Wussy: “Maglite”

Here’s a cool, colorful video of Wussy playing “Maglite” live in Seattle:

“And The Boys”

Here’s a HQ video of Angus and Julia Stone playing “And The Boys” live in 2011:

The Rural Alberta Advantage

The Rural Alberta Advantage is a three-piece Canadian band.

Playing “Edmonton” live in 2009:

Sharon Van Etten: “Love More”

I just discovered this video of Sharon Van Etten playing a solo, guitar-only version of “Love More,” back when it was still a new song.

It’s great to get a glimpse into the beginnings of a song, stripped down to its bare foundation:

Big Scary at Pianos

Big Scary, the Australian duo of Tom Iansek and Jo Syme, played at Pianos last night (Wednesday October 24th).

Big Scary have been a band since 2006, and they released their first songs back in 2008 .

The electric guitar driven “Gladiator” as well as the keyboard driven “Falling Away” were really great live, even for people in the audience who hadn’t necessarily heard the album versions of those songs.

Big Scary ended their set with “Purple” off of their Vacation LP, which sounded a bit out of place (it’s more aggressive, with a spoken word chorus) compared to their other songs.

Check out Big Scary’s website & Twitter!

First Aid Kit @ Irving Plaza

Photo Credit: Neil Krug

First time seeing First Aid Kit live, and it didn’t disappoint!

First Aid Kit played to a packed house at Irving Plaza on Saturday (and they play Sunday at Music Hall of Williamsburg).

Mike Mogis, the “Dr. Dre of indie rock” as Klara introduced him, was a special guest who sat in with the band and played mandolin.

“Blue” sounded particularly good live, and First Aid Kit played “Ghost Town” completely acoustic – with no microphones or amplification – in the middle of their set.

The audience responded well to “The Lion’s Roar” and the band’s latest single “Wolf,” but technical difficulties with Johanna’s keyboard messed up a few songs. I wish they played “Emmylou”  with drums instead of acoustically — the drums are really necessary to drive the song.

Their last song was the rousing, hand-clapping “King of The World.”

First Aid Kit: Website + Twitter

Bush: “Glycerine”

Bush (Gavin Rossdale) playing “Glycerine” for a huge festival in 1999:

Mynabirds: “Fallen Doves”

Super high-quality video of The Mynabirds playing “Fallen Doves” last week:

Wild Flag

Here’s a high-quality video of Wild Flag playing “Romance” at the 2012 Pitchfork Music Festival.

The chorus > the verses:

Now, Now: “School Friends”

Now, Now did a session with Audiotree and played a few songs, including “School Friends.”

The keyboard line sounds almost haunting, like it wouldn’t belong in the song, but it actually works perfectly: