Adam is an unconventional love story about two strangers falling in love and experiencing some unique complications in their relationship. Written and directed by Max Mayer, Adam stars Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Peter Gallagher, and Amy Irving. Rose Byrne plays school teacher and aspiring writer Beth, who has just moved into a new apartment building. Beth soon finds herself drawn to an extremely intelligent, but socially awkward neighbor named Adam (Hugh Dancy). Both characters are lonely in their own way, and are struggling [...]
Harper Blynn - 25 Years (mp3) * Harper Blynn is scheduled to play with Wakey!Wakey! at Mercury Lounge later this month. This song is from their debut album Loneliest Generation , which is already available on Amazon digitally and will have a physical release in April. Buy @ Amazon *mp3 provided by & posted w/ permission of band's PR rep ****************************** ** Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - I Learned The Hard Way (click for download page) [...]
Anaïs Mitchell is already known as a gifted singer-songwriter, but now she has proved herself to be a brilliant poet and playwright with her new album Hadestown . This studio recording of Mitchell's "folk opera" will be released on March 9th by Righteous Babe Records, and features such well known guest vocalists as Ani Difranco, Greg Brown, Petra Haden, Bon Iver, and Ben Knox Milller of The Low Anthem . In Hadestown , Anaïs transforms the ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice into a post-apocalyptic American fable with Depression era style and indie-folk sensibility. This gorgeous, [...]
Juliana Hatfield will release her eleventh solo album Peace & Love on February 16th on her own label, Ye Olde Records. The singer-songwriter with the angelic voice produced and engineered the album herself, and also played every instrument heard on this stripped down, mostly acoustic project. Recorded on her brother's eight-track digital recorder, Juliana delves into the most intimate and sparse of acoustics for most of Peace & Love . Sometimes this approach works very well, other times it results in disappointment. The [...]
If you liked The Happy Hollows mp3s I posted last week , you'll want to enter this contest for a prize pack containing the band's CD, 73, sticker, and t-shirt. See contest details and download 2 mp3s below. The Prize: 1 U.S. Winner will receive : A copy of Spells on CD A Happy Hollows 73 Sticker and band t-shirt The Rules: Comment to [...]
Wakey!Wakey! - Twenty Two * Catchy new single by Wakey!Wakey! - better known as the new bartender on One Tree Hill . His sophomore album Almost Everything I Wish I'd Said the Last Time I will be released on February 2nd. Buy @ Amazon *mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of artist's PR rep **************************** Patrick & Eugene - Don't Stop (mp3) * Fun, brassy electro ditty by UK duo Patrick & Eugene. [...]
Evelyn Evelyn - Have You Seen My Sister Evelyn? (mp3) * Conjoined twin sisters Evelyn Evelyn originally recorded this song two years ago with Amanda Palmer and Jason Webley for the Elephant, Elephant EP . This newly recorded version is from Evelyn Evelyn's upcoming debut album. Pre-order @ Amazon (not yet available) Evelyn Evelyn MySpace *mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of band's PR rep ***************************** Barton Carroll - Shadowman (mp3) [...]
Corinne Bailey Rae's sophomore album The Sea was just released yesterday. Strangely, The Sea is being promoted and reviewed as a "raw, less manicured sound" than Rae's self-titled debut . Yet I feel the opposite is true. The languid, jazz-influenced intimacy of Corinne's debut has been replaced with a bigger, blander, much more polished sound. The Sea was one of my most anticipated releases of the new year, but has turned out to be my first big disappointment of 2010. [...]
Go Easy Little Doves is the sophomore album from Nashville singer-songwriter Brooke Waggoner. Brooke self-produced the album, which features twelve songs she wrote over the span of a decade. The lengthy creative time certainly paid off, resulting in an unusually beautiful artistic work. The album opens with two instrumentals - "Query" and "Ruminate" - before melting into the title track. "Go Easy Little Doves, I'll Be Fine" gracefully glides through gentle verses and a haunting string-accented chorus with echoing vocals. The song falls somewhere between [...]
West Virginia Symphony Orchestra's "Classical Majesty" concert was held at The Clay Center's Maier Foundation Performance Hall this past weekend and featured guest violinist Corey Cerovsek. Maestro Grant Cooper led his orchestra through performances of Ralph Vaughan Williams' "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis," Mozart's "Violin Concerto No. 5, K. 219," and Antonín Dvořák's "Symphony No. 8 in G, Op. 88." The "Classical Majesty" theme centered on musical architecture, focusing on pieces structured around classical principles. Each of the compositions also had some kind of connection to the past, whether it be the influence of [...]
Her Name Is Calla - Long Grass (mp3) * It amazes me that the most talented bands send the most polite, humble little emails asking that I listen to their music. This atmospheric, somber ballad is from Her Name Is Calla's upcoming full-length album The Quiet Lamb , set for release sometime this Spring. The delicate folk instrumentation is particularly haunting. Pre-order @ Amazon (not yet available) Her Name Is Calla MySpace ******************* The Happy Hollows - [...]
I'm excited to learn that The Watson Twins are scheduled to play at Mountain Stage next month. To celebrate, Muruch and Vanguard Records are giving away 3 copies of the band's new CD Talking to You, Talking to Me . I first posted their "U N Me" mp3 last year , and the rest of the album is just as good. See contest details and download two mp3s from the album below. The Prize : 3 U.S. winners [...]
Daphne Willis' debut album What To Say will be released by Vanguard Records on February 9th. Daphne is a twenty-two year old singer-songwriter from Chicago. Her soulful voice calls to mind Corinne Bailey Rae, but her blend of organic acoustics and gritty guitar riffs is something else entirely. "Everybody Else" opens with a funky mix of soul and rock reminiscent of Nikka Costa or Joss Stone. The ballad "Bluff" eases back into a softer pop sound, and songs like "Far Away" and "Love and Hate" fall [...]
In The Indigo is the debut album by jazz singer Nancy Harms. The Minnesota native has been singing since the age of four, but she was not exposed to jazz until her college years. Her delayed jazz education did nothing to hinder her ability to croon like the classic jazz divas. Her voice falls somewhere between the smooth quality of Jane Monheit and the interesting inflection of Madeleine Peyroux. In The Indigo features a selection of originals and a wide variety of covers. Nancy [...]
Dean & Britta - Making Me Smile (mp3) * I don't know if "indie-lullaby" was an official sub-genre before, but it certainly is now. This sweet song is from the upcoming charity compilation Sing Me To Sleep , which benefits the children's charity The Valerie Fund. The album features lullabies and covers by Stars, Laura Gibson, Trespassers William, O+S, Tanya Donelly, Telekinesis, The Real Tuesday Weld, Julie Peel, and Sigur Rós among others. It will be released by American Laundromat Records on May 18. Pre-order @ Label Site [...]
White Hinterland - Icarus (mp3) * New song from Casey Dienel 's band White Hinterland . Their Kairos album will be released on March 9th. *mp3 hosted by & posted w/ permission of label White Hinterland MySpace **************************** Seabear - Lion Face Boy (mp3) * Seabear is one of the few bands that fall into the popular indie/blog hype category that I actually like. I reviewed their debut 3 years ago . This song, like [...]
I think my rave review of Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show debut explained my love for Coco enough for you to understand my disappointment over NBC's decision to replace him with a dinosaur devoid of humor. NBC had a great late night pairing with Conan followed by the new Jimmy Fallon Show (it doesn't get much better than The Roots), and I'm sorry to see them mess it up with such a huge step backwards. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, NBC has announced that it [...]
Eric Bibb's new album Booker's Guitar , a tribute to Delta blues guitarist Booker White, will be released on January 26th. I was privileged enough to hear a small preview of Bibb's new disc when I saw him play at Mountain Stage last year, and I'm happy to say the album lives up to that performance. The title track softly opens Booker's Guitar with the true story of how a fan brought Bibb a vintage steel-body guitar that once belonged to legendary bluesman [...]
Look at the Birdie is a new, posthumously published collection of short stories by late, great author Kurt Vonnegut . I always feel it's a little disrespectful for works to be published without the permission of their authors after their deaths, but I couldn't resist reading new material from my favorite author of all time. And if ever a work called for an unauthorized release, it's this one. Kurt Vonnegut's genius continues to astound me. His seem to be the only books whose endings I can [...]
The Good Fairy is a fantastic classic film that starred Margaret Sullavan and Frank Morgan of The Shop Around The Corner . Margaret Sullavan seems to have been the Amy Adams of her day - a vivacious, adorable actress who infused an innocent, childlike charm into each of her characters. In The Good Fairy , Sullavan plays an orphan named Luisa who struggles to make it on her own in the big city. Poor but optimistic, Luisa grows into a somewhat materialistic gal who fends [...]
New Releases V2.9
2010 Bonnaroo Artists Unveiled
Remix Review
New Nas & Armand Van Helden
