Posted by Leilani Polk on Jul. 21, 2009, at 4:50 pm
Jackson Browne settles his copyright case with the Republican Party, which played his 1977 hit, “Running on Empty” without permission in a McCain campaign ad that aired on TV and the Internet.
A new covers album of songs by New Zealand indie great and recent stroke victim Chris Knox features a rather respectable line up — Guided by Voices, the Mountain Goats, Jay Reatard, Yo La Tengo and Lambchop, among many others.
Those Darlins release their self-titled debut today; more after the jump.
Against Me – The Original Cowboy Album comprised of demos from 2003’s As The Eternal Cowboy.
Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes 12” Highlights the warm weather standout jam “Summertime Clothes,” accompanied by remixes from Dam-Funk (Stones Throw), Zomby (Hyperdub), and L.D. (Hyperdub).
Broken Records – Until The Earth Begins To Part Scottish seven-piece releases their debut. They’ve already been tipped for greatness by NME, Q, and The Word. “Epic, swirling, joyfully mysterious music with a warmth and heart.” —The Guardian
Budos Band – Budos Band EP One of the most exciting of the Daptone label bands is The Budos Band, and they’re whetting our appetite for the upcoming Budos Band III full-length with this vinyl-only EP that gives the trademark horn-driven and bass-heavy Budos funk another slot in your collection. Includes a free MP3 download card.
Cat Power – Covers Record HQ-180 vinyl reissue.
The Donnas – Greatest Hits Volume 16 A comprehensive album featuring a mix of new songs, never-before-heard B-sides and live recordings, as well as re-recorded classics and previously unreleased tracks. Read the rest of this entry »
Based on sheer numbers, Bonnaroo is a beast. 70,000 people invade Manchester, Tennessee, making it the 6th largest city in the state for over three days. Now your average Bonnarooian is quite a bit different than your typical Tennessean — full of booze, THC and god knows what else. It’s a crazy place.
Where else could you find Jimmy Buffett, Ani Difranco, Snoop Dog, Al Green and Bruce Springsteen? For better or worse, Bonnaroo is biggest and baddest of the American music festivals. With 13 stages and tents, hundreds of vendors, and a pretend Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the well-oiled machine of Roo is now in it’s 7th year and going strong.
Simultaneously a radiant clusterfuck and glorious throwdown, it’s hard to imagine a bigger party. And with any party, there’s always the good, the bad and the ugly. For our purposes here, let’s focus on…
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jun. 9, 2009, at 12:58 pm
Let me preface this by saying I’m a huge fan of Animal Collective. I’ve followed them since 2005’s Feels, which mystified, intrigued and ultimately turned me onto the the experimental trio, and I think the new album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, is among this year’s best. Where other people find their experimental music abrasive and hard to understand, I dig the collages of chaotic electronics, the repetition, the fickle melodies, the whooped-chanted-sung lyrics. But while last night’s show had some pretty great moments, the overall performance wasn’t quite as dynamic as I’d expected, the subtleties didn’t translate very well in State Theatre’s high frequency-swallowing room, and the repetition that I normally enjoy was almost exhausting in a live setting. (Photos by Phil Bardi.)
The band had a pretty visually appealing stage set-up: two tall towers of speakers on either side of the stage covered in white sheets, a huge white ball hanging in the center over the stage, with animated projections and electro-lights playing against it (did these guys see Phish’s Hampton set up or what?), a huge backdrop featuring Merriweather’s dizzying optical illusion cover art, soundboard tables covered with white sheets that lit up in a rainbow of neon colors at various musical cues. (MORE PICS AFTER THE BREAK) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 31, 2009, at 6:33 pm
Tonight, May 31, 2009, Phish returns to the road and kicks off the first leg of their summer tour at Fenway Park, home field of the Boston Red Sox and the oldest of all current MLB stadiums. Phish, the band that inspired this ongoing column (and changed the lives of me and everyone who reads this thing and plenty of others who don’t), will hit the stage at 6:55 p.m. and fill upwards of 30,000 fans (including my good friend AAAlex) with joyous satisfaction. (Screenshots of the first-night-back video — with Fenway’s organist playing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” then cracking his knuckles and launching into “Tweezer” while various appropos shots of the stadium flash by — after the jump.) The rest of us will watch from the sidelines, checking the regularly updated From the Road setlists, watching various #Phish Tweets from the show (my own not from the show here), and eagerly awaiting our own upcoming Phish adventures.
With a new spat of Phish shows to be reported on, Phish Saves America (PSA) is officially off hiatus. Not that it was ever really on hiatus, but I’ve admittedly took a bit of a break since Hampton, letting all the little Phish news bites fall through the cracks while I set some things in order. (Translation: I’ve been busy.) But the upcoming weeks will find both me and Tampa Calling contributor B.Treotch (also of Coventryblog.com) at several different upcoming Phish shows, which means plenty of coverage. B.Treotch will be at Asheville (maybe?) and Knoxville, and will serve as Creative Loafing’s on-site reporter at Bonnaroo with various Tweets and whatever else we can manage at the Tennessee fest, and a post-fest wrap with all the media we can manage. I will be road-tripping up to Knoxville in an RV with some Bonnaroo-bound friends and other taggers-on next Tuesday (look out for plenty of Tweeting and a post), then I’ll be hitting the last three shows (in Indiana and Wisconsin, respectively) the following weekend. The Gorge will follow in August if my husband and I can juggle the finances as planned.
But for now, let’s start with something fun — a “What If” of sit-ins that has Phish performing with a select roster of other Bonnaroo artists.
Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 18, 2009, at 2:55 pm
Dozens and dozens of acts will make it onto Tampa Bay area concert stages this summer. Here’s our best bets, in a wide range of genres.
Stanton Moore The bespectacled founder of NOLA funk purveyors Galactic is widely regarded as one of the best drummers currently drawing air. This show has him in a trio setting with estimable guitarist Will Bernard and keyboardist Robert Walter. The small ensemble allows room for Moore to strut his Crescent City-honed skills. Expect expansive jamming and finely honed interplay. (Video: Stanton Moore Trio performing at Emerald Lounge in Asheville, N.C., Sept. 10, 2008.) (May 28, Crowbar, Ybor City)—Eric Snider
Sunday, May 31 WMNF Jazz Jam feat. Sam Rivers/PBS/World Afro-Cuban Ensemble/Infinite Groove Orchestra/Impromptu/Trio Vibe/others TBA Tampa Bay’s community radio station has been putting together more jazz events of late — thank you for that — this being one of the more ambitious. Saxophonist Sam Rivers, 83, was once a front-rank player on the New York (and thus international) avant-garde scene. He’s settled into legendhood well, living in Orlando and taking gigs as he pleases. A potpourri of locally-based acts rounds out the bill. (May 31, Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) —ESRead the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on May. 11, 2009, at 12:44 am
A weekly bulletin on musical guests playing late night TV; set your TIVOs or DVRs if you’ve got an early bedtime.
The Late Show with David Letterman, CBS
Monday, May 11: The Killers
Tuesday, May 12: Chrisette Michele (Def Jam’s latest neo-soul pop singer, pictured)
Wednesday, May 13: Wynton Marsalis
Thursday, May 14: Rick Ross with Magazeen (Do I not get “Yacht Club” or is it really like a serious version of, “I’m on a Boat,” and, awful? I mean, really awful, maybe because it’s not tongue-in-cheek?)
Friday, May 15: Mastodon
Posted by Leilani Polk on Mar. 16, 2009, at 11:39 am
“Breakfast at Sulimays” has three saucy old folks reviewing albums; this edition features Young Jeezy and Animal Collective. I found it particularly amusing as you can well imagine. Props to aestheticized blog (and by default, Bee-Eezy) for passing it along.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Feb. 15, 2009, at 1:47 pm
We all know the standard classic mixtape love songs – “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton,” Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love,” Stevie Wonder’s “Golden Lady,” “I Will Always Love You,” (Dolly or Whitney, you pick the version), “At Last,” by Etta James, most of the Beatles’ early catalog. But what about modern, 21st century love songs, i.e., those that came out after January 1, 2001?
Up until I started preparing this, I never really thought much about it, but surprisingly, I came up with a wealth of ideas, almost too many. The songs I thought up are not necessarily traditional ballads (though there are several), are not always romantic or saccharine or even very nice, do not always offer bold statements of devotion or everlasting ardor. But in each, the meaning is clear even if it isn’t always spelled out clearly.
“Fell in Love with a Girl,” The White Stripes, White Blood Cells (2001)
The song made stars of pasty, Detroit-based indie alt blues duo Jack and Meg White, both because it was nice and short and tasty raw, and because it has a really cool Lego video. Check it out, if you haven’t already seen it a few dozen times.
As Leilani posted last week, tickets for Animal Collective’s June 8 visit to State Theatre in St. Pete went on sale on Friday. Evidently, the band has already sold 50 of the 700 available tickets; a sell-out looks likely. If the show is a fraction as cool as their “My Girls” video (or in HD here), then we’ll definitely be in for a treat.
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jan. 20, 2009, at 8:57 pm
A few weeks ago, I caught wind from Jack at Aestheticized that he was in talks with Animal Collective to bring them back to town, finally. The date has been confirmed for Monday, June 8, at State Theatre; tickets go on sale this Friday, January 23. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Jan. 2, 2009, at 3:13 am
Pitchfork recently ran a comprehensive guide to releases coming up in 2009. I’ve scaled it down to the highlights (no box sets, re-issues, vinyl, 7″ or overseas releases) and added a few as well. Click here to see Pitchfork’s complete guide.
JANUARY
06 *The Brighton Port Authority, I Think We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat (Southern Fried) Glasvegas, Glasvegas (Columbia) The Gourds, Haymaker! (Yep Roc)
13 Late of the Pier, Fantasy Black Channel (Astralwerks) Lymbyc System, Carved by Glaciers (Magic Bullet) My Dear Disco, Dancethink (Dancethink) Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Greatest Hits (Columbia Wal-Mart exclusive) This Will Destroy You & Lymbyc System, Field Studies (Magic Bullet) *Derek Trucks Band, Already Free (Sony Legacy)
20 *Andrew Bird, Noble Beast (Fat Possum) *Animal Collective, Merriweather Post Pavilion (Domino) Antony and the Johnsons, The Crying Light (Secretly Canadian) *Bon Iver,Blood Bank EP (Jagjaguwar) Calexico, Live From Austin, TX (New West DVD) John Frusciante, The Empyrean (Adrenaline Music) Ice-T, Live in Montreux 1995 (MVD DVD) Matt and Kim, Grand (FADER) *The Modern Skirts, All of Us in Our Night (Modern Skirts Recordings) A.C. Newman, Get Guilty (Matador) Ben Nichols, The Last Pale Light in the West (The Rebel Group) Or, The Whale, Light Poles and Pines (Seany) Public Enemy, Revolverlution Tour 2003 (MVD DVD) *Squarepusher, Numbers Lucent EP (Warp) *Umphrey’s McGee, Mantis (Sci Fidelity)
27
*The Bird and the Bee, Ray Guns Are Not the Future (Blue Note) Brian Wilson, That Lucky Old Sun (Capitol DVD) Circlesquare, Songs About Dancing and Drugs (!K7) *Cotton Jones, Paranoid Cocoon (Suicide Squeeze) *Dan Deacon/Adventure, Split 12″ (Carpark) *Franz Ferdinand, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand (Domino/Epic) Hot Chip With Robert Wyatt and Geese EP (Astralwerks) Kylie Minogue, Boombox: The Remix Album (Parlophone) of Montreal, Jon Brion Remix EP (Polyvinyl) Owen, (the ep) (Polyvinyl)
Rush, Retrospective 3 (Atlantic CD/DVD)
*RZA, Afro Samurai: The Resurrection (Wu Music Group)
Duncan Sheik, Whisper House (Victor) Bruce Springsteen, Working on a Dream (Columbia)
*The Sway Machinery, Hidden Melodies Revealed (JDub) Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Leilani Polk on Dec. 29, 2008, at 12:50 pm
After several false starts, virus-laden downloads and out-of-control fan anticipation taken to an email hoax level, the real Merriweather Post Pavilion has finally surfaced on the file-sharing blogs. The much-anticipated eighth studio album of wildly avant-garde rock ensemble Animal Collective leaked this past weekend, and fans that were foaming at the mouth to listen are now foaming at the mouth while listening, soaking it up like a bunch of hipster sponges, IM’ing their friends about its greatness, about how “catchy” it is compared to their previous efforts and how it’s already the greatest album of ‘09, and has anyone ever thought of using an optical illusion as the cover of their album? How groundbreaking! (”Holy shit, it moves!“)
The buzz surrounding this album has been as big as I’ve seen buzz get, most likely because it took so long to leak in advance of its January 20 release date on Domino.
As a fan of Animal Collective, a music writer who tries to keep track of what’s going on in the music world, and the wife of a man who happens to be an inexhaustive explorer of file-sharing music blogs, I snagged a copy and listened to it last night. There was no doubt about who created the album; it was pure Animal Collective, surreal meets out-there. I’m not sure whether or not it’s really catchy, although it is probably more accessible than other stuff I’ve heard by them (less melodic yells and screeches, more straighforward singing). Once I’ve recieved a concrete copy of the album, I’ll report back here with my review. Stay tuned.
Pop Matters writer Charles A. Hohman offers a lengthy, media-packed analysis of Born in the U.S.A in honor of its 25th anniversary: “Sex in the U.S.A.: Male Sexuality in Springsteen’s American Dream.”
