Having seen the band twice at the Rhythm Room (about 300-350 capacity) and then once at the Clubhouse (500), this is a sizable step up to the roughly 5,000-capacity Comerica Theatre. The group’s anthemic sounds deserve a place this big in which to expand.
While on the road, Frightened Rabbit has been selling a tour-only EP that contains three songs, one of which, “Scottish Wind,” has already gotten the live treatment earlier this summer. The two other tracks feature guest spots: Camera Obscura’s Tracyanne Campbell on “Fuck This Place” and Scottish folk singer Archie Fisher on “The Work.”
In all honestly, Mike Doughty’s post-Soul Coughing solo career has been one that I think I want to like more than I actually do.
I loved Soul Coughing – even if his time in the band was apparently a nightmare – so it seemed natural that I would continue to love Doughty’s work. But it’s been hit or miss for me, his clever wit too often getting in the way. Something about song titles like “How to Fuck a Republican,” “(I Want to) Burn You (Down),” “Busting Up a Starbucks” or anagramming an album title after your name (Haughty Melodic = Michael Doughty) is just too over the top for me.
Still, I admire Doughty as an independent musician – his new album Yes and Also Yes (see?) is coming out Aug. 30 on his own label, Snack Bar – and the songs of his I do like I often really like.
That’s turning out to be the case for “Na Na Nothing,” the leadoff track from the forthcoming album. Doughty describes it as “a burn-in-hell-wretched-ex-girlfriend song,” though there is (na na) nothing unpleasant about its hummable melody and singable hook.
In an email newsletter blast, Doughty gave a brief history of the song, saying it was “partially stolen from a song written by Nikki Sixx, Dan Wilson (wrote ‘Closing Time’), and Matt Gerrard (wrote a bunch of tunes in ‘High School Musical’). (I got their permission to steal it).”
Rise up, Detroit. Mayer Hawthorne calls Los Angeles home now, but the soul revivalist hasn’t entirely left behind his Michigan roots.
On this new track, “A Long Time” – with its hilarious video borrowing scenes from an ’80s Detroit public-access dance show – Hawthorne offers words of encouragement for his former hometown, a city particularly stung by the economic collapse. With equal parts patience and pride, Hawthorne stands by his fellow Detroiters, using the stories of Henry Ford and Berry Gordy as sources of motivation: “We’ll return it to its former glory, but it just takes so long.”
Speaking of former glory, this video is really something else. I wanted to take a screenshot, but I really couldn’t decide what to pick. You’ve got the blue turtleneck guy (0:33 mark), the kinda creepy couple (1:22), the lady with the triple watch belt/cummerbund thingy (1:49), Frankenstein sweater dude (2:42) … really, the list goes on. It’s worth watching multiple times.
The song is the first preview of Hawthorne’s new album, How Do You Do (Universal), a release date for which I have not seen. Meanwhile, Hawthorne and his band, The County, will open for Chromeo on Oct. 18 at Marquee Theatre in Tempe.
I can’t wait to see it, though it could be admittedly difficult to watch the movie peel back the layers to uncover the demise of my favorite group. Part of the idealist fanboy in me does not want to witness the bitter infighting.
If nothing else, the documentary appears to have revived interest in Tribe – hopefully even introducing the group to a younger generation (check out a post today on five songs sampled by Tribe at Phoenx New Times’ Up on the Sun blog). As a tribute, Mick Boogie created Excursions, a mixtape of “all the rare songs, demos, limited-edition remixes, and collaborations you may have missed over the years.” I’ve been lucky and persistent enough to collect a lot of these – whether on cassette, vinyl and/or CD. Sharing them was going to part of the goal for the Sundays with A Tribe Called Quest feature that I simply stopped doing. Perhaps it’s time to pick it back up.
In the meantime, follow the link below to stream/download Mick Boogie’s mixtape:
I can’t wait to see Michael Rapaport’s documentary on A Tribe Called Quest – and I’m hearing its Phoenix arrival is coming soon – but until then I am warmed by the clips coming out of the 2011 Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, for which Q-Tip served as the headliner.
Here we have Kanye West assisting on “Award Tour,” and, well, is there really anything else to say about that? I have so many B-sides and remixes and other Tribe odds and ends in my collection that I might just have to devote a week or two to them on this blog. Maybe once the documentary lands in Phoenix, I’ll do just that.
In the dead of Phoenix summer, when sweat trickles down body parts unknown, I typically stick to three colors for clothes: white, black and plaid. (Pro tip: Generra Hypercolor is a big mistake.)
Fashion was never really my forte anyway. I strive for boring and functional – I’m content so long as I have a solid pair of adidas. But there’s nothing bland about Zilla Rocca’s rap palette, which is on full display on his new single “Full Spectrum,” feat. his Wrecking Crew cohort Has-Lo with production by Dr. Quandary (World Around Records).
Like GZA’s “Labels” or Blackalicious’ “Alphabet Aerobics,” Zilla and Has-Lo flip a three-minute tale full of clever wordplay and imagery from a singular theme – in this case, colors (hence the title).
Stream/download the track below. It will appear on the upcoming Nights & Weekends EP, for which Kickstarter donations are being accepted to help fund physical copies and a Super 8 camera for the filming of a video for “Full Spectrum.”
I’ve been there from the get-go, from the demos to the live shows, so there’s a great sense of pride to see a fully formed product` coming in the not-too-distant future for Source Victoria.
It’s looking like the new album is coming this fall – October maybe? – but the first official taste has arrived by way of a three-song EP, a sort of maxi single, if you will. Remember CD singles? It’s like that … without the CD part.
The EP contains three versions of the song “Once I’m Dead”: the album version, a rockier non-album version and a demo that my brother recorded at his house on what must have been a rare quiet morning there (I love my nieces to pieces, but four girls ages 1-8 don’t remain silent for long).
The song credits are below, but it’s certainly worth noting the contributions: local producer/musician Jamie Woolford, pedal-steel player Jon Rauhouse (a member of Neko Case’s band who has also toured with Jakob Dylan), Grammy-winning producer/engineer Chris Testa and enginner (and longtime friend) Jamal Ruhe.
You can grab the tracks at a the new Bandcamp page or head to Yucca Tap Room on Friday night and get a free download code. I’m terribly biased, but I can confidently say there’s plenty more to look forward to on this album.
I’ll never forgive myself for loaning my cassette of Nirvana’s Nevermind to a so-called friend because, of course, I never got it back. Twenty years later, I’m still bitter. And, wait … it’s been 20 years?? This one is gonna start making me feel old.
To celebrate the anniversary of what few would argue to be the most influential album of our generation, Spin cooked up a covers album — Newermind — to complement coverage of the event in their August magazine (that’s that thing with glossy pages that also was influential 20 years ago).
I’m just starting to make my way through the album after downloading it for free at Spin’s Facebook page (you have to “like” Spin and then cough up your email address). Naturally, I had to start with “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” not only because it’s the leadoff track but because it’s handled by Arizona’s Meat Puppets, who were famously covered by and played with Nirvana for MTV Unplugged in 1993.
The Puppets’ Curt Kirkwood tells Spin: “It wasn’t daunting. ‘Teen Spirit’ is just a few chords. It’s easy to play — slap some reverb on there and it’s good to go. This was a cool, weird opportunity — like playing with Nirvana on MTV Unplugged — so we’re happy to take it.”
Another of my favorites, Michael Benjamin Lerner of Telekinesis, came through in a pinch and put together a taut version of On a Plain, which you can hear at NPR.
I’m starting to really miss that cassette tape again.
Tracklist for Newermind:
1. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” Meat Puppets
2. “In Bloom” Butch Walker
3. “Come As You Are” Midnight Juggernauts
4. “Breed” Titus Andronicus
5. “Lithium” The Vaselines
6. “Polly” Amanda Palmer
7. “Territorial Pissings” Surfer Blood
8. “Drain You” Foxy Shazam
9. “Lounge Act” Jessica Lea Mayfield
10. “Stay Away” Charles Bradley and the Menahan Street Band
11. “On A Plain” Telekinesis
12. “Something In The Way” JEFF the Brotherhood
13. “Endless, Nameless” EMA
That sort of creepy image you are looking at – designed by Annie Clark herself – is the cover of the forthcoming St. Vincent album, Strange Mercy, due out Sept. 13 on 4AD.
The 11-track album will be supported by a fall tour that includes a Phoenix stop on Oct. 20 at, yes, the Crescent Ballroom, where quality shows are being lined up despite precious little information about this new venue (see more here).
Clark has been well-received in Phoenix, drawing packed crowds first at Modified and then at Rhythm Room last year. So whatever the size of Crescent Ballroom, it’s a good bet to be near capacity.
Strange Mercy tracklisting:
1 .Chloe in the Afternoon
2 .Cruel
3. Cheerleader
4. Surgeon
5. Northern Lights
6. Strange Mercy
7. Neutered Fruit
8. Champagne Year
9. Dilettante
10. Hysterical Strength
11. Year of the Tiger
A little more than two years after releasing their debut, These Four Walls, young Scottish upstarts We Were Promised Jetpacks announced Monday details of their second album, In the Pit of the Stomach, due out on Fat Cat in the U.S. on Oct. 4.
The band also unveiled tour dates in support of the release, including a Nov. 8 stop at the Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix’s newest downtown venue (about which details are still a bit of a mystery). Via Twitter, WWPJ says Bear Hands and Royal Bangs will join the tour.
And if that wasn’t enough, you can grab a new song, “Act On Impulse,” at the band’s website. WWPJ says the new album “captures the sound of our live show,” and “Act On Impulse” definitely has that vibe – a song that builds slow and delights in the art of anticipation.
