Monthly Archives April 2010

Broken Bells stopped by The Interface to perform songs from their critically acclaimed, self-titled debut, out now on Columbia Records.

Check out awesome live clips of “The High Road,” “Citizen,” “Vaporize,” and “The Ghost Inside.” at spinner.com!

Also check out a Tough Set of Judges clip on Teen Vogue.com!

The band is on tour this spring !

BROKEN BELLS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2010

Morning B...

After pausing an 18-year career with partner Ben Watt in best-selling alt-pop duo ‘Everything But The Girl’ (1982-2000), followed by a self-imposed hiatus to start a family, Tracey Thorn re-emerged in 2007 to a wave of critical acclaim with the glittering autobiographical folk-disco of ‘Out of the Woods’, her first solo album since 1982′s indie classic ”A Distant Shore’. Now she is back with another: the starkly beautiful ‘Love and Its Opposite’ on Merge Records.

Partnering again with Berlin-based producer Ewan Pearson (who worked on much of Out of the Woods), Thorn has created an album that is striking in its simplicity. “It’s a record about the person I am now and the people around me,” she observes. “About real life after forty.”

Recorded in Berlin and London, the ten-song collection boasts eight original compositions and two covers (a duet with Jens Lekman on Lee Hazlewood’s “Come On Home To Me” and a poignant reading of The Unbending Trees’ “You Are A Lover”). The album also features guests such as Hot Chip’s Al Doyle, The Invisible’s Leo Taylor, Nashville songwriter-drummer Cortney Tidwell and Lost Valentinos’ guitarist Jono Ma.

The spare arrangements for guitar, piano, bass, and drums serve ten songs over a compact thirty-nine minutes that confront the realities ...

In Memory Of Loss, released on Rounder Records April 27th is a stunning, heartbreaking sonic document chronicling the life of Denver-by-way-of-Missouri songwriter Nathaniel Rateliff (who formerly performed as The Wheel). Both fresh and classic, it is imbued with a melancholy and rough candor. No wonder Time Out New York says Rateliff conjures “the ghosts of Nick Drake and Gram Parsons.”

While recording In Memory of Loss, Rateliff lived in Chicago, working with producer Brian Deck (Iron and Wine, Josh Ritter, Califone) to craft the nuances: mournful harmonica on “You Should’ve Seen the Other Guy,” the ominous organ of “Longing and Losing,” propulsive bass drum on “Early Spring Till.” Rateliff recorded the album with his band: Ben DeSoto (drums), Julie Davis (bass, vocals), Carrie Beeder (violin, cello), James Han (piano), Joseph Pope III (guitar, vocals).

Whether Rateliff is harkening an “old time revival” o...

A Raul Midon live performance is a force of nature. His “supple, high-flying tenor” (New York Times) and “mind-blowing guitar work” (People Magazine), have wowed audiences the world over. Watch a recent live performance of “Don’t Take It That Way” from ‘Synthesis’ here!

With his new album ‘Synthesis’ released April 20th on Decca, Midon has taken to the road for a cross-country solo tour!

New Yorkers got a preview of the tour, when Midon played a special, intimate show at his former homebase, Joe’s Pub, on March 12. But if you missed it, don’t worry! He returns to NYC on May 18 for a performance at City Winery. See below for a full itinerary and stay tuned for more confirmed dates.

RAUL MIDON 2010 U.S. TOUR DATES

April 27 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy

April 30 Sa...

Check out Katzenjammer’s music video for “Tea with Cinnamon” from their new EP!

Katzenjammer are a Norwegian All Female band who’s style mixes Folk, Americana, Pop, Rock & Balkan music. They are 4 girls who all play more than 16 different instruments – they all rotate instruments and have different vocalists for different songs. Think of them as a female Old Crow Medicine Show meets Gogol Bordello & Man Man with a dash of Pirate Sea Shanty Music.

Katzenjammer is set to release their debut album LE POP in North America on June 1, 2010!

The ladies will also announce N...

Boston’s revolution rockers State Radio have announced a summer tour with the John Butler Trio.  The band is currently bringing their incendiary rock, punk and reggae to cities all over the country. Other recent tour-mates include 311, Tom Morello’s The Nightwatchman, and a set with Rage Against The Machine at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Says front man Chad Stokes, “We played with John Butler years ago in small clubs holdin’ about 100 people and we’ve kept in touch ever since becoming good friends over the years. Last time we saw him we had a blast at the Blues and Roots Fest in Oz…we are wicked psyched to meet up with him and his band again. It’s gonna be a balls to the wall tour!”

Check out State Radio’s epic new video for “Knights Of Bostonia”

The band’s humanitarian organization, Calling All Crows, which helps to raise money for non-profits like Oxfam America and links with local organizations to help with community service projects while out on the road, will have a presence on the summer tour.

Their latest album, ‘Let It Go,’ is available now via Ruff Shod Records...

It’s a bill that fans of horror and hard rock could only dream of until now: Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper sharing the stage for a night of theatrical rock n’ roll madness. For the first time ever, the “gruesome twosome” are playing an exclusive limited run of North American tour dates (tour dates below) Rob Zombie commented, “The dream or the nightmare comes true! Me and The Coop have been talking about touring together for the last 15 years and finally the moment is here. This will be without a doubt a Rock ‘N’ Roll Spooktacular for all the Cool Ghouls.” Alice Cooper added, “I’m looking forward to theses concerts with Rob. It’s sort of like Dracula Vs. Frankenstein. We’re like this generation’s classic monsters. When we’re not onstage frightening audiences, we’ll be backstage trying to scare each other.”

Following the dates with Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and longtime bandmates guitarist John 5, bassist Piggy D and drummer Tommy Clufetos will hit the road for an extensive North American trek to co-headline this year’s Mayhem Festival.

In the wake of their new band’s self titled Columbia Records debut charting at #7 and selling just shy of 50,000 in its first week (and reaching as high as #1 on iTunes), James Mercer and Brian Burton a/k/a Danger Mouse have confirmed Broken Bells first ever tour. The dates commence May 18 in San Diego and will include stops in 16 North American cities.

In addition to being the year’s highest charting debut album by an alternative/rock band, Broken Bells’ has met with an insanely and unanimously positive critical reception: Rolling Stone has hailed the album as “the year’s coolest left field pop disc” in a 4-star lead review, while Wired described it as “crazy good stuff” and Entertainment Weekly praised it as a “subtly savory sonic morsel.”

The mere handful of shows the band has played to date have fared likewise, selling out as quickly as tickets could be processed, and dazzling crowds in Los Angeles, New York, and most recently Austin. Witnessing one of these first few performances, US Weekly likened the Broken Bells live experience to “being at a cozy, intimate underground basement party somewhere in Northern California with the best art rock band on the coast providing the soundtrack.”

Broken Bell...