Jam of the day, guitar atmospherics, and an upcoming show you gotta see: Eureka Birds / "Goodbye Space And Time"

I'm gearing myself up for an awesome show this weekend. We at Draw Us Lines are going to "curate" (that sounds hoity-toity) a series of shows at venues around Pittsburgh. This allows us to shine the spotlight on some great bands and people, and bring folks out to see artists they might not otherwise know about or want to see. By rotating around at different venues, we should be able to focus on different genres, too—loud rock, acoustic folk, dancey pop, etc.—and we're looking forward to working with lots of great Pittsburgh (and national) indie bands in the future.

Our first show is happening this Saturday night, February 25th, at the Brillobox in Lawrenceville. Bluebird Midwest, Horse or Cycle, and Eureka Birds are playing, and they are all excellent. You should read my full preview over at Draw Us Lines to get the full scoop on the show, but suffice it to say: you really gotta go.

In preparation, I've been jamming a lot of tunes by these bands, of course. A lot of Eureka Birds songs have been stuck in my head ("That Mountain Is A Volcano", "Oh! My Dear", "Cactus Man", …) but there's one I'm particularly looking forward to seeing live, after finding a YouTube vid of it: "Goodbye Space And Time"

Eureka Birds / "Good Bye Space And Time" / Eureka Birds [2008] / Live @ North Star Bar, Philly

Isn't that killer? The lyrics are kinda mellow and down-trodden, but engaging and you can read some uplifting qualities into it all, if you try. The thing that gets me, though, is the slow-burn, rise and rise and rise and rise aspect of it, culminating in an absolute shred of a guitar solo over the last minute or so. I was trying to explain this appeal to my friend as we watched the video together: yes, the solo is not a crazy riff or melody and might not take too much technical prowess, really, but there's something about how it fits into the song and carries my mind and emotions along that has me hanging on the edge of my seat and leaning in closer and closer until it's over. Part of that has to do with the fact that I can see the video timer and realize, "Wow, there's only 20 seconds left, where the hell could this be going? He's still wailing on that axe like a madman!" Maybe that's it. I'll tell you this, though: I'll be watching googly-eyed from the side of the stage when they rock out like this on Saturday night, and you owe it to yourself to be there with me. Rock on.

Eureka Birds on the web: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp

Video jams: Local concert footage (Big Snow Big Thaw, Pet Clinic, Nik & the Central Plains, Horse or Cycle, MOIP, etc.)

Just wanted to alert yinz to my YouTube page where I've been posting footage from local concerts here in Pittsburgh (plus some random mp3s that I thought needed to exist on YouTube). Some of the earlier ones were taken on my Android phone and have terrible audio quality; sorry about that. But recently, for Xmas, I acquired a Flip video camera, which takes lovely HD video footage. I don't know the technical audio specs, but it sounds pretty good, particularly acoustic/quiet stuff; loud rockin' sounds test the limits a little bit, depending on how close I was standing to the amp. Bottom line, though: I now have a small, portable, convenient way to take up to 1 hour of HD video/audio at concerts! It's now a goal of mine to record a full set of all of the local bands that I feel others out there should be able to experience in a live setting. (Of course, this relies on me getting a good view and the set being <= 60 minutes, so I'll do what I can.) Watching these is certainly not the same as getting out and seeing them, but it's a pretty good approximation, especially if you don't live around here or what have you. I've embedded below some of the most recent ones, and I'll let you explore my YouTube channel for some others. Enjoy!

Big Snow Big Thaw
at Club Cafe, Thursday February 03, 2011

Part 2 is here.

Pet Clinic
at Thunderbird Cafe, Saturday January 29, 2011

Part 2 is here. Be sure to watch the closing number of Part 2. It's an epic 7 minute song and well worth watching.

Nik & the Central Plains
at Howlers, Friday January 14, 2011

Part 2 is here and Part 3 is here.

Horse or Cycle
at Howlers, Friday January 14, 2011

(They were opening for Nik & the Central Plains so I just taped this one song, this time.)

Meeting of Important People
at Carnegie Lecture Hall in Oakland, Saturday January 15, 2011

(They were opening for Dean & Britta playing Galaxie 500, so I just taped a handful of songs: "I Know Every Street", "Single Girl, Married Girl", "Boys [Beatles cover]", "Our Love", "Broken-Down Storefront". Be sure to check out some of the Galaxie 500 tunes, too: "When Will You Come Home", "Don't Let Our Youth Go To Waste", etc.)