Last month, I had the good fortune to sit down with Ólöf Arnalds and her partner Davíð when they visited Columbus. If you unwisely chose not to treat yourself to her show at the Wex on October 15th, you now can now find their exclusive Electraplay session here, plus an exclusive live MP3 of “Surrender.” In-studio performances include “Crazy Car” above and “Innundir Skinni,” “Surrender” and “Madrid” below.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s The Wildbirds (not to be confused with Wildbirds and Peacedrums or Angry Birds) made the 400+ mile trek to Columbus back in September to play a show with hometown dudes George Elliot Underground (whose drummer filled in for the session/show) and they were kind enough to stop by Electraplay for a High Life-fueled “Donewaiting.com presents Live at Electraplay” session. The Wildbirds have gotten nods from “Little Steven” Van Zandt, Rolling Stone dude David Fricke and ESPN so they must be doing something right.
We talked about beer (it was basically a coincidence that I brought a 30-pack of High Life), told jokes (theirs were funnier than mine) and pretty much just hung out and high-fived (I honestly don’t remember).
You’ll see from these live sessions at Electraplay that Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s are all about guitars now. Gone are the strings, horns, triangles, various hand percussion, etc. (along with some of the members who played them). Even Columbus’s Erik Kang, who plays violin in Super Desserts, played only guitar on Margot’s new album, Buzzard. This is a leaner, and sometimes meaner, Margot. See and hear for yourself. More videos below. Continue reading →
I’m kind of of the opinion that “Central Park” is one of the best indie-pop songs released in 2010. Gamble House was a lucky find, I happened to open an e-mail from a digital marketing publicist who was sharing some MP3s, links, and tour dates and when I noticed these guys were coming through Columbus with Rogue Wave, I figured I’d give them a quick listen. Glad I did as this seems to be the kind of band that I’ll proudly boast about “discovering early” before the rest of the world caught on.
The Grizzly Bear comparisons are fair and even the guys in the band will admit that they are fans, but the level of musicianship in Gamble House rivals that of any band currently charting on the CMJ 200. Continue reading →
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As you’ll see in these videos, Ezra Furman is the walking definition of idiosyncratic. He yelps. He gestures oddly. He’s simultaneously cocksure and sheepish about his songs. Most importantly, though, he’s a fine songwriter, taking electric-Dylan tropes and slathering them with frantic confessionalism and a little bit of awkwardness just to keep things real.
Furman asks us to fall in love with his world. It’s not a hard thing to do. Keep reading for more videos. Continue reading →
Doing original video on the site is something I’ve wanted to do for a long, long, long, while. Never could find the spare time or assemble the right people to put it together… But with Joel running things in Columbus and James @ Electraplay managing these sessions, it looks like dreams really do come true.
This session featuring Langhorne Slim is definitely my favorite. Not only are the videos great, but this amazing version of “Diamonds and Gold” can be downloaded as an MP3. Listening to this MP3 for like the tenth time and it’s bringing me so much happiness. If you don’t have the new album, Be Set Free, get it pronto.
Keep reading for all the videos and credits for the session. Continue reading →
Borrowing from an old Beatles song (one that was remade by Pearl Jam), “I’ve got a feeling” about Alberta Cross, one that tells me that they’ve only scratched the surface on the rock behemoth they’ll someday be. To date, they’ve done everything the right way – putting out a great debut full of solid songcrafting and then touring and touring and touring so that people take notice. As you’ll discover in the latest Live at Electraplay session, Alberta Cross has not only performed coast-to-coast as a headlining act, but have also opened for some pretty big names (and a wide musical spectrum at that) in their short time together.
In late August and early September, you can catch Alberta Cross out west with the Dave Matthews Band and Ben Harper. In the meantime, check them out here as they give us a very special and intimate performance.
Here’s the full Vimeo feature with all the performances and interview segments together, and the rest of the chopped-and-condensed, single-song YouTube versions. (Interview by yours truly, filming and editing by Electraplay, animation by Nick Cavalier.) More bands coming very soon.
For this next Live at Electraplay session, we filmed Barsuk finger-tappers Maps & Atlases and talked to them about some songs. Columbus folks: An interesting tidbit that you’ll hear in the above clip is that “Israeli Caves” was originally written on the back patio area at Skully’s.
Here’s the full Vimeo feature with all the performances and interview segments together, and after the jump you’ll find the rest of the chopped-and-condensed, single-song YouTube versions. More bands coming very soon.
We here at Donewaiting.com have wanted high-quality, original video on this site for a while now, and that up there ^^ is the first installment of the realization of that vision. Here’s what you can expect. A few times a month we’ll post a new “Live at Electraplay” episode, which will feature touring bands performing songs live at Electraplay Studios, along with some interview segments with the band. And thanks to James Allison, Tony Stewart, the videographers (Thorne & Nathan Photos shot this one) and the rest of the fine folks at EP, each episode will look and feel like a mini-documentary, complete with top-notch video & audio (which sometimes will be available as exclusive MP3s, as well).
The intention is for each session to have its own distinct feel. We may do some on-site sessions from time to time at a venue before a show. Or maybe follow a band as they tool around Columbus. So it’ll morph from band to band, but generally Live at Electraplay episodes will be 20-30 minutes in length (on Vimeo, above), but if you just want snippets or only want to see/hear a certain song, we’re breaking it up into smaller, standalone segments on YouTube with the corresponding song titles.
So, to kick it off, enjoy these interviews and performances with Phantogram, a duo from Saratoga Springs, New York, that I described previously as somewhat similar to the xx, but Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel are less effete and not as minimalistic. “Mouthful of Diamonds,” below, is a good place to start.
, get it pronto.
