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The first time I ever saw Jacques Greene DJ, he spun Mya’s overlooked, Nicki Minaj-featuring slinker “Ponytail.” Throwing that out there made it clear he had been committed to pop-R&B at a young age, but is also ordained to keeping things on the dancefloor vibe sultry but still party-primed. Tom Krell, bka How To Dress Well’s work is also clearly indebted to a youthful eduction in Tevin Campbell, Whitney Houston, and the like. And while the electronic elements of his output tend toward the more experimental side, this is a union that works because it’s hinged on their shared interest in music that makes you swoon. It would be reductive to call it “Climax 2.0″ but it’s making swell my heart in the same way — with yearning falsettos, an uncertain love narrative, and luxurious electronics. Check it out below.

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photos by Robert Altman

Josh Ritter @ Terminal 5 - 5/18/13

In "Lights," the concluding track of Josh Ritter's new album The Beast In Its Tracks, Ritter sings "Every heart on Earth is dark half the time," an apt line that seems to sum up Ritter's unique brand of potent folk/rock and poetic lyric. Ritter, a realistic romantic, paints extraordinary love songs with settings that range from an Egyptian tomb to a government controlled missile silo, but balances these resplendent short stories with tales of lost love and regret. The heart is dark half the time.

But...it's ablaze the other half of the time, and this vivacious beating organ was on display at Terminal 5 this past weekend when Ritter and his dashing Royal City Band wholeheartedly rocked a packed crowd with a satiating 20-song set. [The Music Court]

Josh Ritter and The Felice Brothers just wrapped up a tour they were on together in NYC over the weekend at Terminal 5 (5/18). Pictures and videos of both bands, plus Josh Ritter's setlist from the show are in this post.

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Continue reading "Josh Ritter & Felice Bros @ Terminal 5 (pics, videos, setlist)" at brooklynvegan

Bolder also played with Uriah Heep and Wishbone Ash

Read and comment. From thedailyswarm.com.

by Andrew Sacher

Montreal producer Jacques Greene is releasing a new EP, On Your Side, digitally on June 3 via LuckyMe and physically on July 1. He's just released the title track, for which he lies down a gorgeous UK-garage style beat and How to Dress Well's Tom Krell croons over it with his characteristic R&B approach. It's a great track, and you can check it out below.

It's not the first time this year that How to Dress Well teamed up with a hot producer. HTDW was also just announced as one of the participators in this year's BAM Next Wave Festival.

Song stream below...

Continue reading "listen to a new Jacques Greene song w/ How to Dress Well" at brooklynvegan

The Clash is releasing, according to guitarist Mick Jones, the “best box set ever”. But let’s be honest: in this age of streaming and downloading, box sets have to be really special before you consider making a purchase. On today’s Rock it Out! Blog, Sami wants to know what would make up your fantasy box set. What songs, rarities, or videos would need to be included or excluded for you to break open your wallet and buy a colossal compendium of music? Leave your wishlists down below.

Other headlines covered on today’s episode include the dates for Coachella 2014, whether System of a Down will record an album without Serj Tankian, and Sami pays tribute to The Doors’ Ray Manzarek.

Make sure to follow Rock it Out! Blog on Twitter and Facebook, and subscribe to its YouTube channel.

Wes Eisold describes the new Cold Cave A-side as, “Cool nihilism. Existential, groovy, psychedelia.” I think the former term fits “Black Boots” pretty well, insofar as it means anything at all. The latter, though? Sorry, but “existential, groovy, psychedelia” this is not. Maybe “DeLillo-esque, urban, goth”? Or “violent, subterranean, death-rock”? Or “pale, rigid, post-punk”? I dunno, I think I’m being thrown by the word “groovy” or something. Anyway, Eisold is back with another self-released 7″, which appears to be his chosen form for new Cold Cave material at present. It’s a good look for him: Such “bleak, focused, minimalism” is perhaps better appreciated in small doses. Listen.

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Didn’t like Random Access Memories? There’s hope for you yet.

Daft Punk‘s latest album didn’t appeal to everyone, but don’t give up just yet as the Japanese release of Random Access Memories had a bonus track missing from the regular album release. Entitled ‘Horizon’ it’s possibly the least pop moment on the record, and without guest vocalist or even vocoders the duo recline in a haze of 80s-era Tangerine Dream lens flare.

It’s a fitting end to an album that’s not afraid to wear its yacht rock influences on its sleeve, and we’re kind of miffed it didn’t make it onto the international LP.

Take a listen here. [via Consequence of Sound]

Following a quick romp through Japan and Australia, San Francisco legends the Flamin' Groovies played a hastily arranged show in their hometown this past weekend--the first time this version of the band has played locally since 1981.

The mid-'70s era Flamin' Groovies, with founder Cyril Jordan, George Alexander (bass), Chris Wilson (also of UK band the Barracudas), and Victor Penalosa (drums) tore through a tight set of their near-hits, kicking off with the slow-burning "Yeah My Baby," before running through their power-pop classics, "You Tore Me Down," "I Can't Hide," and of course, "Shake Some Action." - [Mother Jones]

And following a successful hometown show, San Francisco powerpop legends The Flamin' Groovies, now with 3/5ths of the "Shake Some Action" lineup back in action, are going on tour. While a full announcement hasn't been made, Flamin' Groovies will play two shows in the NYC-area: Bowery Ballroom on July 6 and Maxwell's on July 7. Tickets to Bowery and tickets to Maxwell's go on sale Wednesday (5/22) at noon.

Check out a Spotify stream of Flamin' Groovies' Shake Some Action below...

Continue reading "The Flamin' Groovies touring with Chris Wilson in the band for first time since 1981 (2 NYC shows included)" at brooklynvegan

You’ve probably had that moment when you’re at a show having a great time, and you start to think to yourself “How in the hell do they do that?” Well, you’re in luck, as electronic music guru Four Tet took some time out from making hypnotizing beats to sit down with onlookers at the Red Bull Music Academy to explain exactly how he builds his sets, and the secrets that make them so brilliant.

Using Ableton, a Monome 256, and tons of samples that he keeps on constant loops, the clip finds Kieran Hebden going into professor-mode and talking about how he crafts those lucid sounds that seem to build up for ages. He builds the tension so well that he has total control. “Then the real kick is going to come,” he explains to the small crowd. Check out the video below to find out exactly how he does it below.

The post Watch: Four Tet Explains The Secrets Of His Live Set Up appeared first on CMJ.

The enigmatic Californian rap producer Madlib is exactly the type of person to make a new track, put it on a 7″ single, only make 300 copies of that single, and then only sell those copies to the people who show up at one specific show. His new two-track single Rock Conducta is only available at a forthcoming San Francisco show, and one of songs is “The Mad March,” which chops up a funky marching band stomp into a time-stretching ripple. Listen below.

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Read and comment. From thedailyswarm.com.

As far as we know, the great inward-looking indie singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has no plans to drop a new album on us anytime soon. But this summer, he will release a split 7″ with the veteran folk-music outsider Michael Hurley. McCombs’s contribution is a warm and buoyant shuffle called “Three Men Sitting On A Hollow Log,” and you can hear it below.

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Having just returned from an East Asian tour that took Wesley Eisold and his band Cold Cave through Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, and of all places Nepal, Eisold offers up another one-off single with sweet & dour “Black Boots”. The Casio drum track and the, ahem, cavernous vocal echo are a nice homage to the Joy Division sound, and the bare-bones track does enough to carry Eisold’s anxious croons about bodies, death, sex, and agoraphobia. Listen to the art-rock, dark-wave single below:

[soundcloud url="http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/93169290" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]

The “Black Boots” 7-inch comes b/w “Meaningful Life” is available now from Cold Cave’s website. And while it’s not much compared to Nepal, the band will be hitting the road in June with Boyd Rice. Those dates are below.

Read our recent, heart-on-sleeve interview with Wesley Eislold.

Cold Cave 2013 Tour Dates:
06/15