Christmas in…errr….August?

I’ve gotten zero done the past couple of hours after stumbling across some amazing gems of live music.

First though, a word about listening to live music at home. It’s usually nonsense. I’ll take a studio version nine times out of ten. More often than not it’s a muffled version of your favorite song, accented by “Owww”s and “YEAAAAAH”s. I’ve always thought of “live” albums as a way for bands to meet record deal obligations more than offering anything new or real for you to listen to.

(**Slowly steps off soap box…offers up live music you need to hear**)

The exception has always been something you wouldn’t normally hear while pawing through the albums of your favorite artists.

Case and point, THIS stellar collection of live Elliot Smith covers.

From Rawkblog.net:

The below tracks have been culled from years of research and dozens of live shows. Not every song has the greatest recording fidelity, but as much as possible, I chose the tapes with the best combination of performance and sound for this collection.

From The Beatles, to Dylan, to live “Thirteen“, to “Walk Away Renee“….this is fantastic, deep, and a touch sad if you think about it too hard. Listen now, or wait till winter and question if it will ever end.

Also today are two “live” videos that deserve your time.

Two of my favorite albums of the year get unique, intimate performances today.

First, Thao Nguyen of Thao & The Get Down Stay Down invites Spin and YOU into her home for a stripped version of “Kindness Be Conceived“

Then, from the NPR “Tiny Desk Concert” series it’s The Front Bottoms playing a talon full of tunes off their album released earlier this year. Check it HERE.

Lighters up.