But it was a moment that I had almost forgotten about that struck me the most… when Andy locks his supervising officer in the bathroom and plays an opera over the loudspeakers of the entire prison. Everyone throughout freezes, and you see the sound wash over their faces like light. Imagine going years without hearing music, and then hearing it for the first time again. Such an emo/magical moment.

Get busy living or get busy dying.

Today’s Emo: We Don’t Eat / James Vincent McMorrow

‘I moved to the coast, under a mountain / swam in the ocean, slept on my own / at dawn I would watch the sun cut ribbons through the bay’

The Civil Wars killed it during Sunday night’s show, but I was equally blown away by their opener. I walked into the Great American Music Hall shortly after James started his set, and I heard him before I saw him. He was doing one of his songs in a sharp falsetto, and I literally  thought I was listening to a middle aged woman singing. Then we stepped onto the floor and low and behold it is a cheeky, scruffy, scrawny young Irishman on stage, pouring his soul into the microphone. What a formidable feast. Between breathtaking songs James got in some clever jabs on us Californians and our coconut water hangover cures, and expressed sincere gratitude for being able to play in front of an American audience.

The pleasure was all ours. Bon Iver meets Ray LaMontague with a tinge of Marcus Mumford in those soulful smokey crisp chops, McMorrow delivered the kind of music makes me take pause. Have been devouring his album since. #emo

Today’s Untz: I Think I Like It / Fake Blood

The first time I heard this song, I didn’t think I liked it. I was gearing up to see FB play a Halloween gig at the Mezz, and going through his tracks before the show. I found it shrill and (gasp) a little annoying. Then I listened to it a few more times, and a few more, and then I saw it live and danced my face off to it, and the song has become a feel good go to ever since.  Beyond repetitive and yet it never gets old.  #untz