New Music This Week on the Current!

Posted at 10:58 AM on February 9, 2010 by Jim McGuinn (1 Comments)

Wintertime - sure, it's cold out, but it's also a great time for new music to be unleashed on the world. Another batch this week at the Current:

Peter Gabriel - Flume - Real World - The idea behind Peter Gabriel's new Scratch My Back project is an exchange where each artist would cover one of Gabriel's songs in return for his covering one of theirs; the other artists' renditions of Gabriel's songs will appear on a later album entitled I'll Scratch Yours. Most of the covers are by fellow boomer rockers like David Bowie, Neil Young, Paul Simon, and David Byrne, but Gabriel also tips his hat towards the New Indie with covers of songs by Elbow, Radiohead, Arcade Fire, and our favorite Wisconsin cabin-recorder, Bon Iver.

Johnny Cash - Ain't No Grave - American/Lost Highway - American VI: Ain't No Grave is a posthumous album by Johnny Cash. It is set to be released on February 23, 2010, three days before what would have been Cash's 78th birthday. The music on this album comes from the same sessions as American V: A Hundred Highways. Is it possible that Johnny Cash died of exhaustion, locked in the studio with Rick Rubin for days nonstop, backlogging so many songs that here we are 7 years after his death with yet another new album? Including members of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Beck's band, and the Avett Brothers, it's another slice of gorgeous haunted music from The Man In Black.

Everybody Was In The French Resistance ... Now! - G.I.R.L.F.R.E.N. (You Know I've Got A) - Cooking Vinyl Eddie Argos, eloquent and witty front man and lyricist of lo-fi heroes Art Brut gets together with girlfriend Dyan Valdes of L.A. rockers the Blood Arm to produce an album's worth of "answer songs": responses or rebukes to famous songs already made by other artists. This one takes Avril Lavigne to task. Other songs de ridicule include classics from Bob Dylan ("Think Twice, It's Not Alright") and Michael Jackson ("Billie's Genes"). Here's the vid -

Album Leaf - Falling From The Sun - Sub Pop - Jimmy LaValle is essentially The Album Leaf. Now over the course of five albums, he/they have been creating moody, atmospheric ambient indie pop, with the help of various pals, sometimes including Sigor Ros' Jón "Biggi" Birgisson, who mixed this record at the Icelandic band's studio. Like the beautiful and sometimes austere geography of Iceland, Album Leaf's music can be both majestic and delicate, sometimes in the same song.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil's Tattoo - Vagrant - Taking their name from Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in the Wild One (quick - what was the name of the other gang? "The Beetles"), this is the title track to album #7 from the California rockers. Fuzzy guitars, menacing vocals, druggy Stonesy blues riffs? All the trademarks of classic BRMC are here. Welcome back boys!

Toro Y Moi Minors - Carpark Records - Spanish? Japanese? How about one guy in a bedroom in South Carolina? Chaz Bundick --the 23-year-old, half-Filipino/half-African-American artist who records as Toro y Moi has put together a fascinating debut album - one of those records that's hard to describe yet easy to like. We'll see how he pulls off his menagerie of sounds when he comes to the Turf Club on April 2.

You Say Party! We Say Die! - Laura Palmer's Prom - Paper Bag - You Say Party! We Say Die! (often abbreviated to YSP! WSD!) is a Canadian five piece dance-punk band from Abbotsford, British Columbia. Their third album XXXX was released to critical acclaim and the band was featured on the front cover of four Canadian regional papers and one national paper (do they have more than one in Canada?). YSP!WSD! are scheduled to play two shows for the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver, BC. Twin Peaks fans unite!

Corinne Bailey Rae Paris Nights/New York Mornings Capitol - Four tumultuous years after the release of her debut album, Corinne Bailey Rae returns with The Sea. After multi-platinum, award winning success on her first release, Rae suffered tremendous loss when her husband, Scottish soul trumpeter James Rae, died of an accidental overdose of methadone and alcohol in 2008. The Sea contains songs written before and after Jason Rae's death, and critics have gone so far as to describe it as "an album that suggests Nina Simone singing a modern version of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.

Charlotte Gainsbourg - Dandelion - Because/Elektra and
Charlotte Gainsbourg - Time Of The Assassins - Because/Elektra
OK Go - This Too Shall Pass - Capitol and
OK Go - White Knuckles - Capitol -
Spoon - I Saw The Light - Merge
Devendra Banhart - Can't Help - Reprise -More tracks from the latest efforts by some of our faves.

Lissie - Wedding Bells - Fat Possum - We've been lovin' the 5-song debut EP from Lissie for a while now, and here's another track from it. But what's her deal? From her bio - Lissie is from along the banks of the Mississippi, in Rock Island, Illinois. Why You Runnin', her Bill Reynolds (Band Of Horses) produced - EP, has earned the young singer high praise, as "an incredibly soulful Americana artist who finds the sepia-toned sweet spot between Neko Case, Laura Marling, and the Shangri-Las." Lissie lives by herself, with her dog, in a farmhouse in Ojai, California. There are many things from her life & history that make these songs and her spirit possible, some of it in deference to that spirit: having a grandfather who was an international barbershop quartet champion, having a great-grandfather who was a train-jumping hobo on this famous Rock Island Line (the Cash song of the same name Lissie has played in hometown gigs), a father who delivered her at her birth, getting kicked out of high school, selling honey for living money upon coming to LA and an inability to separate herself from this Midwestern city where many just raise their families, get fat and die satisfied. Wow. Can't wait for the full length this summer.

Comment on this post

Tuesday Coffee Break: Technically Bad, Emotionally Awesome

Posted at 8:31 AM on February 9, 2010 by Steve Seel (51 Comments)
Filed under: 9:30 Coffee Break

Time was - many decades ago - to be a good singer, one had to conform to certain basic rules. Sure you had to convey emotion and conviction, but you also had to hit all the notes. Ever notice how today that's not always necessary for a singer to be deemed a good, or even great, vocalist? American Idol is one thing of course - where singing is almost more of a sporting competition than a musical one. But outside of that realm - and especially in rock n' roll - having vocal chops is hardly a prerequisite these days to conveying soul. In fact, sometimes, many great vocalists are appreciated for style that incorporates a certain roughness or sloppiness. Who are some examples? That's our theme for today's 9:30 Coffee Break: technically less-than-perfect, but emotionally awesome singers.

Comment on this post

Today In Music History: Happy Birthday Joe Ely

Posted at 6:10 AM on February 9, 2010 by Steve Seel (2 Comments)
Filed under: Music History

Birthdays:

Singer Carole King is 68.

Today in:

1964 - The Beatles made their American television debut on The Ed Sullivan Show before 73 million people-over one-third of the entire U.S. population (the largest television audience ever). George Harrison had a sore throat, but no matter. He was barely audible above the screaming fans in the audience.
1972 - Wings played its first show - unannounced and uninvited - for students during lunchtime at Nottingham University in England. The price of admission was 33 cents.
2000 - The Million Dollar Hotel, a film starring Mel Gibson and co-written by Bono, opened at the 50th Berlin Film Festival.

Birthday Highlight:

Joe Ely, Texas singer/songwriter and honky-tonk legend, one of the original purveyors of "outlaw country" in the '70s, is 63 today. Ely began with fellow West-Texans Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore in The Flatlanders; Merle Haggard took him on a tour of England in 1979 where met Joe Strummer, and he later toured Europe with The Clash and played on their 1982 Combat Rock album. We wished Joe a happy birthday today with a spin of his tune, "Dallas."

Comment on this post

A Superbowl inspired My 3 Songs set.

Posted at 12:03 PM on February 8, 2010 by Barb Abney (0 Comments)
Filed under: My Three Songs

Alex Dixon from Denver, Colorado picked today's My 3 Songs set because...

" Indy rock has conquered the superbowl! well at least the commercials. these three songs were all featured prominently in superbowl commercials; grizzly bear in volkswagon, the heavy in kia motors, and the arcade fire in the NFL draft."

Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"
The Heavy - "How You Like Me Now?"
Arcade Fire - "Wake Up"

Make your "My 3 Songs" requests here.

Comment on this post

Yeasayer tempting you with a single from Odd Blood.

Posted at 10:55 AM on February 8, 2010 by Barb Abney (0 Comments)

Yeasayer's sophomore record, Odd Blood will officially hit shelves tomorrow. Today on our Song Of The Day podcast you can sample the record a tad more by grabbing the tune "O.N.E." for free!

If you're a new subscriber to the Song Of The Day podcast you will also receive new music from Guante, Malachai, Owen Pallet (formerly of Final Fantasy) and Kevin Devine.

Later this week we'll be featuring new music from Phantogram, Port O'Brien, Lightspeed Champion and local music from Adam Svec.

While Odd Blood doesn't officially come out until tomorrow, you can grab the digital full length from Amazon today.

Yeasayer will be returning to town for a show at First Avenue on April 28th.

Spend a little time with Yeasayer while listening to an in-studio performance.

Comment on this post

Monday Coffee Break: Indie Rock Super Bowl

Posted at 9:00 AM on February 8, 2010 by Steve Seel (4 Comments)
Filed under: 9:30 Coffee Break

It's funny thinking about the acts who have played the Superbowl over the years; they represent, of course, the mainstream of the mainstream, like The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson. But what if the Superbowl's halftime acts were culled from the artists played on The Current? Who would make a perfect stadium-rocking band?

Comment on this post

Today In Music History: That's Really Super, SuperGroup

Posted at 6:30 AM on February 8, 2010 by Steve Seel (0 Comments)
Filed under: Music History

Birthdays:

Singer Vince Neil of Motley Crue is 49.

Today in:

1964 - Max Firetag, who had published "Louie, Louie" as recorded by The Kingsmen for Wand Records, refuted Indiana Governor Matthew Welsh's assertion that the song was "pornographic." Firetag offered $1,000 to anyone who could detect anything objectionable in the song's lyrics. No one stepped up.
1973 - Carly Simon received a gold record for the single "You're So Vain."
1973 - Max Yasgur died of a heart attack. He was the owner of the Woodstock farm where the legendary festival was held. Joni Mitchell sang about him in her song "Woodstock."
1990 - Singer Del Shannon was found shot to death at his home in Santa Clarita, California. Police found a rifle near his body, suggesting he committed suicide. His biggest hits were "Runaway" and "Hats Off To Larry."

History Highlight:

On this day in 1969, Ex-Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, and ex-Traffic keyboardist and singer Steve Winwood revealed that they were putting together a new band and auditioning for a bassist. They settled on ex-Family bassist/violinist Rick Grech, and, ladies and gentlemen, Blind Faith, the first rock supergroup, was born. We played their hit, "Can't Find My Way Home."

Comment on this post

Honey-Do: Bob Marley would be 65 today!

Posted at 10:31 AM on February 6, 2010 by Bill DeVille (1 Comments)
Filed under: Honey-Do List

Today Bob Marley would have turned 65. So, until 3 today, I'll throw in a good dose of reggae music from the rasta prophet!

So whatever you might be up today, bring the Current along cuz we'll be "Jammin" to Bob Marley. Your requests are welcome too...

Comment on this post

Random Vinyl 2/1-2/5

Posted at 2:46 PM on February 5, 2010 by Jill Riley (0 Comments)
Filed under: Random Vinyl

Monday: Simon and Garfunkel, "Bridge Over Troubled Water" (1970)
Since it was the day after The Grammys, we played a classic Grammy winner. In 1971 "Bridge Over Troubled Water" took home a number of awards. We chose a deeper cut with "Why Don't You Write Me."

Tuesday: Soft Cell, "Non Stop Erotic Cabaret" (1981)
"Tainted Love" was the biggest smash from this record. We dropped the needle on another single from this record, "Bedsitter."

Wednesday: Herman's Hermits, "Blaze" (1967)
This was an MGM U.S. only release from the British band, Herman's Hermits. No big hits from this album, but a cool Donovan cover. We played the cover of "Museum."

Thursday: The 5th Dimension, "Greatest Hits On Earth" (1972)
It just so happened to be Florence LaRue's birthday when we chose this record for Random Vinyl. "Puppet Man" featured the vocals of the chicks in the band, Florence LaRue and Marilyn McCoo.

Friday: The Pretenders, "Pretenders" (1979/80)
Steve and I came to the agreement that Chrissie Hynde is one of the most badass chicks in the history of rock n' roll music. We played "Mystery Achievement," a song one doesn't often hear on the radio these days.

Comment on this post

Teenage Kicks: Our Aim is True

Posted at 2:38 PM on February 5, 2010 by Jacquie Fuller (2 Comments)
Filed under: Teenage Kicks

This week on Teenage Kicks, we're celbrating Elvis Costello's recent appearance on A Prairie Home Companion by crowning him Artist of the Week.

In his 33-year career making music under the moniker Elvis Costello (real name: Declan Patrick MacManus), Costello has proven himself as one of the most prolific and erudite songwriters in popular music.

Irish blood, English heart aside--in my heart, Costello is a great American songwriter. With their gleeful appropriations of country, blues, and even Tex-Mex (Costello's organ-driven sound was inspired by Texas' 60s psychedelic outfit, the Sir Douglas Quintet) Costello's narrative songs explore the darker side of banal, suburban landscapes. Costello is to pop music what Raymond Carver was to literature, or Edward Hopper to art.

And he's also got some serious moves:

I'd be hard pressed to tell you my favorite Elvis Costello song, but I think "Accidents Will Happen," and "A Kinder Murder" are high-up on the list. What's your favorite Costello song, and what do you love about it?

Tune in to Teenage Kicks for more Elvis!

Comment on this post