Continuing through my music collection

Just leafing through my music library, and rediscovering some real gems. I thought I'd share them with the aether, to pass it on. After all, many of these came to me the same way. Some random link from somewhere, and boom, uncover a musical world.

I'll start with Boban Marković Orkestar & Marko Markovic, a Balkan brass band that you may enjoy. I don't really know anything about them, and I can't remember if Tracy or I found them. It may have been Tracy, as she has been listening to Balkan Beatbox and some northern European hip hop recently. In any case, here's a video of them playing live:

 

Pretty sweet. I'd really love to hear these guys live. What an amazing energy.

Alright, for Brett Dennen, first watch the video:

I first heard this guy a couple years ago. I was just randomly browsing through the iTunes store (whether you buy from them or not, it's a great way to find unexpected gems) and I found this self-titled album from Dennen. In the video, it's completely obvious that Brett listens to African guitar music and loves it. His play style is very African, with that thumb and index on the hard plucking, it's that Congolese way of playing I'm in the process of trying to teach myself. The recorded versions of these songs sound more acoustic than this live track, but even there the guitar stands out. Of course, the way he incorporates this stuff into his songs is very unique.

Darling Do not Fear is probably my favorite Brett Dennen song. Great tune, wonderful lyrics. Here's a video from a radio studio performance:

Brett Dennen writes really nice lyrics, and really puts a lot of soul into his work. One of my favorite things about this songwriter is just how positive he is. There's not a lot of people who write such celebratory lyrics in this genre of music. Brett achieves this positive spirit with some real poetry. Nice stuff.

Tracy and I went to see Dennen while we were down in Scottdale this Spring for one of Tracy's medical conferences. We only stayed for four or five songs. Simply put, the sound was horrible. It's such a shame, how a great act can be completely derailed by a bad sounding room. Now, I'm not going to blame the sound guys. There's some rooms that you just can't make sound good. Well, not without major remodeling and PA investment. This, sadly, was one of them. Perhaps this being a deal-breaker for us was just a sign of our age. The place was standing room only, full of college kids - hence a murmuring din that can be heard through the music - and we were already pretty tired. But, seriously, it just sounded bad. I'd like to see him sometime in a better venue.