Blevin Blectum Area C tfo The Salon Providence, RI Dec. 2 Friday I went to The Salon to see Area C, Blevin Blectum and tfo do their thing. Maybe "see" is the wrong word: the Salon's subterranean music space is dark and cavelike. But the vibe is friendly, the drinks are delicious (The Bushwick, I'm looking at you) and the acoustics surprisingly sharp. The show turned out to be a refreshing hybrid of extended DJ set and traditional concert, [...]
Blevin Blectum Area C tfo The Salon Providence, RI Dec. 2 Friday I went to The Salon to see Area C, Blevin Blectum and tfo do their thing. Maybe "see" is the wrong word: the Salon's subterranean music space is dark and cavelike. But the vibe is friendly, the drinks are delicious (The Bushwick, I'm looking at you) and the acoustics surprisingly sharp. The show turned out to be a refreshing hybrid of extended DJ set and traditional concert, [...]
I'm still shocked that Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore have separated after 30 years together and 24 years of marriage. As a band, Sonic Youth is undeniably emblematic of the couple's creative and personal partnership; news of the split cannot help but leave the band at a major crossroads. A Matador press release puts the band's future at "uncertain," and leaves it at that. Sonic Youth sprang out of NYC's fertile and fractured No Wave scene of the early 1980s. Some [...]
Local rock dynamos Scarce have set sail for a week of West Coast dates in support of singer/bassist Joyce Raskin's new YA novel, "My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star" (Houghton Mifflin) and Girls Rock! , a national organization that empowers girls through music. It's a cause that's near and dear to Joyce's heart, both as a mom and as someone who found music at exactly the right time. EMPOWERING GIRLS THROUGH MUSIC "Music was —and is— such [...]
Local rock dynamos Scarce have set sail for a week of West Coast dates in support of singer/bassist Joyce Raskin's new YA novel, "My Misadventures as a Teenage Rock Star" (Houghton Mifflin) and Girls Rock! , a national organization that empowers girls through music. It's a cause that's near and dear to Joyce's heart, both as a mom and as someone who found music at exactly the right time. EMPOWERING GIRLS THROUGH MUSIC "Music was —and is— such [...]
The term "freak-folk" is often bandied about when describing Boston-area musician Marissa Nadler's work. She recently stopped by her alma mater RISD to talk about artistic process and what drives her to create. Along the way, she cheerfully upended all the usual clichés attached to her music: "sepia-toned," "ethereal" and "death-obsessed." A funny, down-to-earth presence, she was refreshingly open about her struggles with stage fright, as well as those of balancing painting and music. "There's a mythology that surrounds my work," she said. "But that's not who I [...]
The Woodmans (C. Scott Willis, 2010) will be screening at Providence's Cable Car Cinema from January 28-February 3. Images: Francesca Woodman, "Untitled (Providence)," 1975-78 Claude Cahun, "Je Tends les Bras" Paul Nougé, "Le Bras Révelateur,"1929 Jean Cocteau, Still from La Belle et La Bête Amp, "Ombres" (from Amp/3EF/Sadaar Bazaar split 7", 1996) His Name Is Alive, "Caroline's Supposed Demon" (from Livonia [...]
It's impossible to believe that Broadcast's Trish Keenan is no longer with us. Shockingly, she passed away on Friday after a two-week battle with pneumonia. From the moment I heard Broadcast's first EP, The Book Lovers , I was hooked on their fractal pop, even if my initial impression of them was "Stereolab-lite." (How wrong I was.) The group gained strength with each release, creating music that was at once brazenly experimental and multidimensional, containing worlds upon worlds of influences in an evocative framework of puzzlebox lyrics and kitchen-sink psychedelia. Cinematic and sweeping, [...]
Kristin Hersh will be performing in Providence, RI tonight, Wednesday, November 10 at 7pm at the Knight Memorial Library,75 Elmwood Avenue, Providence, RI 02907. She will be reading from her fantastic new memoir, Rat Girl (Penguin Books), signing books and even playing a few songs. This event is free and open to the public. More info can be found here . Rat Girls and Wolves Kristin Hersh has always been a fearless performer, but never moreso than in her new memoir, Rat Girl , which recounts a single momentous year when she was diagnosed [...]
By now you've probably heard that pioneering No Wave trio Ut has reformed and will be touring the East Coast in November. Their mini-tour starts at Brooklyn's Issue Project Room, where musician David Grubbs and art historian Branden Joseph have organized Theoretical Music: No Wave, New Music, and the New York Art Scene, 1978-1983 , a three-day event examining the intersections as well as the failed encounters of art, music, and cinema in downtown Manhattan. The festival starts on November 3 with a rare screening of James Nares' No [...]
Silence is a rhythm too. (Ari, you went too soon. You will be missed.)
I've always thought of Jim Jarmusch as the original poet of slacker ennui. Stranger than Paradise (1984) set a template for a slew of mumblecore copycats who followed in that film's wake. (And, like the Energizer bunny, they're still going.) And yet, Jarmusch's vision doesn't neatly conform to cliché: his debut, Permanent Vacation (1980), sets a ghostly tone that would echo throughout later films like Dead Man (1995), Ghost Dog (1999) and The Limits of Control (2009), all of which [...]
The fine folks at Warp have posted a new Seefeel track called "Faults" —a teaser from their new EP that will be out on September 20. The band headline a much-anticipated one-off show at London's ICA on September 16. Judging by the torrent of snark on Soundcloud, the new track is meeting with divided opinions (to say the least). "Rubbish," "Magic." "Boring." Even former producer (and de facto band member) Mark van Hoen weighed in to critique the watery sound: "The drums don't sound like a real kit, [...]
Two reunions well worth celebrating: Unrest Jul 8 TTs, Cambridge, MA 26 years after singer/songwriter Mark E Robinson founded his record label Teenbeat, it's still going strong. On Thursday, July 8, come celebrate the label's bon anniversaire at TTs with the reunited Unrest , introspective pop crooner Robert Schipul, former Flying Saucer-ite Yasmin Kuhn and jaunty disco Canadians Bossanova. When Unrest broke up in 1994, I mourned their passing with a few long moments of silence (0 BPM). They started [...]
Dial limns the fertile territory between abrasive noise and oddly meditative controlled chaos. Jacqui Ham, a guiding force in primal No Wavers Ut , assembled Dial in the early 90s with Rob Smith (ex-God, guitars, drum machine), Dom Weeks ( Furious Pig , Het ) on bass & synthesizer, and Lou Ciccotelli (Eardrum) on drums. The music is immense in both scale and space. Exploiting tape hiss and the pitted, low-end patina of electrical interference, what is initially apocalyptically skuzzy-sounding becomes, via [...]
Angkorwat is Dublin-based musician Niamh Corcoran. This haunting little track has fascinated me ever since it first surfaced on a Wire sampler last year. High time I shared it, yes? (Yes.) Angkorwat, "Big Little Edie" IMAGE: BIG EDIE AND LITTLE EDIE FROM "GREY GARDENS"
I've spent the last few weeks in a kind of fugue state of disbelief. I still can't quite believe this is happening. I can't believe this is happening again . At the very least, Katrina was a natural catastrophe, tragically compounded by ill-preparedness and bureaucratic red tape. In stark contrast, we brought the Gulf spill on ourselves: it speaks volumes of human selfishness, greed and hubris. That it's still going on leaves me heartsick, horrified and incredibly angry. I've never used this blog as a soapbox — I usually just natter on [...]
On muggy summer days, you want music to lift you up. Effervescent music that sparkles and shimmers in the haze, cutting right through the heat and energizing you with its ebullience. "Super Panavision 70" is that cool breeze. With its wall-of-sound echoes of Broadcast, Beach House, and Tarnation's lovelorn grit, this is music to get lost in. The crystalline production beautifully highlights the luminous, triple-tracked harmonies and round-robin vocals, underpinned and grounded by a slightly martial drumbeat. I can't remember when a song grabbed me this immediately… It's mesmerizing and delightful. Umpteen listens later, it still is. [...]
Less a band than an unstoppable force, What Cheer? Brigade make Gogol Bordello look like wallflowers. Formed in Providence in 2005, this insane party machine has brought its unique éclat and élan to art openings, libraries, school playgrounds, traffic islands, warehouses and music festivals — often accompanied by fellow freaksters, Big Nazo. Lo and behold, band-that-couldn't-be-tamed has finally unleashed its debut long-player upon the world, We Suck, You Blow [Anchor Brain]. You can order direct from both band and label, but that would be so …expected. [...]
Last week, producer Mark van Hoen broke the news that legendary band Seefeel would be reuniting after 15 years. Seefeel was part of the flowering of avant-garde electronica in the early 90s. Experimental and deconstructed, the movement bubbled up in parallel —and in contrast— to the boisterous, self-congratulatory BritPop movement. Here's what vocalist and guitarist Sarah Peacock had to say about the reunion: There'll be an LP and an EP (no titles decided yet) — it's not quite finished. We're signing to Warp again and [...]
Warped Reality
Lana Del Rey - Without You (Kill Paris Remix) [Dubstep]
Download: James Blake Live Album (Unofficial)
My Funny Valentines
Miike Snow - “Paddling Out” Jacques Lu Cont Remix (MP3 Stream)
Iron & Wine and Patty Griffin
