I’m really happy about the number of great new releases coming out this fall! One release that I’ve been waiting on for I think two years, is the new album from Iowa City’s own Diplomats of Solid Sound! I first heard songs that would make up What Goes Around Comes Around (Record Kicks, October 28) back in August 2008 when they performed at KCCK’s Jazz Under the Stars. In fact, I’m pretty sure I remember the title song from that show. In the shows I’ve seen since then, I’ve heard most of these songs so I feel like I’m already familiar with the album!
The line up for The Diplomats has changed since their 2008 release The Diplomats of Solid Sound Featuring The Diplomettes which was released on Italian Boogaloo-loving label Record Kicks and domestically on Pravda. The Diplomettes was a trio before Abbie Sawyer moved to New Zealand for a year leaving Sarah Cram and Kathy Ruestow to handle the vocal duties as a duo. Original drummer Jim Viner departed at the end of 2008 and is these days behind the skins for Brother Trucker. Viner was replaced by Paul Kresowik.
Like their 2008 release, What Goes Around Comes Around was mixed and edited by Adam Gibbons aka Lack of Afro. Just listening to the track “Give Me One More Chance” which you can hear below on their Soundcloud link (below) I can hear an evolution in their sound. While still firmly planted in classic Ameican soul and R&B– it seems a little more evolved to me. The strings on this track are a fantastic flourish to the song. On the song “What Goes Around Comes Around” they have developed a hot buttered jazz funk that I’d like to hear more of.
What Goes Around Comes Around is due to release on October 11th and will be available from the band, on Amazon and other places like Dusty Groove (likely) in LP and CD and digital download. Prior to the release of the album there will be a 7″ of “Back Off” and “B-O-O-G-A-L-O-O” the center label will look like this:
Record Kicks has made this single available before its release date of 9/27 as a digital download from their site. You can get both sides of the single in 320Kbps mp3’s for £ 0.79 apiece. After PayPal fees and currency conversion, I got both tracks for $2.77 US.
Click Here to visit the Record Kicks page for the “Back Off” b/w “B-O-O-G-A-L-O-O” single to order your mp3’s or to purchase the 7″ single. You can listen to the tracks here, too.
Tracklisting for What Goes Around Comes Around:
1. B-O-O-G-A-L-O-O
2. Back Off
3. Promise Of A Brand New Day
4. Gimme One More Chance
5. No Man
6. Fascination
7. Bailout!
8. Jealous
9. What Goes Around Comes Around
10. I Can’t Wait For Your Love (Pistol Allen)
11. Get Out Of The Way (So I Can Get Back To My Life)
One of my favorite indie releases from 2009 was an EP by St. Louis singer/songwriter Beth Bombara titled Beth Bombara and the Robotic Foundation. The six-song self-released CD by Beth was a stylistic switch from the pop-folk of previous solo effort Abandon Ship by pulling in some indie rock distortion and edginess that recalled Bettie Seveert. In particular, I love the harmonies on the track “Lights” which ended up on a bunch of my roadtrip mixes this past year. You can listen to “Lights” in the player below.
For her next release which will be a full-length, Beth is taking a slightly different approach describing her folk and blues pastiche as “Jenny Lewis Meets Muddy Waters.” I raise a questioning right eyebrow at this, however you can judge for yourself as she’s included some of the tracks-in-progress in the ReverbNation player below: “Lately” and “Can’t Win” at the top of the list are in a more country-influenced vein. I’ve been playing “Lately” a lot. I like the slightly off-key and off-time darkness about it. “Can’t Win” is a fiddle-adorned honest-to-goodness country two-step! She’s also giving away a another new track titled “Rainbow” in exchange for an e-mail address that continues some of the country-tinged feel, and I think vocally draws a very pleasing comparison to Natalie Merchant.
Beth wants to release this next album on vinyl and has done all of the math to determine she is going to need around $2,000 to get it done. She feels that a vinyl release of her new album is really important. So, Beth put together a Kickstarter drive to raise the money needed to get the project done. A month ago she asked for some video of people talking about why they like vinyl records and she put these clips in the introductory video on the Kickstarter page. I gave her a clip which she used as well (which would be the first time I’ve put any kind of video of myself on the Internet!).
When Beth isn’t recording her solo music she is half of the duo known as Cassie Morgan and The Lonely Pine. In this duo, Beth plays everything from percussion to toy piano and glockenspiel in addition to adding some really gorgeous harmonies for Cassie. Their album Weathered Hands, Weary Eyes came out earlier this year and they are soon kicking off a tour through the Midwest where Beth will be performing some of her own songs. Watch this blog for more details as the firm up.
Please check out the samples in the players below, sign up for her mailing list and if you feel as moved as I am by her music, consider throwing some support to her Kickstarter Project. She has many different tiers for donation with a number of different “bonuses” from the vinyl release at $20 all the way up to a private show at the $300 and $500 tiers! While you’re at it you can see my contribution to her video. (Be gentle!) She’s got less than 24 days left in the campaign and is less than halfway to her goal. I’d hate to see her have to go back to square one.
This week marks the 41st anniversary of the Woodstock Music & Art Fair, which took place August 15th – 18th, 1969 in Bethel, New York. The stories and myths of Woodstock continue as that generation looks back on their history. A festival planned with idea of a gathering of music, camping and art grows to epic proportions as over twice the expected crowd shows up. The idea of a music festival changed forever and subsequent festivals in history would always be judged in the light of that event.
Last year saw the beginning of the Daytrotter.com Barnstormer shows– coincidentally on the year of the 40th anniversary of Woodstock. These shows were and are the brainchild of Sean Moeller– the Master of Ceremonies for everything Daytrotter. The idea started simply enough– pick a handful of Daytrotter favorite bands, load them in a bus and tour the Midwest countryside playing in barns. Daytrotter fans will show up and hear these bands, generating interest in Daytrotter and in these bands and hopefully the bands will be able to make some money selling merch. After learning some logistical lessons in touring and playing non-standard venues a good time was had by all!
I draw the comparison between Woodstock and the Barnstormer shows not to suggest that the Barnstormer shows are or will make their place in music history like Woodstock did, but to show that the original idea of Woodstock is the same– bring good music talent to a rustic setting, provide camping and art to mutual benefit of everyone involved. Based on the buzz of last year’s small Barnstormer runs, and the first one from this year the formula works and people who aren’t from this part of the country are interested in being part of it.
Frankly speaking, some of my favorite bands of 2009 and 2010 came from these shows and most of the headliners have gone on to perform to larger audiences and have become regulars on the festival circuit– notably Dawes and Local Natives— but other acts like Suckers, Ra Ra Riot and Delta Spirit are also gaining in national recognition. Seeing bands that can play the big stages of Coachella, Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo in a small intimate setting like Mooney Hollow in Bellevue, IA, Codfish Hollow Barn, Seacrest Octagonal Barn and others locations in the Midwest is nothing, if not pure magic. The bands and crowds feed from each other for what the bands generally say are their best performances.
The three Barnstormer tours (plus one Fourth of July show) have been in a changing list of towns with two notable exceptions– the Seacrest Octagonal Barn in West Liberty, IA and Codfish Hollow in Maquoketa, IA. Both locations draw very good crowds. In the case of Seacrest it seems to be related to the relative closeness to the Quad Cities and Iowa City/Cedar Rapids (and it is a really interesting barn!). In the case of Codfish Hollow it seems to be partially due to the proximity of these same cities, but also because of the efforts of Shawn and Tiffany Biehl who seem to have enough friends and relatives to damn near fill their barn– but also because they have really made the location part of the attraction. Literally located in a hollow– there isn’t enough parking near the barn for the growing crowds– nor is the winding gravel path down there wide enough for passing traffic. The solution? Have a shuttle to take campers and people parking down to the event. Not just any shuttle though– it’s an open-air hayride pulled by an honest-to-goodness International Harvester tractor! This year they opened a rustic art gallery on site making use of the unoccupied farmhouse, too. Adding to the charm of it all is an open field where fans and bands play horseshoes, fire rings scattered around to provide heat and light and the amazing food sold onsite by The Lunchbox which includes their famous “walking tacos” and chili.
Next Sunday brings a staggering number of bands back to Codfish Hollow— the headliner is Daytrotter and playbsides.com favorite Roadside Graves from New Jersey. I had the opportunity to see Roadside Graves last year in Bellevue at Mooney Hollow. They were in the area in between stops on their tour because they were taping their first Daytrotter session. Sean Moeller hooked them up with Mooney Hollow to play in trade for a place to sleep. It was a Tuesday night, so that didn’t bode well for a workweek crowd, but the few that showed up got an amazing and energetic show. People I’ve talked to that did make the show, still talk about that show– in fact, Tiffany Biehl says that show made her an instant fan of Roadside Graves and she is really excited to bring them to her barn!
This show on 8/22 was already an idea at the Barnstormer III show in April and has taken form and gained acts continually since the announcement of the show following the July 4th “Barn on the Fourth of July” show and the lineup is made up of some notable bands– most of whom are up-and-comers, but some are buzzworthy. When I talked to Tiffany at the Dawes show at Gabe’s last week she said that there might be a couple of other acts added to the eight (!!!) bands on the bill. Here’s the breakdown with a few words on each band with their essential links to help you learn more:
The 4onthefloor from Minneapolis : Four stomping kickdrums drive bluesy riffs over originals and mutated covers. WebsiteFacebookMySpace
The Treats from Mount Pleasant, IA : Jammy garage– kind of Blues Traveler without the harmonica. FacebookMySpace
What Happened Japan? : ? No Internet presence we can find…
Danger Ronnie and the Spins from Maquoketa, IA : Local band… Facebook but no samples of their music. Facebook
Tickets are $9.00 in advance and $10 at the door. Starts at 3PM. It is recommended that you bring your own lawnchair if you want to sit down and cooler as it it BYOB. This is an ALL AGES show.
Come out, camp on the land and set yourself free!
Click Here to purchase tickets for Roadside Graves at Codfish Hollow.
Click Here to see the Facebook Event for Roadside Graves at Codfish Hollow
Growing up in Bellevue, IA there was a local family band with generations of members called the Sieverding Band. This band– as you might expect– was made up of a bunch of guys with the last name Sieverding. They played the Catholic parish barbeque every year– and still do– and performed the polka mass as well. They are an institution, really.
The Kopecky Family Band is a band I hadn’t heard of before this week when their PR folks reached out to me. A group of seven from Nashville, they aren’t actually all related, but the idea of a tight-knit group of musicians being a family– sharing space and the closeness of working together– is one that clearly ties the members of the Kopecky Family Band together. In an interview with spinner.com from March of this year before they played SXSW, they talk about how Kelsey (the one member who is actually a “Kopecky”) gives the band members their per diem money in a hand-decorated envelope with an encouraging message before the tour. She’s also the person responsible for morning wakeup text messages with an inspirational quote or joke. Clearly, she has taken her role as the “mom” of this family band!
Disaster is the name of the new EP from the Kopecky Family Band and it was released on August 3rd. The band helpfully provides a streaming version of the album from their bandcamp page (below).
Some comparisons have been made to Arcade Fire by reviewers, and I think that is a pretty good place to start with Kopecky Family Band. I think that the anthemic style as well as their classical bent– strings and horns helps with that. My wife also said that the harmonies also reminded her a bit of Local Natives. But, you can listen for yourself:
The band has also made their previous EP Embraces available as a free download through bandcamp:
While the Kopecky Family Band won’t playing parish picnics or performing polka services at your local church, the will be playing at The Mill Restaurant in Iowa City on Thursday Night at 9PM. This is a 21+ show and the cover is $6. Evan P. Donahue will open.
Margaret Stutt who goes by the nom d’cordion Pezzettino has collaborated with Milwaukee-based producer LMNtylist on her follow up to her 2009 release Lion. Titled LubDub, it is a 10-track EP of, well– I guess they are love songs. Well, maybe not all of them are love songs, but certainly they are related to love and appear to be roughly arranged in a timeline of a love affair that is having some fits and starts getting off the ground.
Originally the follow up to the moody, serrated toothiness of Lion was supposed to be a kinder, gentler album to be titled Lamb. In December of 2008 she posted the track listing for both releases on Facebook. When Miss Pezz blew through the Midwest last Fall it would appear that she had already moved into the mental space of Lamb in preparation for recording that album. By that time she had recorded the lead track for Lamb– the insanely catchy “You Never Know” which kind of took on a life of its own with its joyous video and vinyl 7″ release– each with a custom cover done by Milwaukee artist Dwellephant. For that Fall tour she’d already been performing “You Never Know,” “Hunting Season,” and “Falling Down” all songs that seemed fully formed and ready for the album. She also played a new song that was a quick favorite for me– “Where’d Ya Go.”
Anyone who knows Margaret well knows that she is constantly catering to her muse– typically recording inspired fragments of song anywhere and anytime they show up– many songs were written behind the wheel of her now-departed Civic on the long drives between the gigs on tour. It was a collection of these fragments that she gave to Milwaukee HipHop producer LMNTylist who was interested in trying his hand producing some pop songs. When she stopped through Cedar Rapids in January she played me the rough mixes that she had just received. I was at once shocked and excited at what I’d heard– the lead off track for LubDub “Replay” was pretty much cemented at that point as was “Cold Hard Chick.” This was a dramatically different direction for Pezzettino– she had given over to the production and the resulting songs still showed the fun and humor typically found in her music, but now had rhythm and were… funky!
The album pulls from a number of different influences ranging from the Reggae/Dub of the title track, to more the Jazzy “Only One” and “She Deserves” to the DooWop spin of “Replay” to a more “classic” Pezz piano track in “For You and Your Headaches.” Here is a video Margaret shot of a street mural painter that uses “Only One” as its soundtrack:
So, maybe it is fitting that the more mild-mannered Lamb would be quickly replaced by a more determined and immediate electronic release in LubDub. I guess the chops of Lamb will get to spend some more time slow cooking.
LubDub will be available for download on September 7th and on 12″ colored vinyl later this fall. Pezzettino has a Kickstarter drive going to attempt to raise the $1000 needed to press the vinyl. After an impressive week, she has raised over half of the funds and, at the time of this writing, still has over 30 days to go! Donations range from $1 to $1000 and have varying levels of perks at each level. Any donation over $15 gets you some copy of LubDub with pledges over $20 getting you the vinyl and the CD version of it along with four bonus tracks. Other levels get you things like cookies, her dress from the “You Never Know” video, private performance, or the ability to determine the next cover songs in her popular cover series. Click on the kickstarter widget below to see what your options are to help get this great release out.
The fantastically appropriate album art (shown above) was done by LittleTinyFish.
There are two release shows– one in each of her hometowns:
Milwaukee: September 11th at Turner Hall with Mondo Lucha, 8PM Brooklyn: October 14th at Cameo Gallery, 9PM
In the middle of these shows is a quick run of the Midwest that includes stops in DeKalb (9/12), Iowa City (9/15 at The Blue Moose Tap Room), Omaha (9/16), Des Moines (9/18 at Vaudeville Mews) and Boulder, CO (9/23). Visit her MySpace Page to keep up to date on this tour. This tour is going to be the first time in a while she has toured with a small band– so I’m looking forward to these shows!
Track Listing for LubDub:
1. Replay
2. She Deserves
3. Cold Hard Chick
4. Only One
5. Intermezzo I
6. Lub Dub
7. Where’d Ya Go
8. Intermezzo II
9. For You and Your Headaches
10. I Did Not Use Those Words Yesterday
Last year Cheyenne partnered with Louisville’s reknowned son, Bonnie “Prince” Billy aka Will Oldham on an EP of duets titled Among the Gold. Among the Gold is a collection of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century standards like “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” Louisville indie label Karate Body pressed an insanely-limited edition (250 copies) 10″ colored vinyl pressing of it and only made it available at shows and at their online store. It is available for digital download from Cheyenne’s Bandcamp Page. The EP certainly demonstrated Cheyenne’s talents and beautiful soprano but really didn’t show her songwriting abilities. Cheyenne will be releasing her first solo record titled Before Lately on September 28th and it will be on another Louisville label sonaBLAST! Records.
Where Among the Gold was steeped in the old-time standards it was made of, Before Lately is more contemporary mix of ingredients. The album is drifting and dreamy– introspective, really. The album is a very stripped-down affair with very little percussion and utilizes all of Cheyenne’s talents: vocals, violin, guitar and piano. The songs move between ethereal shoegazer-ish production on tracks like “Path” and “Lull” and more direct singer-songwriter style tracks like on “Doctor” and “Not.” Before Lately made an impression on me right away and tugs my disappointment that it isn’t available right now!
Cheyenne is currently on tour and will be making a stop in Iowa City on Thursday 7/29 at The Mill Restaurant opening for Portland, OR band Archeology. This will be the late show, which starts at 10PM and is a 21+ show. Tickets are $6. I’ll be interested to hear how these songs translate to the stage. You can listen to the whole album via this nifty player:
Cheyenne Marie Mize on Tour:
Sat Jul 24 – The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
Sun Jul 25 – The Denver Post Underground Music Showcase – Denver, CO
Tue Jul 27 – Czar Bar – Kansas City, MO
Wed Jul 28 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Thu Jul 29 – The Mill – Iowa City, IA
Fri Jul 30 – Uncommon Ground on Clark – Chicago, IL
Sat Jul 31 – White Rabbit Cabaret – Indianapolis, IN
In early April, Sherry and I were in the Twin Cities visiting relatives and I managed to get a trip to the Mecca of Records known as the Electric Fetus. While I was flipping through their used vinyl and discount bins an unfamiliar soundtrack was playing overhead. Sherry asked me what it was, and I wasn’t sure but I was as enthralled as she was with the very mellow and groovy music. At one point I found myself singing along with one of the tracks, “You don’t know how to ease my pain, you don’t know…” I asked the guy behind the counter, “Is this a cover of Godley & Creme’s ‘Cry’?” He replied that the thought it was and said, “we’ve been playing this all day and I never noticed that!” He went on to tell me that it was a kind of “Minneapolis Supergroup” called Gayngs(I had to look at the “upcoming releases” board to see how it was spelled). Well, I promptly scoured the file sharing repositories for a leak of Gayngs album titled Relayted and found one. The album quickly entered my regular rotation until it’s release date on May 11th when I purchased the gorgeous 2 LP vinyl in a white gatefold sleeve.
Gayngs is a 23-member (or should I say “participant?”) band/project assembled by Ryan Olson who had an epiphany of sorts waking up one morning to the strains of 10CC’s softrock mega hit “I’m Not In Love.” It was then and there that he decided he wanted to record an album of a similarly-inspired sound. One that would allow them to use all of those cheesy synth patches any self-respecting musician should stay away from. The beginnings of the album started with Ryan andSolid Gold members Adam Hurlburt and Zach Coulter. Over time Ryan added other members to the band drawing from friends and girlfriends until the assembled cast grew to 23. All 23 members don’t play together on any one song on the album. Other notable groups who donated members include Bon Iver (Justin Vernon, Mike Noyce), Megafaun (Brad Cook, Phil Cook, Joe Westerlund), P.O.S., Leisure Birds (Jake Luck, Nick Ryan) and Roma di Luna(Channy Moon Casselle). The album delivered by this large union of musicians is surprisingly singular in vision given all of the participants– which can only be a testament to how Olson managed the proceedings.
A couple of weeks ago we had a family get-together and my relatives from Eau Claire, WI showed up with a present for me– a copy of Relayted on CD and a copy of the May Vita.mn magazine with an article on Gayngs with a focus on the band leader/arranger Ryan Olson. Apparently my aunt is good friends with Ryan’s mom! It turns out that my aunt and uncle went to The Last Prom on Earth show at First Avenue in May and had a great time! Of course, this was a show that Sherry and I had debated on going to, but couldn’t make it and had been kicking ourselves about. Well, thankfully the band will be bringing their 69-beats-per-minute antics to a quick run of dates at the end of September and beginning of October cumulating in a visit to the Austin City Limits Festival on 10/10. While the Last Prom on Earth shows had all of the members of Gayngs, the touring version will only have 10 members— notably without the women but showcasing new arrangements and new material!
Last week the mighty instrumental afro-funk band The Budos Band— which bills itself as the “Staten Island’s Undesputed Champions of Afro-Soul” announced the release and details of their new album The Budos Band III. To be released on August 10th on the formidable Daptone Records label the record is the band’s first release since 2009’s The Budos Band EP and the first full length since 2007’s The Budos Band II.
Coincidentally, I was in Boston this week for work and managed to sneak in a run to Newbury Comics. I was hoping to pick up the new Suckers vinyl, but it has been delayed. Instead I ended up picking up a couple of records I’ve had on my Amazon Wish List for a while– The Budos Band and The Budos Band EP. I still need The Budos Band II. I’ve been a fan of The Budos Band since I did a review of the Scion Daptone Records compilation.
The Budos Band is a band with a distinctive sound– influenced by African– specifically Ethiopian– music coupled with organ and guitars lead melodically by a muscular horn section. The Budos Band shares guitarist Brenneck with the other signature Daptone house band– The Dap-Kings. Other Dap-Kings Neal Sugarman and Binky Griptite were on-board for the first Budos Band album. It’s clear that the cross-pollination has helped establish them.
The first Budos Band Record featured a volcano in full eruption with the lava coming right for the viewer presumably representing “The Volcano Song.” The second Budos Band featured a scorpion ready to sting, representing the “Scorpion” album track. Continuing the “dangerous” cover art of the Budos Band records, III has a cobra on the cover– likely representing the “Black Venom” track– but I think may also be a sly reference to the expression “The Third Time is a Charm” where the charm would be for that cobra.
“Heading into the studio for Budos III, I really thought we were going to make the first psychedelic, doom-rock record ever recorded at Daptone,” said front man and baritone saxophonist Jared Tankel, “but somehow it ended up sounding like a Budos record.” I’ve had the opportunity to listen to the album and the familiar formula of the Budos Band is continued but I do get the sense of some underlying darkness.
I like the whole album– the songs on III fit comfortably next to the rest of their catalog in my opinion. Early standout tracks for me are “Unbroken, Unshaven” (this has to be a reference to the fact that the band used to be called Los Barbudos or “The Bearded Ones”) with its clean strumming leading the song, “Nature’s Wrath” has a great loping circular beat but has the BEST FLUTE SOLO this side of Ray Thomas’ solos in The Moody Blues! In my mind, Mother Nature is PISSED about the BP oil leak and this song is the warning before she tears us a new one! One nice bonus to this album is “Reppirt Yad” which wraps the album up. For Record Store Day this year, Daptone put out a split 7″ of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings and The Budos Band. The Budos Band track was an interpretation of The Beatles “Day Tripper.” They seem to have disguised the song with a backwards title for III.
To get a free download of “Unbroken, Unshaven” click on this link to sign up for a Daptone Records e-mail list (that they admit you can unsubscribe from). I’ve been on the Daptone e-mail list for a couple of years now and they aren’t abusive and it’s a good way to stay on top of news from this fantastic label.
The band is off on an extensive tour in support of III and hopefully they bring their snake charming show to a venue near you!
The Budos Band III Tracklisting:
Rite of the Ancients
Black Venom
River Serpentine
Unbroken, Unshaven
Nature’s Wrath
Golden Dunes
Budos Dirge
Raja Haje
Crimson Skies
Mark of the Unnamed
Reppirt Yad
Tour Dates : Sat June 5 Montclair, NJ Wellmont Theatre (w. Les Claypool) Fri June 11 New York, NY Rocks Off Concert Cruise Sat June 26 Vancouver, VC Vancouver Jazz Festival @ Commodore Ballroom Sun June 27 Calgary, AB Calgary Jazz Festival @ The Whiskey Tue June 29 Saskatoon, SK Saskatchewan Jazz Festival @ Lydia’s Pub Wed June 30 Winnipeg, MAN Jazz Winnipeg Festival @ Pyramid Cabaret Sat July 10 Chicago, IL Chicago Folk & Roots Festival @ Welles Park Sun July 11 Bloomington, IN Bluebird Mon July 12 Chicago, IL Millennium Park Tue July 13 Ann Arbor, MI Blind Pig Thu July 15 Quebec City, QC Quebec City International Summer Festival Fri July 16 Ottawa, ON Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest Sat July 17 Toronto, ON Lee’s Palace Wed July 21 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda’s Thu July 22 Harrisburg, PA The Abbey Bar at ABC Fri July 23 Floyd, VA Floydfest Sat July 24 Washington, DC Black Cat Sat Aug 7 Brooklyn, NY Celebrate Brooklyn! @ Prospect Park Bandshell Thu Aug 12 Los Angeles, CA Levitt Pavilion Fri Aug 13 Pasadena, CA Levitt Pavilion Sat Aug 14 San Luis Obispo, CA Downtown Brew Sun Aug 15 San Francisco, CA Outside Lands @ Golden Gate Park Tue Aug 17 Phoenix, AZ Sail In Thu Aug 19 Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe Brew Co Sun Aug 22 Dallas, TX Granada Tue Aug 24 Oklahoma City, OK Conservatory Wed Aug 25 Kansas City, MO Record Bar Fri Aug 27 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge Sat Aug 28 Boulder, CO Fox Theater Tue Aug 31 Salt Lake City, UT State Room Wed Sept 1 Boise, ID The Grove Plaza Thu Sept 2 Eugene, OR W.O.W. Hall Fri Sept 3 Portland, OR Dante’s Sat Sept 4 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot
Click Here to visit the Wikipedia page on The Budos Band.
In an interview from earlier this year on Pitchfork, author Ryan Dombal describes L.A. band Warpaintas having “desert dust grooves, breathy, Cat Power-style vocals, and slithering guitar work.” That seems to describe what I hear on Warpaint’s debut EP Exquisite Corpse (Manimal Vinyl). For an EP, there are an impressive three songs over six minutes! Guitarist/vocalist Emily Kokal said in the interview, “I like progressive rock like King Crimson and Yes along with electronic music, things that don’t have standard pop structures. My mom listened to a lot of Grateful Dead bootlegs throughout childhood and even though I swore I hated them, I know they seeped in.”
Warpaint started gaining some buzz this year touting some celebrity fans and production help from Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. Warpaint recently signed to Rough Trade Records and are currently working on their debut full length with Tom Biller.
Warpaint is currently on a whirlwind tour of the US hitting a bunch of Midwest dates leading up to a desirable Bonnaroo appearance on 6/11 followed shortly by some NYC dates with Lollapalooza in Chicago in August.
Upcoming tour dates (from MySpace):
Jun 4 2010 8:00P ZANZABAR Louisville, Kentucky, US
Jun 5 2010 8:00P RADIO RADIO Indianapolis, Indiana
Jun 6 2010 4:00P DO DIVISION STREET FESTIVAL Chicago, Illinois
Jun 7 2010 6:30P BLUE MOOSE Iowa City, Iowa
Jun 8 2010 7:00P CROSSROADS w/ The Temper Trap Kansas City, Missouri
Jun 9 2010 7:00P THE PAGEANT w/ The Temper Trap St. Louis, Missouri
Jun 11 2010 12:00P BONNAROO 2010 Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 13 2010 8:30P DC9 Washington, DC
Jun 14 2010 6:30P MERCURY LOUNGE ::EARLY SHOW:: New York, New York
Jun 15 2010 8:00P KNITTING FACTORY - BROOKLYN Brooklyn, NY
Jun 16 2010 8:00P MOHAWK PLACE w/ The Phenomenal Handclap Band Buffalo, New York
Jun 17 2010 8:00P NXNE @ LEGENDARY HORSESHOE TAVERN Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
Aug 6 2010 12:00P LOLLAPALOOZA 2010 Chicago, Illinois
Aug 7 2010 12:00P LOLLAPALOOZA 2010 Chicago, Illinois
Aug 8 2010 12:00P LOLLAPALOOZA 2010 Chicago, Illinois
Oct 28 2010 7:30P SCALA London, UNITED KINGDOM
Warpaint will be performing in the Blue Room upstairs in the Blue Moose Tap House on Monday 6/7. Local pinch-hitter opening act Electro group Datagunopens. I saw Datagun open for Death Ships a couple months ago and was really impressed with their energy– not to miss. Tickets are $10 and doors are at an early 6PM.
Click Here for the Blue Moose Tap House Events Calendar
Warpaint on Noisemakers with (former MTV VJ) John Norris which has interviews and live performances:
Click Here for Warpaint’s MySpace Page Click Here for Warpaint’s Facebook Fan Page Click Here to follow Warpaint on Twitter Click Here for Warpaint’s Page on Rough Trade Records.
The title of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers first collaborative effort in nine years is appropriately-enough Mojo which releases on June 15th. If it seems like we’ve heard from Tom in the last nine years, it is because he had a solo release as well as a “side project.” The “concept album” and last studio release with the Heartbreakers The Last DJ was released in 2002. Highway Companion came out in 2006, and he had a reunion of sorts of his pre-Heartbreakers band Mudcrutch in 2008. It’s important to note, however, that except for the Mudcrutch shows, he tours pretty much exclusively with the Heartbreakers anyway, so even though those releases were considered non-Heartbreakers releases, he never toured with a different band that I know of.
But, it is the Mudcrutch project where Mojo gets its groove-happy roots. Tom was quoted on rollingstone.com, “I knew there was something in the band that hadn’t been brought out. I was listening to early Jeff Beck Group, Peter Green, Muddy Waters and even a little JJ Cale– so that’s kind of the way I was thinking when I was writing.” According to an article in Billboard last week, the album was recorded live in the studio in a similar fashion to the Mudcrutch sessions which add to the immediacy of the tracks I’ve heard so far.
In a pretty smart fashion, the Tom Petty camp has been sneaking out tracks starting with “Good Enough” since the announcement of the album and supporting tour in February. For members of the Highway Companions fanclub who purchased presale tickets for the upcoming tour, they were given free downloads of “Good Enough” and “First Flash of Freedom” (you can listen to it below).
Additionally, Tom previewed Mojo tracks on his XM Radio show “Buried Treasure.” In addition to “First Flash of Freedom” which was played on April 22nd, he also shared the road story track “The Trip to Pirate’s Cove” on April 15th, and “Running Man’s Bible” on April 8th. If you have XM Radio you could hear these songs, and if you are a member of the Highway Companions fanclub, you can stream these shows. If you participated in the pre-sale of the tickets you will also be able to get a free download of the complete Mojo album on 6/15 and will also be able to download a 10-track compilation of songs from the upcoming summer tour.
So, four of the 15 tracks have been “leaked” so far and, in interviews conducted since February we found out about two other tracks. Apparently “Don’t Pull Me Over” is actually a song in a Reggae-style, and a first for the band (at least on album), and the song “I Should Have Known It” is one of three tracks co-written with Heartbreaker/Mudcrutch guitarist Mike Campbell. The other two co-written tracks were the nearly-seven-minute (!!) “First Flash of Freedom” and the nearly-six-minute (!!) “Good Enough.”
I’ve had a chance to hear all four tracks and it was a bit shocking for me. Particularly the acid-trippy nearly Grateful Dead-sounding “First Flash of Freedom” which is pretty much the mission statement for Mojo, I think. It’s sprawling disregard for the typical Heartbreakers economy of melody and composition sort of left me a bit disoriented the first couple of times through! It’s particularly satisfying to hear Campbell flex his soloing muscles on “First Flash” and “Good Enough.” It will be really great to hear what the band does with these songs on tour.
It makes me happy that the nearly-sixty-year old Petty is feeling like it isn’t time to rest on his laurels just yet and is interested in shaking things up a bit. That said, it is a change that isn’t 180-degrees away from his regular sound– no Neil Young Trans, here. The chops he’s bringing out come from the same place the Heartbreakers always come– 60’s blues and rock.
Originally, the album was slated to be released in the Spring, assumedly to coincide with the original May 6th start of the tour. On the 16th, it was announced that the release date of the album was June 15th. At the same time, it was announced that the first nine shows would be moved to the end of the tour which extended the tour into October.
tracklisting for Mojo:
1. Jefferson Jericho Blues
2. First Flash Of Freedom
3. Running Man’s Bible
4. The Trip To Pirate’s Cove
5. Candy
6. No Reason To Cry
7. I Should Have Known It
8. U.S. 41
9. Takin’ My Time
10. Let Yourself Go
11. Don’t Pull Me Over
12. Lover’s Touch
13. High In The Morning
14. Something Good Coming
15. Good Enough
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Summer Tour (from Billboard):
June 5: Oakland, Calif. (Oracle Pavilion)*
June 8: Vancouver, BC (GM Place)*
June 11: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
June 12: Seattle, Wash. (The Gorge)*
June 15: Calgary, Alberta (Pengrowth Saddledome)*
June 16: Edmonton, Alberta (Rexall Place)*
June 19: Winnipeg, Manitoba (MTS Centre)*
June 22: St Paul, Minn. (Xcel Energy Center)**
June 23: Omaha, Neb. (Qwest Center)**
June 25: Milwaukee, Wis. (Summerfest)***
July 10: Indianapolis, Ind. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)**
July 13: Kansas City, Mo. (Sprint Center)**
July 15: Cincinnati, Ohio (Riverbend Music Center)**
July 17: Chicago, Ill. (United Center)**
July 20: Cleveland, Ohio (Blossom Music Center)**
July 22: Detroit, Mich. (Palace of Auburn Hills)**
July 24: Pittsburgh, Pa. (First Niagra Pavilion)**
July 28: New York, N.Y. (Madison Square Garden) $
July 31: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center) $
Aug. 1: Philadelphia, Pa. (Wachovia Center) $
Aug. 11: Atlanta, Ga. (Philips Arena)****
Aug. 12: Nashville, Tenn. (Sommet Center)****
Aug. 14: Darien Lake, N.Y. (Darien Lake Performing Arts Center)****
Aug. 15: Bristow, Va. (Jiffy Lube Live)****
Aug. 17: Hartford, Conn. (Comcast Theater)****
Aug. 19: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug. 21: Boston, Mass. (Comcast Center)*****
Aug. 24: East Rutherford, N.J. (IZOD Center)*****
Aug. 25: Toronto, Ontario (Air Canada Center)****
Aug. 27: Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Saratoga Performing Arts Center)****
Sept. 16: Tampa, Fla. (St. Petersburg Times Forum)
Sept. 18: Raleigh, N.C. (Time Warner Cable Pavilion)
Sept. 19: Charlotte, N.C. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
Sept. 21: Dallas, Texas (Superpages.com Center)
Sept. 24: Houston, Texas (Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion)
Sept. 26: Phoenix, Ariz. (US Airways Arena)
Sept. 28: San Diego, Calif. (Cricket Wireless Pavilion)
Oct. 1: Los Angeles, Calif. (Hollywood Bowl)
Oct. 2: Irvine, Calif. (Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre)
* with Joe Cocker
** with Drive-by Truckers
*** with ZZ Top $ with Buddy Guy
**** with Crosby, Stills & Nash
***** with My Morning Jacket
One of my favorite indie releases from 2009 was an EP by St. Louis singer/songwriter
