Tampa Calling

As an addendum to my recent column, “Traveling to see music without losing your money (or your mind),” I’ve put together this small group of shows and fests that provide some good selections for music-motivated travel. If you haven’t already made travel plans this summer, here are some of your best bets.

Grizzly Bear and TV on the Radio
Saturday, June 13, The Tabernacle, Atlanta
If you wanna go, get your tickets now — it’s a Saturday night co-headlining bill featuring of two of Brooklyn’s most hip and beloved bands, both with recent albums — Grizzly’s just-released Veckatimest, TVOTR’s fantastic Dear Science from last year — so the show will most definitely sell out. I would be at this show, front row, if I wasn’t just returning from a music-motivated vacation that same Thursday.

The Decemberists (pictured) with Andrew Bird and Blind Pilot
July 18-19, Edgefield, Portland, Oregon
The chamber rock quintet only comes as close as Atlanta and plays that date on Wednesday, June 3 — not at all convenient for a road trip unless you plan on taking that week off. But the tour also includes this appealing Saturday-Sunday run in Portland, and with whistling singer/songwriter Andrew Bird, and Portland’s own indie pop duo, Blind Pilot. Read the rest of this entry »

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 18: White Rabbits
Tuesday, May 19: Kenny Chesney
Wednesday, May 20: Grizzly Bear (pictured)
Thursday, May 21: Jean Redpath
Friday, May 22: Green Day

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC
Monday, May 18: Blink 182
Tuesday, May 19: Blink 182
Wednesday, May 20: Mandy Moore
Thursday, May 21: Lionel Richie
Friday, May 22: Tori Amos Read the rest of this entry »

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

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, NBC
Monday, May 11: Ciara
Tuesday, May 12: 8-year-old pianist Ethan Bortnick, Kelly Clarkson
Wednesday, May 13: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens)
Thursday, May 14: The Decemberists
Friday, May 15: Kings of Leon

VIDEO OF ANIMAL COLLECTIVE ON LETTERMAN AFTER THE JUMP… Read the rest of this entry »

NEW RELEASES in VINYL:
Akron/Family – Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free
Their musical vocabulary runs deep – it’s not just Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, and The Grateful Dead that inform this record; the band feels at home and self-assured. With limited outside assistance, the trio has made a focused, powerful and unified work. This is the new psychedelic rock.

Beastie Boys – Check Your Head 4LP BOX
An ultra-deluxe 4 LP 180HQ vinyl version packaged in a fabric-wrapped hardcover coffee table book case and limited to 2000 copies.

Chimaira – The Infection Picture Disc

Elvis Costello – Complicated Shadows b/w Dirty Rotten Shame 7″
Looks really cool and retro. “Complicated Shadows” is on the album but the flip side, “Dirty Rotten Shame” is an exclusive song for this piece.  This was supposed to be out for Record Store Day, but production was delayed.

Fleet Foxes 7” – Mykonos b/w False Knight On the Road
“Mykonos” is the centerpiece of the Sun Giant EP released last spring and included with the popular vinyl version of the band’s debut, Fleet Foxes.  Beautifully packaged in a gatefold sleeve, the single is backed with a previously unreleased cover of the traditional folk ballad “False Knight On The Road,” made popular by Steeleye Span and Richard Thompson.

The Horrors – Primary Colours
Their debut, Strange House, was as controversial as it was celebrated, landing them on the cover of NME in their native England. Produced by Geoff Barrow (Portishead) and noted video director Chris Cunningham (Aphex Twin, Bjork). ‘‘Genuinely, gloriously deranged.” –The Onion

Killing Joke:
• Brighter Than A Thousand Suns
• Fire Dances
• Killing Joke
• Night Time
• Outside The Gate
• Revelations
• What’s This For?
Limited edition 2-LP sets.

Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Finally on vinyl! Regular and limited, double 45-RPM deluxe edition.

Bob Mould – Life and Times

Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band – Outer South
While touring in support of last year’s debut, Conor Oberst, Conor and the Mystic Valley Band began writing new songs. The result is the first album credited to this group. Oberst’s songwriting and delivery remain an engaging presence, but the addition of songs by Taylor Hollingsworth, Nik Freitas, and Jason Boesel make for a multi-textured and colorful collaboration. The Mystic Valley Band also includes Macey Taylor and Nathaniel Walcott.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kylesa
Static Tensions
(Prosthetic)
Between a tour with Mastodon and a killer new album, Kylesa seem poised for a breakthrough year in 2009. The ten songs on this Georgia band’s fourth full-length, Static Tensions, speed by in 40 minutes — relatively brief by sludgy, stoner-groove standards; more abstract than Crowbar, but not as otherworldly as Neurosis. The long-time experimental Australian band Alchemist is my closest point of reference. Read the rest of this entry »

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 »

Sunday music links:

• “Rehab” singer (and current patient) Amy Winehouse allowed into U.S. — but “chooses to stay home.” She’ll perform at today’s Grammy Awards show via satellite.

• Atlanta prog-metal quartet Mastodon has teamed with Slipknot and others for the Rockstar Energy Mayhem tour, which comes to Ford Amphitheatre in Tampa on July 29. Here’s my review of Mastodon’s performance last year at the State Theatre.

• Synth-pop standout Ladytron announce new release, tour dates: “(February 8, 2008 – Los Angeles, CA) – LADYTRON are set to release their fourth full-length album, VELOCIFERO, on June 3, 2008 through Nettwerk Music Group. The band will tour North America with dance punks Datarock, hitting 31 cities between May 20 and July 4″ including Czar in Ybor City on June 11.

• Martin Scorsese to follow his Rolling Stones concert film Shine a Light with Bob Marley documentary. My interview with Ky-Mani Marley will run in the Creative Loafing that hits newsstands Feb. 14.

• Beastie Boys, R.E.M., Phil Lesh, 311, Matisyahu, Thievery Corporation, The Roots, Gov’t Mule, Ani DiFranco and many more to play Langerado Music Festival: March 6-9 , Big Cypress Indian Reservation, near Ft. Lauderdale.

• How can you take a music award show seriously when it’s never honored Neil Young, The Who, Led Zeppelin or The Kinks? And does anyone really want to sit through what will likely be three or four acceptance speeches by the gifted and gratingly arrogant Kanye West? Not me. While millions veg through another Grammy snooze-fest I’ll be at Skipper’s Smokehouse witnessing a performance by bluegrass legend Dr. Ralph Stanley (scroll down). Which could also prove to be a snooze-fest, but at least it’ll be a lot briefer than the Grammys and not feature a gloating (or griping) Kanye.