
Today Lollapalooza announced their 2013 lineup, and it's a good one. Headliners are The Cure, The Killers, Nine Inch Nails, Phoenix, The Postal Service, Vampire Weekend, The National, New Order, Queens Of The Stone Age, and (bleh) Mumford & Sons. Then you got Kendrick Lamar, Grizzly Bear, Band Of Horses, Major Lazer, Hot Chip, Local Natives, Two Door Cinema Club, Crystal Castles, Lana Del Rey, Beach House, Cat Power, Frightened Rabbit, Alt-J, Foals, Smith Westerns, The Vaccines, Father John Misty, DIIV, Heartless Bastards, Haim, Jessie Warem Wild Nothing, Wavves, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Icona Pop, Jake Bugg, [...]
The O&B favorites added another great San Diego show to their record // Follow Owl and Bear on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.

Photos by Walter Sy Still riding high off the success of Arrow , Heartless Bastards rocked the Troubadour. Charismatic Erika Wennerstrom can put you in a transfixed state with her vocal chops. For "The Arrow Killed The Beast", opener Jonny Fritz and bandmate Josh Hedley joined in with the band for harmony. Such an incredible night that ended with an old fan favorite and sole encore, "All This Time." Nashville singer/songwriter Jonny Fritz, along with violinist, Josh Hedley, opened for the night. Excited to play in LA, the duo dressed to the nines", played [...]

This past Saturday and Sunday, I made my way to the latest installment of my favorite local festival, the 10th annual McDowell Mountain Music Festival , this year taking place for the first time at Margaret T. Hance Park in downtown Phoenix. To set the scene, the park sits on top of Interstate 10 just north of downtown proper (the aptly named Deck Park Tunnel runs right under it). It’s a nice expanse of green in the midst of the concrete jungle. On the outskirts of the park were a few vacant lots, a fair share of [...]
Here are your Tuesday show options: ► Flume , the nom de tune of Sydney, Australia's Harley Streten, brings his electro constructs to the Echoplex, supported by Para One and Dauwd. That's his video for "Sleepless," above. ► It's an electro night at the Satellite too, with Ghastly — the nom de tune of David Crow — heading up a lineup that includes Draemings and Swan. ► Heartless Bastards bring their bluesy roar to the Troubadour, supported by Nashville's Jonny Fritz at the Troubadour [...]
Our San Diego picks for the week* // Follow Owl and Bear on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.

Incoming: The Mavericks, Busdriver, Thalia, Heartless Bastards, Spirit Animal, Mika, Flux Pavilion, Inc., Anthrax, Billy Bragg, Ghostface Killah, Jamie Lidell, the Lonely Wild, Fol Chen, Foxygen, Daedelus, Veronica Falls, Poolside, Lalah Hathaway, Living Colour Above: That's the video for "You Naked," from Jamie Lidell . The British singer-songwriter's latest album, "Jamie Lidell," came out in February, and he visits the Echoplex on Thursday. Our staff picks of the week: @KRBronson recommends: Two local bands celebrate [...]
Click to view slideshow. It has to be said that despite one or two hiccups, the second official day of SXSW turned out to be a whole lot more fun. It got off to a good start when we found there was actually a shuttle that came near to our hotel and meant late night night time returns were no longer a problem. We headed off to the Pitchfork party, queued in the broiling heat for 30 minutes and gave that up as a bad job and trudged another 8 blocks out of town to American [...]

In conjunction with their March/April issue, American Songwriter have offered up The Billy Reid Shindig Sampler for free download. It is a SXSW promo for their event being held March 13-14 from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Weather Up, and features many MM faves like Dawes, Jason Isbell, Johnny Fritz and Deer Tick’s John McCauley amongst others (see flyer below for details). Just click here to get it for free and to RSVP for the SXSW party if you're in Austin, or check out a couple of our [...]

Photos by Howard Melnyczuk

This is the longest goodbye // Follow Owl and Bear on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.
Ohioan blues-rock band Heartless Bastards follow the December release of their most eclectic & energetic album thus far, Arrow , with a new single and first London show since 2010. The track " Got To Have Rock And Roll " will be released through Partisan Records on 25 February 2013 and is preceded by a now sold out show at London’s Lexington on February 11th. It’s a single that showcases the depth and breadth of the band’s indelible sound, lighting upon spaghetti [...]
You'll never die // Follow Owl and Bear on Facebook and Twitter for contests, MP3s, and links that don't make it onto the blog.

Over the course of five studio albums, Akron/Family have developed their own unique take on psychedelic rock that straddles the line between Animal Collective’s knob turning weirdness, the Grateful Dead’s early ’60s primordial acid-drenched material and Middle Eastern-drenched ragas. On April 30, the Brooklyn and Portland-based band will release their latest full-length effort - Sub Verses via Dead Oceans, and have lined up a month-long North American tour in support. The band, who tend to stretch their songs out live, often past [...]

This weekend hometown heroes Heartless Bastards returned for a two night stand at the Southgate House Revival in Newport, Kentucky. ENS photographer Keith Klenowski was on hand and took these photos and a video from the show. The video is of a new song the band did for a film called Winter in the Blood. [...]
Coming back this year is Scenestar favorite, Heartless Bastards! We last saw them play in support of their latest release, Arrow, at The Observatory in Santa Ana but now Heartless Bastards are coming back for a date at the Troubadour...
Erika Wennerstrom and her fantastic band, Heartless Bastards, return to Dallas on Saturday night. In preview of their show at Trees, Wennerstrom shed some light on her (lack of) formal training an... Continue reading "Heartless Bastards' Erika Wennerstrom Never Learned the Standard Chords" >

If you have read much here at ENS, you know how much we love Heartless Bastards. The Cincinnati band, who now resides in Austin, Texas is a group we are proud to support, and always have been. I remember the first time I had the guts to call lead singer Erika Wennerstrom for an interview. She was at her apartment in Northside then, and could not have been nicer. It was interviews like that which helped me realize that musicians are just like us. Regular, everyday people. That interview was nearly [...]

Arizona's own McDowell Mountain Music Festival marks its 10 year anniversary in just a couple of months (March 22-24) with a stellar lineup - arguably the strongest lineup in its decade long run. I've made it very clear over the years that MMMF is hands-down my favorite music event in old AZ. I've attended every one of them since 2007, when I watched in awe as Aaron Neville and his brothers belted out "Tell It Like It Is." From its earlier years at Scottsdale's spacious Westworld complex (2004-2009) to the [...]