The Current Music Blog: April 17, 2009 Archive

Today In Music History: A President Named Sue?

Posted at 7:09 AM on April 17, 2009 by Steve Seel

1934 - Don Kirshner, music empresario and promoter, was born. Kirshner launched the careers of Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Harry Nilsson, The Monkees and The Archies.
1955 - Pete Shelley (guitar, vocals, Buzzcocks) was born.
1973 - Pink Floyd's album 'Dark Side of the Moon' went gold in the US.
1991 - Nirvana appeared at the OK Hotel in Seattle, Washington, where they played a new song, 'Smell's Like Teen Spirit' live for the first time.
1998 - Linda McCartney died after a long battle against cancer.

It was on this date in 1970 that Johnny Cash played at the White House for President Nixon, who requested that he played 'A Boy Named Sue.' The mind reels.

Does giving away a tune mean the end of mankind? Ask Man Is Doomed!

Posted at 10:55 AM on April 17, 2009 by Barb Abney

Brian Casey, Danny Burke and Anton Friant are Man Is Doomed. They released their full length debut Escape to Europa a couple of weeks ago. You can grab the tune "Electrons In The Air" for free today on our Song Of The Day podcast. If you're a new subscriber, you will also grab new songs from Röyksopp, Bob Mould, Coconut Records and Obits. Next week you'll get new tunes from The Veils, Boy Least Likely To, Band Of Skulls, Halloween, Alaska and Black Blondie. More Man Is Doomed... If you know the local outift Glorious Monster, then you're well on your way to being familiar with Man Is Doomed! I had the opportunity to catch them live back in October. Your next chance to do so, is coming up next Friday when they play The Nomad.

And The Train Conductor Says ...

Posted at 11:23 AM on April 17, 2009 by Steve Seel (1 Comments)

For the 9:30 Coffee Break today: train songs, in light of President Obama's announcment yesterday that he wants to create a network of high speed rail trains accross the country within the next decade.

Gee, who knew there were so many songs about trains? Kidding. Once again, this was a deluge of suggestions, and I loved these:

1) Love and Rockets, "Kundalini Express"
2) R.E.M., "Driver 8"
3) Glenn Campbell, "Wichita Lineman"

Have a great weekend!

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Theft of the Dial ; Andrew Bird

Posted at 4:44 PM on April 17, 2009 by Mark Wheat (3 Comments)
Filed under: Theft of the Dial

Right after performing an awesome set in our UBS Forum and being grilled by Steve Seel, Andrew very kindly let me guide him through the process of being a DJ. He had never done it before and seemed curious to try. He explained how listening to "Blues Before Sunrise" on a station near his home in Illinois when he was young was an inspiration to him. It ran overnight and he would put a tape in when he went to sleep and wake up to turn it over!

That's probably when he first heard artists like Charlie Patton, played on old 78rpm vinyl records! The African, polyrthymic tracks in the centre of his set are both from "Ghana Soundz" compilations. He likes the way that all the instruments lock into one groove. The Cass McCombs track is from the '03 album simply entitled 'A'. Andrew expressed amazement at how Cass can construct songs out of such bewildering lyrical constructions. Interesting, as he had explained earlier to Steve how the new songs on his own 'Noble Beast' were the first that he had tried to get the lyrics down first before finishing the rest of the song. He then explained that the way his band plays, with his and Martin Dosh's loops interweaving means that the songs are never the same twice. They become a precarious tightrope act live, a kind of jazz, as they improvise around the results that they can never completely control. So ending the set with a little jazz was appropriate. And look for him to cover the song he kicked off with sometime also a favourite of mine from the hugely talented Bill Callahan;

1. Smog - Cold Blooded Old Times
2. Oscar Sulley & The Uhuru Dance Band - Olufeme
3. Oscar Sulley & The Uhuru Dance Band - Bukom Mashie
4. Charlie Patton - Shake It Break It
5. Django Reinhardt - I Cover The Water Front
6. Cass McCombs - I Went to The Hospital
7. Lester Young - The Man I Love

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This new feature is very fulfilling, the musicians react in a totally different way than when talking about their own music. They come up with ways of describing music in a different way from fans, DJ's and critics.

Andrew also shared his near-electrocution story from last years Rock The Garden! He admitted that the band was not happy with the way the show was going before the short thunderstorm moved in. They nailed it when they came back on however for what many people described that day as a magical musical moment. Let's hope we get more of those this year, without any threats of electrocution!

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Record Store Day Round Up

Posted at 8:09 PM on April 17, 2009 by Mark Wheat

When I first came to the Cities in '92 I lived in Loring Park. Being able to walk down to Let It Be for my regular fix meant that I knew I'd made the right choice to move here!
The shop I missed most after moving from New York City, Other Music, is famously mentioned in the Low song "Broadway So Many People". Do you have a fave store that you miss, either one that was here and closed, or in another city?

Here in reverse alphabetical order are the ones that are left locally;
VITAL VINYL
TREEHOUSE
ROADRUNNER
KNOW NAME
HYMIES
FIFTH ELEMENT
EXTREME NOISE
ELECTRIC FETUS
ECLIPSE RECORDS
DOWN IN THE VALLEY
CHEAPO

The 7" single we played tonight was UltraChorus "words kept talking" just one of the local bands continuing the tradition. The local label mpls ltd like doing it too and they have a 10th Anniversary Celebration at The Turf Saturday night with headliners First Communion Afterparty. Bill DeVille will be playing more vinyl all day Saturday for his Honey Do list feature, enjoy your vinyl, keep it tight!