Antoine Dufour & Tommy Gauthier

I feel pretty cultured today - I went to my first symphony orchestra concert last night here at school. Don't ask why. Everyone playing was really good, of course, but the guy playing first chair violin just looked so into the whole thing... his whole body was playing the instrument. Anyway, it reminded me of a video, so I thought I'd post it. I first heard of these guys in another video, something about "four-handed guitar playing," a pretty cool video too, but not quite like this one; the percussive guitar here by itself is awesome, but the whole instrumental duet action takes it to another level. Check out either one of these guys' MySpace pages for əɹoɯ.

John Mayer

Everyone's heard of John Mayer, most people have heard of his Continuum album, and a lot of people know the song Slow Dancing in a Burning Room. Not that I have anything against the original, I really dig everything on Continuum, but the acoustic uoısɹəʌ of the tune that Mayer released before the final LP on The Village Sessions EP is just too good. There's really nothing wrong with The Village Sessions; it's definitely got my favorite acoustics anywhere, and I'd put it in my top five albums without any hesitation. Perfect. Stripped down,  acoustic, and really just flawless.

Here's Slow Dancing in a Burning Room 

(Acoustic) from The Village Sessions EP.

Priscilla Ahn

I posted another song by Priscilla Ahn before, but this one really shows what she does better than the last one: haunting, layered vocals and folksy lyrics with smooth acoustics and layered strings filling it all in. About 4:30 into the song she really hits her stride, but the whole thing is really well done.

Here's the original demo version of Lullaby, rerecorded 

and released on the 2008 Blue Note LP A Good Day.

Fleetwood Mac

Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac's guitarist, really developed his own style over time working with the band. The group formed in 1967, and by 1977, when Rumours was released, he'd really gotten down a folksy acoustic ambience that made the group's sound. The intro to the seventh track from that album shows the sound really well, not to mention that the tune has a really cool harmony at the end of each chorus - wide harmonies definitely helped make up the group's sound as well. The live version of the song from "The Dance" is more developed, but the harmony didn't make it into the chorus there, so I always end up liking the original copy a little more. If you like this tune give a listen to the last track on the same album, Gold Dust Woman. Folksy acoustic ambient goodness.

Here's The Chain from Rumours.

And just for kicks, here's the copy of The Chain from 

The Dance, Fleetwood Mac's reunited 1997 live effort.

Jack Johnson

I need some music to get me through the day today. I always find myself coming back to this song to pick me up. It's an old tune, everyone's heard it before, but this take on Jack Johnson's "Better Together" is just so much more relaxing and, well, just better. I don't really know how else to say it. Jack drops the key a half step and brings in melody over rhythm, and at least this time it made something really awesome.

Here's Better Together (Hawaiian Version) from The Mango Tree.

More Jason Mraz...

Since I have no attention span, I'm already straying away from reggae. Sorry. The song from the past post just made me think of another Mraz recording; this one is  an acoustic version of his radio-friendly less-than-amazingly-artistic song The Remedy, and as much as I dislike the original, this recording really shows how good Mraz can be when he keeps things simple and acoustic. He's got a really interesting rhythm to his guitar parts and a great flow to his lyrics when everything doesn't get watered down in a studio. And if this does anything for you, go ahead and check out the "We Sing EP" that came out just before the LP with the same title earlier this year. Acoustic goodness.

Here's an unreleased version of The Remedy.

Bob Marley / Jason Mraz

What would reggae be without Bob Marley? I wonder how many Greatest Hits albums he has. I'm gonna go ahead and guess I wouldn't be able to count them with just my own fingers and toes. My favorite song in the world is One Love, hands down, but I actually like the Jason Mraz cover of the song better than the original. I know, blasphemy, but it's whatever. Or something. Bob really was an amazing musician, I just love how simple, clean, and powerful this recording is, not to mention how awesome the message of the song is to begin with. Thanks to the Digital Citrus blog for this tune... go check that thing out, it'll be worth your while.

This song wasn't actually released on any of Jasin Mraz's own albums; it was recorded for a GAP jeans sales campaign. Strange, yes I know. But it's absolutely flawless. I'm not sure where you can find his album unless you shopped for GAP jeans in the 1990's, so make sure and give this one a listen here. And if not for how rare it is, then for the fact that it's my favorite, and if you're reading my blog then maybe you think my taste doesn't entirely suck. Either way.

Here's One Love from GAP Favorites.

More Tristan Prettyman...

As promised (for all you countless blog readers), here's some earlier, acoustic-er Tristan Prettyman, the song that put her on the map and showed the world her sunny tone. When people called her "a female Jack Johnson" they weren't far off.

Here's Love, Love, Love from Twentythree.

Priscilla Ahn

Priscilla Ahn just released her first studio LP this month on her new label, Blue Note (think Norah Jones and Amos Lee). The album's called A Good Day and it's available on iTunes or through her website. She's got an absolutely beautiful voice, and the new album's really good, but I actually like her pervious release more, simply called the Priscilla Ahn EP. The new album is more refined, with more support from other musicians, but the EP really shows her raw vocal talent. She's especially good at layering vocals, and in a lot of her work she actually uses a looping pedal for her microphone, and she's able to make a really haunting and powerful sound.

Here's an early track of hers, a song that later made it's way onto the EP but didn't make the cut on the new album. You can also hear Priscilla backing Amos Lee and Joshua Radin on their albums and tours. I'll stop talking now, here's the song. Enjoy.

Here's Lost, an original demo recording later 

redone and released on the Priscilla Ahn EP.

More From The King

Just to even things out. I like to pretend I can play this song. I'm sure a lot of people do. I get the feeling people who don't like guitar will find this whole blog thing relatively uninteresting. I'll try to find some crazy Asian kid playing piano like a rockstar to appeal to the masses.

Justin King

Time to start getting some videos out of the way. We'll start at the top, might be my favorite guitar video ever. Don't get me wrong, the Larivee clip is totally badass, people just tend to underestimate the difficulty of playing harmonics all over a fucking guitar while your hands run around playing percussive notes faster than what should be humanly possible anyway. Bada bing, bada boom.

John Butler Trio: Sunrise Over Sea

Take Justing King, put him together with the Dave Matthews Band, send them to Australia, and take them off the American airwaves, and you've got the John Butler Trio. Some additional measurements may be needed; but with King's percussive stylings and Matthews' political drive, orchestral twang, and heartfelt lyrical expression, Butler and his band have taken over radio by storm across the world, with few exceptions besides a tasteless American ratings machine. Look out for the Australian invasion coming to a city near you, complete with dreadlocks and an upright bass.

This is Hello, from the studio LP Sunrise Over Sea by the John Butler Trio.