We just wanted to remind you that you've still got time to let Umphrey's McGee know what tracks from the vault you'd like to see released as bonus material for their new album, Mantis . Simply head over to this post and leave a comment telling them exactly what gems you want to hear. The Chicago-based sextet just finished their last tour of 2008 in Washington D.C. this weekend, and we'll have more on that later. After a full year of touring the band hasn't wasted any time in announcing their first major [...]
For the past two years, Umphrey's McGee has been hard at work on an album of material that hasn't been played live called Mantis . The band is proud of what they've come up and wanted to come up with an innovative way to promote the album. Knowing that the majority of folks who will pre-order Mantis are loyal fans, Umphrey's decided to unlock their vault to give those fans who support the album long-requested gems. If you head over to the Mantis site , you'll [...]
After a few past Cover Wars appearances, the Ryan Montbleau Band can now claim a victory after scoring the majority of votes from last week's edition when we looked at ten covers of John Lennon's Jealous Guy . I wouldn't be a responsible writer if I didn't point out that Donny Hathaway also deserves much credit as Montbleau's cover is part Lennon part Hathaway. This week we're taking a look at seven covers of Pink Floyd's Young Lust off of their 1979 epic The Wall. In the ongoing story of The [...]
Since I'm watching the developments on the new Umphrey's McGee album closely, ya'll get to benefit by getting updates. It seems that January 20th is a long way off, so the UM camp has figured out that they are going to need to keep the fire going by throwing out little tastes of the album and bonus goodies to the fans. Yesterday it was announced that the monster Chicago FM station XRT would be playing the first track from Mantis - "Made to Measure" as part of their new [...]
I have been watching the Umphrey's McGee Mantis page for updates on newly unlocked Levels and as a result I'm signed into the Meebo chat (as "playbsides" if anyone wants to talk). Other than the grand debate about whether 1000 copies of the Deluxe Package depreciates the "value" or rarity of it versus the fact that some fans are bummed they didn't get in on it- there hasn't been a lot of useful chatter. I've helped some folks understand what the deal is with the pre-order mostly. But, today I happened to catch someone mentioning the [...]
Prog-jammers Umphrey's McGee gave the crowd at San Francisco's Warfield Theater a night they'll never forget on Halloween when the Chicago-based sextet presented their first Halloween Monster Mashup. The gents mashed up a number of classic and modern covers and originals including a brilliant pairing of their own Phil's Farm with the White Stripes' Seven Nation Army, Pink Floyd's Money and Led Zeppelin's How Many More Times. [All Photos by Mike Sherry] HT Contributor Mike Sherry took a slew of terrific shots of this [...]
On January 20th, 2009- Inauguration Day- Umphrey's McGee will be releasing their next studio album, Mantis . According to their press release , Mantis is different from their last studio albums in that it is entirely new music written in the studio as opposed to songs that had been given workouts on the road. The band considers this the "centerpiece of a new era" and extending the notion of innovation, they have set up a unique pre-order for Mantis . So, hang tight- this [...]
Filed under: News , Exclusive Spinner.com : On Friday night at the newly reopened Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, Umphrey's McGee celebrated Halloween in a rather unique way. As promised on their blog, the band delivered a night of "Monster Mash-Ups" throughout their two sets.Some mash-ups... Read more
Happy Halloween, party people... I'm quite psyched to be heading out in a few hours to catch Umphrey's McGee and The New Deal play here in San Francisco at the Warfield, even if I'm totally and completely lame by deciding to just skip dressing up in a costume this year. I'm just not feeling it. I'd be faking it too much - I guess that's the point - but I just couldn't come up with something that I was cool with that I felt was fun and original. So I just [...]
Next Steps Umphrey's McGee says with Mantis band enters "New Era". Sets release date for January 20th.
It used to be tradition that each Monday following Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit concerts at Shoreline would bring fluffy reviews extolling the virtues of that weekend's concerts and of the Youngs work for the Hillsborough school, yet that didn't happen today. Jim Harrington of the Oakland Tribune found the event lacking a certain pizzazz, which doesn't surprise us given this year's lineup. Let's hope this truly unique and worthwhile event returns to form when it comes back this time next year. Here's a brief look at some stories that [...]
As the members of Chicago-based sextet Umphrey's McGee left the stage on Saturday night at the Electric Factory they all had looks on bliss and satisfaction on their faces. I can't really blame them, as they had just finished an exceptional run of nine outrageous shows in ten days throughout the northeast. The concerts I saw displayed the best of their improvisational skills, setlist debauchery and a light show that led many jaws to drop to the floor night after night. Excuse the fluffery, but these guys deserve it. [...]
He Got Licks Easily one of the best young guitarists in America and certianly close to the tops in Chicago, Jake Cinninger is the shizzle. Here's a Moog Guitar Demo with Jake of Umphrey's McGee (vid). Awesome work on the...
On October 9, I had the pleasure of seeing Umphrey's McGee at Clifton Park's best music venue in a strip-mall: Northern Lights. While the concrete box that was the room left something to be desired, the packed house received two blistering sets of Umphrey's and guitarist Jake Cinninger played his new Moog Guitar prototype the entire night. Gear-heads can read all about the specifications over on the Moog website . Watching Jake play the new toy was a real treat as the expressions on his face displayed a mix [...]
Well, I've got a big problem. It's my turn to write an introduction to my favorite piece and to say thank you, but if I wanted to thank all of the people who helped make Hidden Track the 1,892 most read blog in New York City it would take up the whole front page of the site. I guess I could try to limit it and just say thanks to some. Yet, I'd feel awful not thanking each person who has written a post, gave us a tip, offered encouragement, shot photos, commented on a post, added HT's feed [...]
The geeking out piece - this was fun. For me this was a great couple of days in Hidden Track history because it displayed a bit of the community that we've got going on right here inside the blog. We have thousands of people viewing the site everyday but often times well thought-out posts go by without a comment posted. This wasn't one of them, readers were eager to supplement the piece with information. For example, I had no idea The Radiators had logged such a rigorous consistent [...]
Our favorite dynamic duo, Carla Danca (words) and Jeremy Gordon (images) headed to Moogfest on Monday night and filed this report... This past Monday night in New York City, high above the Hammerstein Ballroom, an intimate celebration for took place. Now, while many of us are not aware of the back story or the influence of MOOG , if you check out the credits of many of your favorite artists you'll probably find a MOOG synthesizer listed right by the top. It was a night filled with music to remember the late founder [...]
U-Melt ran away with last week's edition when we looked at eight covers of The Boy In The Bubble . U-Melt proves that clever setlist construction goes a long way, as the performance that was selected was in the middle of MMW's Bubblehouse (Boy in the Bubblehouse?). Congrats to U-Melt on their first CW trophy, well it's an imaginary trophy, put it on the mantle. Moving on to this week, we will be taking a look at a tune Robbie Robertson wrote for The Band that was originally released on the [...]
The live music universe is a world filled with ebbs and flows of energy; when things get busy, they really get busy and then there will be a down period. Suffice to say that in Chicago, right when that 90 day limit Lollapalooza puts on its performers finishes , October is busy. Everyone is touring. In addition, there have been a number of announcements of late pertaining to New Years Eve. So gathered here is a pretty solid compendium of who's playing where on December 31st. The venue link will get you to ticket information for the mentioned shows. [...]
As another Rocktober starts to pick up steam, plenty of New York City jamfans are looking forward to next week when Umphrey's McGee hits the Big Apple for the MoogFest and three headlining gigs at the intimate Blender Theater . The Chicago-based sextet always seems to take it up a notch for their fall tours, and according to the reports from UM's brief jaunt through the midwest this past weekend, Fall Tour '08 - which kicks off tonight at Park West in Clifton Park, NY - should be no exception. [...]
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