Joel P West and the journey we’re on
It is almost time to live on the road. To sleep at unknown homes and shoulder the story of another world, war, and a chance to rebuild.
The roadies, Ugandan advocates, mentors, interns, and staff have prepared for months. Many hours of healthy sleep have been lost, exchanged for exhaustive education, packing, training, calling, booking, night ocean swimming, and back-porch personal-history deep-talk excavation. The Face-to-Face tour launches in 42 hours.
Last night, Joel P West and the Tree Ring, alongside Red Hunter and Rob Crow, performed for us at a send-off concert. They blessed us with their art, and commissioned us with ’safe travels’ and sincere encouragement. Kenny Laubbacher set up the night as the gift it was, and Jedidiah clothing (no relation, other than divine providence and my super-fan affection for them) hosted the whole thing at their warehouse. It was just what was needed. A formalized moment of reflection.
Joel said a few things that linger with me today. He is about to head up with his band to record their new album in the mountains. The album focuses on Joel’s internal evolution, the personal journey of self discovery and the wash of experience that rattles a young mind. He said it is about the questions that take time to simmer in solitude. Then he addressed the roadies, saying that while some of us get caught in that cloudy journey of self-and-cosmic understanding, there are questions that need to be answered today. Questions like, ‘why should a child in Congo or Uganda live in fear of being abducted?’ ‘Why should villages be massacred and no one know about it.’ And the fact that these roadies and interns have put their personal/spiritual stupor on the shelf while they answer the distant call of Justice, it is cause to celebrate and honor them as rare expressions of brave novelty. And what’s more, when looking away from the mirror for a season, halting the self mining and looking out to the groaning world, you may very well see yourself for the first time. Forgetting yourself to find yourself.
Considering all this, Thoreau came to mind. Whether you’re headed to the mountains to embark on a season of reflection and examination (which I believe to be hugely important), or shedding yourself to live in the service of others, to delight in the organism of purposed community and the purity of single-minded pursuit, you are making choices based on who you want to become. Thoreau said: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
If you ask me, it is the commitment to living deliberately that marks a worthy life. The mistakes made on that road seem to lead to humble, wiser, and stronger people. I see those people all around me. Not waiting to wake up as old men riddled with mistakes and half-breathed breaths… but awake now. Living truly and truly living.
It was a powerful night, and Joel and The Tree Ring’s music was maybe the best I’ve ever heard it. A huge thanks to them, and Red Hunter, Rob Crow, the people at Jedidiah, and the ever-incredible Kenny Laubbacher. – Jedidiah
Here is some more Joel P West and the Tree Ring to revel in:
The Wilderness Downtown
Very cool: Arcade Fire and Chris Milk present this interactive film. You’ve probably never seen Google Earth used like this. Plug in your home address, headphones, and listen and watch and get lost… (warning, the video will pop up a bunch of windows, so let it happen, stop freaking out)
The video features “We Used To Wait”
Check it: The Wilderness Downtown
(thanks to Pablo for showin’ me this one) – Jedidiah
Our girl K.Bell stars in Yeasayer’s new video
This is one of my favorite songs of the last year. I can’t tell you how many night drives has been kicked off with it, blasted to the max in my Nissan. So proud that KB is in this video. – Jedidiah
From Pitchfork:
Anyone who’s lost a beloved cat or dog can relate to the absurd, heartbreaking new video for Yeasayer’s “Madder Red”. The clip stars Kristen Bell (“Veronica Mars”,Forgetting Sarah Marshall) as a distraught owner of a sick pet. The pet happens to be an amorphous, one-eyed (and oddly lovable!) mass of flesh. It was made by wildly talented Swedish director Andreas Nilsson (Fever Ray, MGMT) and you can check it out below or at Pitchfork.tv.
First Listen: Ray LaMontagne’s new album
Looks like Ray is holding on to his roots (thank God). After a few more mainstream releases, with gems on them for sure, Ray has released a substantially raw americana album that I think I can get behind. We’ll see. Stream away… Here is NPR’s review and the whole album streaming at NPR Music. – Jedidiah
Ray LaMontagne may be dismissed as the kind of musician relegated to warm, fuzzy television dramas, but there’s much more to the husky-voiced singer-songwriter. On his fourth studio album, God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise, he’s joined by his terrific band The Pariah Dogs: Jay Bellarose on drums, Jennifer Condos on bass, Patrick Warren on keys, Eric Heywood on guitar and Greg Leisz on steel guitar. The album was recorded in LaMontagne’s woodsy home in western Massachusetts, which helps lend that rural sound which runs through all of his records.
Whereas 2008’s Gossip in the Grain was a more expansive release, God Willin’ exists in a more compact musical space. As the album’s title suggests, it’s a country-tinged record complete with slide guitar and the occasional banjo. The songs conjure images of a simple life of hammock naps and skillet-cooked breakfasts within a universe devoid of cell phones, laptops and televisions. The only interruption to his scene of melancholy serenity occurs in the first track, “Repo Man,” which kicks off the album with an aggressive guitar riff and accusatory lyrics. The rest of the album operates at a much slower pace, though, wandering from regret to occasional contentment.
With God Willin’, LaMontagne continues to churn out soulful tunes that relentlessly tug at the heart strings. He isn’t covering new territory, but his music is no less satisfying for its familiarity. For example, in “New York City’s Killing Me,” he laments the sterility of urban living, singing, “I was just kicking along the sidewalk / No one looks you in the eyes / No one asks you how you’re doing / Don’t seem to care if you live or if you die.”
LaMontagne reins in his characteristic raspiness on God Willin’. It’s still very much present, but he rarely belts the notes as on previous records. Instead, he favors clarity and a smoother delivery, as evidenced by the contemplative “Old Before Your Time.”
God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise will stream here in its entirety until its release on Aug. 17. Please leave your thoughts on the album in the comments section below.
First Listen: Arcade Fire’s ‘The Suburbs’
From AllSongs:
The members of Arcade Fire have always been fascinated by the subtle ways geography informs our lives. With its series of “Neighborhood” songs on the band’s 2004 full-length debut, Funeral, the group unpacked the emotional and psychological baggage of seemingly bucolic landscapes, and the sometimes haunted lives of the people who live there. On its latest release, The Suburbs, Arcade Fire turns its attention to ubiquitous, cookie-cutter communities and the impermanent memories they create. The album, which you can hear on NPR Music in its entirety, trolls deftly through a hazy world of failed dreams, lost identity, creeping malaise and, of course, plenty of heartache.
Arcade Fire front man Win Butler began forming the ideas behind The Suburbs in 2009, after receiving a letter from an old friend from his boyhood home outside of Houston, Texas. “He sent us a picture of him with his daughter on his shoulders at the mall around the corner from where we lived,” says Butler. “And the combination of seeing this familiar place and seeing my friend with his child brought back a lot of feeling from that time. I found myself trying to remember the town that we grew up in and trying to retrace as much as I could remember.”
The search through faded memories led Butler and the rest of Arcade Fire back to the studio, where they laid down The Suburbs‘ opening and title track. Like much of the album, it’s a song that swaggers almost playfully while detailing the boredom and terror of a life that may ultimately be meaningless. “The kids want to be so hard,” sings Butler. “But in my dreams we’re still screaming / And running through the yard / When all of the walls that they built in the ’70s finally fall / Meant nothing at all / It meant nothing.”
Arcade Fire’s biggest strength, and its most compelling appeal, has always been its gift for crafting songs that are epic but intimate, with incredibly grand orchestrations that feel as wistful and fragile as more delicate bedroom recordings. Much like the very space the band contemplates on The Suburbs, the group creates a sonic world of tremendous breadth, where cacophonous sprawl and tiny lives push and pull against one another wildly, strangely and, ultimately, beautifully.
Levi’s “Pioneer Sessions” are a good thing
After being inspired and fascinated by the Levi commercials, I stumbled upon another project headed up by Levi: The Pioneer Sessions. If you haven’t already given these a listen, I recommend doing it now. You can sign up for free downloads, too. The Swell Season, Passion Pit, She and Him all have songs. Get stoked. Go here to listen. -Rebekah K.
Hey Monday’s new single on iTunes
Warped Tour is still going strong (come see us!) and Hey Monday, a band that we love so much that we even share a tour bus with them this summer, has a new single: “I Don’t Wanna Dance.” It just released on iTunes, so show ‘em some support and buy it! The music video will be releasing on MTV and MTV.com tomorrow, so check. it. out.
Their new album, “Beneath It All,” comes out August 17th–so keep that on your radar, too. Enjoy!
-Rebekah K.
Pete Wentz honors Nate at “Do Something” Awards
Pete Wentz, Fall Out Boy bassist and long-time supporter of Invisible Children, wore a shirt in honor of Nate Henn at the VH1 Do Something Awards last night.
From Pete’s blog:
“Last night at the Do Something Awards I wore a personally designed ‘I HEART NATE HENN’ Shirt to show my love and respect for Nate, who was tragically killed in a terrorist attack in Uganda. Nate was a great dude who worked for Invisible Children and it’s horrible that a random act of violence took away such a bright and awesome guy. If you’d like to do something, please honor Nate and donate to his memorial fund at www.NateHenn.com.”
It’s truly inspiring to witness the ripple effect Nate’s life is having. Thanks for the love and support, Pete.
To watch the awards online, go here.
Jedidiah Clothing + Filter magazine + free music sampler = sweet summertime
In need of some summer tunes? Or better yet, how about a playlist for your July 4th festivities? Our friends at Jedidiah Clothing partnered with Filter Magazine to bring you this rad summer sampler. The best part? It’s a FREE download.
Here are the artists on the sampler, just to get you pumped: The Like, Beach House, Wolf Parade, Avi Buffalo, The Ruby Suns, Blitzen Trapper, Hot Hot Heat, Peter Wolf Crier, Mt. St. Helens Vietman Band, and Annie Stela.
Get those car windows rolled down and enjoy! -Rebekah K.
Warped Tour has begun, so come see us…
We hope you’re ready…because Warped Tour 2010 has officially LAUNCHED! And coming soon to a city near you.
There are 60 PLUS bands featured this year, including The All-American Rejects as one of the headlining bands.
If you’re not convinced already, here’s a major reason why you should come, (besides getting to chill with Alex and Ivory, two of our favorite peops): Invisible Children will have a booth on the grounds and we’re launching a texting campaign with help from our sponsors at Starkey Hearing Foundation where you can help raise money for a girl’s dorm in Uganda.
Here’s the deal: TEXT “IC & Your Fave Warped Band” to 85944 to Donate $5. Reply YES to confirm donation.
All the money raised will go toward a girls’ dormitory at one of our partner schools in Uganda.
Also at our booth we’ll have some new tank tops and hats out on the tour and are especially grateful for a collaboration bracelet with Jac Vanek, available on her website soon.
Warped Tour is coming to 45 different cities all across the U.S. Go here to see when Warped Tour is coming to your area. See you there!
Peter Gabriel Raising Awareness About Northern Uganda
Peter Gabriel first entered my life giving voice to Lloyd Dobler’s boombox in the film SAY ANYTHING, forever immortalizing Dobler as the perfect boyfriend (thank you Chuck Klosterman for noting our futile attempts to live up to that guy).
I’m excited to announce, along with Rolling Stone and some of our northern Uganda non-profit friends (Oxfam America, Resolve Uganda, Witness and Hope)… that Gabriel is now using his voice to raise the banner of this war in Central East Africa.
Check out this video that The Voice Project put out of PG covering Tom Waits’ “In The Neighborhood”.
Love Kenneth James Dobler
NPR: Mumford and Sons in concert
I was majorly bummed when the Mumford and Sons concert in San Diego sold out before I got tickets. This makes me feel a teensy bit better.
NPR: Mumford and Sons in concert, at Bonnaroo.
-Azy
Dear Azy, I went to the Mumford and Middle East show in LA last week. …twice. oops. My life rules.
love, JJ
Music we love // Delta Spirit
Last night was a good night. Scores of our friends were able to catch Delta Spirit on the first night of their upcoming tour starting in San Diego. If you’re looking for something to soothe that post-workday stress, then you MUST see this band. GO HERE to see where they’ll be in the next 6 weeks. I promise it’ll be worth every cent of the “convenience” charge.
And on top of that, their newest record “History from Below” dropped in stores yesterday. The title, as interpreted by our friend Sean from Daytrotter: “It’s not about dwelling on the losses, but recognizing how the losses make all that remains so much more meaningful. It shapes us more than we know – rounding off and enhancing the joys that are still around, that are yet to be made.” I dare you to pick it up.
We had to privilege of touring with these boys on their last headlining tour. It was something special. So show some love as they show theirs for us here at IC.
-alex
A “This Bill just passed” dance-party playlist
Our friend Alex Naser-Hall knows this much about us:
We like jams. We like to dance. We have something fierce to celebrate. So he put together the “This Bill Just Passed” playlist. Dance out your feelings.
1. The Worse it Gets- Penguin Prison (Starsmith Remix)
2. Million Dollar- Whitney Houston
3. I am Not a Robot- Marina & the Diamonds (Passion Pit Remix)
4. Help I’m Alive- Metric (The Twelves Remix)
5. Come Around- Tim & Jean
6. Wavin’ Flag- K’naan
7. Holiday- Dizzee Rascal
8. The Reeling- Passion Pit
9. Into the Clouds- The Sounds of Arrows (Fear of Tigers Remix)
10. Ready for the Weekend- Calvin Harris
11. Life on TV- Kid Sister
12. XXXO- M.I.A
***this is a list that hopefully makes you learn to love these artists and buy their music… so please do.. now… go buy it already.
Meet Chryde. He is the creator of Blogotheque.
As you know we’re working with the La Blogotheque to take The Polyphonic Spree, Yeasayer and Lykke Li to Uganda. We’ve just posted a fun interview with Chryde on the behind the scenes blog for this project about his excitement to film in Uganda and combine doing what he loves with giving back to the world. That’s what it’s all about right?!
Follow along at: http://takeawayfilmuganda.com/
Peas,
Kenny
Can a Tattoo Change the World?
While on the road with Fall Out Boy we met the amazing and wonderful Rebecca Cairns who always did a great job of keeping IC at the forefront of those guys’ minds. Now she’s off on her own adventures and has created the freshest Tattoo/Art shop in Chi-Town. You’ve got to go to their website to see the lay out, its a classic barber shop style combined with really innovative design (the walls are made of 2×4s and that they extend out of the wall to make the shelves that the clothes hang from..awesome).
We’ve always encouraged people to use their talents for positive change and we couldn’t be more proud of this shop. They even sell IC shirts and films to help raise awareness about the kids in Uganda (see pic above). And with fans and clientelle like Mark Hoppus (Blink 182), Ashlee Simpson, Butch walker and Chuck Inglish (Cool kids) loving their store before they even opened, who knows how far the IC message will reach.
Check out their store. We love you. http://thecodeofconduct.com/
-Kenny
Download Free eBay Application & Help The Plain White Tees Raise Money For Invisible Children
The Plain White T’s and Zuujit™ are teaming up to make a difference by donating $1 to the Invisible Children charity for every person based in the U.S. that downloads the Zuujit iPhone application to their iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad between Wednesday, April 28th at 12:00AM PST and Thursday, April 29th at 11:59PM PST. Zuujit™ will donate up to $5,000, but if downloads go over 20,000, they will donate an additional $5,000 to this wonderful cause. Help this very worthy cause and try a cool, free iPhone app in the process.
Here’s how:
- Go to the iTunes app store and download Zuujit
- Download the application to your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad.
- Thank you for trying the Zuujit App, and for your support towards Invisible Children.
- Any download of the Zuujit application during the dates above will result in a donation to Invisible Children.
Download and tell a friend!!
Thanks,
Kenny
LUPE FIASCO + SHINY TOY GUNS IC Benefit Show! MAY 9
I thought this was exciting enough to share with the whole IC world, but it’s extra special to share with those who live in Southern California.
Get your tickets to the MAY 9th LUPE FIASCO + SHINY TOY GUNS Invisible Children Benefit Show here:
http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=TDC&pid=6760907
Show’s at 6pm at the University of San Diego and proceeds from ticket sales will go toward Invisible Children’s programs.
Isn’t it crazy that we’re privileged enough to be in a place in our lives where we can dance and have fun at a concert, and it will ultimately benefit people on the other side of the world?
Thanks so much to Joe Bello for arranging this. Hard work pays off!
If you live in San Diego or La, please spread the word. Now let’s pack this concert out and have a great time!!
See you on the dance floor.
-Kenny
Circa Survive: Blue Sky Noise
Circa Survive have taken the story of the people in Uganda on the road with them.. they’ve donated songs, guitars, and in general are a group of great guys and amazing musicians.
Pick up their latest album here: http://www.circasurvive.com/news/blue-sky-noise-on-sale/
Find out when they’re coming to your town and listen to their music here:
http://www.myspace.com/circasurvive
ps.. how amazing is that album art??
The National’s new album is streaming at the NYTimes
We are used to music streaming at NPR, but what’s this? New York Times Magazine?
Go here to listen to The National’s new album, “High Violet,” that will be officially released May 11. I also recommend that you read the article; it’s refreshingly well written for a musican/celebrity interview.
From NYT Magazine:
IN THE DEAD of late January, the five members of the band the National were sprawled around a music studio in the attic of a weathered, gray Bridgeport, Conn., mansion. The studio belongs to the National’s producer, Peter Katis, and after many long months of recording and rerecording their fifth album in Brooklyn, where the band members all now live, they had come to Connecticut for an efficient few weeks of mixing. Things were not turning out that way. The National is composed of the identical-twin guitar-playing brothers Bryce and Aaron Dessner; a second pair of brothers, Bryan Devendorf, the drummer, and Scott Devendorf, who usually plays bass; and Matt Berninger, the band’s vocalist. Matt also writes the lyrics. He is tall, with a sturdy jib, cool blue eyes, a three-day reddish blond beard and enough lead-singer swagger to hold his own among all those siblings.
Especially tenacious are Bryce and Aaron, sideburned former Cincinnati high-school soccer midfielders. More laid-back are the Devendorfs; each can half-disappear behind his large eyeglasses even though one is strikingly lean and lanky (Bryan), while the other is strikingly spare of pate (Scott). At the moment, though, everyone was looking pretty depleted. The day was past noon, but the band had been up working so late the night before that they all had early-morning eyes. The air smelled of unchanged flannel shirts and uneasy expectations. Out in the world, the new album was due at the record company, 4AD, in February for release in May. Up in the attic, the National was still making it up as they mixed along. As yet the record had no title. Several of the songs had no lyrics. Those that did were otherwise askew. Four weeks into the mix the band was, as Aaron put it, “kind of in a circling-the-vortex mode.”
It was supposed to be the National’s moment. After years of mostly anonymous struggle, the National’s two previous albums, “Alligator” (2005) and “Boxer” (2007), were so full of strangely isolated songs about friendship, romance and work that they had created for this new release the sort of expectant critical murmur that has been rare to hear since the end of the age of record shops. “Alligator” and “Boxer” did what excellent rock ’n’ roll albums did in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s: transcended the sum of their singles to offer something larger. In the National’s case, it was a powerful, probing feeling for the inner lives of average people out in the American heartland. So good was the music that with it came the promise of what might follow, the heady potential that the National would soon take things one step further, go ahead and make the great Middle American novel as music, an album for our time. But now, they seemed intent on holding all that off as long as possible.
The track currently under consideration was called “Wrath,” although they were renaming it “Lemonworld” — unless they decided to go with “You and Your Sister.” “We just redid the drums; now we’re redoing the guitars,” Aaron said, as his brother, Bryce, began fingering a new riff to accompany a chorus that began: “You and your sister live in a Lemonworld/I want to sit in and die.” They were all long past finding any irony in that.
“You like it?” Matt, the singer, asked Aaron when Bryce was done.
“No,” Aaron said. “It’s too shimmery U2. He should keep trying.” Then to his twin he instructed, “Try something else” and suggested “a more interesting rhythm that circulates around the chords.” At the word “interesting” Matt winced. Bryce’s orientation is classical — he studied guitar at the Yale School of Music and collaborates with the likes of Steve Reich and Philip Glass — but Matt can neither read notation nor play an instrument. His musical predilections generally run more along the lines of “a heavy metal thing,” which he would later, in a band debate regarding the song “Bloodbuzz, Ohio,” also shorthand as “some hot Jimmy Page scuzz,” and the twins would dismiss as “Berninger black-fantasy guitar.”
Read the rest of the article here.
YOUTUBE’S DISCO Just blew my mind!
Ever wanted to have a music video mixed tape? Well, YouTube just hooked you up.
>Go to YouTube.com/Disco
>Typed in your favorite band
>And YouTube will give you a list of all their videos, PLUS a video mix tape of a bunch of artists that are similar.
You get to discover new music and cool videos. Boom.
Have fun! <3 Kenny
Here’s what it looks like:
Bridezilla, i like it.
I don’t know what’s going on. But I can’t stop re-watching. It’s like those christmas day performances you do with your siblings in front of your family… only grown up, eerie, and with beautiful cinematography. Bridezilla, I like it.
ps… He is (almost) risen. – JJ
La Blogotheque Does It Again.. Wilco
We love Wilco. We love Take Away Shows. Don’t forget to stay updated with IC’s collaboration with La Blogotheque in Uganda: http://takeawayfilmuganda.com/
Click on the photo to see what beauty sounds like.
-Kenny
Updates to TakeAwayFilmUganda.com
(that picture has no relevance, it just made me laugh)
For those of you that have been following our La Blogotheque/IC upcoming trip to Uganda with Yeasayer, Polyphonic Spree, and Lykke Li…
Make sure to keep checking back to the TakeAwayFilmUganda.com website. New stuff is always being added so that you can keep up with the goings-on.
Newest additions to the site:
An interview with Art Perez, the man who is responsible for uniting Invisible Children with La Blogotheque. He talks on what he loves about directing Take Away Shows and how this project came to be.
Also, there is now a “donate” button on the website. As Kenny explains, we don’t want to deprive you of the joy of giving. All the money donated there will go directly to Invisible Children’s programs in Uganda.
Take a gander: http://takeawayfilmuganda.com/