Free Download: For The Budos Band The Third Time is a (Snake) Charm

Posted on June 14, 2010 by mike

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.

Click Here to visit the Budos Band website.

Click Here to visit the Budos Band MySpace page.

Click Here to visit Obscure Sound page on The Budos Band which has some mp3’s.

Click Here to visit The Spinner.com Interface session with video of The Budos Band.

Upcoming Show: L.A. Shoegazer Band Warpaint at The Blue Moose Tap House 6/7/10

Posted on June 3, 2010 by mike

In an interview from earlier this year on Pitchfork, author Ryan Dombal describes L.A. band Warpaint as 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 Datagun opens. 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.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers Get Their ‘Mojo’ Workin’

Posted on April 26, 2010 by mike

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

Daytrotter Barnstormer 3 Details – Half of Admission Will Be Used for Charitable Help

Posted on March 27, 2010 by mike

Last year’s two Daytrotter Barnstormer tours brought bands and fans together in unique barn settings. These shows were not without their challenges– but proved to be memorable and transcendant experiences for the bands as well as the fans. Most of my favorite band and music experiences from 2009 were as a result of these shows– certainly in the case of Local Natives and Dawes we are seeing two bands from these barns on impressive career arcs. Both bands just finished “barnstorming” SXSW this year with multiple shows all with rave reviews from press and fans.

This year’s first Barnstormer show– which will be the third– will take place April 27th through May 1st and include shows in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. Unlike the first two tours last year, these will have a cover charge of $10. From last week’s Daytrotter e-mail:

We know that all of you Barnstormers enjoyed the freeness of the first two tours and we thank you for making the tour what it is. With the acts that we have set for No. 3, we need your help to pay for everything… Each night, half of every paid admission will go to someone who needs help. Maybe it’s someone you know. We are choosing one individual or family — based on your nominations — to receive some help from the Barnstormer. So, write rsvpdaytrotter@gmail.com with a story of someone who’s fallen on hard times and could use some assistance. We’ll take the best five stories and do what we can to make things a bit better.

The cover charge is a notable change– when I talked to Sean about this last year he said that since he really doesn’t spend any money for promoting daytrotter.com– these shows were going to be used as a method of promotion and his promotional budget would pay for part of it. Plus, the bands were playing these shows understanding that they’d get some needed exposure and hoping to sell merchandise and they were crashing at people’s homes and camping out– in Bellevue all of the bands were put up in a bed and breakfast operated by the owner of Mooney Hollow. While I don’t expect that the living conditions for the bands will be changed much, I’m sure that the $5 per head will be welcomed!

The idea of giving the other half of the money to a needy family or individual is great, and certainly in line with Sean’s idea of giving back to these little towns like the one he grew up in.

$10 certainly isn’t a lot for five Daytrotter-approved up-and-comers anyway. The band line-up looks pretty good and it already has some buzzworthy bands in it. Free Energy, originally from Minneapolis now living in the land of Philly cheesesteaks, has been getting a lot of blog press lately with their brand of power-pop. Dawes and Deer Tick-BFF’s Delta Spirit have done three Daytrotter sessions since 2007. Ra Ra Riot purvey a kind of organic unplugged britlikepop with a nod to some Smith-y ideal or a tip of the scooter helmet to mod groups like The Jam or The Police. The strings serve only to underscore the pining sentimentality, frankly. Pearly Gate Music is Zach Tillman– whose brother is J. Tillman of Fleet Foxes so you seem to be guaranteed a familial if not familiar pedigree. The tracks I’ve listened to on his MySpace page a strong in melody with slightly cockeyed perspective. I’m interested to hear this in a live setting– he apparently made fans of the Fleet Foxes fans when he opened for them. Nathaniel Rateliff is a new signee of Rounder Records. His sound is a melange that stands undecidedly somewhere between indie, country, bluegrass and the long tradition of folk music.

A nice selection of strong musicians and artists– just what we’d expect from Mr. Daytrotter.

DAYTROTTER PRESENTS: BARNSTORMER III SCHEDULE (generously lifted from daytrotter.com):

April 27th

7 pm — West Liberty, Iowa: Secrest 1883 Octagonal Barn, 5750 Osage St.(Performing — Delta Spirit, Ra Ra Riot, Nathaniel Rateliff, Pearly Gate Music, Free Energy)
Delta Spirit Daytrotter Session
Detla Spirit Encore Daytrotter Session
Delta Spirit Third Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Encore Daytrotter Session
Nathaniel Rateliff Daytrotter Session
Pearly Gate Music Daytrotter Session
Free Energy Daytrotter Session

April 28th

6 pm — Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Turner Hall Ballroom, 1032 N. 4th St.(Performing — Delta Spirit, Ra Ra Riot, Nathaniel Rateliff, Pearly Gate Music, Free Energy)
Delta Spirit Daytrotter Session
Detla Spirit Encore Daytrotter Session
Delta Spirit Third Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Encore Daytrotter Session
Nathaniel Rateliff Daytrotter Session
Pearly Gate Music Daytrotter Session
Free Energy Daytrotter Session

April 29th

6 pm — Lake Geneva, Wisconsin: Knotty Pines Farm N1204 S. Hwy 120 (Performing — Delta Spirit, Ra Ra Riot, Nathaniel Rateliff, Pearly Gate Music, Free Energy)
Delta Spirit Daytrotter Session
Detla Spirit Encore Daytrotter Session
Delta Spirit Third Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Encore Daytrotter Session
Nathaniel Rateliff Daytrotter Session
Pearly Gate Music Daytrotter Session
Free Energy Daytrotter Session

April 30th

6 pm — Monticello, Illinois: Kalyx Center, 442 E. 1300 North Rd. (Performing — Delta Spirit, Ra Ra Riot, Nathaniel Rateliff, Pearly Gate Music, Free Energy)
Delta Spirit Daytrotter Session
Detla Spirit Encore Daytrotter Session
Delta Spirit Third Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Encore Daytrotter Session
Nathaniel Rateliff Daytrotter Session
Pearly Gate Music Daytrotter Session
Free Energy Daytrotter Session

May 1st

6 pm — Maquoketa, Iowa: Codfish Hollow Barn, 3437 288th Ave (Performing — Delta Spirit, Ra Ra Riot, Nathaniel Rateliff, Pearly Gate Music, Free Energy)
Delta Spirit Daytrotter Session
Detla Spirit Encore Daytrotter Session
Delta Spirit Third Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Daytrotter Session
Ra Ra Riot Encore Daytrotter Session
Nathaniel Rateliff Daytrotter Session
Pearly Gate Music Daytrotter Session
Free Energy Daytrotter Session

Upcoming Show: Dave Moore at The Red Avocado in Iowa City 3/20/10

Posted on March 11, 2010 by mike

If you follow my blog with any regularity, you know that I follow the Eastern Iowa music scene fairly closely– especially its rich folk and blues tradition. One of the guys who has been around Iowa City for a while and has established a kind of legendary career is Dave Moore.

Moore’s music career starts in the early 80’s in Iowa City hooking up with Greg Brown– supporting him on tour, recording and his frequent visits to Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion radio show. In 1984 he won a blues and folk festival contest which provided him the studio time to record his first record Jukejoints and Cantinas which began his relationship with Red House Records. In 1990 he released his follow-up Over My Shoulder. In 1994 he started work on his third release which was interrupted due to losing a daughter in infancy. He took a break from the record and playing for a while, choosing to stick close to home and family.

In 1998 he picked up work on the album again, this time pulling in area musicians to help bring vision to the recording sessions. Bo Ramsey stepped in at the producer’s helm on the sessions which included Rick Cicalo on bass, Steve Hayes on drums, and David Zollo on piano. “Nothing against non-Iowans,” Moore said in a 2000 interview with Maureen Brennan. “I just think it really felt right. These are all the people I’ve been playing with. They all have families, most of them have kids; even the person who did the photographs (Sandy Dyas) is local. It kind of solidified in that direction when Bo Ramsey and I began to work together.”

The resulting record– Breaking Down to 3— which was released by Red House in 1999 is a strong work which benefits from the “Iowa Sound” that Bo and the guys brought and is a record that I consider to be essential to any collection of this regional scene.

Dave Moore will be playing two early sets at The Red Avocado restaurant in Iowa City on Saturday 3/20/10. The party starts at 11AM with two sets of tunes from Moore– one at 11:30AM and one at 1:30PM. At 3PM there is a reception for area photographer Sandy Dyas and her work on exhibit at the Red Avocado that goes until 5PM.

Click Here for the Red Avocado Page on the Spring Party.

Click Here for the Facebook Event for Dave Moore & Sandy Dyas at The Red Avocado.

Click Here for Dave Moore’s Facebook Page.

Click Here to read a great bio on Dave Moore called “Evolution of a Folksinger” by Maureen Brennan from 2000.

Click Here for Sandy Dyas’s website.

Upcoming Show: Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore at CSPS 3/15/10

Posted on March 11, 2010 by mike

Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore— according to the press-releases– met after Ben Sollee– a classically trained cellist and member of Abigail Washburn‘s Sparrow Quartet– stumbled upon Moore’s MySpace page and listened to the music there. Daniel Martin Moore was signed to SubPop records in 2007 on the power of an unsolicited demo. He released his first album Stray Age on SubPop in 2008.

Both Sollee and Moore as well as producer/collaborator Yim Yames (aka Jim James from My Morning Jacket) are from Kentucky and have a shared concern in the mountain top removal that occurs in coal mining in their state today. Sollee and Moore have chosen to take the proceeds of their first collaboration together– their album titled Dear Companion (on SubPop) and donate them to Appalachian Voices. Appalachian Voices is an organization hoping to bring awareness to and end mountain top removal coal mining. They have a really interesting application on their website that shows you how your local utility company contributes to Mountain Top Removal.

The little bit I’ve had a chance to listen to Dear Companion leaves me with the opinion that their stripped-down folk and bluegrass melange is reminiscent of Nick Drake and a little like labelmate The Iron and Wine. An impressive collaboration and very worth checking out.

Sollee and Moore will be performing at CSPS in Cedar Rapids on Monday, March 15th at 7PM. Joining Sollee and Moore on stage will be percussionist Dan Dorff and violinist Cheyenne Mize. Tickets are $11 in advance and $15 at the door.

Click Here for the Legion Arts webpage about the Dear Companion show.

Click Here to listen to their Daytrotter Session.

Click Here for the Dear Companion website.

Click Here for the Appalachian Voices website.

The Right Now – Carry Me Home (Review) & Upcoming Shows

Posted on March 7, 2010 by mike

I’m always concerned when an established band decides to change their name.

Chicago band The Right Now started life back in 2005 as R&B/Funk band Eli Jones and the Bare Bones by Brendan O’Connell. A live EP was recorded by this band in 2006. A few lineup changes and the addition of Stefanie Berecz as lead vocals prompted the truncating of the name to just Eli Jones. The album Make It Right was released in 2007 under this moniker while still continuing to hold true to the band’s R&B and Funk influences.

History shows that bands with names that seem like they would belong to one person tend to be confusing– just look at Jethro Tull, for example. Add in the fact that Eli Jones didn’t have the domain name for the band and the name was becoming somewhat cumbersome. So, it was the switch in name to The Right Now in 2009 that allowed the band to kind of re-invent itself. All of the fans of Eli Jones who had seen the high-energy shows in the small bars across Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa were going to follow the band even after the name change.

When I saw the band in December of 2008 at Mahoney’s in Cedar Rapids, they were still called Eli Jones, but had already incorporated a lot of the songs that would make up their new album which they had planned to release in 2009 into their live sets. Carry Me Home is the first release by the band under it’s new name, and listening to the CD, I was taken back to that show with its memorable performances of “Ain’t Going Back,” “I Could Really Hold On,” “Doing Nothing,” “Carry Me Home,” “Nobody,” and “Before I Know Your Name.”

Getting ready for this review, I pulled out my copy of the Eli Jones album Make It Right for comparison. It’s an album I listened to quite a bit back when the band was rolling through the area. I thought it was really good– certainly the work of a band accomplished in R&B and Jazz, but felt ultimately it didn’t capture the energy of their live set. Make It Right really seems to be the sound of a band in a transition– some of the tracks have the familiar throwback R&B strut, while other tracks evoke a more jazzy step.

Carry Me Home is the result of a very focused effort in the studio, apparently. The whole CD sounds like it was recorded in one marathon session– a balanced, almost live-to-tape sound. It has a polished production for certain, but not at the risk of the continuity. I find myself listening to the whole album when I put it on– I anticipate the next track at each song.

In some respects Carry Me Home is an album out-of-time– at once holding true to a retro R&B sound with its horns, stomps and claps and sneaking in a more current R&B edge in the form of lead singer Stefanie Berecz powerful lead vocals.

The album runs the gamut of emotion and energy from bright, sunny Tower-of-Powerish horn-driven songs like “You Will Know,” to the Motown harmony-mixed with clean funk picking “Before I Know Your Name” to the distinctly Southern R&B swing of “Doing Nothing” to the slow burner “Carry Me Home.” “Before I Know Your Name” was co-written by Stefanie and Brendan O’Connell (the conductor of this Soul Train) to her then-unborn child– the idea of which makes me smile when I listen to the lyrics.

It’s also worth noting that The Right Now also has a 7″ out of a non-album track “7 to 10” which they recorded in Memphis in September 2009 at Scott Bomar’s Electraphoic Recording Studio live to 2″ 8-track tape! The flip is “The One You Love” from the album. On the return trip they took the master to Larry Nix at the legendary Ardent Studios who cut the plates. They hand-delivered the plates to United Record Pressing in Nashville and got a tour. Here is Brendan’s MySpace blog article about the experience (with video!).

It seems there are a lot of notable acts delivering the Stax/Motown-influenced sound today– Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings seems to be leading this front, certainly the last Amy Winehouse album (which uses members of the Dap-Kings), Joss Stone— so it takes a strong but distinguishable effort for a band to not get lost in the comparisons. It’s clear that The Right Now shows respect for the legacy of R&B, Soul and Funk that came before it, but in my opinion the band is building from that tradition.

One can consider the new band name as the answer to the question of what period of popular music they might draw from– no specific period, but obviously writing and performing in The Right Now.

The band just kicked off a run of shows which will bring them back to Eastern Iowa in April. On Friday, 4/16 they will be taping a second Java Blend show (the first as The Right Now), doing an on-air on IPR and hitting The Blue Moose Tap House. On Saturday, they’ll be performing at The Redstone Room in Davenport opening for Daphne Willis and hitting their favorite Iowa stop, Mahoney’s in Cedar Rapids on Sunday, 4/18.

Visit The Right Now Store to order Carry Me Home or the “7 to 10″ 7”

Click Here to visit The Right Now collection at archive.org for some streaming and downloadable live shows.

Click Here to visit The Right Now website.

Click Here to visit The Right Now Facebook Page

Here is where they Twitter.

Click Here for The Right Now on Bandcamp

Click Here for their last.fm page.

Click Here to visit The Right Now iLike page with videos and mp3’s.

Upcoming Shows (from MySpace):

Mar 8 2010   Bullfrog Brewery – CD Release Show!    Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Mar 10 2010    Puck Live – CD Release Show!    Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Mar 11 2010    Groove – CD Release Show!    New York, New York
Mar 12 2010    The Saint    Asbury Park, New Jersey
Mar 13 2010    Shadow Lounge – CD RELEASE SHOW!    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Mar 18 2010    Vocalo 89.5FM – In-studio    Chicago, Illinois
Mar 18 2010    Fearless Radio – Live In-Studio    Chicago, Illinois
Mar 18 2010    WLUW – Radio Free Chicago (Interview)    Chicago, Illinois
Mar 19 2010    WGN Television    Chicago, Illinois
Mar 19 2010    Lincoln Hall – CD RELEASE SHOW!    Chicago, Illinois
Mar 26 2010    This Must Be The Place    Lemont, Illinois
Apr 9 2010    KSDK – Show Me St. Louis    Saint Louis, Missouri
Apr 9 2010    The Gramophone – CD Release Show!    St. Louis, Missouri
Apr 15 2010    The Frequency w/ Unicycle Loves You    Madison, Wisconsin
Apr 16 2010    Java Blend    Iowa City, Iowa
Apr 16 2010    KRUI 89.7 FM – In-studio    Iowa City, Iowa
Apr 16 2010    The Blue Moose Taphouse – CD Release Show!    Iowa City, Iowa
Apr 17 2010    Redstone Room    Davenport, Iowa
Apr 18 2010    Mahoney’s Pub    Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Apr 24 2010    Downtown Holland Groovewalk    Holland, Michigan
Apr 30 2010    Marly’s Pub – CD Release Show!    Springfield, Illinois
Apr 30 2010    Alice at 97.7 – Studio A Sessions    Springfield, Illinois
May 17 2010    Cosmic Charlies    lexington, Kentucky
May 20 2010    Rogue Tavern w/ Deep Fried 5    Birmingham, Alabama
Jun 4 2010    Upfront & Company    Marquette, Michigan
Jun 5 2010    Upfront & Company    Marquette, Michigan

(Free Download) Pieta Brown’s New Full Length “One & All” Out April 6th

Posted on March 6, 2010 by mike

This week we have been treated to some news about Pieta Brown’s follow up to her Shimmer EP from the folks at Red House Records. Pieta’s new album and first full-length for her new label home, titled One & All will be released on April 6th!

Co-produced by Pieta and Bo Ramsey the record is a culmination of material she’s been performing live since the release of her last full-length Remember The Sun which came out in 2007. She started performing “Calling All Angels” during that solo tour, and I first heard it when she played it on Nic Harcourt’s Morning Becomes Eclectic on KCRW.

In November, Pieta did a three-night artist-in-residence at The Mill Restaurant called “This Land is Your Music”, which she used as a way to try out different band configurations– solo, duo and full band. She also took the opportunity to perform some of the songs which would become part of One & All, including “Other Way Around,” “Prayer Of Roses,” “Calling All Angels,” “Faller,” and “It Wasn’t That.”

Right now on Pieta’s MySpace page she has “Out of the Blue,” “El Guero” and “Faller” in her music player. Additionally, Red House is making “Faller” available for download. At the first This Land is Your Music show Pieta said that “Faller” is based on meeting Tom Petty when she opened for JJ Cale at McCabe’s Guitar Center. Apparently JJ Cale ran into Petty and Mike Campbell at a bar across the street from McCabe’s and invited them to join him on stage. So, Pieta and Bo met Petty and Campbell. Here is a picture of Bo talking to Petty.

Pieta is going on a 28-date tour with Mark Knopfler who is out supporting his new album Get Lucky, which should gain her some new fans. Bo will be on tour with her and I think that Knopfler and Bo have complimentary music styles so it would be interesting if they’d perform together!

Red House Records will start taking pre-orders for One & All on March 30th and pre-orders will be autographed! Also, you can preorder One & All from Amazon.

Tracklisting for One & All

Wishes Falling Through The Rain
Other Way Around
Out Of The Blue
Prayer Of Roses
Calling All Angels
El Guero
Faller
Flowers In The Kingdom
Shake
Grass Upon The Hills
Never Did Belong
It Wasn’t That

Pieta Brown on Tour With Mark Knopfler (from The Rosebud Agency)

4/8/2010     Seattle WA     Moore Theatre
4/9/2010    Vancouver BC CANADA    Queen Elizabeth Theatre
4/10/2010    Portland OR    Keller Auditorium
4/11/2010    Eugene OR    Hult Center for the Performing Arts
4/13/2010    Oakland CA    Paramount Theatre of the Arts
4/14/2010    Santa Rosa CA    Wells Fargo Center For The Arts
4/15/2010    Temecula CA    Pechanga Resort & Casino
4/16/2010    Los Angeles CA    Pantages Theatre
4/17/2010    Los Angeles CA    Pantages Theatre
4/18/2010    Phoenix AZ    Dodge Theatre
4/20/2010    Denver CO    Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre
4/21/2010    Kansas City MO    Midland Theatre
4/22/2010    Saint Louis MO    Fox Theatre
4/23/2010    Chicago IL    Chicago Theatre
4/24/2010    Milwaukee WI    Riverside Theater
4/25/2010    Minneapolis MN    State Theater
4/27/2010    Ann Arbor MI    Michigan Theater
4/28/2010    Buffalo NY    University of Buffalo – Center For The Arts
4/29/2010    Toronto ON CANADA    Massey Hall
4/30/2010    Montréal PQ CANADA    Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Place Des Arts
5/1/2010    Mashantucket CT    MGM Grand at Foxwoods
5/2/2010    Washington DC    Warner Theater
5/4/2010    Boston MA    Orpheum Theatre
5/5/2010    Red Bank NJ    Count Basie Theatre
5/6/2010    New York NY    United Palace
5/7/2010    Upper Darby PA    Tower Theater
5/8/2010    Atlantic City NJ    Caesars Circus Maximus
5/9/2010    Albany NY    Palace Theatre

Click Here to download “Faller” from One & All.

Click Here for Pieta’s Website

Click Here for Pieta’s MySpace Page

Click Here for Pieta’s Facebook Page

Upcoming Show: Local Natives are Back! The Mill in Iowa City on 5/18, RIBCO on 5/15

Posted on February 20, 2010 by mike

It was last July when Local Natives graced our bucolic farmlands as part of the inaugural Daytrotter Barnstormer tour. I saw them twice– once in Bellevue at Mooney Hollow Barn and once at the Secrest Octagonal Barn. I recount my experience here. It was the case that at least for the two shows I saw, the Silverlake, CA group really stole the show in my opinion, and which is why I’m really excited to announce that they will be back in the area in May!

Since they played the barns last year, the Natives have seemingly been on the road non-stop. They had a package tour with Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Fool’s Gold that brought them to Madison, Chicago and Minneapolis at the end of November and beginning of December. It seems like they’ve been to Europe a couple of times already, and are currently there through March 11th before coming back to do a run of dates in the US which include some high-profile festival shows: SXSW on 3/18-20, Coachella on 3/18, and Sasquatch! on 5/30 and Bonnaroo on 6/10!

Local Natives’ album Gorilla Manor released in the US on French Kiss this week (2/16) and is available as CD, mp3 (with bonus tracks) and vinyl LP! I received my LP yesterday and because I pre-ordered I got a bonus 7″ of “Sun Hands” with a Daytrotter version of “Airplanes” as its b-side.

Local Natives will be hitting the very cozy Rock Island Brewing Company on Saturday, May 15th, The 400 Bar in Minneapolis on Monday, May 17th, and The Mill Restaurant in Iowa City on Tuesday, May 18th. That gap on Sunday makes me wonder if they might be sneaking in an encore Daytrotter session?

Click Here for the Facebook Event for the Rock Island Brewing Company.

Click Here for the Facebook Event for the Mill Restaurant Show.

Live Dates (from MySpace)

Feb 17 2010     8:00P SOLD OUT Maroquinerie    Paris
Feb 18 2010    8:00P Le Grand Mix    Tourcoing, Lille
Feb 19 2010    8:00P Le Normandy    Saint Lo
Feb 20 2010    8:00P Route du Rock Winter Festival    Saint Malo
Feb 24 2010    8:00P Thekla    Bristol
Feb 25 2010    8:00P Rescue Rooms    Nottingham
Feb 26 2010    8:00P Concorde II    Brighton
Feb 27 2010    8:00P Brudenell    Leeds
Feb 28 2010    8:00P Arts Centre    Norwich
Mar 2 2010    8:00P SOLD OUT Heaven    London
Mar 3 2010    8:00P Academy 3    Birmingham
Mar 4 2010    8:00P Club Academy    Manchester
Mar 5 2010    8:00P King Tuts    Glasgow
Mar 6 2010    8:00P Academy 2    Newcastle
Mar 10 2010    8:00P Academy 2    Dublin
Mar 11 2010    8:00P Limelight    Belfast
Mar 18 2010    8:00P SXSW    Austin, Texas
Mar 19 2010    8:00P SXSW    Austin, Texas
Mar 20 2010    8:00P SXSW    Austin, Texas
Apr 18 2010    3:00P Coachella    Indio, California
Apr 20 2010    8:00P Solar Culture    Tuscon, Arizona
Apr 22 2010    8:00P The Cavern    Dallas, Texas
Apr 23 2010    8:00P Emo’s (inside)    Austin, Texas
Apr 24 2010    8:00P Mango’s    Houston, Texas
Apr 26 2010    8:00P Sticky Fingerz Chicken Shack    Little Rock, Arkansas
Apr 27 2010    8:00P Thirsty Hippo    Haittesburg, Mississippi
Apr 29 2010    8:00P Cafe 11    St. Augustine, Florida
Apr 30 2010    8:00P The Basement    Nashville, Tennessee
May 1 2010    8:00P Masquerade    Atlanta, Georgia
May 4 2010    8:00P Local 506    Chapel Hill, North Carolina
May 5 2010    8:00P DC 9    Washington DC, Washington DC
May 6 2010    8:00P Bowery Ballroom    New York, New York
May 7 2010    8:00P Kung Fu Necktie    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 8 2010    8:00P Great Scott    Allston, Massachusetts
May 11 2010    8:00P Beachland Tavern    Cleveland, Ohio
May 12 2010    8:00P The Basement    Columbus, Ohio
May 14 2010    8:00P Schubas    Chicago, Illinois
May 15 2010    8:00P Rock Island Brewing Company    Rock Island, Illinois
May 17 2010    8:00P 400 Bar    Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 18 2010    8:00P The Mill    Iowa City, Iowa
May 19 2010    8:00P Mojo’s    Columbia, Missouri
May 21 2010    8:00P Larimer Lounge    Denver, Colorado
May 22 2010    8:00P Kilby Court    Salt Lake City, Utah
May 25 2010    8:00P Empyrean    Spokane, Washington
May 26 2010    8:00P Neurolux    Boise, Idaho
May 27 2010    8:00P Mississippi Studios    Portland, Oregon
May 28 2010    8:00P Media Club    Vancouver, British Columbia
May 30 2010    8:00P Sasquatch!    Seattle, Washington
Jun 3 2010    8:00P Bottom of the Hill    San Francisco, California
Jun 10 2010    8:00P Bonnaroo    Manchester, Tennessee
Jun 15 2010    8:00P Shepherds Bush Empire    London

Click Here for Local Natives Website

Click Here for Local Natives MySpace Page

Click Here for Local Natives Facebook Fan Page

Click Here for Local Natives Blog

Click Here for the Local Natives Daytrotter Session

Upcoming Show: Death Ships Set Sail for Iowa City 2/27

Posted on February 20, 2010 by mike

The story of Dan Maloney’s Death Ships is one of a band outgrowing a local scene, gaining embrace of the Indie Tastemakers riding an arc of success but ultimately stalling. A familiar story to be sure (see: Tapes ‘N Tapes).

For over nine years Dan Maloney has been Death Ships— a band whose beginnings in Iowa City were as a side project. According to his January 2009 interview with Splice, he was in an Emo band called Faultlines when he decided to work on some solo songs. “…on the side I was experimenting with writing songs along the style of the music I grew up with. It took me a while to figure out I could sing better within a certain range rather than “shout/scream.”

Death Ships started initially as a solo accoustic effort and then expanded into a revolving cast of members and became known for having different lineups for every show. In fact, the first time I ever heard about Death Ships was in the context of them seemingly opening for every band at the Mill Restaurant. My friend saw Low and Why? at the Mill and Dan’s Death Ships were openers both times (without drums) and I believe that they opened for Tapes ‘n Tapes and The Hold Steady during their early tours as well. “When Randall (Davis) and Adam “Lars” joined the ranks,” Dan said in his Daytrotter interview, “they really helped shape Death Ships into a functional band.” In September of 2006 the debut Seeds of Devastation was released to some critical acclaim and Alternative Press named Death Ships “Best Unsigned Band.”

The band met ex-Wilco member Jay Bennett through a shared manager and he took the band under his wing and on the road with him as his backing band for two tours. In a recent email exchange with Dan, it is really clear that this time with Jay– who passed away last year— made a big impact on him. “[Jay’s death] was a big blow. I didnt know him better than others did, but from touring with him twice and spending a lot of time with him I got a good sense of the man he was: a caring, compassionate man with a love of music and joy that only comes from a child’s first Christmas. He picked us up and gave us a boost that I will never forget.”

Dan moved to Chicago from Iowa City a couple of years ago and has been carrying on the Death Ships name with occasional shows in the area and watershedding the follow-up to Seeds which will be called Circumstantial Chemistry. Additionally, a four-song EP Maybe Arkansas will be released on iTunes. The EP is produced by Luke Tweedy who runs Flat Black Studios in Iowa City and is in (ft) The Shadow Government. “I started working on a follow up a couple years ago and only scraped together four of the songs for this new EP. I moved to Chicago and basically had to start from scratch again. It’s hard– like any band– to sell everyone on commiting to [it], forfeiting the fact that there may not be much money involved but also requiring a lot of time and dedication. I hope I have this with this new group and am finally ready to start pushing Death Ships forward and getting these songs and new songs heard.”

Dan generously let me listen to the songs that make up Maybe Arkansas, and it is a flat-out charmer— hook-filled and standing out in my mind as a testiment to the great music that comes from the Midwest. These guitar pop songs draw easy and complimentary comparisons to other Midwest greats like The Jayhawks, The Honeydogs and, yes, Wilco. Each of these songs stick in my head with earworm intensity. Dan’s soft vocal approach on “I Like It A Lot” gives a breezy lead up to the break down “it’s dreams like these/ little melody/ i got plans for you/ you got plans for me” which very nicely launches in the double time and urging cry “put it all on me!”

This is followed by the fun, piano pumping, Beatle-y “Somethings Gone Awry” with its superb use of horns. I love how the song goes from this ironically upbeat drive complete with “do-do-do-do’s” to the mood change as the song runs out “It’s hard to blame the darkness for the rain/It’s hard to see clearly when when we’re reeling from a long black cloud…”

“Let Me Think It Over” is a promise to a former love. It has a undeniable 60’s R&B tinge to it– kind of like when Springsteen used to cover Mitch Ryder in concert– particular with the 3/4 time switch from driving 4/4 at the chorus. “We can get together like we used to be/the same old fool you’ve been dying to see.”

The EP wraps up much too early with the title track. It starts as a melancholy aching sentiment of escape to starting over. “With a furrowed brow you slide across the seat/So, maybe Arkansas– another change in plans” It’s the narrator’s thoughts at the halfpoint of the song of the people they are leaving behind halfway that transforms the song to shouting anger. “Write a letter to your dear sweet mother/tell her that we’re only running from our halted, November mind…”What’s that you gain from this song??”

This EP is a calling card and statement of direction for this new phase of Death Ships. Dan continues from the e-mail he sent me, ” There were times after Seeds where I felt the fruit of my efforts were grossly being undermet and underappreciated, but I have come to peace about being jaded. This is music I make and part of my story. If a few people enjoy it I’m willing to accept that. It’s truly a labor of love and sometimes I forget that. If it ever stopped being fun I would hang it up, but clearly I can’t, because I’ve been doing this project for over six years.”

Dan is sailing his Death Ships to Iowa City on Saturday, 2/27 at The Mill Restaurant in Iowa City. They will be headlining a show with Datagun, Olivia Rose Muzzy, and the Vagabonds. 9PM and admission is a measly SIX BUCKS!

Click Here to download “I Like It A Lot” from Maybe Arkansas.

Click Here for the Death Ships MySpace Page which has some of the tracks from Maybe Arkansas streaming.

Click Here for the Death Ships Daytrotter Session

Click Here for the Jay Bennett Daytrotter Session with Death Ships as his band

Click Here for the Splice interview with Dan Maloney from 2009 that has some unreleased tracks and a couple from the upcoming EP

Time to play b-sides

Mike Roeder muses over things musical

Category Archives: Upcoming Show