Matt Pond PA celebrates "Several Arrows Later" at the Casbah tonight

Matt Pond PA plays the Casbah tonight as part of his 10 year Anniversary tour for his album “Several Arrows Later.”

When looking back at Matt Pond PA’s discography, I was surprised the prolific musician composed an LP every year from 2000 to 2007; mostly since I wish he toured every year to celebrate each of those albums.  He did that last year with my favorite album, "Emblems", at the Soda Bar.  Despite a frustratingly chatty crowd, the band played each song from that album with nuance and warmth that is borne from the years playing them.  "Several Arrows Later", released in 2005, is a similarly beloved album and was the fifth (!) of the seven albums he eventually released in that span.  Years as a touring artist wears down even the most energetic of acts, but leave it to the quieter indie rock of Matt Pond PA to continue to fill a club with exuberant melodies night after night.  It doesn’t seem like his quiver will ever run out of arrows.

Go see Matt Pond PA now at the Casbah, 21+, tickets are $14 at the door.  Young Buffalo and Shawn Alpay are opening (opened?).

Rocky Votolato & Matt Pond PA at the Casbah, 10.4.2011

It was another brilliant Rocky Votolato show this past Tuesday at the Casbah and since I didn't really shoot at the last one, I wanted to make sure I got some oldies and some of the new stuff that Rocky hopes to put on a new record in early 2012 on video. This playlist consists of 8 videos, a little less than half his set from the night. To navigate the playlist, hit the next button in the YouTube navigation bar.
Playlist:

1. Start Over (new song)
2. The Light and the Sound
3. I'll Catch You
4. White Daisy Passing
5. Fool's Gold (new song)
6. (new song)
7. True Devotion
8. Suicide Medicine

  It was my first time seeing Matt Pond PA and I really enjoyed him, too, though I wasn't quite ready to shoot much. I did catch one song: Poor Matt broke his foot on tour, so it's a good thing all the musicians around him are so supportive or he might've just cancelled the tour altogether.

Happy Thanksgiving! How 'bout some free music?

Today I will be without internet for most of the day. One day I will convince my parents to get wi-fi. Either way, I've got two good nuggets for you to make it through your day, namely TWO free album downloads.

The first, from Matt Pond PA, is a free EP available for download from the official site here.

From the press release:

Mister P. and his party have taken themselves captive to become the their own producers, manufacturers, and distributors. It was a deferential revolt against inertia, a clearing of the throat to answer the quiet. Or maybe it was an inevitable reaction to seeing Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.

In adherence to their demands, these songs were recorded in a cabin in Bearsville, NY, as a simple sonic manifestation of their opinions concerning the arguable value of a waterlogged paperback.

A Free EP prospectively titled: The Dawn before the Dark Leaves or Water off a Black Dog's Back or Amazing Life or Butterfly Mornings and Wildflower Afternoons or May we never go go mental, may we always stay stay gentle or The Fear of not Being Afraid or The Warmth Within the Warren or Dreaming of Sleeping or Saying It to Keep It From Happening or This is not the Dark Leaves or Living for Liv Ullman or The Odds of a Sunrise or Whispering Pines or You'll be the Rhythm and I'll be the Beat and I'll be the Rhythm and You'll be the Beat or The Grass Harp or Goodbye Barcelona or Why is my copy of the Moviegoer Floating in a Puddle Beside the Car.

Or simply, The Freeep.

The second comes from The Vacation.

After being dropped from American Recordings after successfully releasing their first album and touring with the likes of Alice Cooper, Living Things and more, The Vacation didn't lose any steam and released their sophomore record themselves.

Get Used is now available thanks to Playboy Magazine and trueAnthem.com for FREE to all. In fact, the album is downloadable from a widget that can be posted on any website, blog, social networking profile, etc. Sharing is caring.

Check it out here.

I hope to see lots of people out tonight after you've had your fill of turkey, tofurkey, pot roast, ham, turducken, or whatever it might be that fills your belly on this day of thanks.

xo,
rosey

Friday Recap: Matt Pond PA & Jesca Hoop @ The Casbah

After Burger Lounge I was wiped out. Food coma hit hard. But I had plans for the night, so I fought the sleepiness and headed out to the Casbah.

I had received an advance copy of Jesca Hoop's CD and have listened to it a lot. You might recognize Jesca's song "Money" from the new hit show Dirty Sexy Money. There's a quality and style to her music that kinda reminds me of Suzanne Vega.









The performance was great in spite of Jesca apologizing for being sick. She had a full band with 5 other members on stage and unfortunately still couldn't compete with people at the bar who wouldn't shut up. I don't know what is up with people at shows talking. If you have to yell over the music, perhaps you should get the hell out of the bar. At the end of her set, Jesca thanked people in front of the stage for listening to her music "because you had the choice to stand here(gesturing to the area in front of the stage) or be there (gesturing to the bar area) and talk and you chose to be here. So thanks to you."

I wasn't familiar with Matt Pond PA (for which I've been scolded several times already). He had a really cool stage set up with a couple green spotlights, several fake trees, and a plastic deer head. I was with Brooke and we were up front but getting shit talked by two people who were sitting on barstools behind us. I really, really hate people who sit on those barstools and then complain that they can't see. If you want to see the band, stand up like the rest of us. If you don't need to see everything happening on the stage, then by all means, have a seat, but for a sold out show, you can save your complaints for someone who gives a damn. Another huge issue with the show was that there was a new sound guy. Matt Pond is a very demanding musician and has a very specific way he wants to sound and I don't know if he ever got the sound he wanted. That is aside from the 5 or 6 times there was ear shattering feedback at the start of the set.







I really liked the band a lot but the Casbah just wasn't doing it for me. (Where do all those people come from? The weekend crowd is very different than the Sun-Thurs crowds) So after a few songs I headed to the Beauty Bar to catch Silverbird. That will be the next post...