More Live Videos...

Here's a video of The Cult performing "Embers"...



And a video of Peter Bernhard from Devil Makes Three performing "Heaven".

New Cake

So Cake premiered a new song called "Sick of You" on Conan the other night. The song is actually pretty great...and I'm not even a big Cake fan. And I kinda love the "Daytripper" inspired guitar riff.

Girl in Coma and Under Covers

Girl in a Coma - a trio of girls hailing from San Antonio are surfacing with a couple of cover song projects. Signed to Joan Jett's Blackheart Records, Girl in a Coma contributed their somewhat haunting version of Elvis Presley's "Blue Christmas" to the label's holiday compilation A Blackheart Christmas (which features The Vacancies and of course, Joan Jett).

For a download of Girl in a Coma's rendition of "Blue Christmas" click here.

In other Girl in a Coma cover news, they have recently just released a full length of album of cover songs called Adventures in Coverland. Here the band takes on songs by artists as varied as Buffalo Springfield to Patsy Cline, and Joy Division to Selena.

Here's a video for Girl in a Coma's take on Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight"

Pas Chic Chic

Here is the latest release from Pas Chic Chic...an art rock supergroup that features members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Set Fire to Flames, and Fly Pan Am.

The new 12"/digital release features three new songs with all the lyrics written in French...“Allez Vous Faire Influencer”, “Premier Souffle”, and “Interlude”.

You can hear “Allez Vous Faire Influencer” here.

Little Dragon

Little Dragon is one of the most unique original groups out there right now - with a sound that infused melancholy pop, everything else, this group is positioned to be huge. And they were just the opening act on the most recent Gorillaz tour...need I say more? Validation and street cred has been effectively established.

Here's their video for "Blinking Pigs"


Anyway, next year they will be heading out on their own headlining tour which includes a whole bunch of U.S. dates, so get excited.

Tour Dates:
1/7 LOS ANGELES, CA @ LA Museum of Natural History
1/8 LOS ANGELES, CA @ Echoplex
1/10 PORTLAND, OR @ Doug Fir
1/11 VANCOUVER, BC @ Fortune
1/12 SEATTLE, WA @ Nectar Lounge
1/14 FARGO, ND @ The Aquarium
1/15 NORTHFIELD (MINNEAPOLIS), MN The Cave @ Carleton College
1/16 CHICAGO, IL Tomorrow Never Knows @ Lincoln Hall
1/17 TORONTO, ON Wrongbar
1/18 MONTREAL, PQ @ Il Motore
1/19 BOSTON, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
1/20 BROOKLYN, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
1/21 NEW YORK, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
1/22 WASHINGTON, DC @ Black Cat
1/23 PHILADELPHIA, PA @ Johnny Brendas
1/25 ATLANTA, GA @ Masquerade
1/26 ORLANDO, FL @ Backbooth
1/27 TAMPA, FL @ Crowbar
1/28 MIAMI, FL @ The Electric Pickle
1/29 Sundance SALT LAKE CITY, UT @ Urban Lounge
1/30 AUSTIN, TX @ Parish
2/2 RIVERSIDE, CA The Barn @ UC Riverside
2/3 SANTA CRUZ, CA @ Rio Theatre
2/4 SAN FRANCISCO, CA @ Independent

Gangrene

Gutter Water is the debut album from hip-hop duo Gangrene (a pairing comprised of rapper/dj's The Alchemist & Oh No).









Here's the video for their song "Take Drugs". It's really interesting, unique video...but rather disturbing in a lot of ways. Their publicist refers to it as "completely grotesque". You be the judge.

Jonquil - "One Hundred Suns"

One Hundred Suns the debut EP from Jonquil is not only refreshing but actually awe-inspiring. It feels like sensory overload - but it's not - or is it? I hear these songs. I taste these songs. I see these songs. I smell these songs. And ultimately, I feel these songs.

Hailing from Oxford, England - Jonquil was launched by three guys, Hugo Manuel, Sam Hudson Scott, and Robin McDiarmind from a bedroom floor. Self-described as Paul Simon's take on The Smiths - there's a safe emotional distance that Morrissey accomplished through his aching voice, that Jonquil captures with jangling guitars on a song like "It Never Rains". The difference is that The Smiths sounded like a late night cry - and like Paul Simon, Jonquil sounds like an early morning drive. Although I must admit, their naive optimism does almost come full circle and leave a ghostly echo in the back of your mind.

And to be perfectly honest, there has not been a sharper guitar riff this year, than the one on the intro to their first single "Get Up" (which you can download here, for free). The arrangements are lavish and sprawling - and yet ultimately minimal. They take a few instruments off the shelf and make them sound like the whole damn store. That alone is impressive.

Clearly Jonquil is a force to be reckoned with. This is a debut that feels like a continuation. It's like they're wrapping up some wonderful thought that they already shared with you - and yet you know they haven't...but they will. One Hundred Suns as a collection of songs literally will burst from your speakers and rain both joy and sadness on everything.







You can download "Fighting Smiles" here.

Go-Go Boots and DBT...

As we announced last week, Drive-by Truckers will be releasing their latest album Go-Go Boots in February, barely a year after the release of the immutable The Big To Do.

Since then the band has had their long time friend, photographer Jason Thrasher filming concerts, rehearsals, acoustic performances, and behind the scenes conversations with the band. These are being edited down into an internet docu-series also called "Go-Go Boots" - it will begin running in the end of December and they will put out new episodes regularly until the release of the new album.

Here is a preview of the series as frontman Patterson Hood discusses the idea behind the series itself, as well as the band's upcoming Record Store Day release, "The Thanksgiving Filter"/"Used to Be a Cop" 7 inch.



And while we're on the topic...here is also an acoustic performance of "The Thanksgiving Filter" from Patterson Hood.

Rival Schools is back!

In March the reunited Rival Schools will be releasing their first album in almost a decade. The band has just released a video for the first single off Pedals (out March 8th), the song is called "Shot After Shot".

The song is also available as a Deluxe Single available for download from iTunes.

Delicate Steve

If you haven't heard Delicate Steve yet...you're already missing out. There's something a little bit weird, a little bit transient, and just a little bit brilliant about this band. I can already smell the hipster love dripping from their jowls. The band is just now releasing their debut 7" with the instrumental track "Butterfly" as their debut album Wondervisions will be hitting shelves in February. On the b-side of "Butterfly is a cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross".

You can listen to "Butterfly" here.

New ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead have just released a new song called "Summer of All Dead Souls" of their forthcoming album Tao of the Dead, which will be released in February on the band's own Richter Scale Records.

The song can be found exclusively at Spin.com - follow this link to check it out...

You Know 'em Just a Little

You may not know the name of L.A.-duo Little & Ashley - but you know them more than you know. Try saying that ten times fast...

Both actors by day, Annie Little has been featured on "Scrubs" and "Mad Men", while Marcus Ashley has appeared on "Bones" and "CSI: NY". As a musical ensemble these two actors are clearly favorites of Amazon.com - who have used four of the band's songs in commercials for the Kindle. Three of which, "Stole My Heart", "Fly Me Away", and "Come On Let's Go", are all featured in ads here stateside, while their latest "Winter Song" is featured in a UK Kindle commercial.

Download "Stole My Heart" here...

Here comes The Concrete

Swedish Indie-pop group The Concretes have just released a new album WYWH on Friendly Fire Recordings.

Check out the video for their latest single "All Day" below...




You can download the song for free here...

The band will be kicking off their first American tour in four years in January 2011.

January 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
January 15 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
January 16 – Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick
January 17 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
January 18 – Ottawa, ON @ Mavericks
January 19 – Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
January 20 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott
January 22 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
January 24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas
January 25 – Washington, DC @ Rock and Roll Hotel
February 26 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
February 28 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
March 1 – Vancouver, BC @ Biltmore Cabaret
March 3 – Sacamento, CA @ Blue Note
March 4 - Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
March 5 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah

Fresh Greyhound

Earl Greyhound just announced they will be releasing a new EP called Ancient Futures. Although there is no exact release date there is a tracklist:

Ancient Futures EP:
1. Hellhound
2. Lady Laser
3. The Fall and Rise of Mu


Their most recent full length LP Suspicious Package is still currently available everywhere.

You can download "Everything Else is Illusion" by Earl Greyhound (featuring Shooter Jennings), here.

And below is the video for Earl Greyhound's "Shotgun".



Both "Everything Else is Illusion" and "Shotgun" are featured on Suspicious Package.

Fire Damages Neil Young Memorabilia

(From Yahoo News)

SAN CARLOS, Calif. – Authorities say a fire at a San Francisco Bay area warehouse damaged a vintage car and other memorabilia belonging to singer Neil Young.

Firefighters responded to the blaze at the San Carlos warehouse around 3 a.m. Tuesday.

Belmont-San Carlos Fire Chief Doug Fry says the 10,000-square-foot building contained only items belonging to Young and his family, including six vintage cars and paintings.

It's not clear how much of the memorabilia was salvaged. Fry says fire officials are working with Young's representatives to remove what's left.

The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Vote for Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame Inductions...

Do you wanna vote on who gets inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame next year? Click on the banner below!

A couple of new tracks that rock...

Check out this beautiful instrumental duet by Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls) and her protege Tristan Allan called "Janos vs. Wonderland". It's featured on Allan's debut self-titled EP, all of which he composed himself. The story of their collaboration is an incredible tale of two kindred spirits meeting by chance as Palmer took a leisurely stroll through Berklee School of Music's campus where Allan was a student.

Download their breathtakingly gorgeous duet for piano "Janos vs. Wonderland" here.




Rubblebucket just released this awesomely strange cover of "Michelle" by The Beatles. You have to love any band that has a member with the title of "Frontwoman/Saxaphonist". This on their latest EP Triangular Daisies.

Download "Michelle" here.

Coming Soon...a new DBT album...

Drive-by Truckers have already announced the release of a new album! They put out "The Big To Do" earlier this year - and apparently early next year (February 15th), they will be releasing "Go-GO Boots". Best music news of the day!

Hey Rosetta! and All...

Here's the free download of Hey Rosetta! performing an acoustic version of "Young Glass" from their debut album Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood). It was recorded with XM The Verge at SxSW. You can download it below...

You can watch a video of the performance here:





And hey I liked that song...so why not toss in another Hey Rosetta! video? This is a song called "Bandages"...

Hey Rosetta! | Bandages | A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

I Freakin' Love That Song...

This is a short article I was asked to write for a website called - "I Freakin' Love That Song...":


Nirvana

"Smells Like Teen Spirit"

Nevermind (1991)

It was a call to revolution. It was the spark that lit the fire. When "Smells Like Teen Spirit" hit the radio in 1991, everyone seemed to understand that this time it was going to be different, this was the new era where young people would no longer suffer in silence. There was now a battle cry. A signpost to rally around. And over night, those opening power chords that introduced the world to Nirvana, aslo sounded a whistle that put hair bands, and the decade they so self-indulgently defined, out to pasture.

And by the early 90's divorce had become a pandemic that was ravaging middle-class homes across America, leaving suburban kids to slip quietly through the cracks to nowhere. But with Nirvana, with "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - youthful frustration was finally being echoed by rock stars who had a platform, and a microphone, and who for the first time looked like the middle-American youth they were voicing. This band finally got it. They said it, sometimes with a whisper and sometimes with a scream - but the message was unmistakable: Young people were tired. They were tired of being glanced over by their elders, and their leaders, and the establishment that was supposed to be as much theirs as their parents. They were tired of the trickle that never trickled. Simply...being he silent majority was no longer going to work for them.


Almost twenty years later, it's hard to remember the first time you heard a song like "Smells Like Teen Spirit". It's etched so deeply in your bones that you feel like it had always been playing somewhere in the world before it came to you. And now you've long lost the ability to remember actually existing in a time before that song co-existed with you. It's yours. There's some twisted, co-dependent ownership you take of a song that needs you to listen as much as you need to hear.


Granted, it doesn't really sound like Nirvana. It's more polished than it should be - it sounds sleek, crisp, clean - all the things that Nirvana never was as a band - but maybe that was the point. Perhaps, that was producer Butch Vig's diabolical plan, to slip three lower-middle-class boys from Seattle into the mainstream through the backdoor, and by doing so, changing the world in ways that no rock band had done since The Beatles.

New Video from Brother Ali...

A new video from Hip-Hop artist Brother Ali. The song is "Breaking Dawn" off of his 2009 album Us.

The video is cool, the song is great. Definitely check it out below.

Concert Review: My Morning Jacket

My Morning Jacket

10/29/10 – KFC Yum Center, Louisville, KY
(w/ Louisville Youth Orchestra, and Wax Fang)

So My Morning Jacket does it again. A massive homecoming show that reminds everyone in Louisville, KY the “Just because we haven’t played here in two years, it doesn’t mean we’ve forgotten you.” Friday night they packed out the new arena with thousands of people, and a three hour set that spanned their entire career that consists of fan-favorites with no radio hits.

While the theatrics made for an energetic show – the most dynamic aspect was the way the Louisville Youth Orchestra accented about a third of the band’s set, including songs like “Wordless Chorus”, “Evil Urges”, “Bermuda Highway”, and “The Librarian”.

With the exception of the orchestra’s participation, the first half of the band’s set was bogged down with low energy. They seemed bored and disinterested in being there, it was like spinning tires. However, what they lacked in enthusiasm they made up for in song selection with “Heartbreakin’ Man”, “Golden”, and “I’m Amazed”.

Once they got through the ambient 16 minute snoozefest of “Dondante” the band managed to pick up speed and keep it full-throttle through the rest of the show. From that point on it seemed easy for the guys to barrel through tracks like “Smokin’ from Shootin’”, “Touch Me, I’m Going to Scream (parts 1 & 2)”, “The Librarian”, “Highly Suspicious”, and “Off the Record” with an energetic ease that kept everyone in the room hanging on every note.

The Halloween theatrics were appreciated by the immovable hometown crowd, who has literally watched this band go from coffee shops to last night in front of thousands in their brand new arena. With inflatable black cats on each side of the stage, they returned for their seven song encore all dressed in identical costumes, as fellow Louisville icon Col. Sanders.

It was after midnight when the black, orange, and white balloons fell from the ceiling during the band’s epic swan song, “One Big Holiday” – everyone was exhausted. My Morning Jacket was exhausted, the crowd was exhausted, and the band had once again proven why they don’t need a roster of hits to be one of the biggest bands in the music industry. Because when you sound this good live, everything else seems inconsequential.

New Wax Fang single, "The Astronaut (part 1)"

Here is the new single from Wax Fang. It's called "The Astronaut (part 1)" and it's 17 minutes long! This band is hands down one of our favorites and the song is being released on My Morning Jacket frontman, Jim James' Removadar label!

Wax Fang will be opening for My Morning Jacket, October 29th at KFC Yum Center in Louisville, a hometown show for both bands..

Concert Review: The Eagles in Louisville

Eagles
10/16/10 – K.F.C. Yum Center, Louisville, KY

What it was, was the Eagles. I can almost hear Andy Griffith say it, as I type it. Harkening back to “What it Was, Was Football” where with childlike innocence Griffith described what he was seeing unfold on the field in front of him. That’s kind of what it’s like describing the Eagles’ performance at the K.F.C. Yum Center last night – there’s naïve amazement in observing something so simple and yet so astonishing.

And if the Eagles know anything it’s what their audience wants from a show. They want hits. They want impeccable sound. And they want the band to be flawless. All of which they deliver – night after night after night. High energy and theatrics seem like the devices of lesser-bands to these guys. And I’m fairly certain that this band hasn’t hit a wrong note onstage since 1973 (believe me, I was there and it wasn’t pretty). When you’re that technically proficient – everything else on the stage seem extraneous.

Needless to say, their stage show at the opening of K.F.C. Yum Center was minimal. Lights and a screen was all they needed to appease the packed house from beginning to end.

They opened the 3+ hour show with the acapella intro to their classic “7 Bridges Road”. After that they dedicated the first fifteen to twenty minutes of both the nigtht’s sets to new material off their latest album “Long Road Out of Eden”. Once they got past the transitory “new material” that’s when things got real…real classic rock, that is.

There was hardly a song from the band’s two top selling Greatest Hits albums that didn’t get played. The setlist was endless and you can probably guess what it included – “Lyin’ Eyes”, “Hotel California”, “Love Will Keep Us Alive”, “Heartache Tonight”, “Take It Easy”, “Desperado”, etc., etc., etc. While you’re hardly surprised by what they play these days, it is hard believe unless you see it for yourself, exactly how perfectly the four voices of Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Timothy B. Schmit, and Joe Walsh have held up over all these years. Logic and reason would dictate that after this many decades on the road, they shouldn’t sound nearly as good as they do.

There was something beautifully poetic as the entire house, packed shoulder-to-shoulder from floor to rafters, collectively offered their voices as back-up on the refrain to “Take It to the Limit”. A breath taking moment that ceremoniously broke the proverbial champagne bottle against the hull of our new arena.

The band seemed most energized when tearing through the members’ pre-and-post Eagles catalogs. Henley meandered around solo hits like: “Boys of Summer”, “Dirty Laundry”, and “All She Wants to do is Dance”. While Walsh snuck up late in the show and stole the whole damn thing by tearing through his post-Eagles hits like “Rocky Mountain Way” and “Life’s Been Good” – as well as classics from his pre-Eagles, James Gang days like “Walk Away” and “Funk #49”.

Clearly the audience was doe-eyed and high on finally being inside the newest addition to Louisville’s skyline – which seemed to leave them a little A.D.D. much of the time. If the band wasn’t onstage (or was playing new material) many members of the crowd were milling around, gawking at the city’s new toy. Overall for the first event in the venue, it ran smoothly, staff was courteous, and they only had the most minimal of problems getting people in-and-out of the place.

Now onto the next show…as we eagerly anticipate hometown rockers My Morning Jacket coming through to rip shit up. –Brent Owen

Just found this while searching content for the previous post. It's Wax Fang performing "My Old Kentucky Home" with Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Both being Kentucky bred bands, this version of their state song is particularly poignant.



See both My Morning Jacket and Wax Fang when they play together October 29th, in Louisville, KY @ The Yum Arena w/ The Louisville Youth Orchestra.

Purple Fang

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get through to this thing called life…” singer/guitarist Scott Carney began, as he opened Wax Fang’s encore performance of Prince’s Purple Rain album last night at Zanzabar.

Wax Fang is a band that is certainly more talented and more likable than they probably know, and if nothing else they proved that last night. The very idea of them performing the album in its entirety was enough to get the local music scene abuzz when it was announced they would play it after Thunder Over Louisville on April 17^th.

That show went so well, and so many missed it, thankfully the guys rehashed the performance last night so a few more lucky souls could catch it.

Musically speaking, Wax Fang with the help of Dave Cronin on keyboards, and multi-instrumentalist/back-up vocalist D.W. Box, did a fairly true to form, and straight forward performance of the nine songs that make up Prince’s 1984 masterpiece.

From the spoken word intro to “Let’s Go Crazy” all the way through to the raucous finale of the song “Purple Rain” (their version of which is so near perfection it’s almost a painful listen) the group was in top form. Their renditions of “Take Me With U”, “Darling Nikki”, and “I Would Die 4 U” really let the band spread their wings enough to put their own spin on these classic songs, while staying true The Purple One’s original vision.

Now, Wax Fang doing a brilliant musical performance is hardly surprising to anyone who’s ever seen these guys before; however, I must say the costumes did take me by surprise. The band was decked out with each member playing their corresponding role in the original line-up of Prince & The Revolution. Carney of course wore Prince’s trademark purple tuxedo and floppy ruffled shirt of the era – while drummer Kevin Ratterman dressed in drag as Sheila E. Their period wigs and fake mustaches just added a cheeky sense of the absurd that made the performance of such timeless music seem all the more surreal.

If you want to see Wax Fang (“Princed-out” or not) they will be in England for the entire month of May celebrating the UK release of their phenomenal La La Land on May 10^th. The album will also be getting a US vinyl release on May 11^th through Absolutely Kosher Records.

Album Review: The Ravenna Colt

The Ravenna Colt
Slight Spell
[Removador Records]

Slight Spell by Ravenna Colt is already a contender for most compelling debut of 2010 – and it’s only April.

The Ravenna Colt mastermind Johnny Quaid also happens to be the original guitarist for the ethereal rock outfit My Morning Jacket (whose lead singer and cousin of Quaid, Yim Yames is credited as Associate Producer here). But Quaid is deeply rooted in the Louisville music scene, and throughout the eight tracks that make up the 40 minute Slight Spell, he showcases many of them.

The songs are tinged with a southern twang that leaves a sense of fascination and longing for a bygone era that may or may not have ever existed. Quaid co-produces the record with Wax Fang drummer Kevin Ratterman, and together they create an atmospheric loneliness that seems to be the common thread that runs throughout the songs on Slight Spell.

The album opens with an air of reminiscence as “South of Ohio” pays homage to the simple life he remembers of his childhood in Kentucky. The crying spurts of steel guitar hint at the simplicity that we all try to find as we stray further from youth with age. The heavy-handed country not just here, but throughout the album, vaguely reminds me of Whiskeytown at their finest, when they were playing true, sad-bastard country with no sense irony in sight.

“Now to Begin” rolls off with a suggestion of the sinister, while “Prepare to Be Delivered” follows with a wailing tumble; both songs feature The Fervor’s Natalie Felker on background vocals. She leaves a haunting thumbprint on each track as her soft, affecting voice interlaces with Quaid’s aching croon. And “Foresake and Combine” is by far the most upbeat song on Slight Spell – but as the second-to-last song it still can’t get out from under the indelible sadness that Quaid has cultivated throughout the record.

Album Review: Drive-by Truckers

Drive-by Truckers
The Big To-Do
[ATO Records]

Drive-by Truckers have been making solid albums filled with blue collar tales of Antebellum for the better part of two decades now. And with The Big To-Do, the band’s tenth album, they continue to prove why they are one of the great American rock bands of their generation. And it leaves me to wonder why in an age of pansy rock, is DBT one of the industry’s best kept secrets, and not on the cover of Rolling Stone, Spin, or Mojo.

This ends up a collection of gritty southern-tinted riffs, meticulously calculated grooves, or downhearted tales of woe.

Frontman Patterson Hood, returning from his solo stint with back-up band The Screwtopians last year, seems refreshed with a whole batch of songs about misfits and miscreants. Songs like “Drag the Lake Charlie”, “The Wig He Made Her Wore”, “This Fucking Job”, “After the Scene Dies”, and “The Flying Wallendas”, show Hood’s uncanny ability for flushing fully developed characters out in his lyrics.

Band mates Mike Cooley and Shonna Tucker help Hood with some of the the heavy vocal lifting on as usual. Cooley’s drunken swagger of a voice always serves as a compelling narrator for whatever warped story he’s trying to tell. Because Hood sings of misfits and miscreants, while Cooley’s stories are generally filled over-sexed drunks and bastards. This leaves Shonna to write sweet, soulful tunes about heartbreak and fading love, with a voice ripped from a smoky Delta show room from the 1940’s. Her two tracks on this album “You Got Another” and “(It’s Gonna Be) I Told You So” are show pieces of The Big To-Do, both serving as reminders of how big the real To-Do might actually get.

Album Review: Benjy Davis Project

Benjy Davis Project
Lost Souls Like Us
[Rock Ridge Music]

The boys from Baton Rouge are generally known for writing beer swilling, bar room ballads that reek with an inherent sense of youthful antagonism; but with their fifth album they seem to have mellowed a bit. While it’s good that the band has grown, it kinda marks the end of an era now that they’ve stopped writing catchy, hook-laden rock songs about smoking weed, drinking beer, getting into bar brawls, as well as having as much meaningful and meaningless sex as possible.

Anyway…Lost Souls Like Us seems to be a record written less for bar rooms and more for pop-radio. Seeing as these guys have no problem crafting a song, you might find it surprising that no matter how good their albums are, they always seem to fall flat to their live shows. Their songs have always been compelling, with meticulous arrangements, and carefully crafted hooks; but Benjy & Co. have yet to fully capture that energy on any of their previous albums – More Than Local, The Practice Sessions, The Angie House, and Dust.

“Get High” does echo some of the sentiment of older BDP records…it still seems that the bite in his songwriting might have dulled a bit. However, on “Bite My Tongue” and “Iron Chair” we finally get a glimpse of the sharp, irreverent wit that sparked attention for the band’s earlier albums.

They truthfully they weren’t always resting on good-time party jams, and a majority of the record recalls some of their more nostalgic work. “Mississippi” is a love song to the neighboring state where the guys spend so much time playing and driving through. “Check Your Pockets” is a funky acoustic track that lets Davis wax poetic on second chances at childhood romance. And the closing “You Just Know” is the kind of earnest ballad that leaves you wondering if maybe there really is something called true love.

So I don’t fully know what to make of the adult Benjy. I do know that if these guys have found it necessary to grow-up…maybe it’s time for all of us to grow-up. And that is a sad, sad day.

Michale Franit Interview

Michael Franti of Michael Franti & Spearhead

December’s Children: Growing up what were the records you were listening to?

Michael Franti: First, Stevie Wonder Songs in the Key of Life – it’s amazing, it was always spun in my house as a kid. And then I got really inspired Bob Marley, The Clash, and when I first heard hip-hop. (Hip-hop) changed my life, because it seemed like music that anyone could do; as long as you wanted to do it that hard and you put your mind and your soul to it. You didn’t really have to play an instrument, you didn’t have to be an acrobatic singer or have a great voice, you just had to say what you thought.

DC: You’ve always had a reggae influence to your music, but how did recording All Rebel Rockers in Jamaica affect the direction of this album in a cultural sense?

MF: Well, when you record in Jamaica, there’s just music everywhere you are. You’re just walking down the street and there’s musicians on every corner, every day of the year. You’re constantly around it, you see the rhythms that people dance to, and respond to. If people will dance to it in Jamaica, they’ll dance to it anywhere in the world, so it’s a pretty good litmus test for things. People will come into the studio off the street and just to listen to what you’re doin’ – you see them movin’ and responding to the rhythm.

DC: “Say Hey (I love you)” has been pretty successful, when you hear a song like that do you know right away people will respond to it?

MF: Yeah, I really loved the song, and when I took people into the studio to hear it they would say, “wow, that’s a really great song.” But I had no idea it would be the kind of hit it turned into. We had already put the song out to radio in the fall of 2008; it had a little bit of a run and faded away. And then in the spring or early summer of ’09 some Top 40 stations started playing it, then suddenly it went crazy, it was everywhere – t.v. shows, movies, beach parties, weddings, and on the radio all of the time. I never would’ve imagined it would get this popular.

The week it went into the Top 40 I almost died, my appendix ruptured and I was in the hospital. I was thinking, “Man, I’ve got a song on the radio and I’m not going to live to hear it.” But it was a good reminder for me, after twenty-something years of making music; it’s really great to have a hit song like that but at the end of the day it still doesn’t mean anything, compared to how important the people that love you and that you love are; and how precious our lives are, each of us, how precious every second is – it was a really strong reminder.

DC: You write very socially conscious lyrics, do you feel like that’s a musician’s stylistic choice or they’re inherent responsibility?

MF: Maybe some of both. I always write about what’s in my heart, I have a deep concern, I wanna make a difference. I don’t wanna be somebody who spent their whole life making music and not trying make a difference. Music really has the ability to inspire people, sometimes it’s a larger awareness of a political issue but sometimes it can just be inspiring someone. Like last night, there was a woman at our show that had lost 135 pounds, and she said she did it listening to our music. That really means a lot to me.

DC: Yell Fire is supposedly influenced by a trip you took to the Middle East, was that as profound for you personally as it was artistically?

MF: Going to Iraq, I went the year after the war started, so it was still really active. And I went to Israel, Palestine, the Gaza Strip, and played music on the street with the people. I wanted to see what life was like there. It’s a completely different experience from what I saw on t.v., to when I was walking around their streets, you know people have to about their daily lives even though there’s a war going on. How do they take control and make a life out of something that is really in complete chaos? It’s totally dangerous all of the time. But they didn’t want to hear songs about the war, or politics, or right or wrong; they wanted to hear songs that made them dance and feel good. For me it personalized the war – it’s not something that’s done between governments, it’s done between individuals. So often we miss that in the news, we don’t see the expense of the individual, I think if we did people would be less quick to drum-up support for wars, there would only be wars when it was absolutely necessary.

DC: Can a politically relevant song have the same punch live, when you’re in front of a crowd who’s there for a good time?

MF: That’s been the great challenge of my musical life, to be able to do both. I let the songs speak for themselves; I don’t stand on stage and make speeches about what I think it right or wrong. I try to write songs that have a universal meaning, because I really believe that it takes everybody to make the world a better place.

You wanna make people feel at home, you wanna make people believe in themselves, and you let them know that you believe in the. And from that you can inspire people to do really great things wit their lives.

DC: Corporate America seems to be mobilizing against music now in a way that I don’t ever remember having seen it done, where record labels, venues, music channels, websites, and radio stations can and often are owned by the same company. Does this make it hard to break through as an artist or does it help?

MF: The great thing about music today is that we have the internet, and for a lot of artists and record labels are saying, “Oh, my God the internet’s killing music.” But in fact, I see music more vibrant today, than ever in my long time of making it. More people have access to it every day, more people have larger record and song collections on their iPods than every before, more people can find out about artists and go to their websites and find out when their tours are happening. And because of that – the live tour market is more vibrant than it’s ever been. But the linking between the corporate world and music today has a lot to do with that, because it used to be that record companies were it, they sold the music and they controlled everything. But now it’s the licensing to films, or licensing to commercials, or the live show, or the merchandise, or the website. So the record labels aren’t as significant as they once were, and that’s changing things a lot in terms of the way people receive music and the avenues they get it, but also they way artists seeing their revenues coming in – it’s a different equation now.

Live Reivew

Live: Ben Sollee & Daniel Martin Moore

The Brown Theatre. Feb. 26, 2010.

By Brent Owen

“I used to be ashamed of my accent,” Ben Sollee told a nearly-full house at the Brown Friday night, the sort-of homecoming for the ensemble he and Daniel Martin Moore assembled for their tour supporting Dear Companion. The album, produced by Yim Yames, is a love letter to Appalachia and beacon to the dangers of mountaintop removal.

Everyone who took the stage was from Kentucky, and though they each hail from different corners of the state, they share a love for folk. The night wasn’t just about the music either — authors Jason Howard and Silas House read briefly from pieces of Appalachian literature. The evening was a celebration of a whole culture, not just another tour stop.

Moore and Sollee’s partnership was a long time in the making, and once you hear them together, you’ll wonder why it didn’t happen sooner. Switching between banjo and guitar, Moore compliments Sollee’s raucous cello subtly, so it’s hard to imagine one without the other. Both men have raw, passionate voices woven together with silk strings of soul.

Their band coasted through most of the duo’s new album, Dear Companion. Their performance of the title track was one of the more rousting moments of the evening, and the way their voices wrap around the melody of “My Wealth Comes to Me” left a haunting thumbprint. When Moore was left on stage alone with his acoustic guitar for his heartbreaking ode to mountaintop removal, “Flyrock Blues,” he and Sollee's determination to preserve Appalachia came into full relief.

Moore and Sollee chose their band well: Drummer and “Stomp” album Dan Dorff even used his own bodyto keep the band in time, and Cheyenne Mize fills out the band’s overall melodies with vocal harmonies, soulful violin or gently plucked guitar.

By the time they closed with an a cappella singalong of the old railroad ballad “Swing and Turn Jubilee,” which included opening act Maiden Radio, Howard and House, we had been so immersed in the culture of Kentucky, its hard to imagine how it so often goes by unnoticed in our day-to-day lives.

Maiden Radio — Mize, Julia Purcell and Joan Musselman — set the mood with their special blend of old fashioned Appalachian Folk music, mixing originals with covers of “Coal Miner’s Blues” and “Blackest Crow.”

Rodrigo Sanchez Interview

Read my interview with Rodrigo Sanchez of Rodrigo y Gabriela for My Old Kentucky Blog...

(click the photo link below)

Album Review: Backyard Tire Fire

Backyard Tire Fire
Good to Be
[Kelsey Street Records]

Backyard Tire Fire has been stuck in the underground for way too long. With blues based roots-rock bands sucking at the teet of pop-stardom everywhere, BTF still needlessly toils in the background. Pound-for-pound, these guys write better songs and will out-play the members of King of Leon with only a snare drum and their amps unplugged.

With their latest album, Good to Be, BTF has once again proven that they might very well be the best band no one has heard of. Frontman and songwriter Ed Anderson leads this trio with purpose, rounded out with his brother Matt on bass, and Tim Kramp on drums.

The songs here are catchy as hell – and each one resonates with the deep sense of personal longing Anderson exudes. “Roadsong #39” is a song with a smacking beat that recounts the trials and tribulations of being in a band that spends a significant amount of time on the road. I know this topic hardly seems original, but these guys aren’t a bunch of rich rockstars looking for your pity as they retire to the back of a million dollar bus. These are guys with real problems and real passion, who are scraping together to the pay the rent, to take care of their families, and trying to make ends meet – all while playing ratty bars and sleeping in the backseat of a broken down van.

But Anderson’s true gift in songwriting is creating quirky characters that seem instantly recognizable but wholly original. “Estelle”, “Brady”, and the anonymous protagonists in “Ready or Not” and “Learning to Swim” – all seem like abandoned character arcs from “Eleanor Rigby”. And at no point does Anderson’s soft tenor sound more solid and earnest than it does on “Food for Thought”, where he passes on the lessons learned from a life where dreams don’t really come true…but kinda do.

BTF matched with Steve Berlin’s production now seems like a match made in heaven. How has this not dawned on anyone before? The Los Lobos multi-instrumentalist has the perfect ear for catching this band at their best. He playfully handles their classic rock, blues based roots and their refined ear for pop-hooks, masterfully.

BTF has always blurred the lines that separate southern-rock from college-rock, and they do it perhaps to their detriment. The band is phenomenal, however, you’re not really sure what to do with them, and as sad as that may sound, if you can’t easily shelve it in a store (or search for it on iTunes, as the case may be), it becomes harder for a band to break-through. If Good to Be tells us anything about this band, it’s that they’re resilient and they aren’t here to get rich, which luckily for us means we’ll have a hard time getting rid of them.