Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes

Like a crazed mix of Krishnas, von Trapps and musical merry pranksters Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes are blazing a path through the music world.

They got so much buzz midyear that I became leery of them so I avoided them. That buzz usually translates to a softer rock like the band Phoenix, The Decemberists or the Shins. All devoid of innovation and soul.

Their first album came out in July 2009 and is fun and exhilarating. It's full of rich melodies and upbeat lyrics. I'm excited about them the way I got excited about Arcade Fire and Fever Ray. (They didn't quite propel me to *Yeasayer-excited, but hardly anyone else can do that.)

Lead singer Alex Ebert was flat-out born to be a front man. Tall, dark, and lanky, his expressive eyes smile while he holds court for an appreciative audience with ants in their pants -- my, oh my. Alex and muse Jade Castrinos sing to each other as she joyfully shares the spotlight beside him, holding her own as she warmly blends the vocals.

MySpace | YouTube



UPDATE: today, October 21st I find out more details on the fabulous *Yeasayer. See EBC.

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ESPERS lll

ESPERS III out October 20, 2009, on Drag City / Wichita. cover art by Xavier Schipani.

MySpace | Pre-Order

The previous 2 cds have seen me through thousands of miles and entertained many of my friends. This group is exceptionally talented and uniquely melancholy and that, my sweetness, is a good thing.

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Get Behind Me, Satan

Brian "Head" Welch, former KoRn guitarist, is thinking about Jesus so he doesn't touch his penis. He explains:

"The Jesus tattoo on my hand keeps me from masturbating and I haven't been with a woman since my ex-wife left me almost five years ago. I go to those extremes to be like Christ and it works for me." Read More »

"Um, I can't dear. Jesus is watching."

There's so much going on here I don't know where to begin. 1) Since when is masturbation wrong? B) Sex makes you evil? 3)And the Jesus/Christ remarks? How much time do you have? I don't like that someone our kids might listen to can be so misinformed/ing.

Source | (bottom photo found via cbsnews.com via examiner)

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Illustrations of Rima Staines

Stunning. Breathtaking. Sweet. Charming. I feel like I've stumbled upon a secret mystical treasure.

The illustrations of Rima Staines from The Hermitage are astounding.

Looking through her drawings you are impressed by the beautiful details of her exquisite work and awed that she lets you in to experience it.

I've included a photo of her at the top and one of a cd cover she did for the (a new-to-me) band Telling The Bees; of whom she says is: a band of four lovely Oxford based musicians who might describe their music as ...darkly crafted folk, classical, cinematic, prog, acoustic-chill, psychedelia! At the bottom is a photo of the magickal truck she lives in now.

She leads an interesting life. Rima currently lives in a "...beautifully converted, magic truck, all filled with puppets and clocks and feathers and stones and things. It's like sitting in a fairy tale." per Telling The Bees website.
Thank you, Rima Staines, for giving us this beauty to enjoy.

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The Exile of Ginger Baker

he starts his days with curses and a morphine inhaler but still plays competitive polo

Around a year and a half ago, Brooklyn writer Jay Bulger grew obsessed with making a documentary about one of the greatest — and crankiest — drummers to ever walk the earth, Ginger Baker.

He moved to Africa and located the onetime member of Cream and Blind Faith in a gated community, where the 69-year-old musician and polo enthusiast currently resides; he has previously been booted from homes in England, Nigeria, Italy and America.

In his feature "The Devil and Ginger Baker" in RS' new issue, Bulger details Baker’s current condition (he starts his days with curses and a morphine inhaler but still plays competitive polo) and asks Baker to look back at his youth, when he was training to be cyclist in the Tour de France and turned to drumming only after he was hit by a cab and wrecked his bike. (Watch Baker discuss his crushed dream in footage from Bulger’s forthcoming documentary 10 Goal Drummer, above).

Link | Video

Nice piece by Jay Bulger and I really look forward to the documentary to come.


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Vuk: The Plains

"27-year multi-instrumental Finnish-American Emily Cheeger, an ex-Dirty Projector (she sang on The Getty Address, did various singing percussion from 2002-2005), who currently plays a pump organ (and half a dozen instruments) while belting out vocals that can be beautifully fragile and beautifully taunting and, in general, always straight-up powerful." [MORE]

Sounds like freak folk White Chalk-era PJ Harvey.

"...emotional bouts with death-gospel drama, esoteric organ-and-harmonium requiems, percussive chants and unbridled, youthful whimsy." Get The Plains here. Vuk Myspace.

Almost baroque in her arrangements on the new album, (it was just announced that she's now touring the US with Fever Ray) Vuk will be stripping down her songs to their bare bones, performing solo with a harmonium and autoharp, allowing her unique voice and unconventional songwriting to take center stage. I've never heard of her until lately and I like her style a lot. Should be one hell of a concert with Karin (Fever Ray) and Emily (Vuk).

Vuk - "The Arms Of Spirits" | Vuk - The Prarie download

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Ooh La La

"When you read that there are four young men from Sydney western suburbs who took their name from Rod Stewart’s old band The Faces, you should be in no doubt that the classic 60’s rock sensibilities don’t end with the name. There’s more than a little AC/DC about the track, delivered with just enough of the Bons (though with a falsetto the late Scott could only dream of to pull it off. In fact, that falsetto seems a favourite tool of singer Simon Meli, which on other songs sits him somewhere between an early Freddie Mercury meets Robert Plant, with the band making a reasonable fist of keeping up." Single Review - The Drum Media

"Ooh La La is a rock band …….here they could join Australia ’s great list of party bands. The songs sound like they have been recorded in a sweaty studio back in 1972 and, as far as the band is concerned, Led Zeppelin, T-Rex and The Who are the only bands that existed." MEDIASEARCH

Solid rock and roll. What's not to like?

MySpace | LastFM | Link

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Queens Of Led Foo? Stone Age Zeppelin Fighters? Whatever Works…

The rumors are true – Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones are currently holed up in a Los Angeles recording studio, working on an album that’s been the biggest secret in rock for what seems like years now.

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You have my attention. But will they have another guitar/guitarist?

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Yeasayer Update

YEASAYER News

From the website:

It has fallen quiet on the blog because Yeasayer has left their retreat to practice for some upcoming summer shows! These gigs will feature a new stage line up as well as the band playing tracks from the forthcoming record due later later later. Expect news on a fabulous October tour happening somewhere in Europe!!!

Tour dates are here: http://www.nowwearefree.com/tours.html

The band will return to finish their next long player after their summer shows and we hope to have a final long-player in the can by September. We are pushing for a single in October and the full length release in the first part of 2010. Trust me, its not that far away.

Enjoy your summer.

Sir James Winnie
Yeasayer Manager

link

*I like the forthcoming record part the best.

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You say there's no good rock music anymore? Then you haven't heard The Parlor Mob. And You Were A Crow is the latest cd and Can't Keep No Good Boy Down is my favorite song on it.

MySpace | LastFM | Roadrunner

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The Parlor Mob

The Parlor Mob
Last year's And You Were A Crow cd by New Jersey's own The Parlor Mob got a first pressing and was released yesterday on vinyl.

I really like these guys. There's some real certified rocking going on here. They're really tight. The melody's good and the song writing's good and you can see a solid Led Zeppelin and Jack White influence which works out quite well.

I just saw where they finished up the cd here in Asheville, NC, at the world renowned studios, Echo Mountain. You can click on this link to hear Can't Keep No Good Boy Down by The Parlor Mob. I think you'll enjoy it.

LastFM | MySpace | YouTube | Buy CD

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Fever Ray

Fever Ray

Fever Ray is the solo project of Karin Dreijer Andersson, who is one half of the Swedish electro act The Knife (the other half is her brother Olof Dreijer). I'm really enjoying her new album.

Visit LastFM for her videos and songs from her new release. link

Fever Ray 'When I Grow Up' - link

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Bell Orchestre

Bell Orchestre : As Seen through Windows

Bell Orchestre are a five-piece instrumental band from Montreal, Canada. Its members include: Richard Parry (bass), Sarah Neufeld (violin), Pietro Amato (french horn), Kaveh Nabatian (trumpet), Stefan Schneider (drums & percussion). Sarah Neufeld and Richard Parry are also full-time members of Arcade Fire.

I heard one of the tracks at Pasta Prima. Damn good.

The new album is out on March 10th.

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Living Things Habeas Corpus

Living Things Habeas Corpus

On February 17, St. Louis, MO, garage rock quartet Living Things released their much-anticipated third album, Habeas Corpus, and it's solid as a motherfucker. No fancy riffs or vocal gymnastics, just a solid rock and roll sound.

The album was recorded in Berlin by the band -- St Louis, MO, brothers Lillian, Eve and Bosh Berlin, and guitarist Cory Becker. Lead singer Lillian (still looking like Jagger via Altamont) and band stay true to their lo-fi rock sound with only a modicum of compromise that may come with a new label. Or maturity.

The back story can be more interesting than the party line. Several years ago Lillian battled down a heroin addiction and went to jail several times. The Berlin brothers' Mom, mom, an activist from Chicago was raised Catholic and once tried to join the Black Panthers before moving to the conservative St. Louis suburb where her boys -- two of whom she named after their grandmothers -- were born.

While shooting a video in Prague, Lillian met the outstanding director, Italian filmmaker Floria Sigismondi. They married in 2004 and had a daughter that same year.
YouTube | Website

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Michael Franti in Asheville, Again

Musician/Poet/Activist Michael Franti is appearing tomorrow night in Asheville again. He's become one of our favorite touring bands because we like his music and we like what he stands for. A year or so ago he took a few days and helped clean up our river banks and in December he helped with Habitat for Humanity. Now that kind of good will goes a long damn way.

Mountain X: Can you share a story or memorable experience from one of your shows in Asheville?

Michael Franti: Well, the first one that comes to mind was the last show, the Christmas Jam, Warren Haynes came up to me and he says, “Michael there [are] a couple folks that would like to sit in with you, are you interested?” I said, “Yeah, of course, I’m always interested.”

He said, "Mickey Raphael, who plays harmonica with Willie Nelson would like to sit in." And I was like, “Oh, yeah, of course, that’d be awesome.” And then he said, “And John Paul Jones from Led Zeppelin, would you mind if he played on a song?” My mouth hit the floor and I was like, “You kidding me?” So we went backstage and we just started jamming.

More »

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Faun Fables "With Words and Cake"

Faun Fables "With Words and Cake"

Dawn McCarthy of Faun Fables is expecting a child in late October. She and her musical comrade, Nils Frykdahl, are on a nationwide tour, and their four-song extended play CD, "A Table Forgotten," will be released in July. Directed by Annmarie Piette.

LINK

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Tetine

Tetine

Their recent release, "Let Your X’S Be Y’S" on Soul Jazz Records, came out April 28. And it's not something I'd normally pick up to listen to but I really do like this cd.

Tetine (small tit in Italian?) are Brazilian artists/musicians Bruno Verner and Eliete Mejorado and are stars of Sao Paulo's avant garde music scene.

Bruno came from the post punk era in Sao Paolo and Eliete made a big splash in Brazil's performing arts community.

Inspired by such artists as Lydia Lunch, Nina Hagen, and the underground artists of San Paolo, Tetine's rooftop jams grew into something larger, culminating into the 8th cd for this Punk-Funk/New Wave/Post-Punk/Baile-Bass conglomeration of raw, punky energy.

You can hear some of the news songs on their MySpace and below is a link of "A Historia Da Garca".

Tetine – A Historia da Garca

LastFM Video Interview | MySpace | MP3 sample

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Another great Canadian Import

Plants and Animals

Plants and Animals new full length release, Parc Avenue, is out in Canada on February 26, in the US on March 25.

From: Time Out New York - The first full-length from Plants and Animals, Parc Avenue, hits shelves in March and exhibits much of the epic orchestration and surging climaxes used by another Montreal band, the Arcade Fire. Depending on where you stand, it may or may not surprise you that Plants and Animals can do it better… more. --January 2008

LISTEN: »»Fairie Dance

More good songs from the cd are Bye, Bye, Bye, A L'Oree des bois, and Mercy.

link

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Rising Appalachia

Rising Appalachia

This ain't #@&$%*! bluegrass music..."

Sisters Chloe and Leah each play some odd combination of vocals, the fiddle, banjo, jaw harp, kalimba, and some killer spoons. With their newest band member, Forrest Kelly, on a fine array of hand percussion, their tunes just got kicked up a big handful of knotches. With many a fine guest appearence from such madd musical magicians as the incredible Jan Smith, Larkin Grimm, Maurice Tunner (play that trumpet!), the ferocious Cailen Campbell, Barbara Panter (Hair of the Dog), and Witt Connah (the most bad-ass blues harmonica player around)...and a conglomeration of other fantastic and fine-tuned additives- their sweet sounds are bound to delight, sooth, or mystify.

Rising Appalachia are now living in Asheville and their new cd can be found at CDBaby.

via | link | myspace | x-posted

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