It's week #2 of the Pax-Am reboot and we are treated with another digital single from Ryan Adams's archives. This time we get a track that was dropped from early consideration for Cardinology and another track that surfaced a bit as a "foggy" video . The third track is another demo from Cardinology. Side A is the track "Allumette" clocking in at 1:43 and according to the Ryan Adams scholars on the ryanadamsarchive.com site was listed on an early proposed tracklisting for Cardinology . Apparently [...]
Karl Denson is the sax player and frontman of groove powerhouse group Karl Denson's Tiny Universe whose new album Brother's Keeper ( Shanachie ) comes out next Tuesday, September 22nd. Karl has a fairly impressive career working with Lenny Kravitz on Let Love Rule and Mama Said as well as co-founding the jazz funk outfit Greyboy Allstars . I reviewed Greyboy Allstars last album, 2007's excellent What Happened to Television? So it seems with all of the people he has worked with that he [...]
This week Daytrotter.com posted the details of the upcoming Barnstorm Tour- to be called "Daytrotter Barnstormier II" and will start Thursday, October 8th in Milwaukee, WI and wrap up on Tuesday, October 13th in Johnston, IA. Via the @realdaytrotter twitter account and the weekly e-mails Sean Moeller (master of ceremonies, general cool guy) had been dribbling out details about the upcoming shows so very little of this is a surprise to those of us who watch Daytrotter goings on closely. This tour, which is apparently "Barnstormier" than the July shows, happens to [...]
Back in May I had the chance to see Bo Ramsey and his band The Mystery Lights during his short run at the end of April/beginning of May at the Mill in Iowa City . It was a typically great show with Bo fronting a band of sidemen dating back to The Sliders days. Bo is going to play another solo show with The Mystery Lights on Friday 10/23 at the Mill in Iowa City. Show starts at 8PM and the cover is $12. My [...]
This week had the 'Net a flutter with news of Ryan Adams's re-launching his website and re-launching his Pax Americana (PaxAm) record label with a downloadable "Digital Single." Pre-orders went up mid-week with a promise of the songs shipping on Friday, September 11th. What you got for $1.49 was a .zip file with the advertised two songs "Lost and Found" and "Go Ahead and Rain" (which is mislabeled "Sunflower Rain") in both FLAC (YAY!) and 128Kbps mp3's plus a so-called "Free Jam" of the demo to the Cardinology song "Sink Ships" in 160Kbps mp3 [...]
Next Tuesday (9/14) is the long-awaited release date of David Sylvian's newest effort. Titled Manafon , it will be released on his Samadhi Sound record label he formed after he left Virgin Records in 2003. This departure from Virgin has given David one of the most productive and creative periods since his 80's output. But, I think it was the situation surrounding the ostensible 1991 Japan reunion album Rain Tree Crow that started to stress the relationship between Sylvian and Virgin. These session started with [...]
When I saw Bo Ramsey and the Mystery Lights at the Mill back in May, Pieta was kind of hanging back in the shadows of the dark bar and helping her sister sell some Bo Ramsey merchandise. After the show was over I took the opportunity to ask her about her record label situation. After being signed to One Little Indian for her last album, the brilliant Remember the Sun from 2007 the follow-up Flight Time EP was released on T-Records, which incidentally is the label she used to release her 2003 EP [...]
When I started talking to Sean Moeller of Daytrotter.com (who signs his missives as "Mr. Daytrotter" amusingly) in May about his idea of "an RV Tour of Iowa Barns" I was both excited and a little worried, frankly. Sean said that he wanted to give something back to Iowa- his home state- in addition to raising the awareness of the "recording studio with a website" that is Daytrotter.com to its neighbors. Indeed, while music geeks like myself have been aware of the freely-downloadable mp3's of the recording sessions done in the Rock Island-based studio- [...]
I first heard about Devendra Banhart in 2005 surrounding the buzz associated with his then-new album Cripple Crow . Pitchfork pulled a stern 8.5 out from under its pitchy-frock with a penalizing "at 75 minutes the album does stretch its legs too long." By the time Cripple Crow was released, Devendra and his "Family" had established them at the top of the "Freak Folk" scene with four albums that continued to build his fanbase. Cripple Crow was followed by Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon in 2007. The album was [...]
One of our favorite albums from 2008 was the debut release from New Zealand artist Phillipa "Pip" Brown who performs as Ladyhawke (yes, after the Rutger Hauer film of the same name). Released on Modular Recordings- also the home of Cut Copy- it launched four very successful singles in "Magic," "Back of the Van," "Paris is Burning," and "My Delirium." How this record managed to not have a U.S. release before now seems unimaginable, but September sees the release of Ladyhawke in CD and LP on Universal/Decca Records in a Special Edition [...]
Lyrics Born released another new free download from the upcoming As U Were - a reunion of sorts with Lateef the Truth Speaker called "Pushed Aside, Pulled Apart." The track is an interesting sort of 80's-inspired head bobber featuring the distinctive rapping and vocals from LB and Lateef. I liked the f irst track "leaked" "Funky Hit Records," but this track has summer jam written all over it. The first track off of As U Were offered as a free download was "Funky Hit Records" back in March . That song got a [...]
You'd think that as many times as I've reported that Wye Oak was going to play in Iowa somewhere, I'd have seen them at least once! They even played here before the release of their new album The Knot at some performance space in Iowa City some months back, which I also missed. And so it is that Wye Oak will be back playing the Mill in Iowa City just over a year from the last time they played there! As it turns out, they will be taping [...]
Thrill Jockey Records has always been very accommodating to it's collector fans by providing exclusive limited-edition releases- usually in the form of some vinyl pressing. Releases that come to mind are the super-cool Records Toreism release for Record Store Day 2009 , The limited-edition Plum boxset of 73es , well and every vinyl pressing of their albums are limited to 1000 for the first run! Thrill Jockey has announced a 123 Subscription Club ! The first series (optimistically keeping my fingers crossed for future ones!) will be for 7 very rare 123es- some of [...]
Richmond, VA quartet ILAD had released two albums before I had heard of them. Their second album National Flags - released in 2007- was recorded at Soma Studios in Chicago and produced by John McEntire of Tortoise and The Sea and Cake . In an interview with RVA Magazine , singer/guitarist Clifton McDaniel said that they wanted to work with McEntire because they felt a connection with the Chicago scene. In fact, their brand of country folk psychedelics reminds me a lot of Califone, so the [...]
Sherry and I were taking a tour of the New Bohemia area of Cedar Rapids earlier today with Mel Andringa of Legion Arts . Sherry is looking at building options in the 2008 Flood-ravaged area for her gluten free bakery prospective project . We walked by the new restaurant bar Parlor City Pub and Eatery and I saw that Garaj Mahal will be playing there on Sunday, September 20th! I saw Garaj Mahal guitarist Fareed Haque last November as [...]
The ever-touring machine that is Cracker will be making another stop in Eastern Iowa at the end of this month at The Mill in Iowa City . Cracker is touring behind their new rocking release and debut on 429 Records Sunrise in the Land of Mint and Honey . Their stop at the Mississippi Moon bar in Dubuque in February was great- they played a handful of the new songs, but I'm hoping to hear more of the new album in a live setting. The show will be at 9PM on Sunday, 8/30 with [...]
One of the great records of this year for me is the new Wendy & Lisa joint White Flags of Winter Chimneys . It is a self-released record, and the promotion and distribution is handled by their little-but-mighty camp. Talking with them earlier this year I could get the sense that this release and their truly-independent approach to managing their careers was going to be a developing blueprint that other acts could look to for inspiration. They twitter, they blog, they podcast, they Facebook, they Amazon.com. Today they released the video to the [...]
"This is Spinal Tap" is one of those movies that people either love or are largely disinterested in. Anyone who is a scholar of or takes an active interest in the history of rock bands dating back to the 60's are usually fans of this "Rockumentary" by director Marti DiBergi (Rob Reiner) that pokes fun at a lot of stories and mythology of the big rock artists in the story of a washed out metal band who is desperately trying to make a comeback against seeming disinterest and plain bad luck. "This is Spinal Tap" was released to [...]
In what would seem to be an intersection of coincidences, a band out of New Jersey gaining a lot of indie-lovin' blog praise will be playing a barn ballroom outside of my childhood home of Bellevue, IA . Roadside Graves is a seven-piece band serving up a hearty stew of folk and rock with a heapin' helpin' of rootsy country with a pinch of Celtic reel to taste. Listening to their new album My Son's Home on Autumn Tone , I'm impressed how this band packs all [...]
Daytrotter.com - the purveyor of freely-downloadable mp3's of sessions recorded by a wide-range of artists and bands- have decided that they want to take a handful of their favorite acts on a mini-tour through some Iowa towns with a stop in Madison (just because they love that place!). These shows are FREE and ALL AGES. All the bands are hoping for are some new fans, and possibly sell some merch. It is a move which gets its tradition from the "Caravan of Stars"-type tours that happened during the 50's and 60's where bands would roll through [...]
Time to play b-sides
Azealia Banks - '1991' [Listen]
Metric Debuts Album via Synthetica Hide+Seek, Tickets On Sale Now For Fall Tour
THE MASTERSONS — BIRDS FLY SOUTH
