So I took a little break, but anytime I stay away for too long I start to get restless.

I still have a slew of SXSW shows to post, but I thought I would take a moment away from SXSW and post this beautiful little gem that I taped a couple of weeks before we went down to Austin.

As I've mentioned a couple of times before, I listened (however briefly) to every song that was part of the massive 700 mp3 song SXSW bittorrent. While I was going through the "A"s I ran across a band called Art in Manila. It caught my attention and I listened to the whole track.

Hmmmm, I thought - that sounds a lot like Orenda Fink from Azure Ray. I google'd the band, and sure enough Art in Manila was Orenda and her new(ish) band.I was pretty excited for the show, especially since I'd seen Maria Taylor (the other half of Azure Ray) a few weeks prior - and have wanted an Azure Ray reunion tour ever since they broke up.

Now its probably not fair to compare Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink - but considering the circumstances, its fairly hard not to. The verdict after seeing both the shows? I'm not waiting for a reunion anymore. I love Maria all by her lonesome.

I drove an hour to go see her play in Denton, and it was worth every minute. She played a beautiful set that included the best tracks from her new record, Lynn Teeter Flower as well as reimagined tracks from her first solo record, 11:11.

Editors Note - My lovely girlfriend just reminded me that SHE drove us to Denton so that I could have a few drinks. She's good like that. ;)

Easily emerging as the best track, Leap Year was played as a delicate ballad, in stark contrast to the original beat-driven version. Other stand out tracks were Clean Getaway, Speak Easy and Light House.

Note - there's a slight buzz during the chorus of Replay, unfortunately this was coming over the speakers at the show and was related to some issue with the way the bass was plugged in. The sound man fixed it after Smile and Wave and it went away. Unfortunately it detracted from one of the best songs fom Lynn Teeter Flower - but hey, what can you do?

Here's to the next Maria Taylor. Hopefully she'll play Lost Time and Irish Goodbye next time...

Enjoy -

Live MP3s:
Intro
Leap Year
Replay
Smile and Wave
Birmingham 1982
No Stars
Xanax
The Ballad of Sean Foley
Clean Getaway
At Last (Etta James)
Small Part of Me
A Good Start
Song Beneath The Song
Encore Break
Speak Easy
Light House

Labels: concerts, denton, haileys, indie, live mp3s, soundboard mp3s