My story on Eric D. Johnson and the Fruit Bats is published this week in the Tucson Weekly:In the four years that have passed since the last Fruit Bats album, singer-songwriter-guitarist Eric D. Johnson has toured and recorded with the Shins and Vetiver, projects that encouraged him to open up to more collaboration in his own band. So when it came time to record the songs that would become The
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I had lunch with Stu LeBlanc the other day, and of course we got to talking about music and which albums have really stood out this year. And for both of us, Elvis Perkins In Dearland is unquestionably right at the top. I'm sure it's been my most consistently played new album of this year (yes, beating even Wilco and Dylan) since I saw the band and picked up the CD back in March.Stu called it a
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Man. I'd really planned to leave this story of Bob Dylan gettin' hauled into a cop car by some rookie because he looked "suspicious" well enough alone. I really did. I tried.Then comes this new wrinkle that he may have been on some rainy night mission to track down an old dwelling of Bruce Springsteen. OK, now I'm gonna have to bring this up.I don't doubt it. I know for a fact that a few years
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One of the albums I've been listening to incessantly this year is 3 Rounds and a Sound, from Portland's Blind Pilot. Mr. Chair put a song on a mix, I sought it out and just like that, a new favorite record emerged on the scene.The band was in town earlier this year, but I had the flu. So it's great news they're returning - Oct. 25 at Plush, with The Low Anthem.Blind Pilot plays mellow, melodic
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My review of the new album from Magnolia Electric Co. is online at the Tucson Weekly:Josephine finds Jason Molina bound by regret and fits of restless isolation, staring down his ghosts while forging a path of escape through deep shadows and the faraway horizon. The latest album from Magnolia Electric Co. is a somber and deeply evocative work, drenched in images of open sky, sunsets and the
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I just got home from tonight's fantastic Bowerbirds / Megafaun show and it's fair to say that North Carolina breeds some damn fine folk bands these days. I was new to both bands, but I can tell you I'll be listening plenty more as this year goes on.What the two bands have in common is what I like the most about each - rich harmonies, a calm acoustic approach and a sense of how to build spare and
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Everything I've been listening to today fits right in with the bright sunshine right outside my window.I think my most central comfort zone as far as new music these days is right where the Laurel Canyon, AM Gold, 1970s folk-pop-rock throwbacks exist, and where it bleeds over a little more to country or folk. I'm talking generally Dr. Dog, Vetiver, M. Ward, Golden Boots, Jayhawks. None are
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My review of The Lone Wolf, the new collaborative album from Sum and Belief, is published in this week's East Bay Express:Combining imaginative, poetic storytelling with distinctive and melodic production, Sum and Belief unites to craft nine tracks that push underground hip-hop to the doorstep of the blues.Sum and Belief Are the Lone Wolf, the duo's first collaborative album, is laced with a
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My review of last week's Handsome Family show at Club Congress is online at the Tucson Weekly: THE HANDSOME FAMILY, DANIEL KNOX CLUB CONGRESS, Wednesday, July 29 With easy beats, soothing harmonies and a twang brushed with plenty of Southwestern grit, the Handsome Family play a timeless brand of country music—if not exactly traditional, it's certainly pure, free of alt or rock
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Athens, Georgia singer-songwriter Vic Chesnutt has an immediately recognizable style - lyrics drenched in mystery, a beautiful but pained singing voice and songs that sound like the Southern Gothic literary style come to life.I've seen him play twice (he a friend and past musical associate of Giant Sand's Howe Gelb, so it makes perfect sense that he would get along well in Tucson) and both shows
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I'll be heading down to Solar Culture tonight to check out Magnolia Electric Co. and The Donkeys. All-ages as always, the show starts at 9 p.m. and is $10.I've caught Magnolia Electric Co. a couple times before - in May opening for the Avett Brothers and about three years ago at Congress - and there's no question the band is great at what it does. The new album, Josephine, is a high and lonesome
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Photo by Michael Schmelling, 2009Touring in support of their 16th studio album, alternative rock gods Sonic Youth have just thrown a handful of new dates on the schedule, including two stops in Arizona: Oct. 1 at the Marquee Theatre in Tempe and Oct. 2 at the Rialto Theatre in Tucson.I'm far from a Sonic Youth expert, but I've been growing more interested over the past couple years, partly from
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Another good fall tour has announced both Tucson and Phoenix shows. A unique combination of folk, indie rock and hip-hop, Oakland's WHY? has plenty of followers anticipating their new record, Eskimo Snow, out this fall on Anticon.I'm pretty new to the band, but the promo single for Eskimo Snow sounds great, and this interview with Pitchfork paints an interesting picture of WHY?.DOWNLOAD:WHY? -
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Bon Iver @ Outside Lands Festival. © T. Van Nunnery.Right after some good friends went to the Bon Iver show in Denver earlier this month, I got a message: "can you find us this bon iver show on the internet?!" And I know what they mean.The first time I saw Bon Iver play live - in Golden Gate Park at last year's Outside Lands Festival - I immediately wanted a recording of that show too.The band
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I don't think the fact that I had a name for it from the opening bell of Jan. 1 - ¡El Ocho! - could have possibly made 2008 such a tumultuous roller-coaster of a year, but it's curious that the still-unnamed 2009 has been such a steady, mellow year so far.As I wrote last year at this time, a half year is a period of time that never gets enough credit. So if a year generates a year's worth of
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Seattle's Open Choir Fire is self-releasing their first full-length album with a pair of shows in Tacoma and Seattle this weekend. Plus, the band is offering the album up for free, for a very limited time. Check out the band's Web site to download the album for free.The three-piece band has been generating plenty of buzz in Seattle, with a live in-studio session last month on the great KEXP that
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I forgot to tag onto the last entry that my review of the new Wilco record is printed in this week's East Bay Express and last week's Tucson Weekly:Full of radiance and subtleties, Wilco (The Album) is an ambitious yet confident record from a band at its peak, an eleven-song odyssey that trades skillfully between tension and elation. The preposterous album cover (a camel wearing a party hat) and
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(Photo by Julio Enriquez, from this fantastic set I found at Flickr.)I can't resist a good music-oriented vacation - not when the factors align themselves so perfectly.So, with the following set of considerations in hand, understand that I really had no choice in the matter: I was trading searing desert heat for beautiful Mile-High weather; the round-trip flight was a steal at $150; I had a long
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I have a review of the new Metric album, Fantasies, in the new issue of the Tucson Weekly:The cover image of a single light bulb is stark and effective, a wordless introduction to the electrifying dance music on Fantasies, the fourth album from Canada's Metric. Amid the surging guitars, keyboards, heavy bass and relentless dance beats is frontwoman Emily Haines, whose vocals rise clean and clear
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Stateside Presents just announced a Sept. 22 show by Scottish indie rockers Frightened Rabbit at Plush. Putting it onto my iCal, however, I noticed a dilemma: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are booked at Club Congress for the same night.That's right, three months out, and what could be two of the best shows all fall happen to be booked on the same night. Damn. What's an indie rock fan to do?I
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