Archive
More Radiohead Remixes & Over the Rhine photos soon…
Three more Radiohead The King of Limbs Remixes are out (“Separator” by Anstam, “Magpie” by Nathan Fake and “Bloom” by Jamie xx). Sadly they didn’t make it onto the TKOL 1234567 vinyl or CD issues, but they’re available streaming now and will be available for purchase/download HERE on Monday.
I saw Over the Rhine play a beautifully gorgeous set last night at the Aladdin Theater in SE Portland, including a brand new untitled song (I’ll call it “On the Sacred Ground” for now). I should have a review up tomorrow with photos & setlist…
~Dan – np: Megadeth – Th1rt3en
My Brightest Diamond “High Low Middle” video (#OWS)
Perhaps the new music video for “High Low Middle” from My Brightest Diamond is an unofficial theme song for the Occupy Wall Street movement (albiet unintentional – as it was in the can long before #OWS)… directed by Murat Eyuboglu, filmed in Detroit and featuring dancers from RunJitRun and Jitting Jesus:
When you’re privileged you don’t even know you’re privileged
When you’re not, you know
When you’re happy you don’t even know you’re happy
When you’re not, you know
full lyrics (link)
Fellow Detroit musician Blue Stahli makes an appearance in the video. If he or (*gasp*) labelmate Celldweller remixed some MBD tunes, that would be RAD as HELL! Afternoon Update: Blue Stahli responded with a “Funny you should say that…” twitter reply. Nice!
More MBD Stuff:
- There’s a 9-10 minute session with Shara/MBD on NPR’s All Things Considered right HERE.
- Check out my 11/5 review of the MBD show at Mississippi Studios in Portland Oregon right HERE.
- I’d also highly recommend you pick up her latest album, All Things Will Unwind… it’s right HERE (and amazing).
~Dan – np: Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood – In Case the World Changes Its Mind
Damien Jurado – Maraqopa (Feb 2012)
From Secretly Canadian’s blog…
We are so, so excited to tell you that a new Damien Jurado record is going to be released on February 21st! It’s called Maraqopa, and we are sharing the first song with you, “Nothing is the News,” today.
Welcome to Maraqopa population, 2. Damien Jurado’s newest collaboration with producer Richard Swift drops us into a brutal and benevolent landscape. The bold strokes and new turns the pair made with 2010′s Saint Bartlett are taken even further. He throws open the gate on his oft insular dirges and allows them do some real wilding out in the canyon. In Maraqopa, the vistas are miles-wide; the action is more dynamic; the close-ups sweaty and snarling. The strummed desert blues that begin “Nothing is the News” quickly bursts open into an Eddie Hazel-worthy supernova shred session, all of it swirling in tinny-psych and Echoplex’d howls. We’ve never heard anything like this from Jurado.
Read more at the SC blog. You can pre-order it HERE on CD or vinyl.
Listen to (and download the mp3 for) the lead-off track “Nothing is the News” here:
Maraqopa Tracklisting:
1. Nothing is the News
2. Life Away from the Garden
3. Maraqopa
4. This Time Next Year
5. Reel to Reel
6. Working Titles
7. Everyone a Star
8. So On, Nevada
9. Museum of Flight
10. Mountains Still Asleep
Also announced was a “phone booth” that you can presumably call in and leave Damien a message:
Maraqopa phonebooth (425) 234-7859
This number has been set up for you to call anytime of the day. The distorted sound of a piano will play, and then you leave a message. This is a voice mail service, no human will answer.
I have no idea what the purpose of this phone booth may be… I dare you to call in an order of take out.
~Dan – np: Causing A Tiger – How We Held Our Post
Arthur’s Garden by Ric Hordinski
Guitarist extraordinaire Ric Hordinski has been a favorite of mine for a LONG TIME. He’s the kind of guitarist who is subtle and unassuming in his approach, but you end up wracking your brain how he gets such lush and complex sounds out of the frets. I’ve seen him many times (Monk, Over the Rhine, Kim Taylor, Ellery, solo), and sometimes I wish I was back in Cincinnati, just to see his intimate Monastery shows.
Well, late last week, he announced a way that even those not in SW Ohio can help him make his next record… behold another Kickstarter than I think is worth specific highlighting:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609278336/arthurs-garden
(watch Ric’s personal video about the project)
About This Project
I’ve been trying to play guitar for over 30 years now. Really, 30 years. It’s been long love-affair, with highs and lows, rich times and lean. The guitar was my doorway into Music. That Music has taken me around the world, it has accompanied me through joy, laughter and tears: as well as allowing me to share the stage with an amazingly varied group of people: Johnny Cash and Moby, Bruce Cockburn and the Indigo Girls, Bob Dylan and Over The Rhine. Through it all, I’ve generally said what I had to say with the Electric Guitar. It’s smaller and a lot less fragile, if you know what i mean…
A couple of years ago I toured playing guitar for one of the great guitarists of our generation, Phil Keaggy. The record we were touring required me to dust off my classical and steel string acoustic guitar chops. This was more challenging (and rewarding) than I could have imagined.The influence of that music and tour on this recording was enormous and I think it planted a seed in me to try my hand at one of the most demanding kind of recordings i could make- one centered around the simple sound of strings vibrating a tiny little cathedral of wood: The Acoustic Guitar.
So, here i am!
I’m joined on this journey by several friends and collaborators. Michael Wilson will be documenting the process with both still and moving images. Grammy Winning Designer Greg Sylvester has signed on to design the art and packaging. I’ll have Josh Seurkamp, David LaBruyere, Dan Dorff and couple of lovely surprise guests (to be announced soon…) I’d love for you to take an even bigger part in the process than you usually do. We’re documenting the recording and mixing and will have a home-spun DVD available as well as some other surprise. Please join me on this journey!
He’s trying to raise $4,500 by the of the month. Take a gander at his site, and if you like what you hear, consider helping him out! For as little a $10, you can make a difference and get some great music in return.
Ric’s records stand out in my collection, and I’m stoked to be a part of making the next one a possibility.
~Dan – np: Medeski Scofield Martin & Wood – In Case the World Changes Its Mind (live)
Sigur Rós album in the Spring 2012…
If you came here for the My Brightest Diamond (Portland 11/6) show review & photos, go HERE.
If you came here for the Puscifer (Seattle 11/7) show review & photos, go HERE.
.
Paste Magazine recapped from the Wall Street Journal of all places…
This week has been a big one for Sigur Rós with the release of their concert film Inni. But maybe some of the biggest news about the band, who has been on hiatus since 2008, is that they’ve got a new album scheduled to come out this spring.
As the WSJ reported today, the hiatus took a bit longer than the band expected, with several band members starting families in the off time. But the band started work on this new album when frontman Jónsi Birgisson ended his tour for the album Go.
“It was like coming home to see the guys again. It felt natural,” Birgisson told the WSJ.
WSJ writer Jim Fusilli heard some excerpts of the unnamed album, which he said “promises to be as exceptional as the best of the band’s catalog.” Bassist Goggi Hólm called the album “introverted” and Birgisson said the album was “floaty and minimal.” That’s about as much explanation as you could hope for from a group of guys whose best-known album is titled ( ).
Jonsi’s new solo album/soundtrack, We Bought A Zoo, is also coming out soon (Dec 13, 2011).
~Dan – np: Opeth – Heritage
Talkdemonic “City Sleep” & Radiohead ‘TKOL Live from the Basement’ DVD
If you came here for the My Brightest Diamond (Portland 11/6) show review, photos will be posted HERE soon.
If you came here for the Puscifer (Seattle 11/7) show review & photos, go HERE.
.
Portland post-rock duo Talkdemonic just premiered their video for “City Sleep” (from their newest album Ruins) on MTV Hive. The video was directed by Alicia J Rose. And don’t worry, the high-pitch buzz goes away about 2:30 minutes in as the video gets really interesting…
Talkdemonic is Kevin O’Connor & Lisa Molinaro
talkdemonic.com
Radiohead also just announced that their The King of Limbs – Live from the Basement performance will be released on 32-page booklet DVD, Bluray and digital download on December 19th. There are also performances of “The Daily Mail” and “Staircase,” which haven’t been released yet. “Supercollider” has been added as a bonus track. It’s available on TKOL.com and in other shops (and Amazon) near the end of January.
Tracklisting:
1. Bloom
2. The Daily Mail
3. Feral
4. Little By Little
5. Codex
6. Separator
7. Lotus Flower
8. Staircase
9. Morning Mr. Magpie
10. Give Up The Ghost
11. Supercollider
~Dan – np: Jeffrey Foucault – Shoot the Moon Right Between the Eyes (The music of John Prine)
Jónsi ‘We Bought a Zoo’ Soundtrack
Jónsi had previously announced that he would be working on the soundtrack for Cameron Crowe’s newest film, We Bought a Zoo, but it was unknown in what capacity. According to the track listing released today, it will be a combination of solo work, score, new tracks and even some from Sigur Rós.
The soundtrack will feature two new songs from Jónsi, “Ævin Endar” and “Gathering Stories,” which will also features Crowe on the track. The soundtrack also has songs from Jónsi’s solo album from last year, Go, that have been redone for the soundtrack.
Below is a track list for the soundtrack, coming out on Dec. 13 (available for PRE-ORDER now). The film We Bought a Zoo will be in theaters on Dec. 23.
1. Why Not
2. Ævin Endar
3. Boy Lilikoi
4. Sun
5. Brambles
6. Sinking Friendships
7. We Bought a Zoo
8. Hoppipolla (Sigur Ros)
9. Snaerisendar
10. Sink
11. Go Do
12. Whole Made of Pieces
13. Humming
14. First Day
15. Gathering Stories
The trailer for the movie is here:
It looks a little schmaltzy… but I have faith in Cameron Crowe (well, generally) and the cast looks great.
~Dan – Peter Mulvey & David Goodrich – Nine Days Wonder
Ani DiFranco – Which Side Are You On? (Jan 2012)
This just in… new album from Ani DiFranco called Which Side Are You On? comes out January 17, 2012. It’s her first album in over 3 years (or 1,204 days – but who’s counting?). And, yay, Anais Mitchell & Skerik are on it!
Update 11/18 Tracklist (below) and pre-order info (ships 12/23 for the 1/17 release date):
Pre-order from RBR http://store.righteousbabe.com/departments/product/anidifranco/
Pre-order from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0060GVI2C/
Here’s the official press release:
ANI DIFRANCO RETURNS WITH HER FIRST NEW ALBUM IN MORE THAN THREE YEARS
Powerful collection features array of iconic guests, including Ivan & Cyril Neville, Anaïs Mitchell, and the legendary Pete Seeger
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Ani DiFranco has announced the upcoming release of her eagerly awaited new album. Which Side Are You On? arrives via the Grammy-winning artist’s own Righteous Babe Records on January 17, 2012.
Which Side Are You On? marks DiFranco’s first studio album in more than three years. The collection features 11 new songs alongside a radically reworked rendition of the classic title song, famously popularized by the one and only Pete Seeger nearly five decades ago, but no less relevant today. Backing DiFranco is a remarkably diverse line-up of stellar musicians, including members of her own crack touring band as well as such guest players as Ivan and Cyril Neville (of New Orleans’ first family of funk and R&B, The Neville Brothers), avant-saxophonist Skerik (Pearl Jam, R.E.M., Bonnie Raitt, The Meters), acclaimed singer/songwriter (and Righteous Babe recording artist) Anaïs Mitchell, guitarist Adam Levy (Norah Jones, Tracy Chapman, Amos Lee), and a host of New Orleans-based horn players known for their work in such outfits as Galactic, Bonerama, and The Rebirth Brass Band.
What’s more, Ani is joined on her stunning new version of Which Side Are You On? by the aforementioned Pete Seeger, whom she praises as “my elder, my forefather in folk music and political song.” DiFranco was inspired to record the famed protest anthem after being invited to perform at Seeger’s 90th birthday celebration at Madison Square Garden in May 2009. She contributed her own straight-from-the headlines verses to the song and has used it to close her own live shows ever since. The newly recorded version of Which Side Are You On? is a funk-fueled epic, incorporating not just Ani’s band, but Seeger himself on banjo and vocals alongside The Rivertown Kids, a Hudson Valley-based children’s chorus, and The Roots of Music Marching Crusaders, a brass band consisting of students from The Roots of Music, a music education program for at-risk middle-school students in New Orleans.
“All of my musical community, my comrades, are in there,” says Ani of the cross-generational recording. Which Side Are You On? was co-produced by DiFranco and her longtime collaborator Mike Napolitano over a series of sessions in 2010 and 2011. The basic tracks feature two slightly different versions of Ani’s touring band, recorded at Bogalusa, Louisiana’s renowned Studio In The Country, Brooklyn, New York’s Brooklyn Bridge Studio, and her own New Orleans home studio, The Dugout.
The album represents an extraordinary snapshot of DiFranco’s own life as well as her sense of where the country stands at this particular moment in time. The long gap since 2008’s acclaimed Red Letter Year offered an array of new opportunities, including a backlog of songs and the ability to painstakingly fine-tune new recordings. Many of the songs featured on Which Side Are You On? are reflections on growing older and being totally okay with that process. As she sings on “If Yr Not,” “If yr not getting happier as you get older/then yr fucking up.”
Elsewhere, Ani tackles some of the many crises that are currently confronting the nation and the world, spanning environmental disaster, government inaction, and a culture hooked on comfort and acquisition at any cost. Songs such as “Amendment” and “J” see DiFranco addressing these issues with a directness that is striking even for an artist long known for her activism and outspoken point of view.
“I’m testing deeper waters with the political songs on this album,” she says. “I feel a little bit frustrated, politically desperate. After having written hundreds of songs over decades, I think, ‘Now what? How far can I go with this? Can you sing the word ‘abortion,’ can you sing the word ‘patriarchy’ – what can you sing and get away with? I guess I’ve been pushing my own boundaries of politics and art. Seeing what people have the ears to listen to. How big is my mouth? What can I get out of it successfully?”
The last two decades have seen DiFranco staking a historic claim on popular music, spanning 16 studio albums and countless live recordings (including 1997’s RIAA gold-certified Living in Clip), EPs, and compilation contributions. Along the way she has amassed a devoted fan following, received numerous awards and nominations, earned rapturous reviews, and basically rewrote the rules of the recording industry.
Now Ani’s recommendation about the album’s opening track “Life Boat” can be said to apply to Which Side Are You On? as a whole: “Just listen, drop your idea of who is singing and what you already know they’re saying, and go somewhere else, open yourself up to a new story.”
CD, vinyl and mp3 digital download release.
Tracklist
- Life Boat
- Unworry
- Which Side Are You On?
- Splinter
- Promiscuity
- Albacore
- J
- If Yr Not
- Hearse
- Mariachi
- Amendment
- Zoo
~Dan – np: The Unbelievable Truth – Almost Here
F*ck That! Erin McKeown’s Anti-Holiday Album
If you’re here for the Pomplamoose Portland 10/27 photos & review,
I apologize, but it’ll be up tomorrow (10/31).
I generally abhor holiday albums. Good ones I can count… Over the Rhine’s The Darkest Night of the Year is dark & hauntingly gorgeous, Monk’s How Like a Winter shows off Ric Hordinski’s lush guitar work, Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown Christmas is part childhood lexicon and part perfect piano jazz wonderment. I hate holiday albums, but I can wholeheartedly recommend these…
Then, you get utter rubbish like this… Kenny G’s Happy Birthday Jesus I Hope You Like Crap, Mannheim Steamroller’s Christmas Toots and Synths that Your 5-Year Old Could Make But Doesn’t Because They Understand Quality, Tran-Siberian Orchestra’s I Remember When They Were Savatage and Took One Song From a Great Concept Album and Turned It Into a Cringe-worthy Christmas Juggernaut, and lastly Middle-Aging Rocker’s I’m Being Non-traditional in My Grab for Cash.
Well, along comes a favorite pint-sized singer-songwriter, Erin McKeown, to add another FAVORITE album to my winter-listening pile. I present to you F*ck That! Erin McKeown’s Anti-Holiday Album…
GO HERE for sound samples of all these songs
1. Christmas Waltz (F*ck That!) [Explicit]
2. Santa Is An A**hole [Explicit]
3. Go Tell It On The Mountain (That Karl Rove Is Born)
4. Fa La La La
5. Visions I Have Had While High
6. It’s a Very Queer Christmas
7. Christmas (Love It Or Leave It)
8. Frozen Smiles
9. You Wish Us A Happy Holidays
10. Toyland
11. Christmas Waltz (Kleen Mix)
12. Santa Is An A**hole (Kleen Mix)
It’s out-now digital/mp3 download from Amazon (and iTunes), and it comes out physically on November 1st. Check her out at http://erinmckeown.com/.
~Dan – np: Under Byen – Samme Stof Som Stof
Maynard on the future of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer Tour
As reported in Antiquiet (the recap quoted below) & Loudwire (the longer interview)…
A couple of weeks ago, Maynard James Keenan released Conditions of My Parole, the sophomore effort from his “solo” project Puscifer. In a recent interview with Loudwire, he touched on the subject of new albums from the other acts he fronts – Tool and A Perfect Circle, as the former hasn’t released any new material since 2006, and the latter since 2003.
When asked about Tool, and the band’s modus operandi of having guitarist Adam Jones and drummer Danny Carey of writing the music before Maynard gives his input, he stated: “I’m allowing them their space to do what they do, so we’re still in that mode. Even if they told me how close they are to being done, I couldn’t tell you because if I say 60 percent people will start counting down. When it’s done everyone will know. But I haven’t done anything yet. They write forever and then we go in and knock it all out. We’re writing. We’re writing vocals.”
He added that “nothing’s solid” yet, and compared Tool’s writing process to Puscifer’s: “With Puscifer, there’s ideas and then we’ll record stuff. Then we’ll go back and change stuff and fix stuff and record new stuff before we finally put it all together. But with Tool, we practice jams, but there’s no actual recording going on until it’s time to record.”
On whether or not any touring will happen when Tool’s fifth album finally drops, Maynard said that fans shouldn’t get their hopes up for an extensive amount of dates: “Physically, I can’t do it, so that’s not gonna happen. We will tour, but it won’t be the old school dog and pony show of eight months of beating yourself to death.” Regarding the necessity that artists have of making money from touring, he said: “How much do you need, really? If we can make a living going out for a few weeks a year and keep people satisfied by making sure we play the locations we need to hit […] Who gives a s–t how much money you have if your back hurts so much you can’t stand up. Money’s not the goal. Having fun making the art, that’s the goal.”
As for the possibility of a new A Perfect Circle album, he was decidedly less enthusiastic, mentioning that he and guitarist Billy Howerdel don’t have much ready at the moment: “We’ve been kicking around some stuff. Nothing’s ready. Until it’s really solid it doesn’t make any sense to present it, and right now he’s busy with Ashes Divide and I’m doing Puscifer.”
Puscifer will be featured on a special Halloween appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. After that, the band kicks off their North American tour, of which I’ll be at the Seattle gig (look for a review shortly thereafter):
11/7 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre- 11/9 Salt Lake City, UT Capitol Theatre
- 11/10 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
- 11/12 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
- 11/14 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre
- 11/15 Chicago, IL Cadillac Palace Theatre
- 11/17 Cleveland, OH Lakewood Civic Auditorium
- 11/18 Toronto, ON Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
- 11/19 Detroit, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
- 11/22 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
- 11/23 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
- 11/25 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Academy of Music
- 11/26 Washington, DC Lisner Auditorium
- 11/27 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
- 11/29 Knoxville, TN Tennessee Theatre
- 11/30 Atlanta, GA Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center
- 12/2 Tulsa, OK Brady Theatre
- 12/6 Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre
- 12/9 Phoenix, AZ Ikeda Theater
- 12/10 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl
~Dan – np: Puscifer – Conditions of My Parole
Modular: Sonic Explorations (2011)
I love experimentation in music… especially when you take a preconceived construct, great players/improvisors, and it results in some beautiful music. This project from Matt Chamberlain*, Viktor Krauss, and Dan Phelps on Oceanographic Records entitled MODULAR: Sonic Explorations does just that. It’s not noise-rock or grating avant-garde… it’s quite the sonic delight. There’s an audio sample (see the youtube embedded song below) that makes it vie for one of my fave instrumental albums this year.
About the Modular Project
The Modular Project is the collaboration of a select group of sonic technicians working together to discover what the spontaneous and organic manipulation of sound can yield. Inspired by the world around them, they set out to discover what it might sound like when continents shift, clouds form, and roots push through soil.
Capturing and manipulating the hum of the natural world, their results show that there are as many answers as there are questions, that in seeming chaos there is order, and within that order there are new undiscovered truths waiting to be revealed.
The Components
1. Main Control Unit
2. Tape Modulation Unit
3. Contact Sensor Unit
4. Subaquatic Sensor Unit
5. Subterranean Sensor Unit
6. Atmospheric Sensor Unit
Elements Modulated
1. Subterranean Readings
2. Organic Matter Readings
3. Tectonic Readings
4. Atmospheric Readings
5. Celestial Readings
6. Subaquatic Readings
It’s available now as a digital download version (320kbps mp3/FLAC/AAC/etc) or as a limited-edition, double-gatefold 12″ vinyl version (what I opted for). The project also features guests Eyvind Kang (yay!), Martin Woodlee, Paul Gold, Chris Henning, and Christopher Pierce.
“Everest“
For more info on the project, GO HERE.
For purchase info, GO HERE.
*– Matt Chamberlain is a diverse drummer… I’ve seen him play with Tori Amos & Regina Spektor, and he’s also put out some great music with Skerik (the jazz-meets-jam band Critters Buggin), Bill Frisell (Floratone), Secret Chiefs 3, Wild Colonials, Peter Gabriel, The Wallflowers, Fiona Apple, Sam Phillips, Macy Gray, Melissa Etheridge, Erin McKeown, Stebmo, and a ton of other artists…
~Dan – np: Tristeza – Mixed Signals
Jason Ludwig’s 2 new albums / Dave Douglas boxset
This fall is turning into a flippin’ brilliant season for new music… My Brightest Diamond, Wussy, and Puscifer… all gems. Now some more…
Cincinnati-based singer-songwriter Jason Ludwig (formerly of Noctaluca) released two new albums last Friday. I’ve spent a few days with them, and I LOVE-love-LOVE them. I can’t say which one, Lost in Love or Tanglings, that I like more – but they’re both vying for a spot on my Best Albums of 2011 List. They’re only available as a digital download (mp3 or FLAC) via Jason’s bandcamp page, but the awesome part… they’re only $5 each.
Go to jasonludwig.com for samples and then buy them. Well-produced, well-arranged, creative singer-songwriter that reminds me of a cross between the pop of Glen Hansard (of the Swell Season and the Frames) and the creative of Daniel Johns (of Silverchair). If you don’t like them, I’d be surprised.
More new music news…
My favorite living trumpet-player/composer, Dave Douglas, started a new digital download music series this year on his record label, Greenleaf Music, called GPS (Greenleaf Portable Series). Greenleaf recently launched a cloud player with their entire catalog, they’re putting out an iPad/iPhone App, and they just announced that they’re going to put out the three GPS releases thus far (Rare Metals, Orange Afternoons, Bad Mango) as an extremely limited 3-CD boxset called Three Views.
More info coming soon from Greenleaf, but it’s expected before year’s end.
~Dan – np: My Brightest Diamond – All Things Will Unwind
Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane – pro-shot footage from Chile
It appears there’s a televised, pro-shot Mike Patton/Mondo Cane performance from the Teatro Caupolicán in Santiago, Chile.
Seeing as our chances of a North American tour came and went, here’s hoping it shows up as a live DVD on Ipecac sometime in the near future.
Here’s also an interview with some more live footage (including some Moonchild!)… it’s long (over 50 minutes)…
~Dan – np: Jeffrey Foucault – Ghost Repeater
The evolution of Shara Worden
Shara Worden aka My Brightest Diamond has a new album out today… Oct 18th. All Things Will Unwind is only her third studio album under the MBD moniker, but she’s put out a ton of other material (pre-MBD bands, side projects). Here’s a full (but not necessarily complete) chronological video walk through her career. And a quick & easy link on how to get her FANTASTIC new album at the bottom…
AwRy
“Brave Elephant” (2001)
song only, not official music video
My Brightest Diamond
“Dragonfly” from Bring Me the Workhorse (2006)
“Magic Rabbit” from Workhorse
“We Were Sparkling” from Workhorse
“Something of an End” from Workhorse (2006)
“Disappear” (remix) from Tear It Down (2007)
“Inside a Boy” from A Thousand Shark’s Teeth (2008)
“From the Top of the World” from Shark’s (2008)
“Apples” (live) from Shark’s (2008)
“Crazy On You (Heart cover)” with the Decemberists (live 2009)
“The Lotus Eaters” from Sarah Kirkland Snider’s Penelope (2010)
“The Sea” from Letters to Distant Cities (2011)
“I’m On Fire” with Stateless (2011)
“Be Brave” from All Things Will Unwind (2011)
“We Added It Up” from All Things Will Unwind (2011)
Hopefully now you see why I love her so… if you like what you hear, swing by the Amazons and pick up her newest album. CD, vinyl or mp3 download (on Asthmatic Kitty). It came out today…
~Dan – np: Puscifer – Conditions of My Parole
The Jelly Jam – Shall We Descend
The Jelly Jam, a rock super-group from Ty Tabor (King’s X), John Myung (Dream Theater) and Rod Morgenstein (Dixie Dregs), is coming out with their 3rd CD titled Shall We Descend next month on Molken Music (pre-orders soon). They’ll be streaming the first song later this month (stay in tune with their Facebook page).
1. Who’s Comin’ Now (4:26)
2. Stay Together (4:26)
3. Halos In Hell (6:28)
4. Same Way Down (5:20)
5. Barometric Reign (4:58)
6. March Of The Trolls (4:13)
7. Questions (2:34)
8. Shall We Descend (4:38)
9. Come Alive (2:49)
10. Ten (8:18)
~Dan – np: John Zorn – A Dreamers’ Christmas
My Brightest Diamond – La Blogothèque (videos)
My Brightest Diamond’s new album, All Things Will Unwind, came out yesterday in the EU (10/10) and it hits the U.S. next week (10/18). You can stream the entire album here on NPR First Listen. You can pre-order it from Amazon on CD, vinyl, and mp3 download.
She recently allowed the French video bloggers, La Blogothèque, a peak into her life… similar to back in 2007:
It’s a gorgeous album. If I could only rave about two vocal albums in 2011, it’d be this one and Wussy’s Strawberry. Go get ’em both.
My Brightest Diamond is also doing a little tour (of which I’m happy to be going to Portland)…
- 14-Oct-11 –Littlefield -Brooklyn (record release party)
- 19-Oct-11 –Fitzgerald’s -Houston, TX
- 05-Nov-11 –St. Mark’s Cathedral -Seattle, WA
- 06-Nov-11 –Mississippi Studios -Portland, OR
- 17-Nov-11 –St. Giles-in-the-Fields-London
- 21-Nov-11 –Circolo degli Artisti-Rome
- 22-Nov-11 –Teatro Martinitt-Milan
- 23-Nov-11 –Papiersaal-Zurich
- 24-Nov-11 –Club ADS-Berlin
- 26-Nov-11 –Gebaude 9-Köln
- 27-Nov-11 –Le Guess Who? Festival-Utrecht
- 28-Nov-11 –Stuk-Leuven
- 29-Nov-11 –Café de la Danse-Paris
MBD’s release party is this Friday night at Littlefields (NYC), though tickets are going fast! Doors open at 8pm, and DM Stith opens shortly thereafter. 21+, tickets just $15; buy them here.
~Dan – np: Tool – Undertow
Zorn Christmas CD/LP/45 (out now)
Originally mentioned here, the John Zorn / The Dreamers Christmas album is out now on Tzadik. The CD, limited edition vinyl and limited edition 45 rpm 7″ vinyl can be ordered now via Tzadik’s official retailer: Downtown Music Gallery.
The CD & vinyl will also be at Amazon (by Oct 11th), but the 45 rpm single will only be at DMG. It’s also available via Amazon & iTunes as well in mp3 digital download format (but why would you ever get something like this in lower fidelity?)…
The Dreamers band is Marc Ribot, Jamie Saft, Kenny Wollesen, Trevor Dunn, Joey Baron, and Cyro Baptista… and the album also features Mike Patton crooning “Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.”
~Dan
Wussy – Strawberry
I don’t miss Cincinnati much. I do miss a few choice eateries (Melt, Gajah Wong, Tellers, Lemongrass, tons of Indian) and I do miss being able to see some of my favorite bands play (Over the Rhine, Ric Hordinski, Ash Peacock, Ryan Adcock, Kim Taylor, Ellery, Jason Ludwig/Noctaluca, Wussy… the list could go on for a long time).
Well, I’m happy as a doggie in a strawberry field, because the aforementioned Wussy just put out their fourth full-length studio album – Strawberry. Wussy’s a fantastic rock quartet made up of Chuck Cleaver, Lisa Walker, Mark Messerly, and Joe Klug. They write catchy, poppy choruses and meld it perfectly with Midwest Americana-meets-indie-rock grit (or “Midwestern drone” as their press says).
Vocal duties are traded off with Chuck (of the Ass Ponys) and Lisa (of the Magic Words… and of my college days). The samples I’ve heard so far as right in line with what I love about them. Go hear for yourself (the entire album is up streaming with a few FREE downloads), and then pick up a copy for yourself on bandcamp (mp3 download or limited CD).
http://wussy.bandcamp.com/album/strawberry
FYI, the CDs are limited to only 100… and I’ve got one coming to me in Oregon, so grab one of the other 99 before it’s too late. I can’t recommend Wussy, this album, and their prior albums enough. A+++
Other links for Wussy:
Webpage / FB / MySp / Twit
~Dan – np: Steven Wilson – Grace for Drowning
Puscifer tour dates – Nov & Dec 2011
Update 10/3, 10/6 & 10/15 with updated venues and ticket information.
Puscifer tour dates leaked early at the end of this promo video (were supposed to be out tomorrow)…
Puscifer is Maynard James Keenan (Tool/A Perfect Circle), Mat Mitchell, Josh Eustis, Carina Round, Matt McJunkins and Jeff Friedl. Carina Round is the opener. More dates to be announced soon as well. I hope Portland is on there, otherwise I may make the trekka up to Seattle. Venues to be announced tomorrow…
- 10/31 – David Letterman
- 11/7 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
- 11/9 Salt Lake City, UT Capitol Theatre
- 11/10 Denver, CO Paramount Theatre
- 11/12 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
- 11/14 Minneapolis, MN State Theatre
- 11/15 Chicago, IL Cadillac Palace Theatre
- 11/17 Cleveland, OH Lakewood Civic Auditorium
- 11/18 Toronto, ON Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
- 11/19 Detroit, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
- 11/22 Boston, MA Orpheum Theatre
- 11/23 Philadelphia, PA Tower Theatre
- 11/25 Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Academy of Music
- 11/26 Washington, DC Lisner Auditorium
- 11/27 Charlotte, NC Ovens Auditorium
- 11/29 Knoxville, TN Tennessee Theatre
- 11/30 Atlanta, GA Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center
- 12/2 Tulsa, OK Brady Theatre
- 12/6 Los Angeles, CA Orpheum Theatre
- 12/9 Phoenix, AZ Ikeda Theater
- 12/10 Las Vegas, NV The Pearl
Additional dates to be announced shortly.
Tickets for all shows go on-sale Friday, Oct. 7 at 12 noon local time via venue box offices, as well as Ticketmaster and Live Nation websites. A limited number of VIP packages, featuring wine tastings and a more mysterious Puscifer encounter, will be available simultaneously via http://puscifer.frontgatetickets.com.
The album, Conditions of My Parole, comes out October 18th. You can add the mp3 download and CD version to your wishlist and pre-order the vinyl version now on Amazon.
~Dan – np: Toad the Wet Sprocket – Bread and Circus
Peter Mulvey & David Goodrich – Nine Days Wonder (2011)
Peter Mulvey and David “Goody” Goodrich are pleased to announce the release of their first ever instrumental duets record. NINE DAYS WONDER (released on Signature Sounds) captures a moment in the decades-long musical dialogue between these two artists. Over the years, their relationship as co-writers, accompanists, and performers has centered on presence, spontaneity, and good humor, and all those are on ample display here.
Eight original tunes, two traditional bits of Americana, two Hoagy Carmichael classics, and a Tom Waits tune. NINE DAYS WONDER is available for purchase at shows and online through Peter’s website.
~Dan – np: Secret Chiefs 3 – Radar/Saptarshi 7″ vinyl
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
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