Obscure Music Post
I haven't been good about promoting/talking about shows I go to that aren't opera.
I love close settings and relatively unknown performers who always stay after to talk to their audience, and acoustic guitar, so last night I ventured out with a friend to see Ernie Halter, Joe Firstman and The Kin.
Ernie Halter played the piano, the guitar, and the ukulele, has a beautiful voice and an insane personality. He is all over the place, completely entertaining, comfortable in front of an audience and likes to talk about the stories behind his music and living on the road. His music is lyrical and a joy to listen to because he so obviously loves it. I will say that he needs to work on some of his song endings because it doesn't appear like he knows how to get out of his pretty melodies gracefully. I liked all of his songs, but Love in L.A. stuck with me the most.
Joe Firstman has a sort of raspy, bluesy, sometimes even country edge. He's an excellent guitar and piano player with a cool, not-quite-pretty voice. I don't really know how to encapsulate him, but he was interesting and I mean that in a very good way. Even with only one instrument, his voice worked in a sort of competitive counterpart to his playing, almost using the instrument as an entity onto itself instead of accompaniment, and that made everything sound so layered, like you could pick it apart if you listened long enough. Here's 700 Pound Piano:
Ah, The Kin. Well, let's just get this out of the way; they're brothers, sexy and charming as all hell and have beautiful accents, and I met them and hugged them, so my enjoyment was somewhat shallow. That being said, they also are good musicians, with tight harmony and lovely, strong voices. Thorry Koren is especially impressive on the guitar. I didn't like all their stuff, but that's my allergy to sentiment kicking in and not their fault at all. My favorite song they did was Abraham - they left the stage and played in the middle of the crowd. Here's Abraham (not all of it, but a lot of the youtubes are too dark to see):
I love close settings and relatively unknown performers who always stay after to talk to their audience, and acoustic guitar, so last night I ventured out with a friend to see Ernie Halter, Joe Firstman and The Kin.
Ernie Halter played the piano, the guitar, and the ukulele, has a beautiful voice and an insane personality. He is all over the place, completely entertaining, comfortable in front of an audience and likes to talk about the stories behind his music and living on the road. His music is lyrical and a joy to listen to because he so obviously loves it. I will say that he needs to work on some of his song endings because it doesn't appear like he knows how to get out of his pretty melodies gracefully. I liked all of his songs, but Love in L.A. stuck with me the most.
Click to viewJoe Firstman has a sort of raspy, bluesy, sometimes even country edge. He's an excellent guitar and piano player with a cool, not-quite-pretty voice. I don't really know how to encapsulate him, but he was interesting and I mean that in a very good way. Even with only one instrument, his voice worked in a sort of competitive counterpart to his playing, almost using the instrument as an entity onto itself instead of accompaniment, and that made everything sound so layered, like you could pick it apart if you listened long enough. Here's 700 Pound Piano:
Ah, The Kin. Well, let's just get this out of the way; they're brothers, sexy and charming as all hell and have beautiful accents, and I met them and hugged them, so my enjoyment was somewhat shallow. That being said, they also are good musicians, with tight harmony and lovely, strong voices. Thorry Koren is especially impressive on the guitar. I didn't like all their stuff, but that's my allergy to sentiment kicking in and not their fault at all. My favorite song they did was Abraham - they left the stage and played in the middle of the crowd. Here's Abraham (not all of it, but a lot of the youtubes are too dark to see):