::sigh::

I know he is off recording an album (with a band no less, SQUEE), and he has a few shows scheduled over across the pond, but man, I may go into withdrawals very soon. I mean, even though I fangirl hardcore at his shows and quite possibly embarass myself every time, I can’t wait to do it again!

Good news for some of you, your withdrawals are ending soon. Are you on the list?

Yeah, me neither. So, let’s pine for Marcus together, and admire his “hobo” ways. Hey! He said it, not me! Okay, I’ve said it before but not today. Not while I’m pining away!

P.S. I really love this song. Like, bunches.

Are you following SoS on Twitter?! Why not?!?!? Do it today, and as soon as I hear that Marcus has added some more dates, I will tell you.

We will get through these hard times. Let’s hold hands and listen to Circle in the Square and dream of short pants and sculpting.

Ohaithere Mr. Long!

Just got home from the Bobby Long show here in Dallas. It was a really great show. I have only seen him like 3 times now, but this was his best, in my opinion. I have pics and even some vids coming in but can I be honest with you a minute? We are in the trust tree right? Well, here it is: this old lady little blogger is ti-red. Really. I am exhausted. I can’t hang like I used to and I ain’t skeered to admit it.

So, please forgive me as I go on to night-nights with the promise of pics and vids tomorrow– including Bobby’s new song, which some of you have already heard but this chick hadn’t.

So full review tomorrow– or as I look at the clock on my lappie– later today.

<3!

LiLi

PS– If you want to check out the live pics I took from the show, via twitter, check out our feed here. Otherwise, I will be an uploading fool tomorrow.

Either way, go check it out because as usual the show is brill and he has some pretty funny stories (and accents).

Also, just in case you are more of a visual type person, here are some vids from Bobby’s show the next night at the World Cafe Live in Philly.

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Be sure to follow us on Twitter as I, aka LiLi, will be live tweeting from Bobby’s show in Dallas tonight. Good times all around!

Are you going to be at Bobby’s show? Drop us a comment and let us know, or better yet, come say hi! I will be the short, round girl with a Shiner Bock in each hand.

featuring…

Sarah Jaffe

Courtesy: Sarah Jaffe's MySpace

I discovered Sarah Jaffe on a sampler album from Austin City Limits, and I’ve been in love ever since. I wish Sarah had a bio or something cool I could post so I could learn more about her, but I seriously can’t find one. I did however find all these beautiful things other people said about her on her official site:

“Every once in a while, an opening act you’ve never heard of takes you by surprise and truly impresses. They start playing. And they’re good. Really good. You stop chatting up your friends and you fall in love with finding new music again.It was mesmerizing Sarah delivered smart, sensitive lyrics with elegant phrasing, beautifully restrained melodies and a very honest, soulful voice.” –BLABBERMOUTH

“Of Thursday’s all-Texan bill, opener Sarah Jaffe triumphed with folk music too robust and interesting to fit in the conventional singer-songwriter category. Her expressive lines are well-worn, but they’re drawn with a distinctly modern touch, and her smoky, blues-tinged voice is radiant with atmosphere and feeling.” – ORLANDO WEEKLY

“Jaffe’s hushed vocals and sharp lyrics were nicely punctuated by her band’s multiple multi-instrumentalists…It was hard not to feel completely embraced by Jaffe’s beautiful voice…She left the stage to a warm ovation, in turn leaving a warm feeling in our freezing Floridian bones.” –QRO MAGAZINE

More about Sarah, after the jump!

Just recently signed with Kirtland Records (an indie label out of Dallas), Sarah plans a full length album this spring, and will also be touring with Norah Jones on a few of her upcoming dates (which you can find here). Also, if you are at SXSW, Sarah is there as well. Go back to that little link and check out her Austin dates as well!

What song did I fall in love with… Even Born Again. Beautiful and haunting, this song just gets stuck in your head and you can’t not listen to it multiple times in a row. Try. I dare you.

And another amazing song… Clementine!

If there is one thing that Sarah Jaffe will never have to contend with it is the idea that she is a female singer for females. There was once a time that being a female singer meant you would undoubtedly be put into an all too snug box. Is she an angry singer? An activist singer? A singer for the victims or the singer your mom bonds with you over? To be honest, when Sarah’s new LP Suburban Nature is released on May 18th she will insert herself into and destroy all those boxes simultaneously, because Sarah is a truth singer …and no matter who or what we are, we all need, and want, our singers to be truth singers.

Growing up in Red Oak, Texas might not be ideal circumstances for breeding the kind of talent that is encompassed in Sarah’s songs, but it does beg the question of nature verses nurture. What we have in us before we are even us, and what we interpret because of life circumstances. Writing since her early teens, many of the songs featured on Suburban Nature were written long before she could even enter the clubs were they are now performed.

Interestingly enough the first single Vulnerable, was written when Sarah was only 17, long before even the material on her first EP, the acclaimed Even Born Again, was produced. Even so, it comprises everything that matters about her voice. If there is one thread that flows through all of Sarah’s work, it is grappling with the self-serving cycles that are in all of us, and  the aftermath that those needs deal out. “I’m a fan of life’s wicked ironies. These things that reveal the truth from an aerial view nowhere near your perspective of the situation, and through these realizations you find redemption.” And so it is with Suburban Nature.

From opening track Before You Go, everything sounds as wide and deep as the Grand Canyon, the sonic spread covering every degree of the mix. It’s thick enough to feel when you breathe, but spacial enough to allow for the one thing that truly matters with singer/songwriters: their voice. When talking to the albums producer and engineer John Congleton (Explosions in the Sky, Bill Callahan, Clinic) about the spacious feel of the album, he had this to say on the matter: “I think it was intentional. Both Sarah’s and my feelings on this was that the vocal should be the focal point have as much space as possible, while the music provided an emotional backdrop.”

Skilled players such as Kris Youmans – cello (Bill Callahan, The Paper Chase, Micah P Hinson) Becki Howard – violin (The Crash That Took Me) Jeff Ryan – percussion (The Baptist Generals, St Vincent, Pleasant Grove) and Robert Gomez – guitar (as himself) provide this essential emotional backdrop. Just take a listen to Pretender for an example of the power and talent contained in this group of players. Layers of moveable music float in, out, under and over lines such as “So here we stand, like flowers in the cold, wilt and wither/Here’s your chance/Tell me what you want/I’m a forgiver.” In other situations the group provide the perfect backbeat so Sarah is free to spin yarn that might not always be fact, but like we said, is certainly truth.

On Clementine, she sings, “We were young, we were young, we were young, we didn’t care.” Although only 24 you actually believe her. You believe her because you believe that no matter what her actual age, she lived through the war of a relationship or fifty that aged her to her core, and now her soul speaks to yours in the places where you have aged, and set down roots that flow as grid in a suburb becoming part of your nature. This why we need singers like Sarah Jaffe and albums like Suburban Nature: We need a truth singer to be a soothsayer, and help heal us in the broken places of our time.

OH. More Marcus. Yep. That’s it.

Yesterday, Amber gave us a few videos to get our Saturday going quite nicely, and one of those was indeed Marcus. And Marcus on keyboard at that. ::sigh:: But I needed more. So, last night I was on a mission for more Marcus. A Marcus Mission if you will. Armed with a bottle of wine, my new lappie and episodes of Black Books in the background I began to peruse the ol’ interwebs for some Marcus.

And, as luck would have it, I stumbled across the best thing ever– a NEW song by Marcus! And– wait for it– he’s playing the keyboard again! Word.

This vid is from Marcus’ show at the Pigalle Club in London, this past Thursday. It was posted by Katie, aka MadAboutVampires, who always gets the goods since she lives in London.

Well? What do you think? I, um, well….kinda LOVE it. Srsly. But I would really love to know what you all think of the new song.

Now, be sure to check out Katie’s other vids while you are at it. She’s got a couple more from that show at the Pigalle and several others from previous shows of both Marcus and Bobby. You can find them all on her YouTube channel.

Alright. I feel like Mission Accomplished can be stamped on this one, no? See you guys tomorrow with another new artist for our Mix Tape Monday!

First from Sam, one of my more recent faves, Lights (Fucking Lights)!

From Bobby, an older video, but love In the Frost! I just like how it looks like the recorded him playing on a sidewalk!!

And wrapping up your Saturday, some Marcus!! Way, Way, Way on the keyboard! Hells yes! (Plus, he drops the “f” bomb and I giggle!)

Yep, I like this. Videos may have to become a new Saturday tradition!!

So, if you haven’t purchased your copy yet, why dontcha today? It’s just $10 and we make it even easier by providing you with a link to buy and download instantly. See? No sweat!

Or, if you’ve already purchased, how about telling someone new about it? Or send them the link to Manila, the song that Sam wrote while on the trip?

Have you already purchased/watched the documentary? Thoughts, comments, observations about it? We’d love to know what you think!

Photo: guitarinstructor.com

Seems Bobby has been mighty busy while Amber and I kept hitting the ol’ snooze button on our blogging alarm clock!

He’s back in America, as his recent blog entry on myspace states:

Arrived back in America this morning and its really good to be back. It was really nice to have time in London and im really pleased with the time in the studio and to have an opportunity to work with all the amazing musicians and with a producer like Liam Watson. Everyone worked together and i really feel like we have put together a great sound and something that will make people stand up and listen. As i said before i recorded 18 tracks and i cant wait pick the ones that are gonna be on the album and design the art work.

You can read the full entry here.

Is it weird that the world seems right again when Bobby is back in the States? It does. Okay, I never wrote that then.

Anyhoo- he’s got a lot on his plate the next few days, starting on Friday the 12th with a radio broadcast from Philadelphia’s World Café Live.  This broadcast is part of Philadelphia public radio station WXPN’s Free@Noon broadcast. You can find information about the show here, including the option to register for it if you are in the area and can attend.

To follow up the radio show, Bobby will also be playing a show the next night at the World Cafe Live. Ticket info can be found here.

The whole of March will find Bobby on the road, including a much anticipated stop at this year’s SXSW. Now, as a former Austin resident, I can say that this is a very big deal. I know that SXSW is now widely known throughout the country but I remember it when it was just a music festival that did pretty well.  Now, I am amazed at not only the international recognition the festival receives but also the recognition it provides those that play there. So, I am pretty freaking stoked that Bobby will get a chance to be apart of something so amazing!

Check out all of Bobby’s upcoming tour dates here or on his myspace page.

Last but certainly not least, it has come to the attention of this little stalker blogger that Bobby is now the proud owner of his very own Wikipedia page. I mean, you haven’t made it until you’ve got a Wikipedia page, right?? So, congrats on that feat, Bobby! And I say feat because it looks like a real pain in the ace to create a new entry– so kudos to whoever had the time and patience for that.

And now a really important question for Bobby, since I just know that he reads this site. (Duh.) It says in the Wiki entry that you were born in Wigan, close to Manchester. Um. That leaves a burning question in my mind.  Are you a Wigan Athletic fan? Or a ManU supporter? I mean, you can’t be a ManCity kind of guy– cause that would be a deal breaker as a Red Devil myself and I refuse to believe that is even a choice.

Okay, so he doesn’t read this blog– but does anyone know the answer? Or better yet, I need someone to ask him when they see him play next. Cause we all know that LiLi won’t have the courage to next week when he’s in Dallas.

I call this Exhibit A.

Scroll down the page and you see that someone has posted a video of Sam, singing Sugar Momma, and I die laughing.

Now, Sam, I know it says Info is the poster, but we are not totally convinced that you did not post this. So, LiLi and I decided to go ahead and conduct an intervention.

I was gonna make a cool poster, but then just decided to play this video instead, cause I have to think that her words would fit well coming from you!

Sam, have a seat, we have a couple things to say to you about your ::ahem:: problem*.

1. Posting a video of you singing about sugar mommas on a site about discreet online dating may be the opposite of discreet.

2. If you are looking for a sugar momma, I suggest you just walk into the crowd at your next show. There are plenty of sabers out there that would love to shower their money on you. No need to go online.

So, Sam, dear Sam, next time you go to the Interwebs to look for a sugar momma, may I suggest eHarmony? Or perhaps the personnels in your locals Craigs List (bet there are some real winners there!).

LiLi Edit– Dood. I can’t stop reading all the other random links on that site. And may I draw your attention to the 1st one? OKC singles?? Um…Amber?? Is there something YOU would like to tell us?

*We totes know that this was posted just based on certain key words by a computer. But it’s funny. And we like funny.

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featuring…

Winter Gloves

Winter Gloves began as one guy’s way of figuring out how to plug himself into life in the big city. It was a single microphone and minimal equipment gathered into Charles F’s downtown Montreal apartment to piece together all the distances he’d covered since growing up in rural Quebec. The jarring shift of such a transition seemed to peek through every chance it could, a constant inspiration as much as frustration that was drafted in the band’s self-released Let Me Drive EP of mainly demo tracks. Today, Winter Gloves is Charles F (lead singer/songwriter/wurlitzer), Pat Sayers (drums), Vincent Chalifour (synths) and Jean-Michel Pigeon (guitar/glockenspiel). With only a handful of live shows behind them at the beginning of the 2008, Winter Gloves was already receiving invitations to join bands like Tokyo Police Club on a series of sold-out tour dates. Such well-attended shows helped spread what was becoming the wildfire of the earlier EP demo tracks that spiked on top 10 lists with record downloads after being made available on iTunes, and lead to top pick coverage at both major annual music festivals in Canada, Canadian Music Week and NXNE. After the Canadian release of the band’s full length in the Fall of 2008, the band continued on the same foot as things had started with dates alongside Tokyo Police Club and a slot at Toronto’s Virgin Festival before hitting the road across Canada with Vancouver’s You Say Party! We Say Die! and Quebec’s Beast. Reactions to the album and these shows immediately secured showcase opportunities at International conferences, invitations for further touring and secured spots on “Best of 2008” yearend lists including “Best New Artist” from iTunes Canada. The about a girl LP is ten songs driven by the sounds of keyboards and drums, all wrapped up in a constant buzz of bass and gritty synths. The foursome will introduce themselves to the US with the 3 song, digital-only Let Me Drive EP featuring early sketches of songs that were later developed for the about a girl LP.

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I can’t take credit for “finding” these guys– that all goes to Amber. She sent me their MySpace link and I immediately fell in love with the song Piano 4 Hands. It’s just one of those songs that just fits, yanno? Like it’s that go-to song in any occasion, whether I am happy, feel like dancing or maybe just a tidge emo. It’s just….right. Check it out for yourself:

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Of course, as soon as I heard them I got online and IMed Amber to let her know how much I dug them. She was like, #DUH. So, I have to throw in her fave song, Invisible and her thoughts on these guys:

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Cause any band that can bust out a xylophone and jingle bells during a song is WIN in my book!

And since I’m a Nirvana fan, straight up, they did a cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit that makes me smile. It sounds SO  much less depressing! Mad props to them for figuring out what the hell Kurt Cobain is mumble singing!

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Winter Gloves will be hitting the road starting tomorrow, with a few Canadian shows, before heading overseas for their European tour. But if you are in Austin, you are in luck! In between their stops in Canada and Europe, these guys will be making a pit stop to play SXSW– so if you are in the area go check them out! You can find a complete list of their tour dates on their MySpace page.

Wants to own for yourself? You can purchase Winter Gloves on iTunes. You can also find Winter Gloves on MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

What did you think of these guys? Drop us a line and let us know, yeah? And while you’re here, do you have a band that you think should be noticed? Let us know and they could be featured on Mix Tape Monday here at the Shack!