Neal Casal

Caught Neal Casal's record release party for "Roots and Wings" last night. Neal's also Ryan Adams' guitarist, which is how I inititally found his music (the band often plays his amazing song "Freeway to the Canyon"). Last night, in a tiny little club (the National Underground), he played five tunes off the new album (I think my favorite was "So Far Astray"), as well as some older stuff I've heard him play with the Cardinals. My favorite of the older stuff, Lost Satellite, is still stuck in my head today.

REM - Country Feedback

From their Perfect Square DVD, which I was watching this morning on the treadmill. High recommendation to Netflix that one if you enjoy REM - great setlist, at least by my taste (At My Most Beautiful, Electrolite, Drive).

Okkervil River - at the Bell House, then on Letterman

Caught Okkervil River a couple of weeks ago at the Bell House in Brooklyn, playing a warmup show for their appearance on Letterman. First of all, it was my first visit to the Bell House and I really liked the place - nice sized room, good beers on tap, very intimate atmosphere and pretty good sound. Kind of excited to go back there, even if it involves taking the R train.

The show was terrific - Will Sheff's voice benefited significantly from the band's short break from touring (he is not exactly gentle on his voice in the course of a show) and the band had a great energy that the room picked up. This was the first time I've ever seen a Brooklyn crowd spontaneously start clapping along (to Our Life is Not a Movie or Maybe).

The next night, the band played Letterman, and while I think Lost Coastlines would have been a better song for the show (more representative of the band's overall catalog), the performance of Pop Lie is very good. It's also a funny song to play on a major TV show, as it plays with the singer-fan relationship ("He's the liar who lied in his pop song/ And you're lying when you sing along").