Fresh Off the Griddle - Music News

My Morning jacket opening for Tom Petty at the Comcast Center in Mansfield MA on August 19th and 21st, 2010.  All photos by Brian Diescher

Jonny Lang, best known for fiery guitar licks and from-the-gut singing, has been playing onstage since he was fourteen. His debut album hit big in 1997 with the single “Lie To Me”, propelling him into a meteoric rise to fame and fortune, partying and drugs. Along the way, Jonny also became a well-respected musician, playing at the first Crossroads concert with Eric Clapton, winning a Grammy, and jamming alongside legends like Buddy Guy and BB King.  With his new live CD, Live At The Ryman, Jonny is getting back to his roots.

On his sophomore release, Everything Changed Nothing, up-and-coming L.A. rapper Trek Life reps his home city to the fullest, with at least three songs – one appropriately named So LA – serving as obvious odes to the City of Angels.

But Due West is a little different, a thoughtful narrative that steers away from cliched shout-outs and instead gives listeners “a good perspective on the black migration to Cali,” Trek says.

“I’ve always wanted to get into the history of Cali more and more since it seems like, from a rap perspective, Cali (LA specifically) only really goes as deep as the early 80’s.”

The chorus-less track rides a soulful horn loop – courtesy of Oddisee, who produced the album – as Trek reels off an inspiring verse that doubles as a history lesson.

Read more on Trek Life at the LA Times (natch) in a Q&A with Jeff Weiss, who turned me on to this great album.

• Trek Life | Due West

by BBG

Wormrot have been forced to delay the start of their tour due to visa issues. That means they won't be appearing at Santos Party House tonight (9/2), though all the other bands on the bill still will. To make up for it, Wormrot have rescheduled their NYC show to this SUNDAY (9/5) at Bowery Electric at 11PM. From there they move to Cleveland and tour as planned, though now we can also announce one more show that was being kept a secret up until now: BrooklynVegan & 1000 Knives are proud to present Wormrot with Mutant Supremacy, Defeatist, Psychic Limb, and Curandera at the Acheron on 10/3!

Wormrot's Abuse was one of my favorite LP's of 2009. Updated tour dates and a video of Wormrot in action is below...

Continue reading "Wormrot cancel some dates & add some others (playing Sunday instead of tonight & in October @ Acheron too) " at BrooklynVegan.com

DOWNLOAD: Cinema Red & Blue - "Same Mistakes" (MP3)

Ripley Johnson of Wooden Shjips/Moon Duo (more by Abby Braden)

Wooden Shjips will be at ATP NY this weekend (hand-picked by Jim Jarmusch). That's followed by a show at MHOW on 9/6 (tickets) and then more dates north and west as far as Chicago, but then Ripley Johnson of the psychedelic left coast crew will start heading back east for a different string of dates with his other project, Moon Duo. The band will team up with Crystal Stilts and Messages (mems of Psychic Ills) for a show on 9/17 at Knitting Factory. Tickets are on sale.

Crystal Stilts recently played Bowery with Dean Wareham but have otherwise laid relatively low. Members of the band recently completed a new collaborative LP with David Feck of the UK's Comet Gain under the moniker Cinema Red & Blue. You may remember they played here back in September..."Cinema Red and Blue is a Comet Gain side project featuring frontman David Feck, as well as that band's Anne Laure and Hoffner Burns. They're actually in town to record their album at Gary Olson's Marlborough Studios in Brooklyn and decided to play a show while here. I ran into Feck at a show on Monday and he told me that the album is about half covers and to expect the same from the live show. He rattled off a bunch of the songs they're covering but the only one I remember now is a Julian Cope song from his 1989 album Skellington. The band will be augmented live by former Comet Gain / current Soft City member Phil Sutton, plus JB, Andy and Kyle from Crystal Stilts. I have to imagine Gary Olson will contribute trumpet to at least one song. This should be fun." [Bill]That self-titled LP is due 9/28 via What's Your Rupture, and features the Vic Godard cover "Same Mistakes" which can download above. Finest Kiss adds that, "the makeshift band also employs the services of Amy Linton, Hamish Kilgour and [as Bill predicted] Gary Olson."

Wooden Shjips released Vol 2 earlier this year, a compilation of rare singles available via Holy Mountain. Moon Duo was recently featured on the Woodist comp Welcome Home / Diggin' The Universe.

Messages (the band featuring members of Psychic Ills) also have another show in the near future, supporting Excepter and Up Died Sound on 10/27 at Coco66.

All tour dates and some video is below....

Continue reading "indie supergroup Cinema Red & Blue LP coming soon (MP3), Crystal Stilts, Moon Duo (a NYC show) & Wooden Shjips too" at BrooklynVegan.com

Primus just announced they'd be performing Frizzle Fry live in LA on 9/16. Related posts:

• Primus Fall 2006 Tour Dates, New CD & New DVD Release
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• Tour Dates: Primus Announce Dates with Gogol Bordello, New Album in 2011

Phish tops the Hot Tours chart with $7.4 million gross on their second leg of summer tour... Related posts:

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From Domino:

“A gentle duet between Panda Bear and himself, “You Can Count On Me” glimmers with third world melodic overtones, an ethereal uplifting number that is over before you become too familiar. “Alsatian Darn” on the other hand is a much different creature…a slightly foreboding track with an off-beat melancholy chord progression that occasionally lets the light break through with a jaunty two-step, if ever so briefly”

Panda Bear’s You Can Count On Me 7″ is out October 19 on Domino. Limited to 500 copies. Pre-order here.

mp3:
Panda Bear :: Alsatian Darn (live at Pitchfork Fest 2010)

Rolling Stone is about to release a special issue counting down the magazine's choices for the 100 best Beatles songs of all time, and previewed the list by posting the Top 10 on rollingstone.com.... Chris Gray

On the eve of being named to our 40 Best New Artists Of 2010 list, UK producer Gold Panda headlined Glasslands Gallery on Kent St. in Williamsburg, live-mixing the beat snatches and effects pedal switches of his often dazzling singles and EPs, along with a presumably good dose of the material from his anticipated forthcoming full-length debut Lucky Shiner. The set opened with the LP’s “You” and closed, as any Gold Panda set should from now until his next quantum leap, with “Quitters Raga.” Ryan Muir was on hand to shoot the night, capturing openers Pink Skull and Bikini along the way.

Bunch of Gold Panda MP3s here, Lucky Shiner’s out 10/12 via Ghostly.

Thanks again to MOG.com, Honda Civic Tour and the band Paramore for sponsoring the site again this month. Word on the street is that Trey Anastasio digs the band, and he’s gone to see them live recently and came away nicely impressed. How’s that for a recommendation. The band is currently on tour and has [...] Related posts:

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Sad news: Oberhofer will be Big Ugly Yellow Couch’s last session for a while. Their place in Brooklyn, where each session was shot, burned down this summer. They’re in a new apartment, and they were able to save both the couch and their digital archive of previous couch sessions. But it’ll probably take a little time before they’re up and running again. I look forward to seeing a singed, ashy couch behind whatever band films next.

Anyway, we brought you Oberhofer’s “Don’tneedya” a couple weeks back. This session’s a different sound for the band (no echo, no atmosphere-creating samples), but it’s still a good one. The band played tracks from their “o0O0o0O0o” and “Away Frm U” 7-inches (“Away Frm U” keeps the whistle solo), as well as a cover of Beach Boys’s “Be True To Your School.” Watch:

Read More...

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: The Intelligence - Like Like Like Like Like Like Like (MP3)

The Intelligence @ Market Hotel in 2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

One of Seattle's finest, The Intelligence, have a new record and are gearing up for a big fall tour, including an October 30 stop at Cake Shop and will also play the Todd P Halloween Show somewhere in Brooklyn, details TBA. The band were last here about a year ago supporting one of 2009's best albums, Fake Surfers.

Its follow-up, Males, is the band's sixth album (third for In the Red) but marks a couple of firsts for the band. It's the first Intelligence album that wasn't played entirely by main brain Lars Finberg and marks a bold leap into fidelity. Scraping off the scuzz hasn't removed any of the band's weird charm -- Males is quite possibly their best album yet. (And Fake Surfers was hard to top.) You can download "Like Like Like Like Like Like Like" at the top of this post.

Finberg discusses  these new developments in the Intelligence's sound in a very entertaining interview over at The Finest Kiss:Each new Intelligence record seems to sound a little more 'produced'... and you seem to have become more collaborative if not with the rest of the band at least with the producer. With Males you've even let the rest of the band into the studio. Are you weakening in your old age, or just more open to collaboration?

I'm weakening, I'm lonely. It's more fun to make something with everybody else now, it's new. My ears are just tired of the 'LO-FI' sound for us, I'm also sick to death of being called that, it's stupid but nothing gets called mid-fi or hi-fi, such a tired and petty complaint I know. I thought the most interesting thing we could do would be to try to make a big clean record. But really it's just the most interesting path to go down for me, we can record on dirty blank cassette tapes forever, it's easy but the challenge of having real bright vocals up front was scary and fun. Also our bass sound is cool with Susanna I wanted the record to have a lot of low end. Beren is a great drummer and we wanted a record with US as a band playing, since the 3 of us have been together a long time now it's just more fun to have something we make as a group. Plus if it sucks it's THEIR FAULT TOO.

Hi-fi or lo-fi, you seem torn between them (ie. Surfers vs Pacman). What is your preference and has it changed over the years?

It's Hi-Fi for now, I want our records to sound good with the windows down! I want it to sound good on a P.A. in a club and DJ's to be able to play it next to Adam Ant and the Buzzcocks without people involuntarily grinding their molars.If the new album isn't enough Lars Finberg for you, he's got a side project, Puberty, you might want to investigate.

Meanwhile, Finberg's old band, the under-appreciated early-'00s A Frames, have come out of retirement -- albeit without him. (He left the drum stool in 2006.)  Earlier this year saw the release of 333, an odds-n-sods triple platter of 7" sides and demos and with it came some new shows.

A Frames are making it to the East Coast in October, playing Cake Shop on 10/8 and Death by Audio on 10/9. They also play Philly on 10/7 at the Danger Danger Gallery. Video from a recent show in Seattle is at the bottom of this post

All Intelligence and A Frames tour dates below...

Continue reading "The Intelligence releasing new LP & touring (A Frames too) - a Todd P Halloween show & other tour dates" at BrooklynVegan.com

Earlier this week we posted about Vampire Weekend covering Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m Going’ Down” at Malkin Bowl in Vancouver. The guys just sat down for Seattle’s 107.7 The End’s 200th “Endsession” and did a clearer, stripped-down acoustic take. (Still no sax solo.)

Read More...

photos by Erez Avissar

DOWNLOAD: Arp - White Light (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Arp - Summer Girl (MP3)

Oneohtrix Point Never @ Coco66
There were several peculiar sights at the Oneohtrix Point Never performance on Friday night, but none more so than the handful of fans clustered near the front of the stage, nodding their heads rhythmically.

To what, exactly? Oneohtrix Point Never - a k a the ambient-noise musician Daniel Lopatin - generally forgoes percussion altogether, instead creating beautiful, glistening caverns of space that shift in sneaky, oceanic fashion. At once they're vast and also slippery. But something as pedestrian as a beat? Never that.

For this show, the back room at Coco 66, near the waterfront in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, was almost completely dark, punctured only by columnar white lights rotating on either side of Mr. Lopatin and by red and green pinpoint lasers, which strafed his face and the heads of those near the front of the room. There was smoke, too, or if there wasn't, there probably should have been. Everything was a haze. -[New York Times]Oneohtrix Point Never headlined the show, presented by Last Friday and Visitation Rites, with Arp, James Ferraro, and Future Shuttle on 8/27. One half of duo Blondes (one of Stereogum's "Best New Bands") was responsible for DJing. The next show for Oneohtrix Point Never is Friday in San Francisco. Shortly after, the electronic/ambient artist will ship out to Latvia (!) before skipping across Europe.

And though Oneohtrix was headlining, it was Arp's record release show. The Soft Wave is out September 7th on Smalltown Supersound. Both free MP3s above are from that album. Full tracklisting below.

All tour dates and more photos from the show, and the afterparty (at Coco 68), are also below...

Continue reading "Oneohtrix Point Never, Arp & James Ferraro played Coco66 (pics, MP3s & more dates) " at BrooklynVegan.com

photos by Vincent Cornelli

"You ready for some Grateful Dead action after this?" asked singer Julian Casablancas early in the Stokes set, referring to Furthur, the band led by the Dead's Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, already in progress at the eastern edge of the polo field. The uncertain response suggested fans were staying put - just as others were for Furthur. The Strokes sounded exceptionally muscular in the park's expansive setting. Fabrizio Moretti contributed heavy beats to "Vision of Division" and "Reptilia," as Casablancas eased his vocals from deadpan to excited and back again. "This is It" slowly built to a sing-along as Albert Hammond Jr. and Nick Valensi created an intricate overlap of guitars. "I remember playing these songs in front of four people," Casablancas said, looking out on the tens of thousands of fans. "It's really surreal." Even, apparently, after all the year's of the band's success. -[Rolling Stone]The Strokes and Furthur were two of many participants (including Bassnectar and My Morning Jacket and Al Green) at the Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco on August 14th & 15th. In addition to sets from Gogol Bordello, Social Distortion, Phoenix, Kings of Leon, and many more (photo sets of all those bands are below), Outside Lands also featured an appearance from "one of the day's best acts" Chromeo ..."...At about 5:50 PM, one of the day's best acts appeared at the Outside Lands Festival.

The music was thumping, adrenaline pumping, the sun shining, and many in the crowd -- tapping into a singular energy -- could hold back no longer. They put their inhibitions aside and let themselves be drawn to the beats blasting from the Twin Peaks Stage. Some ran, jumped and moved like they never had before, heading toward a common purpose.

Of course, I'm referring to the bum rush of fans that managed to scramble past the guards and bust down part of the fence along John F. Kennedy Drive, allowing scores of people to hustle in before the riot control guards on horsies and the rent-a-guard dudes in orange t-shirts could stop the inflow." - [San Francisco Chronicle]

Videos of the incident, with the rest of our pictures from the 2010 Outside Lands Festival, below...

Continue reading "more pics from Outside Lands (where fans crashed through a fence to get in) (videos of that too) " at BrooklynVegan.com

Moogfest adds Neon Indian, Cee-Lo, Sleigh Bells and more... Related posts:

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A few Sundays back, The Continental Club hosted the Houston edition of Lone Star Beer's "Battle of the Bands" contest. Of the three bands on the bill that afternoon, Beau Hinze & the Backporch Sh... Craig Hlavaty