HERE COME THE WAVES: THE HAZARDS OF LOVE VISUALIZED @ UCLA. THE DECEMBERISTS LIVE!

In early 2009, Portland’s own, The Decemberists along with Shara Worden from my Brightest Diamond and Becky Stark from Lavender Diamond, put together one of their finest albums to date. ‘The Hazards of Love’ is a rock opera of a one continuous track, displaying songs of love, falling stars, wounded fawn, crippled children, marriage, fireflies, life, and death.

This was truly something different and successfully done: a masterpiece. In the springtime, I had the opportunity to see them perform this album from start to finish without stopping, just like on the album, and they did it with finesse. It was then front man Colin Meloy had the genius idea to turn this lyrical story into a visual narrative. He collaborated with artists/filmmakers/animators Guilherme Marcondes, Julia Pott, Peter Sluszka and Santa Maria to create this vision of beauty with the idea that they would perform the album synced up to this series of vignettes, and they did, without a hitch and flawlessly.

This was the conclusion, and last day of the their US tour and the debut and premiere of ‘Here Come the Waves: The Hazards of Love Visualized’. This night was truly special. They created a mood that I have not witnessed in a live performance for a very long time. I can honestly say this was the first show that I have gone to in a while, and we go to many here at Musicbleep, that left me with speechless. Once they completed a non-stop performance of the videos and ‘The Hazards of Love’, they came back for another full set of older tunes starting off with a Morrissey cover “The Sporting Life’, my favorite ‘The Crane Wife 1&2”, and Shara Worden and Becky Stark along with the rest of the band did a smashing cover of Heart’s “Crazy On You”. I was floored.

This was a truly honored event to have attended and could not have been at a more appropriate venue, Royce Hall at UCLA. Although this does not do it justice, here are some photographs and a sample of clips from the collection of films that we saw that evening. If you are not familiar with this amazing group of artists check them out at

KCRW WELCOMES THE SWELL SEASON

Academy Award winners Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard follow up on the success of their film “Once” with a new work from their project The Swell Season. They were in the KCRW studos last week for a session on Morning Becomes Eclectic.


Today, my FAVORITE Music Supervisor, Alexandra Patasvas (Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice, Twilight) will be stopping by.

DAYTRIPPING WITH BON IVER

Go behind-the-scenes with Bon Iver at the Oya Festival in Norway. Watch as the band preps b4 hitting the stage.

THE SOUNDS INVADE L.A.

THE SOUNDS MANIA HAS BEGUN!! Went to the show last night...AMAZEBALLS YO!! Ill have a full report soon, but I'm still recovering!

In the meantime, check out their performance on JKL! 2nd show tonight - get a ticket and go. They are one of the best bands ever!!

LISTEN TO DEVENDRA BANHART'S NEW ALBUM!

Stream The Album In Full Here: http://stereogum.com/archives/stream_devendra_banharts_what_will_we_be_096641.htmlAlbum
Also Available To Stream Here: http://www.imeem.com/devendrabanhart/playlist/2LqqHlQw/what-will-we-be-music-playlist/

What Will We Be, the major label debut album from indie folk eccentric Devendra Banhart, doesn’t release for another week, but as a special preview to fans, the album is streaming in its entirety, on Stereogum and IMEEM. The new album reunites the backing band from 2007’s stellar Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, and features 14 new tracks including the previously released “Baby,” “Angelika,” and “Wallilamdzi.”Banhart will soon be heading on a short North American Tour, stopping throughout the Midwest and Northeast. Check him out if he hits up a city near you.

Tour Dates
November
16 Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre
17 Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
19 Burlington, VT - Higher Ground
20 Boston, MA - Berklee
22 New York, NY - Town Hall
24 Philadelphia, PA - Electric Factory
25 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
27 Toronto, Ontario - Queen Elizabeth Theatre

Artist Site: http://www.devendrabanhart.com/

Official Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/devendrabanhart

Stereogum: http://stereogum.com/archives/stream_devendra_banharts_what_will_we_be_096641.htmlIMEEM: http://www.imeem.com/devendrabanhart/playlist/2LqqHlQw/what-will-we-be-music-playlist/

TONIGHT!! THE SOUNDS @ THE WILTERN!

Tonight, tonight, tonight one of Musicbleep's favorite staple, Swedish bands The Sounds will be performing with The Moving Units at the Wiltern. The show is sold out; however, they have added another show for Thursday night, so get your tickets now!! And don't forget to check in later for a full review of this live performance! www.myspace.com/thesounds

NEW MGMT

"Congratulations" is the title of the upcoming, highly anticipated sophomore album by MGMT, NME reports.

It's scheduled to be released early 2010.

In the meantime, you can check out the single, "Congratulations", making it's debut at recent shows.

STAY TUNED...

Monday night we had the most amazing experience of witnessing the Decemberists perform their latest 'Hazards of Love' synced up to a special video, that was produced specially for this rock-opera album. Here is a small sample of what we saw. Stay tuned this week for a full review of the show, that left us lost for words.

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS LIVE @ THE EL REY

Celebrating their 6th full length album "Lost Channels", Great Lake Swimmers (hailing from the wonderful Toronto, Canada), are touring the states before heading overseas to complete their wonderfully put together performances. Last week, Los Angeles was lucky to be on one of those stops for the SECOND time this year. Not too long ago they filled Spaceland in Silver Lake for a venue packed event and I was so excited to see that they were heading back out way October 12th at the El Rey, which happens to be one of my favorite venues. What I love about 'Swimmers', is that they bring in a very diverse and mellow crowd, all looking for a quiet and intimate evening enduring their soft and beautifully composed lyrics and quiet guitar and banjo melodies.

Performing both new and old songs, they pretty much nailed it without a hitch. The Great Lake Swimmers definitely create a mood amongst their guests. They are there for their fans as much as they are there for themselves. They have no attitude, they are gracious and kind, and make you want to cozy up next to a fire in a cabin in the woods and just listen to their melodies. If you have yet to experience them, you can do so at www.greatlakeswimmers.com where you can listen to their tunes, check out their latest news and tour dates. I am headed to the Mid-West this next week and was happy to see that we will be crossing paths and I just might have to go and see them again, as they truly inspired me and I would love to witness this performance once again.

WORLD PREMIERE VIDEO - ALL AMERICAN REJECTS

"I Wanna" is the latest video from the All American Rejects. It looks more like a commercial for a cell phone - it's all about the product placement these days! It almost makes me wanna run right out and get the latest LG phone!

L.O.V.E...IT'S ALL ABOUT KAREN O AND THE KIDS

I have been waiting for months to see Where The Wild Things Are! Finally, Friday came and I headed out to see the show. I couldn't wait to see how this 9 sentence book was about to come to life. I grew up on this book as a kid, so you can imagine my excitement when I heard this was being made into a movie.

All I can say is WOW - this movie was FANTASTIC! It was so magical and I felt so nostalgic. Don't listen to what the critics say...you MUST see this movie! And it wouldn't be complete with out Karen O working her magic on the score/soundtrack. All the songs were a perfect fit for this movie. I loved it...I so can't wait to see it again!

http://www.dgcrecords.com/promos/wherethewildthingsare/default.aspx

KCRW WELCOMES THE FLAMING LIPS

The "fully dressed" Flaming Lips stopped by Morning Becomes Eclectic and gave the world a little performance. Check it out!

TODAY - THE SWELL SEASON - 11:15AM