Chilly Gonzales in Piano Talk Shows at Joe's Pub

Next month, Chilly Gonzales will begin a weekly series, "Piano Talk Shows" scheduled to happen every Thursday in February at Joe's Pub.

Back in September I witnessed Gonzales' piano battle against Andrew W.K. (video here) which also happened at the venue. I had virtually no exposure to Gonzales' music, knowing him more by name in terms of collaborations with Jamie Lidell and Feist. Fortunately, just a few minutes into his set he played "Take Me to Broadway" which I immediately recognized from an excellent old Simian Mobile Disco mix album. His live version was great and was just the starting point for a night of amazing skills behind the piano (and tons of witty, pleasantly snarky commentary - i.e. "The thing about Feist is...I made her...and I can take her away"). If anyone is equipped to be hosting a 4 night Piano Talk Show, it's Chilly Gonzales.

Complete info on the series below, along with some choice Gonzales footage:

Chilly Gonzales' Piano Talk Shows at Joe's Pub:

February 4 - w/ guest SIA
February 11 - w/ guest Andrew WK
February 18 - w/ guest DJ A-Trak plus surprise guest
February 25 - w/ guest Princess Superstar

All Piano Talk Shows will feature PianoVision, a video installation created by Nina Rhode, aka Ninja Pleasure. Reminiscent of a silent movie, PianoVision allows the audience to see a video projection of the piano’s 88 keys, along with the master’s finger work.

Gonzales Breaking the Guinness World Record for longest live piano performance by any individual (27 hours, 3 minutes and 44 seconds)


(5 album release of the record-breaking performance available digitally here).

Gonzales - Take Me to Broadway



Check out Gonzales' piano remake of Erol Alkan and Boys Noize's "Waves" here which was released as a 7" in a limited pressing of 500 (with a spoken music lesson B-side), look forward to a new full-length, Ivory Tower, out in the US later this year, and definitely try to catch at least one of the Piano Talk Shows (I'm shooting for the 18th with A-trak) at Joe's Pub.

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Findlay Brown at Joe's Pub, 1/13/10

Last week Findlay Brown celebrated the release of his new album, Love Will Find You, by playing a wonderful show to a very full Joe's Pub. While I was impressed as always, with the consistency of Fin's talent and the solid performance at the beginning of his set (which featured many songs from his new album) it wasn't until he hit an oldie but goodie from his last album (Separated By the Sea) that I was truly floored.

Perhaps I was reading into Findlay's comparatively sparse banter with the crowd and the sweat on his brow a little too much after our interview touched on him being a nervous performer, but I couldn't shake the feeling that Fin had not fully eased into the show. About halfway through the set I felt my suspicions were correct. Upon immersing himself deeply into a familiar track from his last album ("Come Home") you could see the emotion pouring out of Findlay, and as he turned and faced his guitarist, an exchange of reassuring smiles marked a shift in the show.

From there Findlay and his band (who incidentally are newly-formed, this being only their second live performance), sailed through the second half of the set, delivering every song with deserving ease and passion. It felt like the whole second half of the show was a highlight, but a very unexpected and awesome, country-tinged cover of the Eurythmics "Sweet Dreams" coupled with a beautiful solo performance of "I Will" cemented what wound up being a very solid set and wonderful celebration of Findlay's talent.

Love Will Find You came out on Verve Forecast on January 5th, but having been listening to it for months, it's one of my favorite albums of '09. I highly recommended it, along with seeing Fin the next time he's around...or if you happen to be in Boston, he's playing at T.T. the Bear's tonight.

Findlay Brown at Joe's Pub 1/13/10 - setlist

Love Will Find You
Holding Back the Night
I Still Want You
Nobody Cared
Everybody Needs Love
Come Home
Teardrops Lost In the Rain
That's Right
Sweet Dreams
I Will
I Had A Dream

encore:
Mystery Train

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Mylo Mix (the Return of Mylo) for January issue of Mixmag

Admit it...you've been wondering what's happened to Mylo...the one who made this great album back in '04 (?!) Well, he's back and has crafted a 17-track mix (the Return of Mylo) for Mixmag which includes numerous artists (tracklisting below) and perhaps most exciting all, a new Mylo track.


More info about this month's issue is here.

The Return Of Mylo - Tracklisting

01. Gatekeeper - Optimus Maximus
02. Turzi - Buenos Aires (Sebastian Tellier & Romain Turzi remix)
03. Strip Steve - AM FM
04. M.A.N.D.Y. vs Booka Shade - Donut (Boy 8-bit remix)
05. Pete Herbert - Yo Drums
06. Lindstrom & Christabelle - Baby Can't Stop (Aeroplan vocal mix)
07. Vitalic - Bluesy Tuesday
08. The Field - Sequenced (Rainbow Arabia's Dark & Dumb version)
09. KXP - 180 Hours (Of Love) (an Optimo [Espacio] mix)
10. Space System - Sorrow Show
11. Mason - Who Killed Trance (refurb)
12. Siriusmo - Wow (Modeselektor edit)
13. Units - High Pressure Days (Rory Phillips mix)
14. Mylo - Wings Of Fire
15. Maximilian Skiba - Monster
16. Telonius - Disco-Tec (Zombie Nation remix)
17. Den Haan - Russian Boat Commander

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