Cowboy Junkies
Concert Recording: On Mountain Stage
Cowboy Junkies' landmark 1986 album The Trinity Session made the band members cult heroes, and they've since continued to release moody albums filled with original material and interpretations of classic country and gospel songs.
Recorded in Glenside, Pa., making its seventh appearance on Mountain Stage, the band includes Michael Timmins (guitar), Peter Timmins (drums), Margo Timmins (lead vocals), Jeff Bird (mandolin, percussion, harmonica and background vocals) and Alan Anton (bass). Led by Margo Timmins' haunting voice, the band finds an ambient groove in this live performance of songs from Cowboy Junkies' 2007 album At the End of Paths Taken. - LISTEN HERE
New Video From Julian Plenti
(Interpol's Paul Banks)
Thom Yorke: Radiohead Not Planning to Release Any Albums for Awhile
In a lengthy interview in the latest issue of The Believer magazine, Thom Yorke has revealed that we'll probably be waiting quite a long time for the next proper Radiohead album. We're more likely to get some EPs or singles or one-off musical releases (perhaps like "Harry Patch [In Memory Of]"?) in the near future. MORE AFTER THE JUMP
I'm a New Mexico Shins fan, so this interests me; but yeah, he gives a pretty honest perspective.
Former Shins Drummer Jesse Sandoval:
"I Got Fired"
"It confuses me why [James Mercer] has a hard time saying that." ..."When I think about this, probably if James really had complete say in it, he would have killed the Shins. I definitely believe management's like, 'You know, you can't start over, you built a name, people recognize you--why would you want to start all over?' And so, the only thing he had left to do was to really make a drastic change, and I know working in Los Angeles with a bunch of studio people, he was able to find himself in a position where he didn't have to do 15 takes. Even himself, he could have someone play his parts, and that's a romantic idea. I don't blame him for that... MORE AFTER THE JUMP
After what can be considered a ridiculous album promo video, we're offered this from Mr. Casablancas
ALEX & SAM
Hotel Cafe
"Mellow, refined indie-jazz (new genre alert?) from this winsome local duo who promise to keep things classy and adorable in equal measure." - LA Times
Amanda Blank
Amoeba Records @ 6 pm
There’s a small list of artists that can sing, rap, write sophisticated pop songs and perform everything with irresistible charisma. The list of female performers that can do all of that is even smaller and Amanda Blank is skyrocketing to the top of that list. Amanda Blank is a woman making listeners take notice of her unique voice, while using various genres and styles as vehicles toward unhindered self-expression.
Philadelphia born and bred, Amanda and her older sisters were raised in a row house in Germantown by artist ex-hippie parents. She quickly learned the value of individuality and the need for outspokenness. A quick glimpse at her interests conveys the dynamic nature of Amanda’s character, ranging from the radically raw to the sentimentally sweet. From her tastes in music (My Bloody Valentine, Man Man, Santigold, Antony and the Johnsons) to visual art (Jayson Musson, Aubrey Beardsley) to fashion (Ny Chorm), she gravitates from the sensual and shocking to the fun and absurdist.
Blank is a member of a loose collective of musicians that includes Spank Rock, Santigold, and Diplo. She takes the influences of 90’s R&B, 80’s dance, indie, new wave and brit pop and weaves them into her own double dutch, defiantly taking the rope out of the hands of haters and then hanging them with it. Whether set against a pastiche of club beats or with her stadium rock group Sweatheart, her voice is undeniably her own. - Amoeba
www.downtownmusic.com/artist/amanda-blank
www.myspace.com/amandablank
LOWER HEAVEN 11p
MOON UPSTAIRS 10p
HI HOS 12a
SHINE BROTHERS (NATE RYAN of BLACK ANGELS) 9p
DJ Tami
LOWER HEAVEN
With a haunting sound and ominously reverb drenched melodies, Lower Heaven live up to their name which they've taken from an Echo and the Bunnymen lyric. Absorbing and reinterpreting influences like My Bloody Valentine, Hawkwind, and the Jesus and Mary Chain, the band has been able to defy constraints of genre classification by keeping the song writing, arrangement, instrumentation, and production of their work unconventional and innovative. “Lower Heaven reach towards neo-psychedelic and shoegaze genres. What sets them apart, however, is their vocalist and their electroharp, which adds up to something like an angel and a monk together, majestic and enchanting nonetheless.” - LA Record
Local Natives || Listen || Watch
The first time we heard of Silver Lake band Local Natives was at Nettwerk Records' home office in Hollywood last November. The label's kingpin, Terry McBride, had convened a panel of Hollywood music-biz types to brainstorm on potential music models of the future. Specifically, the idea was to address how various cogs in the machine might turn when presented with a new artist. That new artist was O.C. band Local Natives, five guys who'd recently relocated to Silver Lake and were trying to take it to the proverbial next level. In this brainstorming session, moderator McBride introduced the guys, who stepped up onto the small stage at Nettwerk HQ, greeted the crowd, and discussed the ways in which they were courting and interacting with their fans. The band, who play an agreeable, smart brand of rhythmic indie rock, were funny, charismatic, and opinionated. After they finished, the five panelists moved around the table and discussed how they'd work this band. (Unfortunately, the advice did not include advising the band to change its somewhat silly name.) Eight months later, Local Natives have inked a deal with tbd records, the stateside home of Radiohead, which is in the process of formally introducing them to the world. Phase one of said process in L.A. is a club residency. This coming Monday marks the second week of their August stint at Spaceland, and is worth checking out not only for the music, but to see how these connections and all this brainstorming and creativity manifests itself on a business level. - Randall Roberts, LA Weekly
Watching California’s Local Natives perform Sunday night at DC’s Black Cat was like standing on the outskirts of a drum circle. Out of the band’s six musicians, five contributed to the heavy tribal-influenced pounding and clacking of drum sticks. The only instrument used more often was the voice—something every band member contributed at one point, whether it was singing or shouting during the climactic breakdown of the energetic “Sun Hands.”
I’ve written before that the Local Natives are a mellifluous harmony-driven group. After seeing them perform live, that almost seems like an understatement. The band is a vocal group that performs like a small orchestra; a contemporary Zombies that might not be as pretty, but plays with more bite. Precise instrumentation—that comes in the form of a keyboard, bass, violin, and two guitars—mimics and riffs on the melodies sung by the band’s core of singers: the mustached and guitar-swinging Taylor Rice, the deftly reserved Ryan Hahn, and the bearded Kelcey Ayer with his seemingly whale-sized lungs.
Nearly every moment of the performance featured some sort of collaboration. During the band’s two best songs, “World News” and “Airplanes,” that collaboration was seamless with the various voices and instruments delivering a tightly woven tapestry of choral soul and marching band-sized percussion. Whether it was the cover of the Talking Heads’ “Warning Sign” or “Stranger Things”—which at one point was broken down to nothing but vocals and hand-clapping by all six musicians—the Local Natives delivered a clear vision of songs uniquely their own. – Everybody Taste
With:
Red Cortez || Listen
Swim Party || Listen
Rademacher
8:30pm / FREE / 21+
RESTAVRANT
SPIRIT VINE / HOCUS POCUS / DIRT DRESS
Echoplex
Restavrant || Listen || Watch
How ’bout filling your pipe with electro-tinged ho-made hillbilly music? The bass kicking comes in clear, but a clubby paradiddle irks alongside the slide guitar, as if a glowstick got dropped in a barrel o’ moonshine. A beer bottle precariously placed between a jostling knee cap and a tin gasoline can gets smacked by a drumstick thick as a chair leg and goes flying back at the wall. Smash. Hot bodies. Was that out loud? The contours of hot bodies. Ah, this thought has Tourette’s. You must get some very calloused hands from all that working out—I mean streamline pick-less strumming on a gee-tar. Equally intent on experimental beer spilling as percussionist J State, Troy Olaf Murrah slides a botttle up and down his fret board, twanging country roads home to gold-toothed crawdads. In a gruff froggy voice he announces they’re moving to Vancouver, going on hiatus, this will be the last show, which happens to be the (Sparks-sponsored—yay!) release party for Returns to the Tomb of Guiliano Medidici. It’s a joke. Maybe they’ll go to Vancouver, riding a wagon packed full of jangling license plates tied together with bra straps. – LA Record
With:
Spirit Vine || Listen
Hocus Pocus (Members of Dios)
Dirt Dress
8:30 / FREE / 21+
THE GROWLERS
TIJUANA PANTHERS / SOME DAYS
Echo
The Growlers || Listen || Watch
The Growlers play party music that’s shot through with an undertone of melancholy. It’s as if their sepia-tinted rock songs come equipped with both the drunken cheeriness and the nauseating hangover.
They know how to rollick like champs, but they can also creep along with a vaguely Eastern European worldweariness that’s endearing. They may claim Ol’ Dirty Bastard and Lee “Scratch” Perry as influences on their MySpace page (wigga, please), but the Growlers actually sound more like Man Man if they were fixated on pre-psych rock that’s too sophisticated to be considered “garage.” This nebulous quality makes the Growlers one of the most interesting bands working in the region.
The Growlers sent us a CD called The Greatest Hits, but at 25 tracks and 78 minutes, it sounds more like an archival clearinghouse of ideas. Most of these songs exude a casual, understated cool, marked by winding, mesmerizing, spangly guitars and Brooks Nielsen’s riveting, woebegone vocals. Even 38-second scraps such as “My Forehead’s Dripping Ocean” bear close listening.
They’re not very blues-rooted, but they do project an un-hokey sadness that consoles rather than brings you down (could be the band’s recessive folk genes). As I wrote in my live review on our Heard Mentality blog, “Their music possesses an insidious infectiousness that sneaks up on you like inebriation after a few sweet libations” (see “The Wildbirds and the Growlers, Detroit Bar,” Aug. 7, 2007). I bet you become besotted, too – OC Weekly
with:
Tijuana Panthers
Some Days
From FUELtv's Askaband:
I worked with the director Marc Webb back at DNA in my in music video days. Combined with these two for the 500 Days movie and now this new vid using She and Him (Zooey & M. Ward) he's created an unbearably charming little piece of film.
'(500) Days' stars Zooey and Joe make a bankable music video
Zooey and Joe.
Their star-crossed romance in the comedy (500) Days of Summer has been making off with the box-office loot since its limited debut two weeks ago. To kick off Friday's nationwide release, Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are giving away a separate short film, a music video about a bank heist in which the teller's heart is stolen along with the cash.
The risky life of an L.A. 'Tamalero'
Selling tamales on the streets of Los Angeles is a dangerous game of hide-and-seek. Tamale vendors, or "Tamaleros," have to avoid obstacles like gangs, traffic, police and health inspectors to make only about $30 a day. Devin Browne talks to one Tamalero whose found ways to stay in business. - American Public Media - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Currently, Fuse is offering FREE downloadable tracks from the artists on the Lollapalooza lineup: http://fuse.tv/tours/lollapalooza2009/do
Modest Mouse premieres "King Rat" video directed by Heath Ledger
Modest Mouse's much anticipated "King Rat" video premiered today almost 2 years after the video's director Heath Ledger and the band decided to collaborate.
Ledger met Modest Mouse's Issac Brock in January 2007 through a mutual friend while they were both in Australia, and the idea of working together on the music video for "King Rat" was then loosely chatted about. In a 2007 VH1 interview Brock said, "The idea sort of dropped, but then he just sent me an email saying that he wanted to do it."
Before Ledger's passing he mapped out the video concept and after his untimely death the unfinished animation was completed by the Masses, which is a film and music company that Ledger was a partner in. The animated video concept shows the roles reversed of the hunter and the hunted. Whales master the fishing boat, while humans are the catch. The whales bait, catch, and skin humans before selling the remaining body parts to be processed into seal food. The video aimed to bring awareness to illegal commercial whale hunts taking place off the shores of Australia.
"Rat King" was a bonus track off of 2007's We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, but the song is making an official appearance on their latest EP No One's First, and Your Next which was released today via Epic.
At the end of the video Modest Mouse writes, "This began with our friend, a great defender of life, and was completed in his spirit." which is the perfect line to go along with Ledger's purpose for the video. - examiner.com
www.LARemezcla.com: Free Downloads This Week: Pilar Diaz, Manu Chao, Hello Seahorse!...
LARemezcla focuses on the local latin culture of Los Angeles. In addition to offering music downloads and chances at free concert tickets in and around town, they offer a unique commentary on Lation based arts initiatives. - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Breaking it up – alternative live video. Filmed by: Christian Haag from Lykke Li on Vimeo.
Devendra Banhart Signs to Warner, Announces New Album
Pitchfork: Back in June, we reported that scraggly-voiced space cadet Devendra Banhart had finished work on a new album-- the follow-up to 2007's Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon-- and that he had departed XL for another label.
Well, now we know a few more things about that new album, thanks to a Stereogum report and information from Devendra's publicist. The album is due out in October on Warner and its oddly spaced titled is:
What We
Will Be
That's the cover art up there.
Banhart recorded the album with A Band of Bees' Paul Butler, and his backing band consists of plenty of folks Banhart has worked with before: Megapuss buddy Greg Rogove, Little Joy's Rodrigo Amarante, Luckey Remington, and Noah Georgeson. Andy Cabic also contributed to the album.
The tracklist is below, and it looks like the two profoundly goofy laid-back psych jams we Forkcasted a while back both made the cut. I wonder if B is bummed that "First Song for B" and "Last Song for B" come right next to each other on the album.
BAT FOR LASHES
'Sleep Alone'
Saw this today, and yeah, I continue to really really dig Alison!
THE KILLS
Alison Mosshart
Jamie Hince
"Fried My Little Brains,"
KEXP inStudio 8.1 from More Dust Than Digital on Vimeo.
Mark your calendars!!! The Fuck Yeah Fest is back!
The Black Lips, Lightning Bolt, Tim & Eric, Lucero, Converge, F* Up, The Thermals, No Age, Matt Skiba from Alkaline Trio, Glass Candy, Japanther, Times New Viking, Darker My Love, Carbonas, Peanut Butter Wolf, Crystal Antlers, AA Bondy, Mika Miko, Har Mar Superstar, Nobunny, Telepathe, Cold Cave, The Strange Boys, Katie Stelmanis, Dios, NinjaSonik, Kurt Vile, Eat Skull, Avi Buffalo + More to be artists and comedians to be announced - SIGN UP HERE FOR MORE INFO
Free 'NPR Music At Newport' Samplers
To download two free 12-song samplers of music from the artists featured by NPR Music at the folk and jazz festivals in Newport, R.I., this August, click the images or "Download On iTunes" links below, and the songs will automatically begin downloading into your iTunes account. If you do not have an iTunes account, follow these instructions and then return to this page to click the links again.
Vaudeville and Wet Cassette Out Today on Itunes!
The day has finally arrived- JAXART in partnership with South Bay label OTIK Records have two awesome full length digital albums out today on Itunes!
Vaudeville's new "Devil's Knocking" LP and the debut from Wet Cassette "From God's Fang" featuring members of The Rolling Blackouts and The Voyeurs!
Head on down to the Itunes Store and pick up a copy!
Vaudeville on Itunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/We
Wet Cassette on Itunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/We
Karen O Creates Supergroup For 'Wild Things' Score; The Dead Weather's Jack Lawrence Joins The List
Alright, so on Friday, we gave you a first listen of Karen O's score to "Where The Wild Things Are" by putting a close ear to a 'WTWTA' featurette that starred director Spike Jonze and author Maurice Sendak talking about the creativity behind the clip, and it obviously featured some of the original music written for the film. The music is "childlike" as she said it would be and quite wonderful actually; everything that we had hoped for.
Some of it was really uptempo too and even Arcade Fire-like which makes sense given the fact that original test-screenings for the film early last year featured a lot of AF music (/Film spotted the AF similarities when they saw footage of 'Wild Things' at Comic-Con this weekend too) - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Discoveries From The Pitchfork Music Festival
All Songs Considered - Each summer, the Pitchfork Music Festival draws thousands of fans to Chicago to hear three day's worth of performances, by more than 40 bands. It's a mix of some of the best new and largely unknown, independent bands of the year. On this episode of All Songs Considered, host Bob Boilen talks with freelance reporter Jacob Ganz about some of the music Ganz discovered while covering this year's festival, which ended July 19. LISTEN AFTER THE JUMP
Download this show in the All Songs Considered podcast.
ROBBIE FRAN!!!
Online Poll: Jon Stewart Is America's Most Trusted Newsman
Well, in a result that he will probably accept as downright apocalyptic for America, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart has been selected, in an online poll conducted by Time Magazine, as America's Most Trusted Newscaster, post-Cronkite. Matched up against Brian Williams, Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson, Stewart prevailed with 44 percent of the vote. Now, if we're being honest, he probably managed to prevail as the winner precisely because he was the odd man out in a field of network news anchors. - Huffington Post READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP
That there is our good friend Horchata! Tell 'em 'Chata!!!
Cal State trustees approve 20% fee hike, faculty and staff furloughs
As several hundred students shouted "vote no" just outside the door, California State University trustees voted this afternoon to raise student fees by 20% for this fall and furlough all staff, including college presidents, two days a month. - READ THE ARTICLE AFTER THE JUMP
A Folk Rock Dream Team, The Tallest Man On Earth, A Tribute To George Harrison, More...
All Songs Considered, - They call themselves The Monsters Of Folk: Jim James, frontman for the band My Morning Jacket, Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes, and singer-guitarist M. Ward have joined together to form a kind of folk-rock dream team. The three have put together a new album of original work, with producer Mike Mogis at the helm. We've got a cut for you this week. Also on the show: Jim James has recorded a solo tribute album to George Harrison, under the name Yim Yames; Swedish singer Kristian Matsson, a.k.a. The Tallest Man On Earth; John Davis, formerly of the band Georgie James, has a new project called Title Tracks; Phil Elverum of The Microphones returns with a new band he's calling Mount Eerie; guitarist Bill Frisell composes new music for a series of rural photographs from the 1920s; and the sprawling, neo-psychedelic group Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. LISTEN TO ALL THE TRACKS AFTER THE JUMP
hahahahahaha!
Forget the Trash Bag, Bring a Towel
By MELENA RYZIK
The only thing cooler than a pool party on a summer night in New York City is a secret pool party.
And the only thing cooler than that, as a few enterprising developers recently discovered, is a secret pool party in a pool made out of a Dumpster on the banks of the Gowanus Canal in industrial Brooklyn.
On a rented lot that’s hidden from the street they have erected what they call a lo-fi urban country club: three connected pools housed in Dumpsters; a boccie court; some lounge chairs, grills and cabanas. On Saturday night just three dozen people got the nod to check it out, at an afterparty for the art journal Cabinet. “Please don’t forward,” the invitation read. READ THE ARTICLE AFTER THE JUMP
Look what originally linked me to the article (the source link is off of ONTD). I laughed out loud. Hard. People are again avoiding my office. Here it is: Source, with pretty typical video of hipsters swimming in fucking dumpsters.
Oberst, Jim James and M. Ward Form Monsters Of Folk Supergroup
When Jim James, M. Ward, Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis hit the road together in 2004 under the banner “An Evening With: Bright Eyes, Jim James and M. Ward,” insiders referred to the tour as “Monsters of Folk.” The name stuck, and now the quartet have announced an official release under the moniker: their self-titled album is due September 22nd.
The My Morning Jacket, She & Him and Bright Eyes members carved out time in Malibu and Omaha studios and spent two years working sessions into their already packed schedules; Mogis produced the album. The band’s reps promise an LP of road-worn, sun-soaked fables with brilliant choruses and some electronic elements.
Oberst is also the subject of a profile in the new issue of Rolling Stone, in which Conor talks spirituality, Leonard Cohen and retiring the Bright Eyes moniker to hit the road with the Mystic Valley Band. As for Monsters of Folk. check out their free MP3 download here!Sonic Youth In Concert
NPR.org, - After spending nearly 20 years delivering crunchy, underground guitar rock for a major label, Sonic Youth has returned to its indie roots for its 16th studio album, The Eternal. Out now on Matador Records, Sonic Youth's latest effort is among the band's finest, with a fuzzy, tightly orchestrated mix of psych-punk rock and noisy jams. The band showcased the album in a full concert, recorded live from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club July 7. - LISTEN TO THE SHOW AFTER THE JUMP
The following read is whole heartedly dedicated to Mat Ward!
Does The Music You Listen To Reflect Your Intelligence?
By Carrie Brownstein
Have you heard of or read the book Spent, by evolutionary psychologist Geoffrey Miller? In it, Miller posits that "each of us is born with our own individual level of six big traits: intelligence, openness to new things, conscientiousness, agreeability, emotional stability and extroversion. These modules are built into humans and other animals (apparently squid can be shy)..."
According to Miller, "Driving an Acura, Infiniti, Subaru or Volkswagen is a sign of high intelligence. Driving a Cadillac, Chrysler, Ford or Hummer is a sign of low intelligence. Listening to Bjork is a sign of high intelligence, while listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd is a sign of low intelligence."
Naturally, it was that last tidbit that caught my eye.
Sure, most of us are music snobs, whether we want to admit it or not. And we are guilty of making snap judgments based on a Phish or Korn bumper sticker, an Evanescence or Fall Out Boy T-shirt, or, even worse, someone's glaring lack of musical knowledge (as in, "You've never heard of Black Flag?!"). But do we really think that country or Southern music fans are dumb, and that listeners of wackadoo Scandinavian music are smart? That seems like a stretch. - READ MORE AFTER THE JUMP
I was listening to this story over the weekend, really great perspective on the man's style and the times. Then, I looked up the page and found some additional footage that's a great compliment to the profile...
Johnny Cash's 'Big River'
By Mark O'Connor
Johnny Cash was a boyhood hero of mine. When I was 9 and 10 years old I would spend hours singing his songs and imitating the way he played the guitar. I even enlisted my mother to help me transcribe all the lyrics off of his albums. He sang about prisons, trains, about love lost and love found. One of my favorite songs of his is "Big River."
The rhythmic phrasing and vocal performance by Cash in "Big River" is remarkable; its energy and drive replaces any need for drums or percussion. Cash's own guitar strumming riff was quite memorable as well. He strummed up the neck with a dynamic crescendo. - LISTEN AFTER THE JUMP
La Santa Cecilia is a Los Angles based Latin group with a distinctly unique sound. Using traditional instruments in a non-traditional way, the band is able to create a sound that extends beyond the boundaries of the Latin genre. Each band member infuses his and her own musical influences into the group, making the music fun, danceable and romantic.
Proposal Seeks to have Sunset Junction Festival Free for 3 Zip Codes
From LAist:
Unless Sunset Junction Festival organizers address local resident concerns and businesses, the festival is unlikely to be permitted by the city. So far, the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, who represents the area at a grassroots neighborhood level, has voted against the festival in its entirety. For their meeting tomorrow, the agenda (.pdf) lists has a motion for consideration that seeks to alleviate some of those concerns:
The SLNC has voted against the Sunset Junction Street Festival in its present form. This was done on behalf of the Silver Lake residents and businesses that endure hardships & extreme distress regarding parking, traffic, poor safety control and financial demands. I, Patricia McGrath therefore move that the SLNC ask that the following conditions be applied for 2009, if this festival is to be held this year: (1) All Silver Lake residents and their families in zip codes 90039, 90029 and 90026 be allowed entry for free; and (2) Separate beer gardens be designated for alcohol, so attending individuals and families can find and walk in alcohol-free environs.
Safe to say, that's a lot of people. Even if passed, it doesn't mean it becomes law, nor does it mean festival organizers have to make it so. Neighborhood Councils are only advisory to the City Council. But Councilmember Eric Garcetti has made it clear that the neighborhood council is playing an important and strong role in this case. - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Diane Birch
In Concert
WXPN - Singer, songwriter and pianist Diane Birch sounds like a seasoned veteran, due in no small part to her extensive world travels as a child. But she's only just released her first album, Bible Belt, which skillfully blends soul, rock, jazz and pop. Hear Birch perform live in concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. LISTEN AFTER THE JUMP
Dirty Projectors: Balancing Head And Heart
By Will Hermes
It's been around 30 years — since the CBGB's era — since New York City has had a really vital rock scene. But they've sure got one now. Albums by Animal Collective and Grizzly Bear have already been flagged as two of this year's best. And I think another adventurous young band with Brooklyn roots, Dirty Projectors, has made a third.
An experimental rock group with a shifting lineup, led by recent Yale graduate David Longstreth, Dirty Projectors can be playfully high-concept; the band has made a song cycle whose storyline somehow involves Eagles singer Don Henley and a highly abstracted remake of the LP Rise Above by the '80s punk rockers in Black Flag. But Bitte Orca — the band's latest release, so named because Dirty Projectors liked the sound of it — is more straightforward. It focuses on the mixed male and female voices of the band members. While parts are influenced by modern R&B, the arrangements are far different. The single "Stillness Is the Move," for example, strikes me as a bit like Destiny's Child teaming up with Talking Heads.
Theresa Andersson
One-Woman Wall Of Sound
By Rita Houston
Theresa Andersson is a one-woman band, and this was never more apparent than when she strolled into the WFUV studios with no band members, but two engineers — most solo artists don't travel with any. When I booked the interview back in the early part of this year, it was because I had seen her on YouTube where she had recorded a live version of her song "Na, Na, Na" in her kitchen. The video went viral and her kitchen became famous.
Andersson's new album, Hummingbird, Go! seemed to go back to the "wall of sound" era with a full band and all the trimmings, and yet here she was by herself, surrounded by drums, tons of floor pedals, slide steel guitar and a guitar on her back, and playing them all while singing. I thought I was good at multi-tasking, but this was a whole other level. - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Taco Trucks: 2, Government: 0
The County tried to regulate the time a taco trucks could operate in one place and lost. On Friday, a similar, but lesser known Los Angeles city ordinance from 2006 was struck down by a judge. - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Directors dig into Beat era
New films tackle Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs
By STEVE CHAGOLLAN
If a handful of filmmakers get their way, they'll soon convince audiences the real Birth of the Cool predated punk music, the Summer of Love or even Elvis. Yes, the Beats are making a comeback in a spate of movies that summon the spirits of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs.
These writers and other key figures of the Beat Generation play prominent roles in three upcoming movies: "Howl," a narrative film from documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman ("The Times of Harvey Milk"); "Kill Your Darlings" from Christine Vachon's Killer Films; and what could turn out to be the ultimate road movie: the long-awaited adaptation of Kerouac's "On the Road," by Walter Salles and Jose Rivera, the director and screenwriter behind "The Motorcycle Diaries." - MORE AFTER THE JUMP
Grizzly Bear
An In-Studio Performance
Recorded Live At WNYC
The Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear releases one of the year's most hotly anticipated albums next week, but fans can hear some of its songs sooner than that: On Thursday, May 21, the group performed a special acoustic set, including material from Veckatimest, when it opened WNYC's American Music Festival with a live in-studio broadcast and webcast. Grizzly Bear performed new songs in the studio, with host David Garland welcoming the band and asking its members about their new music. LISTEN TO THE SET AFTER THE JUMP.
Exclusive Listen: Danger Mouse And Sparklehorse Team Up With David Lynch
Hear The Year's Most Mysterious Album In Its Entirety, Weeks Before Its Release
When the first cryptic bits of news about Dark Night of the Soul began trickling in earlier this year, it all sounded too good to be true. Though the whole project was shrouded in mystery, it appeared that Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous, two of the most inspired artists making music today, were collaborating on a new album. That alone was enough to get our geek gears spinning with excitement. But there was an unusual twist that few of us at NPR Music could make sense of: Director David Lynch was somehow involved. MORE AFTER THE JUMP
A Song That Gives You Chills, Dinosaur Jr., Black Moth Super Rainbow, More
All Songs Considered - Has there ever been a song that gives you chills down your spine every time you hear it? For Bob Boilen, it's "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?" written by Sandy Denny and performed by Fairport Convention. You can hear it on this edition of All Songs Considered and tell us the song that gives you chills — no matter what — on the blog. Also on the program: the sharp guitar playing of Sarah Siskind, adventures in sound with Black Moth Super Rainbow, the 12-string guitar explorations of James Blackshaw, the heavy emotions of Dinosaur Jr. and the electronic pop music of Passion Pit.
DENGUE FEVER
Sleepwalking Through the Mekong follows Los Angeles based band Dengue Fever on their recent journey to Cambodia to perform 60s and 70s Cambodian rock n' roll in the country where it was created and very nearly destroyed. The odyssey is a homecoming for singer Chhom Nimol and a transformation for the rest of the band as they perform with master musicians and record new songs along the way.
Yeah, as many of you know from seeing them live, they're really THAT good! check out this footage from their current tour.
Here's some video of on of Soko's few L.A. performances:
Echo Park Named One of Top 10 Great Neighborhoods
And when you hear that, you might find yourself asking which Realtor came up with that ranking. Luckily, this time there is some creditability behind the designation: the American Planning Association. They "singled out Echo Park because of its breathtaking topography set in the hills above downtown, historic architecture, pedestrian-oriented streets and stairways, and engaged residents who, over the years, have gone to great lengths to protect and preserve their community," according to an APA release (add: their website has more info and history on why EP was chosen) .... more after you click on the image!
SUBMIT YOUR PICTURES!!!
THE MAE-SHI @ Spaceland
THE MOVIES @ Spaceland
DENGUE FEVER @ Viper Room
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