When I met Stuart McLamb, singer/songwriter for The Love Language, before their CD release party at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill, he told me that he would wink at me the most since I was reviewing his show. But fortunately for McLamb, his music did all the winking for him.

Never leaving anyone wanting less, the band expertly put on more of a carnival than a concert, one where everyone in the room was as much a part of the act as the band itself; and the sold-out crowd clearly appreciated it. They performed everything from whimsical ballads to gutsy waltzes and circus-reared rock tunes, showcasing their ability to create a wide variety of soundscapes live. And not only did the band and the audience clearly have a blast, the music itself seemed to have a great time, drawing everyone into the lush and sophisticated indie pop songs, despite the ever present lo-fi grit.

READ ON for more of this month’s Triangle Explorer…

The ever adorable Jenny Lewis will once again hit the road for a lengthy solo tour that finds the former child actor and Rilo Kiley front woman hitting a mix of festivals and clubs across the country. Joining Ms. Lewis throughout the run will be The Sadies, Deer Tick and Heartless Bastards whom will all open various legs of the tour. In addition to the tour, a documentary called Welcome to Van Nuys will be released that chronicles the making of her sophomore solo record Acid Tongue - which will feature live tracking of several songs as well as behind-the-scenes, candid footage from the recording at Sound City Studio in Van Nuys, CA. Quite a busy lady.

If you’re not into the solo work of Jenny Lewis, than maybe you’ll be into hitting one of these recently announced tours…

• Black Star reunites for two shows at New York’s Nokia Theater
• Meat Puppets head out in support of their latest release
• Indie-pop act Camera Obscura schedule dates here and abroad
• Hipster Tour Alert: The Virgins and Lissy Truille team up
• Santigold trades in the O for an I in her name for her upcoming run
• JFJO line up a nineteen date Spring run

Finally, after taking a break from touring for awhile The Shins will be making their return to the road this May for a short 14 date cross-country run. Speaking of The Shins, in other news the band has decided to part ways with long time label Sub Pop and will put out their fourth studio album on front man James Mercer’s label Aural Apothecary - opting to own their own masters and seek wide distribution through a label.

We’d like to welcome back Alex of Hipster Resistance to tell us all about the Blues & Lasers show at Sullivan Hall with the help of Rachel Balik…

The combination of Gregg Allman’s improved health, The Allman Brothers 40th anniversary and the Phish and the Dead reunions is creating a perfect storm for an American rock and roll revival. Blues music is a key component to rock and is finally getting the recognition it deserves here in NYC. As the Allman Brothers 40th anniversary is shaking the foundation of American pop culture, bands like Blues and Lasers are catching a ride of the wave of good music, as evidenced by their post-show performance.

Blues and Lasers are made up partially of the backing band behind Grace Potter, in Grace Potter and the Nocturnals and consist of GPN lead guitarist Scott Tournet, Benny Yurco on lead and rhythm guitar, Matt Burr and Steve Sharron on drums and their new Bass player, John Rogone. Rogone is a Vermont area session musician that replaced former Blues and Lasers Bassists Bryan Dondero who first stepped down from Blues and Lasers and in just the past week Grace Potter and the Nocturnals as well. Dondero leaving GPN resulted in the last three shows of their tour being cancelled. Despite this fact I was told at the concert that the split was “very happy” and there are no hard feelings, that Bryan is multi-talented and has chosen to go work in the engineering and producing side of music. This good natured sentiment is also reflected on a statement released on the GPN website.

READ ON for more from Alex and Rachel on Blues & Lasers…

The other day a friend of mine asked if I could point him in the direction of good clips from Phish’s Hampton run on YouTube. In looking at that site and the videos on Vimeo, there are literally hundreds to choose from. The quality varies greatly, so I’ve decided to put together a list of the best videos available of each song from each night. Let’s start with the first night…

Set I: Fluffhead, Divided Sky, Chalk Dust Torture, Sample In A Jar, Stash, I Didn’t Know, Oh Kee Pah Ceremony > Suzy Greenberg, Farmhouse, NICU, Horn, Rift, Train Song, Water In The Sky, Squirming Coil, David Bowie

Set 2: Backwards Down The Number Line, Tweezer, Taste, Possum, Theme From The Bottom, First Tube, Harry Hood, Waste, You Enjoy Myself

Encore: Grind, Bouncing Around the Room, Loving Cup

On New Year’s Day, when the news that the surviving members of The Dead were reforming for a spring tour I couldn’t have been more excited. Bob Weir and Phil Lesh have hit the road hard over the past few years and I’ve been underwhelmed with their solo projects. Yesterday, The Dead took Manhattan harder than the Muppets did back in the day performing four times at four completely different venues including a spot on The View. I caught the band’s 8PM show at the Gramercy Theatre and I left an hour later thoroughly impressed and excited to see a show or on the tour.

[All photos by Adam Kaufman]

As a varied mix of Deadheads entered the 700 person capacity theater there was a sense of excitement in the air that all of those with golden tickets felt. The venue filled up just before showtime and The Dead - on a tight schedule - came on shortly after ticket time. Warren Haynes started noodling and his bandmates followed along. Unlike in the solo bands, there was no clear leader which was a marvelous thing. Phil picked up on Warren’s riffs and would follow along for a few minutes before asserting himself. Bobby would throw in some weird, choppy chords that added a nice spice to the mix with all of the ingredients lining up for an interesting jam that was more psychedelic than blues.

The jams on this evening were reminiscent of ‘73 Dead - one of my favorite periods. Keyboardist Jeff Chimenti channeled Keith Godchaux thanks to a slew of rollicking ragtime licks and quick changes in tempo. Eventually, the jam turned a corner and the band kicked off Playing In The Band. Bob Weir has taken some knocks lately for his singing, but he did a nice job with one of his signature songs. The Dead sounded surprisingly tight for a band that hasn’t started their tour yet.

READ ON for more of Scotty’s thoughts on The Dead…

Five or six tunes into Friday night’s Jeff Tweedy solo concert at The Calvin Theatre in Northampton, I started to think we were catching Tweedy on a non-chatty night. Perhaps we would not receive the signature banter you come to expect from his solo shows.

The closest he had come to being witty was sneaking the word Northampton as a lyric change to the show-opening Spiders (Kidsmoke) which made the crowd erupt in applause. Afterward, Tweedy shrugged as if to say, “this is like shooting fish in a barrel”. But once the floodgates of banter opened they did not close for the next hour and the theme of the night was things Mr. Tweedy (that’s Jeff’s dad) had told him over the years. The anecdotes ranged from quirky to down-right fucked up…they were, [I paraphrase as this is all from memory]

#1, Commenting on the light at the Calvin Theater, he said it reminded him of something his Dad used to say (this is what started it off). He recalled what his father would say when they were leaving his older sister home alone for the evening. He would say, “OK, lock all the doors, here’s the number where we’re going….I don’t know why I’m telling you this, whoever would come and take you would let you go at the first street light anyway….”

#2, “Women. Hang ‘em upside down in the shower and they all look alike”

#3, “Marry a woman that’s a little bit fat. That way, everywhere you grab, you’ll get something good.

#4, “Never back up further than you have to.”

#5, Describing one of the charity “living room” concerts he does in Chicago, at the end of the show his Dad called on his cell phone and Jeff’s wife picks up. Hands the phone over to Jeff who puts him on speaker phone even though he knows he shouldn’t.

Mr. Tweedy: Hey everyone
Crowd Assembled: Hi Mr. Tweedy
Mr. Tweedy: I’m naked!

Musically, the show was exactly what you would expect and that’s a talented songwriter performing stripped-down versions from his catalog. The number of albums from his discography that he hit was downright impressive. Every Wilco album (except Sky Blue Sky) was represented. Two of the four Uncle Tupelo discs made the setlist. Both volumes of Mermaid Avenue, (the records done with Billy Bragg), two tunes from each. Add one cover (Fake Plastic Trees), a track from his side-project Loose Furs (The Ruling Class), three tunes set to be released on Wilco’s new album in June, and even a track from the More Like The Moon EP made the cut (Bob Dylan’s 49th Beard).

READ ON for more from DaveO on Jeff Tweedy at the Calvin…

I know it’s technically spring, but damn it’s cold and stormy in the big city, and we could use a little something to raise the spirits, so this week looks towards a jazzy groove. Opening up, we have Cannonball Adderly back in 1963 with Primitivo (and some pretty great prefacing remarks), followed by Sonny Rollins in 1980 with Blossom. If you haven’t checked out 2008’s Road Shows: Vol. 1, stop robbing yourself of a killer sonic experience.

Shifting to more recent material, Will Bernard’s new unit features John Medeski, Stanton Moore and Andy Hess, and has produced the best sounds to come from the New Groove/Acid Jazz scene in quite some time. I caught them the other night at the Highline, and it was fantastic to see Hess back playing the music he was made to play… and of course Medeski just makes everything better. From Blue Plate Special is Baby Goats.

A third album from 2008 worth hearing is Derek Trucks’ Already Free, which gives us Down Don’t Bother Me No More - the opening guitar riff here says it all. And to close things out, another member of the Col. Bruce school, Mr. Bobby Lee Rodgers has been out in the south with Jeff Sipe, Shannon Hoover and Charles Hedgepath; from just over a week ago we have a brilliant, glorious jam to take us toward some warmer weather. Enjoy!

• CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS WEEK’S MIX

The Dead - The View

We’ve caught up to the NCAA tourney as we’re down to the final four for our version of March Madness featuring past Cover Wars winners facing off.

Thanks to everyone who voted this week as Phish’s cover of A Day In The Life quadrupled the vote total for tDB’s Killing In The Name cover, Garcia/Grisman’s take on Sitting In Limbo won by a large margin over DMB’s Sledgehammer, Widespread Panic’s cover of Can’t Find My Way Home eeked one out against Umphrey’s Making Flippy Floppy and Mr. Blotto’s 50 Ways Cinderella story continues with a big win over the Dead’s Not Fade Away.

Today, we’ve got two semi-final matchups for you to vote on:

A Day In The Life - Phish vs. Sitting In Limbo - Garcia/Grisman
Can’t Find My Way Home - WSP vs. 50 Ways - Mr. Blotto

READ ON to listen to, read about and vote on the Final Four…

Later this week, I’m going to get to all the bands that I caught down at SXSW - a little late on that, but I do hold down a real day job too. Before I divulge that list wanted to share the music of one of the bands that I had circled on my schedule and that I had the pleasure to check out - Vetiver.

For a long time this band had been lumped among the recent crop of freak-folk acts - mainly do to their close association with that scene’s most identifiable face Devendra Banhart. With a move to Sup Pop for their latest release, Tight Knit is an instantly accessible album of gentle folk-rock inspired more by the Grateful Dead’s Americana period than maybe some of their more obscure bands they’ve namechecked in the past. Let’s check out their hilariously tongue-in-cheek video for Everyday, which is inspired by the ones that accompany karaoke songs…

The band kicks off their month and a half long North American tour on April 4, with a stop at Brooklyn’s Bell House on May 7. See ya there!