Folkroom: New Album & Launch Party
Aside from my raging Anglophilia, there’s a reason I follow the London folk scene: it’s just good. The city is a hotbed of talent, and there are plenty of supportive locals trying to harness it. I owe a lot to these folk evangelists–not only are they helping artists record and release great tunes, they’re helping people like me discover them. From across the globe.
Like fellow folk community Communion, the label I’m here to introduce grew out of a live night. If you’ve ever stumbled upon the Queen’s Head pub on Acton Street, you may have seen an event called Folkroom–run by Stephen Thomas of We Write Lists and guitarist extraordinaire Ben Walker. These two folk aficionados, along with (fellow 405) writer Robbie Wojciechowski, have decided to turn the fortnightly gig into something bigger and better, and are starting with Folkroom Presents: Anthology One. It’s an album showcasing some of Folkroom’s star performers, and it’s honestly the most exciting thing I’ve heard in some time.
The album is about discovery, and I’ve already discovered some artists fit for my favorites list. It features tracks from the following superb musicians (links to Soundcloud pages):
Laura Boyle
Jessie Moncrieff
Andrew Butler
Camille Delean
O. Chapman
Lucy Cait
Worry Dolls
Woodford Green
Josienne Clarke
Salwa Azar
Dave Gerard
Want to know the best part? You can download the album FOR FREE this Saturday December 17th, at 12pm UK time. And you should–if only so I can finally talk about it with you. I’m getting antsy not being able to share, so head to Bandcamp as soon as the clock strikes noon.
If you’re in London, it gets even better. There’s a December 17th launch party at the Queen’s Head, and most of these fine folksters will be performing. This ten-plus act gig is also the wonderful price of FREE. Check out more info here.
Rawkblog got the premiere for this sweet cover of the Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want”, which you can listen to here. And after her fantastic cover of Lesley Gore’s “Maybe I Know” (above), I think the girl can cover damn near anything.
Alessi has also given us a holiday playlist, full of delightful classics. You could grab a cup of cocoa and listen to it by the fire, or put Time Travel on instead. Either one will leave you feeling warm and happy.
While we’re on the subject of Yep Roc/Bella Union, listen to this badass tune from new artist Cheyenne Marie Mize (whom I saw with Johnny Flynn). “Wishing Well” (below) reminds me a bit of Feist’s “When I Was a Young Girl”.
Matthew and the Atlas Have Disbanded?
I am heartbroken to announce that Matthew and the Atlas, a band that has become my favorite over the years, has disbanded. Things are still murky–it began yesterday morning with Facebook and WordPress posts that were quickly removed, but drummer Tommy Field left the below post on his other band’s Myspace.
Goodbye & Thank you to all “Matthew and the Atlas” fans
I’m very sad to announce that I’ve been released from my drumming duties for “Matthew and the Atlas”. With Harry Cargill leaving the band to start up his solo project, Matthew felt the band had progressed as far as it could in its current form and it was time for a change. Matthew will continue under the MATA name but as a solo performer for the time being – and I wish him all the best and I look forward to hearing his new material.
I’ve had a great time and seen some incredible places upon my travels – not to mention I’ve met some true lifelong friends and musicians on the way.
It has been a disappointing end to a road that showed a lot of promise and potential. I’d like to wish Matthew and all previous members of the band the best of luck with their future careers – having worked with them I know their talents will take them far under the correct guidance.
Thank you to every one who has supported and helped me along the way – in particular: Marcus, Win, Ben and Ted of “Mumford and Sons”. Zac Just our US tour manager. JL and Anke our US and European Booking Agents. “Big” Mike Harris of “The Apache Relay”. Helen, David, Shelby, Wes, Kristin and Joe of “The David Mayfield Parade”. Matt Oliver at The Big Orange Studio, Austin, TX. Sean and Phil of Daytrotter. Paul Frith. Mazin Tappuni. Jamie “The Crab” Emsell. Bob Wier and his amazing crew at Tri Studios and last but not least, all my friends and family.
If anyone has more information on this, please let me know. I and Matthew and the Atlas’s many other fans are devastated.
Noise Pop Announces Additional Artists
Bay Area indie festival Noise Pop has announced more of its schedule, and I’m pretty happy with round 2. I’ll be catching Wye Oak, The Dodos, The Soft Pack, and Yalls for sure.
20 Minute Loop
Bare Wires
Big Freedia
Brilliant Colors
Carlos Forster
Chapter 24
Dirty Ghosts
Talkdemonic
The Dodos
The Soft Pack
Tyler Lyle
Wye Oak
Yalls
The first announced bands:
Archers of Loaf
Bleached
Born Gold
Budos Band
Built to Spill
Christie Front Drive
The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn
Cursive
Die Antwoord
Disappears
Grimes
Imperial Teen
Laura Veirs
Mount Moriah
oOoOO
Pickwick
Porter Robinson
Surfer Blood
Taxes
Ume
Veronica Falls
Virgin Island
The Head and the Heart Announce Spring 2012 Tour
Seattle folksters The Head and the Heart have had a busy and successful 2011, and they’re gearing up for an even better 2012. They just announced a North American spring tour, and tickets go on sale Wednesday. (If you’re on the mailing list, you have access to a presale that begins tomorrow.)
Check out the dates below, and please go see these guys live. You won’t regret it. For more about THATH’s concerts, take a gander at some of my previous reviews here and here.
Sun, Mar 04 Lawrence, KS The Granada
Mon, Mar 05 Urbana, IL Canopy Club
Tue, Mar 06 Louisville, KY Headliners
Thu, Mar 08 Chicago, IL Vic Theatre
Fri, Mar 09 Indianapolis, IN The Vogue
Sat, Mar 10 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall
Sun, Mar 11 Pontiac, MI The Crofoot Ballroom
Tue, Mar 13 Toronto, ON The Opera House
Wed, Mar 14 Montreal, QC La Tulipe
Thu, Mar 15 South Burlington, VT Higher Ground Ballroom
Fri, Mar 16 Portland, ME State Theatre
Sat, Mar 17 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
Sun, Mar 18 New York, NY Terminal 5
Tue, Mar 20 Baltimore, MD Ram’s Head Live
Wed, Mar 21 Richmond, VA The National
Fri, Mar 23 Athens, GA 40 Watt Club
Sat, Mar 24 Nashville, TN Cannery Ballroom
Sun, Mar 25 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
Bowerbirds Announce New Album, Tour
Bowerbirds’ “Northern Lights” is somewhere in my top 10 fave songs ever.
Bowerbirds have announced that their new album, The Clearing, will be released March 6, 2012. The first single from that album, “Tuck the Darkness In”, is available for download here. In addition to the album, the band will be touring the US in March and April–I’m stoked to see them at the Independent. You can join me at that gig by purchasing a ticket here at noon PST on December 9th.
The Clearing track listing:
01. Tuck the Darkness In
02. In the Yard
03. Walk the Furrows
04. Stitch the Hem
05. This Year
06. Brave World
07. Hush
08. Overcome with Light
09. Sweet Moment
10. Death Wish
11. Now We Hurry On
Tour dates:
Sat. March 17 — Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Wed. March 21 — Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Thu. March 22 — Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s
Fri. March 23 — New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
Sat. March 24 — Boston, MA @ Paradise
Mon. March 26 — Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa
Tue. March 27 — Toronto, ON @ The Garrison
Thu. March 29 — Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Sat. March 31 — Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
Tue. April 3 — Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
Wed. April 4 — Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge
Fri. April 6 — San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Sat. April 7 — Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
Sun. April 8 — San Diego, CA @ Casbah
Wed. April 11 — Austin, TX @ The Parish
Thu. April 12 — Dallas, TX @ The Loft
Sat. April 14 — Birmingham, AL @ The Bottletree
Sun. April 15 — Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
Andrew Bird Announces New Album, US Tour Dates, Exclusive Deal
ANDREW BIRD AND IAN SCHNELLER AT THE GUGGENHEIM from Victor Quinaz & Co. on Vimeo.
UPDATE: At least for the Oakland date on 4/13, LAURA MARLING is the support for Andrew Bird’s Break It Yourself tour. APE pre-sale tickets go on sale next Thursday at 10am PST , and regular tickets go on sale the 18th at 10am PST.
Prepare yourself for an earful if you ever get me started on Andrew Bird. Long story short, I think he’s brilliant–actually brilliant, not just the way those Brits use the term. But I’ll wax poetic another time; the fine folks at One Thirty BPM have plenty to say on the topic as well.
Mr. Bird has announced that his upcoming album Break It Yourself will be released in the US on March 6, 2012 (March 5 everywhere else). He’ll be touring the US in support of the album, and has prepared a pretty sweet music and ticket bundle. Buy a ticket to one of the tour dates and you’ll get:
The five-song live EP Fake Conversations from his October tour, delivered to your inbox within a few days of ticket purchase
A digital download of Break It Yourself delivered at midnight on March 6th
A second five-song souvenir live EP from the Break It Yourself tour, delivered in the spring
Check tour dates below:
March 15 Majestic Theatre, Dallas, TX
March 16 The Howlin’ Wolf, New Orleans, LA
March 17 Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA
March 19 Ryman Auditorium, Nashville, TN
March 20 Southern Theatre, Columbus, OH
March 22 The Pageant, St. Louis, MO
March 23 The Uptown Theater, Kansas City, MO
March 24 Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI
April 9 Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
April 10 The Vogue, Vancouver, BC
April 11 Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR
April 13 Fox Theater, Oakland, CA
April 18 Ikeda Theater at Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ
April 19 Lensic Performing Arts Center, Santa Fe, NM
April 20 Rialto Theater, Tucson, AZ
May 3 Union Transfer, Philadelphia, PA
May 4 Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
May 5 Beacon Theatre, New York, NY
May 6 House of Blues, Boston, MA
May 8 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
May 9 Ramshead Live, Baltimore, MD
May 10 The Fillmore Detroit, Detroit, MI
May 12 Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL
SXSW, NoisePop Announce Artists
LA’s PAPA is one of about five billion artists just confirmed for SXSW.
Today’s a big day for festival announcements. SXSW announced its third round of artists (it’s pretty folking great–and yes, I meant folking), and NoisePop just confirmed some of the artists for their 20th anniversary. More will be announced at the official announcement party on December 8th.
Here are the NoisePop artists, confirmed by Spin today:
Archers of Loaf
Bleached
Born Gold
Budos Band
Built to Spill
Christie Front Drive
The Hold Steady’s Craig Finn
Cursive
Die Antwoord
Disappears
Grimes
Imperial Teen
Laura Veirs
Mount Moriah
oOoOO
Pickwick
Porter Robinson
Surfer Blood
Taxes
Ume
Veronica Falls
Virgin Island
And for the full list of latest SXSW artists, click here, but below are my personal faves. (And here’s the complete list of announced artists so far, in all three rounds; it’s a doozy!)
The Apache Relay (Nashville TN)
Beach Fossils (Brooklyn NY)
The Big Pink (London UK-ENGLAND)
Bleached (Los Angeles CA)
Blitzen Trapper (Portland OR)
Blood Orange (New York NY)
Cosmo Jarvis (Plymouth UK-ENGLAND)
Craft Spells (Seattle WA)
Daughter (London UK-ENGLAND)
Delta Spirit (Long Beach CA)
Dignan Porch (London UK-ENGLAND)
Dry the River (London UK-ENGLAND)
Marcus Foster (London UK-ENGLAND)
Grimes (Montreal CANADA)
Horse Feathers (Portland OR)
Imaginary Cities (Winnipeg CANADA)
Sarah Jaffe (Denton TX)
Michael Kiwanuka (London UK-ENGLAND)
Talib Kweli (Brooklyn NY)
Benjamin Francis Leftwich ( UK-ENGLAND)
The Magnetic Fields (New York NY)
Dan Mangan (Vancouver CANADA)
David Mayfield Parade (Nashville TN)
Metric (Toronto CANADA)
PAPA (Los Angeles CA)
Nathaniel Rateliff (Denver CO)
Sparkadia (Annandale AUSTRALIA)
Spector (London UK-ENGLAND)
The Spinto Band (Wilmington DE)
The Staves (London UK-ENGLAND)
Tall Ships (Falmouth UK-ENGLAND)
Three Blind Wolves (Glasgow UK-SCOTLAND)
Tilly and the Wall (Omaha NE)
Treetop Flyers (London ENGLAND)
Lissy Trullie (New York NY)
Bombay Bicycle Club Announce US Tour
The new video for “Leave It”.
I haven’t seen Bombay Bicycle Club since 2009, when they played an acoustic set at my favorite pub in the world (The Old Queen’s Head, for you Londoners). Since then, they’ve made huge waves on both sides of the pond–being on the Twilight soundtrack probably didn’t hurt. The band has run the gamut from rock to folk, and I’ve long wondered how their sets mix songs like “Evening/Morning” with “Shuffle” or “Ivy & Gold”.
I’ll finally get to find out, as the band is heading to the US for a tour in February and March. They’ll hit Rickshaw Stop in San Francisco on February 16th, and mark my words–I’ll be there.
2/14/12 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah (21+)
2/15/12 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre (All Ages)
2/16/12 San Francisco, CA @ The Rickshaw Shop (18+)
2/17/12 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Lounge (21+)
2/18/12 Seattle, WA @ Crocodile Café (21+)
2/20/12 Vancouver, BC @ Venue (19+)
2/21/12 Kamloops, BC @ Blue Grotto (19+)
2/22/12 Calgary, AB @ Republik (18+)
2/23/12 Edmonton, AB @ Starlite Room (18+)
2/25/12 Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre (All Ages)
2/26/12 Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry (18+)
2/27/12 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean (17+)
2/29/12 Columbus, OH @ The Basement (All Ages)
3/1/12 Toronto, ON @ Mod Club (19+)
3/2/12 Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Mile End (18+)
3/3/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (18+)
3/5/12 New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom (18+)
3/7/12 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (All Ages)
3/8/12 Hoboken, NJ @ Maxwell’s (All Ages)
3/9/12 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East Downstairs (18+)
3/10/12 Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer (All Ages)
Tickets go on sale December 9th. Thanks for the heads up, Thrillcall.
Earworms of 2011
My biggest song addiction in 2011: “Better Off Without You” by Summer Camp.
I hate ‘best of’ lists. Best songs, albums, concerts, whatever–it makes me anxious. Who am I to decide what the absolute top album was in 2011? I don’t have the chutzpah for declarations like that.
Instead, I’ve decided to compile a list of the songs that would not get out of my head in 2011. This is based on my own memories, so some of these songs might not make sense in another context (why is Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros on there, for example? Easy: Railroad Revival Tour). I tried to keep out a) the really embarrassing ones and b) the absolute dreck–yes, I’ve gotten Rebecca Black’s “Friday” stuck in my head more often than I care to mention, but that wasn’t exactly by choice. Are these my favorite songs of the year? Some of them. But mostly they’re just catchy, head-bobbing, and/or addictive.
I’ve made this a collaborative playlist, and I would love to see what you’ve been grooving to in 2011. Without further ado: Earworms of 2011.
Featuring:
Adele (don’t deny it, you’ve hummed “Rolling in the Deep” too), The Agitator, Alessi’s Ark, The Antlers, Architecture In Helsinki, A B & the Sea, Battles, Beirut, Benjamin Francis Leftwich, The Black Keys, Bombay Bicycle Club, The City and Horses, Cut Copy, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Daughter, Dawes, The Decemberists, The Dodos, Dominant Legs, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Elbow, Emmy the Great, Eugene McGuinness, First Aid Kit, Fitz & the Tantrums, Fleet Foxes, Florence and the Machine, Foster the People (see ‘Adele’), Girls, Goldheart Assembly, He’s My Brother She’s My Sister, The Head and the Heart, Hey Sholay, Imaginary Cities, James Vincent McMorrow, Korallreven, Kurt Vile, Laura Hocking, Laura Marling, Laura Stevenson & the Cans, LCD Soundsystem, The Leisure Society, The Lowly Knights, Luke Temple, Lykke Li, Marcus Foster, The Mariner’s Children, Metronomy, Michael Kiwanuka, The Middle East, Noah and the Whale, Nurses, Okkervil River, Old Crow Medicine Show, Other Lives, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Papa, Parenthetical Girls, Peggy Sue, Pepper Rabbit, The Radio Dept., Rubblebucket, Sarah Jaffe, Sea of Bees, Slow Club, St. Vincent, Summer Camp, The Tallest Man on Earth, Three Blind Wolves, Timber Timbre, To Kill a King, Tom Vek, Treefight for Sunlight, Treetop Flyers, Tune-Yards, The Vaccines, Vincent Minor, Voxhaul Broadcast, Warpaint, Woods, Wye Oak, Yacht
