Thursday, May 31, 2012
Music The Week in Fresh Tracks: Full Album Streams From PUJOL, Jota Ese, Makeup and Vanity Set and The Mynabirds
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 4:42 PM
PUJOL, United States of Being:
You've already heard "DIY2K" and "Providence," and you may have already read my review of PUJOL's forthcoming United States of Being. The record's out June 5 via Saddle Creek. But Rolling Stone is currently streaming the entire record, which they called "loud, a little grimy and fun as hell." Here's the pop-out player.
Jota Ese, I'm Not Crazy (Yes I Am)
Over at the Day Old Basement Recordings Bandcamp page, you'll find a free stream/download of local bedroom hip-hop/electronic artist Jota Ese's brand-new four-song EP, I'm Not Crazy (Yes I Am). What I like about Jota is that he appeals as much to my trip-hop, indie hip-hop and electronica side (think Boards of Canada, Black Moth Super Rainbow or Aesop Rock) as to my straight-up hip-hop side. No MCs on this one — all instrumental. But plenty of transfixing beats and samples. Not to mention some very sensual, NSFW album art. Hello.
Moving Pictures By Lightning!'s 'Fancy Free' [Fresh Vid]
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 1:54 PM
Winners of 2012's first (and most controversial) Road to Bonnaroo installment, By Lightning!, have a brand-new vid for their tune "Fancy Free." The song, a feel-good bit of indie-folkin' sing-along ensemblery, is from this year's Left Hand Right Hand, and the video was shot and directed by frequent BL! collaborator Amy Hobbs.
If you'd like to catch the Lightning in the flesh but don't have passes to Bonnaroo, they'll be performing this Saturday, June 2, at Brick Factory as part of the After Crawl. Scale Model will also play, and there's a Facebook event page. So for the Internet equivalent of reading a flier on your dorm's community bulletin board, click through to that.
Cream Doc Watson Dead at 89
Posted by Edd Hurt on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 12:25 PM
Since 1969 — a time when the folk revival of the late '50s and early '60s had already subsided, but lay cunningly dormant — the revival of Appalachian music, bluegrass, blues and all manner of American-British folk music, not to mention commercial country music, has changed some, but the idea of folkiedom is as strong as ever. Yet in the '60s, the cult of the guitar, both electric and acoustic, was the driving force behind the various revivals of the decade.
Start naming them: Bert Jansch, Davy Graham, Nic Jones, Doc Watson, Clarence White, Roger McGuinn, Skip James, Eric Clapton, Peter Green and B.B. King. These are all names I chose more or less at random, and all avatars of the cult of the guitar, whose British wing included Jansch, Jones, Richard Thompson and all the pale, wan British blues guitarists who worshiped at the altar of James or B.B. or Albert King, when guitarists like Jimi Hendrix were actually extending the very traditions these players believed they were venerating.
Cream Calendar Gotye To Play The Ryman Oct. 3
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 10:38 AM
Just when you thought you'd finally escaped hearing the above song between three and seven fucking times a day ... BAM! Concert announcement. The breakthrough Australian singer-songwriter born Wouter "Wally" De Backer — stage name Gotye (pronounced "Gah-tea-yay," or like this if you're nasty) — will play The Ryman on Oct. 3. Hey, same week as The Shins!
So can we start calling this guy 'Ye, or is that taken? Or maybe we'll just go with Sting Collins-Gabriel. Or just Sting Jr. The point: Tickets for Gotye's Ryman performance — which will run you about $50 — go on sale right here at 10 a.m. on Friday, June 8. More info here. And for good measure, hear my favorite version of "Somebody That I Used To Know" after the jump.
Liner Notes Todd Snider, The Muse, Corrosion of Conformity, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Jesse Malin and More: Inside This Week’s Music Section (and on the Cover)
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Thu, May 31, 2012 at 7:45 AM
Black Holes and Terminations: After 11 years of shenanigans, punk-rock outpost The Muse closes its doors (Final show at The Muse is Thursday, 31st)
No Animosity Lost: Corrosion of Conformity reinstates its classic trio lineup, revisits long-dormant hardcore legacy (Playing Sunday, 3rd at Exit/In)
Doubling Down: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros are Here now, with more to come (Playing Thursday, 31st at The Ryman)
Fine Art: Old-school punker and king of the Bowery Jesse Malin remains thoroughly pro-NYC (Playing Thursday, 31st at The High Watt)
In The Spin: Nobody's Vault but Mine Feat. PUJOL, Brian Olive, Boogaloosa Prayer and The Ultras S/C at The Basement
Plus Critics’ Picks on AJ and the Jigawatts’ EP release, Matthew Perryman Jones’ album release, Family Reunion’s 10th Anniversary, Heath Haynes’ Sunday Night Special, the PUJOL Sucks! album release show, Yacht, I Believe in Hotpants, Rory Scovel, Marty Stuart’s Late Night Jam, Grass Widow and more
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
National Skyline Reeves Gabrels Joins The Cure
Posted by Adam Gold on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 4:11 PM
If you’re a musician living in Nashville (East Nashville especially), then you’ve probably encountered or even befriended former Tin Machine and David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels, who moved to Music City in 2006.
Perhaps overshadowed by his 12-year Bowie tenure, many fans and friends often forget that, in the late ’90s, Gabrels had a brief musical tryst collaborating with The Cure. The guitarist appeared on the bouncy 1997 single “Wrong Number,” in addition to joining with Cure auteur Robert Smith and drummer Jason Cooper to form the short-lived side-project COGASM. The COGASM song “A Sign From God” appeared on the OST for Orgazmo — the 1997 Trey Parker flick about a Mormon missionary who breaks bad and leaves his magic underwear behind to appear as a superhero in stag films. (It has a sweet Depeche Mode reference.) Smith returned the favor when he appeared on Gabrel’s 1999 solo effort Ulysses (Della Notte).
Creamtastic Swank's Guide to the Hate Life, Volume 4
Posted by Ben Swank on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 3:44 PM
Dear Swank,
What is the best way to give a guy my number? Will he prefer a direct technique or something that requires more effort and pursuit on his part? Or should I just not give a guy my number until he asks for it? How can I tell if he is interested in me enough to pitch my digits?
Sincerely,
Digits to Spare
Write it on a piece of paper and wad it up in a ball, being careful to not damage the structural integrity of the number itself, and place it in your mouth, additionally being careful to not over-saturate with saliva. Then walk up behind your target, gently place one hand on his shoulder to get his attention, and then sexily go into a gagging, puking fit and upchuck the number into his pint of beer. It might help to loosen a tooth with a pair of pliers beforehand, so when you do the big spew a rooty, bloody tooth will be floating in the head of his beer like a hilarious little fishing bobber. Laughs all around and you’ll be hitting the sheets in no time!
National Skyline Pete Cosey, 1943-2012
Posted by Jack Silverman on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 3:13 PM
As if today weren't sad enough for guitar fans, another brilliant guitarist has passed away. Though hardly as well-known as Doc Watson, Pete Cosey was unquestionably one of a kind. For proof, watch the video above, featuring Cosey playing with Miles Davis in 1973. Check out Cosey's solo, beginning around 5:40. That's some serious interstellar shit there.
From Peter Margasak at The Chicago Reader:
Cosey was a key session musician at Chess Records in the 60s, appearing on sides by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, the Rotary Connection, and Etta James, and he worked with the great Phil Cohran in the latter's Artistic Heritage Ensemble. He's probably most famous, though (to the extent that he's famous at all), for his mind-melting work with Miles Davis in the early 70s: he played on the trumpeter's heaviest, most electric albums, including Agharta, Pangaea, and Get Up With It. After Davis broke up the band in 1975 and went into semi-retirement, Cosey was never able to build the solo career he so richly deserved. He used his guitar like an abstract expressionist painter, creating thick, richly textured solos with fierce rhythmic power, dazzling colors, and nonchalant violence. He continued to appear on records here and there, including Herbie Hancock's Future Shock and an album with Japanese saxophonist Akira Sakata, but he always seemed to be planning his own next project, which never quite materialized.
Moving Pictures Cherub Plays War Memorial Auditorium's Attic Sessions, Lightning 100's Hot Tub Session [Fresh Vids]
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 12:05 PM
Nashville's grimiest electro-pop duo has quite rapidly risen from "Wait, who are those dudes?" status to "Oh hey, it's those dudes again" status. Cherub's playing a slot at Bonnaroo next week, and they didn't even need to win the Road to Bonnaroo competition at Mercy Lounge in order to land it, and their various YouTube clips now dwell in the tens-of-thousands-of-views zone — see their official video for "Hold Me," for instance. So before you snooze on these libidinous, synth-brandishing popmongers, let's have a crash course, shall we?
Above you can see the latest installment of War Memorial Auditorium's Attic Sessions. It's Episode 15, and it features Cherub performing the tunes "Lyndenberries" and "Love You Right" — the former has some relatively frank descriptions of some kind of sexual encounter, so have your fainting couch ready — and talking about how non-Nashvillians perceive Nashville. Our favorite topic! Cherub also played Hangout Fest in Gulf Shores a couple weeks back, and while there, they ran into the folks from Lightning 100 (or "Lightie C-Note," as the local radio station is known in the biz). Anyway, the Lightie C-Note folks coaxed Cherub into a hot tub, where the duo performed their tune "Hold Me" just before The Flaming Lips took the stage to play Dark Side of the Moon. While frontman Jordan Kelley's near-castrato falsetto is on display in both performance vids, you might not get the full scope of what Cherub most typically does. Therefore, I recommend listening to "Doses and Mimosas" (also embedded after the jump) to get the idea. Substance abuse and "high-class ass." Indeed.
Cream Calendar The Shins To Play The Ryman Oct. 7
Posted by D. Patrick Rodgers on Wed, May 30, 2012 at 8:20 AM
In case you didn't see yesterday's tweet-nouncement, here's some news for you: Portland-by-way-of-Albuquerque's monsters of thoughtful indie rock, The Shins, will play the Ryman Auditorium on Sunday, Oct. 7. That means that if you primarily bought Bonnaroo tickets just so you could see The Shins in their Sunday slot at Which Stage ... well then you're insane, and also it was all for not.
Now, before you misread me as a non-digger of The Shins, hear this: Despite their early overexposure at the hands of Zach Braff — and bless their hearts, has anything been written about The Shins since 2004 that doesn't mention Braff's cinematic love letter to himself? — I've enjoyed all four LPs that James Mercer & Co. have released. Plus, they added songwriter/producer Richard Swift to their ranks last year, and that guy is awesome. In fact, he had a hand in the production of local songstress Jessie Baylin's stellar Little Spark, and Baylin then of course appeared with The Shins on SNL. But I imagine that, if you're still reading (or at least skimming through this biz), here's the bits you want to know about:
Tickets for The Shins' Oct. 7 Ryman performance go on sale right here at noon on Saturday, June 2, and they'll run you between $35 and $45. More info here.
