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Pavement's "Blue Hawaiian" - Stephen Malkmus vs. James Carter
Mike McKinley
September 15, 2010
A few things that I've missed: Pavement in the 1990s and the jazz tribute band/record Gold Sounds from the mid-2000s.

There's no time like the present though. I'm seeing Pavement for the first time in NYC next week and to say I'm excited is an understatement. It feels surreal to be seeing them play live‚ even though I didn't get into them until long after they broke up.

As for Gold Sounds‚ a friend just told me about this project‚ and soon after I came across this video for "Blue Hawaiian." But first‚ listen to this live Pavement version (I don't know where and when it's from) -- thanks to Lynn Guppy for passing it along. I just love the space and guitar playing‚ it sounds like they could stretch this out for another ten minutes it's so good.

Pavement - "Blue Hawaiian"



And here's Gold Sounds take on the same tune. Hearing a group get all jazz on Pavement tunes? Yeah‚ seems strange. But when you have a group with saxophonist James Carter‚ pianist Cyrus Chestnut‚ drummer Ali Jackson and bassist Reginald Veal‚ chances are the shit's gonna get outrageous. Here's their take on "Blue Hawaiian" where James Carter takes it out.

This Is How I Think I Look When It's Going Down
Mike McKinley
September 14, 2010
Around the 4:15 mark it turns to pure gold.

Brothers Past Turns 10 and Everything Must Go Digital Box Set
Mike McKinley
September 8, 2010
Good News in Brothers Past land. See the press release below about how the band is celebrating their 10th anniversary over the coming year with the release of studio/live tracks from the vault, work on a new studio album and a bunch of tour dates:



It was right around this time ten years ago when Tom Hamilton, Tom McKee, Clay Parnell, and Rick Lowenberg first began making music together in a house near West Chester, PA. From those earliest rehearsals, there was an obvious chemistry, and a band was born -- BROTHERS PAST. It wasn't long before the band was writing songs, booking gigs, making records and traveling all over the country.

Ten years later, we're still going strong, and we've got some big plans for the next year to commemorate the tenth anniversary of BROTHERS PAST!

For starters, we'll be kicking off the celebration next month with an anniversary party at the famed Bowery Ballroom in New York City. The Bowery has been home to many a great BP show, including the CD release party for This Feeling's Called Goodbye. This night will be no different and we hope you can join us! The party begins at midnight on 10/10/10 (Saturday night, but technically a Sunday show.)

Since we're feeling nostalgic, we'd like to announce the release of EVERYTHING MUST GO -- a digital box set of unreleased studio tracks and live music from over the years. Beginning in October, we'll be cleaning out the vaults by digitally releasing a SBD recording from the past along with an unreleased studio track. The tracks will be
released on the 10th of each month for the next year. Download information and cost will be made available soon.

And there's plenty of other things on the horizon too! The remainder of this year will be spent balancing our time between the road and the studio. Colorado fans take notice: BROTHERS PAST returns on October 7&8 with our allies from the north, THE NEW DEAL. And for those of you down south, the band will be performing in Charleston, Blacksburg and Baltimore (Oct 21-23 with our friends TELEPATH.) Plans for our Thanksgiving run will be announced soon, but we will be back at the River Street Jazz Cafe on Thanksgiving Eve, a BP tradition if ever there was one.

The band will conclude its summer festival season this weekend with appearances at Backwoods Pondfest (Friday in Peru, NY) and Catskill Chill (Saturday in Hancock, NY.) Both of these festivals have great bills and we're thrilled to be a part of them. We'll be starting off the run Thursday night in Buffalo with a special late-night appearance at the Tralf Music Hall. Look for more tour dates to be announced very soon! See you at the Bowery!

Visit Brothers Past Video: Akron/Family - "Many Ghost"
Mike McKinley
August 31, 2010
I caught this great video by longtime music scribe Jesse Jarnow for the first time yesterday (thanks to Greg Davis for posting on Facebook). Looks like Akron/Family has a bunch on their Vimeo page for you viewing pleasure.

7 - Many Ghosts (video by Jesse Jarnow‚ with Seth Olinsky) from Akron Family on Vimeo.

Video: Vijay Iyer - About Solo
Mike McKinley
August 27, 2010
The first time I heard Vijay Iyer performing Thelonious Monk's "Epistrophy" -- the second track on his new album Solo -- I almost fell out of my chair. The improvisation builds and builds with so much intensity and emotion that it left my jaw on the ground. And his take on Duke Ellington's "Fleurette Africaine" is stunningly gorgeous. Those were the two songs that jumped out at me the first time through the record, mostly due to my familiarity with the compositions and because Vijay's take on them are so immense. I'm still wrapping my head around the rest of the record, letting it slowly seep in, as there's a ton of great ideas from one of today's finest pianist on his first solo record. Here's Vijay sharing his thoughts on the making of Solo - which comes out next week:

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