Read The Lastest Music News/Reviews

by Bill Pearis

Some of you may remember early/mid-'00s Detroit-area band Thunderbirds Are Now!, who are in semi-permanent hibernation at the moment. Singer Ryan Allen is now in Destroy This Place which he co-fronts with former New Grenada member John Nelson and the line-up includes Allen's Friendly Foes bandmate Sean Sommer on drums. The band just released their eponymous second album which roars with crunchy, anthemic indie (the Allen songs), and big riff rock (via Nelson, who sounds a skooch like Ozzy at times). You can stream the whole album below.

Destroy This Place gig a lot in Michigan but don't make it out of the area that often, but the band are going on tour this summer, including a stop in NYC on June 29 at Death by Audio with Turing Machine, Shark? and Your Skull. All tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Destroy This Place (ex-Thunderbirds Are Now!) released their second album, touring (dates, LP stream)" at brooklynvegan

The National’s release their new album Trouble Will Find Me yesterday (5/21) and played two intimate NYC show to celebrate. They made an early evening stop at Brooklyn’s Public Assembly and closed out their night in Manhattan at Mercury Lounge. We sent intrepid photog Daniel Topete to check out their BK gig. You can also watch fan-shot videos of “Terrible Love” and “Sea Of Love” from the same performance below.

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Kurt Vile is currently in Europe touring behind his excellent new album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze. In July, he’ll embark on an extensive North American leg, which grew even larger today with the addition of 10 more dates scheduled for August. Check out the updated schedule below.

For a preview of what to expect, make sure to read Michael Roffman’s review of Vile’s recent Chicago show. Also watch his recent performance of “Walkin on a Pretty Day” on Late Show with David Letterman.

Kurt Vile 2013 Tour Dates:
05/24

Stuff like this is the reason the A.V. Club’s “A.V. Undercover” video series exists: Louisville post-hardcore warriors Coliseum, who landed a recent Album Of The Week with their ferocious Sister Faith, covering “Shakin’,” a deeply silly piece of ’80s cheeseball-rock fluff by Eddie Money. You will not be shocked to learn that the band turned the song into a burly workout, and they get bonus points for taking advantage of the A.V. Club’s Chicago location and roping in Yakuza frontman and underground metal luminary Bruce Lamont to play saxophone. Watch the cover below.

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photos by Chris Graham

Mavis Staples @ Beale Street Music Fest

Earlier this month, soul legend Mavis Staples made her way over to Memphis for the Beale Street Music Festival, which she played day 2 (5/4) of. Pictures and a video of her set are in this post.

Mavis has other dates coming up this year, including a free Celebrate! Brooklyn show on June 14 at Prospect Park with Cody Chestnutt. Then the next day (6/15) she heads a bit north for the Clearwater Festival in Croton, NY, which she plays along with Antibalas, Judy Collins, Hot Tuna, Nicole Atkins, Sharon Jones, and more. Tickets for that festival are still available.

Mavis is also working on a new album, One True Vine, which is due out on June 25 via Anti-, and being produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. You can listen to the track "I Like The Things About Me" from that album below (via Complex).

Mavis isn't the only living legend Jeff Tweedy is hanging with this year. As mentioned, Wilco is touring as a support act for Bob Dylan, and that tour hits the NYC-area for a few shows in July (some with My Morning Jacket, one with Beck).

All upcoming Mavis Staples dates are listed, along with the song stream and more pictures and video from Beale St., below...

Continue reading "Mavis Staples played Beale St, playing Prospect Park before Clearwater, releasing Jeff Tweedy-produce...

photos by Chris Graham

Mavis Staples @ Beale Street Music Fest

Earlier this month, soul legend Mavis Staples made her way over to Memphis for the Beale Street Music Festival, which she played day 2 (5/4) of. Pictures and a video of her set are in this post.

Mavis has other dates coming up this year, including a free Celebrate! Brooklyn show on June 14 at Prospect Park with Cody Chestnutt. Then the next day (6/15) she heads a bit north for the Clearwater Festival in Croton, NY, which she plays along with Antibalas, Judy Collins, Hot Tuna, Nicole Atkins, Sharon Jones, and more. Tickets for that festival are still available.

Mavis is also working on a new album, One True Vine, which is due out on June 25 via Anti-, and one again being produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. You can listen to the track "I Like The Things About Me" from that album below (via Complex).

Mavis isn't the only living legend Jeff Tweedy is hanging with this year. As mentioned, Wilco is touring as a support act for Bob Dylan, and that tour hits the NYC-area for a few shows in July (some with My Morning Jacket, one with Beck).

All upcoming Mavis Staples dates are listed, along with the song stream and more pictures and video from Beale St., below...

Continue reading "Mavis Staples played Beale St, playing Prospect Park before Clearwater, releasing new Jeff ...

Red Tail Ring on WNMC

Holding down the No. 1 position at WNMC is the Kalamazoo-based Red Tail Ring. Comprised of a degree-holding ethnomusicologist and student of traditional Finnish music, the folk duo’s sound is loving tip of the hat to the folk revivalist movement. Playing both traditional murder ballads (a favorite of the Scots-Irish Appalachian tradition) and tunes with more modern sentiments, Michael Beauchamp and Laurel Premo highlight guitar, banjo, dobro, fiddle and mandolin alongside folksy harmonies. Their new material fits in seamlessly with the old traditions in a perfect marriage of bluegrass and modernity.

Boxcar Lilies on WRUW

A more modern folksy sound takes the 19th position at WRUW in Cleveland, Ohio. Boxcar Lilies’ album Sugar Shack isn’t the Norman Petty pop of Jimmy Gilmer And The Fireballs, but does retain some of the classic blend of electric and acoustic instrumentation against pretty tunes about ...

Ciara returns with this brand new cut from her forthcoming self-titled LP, and this time she’s brought along some assistance in the shape of Nicki Minaj.

Nicki kicks things off rapping like ‘Starships’ never happened, and it’s refreshing to hear her sounding like she actually gives a crap again, paving the way for an assured rap from Ciara herself. It’s a thick, bouncy club-friendly record that reminds of a certain

TV Girl’s chugging “She Smokes In Bed” is cautionary tale. While it’s as upbeat as can be, its narrative is not so bright. The track’s protagonist, Mary, is keen on taking her cigarettes too close to bedtime and, well, you’ll have to listen to the song to see how things end for her. It comes from TV Girl’s upcoming Lonely Women EP, which they’ll have for sale digitally next month. Analog-heads can grab it via limited cassette tape via the group’s bandcamp.

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Company promises a legal way to remix without having to go through the traditional sample-clearance process.

First launched last year, Legitmix has announced a new digital storefront and a remix-only search engine dubbed Discovery. Legitmix allows remixers to sell their work, while ensuring that sampled artists get credit and payment, and Discovery aims to aid in that process.

“The traditional sample-clearance process makes it impossible for most remixes to be released legitimately, so the remix community built and underground ‘economy of free,’” the company says in a statement. “Unfortunately, this has led to a feeling that remixes have no value. We believe people will pay for remixes to support remixers and the artist they sampled if given a way to do so.”

Citing Diplo, El-P, and moombahton creator Dave Nada among their supporters, Legitmix calls Discovery a “Google for remixes.” In the browser-based search engine, each remix links to sampled tracks, allowing users to use the original tracks in their own creations; if they don’t have the song, Legitmix sends users to iTunes so that remixees can get paid. The Discovery service is running now on Legitmix’s site.

by Andrew Sacher

Low Fat Getting High at Cake Shop earlier this month (more by Chris Gersbeck)

Brooklyn punks Low Fat Getting High have been playing raucous local shows for some time now, and as mentioned, they're finally laying down that intensity for a new EP, which is called Bad Yoga, and has just been officially announced. The EP will be out on July 18 via Dead Broke/Money Fire Records. It kicks off with three tracks of menacing, breakneck-speed punk, and culminates in a fourth track of Bleach-style noise and sludge. The whole thing is just over ten minutes and it's a real ripper so keep an eye out for it. You can stream the opening track, "Better Better Worse," along with the artwork and tracklist below.

Low Fat Getting High have a ton of upcoming shows as usual, including a previously discussed Gimme Tinnitus-presented show TONIGHT (5/22) at Big Snow with another solid local punk band, Big Ups, CYHSY-related Radical Dads (for whom the show is a record release party), and Miniboone. $7 at the door gets you into tonight's show. Doors are at 8 PM. All ages. Show flyer below.

After that, they've got a bunch of other local dates, including a Converse Rubber Tracks show on June 12; Silent Barn on June 14 with another great local punk band, Sleepies, noise rockers Eula, indie rockers Shark?, sludgy psych rockers Psychic Blood and others; a...