The Jayhawks are one of the most respected acts to come out of the early days of the alt-country movement. Led by Gary Louris and Mark Olson, The Jayhwaks won a legion of fans with their Byrds inspired jangle pop/country sound and their extremely tight vocal harmonies. The formula worked to perfection on three wonderful albums... 1989's Blue Earth , 1992's Hollywood Town Hall , and 1995's Tomorrow the Green Grass . Despite the band's success, founding member Olson left the group following the Tomorrow the Green Grass [...]
photos by Chris La Putt Spike Jonze @ MoMA Just got back from NYC. I made a special trip up to the Big Apple to check out "An Evening of Skate Videos" - an event held by Poprally in support of the Moma's exhibit honoring the work of Spike Jonze , co-owner of Girl Skateboards and director of "Video Days" (the epic Blind Skateboards video), and director of "Where the Wild Things Are." The panel included a who's [...]
All Work And No Play Makes Loft And Lost A Dull Boy All Work And No Play Makes Loft And Lost A Dull Boy All Work And No Play Makes Loft And Lost A Dull Boy All Work And No Play Makes Loft And Lost A Dull Boy So here we are again . Pretty much two weeks of constant work, with a special highlight of being called back into the office at 11pm and not leaving till nearly six hours later. Fun. Mind you, it's strange being in a [...]
Grant-Lee Phillips Little Moon Yep Roc Records [2009] Fire Note Says: Consistency is Phillips strength! Album Review: Grant-Lee Phillips has one of those voices that is instantly recognizable and regardless of a songs pace he always comes through with a smooth and controlled delivery that allows his recordings to just float. It is this ability that made Grant Lee Buffalo such a great band and it is what makes [...]
MP3: Sick Sick Birds - Your Machine from Heavy Manners 123 (2009) On a particularly idyllic and cool fall evening this week, I sat on the steps of Charm City Art Space with founding member Mike Riley ( the Spark , Pulling Teeth , Toxic Pop & Firestarter Records ) to reminisce and reflect on the past, [...]
Minnesota and its cities and towns may not get the musical props of a California or New York, but the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul have long and proud traditions popular music that date back to the early 1960s, when artists such as "Spider" John Koerner were the buzz in local coffee shops. Still home to many revered musicians who just never left the frozen north, I present 10 great artists from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. 1. Replacements The Replacements started as a sloppy punk band devoted to getting [...]
PICK OF THE WEEK Black Francis w/ Mere Mortals 2 Shows The Mint Tues 8/11 Wed 8/12 THIS WEEK'S GIVEAWAYS The Dan Band As seen in Old School & The Hangover Friday, August 14th Club Nokia Info [ ENTER TO WIN ] [...]
Given my non-linear view of world events, I would like to believe that the theory of punctuated equilibrium first occurred to Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould while out for a leisurely drive in Gould's beloved Corvair, listening to a Joe Henry mixtape lifted from Ernst Mayr's office. Might sound a little farfateched, but how else are we to connect the dots from the crooner of Shuffletown to the troubador of Kindness Of The World to the surrealist sage of Tiny Voices ? It's difficult to believe that, after [...]
Grant Hart , Mark Olson , Prince Rogers Nelson , and Paul Westerberg were all born within three and a half years of each other in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area. Hart, New York-born Bob Mould and Illinois-born Greg Norton stated the hardcore band Husker Du at about the same time as Westerberg and his Minneapolis-born friends Bobby and Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars formed The Replacements . The two bands even performed together and had somewhat of a healthy competition in the Minneapolis music scene. Although by the time that [...]
You'd think with a blatant Johnny Cash-referencing name like Mud, Blood & Beer (" kickin' and a-gouging' in the mud and the blood and the beer " - "A Boy Named Sue"), not to mention the longhorn skull on the album cover, that this New York band would fall easily into the alt country area of musical definitions (which is basically what I spent 3 years in the late 90's listening to exclusively). For the most part they do fit that profile - there are plenty of two-steppin' drum beats, the kind of guitar playing that sounds like [...]
Brittany Gray I got a taste of Wheat 's new material at SxSW in March at a performance that you couldn't call flawless - the complexities of trying to recreate the new material live with just a trio were evident and the new stuff didn't immediately file itself in the "win" column - but did nicely showcase the band's joie de vivre at simply making music. The actual new record, White Ink Black Ink , out next Tuesday, maintains that sense of joy but delivers the material [...]
Brittany Gray To call the Wheat story a long and winding one would be more than a little bit of understatement. I've made following the band something of a spectator sport over the years so when word came out that they band - whom you could never take for granted still existed let alone were working - had a new album coming out, a follow-up to 2007's tentative and uneven but wholly welcome Everyday I Said A Prayer For Kathy And Made A One Inch Square , I reached for [...]
The Kansas City Star interviews Neko Case about her songwriting process. The A.V. Club interviews Matt Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces . The Chicago Reader and Chicago Daily Herald preview this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival. This week's No Love for Ned streaming radio show features [...]
The Kansas City Star interviews Neko Case about her songwriting process. Salon interviews author Dave Eggers. The A.V. Club interviews Matt Friedberger of the Fiery Furnaces . The Chicago Reader and Chicago Daily Herald preview this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival. Today's KCRW Bookworm episode [...]
MySpace It seems a bit odd to be offering an "introduction" to a band that I, at least, have known for well over half a decade. I first caught them back in the Summer of 2003 in a random east end bar in their previous guise as Friday Morning's Regret and my old band also played a show with them in the Spring of 2004 and both times they impressed with their polished yet rough-hewn roots rock. It was with their 2007 record When Lost At Sea that they [...]
My friend Tony headed up to the Twin Cities to the Basilica Block Party for The Hold Steady. But to his surprise, he got a bit of a treat on Friday. The hometown boys, The Jayhawks, headline the main stage. Throughout the evening, I kept receiving texts telling me how great they sounded. The last text of the evening said..."Blue with a full choir....amazing." [...]
MySpace It seems a bit odd to be offering an "introduction" to a band that I, at least, have known for well over half a decade but aside from a live review in 2007 and come offhand mentions, I don't think I've ever really talked at length about Toronto outfit The Wooden Sky , and that's really a shame. I first caught them back in the Summer of 2003 in a random east end bar in their previous guise as Friday Morning's Regret and my old band also played a show with them in [...]
C'mon, you know EVP is not clever. If we're going to namedrop The Refreshments ' "Banditos" in another article, you can bet even money we're going to exploit it for The After Life. "Banditos" is the quintessential nerdy music of the 90s--the sort that broke the mold for the alternative scene. Granted, the case is made everywhere that if it weren't for Weezer, the nerd rock niche during the mid-90s would have been rather lifeless; probably just Pavement and even their accrued dork cool couldn't fill such an empty void. What The Refreshments do deserve [...]
Decider Austin interviews Spoon frontman Britt Daniel. Chicago Journal previews this year's Pitchfork Music Festival . A bittorrent of the Crystal Castles performance was added to the 2009 Bonnaroo show downloads page . Decider Twin Cities interviews Mark Olson about the Jayhawks reunion. [...]
Decider Austin interviews Spoon frontman Britt Daniel. The Guardian reports that Playboy has acquired serial rights to Vladimir Nabokov's unfinished novel, The Original of Laura . Chicago Journal previews this year's Pitchfork Music Festival . More "best music of 2009 (so far)" lists: Animal Noises Music Blog (top albums) Modern Fabulousity [...]
new music from vampire weekend – cousins + music video
No Curve Allowed (Grading This Week's New Tracks)
Beach House: Norway
Friday Five: Surf Songs
HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
