Thursday, November 28, 2013

newgazzi Vol 10






























Happy Thanksgiving!  I am thankful for all of my readers.  Here is newgazzi Vol 10 ...

01.  "Flick of the Finger" by Beady Eye (from the LP Be)
02.  "Rosy" by The Belle Comedians (from the Charlotte - EP)
03.  "Where I Came From" by Union Pulse (from the LP Angel on a Wire)
04.  "November" by Grace and Tony (from the LP November)
05.  "Twin Rivers" by Big Scary (from the forthcoming LP Not Art)
06.  "Wilderness" by Mason Jennings (from the LP Always Been)
07.  "Just the Way You Are" by Alexa Ray Joel (single)
08.  "Last Man Standing" by James Tristan Redding (from the compilation Ten Year Anniversary)
09.  "The Big Game is Every Night" by Songs: Ohia (from the LP Magnolia Electric Co.)
10.  "Long Time Gone" by Billie Joe + Norah (from the forthcoming LP Foreverly)
11.  "Cardiac Arrest" by Bad Suns (single)
12.  "Thanksgiving" by Stephen Kellogg (from the LP Blunderstone Rookery)
13.  "Down Time" by Troy Petty (from the LP Fairy Tale Pen)
14.  "A Girl Named Elizabeth" by James Tristan Redding (from the LP Walking Into Brooklyn)
15.  "3,000 Miles" by James Tristan Redding (from the LP Walking Into Brooklyn)


Thursday, November 21, 2013

newgazzi 11.22.13

Happy Birthday to my sister, Jill !  I know you enjoy newgazzi, and I hope you enjoy these tunes ...

Norah Jones and Billie Joe Armstrong recorded an album of folk songs.  Yes, please!  Here is the first single from their album Foreverly, and it's called "Long Time Gone".




Beady Eye is basically Oasis without Noel Gallagher.  Be is their second album, and the first single is called "Flick of the Finger".




Grace and Tony are a married couple, who describe their music as "Punkgrass".  Tony's brother is John Paul White of The Civil Wars.   Tons of talent at that Thanksgiving dinner ...




... and speaking of Thanksgiving, here is Stephen Kellogg with "Thanksgiving".




We lost Jason Molina back in March.  I am thankful for the music that he gave us all.  Here's a bonus track from the Songs: Ohia album Magnolia Electric Co., the record he would rename his band after.  Such a brilliant man that I miss a ton.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#1)

"This Disorder" by The Features

Two years ago, The Features were featured on one of the first mPlayer samplers from Paste.  I liked the song enough to keep it.  This summer, while I was compiling songs for newgazzi Vol 4, I stumbled upon their new self-titled album.  I sampled each song, and kept coming back to this one.  As much as I thought I liked it when I first heard it, I've come to actually like the song more and more with each listen.  I did some checking, and as it turns out, this is the most played song on my iPod of any song I've featured on newgazzi since I started the playlists in February.  I can't see a day where I ever get sick of hearing it.  That fucking bass line.  Pelham's vocals (which remind me a bit of Billy Squier), everything, it all works.  My favorite song of 2013 ...

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#2)

"This is How I Let You Down" by The Franklin Electric

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#3)

"Pauvre Coeur" by Jillette Johnson

Here's the official video, and her version for Slacker ...



My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#4)

"Sacrilege" by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Three versions of this song for you ... the original video, the video in reverse, and the appearance on Letterman.  For what it's worth, this song, and the next three songs were all considered for #1 on my list this year.





My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#5)

"Here We Go" by Emily Forst

This video has 3,203 views on youtube.  I'll bet 1,500 are mine.  Stalker!  But seriously, I'm very proud of you, Emily !

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#6)

"Hush Hush" by Pistol Annies

Yes, a country song is #6 on my best of 2013 list.  No, the blog has not been taken hostage.




My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#7)

"You Can't Be Told" by Valerie June

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#8)

"Irony is Not a Type of Metal" by James Tristan Redding

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#9)

"You Never Need Nobody" by The Lone Bellow

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#10)

"War" by Sam Morrow

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#11)

"Fever Dream" by Young Summer

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#12)

"High School Lover" by Cayucas

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#13)

"Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots

It's only fair that I use this version.  Had I not seen this on youtube, I would not have ever heard the original version of this song.  And I like this better, anyway ...

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#14)

"The Stars Are Ours" by Mayer Hawthorne

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#15)

"Take It Easy, Baby" by Kiya Lacey (and special appearance by Gracie Buchholz)





My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#16)

"Parachutes" by Amason

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#17)

"On My Way" by The Melodic

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#18)

"Leslie" by Nataly Dawn

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#19)

"Brighten It Up" by Matt Stansberry & The Romance

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#20)

"High Heel Leather Boots" by Baby Bee

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#21)

"Peace and Quiet" by Waxahatchee

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#22)

"3,000 Miles" by James Tristan Redding

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#23)

"Strictly Reserved For You" by Charles Bradley

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#24)

"Pink Rabbits" by The National

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#25)

"Run Boy Run" by Woodkid

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#26)

"I Love You" by Said the Whale

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#27)

"All of Me" by John Legend

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#28)

"Good To You" by The Riverside

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#29)

"Fowl and Foe" by Old Monk

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#30)

"Suit & Tie" by Justin Timberlake

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#31)

"Peaches" by In the Valley Below

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#32)

"Wave Forms" by Islands

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#33)

"Lightning Bolt" by Jake Bugg

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#34)

"Harvest" by K.S. Rhoads

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#35)

"Wander" by Jay Nash

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#36)

"Keep Moving Brother, Keep Moving Sister" by Denison Witmer

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#37)

"June (Oh My God) by The Get Togethers

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#38)

"Cut Me Some Slack" by Paul McCartney, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#39)

"My Number" by Foals

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#40)

"Sea of Love" by The National

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#41)

"Demon to Lean On" by Wavves

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#42)

"Lean on Me" by Telekinesis

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#43)

"Crazy Bird" by Wild Child

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#44)

"Wilderness" by Mason Jennings

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#45)

"Island (She Talks to Rainbows) by Guided By Voices

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#46)

"Toe Cutter - Thumb Buster" by Thee Oh Sees

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#47)

"On the Line" by The Olms

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#48)

"Home Again" by Elton John

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#49)

"Baby" by She & Him

My Top 50 Songs of 2013 (#50)

"Black Sheep" by Gin Wigmore

Saturday, November 16, 2013

My Top 20 Albums of 2013

I've had a change of heart.  Originally, I said I wasn't going to rank my Top 20 albums for 2013, because Fugazzi Grand III : My Top 500 Albums of All Time, is coming January 1st.  But it could all end tomorrow, and the rankings for the Top 500 could change slightly, as that list has many constantly moving parts.  If you look back at my Top 1000 Songs from 2010, that changes daily as well.

But before we get to the Top 20, here are 6 albums that I never got a chance to listen to in 2013.  Now that I have more time, money, etc, that will change soon ...



The last  Elton John record I really loved was Made in England.  Elton goes back to his roots and recorded this entire album with just piano, bass and drums.  Home Again is one of his best songs in years, and I can't wait to dive from "The Diving Board".








This recording came out of Elvis Costello and The Roots jamming after a Late Night with Jimmy Fallon taping about a year ago.  What I've heard so far, I like.  The only disappointed is that there is no Black Thought, so it's almost as if The Roots are just the backing band for this Elvis Costello project.







I've seen the Melodic live, I've spent 8 hours in a car with them, we've shared Mexican food, I love their EP, I heard them on Reign, I saw them on Last Call with Carson Daly, but I haven't had a chance to listen to "Effra Parade" yet.   Soon, I tell ya.  Soon!








To use a wrestling term, I will always "mark out" for Paul McCartney recordings.  I saw him live at Miller Park this summer, but he didn't play anything new from his latest album, "New".  Very much looking forward to sitting down with this one.








Say it ain't so!  Yes, The Civil Wars are on "hiatus", so who knows if this is the last record we'll get from them.  I hope not.  I haven't heard anything from this album yet, but if it's anything like "Barton Hollow", I will not be disappointed.








Mason Jennings' album "Boneclouds" was one of my favorites from 2006, and I'm excited to see that his new album, "Always Been" was just released a week ago.  Mason is a fantastic singer-songwriter, and has a pretty awesome mother in law.  Hi Margie !








But wait !  There's more !!  I know you want to get to the Top 20.  We all do.  But before we do, I want to share 14 other albums that I love from 2013.  These are much more than honorable mentions.  Of the hundreds of albums I've taken the time to stream and/or buy this year, these are the best of the best of the best of the rest, in alphabetical order ...



I was late to lunch on this.  Was probably the last person on earth to hear "Blurred Lines", and the first time I heard it performed, it was with Jimmy Fallon and The Roots, and they were using classroom instruments.  That got me curious.  Fun record.








I don't remember how I stumbled upon this, but as I get older, I've really started to embrace jazz more.  Dave Brubeck's "Take Five" is still my favorite instrumental album.







When you compare "English Little League" to the other GBV albums that have been released recently, maybe this isn't as good, but if you compare it to a lot of the stuff that's out there, I still enjoy sitting down to a Pollard recording.  This is the most proficient songwriter of our time.  That is fact.  Some great songs on this long player.







Nick Korth made me aware of this Justin Vernon project.  The first Bon Iver record is still my favorite album that came from my years subscribing to Paste.  No falsetto vocals, here.  Would like to see these guys live.








When this first came out, I wore it out for a couple of weeks.  I still like it, but I think I ended up overplaying it.  Then I started to hear "Safe and Sound" in ads.  I still like it, but I think I was saying "album of the year" at one point.   Peaked too early ...








The beauty of social media.  The author of Ear to the Ground asked me to check out James Crawford.  I did.  He's awesome.  This has been keeping me company in the car for a few months.








What a voice, and quite a charming recording.  At just under 25 minutes long, I can pretty much listen to this 4 times to and from work, and believe me, I have ...









Very enjoyable recording by Dietrich Gosser.  It's called "Oh To Begin!" and for what it's worth, my favorite album art of 2013.










I still can't listen to The Fiery Furnaces' "Blueberry Boat" all the way through, but "Bitter Tea" and "Widow City" are favorites of mine. This is Eleanor Friedberger's latest solo album, and is more than just a good summer record.








I discovered The Riverside on NoiseTrade earlier this year.  I understand they are recording their follow up to their self titled debut, and I can't wait to hear it.  I still think about Diana Gruber everyday.









Another album that I wore out when it came out.  I think I discovered them on Fallon.  Still enjoy the vibe here ...











Don't be fooled by this album not making the Top 20.  I listen to it quite often.  The reason it didn't make the top 20 is musically, there's not much here.  It's not bad, but the attraction here is clearly Charles Bradley's vocals.  I'm curious to see what's next ...







James Tristan Redding turned me on to this duo.  I was familiar with M Ward's solo stuff, and we've all seen Elf.  Charming, good Saturday afternoon listening ...









I was really excited about Eels trilogy when I heard the idea.  Hombre Lobo was great.  End Times was good.  Tomorrow Morning was ... not.  So with each album worse than the one that came before it, I was entering this pool with my toes, instead of diving in.  I like it enough to make this blog post, but not enough to make the Top 20.







I hope you enjoyed the appetizer.  Here is the main course.  My top 20 albums of 2013 ...


20.  "Floating Coffin" by Thee Oh Sees

Jill, do you remember what you said about this band when you heard them?  Check out newgazzi Vol 3 to jog your memory.  I was introduced to this band for the first time this year, but I cannot wait to hear their old stuff.





















19. "The Olms" by The Olms

I guess I'm a sucker for Pete Yorn's side-project albums that clock in under 30 minutes.  I bought his collaborative album with Scarlett Johannsson a few years back, and I really enjoy this efford with J.D. King.





















18.  "Ghost on Ghost" by Iron & Wine

Definitely like this better than "Kiss Each Other Clean", but was really hoping this would contend for my album of the year.  It's pleasant, very well done, and to make the same comparison I made earlier with GBV, much better than a lot of what is out there.  The stand out track is "Baby Center Stage".  Definitely worth checking out ...



















17.  "Dysnomia" by Dawn of Midi

Really, the only thing keeping this album from a top 5 appearance on this list is that I heard it for the first time just a few months ago.  I'm still getting to know it.  It's an instrumental record of piano, bass and drums, but I refuse to put a label on it.  You just have to hear it ...  Dawn of Midi's "Dysnomia"





















16.  "Soft Will" by Smith Westerns

This will be a band that I'm hopefully listening to for a long, long time.  "Dye it Blonde" is one of my favorite recordings of the past few years, and their follow up, "Soft Will", did not disappoint.  This is pop music for people who say they don't like pop music.





















15.  "Amok" by Atoms for Peace

I have a love/hate relationship with Thom Yorke.  For the most part, I really can't say that I'm a big Radiohead fan.  Yeah, I recognize that OK Computer is great, and I do enjoy The Bends. But that's all I've really embraced, and I really didn't connect with his solo album.  So I was hesitant to give this a try.  Well thank goodness I had 44 and a half minutes to kill earlier this year.  This album is really good, and I can easily say I enjoy it more than either of the Radiohead records I've mentioned here.  A great piece of art ...





















14.  "Bigfoot" by Cayucas

6 of the next 14 artists on this list were all featured on newgazzi Vol 4, which has become my favorite newgazzi playlist of the past 9 months.  Cayucas is another band that I heard for the first time this year, and have played the hell out of this for the past 6 months, and love it as much today as I did the first time I heard it.  I've become big fans of these guys ...




















13.  "Dormarion" by Telekinesis

The brainchild of Michael Benjamin Lerner, Telekinesis is appointment record listening.  Pick up all three of their albums, but start with this one !  Even if Todd Kemper doesn't like it.





















12.  "The Features" by The Featuers

I became familiar with The Features when they were included on an mPlayer sampler a few years back.    Their self-titled release in 2013 is a great album, and "This Disorder" has become one of the most played tracks on my iPod this year.  Saw them at Summerfest, and I'm looking forward to what this band has in store for the future.





















11.  "Trouble Will Find Me" by The National

When I saw The National live a few years back, I was underwhelmed.  But their recordings are incredible, and this is no exception.  I will give them another chance live, but damnit, you have to play more than one song from Alligator!





















10.  "The Golden Age" by Woodkid

Yoann Lemoine is known more for his work in video music production, working with such artists as Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Katy Perry and Lana Del Rey.  But after hearing this, there is no mistaking that he can make great music as well.  And here's a moment of honesty.  I've created dirty lyrics for "Run Boy Run", and try to emulate his singing voice in the shower, singing said dirty lyrics.





















9.  "Water in a Whale" by Jillette Johnson

Another artist I discovered on NoiseTrade, Jillette Johnson's EP "Whiskey and Frosting" featured 5 songs from her upcoming album "Water in a Whale".  It's really all I listened to for about two weeks.  Incredible vocals.  Haunting piano.  This is an amazing record.  Not much more I can say, other than you must hear it.





















8.  "The Lone Bellow" by The Lone Bellow

The musicianship on this record is outstanding.  The harmonies are fantastic.  There aren't enough big, descriptive words to shower this band with.  I discovered The Lone Bellow on the very last mPlayer sampler I downloaded in January, right before the newgazzi playlists started.  This will definitely not be the last time this band is featured on this blog.





















7.  "Here We Go" by Emily Forst

Yes, this album came out in November 2012.  But last year's list (which came out 52 weeks ago today) featured my favorite albums from Nov 2011 through Oct 2012, so this qualifies under my rules.  I've seen Emily play a handful of shows, and I'm blown away by the emotion she puts into her performances.  The first time I saw her play, she played two songs from Jeff Buckley's "Grace" record, which you may or may not know is the album my daughter is named after, so yeah, I kind of like it.  Emily was featured on newgazzi Vol 1, and her debut album is a joy to listen to, especially now that I've heard Emily explain the origin of some of these songs at her shows.  The world is a better place for having Emily Forst and her music in it.





















6.  "Sound City - Real to Reel" ... the soundtrack to Dave Grohl's documentary film Sound City

The documentary is a must see, and the music that came from it is just as good.  Dave Grohl collaborates with a number of notable musicians to celebrate the history of Sound City Studios, which officially closed in May of 2011.  Some notable records that were recorded at Sound City were the impossible to find on CD "Buckingham Nicks" record, Elton John's "Caribou", Fleetwood Mac's self-titled album, a bunch of Tom Petty's albums and Weezer's "Pinkerton", just to name a few.  The album was recorded on the famous Neve console, and the stand out tracks are "You Can't Fix This" with Stevie Nicks, "Cut Me Some Slack", which reunites all the living members of Nirvana along with some guy named Paul (McCartney) and "Mantra" with Joshua Homme and Trent Reznor.





















5.  "Scott & Rivers" by Scott & Rivers

Musically, this is best Weezer album since "Maladroit".   But it's not a Weezer album.  This is a side project of Rivers Cuomo and Scott Murphy of the band Allister.  It's got all the crunchy guitars you expect from a Rivers Cuomo recording, and most of it is sung in Japanese.  Hey, if Weezer is going to stick to doing cruises and covering songs for Disney movies, this is the next best thing to a proper Weezer album.





















4.  "How I Knew Her" by Nataly Dawn

I've said it a ton over the past few years.  This is my favorite voice in popular music today.  I could listen to Nataly Dawn sing the phone book all day.  This album is pure joy, her covers are incredible, and her live shows are great.  I'm excited about what Pomplamoose is currently doing, but I will be first in line for Nataly's solo releases from this day forward.  Check her out on newgazzi Vols 1 and 9, and run to your local record shop and demand this album !





















3.  "This Is How I Let You Down" by The Franklin Electric

Jon Matte and Co. have written and recorded a masterpiece.  I found this band one night around 2:00 in the morning.  I couldn't sleep, and I was looking for a couple of songs for newgazzi Vol 6.  I found this album, and liked it so much, I believe I had to bump an artist from the playlist, because I wanted to feature two of their songs (Uninvited (Storm) and This Is How I Let You Down).  The band has re-recorded three of the songs from the record with orchestral arrangements, and will be unveiling one of those a month between now and the beginning of the new year.  Please give your time to this band, and check out this album.





















2.  "Home as in Houston" by The Get Togethers

I'm going to get out of the way for a minute, and let the band tell you their story ...


The year of 2007 with all of its tragic happenings launched a brokenhearted Bethany Gray on a quest to document the events of that year, the most horrifying year of her life. This may seem melodramatic, but what doesn’t to a 17 year old girl?

After escaping a tumultuous childhood, Bethany faced an entirely new stomach-gnawing heartbreak. In 2007 she had an affair with a teacher, a woman, at her own high school.   This soul-sucking, life-depleting teenage cataclysm sent Bethany spiraling down. The police reports, private investigations and courtroom hearings rolled on through the following months, suffocating her hope for survival. She graduated early to avoid additional trauma and moved to Austin, Texas, where a tiny seed was planted – The Get Togethers (though at the time, she had only her sadness and a head full of melodies). It was there she conceived the concept album Home as in Houston to record the story of 2007. This album, which would take over five years to develop, was the very thing that allowed her to let go of that tragedy so many years ago.

A head-on collision car accident at 70 mph led Bethany to her fate. After relocating to Houston to recuperate from the injuries, a few unsuspecting visitors took her by surprise. Her best friend was there accompanied by traveling musicians from Nashville. Nursing a broken collarbone and pumped full of painkillers, Bethany watched the person that would change everything walk into the room – Daniel Frazier.

They were fast friends and six short months later Daniel traveled the 900 miles to Bethany’s doorstep on a rescue mission. They packed up her entire life and booked it back to Nashville. While Houston had always been home, Nashville was the newness she could never find in Austin. Upon arriving in this tremendous city, she met the other two people that would realign the stars forever—Kayce Grossman and Andrew Frazier (life long friend and younger brother to Daniel). These Nashville natives brought life and hope back into this Houston heartbreak.

In the spring of 2011 she began work on Home as in Houston. By the time summer hit she’d made nearly no progress and realized what was missing: Daniel Frazier (on guitar), Kayce Grossman (on drums) and Andrew Frazier (on bass). Having grown up together, playing music since their early teens, these guys had a real distinctiveness about them that would complete The Get Togethers.

That August, they officially formed the band, aiming to finish the long-time dream of Home as in Houston, which was finally released February 12, 2013. What started out as unparalleled friendships transformed into the band we now know as The Get Togethers. They are memoir enthusiasts making homemade music.


A must listen ... thank you for your story, and your music!

























1.  "Walking Into Brooklyn" by James Tristan Redding

Whether this man sells 100 or 20,000,000 copies of this record, this will forever be my favorite record of 2013.  The tears I shed as I type this come from the same source as the tears produced when I saw my daughter read for the first time, or when I witnessed my niece graduate high school with honors.  You've made it, James.  Goddamnit, you've made it, and I could not be prouder of you.  You are my brother, and your words and music inspire me.  Thank you for walking into brooklyn earlier this year, and thank you for "Walking Into Brooklyn", my album of the year.    James is also the featured artist for newgazzi Vol 10, which will be unveiled on Friday, November 29th.  



























Thursday, November 14, 2013

newgazzi 11.15.13

It's Friday, which can only mean one thing.  You've waited very patiently for this week's newgazzi tracks.  Here's the second batch of songs for newgazzi Vol 10, which I will bring to you on Friday, November 29th.

I discovered the music of Mason Jennings in 2006.  He's been recording since 1997, and I highly recommend his album, Boneclouds.  His newest album, Always Been, was released this week, and I can't wait to dive into that one as well.  Here is the first single from the new record.  It's called "Wilderness" ...



To learn more about Mason Jennings, visit his website ... masonjennings.com

Loyal readers know that I listen to about 400 songs a month to pick the 15 I like the most.  The song I've listened to the most so far in November is called "Cardiac Arrest" by Bad Suns, and here it is ...



I found this song last night, and I absolutely love it.   It's called "Twin Rivers" by Big Scary.  Their full length album, Not Art, will be available in January, but you can pick up the Twin Rivers EP right now!



The Belle Comedians play "melodic folk rock with a lot of heart and just the right amount of drunken-like madness".  I lifted that directly from their facebook page.  That sounds like something I can get into.  Here's Rosy from their Charlotte EP ...



You know the next artist's parents.  What you may not know is that Alexa Ray Joel is doing great things in music herself.  The daughter of Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley released her debut EP, Sketches in 2006, has released a handful of singles since, and recently covered one of her dad's most famous songs for Gap's "Back to Blue" television campaign ...



Thank you for checking out newgazzi.  The last five tracks of newgazzi vol 10 will be unveiled on Friday, November 22nd, and the final sequencing of newgazzi Vol 10 will come at you in two weeks.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Ladies and Gentlemen ... James Tristan Redding !!

Ten years ago, I met a UW-Milwaukee senior at the credit union I worked at on campus.   He had a guitar and a demo.   I told the young man to come back soon with another copy, and I would play it all day for my co-workers and the rest of our membership.  That demo would soon become Eine Kleine Rockmusik, the first of five albums that James Tristan Redding would release with his band, Union Pulse, over the next ten years.  Earlier this year, James set out to relocate to New York, found himself in Mexico for several months, and will be releasing his solo debut, Walking Into Brooklyn, this Tuesday, 11.12.13.   I sat down with my friend and brother, James Tristan Redding recently ...


"Who did you listen to growing up, how have your musical tastes changed as you've entered "adulthood", and who are you listening to these days?"
------------
My entire life changed the moment Victoria Lindsay accidentally pressed "play" on her Sony boombox in my 6th grade classroom.  Mrs. Borkon had invited us to bring in music we liked, as part of a class project, which we were to wait until the appropriate moment to play for each other.  Victoria was across the room with another group, and I had never spoken much with her.  I think one day she complimented the Christian Dior shirt my mom picked up for me at a thrift shop, and I assumed it was sarcasm so I told her to "shut up."  She was confused, but let it slide, and maybe we didn't say another word to each other until her finger slipped and sent the opening line to Green Day's "Basketcase" into the grade school air.

I was stunned.  My body was frozen.  I could do nothing but retrace the last 15 seconds of my life, failing to compare it to anything I'd known before.  In retrospect, maybe it compares to the first hit of a drug by someone prone to addiction, or that moment Hollywood teaches us to covet when looking across a room and locking eyes with some other lovestruck damn fool.  And I was sure lovestruck - lucky that my rapport with the teacher was pretty good, I made my nervous way over the stained floorboards to where Victoria was giggling at her innocent mistake.  "What ... WAS that?"  I asked.  She showed me the album cover, which I studied for as long as she'd let me.  Class resumed, somehow I found myself back in my seat, behind my busted desk, in my same old classroom.  But with very new ears.

The next memory I have that's similarly vivid is watching Elaine Schwartz dance on a table, in that same small town class room, to a song by the Offspring.  The album "Smash" had somehow made its way into my still-very-limited consciousness within a week or two of my musical awakening, and in a matter of hours I had memorized all the words and chords to such epic societal essays as "Bad Habit" and "Genocide."  My mother was dating a poet named David, a wonderful man with the misfortune of daylighting as a lawyer, with whom I'm lucky still to be in touch.  David introduced me, via special edition compact disc, to the greatest hits of one Jimi Hendrix.  I use no hyperbole when I tell you, this consumed me entirely.  The notes on that recording, two copies of which I played in my Discman until they wouldn't play anymore, shaped my first years as a teenager like a glacier blazing through the innocent landscape in my sheltered little world.  I learned to play guitar by listening to Jimi and his bassist Noel (from whom, I derived my chosen first and last name) and drum set, of course, from Mr. Mitch Mitchell.  The Band Of Gypsys, and Jimi's solo works, were my third taste of real music, but they were my first experience with true love.

Over the next few years I became intimately familiar with the sounds and emotions of many contemporary artists: Soul Asylum, the Counting Crows, Live, Matchbox Twenty, Seven Mary Three, Beck, No Doubt, Pearl Jam, and many more I'd have to fight with myself to remember by name now (of course I'd stop the conversation and start singing along, maybe even dancing, if they started playing over any retail store intercom or restaurant speaker system).  I did a little historical research, too, and let a few more true classics into my heart: the Eagles, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, J. Geils Band, U2, Ozzy Osbourne, and a few scattered others.

Since entering and exiting my twenties, I've found that I don't need to hear those old recordings very often.  They're a part of me, they're imprinted into my DNA and different bits and pieces of them resurface in my heart and mind often without warning.  And now, I'm excited to say, new treasures have made themselves known to me - one day in college, I happened upon the ultra-terrestrial journey known as Spiritualized, somehow I'm lucky enough to have been raised in a world where Tom Waits exists, and much to my great celebration, it's still legal to listen to Conor Oberst without a prescription.  I won't even get started on Leonard Cohen, whose discography is more an audio Kama Sutra than anything else.  And if you've ever eaten a chunk of fresh apple with brie cheese, then washed it down cranberry lemonade, you may know the joy of a Bob Schneider record.  My bread and butter, through many of my normal days and nights, consists in the veins and arteries of Wilco, Lucinda Williams, Son Volt, Emmylou Harris, Grant Lee Phillips, Kelly McFarling, Golden Smog, Loudon Wainwright, Lyle Lovett, Ryan Adams, Avett Brothers, Uncle Tupelo, Cary Hudson, Kris Kristofferson, and of course, John Prine.

Some seemingly anomalous behavior from my ears as related through my heart -- I'm a sucker for Owl City, She & Him, and the Deftones.  There are more, but for instance, nobody needs to know that I like Mandy Moore.  The ones that took even me by surprise were the groups I didn't understand for a long time, and then one day, suddenly loved: Nirvana, the Rolling Stones, and Radiohead, to name a few.  And finally, if there's one last wish I can earn, whenever my life finally fades, I'd like for the late Townes Van Zandt to sing me through it.  Oh God, and Eva Cassidy.  I hope since passing away, they've met and she's tending to his latest scrapes from the playground.


"What are your five desert island albums?"
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(1) Tom Waits - Real Gone
(2) Bob Schneider - Underneath The Onion Trees
(3) Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning
(4) John Prine - Fair and Square
(5) New Radicals - Maybe You've Been Brainwashed, Too


"I saw "This is the End" recently, and laughed so hard, I felt like I was going to pass out.  Any other movies that I need to see?"
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Oh man.  I haven't seen that yet, maybe I should.  Uh, movies.  Yes.  You've probably seen School of Rock?  That movie kills me.  What about Peaceful Warrior?  My friend Kai chose that for "movie night" back when I was living in the mid-west, and everyone in the room seemed to get just a whole lot of good energy from it.  I imagine you're no stranger to "A Mighty Wind?"  I have a feeling if I watched that again, I'd really laugh my ass off.  The first time, I think I was too concerned with laughing to prove that I got it.  Which was silly, because I watched it alone.  OH.  And "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang."  Fantastic.  My favorite movie of all time is "No Country For Old Men."


"Food you can't live without?"
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I eat pizza every day.  The doctors say it will kill me.  They don't say that to me, though, because I don't have health insurance.  Haha.  They're saying that to the other people, who are paying them to talk.  I eat the pizza for the same reason I don't have health insurance -- I'm poor.  Here in New York City, I can get a slice of pizza on almost any street corner for $1, which is pretty much the best news I've ever heard.  I also eat bagels, breakfast wraps, and pretty much any other food that I can find in the $1 range.  If I had my choice of any food ever, I think I'd pick crepes with lemon juice and sugar on them, or maybe a nice warm gyro sandwich.  But there are whole days that I just eat one thing all day -- in fact, I'm that way with music, too.  I'll often put one song on repeat for 30 or 40 times through, and just really sink into it.  One week last winter I ate only sourdough rolls.  They were delicious.


"Tell me how your shows are different now from when you were touring with Union Pulse."
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The biggest difference, I think, in playing solo is that I have both the freedom and the responsibility to shape the sound entirely on my own.  There is nothing into which I can retreat and relax, that will simply continue and be my fallback if I decide to take a sip of water or scratch my butt.  There are no points of counter-balance against which to launch any kind of complicated harmonic fight scene choreography, or for that matter, cumulative lovemaking progressions.  Instead, I'm telling a story as the sole narrator, suddenly after having handcuffed myself to a Round Robin open mic for years.  To be fair to the robins which were most often around, I had generally scripted each plot pretty completely and allowed for only a slight margin of deviance.  I was playing with dolls, all the while bickering oh so pleasantly with myself about whether I wanted to lead the dolls or let the dolls lead me.  Finally, I am the doll - I'm the mannequin, the puppet, the action figure, the painting in progress.  And what I've found is really quite surprising: I never once need to know who the puppet master is.


"Will you let me take you to a Mets game next summer?"
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I would absolutely LOVE to go to a Mets game!  I meant to tell you, the other day I thought of you when I saw a man (who must live near me, as I've since seen him a few more times) walking his very cute mutt -- a shaggy off-white thing with fur in place of eyes and a Harlem sort of strut -- upon which the man had placed a Mets baseball cap.  The cap seems to migrate from one of their skulls to the other, and back, depending on some factor to which I'm not attuned.  Maybe the stock market, this is New York City after all.

James will be promoting the release of his new record by touring the country over the next few months.  He will be touring with Chicago singer-songwriter, Troy Petty.  Make sure to check him out !!


Today's five newgazzi tracks feature two songs from the new record, a song from that original demo that I love, a song that James hand picked himself, and one song from Troy Petty.  Enjoy !!