Two Degrees In Bebop

Interview with record producer Brendan O'Brien

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 17:46:00 -0400

Atl-ien Brendan O’Brien is one of the most reclusive people in rock n’ roll. You might have never heard his name but you’ve certainly heard projects he has touched. He is a great great producer who has worked with everybody from Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan to Incubus and Limp Bizkit. Hear him talk about how he got his start in the biz and how he gets the best out of his bands.

I didn’t even know what he looked like until I recently came across this interview series and I’m pretty sure this is the only thing you can dig up on him online.

UPDATE: Wikipedia has O’Brien’s insane discography.

NOTE: The other parts of the segment can be found in the ‘suggested videos’ at the end.

George Jones: "The King is Gone"

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:45:47 -0400

Hope the bar is stocked in Honky-tonk heaven.

One Country One Soul: "Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever"

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:33:00 -0400

As part of a new series called “One Country One Soul,” we explore the roots of a song through different genres.

The Four Tops:

The year was 1966 and Motown legends The Four Tops recorded and released this Stevie Wonder and Ivy Jo Hunter-penned song. It comes hard with that iconic mid-’60s Motown vibe: a piano, a tambourine, a bass, and a simple drum beat, tied together with one of the tightest vocal harmonies of the era.

The Band:

No strangers to a good cover song, The Band caught on to the infectiousness of “Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever” and stuck it on their 1972 album, Rock of Ages. It’s a much looser version than The Four Tops’ with perms-loose wild man Rick Danko leading on vocals and Levon Helm handling the bulk of the backup vocals.

Ryan Adam's new band

Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:33:00 -0400

From here, it looks like Ryan Adam’s hired all of his musical heroes as his new backup his band, what-a-badass. Look at this roster:

Ryan Adams - Vocasl/Guitar
Ethan Johns - Guitar
Don Was - Bass
Jeremy Stacey - Drums
Cindy Cashdollar - Pedal Steel
Benmont Tench - Organ

Below, is a clip of “Ashes and Fire” from Royal Albert Hall in London and here is a link to a dowload of the entire show.

Ryan Adams - “Ashes and Fire”

SXSW photo recap courtesy of Sam Birdsong. Thanks for sharing...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:24:00 -0400

Foxygen

John McCauley of Deer Tick

Michael Kiwanuka

Jonny Fritz with special guests John McCauley

Jim James

Michael Kiwanuka

John Hyatt

Jim James

John Hyatt

SXSW photo recap courtesy of Sam Birdsong. Thanks for sharing Sam!

2DiB Instagram Roundup

Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:31:54 -0500

Another new series where we select out favorite photos from musical happenings on Instagram and put them in front of your eyes.

Follow us on Instagram here.

Jonathan Wilson taking a ride with Neil Young, presumably listening to Neil’s latest Pono PureTone digital music player.

Jim James playing a saxophone this past week during his Sleep No More appearance at the McKittrick Hotel in New York City.

Tyson from the Two Gallants going for a swim in a sea of Australian fans.

One Country One Soul: "Dark End of the Street"

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 15:40:00 -0500

As part of a new series called “One Country One Soul,” we explore the roots of a song through different genres.

It was tough to choose out of the dozens of artists who have taken a crack at this Dan Penn and Chips Morgan classic from 1967. But here goes.

Gram Parsons and The Flying Burrito Brothers:

The Flying Burrito Brothers might have just recorded their version of the song at the end of a dark street, late on a quiet night with just one single street lamp shining above them. The bleeding harmonies of Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman seem like a perfect fit for this sinful cheating song.

Aretha Franklin:

Even though this version is instrumentally slower and sparse than The Flying Burrito Brothers, Aretha Franklin does not hold back. Hitting and holding high notes with vibrato, Franklin belts out the lyrics in a soul princess way that is all hers. Those fat vocals on top of that thin organ combined with the slow bass and splashy cymbals from her band, Aretha brings out the lonesome and illicit sentiment of the song.

WATCH: Beck conducts a 157 person band through a David Bowie classic.

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:43:00 -0500

Fresh, explorartory, weird. Very Beck. And yes we recognize this is a Lincoln advertisement.

Beck, “Sound and Vision”

When Nas goes for a ride

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:57:50 -0500

Jim James, "A New Life"

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 14:39:00 -0500

Jim James delivers a tantalizing performance of “A New Life” from his new record Regions of Light and Sounds of God. Watch him build this song up and then send it in to outer space.

Shel Siverstein's shrieking singing style.

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 13:27:24 -0500

How’s that for alliteration? Shel Silverstein wrote the lyrics, Jonny Cash added them to music and made it famous, both of them got together and performed the song on “The Jonny Cash Show”.

Silverstein’s vocal stylings are not that surprising know what I know about his outrageous, colorful, and playful poetry.

Shel Siverstein and Jonny Cash, “A Boy Named Sue”

Never Before Seen Photgraphs of The Beatles

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:34:53 -0500

Never before seen photographs of The Beatles by Henry Grossman unearthed this week. Check them here.

Devendra Banhart "Never Seen Such Good Things" (video)

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 13:19:00 -0500

The L.A./NYC psych-folk bard turns in an awesomely bizarre rendition of the fourth track, “Never Seen Such Good Things,” off his eighth LP for the Italian T.V. show, Occupy DeeJay, here. Sounds about right. Mala is due in March via Nonesuch.

Official video for the song below:

Devendra Banhart, “Never Seen Such Good Things”

Kevin Smith takes you in to the mind of Prince and the weird world of Paisley Park

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 11:57:12 -0500

Filmmaker Kevin Smith originally hit up Prince to see if he could use “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” for a scene in “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”. Prince passed on the offer but somehow convinced Kevin Smtih to come spend a week with him in Minneapolis and film a rockumentary. Here is Kevin Smith’s rivetting recap of what happened that weird week in Minnesota.

Part II, Part III, Part IV

This is a must watch for any Prince or Kevin Smith fans.

Vollmilch, "Vulfpeck"

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:45:00 -0500

<a href=”http://digital.vulf.de/album/vollmilch” data-mce-href=”http://digital.vulf.de/album/vollmilch”>Vollmilch by Vulfpeck</a>

Some kids from the University of Michigan music program put on an LP today with some fresh-ass sounds on it. Go check this out now.

Link to their page.

Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, "Band on the Run"

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 13:35:00 -0500

This series is fun. Nicki Bluhm and her band ride around in the van in between gigs and perform their favorite cover songs. It’s an extension of singing along to the radio or album on a road trip. Besides they have great song selection. True definition of a Band on the Run.

Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers, “Band on the Run”

Christopher Owens, "New York City"

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:40:00 -0500

It is no surprise the first solo effort of former Girls front man Christopher Owens is great. His new album, Lysandre, has everything you need in an album including flute and saxophone solos and really well-written folk, pop, and rock n’roll songs It feels like a break up album that he had to create to put an exclamation point on the now defunct Girls. This is one of the more upbeat songs on the album which we dig. He has tour dates on the calendar for the next three months.

Christopher Owens, “New York City”

James Brown teaches you how to dance

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 12:18:06 -0500

James Brown shares some of his favorite dance moves. Oh, and he is dancing to his own music.

NPR: Who Needs Drugs When You've Got Music?

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:51:47 -0500

“Music modulates levels of dopamine in the brain which is a chemical responsible for reward and pleasure,” Levitin explained. “It also modulates serotonin levels and norepinephrine, a stimulant. And in the right combinations, these can give rise to feelings of ecstasy and intense pleasure — almost a sense of being at one with the world.”

-full article here.

Trey Anastasio walks through his Phish touring rig

Tue, 15 Jan 2013 20:21:00 -0500

Phish has an amazing in-house production team that films all of their concerts. During tours they promptly put up one edited song on their band Vimeo page from every single show, the day after the show as a little gift to the fans. These are all HD, multi-camera and awesome. This production crew also streams select shows (I suspect this will become common practice soon) to anyone at home who wants to watch the show via webcast. This is know amongst Phish fans as #couchtour (go look at the Instagram hashtag, it’s great). During set breaks on #couchtour over NYE this year they had these interview showcases they webcast with each of the band members where they show off their instruments, pedals, amps, cymbals, and all their other noise makers. It’s great to see them explain whats going on up there as sometimes it can be hard to tell where the sounds are coming from and how they are being made. This series helps clear that up.

“Being familiar with your gear is more important than having really good gear”, what a great theory.

Special shout outs to the Rolling Stones reference he touches on when describing his Leslie Speaker and the watery sound he gets out of it when they play “Let it Loose”.