Wednesday
Mar172010
Keep your ears on the road!
Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 10:33PM
Here's what I've learned about solo touring:
All you do is drive.
Which has left me with a lot of time to listen to music and podcasts and books on tape. Sadly, I have a pretty dang expensive pair of speakers at the studio that I rarely get to just listen to music on. And since my Toyota's pretty loud I pop in my in-ear monitors (illegal Westone plug!) and have amazing listening experiences. I thought I'd share with you some of what I've been digging.
Music:
Peter Gabriel - "Scratch My Back" - Holy freaking cuss word I love this. The arrangements are amazing, the production and engineering are incredibly creative, and the whole is an emotional suckerpunch in the best of ways. Twelve cover songs, all piano and orchestra. He makes it thrilling and reintroduces some great songs. Early fave of the year.
Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga" - Fun, sounds great.
The Weepies - "Hideaway" - Great harmonies, chill grooves, kind of one song over and over, but it's a good one.
Thad Cockerall - "To Be Loved" - Beautiful, chill, brand-new old-school Gospel songs. True and rich.
I just downloaded some new eMusic fair (The National, Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend) and have only had cursory listens. Excited to dig in deeper. Though there's a good chance I'll listen to two songs and then hop back in to that Peter Gabriel record.
Podcasts:
Samson Society - Great, inspiring, and heavy. All about honesty, community and Jesus versus addiction.
Midtown Fellowship Leadership Class - From my church, featuring our resident yoda, George, as he states simply and clearly truth that is gut-destroying. Basically, he says something and people ask him to repeat it twenty times. It's not enough.
The Moth - true stories told in front of an audience with no notes.
"You Look Nice Today" - Pretty much just a hilarious trio of morning show type people. They ramble, it's occasionally dirty and pretty much always hysterical.
Books on Tape:
I've only listened to one so far. It was a Clive Cussler book about ships and spies and stuff. From what I hear each of his books are exactly the same. I'd believe and I'd listen to another. While being quite opposite of my worldview, it's pretty entertaining. Think Jack Bauer and James Bond have a baby and it beats up the ACLU.
I've got an ipod of new podcasts and tunes and some new books on tape from the library. I'll keep you posted after this weekend.
Quick tour rundown for this weekend:
Thursday: Charlottesville, VA
Friday: Teaneck, NJ
Saturday: Danbury, CT
Sunday: Gap, PA (Lancaster area)
Monday: Baltimore, MD
See you soon!
All you do is drive.
Which has left me with a lot of time to listen to music and podcasts and books on tape. Sadly, I have a pretty dang expensive pair of speakers at the studio that I rarely get to just listen to music on. And since my Toyota's pretty loud I pop in my in-ear monitors (illegal Westone plug!) and have amazing listening experiences. I thought I'd share with you some of what I've been digging.
Music:
Peter Gabriel - "Scratch My Back" - Holy freaking cuss word I love this. The arrangements are amazing, the production and engineering are incredibly creative, and the whole is an emotional suckerpunch in the best of ways. Twelve cover songs, all piano and orchestra. He makes it thrilling and reintroduces some great songs. Early fave of the year.
Spoon - "Ga Ga Ga" - Fun, sounds great.
The Weepies - "Hideaway" - Great harmonies, chill grooves, kind of one song over and over, but it's a good one.
Thad Cockerall - "To Be Loved" - Beautiful, chill, brand-new old-school Gospel songs. True and rich.
I just downloaded some new eMusic fair (The National, Bon Iver, Vampire Weekend) and have only had cursory listens. Excited to dig in deeper. Though there's a good chance I'll listen to two songs and then hop back in to that Peter Gabriel record.
Podcasts:
Samson Society - Great, inspiring, and heavy. All about honesty, community and Jesus versus addiction.
Midtown Fellowship Leadership Class - From my church, featuring our resident yoda, George, as he states simply and clearly truth that is gut-destroying. Basically, he says something and people ask him to repeat it twenty times. It's not enough.
The Moth - true stories told in front of an audience with no notes.
"You Look Nice Today" - Pretty much just a hilarious trio of morning show type people. They ramble, it's occasionally dirty and pretty much always hysterical.
Books on Tape:
I've only listened to one so far. It was a Clive Cussler book about ships and spies and stuff. From what I hear each of his books are exactly the same. I'd believe and I'd listen to another. While being quite opposite of my worldview, it's pretty entertaining. Think Jack Bauer and James Bond have a baby and it beats up the ACLU.
I've got an ipod of new podcasts and tunes and some new books on tape from the library. I'll keep you posted after this weekend.
Quick tour rundown for this weekend:
Thursday: Charlottesville, VA
Friday: Teaneck, NJ
Saturday: Danbury, CT
Sunday: Gap, PA (Lancaster area)
Monday: Baltimore, MD
See you soon!
Reader Comments (6)
Hey Andy,
check out TBTL on TBTL.net. It's a great podcast.
peter bradley adams makes for good driving tunes. all 3 albums are great. enjoy charlottesville. "the hardware store" downtown serves great sandwiches and pints.
Mmmmm ... Bon Iver.
I was on the fence about buying the Peter Gabriel album until I read this - I bought it and I'm totally enamored with it. Thanks for the recommendation - wow.
I like the Samson Society podcast too.
Andy, I can't believe you're doing stops for 'house shows.' I was super-pumped to get an invite from a friend. We're the last stop on your list. Really looking forward to meeting you.