songs:illinois

Cal's is a hole in the wall, a shot and beer joint and proud of it. But around the edges music paraphernalia is starting to creep it's way in. Tour posters, broken guitars, band stickers and assorted musical nicknacks adorn the walls.

The stage is the cold barren cement floor. But the place is small, cozy, laid back and the sound is good (beers are cheap - $2.50).

I was surprised that Dana turned up as a trio for the night. Dana's guitar and vocals were accompanied by beautiful harmonies and assorted percussion from two fellow Austinites (Erica and Gina). By percussion I mean stolen children's toys, foot stomps and old battered coke cans squished along to the beat.

Dana played songs from her new ep Paper Sailboat and newer songs she's still working the kinks out of. After the band resolved some distortion/feedback issues they quickly found a grove. One of the standouts was the gypsy flavored "Leave In The Middle Of The Night".

Fan favorite "Sadie" was the closer. Anyway just wanted to let you know that a good time was had by all.

"Sadie" video



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Also in a few months you're going to be hearing a lot about new record on /Absolutely Kosher. Try not to tune it out and pick up the record if you can.

Misra has really hit it's stride and found it's niche with bands like Evangelicals, Shearwater, Flotation toy Warning and now Hallelujah. On many of the songs cello battles with guitar which are overtaken by soaring trumpets. Samples and electronic noise are added to the mix.

And then Ryan Walsh's lead vocals break though the clutter. I'm really impressed by this record. Their "fight song" is the one available download from the record, although their are some nice live and demo tracks up at their site.

Here's the self-titled fight song - "Hallelujah the Hills".




(live)
(demo)
(demo)

,

..Richard Shindell's "South of Delia"

I usually receive something in the mail, or get an email from the artist or as is more often the case find music myself online. But with Richard Shindell's new record I resorted to begging. Luckily one of the great indie publicists is working the record.

is one of the truly great singer-songwriters working today. He's got a beautiful, singular voice (equaled only by Ellis Paul, Slaid Cleaves and Greg Brown), is a great lyricist/storyteller and an equally talented guitarist. He's also a very talented interpreter of "popular songs", first with his folk supergroup (with Dar Williams and Lucy Kaplansky) and now with his new record of covers, South Of Delia.

I'd get a lot more traffic if I posted his unusual reading of Bruce Springsteen's "Born In The USA" or his version of the Robbie Robertson penned Band classic "Acadian Driftwood". I'd probably get some young hipsters if I linked to his take on Josh Ritter's "Lawrence, KS". And these are all great songs but the historical and socio-political song "The Humpback Whale" really connected with me (hey, it's got Richard Thompson on guitar so that should really bring `em in).

The song was originally written about the practice of humpback whale hunting, a practice that nearly drove the whale to extinction, by the Scottish singer Harry Robertson but was also covered by . I'm not familiar with either of those previous versions but on this one Richard Shindell's nylon string guitar plucking sounds sublime and his vocals are perfect for this bit of historical storytelling. You can pre-order this release now only through Richard's online store (it's shipping now so it'll arrive in a couple of days).

One of Richard's own historical songs about the human costs of the civil war - "Reunion Hill" (plus to watch Richard perform one of his fan favorites - "Next Best Western")