Show Review - The Head and The Heart - Seattle, WA 2/21/14

They say there's nothing quite like playing to a home town crowd. Seattle's own Homecoming Heroes, The Head and The Heart proved that last night, playing to a sold out audience at the historic Paramount Theater. The indie folk-rock band had no trouble keeping the crowd enthralled in every moment of every song on their set list. Mixing together just the right amount of old and new material, The Head and The Heart captivated every head and every heart in the room that night, mine included.

I became an instant fan of The Head and The Heart the moment I listened to the self-titled first record. Their second release, out Oct. 2013, Let's Be Still (read my review here,) kept me a fan. When I saw they were playing in Seattle on their current tour, I jumped at the chance to see them. And frankly, after the week I had leading up the night of the show, I needed this happy in my life.

The band opened with the lead off single from their new record, Shake, winding up an already electrified crowd. They played on, the hometown crowd soaking in every word, every harmony, every note, every drum beat. You could feel that the band was glad to be home. With their jovial banter, and song break chatting you could just tell they were having an amazing night. They were feeding off the love from the audience and weaving that into their performance; there's no disputing that Seattle fans are the best.

As our hearts swelled from the music, the critic in me was also very impressed by the pure musicianship from the members of the band. Everyone was in top form. The drummer, Tyler Williams, brought the room to a near stand still with his intensity on Rivers and Roads (which was really one of the greatest songs that night)

It's magical when a room full of near strangers, gathered together for the sake of music, all join in singing the same song. These are the experiences I live for, this is one of my favorite things about going to live shows. I think the best example of this all night was during Rivers and Roads. All around me I could hear voices singing along, voices throwing out all their cares in the world and focusing on that moment, coming together for the music.

The Set list:

Shake

Homecoming Heroes

Coeur d'Alene

Ghosts

Honey Come Home

Another Story

Cruel

Let's Be Still

Lost in my Mind

Winter Song

                                                                                                        Heaven Go Easy On Me

                                                                                                        10,000 Weight in Gold

                                                                                                        Sounds Like Hallelujah

                                                                                                        Gone

                                                                                                        Rivers and Roads

                                                                                                        (Unknown new song - Josiah acoustic)

Summertime

Down in the Valley

Album Review - Augustines - Augustines

I hate genres. I hate putting bands into genres. Sometimes there isn't just one genre big enough to hold a band, or sometimes there just isn't a word to describe that band. Augustines is one of those bands. Sure, they're rock and roll, but these days that's such a broad term. They are just damn good, that's all there is to it. The Seattle via Brooklyn based trio, Billy McCarthy, Eric Sanderson and  Rob Allen, (formerly We Are Augustines) released their sophomore album on February 4, 2014. The self titled album is more than just their second album, it's a sort of come-back album, a reemergence album, a "hey, we're still here and we're not going anywhere" album.

A follow up to 2011's Rise Ye Sunken Ships, Augustines is chock full of emotion, feeling, heartbreaking stories, melodies, lyrics and life. At times it's almost overwhelming, but in the greatest way possible. When you're listening to these songs unfold, they just keep getting bigger and bigger, with several having an epic, anthem quality to them. Lead singer Billy McCarthy's vocals trap you in each and every song. His intensity is incredible. He brings all he has into these songs. This is an album that once you turn it on, once you get it started, you're not going to stop it, not going to turn off until its done, until the last note of the last song ends, just to see how it plays out, just to stay wrapped in the feeling.

The lead single, Cruel City, keys in to this feeling. The African beats keep the song in your head all day. It really is an all around perfect song. Perfect beat, perfect feel, perfect sound, perfect lyrics. Weary Eyes is probably my favorite song off the album. It has the feeling of an old 80's Peter Gabriel song. The perfection from Cruel City carries into Weary Eyes. OK, who am I kidding, this whole album is damn near perfect. All of the songs holding your heart, your attention (but my favorites are Weary Eyes, Cruel City, Now You Are Free, and Hold on to Anything.) They all have stadium rock qualities, a throwback to U2, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, but with the pure heart you only get from Augustines. This is another album where there aren't a few stand out tracks, every single track is is 10, but should be played cranked up to 11. Mosey on over to your trusty online music retailer and pick this album up.

What's in a name?

For the last 21 months I've written this blog under the title "TopHats By Jennifer" and have done fairly well with it, however, it's time for a change. When I started the blog, the title was the hardest thing for me to come up with. TopHats by Jennifer has been an in-joke in the family for nearly 10 years, so that's what I went with, really more as a place holder than anything. Over the last couple months I've been thinking about that name, and that it really doesn't do the blog justice, so I'm changing it. It's by blog, so I can change it if I want.

The new name? My Music Life. It just feels right. Though it's always been in my life, over the last two years I've made music my life, it's kind of taken over, and I want the blog to reflect that.

I'm keeping the URL (tophatsbyjennifer.blogspot.com) the same (for now anyway, it might change when I run out of business cards) just coz it's easy to search for, and for old time's sake.

Thanks to everyone for reading, and all the support. Thanks for continuing to read. Thanks for making my music life so special (you know who you are.)

~ Feel the music, breathe it in, this is my life
              ~Jennifer