Live Music From NPR.

January 27, 2006 8:05 AM

NPR’s Live Concert Series site offers recordings of recent live performances by James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, Iron & Wine and Calexico, Son Volt, My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes, M. Ward, Sigur Ros, Bloc Party, The Decemberists, and live tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET, Colin Meloy.
posted by ND¢ (46 comments total)

[Via Pitchfork] (2nd story down, don’t hate).
posted by ND¢ at 8:05 AM on January 27, 2006

Pitchfork should be drowned in a vat of vomit-laced Pabst Blue Ribbon. That said, good post.
posted by Rothko at 8:14 AM on January 27, 2006

This is really cool. Thanks for pointing it out!
posted by pombe at 8:16 AM on January 27, 2006

There are also live shows on the site from Interpol and Bright Eyes.
posted by ND¢ at 8:21 AM on January 27, 2006

This is not snark: Are these only in RealMedia or am I missing the MP3/Other links?
posted by unixrat at 8:23 AM on January 27, 2006

There is an MP3 available for the Son Volt concert. Also, it is okay to snark. I just put the 'don't hate' in to avoid the usual pitchfork-bashing that occurs whenever you mention that site in certain company. Everything else is up for grabs for snarkiness as far as I am concerned.
posted by ND¢ at 8:32 AM on January 27, 2006

Your favorite indie-rock review website sucks.
posted by selfnoise at 8:33 AM on January 27, 2006

I've spent the last month at work listening to just about everything on the NPR music page. What a fantastic resource. Also: this is a good opportunity to hear some live My Morning Jacket, which I highly recommend.
posted by kosem at 8:44 AM on January 27, 2006

this is very nice. thank you!

maybe Colin Meloy will do his Morrissey set tomorrow!
posted by carsonb at 8:46 AM on January 27, 2006

KEXP.org also has a large library of in studio performances available.
posted by roboto at 8:46 AM on January 27, 2006

There are also MP3s for I&W and Calexico (which I've been looking for - amazing tour). Via Pitchfork or not, thanks for the heads up ND.
posted by youarenothere at 8:46 AM on January 27, 2006

carsonb, Colin Meloy has a new EP of Shirley Collins covers for sale on this tour, so he'll probably skip the Morrisey and do a few of those.
posted by amarynth at 8:50 AM on January 27, 2006

Very cool, thanks!
posted by OmieWise at 8:51 AM on January 27, 2006

Excellent, thanks!
posted by monju_bosatsu at 8:57 AM on January 27, 2006

Hating on Pitchfork is so 2003, SSIH*.

*so suck it hatas
posted by bardic at 9:00 AM on January 27, 2006

MPR's The Current station does a lot of in-studio performances when bands come through Minneapolis. All on the web too. In MP3, and pretty indie-centric.
posted by smackfu at 9:00 AM on January 27, 2006

(BTW, Bloc Party is right up there with Coldplay.)
posted by bardic at 9:05 AM on January 27, 2006

awesome, thanks
posted by Miko at 9:05 AM on January 27, 2006

Laura Veirs! Nice one, thanks.
posted by patricio at 9:12 AM on January 27, 2006

My Morning Jacket has been an interesting phenomenon to watch around here... I caught a few shows here before they "made it" - They would play with VHS or Beta pretty much all the time, and those led to some good hipster hunts.

It's always fascinating to watch a community react to a band that makes it big, because it becomes almost compulsary to like them if you didn't before, and there's always the cries of them selling out, etc. Invariably, they stop playing shows locally as much.

That being said, the new My Morning Jacket is really good.

Thanks for the link- Bloc Party in particular is one mf my absolute favorites, and Sigur Ros always puts on a phenomenal show, but it's one that needs to be seen as well as heard.
posted by MysticMCJ at 9:12 AM on January 27, 2006

Very nice! I'm a huge Calexico fan, never have seen or heard them live. Thanks for the link. Making my Friday workday go that much swifter.
posted by elendil71 at 9:22 AM on January 27, 2006

Excellent!
posted by amro at 9:30 AM on January 27, 2006

(BTW, Bloc Party is right up there with Coldplay.)

Whoah, talking about damning with faint praise....
posted by jokeefe at 9:30 AM on January 27, 2006

It's always fascinating to watch a community react to a band that makes it big, because it becomes almost compulsary to like them if you didn't before, and there's always the cries of them selling out, etc. Invariably, they stop playing shows locally as much.

I've always thought it was kind of the opposite -- lots of locals make a point to move on to something else when a bind hits nationally, as if to say "we liked them before you'd ever heard of them and that band's so 2003!" I saw some of this in law school in the mid-90s. A bunch of people would trek to the Flood Zone in Richmond to see Dave Matthews, but once he made it big-time, they'd claim to have never been that much of a fan.

I thought the same might happen in Louisville to MMJ (I lived there until a couple of months ago), so it was nice to see them on to 2005 Louisville is for Lovers CD (although maybe the real hipsters shunned that compilation anyway).

You can also catch some interesting performances, although not full concerts, through the archives of World Cafe. Fridays are especially good for that as some Friday shows are little but live performances at the WXPN studios, with a little chat from David Dye mixed in.
posted by fochsenhirt at 9:38 AM on January 27, 2006

I agree with Rothko: Pitchfork sucks and this is a great post.

<3 Son Volt
posted by keswick at 9:40 AM on January 27, 2006

A bunch of people would trek to the Flood Zone in Richmond to see Dave Matthews, but once he made it big-time, they'd claim to have never been that much of a fan.
posted by fochsenhirt at 12:38 PM EST on January 27 [!]

Dave Matthews Not That Into Himself Anymore
posted by ND¢ at 9:43 AM on January 27, 2006

Very very nice. I'm going straight for the Calexico stuff, but I'll try and give the others a listen too.

Thanks, ND¢!
posted by funambulist at 9:44 AM on January 27, 2006

elendil71, you can also find some live mp3s from their website and full shows on archive.org.

(apologies if you knew already!)
posted by funambulist at 9:56 AM on January 27, 2006

Hurrah! This is a great resource, even if (or maybe especially) I was at most of these shows. Thanks.
posted by youcancallmeal at 10:18 AM on January 27, 2006

elendil71, archive.org has a decent live Calexico collection. The 2003 China Theater show is extremely good. In the same vein, there's a good deal of Giant Sand.
posted by zsazsa at 10:28 AM on January 27, 2006

Oops. Damn you, funambulist!
posted by zsazsa at 10:28 AM on January 27, 2006

Justconcerts.com Has some great sets online, both concert and studio stuff, even some videos so check them out.
posted by daHIFI at 10:49 AM on January 27, 2006

Thanks to you both! I'll look em up!
posted by elendil71 at 11:05 AM on January 27, 2006

Last time I saw The Decemberists, it was a packed house. The marquee read: "The Decemberists - Sold Out." That marquee proved prophetic indeed.
posted by ludwig_van at 11:07 AM on January 27, 2006

elendil71, oh, man, you've gotta see calexico live. Flat-out amazing. Even made my g/f, who doesn't get excited about music, say, "awesome!"
posted by notsnot at 11:11 AM on January 27, 2006

very nice for friday. thanks
posted by squirrely at 11:17 AM on January 27, 2006

I had plans to see Colin and Laura tomorrow at the Birchmere, but thanks to all the publicity, it sold out! My fault for be too lazy and cheap to do the early ticketmaster thing. Damn.

Well at least I can catch a recording of it off the web while I sit at home drowning my sorrows.

Damn.

P.S. I was seeing little Davey Matthews play TRAX in Charlottesville way before they were big enough to go to richmond to play the flood zone. ;-P

Also, I hear Dave isn't that into himself anymore.
posted by Rawhide at 11:48 AM on January 27, 2006

This post is one of those that remind me why I love metafilter; the original links are great, and so are the ones being contributed in the comments. Thanks everyone!
posted by odinsdream at 11:51 AM on January 27, 2006

Last time I saw The Decemberists, it was a packed house. The marquee read: "The Decemberists - Sold Out." That marquee proved prophetic indeed.

Oh please. That's so tiresome.
posted by jokeefe at 12:09 PM on January 27, 2006

Oh please. That's so tiresome.

It was a joke.

However, while the last thing I feel like having is a tired argument about selling out, spare me your reverse-snobbish scorn. I'm not going to stop paying for The Decemberists products, but I'm not going to pretend they didn't sell out. They went from an indie label to a major label - that's what selling out means. Like I said, I don't hate them for it, and I'm not trying to lead a boycott, but I'm calling a spade a spade. If I one day move from an indie label to a major label, feel free to tell me that I've sold out.
posted by ludwig_van at 12:20 PM on January 27, 2006

Are these only in RealMedia or am I missing the MP3/Other links?

Notice the links are javascript. for example, the Sinead set: javascript:getStaticMedia('/asc/live/20051206_asc_sinead','RM,WM');

On my WinXP box, following that link brings me to:
http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?mediaURL=/asc/live/20051206_asc_sinead&mediaType=RM

Note the 'RM' at the end. If you just change it to 'WM' and reload, you should get the Windows Media stream. You can also open the URL directly in Media Player.

Hope that helps.
posted by oncogenesis at 1:00 PM on January 27, 2006

elendil71, oh, man, you've gotta see calexico live.

Would love to notsnot, but according to their schedule they start a European tour at the end of the month, and I cant make it to SF before then, dammit. Havefta catch 'em next time around. T'il then, I'm all about listening to them online.
posted by elendil71 at 1:07 PM on January 27, 2006

Pitchfork sucks and has pointed me towards some very nice things. It's like that really obnoxious 'friend' you despise with self-proclaimed 'good taste' in music. Maybe a fifth of what he listens to is any good, but it's really, really good.
posted by Ryvar at 1:20 PM on January 27, 2006

Thanks, this is cool.

Calixico's web site has MP3s.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:51 PM on January 27, 2006

Sure, the concerts are primarily for RealPlayer, but it gives you a good reason to use these fine apps... and maybe this app too.
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:38 PM on January 27, 2006

(...eyes the Sigur Ros and Interpol menacingly!)
posted by insomnia_lj at 3:39 PM on January 27, 2006