Life in the live stream carried on mostly as usual this week — ton of time with the Tweedys and Morbzahatchee (as one user hilariously dubbed the couple of Kevin Morby and Waxahatchee during one of the four appearances I caught with them this week), along with some new faces to keep things interesting (Lumineers, Glen Hansard, Head and the Heart). There were more “virtual festivals” this week for some reason, some good (the mini-dancefest that had David Guetta spinning from an empty rooftop in Miami, shouting in his Fronch accent to everyone standing on the overlooking balconies, “I CON SEE EENSIDE YO APAHHHTMENTS!!!” over and over again), some lousy (the overblown cheeseball that was One World).
Some of the best, somewhat surprisingly, were the weed day festivities (aka 4/20). Early in the day I caught a smoking set from old school favorites Cypress Hill, which honestly might’ve been the best thing I caught this week. (It ran into a video chat for work, but was so good I didn’t want to turn it off, so probably looked I was really into what was being discussed, nodding my head vigorously for the first 15 minutes of the meeting). Then later on the legendary Willie Nelson put on his annual tokefest, which had a bunch of great performances — from regular Sunbeams like Shakey Graves, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Morby, as well as unexpected sources like Kacey Musgraves, Langhorne Slim, and Jeff Bridges. (That’s right — the Dude, y’all!) Amidst it all, Willie and his sons did a bunch of songs, too. Unsurprisingly for a gathering of avowed potheads, this was a SUPER chill affair — everyone was in a great mood, warm and happy, just joking around and playing music for several hours. (Four hours and twenty minutes, to be exact.) It was fantastic — the perfect setting to relax in for a while during these unsettling times.
I’ve been spending a lot of time with Willie lately, going back through his albums from the late 60s and early 70s and relaxing (Good Times, The Party’s Over, Texas in my Soul, and Red Headed Stranger being a few of many faves). He’s got a great voice and the mood he conjures on these is really peaceful — perfect for lazily sauntering across the prairie on your steed or floating down the river in your makeshift raft (or sitting with a Frenchie on your lap while you work on the patio — whichever’s applicable…) One of the songs from the early years was “Hello Walls,” which takes on a new light thanks to recent times (hence why it is one of many on the fabled quarantunes playlist). Willie and his sons actually went on Colbert to do a nice three-piece version of it this week, which you can watch below — and check out the full four hour festival here when you’re done.
The other thing that soaked up a bunch of time this week was the surprise release by LA punks X who dropped their first new album in 27 years (and their first with the original lineup in THIRTY FIVE!), Alphabetland. I knew they’d been working on new material, but hadn’t heard much since I wrote about them last October when they put out the first single. Seems like they’ve been hard at work, though, and rather than wait until later this year to release the album, they decided to do it this week thanks to coronavirus. (Frontman John Doe said, “Let’s give people…something that is upbeat. Something that is new and vital.”)
They certainly nailed those goals — at just under thirty minutes long, its ten songs breeze by like cars speeding down the highway. (Closer “All the Time in the World” is more a spoken word piece.) It’s pretty dang good — I’ve burned through it several times since its surprise appearance Wednesday, and it gets you moving every time. Aside from the lead single an early fave is this one, “Cyrano deBerger’s Back,” which also happens to date back to the time of the band’s debut (the classic Los Angeles, which turns 40 this weekend).
Similar to that one, they used to play this in rehearsal from time to time, but for whatever reason never put it down officially in the studio until now. It’s a pretty great tune — a jaunty, buoyant riff from Billy Zoom, sturdy, driving beat from DJ Bonebrake, and the classic harmonized tension between Exene and Doe. By the time the horns come in on the chorus you should already be boogieing. Check it out here (and stream/buy the entire album on their Bandcamp page):
In keeping with the post’s theme of pleasant surprises, we’ll close with this one, the latest single from Bright Eyes’ impending reunion. Their getting back together isn’t the surprise here (he announced that last month with the first single), but rather who’s playing with him this time. I’m not sure how it happened (call it coronavirus-induced mania?) or if you could pick two more random additions to pair with Oberst and his indie sound (Post Malone and Lemmy? Katie Perry and Andrea Bocelli?), but these come pretty close — he’s got Flea from the Chili Peppers on bass, and the thunderous Jon Theodore from Queens on drums here.
Rather than sounding like some hard funk band, though, things sound largely the same. (It’s unclear whether his bandmates are also playing or standing on the perimeter of the studio semi-mystified thinking, “What the fuck is going on right now?!”) It’s another pretty song (and another instant addition to the quarantunes list), which has me excited to hear the rest of the album soon. Check out “Forced Convalescence” while we wait (and endure the same):
Stay safe, amici… –BS