The Current Music Blog: April 2, 2007 Archive

The Stream 04/02/07

Posted at 7:00 AM on April 2, 2007 by Barb Abney

Thanks to Mac for a head's up on this one..
The new Wilco album Blue Sky Blue won't be released until May 15th. But you can hear it today on the official Wilco site (click on the bird).

Al Gore's Live Earth Concert set for 07/07/07 won't be "live" in DC.

Bon Savants ready to hit the studio to record new tunes.
They stopped by and recorded an in-studio with us in November.

Glastonbury tickets are sold out.

Rosebuds have announced dates with an expected stop by the Twin Cities in June. They did an in-studio back in November, 2005.

Today In Music History:
1939 - Marvin Gaye was born.
1941 - Leon Russell was born.
1953 - David Robinson (Cars drummer) was born.
1961 - Keren Jane Woodward (Bananarama singer) was born.
1987 - Buddy Rich died.
1996 - Guitar Gabriel (Robert Lewis Jones) died.

Live On Air Blogging 04/02/07

Posted at 9:05 AM on April 2, 2007 by Barb Abney

Noon-ish Tunes On The Telly Tonight:
Regina Spektor on Carson Daly

The Noisettes on Craig Ferguson

11:40 am Twilight Singers and The BellRays
If you're a fan of Greg Dulli related music you should bookmark Summerskiss an excellent way to stay informed.
The BellRays did an in-studio last year.

11:30 am Local Music - Vicious Vicious
They have an upcoming show and new album in the works. More on their Myspace.

11:10 am Low
They stopped by for an in-studio last Friday. They were discussed on Musicheads last week, as well.

10:55 am Owen
Will be appearing at The Varsity Theater along with Rocky Votalato. Learn more at the official site or Myspace page.

10:20 am Fujiya & Miyagi
Are are playing First Avenue on May 9th . Hear them recorded live from our SxSW showcase.

10:10 am Song Of The Day Info - Maria Taylor
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring Maria Taylor with " A Good Start" from her new album, Lynn Teeter Flower. She has a few shows in the near future. More info on her Myspace page. She did an in-studio last April.

9:55 am Gruff Rhys
His second solo album 'Candylion' (his debut, ‘Yr Atal Gehhedlaeth’ was in Welsh) was released earlier this month. His official site..

9:50 am Rainer Maria
It's been almost five months since the band announced their break-up. When we feel nostalgic we can always listen to their in-studio from last May.

9:45 am Local Music - The Jayhawks
Gary Louris did an in-studio early last June. Tim O'Reagan did an in-studio late last June.

9:35 am Loose Fur
"Hey Chicken" video. I posted a Tweedy-related (Wilco) bit in The Stream this morning.

9:25 am Local Music - Beight
Have a few shows in the works.

9:20 am Peter, Bjorn And John
Are playing First Avenue on May 9th along with Fujiya & Miyagi and Au Revoir Simone. PB&J played our SxSW showcase.

9:05 am Sia
She stopped by The Current for an in-studio appearance last April. Her new disk Lady Croissant will be in stores tomorrow.

The Poetics of Pop

Posted at 12:10 PM on April 2, 2007 by Jacquie Fuller (18 Comments)

As a creative writer and music lover, I'm always thinking of ways to consolidate my passions. Last night, I wrote a proposal for my "dream" course (I moonlight as an adjunct instructor): "Lyrics and Music: The Poetics of Pop." My dream is to teach an intro to creative writing course that uses song lyrics and stories/poems about music for inspiration. Imagine this reading list: Greil Marcus, Chuck Klosterman, Nick Hornby, and David Berman's (Silver Jews) book of poetry, Actual Air. And that's just for starters! Would you sign up for that kind of class? And what would you add to the reading list? (Sleaze alert! Anything you post is fair game for my course proposal.)

On a related note: This morning, Michael Wells - the Current's Web producer - sent us a link to The Onion. Their A.V. Club complied a list of 26 songs that are "just as good as short stories." When you think of the wealth of great narrative songs out there, you can imagine that boiling it down to 26 must have been a daunting task! How many didn't make the cut? For instance--not one Elvis Costello song in the bunch! What about songs like "A Kinder Murder," with its Larry McMurtry-esque narrative of small-town drama? Or "Watching the Detectives," a song whose bare-bones feel has always reminded me of Raymond Carver's spare short stories? This leads me to my next question for you: What songs did the A.V. Club miss? Like The Onion writers did, back it up with a good reason. Whose writing do the lyrics remind you of? What, in your opinion, makes that song as good as a short story? Please write in complete sentences. Be prepared to share your answers with the class.

Then repeat after me: I've got it bad, so bad, I'm hot for teacher.

You're so sweet. A+.

Comment on this post

"My 3 Songs" for Monday, April 2nd

Posted at 2:07 PM on April 2, 2007 by Steve Seel

"For a city so rich in music history," says Tommy Augustin of Memphis, TN, "Memphis has the worst radio stations known to man." So he tunes in to The Current online to enjoy the only station he can think of "who would play these three tunes."

1) Teitur, "Feel Like a Thief"
2) The Dismemberment Plan, "Gyroscope"
3) The Postal Service, "Brand New Colony"

Great set, Tommy. I'd not been terribly familar with Teitur before you requested them as part of this set; you remind me to listen to more. And as for the Dismemberment Plan, well, I'm a pretty huge freak, so it's always great to get a request for them.

On the flipside, I'm very, very familiar with the "I hate FM radio in this city" experience -- the three other towns I lived in before moving here all fell into that category -- which, sadly, is just the norm for life in America these days, as many of us know. Anyway, we're doing what we can to make up for it here at the Big C, so thanks for the props (and for being a contributor to the solution with your request).

In other news, did you hear that one of your bands is reuniting for a coupla' shows? (Yay ... and may this be the start of something).