Julie Feeney Live at Crawdaddy - June 10th, 2009 - Setlist

Here is the setlist for yesterday's concert. It was fantastic! I will do up a review at the weekend with some pictures. Hopefully my little camera worked OK as it was very dark.

I got the setlist from the stage handwritten by Julie, I will post a scan later on.
Update: I posted the setlist, please note that she changed things around a little bit!


Setlist
Hiho - Julie a capella
Autopilot
Judas
You Broke The Magic
Wind Out Of My Sails
The Reaper
Aching (with Harmonium)
Alien

Pages:
Nothing To Declare
Grace
Valentine's Song
Mr Roving Eye Guy
Myth
Stay
Life's Nudge
Knock Knock
One More Tune
Monster

Encore:
Love Is A Tricky Thing
Impossibly Beautiful

2nd Encore:
One More Tune

Julie Feeney - Pages. My first impressions

I finally got the long awaited (for me anyway) Pages last Friday when it was released here in Ireland. If you are in the UK you will have to wait another few weeks. I am afraid I am not sure when will it be released for the rest of the world.

As much as I liked 13 Songs, Julie's first award winning album, Pages feels like a far superior album. It is more coherent and consistent. Where 13 Songs was a collection of great tunes where each song stood on its own, Pages has a sense of purpose. 13 Songs was at times quirky and the arrangements a little overworked, Pages in turn is well structured and the arrangements let you appreciate the melodies for what they are. Each song flows from the previous with great ease. Julie says on the album notes that she spent a long time preparing for the album and working alone on it for most of 2008. The notes appeared last January on her blog and you can get a link to it from my previous post.

One of the things that you notice immediately is the orchestration. Julie worked very hard since the release of 13 Songs to improve her orchestrating and conducting skills. In my view it really paid off. The arrangements are beautiful and they support and lift the melodies. Some of the vocal harmonies are, well, just beautiful. Two songs jump straight away: 'Mr. Roving Eye Guy' and the aptly named ' Impossibly Beautiful'.

In terms of the orchestral arrangements, perhaps the best example is the opening track 'Love is a Tricky Thing' which you can download for free from Julie's website.

I already have my tickets for the show in Crawdaddy next Wednesday (June 10th, 2009). I am really looking forward to the show. I am wondering how will Julie be able to pack so much music in such a small stage!

If you are reading this outside Ireland and the UK, I really recommend you buy this album as an import from one of the online stores. Some details on the mittens website, the label that Julie setup to release her music. You won't regret it!

Julie Feeney live at CrawDaddy in 10 days!

There has been very little activity around here the last few months. But I am looking forward to a few gigs during the summer. I will start with Julie Feeney next week, on the 10th of June in CrawDaddy.

Her new album Pages is out in Ireland next Friday (June 5th) and in the UK on June 29th. If 13 songs is anything to go by, this new album should be great. I am really looking forward to the gig and the new album. Besides I think it CrawDaddy is the perfect venue to see Julie play live.

I'll post my review of the concert next week and hopefully a picture or two. If you are in Dublin on June 10th, you should get your ticket now!

Steve Lawson's - Behind Every Word

These days I find new music through means other than radio. Podcasts, blogs,music websites like Spotify or Last.fm and even through social networks like MySpace and Twitter. I download music mainly from emusic.com and directly from the musician's websites. The radio is simply not enough these days.

Through emusic in particular, I have come across a huge number of different things, from the back catalogue to artists like Elbow and Porcupine Tree to gems like Bill Evan's Complete Village Vanguard Session.

One of those gems that I found recently was Steve Lawson. Steve is a London based bass player who mainly plays solo bass music. He is very well known for being highly active and visible on the internet on Twitter in particular, but also a very active blogger. He teaches bass through normal face to face classes but also using new and innovative means like skype and iChat.

Recently, I asked him which album to download to start getting into his music and he recommended going for his latest one, which I got from emusic in the last few days. This is incredible music that you wouldn't be exposed to if it wasn't for the power of the internet. Steve's solo music is made of live looping of multiple layers of bass "soundscapes".

Essentially, what this means is that Steve plays the first layer of a song and records it, probably the equivalent of the bass in a "normal" song. That keeps on repeating. Then he plays a second layer. Lets say, the rhythm guitar equivalent. And then he plays the melody as a bass solo on top of it. Don't know how long has this technique been around. The earliest example I have seen was Jaco Pastorius for some of his solos with Weather Report. These days is very common with artists like Michael Manring but even with mainstream artists like KT Tunstall

The first song of the album, Blue Planet, is a particularly good example because of the way the layers are played, it is very easy to understand the process.

I really recommend this album, but if you don't believe me, believe Victor Wooten himself when he says:

"Steve Lawson is a brilliant musician. I've known about him and listened to him for many years. He may not be one of the most famous bassists but he is definitely one of the most talented."

Taken from the notes page of the CD in CDBaby.com

George in India - New Single

George in India have finally managed to release their first single, produced by production wizard Jim Soundman. You can check the new single on their blog.

George in India is not a real band (at least I don't think they are) but the brain child of Tommie Kelly, writter of the web comic Road Crew, which tells the story of Jim, the sound guys, who is working as a roadie for a Rock Group and has recently taking on the job of producing the bad that was opening for the band he used to work for.

The comic is wellworth checking out. It can be found at http://www.roadcrewcomic.com/

Catching up with my podcasts - BBC Introducing

Over the last few weeks I hadn't been able to listen to the Huw Stephens BBC Introducing Podcasts.

The introducing podcast is one of my favaourites, as they showcase new and upcoming unsigned bands. Last year they played bands like Fight Like Apes, Pete and the Pirates ans Los Campesinos, well before they released their albums.

I particularly liked the episode from feb 19th which showcased Peggy Sue and Marina & The Diamonds. And the episode from Feb 26th with a track from the band from Northern Ireland And So I Watch You From Afar.

Check Huw's Blog for more details

You can find the podcasts on iTunes

Suzanne Vega talks about melody

Another instalment of the Measure for Measure blog. This time Suzanne Vega talks about melody in her own unique way. As always, it is a beautiful piece.

This time accompany it by listening to Cracking on Last.fm

Interestingly one of my favourite melodies is Gipsy by her. Beautiful song! There are a number of versions on YouTube. I had never seen this one, it is over 20 years old from a German TV show and starts with Tom's Diner. Despite the obvious effects of the VCR on the video, Suzanne's voice is as clear as always!