June 30th, 2009 / 3:21 pm
 I Like __ A Lot

I saw The Tallest Man on Earth.

Last night I saw Kristian Matsson, a.k.a. The Tallest Man on Earth, at the Troubadour here in Los Angeles.  Now, the Troubadour is a small venue, maybe able to fit 200 people; I sat on the balcony, front row, with a perfect view of Kristian’s performance.  He was phenomenal.

I’ve been a fan of his work since I downloaded his album Shallow Grave, which I did immediately after seeing this performance. Everything beautiful in that movement — his energy, his nuanced mastery of the guitar, his apparent charisma, i.e. his heart — all of that was present and amplified last night.  He was one of the best live musicians I’ve seen.  And not only was his performance powerful, fun, surprising, intelligently structured — subtle variations and waves of change in tempo and amplitude that he utilized brilliantly, making each song seem to sing out in power that much more — not only was it all that, but he was also really nice to the audience, and highly alert, and gracious.

So if you haven’t already, read up on Kristian (a native of Sweden) and listen to his music and see him live.

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12 Comments

  1. June 30th, 2009 / 7:38 pm drew kalbach—

      ‘the garden’ is probably my favorite song right now.

  2. June 30th, 2009 / 3:38 pm drew kalbach—

      ‘the garden’ is probably my favorite song right now.

  3. June 30th, 2009 / 7:55 pm Matthew Simmons—
  4. June 30th, 2009 / 3:55 pm Matthew Simmons—
  5. June 30th, 2009 / 8:08 pm Brad Green—

      I just listened to a little bit of one of his songs on his MySpace page. Sounds a fair amount like early Bob Dylan, which is good.

  6. June 30th, 2009 / 4:08 pm Brad Green—

      I just listened to a little bit of one of his songs on his MySpace page. Sounds a fair amount like early Bob Dylan, which is good.

  7. June 30th, 2009 / 10:40 pm Catherine Lacey—

      Ken, you make the 17th person to tell me to listen to the tallest man on earth. I always thought there was only room enough for one singing Sweed in my heart (Jens Lekman, of course) but I will make room for another. Downloading his album(s) now.

  8. June 30th, 2009 / 6:40 pm Catherine Lacey—

      Ken, you make the 17th person to tell me to listen to the tallest man on earth. I always thought there was only room enough for one singing Sweed in my heart (Jens Lekman, of course) but I will make room for another. Downloading his album(s) now.

  9. June 30th, 2009 / 11:32 pm sasha fletcher—

      the garden is fucking amazing. shallow graves is great.

  10. June 30th, 2009 / 7:32 pm sasha fletcher—

      the garden is fucking amazing. shallow graves is great.

  11. July 1st, 2009 / 11:45 am jason diamond—
  12. July 1st, 2009 / 7:45 am jason diamond—