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Grab the song “Big Wave” from Jenny and Johnny’s forthcoming album “I’m Having Fun Now” for the cost of one email address! Surf over to Daily Candy to pick it up! http://www.dailycandy.com/all-cities/article/85160/
From his native Somalia to the home of the first ever African World Cup, South Africa, and everywhere in between - K’NAAN’s song “Wavin’ Flag - The Coca-Cola Celebration Mix” has become an undeniable international smash hit, reaching #1 on the charts in 10 countries around the world. All across Johannesburg soccer fans are calling the song “The People’s Anthem.” With World Cup fever in the air, here’s your chance to catch the bug for yourself!
http://knaanmusic.com/
Follow this link to UK’s The Guardian to check out this teaser from Gruff Rhys’ documentary “Separado!,” an account of his quest through South America to locate his ‘long-lost, poncho-wearing, guitar-playing Patagonian uncle.’ It premieres at the LA Film Festival June 24/26.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2010/jun/02/super-furry-animals-film
Congratulations to Press Here clients PHOENIX, GRIZZLY BEAR, MOS DEF, BAT FOR LASHES and THE DEAD WEATHER who were all voted into the TOP 30 BEST ALBUMS OF 2009 by a plethora of music critics for the Village Voice’s Pazz & Jop.
http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/albums/2009.
PHOENIX also landed TWO tracks in the TOP TEN BEST SINGLES where they were joined by GRIZZLY BEAR’s “Two Weeks”.
http://www.villagevoice.com/pazznjop/singles/2009.
Thank you music scribes for bigging up the French boys - onwards to the GRAMMYS!
Have we mentioned how much we like La Roux in these parts? Check out these great videos - one is for the song “Bulletproof,” which is on constant rotation here, and the other is a performance with La Roux and Franz Ferdinand, which is absolutely amazing…..watch below!
It’s time to come out of blog posting hibernation - hello again. Here are just a few of the many things we’re loving right now that we’d like to share with you:
*The Killers performed their new single, “A Dustland Fairytale,” with an orchestra on The Late Show with David Letterman this week. It’s swoon-worthy.
*This song by Dirty Projectors has been on heavy rotation in our offices - these guys played at our SXSW party and nearly knocked the tent over with their greatness. Is it wrong to wake up every day cursing our luck that we can’t sing like Amber Coffman?
*Like everyone else, we’re pretty obsessed with the new Phoenix album…
…and have you heard the super awesome new Mos Def songs?
*We’ve also been playing the new Camera Obscura album, My Maudlin Career, and counting the days until the Au Revoir Simone shows at the month’s end, which are going to be fantastic as always.
*And lastly, we may even be brave enough to attempt the line this year….
Happy spring!
The Dead Weather Debut at Third Man Records’ Nashville Opening
Debut Single Available Exclusively on iTunes
Last night saw the very first performance of The Dead Weather, the brand new rock outfit consisting of Dean Fertita, Jack Lawrence, Alison Mosshart and Jack White.
The band performed at the opening of Jack White’s new Third Man Records building in downtown Nashville. Third Man Records is the imprint on which all White’s music has been released over the years, acting as the label for all of The White Stripes and The Raconteurs releases around the world. The new Third Man Records includes a brand new company HQ that will house the label’s offices as well as a vinyl record store, photo studio, dark room and performance stage.
The Dead Weather’s performance at the opening included several songs from their forthcoming debut album, Horehound. The band, fronted by Alison Mosshart (known to music fans as one half of London-based rock outfit The Kills) includes The Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence on bass, Queens Of The Stone Age member Dean Fertita on guitar and Jack White on drums and vocals. White produced Horehound, which was recorded in just three weeks earlier this year at the newly constructed Third Man Studio, also designed from the ground up by Jack White. The album will be released via Third Man in June.
Last night’s event saw around 150 fans, family and friends attend the Third Man HQ event, where their letter-pressed invitations were exchanged for limited edition 7” vinyl pressings of The Dead Weather’s debut single “Hang You From The Heavens” (b/w a stealth cover of Gary Numan’s “Are Friends Electric?”). Each of the 150 7” records were individually hand painted by the band and each included a different photo booth strip of the band members. These two songs are also available now exclusively through iTunes.
The set list:
60 Feet Tall
Hang You From The Heavens
Weapon
Treat Me Like Your Mother
New Pony
Crowning a phenomenal debut year for the 17 yr old Australian singer-songwriter, which has included 6 ARIA awards (Aussie Grammy’s), a Brit Award Nomination for International Female Artist of the Year alongside Katy Perry, Beyonce and Pink, and a nomination for Best International Newcomer for the Echo Awards (GERMANY’S Grammy’s), Gabriella Cilmi has landed the coveted Vh1 “You Oughta Know” spot airing the entire month of February.
Check Gabriella’s (not so) “Sweet About Me” video here!
Now that December is upon us, we’re spending more and more time indoors, curled up with our computers and watching some of our favorite new music videos. Check them out…
Annuals - “Confessor”
Cold War Kids - “Something Is Not Right With Me”
The Kills - “Last Day of Magic”
Broken Social Scene Presents Brendan Canning - “Churches Under the Stairs”
Laura Marling - “Ghosts”
The Killers gave an incredible performance of their new song “Human” on this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live. Check it out below…
Having toured their homeland with acts such as Modest Mouse, Kasabian, Cold War Kids, The Dears, Damo Suzuki and Spank Rock, Australia’s The Temper Trap are a wild thoroughbred ready to destroy the stables that hold them.
The first single, Sweet Disposition electrifies with its controlled mayhem and is representative of the band’s early comparisons to the likes of Sonic Youth, TV on the Radio and Radiohead.
We’re bang into Nikka Costa’s new album Pebble To A Pearl. She’s performing on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno tonight! Check the new video for “Stuck To You“:
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We’re in love with the first single from the new Killers album, Day & Age, which is hitting stores on November 25th. It’s called “Human” and you can hear it on the band’s website right now.
Click on this link and you will be magically taken there!
AND — the band will be performing “Human” on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Color us very very excited to hear this song live…!
But don’t take our word for it - see the awesomeness for yourself:
Who is Juan? We’ve only met him once, but he has a fun house. And he likes to have bands over to perform in his basement (which looks exactly like your old band from jr. high school’s “practice space”) and he films them and makes it into an awesome show on Pitchfork TV called - you guessed it - “Juan’s Basement.” Broken Social Scene stopped by said basement last fall when touring for Kevin Drew’s Spirit If… and recorded a few songs, one of which became the core of a tune called “Churches Under the Stairs,” which is on Brendan Canning’s phenomenal BSS Presents solo debut, Something For All of Us…! Say that three times fast!
Anyway, Part One of Two is up on Pitchfork TV now, so click below to watch it…
MySpace announces that one of the most critically acclaimed bands Spiritualized will be playing a club show at The Echo in Los Angeles on September 19 as part of MySpace’s Secret Show series. Two days prior the band will be playing the massive Hollywood Bowl, and The Echo is by far the most intimate show the band is playing this year. The Secret Show is a free, exclusive performance for the MySpace community.Spiritualized released their long awaited sixth album, Songs in A & E this past Spring. Serious illness struck Spiritualized frontman and songwriter Jason Pierce - aka J. Spaceman in 2005, and his time spent in intensive care interrupted the completion of the recording, but inevitably perhaps, the setback turned into an inspiration as critics and fans alike have recognized the album not only to be one of the band’s best work, but its most personal too.Pitchfork said of the new album that it was “Spiritualized’s best work in ten years.”
Pierce recently wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the new film, Mr. Lonely, directed by Harmony Korine (Julian Donkey-Boy and Gummo).
Spirtualized is recognized as one of the most original bands in the world. The band’s 1997 album “Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space” was bestowed “Album Of The Year” honors by NME in 1997, beating out Radiohead’s “Ok Computer” and The Verve’s “Urban Hymns.”
MySpace Music has organized more than 150 Secret Shows since the franchise launched in February 2006 with artists like Gnarls Barkley, The Offspring, Neil Diamond, Slayer, Fran Ferdinand, and the Yeah Yeah > Yeahs performing in cities around the world.
For more information about the artists and upcoming schedule, visit the official MySpace Secret Shows profile.
mtvU debuted the new Cold War Kids video today. Jumpy and paranoid has never sounded so good…
mtvU.com is also streaming the entire new album Loyalty To Loyalty on “The Leak” starting tomorrow. Check it out!
Sweden’s lovely pop songstress Lykke Li made her nationwide television debut last week, playing “Breaking It Up” (from her genius album Youth Novels) on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. She absolutely killed it. See for yourself…
..in which our intrepid young friends drive flying space cars & wreck intergalactic havoc as they “rock wichoo”:
Legendary queens of garage-pop sass The Friggs are re-uniting for a special Press Here Presents NYC show on Tuesday, September 16 at the Mercury Lounge. Joining The Friggs will be fellow rockers Goonsquad (featuring Miss Guy) and special guests! Following a renewed interest in the group’s timeless trash anthems due to song placements in films such as the hit comedy Superbad, The Friggs’ songwriter/guitarist Palmyra Delran is reuniting the band for their first shows since 1996. We couldn’t be more excited. t’s a chance for old fans to see the classic Friggs line-up and for a new crowd to see why The Friggs’ music has lasted into the new millennium.
The Friggs’ live rock assault will leave you without question as to why these ladies are still considered garage-rock royalty.
You can buy tickets here
Bloc Party’s third album, Intimacy, is available to pre-order digitally today, August 18th, via the band’s website – http://www.blocparty.com. Download purchases will be delivered on August 21st. The record will see its release in stores on October 28th, 2008 on Atlantic Records. Fans who pre-order the physical album, which will contain different tracks from the digital release, will receive a free download of the digital version upon purchase.
Bloc Party alerted fans to Intimacy’s existence, as well as their ability to purchase the record instantly, via their first-ever web chat this afternoon. After an unfinished version of their last album, A Weekend in the City, was leaked four months prior to its release, the band decided to get their newest collection of songs out to fans immediately upon the album being mastered and ready for the hearing.
Produced by Paul Epworth (producer for Silent Alarm) and Jacknife Lee (producer for A Weekend in the City), and mixed by Alan Moulder (Nine Inch Nails, My Bloody Valentine, etc.), Intimacy was recorded in
So a couple months ago we were treated to one of the best shows we’ve seen all year: Sigur Ros playing at the Museum of Modern Art. A gorgeous band with gorgeous songs in a gorgeous setting, it is definitely going on our Top Ten Shows of 2008 list, whenever we get around to making it. Current TV was on-hand to film the show, and broadcasted a selection of the songs last week (including lots from the band’s incredible new album, Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust, which you can see by clicking on the link below. (We would embed the Current player, but well, we’re a bit rusty with our coding…)
Okay, it’s our favorite song of theirs anyway, but this video is just classic. The Lost Boys meets Duran Duran’s “Rio“. No kidding. We love it!
The lovely and talented Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Dolls will be releasing a solo album called Who Killed Amanda Palmer this September. We happen to think it’s pretty fantastic. In tandem with the record, she’s releasing a companion book this fall - also called Who Killed Amanda Palmer and full of photos of the lady in various death scenes, hilarious or otherwise - on which she’s collaborated with acclaimed graphic novelist Neil Gaiman. The two recently spent a bit of time together on Amanda’s hometown of Boston working on it, and Gaiman revealed that he sometimes dabbles in lyric-writing. He showed Amanda some of his lines, she set them to music and voila! A song was born. The result is this little ditty below, a modern homage to the smoky, 3 am, lost-love bar laments of the 40’s simply called “I Google You.”
Anyone at a loose end tomorrow lunch time should pop into Other Music on East 4th Street, NYC for a special in-store performance by Conor Oberst. He’s playing at Bowery Ballroom too, but it’s been sold out for weeks.
The Dirty Projectors will be performing with White Williams at South Street Seaport on August 15th. It’s part of the Seaport Music Festival and it’s FREE! Both artists are recent signings to the fantastic Domino Records and we love them a lot.
A taste:
Conor Oberst’s new album is out this week and the young man’s been very busy. He appeared on The Tonight Show with his Mystic Valley Band on Wednesday, performing the song “Get Well Cards” quite brilliantly and yesterday he popped up on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson performing “Moab.” Neither of which are his current single. That title goes to “Souled Out!!!” for which he’s just released a video, directed by Alan Tanner. Check it:
Leno:
Ferguson:
Souled Out!!:
Space-rocker extraordinaire Jason Pierce was on hand, as were the rest of Spiritualized, for last night’s episode of the Late Show With David Letterman. Performing the new single, You Lie, You Cheat from the current album, Songs In A&E it was made clear very quickly that the band are in great form and for those who managed to catch one of their gigs over the last couple of weeks, this was simply icing on the amp.
The good folk at Pitchfork posted this:
Check out the clip for You Lie, You Cheat here:
Thanks to our good friends at My Old Kentucky Blog for the tip off that all 22 Blur clips are available via Parlophone’s YouTube channel. The available videos are:
Blur videos available:1. She’s So High
2. There’s No Other Way
3. Bang
4. Popscene
5. For Tomorrow
6. Chemical World
7. Sunday Sunday
8. Girls and Boys
9. To The End
10. Parklife
11. End Of A Century
12. Country House
13. The Universal
14. Stereotypes
15. Charmless Man
16. Beetlebum
17. Song 2
18. On Your Own
19. M.O.R.
20. Tender
21. Coffee & TV
22. No Distance Left To Run
There are simply way too many single highlights from Blur’s catalogue to pass on viewing any but Press Here cut a rug big-time to There’s No Other Way in the day so here goes:
Anyone still confused as to what differentiates Bright Eyes‘ music from Conor Oberst’s music should watch this interview with MTV’s John Norris in which our young troubadour explains, as well as discusses the new solo album’s recording in Mexico
Conor’s album Conor Oberst is released on August 5th and is available now for streaming from conoroberst.com and mergerecords.com. (The Merge Records site also has some FREE downloads from artists M. Ward, Wye Oak and Destroyer. Yay!)
The very adorable and ridiculously talented Jenny Lewis has announced plans for a new a solo album, titled Acid Tongue, on Warner Bros in September. This will be the follow-up to her utterly brilliant 2006 album Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love). The album announcement comes just weeks after Jenny wrapped a world wide tour in support of Rilo Kiley’s Under The Blacklight album.
Some of Lewis’ most steadfast collaborators appear on Acid Tongue: Johnathan Rice, Farmer Dave Scher (erswhile member of Beachwood Sparks and current Interpol live keyboardist), Jason Boesel, Jason Lader and the lovely M.Ward. She also invited other notable musician friends into the fold, including Elvis Costello for a duet (a 2006 live favorite: “Carpetbaggers”), Chris Robinson (of The Black Crowes), Benji Hughes, Zooey Deschanel (of She & Him) & Vanessa Corbala (of Whispertown2000) on backing vocals, Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle & Press Here favorite The Entrance Band) and her sister Ana provided strings, Davey Faragher (of The Imposters) on bass, as well as Laurel Canyon’s own Jonathan Wilson on guitar, and even members of Jenny’s own family. Her sister Leslie Lewis provided backing vocals on two songs while her father, harmonica virtuoso Eddie Gordon makes a star turn on something called a “bass harp”.
The all analog, no Pro-Tools sessions were all part of a shared aesthetic between Lewis, her producers, and her musician collaborators, working quickly and tracking her vocals entirely live and without embellishment. Recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in just 3 weeks. We’re psyched to see Jenny perform a string of shows with Conor Oberst this September as well as her own ACL Festival and Harlem Apollo show.
Tour dates:
9/16 – Fox Theatre- Boulder, CO
9/17 – Ogden Theatre- Denver, CO
9/20 – Anchor Inn- Omaha, NE*
9/21 – Ryman Auditorium- Nashville, TN*
9/22 – Bijou Theatre - Knoxville, TN*
9/23 – George’s Majestic Fayetteville, AK*
9/24 – The Lyric Theatre - Oxford, MS*
9/25 – Cain’s Ballroom - Tulsa, OK*
9/26 – Austin City Limits - Austin, TX
10/2 - Sixth & I Historic Synagogue- Washington, DC
10/4 – Apollo Theatre- New York, NY
(*with Conor Oberst )
Acid Tongue – Tracklist:
1. Black Sand 7. Godspeed
2. Pretty Bird 8. Carpetbaggers
3. The Next Messiah 9. Trying My Best To Love You
4. Bad Man’s World 10. Jack Killed Mom
5. Acid Tongue 11. Sing A Song For Them
6. See Fernando
Here’s a refresher from Jenny’s last album:
Those marvelous Cold War Kids announced their new album’s title today. Loyalty To Loyalty will be released on Downtown Records in September ‘08.
The band will soon embark on North American tour, bringing audiences songs from both robbers & cowards and Loyalty To Loyalty:
Dates in Full:
08/22/08 Outside Lands Festival, San Francisco, CA
08/23/08 Sunset Junction Festival, Los Angeles, CA
08/24/08 Les Schwab Amp, Bend, OR
09/20/08 Street Scene, San Diego, CA
09/27/08 Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
09/28/08 Richards on Richards, Vancouver, Canada
09/29/08 The Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA
10/01/08 The Neurolux, Boise, ID
10/02/08 In The Venue, Salt Lake City, UT
10/03/08 Boulder Theatre, Boulder, CO
10/10/08 Fine Line Music Café, Minneapolis, MN
10/11/08 Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL
10/14/08 Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA
10/15/08 Webster Hall, NYC
10/16/08 Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
10/17/08 Theatre of the Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
10/18/08 Nightclub 9:30, Washington, D.C.
10/20/08 Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
10/21/08 Mercy Lounge, Nashville, TN
10/23/08 Lola’s, Ft. Worth, TX
10/24/08 Emo’s Alt. Lounge-Outside, Austin, TX
10/25/08 Warehouse Live, Houston, TX
10/26/08 Voodoo Music Experience, New Orleans, LA
Tickets are available through the band’s website.
They’ve also posted a “second album teaser” on YouTube:
Hot on the heels of the release of the incredible Broken Social Scene Presents: Brendan Canning album, Something For All of Us…, on July 22, the Toronto-based band will be hitting the road for the Something For All Of Us Tour. These dates, which include festival stops at Lollapalooza,
For the Something For All Of Us Tour, Broken Social Scene will be performing songs from Brendan Canning’s brilliant album of the same name, in addition to tracks from the 2007 release, Kevin Drew’s Spirit If, and a plethora of fan favorites from their remarkable discography.
Tour dates are as follows:
8/1/08
8/2/08
8/21/08
8/22/08
8/23/08
8/24/08
8/27/08
8/28/08
8/31/08
Here’s a great clip of the band playing the song “Churches Under the Stairs,” from Brendan’s solo record, at this year’s Bonnaroo! Viva Canada!
With vinyl currently going though a steady resurgence and swiping back a massive portion of the recorded music market (currently 0.02%) we’re pleased to see that some truly awesome albums are getting a second chance to see the light of day. EMI will gradually reissue the catalogues of both Radiohead and Coldplay on 180 gm vinyl with original artwork and liner notes through their newly created series, “From the Capitol Vaults”.
This begs the question whether EMI will roll out this series across all of its labels so that we can pick up some modern classics from acts like The Beastie Boys, Blur, Sigur Ros, Mansun, Morrissey etc.
With the Best Buy chain testing in-store real estate devoted to vinyl in certain markets, perhaps a mini-renaissance period awaits our large gate-folded friends.
As previously reported, Conor Oberst has a new record, with a new band and it’s coming out on a new label. He just posted some footage of the Mexican recording for “Conor Oberst” with the Mystic Valley Band on YouTube. Check it:
My Brightest Diamond garnered a plethora of critical praise with the release of A Thousand Shark’s Teeth last month. Masterminded by Shara Worden, the sophomore release emotes a sense of melancholy, intimacy, drama and inspiration.
You can now stream the album in its entirety here thanks to the good folk at Download.com
Arguably the Southern hemisphere’s greatest musical export of the least decade, Youth Group, have kindly made their new album, The Night Is Ours available for streaming on their Myspace page.
Nothing short of a masterpiece, the album’s recording process has been captured as a 3-part documentary which is getting a staggered online release via YouTube. Here you’ll view frank accounts from the band about why they chose a deliberately foreign environment to record their fourth album (a former mess hall set amongst abandoned fishing boats left to rust in Sydney harbour) and the effect these surroundings had on the new songs.
The album gets its Australian release on June 28th and US release later in the year.
Watch the first episode here:
The term “Supergroup” gets dropped frequently these days but not since the collective of Paul Weller/ Mani/ Coxon/ Zak Starky and their release of This Old Town in 2007 has Press Here been so excited by such a superstar schmorgesborg.
The Chavs (ok, not the greatest name) feature Tim Burgess (The Charlatans), Carl Barat (Libertines/ Dirty Pretty Things), Martin Duffy (Primal Scream), Andy Burrows (Razorlight) and Jamie Reynolds (The Klaxons). Kind of a mixed bag there but we’re confident that good things will come of their scheduled studio time in August. We wait with bated breath…
You can check out the details via our friends at TheTripWire
And, just to refresh your memory, here’s a live performance of This Old Town on the Jonathan Ross show:
Conor Oberst announces his first set of dates in support of his upcoming solo album Conor Oberst (August 5th in US (Merge Records) and August 4th in UK (Wichita Records)).
Conor also launches his new website today. The website exclusively streams two tracks from his soon-to-be-released album – “Souled Out!!!” and “Danny Callahan“. To keep abreast of Conor Oberst’s goings-on visit the new website.
Tour dates in full:
07/16/08 Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Studio SP
07/17/08 Sao Paulo, Brazil @ Studio SP
07/18/08 Santiago, Chile @ Cine Arte Normandie,
07/19/08 Buenos Aires, Argentina @ La Trastienda
07/25/08 Billings, MT @ Bones Brewing*
07/27/08 Calgary, AB @ Calgary Jazz Festival, Prince’s Island Park
07/29/08 Vancouver, BC @ Richard’s On Richards Cabaret<
07/30/08 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s<
07/31/08 Bend, OR @ Midtown Ballroom<
08/01/08 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom of the Hill<
08/02/08 San Francisco, CA @ Bottom or the Hill<
08/03/08 Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre<
08/05/08 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubador<
08/08/08 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge**
08/09/08 Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle**
08/10/08 Norfolk, VA @ The NorVa**
08/11/08 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero**
08/12/08 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom**
08/17/08 Saratoga, NY @ Saratoga Music Festival^
08/22/08 Leeds, UK @ Leeds Festival
08/23/08 Birmingham, UK @ Academy 2
08/24/08 Reading, UK @ Reading Festival
08/26/08 Portsmouth, UK @ Wedgewood Rooms
08/27/08 London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
08/28/08 Manchester, UK @ Academy 2
08/29/08 Inveraray Castle, Scotland @ Hydro Connect Music Festival
08/30/08 Belfast, Ireland @ Spring and Airbrake
08/31/08 County Laois, Ireland @ Stradbally Hall / Electric Picnic
09/02/08 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
09/03/08 Brussels, Belgium @ Botanique
09/04/08 Luxembourg, @ Den Atelier
09/05/08 Zurich, Switzerland @ Rote Fabrik
09/07/08 Munich, Germany @ Backstage Werk
09/08/08 Zagreb, Croatia @ Studenski
09/09/08 Vienna, Austria @ Arena
09/10/08 Prague, Czech Republic
09/11/08 Berlin, Germany @ Columbia Club
09/12/08 Cologne, Germany @ Gloria
09/13/08 Paris, France @ Nouveau Casino
09/14/08 Salisbury, UK @ End of the Road Festival
09/20/08 Omaha, NE @ Anchor Inn
09/21/08 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium%
09/23/08 Fayetteville, AR @ George’s Majestic Lounge%
09/24/08 Oxford, MS @ The Lyric%
09/25/08 Tulsa, TX @ Cain’s Ballroom%
09/27/08 Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits
10/02/08 Melbourne, AUS @ The Palace
10/03/08 Brisbane, AUS @ Tivoli
10/04/08 Sydney, AUS @ Enmore
10/05/08 Sydney, AUS @ Great Escape
* w/ A Weather
< w/ Dri
** w/ Evangelicals
^ w/Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, The Swell Season, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle & Raul Malo
% w/ Jenny Lewis
PS: See that? Jenny Lewis is opening! Her new album’s on the way!
Okay, we know there’s a gazillion bands on tour this summer, but if you’re feeling like seeing something particularly special then we strongly recommend you get your hands on a ticket for the Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Raising Sand” tour with T-Bone Burnett. The album was a highlight of last year and the live show is simply goose-bump inducing. T-Bone Burnett might just be our favorite musician on the planet right now. And who’s cooler than Alison Krauss?! Definitely no one we can think of after seeing their WAMU Madison Square Garden show on Wednesday night. (Big ups to Paul from Rounder for making those highly sought-after tickets available to us!) OH, how we swooned!
Ticketing info can be found via Ticketmaster here.
What better intro to Vampire Weekend playing the Summer Stage that to follow Friday the 13th? Get it? Vampires? Friday the 13th? Anyhoo…
Press Here is not particularly superstitious but we can feel it in our waters that this is going to be one hell of a (FREE!) show. Other highlights in the coming weeks will include Santogold, Taj Mahal, Roy Hargrove Big Band and The National/ Yeasayer.
Check out the Vampire lads in all their preppy splendour on Later with Jools Holland:
We have a confession to make. We didn’t used to like Brooklyn. We rarely went there and when we did we complained bitterly about it. But then, during one hot summer’s day spent in a beer garden in Carrol Gardens, we saw the error of our borough-hating ways. We now *love* Brooklyn. We can’t get enough of it. We blush when we remember our bad attitude of the past. And so, with the 2008 “Celebrate Brooklyn” festival we’re going to get our rocks off in Prospect Park every chance we get. Summer Stage? That’s for wimps! The free performances at “Celebrate Brooklyn” is where it’s at. It all kicks off June 12th with the legendary Isaac Hayes. We’re particularly psyched about that, along with Cold War Kids on June 27th, Brazilian Girls on July 11th and Hal Wilner’s Bill Withers project on August 9th.
Get your F train on and we’ll see you down the front.
Here’s our favorite Cold War Kids video:
Performances take place at the Prospect Park Bandshell, which is also hosting some pretty fantastic musical performances this summer, including the lovely Feist on July 9th and Spoon on July 15th and our hero of all heroes, Bob Dylan on August 12th!!!
The Prospect Park Bandshell is at 9th St. & Prospect Park West Brooklyn, New York 11215.
While we here in America are still gearing up for the summer smash that’s coming down the pipe from Black Kids (”I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You“!) the band are already on their second single in the UK. “Hurricane Jane” is a little more down tempo than “Boyfriend” but just as crazy catchy. Check it.
The Raconteurs performed not one, but TWO songs on Conan last week. “Shades Of Black” and “Old Enough” are two of our favorite songs on the new album Consolers Of The Lonely and here they are.
Great to hear those horns on “Shades Of Black” (recorded for the album by The Memphis Horns, but provided here by members of the Max Weinberg Seven.)
Bo Diddley died today of heart failure. He was 79. One of the greatest musicians of all time, he used to say “I play the guitar as if I was playing the drums.” Here he is performing “Hey, Bo Diddley“.
Respect.
The Zombies were the second UK group following The Beatles to score a #1 hit in America. With gorgeous melodies, breathy vocals, choral back-up harmonies and a jazzy influence, The Zombies ruled the 1960’s with hit singles like “She’s Not There” and “Tell Her No”. Ironically, the group broke-up in 1968 just prior to achieving their greatest success – the chart-topping single “Time of the Season”, from their swan-song album Odessey & Oracle. This album has been listed as an influence and source of inspiration by countless musicians and was recently ranked #80 in Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and #32 by the U.K.’s New Music Express in a similar list of British albums. Lead singer Colin Blunstone went on to develop an acclaimed solo career - releasing some absolutely STUNNING, soulful records in the 70s, while keyboardist/songwriter Rod Argent rocked arenas in the 70’s with his eponymous band, ARGENT.
The popularity of The Zombies’ music, in keeping with their name, shows no sign of dying. Their unsurpassed oeuvre continues to influence musicians around the world, including original fans such as Tom Petty, or relative “youngsters” like REM, Beck, Pavement and Paul Weller. And contemporary cutting-edge American and UK acts such as Fountains of Wayne, Spoon, Badly Drawn Boy, Belle & Sebastian and Super Furry Animals are just the latest in a long line of musicians to play homage to The Zombies as each new pop generation has been able to discover for themselves the undiluted magic of the band’s catalogue.
In recent years, when The Zombies have been feted by pop’s hip aristocracy, it has been largely for their swansong, Odessey & Oracle, from which “Time Of The Season” was taken. It was their second and final album, recorded in 1967 before they went their separate ways, and remains perhaps their greatest artistic statement. Odessey presents an evocation of memory that maybe has yet to be surpassed in pop music, with a peculiarly English yet universal slant on dreams, childhood and the attendant loss of innocence that derives from the passing of both. And it is a record today as celebrated and influential as the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds or Love’s Forever Changes.
Over 30 years later, Blunstone and Argent resurrected The Zombies, paying tribute to the group’s musical legacy and collaborating on new studio material. Joined onstage by bassist Jim Rodford (formerly of ARGENT and The Kinks), Rodford’s son Steve on drums, and renowned session guitarist Keith Airey, they perform a dazzling retrospective of the cherished Zombies catalog, as well as favorites from their post-Zombies careers.
THE ZOMBIES - NORTH AMERICA TOUR DATE JULY 2008:
3-Jul Comerica CityFest, Detroit, MI
5-Jul Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI
6-Jul Taste of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN
9-Jul WCommon Ground Festival, Lansing, MI
10-Jul Wolf Den @ Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, CT
11-Jul The Fillmore @ Irving Plaza, New York, NY w/ the Blues Magoos
12-Jul Trump Marina Casino, Atlantic City, NJ
13-Jul Westhampton Beach PAC, Westhampton Beach, NY
15-Jul The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
17-Jul The Grove, Anaheim, CA
18-Jul The Cannery Casino, N. Las Vegas, NV
19-Jul The Canyon Club, Agoura Hills, CA
20-Jul Regency Center - Grand Ballroom, San Francisco, CA
23-Jul Wonder Ballroom, Portland, OR
24-Jul El Corazon, Seattle, WA
25-Jul Cascades Casino, Langley, BC (Vancouver)
26-Jul Deerfoot Casino, Calgary, AB
27-Jul Century Casino, Edmonton,AB
29-Jul Dakota Dunes Casino, Saskatoon, SK
30-Jul Casino Regina, Regina, SK
31-Jul Club Regent Casino, Winnipeg, MB
The Raconteurs just played three crazy good sold out shows at Terminal 5 in NYC. They were packed! They were great! Read all about it!
The band have added a last minute detour to their tour in order to perform on Late Night With Conan O’Brien tonight. On NBC. Don’t miss it!
Here they are performing a couple of weeks ago on the UK’s Late With Jools Holland:
Woah!
The band have also just announced another round of live dates. This time with everyone’s favorite rock n roll duo, The Kills! Yay!
09/16/08 Portland, Oregon @ Roseland Theater*
09/17/08 Portland, Oregon @ Roseland Theater*
09/18/08 Vancouver, BC @ Malkin Bowl (Stanley Park)*
09/19/08 Seattle, WA @ WaMu Theater*
09/21/08 San Francisco, CA @Treasure Island Music Festival
09/22/08 Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theater*
09/24/08 San Diego, CA @ SDSU Open Air Theater*
09/25/08 Santa Barbara, CA @ Santa Barbara Bowl*
09/28/08 Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Festival
09/29/08 Memphis, TN @ Cannon Center*
09/30/08 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium*
10/1/08 Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle*
*w/ The Kills
Check out The Kills‘ latest video for one of the best songs on their fantastic new album Midnight Boom. It’s called “Last Day Of Magic“. We think this is our favorite video fight scene since Arctic Monkeys clown beat-down in the “Florescent Adolescent” video!
If you like your blues-rock dark and murky. If you like your leather worn in. If you like BRMC, this one’s for you mon amis…
Via The Tripwire we’ve learned that BRMC, having just been on tour with The Duke Spirit, are giving a little bit back by playing a couple of free gigs in Dallas (05.18) and Houston (05.20).
Having seen BRMC’s electrifying shows over the years we recommend getting in quickly: snoozers are losers as they say. Email brmc_tickets@hotmail.com for your chance.
Here’s one of our faves:
From our friends at The Music Slut comes the news of Longwave’s long-awaited new material, available only as a digital download. Before you go racing to your fave e-tailer, just note that the 3-track digital EP can only be purchased from one of their live shows. The best news of all is that it’s only $1! Now what can you get for a buck these days?!
The dates:
June 7 at Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia, PA
June 8 at 9:30 Club in Washington DC
June 10 at Paradise Rock Club in Boston, MA
June 12 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, NY
It’s been four long years since Omaha’s The Faint have put out an album, the excellent Wet From Birth which was in constant rotation on our stereo when it came out. Now, they’re finally releasing a new record, called Fasciinatiion, on their new label blank.wav this August. It was written, recorded, produced and art directed entirely by the band, which may explain why it took a hot minute to come together. We’re pretty excited about it.
More exciting, however, is the fact that The Faint will be touring this summer. We’ve been to many Faint shows, and we can tell you, they are always a hot, manic, explosive, fantastic, dance-a-thonic, sweaty good time. Check them out in the following cities…
7/27/08 - Des Moines, IA @ Peoples Court
7/28/08 - Sioux Falls, SD @ Ramkota Annex
7/29/08 - Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
7/30/08 - Salt Lake City, UT @ In the Venue
7/31/08 - Boise, ID @ Big Easy
8/1/08 - Vancouver, BC @ Commodore
8/2/08 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
8/3/08 - Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
8/4/08 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
8/5/08 - San Francisco, CA @ Grand Ballroom
8/7/08 - Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
8/8/08 - Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
8/9/08 - San Diego, CA @ Soma
8/11/08 - Austin, TX @ La Zona Rosa
8/12/08 - Dallas, TX @ Palladium
8/14/08 - Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse
8/15/08 - Carrboro, NC @ Cats Cradle
8/16/08 - Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
8/17/08 - Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero
8/18/08 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5
8/20/08 - Worcester, MA @ Palladium
8/21/08 - Toronto, ON @ Opera House
8/22/08 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre
8/23/08 - Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
Of course, don’t take our word for it — here is The Faint tearing it up on Jimmy Kimmel Live to give you a taste of their onstage greatness…
Noah And The Whale were kind enough to play our SXSW Garden Party in March so we’re endlessly grateful as well as being big fans. Their single “5 Years” is just about to pop off in the UK. Here’s the video:
That was the very lovely Laura Marling singing the “Fun, fun, fun” backing vocals. She also features rather prominently on *this* slice of pop genius from The Mystery Jets:
Doesn’t summer suddenly feel so much closer after watching those?
Laura Marling will be performing solo acoustic at NYC’s Town Hall on Saturday night with Adam Green. We don’t think she’ll sign either of these two songs but she will sing some from her incredible debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim.
The Duke Spirit released their sophmore album long awaited sophomore album, Neptune, last month. The London 5-piece are now signed to new independent label Shangri-La Music. Fronted by the enigmatic Liela Moss, The Duke Spirit first burst into our world with their excellent debut Cuts Across The Land. They just wrapped up a tour with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and night they made a rockin’ appearance on the Late Night With Conan O’Brien. Watch it here.
And here’s the video for “Lassoo“.
She & Him made another TV appearance on Thursday, as musical guests on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson.
“Change Is Hard” is one of our favorite songs from She & Him’s Volume One album. Zooey obviously has a little Bobbie Gentry in her. We know Zooey always references Linda Ronstadt in interviews, but we hear a lot of Brian Wilson’s Spring and Laura Nyro in there too.
The fabulous David Garland from WNYC dedicated a whole show to the She & Him album and its influences last week. Listen to it here.
We really hope there will be more tour dates from the band soon. Watch this space!
At last! We already posted the “making of“.
Here’s the result!
In other Spiritualized news they’ve announced a few special releases around their upcoming Songs In A&E release. Available physically and digitally through Fontana International /Spaceman on May 26th, deluxe book and double vinyl versions will follow in June. First single, “Soul On Fire,” will be released digitally on May 6th. “Soul on Fire (Live from Union Chapel)” will be available with iTunes pre-order from May 13th; “Harmony 2 extended ” will be available exclusively via iTunes with full album purchase .
iTunes will also release an exclusive 5-track live EP, iTunes Live: London Sessions, on April 29th . Recorded on March 8th at the iTunes Festival in England, iTunes Live: London Sessions features lush string instrumentation and now trademark gospel choir.
In addition to London Sessions and “Soul on Fire,” look for the release of exclusive tracks via iTunes Pre-Order, including “Soul on Fire (Live from Union Chapel)” and the extended version of “Harmony 2 .”
Track listing from iTunes: London Sessions:
1) Sitting on Fire
2) Lord Let It Rain On Me
3) True Love Will Find You in the End
4) Death Take Your Fiddle
5) Walking With Jesus
Master-craftsmen, Youth Group have had quite a ride over the last couple of years: A Platinum record, tours with Coldplay, Interpol, Death Cab and Kings Of Leon and the release of their 3rd album, ‘Casino Twilight Dogs’.
Go back and listen to ‘Drowned‘, ‘Someone Else’s Dream’, ‘Start Today Tomorrow‘ etc and you’ll agree that this band simply write classic songs built to stand the test of time.
Not ones to rest on their laurels, the band have gone back into the studio to record their 4th album, ‘The Night Is Ours’. Its first offering, ‘Two Sides’ is here for your viewing/ listening pleasure. Brings back some terrifying memories of the 80’s…
Cameron - you need to come out of your shell.
The Verve played last night in New York. Have they still got it?
Yes……we believe they do…
Congratulations to Alex Turner and Miles Kane of The Last Shadow Puppets. Their debut album, The Age Of The Understatement entered the UK Album Charts at #1 today. Nice work, lads! It’s young Mr Turner’s third consecutive #1 record, both Arctic Monkeys albums went directly to number one upon release. Congratulations are also in order for formidable indie label Domino Records, this is their 5th top spot placing in two and a half years! Along with the Arctic Monkeys records they hit the top of the charts with both Franz Ferdinand albums. We love Domino a whole lot and not just for their formidable chart placings; Domino has some of our very favorite bands on their books: The Kills, Animal Collective, Cinematic Orchestra, Bonde Do Role, Benjy Ferree, Lightspeed Champion, These New Puritans, Sons & Daughters and Yo Majesty. And now they’ve signed the incredibly brilliant Brooklyn-based Dirty Projectors.
The Last Shadow Puppets will be announcing some live shows in the USA very soon. Watch this space!
Press Here adore Brian Wilson. Let’s face it without him…..well let’s not get into it here but let’s just say, “Beatles” in summary and move on.
Kindly, Brian Wilson has elected to perform at a Stand Up For A Cure (who seek to raise funds to end lung cancer once and for all) charity event in NYC at Hammerstein Ballroom on May 8th.
Press Here had the pleasure of seeing Brian Wilson during his Pet Sounds tour and though his 10-piece band carried him through the performance, if you closed your eyes, it was as though the Beach Boys were right there…
*Brian Wilson is a god…..not the God.
What better way to enjoy the live delights of Band of Horses, Laura Marling, Lightspeed Champion, The Panics, Sigur Ros, Devo, The Vines, The Presets, Cold War Kids (and many more) than to see them performing at Australia’s (and one of the world’s) great music festivals, Splendour In The Grass. The festival is located on the outskirts of Byron Bay, long-renowned for its incredible weather, great food, startlingly beautiful beaches and….er, dope. Stay tuned as the line-up additions will only get better and better.
After some last minute rescheduling of their Hiro Ballroom shows, She & Him performed their first ever NYC show at Webster Hall last night. They were truly fantastic, despite Zooey’s illness last week. The first Hiro show on Monday was canceled while Ms Deschanel dealt with a fading voice, but tickets for both shows were honored at Webster Hall. A few days of saving her larynx did wonders and last night’s show was tremendous. The band also performed a rollicking version of “Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?” on Late Night With Conan O’Brien, with the help of Yo La Tengo as part of the backing band. Fun!
Now, here’s a very special treat. We thought we were going to have to wait until June before Laura Marling came back to the US to perform. But she’s just announced an opening slot for Adam Green on May 10th at New York City’s Town Hall. What a great venue for her! We first heard the very lovely Laura Marling late last year when we were bowled over by her “My Manic And I” EP.
She was nice enough to perform at our Garden Party at SXSW. Her album Alas, I Cannot Swim was released on Virgin Records in the UK in February. It’s due to see a State-side release in August on Astralwerks.
You can listen to Laura performing on WNYC’s Spinning On Air With David Garland back in January here.
If you, like Press Here have been waiting an agonizing length of time for the opportunity to see The Verve perform live again, you’ve just been given another reason not to miss out on their MSG WAMU theater shows next week. Select tickets (ok, they’re likely to be nosebleed seats but what do you want for 50% off!) have gone on sale today for a “you couldn’t make it for that!” $25.
Richard Ashcroft, may you bless us with your vocals. Nick McCabe, may your dark guitar fury illuminate us again…
Footage from the last time Press Here had the pleasure of The Verve’s company back in ‘95:
We’re really excited about this! Conor Oberst has announced plans to release a solo album, his first for 13 years, on the very brilliant Merge Records in August. The album, titled Conor Oberst. The recording was made in Tepoztlán, Morelos, México during the months of January and February 2008. In Tepoztlán, a place known for Aztec Magic and Extra-Terrestrial Sightings, a temporary studio was created in a mountain villa called Valle Místico at the outskirts of town. It was produced by Conor Oberst with much help from engineer and long time associate Andy LeMaster. A special band was assembled for the recording, known amongst themselves and to friends as The Mystic Valley Band. It was there at Valle Místico that Conor and the band lived and worked for that time in near perfect harmony, often unaware of the hour or the day. The result is his first solo album in thirteen years, following Water (1993), Here’s To Special Treatment (1994) and Soundtrack To My Movie (1995). In that time he has recorded and performed in many bands and musical projects including Commander Venus, Park Ave., Desaparecidos, and most notably Bright Eyes, his main musical vehicle for the past decade.
Conor Oberst will be touring this album throughout the summer and has already announced an appearance at September’s Austin City Limits festival.
Track List in full:
1. Cape Cañaveral 7. Eagle On A Pole
2. Sausalito 8. Moab
3. Get-Well-Cards 9. NYC – Gone, Gone
4. Lenders In The Temple 10. Valle Místico (Ruben’s Song)
5. Danny Callahan 11. Souled Out!!!
6. I Don’t Want To Die (In The Hospital) 12. Milk Thistle
Live shows for Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band:
8/22 Leeds Festival - England
8/24 Reading Festival -England
8/31 Electric Picnic - County Laois, Ireland
9/27 ACL Music Festival -Austin, TX
We’ve been fans of PP Arnold, Ronnie Spector, Esther Phillips and Aretha Franklin for years and years, so when we first heard Duffy we thought “wow!” We really like her whole 60s thing, especially the tambourines. And the hair. We also think the talc-on-the-floor Northern Soul dance hall skit in the “Mercy” video is pretty fantastic.
Live footage here.
Spiritualized are limbering up to release the video for new single “Soul On Fire“. Here’s a little “making of” video, put together by the BBC, in which J.Spaceman peruses a West London warehouse stuffed to the gills with medical paraphernalia, a sort of private Mütter Museum. Jason chose it as one of the locations for the new video - the first video from the excellent new album Songs In A&E - and here he gives a tour. (A&E, as well as being two musical notes, is what the British call the ER. It stands for “Accident & Emergency”. Hey, you learn something every day, right?)
We’ll post the actual video just as soon as it’s completed.
Songs In A&E will be released on CD on May 27th and vinyl on June 3rd via Spaceman/Fontana Records. Spiritualized have a handful of West Coast shows coming up later this month, including a Sunday night performance at Coachella. Details here.
Remember when The Strokes and The White Stripes got really big in the UK really fast? And then America had to catch up with the mania? The same happened to Jimi Hendrix, I believe. Well, Florida’s Black Kids just released their first single “I’m Not Gonna Teach Your Boyfriend How To Dance With You” on the super cool Almost Gold record label. It debuted at #11 in the British Singles Charts. Pretty impressive! The band have been in the UK recording their debut album with Bernard Butler (Suede, McAlmont & Butler) and it’s set to come out sometime in the early summer.
We reckon this’ll be one of 2008’s biggest summer anthems.
Black Kids are on tour through the middle of August, including a stop off at Coachella & Lollapalooza. Full international tour dates here.
Maybe it’s because spring has finally sprung in New York City or because I’m just in the mood for some total classics, but today, all I feel like listening to is Simon and Garfunkel. Is there a better album than Bookends for a day like today? Is there a better song than “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for any day at all? Does “America” make us long for the heady days of the late 60’s? (Click on that link to see the perfect use of this song in a film starring the lovely Zooey Deschanel.) The answers are “no,” “no,” and “yes,” in case you were wondering.
But bringing up Paul Simon allows me to talk about one of my other favorite things, which are The Rutles. The Rutles: All You Need is Cash was a film put out in the 70’s by Eric Idle and some of the Python crew spoofing the story of The Beatles and it remains one of our favorites to this day. If you haven’t seen it, you really must hunt it down, if only for its amazing cameos - including George Harrison (!), a very young and good looking Mick Jagger, some of the 70’s SNL folks (Bill Murray, Dan Ackroyd, etc.) and, tying it all together, Paul Simon. You can watch his bit here:
Austin City Limits have announced the line up for this year’s festival - taking place in September. We love Austin, and we’re pretty sure it’s the best darn place in the whole of Texas (sorry Marfa, we haven’t been out your way yet!).
Of their “3 days, 8 stages, 150 bands” we’re particular excited about Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Raconteurs, Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band*, N.E.R.D, Iron & Wine, Neko Case, Band Of Horses, Gillian Welch, Against Me!, Okkervil River, Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Hot Chip, Vampire Weekend, Duffy, Roky Erickson, Spiritualized, Jenny Lewis, Mgmt, M.Ward, Adele, The Kills and Man Man . And that’s just a tiny taster. Get your tickets here.
* More on this later. Check back next week for details.
The Last Shadow Puppets made their TV debut last night in the UK, appearing - with full string section - on Later With Jools Holland.
And here they are performing acoustic at Avatar Studios in New York earlier this year:
And here they are acoustic again for Fader TV:
The album The Age Of The Understatement is far from acoustic, it’s lush with strings and orchestration - courtesy of Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy - and was produced by the very wonderful James Ford of Simian Mobile Disco. It’s a truly stunning debut. Find it on Domino Records from April 21st.
Watch this space for US tour dates.
She & Him‘s Hiro Ballroom shows sold out in a matter of minutes, but they’ve added another performance for NYU ID holders at NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts.
April 23, 8:00pm
Tickets: $20 ($12 NYU Students, $16 NYU faculty, staff, alumni) *On Sale NOW at The Skirball Center!* Tickets are $12 with NYU student ID and $20 without.
Must have NYU ID to purchase advance tickets.
Limit 2 advance tickets per NYU ID.
NYU student pre sale today through Saturday at the Skirball Center’s Shagan Box Office, 566 LaGuardia Place. Hours: Tues-Sat noon-6.
The New York Times Arts section ran a cover story on the band today. Read it here.
Anyone not yet hooked on the new album from The Kills - Midnight Boom - is seriously missing out on one of the best records of the year so far. Co-produced by the band and Armani xxXChange of Spank Rock, it’s the London-based duo’s finest moment to date. While the record is brilliant, Alison and Jamie’s live shows always bring an added burst of exuberant genius to the proceedings.
Cheap & Cheerful Video
The Kills LIVE:
4/29/08 Late Night With Conan O’Brien on NBC
4/30/08 Boston, MA @ Paradise *
5/01/08 New York, NY @ Webster Hall *
5/02/08 Washington, DC @ Black Cat*
5/03/08 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s*
5/04/08 Montreal, QUE @ Cabaret *
5/06/08 Toronto, ONT @ Opera House*
5/07/08 Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick*
5/08/08 Columbus, OH @ The Basement*
5/09/08 Chicago, IL @ Metro*
5/10/08 Madison, WI @ Annex *
5/11/08 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock*
5/14/08 Vancouver, BC @ Richards #
5/15/08 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s #
5/16/08 Portland, OR @ Berbati’s #
5/17/08 San Francisco, CA @ Slims #
5/19/08 San Diego, CA @ Casbah #
5/21/08 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theater#
5/22/08 Phoenix @ Brickhouse #
5/24/08 Austin, TX @ Parish #
5/25/08 Dallas, TX @ Cambridge Room #
5/27/08 Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge #
5/28/08 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl #
* with Telepathe
# with Child Ballads
U.R.A Fever video.
The Raconteurs just played the first two shows of their Consolers Of The Lonely tour in their hometown of Nashville earlier this week. We wish we were there! They’ll be touring through to the end of June as well as appearing at Coachella and Lollapalooza.
If you have a record player we strongly recommend picking up a copy of the album on vinyl as it comes replete with the most beautiful packaging.
Jack and Brendan gave an interview to Weekend Edition on NPR this week. Listen here.
Catch The Raconteurs -lucky people in Missouri get to see The Fiery Furnaces open for them!!
04/20/08 Vancouver. BC @ Commodore Ballroom*
04/21/08 Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s*
04/22/08 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom*
04/23/08 San Francisco, CA @ Bimbo’s 365 Club*
04/25/08 Indio, CA @ Coachella
04/26/08 Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint*
04/28/08 Denver, CO @ The Fillmore*
04/29/08 Kansas City, MO @ Uptown Theatre*
05/1/08 Dallas, Texas @ House of Blues*
05/2/08 Austin, Texas @ Stubb’s BBQ*
05/3/08 Austin, Texas @ Stubb’s BBQ*
05/4/08 New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
05/27/08 Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club^
05/28/08 Washington, D.C. @ 9:30 Club^
05/30/08 New York, NY @ Terminal 5^
05/31/08 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
06/01/08 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
06/3/08 Boston, MA @ Bank of America Pavilion^
06/4/08 Montreal, QUE @ Metropolis^
06/5/08 Toronto, ONT @ Ricoh Coliseum^
06/7/08 Detroit, MI @ The Fillmore^
06/9/08 Columbus, OH @ LC Amphitheater^
06/10/08 Cincinnati, OH @ National City Pavilion^
06/12/08 St. Louis, MO @ Pageant%
06/13/08 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
8/1/08 Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
*with Birds of Avalon
^with Black Lips
%with Fiery Furnaces
Time for a short tribute to the genius of Mark E Smith. While The Fall have been churning out great records for the past two (or is it three?) decades, Mark E Smith is still something of an enigmatic figure. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in his head, wonder no longer because there’s an exciting new book coming out. Billed as an “autobiography” it’s titled “Renegade: The Lives and Tales of Mark E Smith“. The Guardian have been serializing some of it the last couple of days. This is worth 5 minutes of anyone’s time. Our favorite quote?
“I only have three chairs in the house: one for the wife, one for me, and one for a guest. No more. One guest at a time - that’s my philosophy. You don’t want your house turning into a hippy commune.”
In tribute to Mark and his special little ways, we’ve put together our 3 favorite Fall videos available on YouTube. The video for “Telephone Thing“, a performance of “Cruiser’s Creek” on long-dead British music show The Tube and the now-classic clip of Mark reading the weekend football results on Manchester TV.
While we can’t quite picture Jay-Z in a pair of wellies, it seems he’ll be one of the headliners at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. The past 4 years of perilous mud has filled some music fans with so much dread that when tickets went on sale it didn’t automatically sell out in 3.2 minutes. The way these things work, it’ll probably be blissful sunshine this year. Don’t say we didn’t warn you….! And with 14 years of experience on this subject, we can safely say Glastonbury is still the king of festivals, rain or shine. Other headliners confirmed are The Verve and Kings Of Leon.
Perhaps it’s coincidental that many of our favorite people and things are Welsh…? The Green Man Festival is another Welsh thing we’ve come to admire greatly, a summer camping music festival started by the band It’s Jo And Danny. In the past few years it’s become one of the most popular festivals in Britain, especially for the folk-inclined. That would include us, then.
This year’s spectacular line-up goes like this:
Super Furry Animals / Richard Thompson / Iron and Wine / The National / Black Mountain / Drive By Truckers / Howlin’ Rain / King Creosote / Caribou / Damien Jurado / The Cave Singers / Magik Markers / Alela Diane / School Of Language / Nina Nastasia / Wild Beasts / Make Model / Simone White / The Accidental / Devon Sproule / Jennifer Gentlle / Cath and Phil Tyler / One More Grain / Moon Music Orchestra / Mugstar / Cymbient / Beth Jeans Houghton / The Yellow Moon Band / The Drift Collective / Rod Thomas / Duke Garwood / Brigyn / Wolf People / Threatmantics / Cats In Paris / Radio Luxemburg / City Reverb / Pamela Wyn Shannon / 9 Bach plus loads more and Very Special Guests for the Sunday Headline slot to be announced on 1st May.
We should also make special mention of our old mate Richard Norris who will be “hosting an evening of psychedelic madness”. And who doesn’t need that?
Here’s a special moment from Glastonbury we enjoyed along with the crowd back in 1994. Gosh, it seems so long ago now…
Addendum: It’s Manic Street Preachers performing “Faster” from The Holy Bible, which - if you’re not familiar - is one of the most brilliant punk rock albums of all time.
San Diego’s Grand Ole Party are one of our favorite new bands. We saw them at 2007’s SXSW and immediately leapt out of our seats and dashed over to them after their show to see if they wanted to be friends. They’ve only toured the US three times in their still-early careers - once with Rilo Kiley, once with Vampire Weekend and once (& currently) with Rogue Wave. That probably doesn’t suck at all. Their debut album Humanimals is completely great and was produced by Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley. They just completed their first video, for track “Look Out Young Son“.
The band have tour dates left - as well as a performance at Coachella - don’t miss them!
4/15/08 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church**
4/16/08 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club**
4/18/08 Chicago, IL @ Schubas**
4/19/08 Chicago, IL @ Schubas**
4/20/08 St. Louis, MO @ Gargoyle Club**
4/22/08 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre**
4/24/08 Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room**
4/27/08 Indio, CA @ Coachella
5/3/08 San Francisco, CO @ The Fillmore**
**w/Rogue Wave
Posted by CW
In rather an interesting move, our good friends at XL Recordings (The White Stripes, MIA, Devendra Banhart, The Raconteurs, Vampire Weekend, Sigur Ros) have launched a new website.
Instead of going for a conventional site model employed by many other record labels they’ve opted to cater to an more discerning audience, demanding the most of-the-moment content. Videos, photos, MP3s, blogs, TV appearances, tour announcements etc can all be accessed from XL’s site as all the content is being fed through from external sites.
XL’s new site will draw in content from all manner of music and entertainment outlets such as artist Myspace pages, news outlets like BBC and NME, music blogs such as Pitchfork, DayTrotter and DrownedInSound as well as Flickr and YouTube - almost a one-stop for all your music information needs.
It’s hoping that this new model, complete with a user-friendly collection of unique artist content, will attract a wide community of music fans.
Posted by JD
Oh, Festival Season. You’re not far from us now that we are in the month of April. Starting with Coachella at the end of April, the next few months are filled with bands from all over the world happening upon our fine nation with one goal only: the perfect Festival performance/set list. Last year, I personally only made it to Lollapalooza; and now that the 08 line-up has been announced, I may very well go back….
Here are some suggestions for bands that are guaranteed to be awesome at some of the festivals this summer.
COACHELLA:
Portishead * The Verve * The Raconteurs * Death Cab for Cutie * My Morning Jacket * The Breeders * Spiritualized * Goldfrapp * Rilo Kiley * MIA * Metric * Cold War Kids * Animal Collective * Simian Mobile Disco * Flogging Molly * Mark Ronson * Autolux * Sons and Daughters * Black Kids * Annuals * Vampire Weekend * St. Vincent
LOLLAPALOOZA:
Radiohead * Kanye West * Wilco * The Raconteurs * Bloc Party * Broken Social Scene * Flogging Molly * Mark Ronson * Cat Power * Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks (Janet Weiss on drums!) * CSS * Mates of State * Chromeo * The Kills * The Go! Team * Yeasayer * Black Kids * Kid Sister * Noah and the Whale
PITCHFORK MUSIC FESTIVAL:
Animal Collective * Jarvis Cocker * !!! * Vampire Weekend * Fleet Foxes * The Ruby Suns * Dinosaur Jr. * M. Ward * Dirty Projectors * Spiritualized
BONNAROO:
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss featuring T Bone Burnett * My Morning Jacket * The Raconteurs * Sigur Ros * Ben Folds * Cat Power * MIA * Iron & Wine * Stephen Marley * Broken Social Scene * Rilo Kiley * Against Me! * Aimee Mann * The Fiery Furnaces *
ALL POINTS WEST:
Radiohead * The Go! Team * CSS * Juana Molina * Andrew Bird * Grizzly Bear * Animal Collective * Metric * The Virgins * The Secret Machines
Happy Festival-Going!
Posted by JA
Stockholm’s Lykke Li will be releasing her first American EP - the Little Bit EP - on May 6th, and we couldn’t be more excited. Her stripped-down, otherworldly pop magnificence has been in heavy rotation on our stereos since the end of last year. And by stereos, we mean iTunes playlists, obviously.
We found this amazing video of her and two of her band members playing “Little Bit” on a street corner in Sweden. We’re especially fond of her awesome coat and her necklace made of percussion.
Posted by JA
Omaha’s favorite tap-dancing, ass-shaking, harmony-singing five-piece - Tilly and the Wall - is going to be releasing a new record on June 17th on Team Love Records simply entitled….well, it doesn’t have a title. The album cover is serving as its title: it’s a frame in which artwork will be placed. The Tillies are asking everyone in their community to contribute artwork for the album’s cover, and will have limited edition runs of handmade prints available by different artists that will act as the album’s cover.
But back to the music! Did we mention that O is Tilly and the Wall’s most cohesive, sonically experimental album yet? We’re kind of addicted to it. O details the mixing of the personal and the organic world — songs on the record frequently feature grass, flowers, blood, trees, snow, water, dust, sand, trash, electricity and gardens, all tied up with loss, love, need and exploration.
Excitement, indeed….
Posted by JA
She & Him announced two shows on Thursday and they both sold out in a matter of minutes! Luckily the band, who just released their first album Volume One and saw it debut at number 81 in the Billboard 200, have added two more gigs. Tickets will go on sale this Wednesday. We think it’d be smart to move really quickly on the ‘ol Ticket Master on Wednesday morning.
Last week singer/songwriter Zooey Deschanel was Terry Gross‘ guest on NPR’s Fresh Air where she talked about her musical collaborator M.Ward, making Volume One and her acting career. Listen here. For those of you unable to get a ticket, or living anywhere other than NYC, LA or San Francisco, you can watch She & Him perform on Late Night With Conan O’Brien on April 22nd and on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on April 28th.
She & Him dates so far:
Monday, April 21, 2008
Hiro Ballroom - New York, NY (Sold Out)
Monday, April 22, 2008
Hiro Ballroom - New York, NY
(Tickets go on sale April 2nd at www.ticketmaster.com)
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Vista Theare - Los Angeles, CA
(Tickets go on sale April 2nd)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Vista Theare - Los Angeles, CA (Sold Out)
Sunday, May 18, 2008
San Francisco Oysterfest (at Great Meadow at Fort Mason) - San Francisco, CA
Monday, April 28, 2008
The Vista Theare - Los Angeles, CA
(Tickets go on sale April 2nd )
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Vista Theare - Los Angeles, CA (Sold Out)
Posted by CW.
When it’s drizzling rain outside on a Monday there’s not much that can put us in a fantastic mood. We could watch the meercats on YouTube, or - even more heartwarming - catch up on some recent Super Furry Animals TV performances. They toured here in January/February in support of their latest album Hey Venus!, and popped up on TV sets across the nation, The Late Show With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien and Fuel’s The Daily Habit, who have just started posting their music performances on their website. The Daily Habit performance is a particularly beautiful Gruff + Bunf acoustic performance of “When The Wolves Howl At The Moon.” They also performed “Run Away” in the same way, with some additional help from a drum machine and some one-handed xylophone playing from the multi-talented Mr Bunford.
If this doesn’t make today’s grey skies a little brighter we don’t know what will….
Posted by CW.
It’s been five years since J.Spaceman’s Spiritualized released an album. In that time J (aka Jason Pierce) has been through rather a lot. In the first piece about the album, which ran in the Guardian newspaper in Britain last week, he recounts how he nearly died of pneumonia shortly after recording.
The new album is called Songs In A&E and is the very eagerly-awaited follow-up to 2003’s Amazing Grace. It’ll be released on June 3rd on Spaceman Records/Fontana. Late last year Spiritualized came to America for a handful of Acoustic Mainlines shows, including a stop at the Harlem Apollo in New York where they received several standing ovations and left not a dry eye in the house.
The band will perform, with strings and gospel singers at Coachella and a couple of shows prior:
April 23rd @ Lobero Theatre -Santa Barbara, CA
April 25th @ 4th & B - San Diego, CA
April 26th @ Coachella Festival, Indio, CA
Posted by CW
The always ravishing Rilo Kiley have announced a spring tour. Their latest album Under The Blacklight was released last year.
Worth noting that they’ll be playing at the Slowdown in Omaha, the new(ish) Saddle Creek-owned venue. We have yet to make the trip out there for a show, but we hear wonderful things. They just won a Esky Award (Esquire Magazine) for Club Of The Year. Well done! (It was all down to those Bobbie Gentry records on the jukebox, we bet.)
Thu-Apr-17 San Francisco, CA Concourse @ SF Design Center
Sat-Apr-19 Portland, OR Roseland
Sun-Apr-20 Seattle, WA Showbox SODO
Mon-Apr-21 Bellingham, WA Western Washington University
Wed-Apr-23 Santa Cruz, CA Rio Theatre
Thu-Apr-24 Pomona, CA The Glasshouse
Sat-Apr-26 Indio, CA Coachella Arts & Music Festival
Thu-May-15 San Diego, CA Concerts in the Park
Sun-May-18 Colorado Springs, CO The Black Sheep
Mon-May-19 Denver. CO Ogden Theatre
Tue-May-20 Omaha, NE Slowdown
Wed-May-21 Omaha, NE Slowdown
Thu-May-22 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
Fri-May-23 Milwaukee, WI Pabst Theatre
Sat-May-24 Chicago, IL The Riviera
Sun-May-25 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
Mon-May-26 Cleveland, OH House of Blues
Wed-May-28 Toronto, ONT Phoenix Theatre
Fri-May-30 Worcester, MA Palladium
Sat-May-31 Providence, RI Lupo’s Heartbreak Hotel
Sun-Jun-01 Northampton. MA Calvin Theatre
Mon-Jun-02 New York, NY Terminal 5
Tue-Jun-03 New York, NY Terminal 5
Thu-Jun-05 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
Fri-Jun-06 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
Sat-Jun-07 Baltimore, MD Rams Head Live
Sun-Jun-08 Richmond, VA Toads Place
Tue-Jun-10 Norfolk, VA The Norva
Wed-Jun-11 Asheville, NC Orange Peel
Thu-Jun-12 Charleston, SC Charleston Music Hall
Fri-Jun-13 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Sun-Jun-15 Dallas, TX Palladium
Mon-Jun-16 Austin, TX Stubbs BBQ
Posted by CW
We just got in a few more photos from our party that we felt like sharing….
Kimya Dawson performing (the flash on my camera sucks)
.
J. Mascis strums his guitar for the crowd. Thurston Moore is a once-and-always rock crush of mine (and Garden Party performer two years in a row!).
People of all ages had fun at our party. (Is that little girl playing with an iPhone?)
Ah, Texas, now that we’re back in the cold overcast climate of New York City, we sorta miss you….scroll down to see some more lovely photos from our party and relive the fantastic weather….
Posted by JA
This arrived directly from The Raconteurs:
The Raconteurs are happy to announce that in one week’s time their second album, entitled “Consolers Of The Lonely”, will be available everywhere Tuesday, March 25th.
“Album” meaning: full length vinyl, CD and digital formats; and “everywhere” meaning: local mom and pop Indie retailers, corporate superstores, supermarkets, iTunes, Amazon, the band’s own website and any other location that could get the record up and going this quickly (some places couldn’t move this fast, so they will join in as soon as they can).
It contains 14 new recordings and is being released globally on Third Man Records in conjunction with our marketing/distribution partners, XL Recordings and Warner Brothers Records. The tracklisting is as follows:
1. Consoler Of The Lonely
2. Salute Your Solution
3. You Don’t Understand Me
4. Old Enough
5. The Switch And The Spur
6. Hold Up
7. Top Yourself
8. Many Shades Of Black
9. Five On The Five
10. Attention
11. Pull This Blanket Off
12. Rich Kid Blues
13. These Stones Will Shout
14. Carolina Drama
The album was mastered and completed in the first week of March. It was then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25th became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement.
The purpose: to get the album to the fans as soon as possible and as we promised. We wanted to get this record to fans, the press, radio, etc., all at the exact same time so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it’s availability, reception or perception.
With this release, The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important “first week sales”. We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and then marketing and promoting it thereafter. The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it’s first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it for you before you get to hear it.
Another purpose was to also allow people to have their own choice as to exactly which format they would like to hear the album in IMMEDIATELY, rather than having to wait for their favorite format to become available. The band are also not releasing any version of this record that contains bonus tracks. Musically this album will be the same as the band created it no matter what format it is purchased in (The sound quality of each format however, is a different story. The Raconteurs recommend hearing it on vinyl, but the choice is of course up to the listener).
The band also prefer that fans buy the album as a whole instead of breaking up the tracks, but until iTunes and other digital services allows bands to release their albums with the option of NOT breaking it up, it will be sold in that fashion on those particular sites. On the band’s website however, the album will be sold in its entirety as mp3s at 320kb bit rate. Also in Japan, fans will be able to download the record via their mobile phones, as that is how a majority of recorded music is consumed there.
The reason we are announcing this release one week ahead of time is because of retail pre-ordering and stocking, information about this album’s imminent release was bound to come to light and could be confusing to fans. Also in the event that the record leaks, we didn’t want this method of release to be seen as a reaction to such a leak. It’s not. The actual worst thing about a leak is the usual poor sound quality, akin to watching a movie on a wristwatch instead of in a theater. Which for the album’s creators is a bit of a letdown, but again, it is completely up to the listener.
There will be a video up on the internet for the first single, “Salute Your Solution”, on the 25th as well, provided it gets edited in time. We just filmed it the other day!
We hope not to confuse anyone with too many options, or deny them the formats that they like best. The Raconteurs feel very strongly that music has worth and should be treated as such. Thank you to all those who respect music in this fashion, and thank you to our label partners for working with us to get this album to fans in as many formats as possible all at once.
Thank you, and we hope that you enjoy “Consolers Of The Lonely”.
Sincerely,
The Raconteurs
We’re just slightly dishevelled today following a mad dash back from Texas where we enjoyed a very hot and sunny SXSW. We were wow’d by the talents of Autolux, A Weather, Black Ted-n-Ted, Carbon/Silicon, The Cliks, The Donnas, The Duke Spirit, Emmy The Great, Fleet Foxes, Flowers Forever, Grand Ole Party, Greta Gaines, Howlin Rain, Hymns, J.Mascis, Jennifer Jackson, Jim James, Johnathan Rice, The Kills, The Kin, Kristoffer Ragnstam, Laura Marling, Lightspeed Champion, Lykke Li, M.Ward, My Brightest Diamond, Neon Neon, papercranes, Peter Moren, The Rascals, She & Him, Simian Mobile Disco, Skybombers, Sons and Daughters, South, These New Puritans, Tilly And The Wall and The Wombats. We’re sure we would have loved the REM and Vampire Weekend shows too, but we weren’t able to elbow our way into those gigs. Our favorite “Who’s this?!” moment of the week was witnessing Kitty, Daisy and Lewis, a group of siblings from London who perform great rock n roll along with their mum on double bass and their dad on guitar. We expect them to be wildly famous in the very near future.
The Garden Party, The Press Here party at the French Legation Museum conjunction with Harp magazine and Ground Control Touring, was a huge success and we would like to thank all of the artists who played: the aforementioned mentioned Emmy The Great, Lightspeed Champion, Sons and Daughters, Laura Marling, J Mascis and She & Him, along with Noah And The Whale, Thurston Moore, Okkervil River and Kimya Dawson. It was a great party, a huge crowd, glorious sunshine, beautiful music and a lovely end to the week. We are so appreciative of all the artists who braved the heat of the tent to give us some of the best performances of the entire convention. Thanks guys, you were all wonderful!
We were completely thrilled to have such a great bill and so delighted by the success of the party that we immediately forgave Noah And The Whale for breaking the bass drum so early in the day!
Thanks to everyone who showed up and made the day a mammoth success. And cheers to our sponsors without whom none of this would have been possible: PRS Guitars, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Glaceau, JamBase, The Austinist and The Ice Cream Man. We’ll see y’all next year!
(Above is Emmy The Great, Noah And The Whale, Lightspeed Champion, She & Him and J Mascis performing at The Garden Party)
We first heard Emmy The Great when she provided some sweet-as-hell backing vocals to the fantastic Lightspeed Champion album. “Who’s that girl with the lovely voice?” we thought. And then: “I wonder if she has a record of her own?” She didn’t have a record of her own, but by the miracle of MySpace we tracked her down and bombarded her with emails asking her to send us some of her homespun recordings. She very graciously did. Her excellent self-released EP “My Bad” arrived in the mail and we’ve been listening to it on repeat ever since.
What can be more glorious than an amazing song, a dance party and neon? We’re hard pressed to answer that question, which is why we think the new video for a single called “Beat Control” by Omaha’s own Tilly and the Wall is pretty much as great as it gets. Directed by Cody and Drew of SSION, the video for “Beat Control,” which is pretty much a Kool-Aid-colored dance-a-thon, was recently the number two most played music video on YouTube the day it hit the interweb. One viewing will show you why.
We’re reeeeeally excited about the forthcoming sophomore album from Brooklyn’s My Brightest Diamond – spearheaded by Shara Worden – who has been established as one of independent music’s most vibrant, creative and original voices. The album’s called A Thousand Shark’s Teeth, and it’s coming out on Asthmatic Kitty Records on June 17th. Charming, playful, daring, foreboding, graceful, eclectic, exciting and visceral: these are all the first words that come to mind after a full listen through A Thousand Shark’s Teeth. It is a record that evokes and challenges, full of the sorts of melodies and arrangements that make a hell of an impression. Shara started working on some of the songs for the record nearly six years ago, and recorded it in all different places – Berlin, NYC, LA – with twenty different players to help achieve her vision. With everything from strings to marimbas, harps, French horns and her own amazing guitar playing (those of us who play guitar here might be more than a little jealous of her skill!), A Thousand Shark’s Teeth is simply a beautiful album made by a brilliant artist. When you hear it, we think you’ll probably agree with us.
Here’s a video of Shara playing A Thousand Shark’s Teeth first single – “Inside a Boy” – at a show this past fall…
Posted by J.A.
The very lovely Krista Blake in Glasgow sent us a very limited 7” of the 1990s “Sorry For Laughing” (bw The Royal We’s “Poor Old Soul”). It was extremely nice of her to think of us and remember how much we enjoy 45s. The single’s being released by Hitherto with help from the Six Cities Design Festival in Glasgow. Hitherto is a shop/gallery/performance space in the back of Tinderbox on Ingram Street in Glasgow, Scotland. It sells lovely and wonderful objects d’art, music, books, bags, stationery and clothes.
1990s are one of our favorite Scottish bands.
Posted by: CW
Our friend Andrew Kuo has recently been doing some of his “rock graphs” (for want of a better word) for the New York Times.You might have seen his “7 days of Bright Eyes at Town Hall” uber-graph last year. We like to check them out on Sunday mornings before coffee…it can make for a confusing and hilarious few minutes. Kuo’s two favorite bands are also two of our favorite bands – Animal Collective and Vampire Weekend -although we’re not mathematically-minded enough to explain how much we like them in flow chart form. Kuo’s the only guy who has that particular gift. Check it out here.
Posted by: CW
