One Night Music

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 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 »