The Mardi Gras Indian funk band is following in the big footsteps of legendary stage acts such as Big Chief Bo Dollis and Wild Magnolias and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux by fusing the ancient call and response of the black Indians of New Orleans with blues and funk.
The band’s original guitarist Colin Lake will reunite with the group for the first time since last spring. He has been focusing on his highly acclaimed solo career but plans on electrifying the stage at the Leaf.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixAmxsG-ycU
He plays electric guitar as well as lap steel guitar creating a unique sonic palette in the Mardi Gras Indian community.
Fantôme’s latest single “Love” is out very soon and the Berlin based duo have just released this very odd but highly compelling video for the track.
Fans of Atari Teenage Riot will recognise Fantôme’s leading lady, Hanin Elias. Moving away from the industrial sound of ATR, Fantôme are channeling a modern new wave sound, showing Hanin’s diverse approach to music making.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klgju551DKc
The video itself is like a twisted fairytale with Hanin’s Fantôme bandmate Marcel Zürcher chasing lovely Hanin all painted in black, hiding amongst the foliage and being, well, a little bit creepy!
Fantôme’s debut album It All Makes Sense is out on 17th February 2014.
Have you ever loved something to death but were unable to tell anyone why? A particular mangy bong, a certain flashing array of exterior bar lights, that chimney atop the old house on the corner, your asshole boyfriend? Well that’s the case with Lambchop—the band, not the famous sock puppet sheep—and yours truly. I adore them, but I’ve always been loath to review them, because I’m afraid I lack the words to tell you just exactly what it is that makes them so goddamn great. Some things, as Samuel Beckett would have said, are Unnamable.
The Nashville-based Lambchop are singer, guitarist, and songwriter Kurt Wagner—who is never to be seen without some manner of non-baseball-related baseball cap and a graying soul patch—and a constantly shifting cast of musicians who on any given day may number as many as 14. They play an indescribable scramble of rock, funk, R&B, gospel, country, lounge music, and vintage folk that generally leaves you feeling either a lingering sense of melancholy (“Your Life as a Sequel,” “Slipped Dissolved and Loosed”) or joyously uplifted (“All Smiles and Mariachi,” “Your Fucking Sunny Day.”)
But those are just words; I love them because, because: hell, all I can say is check out “Give It (Once in a Lifetime)” from 2009’s Live at XX Merge on YouTube, and you’ll know why. (And if you don’t like it, we’re different species. You’re a wombat.) Or listen to “Garf,” which begins as a recollection of childhood only to make an abrupt left into this: “And I could be sitting/By the telephone tomorrow/To receive a call/By the overweight Garth Brooks/Who would then try to offer me/Like a hundred thousand dollars/Just for me to go the fuck away.” I laugh at the preposterousness of those words every time I hear them, but I don’t think that’s why I adore Lambchop either.
Often called “one of the greatest female MCs of all time,” former Fugee emcee Ms. Lauryn Hill celebrated the 15th anniversary of her solo masterpiece The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill behind bars. Recently released, the singer, rapper, humanitarian, producer and actress isn’t letting a short stint in federal prison slow her down.
Shortly after being released, the five-time Grammy winner has already made her comeback into the music world through the release of her latest single titled “Consumerism.” The single was posted on the same day Ms. Hill was released with the statement, “it is a product of the space she was in while she was going through some of the challenges she has been faced with recently.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFPhKf_dg7g
In addition to the release of “Consumerism,” Ms. Hill didn’t hesitate to get back on the stage. She announced a brief Homecoming tour, which kicked off in New York City. As a part the Homecoming tour, the five-time Grammy winner stopped by the 9:30 Club in December, and she’s back in DC again on February 9 at the Lincoln Theatre. We happen to have a pair of tickets to give away!
In recent times, Scotland has proved that amongst the cobbled alleys of Edinburgh, the rough ‘n’ ready streets of Glasgow, the rolling hills of the highlands, and beyond that, there’s a wealth of talent literally pouring from this part of the UK. This Silent Forest are one of the bands leading the way.
Their latest single, “We Are We Were” is eight minutes of epic indie, taking heritage sounds from bands like The Twilight Sad and combining them with the best of Idlewild’s later tracks.
http://youtu.be/5xlaNTElCAA
The build up is slow but steadily rises with the pay off not coming to light until around 5-minutes into the track; a brave choice for an album opener and even more brave for a single.
From January 25 through January 31, 2014, local shoppers will get a 20% discount on all merchandise at the the Louisiana Music Factory’s Decatur Street location.
In case you hadn’t heard, the store is moving from its longtime home on Decatur Street about fifteen blocks downriver. The new location, which will open on February 8, is located at 421 Frenchmen Street on the corner of Decatur—the gateway into the Frenchmen Cultural and Art District.
The store has a huge collection of vinyl records, as well as thousands of mostly local CDs, T-shirts, books (shameless self-promotion—including all three of mine), photographs, and other great stuff that celebrates Louisiana music.
This is an in-store sale only, so internet customers are out of luck unless you know someone in the city willing to shop and ship for you.
Subtle is definitely not a word that can be used when describing southern hard rock band Nashville Pussy. Led in tandem by the husband-wife team of Blaine Cartwright and Ruyter Suys (for those who don’t know, that’s pronounced “Rider Size”), the Pussy has been blazing their own path, with their over-the-top rock anthems extolling the joys of sex, drugs, and booze. Their new album, Up The Dosage, hit stores on January 21st, and promises to be more of the same.
Ruyter took a few minutes out of their European tour to chat with us about vinyl, bassists, songs about diarrhea, and more. Her easygoing style and infectious laugh were a treat, showing us a rock goddess that just wants to play loud and have fun. Fair warning, we may have broken a TVD record for most uses of the word “fuck” in an interview. We wouldn’t have Ruyter any other way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuMr9LTLQ5c
It’s been five years since From Hell to Texas. What’s Nashville Pussy has been up to?
We’ve been touring incessantly, as usual. We’ve toured like crazy with Nashville Pussy, and we’ve done, we’ve actually written and recorded four other albums since the last Nashville Pussy release.
Wow!
Plus we put out the re-release of From Hell To Texas, which involved the live album—we had a whole live album in addition to it, so that took a lot of gleaning. We had to listen to seventy hours of us.
Greater Manchester’s most in the know radio host Shell Zenner broadcasts the best new music every week on the UK’s Amazing Radio and Bolton FM. You can also catch Shell’s broadcast right here at TVD, each and every Thursday.
“On this week’s show my ROTW is Waking Lines by the awesome Manchester based band Patterns. I was the first person to play them on radio a few years ago and it has been a blast watching them grow and go onto such great things. Their album is a triumph and if you haven’t heard it yet, then this is the perfect chance to introduce yourself as I’ll be spinning three tracks off the record.
There will be the usual accompaniment of new and emerging music as I spin some of the best new Alt releases. Love music? Don’t miss it…” —SZ
Inspecting chart history proves otherwise, but due to the ubiquitous nature of that one song everybody remembers, Bobby Fuller is considered by many as a One Hit Wonder. Others view him as the true-blood ‘60s extension in art as well as life of fellow Texan Buddy Holly, which overlaps with the assessment by some that Fuller was maybe the last gasp of rock ‘n’ roll innocence before the ‘60s became The Sixties. But he was also just a passionate young guy with a boatload of talent for whom music was paramount, and nothing communicates that better than a listen to The Bobby Fuller Four’s 1966 LP, I Fought the Law.
The Bobby Fuller Four’s second and best long-player opens with what is probably my pick for the band’s greatest moment and certainly one of their leader’s finest compositions. It’s not the title track, for “I Fought the Law” was penned by Sonny Curtis of The Crickets, a group most famous for their backing of Buddy Holly (Curtis joined after Holly’s plane crash demise; the original appears on 1960’s In Style with the Crickets.)
The tune is “Let Her Dance,” a delicious slice of guitar and vocal harmony driven pop-rock and easily one of ’65’s best singles. Perfectly calibrated for airplay, its 2:32 flows with expertly layered simplicity. Once established, none of the song’s elements drift far in their roles; not Fuller’s lead singing of his wounded-heart love lyrics or the gorgeous chiming and jangling of his and Jim Reese’s guitars, not the beautiful but non-grandiose backing vocals, not Randy Fuller’s bass, and definitely not DeWayne Quirico’s drumming, which with subtle alterations follows the same pattern throughout.
Individually, none of these aspects are especially noteworthy. It’s in the assemblage and the ensuing vigor of the captured performance that greatness is attained. And over the years, playing “Let Her Dance” has turned many a head that had erroneously pegged Bobby Fuller as basically a slightly displaced rockabilly guy.
Go to college. Graduate college. Start a successful band with your pals and tour across the world. Sounds just about right for the psych-folk band, Quilt.
Quilt’s founding members were sewn together through the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The musically diverse trio composed of John Andrews, Anna Rochinski, and Shane Butler are known for their eccentric sound that showcases well-arranged two- and three-part harmonies. Quilt’s upcoming release Held in Splendor reflects the trio’s on-point harmonies as well as their great instrumental additions and arrangements.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_18sXoHPdw
The release ofHeld in Splendor is still almost a week away, but to make the wait a little bit easier, we’re giving away a Quilt prize pack! The prize pack includes the band’s self-titled LP, the “Arctic Shark”7″, and the upcoming Held in Splendor LP.
Starting from very humble beginnings with the band making music from their bedrooms, the Irish three-piece stumbled into the limelight recently when their track “Never” was picked up by travel website Trivago. Ever since then, their YouTube hits rocketed, their fan base grew, and they haven’t looked back since.
http://youtu.be/Pdw6xA0pIFw
However, these boys still remain close to their roots with UK shows coming up in February 2014 with Duke Special and an album brimming with gorgeous indie folk tunes out on 3rd February 2014. The self-titled debut album is a brilliant introduction to the boys who, amongst other influences, cite Villagers as ones they look to musically.
Josiah is an on-air host on Sirius XM’s indie channel, Sirius XMU ch. 35, and spins an all vinyl set this Sunday, January 26 at the DC Record Fair from 4PM–5PM. —Ed.
“There are two things I will never, ever look up online: The translation for Sigur Ros lyrics, and how vinyl actually works to create the sound it does. It’s all just too magical. For me, knowing would ruin it.”
“My mind can easily comprehend how sound waves are broken down to digital 1s and 0s. I can totally buy that. But to drop a needle on a spinning slate, and to feel the music’s full sonic range… It’s all kind of crazy, really.
It’s that mystery that sold me, and no more than only a few years ago. There are no childhood stories to wax poetic about here. Growing up, records were something in some basement box, underneath those other boxes. Music came from CDs and Napster. Adults would joke: “do you even know what a record is?” Definitely not. Not until this very decade, when all the cool kids started collecting. Winston Churchill said that books are best left unread until you’re old enough to appreciate them, and that it’d be a pity to read them too young. That sums up my late-discovery relationship with vinyl, and I’m grateful for it.
Since the event’s inception in the wake of the collapse of the levee walls that flooded much of the city, the organizers have been instrumental in bringing back the neighborhood. Now, the city wants to raise the rental fee for using the banks of historic Bayou St. John to a level that threatens the budget of the festival.
I suspect that like the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival before it, many people, including those behind the attempt to raise the rental fee, don’t realize that the Boogaloo is run by and supports a non-profit organization. Though most fans are well aware of the Jazz Fest’s status now, that wasn’t always the case. Shameless self-promotion—if you want to read the whole story about the Jazz Fest, and this particular chapter, get my book.
http://youtu.be/7SVwzb2aMTg
Like the Jazz Fest, the Boogaloo funnels considerable monies back into the community.
“Lesson No. 1” is Glenn Branca’s first release as a composer, originally issued in 1980 as a mini-LP on the 99 Records label. Not only does it stand as an avant-garde debut of remarkable assurance, it’s also a strikingly prescient document, sounding in retrospect like a harbinger of indie rock to come. Subsequently expanded with a bonus track, Superior Viaduct’s new double 12-inch vinyl edition is befitting of Branca’s masterful blending of tough-minded modern compositional methods with heavy and expansive rock concepts, and it easily reinforces his status as a vastly important musical figure.
It was during the late-‘80s that many young underground rock listeners first encountered the name Glenn Branca, in large part due to the composer/guitarist’s association with Sonic Youth. For folks under the sway of Evol, Sister, and Daydream Nation, those LPs served as a gateway into a subterranean, art-drenched New York City that was extremely alluring, especially to suburbanites who perceived their immediate surroundings as being conspicuously lacking in worthwhile cultural activity.
Those residing in other large US cities often decried NYC’s significance as the country’s art Mecca, but for thousands of young people stuck in towns devoid of an extant scene, reading about and hearing the recorded evidence of the city’s defiant underbelly proved a fascinating antidote to the nagging strains of ‘80’s conformity.
Inquiring minds could browse text on Glenn Branca pretty easily in this era, since his symphonies for multi-guitar orchestras and percussion made for good copy, as did that connection to Sonic Youth and his impact upon Tin Machine, the unjustly maligned crew of the Sales brothers, Reeves Gabrels, and David Bowie (the group once cited their influences as Gene Krupa, Charles Mingus, Jimi Hendrix, Branca, and Mountain.)
The first show of the year for me here in San Francisco was a great one. Birmingham Alabama singer/songwriter and Saddle Creek Records staple Maria Taylor brought her four-piece band to the Rickshaw Stop last week. Taylor, who is best known for her work with the bands Bright Eyes, Azure Ray, and Orenda Fink, is touring in support of her new record Something About Knowing.
There is of course no shortage of female singer/ songwriters in the world today, but Taylor brings something very unique to the table. For one, she plays several instruments, including the piano, guitar, and drums. She would open up her set this evening on the drums before switching to guitar and taking center stage. And two, she perfectly meshes together pop sensibility with a warm folk-rock sound that is produced magnificently through vintage gear minus one high E-string.
Taylor reminds me of my two favorite female vocalists rolled into one: she has the luminance of Kristen Hersh mixed with the pop sensibility and musicianship of Sam Phillips. Highlights from the set that evening included “Cartoons and Forever Plans,” a remarkable song that features Michael Stipe harmonizing beautifully with Taylor on the record, and “Up All Night,” which is about motherhood as a new life experience.
