Matt and Kim - Block After Block

Matt and Kim "Block After Block"
Matt & Kim – Block After Block

M. Ward, without Zooey (mostly)

For the most part, my knowledge of M. Ward is limited to his collaborations with Zooey Deschanel in She & Him, and with Jim James, Connor Oberst, and Mike Mogis in Monsters of Folk. Even though I've loved the work he did in these projects, I unfortunately never really took the time to get to know his musical individuality. His new album, A Wasteland Companion, came out recently and it's resulted in me diving deeper into his other solo albums.






Here's a the first single off the album, Primitive Girl , live on KCRW M. Ward – Primitive Girl

Clean Slate M. Ward – Clean Slate

I Get Ideas M. Ward – I Get Ideas

And for the She & him fans, don't fret. Zooey D. makes two appearances on this album. But it's a different role for her within the duo as she takes on the modest background vocals that Matt was accustomed to in their previous endeavors.
Here's Sweetheart M. Ward – Sweetheart (feat. Zooey Deschanel)

RIP Levon Helm

On my way home from work on Thursday, I found myself rocking out in the car to The Band's "Up On Cripple Creek." At the time, I didn't think much of hearing the song, until I got home and discovered why I was hearing the song. The voice and backbone of that song and the band (The Band) itself had passed just a few hours earlier.

Although I prefer Levon to his days with The Band, I have the utmost respect for the work the man did in recent years. In 2008, his album Dirt Farmer won the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album.       

In 2008 I head a live session of Levon and his friends at Levon's barn/studio on the World Cafe. The session is great (and posted below) and the whole scene seemed surreal.   
A live session from Levon's studio in Woodstock, NY in 2008


After hearing the above session and interview of Levon, I came to the realization that the music industry needs more Levon Helms. He was one of the great ones and we were lucky to have him. RIP Dirt Farmer.

I pulled into Nazareth, was feelin' about half past dead
I just need some place where I can lay my head
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"He just grinned and shook my hand, "no" was all he said. 

Trampled By Turtles "Alone"

Here's the new video from Trampled By Turtles, Alone. Get your Duluth on! 
Trampled By Turtles – Alone

Go see the Lumineers

As we ascended the narrow canyon roads of the mighty Poudre River a couple weeks ago on our way up to see The Lumineers, our friend Micah made an optimistic prediction that this Lumineers show would be full of stomping, singing, happy people. He was spot on. By the end of the show, my feet were sore from stomping and I haven't smiled that much at a show since the last time I saw Josh Ritter. I know the quality is pretty poor, but hopefully my iPhone clip of Ho, Hey gives you a taste of what the show was like:     

But the highlight of the show came during the encore when the band pulled an piano out into the middle of the crowd and played 3 songs without audio equipment. It was just us and them, it felt like we were at a house party and our good friends pulled out their instruments to play us a couple of songs. It was one of the great moments in my concert-going life. 
The Lumineers are quickly blowing up and opportunities to see them at smaller, intiment venues is quickly dwindling. If you have a chance to see these guys soon, I would definitely take that opportunity.    
Tour Dates
Since my video is pretty bad, I decided to provide you with something a little better. Here's a live version of "Stubborn Love"  The Lumineers – Stubborn Love 

Happy Opening Day!

Today I thought I'd throw out (no pun intended) a couple songs to celebrate the start of the 2012 MLB season.  


Here's Macklemore with a tribute to the Seattle Mariners' 1995 run through the playoffs and late radio announcer Dave Nihaus. Despite the fact that I am not really a Mariners fan, something about this song brings a lot of joy to me. Maybe because it's not about the Yankees, Red Sox, or Cubs. I like this song so much that I'm going to go ahead and put in both the official video plus a live version from KEXP in Seattle.    
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – My Oh My on Spotify. 

1995 the division series, Edgars up to bat, bottom of the 11th inning got the whole town listening,swung on and belted the words that started, Joey Cora rounds third, here comes Griffey the throw to the plate’s not in time, my oh my the Mariners win it. Yes, fire works they lit up ceiling in the king dome. We had just made history.

There's no way I'm going to leave this post without a shout-out to my boys in purple, the Colorado Rockies. Here's Fort Collins hip-hop artist Black Prez remixing Wiz Khalifia,   Colorado stylie. Plus he gives a shout-out to both his and my alma mater. 

Vinyl Pizza - Jim Croce "I Got a Name"

When I first started the Audio Pizza Blog, I wanted to showcase good music from multiple genres and eras. Thus far, I've succeeded in the multiple genres aspect, but I have failed in the multiple eras. Recognizing the music that has come before. music that influences everything we hear today, is very important to me. My large vinyl collection and turntable will affirm this claim. So when I do showcase a song or artist from the past, I'll be titling it Vinyl Pizza (or sometimes maybe Cassette Pizza). 


Here's Jim Croce from 1973 with I Got a Name.
Jim Croce – I Got A Name