Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

–

Adrian (me):
Joe Pug - Hymn 101 (mp3) (free at the artist’s site)

I heard this over at hearya. Immediately I felt the same way the first time I heard Dylan’s “When the Ship Comes In”. Similarly, it has a certain timeless melody and lyrics that one can tell, even before one start processing the lyrics, that they have some well of depth that they’re drawing from.

–

Keith:
the Katydids - Always (mp3) (buy)

This week on my favorites of the 90’s list @ #90 is the 2nd album from American singer/British pop-band hybrid Katydids. This particular cut is masterfully produced by pop auteur Ian Broudie, just listen to the sumptuous interlocking backing vocals in the chorus. This album was pure obsession for me in 1991, pretty vocals and glistening guitars were an irresistible combination.

–

Oz:
Joe Pug - Hymn 101 (mp3) (free at the artist’s site)

I think I’ve listened to “Hymn 101″ about 101 times in the past week. Joe Pug is a relative newcomer to the Chicago music scene and a shockingly good lyricist for a songwriter in his early twenties. Listen to this song and you’ll see what I mean. It still gives me chills on my 102nd listen - “The more I buy, the more I’m bought. And the more I’m bought, the less I cost.”

His debut EP, Nation of Heat, is incredible from start to finish.

–

Rob:
David Bowie - Sense of Doubt (mp3) (buy)

For the last few weeks basically every time I’ve found myself wondering what to listen to next I’ve been putting in “Heroes”. As has no doubt been noted before, the whole album is stellar and I had a
tough time picking one of the tracks. I thought about “Blackout” due to the slight edge that my mishearing the lyrics gave it (he’s under the Japanese influence of his mother’s estate?) but settled on “Sense of Doubt” for the sheer I’ve-never-heard-anything-else-quite-like-it factor; this song more than almost any other instrumental I’ve ever heard paints a definite picture in my mind, and it is at once more hopeful and more desparate than any song I can think of off the top of my head that tries deliberately to be one or the other. Really wonderful.

–

Andy:
Kepler - Loose Ground (mp3) (buy)

Kepler was the best quiet band you’ve never heard. Beautifully clean guitars, half-whispered vocals, nicely reserved brushed drumming, and the piano from your parents’ living room hiding just below the surface. I first found Fuck Fight Fail while working in college radio- it immediately became one of my favorites. “Loose Ground” is one of my favorites from the record, along with the 9-minute “Upper Canada Fight Song”.

Since their breakup, Samir Kahn (who I believe sings on “Loose Ground”) has gone on to form Tusks, who are excellent as well.

–

This is the first time two people have had the same song obsession in the same week. It’s kind of like two friends having a crush on the same girl. It’s pretty awkward. Not really–music’s not a zero-sum game like that. But if it were, Oz would have “dibs” as he found the song first.

On Tuesday I saw the Morning Benders play an in-store Virgin Megastore. They put on a solid set as always including many from their new album. People even danced (after a little encouragement from Chris).

Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

Pre-sale Thurs May 8:
8/16 George Benson, Boney James, Ramsey Lewis, Norman Brown’s Summer Storm featuring Chante Moore, Paul Taylor & Alex Bugnon @ Sleep Train Pavilion

On sale Sunday May 11:
6/3 The Cool Kids@ the Independent
6/7 The Dan Band @ the Fillmore
6/12 Vopli Vidoplyassova, Russian Solution @ the Independent
6/18 The Fratellis @ the Fillmore
6/22 Morgan Heritage @ the Independent
6/26 Billy Idol @ the Fillmore

7/3 the everybodyfields, Jim Bianco @ the Independent
7/5 Th’ Legendary Shack*Shakers @ the Independent
7/6 We Are Scientists @ the Independent

7/9 Israel Vibration @ the Independent
7/11 James Hunter @ Bimbo’s
7/18, 7/19 Lettuce, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue @ the Independent
7/26 Cute Is What We Aim For, Ace Enders, Danger Radio, Powerspace @ Slim’s
7/28 No Age, Mika Miko, Abe Vigoda @ Great American
7/31 Cavalera Conspiracy, Dillinger Escape Plan, Throw Down, Bury Your Dead, Incite @ The Fillmore

9/12 Nightwish with Sonata Arctica @ The Fillmore
9/13 Dr. John & The Lower 911 with Shannon McNally @ The Fillmore

9/22, 9/23 Spoon @ The Fillmore

On sale Monday May 12:
6/26, 6/27, 6/28 Butch Whacks & The Glass Packs @ Bimbo’s

7/5 Stevie Wonder @ Shoreline Amphitheatre
7/8 Stevie Wonder @ Sleep Train Pavilion

8/14 Alan Jackson @ HP Pavilion

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

Last night I went over to the the Bottom of the Hill to see Laura Veirs (myspace) and Liam Finn (myspace).

I’d seen Liam before, at the same venue, in fact. The set was quite similar, as was my reaction: I liked some of his loop-heavy songs and disliked others and many of my favorites were his more straight-forward songs.

One notable new happening: he ended one song with a solo on an odd instrument. After the song he announced his new “toy”, a Stylophone. To a fan’s cry for “more Stylophone!”, he said “ok”. His next song, his last of the night, was completely improvised and built around various loops of Stylophone along with drums and vocals. It was pretty impressive.

Veirs came out with just her guitar. It was just her, that guitar and looping pedals all night (with one exception, see below). She started with “Pink Light”, one of my favorites of hers. After that first song, the appreciation from the crowd was obvious–this was a very receptive crowd. She even noted it: “Wow, it’s nice to hear that, especially on a Monday night”.

The talented Ms. Veirs continued the entire evening, playing a great selection of songs from her “five good albums” (the last one is “bad”) skillfully. Additionally, she played two traditional songs that influenced her greatly, like Mississippi John Hurt’s “Spike Driver’s Blues”

She brought out the banjo for one song, Cluck Old Hen. She played it deftly in clawhammer style. Here’s a teaching version of that song, first slow and then full speed.

Laura Veirs - Cluck Old Hen (mp3, via stereogum)

P4K’s reporting that reunited My Bloody Valentine will be playing the SF Design Concourse in September.

Wait, so you’re putting the most perfectly distorted band ever in a large and long metal box? I recommend against going to shows there anyway, but this one just takes the cake. That place will offer absolutely zero definition in sound[1] and I really doubt that the majority of people who end up going will be happy.

[1] Yes, this is a bad thing. I call them the most “perfectly” distorted because it’s a wall of sound but you can still distinguish the sound clearly. If you add in thousands of echoes, it’ll probably be just muddy and noisy sounding.

This is an action packed post, kiddos. Brace yourselves!

The Morning Benders, talking through tin cans; photo by Adrian Bischoff

The Morning Benders (myspace) release their debut album, Talking Through Tin Cans today on Plus One Records. They’ve got a pretty kickin’ deal going that if you buy their digital album, you get it, plus some b-sides, and a ticket to their CD release show either in SF or LA. The LA release show is at the Echo on Thursday (May 8th) and the SF show is at 330 Ritch on Friday (May 9th). More about the deal here. You can also get more info about the shows here.

You can also check out a free in-store at Virgin Megastore downtown (2 Stockton St) tomorrow evening at 7pm. Be sure to get there early so you can get a spot close.

All the songs I’ve heard from Talking are really good. I’m pretty excited to hear the whole thing.

the Morning Benders - Crosseyed (mp3)

the Morning Benders - Boarded Doors (mp3)

I sat down at a recording studio and music offices in the Mission with Chris Chu, the Morning Benders’ songwriter, singer and guitarist, last week to catch up and ask him a few questions as the album release approached.

–

Adrian Bischoff of ipickmynose: Are you excited that the album’s finally coming out?

Chris Chu of the Morning Benders: Quite. Quite.

A: It’s been a while since you recorded it, right?

C: Yeah, it’s been a while. I think that’s sort of what happens.

A: It’s been … eight months or something… last August.

C: Yeah. August. So it’s been a while.

A: Have your opinions of the album changed since then? Or the songs?

C: Um, yeah, definitely. I guess I haven’t listened to it in a while. That’s what happens, you know. You obsess over it for so long, you don’t want to ever listen to it again. You get over that after a while and you can put it on again and be more objective about it. It’s cool. I mean, everything we’ve gone through is a learning process. I’m the sort of person who’ll look back and think about all the things I would do differently or want to change for the next time and that sort of thing…

A: Is that what happened with the EPs? Because you recorded some of those songs again.

C: Yeah, the EPs were definitely a learning process because I was recording them and that was my first time ever recording, so I was just learning that for the first time. I sort of knew going into them that those weren’t going to be what I had intended them to be because we were really limited. We were really limited, obviously. What we had was just whatever was around my house.

When we got into the studio that was what was so cool about it. We got to flesh out the songs how I wanted in the first place.

A: I read somewhere that one of the EPs–I forget which song–but the second song you ever recorded was on one of the EPs.

C: The first song I ever recorded was “Grain of Salt”. And it took me like three times. I have a bunch of versions of it. We’ve actually been talking about–because that song’s not on the record, but we still like to play it. So we’re thinking about putting out an EP of just “Grain of Salt” recordings because there are so many different versions of it.

A: That’d be awesome. You should get some other bands to cover it as well.

C: Yeah. That’d be cool. I didn’t think of that. That’s a good idea.

A: I’ll expect a royalty check.

C: [laughing] Yeah…

I recorded acoustic demos but that was just like putting a mic up and hitting record. But the first time I tried to record a band or a song was “Grain of Salt” and I did it piece-by-piece.

A: I mean, historically, that’s not, like, how bands work. People sit in their basements for 10 years and record on a four-track and then finally release an album. Do you feel like you’re–I don’t know–bursting onto the scene quickly?

C: I don’t really think about it that way. I think try to not think about it too much or deliberate too much and just let it happen like it needs to happen. I don’t feel you need to be tinkering away on songs for years and years before you put them out. Because it takes away a lot– I think, some of the spontaneity, some of the early creative hit or whatever–or energy.

So I kind of like the spirit of recording things haphazardly and putting them out. I started writing songs a few years ago, so that was sort of a new thing. Most of these songs are some of the first songs I’ve ever written.

A: Do you think that–obviously it’s a lot easier to record a song and get it out there [now] with the internet, so do you think ten years ago that you’d have been releasing songs as quickly?

C: That’s a good question. I think we probably would. We would have found some way to do it. People have been recording things for themselves for a good amount of time, like you were saying, on a four track. We probably would have done that or whatever was cheaper. It just so happens that recording on your computer or something is the cheapest way, because you don’t have to really buy anything else. Yeah, the internet is obviously a good tool for getting your music out there. That would have been a lot harder or a lot different.

(Find the rest of the interview, a new video and the flyer after the jump.)

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I was in San Diego for the weekend visiting an old friend. When I was glancing through Two Sheds’ (myspace) tour schedule, I saw a date down there for the weekend that I was going. As anyone who knows me or reads my blog can attest, I’m basically evangelical about the band–I think they’re great–so I decided to go to that show and drag my old friend and Natalie along for good measure.

Bar Pink Elephant has that classy-old-school vibe to it, like it might have been the place to go in the 50s. From when I got there it rapidly filled with a crowd of people, most of whom just seemed to be there just to be at a bar, not for the band. The stage area was off in one corner, a scant 6″ rise above the rest of the floor. They ran the drums and amps un-miced, with only the vocals (and the vibes, in the case of the opener) mic-ed. One of the speaker out in the crowd was pointed back toward the stage slightly and I guess that was the monitor too. Despite the limitations, the sound was pretty decent.

The opener started out alright, but with each further song, I felt the word “emo” was more apt a description–and not in the sort of warm-feeling college nostalgia way.

Two Sheds went on just before midnight. They put on a good set with solid versions of “Mama” and “Undertow” in there. They played “It’s Hard” after I’d shouted it out during one of their on-stage band conferences. After their set ended there were shouts for “one more song” so they decided to play one, to the awkward realization that their drummer had gone to the restroom.

After a couple minute break they went into an off-the-cuff version of “Psycho Killer” (which you can hear if you buy their album) accompanied by Caitlin saying “I don’t remember the chords”, (figuring them out,) and “I got it now!”. The band had obviously not rehearsed it and it teetered on the edge of falling apart, but they kept it together and the spontaneity was refreshing. They went into slow breakdown near the end led by their drummer that was pure improvisation (and pure brilliance). It just put a smile on my face.

Two Sheds has an iTunes EP out tomorrow May 6. I’m going to snap that bad boy up in record time. Also, be sure to tune in at 9pm on May 21st when I host the band on the air.

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, San Francisco’s annual folk, bluegrass, old-timey and country festival held in Golden Gate Park every October, has announced their first acts for vol. 8, 2008. Mark your calendars for October 3-5, 2008.

The line up includes:

Robert Plant & Alison Krauss featuring T Bone Burnett
Loudon Wainwright III
Gogol Bordello
Hazel Dickens
Bonnie Prince Billy
Asleep at the Wheel
Mike Farris & the Roseland Rhythm Revue
The Del McCoury Band
Bad Livers
Robert Earl Keen
Iris DeMent
Jerry Jeff Walker
The Desert Rose Band
Earl Scruggs
Greg Brown

I have no idea why a legend like Earl Scruggs is billed that low.

If you can handle the ridiculous crowds and pricey concessions, HSB is a pretty amazing festival.

Song obsessions are those songs that we listen to on repeat. I noticed that my obsessions are often a week long. I also thought that other people might have similar obsessions. I’ve collected a panel of a few like-minded individuals and gotten their “song obsessions of the week.” Quite often it’s easy to explain why the song is good; it’s much hard to explain why we’re obsessed. Maybe you’ll become obsessed with one of these.

–

Adrian (me):
the Botticellis - Awaiting on You All (mp3) (unreleased, artist’s website)

This George Harrison cover has been a slow burner for weeks. It’s got a unique and great sound that gives me pause every time I come across it.

–

Keith:
Toulouse - Know Better (mp3) (buy)

I made the mistake of casually namedropping a Red House Painters record as “one of my top 100 of the 90’s” to a musically erudite friend, who subsequently challenged me to come up with the rest of the list. So after an afternoon’s worth of research on favorites both past and present I impulsively formed the list. At #97 is their debut album The Way The City Stretches by Boston/Chicago shoegazer group Toulouse, whose first record was a swath of blissfully meaty noise. They put out one final lp on Grimsey which is also very fine, though more in a French pop vein.

–

Oz:
Justin Townes Earle - Lone Pine Hill (mp3) (buy original, hear live session)

I try my best not to submit anything from our live sessions for Song Obsessions, but sometimes you just get blown away by hearing the raw talent in someone. Justin Townes Earle released The Good Life on Bloodshot Records in March and he not only has the pedigree (his dad is Steve Earle), but he has mastered his craft. It’s hard to call it alt-country. It’s straight on country music, but it’s a throwback sound that reminds me of Hank Williams.

–

Natalie:
My Morning Jacket - Wordless Chorus (mp3) (buy)

I was late catching on to these guys, but if there was any doubt in my mind about how good they are, their set on Sunday at Coachella dispelled it. They were amazing live, especially this song. I am almost convinced that Jim James is not human - no human can have a voice like that. Seeing them on play on the main stage on the last day of Coachella while the sun was setting was just one of those perfect moments in time.

–

Scott:
Mount Eerie - Domesticated Dog (mp3) (buy)

–

Dave:
American Analog Set - She’s Half (mp3) (buy)

Only AmAnSet could make four chords and minimal words interesting for over four minutes.

–

As predicted Geographer brought their lush pop down to KZSU last night.

It was the third time I’d seen them live and it looks like the last two times weren’t just getting lucky. They’re consistently good.

Here’s their set list:

• Rushing In, Rushing Out
• Each Other’s Ghost
• Asleep
• Can’t You Wait
• Sad-eyed Casio
• Wonderful
• Native Son
• Heaven Waits

Most of those tracks come off of their forth-coming album, save “Sad-eyed Casio”. Studio versions of “Rushing In, Rushing Out” and “Can’t You Wait” have been released as a free CD single and I believe you can also grab them at the band’s myspace.

I know what you’re saying: I don’t want to read what they played. I want to hear it! Well, just this once I will bend to your wishes and offer you up some exclusive mp3s of the in-studio:

Geographer - Each Other’s Ghost (Live on KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)

Geographer - Native Son (Live on KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)

Geographer - Wonderful (Live on KZSU) (mp3, exclusive)

Thanks as always go to KZSU’s awesome live engineer, Smurph, for making things sound great.

Last night I saw the Swedish over-the-top behemoth I’m from Barcelona (myspace) at the Independent.

name this chord

I’m from Barcelona is a giant band–a collective, I think you could call it–consisting of upwards of 29 people at times. I didn’t how many filed onto the medium-sized Independent stage but I could believe it was 29. The stage was packed. Guitars, bass, keyboards, drums, saxophone, clarinet and a variety of other instruments were scattered around. There were perhaps a half a dozen or more people just singing/ dancing/ playing miscellaneous instruments.

There set started out with my favorite of theirs, “Treehouse”. The stage was alive. Balloons and confetti were flying. Elaborate choreographed hand movements were in action. Within seconds the crowd seemed to go from staid to joyous, from subdued to exuberant.

The show continued in this vein for its entirety. Some songs clicked better than others (”Oversleeping”, “We’re from Barcelona” and “Jenny” stick out), but the band–and quite-possibly-extroverted front man Emanuel Lundgren–kept the energy up and the crowd hopping, singing along, hitting balloons, and throwing confetti.

The comparisons to another large and happy choral band seem obvious. I’ve walked out of PS with an insatiable feeling that I’d been somehow drugged by joy, a feeling I couldn’t shake for days. I’m from Barcelona’s show was great, a lot of fun and a joyous experience but–perhaps I’m old and jaded–but didn’t quite leave me with the same feeling. I’d still recommend catching them live if you have a chance.

You can check out more photos after the jump or view my entire photo album online.

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Posted every Thursday On Sale Soon is a weekly series of the tickets going on sale that weekend.

Where to get tickets: The Independent, Great American Music Hall, Slim’s, Fillmore, Warfield, and other Livenation venues. Another Planet booked venues like Greek Theatre @ Berkeley, Palace of Fine Arts, etc. Bimbo’s.

On sale now/ Thurs May 1:
8/18 Rx Bandits, Portugal the Man, Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground @ Slim’s
8/22 Radiohead, Back, Manu Chao, the Black Keys @ Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands)
8/23 Tom Petty, Ben Harper, Lupe Fiasco, M Ward @ Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands)
8/24 Jack Johnson, Wilco, Broken Social Scene, Andrew Bird, Drive By Truckers, Bon Iver @ Golden Gate Park (Outside Lands)

Pre-sale Thurs May 1:
8/19 Yes @ Shoreline Amphitheatre at Mountain View

On sale Friday May 2:
5/29 Flight of the Conchords @ Davies Symphony Hall

7/29 Rocky Votolato, Owen, Mark Rogers @ Bottom of the Hill

On sale Sunday May 4:
6/9 Fish @ The Fillmore
6/21 Frightened Rabbit, Oxford Collapse @ The Independent
6/23 Midnite @ The Independent
6/25 Joan Jeanrenaud @ Great American
6/27 Ours, God or Julie, Plain Jane Automobile @ Slim’s
6/29 Lucha VaVoom @ The Fillmore

7/2 Mike Ness & His Band, the Horton Brothers ft Miss Lauren Marie @ The Fillmore
7/17 Wolf Parade @ The Fillmore
7/30 Bloc Party, Does It Offend You, yeah? @ The Fillmore

8/2 Boris, Torche @ Great American
8/5 Dolly Parton @ The Greek Theatre at UC-Berkeley

9/25 Possessed, Obituary, Unleashed, Carnifex @ Slim’s

On sale Monday May 5:
6/18 Idiot Pilot, Nurses @ Bottom of the Hill

Double check all information as venues and promoters often change on-sale times and days up until the last minute.

I’ve been meaning to write a review of Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (wikipedia) by Oliver Sacks (wikipedia).

The book presents a number of case studies in a variety of topics involving music and the brain, like epilepsy and music, amnesia and music, or depression and music. There are also case studies involving things like amusia and note-color synesthesia. There are people who get struck by lightning and then becomes obsessed with piano music. Or the people who are unable to speak but are still able to sing. Or the violinist for whom a single note suddenly sounds out of tune.

After each case study, Sacks offers some explanation about what might be going on in the brain to cause these abnormalities.

I found this book absolutely fascinating and devoured it whenever I had a chance until I finished it. It’s well worth the money, especially if you love music and have a nerdy bone in your body.

You can read a significant excerpt and hear an interesting piece on Musicophilia at NPR. You can purchase it from amazon.

cred: me

I’m on the air, once again, on KZSU 90.1FM or online. I’m on every Tuesday[1] from 3-5pm.

You can check out my playlist, updated in real time.

Also, a reminder to listen in tomorrow night at 9pm PST for Geographer, who will be doing a live in-studio session.

[1] Of course, any time you say “every” there’s an exception. I won’t be on next week due to a baseball preemption.

On Saturday I saw two of my favorite songwriters, Mark Kozelek (of Sun Kil Moon, formerly of Red House Painters) and David Bazan (myspace, formerly of Pedro the Lion) at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

There are some obvious similarities between the two. Each artist has past involving various bands and has recorded solo. Each could be (somewhat broadly) described by the following terms: folk, rock, melancholy, acoustic. Both would be staples of the sub-genre sadcore if anyone still used that term. It the end, the show ended up being two great and distinctive performances.

Bazan

David Bazan came on a few minutes after they flashed the lights in the lobby. I’ve seen him so many times by now that it’s hard to say something different about his shows. But the thing is this: I’ve seen him so many times because:

• he’s touring all the time
• he always puts on a good show

So why not see him every time through town? I do… This show was good as always. The music was mostly new songs that “will be on the new album unless [he writes] better songs before then” but he did have a few from the last EP, like “Cold Beer and Cigarettes” and “Fewer Moving Pieces”. The new songs (many of which I also heard at his SxSW set at Jovita’s). There are a few that I’m looking forward to hearing the studio versions of. You can hear some of these new live songs at It’s Hard to Find a Friend. One of my favorites is “Please Baby Please” and if you know Bazan’s borderline satirical lyrical style, you know that that’s not going to be an average love song.

He’s got a pretty awkward stage presence in quite an endearing way. At one point he was talking about usually when he meets new people or plays in front of an audience of people that might not know his stuff he assumes they think he’s a douche bag. But recently he’s been going into these situations assuming the opposite. Then he added “and now of course I’m a douche bag for saying that….”

Kozelek

After an intermission Mark Kozelek came on with another former Red House Painter Phil Carney, both playing guitar with Mark Kozelek front and center on the mic as well.

His set of songs included some from all throughout his musical career. He played one of my favorites “Rock N Roll Singer” (AC/DC cover) and at least two Modest Mouse songs (”Tiny Cities”, “Four Fingered Fisherman”) and a number of originals. With his fluid fingerpicking and reverb-heavy vocals and Phil’s equally fluid guitar playing, it was soon a very hypnotic set of music.

At one point he started a song and someone let out a cheer. Mark stopped the song and said “You don’t know what song that is. I mean, it could be any of my songs” and then proceeded to play the same fingerpicked set of chords while starting some of songs like “Glenn Tipton” and two more.

Besides the music there were some noteworthy and amusing intersong banter. With three guitars (nylon string, steel string and 12 string) and a different (non-standard, for the most part) tuning for each song, there was a lot of time spent tuning. During one of these pauses, he asked for questions. He’d just mentioned coming from Ohio and someone yelled out:

audience member 1: Where in Ohio are you from?

Kozelek: I’m not going to tell you that. Look it up on my wikipedia page or something.

[and it continued]

audience member 2: Where do you live?

Kozelek: I’m not going to tell you that either.

After a few more questions, Kozelek got a little frustrated with the line of questioning:

Kozelek: Alright. Enough questions.

[long silence]

audience member 3: Are you coming out for an encore?

[everyone laughs]

Kozelek: I don’t know. There’s a very comfortable chair back there. Once I sit down, I may not want to get up.

The other themes of the stage banter were about how he was uncomfortable because people seemed so far away and about how all his friends have been moving to Portland or Brooklyn.

All in all, it was an excellent show with consistently good sets from both artists.