Those familiar with the first Rogue’s Gallery issued back in 2006 might approach news of a follow-up collection, Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys , with a mixture of delight and apprehension. This curious enterprise, the brainchild of Pirates of the Caribbean team - specifically, Johnny Depp, director Gore Verbinski, and producer Hal Willner - brings the light of day to largely traditional songs of the sea that otherwise might have remained in Davy Jones’ locker. The performers lend a whole new meaning to that familiar title, Various Artists, as the [...]
A huge Grammy weekend Saturday night: ► Might he cover Wilson Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour?" Austin's Gary Clark Jr . does a show at the Roxy they're calling "A Late Night With Gary Clark Jr." — it starts at 11:59 p.m. ► The legendary Dr. John visits the Fonda Theatre. ► Grammy-nominated Ed Sheeran holds forth the Hollywood Palladium. That's his video for "Give Me Love," above. ► Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, whose collaborative album "Old Yellow Moon" comes out Feb. 26, play a [...]
The Portland Cello Project , the six-year-old string ensemble that has covered the likes of Radiohead, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Rihanna and even Pantera, has expanded its palette to tackle the latest music from Beck. The 42-year-old songwriter, of course, released his latest effort, "Beck Hansen's Song Reader," as a book of sheet music. And the string-wielding group enlisted the help of vocalists such as Jolie Holland, Chanticleer and Patti King (of Radiation City) to cover Beck's 20-song excursion, which has been released digitially . The bleak weather the group endured for the video shoot at [...]

Incoming: Matt Costa, Dirty Projectors, Silverstein, Kris Allen, the Pharcyde, Emeli Sandé, Delta Rae, ZZ Ward, Kan Wakan, Gliss, M. Ward, Solange, OFF!, Trombone Shorty, the Little Ones, Nick Waterhouse, Chelsea Wolfe, the B-522s, Dr. John, Ed Sheeran, Wayne Shorter, Ellie Goulding, Petra Haden, Big Freedia, Emmylou Harris, Deadmau5 Above: The video for Dirty Projectors' "The Socialites" was directed by frontman David Longstreth as part of the "Hi Custodian” short film series. The Brooklyn indie band visits the Troubadour on Tuesday. Our staff [...]
A cappella overdubbing of a wild array of movie themes: weird cool. It seems to me that you'd want to be Petra Haden or at least someone like her. She is a musician-a singer and a violinist-who plays creative music with a wide range of amazing people and seems to follow her whim as she feels it. She has played with Beck, The Decemberists, and jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, for example. Her dad is the legendary jazz bassist Charlie Haden and, as one of triplets, she has...
Avant vocalist Petra Haden has released a new collection of wild takes on Hollywood's best theme music on ANTI-. It's a thing alright. ANTI- Records , 2013 6.0 / 10.0 As the daughter of jazz great Charlie Haden, Petra Haden is one of a crop of [...]
A closer look at one multitracked voice covering a flawed classic, producing a classic in its own right.

Do Make Say Think - When Day Chokes the Night Frearson Howe - You Will Be Mine, Mr Frankenstein Fake Limbs - Balding But Angry Full Toilet - Keys, Wallet, Phone, Gun Sax Ruins - Zurna Taksim Men's Recovery Project - E-Mail Is A Men's Room Georgia Fife & Drum Band - Why Sorrow Done Passed Me Around Madison County Senior Center Singers - Wasn't That A Mystery Glen Francis - All My Days Are [...]

Petra Haden is simply irrepressible. The singer-violinist (or is that violinist-singer?) of estimable lineage and even more impressive resumé has undertaken myriad adventures since her days with ’90s pop faves That Dog, including her 2005 album "Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sells Out" — a home recorded, a capella rendition of the English band's 1967 classic. Haden returns in 2013 with "Petra Goes to to the Movies" (due Jan. 22 via Anti- Records), a collection of vocal interpretations of movie theme songs. If you don't crack a smile watching the "lyric video" for "The Superman [...]

The prevalence of poor and fragmented families in the inner-city school district where I teach is staggering, and the consequences are easily visible: even as last week's open house brought in a record number of visitors to our school, the percentage of students whose parents or guardians came to visit our classrooms remains shockingly low, with each teacher seeing an average of 8 families in a schedule which has us each teaching over 140 students per semester. Treating this tiny percentage as a triumph is both reasonable and terrifyingly sad. Put it up against [...]

Sticking with cover tunes and things tangentially related to jazz. Petra Haden (daughter of famed bassist Charlie Haden) had the fun idea to cover the entirety of The Who Sell Out using only her very flexible voice. Gimmicky? Sure, but if you've got range and a sense of humor, I say go for it. Also, the effort foregrounds the mischief and warmth of the album itself despite Pete Townshend's big rock narcissism. This tune is funny, and also a little sad to me. Less the song's fault and more my [...]

It's hard to believe it now, but The Beach Boys' "God Only Knows" was originally the subject of a fair amount of hand-wringing by songwriters Brian Wilson and Tony Asher. Wilson and Asher feared that a song with the word "God" in the title would never get radio play. There was fear that it would be considered too "square" to be popular. Then there was the track's first line which is unorthodox for a love song: "I may not always love you." Amazingly, the track never reached #1 in the United States or Europe. In fact, it only [...]

Joachim Cooder has deep roots in L.A. music — he's the son of guitar legend Ry Cooder, for one, and Joachim has made his own mark starting in 2006 with Hello Stranger (fronted by his now-wife Juliette Commagere) and then as a drummer and session player for a host of A-listers. His new "solo" project is called Love on a Real Train (a nod to Tangerine Dream, we assume), and it's not a solo project at all. Cooder's dreamy, textured compositions, hatched in the basement of his Echo Park house, instead serve as the template for [...]
Dog Day - "Daydream" MP3/download I (for a change) read the press sheet for the nifty Deformer LP and found that two members of Dog Day had ditched their band to have a baby and go for a more stripped-down ... Continue reading
If By Yes is the latest project from the multi-talented Petra Haden. The band's debut, Salt On Sea Glass (Chimera), took almost a decade to make and features Haden collaborating with Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and Hirotaka “Shimmy” Shimizu and Yuko Araki (Cornelius), as well as guests such as David Byrne and Nels Cline (Wilco). [...]
If By Yes is the latest project from the multi-talented Petra Haden. The band's debut, Salt On Sea Glass (Chimera), took almost a decade to make and features Haden collaborating with Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and Hirotaka “Shimmy” Shimizu and Yuko Araki (Cornelius), as well as guests such as David Byrne and Nels Cline (Wilco). [...]
If By Yes is the latest project from the multi-talented Petra Haden. The band's debut, Salt On Sea Glass (Chimera), took almost a decade to make and features Haden collaborating with Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and Hirotaka “Shimmy” Shimizu and Yuko Araki (Cornelius), as well as guests such as David Byrne and Nels Cline (Wilco). [...]
If By Yes is the latest project from the multi-talented Petra Haden. The band's debut, Salt On Sea Glass (Chimera), took almost a decade to make and features Haden collaborating with Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and Hirotaka “Shimmy” Shimizu and Yuko Araki (Cornelius), as well as guests such as David Byrne and Nels Cline (Wilco). [...]
If By Yes is the latest project from the multi-talented Petra Haden. The band's debut, Salt On Sea Glass (Chimera), took almost a decade to make and features Haden collaborating with Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and Hirotaka “Shimmy” Shimizu and Yuko Araki (Cornelius), as well as guests such as David Byrne and Nels Cline (Wilco). [...]
If By Yes is the latest project from the multi-talented Petra Haden. The band's debut, Salt On Sea Glass (Chimera), took almost a decade to make and features Haden collaborating with Yuka Honda (Cibo Matto) and Hirotaka “Shimmy” Shimizu and Yuko Araki (Cornelius), as well as guests such as David Byrne and Nels Cline (Wilco). [...]