Jes is currently working on her new album 'Highglow' which is scheduled to release on March 15th 2010. The first single from this album will be released next month in Dec 09. JES: Singer, Songwriter, Producer, Artist and the reigning "Queen of Rocktronica"... With two 1 Billboard Dance Airplay songs under her belt, " Imagination ," and Motorcycle's " As The Rush Comes ," and being the only female artist chosen for the Coke WE8 project, this Dance Diva's track record has solidified her status and [...]
With the first steps into their building, I was immediately blown away by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music . The new campus on Oak Street is gorgeous, and I was lucky enough to attend their first annual Tuned In fundraiser. All groups performing during the evening had to have either a current conservatory student or an alumni in their membership. With those kind of credentials, I knew the caliber of talent was going to be high. Perhaps I'd encounter Yngwie Malmsteen's and Victor Wooten's [...]
I admit that for a time, I avoided The xx for fear of having another Black Kids on my hands; another blog fetishized quartet of mixed gender twentysomethings, with an ear towards danceability and an eye toward Beacon's Closet who ultimately failed to deliver in the sustainability department. Then, I pulled my head out of my ass. Maybe it speaks to the general cynicism I've developed about "it bands" three years deep with this site, but I've begun to empathize more and more with my friend Brett (who I'm still trying to convince to write an essay about [...]
HAPPY HOUR: SCREENING: THE BLACK DYNAMITE HAPPY HOUR San Francisco Countdown to the Midnight Premiere at The Castro Theatre SAN FRANCISCO Friday, November 20 7PM-11PM Dalva 3121 16th Street in the Mission 12:00AM Midnight SF Premiere of Black Dynamite Castro Theater 429 Castro Street SOUND & VISION Freddy Anzures (props/Wax Poetics) & Special Guests LISTEN UP 70s Funk, Soul and Jazz on the Blaxploitation tip / playing tracks from the Black Dynamite Score and [...]
Parts of this interview originally appeared in my Pop and Hiss article on Wale . More on Attention Deficit tomorrow, maybe. So judging from the title of Attention Deficit , its wide-ranging sound, and interviews that you've given, it seems like it's your commentary on the fragmented nature of the Internet world, with a million blogs, twitters, and dozens of mixtapes released daily, How hard is it for an artist to create something that has a life span longer than the next blog post? I think a [...]
     photo credit: Joe Fuda As Matthew of I(Heart)Music has done over the past four years, he's again polled a selection of Canadian music writers, journalists and bloggers for their top ten hottest Canadian bands / artists of the year . I've always been happy to participate and this year's not any different. In some ways, I'm behind the curve on some of the new artists that made the top 32 - bands like The Balconies , The Wooden Sky and Bruce Peninsula who I've [...]
I've been lucky enough to get to talk to Turlough Gunawardhana from the Chapters, who is having a very busy week this week promoting their excellent new single 'Moving' which was released over the weekend. Here he talks about making their album Perfect Stranger , supporting Neil Young, playing the o2 Blueroom, new single 'Moving', and headlining Dublin's Academy. Your debut single with 3u came out in April, and the album followed soon after, has everything seemed to happen together? Have you had time to look back on it and think how far you've come [...]
Sometime in 2005, not long before Hurricane Katrina came along and backhand-slapped our city to near-oblivion, my sister Asante asked me to make a mix CD for her. She wanted something inspirational without being pretentious; something optimistic, minus the naiveté. I put a mix together, called it Asante's Mix, gave it to her and forgot about it. A few months later, I was at her house and heard the CD playing. Ironically, it happened to be a time when I was in need of a little inspiration and optimism of my own. Surprised that I liked the tunes [...]
"If I still have a voice by the end of the night then this tour wasn't a success…" - Geoff Rickly This past Sunday night (Oct. 25), Thursday returned to New York's Bowery Ballroom to close out its fall headlining tour in support of the band's most recent full-length, Common Existence, and although the tour rolled through the same venue just one month prior (Sept. 20), the two shows could not have been more different. You see, the tour may have officially been in support of Common Existence [...]
Hailing from Russellville, AR— Deas Vail inks a deal with Mono vs Stereo, with one full length and two EP's already under their belt, the band gets set to release their sophomore full length album Birds & Cages at all digital outlets and available for purchase at all tour dates on October 27 with non-stop touring well into 2010. Currently you can find the band on the road with Mae and look for the band to kick into 2010 in high gear as they hit the road with Owl City [...]
It should be noted that the top viewed music video list seems to exclude partners like UMG. Black Eyed Peas - "Meet Me Halfway" Fucking hell. Why won't these pricks just fucking disappear? The end of the video inspired some optimism. 'Finally, they're leaving!!', I thought. But my hopes are dashed when they return to Earth. will.i.am says that this is the band's "arty" video but really it is arty in he same way that Transformers 2 is arty. I've done a bit of studying about [...]
Whitney Houston has been all across the news today. First she perform "Million Dollar Bill" for Italy's X-Factor. This time less crazily. Looking nice and smooth in a white dress and a black belt. Meanwhile, former husband and bandwagoner Bobby Brown is writing a biography of sorts to support his habit, probably. In it, he says that Whitney Houston is allegedly a lesbian. Yes, he does as far as saying his former wife of many years is a homosexual. That's fine. But, if he knew why was he still with her. What did she have to get a divorce from [...]
The Fire Wire is expanding into a new arena today…gaming. We will post interesting reviews, upcoming release announcements and other related news. Here is a review of the recently released game Brutal Legend written by our new gaming correspondent, Nick. Brutal Legend is the latest game from the mind of Tim Schafer (Double Fine Productions), the man behind such classic games as Day of the Tentacle, Full Throttle, Grim Fandango, and the critically acclaimed Psychonauts. In Brutal Legend, you play as Eddie Riggs, a roadie for the [...]
Chubby Fingers Productions is comprised of four members who DJ as well as produce. They are Booker, Jazz-e, BlaQwest & Lance. They live in the San Francisco Bay Area. Between the four of them they have over 50 years of experience as DJs. They are into all types of quality music including House, Electro and Hip Hop and they plan on producing just that...quality music. So expect big things in the near future from Chubby Fingers because they're up to no good! [...]
PHOTO CREDIT: Audrey Leon Portland-based soul punks The Gossip brought sexy back to the Metro stage on Friday night. Outfitted in a slinky, glittery black dress with neon red hair Gossip vocalist Beth Ditto captivated the near-capacity audience with her dynamic stage presence and powerhouse vocals. Ditto never once let up, jumping and screaming along to each pulsing dance beat. Her enthusiasm so infectious, those in attendance could not help but go completely wild. The Gossip began the night with "Dimestore Diamond" [...]
Jack Daniel, despite being dead, still gets to have a birthday. Or rather his "product", Jack Daniel's Tennesee Whiskey , does. That Jane Bradley went along to see Brett Anderson, Carl Barat and Jon McClure perform at a special bash t'other week, and this is what she thunkabourrit. The Jack Daniel's Birthday Set is an exclusive sort of affair. Tickets for it can't be bought; it's competitions winners and media only. There's only capacity for four hundred in the Village Underground vaults, so you'd assume some elitism about the kind of riff-riff they [...]
[ download ] Brooklyn record label Mexican Summer only releases music on limited edition vinyl and via digital download, but they have been gaining notoriety as of late for the high caliber of their curatorial work. With efforts by Kurt Vile , Pearl Harbor, Black Moth Super Rainbow , and Dungen under their belt, the label recently released the Life of Leisure EP by Washed Out . The alter ego of Georgia born Ernest Greene, Washed Out constructs songs which are blurry around the [...]
Sach O would have totally hit that back in the 60's. When it comes to pop music idolatry and indie cred name-dropping, composer Burt Bacharach, lyricist Hal David and singer Dionne Warwick are simultaneously too conservative and too radical to get theirs. They didn't rock the pop world like The Beatles, waste-away in an acid fueled nightmare like Brian Wilson or produce the Ramones at gunpoint like Phil Spector; so for second-generation flower children and fist-shaking punks, the trio weren't the first choice in the stylistic-revival lottery. Taken on their own terms however, the Bacharach/David/Warwick alliance [...]
Firstly, the important stuff: Altrok Radio is at http://www.altrokradio.com Please remember to tune in whenever you can - every hour you listen turns into more visibility for the station; we show up higher in search listings, and such like that. And if you'd like to help us keep the stream running, check out the advertisers if they appeal to you; your interest actually helps fund us. And in the interest of keeping you interested...well, you *do* know about our daily retro feature, right? No? Well... ALTROK'S DAILY RETRO [...]
By request, here is a transcript of an interview I did with Glenn Danzig in early 2007. It was for The Lost Tracks Of Danzig , a compilation I heartily recommend. Parts of this interview appeared in a feature in Unrestrained! #35. Of all the interviews I've done, Danzig's left the worst taste in my mouth. It came more from his tone than what he said; he was understandably quite jaded from having to do press. In hindsight, his belligerence is actually refreshing. Too many [...]
‘09 Been Kind
Vampire Weekend - Cousins
remixed: the beach boys, lady gaga, duck sauce, ellie goulding, shakira, la roux, madonna, & more!!!
