Author Archives: Rachel Hurley

Wagons, from Melbourne, Australia, are a lot more country than we expected them to be – them being from down under and all – but then when we though about it – it made more sense. Afterall, we did see Australia, the movie!

Actually, the band is a lot more country & western than we expected them to be. Which is good. When we think of “country” these days, we think of girls from the south that shop at the mall, y’all! Wagons are much more of a musical mixed bag, with a lot of old school country influences like Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and maybe even a little Elvis.

The guys were a lot of fun to chat up and were very excited to be playing in Memphis. We think we will be hearing a lot more from them in the future! Check out our interview with the band as they profess their love for late period Elvis and talk about being on the road with tour mates Those Darlins. They also play some music! Then go see them TONIGHT at The Hi-Tone!

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You guys! I found this really great band out of Denton, called Seryn! And even though they have already played SXSW a few times and been in Paste Magazine and have tons of regional press, when they become huge stars, I am going to totally take credit for discovering them.

Anyway, I kind of have a feeling that they will be huge because when I showed them the Diamond Award in the Ardent Studios‘ lobby (which you get for selling 10 million records) and said that no one will probably ever get one of those again, they were like, “Is that a dare?”

To me, they kind of sound like a cross between Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes and Peter Gabriel, but I am old and weird, so there’s that.

Check out my interview with them as they school me on the difference between a xylophone and a vibraphone and we talk about their upcoming East Coast tour. Plus, of course, they play some music. It’s totally worth 25 minutes of your time! Then go see them TONIGHT at The Hi-Tone!

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We caught up with Man / Miracle after their Sound Situations taping at Marsh Woodwinds in Raleigh, NC during Hopscotch Music Festival. The band is known for their high energy live shows. Go download their song “Low Hanging Fruit” from RCRDLBL and look for their new EP Valleys September 26 on digital or cassette.

We enjoyed our interview with these guys. Off camera we talked about their love for garage rock, like Guitar Wolf and Jay Reatard and the similarities of Oakland’s and Memphis’ music scenes. If you are in New York, you can see them play tonight with Brooklyn’s own Dinosaur Feathers at Piano’s.

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We caught up with Brooklyn’s Dinosaur Feathers at their Sound Situations taping at Marsh Windwoods in raleigh, NC while they were in town to play the Hopscotch Festival. As a matter of fact, Spin Magazine just wrote that they were one of the 8 Best Moments of the Hopscotch Music Festival

We found the band to be incredibly charming. Check out our interview (and viewer beware: their answer to the first question was kind of muddled – but you can see they say “Museum of Natural History“) and then if you are in New York City, go see them tomorrow night when they play with Oakland’s Man/Miracle at Piano’s.

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Chris Milam doesn’t like Kickstarter – too passive he says. So instead, he has decided to stage his very own fundraiser to raise money to record a new album. He’ll be playing from 4 until 10PM TODAY in front of the I Love Memphis Mural in Cooper-Young. If you are a fan of TVD, you might have already come to know Milam from his excellent Another Cup of Coffee series of interviews. If you are not reading his blog or following on Twitter – you are missing out!

Take a listen to some new songs he’s been working on and then if you’re a local, go give him some love tonight. He told us to tell you to bring beer. (And if you don’t live in Memphis, you can donate on Milam’s website!

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Since the early days of recorded music there have been many incentives to record multiple versions of the same song. In the U.S. publishers, not artists, are paid royalties from broadcasters, so multiple versions of the same song meant more opportunity to cash in on a hit.

But over the years as artists gained more control in the industry, the practice fell out of vogue. Since the record companies would often put out multiple versions of the same song in different genres at the same time, artists felt like these various recordings were confusing to the public and took the spotlight off of the performer. While performing other people’s music was standard for old school crooners in the 50s and 60s, by the 70s it began to be frowned upon if you were not performing original material.

But covers still happen, obviously. They are just not as prevalent as they once were and the good ones tend to have a backstory. Maybe the song is a lesser known work, or is recorded for a soundtrack. Maybe it’s recorded tongue-in-cheek or ironically. Those are ones I find the most interesting. And while many are not that surprising or even inspiring, sometimes a few pop up that are just as enjoyable, if not more than the original. When Ted Leo covered Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone” a few years back, not only did he probably gain a legion of new fans – he added some credibility to the American Idol winner and made it okay for hipsters to admit their love for pop music.

Check out a stream of some of my personal favorites. Full track listing with commentary after the jump…

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When I caught a glimpse of my friend Rebecca Loebe on a preview of NBC’s The Voice earlier this year, I thought that surely I had been mistaken. The Loebe I knew was a folk singer that played at The Folk Alliance International Showcase every year in Memphis – not a pop-star-wannabe.

But a quick tweet reply from her confirmed that she was indeed a contestant on the Peacock Channel’s answer to the success of American Idol. I watched the first few shows until Rebecca got the boot, and I have been dying to find out how she ended up on national television singing a Nirvana cover – check out my interview with her as we chat about it.

She also plays a few songs for us and tells us how you can download her shows and help her make a new record!

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Rock for Love 5, the fifth-annual benefit concert for the Church Health Center, is set for Aug. 18-21 at the Hi-Tone, 1913 Poplar Ave. There will also be a free early evening party from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, August 19 at Goner Records, 2152 Young Ave. And a free day party from 1 to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 20 at Shangri-La Records, 1916 Madison Ave.

Since its founding in 2007, Rock for Love has been produced in partnership with Makeshift Music as a way to raise money for the Center and celebrate the diversity of Memphis music with performances by some of the city’s best bands and artists.

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We’ve had a few highly spirited debates about new music service Spotifty since it landed in the States a few weeks ago. Some folks are in love, some are befuddled about what the big deal is, others are still begging for an invite to the party. With it’s extensive on-demand music library, social sharing features, playlist swapping, mobile capabilities and personal music library integration, for us it’s been a welcome addition to our lives.

We didn’t even bother to wait for an invite to the free version, but were instead happy to fork over our 10 bucks a month. The only thing we found that it has been lacking is the music discovery capabilities that we have become enamoured with via other services such as Last.Fm and Pandora.

Well, it looks like Spotify has been listening to their critics and have just recently enabled a new feature called Artist Radio. It can be found as a tab on any artist’s page and seems to play the music by the musician’s on the previous tab: Related Artists.

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We’ve followed the career of Free Sol for years, so it is no surprise that when Justin Timberlake decided he wanted to get into the record label business he would hand pick this hip-hop, funk and soul genre-fusing musical act from Memphis to showcase to the world.

And that’s why we’ll think it’s funny when when everyone thinks these guys are an overnight sensation. But funny in a good way.

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From musicindie.com: The London riots have caused the destruction of a warehouse in North London housing many of the UK’s independent labels and artists. All the stock has been destroyed in the fire. This will lead to much hardship for the artists and labels affected.

Music fans can show their support for the independent label community, and help them survive this disaster, by buying a digital download of an album from any one of the digital retailers in the UK, as well as going to their local record store whilst stocks last.

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From the CA: With a budget of about $1.5 million and a base of about 50 mostly local crew members, “Losers Take All” chronicles a Memphis band’s birth and struggle in the mid-1980s, when “indie” groups such as Hüsker Dü and Black Flag tried to balance artistic integrity and careerist ambition. (In the movie’s final scene, The Fingers open for The Replacements.)

Read the rest.

If the music in the film sounds authentic, it’s because it was written by John Paul Keith and Jack Oblivian.

Official Site.

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The 2011 Cooper Young Festival lineup was announced today. The show is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17.

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Check out this preview from episode 5 of the Independent Film Channels’ Young Broke and Beautiful. It features local musician and artist Alex Warble from the band The Warble. We invited the band to record an Ardent Session a few years ago which really surprised a few people around the studios.

Their truly original and undefinable musical style have confused and intrigued the local scene for many years. But the recording became a favorite around the studio and was often quoted and referred to by the engineers – that band, or Alex, is never boring, and they both continue to make a deep impact on Memphis both visually and audibly.

The Warble is playing a free show at Shangri-la Records Tomorrow.

Stream the band’s new album Movie Night.

See Also: The Sound of Memphis: New Video from The Warble, “It’s a Beauty”

180 Gram Records has just been granted the licensing rights to release Johnny Cash’s and Jimmy Buffett’s early works, from their time at Sun Records and Barnaby Records, on 180 gram vinyl.

For a limited time through Kickstarter, they are offering all 9 albums from Sun Records and Barnaby Records for $25 a piece. After the promotion ends, on September 6th, the albums will retail for $50 to $85 each. There are other items such as CDs and T-shirts available within different packages on Kickstarter that would be great for collectors or as gifts for Johnny Cash and Jimmy Buffett lovers.

They, of course, exclusively use 180 gram virgin vinyl, which is a premium format chosen by audiophiles for its warm, rich tones, increased durability after many playbacks, and exceptional audio reproduction. Both the Johnny Cash and Jimmy Buffett collections will be created in the 180 gram virgin vinyl format, and will be for sale as individual albums or album sets. The albums will be mastered by renowned expert Kevin Gray and manufactured by Chad Kassem’s Quality Record Pressings using the original audio tapes as well as original artwork provided by Sun Records and Barnaby Records.

Reacquaint yourself with the track lists for these discs after the jump.

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