did i step on your trumpet?

Some more Danielson. This is 'did i step on your trumpet' and is taken from his latest album Ships. I believe this to be the only music video Danielson has. You can check out the whole famile playing a part in the video.

Danielson: A Family Movie

Last Sunday I went to Shoreditch Church to watch Danielson: A Family Movie. David had been given an invite when we left Sufjan Stevens' gig 3 weeks ago.

It was a great place to watch a movie about Danielson and his family and how their story started.

Here's the overview taken from the movie's website:

Danielson: a Family Movie is a documentary about unbridled creativity vs. accessibility, Christian faith vs. popular culture, underground music vs. survival, and family vs. individuality. The film follows Daniel Smith, an eccentric musician and visual artist, as he leads his four siblings and best friend to indie-rock stardom. Beginning in 1995 when the youngest band member was 11 years old, the Danielson Famile performs in white, vintage nurse costumes to symbolize the healing power of the Good News, a recurring subject matter. Though tepidly received by the Christian music world, the South Jersey farmland-bred clan is widely embraced by the mainstream independent music community, written about in Rolling Stone, Spin, the New York Times and elsewhere as an outsider curiosity backed up by innovative, experimental music.

But as with other family acts, and particularly those that don't make much money, members of the band begin to seek out their own paths as they go through college and Daniel eventually faces the struggle to become viable as a solo act. Along the way he mentors an unknown singer-songwriter named Sufjan Stevens whose own subsequent success stands in stark contrast to the music world's uneasy reception of Danielson just a few years prior. With production starting in 2002, at a high water mark for the band, all the drama is played out before the camera making Danielson: a Family Movie both engaging and entertaining. Collage, direct cinema, animation and memorable performances all contribute to this thoughtful and thought-provoking spectacle.

The film was made with no capital investment from the Danielson Famile, its record label or any other third party.

For more info check out the label set up by Danielson: Sounds Familyre

it's xmas time

First sign that it's indeed Christmas time is the state of the top of the UK album chart: first 8 positions are greatest hits compilations: Westlife, Oasis, The Beatles, U2, George Michael, Jamiroquai, Girls Aloud and Sugababes.

(The only one I have bought is the Girls Aloud one which is the best greatest hits of the year)

the biggest midget in the game

Make way for the SOV!
You gotta love Lady Sovereign. This is her new video.

Mariana

This little munchkin monster is my younger niece. She is 6 today.

Ys

Is Ys the best album of the year?
I have been listening to it for the past two weeks and it keeps growing and growing on me.

After the magnificent The Milk-Eyed Mender from 2004 Joanna Newsom - the most famous harpist from San Francisco - is back with Ys, another grandiose exercise in music writing: there are oboes, trumpets, violins, and French horns to accompany the beautiful string arrangements and magical lyrics.

Joanna Newsom is also playing the Barbican in January in a sold out concert with the London Symphony Orchestra. I'm eagerly looking forward to that.

Sunday in Brick Lane

Luis, Barbra, and Neia.

a.M.

a.M. - after Mariza



This is what happens after a 3-hour Mariza concert (with half an hour intermission). There's David, myself, Neia (symbolised by a maple leaf) and Susana all wrecked from clapping so much.

Great to see and hear Carlos do Carmo singing brilliantly and speaking to the audience in a spotless English. Tito Paris, great voice and sweet shy attitude. And also Rui Veloso as an unexpected guest singing and playing the guitar.

Mariza / Royal Albert Hall

Mariza is playing tonight at the Royal Albert Hall. She will be accompanied by the London Session Orchestra, conducted by Jaques Morelenbaum. Also special guests Carlos do Carmo and Tito Paris.

Her latest album 'Concerto em Lisboa' has just been released both in Portugal and the UK.

shortbus

You must see this movie. It's one of the most memorable films I have seen recently.


From the UK press release:

Shortbus explores the lives of several emotionally challenged characters as they navigate the comic and tragic intersections between love and sex in and around a modern-day underground salon. A sex therapist who has never had an orgasm, a dominatrix who is unable to connect, a gay couple who are deciding whether to open up their relationship, and the people who weave in and out of their lives, all converge on a weekly gathering called Shortbus, a mad nexus of art, music, politics and polysexual carnality. In a post-9/11, Bush-exhausted New York City, Shortbus tells its story with sexual frankness, suggesting new ways to reconcile questions of the mind, pleasures of the flesh and imperatives of the heart.

Being based on actual New York salons where music, art, food and politics blend, music is also absolutely central to Shortbus, and with a gorgeous score by Yo La Tengo, music from great bands like Animal Collective and Azure Ray and five original songs by Scott Matthew, the soundtrack is equally unmissable.

Shortbus UK website

Overheard in NY

Hipster chick: Do you think New Yorkers are mean, or are we just so jaded we're not fazed by anything?
Hipster dude: I think it's a combination of both.
Hipster chick: Because, well, my friend just found out he has testicular cancer, and he's getting one of his balls removed on his birthday. And I thought that was hilarious. You know what else? Maybe New Yorkers are also whores -- I seriously considered sleeping with him just so I could say I was the last person to see his left ball.
Hipster dude: That's a bit soulless. But it's also a little funny.
Hipster chick: See, really, if you think about it in the right way, everything is funny.
Hobo: You're just a mean whore.

For more like these check out Overheard In New York.

The New York Dolls

Luis, Davide and Tom

other cities make me feel like a dork