Howe Gelb - Spiral

"There's a lot of people out there having a hard time tonight," sings Howe Gelb, offering up a song of consolation in his own distinct way. And as 2011 opened with Tucson suffering through the city's worst ever tragedy, that sort of consolation is doing all it can, filling emptiness and soothing unspeakable pain.

The song "Spiral" is itself a gorgeous piano ballad, and the understated choir from Gelb's Sno Angel sessions elevates the song out of the realm of simply music. Just as a day itself can turn in an instant into history, a song like "Spiral" moves from vinyl 7-inch single to cultural touchstone. That transcendence into unforgettable is such a rare thing for a song. On a cultural level, it's "Blowing in the Wind," or "What's Going On," or The Rising, songs and records that simply moved obstacles right out of the way, that grabbed the collar of history and tugged. And things were never the same again.

On a personal level, this version of "Spiral" is exactly that for me. Just as Amos Lee's Mission Bell and Jackson Browne's "For a Dancer" gave me strength, "Spiral" creates a space for reflection that is priceless. It's a song that right away shoved itself into the inner circle of the songs that are most important in my life.

That refrain, "Reinvent some new form of decency," can be applied to so much of what's happened since the Jan. 8 shooting that its hard to believe the song wasn't actually written and recorded in response. From the Jackson Browne / Alice Cooper benefit concert (read my preview interview) to ongoing efforts at civility and specific responses in terms of advocating for more sensible gun laws, simple DECENCY has been a guiding force.

"Spiral" originally appeared on Giant Sand's proVISIONS, which I wrote a guest post about for the excellent So Much Silence blog (coincidentally, that was the only bit of music writing I did at all during the six months I worked on the Giffords campaign).

So thanks Howe, for this performance, and thanks Fort Lowell Records for picking the right song at the right time.

DOWNLOAD:
Howe Gelb - Spiral (Sno' Angel)

Giant Sand Tucson CD release show Saturday at Club Congress

Kevin at So Much Silence was kind enough today to publish a bit I wrote about Howe Gelb and his new Giant Sand record, proVISIONS.

Giant Sand has two Arizona CD release shows this weekend - Friday at Modified in Phoenix and Saturday at Club Congress in Tucson.

The new proVISIONS is definitely one of Howe's best records, so head on over to So Much Silence to give the preview a read.

Below is a couple songs from a show Giant Sand played just two weeks ago at the Orpheum Theatre in Madison.

DOWNLOAD:
Giant Sand - Desperate Kingdom of Love
Giant Sand - Increment of Love
(Get the whole show as a zip file)

New Giant Sand song

We've got both old and new Giant Sand here today.

Leading off is the new: The first single from the upcoming proVISIONS record has been posted to Giant Sand's MySpace page. "Increment of Love" has the sort of spare, dusty outlaw vibe that characterizes Howe Gelb's music so well.

As I wrote earlier, the record features guests as notable as Neko Case and M. Ward, so I'm excited that Howe Gelb is returning to the "mood" that is Giant Sand, as he describes it. His other preferred description, joking or not, is "erosion rock," and something tells me this record will be the perfect study piece for such a term.

And now the old: I just came across an amazing post from Bradley's Almanac, a Boston-based blogger who I've been following for a while. He's recently posted a bunch of performances from the Sub Pop 1992 Vermonstress Festival.

There is an absolute treasure of high-quality downloads in this post, but we only have time right now to concern ourselves with the Giant Sand tunes, which are absolutely amazing.

DOWNLOAD:
Giant Sand - Wearing the Robes of Bible Black (live 1992-10-11, Vermotstress Festival, Burlington) - From Bradley's Almanac
Giant Sand - Wearing the Robes of Bible Black (live 2005-09-02, Club Congress, Tucson)

The Bradley's Almanac stuff is amazing, so get all the Giant Sand songs.

And I've talked up the Giant Sand performance at the 2005 Club Congress 20th Anniversary Festival before, but I have to bring it up again. Seriously, download this.

UPDATE:
Howe announced today that "Increment of Love" will be available as a free download from Yep Roc on Sept. 2 (not sure if this is a one-day special or ongoing...). Just go to www.yeproc.com/stash, enter an email and it's yours.

New Giant Sand record due Sept. 2

I just saw an announcement from Howe Gelb that he's releasing a new Giant Sand album in September. Howe has plenty of recording projects, and released a solo album in 2006 and the Arizona Amp and Alternator project in 2005, but it's actually been four years since a proper Giant Sand record.

So it seems like 'bout damn time for proVISIONS, which, according to the band's announcement, features collaborating friends like Isobell Campbell, Neko Case and M. Ward.

The biggest part of the anticipation for me is wondering what sort of vibe this new album will have. I'm not quite well-versed enough to put forward a good guess on how Howe chooses to name any particular recording project. Hell, he himself says "Giant Sand is a mood," but to me his records as Giant Sand have been no less, shall we say All Over The Map, than solo Howe or any other name.

I absolutely love the Arizona Amp and Alternator record, a dusty ramshackle sort of thing. And I got turned onto Giant Sand during the Chore of Enchantment days, which to me sort of best define Howe as an off-kilter desert folkie who's always ready to unleash a burst of guitar feedback. And then there's the slightly earlier stuff like Glum and the earlier stuff like Valley of Rain I've been turned onto at different points. And yet I'm still a novice. So there's really no telling...

For my money though, the best overall Howe Gelb or Giant Sand recording you can find is a live set recorded at the Club Congress 20th Anniversary festival. Put aside how tainted this opinion is by the fact that I was at the show and consider this: his set list spanned just about as far as it could span. The whole set is at Archive.org, but check out a couple samples.

As I wrote about that night: "I lost some of the specifics as the night grew hazy, but that sound is still in my mind: Howe Gelb doing whatever he wanted with that guitar. And I was constantly amazed."

DOWNLOAD:
Giant Sand - Yer Ropes (live, Club Congress, 2005-09-02)
Giant Sand - Classico (live, Club Congress, 2005-09-02)

And check out a great clip on Howe that KUAT did a couple months back.