Hudson (aka Travis Aulsebrook) is an Austrailian folk artist with a new EP out this year entitled Open Up Slowly. The entire album can be streamed via his bandcamp page tagged at the beginning of the article or you can purchase the EP for the low low price of 8 bucks. This EP has all the makings of a great future for Hudson with hook, balanced pop orchestration, engaging lyrics, and that innate and hard to define sing-along quality that makes pop music worthwhile. I was really happy that this EP found its way into my headphones this weekend. But here's the best part, stop motion animation! Hudson teamed up with animator Dropbear (aka Jonathan Chong) to create this hip music video for the EP's single Against the Grain. What's not to love? Check it out, buy the EP, and make your next commute with Hudson and Open Up Slowly. You dig?

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Uncovered this gem in a Rolling Rock-inspired YouTube spelunking session. The two legendary hip hop crews have a little fun together in Brooklyn in 1995. Phife is particularly nasty here and while my man Q doesn't get any action, it's still a great document of the peak years of great hip hop.

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The Bad Plus performed the Tears For Fears classic Everybody Wants to Rule The World on their 2007 release Prog. The concert footage is from The Basement night club in Sydney Australia in 2008. It's incredibly good. Here's why:

The Bad Plus is a jazz trio that isn't afraid of negative space in their interpretation. Dave King on drums doesn't feel the need to merely pound away at the pocket and Ethan Iverson on piano is not afraid of simple harmonies an open voicings. This approach makes subtly more effective and dynamic shaping more emotionally evocative. I love how Dave King paints with his drum kit. His playing is a narrative as he interacts with the other two musicians. 

Secondly, the group brings the piece to a controlled boil starting a 2:59 during Reid Anderson's bass solo and when the swell is at its breaking point at 4:29 they pull back and imediately return to the stoic emotional place where they began. They pull this gesture off so well that it is the only time the audience breaks the frame of silence. 

Which brings me to my final thought – the audience etiquette during this performance is neither rock and roll nor jazz. The crowd is completely reverent, at a night club – I love this. This is a trademark of a Bad Plus concert. They shape their interpretations so convincingly that their is no moment which is not completely engaging. Soft, loud, whatever – when The Bad Plus performs they occupy ever inch of the room. You dig?

Don't miss more TWD articles about The Bad Plus here, their Twitter, Facebook, and Ethan Iverson's blog Do The Math.

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Nobody can touch Shabazz Palaces these days. Black Up is an album of the year contender and a seminal moment for current hip hop. If you couldn't quite appreciate the cold, steely production of the album, this video from the guys at Yours Truly should open your eyes to Ish and Co.'s creativity and talent. It's fascinating to see the beat develop live with real instrumentation and watch Ish become absorbed in the lyrics.

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Jeff Tweedy plays the Black Eyed Peas "I Gotta Feeling." Just about everything this man touches turns to gold as far as I'm concerned.  Check this clip out, it's another solid example, enjoyable & hilarious. Especially when he is preparing the crowd for call-and-response.

Fill up your cups – DRANK!

Can't wait for the new album The Whole Love.

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British soulman Michael Kiwanuka has released the official video for the single "I'm Getting Ready". His new EP will be available September 18th from Communion Records.

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I have recently come across (or stumbled upon, as it were) this amazing video of 5,000+ citizens of Grand Rapids, Michigan performing a version of Don McLean's "American Pie." I dig it and think you really should check it out.

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What can I say, deep down I'm really just a sap. Keith Jarrett always brings it out of me and his sparse and emotionally open arranagment of Somewhere Over the Rainbow will get me every time. The video is a performance from Tokyo in 1984. If once just insn't enough, the mp3 is his encore improvisation of the tune from his 1995 La Scala concert. You dig?

Keith Jarrett: Somewhere Over the Rainbow

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The Newport Folk Festival is an annual pilgrimage for lovers of this music. It is a magical weekend on the water were audiences are privy to legends like Pete Seeger and new generation masters like Chris Thile and Michael Daves. I lament that I am not there to partake this year, but NPR and the tech savvy crowd aren't leaving much to the imagination. This impromptu video of an impromptu performance is a choice example of the organic happenings that can happen there. The duo was joined by the Seeger Clogging Allstars in this performance of the Rocky Road Blues. Fun is the key word – fun for the musicians and fun for the crowd. It also doesn't hurt that the world's preeminent bluegrass mandolin player is there to throw down and make it look easy.

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Mayer Hawthorne's released a video for his single "A Long Time". The video is spliced together footage, YouTube style of a 1970's Detroit dance show. Mayer himself doesn't grace the screen, but his smooth jam syncs up great to the ridiculous (and ridiculously dressed) hip shakers.

(Via P4K)

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