There’s a clear hierarchy between the warm-up band and the main act. It’s this kind of clear separation that makes revolutions so sweet. It’s not that St. Vincent wasn’t good. She was the exact rocked-down sweetness that we all came to see. She is charming on stage as she is in my headphones. However, in this night, she wasn’t alone. She wasn’t overshadowed by Wildbirds & Peacedrums, but she was definitely matched by them. This night was balanced, and that’s what made it so great. This balance was part harmony between the amazing energies of both St. Vincent and Wildbirds & Peacedrums, but was also characterized by one moment of contradiction. When early in her act St. Vincent started to talk about calm waters and yoga (it’s Seattle after all), she didn’t take into account the shamanic energies that Mariam Wallentin left behind her. Nobody, was into yoga at that point, people were into dancing in trace around random fires. However, St. Vincent was bold and it paid off when she started her deep version of the Nico’s These Days. At the moment, the crowd belonged to her, we were all yogists just for her. A few random words about Wildbirds & Peacedrums live music: fire, tribes, frost, drums (tons of them), pure energy, wacky ancient spirits possessing a crazy singer on stage. Don’t miss this gig (dates below).

St. Vincent and Wildbirds & Peacedrums:
Feb 6 2010 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, Oregon
Feb 8 2010 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, California
Feb 9 2010 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, California
Feb 10 2010 Belly Up Tavern Solana Beach, California
Feb 11 2010 Rhythm Room Phoenix, Arizona
Feb 13 2010 The Bluebird Theater Denver, Colorado
Feb 15 2010 Bottleneck Lawrence, Kansas
Feb 16 2010 The Blue Moose TapHouse Iowa City, Iowa
Feb 17 2010 Turner Hall Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Feb 18 2010 Metro Chicago, Illinois
Feb 19 2010 The Pike Room at The Crofoot Pontiac, Michigan
Feb 20 2010 Outland on Liberty Columbus, Ohio
Feb 21 2010 Diesel Club Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Feb 23 2010 Jefferson Theatre Charlottesville, Virginia
Feb 24 2010 9:30 Club Washington DC, Washington DC
Feb 25 2010 First Unitarian Church – Sanctuary Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

St. Vincent (without Wildbirds & Peacedrums):
Mar 12 2010 Yu Gong Yi Shan Beijing, Beijing
Mar 15 2010 Recital Studio, Esplanade Singapore
Mar 18 2010 Pacific Blue Festival Club Wellington, Wellington
Mar 28 2010 Big Ears Festival Knoxville, Tennessee
Mar 30 2010 Highdive Champaign, Illinois
Mar 31 2010 MusicNOW Festival – Memorial Hall / University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio

Wildbirds & Peacedrums (without St. Vincent):
Feb 26 2010 Mercury Lounge New York, New York
Feb 27 2010 Bruar Falls (Williamsburg) Brooklyn, New York

Update:
Devendra is going to perform a bit, you might be in one of the lucky locations:
Feb 4 2010 Tokyo Unit Tokyo
Feb 5 2010 Tokyo Unit Tokyo
Mar 18 2010 Showbox @ The Market Seattle, Washington
Mar 19 2010 Commodore Ballroom Vancouver
Mar 21 2010 Crystal Ballroom Portland, Oregon
Mar 23 2010 Warfield San Francisco, California
Mar 24 2010 Wiltern Los Angeles, California

Links:
MySpace profile

Thinking of You is another great example of how the video serves the music well. Indeed, the imagery is a loyal servant of the song, which is in turn is the servant of the sexual and lustful mind. Beautiful symbiosis.

Heart Paper Lover continues to explore the medium of video, this time in a more contemporary fashion, getting closer to the so common minimal video art. Urban lost souls unite!
I will finish with a charming cover she did to the eternal Leonard Cohen classic (BTW, he is back to touring, so be graceful with yourself and try to catch him):

This show has been re-edited and extended to two parts, each one hour long. Over the next few weeks we will publish them here on tinyways.
Now it is time for The East Meets West show to sing it across the globe.

Links:
HarpyListens.com
Original Post @ HarpyListens.com

Dear Marissa, will you play your famous song
your little song,
the one drifting over me
so light, and lovely
so fresh, and so old
will you play your little song for me?
I loved all the things you saw,
your little warbirds in the dark
I loved all the things you saw,
the ways in which the sounds fall
the ways in which your voice floats
into me

Marissa Nadler’s new album, titled Songs III: Bird on the Water, will be released on March 12th. It’s not as wonderful as the others were, it brings a whole new batch of wonders, packed neatly in a sack, to you, especially to you. Will you be the one say nay? This album is so full of wonders, one can only feel sorrow for letting only two flowers bloom here, but one can only hope that you will follow them and discover the miracles yourself, make them your own.
Marissa will be touring the US and Europe deep into May. Check out the dates on her MySpace page.
Relevant posts:
Live @ Resonance 104.4FM
The Saga of Mayflower May
Links:
Official website
Marissa Nadler MySpace page
Peacefrog Records

My musical exploration is chaotic, and by that I mean that it lacks any order, missing a method and even against forming one. At times all good music that I hear is wonderful, enchanting and spells me for life. At other times, it’s still good music, but it doesn’t touch. And thus, one of the main ideas of my musical world was born, the idea of missing. I miss a lot, and I can miss for years, and even for decades. Sometimes I find what I missed, I bump into it along the way, and what sounded good for such along time, sinks in, and sounds exciting, enchanting and grabs me. Some things I never find, and I miss them forever. Missing has been with me forever, it’s hunting me, and, actually, I don’t wish to get rid of it. By missing things, I give them the opportunity to come to me later. Yes, music comes to me. I think I was born this way, it just comes to me. It took me a while to understand it, grab it when it comes and hug it tightly, but it always came, even before I was ready for it. This is how I missed Björk, Stina Nordenstam, Neko Case, DJ Shadow, Devendra Banhart and many more. I know I missed them because today I have them, they came to me, loving and calling. This is how, a while ago, I missed Espers. Today, Espers came to me, and it grabbed me. Haunting, enchanting, freakish, it came to me wearing its best clothes, armed to make me fall in love. It worked, I fell in love. With Espers. Missing is wonderful, as long as they come back to you. What a shame it doesn’t work with people.

Links:
Espers by Espers post @ tinyways
Espers @ MySpace
Official website