few "rock" bands out there...or at least very few rock bands that avoid being classified by me as "cheesedick" rock. MMJ is certainly one of them. I was first introduced to them about three years ago. First time I heard it, I felt like I was in 1960 something and hearing something totally fresh, free and rocking. I had tickets to see them in NYC in fall of '05, but got sent to SF for work. Fortunately, a year later, I saw them at the Whatever-They-Are-Calling-the-Shawmut-Fleet-Center now. They were opening for Pearl Jam. They came on stage for a song or two. This is what it was like. The Who's "A Quick One While He's Away":


Eddie Vedder and the Boss perform "Darkness On The Edge Of Town," what can I say:


Springsteen has been showing up on stage with a lot of contemporary rock musicians in the last few years (some would argue that he IS a contemporary rock musician, but nothing beats "Greetings From Asbury Park," the guy has been around forever). I guess I first noticed it with the concerts for John Kerry in 2004. But like David Bowie, the Boss has become a big fan of indie rock sensations, The Arcade Fire. Bruce and Win Butler (lead singer of AF) were featured in a cover story for Spin Magazine in November. That mag hit the stands shortly after Win and his wife Regine (lead singer and about 18 instruments for AF) appeared on stage with Springsteen to perform AF's "Keep the Car Running":


Arcade Fire, if you aren't familiar with the, are flat out awesome. They exploded on the scene almost three years ago out of Montreal and have been playing sold out shows all over the world ever since. I saw them perform at Coachella in 2005, with zero expectations. I'd never seen a band with that much energy (or that many members). The crowd fed off of it and they, in turn, got more pumped up by the crowd. I've seen them four times since (I think they've added roughly a new band member each time). As big as they became, as quickly as they did, they still play these tiny, quirky shows that are impossible to get tickets for, but are absolutely amazing. Here they are in the basement of the Ukranian Center in Montreal playing a surprise second encore of "The Well and the Lighthouse":


Here is the only stretch of my little experiment. The truth is, I could have stuck with live performances or collaborations and gotten here in a few more steps, but I think co-appearance on compilation is ok in one instance...particularly when the compilation is for something awesome. In this case, it is for "Six Feet Under, Volume 2: Everything Ends." SFU was a revolutionary show that posed the hard questions about life, death, family, blah, blah, blah (I don't mean that yadda, yadda out of disrespect for the show, but merely don't have the literary chops to analyze it). Only fitting that two darlings of indie rock, Arcade Fire and Death Cab for Cutie end up with back-to-back tracks on the disc. Here is Death Cab performing "Transatlanticism":


Ben Gibbard, lead singer of DCFC, is has a knack for catchy music and an incomparable lyricist. His side project, The Postal Service, only produced one album, but songs from it show up all over the radio, tv and film. The most well known, "Such Great Heights" features some of Gibbard's best:

I am thinking it's a sign that the freckles
In our eyes are mirror images and when
We kiss they're perfectly aligned
And I have to speculate that God himself
Did make us into corresponding shapes like
Puzzle pieces from the clay

As a side project, Postal Service featured musicians from outside of DCFC. One of them was Jenny Lewis, who performs all of the female vocals on the PS's album, "Give Up." She made a couple of surprise appearances on stage with Gibbard while he was doing a solo tour. Here's one such appearance in Seattle for a performance of "Nothing Better":


The sweet, lovely and talented Ms. Lewis began her career as an actress. When I first saw her perform with her band, Rilo Kiley, at Coachella in 2005, I knew I recognized her instantly. Yes, nerds and sportsfans, Jenny Lewis did costar with Fred Savage in the 1989 film classic "The Wizard" about a couple of kids who cross the country to compete in a Nintendo Tournament. Yes I saw it. Yes I loved it. And yes, that's Tobey Maguire as one of the thugs at the video game competition.

Ms. Lewis spends the bulk of her time as the front lady for Rilo Kiley, a band she put together with some of her friends in LA. Their first album "Portions for Foxes" was an indie hit and landed them on a major label. Very recently, they released "Under the Blacklight," from which this is the first single, "Silver Lining":


And with that, we complete the trek from one talented red headed musician to another (and we complete the killing of a few hours of my life). I guess I'm putting this out there because I've been lucky enough to have some friends really educate me on some good music (thanks ep, chim, alexa mayo, lpj, mands and blizzle), so I'm attempting something similar (and dorkier) for anyone looking.