NeilNathan
My Digital Music Collection
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Lap Steel Ace, Mike "Slo Mo" Brenner produced. And former mogger and music journalist extraordinaire, Jennifer Kelly penned the bio for me.So nice of her!
I chose six disparate tunes that highlighted my vocal range and Mike's lap steelness.
I'll post one every Sunday for the next month.
First up is my take on Beethoven's Fur De Lis, entitled Darling Friend. In the liner notes, it says Darling Friend by Beethoven and Neil Nathan. Hilarious!
I certainly enjoyed dressing up in the maestro's clothing as you can see above. Though 200 beans to rent that outfit for the day, hurt a bit. Oh the sacrifice just to play dress up. But it was worth it!
I am amazed at what Mike did to this tune. It gives me a Big Lebowski vibe for some reason. Total dark comedy. He has this bass he turned into a steel instrument and he calls it cello bass. There are some serious layers of it on this one. That combined with my attempt at a fancy Rufus Wainwright vocal, makes for an interesting combo on this legendary intro to piano 101 masterpiece.
I'm talking with my friend about doing a video for it next month. We've got this funeral home, hipster day of the dead waltz thing in mind. Should be wild. He's got a wicked sense of humor and did this one by My Brightest Diamond.
I would love to hear some mogger feedback on these tunes, and pull no punches, I can take it!
The producer of my new covers ep, Songsmiths, is a masterful lap steel player named Mike Brenner, aka Slo-Mo. He's got a genre bending party band of the same name based in Fishtown Philly. They're an alt country, rock n roll, r&b, hip hop gumbo. Very unique stuff.
A few weeks back he arranged an amazing night at World Cafe Live, Slo-Mo's Steel Summit. It featured four acts, all with unique approaches to an instrument that always pulls on my heartstrings. The Sacred Steel act, the Campbell Bros. ended the evening and Chuck simply blew everyone away. I have never seen a man own an instrument like he did that pedal steel.
Sacred Steel is a rare music tradition rooted in the African-American Holiness-Pentacostal church aka the House of God. It consists of using the steel guitar to mimic voices and sing lines of hymns to push the congregation to a deeper spiritual place.
Damn, I wanna crash one of those services!
Anyway, here is a tune off Slo-Mo's new record. I really dig this vocal. He nailed it while looking damn slick in that white suit of his; something I'm told Robert Randolph swiped from him.
Oh well. We musicians, just like politicians, are all thieves, some bolder than others.
Here is a fantabulous anime vid for a tune off their last record, My Buzz Comes Back, called Cuidado. Gives ya a sense of just how diverse these guys are.
Comments
Yeah, I like this. You're right, he's got a fine voice and an impeccable delivery. The song is honest & forthright, expressing the anxieties & fears & questions that boil beneath the surface. Edgy without vitriol, observant & keenly insightful.
Cuidado is, as vannatta has opined, awesome. And as you (boasted?, observed?) the genre-blending/convention bending is evident, confident & very refreshing.
Nice.
"Edgy without vitriol, observant & keenly insightful."
That's a hard thing to do and you're right, he accomplished it.
And I like that Mic Wrecka, the rapper on it, doesn't sound angry, just observant and detached.
What is it with this town?
Last week it was Bobby Bare, Jr. This week, it's David Vandervelde. What a fantastic way to spend two Sundays in a row at Mercury Lounge.
The late great mogger Satisfied Mind, turned me on to this extremely talented vintagetastic singer/songwriter a while back.
And he had some pretty amazing T-Rex, Moody Blues vibes on that first record.
This one is a bit more Bread, Neil Young, as he explores that easy listening, breezey territory.
I am really digging on it.
Unfortunately, both times I've seen him, it's a power trio with him wailing on guitar. Now he is an incredible guitarist, and the shows are fantastic, but his records are filled with texturs and nuances that are simply lost by this live presentation. Somebody pay this man to take more musicians with him on the road! I did my part by buying both records on vinyl for 20 beans total. With a free mp3 download of the new record, that's a deal and a half.
Here's a vid from his first record as well. Marc Bolan, eat your heart out.
Nice contrast with the new sound.
Enjoy.
Comments
A very clever arrangement top to bottom, and yet somehow inevitable....Nice, nice cut.
hehe pretty awesome. I like the double vocals, - and the steel has a nice touch to this song
wow neil, that twangy version of every piano student's favorite beethoven composition is AWESOME! its right in David Lynch territory! in Jim Jarmusch territory... ie: visual and atmospheric to the max. good work!