Blog: The Red Radio

One of our favorite singers, songwriters and all around guys turns 50 today. Happy Birthday Michael Stipe . Thanks for decades of great music. Some of our all time favorite R.E.M. tracks: Driver 8 Gardening At Night Pretty Persuasion I'll Take The Rain Low Tongue The One I Love Crush With Eyeliner Finest Worksong Nightswimming Orange Crush

2009 was a wacky year for Moz , full of ups and downs, without a dull moment to spare. Despite a bottle to the head, a rush to the hospital, and a slew of canceled shows, Mozzer soldiered on through the release of his ninth studio album, a b-sides collection, and hitting the big 5-0. A recap, shall we? Years Of Refusal hit shops February 16th in the UK and the 17th here in the U.S. Fans spent [...]

Our favorite recent discovery has got to be the We Want War video from These New Puritans . The song itself is one of the most interesting creations we've heard in a long time. The video is pure art. Amazing cinematography, resulting in a beautifully shot world. The water scenes are stellar. Definitely worth a look and worth sticking through the 7:23 track. We've just purchased the single and are looking forward to the 10" vinyl release in January. Also due in January is the band's [...]

Our favorite records of 2009, in no particular order, and all for various reasons. A pretty great year in music overall. Editors In This Light And On This Evening Nitzer Ebb Industrial Complex Bat For Lashes [...]

Mr. Banks is shedding some light on the upcoming Interpol record. Banks spoke to BBC's 6Music, calling the new album "elegant orchestral". An excerpt: "Carlos [bassist] has gone to total new levels of crazy sophisticated orchestration," he said about work on the follow-up to 2007's Our Love To Admire . In between albums, Carlos Dengler has written film scores while Banks released a solo album as Julian Plenti. The band are currently in the studio, with a view to release a record [...]

We've been jumping around the country, switching up computers, and bouncing around all over the place. It's time to catch up a bit on what we've been missing in the music world. For one, Vampire Weekend will play an intimate (as they call it on their official site ) record release show on January 12th, release date for Contra . How awesome would it be if they were serving shots of Horchata ? Tix can be had here . Check the vid. for [...]

This post is really to show off this amazing Polaroid of Madonna taken back in 1983 by her original stylist, Maripol. Those of you who read this site know that we've got a thing for music photography and old (very old) school Madonna . This photo sums it up - early days, feeds our obsession with 1980's New York, and was taken at the infamous (and now sadly obsolete) Danceteria. Image source ( Madonna Scrapbook via Rolling Stone) I think we feel a iconic photo of the week [...]

The Church will release the Operetta Australian EP next week on the 15th. The tracks were recorded during the band's Untitled #23 sessions, but never included on the album. One of the four tracks, Particles Matters , is a 34 minute jam - damn. We really dig the cover art. Track list: Operetta Silhouette In Meltdown Moon Hangs In Black Particles Matter

We've been waiting and waiting on the U.S. dates for the Editors upcoming tour and they are finally here. Los Angeles, block out February 11th for the guys will once again rock The Wiltern. The rest of the schedule plays out like this: Feb 05 || Seattle, WA || Showbox at the Market Feb 06 || Vancouver, BC || Commodore Ballroom Feb 08 || San Francisco, CA || The Warfield Theatre Feb 09 || San Diego, CA || House of Blues Feb 11 || [...]

Moz performed Don't Make Fun Of Daddy's Voice on Lopez Tonight this evening. Recording took place earlier this afternoon here in Los Angeles. We had an in and almost went, but the day job got in the way. Moz performs at the Gibson Amphitheater tomorrow night. He will close out the U.S. Swords Tour with a final show at the Ventura Theater on Friday. Monday night's [...]

Mr. Casablancas has caused quite the stir here in Los Angeles with his recent residency at the Palace Theatre downtown. We've yet to make it to one of the shows, but folks keep raving and raving about how great they are - the music, the backdrop visuals, the venue itself. Julian seems to be having such a good time in Los Angeles that he's been covering the old Randy Newman staple, I Love L.A. Have a look below, quite a good cover, actually. The last of [...]

OK, finally a Depeche Mode video for Sounds Of The Universe that actually features the band. Yes, we know they had a tiny cameo in Wrong , but that hardly counts. The pixelated effect on the band members reminds us of this place that used to be on Fisherman's Wharf in the Bay. You'd give them a photo and they would pixelate the image into glass. Kinda cool and a bit freaky, but the effect largely resembled Gahan , Gore and [...]

We are up late and tired and not enough words can express the greatness of Nitzer Ebb last night. We've been seeing these guys since the 80's and they are seriously better now then ever. Douglas and Bon were in sensational form. The set list contained the perfect mix of new (from the upcoming Industrial Complex album) to the classic - Murderous , Join In The Chant (of course), Lightning Man , [...]

F yeah is all we can say. Nitzer Ebb , one of our all time favorites, are set to play Los Angeles this eve at the Key Club. A few years ago, the very thought of Bon and Douglas playing together seemed about as likely as Morrissey and Marr reconciling on stage. That all changed when they guys reunited for a world tour in 2006. Tonight's show marks Nitzer Ebb's official live return to Los Angeles since September 12th, 2006, in which they played the Avalon. [...]

Can you handle it? Nitzer Ebb are about to descend upon Los Angeles. EBM madness in the house. One of our all time favorites. The track of all tracks:

Sondre Lerche stopped by one of our favorite sessions out there - NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series. Lerche played a three-song set in the middle of the music offices at NPR . The set included: Heartbeat Radio Good Luck Easy To Persuade We admit, seeing him do Heartbeat Radio acoustically with the backdrop of vinyl and CDs makes us love the song more and more. [...]

Editors guested on Belgium's De Laatste Show last week. There's a nice little chat with Tom Smith at the opening of the clip below, discussing the band's current album hitting number one in Belgium, the band's late 90's musical influences, and a few other tidbits. The chat is followed up by a beautiful, quiet acoustic take on Papillon - we love this stripped down, synthless version:

December 7th brings us the new double A-sided single from DM's Sounds Of The Universe . Hole To Feed and Fragile Tension will share the spotlight and follow in the footsteps of the previous Sounds Of The Universe singles, Wrong and Peace . Art is above - consistent with the Sounds design of course. [...]

Back in the late 80's we used to work in a surf shop up in the Bay Area. We had two TV's hanging over the cash register and used to play VHS tapes of videos we'd tape off of MTV and other local video shows. Deeper Shade Of Soul by Urban Dance Squad made it on every tape. Mini-dance parties would break out inside the shop and outside the front door. Lots of Cali kids grinding and rocking out to the beat. STILL a great little jam to this day. One [...]

If there's one thing we love just about as much as music, it's photography. Mix the two together, even better. Kevin Cummins , one of the greats, has a new book out documenting his amazing shots taken of of artists in the Manchester music scene. His work with The Smiths , and later with solo- Moz and solo- Marr , is now legendary. Anybody remember the infamous "tattoo" shot of Marr post - Smiths breakup outside the tattoo parlor? His new book, Looking For The Light In The Pouring [...]