RAZR13 & dUg Pinnick
King’s X frontman Doug “dUg” Pinnick recently provided vocals for Texas metal band RAZR 13.
RAZR13 is a modern metal band based in Austin, Texas, featuring guitarist Big Bald Mike, bassist Ryan 13, and drummer JRAB. King’s X fans should recognize all three, as Big Bald Mike oftens provides security at KX show, Ryan 13 is dUg’s bass tech, and JRAB is Jerry Gaskill’s longtime drum tech and current road manager.
The band’s been recording their debut album (Reflections) in Austin with producer Paul Soroski (Podunk) over the past few years. dUg heard the tracks and jumped on board to provide vocals, and the result is a modern metal project unlike anything you’ve ever heard from dUg before!
Reflections will be released via Austin-based label Rock Army Records this summer. No firm release date yet, but it will be available on CD and as a digital download.
Check out two songs “4th of July” and “Reflections” at Rock Army Records.
Add RAZR 13 as a friend on MySpace to find out more when the time comes.
~Dan – np: Do Make Say Think – You, You’re a History in Rust
Could it happen?
Could a live album make my favorite’s list by year’s end?
Well, I just pre-ordered the latest Live from Nowhere offering (#4 to be exact) from Cincinnati band, Over the Rhine. It’s a double-disc recording of most of the Dec 2008 Taft Reunion concert with founding guitarist Ric Hordinski and founding drummer Brian Kelley joining the still-in-the-band wife-and-husband team of Karin Bergquist (vocals / guitar / etc) and Linford Detweiler (keyboards / bass / etc). Ric left in 1996/97 (I don’t know when exactly as he was gone before I got into them and their Wiki page is weak*), and Brian left at the end of 1998 (IIRC). I saw OTR with Brian, but never with Ric (though I’ve seen Ric plenty of times with his band Monk & solo).
*– Hey, Bruce, if you read this, the OTR Wiki could use a Bruce’ing up... especially on the early era.
With the new release (expected out in August), you get an immediate download. I’m on track 6 of disc 1 now, and I love it. It makes me wish I could have afforded to go to the actual show back in December.
Anyway, here’s the artwork & tracklist (95 minutes total):
(click for larger)
Disc 1
Eyes Wide Open
How Does it Feel (To Be On My Mind)?
HDIF Reprise
Within Without
Like a Radio
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
June
Circle of Quiet
Daddy Untwisted
Disc 2
Paul & Virginia
Poughkeepsie **
Faithfully Dangerous
A Gospel Number
All I Need is Everything
If I’m Drowning
Encores: I Painted My Name ***
Latter Days
**– Songs missing per the reported setlist… Mary’s Waltz & Silent Night were after Poughkeepsie
***– Encores per the reported setlist… E1: My Love is a Fever / I Painted My Name; E2: Happy With Myself? / Latter Days / What’s So Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?
You can pre-order Live from Nowhere IV now from Port Merchandise.
Though I’m usually pacifistic…
~Dan – np: Over the Rhine – Live from Nowhere 4
Ani DiFranco Tour 2009
I found out about Ani DiFranco‘s Portland show earlier this afternoon (while on a random web search)… now I’m not going, as she’ll be in Eugene… yay!
I assume this means new album in fall/winter?
Oh, of course it does…it’s been 288 days since her last one (the excellent Red Letter Year), and she averages one approximately every 282 days. Oh shoot, she’s behind schedule. Maybe she’s been feeling ill lately, and couldn’t get this album out in time. ;)
Speaking of Red Letter Year… it’s now out on vinyl. Nice double-gatefold with an extended version of “Emancipated Minor” remixed by Mike Napolitano. Get it here.
Opener for dates Oct 10th-27th is Anais Mitchell.
Ani DiFranco Fall 2009 Tour Dates (so far)
- Sep 11 2009 – Kalamazoo State Theatre – Kalamazoo, Michigan
- Sep 12 2009 – Krannert Center Guitar Festival – Urbana, Illinois
- Sep 13 2009 – Paramount Theatre – Aurora, Illinois
- Sep 15 2009 – Mayo Civic Center-Presentation Hall – Rochester, Minnesota
- Sep 16 2009 – DECC Auditorium – Duluth, Minnesota
- Sep 18 2009 – Fargo Theatre – Fargo, North Dakota
- Sep 19 2009 – Burton Cummings Theatre – Winnipeg, Manitoba
- Sep 20 2009 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Sep 22 2009 – Riverside Ballroom – Green Bay, Wisconsin
- Sep 23 2009 – The Vic Theatre – Chicago, Illinois
- Sep 25 2009 – Michigan Theater – Ann Arbor, Michigan
- Oct 10 2009 – Lobero Theatre – Santa Barbara, California
- Oct 11 2009 – Grove of Anaheim – Anaheim, California
- Oct 13 2009 – Rio Theatre – Santa Cruz, California
- Oct 14 2009 – Tower Theatre – Fresno, California
- Oct 20 2009 – Arcata Community Center – Arcata, California
- Oct 21 2009 – McDonald Theatre – Eugene, Oregon
- Oct 23 2009 – Crystal Ballroom – Portland, Oregon
- Oct 24 2009 – Moore Theatre – Seattle, Washington
- Oct 25 2009 – PAC Concert Hall – Bellingham, Washington
- Oct 27 2009 – Centre for the Performing Arts – Vancouver, British Columbia
- Nov 15 2009 – Calvin Theatre – Northampton, Massachusetts
- Nov 17 2009 – The Egg – Albany, New York
- Nov 20 2009 – Electric Factory – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Nov 21 2009 – The Town Hall – New York, New York
Oh, pre-sale ticket passwords are on the RBR Tour website.
~Dan – np: The Dillinger Escape Plan w/ Mike Patton – Irony is a Dead Scene -EP-
Madavor Media Acquires JazzTimes
yay!
JazzTimes resurrected
Official Press Release
With the mainstream media swamped with stories of print magazines folding, the story of the re-launch of JazzTimes magazine under new ownership by Madavor Media is a positive tale of determination and vision. On July 10, 2009, Madavor Media, a market-leading enthusiast publishing and trade-show group based in Boston, acquired the JazzTimes brand and effective immediately will resume publishing the influential music magazine and its Web site jazztimes.com.
JazzTimes was founded in 1970 by Washington, D.C.-based record-store owner Ira Sabin, who started the publication as a newsletter for his store, eventually changing its name from Radio Free Jazz to JazzTimes. The list of contributors to the magazine during its nearly 40-year history reads like a Who’s Who of modern jazz journalism-including Leonard Feather, Stanley Dance, Martin Williams, Ira Gitler, Dan Morgenstern, Stanley Crouch, Nat Hentoff, Gary Giddins, Amiri Baraka, Harvey Pekar, Nate Chinen and Ashley Kahn. The publication has won numerous awards for its content and design, and the All-Music Guide has called JazzTimes “arguably the number-one jazz magazine in the world.”
“We are honored to have the opportunity to expand our portfolio with this remarkable and respected publication,” says Jeffrey C. Wolk, chairman and CEO of Madavor Media. “Because of our experience and industry partnerships, we are well-positioned to serve jazz enthusiasts and to build on the impressive business started by Ira Sabin.”
“As an established, quality-directed, enthusiast consumer media company, we feel that Madavor Media is the perfect choice as the new steward of the JazzTimes brand. Madavor Media is a successful, growing publisher with the resources and efficiencies that will enable our 39-year-old franchise to provide expanded services to our dedicated readers and advertising clients alike”, says JazzTimes publisher and CEO Glenn Sabin.
“In each issue of JazzTimes, we will continue to deliver the news and information that readers and advertisers expect from the world’s leading jazz publication,” says Madavor Media’s VP/Group Publisher Susan Fitzgerald. “With our experience in circulation, distribution, production, and promotion, Madavor plans to take the JazzTimes brand to new heights.”
Current Editor-in-Chief Lee Mergner and Managing Editor Evan Haga will remain with the publication to maintain continuity and connection within the jazz community. “For Evan and I, this is a great opportunity to reinvent the magazine in the face of so many interesting challenges,” says Mergner. “And we look forward to the synergy with the other titles in the Madavor stable of publications.” Jeff Sabin and Eric Adams will continue as the magazine’s advertising-account representatives.
The next issue will feature a cover story on saxophonist Joe Lovano, as well as a piece by investigative reporter Marc Hopkins on the effect of the current economic climate on jazz festivals. The first issue bearing the real imprint of Madavor will be the September issue, which spotlights jazz guitar including stories on John Scofield, Nels Cline and George Benson, plus lots more. JazzTimes also publishes an annual Jazz Education Guide, filled with valuable information and material for students, parents, and educators.
Madavor Media publishes other titles and manages trade shows that are number one in their respective fields in the sports and enthusiast markets. Through its print and digital magazines, trade shows, websites, e-mail newsletters, and other partnerships across the publishing industry, Madavor offers unique ways to communicate with passionate consumers who are eager to learn more about products and events that support their interests.
The rumors of its demise was greatly exaggerated.
~Dan – np: Múm – Go Go Smear the Poison Ivy
REVIEW: Tori Amos @ Arlene Schnitzer Hall (Portland, OR – 7/11/09)
Tori Amos has been a big part of my musical fanaticism for a long time. I first heard of her my freshman year of college, got Little Earthquakes & Under the Pink from BMG, got Boys for Pele right when it came out, and I’ve been a fan ever since. There was a period of time where, if I could, I’d drive all over the Midwest to go see her. This show was going on the 6 year mark since I’d seen her, and let’s just say that I was itching for some classic Tori live… but first up, the opener:
One Eskimo hit the stage right about 8pm, and played 4-5 songs (about a half hour’s worth of material). I liked their sound… sort of a singer-songwriter blown up into a pop group (sort of if Maroon 5 had more interesting musicians). Their drummer had a nice style, sitting on a box-type drum and using that as the kick drum. Their guitarist and bassist/trumpet player were also fun to watch. They played “Kandi,” “UFO,” and “Astronauts” for sure, as those songs are on the EP that I picked up for only $5. They’re working on wrapping up their full-length debut now…
I was too far away to take any good concert photos;
so the marquee is all you get this time.
Tori hit the stage with her band (Matt Chamberlain on drums & John Evans on bass) at around 8:50pm and played for a solid two hours without much stopping. I forget how much I love her live shows. Great lights, great mix of tunes from her whole career, fun stage presence, pretty energetic crowd… she played a lot more older songs than I would have thought, and only four songs from her latest record.
Setlist:
- Give (a fave of the night)
- Caught a Lite Sneeze (a fave of the night)
- Welcome to England – John’s bass intro was very Tool-y… as if Justin Chancellor was in a pop band
- Graveyard
- Cornflake Girl (a fave of the night)
- Icicle (a fave of the night)
- Little Amsterdam
- Siren
- Starling
- Black Dove (January)
- 1,000 Oceans
- Joni Mitchell’s River (solo – Lizard Lounge)
- Winter (solo – Lizard Lounge)
- Playboy Mommy
- Little Earthquakes (a fave of the night)
- Fast Horse (a fave of the night)
- Take to the Sky (a mega fave of the night)
- Carbon
- Honey
- Precious Things (a fave of the night)
- Strong Black Vine – crowd floods front part of theatre, much to the “oh crap, what do I do?” of the security guys
- Encore: Big Wheel (a fave of the night)
- Tombigbee
Fantastic show… prior to this show, I was kind of in a “cooling” phase with Tori. I hadn’t seen her since the Scarlet’s Walk tour (2003), and I’d only been slightly fond of The Beekeeper and American Doll Posse albums. Forcing myself recently to dig into her newest one, Abnormally Attracted to Sin, and then seeing it live was great. It was a much warranted end to the break from being a big time Tori fan. Sure, Abnormally isn’t going back to the Little Earthquake through Boys of Pele days, but it’s still good music and she still puts on a great show, full of songs from her vast catalogue.
The Appropriate Linkage:
- Official Tori Amos Webpage
- Tori Amos on MySpace
- Undented – a Tori fansite
- Official One Eskimo Webpage
- One Eskimo on MySpace
- Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland, OR
~Dan – np: Riceboys Sleeps – All Animals -EP-
no torrent or free download available
The rest of the Abnormally Attracted to Sin tour dates (as of now)
- Mon 07/13/09 Oakland, CA – Paramount Theatre
- Tue 07/14/09 Oakland, CA – Paramount Theatre
- Thu 07/16/09 San Diego, CA – Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay
- Fri 07/17/09 Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
- Sat 07/18/09 Phoenix, AZ – Dodge Theatre
- Mon 07/20/09 Salt Lake City, UT – Abravanel Hall
- Tue 07/21/09 Denver, CO – Paramount Theatre
- Thu 07/23/09 Kansas City, MO – Starlight Theatre
- Fri 07/24/09 Grand Prairie, TX – Nokia Theatre At Grand Prairie
- Sat 07/25/09 Austin, TX – The Long Center For The Performing Arts
- Mon 07/27/09 Atlanta, GA – Chastain Park Amphitheatre
- Tue 07/28/09 Orlando, FL – Bob Carr Perf. Arts Centre
- Wed 07/29/09 Miami Beach, FL – Fillmore Miami Beach At Jackie Gleason Theater
- Fri 07/31/09 Durham, NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
- Sat 08/01/09 Washington, DC DAR – Constitution Hall
- Mon 08/03/09 Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
- Tue 08/04/09 Milwaukee, WI – Riverside Theatre
- Wed 08/05/09 Minneapolis, MN – The State Theatre
- Fri 08/07/09 Indianapolis, IN – Murat Theatre
- Sat 08/08/09 Detroit, MI – Detroit Opera House
- Mon 08/10/09 Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
- Tue 08/11/09 Montreal, QC – St. Denis Theatre
- Thu 08/13/09 New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall
- Fri 08/14/09 Red Bank, NJ – Count Basie Theatre
- Sat 08/15/09 Upper Darby, PA – Tower Theatre
- Mon 08/17/09 Boston, MA – Bank Of America Pavilion
- Sun 09/06/09 Manchester, United Kingdom – Apollo Manchester
- Mon 09/07/09 Birmingham, United Kingdom – Symphony Hall
- Tue 09/08/09 Glasgow, United Kingdom – Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
- Thu 09/10/09 London, United Kingdom – Apollo Hammersmith
- Fri 09/11/09 London, United Kingdom – Apollo Hammersmith
- Sun 09/13/09 Basel, Switzerland – Festsaal Messe Basel
- Mon 09/14/09 Munich, Germany – Circus Krone Bau
- Tue 09/15/09 Zurich, Switzerland – Kongresshaus Zurich
- Thu 09/17/09 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Heineken Music Hall
- Sun 09/20/09 Copenhagen, Denmark – Royal Theatre
- Mon 09/21/09 Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene
- Thu 09/24/09 Prague, Czech Republic – Prague Congress Centre
- Fri 09/25/09 Vienna, Austria – Wiener Stadthalle
- Sun 09/27/09 Hamburg, Germany – Laeiszhalle
Osso::Rabbit
So, back in 2007, I had the pleasure of seeing the just-named Osso String Quartet‘s worldwide premiere of Sufjan Stevens‘ electronic album Enjoy Your Rabbit songs arranged for strings. That show at the MusicNow Festival 2007 (full festival review) was utterly fantastic. Since that time, the band has been busy, including being the backing band for My Brightest Diamond‘s wonderful A Thousand Shark’s Teeth album.
Two and a half years will have passed since the worldwide stringed Rabbit debut to finally see the release of Osso’s full length debut… Run Rabbit Run, out October 6th:
- Year of the Ox (arr. Michael Atkinson)
- Enjoy Your Rabbit (arr. Michael Atkinson)
- Year of the Monkey (arr. Michael Atkinson)
- Year of the Tiger (arr. Rob Moose)
- Year of the Dragon (arr. Nico Muhly)
- Year of the Snake (arr. Olivier Manchon)
- Year of the Horse (arr. Rob Moose)
- Year of the Sheep (arr. Maxim Moston)
- Year of the Rat (arr. Olivier Manchon)
- Year of the Rooster (arr. Gabriel Kahane)
- Year of the Dog (arr. Rob Moose)
- Year of the Boar (arr. Michael Atkinson)
- Year of Our Lord (arr. Michael Atkinson)
Pre-order not available, yet. More info here: http://asthmatickitty.com/run-rabbit-run
~Dan – np: Dengue Fever – Escape from Dragon House
PS- Sigur Ros’s Jonsi & Alex’s Riceboy Sleeps debut has the deluxe edition officially on pre-order on their webpage (see here for more info).
No free download or torrents available here.
REVIEW: Skerik & McTuff @ Sam Bond’s (Eugene, OR – 7/8/09)
The Joe Doria led McTuff hit the stage at Sam Bond’s last night around 10pm. While Joe is the bandleader (and quite awesome), a large part of the draw seems to be for tenor saxophonist Skerik. The entire band is fantastic, and really put out a great groove last night. We stayed for a little over an hour, and caught “Seven Bullets,” “Arrow Tip,” Michael Jackson‘s “Human Nature” (identified by my wife) and some other unannounced songs/jams. The 3rd or 4th song (“Seven Bullets”) had some very klezmer-sounding melodies to me.
Last time I saw them, it seemed to be much more organ & sax (or maybe that’s just my poor recollection). This time, the guitarist (Andy Coe) also seemed to really break out. It was nice to hear him take some leads. Drummer D’vonne Lewis was also killin’ it. Great groove all around from the band. I’m glad they come around a couple times a year.
They’ve got their first record out, McTuff Volume 1, which I picked up last night. Check them out on the MySpaces: http://www.myspace.com/mctuffmusic
~Dan – np: Derek Webb – Stockholm Syndrome
JFJO hates me. Placebo loves me.
I’m either out of town, in town at another show, out of town at another show, or barricaded out of a show whenever Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey comes to town. Anyway, JFJO is back in Eugene on 9/18, and I’ll be up at Sunny Day Real Estate in Portland. Oh well, I guess I shouldn’t complain… JFJO comes through twice a year it seems… I’ll try again next time… :rolleyes: Tour dates below…
The Michael Jackson “memorial” service was yesterday (even though he is not dead)… JFJO & Friends did their own takes on some MJ on NYE 2008 and posted them to their website last week. You can download their live takes of “Billy Jean” and “Thriller” via the links (links from a recent JFJO email). Vocally, the MJ cover tunes… are… um… are they drunk? Anyway… they’re free.
JFJO Summer/Fall 2009 tour:
- Aug 8 | Cain’s Ballroom | Tulsa, OK (ABOT Awards)
- July 10 | The Lizard Lounge | Boston, MA
- July 11 | The Lizard Lounge | Boston, MA
- July 14 | The Iron Horse | Northampton, MA
- July 17 | Downright Music & Arts | Collinsville, CT
- July 18 | Joe’s Pub | New York, NY
- Sept 2 | The Deli | Norman, OK
- Sept 3 | Granada Theater | Dallas, TX
- Sept 4 | The Parish | Austin, TX
- Sept 5 | Arts Festival Oklahoma | Oklahoma City, OK
- Sept 8 | Winston’s | San Diego, CA
- Sept 9 | Catalina Jazz Club | Los Angeles, CA
- Sept 10 | Kuumbwa Jazz Center | Santa Cruz, CA
- Sept 11 | Cafe du Nord | San Francisco, CA
- Sept 12 | TBA | Humboldt, CA
- Sept 17 | The Dojo | Ashland, OR
- Sept 18 | Jo Federigo’s | Eugene, OR
- Sept 19 | Jimmy Mak’s | Portland, OR
- Sept 20 | High Dive | Seattle, WA
- Sept 25 | The Marquee | Tulsa, OK
- Oct 22 | The Encore | Stevens Point, WI
- Oct 23 | Cranky Pats | Neenah, WI
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UPDATE (8/17): Placebo have canceled/postponed their North American tour due to Brian collapsing during a show in Japan.
Placebo is hitting Portland on their upcoming tour in support of Battle for the Sun. I shall be going. I last saw them in Cleveland (it was a miserable drive from Cincinnati and back in the same night, but a great show nonetheless). More Placebo 2009 dates as follows:
- Sep 12th 2009 – Roseland Theatre, Portland OR
- Sep 13th 2009 – The Show Box at Market, Seattle WA
- Sep 14th 2009 – Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver BC
- Sep 16th 2009 – Murray Theatre, Murray UT
- Sep 17th 2009 – House Of Blues, Las Vega NV
- Sep 20th 2009 – Club Nokia Live, Los Angeles CA
- Sep 21st 2009 – SOMA, San Diego CA
- Sep 23rd 2009 – Gothic Theatre, Denver CO
- Sep 25th 2009 – La Zona Rosa, Austin TX
- Sep 26th 2009 – House Of Blues, Dallas TX
- Sep 27th 2009 – Beaumont Club, Kansas City MO
- Oct 2nd 2009 – House Of Blues, Chicago IL
- Oct 3rd 2009 – Newport Music Hall, Columbus OH
- Oct 4th 2009 – Sonar, Baltimore MD
- Oct 6th 2009 – Sound Academy, Toronto ON
- Oct 7th 2009 – Metropolis, Montreal QU
- Oct 10th 2009 – Northern Lights, Clifton Park NY
- Oct 11th 2009 – Terminal 5, New York City NY
~Dan – np: Deliverance – Camelot-in-Smithereens
Fiona Apple & Múm
Two unrelated music news items worthy of note…
Fiona Apple is back in the studio for the first time in three years. As SPIN reports, Fiona will contribute two new recordings to The Best Is Yet to Come, a forthcoming compilation honoring Cy Coleman, a composer whose most famous material was performed by Frank Sinatra. On the collection, Apple performs Coleman’s “Why Try to Change Me Now” and “I Walk a Little Faster,” which was popularized by Tony Bennett. Patty Griffin, Nikka Costa, Jill Sobule, and Missy Higgins are among the other artists who honor Coleman’s musical legacy on the album. No release date set, from what I can tell.
Here’s an audio YouTube of Fiona’s “Why Try to Change Me Now”…
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Icelandic band Múm (pronounced “moom”) is releasing another album and is touring the U.S. I received my ticket to the Portland show (Nov 4th) in the mail today. I figured it was related to an album, but hadn’t heard that until today (over on the BrooklynVegan blog). Musically, Múm are akin to Sigur Rós meets Frog Pocket. And for those not in the know about Frog Pocket… well, the prior sentence meant that Múm are like a glitchy-electronic Sigur Rós.
Honestly, I hadn’t looked, but I now find out that Múm’s new album (Sing Along to Songs You Don’t Know) is due out in August 2009, but it has already been leaked. Oh, internets, when you you ever learn that in order for the arts to continue and flourish, you should pay for it!
Anyway, Múm’s 2009 tour dates are as follows:
- Jul 08 TEATRI DI VITA Bologna #
- Jul 11 Loop festival afterparty at Digital Brighton #
- Jul 12 Loop festival Brighton
- Jul 13 TabarnacleLondon
- Aug 14 SUMMER SUNDAE festival Leicester
- Aug 15 Studio 24 Edinburgh
- Aug 17 National museum of Wales Cardiff, Wales
- Aug 18 Norwich art center Norwhich
- Aug 27 Atomic CafeMunich (DE)
- Aug 28 Beatpol Dresden (DE)
- Sep 05 Lido Berlin (DE)
- Sep 06 Knust Hamburg (DE)
- Sep 07 Gebaeude 9 Cologne (DE)
- Oct 21 the Somerville Theatre Somerville, Massachusetts
- Oct 22 First Unitarian Church Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Oct 23 Black Cat Washington DC, Washington DC
- Oct 24 Le Poisson Rouge NY, New York
- Oct 26 Le National Montreal, Quebec
- Oct 27 Phoenix Concert Theatre Toronto, Ontario
- Oct 28 Logan Square Auditorium Chicago, Illinois
- Oct 29 McGuire Theater Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Nov 01 Marquee Room Calgary, Alberta
- Nov 02 Richards on Richards Vancouver, British Columbia
- Nov 03 Showbox at the Market Seattle, Washington
- Nov 04 Aladdin Theater Portland, Oregon
- Nov 05 The Independent San Francisco, California
- Nov 06 El Rey Theatre Los Angeles, California
- Nov 07 Yost Theatre Santa Ana, California
# múm DJ set
~Dan – np: Davka – Davka Live 
Jónsi & Alex – Riceboy Sleeps
Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi Birgisson and his boyfriend Alex Somers have been working on visual art since 2003, and the Riceboys Sleeps is now hitting earbuds around the globe. Their song “Happiness” was on the Dark Was the Night compilation earlier this year, and their full-length self-titled album comes out on July 21st. It can now be pre-ordered on Amazon or the deluxe edition from http://www.jonsiandalex.com/. They’ve been giving away Boy 1904 for new people who sign up for their mailing list.
DOWNLOAD: Riceboy Sleeps – Boy 1904 (MP3)
Track listing:
1. Happiness
2. Atlas Song
3. Indian Summer
4. Stokkseyri
5. Boy 1904
6. All The Big Trees
7. Daníell In The Sea
8. Howl
9. Sleeping Giant
~Dan – np: Miles Davis – Aura
ha’fway 2009
Happy 233rd birthday, United States!
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(Sub)consciously prompted by these music blogs, here are my favs of the first half of 2009… it’s all bound to switch around by year’s end:
Artist – Album (label)
- Dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion (Ohlone)
- Masada Quintet + Joe Lovano – Masada Book Two: Book of Angels, Vol. 12 ~ Stolas (Tzadik)
- OSI – Blood (Inside Out Records)
- Wussy – Wussy (Shake It Records)
- Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy – Spirit Moves (Green Leaf Music)
- Wynton Marsalis – He and She (EMI / Blue Note)
- John Zorn – Alhambra: Love Songs (Tzadik)
- Regina Spektor – Far (Sire / Warner)
- Isis – Wavering Radiant (Ipecac)
- Zu – Carboniferous (Ipecac)
- Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings, really only the instrumental disc (Roadrunner)
- Jamie Saft – Black Shabbis (Tzadik)
- Madeleine Peyroux – Bare Bones (Rounder)
- Secret Chiefs 3 – Le Mani Destre Recise Degli Ultimi Uomini (Web of Mimicry)
- Ember Swift – Lentic :: 子玉 (Few’ll Ignite Sound)
I didn’t get a few that already came out this year… the new Green Day, U2, Placebo, Eminem, Dave Matthews Band, Fever Ray, Crank 2 soundtrack (by Mike Patton). I’m waiting for them to be cheaper used, but they may make it to the list at the end of the year.
The 2nd half of 2009 promises to bring some potential great ones, too… John Zorn’s O’o, Medeski Martin & Wood Radiolarians 3, Mike Patton’s Mondo Cane (possibly by November), Secret Chiefs 3 Book of Souls (maybe), a new Sufjan Stevens (just speculating, since it’s been a while), Ani DiFranco always has something coming out, Jon Madof’s CircuitBreaker debut (maybe) & another Rashanim, The Tango Saloon’s Transylvania (stateside release?), new Tristeza, Over the Rhine Live from Nowhere IV, George Hrab ‘s 6th album Trebuchet, Derek Webb‘s Stockholm Syndrome, SFJazz 2009 with Dave Douglas & Joe Lovano and others, A Perfect Circle internet only single releases (as mentioned back here), and a new Tool record (they’ve worked on it some, but I doubt it’ll hit until 2010)… and I’m sure another dozen or more that I’ll dig from Tzadik.
~Dan – np: Cut Chemist – The Audience’s Listening
again… Happy 233rd birthday, United States!
This July 4th, celebrate Sarah Palin resigning as Alaskan governor!
RECIPE: Strawberry Cornmuffins & Fruit Spring Rolls
June’s Veggie Supper Club in Eugene was an “Amazing Appetizers and Fantastic Fingerfoods” theme; so I decided to try something new for me and something that would incorporate the great strawberries from market and raspberries from our backyard… so, Strawberry Cornbread Muffins and Fresh Fruit Spring Rolls were on the menu for today…
(photo: Made Healthier)
Strawberry Cornmuffins
Makes 12 muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup cornmeal
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbs. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk
- 2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray.
- Combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in mixing bowl. Whisk together eggs and buttermilk in separate bowl. Stir cornmeal mixture into egg mixture. Fold in melted butter and strawberries. Scoop batter into muffin pan.
- Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until tops are brown. Cool 10 minutes in pan; cool completely on baking rack.
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(photo: Chicago Mag)
Fresh Fruit Spring Rolls
with Yogurt Dipping Sauce
Makes as many rolls as you want
Spring Roll Ingredients:
- Fresh fruit. I used strawberries, pineapple (with their juice), bananas, raspberries.
- Small rice paper spring roll wrappers
- Fresh mint
Spring Roll Directions:
- Cut into small pieces and mix fruit & mint together.
- Using warm water (not too hot to the touch), dip stiff rice paper wrapper for 15-30 seconds until pliable.
- Place spoonful of fruit mixture in center of wrapper (amount dependent on rice paper size). Don’t overfill, as you’ll get a hull breach. Try to get as little of the juice in as possible, as this will make rolling it difficult.
- Wrap like a burrito… can be tricky.
- Repeat.
Dipping Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 cups vanilla yogurt
- 3 tbsp agave nectar
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- (optional) seeds from 2 fresh vanilla beans (see this for hints on vanilla bean usage)
Dipping Sauce Directions:
- Mix.
- Dip.
- Enjoy.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, vegan bananas foster, and mushroom dumpling stew at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: dredg – The Pariah, The Parrot, The Delusion no torrent or free download here
Michael Jackson is not dead!
Michael Jackson is now a zombie.
Real zombie re-enactment of Thriller this weekend in Los Angeles…
Rest in Peace, Michael: 1958 – 2009
UPDATE (8/15/09): Michael Jackson fans, check this out!
Sunny Day Real Estate have also caught the reunion flu
File this under: awesome.
So, I saw Sunny Day Real Estate in 2000 on their The Rising Tide tour. It is probably one of the 10 or 20 best concerts ever for me, and I say that in that they aren’t one of my favorite 10 or 20 bands in my wheelhouse. Anyway, I dig their albums a plenty, but that tour was just fantasticly great. Even the opener, Euphone, was great (my first foray into post-rock).
Well, in the recent rash of get togethers that I care about (Faith No More and Galactic Cowboys being two notables), SDRE are getting back together with the original four members: Jeremy Enigk, Dan Hoerner, and recently Foo Fighters’ William Goldsmith & Nate Mendel. Call it a SDRE-union, if you will. Diary and LP2 will also be re-issued on Sub Pop. Read the full story over at Pitchfork and BrooklynVegan. Here are the tourdates:
09-17 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
09-18 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom (MusicFest NW)
09-20 Murray, UT – Murray Theater
09-21 Denver, CO – Ogden Theater
09-23 Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
09-24 Chicago, IL – Metro
09-25 Detroit, MI – St. Andrew’s Hall
09-27 New York, NY – Terminal Five
09-28 Boston, MA – House of Blues
09-30 Washington, D.C. – 930 Club
10-01 Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
10-03 Atlanta, GA – CW Center Stage
10-05 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
10-06 Houston, TX – Warehouse Live – Ballroom
10-07 Austin, TX – La Zona Rosa
10-09 Tempe, AZ – Marquee
10-10 Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
10-11 Los Angeles, CA – Henry Fonda Theater
10-13 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
10-15 Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
10-16 Seattle, WA – Paramount Theater
I plan on hitting the Portland show. That week is busy for me now… I’ve got Porcupine Tree on Wednesday, Wynton Marsalis on Thursday, and now Sunny Day Real Estate on Friday.
But it’s gonna rule! And I wouldn’t have it any other way.
~Dan – np: Miles Davis – In a Silent Way
GALACTIC COWBOYS Never Die.
GALACTIC COWBOYS, the heavy-hitting Houston, Texas band responsible for such classic albums as Space In Your Face, Machine Fish, and At the End of the Day, will reunite this August for three concert performances only in the group’s home state — in Houston, Dallas, and Austin. GALACTIC COWBOYS’ classic lineup of Monty Colvin (bass), Alan Doss (drums), Ben Huggins (vocals), and Wally Farkas (guitar) will hit the stage on August 13, August 14 and August 15.
The Houston show has just been booked and announced for Saturday, August 15, 2009 at Warehouse Live (813 St. Emanuel Street, Houston, TX 77003). More information may be found by contacting the venue at (713) 225-5483. The band is currently booking the remaining shows in Dallas and Austin. Details for these two nights will be forthcoming.
Commented Colvin: “[It’s] something we have talked about on and off over the years and now is the first time all of our schedules coincide to be able to do this. It’s going to be a lot of fun and we are really looking forward to reconnecting with the fans that have been asking about this ever since we broke up.”
GALACTIC COWBOYS released its debut album on Geffen Records back in 1991 on an unsuspecting public, combining progressive metal with a style of vocals influenced by THE BEATLES and the heavy playing style of thrash bands such as ANTHRAX. They have been described as “possibly the most melodic metal band ever.” The band called it quits in 2000 after a string of well-received albums on Metal Blade, a loyal cult following and years of successful tours with bands such as KING’S X, ANTHRAX, and DREAM THEATER.
For more information, visit www.galacticcowboys.com.
I’ve been a GC forever… ran an unofficial (but officially approved) website for them in college (back in the heyday of the internets). I wish I could make it down to Texas for these shows, alas, I’ll be in Idaho for work.
I hope the reunion bug bites harder and they decide to do something else together… an album or more shows.
In other, older Galactic Cowboys-related news… check out this about The Jibbs.
~Dan – np: TV on the Radio – Dear Science
RECIPE: Vegan Mushroom Dumpling Stew
Vegan Mushroom Dumpling Stew
So, a friend at work had a baby recently, and we do these things called “Meals on Wheels” for the family to help them out. Since my friend and her family are vegetarians, I had to volunteer. Regardless of the almost summer timing, I decided to make Mushroom Dumpling Stew. As luck would have it, it was an overcast chilly June day anyway; so it worked out well. Anyway, this is more of a fall soup, and it works well with many types of mushrooms. I usually use shiitake, porchini, and chanterelle, along with standard white mushrooms (found at your local grocery).
Ingredients:
serves 8
Adapted from Suzanne Stevens’ A Taste of Hope Springs
http://www.hopespringsinstitute.com/
Dumplings~
- 2 cups unbleached flour (white, wheat, spelt, etc)
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper
- 2 Tbs. chopped fresh herbs (rosemary, oregano, thyme, tarragon, etc)
- 3 Tbs. vegan spread (butter substitute)
- 2 servings of egg replacer, beaten (vegan egg substitute)
- 1/2 cup milk (soy or rice)
Stew Fixins~
- 8 cups vegetarian broth
- 1/2 cup Madeira wine (or Marsala, Sherry, etc)
- 1/3 oz. dried porchini mushrooms (substitute other dried mushrooms if porchini are n/a)
- 1 Tbs. vegan spread (butter substitute)
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- One onion, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 3 Tbs. brandy (or port)
- 1 pound of mushrooms (any combination), sliced
- 1 large carrot, sliced
- 2 tsp. chopped fresh sage and thyme
- freshly-ground black pepper to taste
Steps:
- Heat Madeira with 1/2 cup of water in a small pan until the liquid begins to simmer. Add the porchini, remove from heat. Cover pan and let sit for 15 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, pepper, and herbs. Add butter in small pieces. With pastry cutter or fork, cut butter into flour mixture. Add eggs, then soy milk. Stir mixture with a spoon until it just comes together. Add a bit more milk if needed.
- In frying pan, heat 1 Tbs. butter, add onions and garlic and cook until they are just beginning to caramelize. Add brandy and cook off. Hold mixture in bowl.
- Heat olive oil in soup pan. Add sliced mushrooms and carrot, and sauté. Cook until the mushrooms begin to brown and carrots soften slightly.
- Then add 8 cups of broth and soaking porchini-Madeira liquid to sautéed mushrooms. Bring soup to gentle boil, add sage and thyme, adjust seasoning if necessary. Add onion mixture in and heat.
- Drop dumpling batter by the spoonful into the simmering stew.
- Roll dumplings over after 4 to 5 minutes. When dumplings have cooked for at least 5 minutes on each side, serve stew.
This is a mainly music-based blog. If you stumbled in on a recipe search, check out my other recipes, like vegan biscuits & gravy, spiced biscotti, vegan cactus chili, and vegan bananas foster at THIS LINK.
~Dan – np: Iron & Wine – Call Your Boys 7″ single
Attack Attack!’s Stick Stickly
This is the best worst thing I’ve seen in a while. I kinda love it…
(Note: if the Vimeo video above doesn’t work,
let me know and I’ll refresh the link)
So amazingly, A+ horrible that it’s A+ good… poop squat guitarist moves, jumping around flipping guitar over head, death metal vocals, dance breaks, auto-tune vocals (a la Akon, Justin Timberlake, etc)… I mean… what’s not to love/hate/love again? No matter how seemingly painful, you can’t turn away.
And if you just wanna watch the silly pieces forever, here are some animated gifs of the Attack Attack! “Stick Stickly” action (click for larger, or right click to save):
~Dan – np: The Weepies – Hideaway
REVIEW: Hiromi’s Sonicbloom @ Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley (Seattle, WA – 6/16/09)
FYI… PHOTOS of the SHOW at the BOTTOM
Well, I’d never been to Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley. It’s an amazing little room (maybe 200 seats) with dinner served if you show up early. Plus, in downtown Seattle, it offers free parking. Yeah, you read that correctly – free parking. :) Anyway, I showed up shortly after 6pm after fighting with traffic heading through Tacoma and into Seattle. I got seated right up front, which was also the benefit of showing up early for the dinner & show deal. Fantastic food, and wonderful staff! The venue earns an A+!! I hope they bring in some more choice acts… it was worth the trip.
Hiromi Uehara and Sonicbloom took the stage around 7:40. The band was Hiromi on piano (a Steinway & Sons, if I recall correctly) & keyboards (3 different keyboards/syths), Tony Grey on 6-string electric bass, Dave Fiuczynski on double-neck guitar (12 string on top, 7 string on bottom), and Mauricio Zottarelli on drums. Both Tony & Dave played on Hiromi’s two Sonicbloom records. Actually, Tony played with Hiromi on her last four records (not just the recent Sonicbloom moniker).
As a band, they were pretty tight. I liked Tony a lot on bass. He had a nice groove, and his “mouthing” of the solos was fun, too. Maurice was also great, but he was shielded from me for most of the night from an older “bigger hair” couple; so I didn’t catch many glimpses of him. Dave was good, too… but sometime he got too “noodley” versus what the band was doing. His solos weren’t great in my opinion, but when he was playing lead, his playing worked well. Maybe guitar in a jazz quartet wasn’t my thing this time around.
As far as setlist, no luck. Hiromi only announced one song from the stage: “Time Travel” from Time Control (the 2007 Sonicbloom record). I’m pretty sure that they didn’t play “XYZ” (or the variation “XYG”). That was a bummer, but not too much of a bummer – as the show was amazing all around.
They played a few standards, one that the name is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t for the life of me remember it. I can hear it still in my head (doo doo doo, doop doop doodle doop). Damn, there are too many songs in my head and barely any names. Hiromi also played a solo classical piece that was very familiar, but again, I’m drawing a blank. Regardless of song names, Hiromi’s handwork is amazing. I swear, I don’t know how she can pull off playing two different melodies at the same time with different hands. Anyway, the whole group was an amazing bunch of musicians. Most of the show was pretty jammy, but had elements of straight ahead jazz, and again some classical.
They’re playing again at the Jazz Alley as I type this… if anyone went tonight (June 17th), let me know how it went.
For the uninitiated to Hiromi, check out the video electronic press kit for Beyond Standard featuring “XYG“:
Or check out the video for “Time Difference“…
The Appropriate Linkage:
~Dan – np: Anakronic Electro-Orchestra – The Yiddish Part -EP-
HIROMI’s SONICBLOOM PHOTOS
all pictures (cc) 2009 Daniel Temmesfeld,
you may use freely under a creative commons attribution
(click for larger)
REVIEW: Portland Cello Project & Emily Wells @ Cozmic Pizza (Eugene, OR – 6/13/09)
I first heard of Portland Cello Project via cellist Anna Fritz. Her 2005 album Wake featured a couple of songs with singer-songwriter Peter Mulvey guesting, of whom I had been a longtime fan already. Anyway, shortly thereafter, Anna Fritz was posting on her MySpace page about this new band that she was in, the Portland Cello Project. They kept playing around on times that I couldn’t see them… so last night was the first official time for me to see them, though I guess I’ve been a fan for a while.
We showed up around 8:30 to a beyond packed house. Oh crap, I underestimated the draw of the PCP on a Saturday night in Eugene. Emily Wells was into her set, and some of the PCP was sitting in on her set. Great stuff… enough to buy her Symphonies album. I hope she comes around Eugene or Portland again… I loved her sound.
The Portland Cello Project came on around 9:30. Their sound seemed very much standard “chamber music” until they hit the more energetic Pantera and Dave Brubeck pieces. PCP pulls off the “modern / alternative chamber music” sound pretty well without getting lumped into the sometimes cheesy Apocalyptica and the almost always cheesy “String Quartet Tribute to…” compilations. PCP had a mix of classical, jazz, rougher music, tween pop with John Brophy, and indie rock (the songs featuring Justin Power on guitar & voice)… seemed to be enjoyed by the very large, very diverse crowd…
Setlist: (per the PCP blog)
- Collaborations with Emily Wells
- The Batman Theme Song (by Danny Elfman)
- Turkish Wine (by Norfolk and Western)
- Denmark (by Gideon Freudmann)
- Mouth for War (by Pantera)
- Take 5 (by Dave Brubeck Quartet)
- A piece by Ashia
- Ashia and Justin Power playing Hungry Liars
- Two more Justin Power pieces!
- Toxic (by Britney Spears) featuring John Brophy
- What Goes Around…/…Comes Back around (by Justin Timberlake) featuring John Brophy
- Push-it (by Salt N Pepa) featuring John Brophy and Emily Wells
- 3 pieces collaborating with Run-On Sentence
- Encore: Transformation from The Dream: A Three Movement Suite for Cellos, Mallet Percussion, and Drum Set by Rachel Blumberg
We stuck around through the Justin Timberlake tune (it had been a long day). Great stuff all around. I was very impressed with Emily Wells set (never heard of her before), and the size of the crowd at Cozmic. I mean, seriously, I’ve never seen that many people packed in there. It was great to see so many people out there, but I’m wondering how they heard about it. Here I was thinking I’d show up at 8:30 and get right in…
Next time, I’ll know to show up early for PCP in Eugene.
The Appropriate Linkage:
- Portland Cello Project Online
- Portland Cello Project on MySpace
- Emily Wells on MySpace
- Justin Power on MySpace
- Cozmic Pizza
~Dan – np: Flaregun – Ten Sundays
Porcupine Tree / Larry David & Woody Allen
UK progrockers Porcupine Tree have a new album coming out in September, and it now has a name: The Incident. It’s out September 21st on Roadrunner Records in the United States. It’ll be a double-album: first CD being the (cough) 55-minute title track. The 2nd CD being an EP-lengthed featuring these four songs: “Flicker,” “Bonnie The Cat,” “Black Dahlia,” and “Remember Me Lover.”
My fandom of Steven Wilson’s songwriting (examples: Stupid Dream & Lightbulb Sun) will probably lead me to gravitate to the 2nd CD, but we shall see. Their counterpart in the prog world, Dream Theater, can’t write their way out of a wet paper bag (when it comes to a “song”)… so at least Steven tends to do that every once in a while…
As previously reported, Porcupine Tree hits the road with King’s X and That1Guy this fall (two favorite artists of mine). I’ll be at the That1Guy-opened show in Portland, OR.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Larry David is a busy man. As previously reported, the 7th season of Curb Your Enthusiasm is underway (and will host all major members of the Seinfeld cast). Larry’s feature movie from writer/director Woody Allen is hitting the streets this June/July. Here’s a trailer for Whatever Works:
~Dan – np: Celldweller – The Last Firstborn Remixes
-Eyvind Kang
-Frank Zappa
Amazon.com mp3 downloads
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