New Music Tuesday: Rocky Votolato "True Devotion"

I realize I'm a day late, but yesterday Barsuk released Rocky Votolato's new record True Devotion and it wouldn't be right if I didn't write about how much I love this record.

If you've read this blog for any time, you know that Rocky is one of my favorite songwriters. I'll still never forget the day I was sitting at my desk at work streaming Insound Radio and it was kinda fading into the background as I diligently resolved IMR's (think TPS reports) and Rocky's "Without Eyes Still Seeing" (from Burning My Travels Clean) came on. I must've replayed it 20 times before downloading any free MP3s I could find (they have a few there now), ordering the CD, and then researching Rocky to find out that he was playing at the Che Cafe a couple weeks later. Thus began my appreciation for everything he's put out and I'm pretty sure I have his entire catalog, save for any vinyl or stuff from his days in Waxwing.



Anyway, over the years, Rocky has stayed diligent with his song-writing. He's been political, introspective, socially conscious, and he continues to challenge my outlook on life, love, and death. I take his music very personally and it's rare to connect with lyrics like that, especially after so many years. On his latest, True Devotion, he's added broader instrumentation (cello, piano) that complement his voice, his guitar, and that distinctive Rocky harmonica.

Rocky hasn't passed through San Diego since 2008 because 2009 was devoted to recording and doing a few house show tours, but he's finally coming back to the Casbah on March 7 with another of my favorites Adam H. Stephens. His name may seem unfamiliar, but he was the vocal half of Two Gallants, now working on some solo stuff. In fact, Two Gallants was another band I discovered thanks to Insound.

For tickets to the show, click here.

Anyway, you can buy the record here. I'm still waiting on mine because pre-orders come with a free 7", but apparently there was a problem with their pressing. Barsuk was nice enough to send the full record in high quality digital format until my hard copy comes through.

In the meantime, here's a video I shot of Rocky at the Casbah, performing "Sparklers" in July of 2008. This song is on True Devotion.

Overdue Recap: Rocky Votolato, Owen, Drew Andrews @ Casbah 7.23.08

It's not a secret that Rocky Votolato is my favorite musician, so it shouldn't be surprising that I'd been anticipating this local show for a while. When Drew Andrews was added to the bill, it only made me that much more excited for the night to arrive. I tried to make sure I was there early, but Drew had already started when I arrived. There was a decent sized crowd at the Casbah and it filled up as the night progressed; not quite a sell out by the end of the night, but close. I anticipated the show would be crowded with the Comic-con people decending on the city, but I forgot how disrespectful crowds can be for solo artists. When Drew was singing, it was ok, and his voice filled the room, even over the chatter, but during his instrumental moments is when you could really hear the crowd. He took it in stride and still delivered a great set.



Owen was up next and again had the chatter to deal with. As he was talking at the beginning of the show, there was that annoying sound a cell phone makes when interfering with speakers. He joked about it. Then it happened again and I realized it was my phone. Fucking embarassing. Damn you, Twitter! So anyway, I turned off the phone and all was good, and I was glad it happened before he actually played a song. His performance was great, and he was engaging with his chatter on stage, talking about his wife, his day at the Wild Animal Park, and trying to get feedback from the crowd.



Finally Rocky was up for the night and the chatter of the crowd finally subsided and the room was quiet, riding on his every word. His old label, Second Nature Recordings, has recently reissued some of his older albums and released Suicide Medicine on vinyl for the first time ever, so he while he played stuff from Brag and Cuss and Makers (White Daisy Passing, Makers, Tinfoil Hats, Portland is Leaving), he also went into the archives, playing several songs from Suicide Medicine (Suicide Medicine, Mixtapes/Cellmates among others) and from Burning My Travels Clean. He also played a new song ("Sparkles", see video below) and an old Waxwing song.

A poignant moment in the night was when he explained the story behind "Automatic Rifle", about a young Palestinian suicide bomber who in an effort to avenge the murder of a relative, strapped a bomb to her chest and ended up with one casualty, am Israeli girl who had been raised most of her life in San Francisco, and described how the two girls looked like they could've been sisters. It was pretty heavy listening to the song, as I always thought it was hypothetical and didn't realize it was based on a specific reality.

There were a couple girls up front who were talking, singing, and telling him how much they loved him, and at one point he discreetly leaned into them, presumably to ask them to chill out, but it resulted in them being louder. Kind of a bummer, but he was classy and just played on, even obliging them with their requests. I could listen to Rocky perform all night, and my iTunes playlist definitely sees a lot of usage.




Rocky Votolato, "Sparklers"


As always, it was great to see Rocky and April, his wife, again, and I'll just be counting down until the next time they make it down.

Free Nada Surf Tickets!

If you're like me, you love Nada Surf, you love M-Theory Records, you love the Casbah, and House of Blues, well, not so much. When I heard the Casbah was presenting Nada Surf at HoB, I thought I might have to make an exception to my personal HoB boycott. I'm completely anti the service charges they add to every ticket sale, the full body cavity searches at the door (which I've heard they've chilled out about), and the people who are there just to talk over the band throughout every show I've ever been to... but now, M-Theory has made it easy! And I have no problem sucking it up and going to the House of Blues to see one of my favorite bands. Even though I already had a copy of Lucky, I went to the shop and when you purchase the new album (Sale price $12.99), you get a free pair of tickets to the show (while supplies last). I just went half an hour ago and it appeared they still had a handful of tickets left. I already knew I loved the album and I had no problem dropping the dough for the package deal.

Anyway, stop reading this and get your butt to M-Theory before it's too late.

What Made Milwaukee Famous: Video for "Sultan"

Did you know that Swim Party Alex is homies with WMMF? Well, they were hanging at his house last weekend in between nights of their residency in LA and showed off their new video. When I heard this, I immediately messaged the manager to ask when the vid would be released, but there was some exclusivity issue with MySpace so it couldn't be leaked...but now it's on MySpace and Stereogum and other sites, so now, I share with you:

sultan

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Man, I have been loving Barsuk, by the way...with Rocky, and John VanDerslice, and the new What Made Milwaukee Famous...and then Nada Surf's "Lucky"...the label just can't do wrong with me.

What Made Milwaukee Famous: Ticket Giveaway

Austin-based What Made Milwaukee Famous are heading out to California for an LA residency. I've got a pair of tickets to giveaway for their show this Friday night at Bordello Bar. Let me tell you, I received an advance of their album at noon on Thursday and have listened to it at least 20 times so far. It's called "What Doesn't Kill Us" and will be released on March 4 from Barsuk records and it's freakin phenomenal. I'm particularly into a track called "Cheap Wine" but the whole album is amazing from start to finish. Obscure Sound has posted some of the tracks, and you can check them out here.

Anyway, if you wanna catch them in LA this week, send an e-mail with your name and phone number to sddialedin AT gmail DOT com. I'll notify the winner on Tuesday.

More John Vanderslice @ M-Theory

The Tower by John Vanderslice @ M-Theory, August 4, 2007.