For almost four years I've been looking forward anxiously to the Them Crooked Vultures record. The supergroup features Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss, Eagles of Death Metal), Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones (yes, that John Paul Jones). It's only the second time since the first Foo Fighters record that Grohl's back behind a drum kit (the first being back in 2001 for the amazing Songs For The Deaf by Homme's QOTSA). Finally here, the band is streaming their self titled debut in it's entirety prior to its release next Tuesday. Click below and enjoy [...]
34 year old drumming genius Jerry Fuchs fell to his death in Brooklyn Saturday night. Jerry was a beloved fixture of both the New York City and Athens, GA music scenes, drumming for LCD Soundsystem, !!!, Turing Machine, MSTRKRFT, The Juan MacLean and Maserati. Fuchs was on his way to a benefit for The Uniform Project, an organization that helps children in India's slums. He was apparently stuck in a broken freight elevator and attempted to leap to a fourth floor hallway when a piece of his clothing caught and swung him back into [...]
Some ghostly good tunes for you gallivanting ghouls... Bessie Smith - Haunted House Blues Bobby Picket - The Monster Mash Ryan Adams - Halloween (UK bonus track) The Pogues - Boys From the County Hell Volcano Suns - Descent into Hell Petra Haden - Thriller Dead Kennedys - Halloween Sonic Youth - Halloween [...]
I'm assuming this is the leaked version of We Were Once a Fairytale. Jonze is such a master I think I'll still plunk down the corn for the official version once it's out on iTunes. I'm still a bit dizzy from watching as I type. NOT for the faint of heart...
This is my favorite picture of Falcon Heene, mainly because it's one of the few where he looks like he has an idea of what a freakin' creep his father is. Anyway, amid the sheriff's press conferences implying the family's too poor to fine, youtube spoofs and the Halloween costumes , Huffington Post columnist David Wild has come up with something NHT can sink its teeth into: a balloon boy playlist . If & when NHT has the track we'll slip it in there. Suggestions welcome! In a week we'll revisit and maybe get the whole thing in [...]
The Mountain Goats - The Life Of The World To Come John Darnielle and Co. are still going strong after 17+ records. While biblical references have been a regular feature of Darnielle's work he takes it a step further on The Mountain Goats' latest where every track is named after a Bible verse. Don't worry though, this is no holier than thou preach and destroy mission but rather a study of the meaning of faith and how it can be used to weather the pressures and trials of modern life. What keeps this record interesting is [...]
It's Robert Mitchum's birthday today, a perfect excuse to indulge my predilection for cheese both edible and audible. While this collection of rum soaked self deprecation is more goofy fun than a stab at commercial success or artistic integrity Mitchum's no slouch in the vocal department. His own voice was used whenever a roll called for him to sing, including Rachel and the Stranger, River of No Return and The Night of the Hunter . He discovered the sultry tones of calypso while filming Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison on location in the Caribbean on the [...]
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are coming to The Fox Theater in Oakland to pump folks up about their latest record It's Blitz! on September 9th & 10th. I'm thinking it won't be too tough to get a ticket to such a big joint on a Wednesday or Thursday night but hey, no reason superfans shouldn't get tickets now before they go on sale to the general schlepulous Sunday. To that end the good Samaritans at Another Planet are providing a pre-sale for ya. The password is "yeah1053 (though I'm hearing that "foxy" will work too and that's a lot more [...]
Still a transcendent live experience after all these years, Sonic Youth rocked me OUT last night at the Independent in San Francisco to close out the first US leg of their current tour. At a capacity of under 500 folks the Independent is by far the smallest place they played around these parts since I had the pleasure of seeing them at the I-Beam back in July of 1986. That night 23 years ago saw the death of the Kent hollow body that they wrote "Kill Yr. Idols" on, its neck snapping in two in Lee Renaldo's hands. While nothing [...]
Fanfarlo's debut Reservoir has been in pretty heavy rotation here at NHT this last week. They're a six piece out of London with vocals reminiscent of Beirut's Zach Condo over bright, sprightly indie pop. To spread the word as far & wide as possible they're letting folks have it for the bargain basement price of a single US greenback. Go to their website or click on the cover above. But do it quick, this deal ends July 4. The download includes four bonus tracks not on the physical release. To help you [...]
Bummed I missed the Bat For Lashes show at the Great American Music Hall the other night. You just can't get to 'em all unfortunately. And judging by the snippets of live tracks she's streaming on her myspace page it was a magical night. I say snippets because the full versions are on the Pearl's Dream EP available on iTune's UK store (no word on whether or not the US store will have it). Here's the tracklist: - Pearl's Dream (album version) - Pearl's Dream (Cenzo Townshend [...]
Caught the second night of Neko Case's two night run at the at the Warfield a couple weeks ago. It was a fabulous evening with that big-as-a-house voice of hers in fine form and along with regular companion Kelly Hogan we were treated to some of the best between song banter in the business. Unfortunately the new material from Middle Cyclone was delivered with less enthusiasm then the older stuff she played. I couldn't help thinking a well placed cover would have livened things up a bit. To that end I threw together of couple of songs by other folks [...]
Just when you thought it was safe to get yer KAZA on... It's actually only $1.92 million but what difference can $80K make when you're busy rockin' out to Journey or Sheryl Crow? I must have been living under a rock or something but I thought the RIAA had backed away from this PR nightmare. Apparently they've stopped filing new suits but are still going after folks still in the litigation pipeline. From WIRED magazine: "A federal jury on Thursday found Jammie Thomas-Rasset liable in the nation's only Recording Industry Association of America file-sharing case to go to trial, dinging [...]
And it's free! The big question then is which Amoeba store. Well he's playing two actually, and we're not talkin' both Bay Area stores either. EC will do a set at the SF store at noon as well as signing copies of his new record, Secret, Profane & Sugarcane. After that he hops on a flight to LA and plays Amoeba Hollywood at 8 PM (his LA set will be streamed live on amoeba.com and the store's A.V. team will follow him around to document the Amoeba California tour, with both performances posted for viewing after the in-stores). [...]
New Orleans's Zydepunks finaly bring their punked up Cajun French Creole and Yiddish grooves back to the Bay Area for the first time in 3 years. Their last album, Finisterre, made NHT's Top 20 last year so you know I've been looking forward to this. Get out to see them at the Red Devil Lounge in San Francisco Friday or the Starry Plough in Berkeley on Saturday. I'm thinking that hearing these two tracks will convince you to join me in the City Friday night. Angel Whiskey [...]
NHT has already posted about Mermaid Avenue , the ESSENTIAL collaboration between Wilco and Billy Bragg. Now there's a new twist on an old theme: Wilco covering a song Woody Guthrie actually recorded. 100% of proceeds from suggested donations of $2 per download will go directly to the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives . Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter and head of the foundation, asked the band to record the perfect comment on these troubled times: The Jolly Banker Now since it's a benefit thing NHT [...]
BT was kind enough to stop by my show on KALX in Berkeley last week and get their peace & quiet on. You know I was stoked since their latest record was my number one for 2008 . We got three tunes peppered through some banter I'll try and get up as soon as I get it edited so I don't come off a dufus. Standing in the cramped air studio while they did "Sleepy Time..." a capella was just amazing. Check 'em out: Sleepy Time In The Western World [...]
Weed With Willie - Toby Keith
Leonard Cohen - Live In London Leonard Cohen's playing the Paramount Theater in Oakland tonight and I'm not there. So sad. Particularly after hearing this peice of stone f-ing genius! A terrible thing to say I'm glad Cohen's' business manager stole his entire life savings but if he hadn't LC wouldn't have embarked on his first tour in over 15 years and thus produce this AMAZING live record. Few would blame him for phoning this in but he delivers classic songs from throughout his 40 year career with a passion and bravura that's nothing short of [...]
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