Nuevo Segmento (New Segment)

I've made an executive decision. In a seemingly desperate attempt at some variety and a new segment, I'm hereby forming what will be known as "Live Fridays." This lovely segment will be every Friday (obviously) and will feature good quality live tracks by some of today's best and brightest artists. That is, you're not going to be hearing some fuzzy copy of a Radiohead show somebody recorded via a microphone hidden in a hat from 100 yards away. I'm talking more about soundboard recordings and radio sessions. I'm annoyed by anything live that's of poorer quality, and I hope you are too. Yeah, there's plenty of other music blogs you can get live music from, and this segment is certainly nothing new, but I'm hoping to feature some really fun exclusives here you won't be able to get anywhere else. Hopefully it'll be worth it.

Today's inaugural session is from none other than superstars The Hold Steady. Lots of people freaked out over "Boys and Girls In America" last year, and I can understand why. The album didn't make me flip out like some publications did, but I liked it enough to put it as my 14th favorite album of 2006. Anyways, the live performance I've got for you is a radio session the band did for WXPN last week. They performed three songs, two from their latest album and one from the album before that, "Separation Sunday." The interesting thing about this live performance is that it was done with only an acoustic guitar, an accordion, and a small drum kit. It gives you a little bit of a different perspective on Craig Finn and the boys when they don't have their electric guitars and amps with them. For the Hold Steady completist, these songs should be essential for your collection, and for those having trouble getting into the band, this might be a side of them you actually like.

Additional note: With other live tracks I've posted people always complain that the songs fade out too early. To be completely honest, any fade-outs or general errors you hear with the recordings have nothing to do with me. If it's a radio session and the DJ decides to fade out of a song early, don't blame me when the mp3 does that. The only thing I do is make sure all the talking is cut out so you just get the song as it was aired. Okay, now go have fun with The Hold Steady!

The Hold Steady, Live on WXPN 1-04-07:

MP3's pulled after 7 days because of bandwith issues. If you didn't get them, then you're S.O.L. Sorry!

Go here to stream the entire interview/performance (via NPR)

Labels: Acoustic, Live, The Hold Steady