Richard Buckner - Our Blood

Today marks the release of Richard Buckner's Our Blood, his first release in 5 years. Buckner has received a great deal of praise throughout his career, and the hiatus has no doubt been tough for his loyal fanbase.

Richard Buckner - "Traitor"

The beauty of having a new release from Buckner is that we have the chance to hear from him in interviews. As an artist who rarely, if ever, talks while performing, it is fortunate that he has been quite generous with the interviews he has done leading up to this record. You can find a number of them out there, although this one from Magnet Magazine is one of the better ones I have seen. In it, you can find a brief summation of the reasons behind his 5 year gap between albums.

To put in perspective how long ago Meadow was released, the vinyl resurgence among indie labels was not yet very far along and it was available only on CD and mp3. Therefore, Our Blood is, to my knowledge, his first full-length album available on vinyl. It was worth the wait.

Music gnus of interest (to me)

I haven't quite gotten on board with the monthly "Vinyl Saturdays," but:
The Avett Brothers just announced they will release a limited edition 7" to indie record stores this Saturday, Sept. 5th. In these rough economic times, American Recordings is really capitalizing on their artists with the early release mp3s, the limited edition 7", and the various packages of pre-orders for the new album. I guess they know only a certain group of people are buying stuff now, so you've got to make those folks buy as much as possible.

Really wishing:
that I had bought a copy of the Avett Brothers' side project, Oh What a Nightmare, because now that they are huge, it is going to be impossible to find a copy. Mp3s are still available, as I assume they always will be, but it's just not the same.

I guess I wasn't really looking for this:
but was totally surprised to see that Jon Krakauer has a new book coming out Sept. 15th. The book is called Where Men Win Glory, and details the story of Pat Tillman, the former NFL player who left the NFL to serve in the U.S. military, and subsequently was killed in Afghanistan in 2002. I know Krakauer has his detractors, but I have to say I expect this book to be extremely well done. If I'm wrong, I won't hesitate to let you know.

If you live in the Denver/Boulder area:
Krakauer has some appearances scheduled: Boulder on 9/17 and Tattered Cover in Denver on 9/21.

Slam poetry is dead, trust me, but:
there are still a few great spoken word artists out there that put on a great show. The Elephant Engine High Dive Revival will feature Buddy Wakefield, Derrick Brown, Anis Mojgani, and Shira Erlichman with a 5th rotating member, and it will be touring hopefully very close to you. The tentative Boulder date was scrapped, but at least there's still Denver. Every time before I go, I always think about how live poetry doesn't really excite me these days, but then the show is just amazing. Well worth the time.

USA Today just named:
Justin Townes Earle's Midnight at the Movies as Grammy-worthy. Also mentioned are Lubbock natives The Flatlanders.

The Wooden Birds recently announced:
a pretty comprehensive U.S. tour with the Great Lake Swimmers from late Sept. through the month of October. More on the Denver show as it approaches.

I know you don't care:
but I have really gotten into Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations show on the Travel Channel. For a niche cable show, his approach seems very real to me, and I appreciate that. Plus, he always goes to amazing places. The Saudi Arabia episode was especially good.

I had a heck of a time:
finding any info about a Richard Buckner record I had seen on ebay a few months back. Turns out that his former band, The Doubters, had one song on a 2 X 7" vinyl compilation in 1993 or 1994 or so. The compilation is called Ain't This Bliss With You and This and to my knowledge, is the only Richard Buckner song available on vinyl. If anyone knows of any other records of his on vinyl, I'd like to know about them.

Richard Buckner - Walnut Room 5/1

The long awaited return of Richard Buckner to Denver came last weekend, and as usual, it was well worth the wait. The last time he came through, Six Parts Seven was the opener and backing band, which seemed to allow him to play many of the songs off of Meadow as you hear them on the album. This go 'round, it was just Richard and his guitar(s) and effects pedal(s).

The Walnut Room in Denver has a bit of a yuppie feel to it, and the two openers (and their devoted fans/friends) didn't really help that feeling. While a bit awkward to read, I don't mention them by name because I have nothing against them personally, but I just don't listen to much music that is inspired by episodes of Grey's Anatomy.

The openers apparently brought out a ton of their parents and co-workers to the show, as the room was packed with people intently listening to them play while also checking their iphones to make sure the babysitter hadn't called since they checked the phone 3 minutes ago. Apparently the second opener is a big favorite of the venue's, as the soundman gazed at the stage like a lovestruck teenager during most of the set. He even went to the trouble of "shushing" the folks talking with the first opener at the merch table when their discussion of their favorite martini got too loud (I think they settled on the cranapple-tini). This is the same soundman who surfed the internet for the entirety of Buckner's set, but probably for the best, since I expect he probably would have just made things worse if he had tried to turn knobs.

As I've found somewhat characteristic of Richard Buckner shows, RB himself was in the audience for a good portion of the sets of each opener, politely listening to what they were doing. A great moment for me came when one of the earlier performers made a joke about how he was performing at a show and forgot the words to one of his own songs, so he just made up the rest, and while the crowd of moms and pops laughed, I turned around and saw Buckner looking at him just as stonefaced as always. Nonetheless, Buckner knows how to play the gigging game and was extremely respectful of both openers, and even seemed to muster a slight affirmative nod when the soundman brought up to him how great the second performer was.

When it came time for his set, Buckner quickly set up his equipment and began playing. I didn't have to wait long for the song I most wanted to hear, as he played "Blue and Wonder" right off the bat. In true RB style, he didn't play the album version of many songs, but rather a number of remixed (for lack of a better word) versions that really exemplify the time and care he puts into his music. As he tends to do, he blended one song right into another, either with guitar work alone, or using his loop pedal to span the gap. This made for an awkward situation for all the school teachers and GAP clerks who had come to see their friends open the show, as there was never a break where they could get up and leave. This fact set in after the 3rd or 4th song, and so the folks who weren't on board with Buckner's music slipped out into the bar-side of the Walnut Room, which inevitably was blaring with Kelly Clarkson and people cheering each other on drinking Irish car bombs.

Overall, Richard Buckner continues to please his loyal fan base by keeping an unwavering focus on his art, which combines both songwriting and performance. He finished the set with his loop pedal echoing the final notes of his set, and walked out the side door...right into a crowd of people drinking cranapple-tinis and car bombs who wouldn't have known him from the bouncer. And I'm pretty sure that's just the way he likes it.

The hot tub is too hot!

Relating to a post many moons ago, apparently the dark comedy Visioneers featuring Zach Galifianakis has secured distribution and will hopefully be released for our consumption soon.

In completely unrelated news, here's a great blog by Richard Buckner regarding the backstory behind his three albums being reissued on Merge this month.

What do you think folks, is Bloomed the best album ever recorded in Lubbock? It's up there no matter what.

FINALLY

Richard Buckner is touring again.

Apparently in support of the Merge reissue of 3 of his earlier albums. I guess it was too much to ask for this to be the signal of a new album on the way.