Tag: Ben Lee (Page 3 of 4)

Sleep Songs

March 4, 2011 / aftertheshow

Below is a collection of good “Sleep Songs.”

To qualify, the word “sleep” must be in the song’s title. Evoking feelings of somnolence and relaxation = optional.

“Sleepy Head” by Eisley:

“Sleep on Fire” by Holly Miranda:

“Sleep Machine” by Phantom Planet:

“We’ll Never Sleep (God Knows We’ll Try)” by Rilo Kiley:

“In Sleep” by Lissie:

“Sing Me To Sleep” by Fran Healy:

“Sleep Better” by Pete Yorn:

Honorable Mentions:

“Sleep” by Nada Surf

“Sleepwalking” by Ben Lee

“Sleep Song” by Rooney

“Sleep” by Azure Ray

“Sleep All Summer” by Crooked Fingers

“Get Your Sleep” by Ben Lee

“Everytime I Go To Sleep” by Holly Miranda

El May & Rachael Cantu Show Recap

August 18, 2010 / aftertheshow

Monday night (8-16-2010), El May and Rachael Cantu played at The Hotel Cafe in LA.

I was pleasantly surprised that The Hotel Cafe had been renovated and was much larger than the last time I had visited 7 years ago.

El May (Lara May) played a solo set consisting of guitar, experimental looping of vocals and guitar, and piano. Highlights were when she played songs on the piano such as “Draining a Lake” and songs on guitar like “Don’t You” and “Order in the Nothing.”

Rachael Cantu played a great set with an accompanying guitarist with her. Although she didn’t play her cover of “Can You Tell” by Ra Ra Riot, she did play songs like “Thieves and Their Hands.” The use of a guitar slide gave a country twang to some songs. She ended her set with the song “Saturday,” which sounded great with the combination of just acoustic guitar and electric guitar.

Shout out to ATS reader Maribella M. who was also at the show!

Gulf Coast Benefit Concert Recap

July 5, 2010 / aftertheshow

Rachael Cantu, Carina Round, Ben Lee, the Silver Lake Chorus, and Kaki King played at the Mint in LA on Thursday for the Gulf Coast Benefit Concert. Kaki King organized and emceed the concert.

Highlights:

-Ben Lee playing his song “Pop Queen” with Kaki King playing the guitar solo.

-Ben Lee playing “We’re All In This Together” with the Silver Lake Chorus singing back-up vocals.

-Kaki King covering “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” by The Smiths.

Also in attendance were Clea Duvall, Tegan Quin of Tegan and Sara, Zooey Deschanel of She & Him, Lara May of El May, Ione Skye, Liz Feldman, and Kate Moennig.

How To Discover New Music (Part 3)

June 25, 2010 / aftertheshow

Part 1 of “How to Discover New Music” (read it here) was about music podcasts.

Part 2 (here) was about attending concerts.

Part 3 is about interviews and playlists.

Read, listen to (audio), or watch (video) interviews with artists you like, especially interviews that focus on having artists make playlists of music that they like.

Example #1: I discovered the song “Saturday” by Rachael Cantu and “5 Years Time” by Noah and the Whale by listening to Ben Lee’s podcasts and reading a playlist he made.

Example #2: Holly Miranda tweeted a link to “It’s Okay” by Land of Talk. A playlist by Lizzie Powell of Land of Talk featured the song “Re: Stacks” by Bon Iver and “One Man” by Eulogies:

Example #3: An interview with Brian Wilson and Zooey Deschanel led me to discover “This Will Be Our Year” by The Zombies.

Gulf Coast Benefit: Ben Lee, Kaki King, Rachael Cantu, Silverlake Chorus

June 24, 2010 / aftertheshow

On Thursday July 1st at The Mint in LA, a Gulf Coast Benefit concert will feature the following line-up:

8:00 – Rachael Cantu

8:45 – Carina Round

9:30 – Ben Lee

10:15 – Silverlake Chorus

11:00 – Kaki King

To get tickets, click here.

How To Discover New Music (Part 2)

June 11, 2010 / aftertheshow

Part 1 of “How to Discover New Music” (read it here) was all about good music podcasts.

Part 2 is about attending concerts.

Make sure to get there early to catch the opening acts of bands that you already like. Sometimes, the opening bands are chosen by a band’s record label rather than by the band itself, but seeing opening bands nevertheless exposes you to music you probably haven’t heard before.

I’ve stood through my share of awful and/or boring opening acts, but I’ve discovered some of my favorite artists just because they were the opening band for another band I already liked.

Real life examples: Ben Lee opened for Phantom Planet, Eisley opened for New Found Glory, Brandi Carlile opened for Hanson, and The Bridges opened for Rooney.

On the flip side, say a band you like is opening for a different (bigger) band that you haven’t heard of before. Don’t just leave right after the band you came to see played — stick around for the headlining act, and you just might discover a new favorite band.

Real life example: The Like opened for The Sounds.