1. Final Fantasy – Paris 1919 (ft. Cadence Weapon)
   
2. Get Him Eat Him – 2 X2 (ft. Zach Condon of Beirut)
   
3. Annuals – Nah Keseyi
   
4. Illinois – Alone Again
   
5. Tuung – Soup
   
6. Lymbyc System – Birds
   
7. Manchester Orchestra – Brother (Annuals cover)
   
8. Radiohead – Videotape (Mojib Remix)
   
9. Beat Radio – A Million Miles
   
10. The Cinematic Orchestra – To Build a Home (ft. Patrick Watson)
    
11. Orba Squara – Perfect Timing This Morning (yes, this is from the iPhone commercial)
    
12. Scala & Kolacny Brothers – Heartbeats (Knife cover)
    

So, I haven’t done a good job of blogging lately. I’ve kind of been on a one man show promoting mission promoting LemonDrop’s show tonight. Getting the bands situated, checking the specs for the venue, getting all the little things squared away like the autograph board and the live painter, and whatever else was involved with getting this show off the ground. So, forgive me for having to work until 3pm every day then immediately jumping to LemonDrop show stuff the rest of the afternoons. I did buy Guitar Hero III, so that’s been a nice escape from everything. But, don’t fret my faithful readers, this week’s Perch Mix I made sure was amazing. We’ve got live Final Fantasy featuring Cadence Weapon, a Radiohead remix, the song that was in the iPhone commercial, Annuals new song, a great Annuals cover by Manchester Orchestra, a Get Him Eat Him song that’s only made all the better by Zach Condon’s instrumentation, and even my favorite little instrumental song off Tuung’s latest release Good Arrows. Hope this mix is enjoyed by all and if you’re in the Springfield area, come party with us tonight. On the agenda: live painting by our friend Carl, tv’s around the place playing Nicolas Cage’s worst movie like Face/Off, Gone in 60 Seconds, and Next, live DJ’ing by E$Money and the Nocturnal Doses, the chance to sign our giant autograph board, and finally performances by Jimmy Spits and the Spacetones. If that doesn’t sound fun, I don’t know what does. See you there tonight!

The Spacetones – Simply What It Is (LemonDrop Band)

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This last week I played three times over the course of three days. I hadn’t played a live show since last semester, so it felt great finally playing some live shows again. The first show was on Thursday when I played at Potter’s House. It went really well and that’s what the majority of these videos are from. Friday, Chuckmo and I played sets back to back and I got to play with a drummer. Definitely a first for me, but now that I’ve got Joe as my drummer, Chris will be on guitar/bass/whatever, LaComa on piano, and then possibly some horn and string players, my live shows are about to get a whole lot more interesting. Hopefully I can get a little Sufjan troop behind me for most of my shows. That would be amazing. But these videos are from Thursday and Friday’s shows. If you’ve only heard my low quality demos, then this should give you a better idea of how I sound live. Hopefully I get the band together a bunch here in the next month so we can start playing LemonDrop shows.

Enjoy!

(videos after the jump)

Potter’s House live videos

The Pier (techno version)
The Metaphor
Nothing Like This
The Strangest Habit
Worth the Wait

Rescue Me (ft. Chris on the beatmaster 5000)
[youtube Md4V_EXcHZo]

Your Mom Fest (with my new drummer Joe!)

• Epiphany
• Nothing Like This
  [youtube BWpKwclsQiQ]
  

Saturday was another Songpull, which I absolutely love attending, and Chris and I played Rescue Me with the Beatmaster 5000. The best part about songpull is the songwriter’s crowd. Meaning, if I tell them there’s Sha la la’s here and hand claps here, all 25 or so of the people there will follow my lead and clap where they’re supposed to and sing Sha la la’s with me. It’s really pretty surreal to sit there and have a room full of people clapping and singing along like you’d always imagined, but most times it never happens. Both last month’s songpull video of me playing “Worth the Wait”, and Saturday’s song pull with “Rescue Me” should be up sometime soon and I’ll be sure to post those videos right after they’re posted. Hope you enjoy my music!

Stark Raving Calm – The White Morning of 2124

There are some local Springfield bands I don’t post about simply because I’ve heard them so much that I wouldn’t want to write about them unless something significant happens (ex. Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin).  With Stark Raving Calm, I’ve never written about them for a completely different reason.  They’re my good friends, and while I’ve seen their shows about as much as any band’s in Springfield, I see the guys themselves just as much.  So it just never crosses my mind to write about them over, say, a new Bishop Allen Ep.

But now is as good a time as any, as they’ve recently self-recorded their newest album entitled The White Morning of 2124.  I believe it’s somewhat of a concept album, but I’m not sure exactly what it all means.  What I do know is that they’re just getting better and better, and considering these guys are all some of the best musicians at their respective instrument that I’ve seen live both locally and compared to quite a few bands, I can only imagine someone’s going to either see one of their live shows around the midwest, or get a hold of their cd and want to sign them.  Their music’s not for everyone, but anyone that enjoys post-rock of any kind, from Godspeed to Explosions in the Sky, these guys are right up there with them.  Give them an actual budget and a string section like Godspeed and you’ll have one hell of an album.  As it stands now, their newest album is full of atmospheric rock, complex guitar, bass, and drum parts, and as many 7+ minute epics as any big post-rock band out there.

As their friend, and as a huge fan, I’ll just leave it at the above and tell you that you should check out their live show if you’re in the midwest, and listen to the mp3’s to see what you think.  If you enjoy it and want their album, for now just go to their myspace and leave them a message that you want one.  They don’t have anything set up online to sell them yet, but considering they’re some of the nicest guys I know, I’m sure they’d be more than happy to figure out a way to get you a copy.

Upcoming Shows

1/19/07 Springfield, MO  Remmington’s  (w/hyperbole, cinemascope, and marvelous vernon)

2/13/07 Kansas City, MO  The Hurricane

3/15/07  Springfield, MO  The Inferno

Aria

Aeon

Antennas

Their myspace / Their purevolume