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The strumming and finger picking steadily built for nearly 10 minutes before becoming the familiar "Duet For Guitars, No. 3" off of Transfiguration of Vincent. M. Ward's opener to his January 26th show at the Town Hall Theatre in New York put his virtuosic guitar skills on full display, and set the tone for a very intimate, special performance at an historic NYC venue well-suited for such things. (You can see it here, but much much better in person - http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/8cfac3224dc10529c6bc240f0cc863b9)
He then broke in to the popular "Chinese Translation" (see it here- http://uncutvideo.aol.com/users/tixgirl/6b2bad4cdd51d9b42b66c782ca00adb6?index=0) from his most recent album, Post-War, and followed with an hour and a half of songs from several of his albums, as well as some great covers (like Daniel Johnston's "Story of an Artist," which got some laughs from the crowd).
M. (as in Matt) Ward put on quite a show - an intimate, engaging performance of well-crafted, honest songs by a great musician easily jumping back and forth between his trusty Gibson acoustic, a harmonica, and piano. It was all that I'd hoped for. For one of the songs in the encore, Conor Oberst (aka Bright Eyes) quietly walked out, unannounced, and joined Matt for "O'Brien Nocturne" from End of Amnesia before just as quickly disappearing from the stage. (I'd seen them perform the same song, with M. Ward as the guest, on Austin City Limits on PBS.)
Great night. If you aren't familiar with M. Ward, check him out. If you are, you missed a great show. HAHA!
Overrated?
OK, someone please help me out here. I hear about Sufjan Stevens all the time .... people talk about him like he's some genius or something. So, FINALLY, I bought some of his music. I got "Illinoise" and "Songs for Christmas" (tis the season) which, since there are so many tracks on his albums, apparently makes him 3rd in my "Digital Music Collection" in terms of number of tracks.
Anyway, I listened to some (not all) of both albums. It's decent, but not mind blowing or anything. Am I just crazy? What should I be listening to? Will he just "grow on me" after awhile? What am I missing? Right now my opinion is that he's a bit overrated .... what's wrong with me?
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personally, "illinois" is my favorite album of his to date. i'd say that if you didn't like that one, he might just not be your type - though frankly, i'd never recommend trying out the xmas collection as one of your first attempts. i'd go with "illinois" and "michigan" first.
it actually took me a really long time to really get into him, too. the music kind of had to grow on me, and even though i think it's great now, i remember the first time i heard "enjoy your rabbit" and couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. turns out, i just started with the wrong CD. i will say that once you're into him, you'll like all of the CDs, which is pretty rare.
but like i said, he might just not be your type. i think he can be sort of an acquired taste sometimes.
but he's crazy hot. lol.
Years ago Kevin Costner became a star and the reason given by, I think Phil Alden Robinson, director of Field of Dreams, was that, in the early 90's Costner was the only mid-30's leading mad to be the Gary Cooper of that generation. There simply wasn't anyone else to be earnest, likable, and manly. Given that, I hated Jeff Bucklely. Just not my type of music. In fact, we considered naming our album, "Buckley Family Swim meet". And, in death, Buckley seems to have taken on an untouchable, Kurt Cobain-esque, quality. So, I think Sufjan is just the Buckley of the 21st century. Because I listened to Illinoise and it made me want to punch a baby.
I agree. I got Illinois for Christmas. It's good, very solid, and Sufjan is certainly talented. But it's nothing to write home about. I have many other records that kick way more ass. :)
Well, everyone else is doing it, so I'm gonna try to summarize some of my favorites of 2006. Such a hard thing to do since it's been a great year for me in terms of finding new music ...
Best Live Performance I saw this year: Ray LaMontagne (at the Austin City Limits Music Fest) - probably the most honest/genuine performance I've ever seen. Really amazing.
Best Discovery of the Year (new to me, but not necessarily new): M. Ward - I bought four M. Ward albums this year (including the latest, "Post-War"). My favorite of his right now is "Transistor Radio"
Best music for a nice mid-tempo jog in the sunshine: Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later
Best New Band I saw this year (not necessarily best new band ... just the best I actually saw): The Raconteurs
Most Recent Discovery (new to me): Cat Power
Keep hearing about but haven't checked out yet: DeVotchKa
Just some of my favorite listening of the year (even if it's not new): Beck - The Information Thom Yorke - The Eraser Matt Pond PA - Several Arrows Later The New Amsterdams - Story Like a Scar Alexi Murdoch - Time Without Consequence Ray LaMontagne - Trouble & Til The Sun Turns Black Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood M. Ward - Transistor Radio, Transfiguration of Vincent, Post-War (in that order) Radiohead - OK Computer, The Bends Bright Eyes - I'm Wide Awake It's Morning Cold War Kids - Robbers & Cowards The Decemberists - The Crane Wife Owen - No Good for No One Now Joshua Radin - We Were Here Death Cab for Cutie - We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes
Looking forward to checking out soon: DeVotchKa, The Damnwells, need some more suggestions ... please help.
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Austin City Limits was amazing, in '06.
Ray had a great set, and sounded killer too. It was definately one of my favorite shows of the year.
i just got into ray lamontange and m.ward this year as well - "sad, sad song" is probably my fave m.ward song, but have you heard RL's cover of "crazy" by gnarls barkley? it's fucking fantastic. yay for the decemberists - i'd say it's my favorite album of the year, if i weren't shunning tradition and refusing to do a year in review post myself. so don't tell anyone.
p.s. we have the facts is such a great CD. actually, it's cool if you listen to it as a whole, more like a story - there's a pretty cool post on it here that's actually pretty accurate. okay, so i'm a big death cab fan. can't help it, been that way since they got started.
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glad you liked it! It seems like M isfinally coming into his own. A couple of excellent albums and a couple of hard touring years later, he seems to be obtaining the independent success that he deserves. I look forward to seeing him with Norah in Providence soon! (I don't know if it will be able to top the Bright Eyes, Jim James and M Ward roundtable shows I caught twice, but hey!)
you should send some of those photos to his myspace page. I know they were looking for show pictures to put up!
www.myspace.com/mward