Remember how resolutely weird Split Enz appeared in the mid-1970s with their pancake makeup, odd suites and musical madness? I had forgotten until I saw these two video from the Finn Brothers early days - 'Late Last Night' from their debut "Mental Notes" (1976) and 'My Mistake' (1977 album "Dizrhythmia"). Whew. There was something in that Wellington, Auckland water back then, I guess. Still rollicking songs though.
The Black Lips carry on the ramshackley/grungy American brand of garage rock that keeps audiences in fits and tussles, and the bar owners selling 12ouncers. That's the way I like it.
The band's forthcoming album, 'Arabia Mountain' produced by celeb-producer Mick Ronson, comes out on June 7 via Vice Records. Read my Black Lips live review from 2009.
Click here to stream the whole new Black Lips release at Grooveshark. The CD kicks off with two rip-roaring stompers: a blastin' country twanger called "Family Tree", followed by the driving "Modern Art" no relation to any Art Brut song. I like it already, doesn't sound like any dance beats have been grafted onto the band's palette....:-)
I've tried to avoid American Idol as much as my own soul has depended on it. But it's won. I lost the battle. The show brought on the former contestant James Durbin, who was eliminated earlier in the show but had impressed judges by singing a Judas Priest song 'You Got Another Thing Comin'.
They decided to bring onto the show the real Judas Priest (who are promoting a fall world tour) to play a couple of their hits (Livin' After Midnight and Breakin' the Law) along with singer James. Check the aweome clip below. Heck, at least it was better than some warmed-over treacle, right?
"Atv = three points in time.
A = action. T = time.
V = vision as the four minds crack in atvv!"
One of the great early (1978) UK punk rock singles - Action Time Vision - from Alternative TV, delivered to your eyes and ears via a smokin' Internet connection and whole bunch of tubes.
Trouser Press writes:
"Although the abstract stuff doesn't hold up so well, it's still an amazing document of a time and place. The straighter efforts are better: an early Buzzcocks/Clash sock is well-exercised on the band's rousing manifesto, "Action Time Vision." It's also why the compilation of the same name, including non-LP singles sides (through '79) on which Perry's righteously vented spleen is effectively displayed, works better than Image as entertainment if not artifact."
I've just finished reading the 'We Are Devo' book, by Jade Dellinger & David Giffels, and edited by Jeff Winner. It was originally published in 2003, I think, and the authors put our an updated paperback edition a few years ago.
Click here to read a chapter of early Devo radical art-driven music making under the name Sextet Devo.
The book is pretty cool, giving insights into much of Gerald Casale's and Mark Mothersbaugh's early art inclinations and college-aged weirdness fun. A good chunk of the book brings you right back to industrial Akron, OH and the bandmembers' late 1960s and early 1970s' teen and college years. The early gigs of the Devo concept are covered fully, but it wasn't until 1976-1977 that the full-on DEVO concept as we know it today came riding into our subhuman consciousness as we know it now.
Here's a rare early clip of the band at Max's Kansas City in 1977, playing a nearly 8 minute long version of "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA", which wouldn't show up until their 2nd LP a few years later.
Shame it took me so long to get to the book, but it's a solid read on Devo's Akron, OH early days, art leanings, concepts, band formation and more. Mr. Kamikaze, Mr. DNA!
Robert Pollard is rockin' and ready to throw down another LP for you all. It's called "Lord of the Birdcage" and you can download the digital tracks at GBVDigital.
I'm clicking through to a few song samples, and I hear a few melancholy mid-tempo rockers, a few proggy-punk numbers, and a few acoustic numbers. Make sure you go to the closing cuts - that's where Pollard likes to bury his coolest songs - check out 'Holy Fire' and 'Ash Ript Telecopter' for instance.
Midheaven.com wrote:
"On Lord of the Birdcage, Pollard reverses his songwriting process, transforming a dozen previously written poems into songs. He’s never written in this fashion before, and his whimsical, surrealist lyrics take center stage.
Lord of the Birdcage is a subtle record comprised of mostly steady, relaxed tempos—power pop, glam chugs, gorgeous ballads and a notable number of 3/4 waltz-time meters, including the haunting acoustic “In a Circle,” the frenetic rocker “You Sold Me Quickly” and the lush, string-driven “Silence Before Violence.” It’s a cohesive, flowing work, and Pollard’s sublime songs reveal their treasures through repeat listenings."
What happened over the weekend? The rock never stops.
- Echo & The Bunnymen played two shows over the weekend in NYC, playing their first two classic albums 'Crocodiles' and 'Heaven Up Here' in full! Fucking Nostaligic has got pics, setlist and a review.
- Rolling Stone informs us that The Beach Boys' stone classic "Pet Sounds" was released this week in 1966 (45 years ago! Zoinks!). God only knows how long Rolling Stone is going to live in the 1960s!
- Pitchfork is premiering the new song from Bon Iver 'Calgary' - stream it here. It sounds gorgeous! Bon Iver appears on Jimmy fallon's late night show next Monday May 23.
- Relive the classic 1970s Midnight Special TV appearances at the '70s Classic Rock blog.
- Julian Casablancas, Paul McCartney and other artists cover Buddy Holly songs in a new tribute 'Rave On' to celebrate what would have been Buddy Holly's 75th birthday this summer. The release may also help to pad the checking account of Paul McCartney, who holds all the publishing to Buddy's old songs).
- And here's your snap of Urge Overkill doing an AOL acoustic set in LA before the weekend shows... you can check out video from the shows on YouTube...
Ee-gad - 42 years later and the Buffalo Springfield will gather on a stage and play music together. That's a lifetime ago when they last did that.
This ticket blog wrote:
"The three surviving original members of Buffalo Springfield reunited last year for Young's annual Bridge School benefit concerts but that was just for two nights. Nonetheless, those October shows sparked interest in a full-fledged Buffalo Springfield tour.
"Before I got the call about the reunion I always told people there wasn't any chance we'd ever reunite," Furay said after those two Buffalo Springfield concerts. "Now I'm never going to say never again. We left with the idea that we can do this if we want to."
At that benefit gig the band performed several classic Buffalo Springfield songs including "Bluebird," "Rock and Roll Woman," "On The Way Home," "Mr. Soul," and "For What It's Worth." Fans should expect a similar playlist on their upcoming trek.
From the LA Times blog:
Buffalo Springfield formed in 1966 in Los Angeles and released only three studio albums before disbanding in 1968. Original members Young, Stills and Furay reconvened last fall for two performances at Young’s annual Bridge School benefit concerts in the Bay Area. Bassist Rick Rosas and drummer Joe Vitale, who will support the surviving members on the reunion tour, filled in at those shows for original Springfield members Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin, who died in 2004 and 2009, respectively."
Here's the band from those years ago doing 'Rock & Roll Woman'
And here's 'Bluebird' from their first reunion show last October which has led to these upcoming shows:
Our rock trio Dfactor is part of an all-day rock and metal lineup of bands playing the big and cool Club Red tomorrow Saturday May 14. Tickets to come in are $10 (good for the whole night!).
We're playings as part of the Live Loud & Local music fest - we're told that our set time is at 4pm. Come out at 3:3pm and hang out with the band for a bit. We'd love for you Phoenix and Tempe rockers to come out and see us play. Several new songs (Useless Knowledge, Walkin' Out on Love) have spiced up the set and we may even have time for a cool cover.
Check out some Dfactor live pics from Thursday night's show at our Facebook page.
Hope to see you at the afternoon rock show!
The indefatigable Robert Pollard has kicked out another batch of songs with Boston Spaceships bandmates and musicans Chris Slusarenko and John Moen. A new double LP is expected in August under the title "Let It Beard".
See the awesome song titles below ["I Took on the London Guys" - incredible or what?]
Follow Boston Spaceships at their Facebook page or Twitter feed.
Under the Radar Mag writes:
Boston Spaceships, one of the many projects of “does he sleep” Robert Pollard, has announced new album, Let it Beard (out August 2 via GBV, INC). The album—a double LP—gives new meaning to the word “sprawling” with 30 new tracks. (Which given that they were culled from 40 demos makes for an impressive rate of success.) As noted by the press release, this also marks the first time Pollard didn’t change his mind about song titles, track order, or the existence of the project all together. Shocking. Check out the tracklist below.
Tracklist:
1. Blind 20-20
2. Juggernaut Vs. Monolith
3. Tourist U.F.O.
4. Minefield Searcher
5. Make A Record For Lo-life
6. Let More Light In The House
7. You Just Can't Tell
8. Chevy Marigold
9. Earmarked For Collision
10. Toppings Take The Cake
11. Tabby And Lucy
12. (I'll Make It) Strong For You
13. A Hair In Every Square Inch Of The House
14. The Ballad Of Bad Whiskey
15. I Took On The London Guys
16. Red Bodies
17. A Dozen Blue Overcoats
18. Pincushion
19. Christmas Girl
20. Let It Beard
21. The Vicelords
22. German Field Of Shadows
23. Speed Bumps
24. No Steamboats
25. You In My Prayer
26. Inspiration Points
A. Shove Thy Neighbor
B. Human Amusements At Hourly Rates
C. Man Of A 1000 Worlds
D. Inspiration Point
[This post was meant for Thursday, but Blogger was down most of the afternoon and I didn't get to it. So here it is on Friday.]
Thursday Tidbits for the music-fueled
- Roger Daltrey, longtime vocalist for The Who, recently premiered his spectacular performance of The Who’s legendary rock opera TOMMY at The Royal Albert Hall, London, in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust and is now taking it on the road, performing TOMMY in its entirety from start to finish. The Who never actually played the complete Tommy. The 6-week tour kicks off in Florida on September 13. Here are the dates:
-
Sept. 13 Hollywood, FL Seminole Hard Rock
Sept. 15 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Pavilion
Sept. 17 Boston, MA Agganis Arena
Sept. 18 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
Sept. 21 Philadelphia, PA MANN Center
Sept. 23 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
Sept. 24 Hartford, CT XL Center
**Sept. 27 Montreal, QC Place Des Arts
**Sept. 28 Ottawa, ON Scotiabank Place
**Sept. 30 Toronto, ON Sony Centre For The Performing Arts
Oct. 1 Windsor, ON The Coliseum at Caesars Windsor
Oct. 5 Minneapolis, MN U.S. Bank Theater at Target Center
Oct. 7 Hammond, IN Venue at Horseshoe Casino
Oct. 8 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
Oct. 11 Cedar Park, TX Cedar Park Center
Oct. 12 Grand Prairie, TX Verizon Theatre
Oct. 14 Kansas City, MO The Midland by AMC
Oct. 16 Broomfield, CO 1STBANK Center
Oct. 19 Los Angeles, CA NOKIA Theatre
Oct. 21 San Jose, CA San Jose Civic
Oct. 22 Las Vegas, NV The Joint
Oct. 24 Portland, OR Rose Quarter-Theatre of the Clouds
Oct. 25 Seattle, WA KeyArena at Seattle Center
**Oct. 27 Vancouver, BC Rogers Arena
**Oct. 29 Edmonton, AB Rexall Place
**Oct. 30 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
**Oct. 1 Saskatoon, SK Credit Union Centre
**Oct. 2 Winnipeg, MB MTS Centre
- “It’s a quarter after one, I’m a little drunk and I need you now”…how many times have those lines been sung by people all over the globe? The lovesick multi-format single “Need You Now” written by Hillary Scott of multi-platinum powerhouse trio Lady Antebellum took home Song of the Year honors from the 15th Annual SESAC New York Music Awards, held Wednesday night in NYC. "Need You Now" was certified triple Platinum (how many sold IS that???) after spending 5 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Songs chart. The song dominated pop radio stations across the country landing at No. 1 in multiple formats and claiming the No. 1 spot on iTunes' singles chart in all genres.
- I’m digging the new Cloudspeakers site that aggregates music content, reviews and more for your fave artists.
- If you're in NYC this spring, you might want to check out former CroMags singer John Joseph, who is a walking tour guide on the "The History of Art, Crime, Drugs and Punk Rock on the Lower East Side" walking tour. Joseph said to Noisecreep:
"I've been part of the scene here since the late '70s, so you know I've seen it all. The tour gives the people a slice of that history from someone that was actually there, going to all of the clubs. I didn't go on the Internet looking up 'NYC punk rock history' and then decided to do this tour. I was there in '77 and knew all of the crazy drug dealers, gangs, and bands of the time."
"The walk lasts about three hours and so far, everyone's loved it. I let people ask questions and they seem to like that too. The crowds have been mixed and not just hardcore and punk people. I had a script writer come down the other day to take notes on everything. It's just a great way to learn about the NYC scene and its rich history."
Bob Marley died 30 years ago today. The Guardian UK has a great tribute to Marley with select clippage....
Here's Johnny Cash and Joe Strummer singing one of Marley's greatest....
From Wikipedia:
"Redemption Song" is a song by Bob Marley. It is the final track on Bob Marley and the Wailers' ninth album, Uprising, produced by Chris Blackwell and released by Island Records.[1] The song is considered one of Marley's seminal works, with lyrics derived from a speech given by the Pan-Africanist orator Marcus Garvey.
At the time he wrote the song, circa 1979, Bob Marley had been diagnosed with the cancer that later was to take his life. According to Rita Marley, "he was already secretly in a lot of pain and dealt with his own mortality, a feature that is clearly apparent in the album, particularly in this song".
Unlike most of Bob Marley's tracks, it is strictly a solo acoustic recording, consisting of Marley singing and playing an acoustic guitar, without accompaniment. In subsequent live performances, however, a full band was used. A full band rendition of "Redemption Song" was made available as a bonus track on the 2001 reissue of Uprising, as well as featuring on the 2001 compilation One Love: The Very Best of Bob Marley & the Wailers. However, the solo performance remains the take most familiar to listeners."
Live Show! Rock Show!
My rock 'n roll trio Dfactor has been granted permission to tear up the stage at Scottsdale's Rogue Bar this Thursday night. Expect a couple of sets, with us playing as many songs as we know! And some we don't! I may even bunk up the acoustic for a few. All the fun starts after 8:30pm. Cover is $5.
You'll hear songs from our new "Head in the Clouds CD EP. Plus, we'll be banging out a few songs from the 2008 and 2009 CDs "Say Yeah!" and "Slashing the Sunlight". And we'll dip into our bag of rock covers for a good time too. Lately, we've been banging The Shadows of Knight, early Tom Petty, and The Who, among others.
The Rogue Bar is located at 423 N. Scottsdale Road, just north of McKellips.
Click here to read a few kind local words from music mags in the Valley. We also have a show scheduled for Saturday at the Live, Loud & Local fest at Tempe, AZ's Club Red, along with a load of other bands. THAT should rock!
Urge Overkill is back!
After a 15-year hiatus, the Chicago alt rockers have a new release. 'Rock & Roll
Submarine' reaches back to the band's raw early material and is already being widely praised. You can stream it right now at AOL/Spinner.
Additionally, it's being offered for the next 48 hours on new flash sale platform Groupees, a new web service featuring digital media content from indie artists. The 'Rock&Roll Submarine Groupee' offers the new album priced at *Pay What You Want *($2 min, $7 suggested) at with *10% of donations going to MusiCares. If Groupee sales hit $5K, everyone participating will get *Urge Overkill Live at The Troubadour in LA*! At the close of the campaign, the #1 Top Donor will receive an *exclusive autographed vinyl *copy of the album.
Additionally, the band is playing some live dates over the next two weeks and more into the summer. Confirmed so far are:
May 13 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour
May 14 San Diego, CA Casbah
May 17 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
May 20 Chicago, IL The Bottom Lounge
Jul 03 Milwaukee, WI Summerfest
July 11 Wellfleet, MA The Beachcomber
View the Urge Overkill Groupee promo video here.
Google is announcing notes about its new music service.
The company writes:
"Music Beta is a new service from Google that gives you instant access to your personal music collection without the hassle of wires or syncing. Add your music collection and listen on the web or any compatible Android device."
The UK's Guardian adds:
"Google has unveiled its long-awaited music and film players in its biggest challenge yet to the dominance of Apple's iTunes. Two new cloud-based players – which are intially available only in the US – will allow users to stream music and movies on their Android smartphones or tablet computers, without the need for an internet connection."
The exciting part is that you'll be able to upload up to 20,000 songs from your computer – including songs bought on iTunes – to the web, which you can then access using your Android phone. You're damn right I signed up for the invitation only offer.
Here's the company's intro video:
News of The Cars new release came through the pipe last week. It's called "Move Like This" and you can stream it here.
The reconstituted group has planned a short tour, which kicks off this week. Consequence of Sound snagged an interview with Cars drummer David Robinson, in which he said "We’re getting ready to tour and I haven’t played drums since 1987."
In a related note, Ric Ocasek will still tower over all of his bandmates.
THE CARS 2011 Tour Itinerary
May
10- Showbox @SODO - Seattle, WA
12 - The Hollywood Palladium - Los Angeles, CA
13 - Fox Theatre - Oakland, CA
15 - The Fillmore - Denver, CO
17 - First Avenue - Minneapolis, MN
18 - The Riviera Theatre - Chicago, IL
20 - The Sound Academy - Toronto, ON
22 - Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA
23 - 9:30 Club - Washington, DC
25 - Roseland Ballroom - New York City, NY
26 - The House of Blues - Boston, MA
Experimental band Man Man hits Tempe Tuesday night to play a show at the Clubhouse. It's all ages, and includes opener Shilpa Ray and her Happy Hookers
Tix are $15 adv. / $16 day of show.
Man Man is promoting its new CD "Life Fantastic" which comes out this week. Here's the title track video and tour dates below:
Man Man Tour Dates
Wed 04.27.11 Charlottesville, VA Jefferson Theatre w/ TBA
Thu 04.28.11 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle w/ TBA
Fri 04.29.11 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre
Sat 04.30.11 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
Sun 05.01.11 Birmingham, AL The Bottletree
Mon 05.02.11 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks
Tue 05.03.11 Houston, TX Fitzgeralds Upstairs
Thu 05.05.11 Austin, TX Emo's – Outside
Fri 05.06.11 Dallas, TX Sons of Hermann Hall
Sat 05.07.11 Oklahoma City, OK Academy of Contemporary Music
Mon 05.09.11 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad
Tue 05.10.11 Tempe, AZ The Clubhouse
Wed 05.11.11 San Diego, CA The Casbah
Fri 05.13.11 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
Sat 05.14.11 San Francisco, CA Bimbo's
Mon 05.16.11 Seattle, WA Neumos
Tue 05.17.11 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre
Wed 05.18.11 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom
Fri 05.20.11 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
Sat 05.21.11 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater
Sun 05.22.11 Omaha, NE Slowdown
Mon 05.23.11 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue
Tue 05.24.11 Chicago, IL Metro
Wed 05.25.11 Pontiac, MI Eagle Theatre
Thu 05.26.11 Toronto, ON Lee's Palace
Fri 05.27.11 Montréal, QC Cabaret du Mile-End
Sat 05.28.11 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
Sun 05.29.11 Danbury, CT Bring Our Music Back Fest (BOMB Fest)
Tue 05.31.11 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
Wed 06.01.11 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
Fri 06.03.11 Washington, DC Black Cat
Sat 06.04.11 Philadelphia, PA The Roots Picnic - Festival Pier
Sat 06.11.11Manchester, TN, Bonnaroo Music Festival
Nearly everywhere I read is gushing about the new Fleet Foxes release "Helplessness Blues" (currently hitting an 88 on Metcritic!). Here's an example from Twangville.com, which starts its review with:
"Let’s get this much out of the way: Everyone’s right about the new Fleet Foxes album, Helplessness Blues (Sub Pop). It’s astonishing."
- I'm about a week late on this, but rest in peace Poly Styrene, former punklet and who had just release a new musical effort, while not very good, showed she still had it in here. 360DGM has a very sweet look back at her musical life.
- I just finished reading the 2010 book on former Wings frontman Paul McCartney called "Fab" and a lot of it covers Paul's marriages to Linda Eastman and Heather Mills. Now we ready today that Paul's going for the gold with wife #3, and is engaged to marry NYC businesswoman Nancy Shevell, quite the hotness.
- Speaking of one of The Beatles, my local music fix Phoenix New Times captures the love for the Smithereens' new release at its site. Waved Rumor shot a little of its own love to the aging powerpoppers a few weeks ago.
-Pre-order the new Urge Overkill "Rock & Roll Submarine" release, which comes out on my dad's birthday, next Tuesday May 10! Maybe he can rock out to it.
You might think I'm spotlighting a singer with a vaguely Spanish-Mexican name just cuz it's Cinco de Mayo.
No, I'm not.
Eldridge Rodriguez, the nom du rock for Cameron Keiber, frontman of Boston-NYC behemoth band The Beatings, has released a new CD called "You Are Released" (Midriff Records). The label writes:
"Like the previous releases, 'You Are Released' continues his tradition of deconstructionist pop, this time around relying heavily on beats, loops, post-punk arrangements and noisy orchestration."
The opener 'Big Windup' combines some Fall-Postcard Records vocals stylings over a huge roar of a riff. Or just try some good old fashioned country-ish twang meets The Beautiful South love song magic in "Miss Me When I'm Gone". More songs at Eldridge's Bandcamp page.
The cool kids near Olympia College got a garage rock show a few weeks ago with The Foo Fighters as part of a radio promotion. The Olympian covered it:
"As part of a garage tour for their new album "Wasting Light," the Foo Fighters played a free show at Al's Automotive and Performance Transmission in Port Orchard for online contest winner Jessica Matheson and about 50 of her closest friends and family. "The concert was amazing," said Matheson. "I felt absolutely overwhelmed with everything."
Jessica Matheson's father and owner of the garage Al Matheson said the band was impressed with photos his daughter took of the shop as well as the essay she wrote which was limited to 25 words or less.
"I don't really remember what I wrote but I know it was something really cheesy," said Jessica Matheson. "It was something like, ‘the Foo Fighters are my favorite band and they need to come rock my small town'!"
The event, sponsored by Blackberry, did rock. The band played nearly a dozen songs and interacted with the crowd between most songs."
Read more and see some pics at The Kitsap Sun.
Cute advertising tie-in or most awesome Cheap Trick mashup ever? YOU Decide.
Drink happily, drive expertly! Happy Cinco de Mayo!
Cheap Trick is in Atlantic City this weekend for a show, and the local paper interviewed Rick Nielsen:
Are you working on releasing any new material? (Cheap Trick’s most recent release, 2009’s The Latest, was put out on CD, vinyl and 8-track.)
And Rick answers:
"Yeah, we’re working on some new stuff, but it’s never just one thing. We’ve done some soundtracks for TV shows and movies, we’ve all done solo projects — Robin’s got a solo project going and Tom’s been working with a great group of musicians out of Nashville. We did 46 shows of the Beatles’ album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and in January and February we did 12 shows of the Dream Police [Cheap Trick’s fourth studio album, from 1979]. We used a full orchestra behind us in a really cool setting and they all sold out. We’ve been asked to do that again at the Greek Theater in L.A., and we’ll be doing it all over the world between this year and next year."
One of rock's last great mystery men, Prince, is now the subject of a new full-length book treatment. Written by Jason Draper, 'Prince: Chaos, Disorder, and Revolution' is....
"...an authoritative chronicle of one of popular music's true mavericks. Covering every album, every movie, and every tour, it includes profiles of various key collaborators, assesses the artist's various business dealings, and details his many and varied side projects – on stage, on record, on screen, and beyond."
Prince has just played the first four shows of a planned "21 Nite Stand" show of shows in Los Angeles and the LA Weekly blog talked to Sheena E for some inside dope and more.
Draper is the author of Led Zeppelin: Revealed and A Brief History of Album Covers. He is reviews editor of Record Collector magazine, and also a regular contributor to New Musical Express, Uncut, Metal Hammer, and Dance Today.
You can like the publisher Backbeat Books on Facebook.
Here's a version of "Kiss" for you to sing along with:
David Vandervelde, one my fave DIY musicians, just popped out a note to fans with news of a new LP in the fall and a new tour this Spring. To wit:
"I wanted to send a quick note to let you know about my upcoming May tour dates as well as share a new song with you called "More Than You Can Feel". It's a version of a new song that will be on my full length album, out this fall on Secretly Canadian. Tomorrow this single will be available on iTunes, and it will include a cover of Jay Bennett's song "Beer" which I think came out pretty sweet. I hope you enjoy it."
Download the single: More Than You Can Feel
Sounds awesomely cool and classic to me - RCRDLBL wrote:
"“Channeling Zuma-era Neil Young, mixed with the weary cocaine fanaticism of Marc Bolan (get a lot of that cowbell in the song’s hook! It’s the most melodic cowbell we’ve heard in…ever probably). The tremolo-drenched guitars are retro but massive, a nice foil to Vandervelde’s warbling tenor vocals, communicating that age-old pain of people everywhere: “I need you/All I need is you/More than you know.” A fairly straightforward sentiment that Vandervelde makes work with nothing more than sincerity and a few chords. And a lot of cowbell.”
MAY TOUR DATES:
05/04/11 Nashville, TN - Music City Roots @ Loveless Cafe Barn w/ The Civil Wars
05/05/11 Louisville, KY - Zazoo's w/ Buffalo Killers
05/06/11 Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room at the Crofoot w/ High Strung
05/07/11 Chicago, IL - Schubas Tavern
05/08/11 Bloomington, IN - The Bishop
05/10/11 Arlington, VA - IOTA Club & Cafe
05/11/11 Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live - Upstairs
05/12/11 Allston, MA - Great Scott
05/13/11 New York, NY - The Mercury Lounge
05/14/11 Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl
05/15/11 Baltimore, MD - Golden West
05/17/11 Charlottesville, VA - Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar
05/18/11 Asheville, NC - Emerald Lounge
05/19/11 Knoxville, TN - Barley's Tap Room
Catching up on some emails from bands worthy of your attention - will try to hit a few more this week.
Here's some new music from upstate NYC band Battle Ave., who have just released their first full-length album, "War Paint." Cover is to the left.
They describe their music this way:
"Battle Ave. play jangled, mangled, growling indie rock and roll, calling on the dynamic ebb and flow of 1990's grunge, the cathartic yelp of Canada's Mercer and Butler, the subtle flash of Television, and a consistent nod towards the words of Cohen and Joyce.
"At once both epic and pastoral (or rather, both titanic and hyper-personal), they play honest and emotive music -- amid college, employment, unemployment, starvation, alcohol, moustaches, car crashes, depravity, fiscal crises, boredom, tattoos, 17th birthdays, coffee, and attempts to quit smoking; they are 4 fair haired maidens splashing around in each others pools."
Though I'm not a huge fan of bands using Kickstarter to fund their tours, CDs, etc, BAttle Ave. is doing a pretty good job of it. Feel free to contribute to their life cause. Stream the band's new release at their Bandcamp site.
Craig Finn of The Hold Steady performs his lyrics live for the first time ever with The Baseball Project at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NY 4/29/11. "Don’t Call Them Twinkies" from Vol. 2: High and Inside (out now on Yep Roc Records). Music by Steve Wynn, Lyrics by Craig Finn.
From The Beatles Video blog:
"The Beatles Help! (Original 1965 Promotional Video)
The recording used for the 1965 promotional video was sped up by a few bars, with an altered second verse, most likely a different take of the song with a running time of 2:12, rather than 2:19 from the original.
"Help!" is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the United States and the United Kingdom. "Help!" was written primarily by John Lennon, but credited (as were all Beatles songs written by either person) to Lennon/McCartney.
Paul McCartney reports that he had a hand in writing the song as well, being called in "to complete it" in a two-hour joint writing session on 4 April 1965 at Lennon's house in Weybridge. He later said that the title was "out of desperation". In 2004, "Help!" was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time."
