Floating Action w/ Natalie Prass & Bryan Cates @ The Stone Fox Tonight.

Floating Action, the moniker for the music of outdoor sportsman and red-bearded mountaineer Seth Kaufman, features tunes rooted in adventure, nature, distant travels, biking, snowboarding, and other outdoor endeavors. But it could also be Seth Kaufman‘s personal outdoor life soundtrack, as I envision him being the quintessential outdoorsman as the star of the music videos for his songs. Seriously, I see one of his songs being played over a video of him biking down a treacherous mountain road or another when he’s back-packing on a rugged Blue Ridge Mountain trail. You remember when Peter Griffin from Family Guy wished for his own theme music, and got it? Well, this is me, wishing for Seth Kaufman’s outdoor theme music in a video. And I say outdoor because it probably wouldn’t jive when he’s waiting in the line at the bank or shopping at the grocery store. (We have Rod Stewart for the latter.)

But you know what? Kaufman had other ideas for his music videos, like the one below for the song “Matador,” where he leads an exercise class full of multi-colored 80s attire in awesome/funny dance routines. Observe:

Kaufman has the unique ability to manipulate this outdoor imagery through music, as he plays all instruments on his latest album Fake Blood, as well as his four previous ones. He voice is melodic, yet gritty — rugged, yet soothing. Songs like “Been Broken”  have musical arrangements that recall My Morning Jacket, but Kaufman’s voice and lyrics also set him apart. Evidently, Kaufman released Fake Blood through lead singer Jim James’ label Removador Recording & Solutions. James described the album as “…the sound of the space between worlds….it is still sunny out, but you can also see the moon.”

Kaufman chooses to have two drummers for his live performance. This aspect makes for a super-intense rhythm section and livelier uptempo songs. Check out the Floating Action’s performance of the song “Lost All My Money” when they opened for…drumroll please…….yea, you guessed it….My Morning Jacket at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY.

And you can listen to the album “Fake Blood” in its entirety here.

Nashville’s Natalie Prass has an angelic, hypnotic voice that puts the listener in a tranquil trance.   Check out a live video of her acoustic performance of the song “Plunder” over at Nashville Time Machine below, and all the tracks from her EP below that. The picture on the left is also from Nashville Time Machine.

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I remember seeing North Carolina native Bryan Cates open for Band of Horses at the War Memorial Auditorium back on July 12, 2010 (Yes, I looked up the date). Apparently, he’s done some more recent dates with BOH that I wasn’t aware of. I really enjoy the song “Wait Through the Night” which opens with Motown-ish guitar riffing, and then Cates’ soulful vocals kick in. Listen to his 2011 EP Crystal Ball below.

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Do it! 9 pm. $5 cover. The Stone Fox.