One Night Music

Ellie Fortune Live at Li Po Lounge in San Francisco (6 MP3s)

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Posted on 03/03/10 by   Megan Sullivan

Scroll down for 6 free MP3s of Ellie Fortune's live performance at Li Po Lounge.
Maybe the thing I love best about Ellie Fortune is how his musical conduct precisely embodies One Night Music ideals. He's always freely and generously giving things away. At his shows, his CDs are available by donation. He has free promotional, hand-stamped matchbooks and will offer you as many as you like. And before his new release Matriarch was available on iTunes, LaLa, Rhapsody and Amazon, he passed out flyers linking to a free download of the entire album. You can still download "The Echo" -- a haunting standout of floating vocals and perfectly punctuating drums -- from Ellie Fortune's page on Bandcamp.

Aural Stimulation For Lovers On Valentine’s Day: A One Night Music Playlist

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Posted on 02/11/10 by   Ryan Andersen

11 Videos and a Conventiently Zipped Package of MP3s For Your Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to all you lovers out there.  We've compiled an excellent collection of love related songs from One Night Music sessions as our gift to you on this most intimate of holidays.  Here are some suggested uses of this playlist:

1. After you have a romantic dinner with your lover, make a bowl of popcorn (not the microwaved kind, but real popcorn, and try sprinkling nutritional yeast on it, it's really delicious), sit down on a comfy couch or a bed, and watch these videos in place of a movie.  If you chose this method, make sure to watch "Love Seat" and "The Laundry Is Dirty" last, otherwise you may not get through all the songs (if you know what I mean...wink...wink).

2. Download all the songs via the conveniently created ZIP file link right below here, burn them onto a CD, and then use them as the soundtrack to your romantic evening.

3. Follow step two, but use the CD as a gift in place of flowers and explain to your lover, "Our love is supporting independent music."

4. Learn one of these songs and play it for your lover.  You can pretend you wrote it, we wont tell.  (Just remember the best thing for any relationship is honesty, so don't hold us accountable if this backfires.)

5. If you're single there are still uses for this playlist.  Listen to "Maggie" and "The Funeral," songs about heartbreak and loss.  Just kidding!  You should listen to all of them, there's joy to be found in all love songs for anybody.

Happy Valentine's Day!  As one final tip, check out this slippery use for flax seed that you never imagined.

Download a ZIP file containing the MP3s of our 2010 Valentine's Day Playlist

"Kiss Me Like It's The 50's" by Rey Villalobos

Rey Villalobos brought his ambient folk music to us through a session filmed in the storage closet of Muddy Waters Cafe in Santa Barbara.  Of this song, One Night Music Producer Megan Sullivan writes: Rey sits on his girlfriend's couch. She always wants to make out, passionate and messy. Rey jokes, "Just kiss me like it's the 50's." He picks up his guitar and sings it to her. They laugh -- it's funny -- but fuck, it's good. Rey turns this into a serious song, something raw and honest and melancholy and hopeful.

Check out Rey's full session »

"Love Seat" by Forest Sun

Forest Sun joined One Night Music on a beautiful fall day in San Francisco.  He is a veteran songwriter who packs this upbeat jazzy tune with promiscuous innuendos that fall just short of explicitly describing a very steamy evening.  If you thought you knew what a loveseat was, think again. One listen will be sure to get you in the mood for some Valentine's Day fun.

Check out Forest's full session »

"I'm Your Man" by Alex and Janel

The truth is that we could have selected any song from Alex and Janel's session for this playlist.  They are really good at writing gorgeous and heart wrenching love songs.  Definitely check out the rest of their session if this playlist doesn't afford you enough time

Check out Alex and Janel's full session »

"As Long As I Can" by Erik Schau

The first time I saw Erik Schau he performed this song at an open mic in Santa Barbara.  It's a gut wrenching ballad of love and pain and one of my favorite songs we've ever recorded.  He ended up being one of the first artists that we filmed for One Night Music.   

Check out Erik Schau's full session »

Our First Birthday: A Reflection On The First Year Of One Night Music

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Posted on 02/11/10 by   Ryan Andersen

One Night Music turns the big one this week and we celebrate this awesome community.

If I were granted a single wish on this special occasion, I would wish that in the second year of One Night Music I have the honor to continue working with such amazing people to build the community that is One Night Music. Nothing emerges as more of a pleasant surprise to One Night Music's magical unfolding in its freshman year than the way folks have jumped on board to help steer this ship with such enthusiasm and passion into an unforeseen sea of creativity and collaboration.

I had the initial idea of One Night Music in the fall of 2008 and since then it has grown to be cultivated by over 30 contributors who have volunteered their time to bring their own unique perspective to the project. What started out as a fun idea to record some local songwriters in Santa Barbara has grown into a thriving musical community engaging illustrators, photographers, videographers, audio engineers, authors, songwriters, bands, and community organizers from across California, and even as far away as the East Coast, to collaborate and create a new online musical venue of independent music.

What follows are some thoughts and reflections that I would like to share in honor of the one-year celebration of One Night Music.  If you desire to leave us a birthday wish or to share your thoughts on the first year of One Night Music, write a comment to this article at the very end.

The Beginning

In the Fall of 2008, my twin brother Ian Andersen and I began engaging in discussions about creating a website. Ian had been designing websites since high school and we knew that we would work well together in collaboration. We became a bit downtrodden after our first few ideas quickly dissipated. Then one night it hit me. I'd just purchased two very high quality microphones and some recording equipment and I'd always had a passion for audio engineering. I would invite local singer-songwriters to come to my home studio to record a live set of their music and Ian would share it with the world through a website. I was so certain that this was the right project for our collaboration, that I immediately went online to buy the domain. My initial idea was to call it One Night Stand Music. Luckily, that domain was taken and my search for variations resulted in One Night Music. It had a ring to it and I purchased the domain. So began One Night Music.

One Night Music Featured in San Francisco Examiner

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Posted on 02/08/10 by   Ian Andersen

Lauren Byrne chronicles her introduction to and experience with One Night Music in a new piece published in the San Francisco Examiner on February 7. She met with founding member and producer Elia Vargas at a coffee shop in San Francisco and ended up following our production crew to the filming of Michael Musika and The Devotionals, which took place on Saturday, December 30 in San Francisco. Check out this great article that gives a sneak peak into what a session looks like for One Night Music. Below is a short video that Lauren captured on her iPhone of The Devotionals performing part of their session.

Read the full article One Night Music: Because of the Internet

All My Pretty Ones Performs Live At Pirate Cat Radio in San Francisco (5 videos)

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Posted on 02/02/10 by   Ryan Andersen

All My Pretty Ones brings luscious harmonies and practiced instrumentals to indie folk music.
I hadn't heard of All My Pretty Ones when Elia asked me to come by Pirate Cat Radio Café to film them performing live for his radio show Tiny Antenna Have Large Receptors back in October, 2009. Now, after editing their videos for this blog post, I am a huge fan. Dare I even prophesize that the band is going places? A cliché phrase indeed, and one that I allocate sparingly, but it seems to be a succinct way to explain the greatness that I'll call AMPO. The best part is that should this prophecy be fulfilled it will be a result of their meticulous music making, not necessarily a desire to go places - a noble attribute indeed.

Ingrid Serban Performs An Aria For a Small One Night Music Audience

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Posted on 02/01/10 by   Ian Andersen

Ingrid Serban says she began her music career at the age of two. That can only mean that Ingrid was born to sing, and this video leaves no doubt. At age six she started studying piano and by fourteen she was formally studying voice. Today, among her many other musical endeavors, Ingrid lends harmonies to the music of Forest Sun, who recorded a session with One Night Music back on November 25th, 2009. As Forest and I communicated prior to his session, he mentioned he would be bringing Ingrid along. To the delight of the small audience gathered that afternoon, she performed an aria after Forest's session and left us captivated and speechless.

We felt lucky to hear Ingrid perform O Mio Babbino Caro (Oh my dear papa) -- an aria from the opera Gianni Schicchi (1918) by Giacomo Puccini -- in the green, overgrown backyard as the sun was setting in San Francisco. Something about the lighting and the mood, and the way her voice carried through the towering trees and apartments around us made the performance seem almost surreal. To say the least, it was a fitting way to cap off what was a fantastic afternoon of music.

As you'll see and hear in the video, Ingrid has a voice made for solos. It's grand, lovely, and gentle at the same time -- no surprise given her study and training in music. More information about Ingrid can be found on the biography section of Forest Sun's website.

Meghan Lehman’s Story: Catching Up With Our First One Night Music Artist

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Posted on 01/21/10 by   Ian Andersen

New to One Night Music? Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Vimeo to stay up to date.

Nearly a year ago, on February 1st 2009, we launched our very first session at One Night Music, showcasing the lovely Meghan Lehman, an incredibly talented singer-songwriter based out of our original home base of Santa Barbara, CA. The low lighting, small space, and uncertainty of what we were doing created a fun, intimate session and set the stage for what One Night Music would become in 2009.

I decided to catch up with Meghan Lehman to see where her music has taken her since recording with One Night Music. Turns out she released her first album, A Stranger Here (available on iTunes, CD Baby, and Rhapsody), in August 2009. On the album you will find four of the six songs that Meghan recorded for her One Night Music session and a number of new standouts that make this album one that shouldn't be passed up. The album is unforgiving in its intimacy and rawness. It's an unrelenting, sometimes painful journey through Meghan's own life and travels, full of gorgeous vocals and storytelling. The standouts on this album are "A Stranger Here", "Pearl", "More Than Me", and "Mary".

Love at Muddy Waters: Rey Villalobos and Blind Pilot

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Posted on 01/17/10 by   Megan Sullivan

Scroll through the full post to see 4 videos from Blind Pilot

A dear friend of mine back in Santa Barbara recently wrote an essay on love and was kind enough to share it with me. It was poignant, drifty, one of the most beautiful things I’d ever read. Loving your friends, loving your lover, everything, everyone — people you'd never have and the ones you probably could. I laughed so hard, I cried, and I realized: I am just like Candice. I am falling in love just about all the time.

Blind Pilot - Things I Cannot Recall (Download the MP3 audio from this video)

In August, I fell in love twice in the same night. I came solo to Muddy Waters Café in downtown Santa Barbara with a field mic and a pocket camcorder to record Rey Villalobos (formerly of The Coral Sea) for One Night Music. Oh Rey, number one: I can't say I wasn't expecting it. I’d met Rey a few nights earlier, and he was as charming as they come. We decided I’d come to the Blind Pilot show (Rey was opening) and record his set, but — lighting not so good — we switched gears, set up at the end of the night in Muddy Waters’ storage closet for the most intimate One Night Music recording session I’d experienced yet.

Alexandra Adams Brings Kindermusik to Santa Barbara with Yellowbird Music

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Posted on 01/16/10 by   Megan Sullivan

If you peek into Yellowbird Music while passing its large-windowed storefront on De La Vina Street in Santa Barbara, CA, you'll find something cute enough to disrupt your adult thoughts and make you smile, or laugh, or at the very least remind you that life's not so serious: here, eight toddlers are discovering dance, jerking streamers up and down and side to side; babies with broad smiles are bouncing on parents' laps or being paraded ‘round the room on scooter-boards; and excited preschoolers are leaping down a giant inflatable "log" or learning to perform musical "solos" for their friends on a pretend stage with tiny, squeaky violins.

Yellowbird Music is a musical space designed for children, but it's also a place where adults can rediscover the magic of childhood. The single-room studio looks just like any kid-friendly place should. Its walls are canary yellow with stenciled ladybugs creeping around mirrors and cabinets. A party of painted birds -- an owl here, a blue jay there, seagulls, pelicans, parrots and acorn woodpeckers -- borders the top edge of the studio walls. Hidden in all those cabinets -- the ones which lend a crisp order to a room that would otherwise overflow with goodies -- are accordions, harmonicas, hand drums, puppets, recorders, scarves, pinwheels, bubbles, ropes, art supplies, story books, bells and shakers, xylophones and glockenspiels, and tons of non-Western percussion instruments gathered from owner Alexandra Adams' world travels. When you're two years old, this place is paradise.

Our 12 Favorite One Night Music Videos of 2009

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Posted on 01/02/10 by   Ryan Andersen

2009 was an exciting first year for One Night Music: we launched 25 sessions, creating over 100 high quality videos and audio recordings of candid live performances by independent artists.  We have plans to continue the excellent growth of our community in 2010, but first we thought we would reflect back to share our favorite videos of 2009. Selected by the One Night Music Board of Gurus (our version of a Board of Directors), we present them to you here in no particular order.

Download a ZIP file containing the MP3s of our 2009 Favorites

Ellie Fortune, “Summer Fable”

Selected by Megan Sullivan - One Night Music recorded Ellie Fortune (project moniker for Sacramento-based musician Jesse K. Phillips) in Isla Vista, CA on April 4, 2009. Since then, I habitually check Jesse's tour schedule whenever I visit Auburn, my childhood hometown nestled not too far from the state's capitol in the Sierra Nevada foothills. And Sacramento's just close enough to San Francisco that you can catch Ellie Fortune here quite frequently: I sadly just missed his show at Adobe Books on 16th Street, but I'll see him at Li Po Lounge in Chinatown on December 30th, 2009.

Check out Ellie Fortune's full session »

Treesus, “Good God”

Selected by Elia Vargas - In choosing my selections for my "best of" ONM 2009, I considered a few factors. I was not looking to find what I felt were simply the best songs, or the best videos, but rather session picks that most brilliantly illuminated One Night Music's intention. That is to say, those combination of songs, images, and interactions within the environment that highlight the unique and intimate feel of a living room set, or bedroom lullabies. This is truly one of the most wonderful elements of One Night Music. A word between the musician and the videographer, the camera's focus of a hand gesture, an unanticipated note that changes the demeanor of a song...

Check out Treesus's full session »

Alex and Janel, “I'm Your Man”

Selected by Ian Andersen - The Alex and Janel session was particularly significant to me because it was the first where I stepped out from behind the computer and filmed (with my brand new Canon HV30!). As we began the session in Megan's overgrown, lush backyard garden I thought that Alex and Janel must be the perfect duo to be singing for us on a Fall afternoon in San Francisco. It was a great experience and this specific track is simply one of my favorite.

Check out Alex and Janel's full session »

Adam Bianchi, “Loomings”

Selected by Ryan Andersen - This is the third song from Adam Bianchi's session filmed on Valentine's Day 2009.  As soon as he hit his first note a silence blanketed the room that I have not witnessed at any other session we've recorded.  It was a silence nourished by pure awe at his music.  Adam's music comes from an old soul, a reincarnation of an artist seasoned with decades of heartache.  I still find myself at awe when I listen to Adam's music, and he very deservingly earns my pick as one of my top three songs of 2009.  

Check out Adam Bianchi's full session »