Posts tagged dave matthews band

I just threw together a new mix on 8tracks, 34th & Now: Kelly Kapowski Mixtape featuring 42 of my favorite pop/rock songs from the 90s. Let’s be honest, the 90s totally killed it in terms cheesy, sing-along, fun pop music and sometimes that’s what you need on a Sunday afternoon. As always feel free to share this one.

UPDATE:  Added the following songs to hit 50 tracks.
Stay (I Miss You) - Lisa Loeb
Show Me Love - Robyn
Impression That I Get - Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Beer - Reel Big Fish (Via Raj)
Zombies - The Cranberries (via Pasq)
Hand in My Pocket - Alanis Morrisette
You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette

Tracklist:
Steal My Sunshine - Len
Hey Jealousy - Gin Blossoms
You’re a God - Vertical Horizon
3 AM - Matchbox 20
The Way - Fastball
Jumper - Third Eye Blind
Sex and Candy - Marcy Playground
You Get What You Give - New Radicals
Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
Fly - Sugar Ray
Summer Girls - LFO
Mutt - Blink 182 
King of Wishful Thinking - Go West
Slide - Goo Goo Dolls
Just a Girl - No Doubt
Say It Ain’t So - Weezer
High and Dry - Radiohead
Be Like That - 3 Doors Down
Hold My Hand - Hootie & The Blowfish
Under the Bridge - RHCP
Crash Into Me - Dave Matthews Band
Kiss Me - Sixpence None the Richer
Everything You Want - Vertical Horizon
Follow You Down - Gin Blossoms
Wonderwall - Oasis
One - U2 
Girl on TV - LFO
Creep - Radiohead
Tubthumping - Chumba Wumba
Buddy Holly - Weezer
Dammit - Blink 182 
Broadway - Goo Goo Dolls
Only Wanna Be With You - Hootie
Spiderwebs - No Doubt
Stay (Wasting Time) - DMB
Push - Matchbox 20 
Song 2 - Blur
Californication - RHCP
Every Morning - Sugar Ray
Semi-Charmed Life - Third Eye Blind
Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down
Don’t Look Back In Anger - Oasis

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American Idol winner Phillip Phillips is equal parts Dave Matthews Band and Mumford and Sons. Just got through his debut album and it’s definitely worth checking out. Here’s “Get Up Get Down.”

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Here’s “Belly Belly Nice,” one of the funkier tracks off the new Dave Matthews Band album, Away From the World. Like I mentioned in the album review, Boyd Tinsley’s violin solo is sure to be a new fan favorite live.

My buddy Phil asked me for a full song by song breakdown of the new Dave Matthews Band album, Away from the World. Here it is: Broken Things - I love the chord transition from the verse to the “Oooooh, my love, my heart is set on you. Set On You!” chorus. Boyd’s violin solo is gonna be beast-mode live and get turned into a new Jimi/Billies jam. The intro to me sounds like a mashup of Bartender and Warehouse which is awesome. Dave’s falsetto kills it on the “Oooooh.” Belly Belly Nice - This is dripping with funky Sly and the Family Stone influences. I guess that’s what happens when they’ve been playing “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)” religiously for the past 4 or 5 tours. This is in no way a bad thing. Mercy - As far as full band slow jams go, this is one of the better ones in recent memory. There were a few decent ones on Groo, but he hasn’t had a slow jam that was geared for the full band and not just him playing solo as 1st song of an encore (e.g. Sister, Baby Blue) in a while. Tim is super subtle with his effects, Jeff and Rashawn keep it upbeat and Carter’s hi-hat work is up there with his drumming on Crash. Gaucho - Dave bringing back out the days of fast-paced, notes-only verse riffs e.g. The Stone, Warehouse, Satellite. I’m not saying overall it’s as good as any of those, it’s not. But it is a very cool guitar part despite being simple and it lends itself to being built on by Tim’s electric, Stefan’s bass, Carter’s drums, and the horns, all of which seem to get their own time to shine throughout. I admit I’m not a big fan of the kids chanting, it’s a bit too Pink Floyd for me but that’s just me. Sweet - While I am digging the ukulele a lot, I have to say that at the time of writing this (listening in the order of the album) it’s my least favorite so far. Like I mentioned in Mercy about the other slow jams, it seems to be written to be a solo performance song, which is fine, but then keep it unreleased or a teaser. Don’t waste a studio album, full-band track on it. The entry of Carter and Jeff into the mix at 3 minutes in feels like they came into the studio while Dave was recording, were like “Oh shit, we’re late,” and hopped on their instruments. The Riff - Current favorite. Another slow builder that has a very note heavy guitar riff from Dave with a solid walking bass line on the guitar a la Best of What’s Around, Granny, or Jimi. By the time the second chorus rolls around I am totally ready for it when the band kicks in without even realizing it. Subtle build ups for the win. You can almost see the flashing strobe effect they will no doubt use on the jumbo-tron as they show Dave’s face, head thrown back as he leans away from the mic and holds “Everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.” In a spin on the old adage for March, this song comes in like a lamb but goes out like a lion. Belly Full - I hated it. Then when it ended after only a minute and a half, I realized I loved it. It’s a sit on the front porch, hillbilly jam that I’d put on par with Dave’s solo track Butterfly. If Only - If you sped this riff up and added distortion you’d have something that could be the lead guitar for an Everclear song. In spite of that, or possibly because of it, I totally dig it. It takes all the individual things I liked about the ill-fated Stand Up songs and combined them with the things I liked about the equally ill-fated Some Devil songs into something neither album had. A little bit of funky, clean electric guitar, simple guitar riffs, choppy snare by Carter, Dave mixing fast pace vocals and crooning falsettos. One of my favorites so far along with The Riff. Rooftop - Dave done did it again! (said in Chris Rock voice from Pootie Tang.) He doesn’t always play electric, but when he does, he always crushes my mind-hole e.g. I Did It, Shake Me Like a Monkey, and Dreams of Our Fathers. This is no exception and actually reminds me a lot of the latter. It sounds like he’s using his signature 2 frets over, 1 string down pattern that he pulls in songs like Dreams, Warehouse, Satellite etc. Tim’s solo could’ve used a bit less chorus and fuzz or whatever that was but it was only 10 seconds long and Carter’s crazy drum fills overwrote it in my mind almost immediately. C-Boof on the drums is definitely going to get a spotlight, crowd-pleasing drum solo on this live. Snow Outside - 50/50 on this. I don’t know if that was Tim on a resonator or lap steel slide guitar in the background but someone needed to make it stop. Also this song sounds like it was pieced together from old songs. The hammer-on heavy guitar riff sounds like it can be a combo of Sister/My Baby Blue and Grace is Gone and Oh, and he re-used the line “When you are here with me,” also from Oh. That said, I don’t hate it and the outro is fantastic and sounds like it could be an interlude somewhere on Before These Crowded Streets especially with how you hear someone, (Boyd? Dave?) in the background talking like just like the old “Hey, Greg, I can’t talk right now…” that follows Rapunzel on BTCS. Drunken Soldier -  Lyrically, this tracks reminds me of What You Are. The choppy drums/bass/electric vs. horns/cymbals call and answer that first kicks in around 4 minutes is awesome while the slow Dave-only verses remind a bit of The Spoon. Timmy uses the slide guitar during the breakdown jam to perfection here unlike in the last track, Snow Outside. The breakdown itself is super jazzy, and I can’t really compare it to any of their previous work other than maybe Captain. Overall it sounds like a song that could have been written in the Before These Crowded Streets era, reworked by Steve during The Lillywhite Sessions, held on the back burner and revamped to rock out a bit more for Groo but that ultimately didn’t make the cut until now. Considering those 3 albums are all solid, that’s fine by me. As an 8th studio album from the band—9th if you count Lillywhite Sessions and 10th if you count the Dave solo album—I think it’s damn solid effort after a first and second listen. It can easily be tweaked to give some epic moments in a live setting which, let’s be honest, is what the Dave Matthews Band is known for. Overall: 8.5/10

My buddy Phil asked me for a full song by song breakdown of the new Dave Matthews Band album, Away from the World. Here it is:

Broken Things - I love the chord transition from the verse to the “Oooooh, my love, my heart is set on you. Set On You!” chorus. Boyd’s violin solo is gonna be beast-mode live and get turned into a new Jimi/Billies jam. The intro to me sounds like a mashup of Bartender and Warehouse which is awesome. Dave’s falsetto kills it on the “Oooooh.”

Belly Belly Nice - This is dripping with funky Sly and the Family Stone influences. I guess that’s what happens when they’ve been playing “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)” religiously for the past 4 or 5 tours. This is in no way a bad thing.

Mercy - As far as full band slow jams go, this is one of the better ones in recent memory. There were a few decent ones on Groo, but he hasn’t had a slow jam that was geared for the full band and not just him playing solo as 1st song of an encore (e.g. Sister, Baby Blue) in a while. Tim is super subtle with his effects, Jeff and Rashawn keep it upbeat and Carter’s hi-hat work is up there with his drumming on Crash.

Gaucho - Dave bringing back out the days of fast-paced, notes-only verse riffs e.g. The Stone, Warehouse, Satellite. I’m not saying overall it’s as good as any of those, it’s not. But it is a very cool guitar part despite being simple and it lends itself to being built on by Tim’s electric, Stefan’s bass, Carter’s drums, and the horns, all of which seem to get their own time to shine throughout. I admit I’m not a big fan of the kids chanting, it’s a bit too Pink Floyd for me but that’s just me.

Sweet - While I am digging the ukulele a lot, I have to say that at the time of writing this (listening in the order of the album) it’s my least favorite so far. Like I mentioned in Mercy about the other slow jams, it seems to be written to be a solo performance song, which is fine, but then keep it unreleased or a teaser. Don’t waste a studio album, full-band track on it. The entry of Carter and Jeff into the mix at 3 minutes in feels like they came into the studio while Dave was recording, were like “Oh shit, we’re late,” and hopped on their instruments.

The Riff - Current favorite. Another slow builder that has a very note heavy guitar riff from Dave with a solid walking bass line on the guitar a la Best of What’s Around, Granny, or Jimi. By the time the second chorus rolls around I am totally ready for it when the band kicks in without even realizing it. Subtle build ups for the win. You can almost see the flashing strobe effect they will no doubt use on the jumbo-tron as they show Dave’s face, head thrown back as he leans away from the mic and holds “Everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiing.” In a spin on the old adage for March, this song comes in like a lamb but goes out like a lion.

Belly Full - I hated it. Then when it ended after only a minute and a half, I realized I loved it. It’s a sit on the front porch, hillbilly jam that I’d put on par with Dave’s solo track Butterfly.

If Only - If you sped this riff up and added distortion you’d have something that could be the lead guitar for an Everclear song. In spite of that, or possibly because of it, I totally dig it. It takes all the individual things I liked about the ill-fated Stand Up songs and combined them with the things I liked about the equally ill-fated Some Devil songs into something neither album had. A little bit of funky, clean electric guitar, simple guitar riffs, choppy snare by Carter, Dave mixing fast pace vocals and crooning falsettos. One of my favorites so far along with The Riff.

Rooftop - Dave done did it again! (said in Chris Rock voice from Pootie Tang.) He doesn’t always play electric, but when he does, he always crushes my mind-hole e.g. I Did It, Shake Me Like a Monkey, and Dreams of Our Fathers. This is no exception and actually reminds me a lot of the latter. It sounds like he’s using his signature 2 frets over, 1 string down pattern that he pulls in songs like Dreams, Warehouse, Satellite etc. Tim’s solo could’ve used a bit less chorus and fuzz or whatever that was but it was only 10 seconds long and Carter’s crazy drum fills overwrote it in my mind almost immediately. C-Boof on the drums is definitely going to get a spotlight, crowd-pleasing drum solo on this live.

Snow Outside - 50/50 on this. I don’t know if that was Tim on a resonator or lap steel slide guitar in the background but someone needed to make it stop. Also this song sounds like it was pieced together from old songs. The hammer-on heavy guitar riff sounds like it can be a combo of Sister/My Baby Blue and Grace is Gone and Oh, and he re-used the line “When you are here with me,” also from Oh. That said, I don’t hate it and the outro is fantastic and sounds like it could be an interlude somewhere on Before These Crowded Streets especially with how you hear someone, (Boyd? Dave?) in the background talking like just like the old “Hey, Greg, I can’t talk right now…” that follows Rapunzel on BTCS.

Drunken Soldier -  Lyrically, this tracks reminds me of What You Are. The choppy drums/bass/electric vs. horns/cymbals call and answer that first kicks in around 4 minutes is awesome while the slow Dave-only verses remind a bit of The Spoon. Timmy uses the slide guitar during the breakdown jam to perfection here unlike in the last track, Snow Outside. The breakdown itself is super jazzy, and I can’t really compare it to any of their previous work other than maybe Captain. Overall it sounds like a song that could have been written in the Before These Crowded Streets era, reworked by Steve during The Lillywhite Sessions, held on the back burner and revamped to rock out a bit more for Groo but that ultimately didn’t make the cut until now. Considering those 3 albums are all solid, that’s fine by me.


As an 8th studio album from the band—9th if you count Lillywhite Sessions and 10th if you count the Dave solo album—I think it’s damn solid effort after a first and second listen. It can easily be tweaked to give some epic moments in a live setting which, let’s be honest, is what the Dave Matthews Band is known for.

Overall: 8.5/10

This year marks the first time since 2001 that I’ll be missing a Dave Matthews Band tour. Yes, that includes both the winter and summer tours—I’ve been to a lot of shows. To make up for it I’ve been studying to the awesome multi-cam full-length shows up on Youtube. I recommend the May 26th, 2012 show: 720p HD DVD quality with stage-cams! Of the new songs, my favorite is “Beach Ball.”

I ring the bell til someone listens
Melt your words right to my skin
And your smile, my flesh and bones
From the mountains I will sing to you
Through your veins my river flows
I ring the bell til someone listens

Bring me gold and bring me wisdom
Give me scars to bring me grace
Their wicked wit and when I use it
Dash the hopes of those who hate me
Give me love, big as a mountain
Oh oh oh, yeah

Be wary of those who believe
In a neat little world
‘Cause its just fucking crazy
You know that it is
Dave Matthews Band, Eh Hee

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Was in a DMB kind of mood this morning and was skipping around the 7.05GB of Dave I have on my iTunes (706 songs) and realized I’ve never heard this version of “Crash Into Me” featuring Bela Fleck & The Flecktones before. It’s really really good. You can grab it on the Live Trax Vol. 7 album.

My dad just finished his first guitar build—an SG style dual humbucker in a lake placid blue. Not to mention the DMB firedancer logo added into the finish.

Here’s Dave Matthews Band covering the Talking Heads hit “Burning Down the House.”

DMB always looks like they are having a great time on stage but they really get into it when covering other bands they admire. In the 30+ DMB concerts I’ve been to since 2001 I’ve seen a lot of covers but this one is up there. Some other great ones I’ve heard them do over the years:

  • Sex Machine - James Brown
  • Sweet Caroline - Neil Diamond  
  • Blackbird - The Beatles
  • Hey Bulldog - The Beatles
  • Solsbury Hill - Peter Gabriel
  • Good Times Bad Times - Led Zeppelin 
  • Fool in the Rian - Led Zeppelin
  • Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum 
  • Thank You - Sly & The Family Stone
  • Up on Cripple Creek - The Band
  • Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith
  • Bathtub Gin - Phish
  • Cortez the Killer - Neil Young 
  • Down By The River - Neil Young 
  • Hey Hey, My My - Neil Young
  • Linus & Lucy - Peanuts Theme Song
  • Exodus - Bob Marley
  • For What It’s Worth - Buffalo Springfield
  • The Maker - Daniel Lanois
  • Long Black Veil - Lefty Frizzel/Johnny Cash
  • All Along the Watchtower - Bob Dylan

Remember that episode of Friends where Monica is telling Chandler about the seven erogenous zones on a female?

All right. You could, uh, start out with a little 1, a 2, a 1-2-3, a 5, a 4, a 3-2, 2, a 2-4-6, 2-4-6, 4, 2, 2, 4-7, 5-7, 6-7, 7…7…7..777777….7.

I’m not saying that Dave Matthews happened to watch that episode before writing this song or anything but at the very least it’s a pretty crazy coincidence if you take a look at some of these lyrics.

Exhibit A:
Baby you know I’m all about you
And all I want to do
Is take a little ride
Maybe get inside
Maybe get in

Exhibit B:
Sour as my fingers
Dirty pick pocket
I can still taste you
I won’t wash my hands  

Exhibit C:
Woman please I’m in your possession
You are my obsession
Let me go down
Down, down, down, down, down, down, down
Dark little place she digs to go
Dark little place she digs to go

Headphones

Here’s what was playing in the 34th & Now headphones for the past week.

11/23/11-12/30/11
All Time Low - So Wrong It’s Right
Feist - Metals
Grouplove - Grouplove
Dave Matthews Band - Big Whiskey & The Groo Grux King
Bad Books - Bad Books

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For the second time in two days I’ve heard this song playing while out and about and both times I reacted with the same way: looking around thinking “Are you people not hearing this? Are you deaf? It’s DAVE!!!”

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Halloweeeeeeeeeeeen. Carry on. Bury all. Bury all. Bury all. Burry All. Bury all and in this dream tell us are you satisfied with “fucking?” - for Halloween maybe I’ll be David J. Matthews and go as a motherfuckin’ GENIUS.

Right now I’m running on 2 hours of sleep thanks to renal physiology and histology of the gastrointestinal tract. The only thing that is going to getting me through right now is listening to music—well, that and a shit ton of Maxwell House instant coffee. After going to at least one concert a week this summer, I can’t believe it’s been 3 months since I’ve been to a show…

Here’s some of my favorite concert photos I’ve taken back when I still had a life…you know, in the real world.

One of the things I love about the Dave Matthews Band—aside from, you know, everything—is the fact that they frequently bring out guest artists to sit in with them during live shows. Phenomenal artists like Carlos Santana, Gregg Allman and Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers, Trey Anastasio of Phish, Ben Harper, John Mayer and Robert Randolph have all graced the stage during DMB performances each bringing something a little different to the table.

One of my personal favorite guests, though, has to be South African folk singer Vusi Mahlasela who originally featured on the studio version of “Everyday” and then gave an incredible live performance with the band for the rendition on The Best of What’s Around Vol 1. Needless to say I was psyched when I went to see DMB this January at Madison Square Garden and Dave started talking about a special guest he’s known all the way from South Africa.