Jay Farrar and Ben Gibbard can't really complain about their day jobs, can they?
Farrar -- once co-leader of the landmark alt-country band Uncle Tupelo and now fronts Son Volt (and has had a solo career, too), while Gibbard is the man at the mic with Death Cab For Cutie (and Postal Service).
An unlikely duo, certainly, but on their moonlighting gig -- the CD "One Fast Move or I'm Gone" -- the two seem to be ready-made to work together.
That duo comes to Milwaukee this week to show us just how well their recognizable voices work together and how Gibbard's alternately joyful and melancholic melodic sense melds with Farrar's darker musical vision.
For those -- like me -- who love their work separately, hearing them together is a revelation, albeit an unexpected one.
"One Fast Move," released in October, one day before the 40th anniversary of Jack Kerouac's death, is a tribute to the beat generation scribe with a notable penchant for wanderlust.
The music on it was written for a Kerouac documentary "One Fast Move or I'm Gone: Kerouac's Big Sur" -- which includes appearances by Farrar and Gibbard, along with Patti Smith and Tom Waits, music fans! -- released on DVD the same day as the duo's CD. Some versions of the disc also come packaged with the DVD.
Word is that when the duo performs at Turner Hall Ballroom at 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, Farrar and Gibbard will not only perform tracks from the project, but also familiar songs from their respective bands.
Tickets for the show are $22.25 in advance and $25.25 on the day of the show. All seats are general admission and the show is non-smoking and all-ages. -- Bobby Tanzilo
You can call it folk, Americana, indie rock -- some might even call it country. But essentially, what Langhorne Slim does is write musical love letters.
He's now four albums deep, and the formula remains the same. Not that that's a bad thing. His melodically gritty songs reflect his gentleman's nature, marked by his signature sweet whine that rings with honesty and excitement. Even his whiskey-soaked ballads have an underlying twinge of sunshine and poppy optimism.
So, with this latest record, "Be Set Free," and his War Eagles (his three-piece band, which includes drummer Malachi DeLorenzo, the son of Violent Femmes drummer Victor DeLorenzo), Langhorne Slim returns to Milwaukee to play at Turner Hall Ballroom Tuesday, Jan. 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10. -- Julie Lawrence
The Swedish-born Movits made their U.S. debut on the Colbert Report last July and, despite most Americans not understanding a word of their Swedish lyrics, they've won us over.
As part of its "First We Take Manhattan ... Tour," you can catch the band's jazzy swing, hip-hop sound at Stonefly Brewing Company on Saturday, Jan. 30, along with the Fresh Cut Collective. --Maureen Post
