En route for DC on their North American Tour as of last week are Eels, the lo-fi rockers with an endless soundtrack repertoire and an uncanny fetish for the letter E, meaning this is your chance to expunge all erstwhile engagements and endeavor to experience the euphonious elicitations of Eels.
Now of course we wouldn’t dangle a carrot like this without giving you a chance to go for free… TVD has a pair of tickets to see Eels with The SubmarinesandElvis Etomorrow at 9:30 Club.
If you’re a trueTrue Blood fan, you will probably recognize Eels by their infamous song “Fresh Blood.” It was played in the end credits of the third season, in the episode “Fresh Blood” of the series. Clever title, right?
Being the soundtrack shoe-ins EELS are, with more onscreen accompaniment moments than I can count (including songs featured in Six Feet Under, United States of Tara, Hot Fuzz, and American Beauty), for this giveaway let’s hear your favorite soundtrack song. Mine goes to the UK TV’s Skins Theme by Fat Segal.
The deadline is tomorrow (7/27) at noon. The winner must confirm via email by 3:00 PM.
Vanessa Carlton’s brand new LP Rabbits on the Run lands on store shelves TODAY, 7/26, but this morning (and this week) we’re going through her personal record collection with her recs for the recs you should have in yours.
We’ll have an opportunity to get your hands on Rabbits a bit later today compliments of Vanessa, but for now we turn TVD over to Ms. C:
Fleetwood Mac – Rumours | This record was unlike anything else I’d ever heard. There were so many different characters that intrigued me . . . like listening to theatre . . . not musical theatre . . . Fleetwood Mac is its own breed of theatre.
Also, I was total ballerina-obsessed girl so I was super into Stevie’s outfit and pointed shoes on the cover. She looked beautiful. And mysterious.
When the trombonist Jeff Albert started the Open Ears Music Series in 2007, he was just looking for a place for local improvising musicians to call home. Since then, the series has evolved into a well-respected music scene that is known in the tight-knit community of free musicians as the place to play in New Orleans.
Though the city has its fair share of “out” players, including the local dean of improvising saxophone, Edward “Kidd” Jordan, it has never been known as a place that nurtures musicians that choose to defy the stifling restrictions of genre. Consider Jazz Fest—even though the annual event always manages to bring in a few national and internationally known jazz artists each year, they never present acts that are on the cutting edge of where jazz is headed. They tend to focus on where jazz has been.
Kevin Devine has put in his 10,000 hours. Ok, well, he’s actually put in way more than that. For those of you who have not done your required summer reading, socio-psychological pundit and New Yorker contributor Malcolm Gladwell has a theory. Gladwell posits a simple concept, derived from his research on those who unequivocally succeed in their fields. Simply put, if you put in 10,000 hours doing what you love to do, you will be indisputably successful at it.
Since the age of 15, armed with his guitar and a well of courage, aggressiveness, skill and just plain moxie, Devine has worked tirelessly to develop his signature sound. Fighting his way out of anonymity and onto the international touring circuit, Devine has produced a consistent body of work that evokes the best elements of his major influences, essential iconic 90’s acts like Pavement, Nirvna and Elliot Smith. Since his first release, Circle Gets The Square (2002), Devine has released no less than 5 full length albums and a slew of EP’s and live recordings.
I am so into the whole ’80s synth pop revival that since 2009 has inspired musicians with an obvious love for dark and brooding shoegaze to create some of the best dreampop out. There are few bands that capture the emotional intensity and pop sensibility of New Order and The Cure’s sentimental fascination with love like Craft Spells.
If you’ve found yourself having a summer that sucks more balls than Elton John at a coming out party, you may find solace at the Black Catthis Thursday (7/28) when Craft Spells take the stage along with Gardens and Villa(come early, I’ve heard they are great live too) and Race of Robots.
Wanda Jackson, The First Lady of Rock and Roll, set the record straight. Last Friday, it was my honor to chat with Ms. Jackson. She was sweet as tea and gave me a little lesson on the history of Rock and Roll. We also talked about how she got started, her Oklahoman contemporaries, Jack White, and how the young folks love her so.
With a career revival in tow, a new album and tour—she’ll be in DC tomorrow at 9:30 Club, and of course we have a pair of tickets for you to win—The First Lady is set to bring you back home, to your roots. Because, the “party ain’t over.”
Did you know she sings in German, too?
Details for the ticket giveaway after the interview.
So you are known as the Queen of Rockabilly or the First Lady of Rockabilly—
[Corrects me] First Lady of Rock and Roll.
Oh, Rock and Roll. Thank you for clearing that up. So you do mind that moniker?
Oh no, I don’t mind at all. I just wish everybody would stop using the word “rockabilly.” You know, [rockabilly] just refers to the first rockers. So, I just prefer to be called, if anything, First Lady of Rock and Roll.
Beyond Beyond is Beyond is NY DJ Mike Newman’s ‘cage-free’ rock show on East Village Radio. The show streams live from EVR.com every Thursday from noon-2:00 p.m. eastern. Newman is also host of the BBiB Record Club, which is a monthly rock n’ roll vinyl album listening party.
You know the deal. We preview the 9:30 Club shows you should be checking out. You can enter later this month for a chance to win tickets to each of them.
Whether you know The Queen of Rockabillyfrom her work since the ’50s and ’60s or just recently discovered her through her last couple of albums on Jack White’s Third Man Records, Wanda Jackson doesn’t need any introduction. She’s been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, dated Elvis, and has been touring for longer than many of her current fans have been alive. She swings by the club tomorrow with Irish rockabilly princess Imelda May, so you Wanda Jackson fans maybe should check back here… soon. Very soon.
A native Memphian, Dan Ball was a regular contributing photographer to The Memphis Flyer and Memphis Magazine from 1990 to 2004, while also freelancing for magazines and news bureaus worldwide. Dan has photographed many of Memphis’ biggest underground bands, including The Grifters, The Oblivians, The Clears, The Compulsive Gamblers, Tav Falco and Jay Reatard, as well as international artists such as Snoop Doggy Dog and Jeff Buckley. His work has also been featured in magazines like Mojo, Raygun and Maxim, countless blogs and films, and on many LP covers and spreads. Currently, Dan is still freelancing with a focus on developing personal projects.
Even though this column was planned to focus only on musicians, we couldn’t help wanting to know what’s turning Dan on these days:
1) Adam Curtis – Documentary Filmmaker and BBC blogger who deals with the human condition and Popular Culture in ways I’ve only dreamed of. If he said or did something, I would probably be inclined to agree or be impressed (respectively). You may have to scrounge around to find some of his films, but many are available in America on his blog and on You Tube.
The two albums we had in the house growing up were Chicago’s Greatest Hits and A Mannheim Steamroller Christmas 2. I heard them a lot, Chicago on cassette and Mannheim Steamroller on compact disc (for those thin synths and digital bells). There was no vinyl around. My parents weren’t really music people. Dad threw out all their records from the 60s and 70s when they got married. “Nothing in there, I’m sure.” Some Beatles, some Dylan, whatever.
I was a cassette kid, that’s how it timed out for me. I was young and crazy about popular music just as the cassette was enjoying its brief heyday. I eventually made the switch to compact disc in high school, but not without a fight. I loved the two sides with an intermission. I loved the lost art of the mix tape (mix CDs do not compare). I got really good at guessing length of tape left and making the transitions seamless with barely audible pops.
I did, however, have one record. It’s in a box in a basement somewhere now, where it’s been since late in Reagan’s second term.
The band really wanted to call the album "Louder Than F**k"
Following up on the fantastic feedback from last weeks “Snapshot of College Radio in the 70s” post, I thought I would make this weeks edition relevant to one of the best shows I have seen here in San Francisco. Soundgarden played here last week, and after a decade plus hiatus, the band is back and sounding better than when I saw them in their 90’s heyday. With that being said, here is a vinyl gem that I found while thumbing through vinyl at Record Archive in Rochester, NY several years ago.
I’m still shaking my head in disbelief at a portion of Bob Lefstez’s music industry Roadmap to fiscal prosperity as posted last week by the well known music industry analyst:
“Stop complaining about what once was. Album cover art, the ridiculous vinyl record. Sure, vinyl sounds better, but should we replace fuel injectors with temperamental carburetors? Vinyl is cumbersome and vulnerable, people want portability and indestructibility. Focus on higher quality digital. Hell, if all these albums are cut digitally, and almost all of them are, does it make any sense to release them in a final analog version?”
I respect Bob Lefsetz, he’s a fine writer, thoughtful and insightful, and certainly has his ear to the creaking gears of the music biz, but by lauding Spotify and inviting the diminishment of anything physical, he’s certainly proposing a colorless and bleak future and it’s one without the hues and tones that ignited his own passions way back when.
Ultimately if you’re to follow his complete business plan, the consumer is left with nothing but a subscription and some device by which to listen—and mind you, I’m typing away while my 32 gig iPhone charges. (Albeit surround by stacks of records and books even. Imagine.)
Bob would also have the industry invest in the innate talent of a true artist and it’s hard to disagree or fault that notion. Yet, as I mentioned last week, any artist worth his or her salt typically has a unique affinity for vinyl and the artform. In the four years TVD has been around, I’ve yet to encounter a musician of merit who’d shrug at the notion of vinyl. Not one.
With this notion in mind, we launch a recurring column today, “What’s in your record collection?” where we’ll dig into an artist’s stack of vinyl to underscore the sweet and continued niche adherence to a physical piece of art. Or “souvenirs.”
And we’re delighted to have the wonderfully talented Vanessa Carlton join us this week for our new feature’s inauguration and thrilled she’s invited us over for a rummage through her (and her folks’) LPs.
Vanessa’s brand new release Rabbits on the Run hits store shelves tomorrow (7/26) and later this week we’ll have an opportunity for you to get your hands one. On vinyl of course.
For now, TVD is Vanessa’s:
“My parents had a solid record collection. I’m proud that they kept it intact even though all of my friend’s parents were buying cassette tapes. They taught me the ritual that is placing a needle on the black satin circles. I thought it was magic.
Shamarr Allen has a way with a melody. His song “Meet Me On Frenchmen Street” has already become a local anthem and his new album, 504-799-8147 is filled with songs with more memorable hooks.
He also continues to learn his way around a mixing board. He produced the album and plays virtually every instrument on it with help from his bandmates in the Underdawgs.
The album kicks off with “Typical Rock Star,” which presents Allen as the opposite of the title character. He doesn’t play guitar, he doesn’t wear mascara or skinny jeans. He’s also accessible—the name of his album is his actual phone number. While the lyrics place him outside of the stereotype, the music reflects modern rock and the song would not sound out of place on rock radio.
It’s our weekly Twitter #MusicMonday recap of the tracks from last week that the folks in the press offices and PR agencies want you to be hearing. We post you decide.
Amy Winehouse was the embattled darling of neo-soul/pop. She was found dead in her North London home on July 23 after a suspected overdose. Upon the her cross-Atlantic success in the United States with her first (and self-prophesying) hit “Rehab,” Winehouse has, sadly, joined a cadre of musicians who’ve – mysteriously – died at 27.
Our memories of her are by no means a silhouette. The year 2006 feels like yesterday when the tatted, raven-haired soul singer appeared in a dingy, brick-walled room with her institutionalized band mates. “Rehab,” produced by Mark Ronson, is a lovelorn, horn-driven piece that hit hard with music lovers internationally.
Her international rise with the album “Back to Black” made way for British soul artists like Adele and Duffy. Her lyrics were unrepentant and her personal reputation followed suit with stories upon stories of mental health and drug abuse.
