
Silver Columns I am not sure if it is still hush as to who Silver Columns actually, in case it is let's just say that they're two well known faces from Fence Collective . More importantly what you need to know is that they sound amazing, imagine Jimmy Somerville fronting Hot Chip and you're half way there. Their debut single, 'Brow Beaten' is free to download over at the NME , while you can grab a copy of their remix of Peter, Bjorn & John's 'It Don't Move Me' from their [...]

The summer of 2003 was a hot one in eastern Washington, and my concrete bunker of an apartment contained the heat like no other. Granted, the above image wasn't shot by yours truly until 2004, but it sure seemed hot enough to ignite even the least combustible of items. I wrapped up my undergraduate that December, which was cold as Antarctica, and upon that milestone I moved to Seattle. It was a good year for the Northwest; many of my favorite albums came from Seattle labels like Sub Pop and Barsuk. As for the list, I've [...]
It would seem this generation now has its own version of The Wall , or least Fantasia! as the fantastical latest effort from The Decemberists , The Hazards of Love , now has a full-length visual companion. While this trailer suggests that the film doesn't seem to correspond to the sordid tale being told (something frontman Colin Meloy intimated would be the case with any such project when we talked to him last March), it does play off the vaguely psychedelic and pastoral British folk elements that underlie the music. Plus, it also [...]

It's pretty common knowledge that the only thing better than a new song by The Antlers is a cookies 'n' cream milkshake, and guess which one I'm going to write about today? (Hint: It's not the milkshake.) The Antlers recently went into the studio to record a brand new version of "Sylvia" from their album Hospice , which dropped earlier this year. The record is one of my favorites of 2009, so be sure to check it out if you haven't already. That said, non-fans probably won't get much out of the new [...]
Vertical Horizon spent the last ten years getting a first-class education in the vagaries of the music business. After releasing three DIY albums, they were snapped up by RCA for their multi-platinum breakthrough, Everything You Want , whose title track became a #1 hit. Label difficulties resulted in delays and a lack of support for their 2003 follow-up, Go , but Vertical Horizon has finally re-emerged, unveiling their first album in six years, Burning the Days . Having reached high enough on the music-biz ladder to touch the sun and get their fingers burned, they're back [...]

By Tom Huizenga Conductor Marin Alsop ( Tracey Brown ) Let's face it, the world of classical music is fairly far off the radar screen for most people in this country. Still, [...]

Peter Lanceley is a guest contributor who manages his own blog, This Music Wins , which you can visit to discover much more new music. click image to view artist in itunes Sounds like: Aphex Twin, Prefuse 73 What's so good? I always imagine artists in this kind of genre to lock themselves away alone for months when they are writing, [...]

Peter Lanceley is a guest contributor who manages his own blog, This Music Wins , which you can visit to discover much more new music. click image to view artist in itunes Sounds like: Aphex Twin, Prefuse 73 What's so good? I always imagine artists in this kind of genre to lock themselves away alone for months when they are writing, [...]

Peter Lanceley is a guest contributor who manages his own blog, This Music Wins , which you can visit to discover much more new music. click image to view artist in itunes Sounds like: Aphex Twin, Prefuse 73 What's so good? I always imagine artists in this kind of genre to lock themselves away alone for months when they are writing, [...]
PETER CASE ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, AT MCCABE'S GUITAR SHOP, 3101 PICO BLVD, SANTA MONICA. 8PM / $20 / ALL AGES. MCCABES.COM
This is from a 2007 release, Vanguard Visionaries, Peter Case. The album has ten songs, eight of which Case wrote. This one is a story. MP3 File yousendit

After spending several hours and TTC rides with my iPod revisiting literally hundreds of albums spawned from the decade that began at the turn of the century, I managed to whittle down a pretty extensive list to a mere 50 choices. These are not the best albums of the decade, these are simply the ones that have spent the most time in my headphones. And I rambled enough about that here , so let's just get on with the list: 50. Gold - Ryan Adams (2001) [...]

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 [...]

Not familiar with singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer extraordinaire Gurf Morlix ? Here are just a few bits of his resume: Plays the guitar, bass, mandolin, mandocello, dobro, pedal steel,lap steel, Weissenborn, banjo, harmonica, organ, and drums. Produced albums for Lucinda Williams, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Tom Russell, Butch Hancock, Ian "Mac" McLagan, Slaid Cleaves, The Pinedogs, The Setters, Robert Earle Keen, Mary Gauthier, Hot Club of Cowtown, and BettySoo among many, many others. Played on various recordings by Julie and Buddy Miller, Slaid Cleves, BettySoo, The Band of Heathens, Sam Baker, [...]

So many great choices for Thursday. You could start at Toad for the early part of the night and see uke master Melvern Taylor. Afterwards there are many venues that have great line-ups. Gordon Gano, yup the guy from the Violent Femmes, and his his new band is at the Middle East with Sidewalk Driver and Mascara. Also on Thursday there's the Lovewhip cd release at Church or go to TTs for John Powhida International Airport, Logan 5 and the Runners, Weisstronauts and Mercy James (great local line-up!). On Friday, I'll Be at Precinct to see My Own Worst Enemy, [...]
The daily mix: 1) John Prine: "There She Goes" 2) Eilen Jewell: "Walking Down the Line" 3) Vetiver: "Standin'" 4) Tommy Womack: "You Could Be at the Beach Now, Little Girl" 5) Eliza Gilkyson: "Wildewood Spring" 6) Stephen Stills: "Hollis Brown" 7) Slaid Cleaves: "Black T-shirt" 8) Ryan Adams: "Sylvia Plath" 9) Rodney Crowell: "I've Done Everything I Can" 10) Peter Case: "On the Way Downtown"

If you have not heard 'Young Folks' by Peter Bjorn and John , you must be living under a rock. And even if you don't know what I'm talking about, I'm sure you've heard it even if you didn't know whom it was by because 'Young Folks' was a top 20 hit on the UK singles chart 3 years ago. It begins with a snappy whistling intro that could be irritating I suppose if you're not into that sort of thing. Me? I love it - the song rates on my [...]

We need to talk about Fanfarlo . Seriously . Despite listening to this album almost nonstop for the last few months, you and I haven't yet delved into the full-scale conversation that their debut album Reservoir so clearly deserves. One of my favorite releases of 2009, this British/Swedish 6-piece has crafted a joyously shimmering album that arches and soars, and thumps compellingly through the speakers. Reservoir was recorded late last year at Peter Katis' Tarquin Studios (whose producer's hand [...]

[Hey, it's Sam Sparro's birthday on Saturday; shouldn't there be a dance party somewhere? Here's how the weekend shapes up ...] Today: Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas starts his monthlong Friday night residency at downtown's Palace Theatre to showcase the music from his solo debut "Phrazes for the Young." The synth-heavy material, with its big pop choruses, is a departure from the Strokes' garage-rock, but it sounded good at his warm-up show Monday night . Rainbow Arabia opens. ... It's the final night [...]