Fare for your fantastic Friday: ► Lucinda Williams returns for a show at UCLA's Royce Hall behind her acclaimed release "Blessed." Blake Mills opens. ► Cambodian psych-rockers Dengue Fever join Secret Chiefs 3 for a concert at the El Rey Theatre. ► It's one more local show for Wilco , this one at the Los Angeles Theatre ► Vicky Cryer , the latest project from Louis XIV's Jason Hill [ see our post from last July ], headlines the Troubadour, with LP supporting. ► And a [...]
William James McCauley III — who makes music under the much less lawyerly name Bleu — fashions some of the most irresistible pure pop in these parts. (And in other parts too, since Bleu was just named "Best Boston Artist That Doesn't Live in Boston.") His 2010 release "Four" was financed by a Kickstarter campaign, and his benefactors had to be happy with what they got: big hooks, oozing melodies and keen romanticism. Director David J. Dowling's video for the swoon-worthy track "How Blue" features actor Justin Kirk ("Weeds," "Angels in America" and "Modern Family"), who [...]
Weeds actor Justin Kirk sprouts the beginnings of some fab Bleu muttonchops in this rather eerie video for "How Blue" (from the album Four ). Just who is this guy anyway -- and why is he here? Bleu, meanwhile, croons in his best Lennon-ish falsetto through the dark, retro-fitted and beautifully orchestrated ballad. David J. Dowling directed.
D'un point de vue interne, l'activité d'Emmanunel Vion-Dury pourrait se résumer à ceci : produire ou mourir... Noir Prod est né de la frustration de cher Bordelais à la rupture au tout mercantile. Un rêve de gosse où la musique aurait encore un sens, et modulerait nos songes, bon gré, mal gré. Un fantasme qui tiendrait de l'utopie selon certains. Et pourtant ! Si l'entreprise n'était certes pas évidente, elle a le mérite de mettre ses détracteurs au pied du mur. Voici les réponses à nos questions d'un des derniers artisans musicaux de ce nouveau siècle. [...]
On Saturday I heard a report about the 10 billionth download from Apple's iTunes. It mentioned that the person doing the download would be rewarded with a $10,000 iTunes Gift Card. I figured I could be the one so off to the app store I headed. I like a lot of the camera and video apps so I stumbled upon 8mm . 8mm lets you shoot clips with a handful of vintage filters — 70s, Sakura, XPro, Siena, and 1920 — similar to the way Hipstamatic does all for $1.99. This [...]
Taylor Locke has all the makings of a pop star. He has the comportment of a rock frontman, the requisite guitar licks and a boyish tenor that sounds oh so earnest when he belts out all those songs about girls. He has apprenticed as guitarist in the L.A. quintet Rooney . And suddenly, about two years after his songwriting collaboration with Chris Price spawned Taylor Locke & the Roughs , he has a two-album catalog. With "Grain & Grape," released last March, and "Marathon" only seven months later, Locke's new quartet embraces the sharp, melody-rich pop [...]
The singer/songwriter's fourth disc provides an object lesson in pop will.
[Birthday greetings go out today to Portishead's Geoff Barrow ...] Tonight's top 3 ways to get an earful: ► The Satellite (f/k/a Spaceland) will be decked out in black light and ready for an alien invasion to welcome the L.A. debut of Epic Ruins , the stoner rock project of L.A.-based drummer Jordan Richardson and his friends from Texas [see last week's item ]. They will be joined by the Happy Hollows and Computer Jay . ► Vintage rock 'n' [...]
Disclaimer: This is an UNOFFICIAL flyer. Design by daNkideas.com with aide of publicly available Google Images. Flyer meant only to be used as an aesthetically pleasing interpretation of the event by daNkideas.com and for daNkideas.com visitors. Contact SirDankHimself AT gmail.com with concerns. daNkideas.com is proud to present you with an early opportunity at what is very possibly the single hottest ticket for a 2011 New Year's Eve bash in the country! You already know what it is. Miami Beach.Fontainebleau.Poolside.T iësto.New Year's Eve.2011. [...]
80 mins : 36 secs | 46.1 mb Kanye West "Power" ( roc-a-fella records ) My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy [ amazon ] website | myspace | facebook Childish Gambino "I'm On It" ( independent release ) Culdesac [ free download ] website | myspace | facebook Ice Cube "She Couldn't Make It On Her Own" ( lench mob [...]
The name William James McAuley III might not be a household name, and his musician moniker of Bleu perhaps might not be much more known, but the indie poppers impressive resume of collaborators ( Mike Viola and Matt Mahaffey of Self , for instance). Well, impressive in the indie world, anyway! At any rate, Bleu will be hitting the road for a few tour dates over the next few months. The full list of shows (including a March 1 show at Joe's Pub in New York) is below. Bleu tour [...]
This is a live performance by Ruben Steavins, as Bleu , at Circa 92 . The opening track was released under the name Odyssey 2000 on the Exist Dance label. Bleu - Circa 92 download Tape Source: Tef Foo
Bleu makes the rollercoaster ride of the music business look easy. He's written worldwide megahits for The Jonas Brothers and Selena Gomez . He birthed a few records of his own, including the recent critical darling A Watched Pot , only to watch the label huff and spit and sputter around its release. Buy CDs, MP3s, more: Bleu on Amazon.com [...]
To make his fine new album Four , retro-rock singer/songwriter Bleu turned to his fans, raising $40,000 to record, master and release this week another installment of what we've called "big melodies strapped firmly to blustery and majestic pomp... sweetness along with a devastatingly accurate punch." The successor to 2009's frisky A Watched Pot , the slightly darker Four further expands the Bostonian's remarkable ability to channel Jeff Lynne, Lennon and McCartney and 10CC into a modern stew of grand, densely layered 70's-styled songs that recall an era when pop and rock could be [...]
Accomplished L.A. songsmith rocks soulful original pop Bleu (nee William James McAuley) is a Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter whose biggest commercial successes have come from album tracks placed with Disney stars Selena Gomez ("I Won't Apologize") and the Jonas Brothers("That's Just the Way We Roll"), singer/One Tree Hill television star Kate Voegele ("Say Anything"), and indie-rock and pop acts Boys Like Girls, Jon McLaughlin and Ace Enders. It's a resume that prepares listeners for the craft he puts into the details of his songs, but not the soulfulness he puts into his own projects. [...]
The re-issues are where it's at this week...
Bleu McAuley had his first (and only) brush with the mainstream back in 2003, when his shifty ode to insecurity, "Somebody Else," found its way onto the hugely popular soundtrack to the first Spider-Man movie. The tune was also on Bleu's second album, Redhead, a delectable slab of power-pop bombast and one of the most [...]
Technology, and therefore creativity, has finally caught up with Bleu . And it's at this juncture that the New England pop songwriter finds himself the happiest after a decade-plus of major label woes, independent releases and keeping his balance amid the ever-shifting industry tides. Born William James McAuley III, Bleu worked the indie circuit from his home base in Boston for years with EPs, compilations and one full-length ( Headroom ). Local music awards and an opening slot for Ben Folds led to a major label deal and Bleu's most well-known disc, 2003's Redhead , landing [...]
WORLD PREMIERE ... Red Hot & Unreleased Single FOUR is On The Way - In what we are calling one of the most anxiously awaited new albums of 2010, Bleu will release the new full-length Four [...]
My top 4 midweek outings: ☛ The Walkmen (joined by Japandroids ) headline the Music Box behind the release of their fifth album "Lisbon." ☛ AA Bondy , whose set was one of the highlights of the recent FYF Fest, plays Spaceland along with fellow folkie JBM . ☛ Power-pop Bleu (whose new album "Four" will be out in November) and Mike Viola perform at the Hotel Cafe. ☛ And there's an excellent lineup at the Bootleg Theater, where Washington, D.C.'s US Royalty [...]
Buzz Bands
Direct Current
HARTZINE
The Noise Room
Music @ Blogcritics.org
daNk Ideas
A Good Day For Airplay
The End Of Irony
simfonik
Band Weblogs
Hyperbolium
MAGNET
The Line Of Best Fit
the RSL weblog
Miike Snow – Paddling Out (Jacques Lu Cont Remix)
