Noteworthy Performances Part I - Sonic Youth and the Black Keys Austin City Limits

A couple great performances this past weekend on Austin City Limits.  Just in case you missed it.  Have a look for yourself.

Watch the full episode. See more Austin City Limits.

Coachella 2011 Official Line up Announced

Some good news today to warm the cockles of frozen music fans enduring this god awful winter thing… Last night the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival unveiled the official lineup for the Spring desert festival and it looks mostly spectacular.

Headlined by Kings of Leon, Arcade Fire, Kanye West and The Strokes, the festival located on the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio, California will also feature sets by reunited Britpop legends Suede, The Black Keys, P.J. Harvey, Interpol, The Chemical Brothers and many others.  Like some fantastic best music of 2010 too, the California music festival will include appearances by Duran Duran, Wire and reunions of Mick Jones’ post-Clash project Big Audio Dynamite and Death From Above 1979. (Full listing below)

!!!, 12th Planet, Afrojack, Alf Alpha, Andy C, Angus and Julia Stone, Animal Collective, Arcade Fire, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, A-Trak, Axwell, Beardyman, Best Coast, Big Audio Dynamite, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, Bloody Beetroots Death Crew 77, Bomba Estereo, Boys Noize, Brandon Flowers, Brandt Brauer Frick, Breakage, Bright Eyes, Broken Social Scene, Cage the Elephant, Caifanes, Caspa, Cee Lo Green, Chromeo, Chuckie, City and Colour, Clare Maguire, Cold Cave, Cold War Kids, Crystal Castles, CSS, Cults, Cut Copy, Daedelus, Death From Above 1979, Delorean, Delta Sprirt, DJ Hype, DJ Kentaro, DJ Marky, DJ Zinc, Duck Sauce, Duran Duran, EE, Elbow, Electric Touch, Eliza Doolittle, Ellie Goulding, Emicida, Empire of the Sun, Erick Morillo, Erykah Badu, Excision, , Fat Freddy’s Drop, Fedde Le Grand, Fistful of Mercy, Flogging Molly, Foals, Foster the People, Francis and the Lights, Freelance Whales, fun., G.Q., Gayngs, Glasser, Gogol Bordello, Good Old War, Gord Downie, Goth Trad, Green Velvet, Gypsy and the Cat, HEALTH, Here We Go Magic, High Contrast, Hurts, Interpol, Jack Beats, Jack’s Mannequin, Jakes, Jenny and Johnny, Jimmy Eat World, Joachim Garraud, Joy Orbison, Kanye West, Kele, Kings of Leon, Klaxons, Kode9, Kyle Hall, Laidback Luke, Leftfield, Lightning Bolt, Lil’ B, Lorn, Los Bunkers, Magnetic Man, Mariachi El Bronx, Marina and the Diamonds, Mary Anne Hobbs, MEN, Menomena, Monarchy, Mount Kimbie, Moving Units, Ms. Lauryn Hill, Mumford & Sons, Nas & Damian Marley, Neon Trees, New Pants, Nosaj Thing, OFF!, OFWGKTA, Omar Rodriguez Lopez, One Day as a Lion, Ozomatli, Paul van Dyk, Phantogram, Phosphorescent, PJ Harvey, Plan B, Ramadanman, Raphael Saadiq, Ras G, Ratatat, Riva Starr, Robyn, Roska, Rye Rye, Sander Kleinenberg, Sasha, SBTRKT, Scala & Kolacny Bros., Scissor Sisters, She Wants Revenge, Shpongle, Skrillex, Sleigh Bells, Steve Angello, Sven Vath, Take, Tame Impala, Terror Danjah, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down, The Aquabats, The Black Keys, The Chemical Brothers, The Drums, The Felice Brothers, The Henry Clay People, The Joy Formidable, The Kills, The London Suede, The Love Language, The Morning Benders, The National, The New Pornographers, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, The Presets, The Radio Dept., The Rural Alberta Advantage, The Strokes, The Swell Season, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Twelves, Thunderball, Tinie Tempah, Titus Andronicus, Tokimonsta, Trampled by Turtles, Trentemoller, Twin Shadow, Two Door Cinema Club, Warpaint, Wire, Wiz Khalifa, Yacht, Yelle, Zed Bias

The details - The festival takes place April 15th - April 17th. Three-day weekend passes cost $269 (plus $3 charity plus $9 facility fee plus service fees) and go on sale 10AM this Friday at the Coachella website.

I’m thinking its time to get the Winnebago off the blocks… Anyone up for a very long road trip?  I wanna see the National in the desert.

The Man with the Golden Ear

Don Kirshner (1934 - 2011)

The music world lost a legend when influential music producer, song publisher, manager, and television host Don Kirshner passed away yesterday in Boca Raton, Florida at the age of 76 from heart failure.
Kirshner is best known to the general public as the host of the ABC late-night show Rock Concert, but it was his work behind the scenes that made him the legend. A true pioneer in the music industry Kirshner originally worked in business administration.  He gravitated to the music business in the late 1950's, helping get Bobby Darin's career off the ground and working as the manager of Connie Francis. The latter partnership skyrocketed Francis' career with hits like "Who's Sorry Now", "Stupid Cupid", "My Happiness" and "Among My Souvenirs".

At the same time, Kirshner and Al Nevins formed Aldon Music to capitalize on the surge in rock popularity and opened an office across the street from the celebrated Brill Building in New York. They started by signing Mort Shuman and Doc Pomus and followed by inviting Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Their teams were responsible for many of the hits of the late 50's and early 60's including "Breaking Up is Hard to Do", "On Broadway", "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin", and "Will You Love Me Tomorrow".

Don Kirshner also served as the music director for The Monkees television show, and had a hand in the production of the Monkees' first two albums. He was the force behind the cartoon band the Archies, and ran three labels in the 1960s and 1970s: Chairman, Calendar, and Kirshner, the latter of which launched the band Kansas.

In the 1970s and early 1980s, he hosted the ground breaking television show Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. Rec room dwellers across North America tuned in for this syndicated weekly program that featured diverse bands like the Rolling Stones, Cheap Trick, Black Sabbath, and the Ramones performing live, long-form concerts.

Kirshner’s wide-ranging success in the music business earned him the nickname ‘the Man with the Golden Ear’ from contemporaries. In 2007, Kirshner was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame.

J Mascis Unplugs for Several Shades of Why

Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis will unplug the Marshalls this spring for a just-announced twenty two date North American tour in support of his forthcoming, first solo studio album Several Shades of Why. Definitely a departure for fans of that trademark guitar, drums and vocals that have long driven a string of amazing bands including: Deep Wound, Dinosaur Jr., Gobblehoof, Velvet Monkeys, the Fog, Witch, Sweet Apple and numerous session appearances.

The tour opens March 10th in Ithaca, N.Y., and wraps up May 7th in San Diego, with several breaks in between to space out those shows (see full dates below). Mascis will release his new album on March 15th on via Sub Pop; The disc features plenty of guest s including: Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, Kurt Vile and Band of Horses’ Ben Bridwell, among others. You can grab a free MP3 of album track “Not Enough” by clicking the handy linkage below. Full tour dates below that.

J Mascis Solo Tour Dates:

03/10 - Castaways, Ithaca, NY
03/11 -The Great Hall, Toronto, ON
03/22 - Headroom Stages, Brattleboro, VT
03/23 - World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA
03/24 - The Mercury Lounge, New York, NY
03/25 - Music Hall of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
03/26 - Brighton Music Hall, Boston, MA
03/30 - Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH
03/31 - Blind Pig, Ann Arbor, MI
04/01 - Subterranean, Chicago, IL
04/02 - 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis, MN
04/07 - The Earl, Atlanta, GA
04/08 - The Melting Point, Athens, GA
04/09 - The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC
04/10 - Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC
04/29 - Tractor Tavern, Seattle, WA
04/30 - Dante’s, Portland, OR
05/03 - Crepe Palace, Santa Cruz, CA
05/04 - The Independent, San Francisco, CA
05/05 - Alex’s Bar, Long Beach, CA
05/06 - The Echo, Los Angeles, CA
05/07 - The Casbah, San Diego, CA

A credible, edible* collection of 11 songs

New the Low Anthem Next Month

Looking ahead this year 2011 could shape up to be yet another stellar one for music fans. One release that I am anxiously awaiting is the new one from the Low Anthem. The follow-up to 2009’s spectacular Oh My God, Charlie Darwin the new release is called Smart Flesh and is scheduled for release on February 22nd via Nonesuch.

From the band’s website:

A credible, edible* collection of 11 songs. Softer than your velvet Elvis and fiercer than Lady Hate herself. Chapped, naked love songs, lazier than the drifting sun. Songs of fear, cruelty and redemption. Songs on songs. Essence and nonsense. Frequencies for sympathetic architects. A church - a black hole – silence – exit music for thunder. Oooeeee! Herein: that bulbous, intelligent brain flesh of empty whales. That vacuous and monotonous flesh of the tumor. That taut flesh of the archer and his drawn bow. That trembling gut of the tightrope, that humming steel of airplanes. Woe that endless hunt. Woe ye embalmers of beauty. Woah! That tender and redeemed flesh…

*FOR YOUR EARS ONLY, WITH LOVE

The first 250 pre-orders of the recording from The Low Anthem store include a letterpress printed poster, signed by the band. All pre-orders include an instant download of the album's opening track, "Ghost Woman Blues”. Notable too, the first 5,000 CDs will come in letterpress printed packages with a bonus disc featuring three unreleased tracks from the Smart Flesh sessions. As well, the first 5,000 vinyl copies will also come in exclusive letterpress packages. The CD and vinyl are already available for pre-order through the band’s website, at shows, or through Nonesuch.

Catch the Low Anthem here on tour:

01/13 New York, NY @ American Songbook at Lincoln Center
01/26 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern (w/ Iron & Wine)
02/24 Washington, DC @ Sixth I Historic Synagogue
02/25 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
02/26 Pittsburgh, PA @ Brillobox
02/27 Charleston, WV @ Mountain Stage
02/28 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
03/2 Toronto, ON @ Great Hall
03/3 Montreal, QC @ Sala Rosa
03/4 Boston, MA @ Old South Church
03/5 North Adams, MA @ Mass MoCA
03/7 Portland, ME @ Space Gallery



The Low Anthem "Two Sisters" [Tom Waits cover] LIVE 6.6.09 from Tim Gurczak on Vimeo.

 

Your Weekly Download Lowdown

(Catching up on some stuff you may have missed over the holidays.)

Download Radiohead Concert Film

Just into 2011 and rumours abound that Radiohead will be releasing new music this year. For those Paranoid Androids that just can’t wait- a special treat. Last January, the Oxford quintet put on a very exclusive (limited to only 1400 fans) show in Los Angeles to raise money for Haitian earthquake relief. Thanks to a handful of ardent fans supporters, an official two disc DVD consisting of footage from the concert, videotaped by fourteen different fans, and a few audio tracks is available for download, and is even streaming on Youtube. All twenty four songs performed are featured in the film; the setlist (see below) including classics from The Bends to 2007′s In Rainbows. All Radiohead asks is that you donate to Oxfam Charity in return.


You might recall a fan made concert film sanctioned by the band with high quality audio supplied by them, that was made available last August. Great stuff there too!

You can find all the links to download this two hour concert film here. Again, if you do download the film, all Radiohead asks is a donation to Oxfam in return.

So Radiohead fans... Give early and give often.  This one is very much worth it.

Setlist:

Faust Arp
Fake Plastic Trees
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
National Anthem
Nude
Karma Police
Kid A
Morning Bell
How To Disappear Completely
Wolf at the Door
The Bends
Reckoner
Lucky
Body Snatchers
Dollars & Cents
Airbag
Exit Music (For a Film)

Encore:
Everything In Its Right Place
You and Whose Army?
Pyramid Song
All I Need
Lotus Flower
Paranoid Android
Street Spirit

Sonic Youth Soundtrack Release

The latest opus in Sonic Youth’s vast musical canon is soon to be released. This time, a fantastic soundtrack to the latest film from French director Fabrice Gobert,  Simon Werner a Disparu (aka Lights Out) is headed for release. According to the band's news blog, the score serves as the latest installment in the band's experimental-leaning SYR series - (SYR 9). It will be released on that imprint digitally on January 25th via Midheaven, on CD February 15th, and March 1st on vinyl.

Tracklisting as follows:

Simon Werner a Disparu

01 Thème de Jérémie
02 Alice et Simon
03 Les Anges au piano
04 Chez Yves (Alice et Clara)
05 Jean-Baptiste à la fenêtre
06 Thème de Laetitia
07 Escapades
08 La Cabane au Zodiac
09 Dans les bois / M. Rabier
10 Jean-Baptiste et Laetitia
11 Thème de Simon
12 Au Café
13 Thème d’Alice $

($ CD bonus track/available as download with vinyl)

The film will be released on DVD in France on February 1st, with a bonus CD containing pieces of Sonic Youth's score. Check out the soundtrack's tracklist below, as well as a trailer for Simon Werner a Disparu, which features some of Sonic Youth's music for the film.

Tracklist on that CD as follows:

01. M. Rabier (aspect)
02. Jean-Baptiste à la fenêtre (aspect)
03. Alice et Clara (aspect)
04. Thème de Jérémie (aspect)
05. Thème de Simon

New Okkervil River in February

In 2010, Okkervil River put out a collaboration with Texas psych legend Roky Erickson. Critically regarded as his comeback album True Love Cast Out All Evil, was a bold step for all parties. Okkervil River’s Will Sheff was in fact recently nominated for a Grammy for his liner notes for the aforementioned release.

This year though, the band will be focusing on their own craft once again, as they will release a new single on February 8th via Jagjaguwar.

The single contains two new tracks: "Mermaid" and the b-side "Walked Out on a Line." (According to the fan site Down the Oubliette, "Mermaid" was previously featured in the independent 2008 film, In Search of a Midnight Kiss.)

The single will come out on glorious twelve-inch vinyl. As always, for those without a vinyl carver, it will also be available digitally. The "Mermaid" single precedes Okkervil River's forthcoming follow-up to 2008's brilliant The Stand Ins, which is due sometime later this year.