Back In 15 Minutes

Moving On Up!

2011-01-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Big news people. Back In 15 Minutes has moved. I haven't quite figured out how to auto-redirect just yet, but I've transferred everything over to Wordpress. Click HERE to be sent to the new blog and make sure to update your bookmarks. I'll apologize now that my old posts aren't beautifully formatted anymore as Wordpress doesn't correct that, but expect the new posts to look great. Thanks everyone.

Just in case you missed the link, the new address (which is slightly different) is:

backin15minutes.wordpress.com

Interview: Brad & Andrew Barr

2011-01-07T09:02:00.000-08:00

My good pal Sam Davis runs an excellent Phish blog that you may have heard of called 'Dog Gone Blog'. He also works for Relix/Jambands.com and recently conducted an interview with two of our favourite musicians, Brad and Andrew Barr of The Slip/Surprise Me Mr. Davis/The Barr Brothers. Click here to give it a read!

Sorry For The Absence

2011-01-06T18:59:00.000-08:00

As you have probably noticed, posts on Back In 15 Minutes as of late have either been few and far between, and most have just been links to my blogTO reviews. Some of you have probably seen the other blog I've been running, PushLife, which was updated numerous times every day, from basically the end of September until the end of December. I'm currently in the process of deciding whether or not to continue Back In 15 Minutes on blogger or to switch it over to a new platform. So please, bare with me for just a little while longer and I promise I'll soon be providing you with the excellent music content you're all used to. Thanks for sticking with me!

Album Review: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

2010-11-24T17:10:00.000-08:00

The idea that hip-hop albums are autobiographical is nothing new. Virtually every up-and-coming and established hip-hop artist alike touts their albums as reflections of their lives. Biggie let us into the darkness of growing up in the projects on the groundbreaking Life After Death. Big L was the first gangster rapper to gush about his flamboyancy on The Big Picture and Kid Cudi took us right into his “fucked-up” head on Man on the Moon: The End Of Day. On his latest release, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, Kanye West one-ups all of them…in typical Kanye style. ‘Ye’s latest batch of songs outshines the musical autobiography that most excellent hip-hop artists conjure with their flow, and moves us into a larger, more cinematic territory. Granted, Kanye’s ambitious short film Runaway did help to add colour to the pictures, but the sketches were laid down well beforehand thanks to the G.O.O.D. Friday song releases.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy opens with narration from Kanye’s now frequent collaborator Nicki Minaj, as well as some tastefully auto tuned crooning from Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. Before the beat has even dropped Kanye has proven that he knows exactly what today’s modern listeners want. They don’t want their music pigeonholed. They want music that mixes genres together to create something fresh, and Kanye isn’t one to discriminate.

If you’ve turned on a television in the last couple months chances are you’ve heard Kanye West’s theme music. “Power” was featured in The Social Network’s trailor. In fact, it replaced Radiohead’s “Creep”. Chock that up as another victory for Kanye West. Sorry Mr. Yorke. Things get a tad dramatic on “All of the Lights” which is proceeded by a short, related interlude that could easily have been plucked out of a movie score. A fast-paced drum and horn combo, as well as Rihanna’s beautiful voice quickly replace the strings from the interlude and Kanye does the chorus big on this one. Titanic big. Everyone from Elton John to Kid Cudi to John Legend to Alicia Keys and many more lend their voices to create a classic wall-of-sound feel on “All of the Lights”.

Midway through the album comes “Monster”, a vicious attack song featuring hip-hops A list rappers trading verses for five straight minutes. The blunt chorus “everybody knows I’m a motherfucking monster” illustrates where Kanye stands at this point in his career. The man dominates the headlines, insults U.S. Presidents and steals spotlights regularly. West clearly titled this one after himself. He’s a monster who has no time to be hiding under beds. He’d rather be eating the rap-game and public media alive.

Remember when Jay-Z declared himself as “rap’s Grateful Dead” on “Encore”? That title now belongs to Mr. West. At nine minutes in length, “Runaway” maybe the longest hip-hop track in recent memory. In fact, the Grateful Dead rarely produced studio songs of that length. With an extended introduction and a seriously extended outro, “Runaway” sums up Kanye’s ambition in one song. This is an artist who is not afraid to take risks. Scratch that. This song was never a risk, it was always a sure thing.

The final “wow” moment of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy comes thanks to a impressively re-imagined Bon Iver song “Lost In The World”. Once again, ‘Ye makes you re-think what hip-hop should sound like. “Lost In The World’s” hip-hop-meets-indie-rock beat is nothing like you’ve ever heard and Justin Vernon’s auto tune skills trump T-Pain’s.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a groundbreaking, genre-bending hip-hop album from one of the most loved, hated, controversial, inspiring, and outspoken artists of the decade. Kanye West sets the bar high on this masterpiece, so the only question that really remains is, what will his next musical fantasy be?

Show Review: Jason Collett - Live at Church of the Redeemer, Thursday November 11, 2010

2010-11-18T19:40:00.000-08:00

After an unsteady set by opener Al Tuck, Jason Collett took the stage promptly at 9:30pm and played a set heavy on songs from his newer albums, Pony Tricks and Rat A Tat Tat. While the songs were all well played, the absence of a backing band resulted in many of the tunes coming off as quietly unvaried. This was largely due to the fact that each song followed the same slow tempo while lacking stylistic differences in playing. “Rave On Sad Songs”, “Bitter Beauty”, and “Bitch City” along with other new songs were well received, and the audience clapped loud and hard for those.

What did save Collett’s overall lackluster set were his stories, and there were a lot of them. Each followed the same humorous theme, the intersection between pot, women, and music in Collett’s life. First, he recalled his initial meeting with Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, smashing heads with her underwater after smoking a joint at a hotel pool. Next came the story of Collett’s first meeting with Sharon Jones of the Dap Kings in France. The two met and bonded over a good Canadian-style joint and discussed the downfalls of European-style tobacco-heavy joints. The last notable story Collett told harkened back to his days in Grade 10. He took a girl he had a huge crush on to a school dance and the two shared a joint before entering the school. The cherry had fallen into his polyester shirt and needless to say, upon walking past his principal, the shirt erupted in flames. The two were promptly kicked out of the dance where they proceeded to smoke another and fool around. It sounded like quite the school trip, and one many of us could probably relate to.

Collett did end his set strongly with “High Summer” and the classic “I’ll Bring The Sun”. On the whole, the show was just okay. I really do like Jason Collett’s music, and his albums are worth the listening time, but I think his songs are much better suited to having a backing band, such as when he plays with Zeus, or when sung with Broken Social Scene, rather than played solo acoustically.

Photos by Amanda Fotes

Listen.in Launches

2010-11-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

We're really into this new music site called Listen.in.

The short explanation for Listen.in is that it's like Twitter for your music. It's the easiest way to share music with your friends by giving you and providing them with access to music and playlists.

I really can't stress enough how easy this site is to use and how addictive it is. Bottom line, signup and start sharing and discovering some awesome music with friends.

Here is the long-winded explanation found in the Listen.in about section:

Listen.in is a real-time music information network powered by people all around the world that lets you share and tune into what people are listening to.

Listen.in asks “What’s playing” and makes the answer spread across the globe, immediately.

What Listen.in Does
At its core, Listen.in is a new tool that allows you to share and discover music in real-time. We provide you with a way to listen in on what musicians, artists, celebrities, music bloggers and your friends are listening to. It’s a new way to discover some cool music and connect with people.

It’s a new avenue for musical connection. If you’ve ever wondered what music your favourite artists are currently listening to, then Listen.in is for you. If you want a simple way to listen to the bands that music bloggers are writing about, then Listen.in is for you. If you want to be able to listen to what your friends, family, associates, well-wishers and comrades are listening to, then Listen.in is for you.

The music you listen to on your iTunes is automatically broadcasted onto your Listen.in profile, allowing your ‘followers’ to stream a 30 second clip of the song via your newsfeed.

Listen.in has the capability to decipher the music you are exploring from the music you actually like listening to. For example, your news feed will state that you are “checking out” a song if you’ve only listened to it once, as opposed to “listening to” a song if you’ve played that song multiple times.

Listen.in has a ‘love’ button that adds a song into your ‘favourites’ playlist on your homepage. This feature further emphasizes the difference between songs you just listen to, and songs you really enjoy. Any playlist you have created in iTunes will be available for you and your ‘followers’ to listen to on your homepage. The use of playlists will give users a better sense of your musical taste.

For every song you stream on Listen.in, we give you the ability to watch the music video on YouTube, read the lyrics or the artist’s biography, check out some photos of the band, buy tickets to their up-coming concert and even purchase the song from Amazon, all at the click of a button!

Show Review: The Wooden Sky - Live at Lee's Palace, Saturday November 6, 2010

2010-11-13T11:03:00.000-08:00

Having just finished up a two month long national tour with These United States and Yukon Blonde, you could tell the band was happy to be back home among familiar faces and family. Playing to a surprisingly sold-out Lee’s Palace, The Wooden Sky was ready to deliver their unique left-of-center folk rock to the packed venue. The vibe for the night was particularly energetic, with the crowd really embracing the sounds of both opening acts. So when The Wooden Sky finally took the stage the crowd seemed ready to erupt. The band’s set drew heavily on newer material from 2009s If I Don’t Come Home, You’ll Know I’m Gone but there were more than a few surprises in store for the night.

On record The Wooden Sky are really quite mellow. They do have the tendency to produce huge building crescendos of sound thanks to thickly layered guitars, violin, and the impressive vocals of lead singer Gavin Gardiner. Those grandeur moments were in full force at Saturday night’s show. The haunting “My Old Ghosts” built slowly off of Gavin’s delicately picked guitar lines, while the pounding bass and snare drums helped to create mounting tension. Those in the audience relished the opportunity to scream along with Gavin during the last powerful minute of the song. Riding off the crowd’s energy, The Wooden Sky took the opportunity to play The Animals-influenced “Angels”, a brooding song with strong biblical references to animal sacrifices, Jesus and the star of David.

Showing their trust for the hometown audience, The Wooden Sky treated us as musical guinea pigs and tested out two new songs. These new tunes followed similar themes to those heard on If I Don’t Come Home, You’ll Know I’m Gone, and while beautifully played, they weren’t overly memorable. Likely recognizing this little hiccup, Gavin dedicated the next song to the guys in These United States and hit us with a spot-on and rather jammed out cover of Tom Petty’s anthemic “American Girl”. Soon after the band invited both Yukon Blonde and These United States on to the stage to add some extra bass drum action to the tense “Something Hiding For Us In The Night” set closer. Bass drums were being played with traditional drumsticks to beer bottles and everything in between. The set seemed curiously short, but just as they finished Gavin announced that the group would be playing behind Lee’s Palace in a couple of minutes!

A group of around fifty to sixty people rounded the corner and headed to the back of Lee’s Palace and proceeded to wait eagerly to see what The Wooden Sky had in store. A large circle was left open for the band, who warmly invited everyone to huddle in much closer when the time to play finally came. Gavin led the crowd through an acoustic version “Oh My God (It Still Means A Lot To Me)” before taking the request of “Oslo”. He asked that we all be whisper quiet for this number, but that only lasted about thirty seconds, as everyone seemed to know the words and quickly added their voices to the song. Gavin seemed a bit at a loss as to what to play next, so he posed a question instead. “Who wants to get fucking arrested?” Well, needless to say everyone cheered along to that, and The Wooden Sky began to play the often overlooked Bob Dylan tune “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”, all the while marching the large group into the middle of Bloor Street West. Amid honking cars, taxis, and bemused on-lookers, our group belted out the beautiful words of Bob Dylan in a truly surreal moment that bonded band, song, and community. I know it’s a cliché, but The Wooden Sky’s Saturday night performance was an exceptionally magical evening of music, and one that will be very hard to top.

Photos by Michelle Cortese

Show Review: Dawes - Live at The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Monday November 8, 2010

2010-11-10T14:15:00.001-08:00

Read my review of Dawes at the Horseshoe over on blogTO.

Show Review: Mookie & The Loyalists - Live at the Rivoli, Thursday November 4, 2010

2010-11-07T07:55:00.000-08:00

My review of Mookie & The Loyalists over on blogTO.

Show Review: Dr. Dog - Live at the Phoenix, Saturday October 16, 2010

2010-10-24T17:12:00.000-07:00

You can read my review of the Dr. Dog show over on blogTO:

Show Review: Marco Benevento Trio - Live at the El Mocambo, Sunday October 17, 2010

2010-10-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

The logic behind playing a concert on a Sunday night is difficult to understand. People are worn out from Friday and Saturday and most just want to laze around and watch their Sunday night favourites on television. Last night’s Marco Benevento Trio show at the El Mocambo was real evidence of this theory. Wrapping up his mini-tour of Canada that included stops in Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton and finally Toronto, Marco and the gang were welcomed to our fair city by seldom few concertgoers. Fortunately for those thirty people in attendance, Marco is a professional. Where most groups would have played a short and uninspired set to an audience that small, Marco did the opposite. Supported by Dave Dreiwitz on bass (Ween) and Andy Borger on drums (Tom Waits, Norah Jones, and Ani DiFranco), Marco proceeded to put on a first-class, intimate performance.

Triggering a pre-recorded sample from one of the many toys on his completely tricked-out saloon-style acoustic piano, Marco splashed some bright piano work into the crackling sounds of “Record Book” from his first release Invisible Baby. He slowly winded through the introduction before blasting out the chords, all the while Dreiwitz was adding guitar-like fills through a distorted bass. David Fricke of Rolling Stone Magazine once stated that Marco plays his piano like a guitarist and this couldn’t be truer. His chord-work and sense of melody is simply impeccable, and he effortlessly handles both rhythm and lead roles.

Next up was a choice cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good” from his latest release Between the Needles & Nightfall. Winehouse’s smooth and sultry vocals were mimicked by jazzy piano lines, while Borger threw in some very impressive drum fills. The few women in the audience took the opportunity to dance and sing to this familiar tune, and the band played to their energy. Marco took a minute to take the mic and introduced the first party song of the night, “The Real Morning Party”. Never one to hide his sense of humor, “The Real Morning Party” can only be described as elevator music played by a madman. Borger proceeded to destroy his toms while Marco laid down the infectious, and humorous melody. Smiles could be seen ear-to-ear on everyone in the crowd.

Showcasing his love for timeless artists, Marco laid down a spirited take of “Seems So Long Ago Nancy”, a heartbreaking tune by the legendary Leonard Cohen. The band ran through a few more songs before finally exiting the stage. Though it was Sunday and already past midnight, the fans still chanted for an encore. The Trio returned and of course, someone in the audience called for Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird”. The request was met with embarrassed laughter, but Marco rose from his chair stern-faced and began to play the familiar chord progression, breaking rock and roll’s number one faux pas. Looking shocked and a little bit appalled, Dreiwitz surprised everyone by joining in, playing the classic vocal lines on his bass. Soon enough Borger laid down the drums and we were in the midst of a full-fledged cover of “Freebird”. Finally coming to the realization that this was just wrong, Marco shifted gears, seamlessly segueing into the familiar and far more respectable sounds of “Fearless” by Pink Floyd. But the classic rock parade wasn’t over. The band proceeded to sandwich “Benny & The Jets” by Elton John into the middle of the song, before returning to the Floyd classic. And that was how the band left it. Finishing up their encore by half past midnight and looking just like the audience, tired and beat, the Trio waved their goodbyes and probably headed off to sleep.

Photo Credit: Greg Abramowitz

Big Light: Live Video & Stories From The Road

2010-10-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

One of our favourites over here at Back In 15 Minutes is a band called Big Light from San Fran. Right now the foursome is on tour with jam-giants Umphrey's McGee and they're keeping a great journal from the road. Read this hilarious encounter they had with an Umphreak:

We'll share this story from Arizona: The other night in Flagstaff, although the crowd's reaction to our set was encouraging and we played pretty well, we encountered this one guy after the show at the merch table... Apparently this dude's friend had purchased for him (as a gift) one of our CD's thinking that it was an Umphrey's album. After receiving the album from his buddy and realizing that this wasn't an UM album, but instead a record by the opening act that he hated (us), this dude came to the merch table, told Jeremy he thought we sucked, and then asked for either the money back (something we did't want to do) or for it to be exchanged for a Umphrey's disc (something we didn't have the power do).

Well, had the encounter happened with a different band member, perhaps this guy might have actually gotten his money back. Luckily for the band, he approached Jeremy- who promptly let the New Jersey in his blood rip, demanding to know how on earth someone could firstly tell an artist that he thought his band sucked and then secondly ask for money back on A CD HE DIDN'T EVEN PAY FOR, effectively robbing us of our fucking gas money! Anyway, the guy walked away, Big Light CD still in hand, contemplating why on earth he didn't ask one of the little dudes for the refund instead...

Big Light also stopped by MOG to record this great live version of "Good Time of the Year".

Big Light - Good Time Of The Year (Live MMN Session) from MOGMusicNetwork.com on Vimeo.

Show Review: Do Make Say Think & Greed - Live at TIFF Bell Lightbox, Tuesday October 5, 2010

2010-10-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

Toronto’s post-rockers Do Make Say Think took on the ambitious act of scoring the 1924 silent film epic, Greed, by Erich von Stroheim. The original version of the film runs an astonishing seven hours in length but luckily for the band, this version was scrapped. While a marathon concert and film screening would have been nice, it probably would have been a bit tolling on everyone. Those attending last night’s screening of Greed watched a two and a half hour performance from the band, which is still longer than most concerts.

Joined by members of Broken Social Scene and the Weakerthans, Do Make Say Think and their friends filled the Bell Lightbox stage with several guitars, electric bass, upright bass, a horn section, drums and percussion and several classical stringed instruments. Having scored the silent film Tales of the Uncanny last summer during the Luminato Festival, it was clear from the get-go that Do Make Say Think were comfortable amongst their musical friends, the quiet and attentive audience, and the classic film being projected above them.

The truly successful silent films are rich in emotion, allowing the acting and the plot to make up for the lack of speech. The plot of Greed is highly emotive in and of itself. Middle-class couple Mac and Trina McTeague win a $5,000 lottery and the selfishness and greed that ensues is not unlike what happens to modern day lottery winners. Needless to say, their “friends” and family all believe they deserve a piece of the pie. Mac’s best friend Marcus is especially adamant that lottery money belongs to him. After all, he set Mac up with his cousin Trina, who he then married.

The Do Make Say Think ensemble expertly captured both the initial happiness of the characters as well as the growing tension between them. Mellow and lush arrangements were used to fill out sections of the film where the story line was being established, while eerie and ambient noises filled the theatre as Mac began to question his relationship with his wife. A spirited take on the traditional song “Freight Train” was one of two non-original pieces by the group. Finger-picked guitar notes bounced playfully against a chugging drum beat as characters sifted through dirt with hopeful faces at the gold mines.

The climax of both the film and the score came as Mac finally let his anger towards his stingy wife take over, brutally beating Trina to death in order to claim her lottery winnings. The musicians steadily pounded deep and dark sounds from their instruments. The sounds growing louder and fiercer with every moment. The music emanating from the stage mimicked both the anger and madness that was happening on screen so well, that it was easy to forget that this was not the original scoring to Greed.

After two and a half hours the movie came to an end and the collective of musicians finally put down their instruments. Witnessing a live scoring is an immensely impressive thing. The sounds created by Do Make Say Think and their friends were completely original but more importantly, familiar enough that you truly believed you were watching a real film score. It comes as no surprise that the band is interested in scoring more films and after attending Greed, I’m eager to see what they tackle next.

Photo Credits: Dimitri Sarantis

Album Review: The Black Angels - Phosphene Dream

2010-09-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Black Angels’ motto has always been “tune in and drone out” thanks to their heavy reliance on organ-driven psychedelic sounds. Well, on their new album Phosphene Dream, The Angels seem to still be deeply entrenched in this mantra. Granted, things have changed a bit. The band is heavily influenced by Lou Reed and his legendary art-rock group, the Velvet Underground. So much so that the group’s official logo is a picture of Velvet Underground member Nico. Where The Black Angel’s songs once drifted and dragged along in ways quite similar to the Velvet Underground, things are a little different on Phosphene Dream. Perhaps this is because they recorded the album in Los Angeles instead of in their hometown of Austin, Texas. Either way, the group has taken a small step outside their comfort zone, but definitely not a leap. Give a listen to “Telephone” and you may think that the Angels are trying to be featured in the next Apple commercial. “True Believers” sounds like a lost single from Jefferson Airplane and “Sunday Afternoon” chugs along like a song by The Doors. It’s clear that on Phosphene Dream The Black Angels are wearing their influences on their sleeves. That’s not to say that the group hasn’t formed their own musical niche in the ways of psych-rock. The ominous drone (a sound that is entirely their own) that was once at the forefront of their music now shares the spotlight with bluesier-than-ever guitars and hard-hitting drums. It seems that producer Dave Sardy (Oasis, Wolfmother, Band of Horses, Black Mountain) has given The Black Angels some of the confidence they need to baby-step away from their comfort zone. Hopefully on the group’s next album, they’ll be ready to take some bigger strides.

Watch The Black Angels perform “Telephone” on Late Night with David Letterman.

Marco Benevento Canada/U.S. Tour Dates

2010-09-21T08:15:00.000-07:00

Piano wizard Marco Benevento and his Trio will be launching a huge tour on October 14 that will lead the group through Montreal, Ottawa, Hamilton and Toronto before ending off in L.A. in early December. Check out the tour dates below. Also watch Marco and the Trio play an awesome version of "Greenpoint". It features Marco's first born Ruby on keys and is sure to make you smile, unless you're a soulless robot that is.

Show Review: Land of Talk - Live at Lee's Palace, Thursday September 16, 2010

2010-09-18T10:25:00.000-07:00

When Lizzie Powell and her band Land of Talk emerged onstage at Lee’s Palace last night I could tell we were in for a special performance. The Montreal-based indie-rock trio (rounded out by Andrew Barr on drums and Joseph Yarmush on bass and occasionally guitar) was joined by tour-mates and fellow Montréalers, Suuns. With seven musicians onstage, Land of talk was looking more like the Grateful Dead than a power-trio. Needless to say, the addition of a second drummer, backup female vocalist and a keyboard player gave the band’s songs a whole new energy. The Montreal collective opened strong as Barr triggered a digital drum loop and Lizzie launched into “Cloak and Cipher”, the title track off of the band’s latest release, which bares the very same name. Next up was “Swift Coin”, Land of Talk’s newest single. It featured some heavily distorted guitar and was nicely jammed out thanks to some beautiful soloing from Suun’s lead guitarist. “Some Are Lakes” received a huge response from the audience and was the first real sing-a-long of the night. The crowd seemed to know most of the lyrics, throwing caution to the wind and singing loud and proud.

The addition of a second female vocalist seemed to do wonders for Lizzie. As most fans of the band know, she suffered from a vocal polyp and almost had to give up singing entirely. Having another voice to rely on and harmonize with seemed to provide some extra comfort and breathing room for Lizzie, as she didn’t have to risk throwing out her voice during some of the night’s heavier numbers. One of which was “Yuppy Flu”, the anthem rocker that fully illustrates Land of Talk’s ability to enter into alt-rock territory with ease and success. When the band dropped “Quarry Hymns” it was easy to see they were hitting their stride. Lizzie rocked her way over to almost every musician on stage, smiling from ear to ear and receiving huge nods of approval from Barr.

The group showed off their experimental side as swirling noises, more characteristic of Wilco than Land of Talk, filled Lee’s Palace. The walls of noise were slowly ripped down by the heavy sounds of “Sixteen Asterisk” which was followed by “May You Never”. The latter showcased Barr’s proficiency behind his kit as he banged away with maracas rather than traditional sticks. A few tunes later the group waved goodbye and headed off stage. The noise from the crowd was deafening and obviously un-ignorable as Land of Talk quickly reemerged to play one of their slowest and most beautiful tunes titled “It’s Okay”. Once again, the group departed but the fans were unsatisfied with a stingy one song encore (although that’s all the set list, which I managed to grab had listed). They came out once more (as a trio this time) and played two more songs including their classic “Summer Special”.

Last night Land of Talk were treated as if they were Toronto-bred, and the brimming smiles from each musician onstage undoubtedly ensured that they’ll be coming back to Toronto in the near future.

Photo Credits: Lani Warsh

Show Review: Dirty Projectors - Live at the Opera House, Wednesday September 15, 2010

2010-09-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

On a cool Wednesday night, Brooklyn’s own Dirty Projectors brought their jittery take on progressive rock to Toronto’s Opera House. The band was in fine form as lead singer and guitarist Dave Longstreth (looking as lanky and sweaty as ever) and crew harmonized beautifully on material from not only their latest release, Bitte Orca, but on songs from their seven album catalogue as well.

Although the audience appeared to be utterly captivated throughout the entirety of the night, the loudest cheers most certainly came for Bitte Orca songs such as the standout “No Intention” and a hushed version of “The Bride.” The crowd simply erupted during the hip-hop influenced “Stillness In The Move” which saw Amber Coffman taking on lead vocals. Her vocal range was wickedly impressive as Coffman reached the tunes signature high notes with Mariah Carey-like ease. The Projectors treated the packed Opera House to some brand new material that they recently recorded with the legendary and eccentric Icelandic singer Bjork. Without the strange presence of Bjork however, the songs didn’t seem too far removed from the themes found on Bitte Orca.

The evening’s biggest surprise came as Longstreth introduced Toronto native Owen Pallett to add some violin work on “Two Doves.” Only Longstreth, Coffman and Pallett remained on stage for the gentle lullaby during which the crowd was absolutely silent. The classical guitar riffs of “Temecula Sunrise” had Toronto fans standing still, watching the band intently before being hit with the songs surprisingly heavy drum blasts. Smiles could be seen all around as fans awkwardly attempted to dance to the track’s odd time signatures with very little success.

The Projectors left the stage for no more than a minute before reemerging for a four-song encore. “Cannibal Resource,” the opening track off Bitte Orca was strategically saved for last and was met with rowdy applause and cheers. Two hours later the band left the stage for good having delivered a pristine performance that fans of the Dirty Projectors have simply come to expect this deep in the band’s career.

New Dr. Dog Music Video: Shadow People

2010-09-15T10:40:00.001-07:00

Check out this brand new video for "Shadow People" off of Dr. Dog's latest album titled Shame, Shame.

Surprise Me Mr. Davis/The Slip/Big Light New Year's Eve Run

2010-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Suit up! Surprise Me Mr. Davis, The Slip and Big Light have just announced some big New Year's Eve plans. The group's will be heading to Fall River, Brooklyn and finally California (in various incarnations) for a quick run.

Dates:
Fall River, MA’s Narrows Center For The Arts on December 27
Brooklyn, New York’s Brooklyn Bowl on December 28.
San Francisco, CA's Cafe Du Nord on December 30**
San Francisco, CA's Cafe Du Nord on December 31***

**As The Slip (Nathan Moore opens)
*** Big Light opens

Buffalo Springfield to Reunite at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit

2010-09-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Buffalo Springfield, the 1960s folk-rock group featuring Neil Young, Stephen Stills, Richie Furay and Jim Messina. This will be the bands first performance since 1968 so its fitting that they should play for charity at a Neil Young arranged event. Springfield will play each night, October 23 and 24 at Mountain View, CA’s Shoreline Amphitheater. Moreover, Pearl Jam will play each night as well as they are celebrating their 20th anniversary as a band.

Event Lineup:

Saturday

Buffalo Springfield
Pearl Jam
Elvis Costello
Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson
Lucinda Williams
Billy Idol
Jackson Browne and David Lindley
Modest Mouse
Grizzly Bear

Sunday

Buffalo Springfield
Pearl Jam
T-Bone Burnett’s Speaking Clock Revue featuring Elton John, Leon Russell, Elvis Costello, Ralph Stanley, Neko Case and Jeff Bridges
Elvis Costello
Merle Haggard and Kris Kristofferson
Modest Mouse
Grizzly Bear

Watch Buffalo Springfield play their classic "For What It's Worth" live at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

Shine A Light Productions Presents: Bowlive Sneak Preview

2010-09-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

From our good friends over at Shine A Light Productions:

In honor of Soulive's new release, Rubber Soulive (Sept 14 from Royal Family Records), we are releasing this SNEAK PREVIEW of footage compiled during the filming for the forthcoming "BOWLIVE" DVD from Shine A Light Productions & Royal Family Records.

Shot on March 5th, 2010 as part of Soulive's now-legendary residency at Brooklyn Bowl, this selection combines two tracks on the forthcoming Beatles tribute. Both "Eleanor Rigby" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" will appear on the 11-track album.

Recorded over four days at drummer Alan Evans' own Playonbrother Studios in upstate New York, Rubber Soulive presents the band back in its original trio format. After a handful of albums experimenting with different vocalists and horn sections, it's apparent from the album's opening track, a greasy rendition of "Drive My Car," that a return to form was in order. For the next 40 minutes, Soulive add their inimitable stamp to one classic after the next from The Beatles' adored catalog. A stately bounce informs "In My Life" punctuated by a majestic organ break courtesy of Neal Evans. "Eleanor Rigby" finds Alan pushing insistent syncopation into the backbeat and Neal covering a full string section with his two hands. A gorgeous rendition of "Something" makes clear that while Krasno can get down with the best of them, he can also dig deep into the heart of a ballad as he rings every last drop of emotion from the classic George Harrison melody. The trio rounds out the set with a three-dimensional version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." The performance concisely encapsulates the definitive Soulive sound built upon the trio's shimmering, wah-drenched guitar licks, soaring Hammond organ lines and relentlessly propulsive swing.

Rubber Soulive takes its place in a lineage of classic instrumental albums by the likes of Booker T. & The M.G.'s, George Benson and Count Basie that have paid tribute to The Beatles.

Rubber Soulive is available September 14 on vinyl, CD and mp3.

www.royalfamilyrecords.com/soulive
www.facebook.com/soulive

Stay tuned to both Royal Family Records and Shine A Light Productions for information on the release of the "BOWLIVE" DVD, which will feature a plethora of musical luminaries and over 2 hours of live music.

Watch a raging version of "Eleanor Rigby / I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Live at Brooklyn Bowl.

Phish Announce Coral Sky DVD Release

2010-09-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love the onslaught of Phish content recently. Between the 3D release of Festival 8, the non-stop touring and the loads of great HD quality video footage on YouTube, the band has decided to release a 2 disc DVD of their November 2nd 1996 performance at Coral Sky Amphitheater in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to the band “the complete, uncut concert was created from archival videotapes of the multi-camera lawn screen feed and the audio was mixed from multi-track masters in stereo PCM and 5.1 surround.”

Phish has leaked a video songs from the up-coming DVD, including superb versions of "Julius", "Run Like An Antelope" and "Harry Hood".

Phish - Julius (Coral Sky '96) from Hidden Track on Vimeo.

Phish - Coral Sky 11/2/96 "Run Like An Antelope" from Phish on Vimeo.

Phish - Harry Hood (Coral Sky '96) from Hidden Track on Vimeo.

Umphrey's McGee Confirms New Year's Eve Plans

2010-09-08T10:48:00.001-07:00

Umphreaks rejoice. Chicago's favourite jamband will be returning to their home city for a 3 night run at the Riviera Theatre. Umphrey's will play December 29 and finish on the 31. The band, who typically plays Chicago during the New Year had this to say. “We’ve played nearly every room in Chicago over the course of our career, to continue keeping things interesting, we’ve chosen one of our favorite venues in the city this year, the Riviera Theatre, with a perfect combination of lots of open floor for dancing and seats in the balcony with great sight lines,” keyboardist Joel Cummins said in a statement. “We can’t wait to feel the energy in this legendary Chicago haunt explode!”.

Watch Umphrey's cover the Beatles' classic "With A Little Help From My Friends" with some Joe Cocker flare on NYE 2009.

Show Review: Vampire Weekend - Live in Toronto at the Molson Canadian Ampitheatre, September 7, 2010

2010-09-08T10:36:00.000-07:00

Despite the threat of a lurking thunderstorm, Vampire Weekend along with openers Dum Dum Girls and Beach House were able to draw in a wide variety of Toronto concertgoers. Tweens, teens, hipsters and even a surprising number of baby-boomers braved the grey sky for a chance to see some of the most buzzed about indie bands on the scene today.

Opening the show was the Dum Dum Girls. Giving Jay-Z a run for his money in their “all black everything”, the Dum Dum Girls laid down some broody, drum heavy tunes to a relatively small crowd. The Girls opened with a choice cover of “Play With Fire” by The Doors, a perfect fit for this neo-psychedelic group who elegantly juxtapose their dark, down-tuned rock with beautiful three part harmonies. While they no doubt opened strong, the Dum Dum Girls’ original songs all seemed to follow very similar themes. Even though the band sounded tight, each song blurred into the next due to a lack a variety in strong structure.

Next up was Pitchfork favourites Beach House. There was much discussion about how their dreamy, synth-heavy sound would translate to a huge outdoor stadium. Word was that their last performance at the Toronto Island was sub-par, and I think Beach House knew it and was ready to change some minds. The duo of Victoria Legrand (lead vocals/keys) and Alex Scally (guitar/keys) were rounded out with drums and a guitarist for the entirety of their performance. It’s easy to fall victim to Beach House’s mellow and hypnotic sound as it ranges from lush and swirling to trance-y and rocking. Legrand’s powerful voice was in fine form and her reverb laced “oohs and aaahs” acted as introductions and backdrops to most of the band’s songs. The presence of a full, four-piece band and the huge crowd was enough for Beach House to pull out a very strong performance that was sure to leave a good impression.

Finally it was time for the evening’s main act. The lights went down and Vampire Weekend emerged onto the stage while, get this, DJ Khaled’s summer banger “All I Do Is Win” blasted over the P.A. Drummer Chris Tomson joined in for a few bars, teasing fans that may have been expecting the group’s first hip-hop cover since singer/guitarist Ezra Koenig’s departure from his old rap group. Rather, the group launched into “Holiday” off of the new release, Contra. Vampire Weekend sounded just as they always do. Bright and poppy with a little bit of punk rock thrown in for good measure. All over the Ampitheatre fans could be seen belting out each and every lyric while the group laid down their unique take on African rhythm-meets-prepster lyrics and sensibilities. A particularly chatty Ezra Koenig treated us to a brief auto-tuned speech about condominiums in Toronto before the band blasted into “California English”. Tomson (who was arguably the star of the night) hit us with a full-fledged drum assault during “Cousins” which gave many fans an excuse to crowd surf to the band’s infectious pop sounds. The true highlight of the night came mid-set as the band performed a tight cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Going Down”. This might have been the only song of the night that was not a sing-a-long, but nobody seemed to mind. While the group’s performance was largely a success, the evening’s pace was certainly hindered by the four-and-a-half minute snorer that is “I Think Ur A Contra”. Ezra prefaced the song by saying the band used to be too nervous to play the song live, and perhaps it should remain shelved. Vampire Weekend ended strong however with a fast-paced, three-song encore that included “Horchata”, “Mansard Roof”, and “Walcott”. Twenty-one songs and ninety minutes later, the show was over. Vampire Weekend delivered a fantastic, high-energy show and audience members took home another great memory as the summer quickly fades away.

Setlist:
Holiday
White Sky
Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa
I Stand Corrected
M79
Bryn
California English
Cousins
Taxi Cab
Run
A-punk
One (Blake's Got a New Face)
I'm Goin' Down (Bruce Springsteen cover)
Diplomat's Son
I Think Ur A Contra
Giving Up The Gun
Campus
Oxford Comma

Encore:
Horchata
Mansard Roof
Walcott

Watch Vampire Weekend perform "Mansard Roof" (Note: The band's chandeliers were taken away at customs so they instructed us to raise our hands and wiggle our fingers like sea anemones)

Photo credits: Pete Nema at Sticky Magazine

The Avett Brothers Live Volume 3 Tracklists

2010-08-28T15:18:00.000-07:00

Very soon The Avett Brothers will be releasing their latest live CD and DVD combination titled "Live Volume 3" to the public. Just the other day the tracklist for both was made public.

CD:
1. Pretty Girl from Matthews
2. Talk on Indolence
3. Ballad False Start
4. The Ballad of Love and Hate
5. Colorshow
6. I and Love and You
7. Shame
8. When I Drink
9. Murder in the City
10. I Killed Sally’s Lover
11. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise
12. The Perfect Space
13. Paranoia in B-flat Major
14. Distraction #74
15. Kick Drum Heart
16. Salvation Song

DVD:
1. Pretty Girl from Matthews
2. Swept Away
3. Talk on Indolence
4. The Ballad of Love and Hate
5. Colorshow
6. I and Love and You
7. Shame
8. When I Drink
9. Murder in the City
10. I Killed Sally’s Lover
11. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise
12. The Perfect Space
13. Paranoia in B-flat Major
14. Distraction #74
15. Kick Drum Heart
16. Salvation Song

Here's a great fan-shot video of the Brothers playing "The Perfect Space" in Texas

The Barr Brothers - Cloud

2010-08-28T14:44:00.001-07:00

As I just finished writing a review of The Barr Brothers self-titled, debut album for Relix Magazine, I felt it was appropriate to peruse the band's website a little bit. I stumbled upon a wonderful video of the group playing their dreamy song "Cloud" live in Montreal. The tune features some very clever wordplay and some characteristically inspired playing from the band as a whole. Give it a watch and then do yourselves a favor and head over to The Barr Brothers website to order their fantastic new record.

Swell Season Pays For Grief Counselling For Fans

2010-08-26T13:47:00.000-07:00

Last week during the Swell Season's concert in California a fan tragically jumped to his death in an act of suicide. The 32 year old Michael Pickels jumped from a roof covering and landed right near lead singer Glen Hansard. The band will be paying for four sessions for any or all of the 1,900 fans who attended the show. Our thoughts go out to Pickels' family.

Phish Announces Fall Tour

2010-08-25T08:37:00.001-07:00

With a huge summer tour successfully completed it comes as no surprise that Phish will be embarking on another, albeit shorter fall tour. The jam-giants will be playing the Austin City Limits Festival on October 8, as well as their first shows in Atlantic City. Last Halloween we heard Phish cover the pivotal classic rock album Exile on Main St. by the Stones. Those lucky enough to make to ATL will witness Trey, Mike, Jon and Page drape themselves in musical costumes as they cover another group's record this Halloween.

PHISH FALL 2010 U.S. TOUR DATES

October 8 Austin, TX—Austin City Limits Festival

October 10-12 Broomfield, CO—ISTBANK Center

October 15-16 North Charleston, SC—North Charleston Coliseum

October 19 Augusta, ME—Augusta Civic Center

October 20 Utica, NY—Utica Memorial Auditorium

October 22 Providence, RI—Dunkin Donuts Center

October 23-24 Amherst, MA—Mullins Center

October 26 Manchester, NH—Verizon Wireless Arena

October 29-31 Atlantic City, NJ—Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall

Show Review: The Felice Brothers - Live in Toronto at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, July 27, 2010

2010-07-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

When the Felice Brothers opened for the Dave Matthews Band in Toronto only two months back, they must have made some impression. The band, looking much cleaner cut than they sounded, played to a packed and sweaty crowd at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern. The band of brothers and close friends filled the low-ceilinged venue with their high-energy drunken sing-a-longs and tender ballads. Members of the audience, most of which were quite familiar with the Felice Brothers large catalogue happily draped themselves over one another and belted out the lyrics to most of the songs during the 90-minute set. Lead singer and guitarist Ian Felice poured his scraggly and often wobbly voice into every song, but it was really his childhood friend Christmas who shined the brightest. Christmas’ stage presence and performance on both the accordion and keyboard is so genuine and heartfelt that it’s hard to look at the large man without an ear-to-ear smile on your face. While most of the songs the Felice Brothers played were quick paced and filled with hoedown dance opportunities, the band really hit a high point when they slowed things down on songs like the haunting “Saint Peter’s End” and “Katie Dear”. The crowd simply erupted for the band’s biggest hit “Frankie’s Gun” which featured some down and dirty washboard playing by Greg Farley, who was quick to switch between his fiddle, extra percussion and some straight up crazy dancing throughout the entire evening. The crowd barely had the opportunity to catch their breath before the group launched into “Whiskey In My Whiskey” and then “Greatest Show On Earth”. The latter of which had Ian sounding more like Bob Dylan than ever, but nobody seemed to mind

The Felice Brothers hopped off stage for a couple of moments but the cheers from the crowd would not let up. The boys came back out with a few more stompers to sustain the whiskey-induced crowd. “Chicken Wire” had the whole audience stomping their feet before the group closed the show with a choice cover song by Townes Zan Vandt that fit the Brothers’ sound perfectly. Those who attended this stellar performance will surely agree that the Felice Brothers truly earned that coveted opening slot for the Dave Matthews Band. Toronto welcomed the Felice Brothers as their own last night, and I’m sure these up-and-comers will make their way through Canada again soon enough.

Back In 15 Minutes Takes Another Extended Break

2010-06-23T08:12:00.000-07:00

Well folks,
It's that time again where I leave my computer behind for an extended period of time. Starting tomorrow I will be leading canoe trips in beautiful northern Ontario. I will be back to my computer and ready to provide everyone with more reviews, interviews and industry news by the end of August. I hope the summer is wonderful for everyone and filled with lots of great music.

Take care,
-Lucas Samuels, Back In 15 Minutes.

Film Review: Stones In Exile

2010-06-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

There’s a certain irony captured in Stephen Kijak’s film Stones In Exile, the documentary of the Rolling Stones’ now legendary double record, Exile On Main St. The group was literally exiled from England for not being able to pay their taxes. So, they left the country in their private jet. The Stones set course for the south of France and made camp in Nellcôte, Keith Richard’s pristine colonial style mansion. Funny enough, the time leading up to the recording of the album was seemingly wholesome. The black and white stock footage portrays the Stones as family men first and foremost. With wives, girlfriends and small children running around, the initial stages of Exile On Main St. do not appear to be very rock and roll at all.

With no suitable recording space to be found in all of southern France however, the Stones (plus a three piece horn section) opted to record in the basement of Nellcôte. With this vital decision came darkness, an underlying theme of the record and the movie. The dank, dingy and mercilessly hot basement was made up of many small rooms and proved to be a less than ideal recording space. Regardless, the Stones set up shop and recorded the bulk of Exile there. A six-month process.

What the stock footage, still photographs and newly recorded video footage of Jagger and Watts illustrates is that Exile On Main St., (as cliché as it might sound), was literally fueled by sex, drugs and rock and roll. We get to witness the relentless pot smoking (which was never hidden from the children), the whiskey-induced musical madness and the hard drugs, all of which acted as the motivation for the album. The film also reveals that some of the most famous songs weren’t even cut by the band as a whole! The recording of Exile was intensely sporadic; band members traipsed in and out of Nellcôte at their leisure, recording at any given hour of the day. Though the final product may seem like a finally crafted labor of love, throughout the film members of the Stones’ happily admit that much of the music they created was actually garbage. Before Stones In Exile, most fans would find that hard to believe.

Anyone who has listened to the provocative Exile On Main St. knows that there is mysteriously dark vibe to it. What Stones In Exile provides moviegoers with is the ultimate fly-on-the-wall experience, a window into the on-goings of a bunch of exiled-against-their-will Londoners. Though only an hour in length, Stones In Exile is a dense journey that will leave you wondering how the hell the Rolling Stones came out of southern France alive, and with one of rock and roll’s greatest albums to boot.

Film Review: This Movie Is Broken

2010-06-20T18:12:00.001-07:00

Making a concert film is no easy task. How do you capture the true spirit of a band when they are conscious (and perhaps even self-conscious) of the cameras rolling? Broken Social Scene bandleaders Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning recognized this problem and found an easy way around it. They simply did not tell their 16 other bandmates that their first reunion show since 2004 was being filmed. Seriously. In the summer of 2009, during Toronto’s embarrassing city-wide garbage strike, director Doug McDonald was able to capture a truly beautiful evening with a band performing in sweet, sweet ignorance.

This Movie Is Broken focuses on Bruno (Greg Calderone) finally bagging his life-long crush/long-time platonic friend Caroline Rush (Georgina Reilly). But with every should-be-relationship there comes a catch. Caroline is leaving for Paris the next day. Instead of discussing the obvious disasters of a long-distance relationship, Caroline requests that the two spend their last evening together at the Broken Social Scene concert. What better place for Bruno to prove the authenticity of his love for Caroline than at the show?

The band itself is in fine form throughout the beautiful summer evening. Performing classic songs such as the chilling “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl” as well as new songs from the band’s freshly released new album,Forgiveness Rock Record, the connection between Broken Social Scene’s band members, as well as their love for Toronto is unmistakable and quite uplifting. The group’s sprawling and layered tunes provide a more than complementary backdrop to both the drama and comedy between Bruno, best friend Blake and Caroline. While the film has a romantic twist that seems oddly out of place, This Movie Is Broken is largely a success.

Watch the trailer

Band To Watch: Tin Soldier

2010-06-20T12:33:00.000-07:00

A band that I've been following a lot over the last year is a group of Berklee undergraduates calling themselves Tin Soldier. They're a six-piece collective with members hailing from all over the world (from Canada all the way to France) and are making making music well beyond their years. The group is comprised of lead singer Manu Laudic, lead guitarist Dustin Olyan, keyboardist Zachary Tenorio-Miller, drummer Curran McDowell, guitarist/mandolin player Christopher Putt, and bassist Aaron “Count” Stern. They've spent the last couple of months recording their debut, self-titled, 6 song EP and it is well worth a listen.

The album opens with the piano-driven pop-rocker "Don't Leave Me (Behind)". The track is clearly influenced by contemporary poppers like John Mayer, but brings in heavier sounds too, reminiscent of Wilco. "Don't Leave Me (Behind)" is a radio-ready tune with some beautiful harmonies and a wildly impressive guitar solo from lead guitarist and up-coming virtuoso Dustin Olyan.

Acoustic guitar, a thumping bass line and playful piano provide the backdrop for the band's thoughts on modern war mid-way through the EP on "Soldier". Another wickedly-catchy song, "Soldier" illustrates the band's careful songwriting and some very memorable vocal breaks.

Credibility is huge for up-and-coming bands, and who better to endorse Tin Soldier than Jon Anderson, lead singer of the classic-progressive rock group Yes. Anderson lends his striking vocals on "Time As It Is", the album's longest and headiest track. A slow-building number with a monstrously dynamic ending, "Time As It Is" shows the versatility and confidence of this up-and-coming group from Boston.

Look for an official release of the EP in the very near future. For now, head over to Tin Soldier's MySpace page to give the 6 tracks a listen.

Also check out this fantastic acoustic version of "Don't Leave Me (Behind) recorded earlier this year.

Here the band plays "Hat Song"

The Roots & Jim James - Dear God 2.0

2010-06-20T12:01:00.000-07:00

Last year Jim James, Conor Oberst, M. Ward and Mike Mogis released a beautiful folk record under the moniker "Monsters of Folk". The album opened with the harp and echo filled "Dear God". The song confused me at first. I certainly couldn't believe that the rest of the album would follow its airy and haunting vibe, and I was correct. "Dear God" felt extremely out of place to me on that album, and to this day, probably 100 listens in, I still feel the same way about it.

A couple of days ago I heard that Jim James would be appearing on Jimmy Fallon, performing "Dear God 2.0". This re-incarnation is featured on The Roots'up-coming release titled How I Got Over. When I heard the news I immediately headed to hypem.com to give the track a listen. I love The Roots and I love what they've been doing on Fallon, but their last few albums haven't impressed me all that much. After listening to "Dear God 2.0" I was shocked. While they haven't really re-arranged the song all that much, the tunes slow rhythm and heavy reliance on a string section make it a very unique backing track for a hip hop song. Not to mention, the Jim James vocal sample adds a certain music connoisseur credibility, which I find pretty cool.

Last night My Morning Jacket frontman and Monsters of Folk member Jim James took the stage with The Roots on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and delivered an amazing rendition of "Dear God 2.0".

Simon & Garfunkel Tour Postponed...Indefinitely

2010-06-18T07:35:00.000-07:00

I think it's safe to say that most music fans were looking forward to seeing legendary folk rockers Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel reunite for a big string of shows. Unfortunately, Garfunkel has been suffering from vocal paresis and will be unable to perform. The two released the following statement:

"The Simon & Garfunkel tour that had been set for July has now been postponed indefinitely. The tour, originally set for April and then rescheduled for July, is now on hold as Art Garfunkel continues to recover from a vocal paresis. According to his doctors, Art is expected to make a full recovery, however they cannot predict an exact timeline. This condition (paresis) inhibits the duo from performing shows at the highest possible level and it is for that reason and out of respect for their fans that Paul and Art have decided to put the tour on hold.

Simon & Garfunkel regret any inconvenience this has caused their fans and are looking forward to rescheduling the dates when Art fully recovers. Art says, "I do feel bad about disrupting so many people's plans but, as I continue to mend, I can't yet bring my 'A Game' to a tour, and I would not perform for you with anything less."

Back In 15 MInutes Hits NXNE 2010

2010-06-16T16:09:00.001-07:00

Since things have been a bit slow around here for the past little while I figure I should throw down a little bit of an update. Today I received my press credentials for Toronto's own NXNE Music Festival. The festival features 650 bands and 40 films. While I'd love to provide everyone with a ton of show and film reviews, the venues in Toronto are quite spread out and one can spend a pretty penny on transportation alone. That being said, I will be covering the following:

Films:
Broken Social Scene - This Movie Is Broken
Last year BSS played a free show in Toronto, filmed it, and the inter-spliced it with a "I finally slept with my dream girl and she's leaving the country forever...tomorrow" love story.

The Rolling Stones - Stones In Exile
This documentary features candid footage of the Stones in their prime, recording what I believe to be their greatest achievement ever, "Exile On Main St.".

Concerts:
Zeus - Toronto band blending Beatles-esque harmonies with an unmistakably catchy brand of 90s alt-rock

Timber Timbre - Gothic blues...haunting stuff that will make your blood curl and your feet tap

Surfer Blood - Summer sounds from California, surprise surprise they mention surfing and make other assorted water references throughout most of their songs. Pitchfork digs 'em.

De La Soul - one of the quintessential, positive forces in hip-hop. Forget money, girls and guns, De La Soul has got too much class for that shit, not to mention their silky flow.

Possible shows I will be attending:
The Treasures - Rock-a-billy revivalist band from Toronto with sweet harmonies.
AA Bondy - Folk rock, a man, his guitar, and his harmonica.

Jay-Z Live At The Isle of Wight Festival

2010-06-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

Very few performers let alone rappers hold a candle to Jay-Z. After seeing him live earlier this year I can honestly say he is one of the most electrifying, enthralling and enthusiastic live performers out there today. I stumbled across this fantastic video of Jigga truly bringing down the house at England's legendary Isle of Wight Festival. The anthem of "Run This Town" simply pours over the entire audience who happily throw the infamous Roc-A-Fella diamond symbol up into the air. Not only does Jay deliver a stellar performance, the crowd absolutely loses it once Kanye West makes a return to the stage. Check it out

Marco Benevento "Between The Needles & Nightfall"

2010-05-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

Marco Benevento is on a non-stop tear of releasing music. The Trio has been crazy busy putting the final touches on the up-coming new album titled "Between The Needles & Nightfall". Over at Shine A Light Productions, film producer extraordinaire Karina Mackenzie has put together some beautiful footage of the Trio getting into the groove, so take a peak at the videos below to get a feel for the new album.

Some more behind-the-scenes footage can be watched over at Shine A Light Production's website.

Head to Marco's site for more information about the album.

Album Review: Plants and Animals - La La Land

2010-04-28T19:44:00.000-07:00

The trio Plants and Animals set their acoustic instruments aside, plugged in their electrics and created a cohesive 11 song record that flows smoothly through its valleys and peaks. La La Land opens with the celebrity inspired track, “Tom Cruz.” The intro thumps may sound like a bass guitar, but it’s actually the guitar work of multi-instrumentalist Nicolas Basque. Riff-heavy and epic, “Tom Cruz” is the way a rock and roll album should start. Plants and Animals beg to be the next superstars on American Idol, an ironic wish for a group hailing from the notoriously proud province of Quebec. The Arcade Fire horn section adds some color on this should-be radio hit.

The band tip their caps to the Gypsy Kings on the Spanish-laced “Kon Tiki” before slowing things down with the album’s first tender moments on “Game Shows.” Fellow (transplanted) Montréaler Brad Barr lays down some effortless piano work as lead singer Warren Spicer insures us, “it’s so good, it’s so easy.” “Game Shows” is perhaps a critique on society’s willingness to get lost in the mind-numbing “big highs and big lows” of modern reality television garbage. The pace picks up considerably on the album’s clear masterpiece, “The Mama Papa.” Spicer adds some French inflections to his best David Byrne impression with surprisingly pleasant results. An obvious attempt at writing a radio-friendly hit with some spunk, the simple, repetitive chorus of “and the mama don’t allow what the papa don’t like and the kids just wanna be left on the outside” will be on repeat in your head for days after listening.

Proving they are Montrealers through and through, “Celebration” finds Spicer singing about one of the city’s most notable past times, partying. While the track may not be the album’s biggest rocker, it features some wonderfully layered, effect-heavy guitar work and a massive horn-filled ending. Screaming and sprawling guitar work finishes La La Land’s curiously titled final track “Jeans, Jeans, Jeans” which is about just that. Although the title might evoke thoughts of ‘80s skinny jeans and big hair, just remember titles can be misleading. “Jeans, Jeans, Jeans” is badass rock and roll, ripped jeans and all. For a band with only two full albums under their belts, Plants and Animals demonstrate the maturity and growth that comes from extended touring, and ensure that La La Land lives up to the hype set by 2008’s heavily championed Parc Avenue.

Back In 15 Minutes Heads To Asia

2010-04-19T11:02:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,
I just wanted to let you all know that things are going to be very quiet around here for the next four months. Tomorrow evening I will be flying out to Hong Kong, and from there I will be traveling much of South East Asia. Chances are I will be able to do a post here and there, but these will be sporadic and short. I will be returning home in mid-June for just around a week, only to head out again. I will be leaving my computer behind once more, as July and August will find me leading canoe trips in the great Canadian outdoors of Ontario. Thanks to everyone who has stuck around with me thus far. I promise that in August Back In 15 Minutes will be back to full force with lots of great content to read, watch and see. It's been a great ride so far and I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

Have a relaxing but eventful summer everyone. Before you blink, the warm days and nights will be behind us once again.

-Lucas Samuels

Dawes Live On Craig Ferguson

2010-04-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

Last night Dawes, one of our favourite new groups over here at Back In 15 Minutes made their live television debut. The group played the standout hit "When My Time Comes" off of their 2009 debut album North Hills. For their first time on television, Dawes laid down a fantastic performance. Taylor Goldsmith is wildly confident on stage, and he appears to be developing into a less nationalistic version of Springsteen (not to mention he can solo much better). Take a look at their performance below.

Album Review: Surprise Me Mr. Davis - That Man Eats Morning For Breakfast

2010-04-14T14:07:00.000-07:00

To state that the new Surprise Me Mr. Davis record, That Man Eats Morning For Breakfast has been a long time coming would be a great understatement. The group, made up of The Slip and Nathan Moore released their last EP in 2005. Fans of the band know that these “new” songs have been thoroughly road-tested and actually recorded since 2008, and have been eagerly awaiting their recorded release. Well, that day has come, albeit two years later. What started off as a collaboration between two sets of musicians has clearly grown into something much bigger. While it used to sound like The Slip backing the songs of Nathan Moore, Surprise Me Mr. Davis has matured into a full-fledged rock and roll tour-de-force. That Man Eats Morning For Breakfast kick starts with “Roses In Bottles” an interesting choice for an opening track due to its noticeable complexity and lack of traditional song structure. If we listen intently however, the perfect harmonies of singers Brad Barr and Nathan Moore shine in unison. Barr’s masterful guitar lines trace the lyrical harmony beautifully, while drummer Andrew Barr adds subtle color to the song by hammering his skins with Moroccan shakers, rather than traditional drum sticks. “Roses In Bottles” is a true embodiment of the band. They make music with layers. Music that is understood best upon multiple listens, so that before you know it, you can’t get the songs out of your head.

In true Surprise Me Mr. Davis fashion, the band shifts gear completely on the funked-out protest rocker “Sissyfuss”. Nathan and Brad proudly exclaim, “I ain’t pickin’ up no peaches no, no peaches no. Not for no dollar a day” while Marc Friedman tosses out heavily fuzzed-out bass fills, never opting for a traditional low-end bass line. Brad gives us a perfect mix of his old school jazz guitar days mixed with his more current progressive guitar stylings during a ripping and completely unique solo. The pace is slowed just a hair on the ballad “One Sick Knave”, which is arguably the gem of the album. The tune illustrates the collaborative songwriting maturity that Nathan and Brad have been working towards for over six years now. Lyrics like “Well you follow the queen, but you never once saw her face. So you started running even though you weren’t being chase” are proof of the two songsmith’s growth as writers. The track slowly builds before the band reaches musical climax and Brad tosses out another shredding and heavily distorted guitar solo.

“Emily Green” finds Surprise Me Mr. Davis donning musical costumes from the pop heavy, harmony-laced ‘60s era, while Moore croons of love and loss on the haunting ballad “Joelle”. The album ends perfectly as Surprise Me Mr. Davis sing of life on the road on “Home Away From Home”. It may only be a seven song EP, but That Man Eats Morning For Breakfast is an accurate indication of a band tapping into their potential as of 2008. Now its 2010, and hopefully someday soon Surprise Me Mr. Davis will finally bless us with their true sophomore album.

www.surprisememrdavis.com
www.myspace.com/surprisememrdavis

Show Review: The Barr Brothers & The Low Anthem - Live in Toronto at Church of the Redeemer, April 10, 2010

2010-04-11T10:11:00.000-07:00

It only took a moment after stepping into the Church of the Redeemer to know that I was about to witness a magical evening of music. Sitting front pew center, it was the first in my life I hadn’t gravitated towards the back row in any house of worship. Supporting The Low Anthem tonight were their good friends and regular tour companions, The Barr Brothers. Consisting of Brad and Andrew Barr (founding members of The Slip/Surprise Me Mr. Davis) on guitar and drums respectively, as well as Sarah Page on harp, the group seemed quietly eager to wow the packed church with their unique progressive folk music.

From the moments the lights went down and Sarah Page started gracefully plucking her massive wooden harp, the crowd was completely silent. As the band eased into “Beggar in the Morning” Brad filled the old church with the echoes of a pre-recorded answering machine message reverberating through his guitar pickups. As he slowly pulled extra thin strings laced methodically through his guitar strings up and away from his instrument, another non-traditional texture was added to the mounting wall of sound coming from the stage. Andrew delicately brushed the cymbals of his drum kit, painting a careful backdrop for all of the group’s ambient noise to float upon. All of this was within the first few minutes of the opening number. Next came “Ooh, Belle”, a regular for The Slip, now re-worked for The Barr Brothers. The new tune, “Old Mythologies” featured Andrew Barr opting for leg slaps as his percussive device, while Brad fingerpicked his way through the most straightforward folk tune of the night.

The Barr Brothers showed off their blues chops during “Lord I just Can’t Keep From Cryin’” as Brad showcased some expert slide work while Sarah provided some additional percussion. Ironically, Brad begged us to sympathize with the devil in a church no less during “Give The Devil Back His Heart”, a sprawling gothic-blues number that saw brother Andrew playing his drums with two percussive instruments that resembled mini crutches. The group closed its set with an unreleased tune that I’ll call “Was That So Long Ago?” and it featured harmonizing falsetto lines that appeared to come with great ease. The Barr Brothers left the stage to a thunderous, standing ovation from a church that appeared to have every pew filled.

The Low Anthem was up next, supporting their fantastic album “Oh My God Charlie Darwin”, previewing their yet-to-be-titled new album and playing some traditional American folk songs. What struck me most about The Low Anthem was not the group’s comfort with virtually every antique and modern instrument imaginable (and trust me that was wildly impressive) but rather the strength and range of lead singer Ben Knox Miller. Whether it was his soaring falsetto on the standout “Charlie Darwin” or his whiskey-soaked vocals during “Don’t Let Nobody Turn You Around”, the sheer power of his voice was completely absorbing.The highlight of the set came after the second chorus of “This God Damn House”, as Miller instructed us to phone our neighbor on speakerphone and let the cell phones sing to each other. When the moment came, the room obliged and the whistling of our cellular devices began to circle the room before reaching the ceiling of the church. The lights went down, the band dropped their instruments and for a few mystical moments, all that could be heard was the gentle singing that sounded like it was coming from anywhere other than a Blackberry or an iPhone.

Traditional numbers such as “Sally, Where’d You Get Your Liquor From?” and “Evangeline” recalled the spirit of The Band, as the group’s newest member Mat Davidson shared a striking resemblance to Rick Danko, especially with that violin in his hand. The set closed with a three song encore that included "To Ohio", a re-working of “The Horizon is a Beltway” and a new number, likely to be featured on the group’s new album.

I’ve never understood or been pulled in by the power of organized religion. Music has always been my connection to something intangible. As I looked around the beautiful old church, I couldn’t help but feel like the people surrounding me felt the same way. The Barr Brothers and The Low Anthem were able to channel something very deep on that mild, spring night in Toronto, and if music like this could be considered a religion, I'd be more than happy to take part in it once a week.

The Barr Brothers playing "Old Mythologies"

MGMT Spring Tour 2010

2010-04-07T12:58:00.000-07:00

I'll set aside my personal feelings towards the new MGMT album Congratulations (but read my review here) and let you all know that the group will be touring in support of the album this spring. The group will be playing the Coachella Music Festival once again, as well as Saturday Night Live on April 24. I'm interested in seeing how brutal the new songs sound live. Let's just hope they go Oracular Spectacular heavy on their sets.

Tour Dates:
April 12 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
April 13 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
April 17 Indio, CA Coachella
April 29 Toronto, ON The Mod Club Theatre
April 30 Durham, NH University of New Hamspshire
May 2 East Rutherford, NJ Meadowlands Sports Complex (Bamboozle)
May 28 San Luis Obispo, CA Avila Beach Bowl
May 29 Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz Civic Center
May 31 George, WA The Gorge (Sasquatch!)
June 1 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
June 2 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom
June 4 Salt Lake City, UT In The Venue
June 6 Austin, TX Stubb's Bar-B-Q
June 7 Houston, TX House of Blues
June 8 Dallas, TX House of Blues
June 11 Denver, CO Red Rocks
June 13 Kansas City, MO Uptown Theatre
June 14 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue
June 15 Columbus, OH LC Pavillion
June 16 Detroit, MI The Fillmore
June 18 Chicago, IL Riviera
June 20 Milwaukee, WI Riverside Theatre
August 8 Chicago, IL Lollapalooza

Here's the very strange video for "Flash Delirium"

Wilco to Curate Solid Sound Festival

2010-04-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

With festivals popping up all over the place, it comes as no surprise that a band as big as Wilco will be curating and headlining their very own festival this summer. The Solid Sound Festival will take place from August 13-15 at the campus of MASSS MoCA, in Western Massachusetts town of North Adams. The group will be playing a headlining set each night and the band's various side projects will make up the other performances, with more acts to be announced soon. While The Autumn Defense, On Fillmore, The Nels Cline Singers, and Pronto will perform, Tweedy's side project "Loose Fur" which features Wilco drummer Glenn Kotche and Jim O'Rourke are currently not slated to perform. Dang.

Album Review: Dr. Dog - Shame, Shame

2010-04-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

Dr. Dog is brimming with bright enthusiasm on their latest and most certainly greatest release, Shame, Shame. The band cited an intentional shift towards a more scaled-down, true representation of their live sound for this new album, and that is what we get. It's a refreshing change to hear Dr. Dog channeling their seriously energetic live spirit in the confines of a structured studio album. It's no easy feat, but Dr. Dog has the focus to make it work.

The album opens with the upbeat number "Stranger", rich in Dr. Dog's textbook 60's harmonies and unsurprisingly missing their signature horn section. Not to worry, singer Toby Leaman belts out the lyrics with all his soulful might, filling out the missing spaces with ease. The pace drops, but only slightly on the next tune, "Shadow People". Lyrics like "it's the right night for the wrong company" and "I crossed the path of a friend of mine, and I know what that look upon her face meant" resonate long after the beautifully thin vocals of Scott McMicken fade out. The blunt lyrics "I've got a job, I've got to move this paper" perfectly match the heavy marching pace of "Later" which is laced with some quirky off-key piano and is seriously infectious. With its repetitive chorus, "but I can't sit around and wait, can't sit around and wait for you", "Later" has all the key ingredients for a breakout single. Mid-album, Dr. Dog juxtaposes the dark tale of a loving couple in turmoil with poppy handclaps and a rolling drumbeat on "Jackie Wants A Black Eye" to surprising success. Finally, the album comes full circle, ending with the title track "Shame, Shame", the only song on the album that plays a little long.

If it's your first time hearing Dr. Dog, Shame, Shame should prove to be immensely satisfying. It's a lively and catchy album. A nod to the seemingly forgotten harmonies of the '60s which allowed so many bands to achieve so much success. Long time fans of the band should also feel proud of their underdog musicians. Shame, Shame mixes just the right amount of left-of-center headphone nuances (listen for someone barking like a dog on "I Only Wear Blue") with the band's long-term practice of blatantly poppy songwriting. For a band that has cradled the cusp of mainstream success for so long, Shame, Shame should be the album that garners Dr. Dog rave reviews from critics, casual listeners, and longtime fans alike.

Check out Dr. Dog playing "Stranger" live at Jimmy Fallon

Bob Dylan Cancels Tour of Asia

2010-04-05T09:39:00.000-07:00

Bob Dylan always said that he didn't believe there were any deep messages in his songs. Unfortunately, the government in China thinks otherwise. Already on the cusp of banning Google, China has now refused to let Bob Dylan perform a string of shows due to his status as a "counterculture figure". Dylan had just finished a two week tour of Japan and was looking to extend things into China. The folk icon was looking to also play Beijing as well as South Kore and Taiwan, but has now scrapped all proposed shows. Dylan will return to the road May 29th in Athens, Greece to begin a major tour of Europe.

Mile High Music Festival 2010

2010-04-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

Colorado's Mile High Festival has just announced its complete lineup. The festival, which takes place on August 14 and 15 at The Field at Dick's Sporting Goods Park features Dave Matthews Band and Jack Johnson as the big headliners, but we're most excited for The Samples and My Morning Jacket. Here's the complete lineup:

Saturday, August 14
Jack Johnson
Steve Miller Band
Slightly Stoopid
Phoenix
Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley
Keane
Cypress Hill
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band
The Samples (all original members)
Keller Williams
Rusted Root
Donavon Frankenreiter
One eskimO
Mayer Hawthorne & The County
ALO
Amos Lee
The Constellations
The Motet
Bobby Long
MyNameIsJohnMichael

Sunday, August 15
Dave Matthews Band
Weezer
My Morning Jacket
Atmosphere
Train
Jimmy Cliff
Bassnectar
Z-Trip
Drive-By Truckers
Railroad Earth
Ozomatli
Punch Brothers
Tim Reynolds & TR3
Trevor Hall
Matt Morris
BoomBox
On My Stars
Joe Purdy
The Knew
Danielle Ate the Sandwich

Head over to www.milehighmusicfestival.com for full information.

Album Review: MGMT - Congratulations

2010-03-30T12:43:00.000-07:00

It’s hard for me to listen to the new MGMT album Congratulations and not think of it as a giant “fuck you” to the music industry’s “powers that be”. I think in that sense, the album is a complete success. Ben Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden were thrust into indie-rock superstardom for their fantastic debut release Oracular Spectacular. The album was shockingly good for a debut, but to say their live show was sub-par is perhaps giving them too much credit. Their highly anticipated sophomore release Congratulations is pretty much a mess. They say “don’t judge a book by its cover”, but it’s hard not to with a cover as ridiculous as this one. Moving on, the album opens up with “It’s Working”, one of the few decent songs. It’s heavily layered with strings and a vocal workout that I really picture VanWyngarden pulling off live. That being said, it is quite catchy and the shifts in tempo give it a nice complexity. “Someone’s Missing” finds the boys singing a weird accented whisper which for the life of me, I can not place. The accent is so absurd that it renders the song practically un-listenable. MGMT continues on with their strange obsession with un-placeable accents on “Flash Delirium”. Luckily, the incorporation of so many different musical styles saves this song. MGMT travel from synth-heavy pop, to new wave chanting, to trippy ‘70s style psychedelia (thanks to a quick flute interlude), all with surprising success. The boys ironically nod to the king of ambient music on “Brian Eno”, a song that never attempts to embody anything the man came to represent musically. Congratulations does finish strong with its title track “Congratulations”, perhaps the only serious attempt at writing a good song. The lyrics basically describe the band’s super-fast foray into success over strummed acoustic guitars. I’m still under the impression that MGMT released this album as a statement more than anything. They probably know it blows, but they also know that it will get good reviews regardless. It’s the Dave Chappelle situation all over again. The comedian could have written the shittiest jokes ever and his producers would have laughed. While Chappelle opted to run rather than compromise his integrity, MGMT has chosen the other path. It takes serious talent to make an album as ridiculous as Congratulations, and for that, I applaud them.

Take Away Some Wilco

2010-03-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you've seen some of La Blogotheque's gorgeously shot "Take Away Shows". Maybe you've seen some on this website and thought "these videos are great, but they really on shoot the in-style indie bands of the week". Well, you wouldn't be totally wrong to think that, but I think La Blogotheque's latest release pretty much validates them as one of the best live music video companies/websites out there today. La Blogotheque caught up with an all around shaggy looking Wilco when they were in Montreal and shot a fantastic video of the group playing the beautifully mellow "Country Disappeared".

Wilco - Country Disappeared - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Phish in 3D on 4.20

2010-03-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

As if 4.20 couldn't get any headier, Phish will be releasing their first 3D movie ever. They're all the rage these days, and it just so happens that they filmed Festival 8 with fully capable 3D cameras. The first screenings of the film will begin on April 30 but on April 20 special advance preview screenings will be held in nine cities across the country, from Massachusetts to California. For those of you lucky enough to grab tickets, you will also be treated to a free 3D poster as well! Tickets for these screenings will go on sale tomorrow. Head to Phish3DMovie.com for more details.

Phish 3d Advance Screening Locations

Los Angeles, CA—Rave Motion Pictures 18
Aurora, CO—Aurora Movie Tavern 10
Rosemont, IL—Rosemont Theatre
Revere, MA—National Amusements Revere
Durham, NC—Wynnsong 15
Brooklyn, NY—Pavilion Theatre
Houston, TX—Studio Movie Grill
Fairfax, VA—Fairfax Corner 14
Williston, VT—Majestic 10

PHISH 3D - IN THEATERS APRIL 30TH from Phish on Vimeo.

Osheaga Music & Arts Festival 2010 Lineup Announced

2010-03-24T09:03:00.001-07:00

This years Montreal based Osheaga Music & Arts Festival has some serious heavy hitters. The festival will take place the weekend of July 31-August 1 and features the return of the Arcade Fire, recently re-united indie-rockers Pavement, The Black Keys and many more.

Lineup:
Arcade Fire
Weezer
Pavement
Metric
The National
Deadmau5
The Cat Empire
The Black Keys
Stars
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Jimmy Cliff
The Gaslight Anthem
Charlie Winston
Beach House
Jamie Lidell
Robyn
Sarah Harmer
Frank Turner
Blitzen Trapper
Avi Buffalo
Bahamas
Amanda Mabro
Ian Kelley

Phoenix Release Free Live Album

2010-03-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

French poppers Phoenix just did a wonderful thing for the listening public. If you head over to the band's website, you'll find that they've released a live album titled Live In Sydney for all of us to download absolutely free.

Tracks:
1. 1901
2. Armistice
3. Fences
4. Girlfriend
5. Lasso
6. Lisztomania
7. Love Like A Sunset
8. Rome

Furthur Festival: Initial Lineup

2010-03-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Sorry, I'm a bit behind on this one, but better late than never. The initial lineup has been announced for the inaugural Furthur Festival @ Mountain Aire which will take place May 28-30 at Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, CA. Also, the band is now down to one drummer, Sir Joe Russo as Jay Lane has returned to Primus. Don't worry folks, Russo is more than capable of handling things all by himself. I personally always preferred the Grateful Dead with only Billy behind the skins anyways.

Here is the initial lineup
Furthur (headling two nights)
Electric Hot Tuna
Jackie Greene
Galactic
Larry Campbell & Theresa Williams
Mark Karan & Jemimah Puddleduck
The Mother Hips
The Waybacks
Common Rotation with Dan Bern
Carney
Maiden Lane
Blue Light River

Camping opens at noon on Friday, May 28. Weekend tickets include camping. GDTSTOO mail order 3/20-3/25 (first postmark 3/20). Online preorder 3/22, 9 AM, PST. Public onsale is 3/26, 10 AM, PST, through Ticketmaster.

Hear New Broken Social Scene Songs

2010-03-23T17:21:00.000-07:00

I relish any chance I can get to represent amazing Toronto talent. Broken Social Scene obviously dominates my fair city's rock and roll scene. A few weeks ago, the collective dropped the wonderful tune "World Sick" on us and today they blessed us with two more new songs. "Forced to Love" and "All to All", from the up-coming Forgiveness Rock Record can now be heard over on the band's website. The album is being released on May 4 on Arts & Crafts. Full track listing below.

01 World Sick
02 Chase Scene
03 Texico Bitches
04 Forced to Love
05 All to All
06 Art House Director
07 Highway Slipper Jam
08 Ungrateful Little Father
09 Meet Me in the Basement
10 Sentimental X's
11 Sweetest Kill
12 Romance to the Grave
13 Water in Hell
14 Me and My Hand

This Movie Is Broken also debuted at SXSW this past weekend and I've only read awesome things. While I expect that the film will be released soon, in the meantime you can check out 7/4 Shoreline from the free show BSS played last year. The free show is central to the movie's plot line.

Fleet Foxes In Austin

2010-03-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Remember the Fleet Foxes? They put out that excellent album in 2008 that sounded as though CSNY renounced their possessions, ran out to the woods and started singing about the forest and the creatures and all that freaky shit. Well lucky for us, the good folks over at Pitchfork hit the road with the Foxes in Austin and got some pretty sweet footage out of it. Watch as the band plays a few numbers, talks about the road and discusses their thoughts on singing.

Phish Summer Tour 2010

2010-03-16T17:29:00.001-07:00

Last night Trey Anastasio inducted Genesis into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Phish also covered two Genesis songs, "Watcher of the Skies" and "No Reply At All", the latter of which I expect to be covered again some point in the near future. And by the near future I mean on Phish's up-coming SUMMER TOUR which was just announced no more than a few minutes ago. That's right, everybody's favourite jamband will be gearing up for a solid 29 show summer tour which will kick off in Chicago and end in New York City. Check out the awesome video announcement too!

PHISH SUMMER TOUR 2010 from Phish on Vimeo.

Dates:
June 11 Chicago, IL Toyota Park
June 12 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
June 13 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
June 15 Portsmouth, VA nTelos Pavilion at Harbor Center
June 17 Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre
June 18 Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre
June 19 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
June 20 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
June 22 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
June 24 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
June 25 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
June 26 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 27 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
June 29 Canandaigua, NY CMAC
July 1 Raleigh, NC Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion
July 2 Charlotte, NC Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
July 3 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park
July 4 Alpharetta, GA Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park
August 5 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
August 6 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
August 7 Berkeley, CA Greek Theatre
August 9 Telluride, CO Telluride Town Park
August 10 Telluride, CO Telluride Town Park
August 12 Noblesville, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center
August 13 Noblesville, IN Verizon Wireless Music Center
August 14 East Troy, WI Alpine Valley Music Theatre
August 15 East Troy, WI Alpine Valley Music Theatre
August 17 Wantagh, NY Nikon Theater at Jones Beach
August 18 Wantagh, NY Nikon Theater at Jones Beach

Album Review: Broken Bells

2010-03-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

Danger Mouse has a real knack for picking out just the right artist to elevate to the next level. The Black Keys and Mark Linkous both got the Mouse treatment and now its James Mercer’s turn. Mercer is best known as the front man for the offbeat, indie-rock group The Shins. Lead away from his often-depressing songwriting tendencies, Mercer and Danger Mouse combined to make Broken Bells, a collaboration which embraces left-of-center funk on “The Ghost Inside” and some beautifully tweaked-out, digitized synthesizer on opening track “The High Road”. The group channels Jerry Garcia’s memorable guitar sounds on “Your Head Is On Fire” and mixes them with Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s era psychedelia with beautiful results. The majority of the album does tend to follow a similar pattern however. Swooping backdrops and mid-tempo rock with lots of synthesized sounds. Mercer also rarely leaves his vocal comfort zone, which is unfortunately quite limited. While no doubt a very solid effort, the album plays best when picking out a few choice tracks, rather than listening to it from start-to-finish.

Phish to Perform Genesis Classics at Rock Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

2010-03-15T09:27:00.000-07:00

This is a dream come true for me. Seeing one of my favorite bands cover another favorite will be quite a treat. I’ve been waiting for this moment a long time, and have quite a bit to say about the Phish-Genesis connection. We’ll get to that in the coming days…

For now, here’s the scoop on tonight’s performance ceremony from our friends over at Hidden Track:

The members of Phish will take the stage tonight for the first time in 2010 at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City where they will open this year’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony. As previously announced, Phish guitarist/vocalist Trey Anastasio will induct Genesis which will be followed by Phish performing a couple of Genesis classics.

Tonight’s ceremony – including Phish’s performance – will be broadcast live on Fuse starting at 8:30PM EDT. The 2010 Rock n’ Roll Hall Of Fame inductees are ABBA, Genesis, Jimmy Cliff, The Hollies, The Stooges, David Geffen, Barry Mann & Cynthia Weil, Ellie Greenwich & Jeff Barry, Jesse Stone, Mort Shuman and Otis Blackwell. Other musicians due to perform include solo star and J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf, Pat Monahan, and Fefe Dobson. (from our good friends over at Dog Gone Blog & Glide Magazine's "Hidden Track")

Canadian Artists Sing "Wavin' Flag" for Haiti

2010-03-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

Since the devastation in Haiti, many charitable organizations have been enacted in order to help send money to the cause. Celebrities are always organized to get on board, and as I'm sure everyone has seen, Michael Jackson's "Earth Song" was revisited by today's biggest celebrities in order to raise awareness. K'naan, one of Canada's biggest hip-hop artists recently dropped his track "Wavin' Flag". Needless to say, it's been a smash hit, and it may even be used for the World Cup soccer tournament. The song is wildly inspirational, and as a result, young Canadian artists have banded together ala "Earth Song" to perform "Wavin' Flag" in order to raise money for Haiti. The video features tons of Canada's finest including K'naan, Avril Lavigne, Drake, Nikki Yanofsky, Sam Roberts, members of Broken Social Scene and Metric plus many more. Watch the video below and head to the Young Artists for Haiti Facebook page to donate and for more information. Thanks.

Judges Rule In Favor of Pink Floyd

2010-03-12T18:13:00.001-08:00

Remember when bands still cared about full albums and not just selling singles and individual tracks? Pink Floyd, the band that pops into your head when you think of the full album is fighting for the right to not sell their songs individually online. In fact, judges ruled in favor of the band and declared that EMI Group Ltd. can only sell the band’s music in the full album format. The question before the court was whether a contract provision that limited EMI’s ability to issue the band’s recordings beyond the album form only applies to “physical product” (CDs, albums, etc.) or also relates to potential online sales. Justice Andrew Morritt issued a preliminary ruling which looks back at the band’s record contract and concludes, “There is nothing in the terms ‘album’ or ‘record’ to suggest they apply to the physical product only.” This for the immediate future Dark Side of The Moon, The Wall and all of the group’s work only will be sold in their original complete form. (from jambands.com)

Furthur Festival at Mountain Aire Memorial Day Weekend

2010-03-12T15:57:00.000-08:00

It looks like Furthur will be starting its own festival this spring. The group will play over Memorial Day weekend, May 28-30. That's all the info for now, stay tuned for more sure to come soon.

Pearl Jam Announces 11-Date Midwest & East Coast Tour

2010-03-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

Today, pivtol Seattle grunge-rockers Pearl Jam announced a somewhat mini-tour consisting of only 11 dates. Band of Horses, who are releasing a new album called Infinite Arms will be opening every show except for Madison Square Garden on May 20. This show will be opened by the Black Keys who are also releasing a new album titled Brothers.

Public tickets go on sale Friday and Saturday, March 19 and 20. (Check local concert listings.)

PEARL JAM'S 2010 U.S. TOUR DATES ARE AS FOLLOWS:
05.03 - Kansas City, MO - Sprint Center
05.04 - St. Louis, MO - Scottrade Center
05.06 - Columbus, OH - Nationwide Arena
05.07 - Noblesville, IN - Verizon Wireless Music Center
05.09 - Cleveland, OH - Quicken Loans Arena
05.10 - Buffalo, NY - HSBC Arena
05.13 - Bristow, VA - Jiffy Lube Live
05.15 - Hartford, CT - XL Center
05.17 - Boston, MA - TD Garden
05.18 - TBD - TBD
05.20 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden
05.21 - New York, NY - Madison Square Garden

The National Debut "Terrible Love" on Jimmy Fallon

2010-03-11T14:30:00.000-08:00

The National dropped by Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the other night to play the new single off their up-coming album High Violet. The album is being released on May 11 via 4AD. The song, "Terrible Love" really reminded me of the Velvet Underground's song, "Pale Blue Eyes" at first. A really fuzzed out version with clean guitar licks. As the song progressed, the horns kicked in and the tempo sped up big time, morphing the track into a serious rocker, one much happier than the V.U.'s somewhat depressing tune. It's also a nice change to hear Matt Berninger sing in not such a broody manner as he did on Boxer. I'm really looking forward to the new record.

Exclusive Interview: Nathan Moore of Surprise Me Mr. Davis

2010-03-08T10:52:00.000-08:00

Surprise Me Mr. Davis is not your average rock and roll band. Their journey has been long, longer than you might think. Nathan Moore was the singer and guitarist for ThaMuseMeant when he met brothers Brad and Andrew Barr and Marc Freidman of The Slip. That was over ten years ago now. Their natural connection and amazement with one another’s music would ultimately act as the catalysts for an amalgamation of sounds. Just last year, Davis picked up another musician, longtime friend and collaborator, Marco Benevento, propelling the band into “super-group” territory. I had the amazing opportunity to chat with Nathan, the humble wordsmith, over the weekend. We discussed Surprise Me Mr. Davis’ new, long-awaited record, the frustrations, as well as the uniqueness of having your fellow band members scattered across the globe, and the band’s game plan for 2010.

Let’s talk about the new album titled "That Man Eats Morning For Breakfast" which is being released on April 13. It seems like it’s been a long time coming, five years to be exact. The last Surprise Me Mr. Davis release was an EP in 2005. Tell me about the recording process and the new record.

NM: The new record is really still just our demo. It’s a little embarrassing in that respect although… that was really our intention from the beginning when we set out to make it. I can’t even remember when that was now, time moves so much faster than it used to. I was on my way with Marc Freidman to go to Montreal, we were going up there to record in Brad and Andrew Barr’s new studio and I got turned away at the border so we found ourselves back in Burlington, Vermont drinking in a bar. We ended up talking to Brett Hughes, a local musician there and he was like “just come into my barn studio and do it”. So Brad and Andrew came down this way and we ended up recording there all week at Brett’s house. We got all these tracks done and then we went back into another studio and tried to work them up even bigger but that’s when we started to feel that we were exceeding our initial ideas and trying to make them too big and ended up reverting back to the original demos. They had the raw spirit and energy we were trying to capture. So now it is finally seeing the light of day. I don’t want to downplay it or diminish it; there are a lot of practical aspects as to why it exists.

With so many songs in the Davis cannon, why release an EP? Is an LP on the way?

NM: When we signed with Kevin Calabro, in order to manage us he needed some representation of us, and we had the demo and he liked it quite a bit and he was like “I would love to just work with this for now” as opposed to hurrying and trying to get us back into the studio to make something else. We just polished the EP up and came up with a nice cover for it. A lot of it is real practical for Kevin to have something to work with while he is out there pitching us. I still don’t feel like Davis has made “its album”. We’ve had a couple of moments in the studio but we’ve yet to find the opportunity to create a fully realized work of art that is worthy of the potential of the band.

Marco Benevento has been collaborating with the band and its members for years. How did you and Marco first meet?

NM: I think the first time I met Marco was, my band ThaMuseMeant was playing at the Enchanted Broccoli Forest, I don’t even remember now where that was. Some college out west that had some building or something that was called the Enchanted Broccoli Forest and The Slip was on the road and ThaMuseMeant was playing that night, and The Slip had the night off and they showed up and they had Marco in tow. I believe that was the first time I met him. That was probably ’98 or ’99. The second time I met him was the High Sierra following that and I knew I was going to like him. He always sort of reminded me a little of myself, something in his eyes. Then he was running around High Sierra making these cards float around, a magic trick his dad had taught him and I knew right then we were going to get along just fine.

At arguably the busiest point in his career, why has Marco now officially decided to join the band? Has there been a shift in the band’s dynamic now that he has been added?

NM: That is still yet to be seen too. We haven’t really done a lot of shows with Marco but the shift is huge, when it opens up. We’ve really only had a few nights that I think have pointed to the stars. One night somewhere in New York State and we were playing this gig with hardly anybody there and that freed us up to experiment a bit more. That night lives on in my mind as just how amazing this band is and the potential that lies there. With Marco, for one it gives Brad somebody to communicate with on that more melodic level. It’s almost too overwhelming to talk about, the potential sounds we have now. There’s so many chapters to the book and we haven’t even read the first sentence yet. I get a little boggled when I try to describe how the dynamic shifts with Marco. Just from bawdy piano pieces to psychedelic organ pieces, I mean its mind-boggling.

How has The Slip influenced the sound of Surprise Me Mr. Davis?

NM: Going back to the early days, and the first experiences we had was really my limited experiences with playing with a rock and roll band like that and it was more like The Slip getting behind Nathan Moore songs and giving them a big push. Back then it felt like flying, I never felt a feeling like that in my life. To take these songs that I had written and then to all the sudden be playing them with them it was really the difference between walking and flying. All the sudden they lifted the stuff up so high. It just made my universe so much bigger. I think that that spirit and excitement and that smile they put on my face right away is to this day what I think about when I think of Davis.

You and Brad are the core songwriters for the band. Can you talk a bit about your relationship and approach to songwriting?

NM: There is a certain chemistry that you find with certain people in life. It’s hard to explain but it’s just real comfortable and I’m sure everybody has had the experience of starting to talk with somebody and their sense of humor and things like that are just right there at the tip of their tongue. I had somebody describe once that eloquence is not when one person is graceful communicating with another but where two things join together. Actually the root of the word eloquence is an old word for joint, where two things meet. Brad and I always just sort of found a certain eloquence, it was always really easy with each other. There was this sort of effortlessness to it. In terms of our writing, we were both so fascinated by each other and we both immediately saw something in the other that we wanted in ourselves. I think that’s one of the reasons that made the relationship so symbiotic was that we were both young and hungry and wanted to get better and saw something in each other that we wanted to incorporate in our own thing. For me with Brad it was his incredible sense of melody and being able to follow a line where it wants to go even if it’s somewhere you didn’t think you could go. For him with me it was probably a certain simplicity.

Does Brad bring you a piece of music and together you put lyrics to it? What’s your approach in that sense?

NM: We’ve sort of done it all. I’ve brought him words that he has put music to and he’s brought me music that I’ve put words to. And we’ve sat around with guitars and written together. We’ve finished each other’s lines and added little parts. Sometimes I’ve brought a finished song to him and he’s added to it or re-worked the music. We don’t have a set method, but we’ve employed almost all the approaches you could imagine.

With the members of the band scattered across North America, has it been difficult to get together, record, practice?

NM: We’ve found it close to impossible. On one hand that’s sort of the ultimate bane of Davis and the curse and the frustration is that we’re in all these other places so there’s so many phases that we go through personally and stuff like that that we don’t get to share with each other and aren’t effected by each other. On the other hand it’s sort of the blessing of Davis. It has always felt like a vacation for us when we get together. So in that sense it always maintains this special thing, and the camaraderie is so strong that whenever we do get together it still to this day feels like a rare opportunity and enables us to enjoy ourselves even more. A lot of the tensions and troubles and struggles that regular bands have we don’t have the luxury of such things.

When the band does tour, it seems to be in short chunks, often with lots of time in between. Scheduling wise, has it just not worked out for you guys to do the whole long-winded tour?

NM: Yah, I think that is definitely part of it. We aren’t as young as we used to be. That factors in there a little bit. We’re all busy in other ways. The long-winded tour, I still hope some day to be able to do that with these guys, it’s just not in the books yet.

Is there any chance of Davis making it into Canada in the future, where The Slip has a strong following and thus Davis would likely too?

NM: I wish. That’s more of a legal situation I still have to try to jump through all the hoops to see if something can pan out. I got arrested for mushrooms going into High Sierra in 2004 or something like that. According to Canada that’s enough to keep me out. I know that I could go to the consulate in D.C. and try to get some kind of proof of rehabilitation or something like that but every time I’ve researched it, it just seems a little overwhelming. It makes me wish I had enough money to hire a lawyer to take care of it for me. If it weren’t for that we would probably be in a very different situation right now. They built a studio out there in Montreal and we really could be spending a lot more quality time in Canada than we have been. It’s really frustrating.

When the band has toured recently, you’ve tended to hit the road with more indie-rockers such as The Low Anthem and Land of Talk. Is the band trying to push itself away from being associated with jam scene, which some people might argue were the roots of the band’s beginnings?

NM: There has always been that curiosity of how other scenes would accept us or how well we would do in other places. I think at this point there is no concerted effort to redefine ourselves or to step out of the comfort zone too much. The jam world is definitely not something we are afraid of. It’s always been really good to us and they seem to “get it” on a fundamental level. It’s also really fun to insert ourselves into other scenes and see how they respond to it. I think at this point because we aren’t touring full time we’re really just trying to focus on the places we can have the most fun and play to the most people, wherever that is.

You mentioned High Sierra Music Festival early on in the conversation. What’s so special about High Sierra, as the band doesn’t seem to play any other music festivals during the summer?

NM: Well that’s where I met those guys. That’s where it all happened. I met The Slip at High Sierra and I forget when it was but we both caught each others' sets and met there. And then High Sierra was really the first Davis performance. Without even talking to us about it they sort of noticed we were starting to hang out a bit and scheduled a late night show with me and The Slip and that was some kind of vision on their part. That was really the first time officially I played on stage with those guys. They’ve always been incredibly supportive and are entangled in the roots of our origin. They just get that family nod at this point.

One of the new songs “Sissyfuss” has been recorded for the popular video game “Rock Band”. Can you talk a bit about the company “The Authority” who authored the song, and your thoughts on the video game medium as a perhaps a new flourishing channel of dissemination for music?

NM: I know that Marc is involved in The Authority and that might be a better question for him. I don’t know a lot about that stuff. I just thought it was pretty cool watching the video on YouTube. I thought it looked just like us (laughs)!

You’ve announced on a few occasions during shows that 2010 is the year of the Davis. What’s different about the band’s game plan this time around?

NM: I think it is sort of hearkening back to the question you asked before about the jamband scene and things like that. I think for a while we were really curious as to whether or not other approaches would be more appropriate and successful and sort of dabbled with experimenting with that. I think we’ve now just gone back to “let’s take the known variables and embrace them and try to use that to lift us”. In that sense, if there was a moment of wondering whether or not the jamband scene was for us we are no longer really thinking that way and now we’re just trying to capitalize on all the work we have done in the past and really focus on our strengths, and where we are known and trying to lift the known variables rather than exploring.

Here Davis plays their classic "When A Woman"

You can visit the new Surprise Me Mr. Davis website as well as Nathan Moore's website

Surprise Me Mr. Davis Tour Dates:
April 13 | Club Passim | Boston, MA
April 14 | Firehouse 13 | Providence, RI
April 15 | Red Square | Albany, NY
April 16 | Union Hall | Brooklyn, NY
April 17 | Mercury Lounge | New York, NY*
April 24 | Tipitina's French Quarter | New Orleans, LA**
April 30 | Hi Ho Lounge | New Orleans, LA
June 24 | Tractor Tavern | Seattle, WA***
June 25 | Doug Fir Lounge | Portland, OR***
June 26 | Axe & Fiddle | Cottage Grove, OR***
July 1 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA
July 4 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA

*w/ Yellowbirds
**w/ The Slip & Marco Benevento Trio
***w/ Marco Benevento Trio

Mike Gordon Rehearsal

2010-03-04T16:09:00.000-08:00

Ever wanted to peak into the mind of Mike Gordon? I'm too nervous too, but that's ok because he's letting us peak into his rehearsal sessions and the man plays a mean bass and makes some damn fine music. According to Mr. Gordon's website: Mike and his band spent last week in rehearsals in the mountains of Vermont for their upcoming 8-date March run, which begins with a sold out show this Friday, March 5th in Troy, NY. Wanting to give fans a unique glimpse into the practice space, we're releasing a track that grew out of the session.

Mike Gordon explains: "On the first day of practices, we decided to come to the studio and invite the muse to control us for a day. I led a guided meditation in which we imagined tapping into universal energy that connects from the spheres, through us, and into the center of the Earth, and then we imagined being on stage as the music played the band and the coolest sound we could imagine came out. Each band member then described his aural vision, directing the others to create it. And this little sampling is Craig Myers' vision, entitled 'Birth Of The Universe.' He described ambience wallowing from nothingness, and then mouthed out a rhythm that Todd could then interpret, helping to kick the thing into rock-ass gear. Nice work, Craig."

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9TFTQ9WD

p.s. how bizarre is that picture?

Album Review: Big Light - Animals In Bloom

2010-03-02T21:37:00.000-08:00

The name of the album is subtly understated. Big Light could have called it Animals Fully Bloomed. Seriously, this album knocked my socks off upon first listen. The infectiously catchy tune of the opening track “Good Time of the Year” will linger in your head for days, while the group proves they have the balls to pair poppy “scooby-dooby” lyrics with waves of heavy noise on “Monster”. Big Light jumps playfully into a sea of distorted guitar solos on the hook-heavy “Superfuzz Fine”, illustrating that they have the musical chops to defend their uber-poppy songwriting skills. The band practically begs you to bust out your headphones for the sonic backdrops heard on “Caution” before ending the album with a bang on the 7 minute + “Bonebreaker”. Animals In Bloom is simply an outstanding debut album for a band that has grown at a remarkable pace. Did I mention Big Light played their first official show as a band in 2009? Yah that's right, prepare yourself people, this light is sure to shine bright in 2010.

The Black Keys Announce New Album

2010-03-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, the members of The Black Keys have been extremely busy as of late. Dan and Patrick both released solo albums, as well as a hip-hop album called BlakRoc which featured some of the biggest superstars in the rap game. Word on the street is, they've already begun recording another BlakRoc album, but before that will be released, the Key's are putting out another album on May 18 via Nonesuch Records. Brothers will be the sixth Black Keys album and will feature 15 songs, one of which is produced by Danger Mouse. This summer the guys will be playing Bonnaroo and Central Park Summerstage. Expect more tour dates to be announced as the summer approaches.

Brothers:

01 Everlasting Light
02 Next Girl
03 Tighten Up
04 Howlin' for You
05 She's Long Gone
06 Black Mud
07 The Only One
08 Too Afraid to Love You
09 Ten Cent Pistol
10 Sinister Kid
11 The Go Getter
12 I'm Not the One
13 Unknown Brother
14 Never Gonna Give You Up
15 These Days

Plants and Animals - The Mama Papa

2010-03-01T19:12:00.000-08:00

Plants and Animals, the rockers from Montreal have just dropped a new video on the Internet browsing public. The video is for their first single called "The Mama Papa" and it features the boys in a posh restaurant, having dinner and enjoying a show. It's beautifully shot in high quality black and white and the song ain't too shabby either. Give it a look-see. Hopefully it will satisfy your appetite until La La Land drops on the oh so heady 4/20 release date

New Blitzen Trapper Songs/Footage

2010-02-27T22:41:00.000-08:00

Portland Oregon's Blitzen Trapper put out an excellent album called Furr in 2008. They toured a bunch and got a solid amount of recognition for the record and settled in for some recording time throughout 2009. In an interview with Paste Magazine, lead singer/guitarist Eric Earley stated that the new album is narrative driven, and a number of the songs are a complete 180 from the folksy tunes that can be heard on Furr. I stumbled upon this video of the band playing a 26 minute set which features a bunch of new songs. Give it a watch.

We Have Signal: Blitzen Trapper from We Have Signal on Vimeo.

Never Before Heard Rolling Stones Songs To Surface

2010-02-26T14:37:00.000-08:00

Exile On Main St. is easily one of my favourite albums of all time. It's got hard-chugging blues, soulful singing and a whiskey soaked magic that is simply perfect. On May 18th, Universal Music Group is re-releasing the album with 10 never-before-heard tracks, including “Plundered My Soul,” “Dancing in the Light,” “Following the River” and “Pass the Wine,” that were produced by Jimmy Miller, the Glimmer Twins and Don Was. The disc also features alternate versions of “Soul Survivor” and “Loving Cup.”

Mick Jagger told Rolling Stone when the record company asked him to dive in his files for possible bonus songs, he initially believed the band had used all they’d written on the 1972 double album (read RS’s original review). “I went back in the archives and dug out a load of things,” he says. “I added some percussion and some vocals. Keith put guitar on one or two.” Jagger wrote fresh lyrics for “Following the River,” but other than some light revisions to the other songs, “I really wanted to leave them pretty much as they were,” Keith Richards says. “I didn’t want to interfere with the Bible, you know. They still had that great basement sound.”

A deluxe edition of the reissue will also include Stones in Exile, a documentary directed by Stephen Kijak that tracks the making of Exile, along with footage from Cocksucker Blues and Ladies and Gentlemen… the Rolling Stones. After seeing the Exile film for the first time recently, Richards says, “I must not have noticed all the cameramen while I was making the record. I was amazed at how much footage they actually found.”

The Exile on Main Street reissue will be sold a CD featuring the original 18 tracks or as a deluxe CD edition with the 10 bonus tracks. The super deluxe package includes vinyl, the 30-minute documentary DVD and a 50-page collector’s book with photos from the Exile era. (from rollingstone.com)

Watch the Stones play "Sweet Virgina" live in 1972

Furthur: Summer Tour

2010-02-26T14:25:00.000-08:00

Furthur - Phil Lesh, Bob Weir, Jeff Chimenti (RatDog, The Dead), John Kadlecik (DSO), Jay Lane (RatDog) and Joe Russo (The Duo, Bustle In Your Hedgerow) - have announced a Summer Tour. In addition to previously announced festival appearances the band will hit a number of outdoor venues along the East Coast. Furthur is on tour now.

Furthur Tour Dates
02/26/10 Fri Mohegan Sun Casino Uncasville, CT
02/27/10 Sat Mark G Etess Arena Atlantic City, NJ
03/02/10 Tue Auditorium Theatre Chicago, IL
03/03/10 Wed Auditorium Theatre Chicago, IL
03/05/10 Fri 1st Bank Center (Formerly The Odeum) Broomfield, CO
03/06/10 Sat 1st Bank Center (Formerly The Odeum) Broomfield, CO
03/08/10 Mon Portland Memorial Coliseum Portland, OR
03/12/10 Fri Bill Graham Civic Auditorium San Francisco, CA
06/25/10 Fri Highland Bowl Rochester, NY
06/26/10 Sat MCU Park Brooklyn, NY
06/27/10 Sun MCU Park Brooklyn, NY
06/29/10 Tue Penn's Peak Jim Thorpe, PA
06/30/10 Wed LeLacheur Park Lowell, MA
07/03/10 Sat Gelston Castle Estate Mohawk, NY
07/04/10 Sun Nateva Music & Camping Festival Oxford, ME
07/05/10 Mon The Green at Shelburne Museum Shelburne, VT
07/08/10 Thu Artpark Lewiston, NY
07/09/10 Fri All Good Festival @ Marvin's Mountaintop Masontown, WV
07/10/10 Sat Mann Center for the Performing Arts Philadelphia, PA

Phosphorescent Announce New Album

2010-02-25T13:26:00.001-08:00

Last year, the Brooklyn-bred indie band Phosphorescent, led by Matthew Houck put out a fantastic album called To Willie. The record was a collection of lesser-known but fantastic Willie Nelson covers and received much praise in the blogosophere, the indie-world and from the red headed stranger himself. On May 11, Phosphorescent will release a new album titled Here's to Taking It Easy. What's more, the band will also be touring with British soft-rock sensation David Gray, opening a huge number of shows.

Listen to a new song off the upcoming album "It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)by copying this link into your web browser "http://downloads.pitchforkmedia.com/Phosphorescent%20-%20It%27s%20Hard%20To%20Be%20Humble%20%28When%20You%27re%20From%20Alabama%29.mp3

Here's to Taking It Easy:

01 It's Hard to Be Humble (When You're From Alabama)
02 Nothing Was Stolen (Love Me Foolishly)
03 We'll Be Here Soon
04 The Mermaid Parade
05 I Don't Care if There's Cursing
06 Tell Me Baby (Have You Had Enough)
07 Hej, Me I'm Light
08 Heaven, Sittin' Down
09 Los Angeles

Phosphorescent:

03-03 New York, NY - Joe's Pub
03-11 Houston, TX - Verizon Wireless Theatre *
03-12 New Orleans, LA - Mahalia Jackson Theatre for the Performing Arts *
03-13 Austin, TX - Hogg Memorial Auditorium *
03-14 Austin, TX - Hogg Memorial Auditorium *
03-16 Grand Prairie, TX - Nokia Theatre Grand Prairie *
03-17 Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theatre *
03-19 St. Louis, MO - Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center *
03-20 Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theatre *
03-21 Cleveland, OH - Playhouse Square at State Theatre *
03-23 Cincinnati, OH - Taft Theatre *
03-24 Indianapolis, IN - Murat Theatre *
03-26 Louisville, KY - Louisville Palace Theatre *
03-27 Columbus, OH - Ohio Theatre *
03-29 Buffalo, NY - UB Center for the Arts *
03-31 Baltimore, MD - Lyric Opera House *
04-01 Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre *
04-03 Providence, RI - Providence Performing Arts Center *
04-05 Albany, NY - The Egg at Hart Theatre *
04-06 Wallingford, CT - Oakdale Theatre *
04-07 Portland, ME - Merrill Auditorium at City Hall *
04-09 Durham, NC - Durham Performing Arts Center *
04-10 Atlanta, GA - Atlanta Civic Center Theatre *
04-11 Nashville, TN - Ryman Auditorium *
04-13 Clearwater, FL - Ruth Eckerd Hall *
04-14 Miami Beach, FL - Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre *
04-15 Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live *
* with David Gray

Here's a sweet video of "Reasons to Quit" off of To Willie.

Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace

2010-02-25T13:19:00.000-08:00

Thom Yorke's newly named solo band Atoms for Peace consisting of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck/R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist/multi-instrumentalist Mauro Refosco, and Flea will be hitting the road for a string of shows in April. The band will also be playing the Coachella Festival.

Atoms for Peace:

04-05 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom *
04-06 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom *
04-08 Boston, MA - Citi Wang Theatre *
04-10 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom *
04-11 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom *
04-14 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre *
04-15 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre *
04-17 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
04-18 Indio, CA - Coachella

* with Flying Lotus

Show Review: Wilco - Centennial Hall, London Ontario, February 24, 2010

2010-02-24T19:56:00.000-08:00

I'd love to write a full fledged show review for the Wilco concert I saw tonight, but after seeing the band for the fourth time supporting Wilco (The Album) I really wasn't expecting much more than a solid rock show. The band was tight, but unsurprisingly the song selection was taken mostly from Wilco (The Album), Sky Blue Sky, the occasional Yankee Hotel Foxtrot tune and a few older "go to" songs. I was happy to hear "Misunderstood" a favourite of mine, and "Shot In The Arm" is always a great tune to get the crowd involved as we all sang "Maybe all I need is a shot in the arm" over and over. That being said, I knew the band would leave the stage "surprisingly early" only to come back and play a six song encore. The group popped into "Wilco (The Song)", a track they've generally been opening with over the past year and a bit. Opening band Califone came out on stage to sing-a-long to "California Stars" and four songs later they ended with the classic "Hoodoo Vodoo". All in all it was an awesome show at ironically enough, the smallest venue I've ever seen Wilco play. The band was even nice enough to announce the score in the Canada vs. Russia Olympic hockey game and ignore the slaughter-fest that was the Canada vs. U.S.A. game. Thanks guys, that must have been tough!

The Barr Brothers, Surprise Me Mr. Davis & The Slip

2010-02-22T13:09:00.000-08:00

Brothers Brad and Andrew Barr, 2/3 of The Slip and 2/5 of Surprise Me Mr. Davis, have finally decided to release some of their Montreal-inspired music. The brothers have appropriately enough labeled their new band, The Barr Brothers (formerly Super Little and Berithen Berio) and plan to release an album later this year. According to the Barr Brothers' website, “The seeds for The Barr Brothers were first sown five years ago when Brad and Andrew relocated to Montreal. Brad’s apartment shared an adjoining wall with harpist Sarah Page. The two would hear each other practicing through the cracks. Sarah’s gentle melodies began weaving their way into the music that Brad was writing. A friendship was struck and songs were born. This latest endeavor for Brad and Andrew finds them exploring sounds quieter and more ethereal than anything in their previous work. Final touches are currently being added to a debut recording that will be released later this year.” What's more, the Bros. Barr will be touring, opening a few select shows for Rhode Island friends The Low Anthem, who funny enough have opened a few shows and collaborated with Surprise Me Mr. Davis. Brad and Andrew have also been working with their other band member Marc Friedman on recording a new The Slip album. Finally, Surprise Me Mr. Davis who are putting the finishing touches on their latest EP will also be embarking on a small tour starting in April. Basically, the Barr brothers are wicked busy and should be dropping a nice amount of sure-to-be-amazing material for us this coming year.

The Barr Brothers Tour Dates:
03.24 | Coronet @ Largo | Los Angeles, CA*
03.25 | Bootleg | Los Angeles, CA*
03.26 | Great American Music Hall | San Francisco, CA*
03.28 | Doug Fir Lounge | Portland, OR*
03.30 | St. James Hall | Vancouver, Canada*
03.31 | Crocodile Cafe | Seattle, WA*
04.10 | Church Of The Redeemer | Toronto, Canada*
04.12 | Eglise du Gesu | Montreal, Canada*
04.27 | The Saturn Bar | New Orleans, LA**
*w/ Low Anthem & Timber Timbre
**w/ Rotary Downs

Surprise Me Mr. Davis Tour Dates:
04.13 | Club Passim | Boston, MA
04.14 | Red Square | Albany, NY
04.15 | Firehouse 13 | Providence, RI
04.16 | Union Hall | Brooklyn, NY
04.17 | Mercury Lounge | New York, NY
04.24 | Tipitina's French Quarter | New Orleans, LA
04.30 | Hi Ho Lounge | New Orleans, LA
07.01 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA
07.04 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA

The Slip Tour Dates:
04.24 | Tipitina's French Quarter | New Orleans, LA
(with Surprise Me Mr. Davis)
07.01-07.04 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA

A few videos for your viewing pleasure:
The Barr Brothers live in Montreal

The Slip show love for Michael Jackson

Surprise Me Mr. Davis welcomes Marco Benevento

www.thebarrbrothers.com
www.theslip.com
www.surprisememrdavis.com

K-OS To Open For Drake

2010-02-22T12:59:00.000-08:00

How about a little Canadian hip hop news for yah. Toronto-bred rapper Drake will embark on his first solo tour, The Away From Home Tour, which is a Campus Consciousness Tour promoting eco-friendly technology. K-OS, another famous Toronto-born rapper will open a few select shows for Drake in the U.S. Drake, best known as Lil' Wayne's latest prodigy found his fame through his mixtapes which were passed heavily around the 'net. Drake performed at the Grammy's this year with Lil'Wayne and Eminem.

Tour Dates:
04/06/10 Tue Eastern Illinois University Charleston, IL*
04/09/10 Fri Penn State University State College, PA*
04/14/10 Wed Michigan State University East Lansing, MI*
04/15/10 Thu Oakland University Rochester, MI*
04/16/10 Fri West Virginia University Morgantown, WV*
04/21/10 Wed University of Central Florida Orlando, FL*
04/22/10 Thu Furman University Greenville, SC*
04/26/10 Mon University of Missouri Columbia, MO*
04/27/10 Tue University of Kentucky Lexington, KY*
04/29/10 Thu University of MA- Lowell Lowell, MA*
05/04/10 Tue Holy Cross College Worcester, MA*
05/05/10 Wed Towson University Towson, MD*
05/06/10 Thu Cheyney University Cheyney, PA*

New Broken Social Scene Song

2010-02-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

After five long years, Broken Social Scene is finally ready to drop a new album for our listening pleasure. What's more, the band has kindly released a track from the album called "World Sick". It's a 7 minute BSS classic, whirling, anthemic and full of nifty little sounds. The band has also released the name of the new album which will be called Forgiveness Rock Record. Maybe the band feels they need to apology for such a long break between albums. No apologies necessary guys, if "World Sick" is any indication, the entire album is going to be fantastic.
Give "World Sick" a listen!

Surprise Me Mr. Davis & Rock Band

2010-02-18T13:58:00.000-08:00

If this isn't the tell-tale sign of a changing music industry than I don't know what is. Surprise Me Mr. Davis, the supergroup made up of The Slip, Nathan Moore and Marco Benevento has made its way on to the Rock Band Network before launching a new record. The song "Sissyfuss" which can be heard streaming on the Davis website and MySpace page will be available for gameplay on XBox360 and PS3. Player's can learn to shred like Brad Barr and sing like Nathan Moore before they've even seen them live. The Rock Band Network will certainly act as a new, unique way for band's to get their music out to the video gaming public. I tip my cap to Surprise Me Mr. Davis and their progressive ways.

Sissyfuss for the Rock Band Network [The Authority] from Clinton Vadnais on Vimeo.

Festivals, Festivals, Festivals!

2010-02-16T09:49:00.000-08:00

The 2010 Sasquatch! Music Festival will return to the Gorge in Quincy, WA over Memorial Day weekend. Musical acts set to appear include: My Morning Jacket, Pavement, Ween, Vampire Weekend, MGMT, Massive Attack, Kid Cudi, LCD Soundsystem, The National and Band of Horses, Tegan & Sara, Broken Social Scene, Passion Pit, She & Him, Drive-By Truckers, Dr. Dog, Portugal. The Man and The Hold Steady. Stand-up comedy will be provided by, among others, Craig Robinson (“The Office”) and Rob Riggle (“The Daily Show”). Tickets will go sale Saturday February 20 for the event which will run from May 29-31.

This year’s All Good Music Festival line-up may be its most stacked yet. Phil Lesh and Bob Weir will bring their Furthur project to the event which returns to Marvin’s Mountaintop in Masontown, WV on July 8-11. Widespread Panic also has signed on for the event, with an initial roster that also includes: Umphrey’s McGee, Yonder Mountain String Band, Dark Star Orchestra, George Clinton & Parliament/Funkadelic, Lotus, Femi Kuti & the Positive Force, Rebelution, Railroad Earth, The New Deal, Perpetual Groove, Cornmeal, Fort Knox Five and The Macpodz. One of the festival’s hallmarks is the decision not to overlap any of its musical performances, with more than 40 hours pledged to attendees. Additional artists will still be announced, with tickets on sale this Friday, February 19.

The sixth annual Mountain Jam Music Festival has announced its second round of artists. Warren Haynes hosts the event along with Radio Woodstock, which will take place at New York’s Hunter Mountain, so it is fitting that Woodstock resident Levon Helm is among the musicians set to appear. He will be joined by other new additions: Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, Dr. Dog, Drive-By Truckers, The Whigs, The New Mastersounds, Jay Farrar, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, The Duke & The King, Justin Townes Earle, Jerry Joseph & Wally Ingram, The Bridge, Zach Deputy, The Brew, Simone Felice, Gandalf Murphy & The Slambovian Circus of Dreams and Van Ghost. The previously announced roster includes Haynes’ Gov’t Mule as well as: Michael Franti & Spearhead, the Derek trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band, the Avett Brothers, Les Claypool, Yonder Mountain String Band, Toots and the Maytals, Matisyahu, Dark Star Orchestra, Traffic guitarist Dave Mason, ALO, Lettuce, Jonathan Tyler & The Morning Lights, Elmwood and the London Souls. Tickets for Mountain Jam are now on sale. (jambands.com)

High Sierra Music Fest 2010 Lineup

2010-02-11T21:23:00.001-08:00

Once again, High Sierra Music Fest has put together a stellar lineup with jamband, bluegrass, rock and indie rock favorites. The festival boasts the most intimate festival experience and amenities. They even had the wit to knock off the new over-hyped iPad. Watch the video below to see what I mean. Hilarious.

The Avett Brothers
Ozomatli
Femi Kuti and Positive Force
Railroad Earth
Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, and Edgar Meyer
Dr. Dog
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Cornmeal
Blitzen Trapper
The New Mastersounds
March Fourth Marching Band
Nels Cline Singers
The Infamous Stringdusters
Surprise Me Mr. Davis
The Slip
BLVD
Beats Antique
Telepath
Carolyn Wonderland
Darol Anger's Republic Of Strings featuring Sharon Gilchrist
Great American Taxi
Nathan Moore
Johnny Vidacovich, Robert Walter Duo
Big Light
Trampled By Turtles
Zach Deputy
and many more to come!

Earl Greyhound Announces New Album Suspicious Package

2010-02-11T11:34:00.000-08:00

Brooklyn-based power rock trio Earl Greyhound has announced the arrival of their brand new studio album titled Suspicious Package, their first in five years. The band had this to say about the new record "Listeners will notice a marked expansion into the higher reaches of the sonic territories. Heavy, dark, groovy and grand. Suspicious Package is a reminder that though ROCK is still only a four-letter word, it can still pack a load of splendor.” Earl Greyhound will be opening a string of shows for Coheed and Cambria in the near future. I had the pleasure of spending some time with Kamara Thomas, bass player and singer for the band while I was in NYC and she is an absolutely lovely and talented individual. Earl Greyhound has more soul than your mama's shoe collection and will rock your socks off with their heavy, 60s inspired blues-rock. Expect big things from them in 2010!

Tour Dates:
March 23 Rochester, NY—Harro East Theatre & Ballroom (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
March 24 Syracuse, NY—The Westcott Theater (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
March 25 Clifton Park, NY—Northern Lights (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
March 26 South Burlington, VT—Higher Ground (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
March 28 Portland, ME—Port City Music Hall (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
March 29 Hartford, CT—Webster Theater (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
March 30 Scranton, PA—Hardware Bar (w/ Coheed and Cambria )
March 31 –Brooklyn, NY—Music Hall of Williamsburg (w/ Coheed and Cambria)
June 4-5 Ozark, AR—Wakarusa Festival

Google Explains MP3 Blog Removals

2010-02-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Some of you may have noticed that your favorite mp3 posting-blog has been wiped from blogger.com. Google had this to say about it "When we receive multiple DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorized manner, we will remove the blog". The post points out that the company's usual policy when receiving a DMCA complaint is to notify the offending blogger and to reset the offending post to "draft" status to allow the blogger to delete it. The post also acknowledged that the company sometimes gets DMCA complaints about material that a blogger is actually legally allowed to use, like the authorized mp3s that publicists and record label marketing departments send out for promotional purposes. "If this happens to you, it is imperative that you file a DMCA counter-claim so we know you have the right to the music in question. Otherwise, if we receive multiple DMCA complaints for your blog, this could very well constitute repeat offenses, compelling us to take action."(pitchfork.com)

Bonnaroo 2010 Lineup Announced

2010-02-09T14:56:00.001-08:00

Well this is the announcement we've been waiting for. This afternoon, the people at Bonnaroo slowly rolled out the current lineup for 2010's festival. All in all it seems to be a pretty well rounded lineup, maybe a bit heavy on the indie and a bit lacking on the jam but I think that will change in the months approaching the festivals. Here is the lineup as of today:
Jay-Z
Dave Matthews Band
Kings of Leon
Stevie Wonder
Phoenix
Weezer
Flaming Lips covering Dark Side of the Moon
The Dead Weather
Tenacious D
OK Go
Jeff Beck
John Fogerty
Zac Brown Band
Damian Marley & Nas
Norah Jones
The National
Medeski Martin & Wood
She & Him
Chromeo w/ guest Daryl Hall
The Avett Brothers
Regina Spektor
She & Him
Rise Against
Punch Brothers
Dropkick Murphys
Cross Canadian Ragweed
Isis
311
John Prine
Baroness
Blues Traveler
Bassnectar
The xx
Mayer Hawthorne and the County
Japandroids
The Gaslight Anthem
Tokyo Police Club
Manchester Orchestra
Kid Cudi
Neon Indian
Black Keys
Jimmy Cliff
Tori Amos
Thievery Corporation
The Constellations
Dr. Dog
Ingrid Michaelson
Wale
Jay Electronica
Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers
Monte Montgomery
Disco Biscuits
They Might Be Giants
Baaba Maal
The Melvins
GWAR
Jimmy Cliff
Dave Rawlings Machine
Local Natives
The Postelles
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Rebelution
NeedToBreathe
Michael Franti & Spearhead
Jamey Johnson
The Entrance Band
Clutch
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Lotus
The Dodos
Deadmau5
Martin Sexton

MGMT Congratulations

2010-02-09T11:20:00.000-08:00

MGMT's followup to the critically acclaimed Oracular Spectacular will be released on April 13. The album is called Congratulations and is a collection of shockingly enough, only nine songs. Congratulations is co-produced by Sonic Boom and features the group's standard touring lineup.
Here's a live version of the title track

Wanee Music Festival 2010

2010-02-05T16:34:00.000-08:00

While there seems to be more and more music festivals being launched every year, few bring the heat like the Wanee Music Festival does. This year's festival will take place on April 16 & 17 and the lineup includes:
The Allman Brothers band (2 Nights)
Widespread Panic (2 Nights)
Gov't Mule
Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Band
Bob Weir, Rob Wasserman & Jay Lane Are Scaring the Children
Stephen Stills
The Black Keys
Dr. John
Hot Tuna Electric
7 Walkers Feat. Bill Kreutzmann & Papa Mali
JJ Grey and Mofro
Johnny Winter
George Clinton & Parliment Funkadelic
The Funky Meters
The Wailers
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
North Mississippi Allstars
A Family Affair w/ Ivan Neville's Dumpstaphunk performing Sly & the Family Stone
Jaimoe's Jasssz Band
Chuck Leavell w/ The Randall Bramblett Band
Particle
Oteil & Kofi Burbridge w/ the Lee Boys
Col. Bruce Hampton
Devon Allman's Honeytribe
Scrapomatic
Bobby Lee Rodgers Trio
Bonobos Convergence

Marco Benevento's Big Plans

2010-02-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

One of our favorite's over here at Back In 15 Minutes, Marco Benevento, has just announced some big plans for the next coming months. His Trio, which has toured virtually non-stop since their debut album Invisible Baby and then the follow-up Me Not Me, will be releasing a new album, tentatively scheduled to drop on May 11 titled Between Needles & Nightfall. A massive May tour is currently being scheduled in support of that album. Benevento, being a man of many, many bands is also slated to tour with his other projects Surprise Me Mr. Davis, Garage A Trois and lucky fans will even get to see a one-off performance from The Duo. Expect more news soon.

Pitchfork Music Festival

2010-02-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

The lineup for the 2010 Pitchfork Music Festival which will be held at Chicago’s Union Park on July 16 – 18 was announced today. As stated by Pitchfork, this year’s festival welcomes the highly anticipated return of legendary band Pavement as they make one of their first appearances since reuniting! Pavement will perform on Sunday night. Friday features indie-rock, chart-topping mainstays Modest Mouse, while Saturday and Sunday sees performances by LCD Soundsystem, Raekwon, Here We Go Magic, St. Vincent, Lightning Bolt, Cass McCombs and Sleigh Bells.

Here's one of the first Pavement tunes I was introduced to at the tender age of 10.

La Blogotheque Presents: Vampire Weekend

2010-02-03T08:19:00.000-08:00

The wonderful folks over at La Blogotheque brings us round two of Vampire Weekend. The video website provides us this time with a super-intimate, acoustic concert of the band. This time the boys are surrounded by a lucky group of seated (and then standing), enthusiastic fans who get to hear stripped down versions of The Honeycomb's "Have I The Right",new tunes like "Cousins", "Horchata", older gem "A-Punk" off their debut album and more. Lucky.

New Broken Social Scene LP

2010-02-01T12:50:00.001-08:00

After a few Broken Social Scene Presents albums and a five year gap since the band's last proper LP, Broken Social Scene will present its new album on May 4. The band has an ever-changing lineup of Canadian indie-rock talent, and the new album was written and arranged by a core six-piece, including singer-guitarist Kevin Drew, singer-bassist Brendan Canning, drummer Justin Peroff, guitarist Charles Spearin, and singer-guitarist Andrew Whiteman, along with relative newcomer Sam Goldberg on guitar. That being said, the new album will also feature some more recognizable Canadian artists and former BSS collaborators including Leslie Feist, Stars' Amy Millan and Evan Cranley, Metric's Emily Haines and Jimmy Shaw, Jason Collett, Do Make Say Think's Ohad Benchetrit, John Crossingham, Marty Kinack, Julie Penner, Leon Kingstone, and Lisa Lobsinger. A few new-comers will also be featured on the album including the LP's producer, post-rock icon John McEntire, who plays in Tortoise and the Sea and Cake, Sea and Cake's Sam Prekop, Tortoise's Doug McCombs, Pavement's Spiral Stairs, former Death From Above 1979 singer-drummer Sebastien Grainger, Poi Dog Pondering's Susan Voelz, Helen Money's Alison Chesley, and the Weakerthans' Jason Tait.

Tour Dates:
05/01 - San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore
05/03 - Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theatre
05/07 - New York, NY @ Webster Hall
05/13 - London, UK @ Brixton Academy
05/14 - Minehead, UK @ All Tomorrow’s Parties
05/17 - London, UK @ Heaven
05/18 - Amsterdam, NL @ Melkweg
05/19 - Cologne, DE @ Burgerhaus Stollwerck
05/21 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
06/19 - Toronto, ON @ Toronto Island Concert (with Band of Horses & Pavement)

Check out the band playing "Stars and Sons"

Band to Watch: Art Decade

2010-01-28T16:47:00.000-08:00

Experimental kaleidoscope rock group Art Decade is a musical sponge, dripping its varied influences on the ears of their listeners. The band’s secret recipe is a blend of huge stadium anthems, thick power chords and catch-you-off-guard, shredding guitar solos. Touring frequently in their hometown of Boston and occasionally venturing into New York City, this band is likely to make waves in the small club scene across the U.S. The trio’s new, self-released album Royalty is available now through their website and iTunes. Check them out over at http://www.myspace.com/artdecadeband.

Sharon Jones To Play SNL

2010-01-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

Singer Sharon Jones, best known for her work with the Dap Kings and her recent collaboration with Phish at Festival 8 is slated to play Saturday Night Live this coming Satuday. Jones is scheduled to perform a duet with Canadian soft-rocking sensation Michael Buble. Together they will be performing the track “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” from Buble’s latest album Crazy Love. Hopefully Jones will add some of her trademark soul to the pop-singer's emotional sound.

The Who Reveal Super Bowl Halftime Set List

2010-01-26T21:48:00.000-08:00

In an interview with Billboard, Pete Townshend o The Who revealed the upcoming set list or the Super Bowl Halftime show.

“We’re kinda doing a mashup of stuff,” the guitarist tells Billboard. “A bit of ‘Baba O’Riley,’ a bit of ‘Pinball Wizard,’ a bit of the close of ‘Tommy,’ a bit of ‘Who Are You,’ and a bit of ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again.’ It works — it’s quite a saga. A lot of the stuff that we do has that kind of celebratory vibe about it — we’ve always tried to make music that allows the audience to go a bit wild if they want to. Hopefully it will hit the spot.”

Ticketmaster-Live Nation Merger Approved

2010-01-25T20:07:00.001-08:00

We've been tracking this story for quite some time. Today, the Department of Justice announced that the merger between Ticketmaster-Live Nation will be approved, forming the new company Live Nation Entertainment. The merger took nearly an entire year due to much investigation and due diligence by the DOJ. Part of the merger stipulation includes the agreement to divest in its Paciolan ticketing operation which was acquired by Ticketmaster in 2007 as well as striking a ticketing licensing agreement with sports and entertainment company AEG. AEG's concert promotion division, AEG Live is currently Live Nation's closest competitor. “Live Nation and Ticketmaster together will be a phenomenal operation that will enhance the ability for artists to perform live, and in this day and age performing live has become extraordinarily important to artists,” Allen Grubman, entertainment attorney for both Ticketmaster and Live Nation stated in an interview. He went on to state that "the merger will “rewrite the way live entertainment has been handled up until now. There will still be plenty of competition, artists will still have the ability to pick and choose who they do business with, but this will give everybody a huge surge.” Finally, Grubman says talk that the merger would lead to higher ticket prices is exaggerated. “Ticket prices are about supply and demand,” he says. “You’re not going to be able to charge unrealistic prices for tickets just because of one new element. If the public is not interested in buying because of high prices, they’re not going to go to concerts.”

From the U.S. Department of Justice:
Under the terms of the proposed final judgment filed today in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the companies have agreed to divest Ticketmaster’s self-ticketing subsidiary, Paciolan, to Comcast-Spectacor and to license the Ticketmaster Host technology to Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. (“AEG”), as well as to other terms that protect competitive conditions in ticketing and promotions. Seventeen State Attorneys General also participated in the matter and have joined in the U.S. consent decree. The parties’ consent agreement with the Canadian Commissioner of Competition is on substantially equivalent terms.

As previously announced, in connection with the merger, each issued and outstanding share of Ticketmaster common stock will be cancelled and converted into the right to receive a number of shares of Live Nation common stock such that Ticketmaster stockholders will receive approximately 50.01% of the voting power of the combined company. Subject to final confirmation, the companies expect each share of Ticketmaster common stock to be cancelled and converted into the right to receive 1.474 shares of Live Nation common stock in connection with the merger and for Live Nation to issue approximately 84,613,661 shares of Live Nation common stock to Ticketmaster stockholders in the aggregate.

The combined company will be led by Michael Rapino as CEO and President of Live Nation Entertainment and Irving Azoff as Executive Chairman of Live Nation Entertainment and CEO of Front Line. Barry Diller will serve as Chairman of the Board of Live Nation Entertainment. The Board will consist of 14 directors, seven from each company.

Gorillaz New Album Details Revealed

2010-01-20T17:33:00.000-08:00

Full details for the Gorillaz new album have been released. "The band have taken up residence, recording on a secret floating island deep in the South Pacific, a Plastic Beach HQ, made up of the detritus, debris and washed up remnants of humanity. This Plastic Beach is the furthest point from any landmass on Earth; the most deserted spot on the planet." Guests on the album include Snoop Dogg, Lou Reed, De La Soul, Mark E. Smith from the Fall, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals, and Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of the Clash.
The full tracklist, along with the "Stylo" single cover, is below.

Plastic Beach:

01 Orchestral Intro (ft. Sinfonia ViVA)
02 Welcome to the World of the Plastic Beach (ft. Snoop Dogg and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
03 White Flag (ft. Kano, Bashy, and the National Orchestra for Arabic Music)
04 Rhinestone Eyes
05 Stylo (ft. Bobby Womack and Mos Def)
06 Superfast Jellyfish (ft. Gruff Rhys and De La Soul)
07 Empire Ants (ft. Little Dragon)
08 Glitter Freeze (ft. Mark E Smith)
09 Some Kind Of Nature (ft. Lou Reed)
10 On Melancholy Hill
11 Broken
12 Sweepstakes (ft. Mos Def and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble)
13 Plastic Beach (ft. Mick Jones and Paul Simonon)
14 To Binge (ft. Little Dragon)
15 Cloud of Unknowing (ft. Bobby Womack and Sinfonia ViVA)
16 Pirate Jet

Here's the first single from the album http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SxlD74hvRk

Exclusive Interview: Warren Spicer of Plants And Animals

2010-01-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

This weekend, on an unseasonably mild Saturday afternoon in Montreal, I had the pleasure of sitting down with Warren Spicer from the Montreal based indie-rock band Plants And Animals. The group received much praise from both the indie and the jamband worlds after releasing their debut album, Parc Avenue in 2008. Pleasing both of these musical crowds is no easy task, as each seems to be snobbier than the next. The indie crowd only loves top-notch unique music and the jamband scene generally digs psychedelic music that can be extended in a live setting. Plants And Animals found a happy medium, creating diverse music that's both catchy, complex and conducive to improvisation when played live. Two years later, after much touring and some time off of the road to record new songs, Plants And Animals is releasing their follow up album titled La La Land. Mr. Spicer was kind enough to take some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with me in a breakfast dive in the Mile End area of Montreal to have a few coffees and talk about the up-coming record and a whole lot more.

Parc Avenue was a very big album, rich in instrumentation and varied in song style and structure. What can listeners expect to hear on your new album, La La Land which is being released on April 20?

WS: I guess we haven’t done anything insanely, drastically different than what we did on Parc Avenue its just kind of a continuation of what we were into. I guess we kind of got back into more loud rock music because we had been touring so much, and when we made Parc Avenue we didn’t really tour a lot so we were kind of just rehearsing and playing in our apartments more. That record kind of came out with more acoustic guitars and quieter stuff. Then we started touring and we ended up playing a lot louder and with more electric guitars and rocking out so even the songs on Parc Avenue changed quite a bit when we played them live. We came back and started working on new stuff and it just started to sound more like what we sounded like live. Its maybe a little darker, this new record, but its classic P&A (laughs).

Can you talk a bit about the Montreal music scene and how it has influenced La La Land? I’ve heard The Slip’s Brad Barr and the Arcade Fire horn section are featured on the album. Are there any other guest contributors?

WS: We had a few different people in doing things, some stuff worked, some stuff didn’t work. In terms of the music scene I think Brad, he lives in the same apartment building as me and he is just a pretty incredible musician. He’s been busy ever since he showed up in Montreal and as soon as he got here I met him and we started hanging out. I feel like the Montreal music scene, I think when you are a newer band starting out, like before we had released Parc Avenue, maybe I was more connected to the scene because I was out at bars more checking out other bands. Then as things progressed you start enjoying your own time when you come home. You don’t go out to bars, I don’t even know who the hot bands are in this town anymore. But I have my group of friends and Brad is part of them. You know, musical friends and we all end up helping each other out at recordings and jamming whenever we get the chance to. The scene for me has a lot more to do with my own scene rather than “the scene” because I don’t really know what that is anymore. In terms of shaping the new record, we kind of just had the studio booked for two weeks here and there and kind of did whatever we felt like. If someone happened to be around, like I always wanted to do something with Brad and he came in and ended up playing some piano. We just kind of hung out and figured out what worked and low and behold. Colin who plays sax for the Arcade Fire he is Sarah’s boyfriend and she’s the violinist for the Arcade Fire and she played on our first record and we went to school together. It’s more just a web of friends who all play music together.

Your debut album Parc Avenue was named after the street it was recorded on. What’s the significance behind the dreamy title of La La Land?

WS: There’s no huge significance, Parc Avenue just fell into place right away we didn’t have to think about it very much. We had worked on this record and maybe also looking back in hindsight things seemed to have fit together more logically in that album when it was all finished. Finishing this record was kind of a mad dash; everything went haywire as we approached the deadline of when we were supposed to deliver it. We didn’t have a title, we didn’t know what the artwork was going to look like, and we didn’t know anything. When you get stuck in a position like that you start trying to brainstorm and everything sounds bad. Every idea you come up with sounds terrible. The list of absolutely hilarious bad names is wildly long (laughs). We should probably put that up on our website, there’s some gold in there. There’s a reference in a song, the second song “Swinging Bells” which is loosely about L.A. We were worried that people would think it has too much to do with L.A. but most people don’t really connect La La Land with L.A. but some people do, its more of an actor thing. It just kind of made sense. There’s kind of this dreaminess about the record, it’s not that specific it doesn’t lock us into anything, it’s open-ended

That being said, Parc Avenue felt like a really cohesive, flowing album. Is La La Land a little more scattered?

WS: No, it’s still built the same way. That’s how we make records. We make records that flow from start to finish. I think it’s less epic; it’s a shorter, tighter album. Parc Avenue is almost an hour long. If you can have that kind of attention span, that’s awesome and it was our first album too so you put a lot of your life into that first record because you have never had the chance to do anything like that before. It kind of made sense that Parc Avenue was that long and I’m glad we made that record that long. We toured and we tightened up and then we wanted to crystallize things a little bit more and I wanted to write some shorter, tighter, poppy songs. That’s always a challenge too, it’s not easy to write a shorter song when you’re not used to that. It’s a different challenge.

The band’s sound really seems to embody the Canadian music scene. Parc Avenue had tender ballads, tripped out jams, and epic progressive rock tunes. What are some of the band’s influences? Are there any Canadian bands in particular that have had a strong impact on the group and its sound?

WS: Yah, actually last year I saw Neil Young twice. Once at the Bell Center here in Montreal and then once in Barcelona at a festival we played called the Prima Vera Festival. There’s something about seeing him live, it was like everything I thought about Neil Young, how original the guy is…just to hear his electric guitar. There is something about electric guitars that I just wanted to get back into. Also, I kind of went on a rampage this winter trying to find old Hendrix bootlegs and this weird Hendrix stuff and now there’s some fuzz on the record that’s kind of a direct result of just listening to more of the sound that’s playing. It’s not just fuzzed-out blues solos it’s more just outer-space, fuzz thing that Hendrix can do. Those are two pretty classic references but they kind of popped up again in my mind this year. It all depends on the song, you kind of write a song and you have a very specific idea of that you want to do something that’s already been done but in your own way. The new song we released, “Tom Cruz” it’s got a very kind of Neil Young-y as I could get on guitar solos. I wasn’t really trying but after the fact I thought that it kind of sounds like that, that insanely ballsy guitar sound.

Plants And Animals are a band that strongly bridges the continually thinning divide between indie rock and jamband. You’ve been featured on indie-dedicated sites such as Pitchfork.com as well as jam friendly sites such as jambase.com and jambands.com. Why do you think that is?

WS: I guess because we can do it both if we want to. You kind of choose what you want to do and how you want to market yourself and typically in the indie world it hasn’t been hip to be a jamband. But you know, who cares it doesn’t really make a difference. I think we might have started out a bit more jammy, that’s where our roots come from, just getting together and playing and things are slowly tightening and narrowing and now it’s our least jammy stuff. There is still some extended tunes on this record, which will potentially be extended more during live sets. You also want to play to your audience; if we did a festival like Bonnaroo it would be fun to extend things. You have to know whose watching you. The group comes from a pretty educated musical background as well and we’ve worked really hard on learning how to play. Even if we don’t really showcase that on a three-minute pop-song, the chops are still there even if it’s hidden in the rhythm. The time we’ve spent learning how to play is in their in the groove.

I noticed you guys were featured on La Blogotheque’s Take Away Shows. It seems that all the biggest indie-blog-buzz bands have been featured on this site. Was performing bare bones versions of your songs in a unique location a refreshing change from the typical club or bar setting?

WS: We recorded half the record in Paris at that location in those shots. It’s a big mansion half an hour outside of Paris, it’s this old chateau with a wicked recording studio in it. We went there and recorded for five days and we lived there in the mansion. We ate there and all the windows are open and you’re playing and there’s old bookshelves full of vinyl’s and the basement is filled with the recording gear. It’s a pretty magical place to work. We were there working and the Blogotheque guys came out for an afternoon and we were already making music all day long and they walked in and we were like “sure we can play some more music because that’s all we’re doing”. Sometimes those things can be a bit weird, when it’s more contrived. There’s the Black Cab one where you get in a cab and I could see some of those being fun but a pain in the ass. The one in Paris was great though because we were already doing it. There are instruments everywhere and more than anything we were comfortable and that’s great because if you’re not there’s a good chance those things can suck.

While the band has played smaller and mid-sized festivals including the London Ontario Live Arts Festival (LOLA Fest) and the Pitchfork Music Festival, can we expect to see you playing at some of the festival giants such as Bonnaroo or Rothbury in the coming year?

WS: I certainly hope so. I don’t know what we have scheduled right now but we would love to step it up as much as possible. I think Bonnaroo might be out unfortunately. We’ve been quiet for a very long time, our blip on the radar has kind of disappeared. We were working on the new record and not touring that much so our buzz is kind of gone and forgotten. It’s kind of hard to start booking the North American stuff pre-release because people are like “oh yah I heard about you guys back then”. It’s all timing and unfortunately people are booking bands now for the summer and our album doesn’t come out until April. It might be a different story once the record comes out and we get a bunch of media attention. We’ll have to see what happens then. We will definitely play some festivals though. Some of the best festivals are the smaller ones. What you think is the best festival, the biggest ones, don’t always turn out to be the best. The most fun I’ve ever had was when we played a tiny festival in Yellowknife called Folk On The Rocks. The stages were made out of plywood and the PA was tiny and it was just awesome. The big, mega-festivals with the huge headliners and the thousands of people, that’s one thing but I think I’d much rather play a small festival run by volunteers where everyone gets to hang out and be normal. At the big, mega-ones things kind of get out of control and it’s their own thing. I wouldn’t pit the two against each other; the small mom and pop operations are certainly more relaxed and normal. The whole idea of a festival is for people to come together and it feels more normal at small ones. The corporate festivals claim to want that but you get there and everyone is compartmentalized and every band has a trailer and you never talk to anyone. You play your set and your done and you don’t talk to anyone. Higher profile is good for business but it is not necessarily the most enjoyable time.

Head over to www.plantsandanimals.ca to listen to "Tom Cruz", the band's first release off of the up-coming record La La Land, and for everything else Plants And Animals.

Here's the song "Feedback In The Field" from the aforementioned La Blogotheque filming session

Plants and Animals - A Take Away Show - Feedback in the Field from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

More Plants And Animals News

2010-01-13T15:02:00.000-08:00

As I reported yesterday, Plants And Animals are releasing their new record La La Land on the worldwide stoner's holiday, April 20. In some additional information about the album, The Slip's Brad Barr, a close friend of the group has contributed guitar work to the album and the Arcade Fire horn section is featured on La La Land as well.

Dr. Dog New Album and Tour

2010-01-12T18:34:00.000-08:00

Dr. Dog will release its next studio album on April 6 via Anti- Records. The band switched things up with Shame, Shame by working in a professional studio and with an outside producer (Rob Schnapf). The album is said to peel away the group’s trademark layers of strings and horns to focus on the core band. Shame, Shame is also said to feature a darker tone “whose themes of doubt, confusion and unanswered questions are soothed by bright harmonies, taut guitar riffs and soaring melodies.” Dr. Dog will tour throughout the winter and spring, including a run of domestic May dates with Deer Tick.

The band’s upcoming shows include:

January 27 Troy, NY—Revolution Hall
January 28 Burlington, VT—Higher Ground
January 29 Providence, RI—Lupo’s
January 30 Syracuse, NY—Westcott Theatre
February 1 Buffalo, NY—Mohawk Place
February 3 Pontiac, MI—The Pike Room
February 4 Milwaukee, WI—Turner Hall
February 5 Madison, WI—High Noon Saloon
February 6 Iowa City, IA—The Mill
February 8 Omaha, NE—Waiting Room
February 9 Rock Island, IL—Rock Island Brewing Co.
February 10 Cleveland, OH—Case Western University
February 11 Bloomington, IN—Video Saloon
February 12 N Columbus, OH—Newport Music Hall
February 13 State College, PA—State Theatre
April 14 Toronto, ON— Lee’s Place
April 15 Ann Arbor, MI—Blind Pig
April 16 Chicago, IL—Metro
April 17 Minneapolis, MN— Fine Line
April 19 Aspen, CO—Belly Up
April 20 Denver, CO—Gothic Theatre
April 22 Boise, ID—Neuroluz
April 23 Portland, OR—Wonder Ballroom
April 24-25 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA
April 27 Los Angeles, CA—Henry Fonda
April 29 Santa Fe, NM—Santa Fe Brewing Company
April 30 Dallas, TX—The Loft
May 1 Austin, TX—Emo’s Outside
May 2 Houston, TX –Warehouse Live Studio
May 3 Fayetteville, AR—Majestic
May 5 W Birmingham, AL—Workplay
May 6 C Nashville, TN—Cannery Ballroom
May 7 Louisville, KY—Headliners
May 11-12 Boston, MA—Paradise
May 13 Philadelphia, PA—Electric Factory
May 14 Washington, DC—9:30 Club
May 15 New York, NY—Terminal 5
May 23 Berlin, Germany—Magnet
May 24 Koln, Germany—Blue Shell
May 25 Amsterdam, Neth.-—Paradiso
May 26 London, UK—Tabernacle
May 27 Paris, FR—Nouveau Casino
May 29 Barcelona, Spain—Primavera Sound

Plants And Animals To Release New Album

2010-01-12T18:16:00.000-08:00

Plants And Animals, the kings of the Montreal indie rock scene are set to release their new record La La Land on April 20. The band will also play a number of shows before kicking off a North American tour. Also, head to www.plantsandanimals.ca to listen to the first song on the album "Tom Cruz".

Dates:
January 23 La Flèche D’or PARIS, FR
January 26 MIDEM – Morrison’s Lounge CANNES, FR
January 28 Paragon Theatre HALIFAX, CA
January 29 L’Osmose – U de Moncton MONCTON, CA
January 30 The Capital FREDERICTON, CA
March 17-21 SXSW AUSTIN, TX
April 22 La Tulipe MONTREAL,CA

Big Light Studio Album

2010-01-12T18:14:00.001-08:00

Psych-pop band Big Light will release Animals In Bloom, its first studio album, on March 2. The band will celebrate Animals In Bloom‘s release with a performance at San Francisco’s The Independent on March 4. The band will also play a California shows with The Mothers Hips, including stops in Santa Cruz (1/29-30) and Petaluma (2/5). Big Light’s next headlining show will take place at Berkeley, CA’s Starry Plough on January 21 (from jambands.com)