The Current Music Blog: May 16, 2007 Archive

The Stream 05/16/07

Posted at 8:54 AM on May 16, 2007 by Barb Abney

Sufjan takes a break from writing his next album to write book introduction.

Rick Rubin to work for Sony.

Cornel West to release an album.

Your favorite worst album.

Today In Music History:
1946 - Robert Fripp (King Crimson) was born.
1951 - Jonathan Richman was born.
1965 - Chris Novoselic (Nirvana) was born.
1966 - The Beach Boys released Pet Sounds.
1966 - Janet Jackson was born.
1969 - Pete Townshend spent the night in jail for assaulting a man during a Who gig.
1973 - Will White (Propellerheads) was born.
1974 - Neil Young made an unannounced appearance in New York and played songs from his new album On The Beach.
1984 - Ozzy Osbourne was arrested in Memphis, Tennessee for being "staggering drunk" in public.
1986 - Elvis Costello married Caitlin O'Riordan.

Live On Air Blogging 05/16/07

Posted at 9:01 AM on May 16, 2007 by Barb Abney

Noon-ish: Tune On The Telly Tonight
Silversun Pickups on Conan
Joss Stone on Carson Daly
Mavis Staples on Letterman
Modest Mouse on Craig Ferguson

11:40 a.m. The Bad Plus
Hear more tunes from the album and find out how you can save a few bucks on the purchase of Prog here.
Tour Dates and more here.

11:30 a.m. Les Savy Fav
Have you sang their new tune yet?

11:20 a.m. Local Music - Brother Ali
The CD release show is June 8th at First Avenue.
Click here to hear his SxSW performance or an in-studio from December, 2005.

11:15 a.m. Fujiya & Miyagi
In case you missed their performance at our SxSW showcase.
More of their tunes and upcoming tourdates can be found here.

11:10 a.m. Wilco
Sky Blue Sky is The Current's CD Of The Week.
Get your copy when you support The Current online.

10:55 a.m. Benzos
Have been doing an ongoing live remix experiment. They'll also be playing at Bonaroo.
More info here.

10:40 a.m. Au Revoir Simone
They'll return in June with Voxtrot.
Here's a neat-o Au Revoir Simone contest too.

10:20 a.m. Sloan
They're playing at The Fineline Music Cafe this Friday night with Small Sins.

10:15 a.m. Matt and Kim
They'll be playing the final Siren Fest in New York.
Watch their cute video and learn all about them here.

10:10 a.m. Built To Spill
More on vinyl re-issues and upcoming tour dates.

10:05 a.m. Song Of The Day Info - Mystery Jets
Today on our Song Of The Day Podcast we're featuring Mystery Jets with the tune "Diamonds In The Dark" from their album, Zootime. Their appearance at our SxSW showcase, 2006. Tour dates and more tunes here.

9:50 a.m. Rufus Wainwright
Free CD signing tonight in NYC.

9:45 a.m. The Fall
Their 27th studio album, Reformation Post TLC is available now.
The Mark E. Smith Biography Renegades will be available next month.

9:40 a.m. Let's Go Sailing
Have an upcoming show with They Might Be Giants and also a CD release show in LA.
Those dates and more info here.

9:35 a.m. Ryan Adams
More on his new album, Easy Tiger.

9:30 a.m. Local Music - Walker Kong
They're playing Art-A-Whirl.
More band info here.
If you're in a local band, you should send The Local Show your music!!

9:25 a.m. Depeche Mode
More re-issues on the way.

9:20 a.m. Tori Amos
Wants YOU to make her new video.
You might also enjoy the new Everything Tori site.

9:15 Badly Drawn Boy
Will be playing several European festival dates this summer.
If you missed his Fitzgerald Theater performance, listen to it here.

9:10 a.m. The Sea and Cake
Their new album, Everybody is in stores now. They have upcoming dates with Robbers On High Street, The Zincs and Loney Dear. Their official site has more in-depth info on the new album and a complete list of upcoming dates.

9:00 a.m. Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton
They'll be playing July 25th at The Harbourfront Centre, an outdoor theater in downtown Toronto as part of the "Generations" series.
News on their new ep.

"My 3 Songs" for Wednesday

Posted at 2:21 PM on May 16, 2007 by Steve Seel (5 Comments)

Mark Janovec of Hudson WI says, "These three songs highlight unique female singers (and songwriters) who are currently making great music, despite not fitting in the mold that record company executives try to fit their female artists into. These women are strong enough and confident enough in their talents to sell their music instead of their sex appeal."

1) Heartless Bastards, "Grey" (singer/guitarist: Erika Wennerstrom)
2) Neko Case, "Hold On, Hold On"
3) Amy Winehouse, "He Can Only Hold Her"

I wonder, though -- can anyone deny the heapings of sex appeal these artists have? I would argue it's precisely because it's something that emanates naturally from them (and their confidence in who they are), rather than something that is contrived in any way -- especially by some record label marketing machine. Now granted, Ms. Winehouse has been drawn into the vortex of popular tabloid hype thanks to her well documented bad behavior (and this kind of hype has a way of perpetuating and reinforcing itself within the media-industrial complex), and also granted, Neko did pose for that very, uh, unmodest photo (oh, like you thought I was going provide you with a to link to it...). But still.

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