It's almost cliché, but after college I drove cross country with a few friends and, literally, filled out a Relix internship application in the parking lot before a Deer Creek Phish show. I sent it off at a local Kinkos and after some persistent nudging scored an interview that fall. I interned for Aeve Baldwin, who was the editor at that time, and after a few months that turned into a part time job at the magazine. I did pretty much every job under the editorial sun except—luckily for Relix—copy editing, including project coordinator, staff writer, Jambands.com contributing editor, staff [...]
ROCK & COUNTRY COLLIDE ON SHURMAN'S NEW ALBUM Still Waiting for the Sunset IN STORES JANUARY 26, 2010 There's a powerful sweet spot at the juncture where rock'n'roll and country intersect, giving the music that results a double-whammy that can't be denied. The Austin, Texas-based band Shurman hits that bulls-eye dead on packing a powerful punch of rock crunch, soulful grooves and deeply-rooted country twang. The songs breathe the truth of real life experiences and emotions, and reside within the common themes that are a part of everyone's lives. The foursome's [...]
Kirk Degiorgio's name is not synonymous with minimal techno. Over the course of his 18-year career you could count on your hands the number of releases that would even qualify as club-approved tackle. Degiorgio made his name with multi-hued Detroit-inspired techno and went on to produce soulful music in a variety of genres, but rarely touched on straightforward dance floor-ready tracks. Today we see Degiorgio taking a new path that embraces this side of techno, both in terms of production and DJing. Degiorgio rebooted his Applied Rhythm Technology (ART) label this year and is focused on creating full sounding techno [...]
Sometimes the connections linking different styles of the music are not obvious, other times the relationships are directly stated. "Work Song," a jazz classic by cornetist Nat Adderley with lyrics by Oscar Brown Jr., represents a conscious effort to acknowledge the debt modern jazz owes to an earlier form of music. The song is also a critique of the American system of injustice that prevailed during the first half of the 20th century. Just as there were differences from state to state and from time period to time period, these musical versions aurally illustrate diverse variations [...]
What happens when the rhythm section of a band grows up together and meets with a couple of guys who also grew up together and comprise the melody section? You get a band like Spring Tigers. Add in a pretty talented vocalist (and guitarist and soapbox preacher) and big things are bound to happen. While no one knows for sure why front man Kris Barratt can't go back home ("I can't tell you why, but I'll be kneecapped!") its good for all of us that he was forced to make friends in the Athens, GA music scene. [...]
What happens when the rhythm section of a band grows up together and meets with a couple of guys who also grew up together and comprise the melody section? You get a band like Spring Tigers. Add in a pretty talented vocalist (and guitarist and soapbox preacher) and big things are bound to happen. While no one knows for sure why front man Kris Barratt can't go back home ("I can't tell you why, but I'll be kneecapped!") its good for all of us that he was forced to make friends in the Athens, GA music scene. [...]
The Dutchess & The Duke make great albums (including this year's Sunset/Sunrise ) and as someone who just saw them for the first time recently, I can tell you they are a great live band as well. So in the spirit of you getting up and getting out to see them, I have tour dates, a lot of tour dates. And for those that don't know them, I have a song called "Hands." Check it out and see what you are missing. The Dutchess & The Duke - 2009 Tour Dates [...]
NYC producers/djs Cousin Cole and Pocketknife are responsible for something pretty unheard of... reworking folk & acoustic songs into bouncy gems that don't lose a single bit of the emotion of the originals, but amp it up through beautiful added percussion, handclaps and shuffles. You can buy it here , but they just made it freely streamable for everyone. Perfect to listen to as you watch the last few leaves fall, sigh... Tracklist: Iron & Wine "Each Coming Night (Pocketknife's Rooftop Telescope Remix)" Beirut "Scenic World (Pocketknife's [...]
Gr eets. Just three records this time, and a lot of back-fill. One of the records is on an archived previous post. So, you'll have to hit the link back to it to hear the audio and read the other Bo connection to it that I did not get into this time. I plan to cut off my detailed retrospective on the late Mr. Bocage's early career at 1966 or so. Other than the one Seven B issue this time, I won't be getting into that label or what lies beyond in the near future. [...]
I know many of you are way too young to remember the 1960's daytime Gothic Soap Opera Dark Shadows, but my friend David from River Road in Millington, NJ and I used to watch the thing with his older brother Joe. There was this game by Mattel called Creepy Crawlers that very famous in the mid 60's that allowed you to make rubbery monsters from a mold. My guess is that the game would never get by the child safety inspectors today, but back then it was very popular. Between that and The Munsters & The Adams Family, which were [...]
In the spirit of Halloween, the new video from Jookabox [ MySpace ] for Dead Zone Boys album cut "East Side Bangs/East Side Fade" is a George Romero-inspired, paranormal delight created by Sean McDonald and Matt C. Hale. It's also pretty great. After the jump, you can watch it, okay? Asthmatic Kitty Records will release Dead Zone Boys , the third full-length from Indianapolis quartet, JOOKABOX (formerly Grampall Jookabox) on November 3, 2009. [...]
Duke Spirit - Neptune: Wouldn't listen to again. Unless Travis Shettel (Piebald) has a more active role.
When I first started doing the obligatory year end list a couple of years ago, I made a decision to limit it to my favorite five albums from the previous twelve months. It was partly because I like the aesthetics of a top five, but mostly it was to keep the focus on albums that I really, truly loved. Like most music geeks, I listen to a lot of music during the course of a year, and while I may really like a lot of them, there are only a few albums that I truly connect with. That [...]
Here are the bands/musicians/groups performing on Late Night TV ( The Late Show with David Letterman , The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien , Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson , Jimmy Kimmel Live , and Last Call with Carson Daly ) this week. Monday (10/26) Letterman: Harper Simon Conan: Wolfmother Fallon: Har Mar Superstar [...]
This is where things get messy. The final day of CMJ falls on a weekend bringing more day parties than any other. A brief rundown of what I could find is below. AFTER THE JUMP DAY PARTY @ BROOKLYN BOWL: Bear in Heaven (7PM), Lovvers (6PM), Soft Black (5PM), Harlem (4PM), Surfer Blood (3PM), Grooms (2PM), Savior Adore (1PM) BROOKLYN VEGAN/BOWERY PRESENTS DAY PARTY @ PIANOS: The Wheel (5:30PM), Cymbals Eat Guitars (5PM), Dent May (4:45PM), Deastro (4:15PM), JBM (4PM), Still Life Still (3:30PM), Pete and the Pirates [...]
Dundalk's Spirit Store celebrates 10th Birthday October 29th The Spirit Store will host a special evening of music on Thursday 29th October featuring many musicians who have graced its stage over the decade since it first opened its doors and they're gonna party like it's 1999 . . . Looking at the list of acts who have played the venue through the years you might be mistaken in thinking you're looking at the list for a major Dublin venue – The Frames, The Four Of Us, Damien Rice, Bell X1, Snow Patrol, Declan [...]
No that´s not a new supergroup, it´s just French for odds and ends. Would make a good band name though... but anyway. Here´s a collection of assorted sounds that kept me busy over the last few weeks. Featuring amongst others the return of a former Joy Division and New Order stalwart, the post Pop Group postpunk-funk of Rip Rig & Panic, and some more happy Len. First up is Bernard Sumner´s new band, named after a pretty good movie starring Harvel Keitel. Got this one in the mail and didn´t expect a [...]
Duke Special , the charmingly dreadlocked Northern Irish act that I always confuse with the undreadlocked English act The Duke Spirit , have a free sampler available at their home page. It features 11 songs, which is a hell of a lot of quality music for free. Included in this collection are two collaborations with my indie-pop mancrush , Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy . The first has Duke Special and Neil trading vocals on the old English tune "Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes", which I featured as a Random [...]
Well it's that time of the decade again - eek! Ten years ago we were stocking up on tinned food and preparing for society to melt down after Y2K, as well as stocking up on champagne and party poppers ready for the party of the millennium. Sigh! Time, therefore, to take stock of the musical legacy of the decade. And thanks to blogs, filesharing, streaming, Youtube, the Hype Machine and specialist online radio stations, we've never had so much music at our fingertips before. So the job of distilling all these down to a small(ish) chart is by no means [...]
If I had to describe the latest Mittens on Strings release, Let's Go to Baba's , in only a single word, that word would be the following: familiar. For those who think such a common and dull description belies a lack of enthusiasm, think again. Baba's , as I'll call it for the remainder of this review, is awesomely familiar. The follow up to 2007s It Is Become Disaffect Toward the Present World, Look Up the Sky!! (what is it with these guys and their album titles?), Baba's would have fit in [...]
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
WKND PLYLST!! This has nothing to do with NEW MOON!
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
The Beach House Theory of 2k10.
