Music! // Current

New Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade (2008) Part 2 of 2

About 3,000 participants took part in the Edinburgh Festivals' Cavalcade. Police estimated crowds of 50,000 turned out as... more

TaylorMadeProduction
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Views on the New NOW ~ W/ Music & ART

I could have starved and all I could eat where your honey words And I could walk away and still be with you - still be with you... more

DreamReality
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FOX Loves Buttholes

Kind of a sweet piece on Gibby Haynes for such a dastardly character. Also check this hilarious interview between Willie... more

agentmule
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The Judy's - The ultimate 80s minimalist new wave trio, cd releases and news

I used to go see this fantastic band in Austin, TX back in the mid 80's... They have recently rereleased their catalog on CD... more

zenfilm
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Oh we got yr "times are a changin'" right here, Lord!

Cody Chesnutt has joined the slightly disturbing fray of musicians writing folk-hero worship songs about Barack Obama. For us,... more

wiredbirds
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the true question is "when will Bloc Party stop making 'music'".. ?

Guardian reports: In an official statement released by the Okereke, who is of Nigerian descent, the singer says he... more

wiredbirds
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It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back v2008

[ source: http://www.ifc.com/music/indie-ear/2008/07/live-public-enemy-pitchfork-08.php ] Because I grew up on Public Enemy,... more

wiredbirds
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[SO THIS IS] THE NEW YEAR

Over the last seventeen years, in the 1990s with Bedhead and for the last decade with The New Year, Matt and Bubba Kadane have... more

wiredbirds
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Heavy Metal in the Seminary

This guy ought to record with Acrassicauda.

agentmule
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The band: NATALIE PORTMAN'S SHAVED HEAD
The album: 'Glistening Pleasure'
The label: Team Swan Records
Release Date: July 15, 2008

And the award for best name of the year for a pop or rock group goes to…Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head, at least according to their fans. Now, the electro-pop foursome with the attention-grabbing name is about to go global in a big way with the release of their debut LP, Glistening Pleasure. The album, relentless in its musical pursuit of happiness, features songs about everything you love about that best time in your life! The tracks are energetic, immediately catchy, and irresistibly danceable. And, despite their own youth—they’re 18-20 year olds—there’s not a speck of bubble gum on the disc, with the possible exception of “Bedroom Costume,” a tongue-in-cheek track about innocent, accidental window-peeking, that sparks a secret crush among the boy and girl next door.

Formed a few years ago by friends attending an arts-focused high school in downtown Seattle, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head is comprised of Luke Smith (vocals/guitar/bass/keys), Shaun Libman (vocals/percussion), Claire England (vocals/synth bass/keys), and David Price (vocals/keys/guitar). Smith and Libman started the NPSH phenomenon accidentally while tinkering with old-school synthesizers and drum machines. Because they weren’t at all serious about starting a band at the time, they took the liberty of adding some naughty words to their electro-pop sound and took it public just for laughs. From those initial explorations came something profound and surprising that may quite possibly change the face of pop as we know it. Libman says that it was the facial expressions in the audience that convinced the two to expand the group. With the keys and guitar of the dashing David Price and the in-your-face synth bass of Claire England added to the mix, the line-up is both solid and, at times, inspiring.

Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head has come a long way since those first attempts at technology. After winning the audience-favorite award at Soundoff!, the Northwest’s largest battle of the bands, they went on to play at a variety of high profile venues including Bumbershoot 2007 where they were filmed and interviewed by Spin Magazine. Their shows are now packed with instant fans, one of whom was Lovefoxxx of CSS, who is often credited with discovering the band on their myspace. According to legend, she apparently saw something in the group and wanted to encourage it. She proved her devotion by wearing one of their t-shirts on stage and by eventually arranging to have NPSH appear on the bill with them at a sold-out Seattle show last year.

TOUR DATES:
06.26 Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
07.30 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue (w/ CSS)
07.31 Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall (w/ CSS)
08.05 Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus (w/ CSS)
08.07 Philadelphia, PA @ Trocadero (w/ CSS)
08.09 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium (w/ CSS)
08.10 Atlantic City, NJ @ House of Blues (w/ CSS)

seek ///
http://myspace.com/natalieportmansshavedhead
http://natalieportmansshavedhead.blogspot.com The band: NATALIE PORTMAN'S SHAVED HEAD The album: 'Glistening Pleasure' The label: Team Swan Records Release... more

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5 months ago

Calexico give us 'Carried To Dust'

“CARRIED TO DUST is, at least partially, the story of a writer in Los Angeles around the time of the writers’ strike we had a while back in late 2007,” CALEXICO’s Joey Burns explains. “Our hopper heads out east on a whim and a dry Santa Ana tail wind. Stopping at the Yucca Valley swap meet he buys an old road map with a route already marked with red pen. It leads him to a cabin and from the cabin to a chain of other small town thrift stores, picking up old copies of National Geographic magazines along the way. Stories about snow drops in Moscow, leaning houses in Valparaiso, abandoned neighborhoods in New Orleans, and a manmade lake full of cell phone trees creep their way into his notes. He finds further inpiración at old roadside diners, bending an ear to each waitress and the local news over badly brewed coffee. The break proves to be enlightening. He falls in love with the newly found space and being carried along spontaneity's spark.”

There’s always been intrigue and adventure at the heart of CALEXICO. Ever since they were a largely instrumental duo experimenting with their unique collection of instruments and soundtrack sensibilities, Joey Burns and John Convertino have constantly imbued their music with an unparalleled sense of drama, calling upon the myths and iconography of the American West and its Spanish speaking neighbor Mexico, equal parts Sergio Leone, Larry McMurtry, Carlos Fuentes and Cormac McCarthy. Naming themselves after a town near the California/Mexico border in honor of this cultural mélange, they’ve spent the eighteen years since they met in Los Angeles mapping out musical territory that had otherwise been neglected or at the very least considered the preserve of historians. Now, with CARRIED TO DUST, they have defined that sound, calling upon almost two decades of exploration and an ensemble of musicians that must surely be the envy of bands throughout the world. CARRIED TO DUST represents the pinnacle of their achievement, a thrilling and moving journey through a landscape that draws upon the modern world as much as it does the decayed reminders of times past, stumbling upon unexpected delights whilst always moving forward with a pioneering sense of purpose. It presents a vivid picture of a world in which listeners can immerse themselves much as one is caught up in the tangled narrative of a Steinbeck novel or the imagery of a John Ford film, and confirms CALEXICO as one of the great American bands of the 21st Century.

[ more >> http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/band.php?id=5 ]“CARRIED TO DUST is, at least partially, the story of a writer in Los Angeles around the time of the writers’ strike... more

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5 months ago

Lambchop, OH

For more than 20 years, Kurt Wagner and his revolving cast have continued honing Lambchop's idiosyncratic, charming Southern... more

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5 months ago

Do We Really Need Programmable Electronic Bagpipes

Do you know the definition of a scotish gentleman? Someone who knows how to play the bagpipes.....................and... more

seeker561
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5 months ago

Beautiful Neil Halsted

[credit: stereogum.com] Neil Halstead, a founding member of Slowdive and the singer/main songwriter of Mojave 3 {!}, is releasing... more

wiredbirds
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5 months ago

How not to write and/or publish a music review [part one]

this is interesting for the mere fact that is all sucks major ass *AND* they got the cover art wrong. STERBEN Sie... more

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5 months ago

The Shins sink the Sub (Pop)

[from source] The Shins are likely to self-release their fourth studio album through frontman James Mercer's Aural Apothecary... more

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5 months ago

My Morning Jacket at Bonnaroo 2008

MMJ took the stage at midnight and treated us to the show of the festival. Hands down.
A two-hour first set saw a number of rockin' tunes and balanced new material and old. Here's a quick vid of the glowstick war near the start. There were also jaw-dropping covers, "Hot Fun"(Sly&The Family Stone), "Hit It and Quit It"(Parliment), and "Tyrone"(Erykah Badu). They closed the set with "One Big Holiday" with Kirk Hammett of Metallica. He and Jim were shredding so hard that they were laughing at each other! Maybe the best single live song I've seen all year. Jim was all class, walking off stage so that Hammett could command the crowd for a moment on his own. A monsoon, had started about an hour into that first set.
"It's all being washed away", Jim said. He also dubbed the performance "Return to Thunderdome Pt.2" in reference to the band's 2004 Bonnnaroo show. Another rainsoaked rager of mythical proportion.

The second set is when things really got outta-hand. The first three songs might give you an idea, but the mp3's will kick that ass for sure. A freakin' disco party opened the second set with "Cold Sweat"(James Brown), featuring Jim James in a cape and top-hat, shufflin' feet like The Godfather of Soul himself; followed by a super funked-out "Get Down On It"(Kool and the Gang); and a from-left-field "Across 110th Street"(Bobby Womack). Now, the latter song is a 70's r&b favorite of mine. It's also featured in the Tarantino film Jackie Brown. Shit is unreal. The rest of the set was pure psyched-out MMJ bliss with a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Oh, Sweet Nothin'" that was on-point! And here's a good vid of "Wordless Chorus".

But the finale really had us spun. Jim began looking confused asking the crowd, "Has anybody seen Little Orphan Annie? Anyone?" It was at that point that my brains scrambled and Zach Galafanakis entered the stage in a way-too-tight "Orphan Annie" dress. He had a Budweiser and a sheet of notebook paper, and proceeded to karaoke Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" with Jim. Then he flashed us all.

Over the course of this show we rocked out, arms locked, with the most amazing group of people we may never be amidst again. It felt like everyone's ego had vanished leaving no worry of preception or judegment of others; an inherent, understood brotherhood. 3 days removed already, and I can't get past the feeling that it was and is so easy to connect with other human beings when pretense is checked at the door. The same people was pass in the street, never making eye contact, God-forbid a smile or a wave. After the show, those of us in front were hugging each other like, "So great to have shared this with y'all, man!". Some were in tears. It was the best crowd for a show I have ever been a part of. WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL! WE ARE ALL SO DIFFERENT! WE ARE ALL THE SAME!
So, if you've read this far, you deserve to hear what all that gushing is about. Here is the show in total. There are three discs, and they're only about 65MB apiece, so they won't take long to download. The sound quality is very good. If you have never seen My Morning Jacket or have never been to Bonnaroo, get this show. Even among the greatest of festivals, Bonnaroo is amazingly unique. And, to hear perhaps the best live band in the world in such a setting ain't too far from experiencing a miracle.

Enjoy.MMJ took the stage at midnight and treated us to the show of the festival. Hands down. A two-hour first set saw a number of... more