Monthly Archives: March 2009

Upcoming Show: The BellRays @ The Picador in Iowa City 5/4/09

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photo credit: Emmy Etie

photo credit: Emmy Etie

Being the music junkie that I am, I always love to find out about amazing music I didn’t know about! Such is the case with The BellRays— a hard-rocking and soulful group that has at its core Bob Vennum and Lisa Kekaula who– as a couple have been performing for over 20 years! I found out about the BellRays and their upcoming show at the Picador from Tom “Morst” Scharff who is among other things the archivist for Cracker and its associated bands.

The BellRays are related to Cracker through guitarist Johnny Hickman. One of Hickman’s early bands was The Dangers and Bob Vennum was a member of that band. The BellRays provide a high-energy almost garage-band rock with the vocals of Lisa. At times it kind of reminds me of how Lenny Kravitz approaches his music.

Bob & Lisa are currently in a tour in Europe in support of their first album of “AM Radio-Inspired” music titled Rosethorns. When they get back they will be kicking off a US tour running in April and May. As part of these shows the BellRays will be hitting Iowa City at the Picador on 5/4/09 and at the High Noon Saloon on 5/6/09.

Click Here to visit the Picador website

Click Here for the BellRays Website

Click Here for the BellRays MySpace page

Click Here to listen to mp3’s from BellRays’ albums

Click Here to listen to “One Big Party” from The BellRay’s 2008 album Hard Sweet and Sticky

Arbouretum On Tour and On Taping Shows

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Dave Heumann of Arbouretum

In anticipation for the Spring and Summer tour in support of Song of the Pearl, Dave Heumann posted from his blog today stating his official stance on taping his shows.  I applaud his “taper-friendly” stance, and contributing to archive.org is also a very cool thing and should help spread the word about his band. Dave comments on the archive.org page that he’s going to contribute some shows as well!

In essence, we are into it, as long as it’s done with sharing as the goal. We have several shows already posted already on archive.org. All of these have been recorded locally by Baltimore Taper Jeff Mewborn, a huge music fan who has been very generous with his time spent recording not only us, but lots and lots of other bands.

If you are someone who tapes shows and would like to record us, that’s great- the more, the merrier…ESPECIALLY if you don’t mind uploading it to archive.org afterward, or just making us a copy so that we can. I will be happy to give you the setlist after the show, and will do my best to update this blog with our setlists as well.

I’ve posted here in the past about a couple of shows that Jeff “Baltimore Taper” Mewborn has recorded, and they are very good and I find myself listening to them often.

The current list of tour dates for Arbouretum is posted on the MySpace page. Right now there are dates through June with a concentration on the East Coast, with a May gap that hopefully will bring Arbouretum closer to the Midwest.

Click Here for Dave Heumann’s Blog

Click Here for the Arbouretum MySpace page

Click Here for the Arbouretum archive.org page

Click Here to listen to “Another Hiding Place” from Song of the Pearl performed live January 30, 2009.

Upcoming Show: Santigold in Des Moines @ People’s Court 5/29; First Ave. 5/28

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Santi White aka Santigold formerly Santogold is kicking off her first North American tour on May 21st in San Francisco according to New Music Express.

 The 20-date tour makes a stop at Bonnaroo on June 20th, and the Roots Picnic in Philly on June 6th as well as some key stops in the Middle-west– a surprising Des Moines stop at People’s Court in Des Moines on 5/29 (yay!) and First Ave in Minneapolis on 5/28 and a stop on June 6th in St. Louis.

I’m not sure why the Windy City didn’t get invited to the party, but them’s the breaks, I guess!

Santigold’s eponymous debut album came out in 2008 and blew up all over the place with no less than five singles including the “L.E.S. Artistes” which seemed to be on every TV show and commercial as a soundtrack. The album is genre-jumping, but fits comfortably next to bands like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and M.I.A. (the latter sharing some tweaking from Diplo). The 80’s New Wavish anthems and forays into Ska were a permanent part of the greatest hits at our house last year.

Santigold will be joined on this tour by DJ Trouble Andrew who worked with her on the Pixies-divining “I’m A Lady” as well as Philly MC Amanda Blank. Check her MySpace to hear her flow over a Diplo remix of “I’m A Lady.”

Click Here for Santigold’s MySpace Page

Click Here for Amanda Blank’s Website

Click Here for Trouble Andew’s Website here’s his MySpace Joint

Click Here for IowaTix, to order the tickets for the People’s Court show. Click Here for the People’s Court MySpace page.

Click Here for the First Ave Event Calendar

Mar 27 2009 8:00P
Ultra Music Festival Miami, Florida
Mar 28 2009 8:00P
Roxy’s Chicken Jam Mammoth, California
May 21 2009 8:00P
The Warfield w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew San Francisco, California
May 22 2009 8:00P
Empire w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew   Sacramento, California
May 24 2009 8:00P
Cuthbert Amphitheatre Eugene, Oregon
May 25 2009 8:00P
Sasquatch! Festival @ The Gorge George, Washington
May 28 2009 8:00P
First Avenue w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 29 2009 8:00P
Peoples Court w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew   Des Moines, Iowa
May 31 2009 8:00P
Rams Head Live w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Baltimore, Maryland
Jun 1 2009 8:00P
House of Blues w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Boston, Massachusetts
Jun 3 2009 8:00P
Phoenix Concert Theatre w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Toronto, Ontario
Jun 4 2009 8:00P
Metropolis w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Montreal, Quebec
Jun 6 2009 8:00P
The Roots Picnic @ Festival Pier Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Jun 7 2009 8:00P
The Norva w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Norfolk, Virginia
Jun 9 2009 8:00P
Terminal 5 w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew New York, New York
Jun 10 2009 8:00P
9:30 Club w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Washington DC, Washington DC
Jun 12 2009 8:00P
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 13 2009 8:00P
Barcardi B Live @ The Pageant w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew St. Louis, Missouri
Jun 15 2009 8:00P
Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Austin, Texas
Jun 17 2009 8:00P
House of Blues w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Houston, Texas
Jun 18 2009 8:00P
House of Blues w/ Amanda Blank and Trouble Andrew Dallas, Texas
Jun 21 2009 8:00P
Hollywood Bowl / KCRW World Festival Series Hollywood, California

New Tortoise Album Beacons of Ancestorship Details

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Contrary to the information that Pitchfork announced about an April release date in their Guide to 2009 releases listing April 21st for it, Tortoise’s new album titled Beacons of Ancestorship will be released on June 23rd! This was announced today in the Thrill Jockey forums as well as twitter.

Beacons of Ancestorship is taking Thrill 210 as its catalog number between Lithops Ye Viols! and Mountains Choral, is Tortoise’s first solo studio release since 2004’s It’s All Around You (excluding the compendium A Lazarus Taxon, and the album The Brave and the Bold which was a covers album done with Bonnie Prince Billy). Recent criticism of Tortoise is that they’ve been touring the same set since they introduced the It’s All Around You songs, and really haven’t been digging much further back in their catalog than T.N.T. Since the Thrill Jockey 15th Anniversary shows in December of 2007, Tortoise has been giving  new songs a workout on the road. Looking at the tracklist below, however, only “Prepare Your Coffin” is a recognizable title out of the working titles which included “Glowstick” and “Korg.” I guess we’ll see which of these tracks gained new titles on the record.

The release predictably will come out on CD and a limited pressing of vinyl, but according to this Pitchfork (who gets all the sweet scoops from Thrill Jockey!) there will be a series of  limited edition 5″ records following the release featuring new music!

Tracklist for Beacons of Ancestorship

01 High Class Slim Came Floatin’ In
02 Prepare Your Coffin
03 Northern Something
04 Gigantes
05 Penumbra
06 Yinxianghechengqi
07 The Fall Of Seven Diamonds Plus One
08 Minors
09 Monument Six One Thousand
10 de Chelly
11 Charteroak Foundation

Preview of New Cracker Album Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey; Relase Date 5/5/09

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As posted earlier here, Cracker has been working on a new album– their last studio album Greenland was released in 2006. The album titled Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey will be released on May 5th, 2009 on a new label 429 Records. 429 Records is “a unit of the Savoy Label Group (SLG). SLG is the North American unit of CME (Columbia Music Entertainment), the oldest music company in Japan.” According to Wikipedia, CME is not affiliated with SonyBMG, who own the U.S. label Columbia Records. I guess that is why this company operates as Savoy Label Group in the U.S. Either way, I’m sure Cracker got a better deal than they ended up with at Virgin.

According to the Press Release the first single will be “Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me” which will be added to whatever radio plays Cracker on April 7th. “Turn On” has been getting a workout on the road lately, and it is a pretty spirited rocker like the other tracks seem to be on the record, which was produced by one-time Sugar member David Barbe, which seems like a copasetic partnership. Other noted musicians joined the fold for Sunrise. In addition to Barbe’s production, Patterson Hood from Drive-By Truckers (who was also produced by Barbe) lends a hand on long-time live favorite “Friends” as well as Adam Duritz of the Counting Crows on “Darling One” and John Doe from X on “We All Shine A Light.”

Here is the tracklisting with links to archive.org when a song has been played:

  1. Yalla Yalla (Let’s Go) (Live 4/19/09 in Chicago)
  2. Show Me How This Thing Works (Live 2/7/09 in Dubuque)
  3. Turn On, Tune In Drop Out With Me (Live 2/7/09 in Dubuque)
  4. We All Shine A Light (w/ John Doe)
  5. Hand Me My Inhaler
  6. Friends (w/ Patterson Hood) (Live 2/7/09 in Dubuque)
  7. I Could Be Wrong, I Could Be Right
  8. Time Machine (Live 2/6/09 in Palatine, IL)
  9. Hey Bret (You Know What Time It Is)
  10. Darling One (w/ Adam Duritz)(Live 10/20/08 in Vienna, Austria)
  11. Sunrise In The Land Of Milk And Honey (Live 10/20/08 in Vienna, Austria)

Cracker has released two music videos to YouTube, one for “Hand Me My Inhaler” earlier, and one for “Yalla Yalla”:

Click Here to visit the 429 Records page with samples of the new album.

Upcoming Show: Lyrics Born @ The Picador in Iowa City – 4/15/09!

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Lyrics Born

Well, it looks like I don’t have to drive to Minneapolis on April 17th, as Lyrics Born will be stopping by Iowa City on his way from Madison to Minneapolis!

Lyrics Born along with Joyo Velarde and DJ D-Sharp will be playing the Picador in Iowa City on Wednesday, April 15th. A Wednesday night show will be a little rough for work the next day, and there isn’t much for seating at the Picador so it will be a standing night. Doors are at 9PM according to the Picador site and Ticketweb, and they are a very reasonable $15. Other acts to be announced.

Click Here to visit Lyrics Born’s Website

Click Here to visit the Picador website

Click Here to order tickets from TicketWeb

Don’t forget to download LB’s new song “Funky Hit Records” from his forthcoming album As U Were.

Free Download: New Lyrics Born! “Funky Hit Records” Upcoming Shows

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It doesn’t seem that long ago that Lyrics Born released his last album Everywhere At Once— in fact it was released just under a year ago! (4/22/08) Not one to rest on his laurels when there is inspiration– LB has been spending time in the studio working on the release of his next album to be titled As U Were to drop this fall.

To help spread the buzz, LB has made available for FREE the old school stylee track “Funky Hit Records.”  “Funky Hit Records” is a tribute to classic 80’s style hip hop– a different direction than the production of his last two albums using only beats and scratches to propel the track from Trackademicks. A fun track with trademark tongue-in-cheek bravado from the man LB. The song has a video produced by Justin– the guy who handles all of the on-line activity for the Lyrics Born camp including the LBTV videos.

In other news, Lyrics Born is making a quick jump to the Midwest in April with Joyo Velarde and DJ D-Sharp. They’ll be at The Majestic in Madison, WI on April 14th, and Trocadero’s in Minneapolis on Friday, April 17th! I’ll be at the Minneapolis show, of course!

Apr 8 2009 9:00P
The Nightlight Lounge – Bellingham, WA Bellingham, Washington
Apr 10 2009 8:00P
Wonder Ballroom – Portland, OR Portland, Oregon
Apr 11 2009 8:00P
McDonald Theatre – Eugene, OR w/ The Roots Eugene, Oregon
Apr 14 2009 9:00P
Majestic Theatre Madison, Wisconsin
Apr 17 2009 8:00P
Trocadero’s – Minneapolis, MN Minneapolis, Minnesota
Apr 18 2009 8:00P
Palace of Fine Arts – San Francisco, CA – Adam Theis with special guest Lyrics Born San Francisco,

Click Here to download “Funky Hit Records” from the forthcoming As U Were.
Click Here to visit Lyrics Born’s website
Click Here to visit the LBTV YouTube Channel with the video for “Funky Hit Records” as well as a bunch of other videos.

(Almost) Free Download: John Coltrane – The Ultimate Blue Train $1.99 at Amazon

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Today Amazon.com has a sale on the 1997 remaster of John Coltrane’s only Blue Note album Blue Train. The story goes that before Coltrane signed to Prestige as a solo artist (he was already recording on Prestige as part of Miles Davis’s band) he had a meeting with label head Alfred Lion in late 1956 or early 1957 where Lion gave Coltrane an advance to sign with Blue Note. Coltrane would sign with Prestige, but still felt obligated to come over to Blue Note and record one album.

This album, of course, is the essential Blue Train (Blue Note 53428). Amazon.com has the 1997 remaster with two alternate takes available for $1.99 for a limited time, so if you don’t already have this remaster or album I highly recommend it!

Upcoming Show: Mountains at The Picador in Iowa City 4/24/09

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The duo of Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp known as Mountains are one of the new generation of Thrill Jockey bands. The band’s new album on Thrill Jockey is their third album since 2005– the first two released on the their own label, Apestaartje.

Mountains synth-plus-guitars sound is typically compared to Brian Eno or Fennesz and their 2009 release Choral is a collection of ambient tracks that seem to build by layer and utilizing spare melody structure. The delay and echo of the pieces also remind me of Michael Brook.

According to their PR, Mountains love to sculpt their sound in front of a live audience and we will be able to experience that here in Eastern Iowa when they perform at The Picador in Iowa City on Friday, April 24th.

At this point, the show is not listed on the Picador calendar, so I don’t have any more details.  I’ll try to update this page as I get more information.

Click Here to visit the Choral page at Thrill Jockey and listen to high-quality streaming tracks from the album.

New David Sylvian Release Manafon Announced

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From David Sylvian’s label Samadhi Sound we hear about an upcoming release from David Sylvian titled Manafon. According to the release, this album is a “powerfully bold, uncompromising work.” The sessions for this album were apparently recorded in December, 2007 and included Evan Parker, John Tilbury, Keith Rowe, Christian Fennesz, Otomo Yoshihide, and others.

Based on that list of contributors, it seems that this release might be a Free Jazz influenced record if David relied on the strengths of Parker, Tilbury and Rowe. Fennesz  worked with David on “A Fire in the Forest” from Blemish as well as frequent Sylvian collaborator Ryuichi Sakamoto and has worked with Keith Rowe, too. Otomo also worked with Keith Rowe previously. So, this lineup seems to have a lot of synergies. Considering the heavy improvisational slant to these players it would be a shame to not tour this lineup– so maybe they’ll tour?

The name “Manafon” likely comes from the Welsh village of the same name. Poet R.S. Thomas studied the Welsh language and published his first three volumes of poetry while working as the rector there.

That animal on the art on the Manafon website is likely a White Stag, which in Celtic mythology is the guide between worlds. Additionally the White Stag is the symbol for the Welsh god Luga.

It’s hard to guess what all of these poorly-researched clues mean for the new release from Mr. Sylvian. I’ll keep everyone updated as I get more facts.

Update: Manafon comes out on 9/14: CLICK HERE to read my article on it.