we saw: Alela Diane @ MHoW

"Your Hands Bring Me Sweet Lavender"
(photo by Dan and Happy)
If the traditional "She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes" were a rugged theatrical drama in the vein of Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid, Alela Diane's canyon folk would be an obvious choice for the soundtrack. The Nevada City native and friends (and family) took Music Hall by storm on Saturday night, making the Brookyln venue feel more like an early evening at a Summer folk festival in a lush California valley than a club on the edge of an industrial waterfront. Alela's wondrous voice was in full command of the audience, and the band, as she delivered To Be Still gems like "Every Path" and "The Alder Tree's", as well as a fitting cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Gold Dust Women", with an effortless ease that can only come from singing your entire life. While her band channeled the spirit of the Canyon, lending Alela's songs the rhythms of a steam-powered freight train, it would have been nice to have heard some material from The Pirate's Gospel, or simply a solo tune. That said, I am still in awe of her and her voice, and you can be too courtesy of the (in)famous NYC Taper, who captured her nearly identical show from the previous night at the Bowery Ballroom.

Download Alela Diane's 2/27/09 performance from the Bowery Ballroom. (NYC Taper)

cover: Headless Heroes do Vashti, Johnston

"Wilder than Moonlight"

(photo by damusic)
While reading P4k's review of To Be Still, I came across a mention of a set of covers Alela Diane did for a project dubbed Headless Heroes. Apparently, the super group, consisting of Hugo Nicolson, Josh Klinghoffer, Woodrow Jackson III, Gus Seyffert, Alela Diane, Leo Abrahams, Joey Waronker, Dirty Pretty Strings, Pocketknife, Mike G., Irana Douer, Sarah Lynn Graves, & Eddie Bezalel, released an album of covers in November. The disc, The Silence of Love, which features Diane's timeless voice on every track, includes songs by Vashti Bunyan, the Jesus & Mary Chain, Daniel Johnston, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, just to name a few.

Hearing one of my favorite vocalists cover two of my all time favorite songs (Johnston's "True Love Will Find You In The End" and Bunyan's "Here Before") is quite the Thursday morning revelation. Excitement level for Alela's show at Music Hall just went through the roof.

Headless Heroes (feat. Alela Diane)- Here Before (Vashti Bunyan)
Headless Heroes (feat. Alela Diane)- True Love Will Find You In The End (Daniel Johnston)

Headless Heroes - Just Like Honey (Dir. Nina Spiering, Mirka Duijn)


The North Wind Blew South

Bobkast #22: Listen, The Snow Is Falling

"I Need Another World...This Ones Nearly Gone"
(Photo by automaticbobby)
It's funny how a little bit of snow can bring a city to a stop. Aimless and carefree, it floats amongst smoke stacks and skyscrapers, lulling the avenues to a quiet hush. Quickly, it builds, hypnotizing wide-eyed onlookers as it dusts dirty streets with crystalline sparkles that shine under street lights like diamonds in a summer sky. Quiet. It swirls, whirls and falls. You stick your tongue out and taste its frozen delight. "Ahh, nurishment." And all of the sudden, the world is anew.

Bobkast #22: Listen...The Snow Is Falling
Galaxie 500- Listen, the Snow is Falling
Yo La Tengo- Nowhere Near
Alela Diane- White As Diamonds (Daytrotter)
Bjork- All is Full of Love
Grouper- Heavy Water/I'd Rather Be Sleeping
Koushik- Morning Comes
Apollo Sunshine- Happiness
Japancakes- Blown A Wish
Julianna Barwick- You Were Waiting
Mum- I Can't Feel My Hand Anymore, It's Alright, Sleep Tight
Mogwai- Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home
Antony & the Johnsons- Another World

Download Bobkast #22: Listen...The Snow Is Falling (PC: right click+ save as; Mac: command (apple)+ click)

video: Alela Diane

"Our Lives Are Buried In Snow"
From To Be Still, one of my most anticipated records of 2009. Below snag a the goosebump inducing solo version from a Daytrotter session in 2007.

Alela Diane- White As Diamonds (Daytrotter)