Here it is: a four-song edition of a Secret Garden mini-movie with Sweden’s The Tallest Man on Earth. It was shot the last time he was in New York (he returns this weekend for two shows!). Kristian Matsson was barely up when we infiltrated the Brooklyn apartment he was staying at. His tour manager, Ryan, led us to the stairs that was, who knew, the perfect spot for Kristian to sing “This Wind” and a cover of Patsy Cline’s “I Fall to Pieces” (the best versions of both that I’ve ever heard). And you know how it is with a perfect hint of reverb: you cast aside your head and pull your heart out your neck (that’s right). We wandered around to the windy rooftop for “Over the Hills” and locked ourselves in an old-fashioned elevator for “Steal Tomorrow”.
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Before heading over to Sycamore to play a show that night, I met with Iceland’s Ólöf Arnalds and her equally impressive friend Davíð Þór Jónsson, who had played a fantastically whimsical show with her at Union Hall the previous night. As we walked past a large tree towering over a mound, Ólöf’s head turned, and we decided she might as well sing under it. First song is the catchy “Klara”, which she wrote for her younger sister, the second is Caetano Veloso’s “Maria Bethania.” Before singing this song, she realizes she is missing her lyrics notebook. Davíð keeps company with a short bout of singing and dancing. One more song in Icelandic follows.
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When Washington DC’s Middle Distance Runner was in town to play The Annex, they were staying at their friend’s hotel room at Times Square, though they told us it was really their label who’d put them there. In preparation for songs they were going to play for us, they’d recruited a few things lying about the room, including a towel, an ice bucket (?) and a tray. We decided to leave the TV on, though muted, to faithfully honor the Times Square hotel room atmosphere. Between gulps of coffee and screwdriver, the band also gifted us with an impromptu song that involves wearing a skirt and stealing a checkbook, amongst other things. All that and more in the video we bring you here. The band will be playing Union Hall with Pretty & Nice on May 14th.
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When Maryland’s Cotton Jones showed up at Grand Army Plaza the morning after their short set at Le Poisson Rouge, the only thing they’d grabbed from their van was an acoustic guitar. Despite the inevitable traffic noise, we decided it’d be worthwhile to have Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw jump into the empty fountain and try a song there (for an opportunity to see Whitney sit on the lap of some frozen Greek hunk, if nothing else). We then headed to Prospect Park across the street, where they played several more songs, and the rest of the band lent doo-woops and finger-snapping while drummer Chris Morris settled on a pair of sticks, of different dimensions, to use for percussion.
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While we were in Austin for SXSW, we swung by the Red House Pizzeria for a pizzastic breakfast one morning. Out in the backyard a host of bands were readying to kickstart another day of endless music, and England’s Fanfarlo, who was scheduled to go on later, had prepared a few songs for our mini-musical-documentary series: the Secret Garden. We walked a short distance away from the venue and halted outside someone’s house, where I was drawn towards a white garage and the entire British crew towards a car draped in a car cover behind a chain link fence. They played three songs there —”Finish Line”, “Luna” and “Comets”, all from their new album, Reservoir. Plenty of bird chirps were available for accompaniment!
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On a rainy Sunday afternoon I went to meet the amazing Sara Lucas and Ryan Seaton of Callers. The location was Trophy Bar, in Williamsburg, which at that early hour wasn’t open for business yet. Sara was catching up on a late lunch and Ryan was getting a head start on getting the bar reading for the evening. Though they usually play as a trio, drummer Don wasn’t around. Ryan played the guitar and Sara sang, and we immediately realized how fabulous the acoustics was at this place: it seemed as if Sara’s voice leaped up to the ceiling, from which little hands protruded to hold the notes and sway them until she closed her mouth. So they tried out many many songs, out of which you’ll hear in this video, “Meet Between”, a Willie Nelson cover of “The Ghost”, and “Valerie”. I’m sure I’ll be posting some of the outtakes at the end of the year.
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hooves on the turf is a mostly-music blog based out of brooklyn. i can be reached at hoovesontheturf [at] gmail [dot] com - please send me your lovely music as an attached mp3 or an mp3 link. if i like what you send, i'll be sure to ask for more.
