Author Archives: mike

Curumin Live at CSPS in Cedar Rapids 1/26/09 (review)

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Curumin at CSPS in Cedar Rapids, IA 1-26-09

On Monday, January 26th Sherry and I went to see the Curumin show at CSPS. I was pretty interested to see this show. Curumin is part of the next generation of artists on on the seminal Bay Area Hip-Hop label Quannum. The first generation were primarily Hip Hop acts: DJ Shadow, Lyrics Born, Lateef and Blackalicious, and while the label still signs Rap and Hip Hop acts they have also signed artists who don’t neatly fit into that category: ApSci is closer to an electro act and Honeycut is damn near a synth pop band. One of the labels latest signings Curumin brings a fusion of hip hop, funk, soul and Brazilian styles playing equally the parts of producer and performer.
Lucas, Curumin & Marcelo

The show was one of the more spirited shows I’ve seen at CSPS– certainly a departure from regular diet of stripped-down folk-singer songwriter shows I usually attend there. This was also the first show I’d seen that used the actual stage at CSPS. Usually the small acts are on a set of risers on the floor in front of the stage. This fact alone invited some folks to actually get out and “express themselves physically” in Mel Andringa’s words from his funny introduction to the group.

The crowd was somewhere around 40 people and was an interesting mix of people– some of them were “regulars” at CSPS and in support of the organization hit most of the shows, but there were also some new faces and some that I expect were students taking advantage of their inexpensive ticket price.

Curumin

The theme of Curumin’s latest album Japan Pop Show is his love of record collecting down to the mocked-up record art in the CD liner notes. At times Curumin would shout out “vinyl!” or “Does Cedar Rapids love the vinyl?” At least this reviewer does! Curumin brought two other guys to help reproduce the layered sound of the album. It was an interesting combo, really. Curumin took turns on the trap, the cavaquinho (the electric ukelele-type instrument) and MPC. Lucas Martins (who contributed to Japan Pop Show) played bass and MPC, and Marcelo Effori played drums, percussion and MPC. The fact that they all had MPC sampler/sequencers as an additional instrument allowed them to reproduce much of the sampled parts of Japan Pop Show.

The show centered primarily around Curumin’s two albums– Japan Pop Show and the previous Achados e Perididos, but also threw in a couple of covers including a very well-executed Roy Ayers song “Everybody Loves the Sunshine” and a Nina Simone cover “Mr. Backlash Blues” which he introduced by calling it an American standard and that “it’s good to be here in the United States and be able to play this song” which was met with audience approval. He also threw in some reggae covers for good measure and a few bars of Grandmaster Flash’s “The Message” to show his American influences, although likely missed by the bluehairs that split less than a half-hour into the show.

Curumin

This tour is only Curumin’s second in the US but you wouldn’t know it based on his comfort on the stage and his ability to warm up a conservative Midwestern Monday night crowd. Halfway through the set he had folks on the floor dancing and we even got a breakdancer!

I suspect that the crowd wasn’t near what he had seen in San Francisco where he was joined on stage by other acts from Quannum with a hometown crowd for the label, but he still put on one of the best shows I’ve seen at CSPS. Talking with some of the other folks at the show they were very impressed and were new fans of Curumin and his pastiche approach to Braziliana.

Earlier that day Curumin and his band recorded a set for Daytrotter in Rock Island so I’m looking forward to that and will be posting about that as soon as they post it. I had an interview with Curumin which I will be posting today.

Click Here to Visit Curumin’s MySpace Page

Click Here to see the full flickr set of pictures I took.

Ryan Adams Delivers Hot, Steamy Love Note for V-D

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With characteristic flair, Ryan Adams delivered an iTunes-Exclusive EP entitled Extra Cheese today– in time for your Valentine’s Day soundtrack.

The EP is a collection of seven songs for a measly $3.99. Six of the songs are previously released with “Hey There, Mrs. Lovely” mostly unreleased.

I say mostly, because “Hey There Mrs. Lovely” which was recorded in 2000 for the infamous unreleased Destroyer sessions. “Hey There, Mrs. Lovely” would eventually become “These Girls” with a slight lyric rewrite on Easy Tiger.

It’s a bit curious why this song was chosen and effectively released this way. It will certainly spark anew the speculation about the Lost Highway boxset that was announced in 2007 which includes the Destroyer sessions along with 48 Hours, and The Suicide Handbook. It’s cool to get an unreleased song as part of this, but since it became another song, I would think there would be other interesting choices– but whatever.

Here is the tracklist with the album the song comes from:

  1. “Two” from Easy Tiger
  2. “Blossom” from Cold Roses
  3. “Answering Bell” from Gold
  4. “Evergreen” from Cardinology
  5. “My Love for You Is Real” from Follow the Lights
  6. “Desire” from Demolition
  7. “Hey There, Mrs. Lovely”

Some mp3’s from the Destroyer sessions at An Aquarium Drunkard Here (doesn’t include “Mrs. Lovely”).

Ryan Adams - Extra Cheese - EP Click Here to buy Extra Cheese at iTunes

B-Sides in the Bins #41 – Wendy & Lisa Interview

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Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman– collectively known as Wendy & Lisa are probably best known as the creative songwriting force in Prince’s 80’s backing band The Revolution. It’s my opinion as well as others that it was Wendy & Lisa who were a strong (and necessary) compliment to Prince and that relationship fostered the creative energy of the three that spawned music that was more than the three could have achieved individually. After Prince dissolved The Revolution Wendy & Lisa stuck together and continued to work through the 90’s on their career as a songwriting duo. While the four albums released through 1998 had been received well critically, none of the albums really took off for them– quite a bit of it due to label switching that was outside their control and it was this experience that formed their approach to their new album.

In the ten-plus years since their last album, the pair have stayed together focusing on studio work, songwriting, production and some significant soundtrack scoring for shows like HBO’s “Carnivale,” Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie” and NBC’s “Heroes.” At the end of 2008, Wendy & Lisa self-released White Flags of Winter Chimneys which seems to be a new declaration of purpose with a vision towards the next phase of their partnership. It may prove that the long gap between releases is enough for the pair to be judged upon their own merits as artists and musicians rather than continuing in the shadow of their work with Prince.

I had an opportunity to talk to Wendy & Lisa during a short break in their busy schedules last week to talk about their new album, the promise of an upcoming tour, and their unique distribution model. They were very cool to talk to– funny and excited to talk about their new work. They had me on speakerphone and it was a lot of fun talking to them. They are kindred spirits with me in a lot of respects, their tastes in music are as varied as mine and their passion for their work is infectious as I found myself re-energized to focus on this blog!

Me: A lot of bands are looking into a self-distribution model. Yours is unique in that you are selling it from your website first and then moving to other electronic distribution channels– is it going to get regular distribution as well?

Wendy: It will get regular distribution later, yeah. We’re doing this in steps right now because we’re trying to make a little cash so we can get to the next level because we are distributing it ourselves in a little room with our little postage machines and our little weighing machines and our packaging and this-and-that. We bypassed getting a regular distribution deal because a lot of times the artist ends up having to pay back a lot of money to the distributor because the distributors ordered way too much product. So, we opted to not do that and just to do it as it’s being ordered. So, the best way to get a sense of what is being bought is to take it one step at a time. Basically, our manager Renata who is the computer genius in the family came up with this model– that we go ahead and release FLAC digital downloads and 320Kbps mp3’s and offer it at a reasonable price on the website first to get an idea of what was being sold. And, actually, it’s coming back that we are doing quite well on that. So, the little bit of money that has come in from that is being put into packaging now and getting more product out to people. On February 24th when it is on digital download sites like iTunes, Amazon, and Rhapsody–

Lisa: we have to mention TopSpin who has been with us since the very beginning and helped us get this up and going.

Wendy:  That’s right.

Lisa: I think it is important for people to know that what’s been really cool is that we’ve offered all of these different packages– including just single-song downloads– you know– to just the get things going. All we needed was just the first bit of artwork to have some design up on the webpage. So, you can download a single song, you can download the whole record, you can download the record plus order the CD when it becomes available– you can order the beautiful vinyl which we made a limited amount of– this blue-and-white splatter vinyl which is going to be FANTASTIC!

Wendy: Yeah, and the mastering on the record is FANTASTIC– it’s almost sounds better than the CD as far as I’m concerned.

Me: So, can you tell us a bit more about the vinyl pressing and who did the mastering?

Wendy: Yeah, Paul du Gré did the mastering of the vinyl and he’s from North Hollywood. He’s one of those guys who’s just done everything for ages– he’s a classic engineer, mastering and an audiophile kind of guy. You can Google “Paul du Gré” and find all kinds of wonderful things he worked on. The pressing is being done by Pirates Press using GZ Digital Media in the Czech Republic. There was a problem with doing the splatter– we found a plant that could pour the paint by hand instead of using machines. There is a whole environmental consideration and things like that. [It’s important to note, also that this first limited pressing will be in a gatefold sleeve. -ed]

To get people to pre-order these things over the website has allowed to finance getting these things done. I think it is helpful for other musicians to know that are trying to put things out– that you can start lining your ducks up and start selling things and it will help finance things like producing the product.

Lisa: For me, I feel like this is more satisfying than having a record deal.

Wendy: It really is, and more has come from this in satisfaction for us than any record label we’ve ever been signed to– and we’ve been signed to A LOT. And dropped from every one of them… This is so much better and I highly recommend it! Haha!

Me: So, did you create a label for this?

Wendy: Yeah, we just created our own thing.

Me: What is the label called?

Wendy: It’s called “Lisa Coleman/Wendy Melvoin” hehehe. Literally, that is what it is called. We don’t have a label name. It is just “L. Coleman/W. Melvoin”

Wendy: That’s it– we aren’t going to put out anyone else’s records.

Me: Well, yes I suppose you aren’t going to make a “Paisley Park” or something.

Wendy: Nah, it’s not going to happen for us.

Me: Will you be selling the LP without the CD at some point?

Wendy & Lisa: Oh, yes! Absolutely!

Me: It seems that the other part of the equation for working bands is touring and, in some cases the album is promoted by the touring. Do you see the success of this preventing the need to tour? Are you going to tour?

Wendy: We’re going to need to tour. All of this is leading into the two of us hopefully getting out this summer to do some gigs. We have so much work to do before we can even put our eye on that– but our sights are on being able to tour. I’d love us to be able to spend at least three months– six weeks here in the States to do just some key places and six weeks in over in Europe would be fantastic.

Lisa:  Yeah, it’s not a matter of even needing to tour, we really would like to tour.

Wendy: Yeah that’s true…

Lisa: …And play this record out and play these songs and give them a life. But, we don’t have the financing to rehearse a band and pay for hotels and travel and things like that so we’re trying to raise the money first. Maybe find some smart ways of doing it– maybe pairing it with another band or a promoter or something that makes sense.

Wendy: Or what we talked about before is that we have this group of musicians that we have this band with called Edith Funker. It has members of the Roots– ?uestlove on drums, Erykah Badu on vocals, My brother-in-law on guitar Doyle Bramhall [Wendy’s sister Susannah Melvoin is married to Doyle -ed], with [Susannah] doing vocals and guitar, James Poyser on keyboards with Lisa, me on guitar, this really phenomenal record producer-musician named Mike Elizondo on bass. And, we want to go out possibly as each other’s band.

Me: Oh, like a package tour!

Wendy: Yeah, a package tour. So, for like 45 minutes we’re Eryka’s band, and for 45 minutes they’re Wendy & Lisa’s band, and for 45 minutes we’re Doyle’s band– you know what I mean? Kind of do that. We’d love to make that happen.

Me: That would be really great!

Lisa: We think that would be the ideal thing, but you know it would be pretty hard to coordinate. Everybody’s doing their records and tours and things like that. We’re hoping maybe by summertime. Also, that’s when the TV season ends because our day job, of course, is scoring TV.

Wendy: “Nurse Jackie” and “Heroes.”

Lisa: Yeah, so after the TV season is over and everybody kind of gets done doing what they’re doing right now…

Wendy: Which is the end of April…

Lisa: Yeah, we’re going to try aim for late June or something around there to try to get out and do something like that.

Me: Are you going to try to hit the festivals?

Wendy: You know, if we could get that group of people together, I don’t even know that we have to do the festivals. We could probably get a venue on our own and make it a two-and-a-half, three hour event with all of those people– bypassing the festivals.

Me: By the way, I think that White Flags is a brilliant record. You have somehow managed to hit a lot of the buttons I care about in music.

Lisa: Oh wow, Thank you!

Me: I had a pretty tough time describing it while writing the one paragraph I did write for the article talking about the upcoming release. The record either sounds like it’s been a long time coming or– I don’t know. It’s all over the place and it has one sound– a consistent production value. I’m going to call it “shoegazer” because I don’t know what else to call it.

Wendy: Yeah, and I related to your comparisons, I do listen to Lush a little bit and My Bloody Valentine and Radiohead– of course and I feel those things when I hear this record as well.

You know, this has been a long time coming for us, this record.  We needed to start fresh. We didn’t really use anything that we had in the can from ten years ago, but we opted basically to let all that got to define who we are right now. After being in film composing and TV composing for this long and producing for other people and being on a million other records during this time and writing for other people. And, when we got the writer’s strike– for good or for bad– the strike allowed us the opportunity to get in our room, shut the door, turn the red light on and keep everybody out and make this record. We were lucky for the time– really lucky for it because I’m really proud of this record. When my kid’s a teenager, I wouldn’t hesitate handing him this record and say, “here, give this a listen.”

Lisa: It was like opening the flood gates for us, too. After having the responsibility to write music all the time, having the freedom to write music was a totally different experience. The things that came out of us were– and we’re guilty of being all over the place anyway because we love so many different kinds of music– we like to groove and we like to be introspective, we like to trip out and then we like to get really classy or intimate. So, all these things just started pouring out, and when we hit a certain song or a certain place after a month or so of writing we knew we had stumbled upon the sound that could carry through. There was even this Mellotron “voice” sound that I think we used on every song or as a way to segue between songs was the emotional thread through the album– like it was one story.

Wendy: Michael, when you listen to the LP, we actually made this– segued this so it would sound as if you were having the LP experience. It’s been so many years since people have had that mindset and boy do I miss it!

Lisa: To listen to a whole record and to have it be different– so many times I put on a record and then it’s kind of the same song over-and-over again. I’ve never liked that– I like records that have different feels on it, like it takes you on a trip.

Wendy: Yeah, like one of the coveted LP’s that I have is the Bill Evans/Claus Ogerman Symbiosis. Side A is all of the horn arrangements that Claus Ogerman did– Bill isn’t even playing on side A! Symbiosis is this composition where side A is playing at double-time and side B is an orchestra and the Bill Evans Trio playing it at half time. That’s a fucking LP experience to me! That, to me, is a high achievement.

Me: Was that a Prestige title?

Wendy: I think maybe it was.

[Although Evans famously recorded on Prestige, this 1974 release was originally released on the German label MPS. It was re-released on CD in 1995 on Verve Records and is now sadly out-of-print, however you can download mp3’s at Amazon. -ed]

Me: It sounds like I need to find that one– I like Bill Evans.

Wendy: You need to find that. It’s breathtaking. Michael, this LP is BREATHTAKING, it’s so beautiful! Side B– that’s the heartbreak side. Side A is more like the bible of harmonics.

Lisa: It’s almost Supersax, but really um…

Wendy: It’s more Steve Reich-ian meets Supersax.

[I had to stop myself from talking about Reich’s “Different Trains.” I saw the original configuration of Kronos Quartet performing this in Madison, WI in the early 90’s.]

Lisa: Way more sophisticated harmonically. It’s really, really cool.

Albums are so much better when they aren’t just a collection of singles. Even though there is a place for that– you can go buy the “greatest hits.”

Wendy: In defense of a lot of records out there, I think it is just the Pop stuff that is geared towards that. I listen to plenty of CD’s right now that aren’t a collection of singles. It’s too blanket of a statement– it’s just not true.

Lisa: Well, I just think with the failure of the record companies (assumes stuffy documentary voice) “in our historic times”– record labels have completely failed the art and it makes the art difficult to master. When you’re making a record, you’re not sure what you’re supposed to be aiming at. I think that Wendy and I in this situation had the perfect opportunity to not care about that. We had our studio already set up, we had been scoring TV, and the writer’s strike hit and we had nothing to do.

Wendy: It was a perfect storm.

Lisa: Right, exactly, so we were “snowed in,” had all this gear, all this inspiration and nobody to answer to except each other and we just started writing and it was such a gift to be able to do that.

Wendy: Even our engineer kept looking at us and saying “What kind of music is this? What is this?” Just go with it man, just go with it.

Lisa: “Is this supposed to sound like a rock record? Should I make it tight or loose? Should I use echo?” We said, “Just make it sound cool.” He has great taste and great ears and great techniques.

Wendy: We just guided him and said, “Stay there! Don’t move! That’s just where we want to be!”

Me: So, you did this in one sitting, effectively? It’s a bit astounding that you could achieve this record like that.

Lisa: Yeah, it was easy– well I shouldn’t say that and jinx myself! With the exception of “Niagra Falls,” which we re-recorded, yeah. We just have a lot of music in our bones. It just comes out.

Me: I haven’t had this record to listen to that long, but the two songs that stand out for me are “Niagra Falls” and “Sweet Suite.”

Wendy: Yeah, those are the two that a lot of people are gravitating towards.

Me: I have to say that out of the whole Revolution catalog “Sometimes It Snows In April” [from Parade] is probably my favorite song.

Wendy & Lisa (in unison): Wow, thank you!

Me: So, I hear “Sweet Suite” and I kind of hear that in there.

Wendy & Lisa: Yeah, for sure, definitely.

Lisa: “Sometimes It Snows In April” was really the pinnacle of our relationship together [with Prince]. The three of us had kind of a love affair. And when we wrote that song– again– it was just the three of us sitting together in a room. I really loved it, and I had hoped we would follow that trail further, you know? Like make a whole record like that or something. But, that didn’t happen.

Wendy: He opted out.

Me: And there was that B-Side to “Mountains” What was it, “Alexa de…”

Wendy: “Alexa de Paris.”

Me: Yeah..

Lisa: Oh, wow, yeah…

Wendy: That whole Parade record, that was a great time. Parade, and Sign O’ The Times. Actually, the three albums: All Around The World In A Day, Parade, and Sign O’ The Times, those were incredible records to make…

I’ll tell you what my friend– we don’t want to– but, we have to go. We have to deliver thirty minutes of music for “Heroes” for tomorrow morning and we’ve only done one reel out of five! We have a deadline…

Me: I really appreciate the time, ladies, and it was really great talking to you at the beginning of this phase in your career!

Below is a full-album stream of Wendy & Lisa’s new album White Flags of Winter Chimneys:

B-Sides Favorites Backyard Tire Fire Return to Studio With Steve Berlin

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Ed Anderson

It was only last August that Bloomington, IL bar-rockin’ band Backyard Tire Fire released their fantastic The Places We Lived which I reviewed here.

Ed Anderson, his brother Matt and Tim Kramp are heading back into the studio in late February with Grammy-Award winning producer Steve Berlin who is also a member of Los Lobos whose last album The Town and the City was reviewed here. Berlin found out about BTF when they opened for Los Lobos last October. They dug Tire Fire’s show so much they invited the band to sit in on the encore! The following week Berlin reached out to talk to the band about the possibility of producing their next record! Berlin said about BTF, “Great songs, great playing and great guys. I’m really looking forward to the recording sessions… In my opinion they are one of America’s best young bands.” I agree.

I think the matching of Berlin to Backyard Tire Fire should be a winning combination.  As with previous efforts from Backyard Tire Fire, the next album will be recorded in a studio, to tape and completely analog. This means that they’ll be pressing vinyl like the did on their last record, I’m sure. The sessions will take place at Type Foundry Studio in Portland, Oregon with Jeff Stuart Saltzman engineering.

They guys recorded a couple of songs for Daytrotter last year that will end up on the album, “Food for Thought” and “Ready or Not.” A couple of really great songs even in their minimal form for Daytrotter.

Click Here for the Daytrotter page for Backyard Tire Fire.

Backyard Tire Fire is on tour starting this weekend through a stop in Iowa City opening for JJ Grey and Mofro on Sunday, February 8th. There’s a gap in the tour dates until March 13th in which they will have been in the studio. Iowa gets three stops through May, so that is pretty cool. I still haven’t made it to the Redstone Room, maybe by April 30th the snow will have subsided and I can make it down there.

January 30 & 31 / Louie’s / Bloomington, IL
February 3 / Bluebird / Bloomington, IN*
February 4 / Downing University Center Theatre / Bowling Green, KY*
February 5 / The Intersection / Grand Rapids, MI*
February 6 / The Magic Bag / Ferndale, MI*
February 7 / The Dame / Lexington, KY*
February 8 / Industry / Iowa City, IA*
March 13 / Chicago Street / Joliet, IL
March 15 / Mountain Stage / Charleston, WV
March 19 / 40 Watt Club / Athens, GA**
March 20 / Emerald Lounge / Asheville, NC**
March 21 / Gottrocks / Greenville, SC**
April 2 / Locals Only / Indianapolis, IN***
April 3 / Southgate House / Cincinnati, OH
April 4 / Barley’s Taproom / Knoxville, TN
April 10 / Mojo’s / Columbia, MO
April 11 / Off Broadway / St. Louis, MO****
April 14 / Wisconsin Public TV / Madison, WI
April 16 / Gerstle’s / Louisville, KY**
April 17 / Hangar 9 / Carbondale, IL**
April 18 / Double Door / Chicago, IL**
April 23 / 7th Street / Minneapolis, MN
April 24 / High Noon Saloon / Madison, WI
April 25 / Green Room / Sheboygan, WI
April 26 / Brown Baer / Elkhart Lake, WI
April 30 / Redstone Room / Davenport, IA
May 1 / Nutty’s North / Sioux Falls, SD
May 2 / Vaudeville Mews / Des Moines, IA

* Supporting JJ Grey & Mofro
** Co-bill with Bloodkin
***Co-bill with Steepwater Band
****Co-bill with Pokey LaFarge

Wendy & Lisa Wave “White Flag” – First Album in Ten Years

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On December 7th, the notorious duo of Wendy & Lisa self-released the digital version of their latest album White Flags of Winter Chimneys. In the ten years since their prior effort Girl Bros., the two have busied themselves with a bunch of production, side work and notable soundtrack work like NBC’s “Heroes” and HBO’s “Carnivale.”

From now until March 2009 Wendy & Lisa’s website has an exclusive digital download of the new album in various formats. After that it will be available via your favorite digital outlets like iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody.

The reason you should order it now is that you have more options for how you want to receive the album. For $9.99 you can get a 320 Kbps mp3 download of the album with digital artwork and bonus tracks. The highest bitrates you’d be able to get from iTunes, Amazon and Rhapsody is a respectable 256Kbps. You also have the option of getting the album delivered in lossless FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Compression) format if you don’t want compression for $9.99 as well. This is a deal since a lot of places that provide lossless downloads charge a couple of bucks more for it. This download has five bonus tracks, too. One is a home demo of the sweeping “Niagra Falls” track from White Flags. The other four tracks are home demos from the 1990’s.

As if that wasn’t enough, you can also order the CD version for $12.99 (+ $3.00 shipping) which you can choose to get 320Kbps mp3’s or FLAC. The CD comes in a 6-panel Digipack.

For the audiophile fans or collectors of Wendy & Lisa there is a Deluxe package which gives you an 180g vinyl pressing of White Flags done in nifty splatter-blue vinyl plus you get the CD and your choice of 320Kbps or FLAC download! All for $39.99 (+$10.00 shipping).

Whew! It’s pretty obvious that Wendy & Lisa have been paying attention. They are self-releasing this album and providing tiered options for people to purchase. Frankly, the pricing is about right as well. This approach seems to cover the interest of any fan from casual to collector.

The digital downloads are available right now for any of the purchases and the CD’s and Deluxe packages will ship in March.

The album on my first listen seems to remind me of an updated shoegazer sound of bands like My Bloody Valentine or some of my favorite 4AD bands like the Pale Saints or Lush. Lots of layered sounds and a wide-range of dynamics. At times it reminds me of David Sylvian or maybe Radiohead.  Certainly not the sound of the artists who worked with Prince during the 80’s– but a very current sound. Admittedly, I hadn’t been following Wendy & Lisa’s career closely since they left the Revolution, but I plan to do some more listening to this album and try to go back an catch up with where they’ve been. 

Click Here to visit Wendy & Lisa’s website where you can order White Flags of Winter Chimneys. They are also streaming other tracks from the album in an embedded player.

Click Here to read my interview with Wendy & Lisa.

Umphrey’s McGee Mantis Countdown to Release

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Mantis Deluxe Boxes

As the rest of the world anxiously counts down to the swearing in of a new President and the promise that brings, a small percentage of the world is also watching the countdown clock to Midnight tonight for the release of Umphrey’s McGee’s new album Mantis— at least the digital version available for download to everyone who pre-ordered it. The download was offered to all who pre-ordered so that even if the US Mail failed to deliver the physical orders, everyone could listen to it tomorrow in some fashion.

The pre-order for Mantis kicked off on October 27th and ran until December 6th at Midnight and– based on the amount of orders received– 9 “Levels” of exclusive bonus content would be made available to everyone who pre-ordered. This is in addition to the bonus material that will be made available using the CD as a key after the release to everyone who buys one!

The pre-order came in two flavors– a Deluxe Boxset and a regular CD order. Both flavors would have access to the pre-order bonus material, but the Deluxe Boxset– which was limited to 500 initially, and expanded to 1000 when the first 500 sold out quickly– was going to include an audiophile 180g pressing of Mantis and a DVD of video content including the 10-year documentary “UM10” the band put together for their NYE 2008 shows, plus some other goodies from their online store and some other things they picked all housed in a box the band signed. The CD was $20, but the Deluxe Box was $50. Frankly, the box is the better deal if only because of the vinyl and the DVD, but the “personal” stuff the band threw in would really make this a collector’s dream. Of course, there were people bemoaning the “devaluation” of their copies with the additional 500. It’s still very rare, so it will be valuable either way, if that is the concern. Whatever, I’m opening mine and playing the record.

From a logistics standpoint getting these packages to everyone who ordered was a feat in itself. The band and their assistance would have had to work backwards from the release date (tomorrow) and take in to consideration where in the world these packages had to go. Adding to that was the fact that today is a government holiday in the US, so no deliveries would happen today.

Mantis Order Shipping

Of course, this caused some folks to get their orders early– which was a source of much consternation on the umphreaks board, but allowed us to hear what goodies were in the boxes! Based on the “I JUST GOT MY MANTIS IN THE MAIL!!!!!” thread on the board (aka “The Bort”) people are getting

  • Mantis CD
  • guitar picks from the band
  • a guitar string that was used at a show from last year that has a tag with the date played.
  • a recipe from a member of the band: so far we’ve seen a Ryan Stasik baked brie, and a smoked rib from Andy Farag. Both sound fantastic, frankly.
  • a “Mantis” poster (folded, sadly– I’ll have to see if I can order a rolled one)
  • “UM10” DVD
  • A letter signed by the band.
  • A photocopy of a set list construction “worksheet.” This is generally handwritten and shows how the band goes through working on their setlists complete with crossing out songs.
  • The 180g vinyl version of Mantis.
  • Two “Mantis” postcards.
  • Tootsie Rolls
  • One set of “Mantis” iPod skins for Nano or Classic (no iPhone or Touch, unfortunately).

Talk about a labor of love! Keep in mind there is also all of the pre-order bonus material and whatever they unlock beyond that!

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a gesture this big from a band to its fans. I’ve only been a fan of UM in the last year, and there are a lot of reasons that I like what this band is up to– a lot of it has to do with their approach to their music and the fact that they are as much fans of music as they are musicians. The fact that they have a very good grip on using their fanbase and the Internet as a way to promote what they’re doing and making the extra effort to make something like an album release special, is pretty great, too. Many bands could take a page from this band’s playbook. Of course it helps to have a rabid fanbase that would support this kind of effort.

Bort member Tim Hara had provided some great pictures of the band signing the Deluxe Boxes to the board. He very graciously allowed me to re-post the pictures here.

Umphrey's McGee Signing Mantis Deluxe Boxes

Umphrey's McGee Signs the Mantis Deluxe Boxes

Umphrey's McGee Signs the Mantis Deluxe Boxes

The band also is doing an eBay auction to benefit their favorite charity UStorm. The cover art was designed by Mark Blanchette who surprisingly creates his montage photographs the old school dodge and burn method. There is a very informative posting on the band’s blog here. As a result he is able to control the serialization of his work to ten copies. The eBay auction is for one of those 10 prints framed along with a sheet with the band’s autographs.

I was one of the lucky few who got in on the second 500 Deluxe sets, so I’m anxiously awaiting the deliver of it– to eat the spoils of victory (the Tootsie Rolls) while dropping the needle on the vinyl version of Mantis!

Click Here to view other pictures Tim Hara took of the signing. Thanks Tim!

Stay tuned for “Sexy Unboxing Pictures” of my boxset to come.

Cracker Reaches for Inhaler and new album in May 2009

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I apologize for the headline on this. It gets tricky to come up with better headlines than “New album.” Cracker announced today via their website and Facebook that their new album to be called Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey will be released in May of this year, which likely means that the building list of tour dates are gearing up for an album tour! It will be cool to hear new songs from Cracker.

Additionally, Cracker has posted a video for a new track from Sunrise called “Hand Me My Inhaler” which is a short and punky affair, and showcases the fancy guitarwork of Mr. Johnny Hickman.

Click Here to see if Cracker is coming to a stage near you!

Frank Zappa – Hot Rats Re-Released on 200g & 140g Vinyl 1/23/09

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Via the e-mail blast from Acoustic Sounds, it appears that there will be two pressings of Frank Zappa’s 1969 post-Mothers of Invention album Hot Rats coming out on 1/23/09. The releases will be handled by Classic Records with a 140g and 200g pressing. According to the Classic Records page on the release, it was mastered from the original analog master tape under the supervision of Zappa’s wife Gail by Bernie Grundman.

This comes as a blessing to the Zappaphiles and audiophiles as apparently the remastering that was done when Zappa moved his entire catalog from Reprise to Rykodisc in the late 80’s he took the opportunity to make new mixes of his catalog. Never content to leave things alone he in some cases created new versions of the songs. The additional length afforded by the compact disc allowed him to make longer versions as well. Unfortunately, the 1986 mastering technology for digital was very new and the result were recordings that sounded different and apparently worse than the originals.

This is apparently the case with Hot Rats. So, this pressing gives people the chance to hear how Frank intended the album to sound in 1969, anyway. Debatably he may have preferred the work he did in the ’80’s, but we won’t know.

My familiarity with Zappa’s catalog kind of starts and ends with Joe’s Garage as it’s the only one I own. When I was following Phish I became familiar with “Peaches en Reglalia” as they covered it frequently in concert. This prompted me to seek out Hot Rats, which is the album that song is from. Hot Rats is pretty well regarded as one of the albums someone should listen to when starting to get into Zappa. Certainly it’s a bit easier to stomach for the average listener than some of Zappa’s mammoth catalog as it doesn’t have any of his trademark scatalogical humor or political views. In fact this album only has one song with vocals and that is the bluesy “Willie the Pimp” with Zappa’s friend Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart. When I listen to Hot Rats, I’m pretty amazed that this was recorded in 1969. While it sounds dated, it doesn’t have the late sixties production one might expect. Hot Rats is alleged to be the first recording that uses 16-tracks. The Beatles were recording Abbey Road around the same time Zappa was recording this album and they were using 8 tracks!

Apparently Gail Zappa is using this reissue of Hot Rats to gauge whether there would be interest in releasing the rest of the catalog on audiophile vinyl. Based on the chatter on the boards, I think this release will be very popular!

Click Here to order the 140g pressing of Hot Rats from Acoustic Sounds ($24.99)

Click Here to order the 200g pressing of Hot Rats from Acoustic Sounds ($32.99)

B-Sides in the Bins #40 – Trips to Half-Price Books December 13th & 28th 2008

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BLUNT 4232 - Wayne Shorter - Adam's Apple 140g Pressing

I guess it’s fitting that the last In the Bins for 2008 would be “40” as this was my 40th year on this planet. Admidst the Christmas craziness, I managed to hit Half-Price Books a couple of times in December. One trip I dumped off a bunch of vinyl, CD’s and books to get some funny money (which I promptly spent there -‘natch). I made the second trip to take advantage of their post-holidays 20% off everything sale.

Born to Run – 30th Anniversary Edition – Bruce Springsteen (CD, 2 DVD, Columbia 82796 94175 2, 2005) ($15.00) This is the very nicely-done longbox boxset with the 2005 remaster of Born to Run done by the infamous Bob Ludwig. Somehow I managed to not pick this up during the closing of Sam Goody in Cedar Rapids. They had a number of copies of this I recall. Along with the remaster– which is packaged in a mini reproduction of the original gatefold sleeve– there are two DVD’s. The first DVD is “Wings for Wheels: The Making of Born to Rum”– a documentary about the making of Born to Run which is really informative. Bruce hanging out in the studio listening to the original session tapes for Born to Run and we hear some parts that weren’t used in the eventual release. The second DVD is a ful-length (2 hour!) concert of Bruce and E Street at the Hammersmith Odeon in London from 1975. This concert is mentioned in the the documentary. I guess that this show is on the heels of the release of Born to Run and Springsteen was pissed about some fliers that were all over the venue that said “London is finally ready for Bruce Springsteen” so before the show he tore them all down. It wasn’t until he started digging through his vaults years later that he realized that this show was worthy for release even though in his mind it wasn’t a good one. A very good concert capturing the emerging power that was E Street back then.

Adam’s Apple – Wayne Shorter (LP, Blue Note BLUNT 4232, 1966) ($7.98) From what I can tell, this is a new record. There were multiple copies of these “140 gram” LP’s in the Jazz section at HPB. There were only three titles, and out of them, I picked this one without having heard it before. I recognized Wayne Shorter as the sideman for Davis as well as Art Blakey and this record has Herbie Hancock on it as well, so I figured it was a safe bet. The LP and sleeve are direct reproductions of the original release, but it comes with a nice clear envelope-style outer sleeve. The inner sleeve is a vellum-type paper which should keep the record in good shape for years to come. I can’t find any information about this pressing– what date it was released or who did the mastering. The album is part of Wayne Shorter’s run of solo albums on Blue Note while working in Miles Davis’s “Second Great Quintet” from ’64 to ’68 along with Hancock. Effectively Shorter replaced John Coltrane in the band after Davis convinced him to leave Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1964. From 1964 to 1970 Shorter recorded nine albums for Blue Note.  Generally Shorter’s 1965 release Speak No Evil is regarded as his best work, but Adam’s Apple is regarded highly as well. Adam’s Apple follows an insane  four releases in 1965 wrapping up with the free-jazz workout The All-Seeing Eye. Adam’s Apple is considered a return to form of sorts with carefully structured melodies. I also downloaded the 256Kbps mp3’s from Amazon which were based on the “Rudy Van Gelder Edition” series and included a bonus track “The Collector” which was written by Hancock. A great album which fits nicely with my Davis, Coltrane and Blakey releases from this period.

Tortoise to Release 6th Album on 4/21/09; Langerado ’09

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Tortoise

Per Stereogum in an article interviewing Doug McCombs, Tortoise is in the studio working on their follow-up to 2004’s It’s All Around You. Well, I guess you could say they are still in the studio working on the follow-up.  Tortoise has been working on the follow-up for three years in “fits and starts” at McEntire’s Soma Studios in Chicago.

The band has been playing at least three of the tracks from the new album on tour since their unannounced appearance at the Thrill Jockey 15th anniversary shows in December of 2007. The article makes references to the temporary song titles that have shown up on setlists like “Korg” and “Prepare Your Coffin” which we’ve seen called “Coffin.” We’ve also heard a track variously known as “Glowstick” or “Glow.”

According to McCombs, although the album to him sounds sonically a bit like Standards, the band has implemented smaller arrangements than the last two albums. Apparently there are only a couple of sessions left to record including adding some string arrangements (!!). The album may also include vocals. Following the release of April 21st the band will kick off a “proper tour.” This April 21st date is corroborated at Pitchfork’s Guide to 2009 Releases.

Tortoise was recently announced as part of the Langerado Festival lineup on 3/7/09. Set in Miami, Langerado promises to be a really good festival based on this year’s lineup which includes Ryan Adams and the Cardinals, Umphrey’s McGee, Dashboard Confessional, the Pogues, Snoop Dogg, and Death Cab among it’s current list of 58 musical acts to play over three days. With the wealth of tapers at Langerado, I’m hoping we get a good recording of that set.