Archive for October, 2009

Listing the Best Albums of 2009 from A to Z: Bat for Lashes

October 31st, 2009

Posted in Best of 2009

Released April 6th on Astralwerks (US) and Parlophone (UK)

“Whenever I’m writing music it’s a very visual place in my mind” – Natasha Khan

I can’t remember what music blog I discovered this band on, but all I know is that I liked their name and couldn’t wait to hear them. As it turns out, it’s not exactly a band per se. Bat For Lashes is the moniker in which British singer/songwriter Natasha Khan goes by. She sings, plays piano, guitar, the harpsichord and autoharp. She took an interest in music after her professional squash (racquetball) playing father abandoned her family. She was also a victim of racism while a young child in school, and would often skip classes to stay home and listen to Nirvana all day. During her teen years, she toured the United States and Mexico with her boyfriend, before going back to Britain to attend the University of Brighton, where she studied music and visual arts.

She began writing her first album, Fur And Gold, when she was working as a nursery school teacher. The album peaked at #48 on the UK Album charts and was nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2007. The album produced four singles; “The Wizard”, “Trophy”, “What’s A Girl To Do?” and “Prescilla.” In 2007, she went out on her first US tour, featuring a performance at Austin’s South by Southwest Music Festival, as well as a performance at the largest music festival in the world, England’s Glastonbury Festival. She also received two BRIT nominations in 2008 for Best Breakthrough Artist and Best Female.

For her second album, Two Suns, she visited California’s Joshua Tree Desert for inspiration, before going to New York where she was influenced by bands like TV on the Radio, MGMT and Gang Gang Dance. The album is a concept album, telling stories about her desert-born alter ego, Pearl. This album was also nominated for the Mercury Prize, and also peaked on the UK charts at #5. The critical response has been quite favorable thus far, and has produced three singles already. The first single, “Daniel”, became a Top 40 hit.

She has an ever-revolving cast of musicians playing with her live; the latest lineup features English singer/songwriter’s Ben Christophers and Charlotte Hatherley and Sarah Jones (drums) of the New Young Pony Club.

I had never listened to them until I heard this album (Two Suns), and I have to say that I was extremely pleased. For the most part, the album is smothered with electro/synth/dance grooves, but even though that is the overall feel of the album (and each track is more solid than the next), each track feels different and stands out with the addition of a few instruments here and there. Erratic drum behaviors, faint harp strings, gentle piano notes, a little bit of organ and shaky tambourines add all that is necessary to seperate these eleven tracks from one another. But perhaps the loveliest thing you’ll hear on this album are Natasha’s beautiful, haunting vocals, which immediately brought to mind Caroline Polachek of Chairlift.

Other Artists I’d Recommend: Chairlift, My Brightest Diamond, St. Vincent, Kate Bush

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Listing the Best Albums of 2009 from A to Z: The Avett Brothers

October 30th, 2009

Posted in Best of 2009

The Avett Brothers
I And Love And You

Released September 29th on American Recordings

This band grew from a side project consisting of brothers Seth and Scott Avett, of the rock band, Nemo. During Nemo’s downtime, Scott began experimenting with acoustic music, thus launching what was known as the Back Porch Project, or Nemo Downstairs. It first started off with some friends of Scott, with his brother joining in soon after. They later brought in upright-bass player, Bob Crawford, of the Memphis Quick 50, and the rest was history. The Avett Brothers are often joined by a full backing band in the studio and on the road, which includes cellist Joe Kwon.

They combine many styles of music like bluegrass, country, folk, pop, punk and ragtime, which has often been referred to as “indie roots”, “folk-punk” or “grungegrass.” The San Francisco Chronicle describes their sound as “the heavy sadness of Townes Van Zandt, the light pop concision of Buddy Holly, the tuneful jangle of the Beatles and the raw energy of the Ramones.” They’re typically viewed as a “live band”, with their soulful three-part harmonies, intense energy and Southern rock feel.

Although they’ve only been playing for about nine years, they have quite a bit in their discography. Thirteen releases in all, which also includes two live albums and an EP, while their last three releases have made the US charts. They’ve worked and toured alongside several other artists like the Dave Matthews Band, Widespread Panic, Wilco and My Morning Jacket, as well as having some television appearances on David Letterman and Craig Ferguson, and a song featured in the television series Friday Night Lights. They’ve also hit the festival circuit heavy the past few years, with appearances at Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, Newport Folk, South by Southwest, MerleFest and Forecastle. In 2007, they won a couple of awards like the Americana Music Association’s Group of the Year and New Emerging Artist of the Year.

Their latest release is entitled, I and Love and You, which peaked at #16 on the Billboard charts. I was really quite surprised with the sounds I was hearing the first time I listened to this album. I think I went in expecting more of an old-timey bluegrass sound, and not as much piano-driven, drum pounding, pop-rock. Most of the songs on this album follow pop-rock song structures and sounds, while there is really only just one that really shows that old-timey feel I was expecting (“January Wedding”). Even with the use all those old-timey Americana and bluegrass instruments (acoustic guitar, banjo, violin), they manage to create a sound that can bring together fans of many styles of music.

Most of the songs seem to be driven by the piano and drums (“I and Love and You”, “And It Spread”, “It Goes On and On”), which is perhaps the biggest shocker I think, but all of these styles mashed together works too incredibly well, there’s just not a song on this album that isn’t solid. I was expecting to get a lot more in the vocal harmonies department, as there are only a few tracks on here that really represent that well (“Ten Thousand Words”, “Laundry Room”, “Ill With Want”). There are even a couple heavier songs on the album, like “Slight Figure of Speech”, and a Bowie-like influenced “Kick Drum Heart.” At times throughout listening to this record, I often pictured this is what it might be like had Ben Folds (minus the quirkiness) teamed up with someone like Old Crow Medicine Show or Yonder Mountain String Band.

This album is already a lock for my twenty best of the year, but should it happen to creep into my top ten, I wouldn’t be surprised at all. Have a listen to the title track below, a song which sounds like a single, a song that starts the album off strong.

The Avett Brothers, “I and Love and You”

Other Artists I’d Recommend: Old Crow Medicine Show, Langhorne Slim, The Everybodyfields

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RIP Taylor Mitchell

October 29th, 2009

Posted in Uncategorized

Sad news out of Ontario, Canada. Up-and-coming singer/songwriter, Taylor Mitchell, was mauled to death by two coyotes while hiking alone in Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia. She was airlifted to a Halifax hospital in critical condition, but died on Wednesday morning. She turned nineteen years old just two months ago. God rest your soul. For more on this story, click here.

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Festival Rumors Already?!

October 28th, 2009

Posted in music festivals

Seriously? Well I guess it is about that time of year again. The time when music fans are starting to get antsy about wanting to know who will be playing their favorite festival in 2010. For those of you who don’t know, think of festival rumors as the placement of teams in March Madness, assuming you’re a college basketball fan. Or you can think of it as matchups in the NFL Playoffs. Or the NFL Draft for that matter. Get it? Got it? Good.

Here in the United States, we’ve only seen one group of rumors so far. It’s for one of the first ”big” festivals of the year (Coachella), which is typically held in the middle of April in the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California. Among the list of rumors, are Thom Yorke (of Radiohead, as if you didn’t know who he was), the reunited Pavement (hey it could happen…Coachella has a history of bringing in reunited bands, and Pavement has already confirmed a reunion for next year), Jack White (in some form), The Stooges and Faith No More. Others rumors (but bands you may not know) include Imogen Heap, Tegan & Sara, Pretty Lights, The Raveonettes, The Avett Brothers, Spacemen 3 and Craze & Klever.

Across the ocean, at what is undoubtedly the world’s largest music festival, Glastonbury, we’ve got rumors of The Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Radiohead, Bon Jovi, Dolly Parton, Pavement, Fatboy Slim and Muse.

There is some good news however…some truth. It involves some of the acts already scheduled to perform at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in March. They include a bunch of smaller bands that even I’ve never heard of, but some I know: Ted Leo & the Pharamcists, Midlake, Headlights, Film School, Jukebox the Ghost, Cale Parks, Japandroids and Obits.

Ted Leo, “Bottled and Corked (Live in San Francisco)”

Headlights, “Making Plans for Nigel (XTC cover)”

Film School, “Lectric”

Jukebox the Ghost, “Good Day”

Cale Parks, “Every Week Ends”

Obits, “Two-Headed Coin”

To stay on top of all the festival rumors and confirmations, check out a music blog with the best festival coverage, Consequence of Sound.

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Listing the Best Albums of 2009 from A to Z: Antony and the Johnsons

October 28th, 2009

Posted in Best of 2009

Antony and the Johnsons
The Crying Light

Released January 19th on Secretly Canadian Records

Antony Hegarty is an English-born singer/songwriter, composer and visual artist, who as a teenager was influenced by British synth pop, Boy George, Otis Redding and Nina Simone, among many others. At the age of six, he moved to Amsterdam with his family, and then to San Francisco in 1981. In 1990, he moved to New York to attend New York University, where he founded the drag theater/performance art collective, Blacklips, with Johanna Constantine.

The birth of his backing band the Johnsons, came in 1997, featuring a group of musicians he had scouted to work on an album. They began playing more frequently a couple years later, at esteemed venues such as the Knitting Factory and Joe’s Pub in New York City. Current 93’s David Tibet, an experimental British musician, had heard the recording (which would become the self-titled debut album) and offered to release it on his Durtro record label. The follow-up album, I Am A Bird Now, features guest appearances from Lou Reed, Boy George, Rufus Wainwright and Devendra Banhart. The album was received very well, earning UK’s prestigious Mercury Prize, as well as being named Album of the Year by Mojo Magazine.

Aside from working with the Johnsons, Antony has also worked with a number of other groups, including Hercules and Love Affair, Lou Reed, Sharon Jones, Bjork, and even Yoko Ono.

The third full-length, The Crying Light, which was released earlier this year, peaked at #1 on the European Billboard charts.

This album’s been on my iPod nearly all year, but it wasn’t until recently that I really gave this album a listen. I wish I would have given it a chance a long time ago, because I was completely stunned after making it through the first listen. It’s quickly climbing up the ranks on my best of the year list, and I now understand why nearly every other music blog and magazine out there have been listing it as one of the year’s best for several months. You better believe you’ll be seeing this album on every list at the end of the year, as well as mine.

Antony and the Johnsons, “Aeon”

Other Artists I’d Recommend: Rufus Wainwright, CocoRosie, My Brightest Diamond

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BRINK Showcase Performers Announced

October 28th, 2009

Posted in Concerts

The BRINK New Music Showcase, which is sponsored by the CEA’s, recently announced the list of performer’s for this year’s show. The event takes place this Saturday evening at the Southgate House (and yep, it’s a Halloween show, so wear your costumes!). Here’s who’s on the bill:

Baby Alpaca
Charlie Hustle
Come On Caboose
The Damn Thing
Darlene
Enlou
Kry Kids
Shiny and the Spoon
State Song

The event takes place on all three stages (ballroom, parlour, lounge), but the schedule has yet to be determined. Doors are at 8 pm, the show is at 9 pm. $5 for 21+, $8 for 18-20.

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Listing the Best Albums 2009 from A to Z: Animal Collective

October 27th, 2009

Posted in Best of 2009

Animal Collective
Merriweather Post Pavilion

Released January 6th on Domino

Animal Collective is an experimental/psychedelic, indie-rock band based out of New York, by way of Baltimore. The band starts with childhood friends, Noah Lennox and Josh Dibb, otherwise known by their music names as Panda Bear and Deakin. Deakin later started a band called Automine with two other guys who would later join AC, David Portner (Avey Tare) and Brian Weitz (Geologist). Panda Bear and Deakin would later go off to Boston for college, while Avey Tare and Geologist headed for New York City. All four members play multiple instruments in the band, with heavy focus being on electronics, samples, keys and percussion.

In just nine years, AC has written a lot of material, including eight studio albums and three EPs, as well as seven singles and two live albums. The members of the band have also taken on solo projects, as well as working with various other projects, the most noteworthy and successful of the four being the solo career of Panda Bear. As for AC, it was their 2007 album, Strawberry Jam, that began to develop a particular sound, leaving critics both impressed and speechless, to say the least. The album debuted and finished the year at #72 on the Billboard 200.

The follow-up disc that was released earlier this year, Merriweather Post Pavilion (named after the music venue in Maryland), has been even more well-received than the last, reaching #13 on the Billboard 200, #2 on the U.S. Independent Albums list and #26 on the U.K. Albums chart. The album has produced three singles thus far, “My Girls”, “Summertime Clothes” and “Brother Sport.” Have a listen below to one of those singles, and my favorite track of the album, “Lion in a Coma.”

Animal Collective, “Summertime Clothes”

Animal Collective, “Lion in a Coma”

Other Artists I’d Recommend: Panda Bear, Deerhunter, Black Moth Super Rainbow

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Listing the Best Albums of 2009 from A to Z: Andrew Bird

October 27th, 2009

Posted in Best of 2009

Andrew Bird
Noble Beast

Released January 20th on Fat Possum Records

Andrew Bird was brought up in the Suzuki method of music learning from the age of four. This method basically involves two things: learning music by ear, and learning an instrument (typically the violin) in small steps at a young age. Bird also attended Northwestern University, where he graduated in 1996 with a bachelor’s in violin performance. Not only is he known for his mastery of the violin, but also instruments like guitar, mandolin and glockenspiel, as well as his ability to whistle and use of live looping.

He has released a number of solo albums, as well as having performed with a backing band called Bowl of Fire, and working with a number of other bands and artists like the Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Verve Pipe, My Morning Jacket, Charlie Louvin and Ani DiFranco, among many others.

His most recent effort, Noble Beast, is his best-received work to date, earning rave reviews from critics everywhere, including Rolling Stone, Paste, Spin, Pitchfork and the L.A. Times. I’m not putting this album on my “Best of 2009″ list because everyone else is putting it on theirs (and it will land near the top of everyone’s list for “Album of the Year”; I’m putting it on mine because it truly is a masterpiece. I’d hate to give away what my Top 10 list will include for albums of the year, but you can bet this album will be on that list. I just won’t tell you what spot I’m giving it.

If you’re not familiar with Andrew Bird, please give the track below a listen (as well as the entire album, which you can sample on websites like NPR and Amazon.com). I hope you love this album as much as I do, and urge you to take a look into getting one of the best albums of the year. Enjoy my favorite track from the disc below!

Andrew Bird, “Masterswarm”

Other Artists I’d Recommend: The Decemberists, M. Ward, Sufjan Stevens

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Gettin’ Colder in the Midwest, Stayin’ Hot in the South

October 26th, 2009

Posted in music festivals

The weather’s been pretty nice the past few days here in Cincinnati, but that doesn’t mean it’s good enough for outdoor music, at least around these parts. If you can afford to do so, you should head south during the late fall. Here are some pretty big and good festies you’ll find in Florida, New Orleans and Austin, Texas.

The Fest
Gainesville, FL
October 30-November 1

Performances by Less Than Jake, The Virgins, Russian Circles, Dillinger Four, Japanther, So Many Dynamos, Look Mexico, locals The Dopamines and many, many more!

So Many Dynamos, “New Bones”

Look Mexico, “You’re Not Afraid of the Dark Are You?”

Voodoo Music Experience
New Orleans, LA
October 30-November 1

Performances by KISS, Jane’s Addiction, Lenny Kravitz, The Flaming Lips, Widespread Panic, George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, Eminem and D12, Wolfmother, Meat Puppets, The Black Keys, Squirrel Nut Zippers, The Drive-By Truckers, Ween, Justice, Gogol Bordello, Street Sweeper Social Club, Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Alejandro Escovedo, Mates of State, Mute Math, Brand New, Down, Black Lips, The Cool Kids and many, many more!

Gogol Bordello, “Wanderlust King (BBC session)”

Mates of State, “My Only Offer”

Black Lips, “Short Fuse”

Fun Fun Fun Fest
Austin, TX
November 7-8

Performances by The Jesus Lizard, Face to Face, GZA, of Montreal, Yeasayer, Crystal Castles, Dead Confederate, Lucero, No Age, The Cool Kids, The Sword, Les Savy Fav, Ratatat, Royal Bangs, Russian Circles, King Khan and the BBQ Show, Shearwater, Why?, Fuck Buttons and many, many more!

of Montreal, “Brush Brush Brush”

Dead Confederate, “The Rat”

King Khan and the BBQ Show, “Invisible Girl”

Bear Creek Music and Arts Festival
Live Oak, FL
November 13-15

Performances by Galactic, Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, the Benevento/Russo Duo, Hill Country Revue, The Slip, Toubab Krewe, Steve Kimock’s Crazy Engine, Porter, Batiste and Stoltz, The New Mastersounds, Perpetual Groove, The Heavy Pets, Brock Butler and many, many more!

Hill Country Revue, “Bo Diddley (live)”

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