Cirque de String Cheese

Twas the 2nd night of Rothbury and not one hippie was sleeping...

How could anyone sleep for String Cheese's one and only show for 2009? Up until that night my cheese répertoire was limited to just a few tunes, but after seeing a surprise practice set on the first day, lets just say i was as giddy as the other 30,000 people walking through a glowing magical forest to  converge at the Odeum stage. Now let me just say that the music alone blew my mind, Cheese's chemistry on stage was like nothing i've ever seen, as a friend of mine still states, it was "enlightening". Now on top of that there were giant 40 ft beach balls, flying acrobats, fire dancing, and on top of that a crowd of the coolest and happiest people you could hope to be with. I could go on but i'll stop boring you now, it's time to get your cheese on!


download here:

String Cheese Incident, July 2nd 2009 at Rothbury

Mark Lanegan

Definitely in my top 5 of favorite singer-songwriters, the best way i can describe the mysterious Mark Lanegan's voice is as the bastard child of Jim Morrison and Tom Waits. I first discovered Lanegan listening to Queens of the Stone Age, although he only sings on a few songs on each album, they also tend to be among the best songs on their albums, such as: Song for the Dead, In the Fade, and This Lullaby. Lanegan's music career began in 1985 as the lead singer for the Seattle grunge band The Screaming Trees. In 1992 the band released their 'breakout' album "Sweet Oblivion" which had the single "Nearly Lost You" peak at number 5 on the Charts. It was during his stint with the Trees that Lanegan began his solo career, his first solo album the "The Winding Sheet" was actually recorded after an incomplete collaborative project with Kurt Cobain aiming at being a tribute album to Leadbelly. The aborted project's recording of 'Where did you Sleep Last Night' was included on the album and was the basis for Nirvana's cover of the song for their MTV unplugged performance. Lanegan continued to record solo albums throughout the 90s and despite the rareness of Lanegan performing his solo songs, he gained a growing cult following and increased critical acclaim as the years progressed. After recording "Songs For the Deaf" in 2003 with QOTSA, the newly formed The Mark Lanegan Band released "Here Comes That Weird Chill", an ep which was followed by his biggest comerical and critical success "Bubblegum". Since then Lanegan has been taken part in numerous collaborations including: The Gutter Twins with Afghan Whig's lead singer Greg Dullhi, an electronic gospel group the Soulsavers, and a trifecta of albums with Belle and Sebation's Isobel Campbell, along with maaaany others.

If you're unfamiliar with Mark Lanegan, all his solo albums and collaborations are favorites of mine but if you want a reccomendation start off with Bubblegum because it contains a variety of his different styles of songs while fitting together perfectly. All three of his albums with Isobel Campbell are just beautiful and if you're into gospel I would check out the Soulsavers' album "It's not how far you fall, It's the way you land". Regardless of where you start though, you'll get hooked.




So here I give you a trifecta of live Mark Lanegan performances, the last being from his recent tour with Isobel Campbell. Enjoy!!!

Download:


Mark Lanegan Band - Live in Brussels 2003 (password: mundoeleven.blogspot.com)

Mark Lanegan live in Brussels, 6/5/10

Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell - live at the Barbican in London 2010

Welcome!

Hey y'all, Sma here, welcome to Gems for the head. This is actually my first blog so please bear with me. Here I'll be exposing you to music that you probably wouldn't normally hear about, I won't just be putting up rarities from artists you know but there'll be plenty of great gems from the ones you've probably never even heard of. I'll also be giving room to visual artists in both film and still art. If you have any suggestions or any requests just let me know. Thanks for checking us out and enjoy!