Nicky Francis Pete's Candy Store Setlist

Review to come.

NICKY FRANCIS - 05.18.17 - PETE'S CANDY STORE (35 minutes, 30 seconds)

SET -
Meant to Last / Don't Push Me / Crooked Path / Did Her for the Love / Tattoo / Nobody Knows / Talking / The Way That We Are

The Next Round - Episode 52: Caleb Caudle

Caleb Caudle is in a never-ending battle to improve himself, whether that means quitting alcohol to increase his productivity, or expanding his sound by exploring new musical styles on his upcoming LP, Crushed Coins. After receiving accolades last year for his seventh record, Carolina Ghost, it would be easy for someone in his position to rest on their laurels. But the battle rages on inside in Caleb. Thankfully, we get to hear it.

Stream below, download directly, or subscribe on iTunes like a decent human being.


Read a review of his Rockwood concert.
Listen to "Tuscaloosa" and more on The Next Round Companion Playlist.
Go see Caleb on tour now!

Matthew Logan Vasquez Rough Trade NYC Setlist

Review to come.

MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ - 04.29.17 - ROUGH TRADE NYC (1 hour, 26 minutes)

SET -

Old Ways / Personal > Same / Fires Down in Mexico / Red Fish / Maria / Halfcolt / Crippler King > Ace of Spades (tease) > On the Road Again > Crippler King / Spanish Moss > Bushwick Blues / The Old Revolution / From Behind the Glass / Blue Eyes / Theater / Stand Up > Everything I Do is Out > Shit Luck > Little Star of Bethlehem (tease) > Everything I Do is Out

The Next Round - Episode 51: Tall Tall Trees

With a shaggy brown beard that extends down his torso, Mike Savino looks like a wizard.  And as Tall Tall Trees, he gets to become one, summoning a multitude of sounds both shambolic and ethereal from his "Banjotron 5000."  We had a beer before his "greasy dance party" at Rockwood Music Hall.  Check it out.

Subscribe on iTunes, download directly, or stream below.


Pick up a copy of Freedays.
Go see Mike live.
Hear "A Place to Call Your Own" on The Next Round Companion Playlist.

Caleb Caudle Gets Intimate at Rockwood Music Hall

"New York City. Friday night. There's a lot of things going on. Thanks for choosing this thing," Caleb Caudle addressed his audience in the subterranean Stage 3 of Rockwood Music Hall. Armed only with an acoustic guitar and his twangy mid-range, Caudle began his set by stripping down "Piedmont Sky" and "Tuscaloosa" from last year's Carolina Ghost. He followed with "Trade All the Lights," a fan favorite in which Caudle claims he'd trade all of NYC's luminance to be in New Orleans with a loved one. "No offense," he assured the crowd of New Yorkers at its conclusion. After all, the song was written in a different time in Caleb's life about a woman he's no longer with. He'd explained to me in a podcast interview before the show that even if he doesn't have the same connection to its lyrics as he once did, he realizes that his listeners might, so he has to give it his all for them.

The excellent acoustics of Rockwood's basement made it possible to hear every little nuance of the performance, with Caleb demonstrating a soul singer's keen awareness of his spatial relationship to the microphone. In the small room, remarks from the crowd were also amplified, promoting conversation between Caudle and his fans and fostering the kind of intimacy that the venue is famous for. Following "Uphill Battle," Caleb admitted that he'd only just noticed that he'd sung the first five songs with a cough drop in his mouth. He was supposedly battling springtime allergies, but you wouldn't have known it from his impassioned cover of Springsteen's "Atlantic City" that had an Asbury Park-native in the front row swooning like a young Courteney Cox. Caudle also unveiled "Stack of Tomorrows" and "Madeleine," two numbers from his upcoming record, Crushed Coins. If they're any indication of what's on the way, it's gonna be a doozy. The latter ranks among his best songs and was captivating enough that the waitress didn't dare interrupt to take orders for a second round. Caleb finished off the show with a toe-tapping "Borrowed Smiles," not a person in the room second-guessing their Friday night plans.

CALEB CAUDLE - 04.14.17 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (51 minutes)

SET -
Piedmont Sky / Tuscaloosa / Trade All the Lights / Broken Hallelujah / Uphill Battle / Stack of Tomorrows / Anne Marie / White Dove's Wing / Atlantic City / Madeleine / Carolina Ghost / Come on October / Borrowed Smiles

The Next Round - Episode 50: Reformed Whores

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Tall Tall Trees Takes His Greasy Dance Party to Rockwood Music Hall

Mike Savino has been growing a beard for five or six years.  By now, the tangled nest of brown curls extends down to the middle of his chest.  It's the first thing most people notice, but if you'd seen him on Saturday night, it would've been his toothy grin as the capacity crowd at Rockwood Music Hall sang back to him: "I was a seagull / You were an eagle."

Just three songs prior, a good portion of this choir had never heard of Tall Tall Trees, the name Savino performs under.  While it's a delight to see a musician enjoying himself so much, one of my favorite things to do at a Tall Tall Trees show is to watch people's awed expressions as they first experience the spectacle of what Savino is able to do with a banjo.  I should mention that Mike doesn't play an ordinary banjo.  His "Banjotron 5000" is a custom-rigged Swiss Army knife of an instrument that he fingerpicks, bows, pounds with a mallet, sings through, etc., effectively transforming Mike into one-man band.  In an upcoming podcast interview that we taped before the show, he explained that many of the instrument's features come as a result of him breaking it and re-breaking it.  Its latest casualty was its trademark ring of flashing lights, inexplicably stuck on red.  "I think it's out of anger," quipped Mike.  "It's gonna stay red for a few years, and then we'll have to get the Banjotron back to blue... hashtag."

Although he normally performs solo (when not improvisationally sparring onstage with Kishi Bashi), Savino was joined by Ashevillean Micah Thomas on drums.  "After four years, I got tired of driving alone," Savino admitted.  He introduced "Say Something Real!" as Micah's favorite, the bombastic march of its refrain allowing for Thomas to pound away joyously.  The duo had been playing together for less than a week, and it was exciting to watch Mike keep Micah on his toes.  During the aforementioned "Seagullxeagle," an interspecies romance that Savino described as "Romeo & Juliet for the David Attenborough set," Thomas stood up at his drum kit, spread his own wingspan, and cawed like a bird.

The singalong helped the crowd to loosen up a little in the sauna-like conditions of the small room.  "Are you guys ready to have a greasy dance party?" Mike polled the sweaty audience before plunging into the bhangra-informed "Waiting on the Day."  Mike's foot missed a pedal during the intro to "Being There," and he decided to restart the number, owning up to it with an "I effed up, bro."  The mistake was quickly forgotten as the duo veered the song into a spacey jam, with Savino utilizing a toy megaphone and a laser gun to interact with the Banjotron's electronics.  The jam segued into final number "Highwire," Savino again enlisting the crowd for accompaniment on a few takes of its falsetto chorus before Mike and Micah brought it all home with a circusy dirge.

TALL TALL TREES - 02.25.17 - ROCKWOOD MUSIC HALL (56 minutes)

SET -
Picture Picture / Backroads / Say Something Real! / Seagullxeagle / Waiting on the Day / Being There > Jam > Highwire

Monthly Mix #24: January 2017

January 2017:
January is a month to further investigate the previous year's releases, while simultaneously looking forward to this year's crop.

 

1. Vitamin String Quartet - "As the World Falls Down"
When I posted this on Spotify last month (Follow theonlydustin to get these mixes the moment I finalize them.), it was a tongue-in-cheek way to address Bowie's deathiversary and the new administration.  Now that we actually seem to be teetering on the brink of WWIII, it doesn't feel quite the same. 

2. Blitzen Trapper - "All Across This Land"
I wasn't the biggest fan of Blitzen Trapper's eighth album when I first heard it, but the title track deserves a spot in their greatest hits.

3. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard - "Nuclear Fusion"
Australia's most prolific psych-rock ambassadors are back with another offering of groovy weirdness.

4. Kris Kristofferson - "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do Again)"
While I'll always know Kristofferson as Mace Montana, the ringmaster in Big Top Pee-Wee, I hear he's also a pretty good songwriter.

5. Vindata feat. Anderson Paak - "Own Life"
Vindata provides the chaotic, bombastic production for Paak to do his thing.

6. St. Paul & the Broken Bones - "Flow with It (You Got Me Feeling Like)"
Dig the old-school soul vibe. 

7. Robert Ellis - "California"
This powerful tune nearly made it onto the Top 40 Songs of 2016.

8. Morgan Heritage - "Strictly Roots"
When the weather gets cold, I like to listen to reggae in an attempt to trick myself into thinking it's warmer outside than it is.  Here's a new banger from Denroy Morgan's children, Morgan Heritage.

9. Day Wave - "Stuck"
This was another leftover from last year's list.  Jackson Phillips (Day Wave) will be releasing his debut full-length in May as well, so keep your ears open.

10. The Flaming Lips - "Nigdy Nie (Never No)" 
Gotta love that fuzzy bass squelch.