So Far So Good – The Decemberists

What happened since the beginning of the year? Nothing much! I already mentioned here how much I like Barbara Morgenstern and Science For Girls latest works as well as Vetiver’s fourth album. Of course, I didn’t miss the release of the new PJ Harvey, but I need more time to listen to it before I should review it or not here on Leaky Sparrow. What else? Animal Collective, of course, but it was in January. The Leonard Cohen Live and Neil Young’s Fork In The Road because it’s Leonard and Neil... But, the best discovery so far for me is The Decemberists. I missed their previous albums, it’s a good find for me and I really like this concept album around a love story: The Hazards Of Love (Rough Trade Records)

Web: www.decemberists.com

The Decemberists - Shiny.mp3 from 5 Songs (2003)

Vetiver – Tight Knit

Vetiver, the coolest band on earth, strikes again with a fourth album called Tight Knit. Nothing fancy, just a bunch of pretty good songs for our pleasure. Andy Cabic makes me think of Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead, I mean his voice, listen to Strictly Rule, for example, and let me know.

Web: vetiverse.com
MySpace: myspace.com/vetiverse

Vetiver - Everyday .mp3

Vetiver Rising

It was good to be back after a while at the Café de la Danse last Friday evening. It’s one of my favorite venues in town; it’s a place where I saw great performances in the past from a large selection of bands.
It was good also to see Vetiver playing live again two years after their last stop at the Maroquinerie (LS/2006/09) and to have a little chat with Andy Cabic again. Finishing a long European tour the band will be heading home (San Francisco) right after a last stop at the Glastonbury Festival next Sunday. Last Friday, the same night, you had Bruce Springsteen in a stadium close to Paris, but for me, no hesitation, I preferred to be in the Café de la Danse enjoying what Andy Cabic called “a lovely show”.
As usual Vetiver played with a relaxed style, comfortable and easy. The setlist consisted of songs from there previous albums and new ones just wrote during the tour. For the encore, they offered to the audience two covers songs: Michael Hurley’s Blue Driver and I Must Be In A Good Place Now, from Bobby Charles' 1972 self-titled album. Those two songs can be found in an excellent cover record released last may, Thing of the Past (Fat Cat Records), a 12-song collection that features tracks by an odd assortment of characters, both legendary and forgotten. Let me tell you that it’s not just another cover record, the song selection is excellent and the interpretation very much inspired. Highly recommended.

Web: vetiverse.com/blog
MySpace: myspace.com/vetiverse
More info: midheaven.com/artists/vetiver.html

Vetiver - Blue Driver .m3u
Vetiver - I Must Be In A Good Place .m3u

Vetiver - Farther On .mp3
Vetiver - Maureen .mp3 via Girlpants

Bonus: Michael Hurley - The Werewolf .mp3
Bobby Charles - Small Town Talk .mp3 via The Rising Storm (a great blog!)

Photo: Leaky Sparrow – Vetiver – Café de la Danse, Paris – Friday June 27, 2008

More pictures here.