willie nelson is a king amongst men or at least phosphorescent thinks so. in 1977 willie nelson recorded a tribute album to lefty frizzle titled "to lefty from willie." now the band phosphorescent is returning the favor by recently releasing an album covering some of willie's greatest tunes. it's a real hummdinger.
phospherecent - walkin
heartless bastards - the mountain
michael hurley - wildegeeses
charlie poole and the north carolina ramblers - shootin' creek
the first track comes from Junior Kimbrough's first album, All Night Long, recorded in 1992 in a local church with Junior's son Kent "Kinney" Kimbrough (aka Kenny Malone) on drums and R. L. Burnside's son Garry Burnside on bass guitar. The Black Keys put out the album, Chulahoma, where all the songs on the record where written by Junior and performed by the Keys. The title of the album is a reference to Chulahoma, Mississippi the location of "Juniors Place" a juke joint purchased and ran by the family past Juniors death in 1998 until it burned down in 2000. I threw in a couple other favorites of mine. i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.
After closing its doors forty-three years ago, the Fox Theater was reopened in February 09 with Social Distortion. Last night i had the chance to see the fleet foxes melt faces. the band's self-described "baroque harmonic pop jams" sound inspired by the classic Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, but these werewolves of flannel still bring original arrangements and beautiful vocal work to create a sound of their own. Best of 09.
I went to see the famous Jonestown show last night at the Independent and needless to say they rock solid. two things bummed me out: the 60's are still alive and the band didn't fall apart due to excessive drinking and drug use, unfortunately they kept their shit together through-out the entire set. i had to bail early so maybe just maybe something belligerent happened after i left but if i was a gambling man, i'ld bet they finished with out any bruises.
vosotros is a new music initiative and label founded by Chicago natives John Gillilan and Gabe Noel. When I listened to the group perform while in some practice space/art gallery in echo park i was completley blown away. These guys are trying some difficult stuff and it was great to see twenty musicians on stage at once. These recordings are two tracks off an album titled, "the greatest hits so far" a compilation of learning musics favorite recorded tracks from 06-07. Most recently Gabe was noted with the MOST ABSTRACT honorable mention from The Roots "i can't help it": remix contest.
I have piled into a train with my uncle. heading from union station in LA to union station in Chicago in some back water baggage car. no smoking, no quitting, no deep dish pizza.
I was introduced to this artist by my friend Jeff Carter while driving back to our old home town in his beat up ford ranger. His sister had just been wed to graphic artist. A real nice guy, drove a BMW and always kept his hair short. like a good guy should, he let his girlfriend ride shotgun. i piled into the back of the cab which had no seats. trying to make the trip as comfortable as a six foot grown man crammed into a 2'x4'x5' space can i laid my body down on my back and used a shoe box for a pillow. in the front pocket of my shirt was an undeveloped roll of film with her picture on it. she sat on a 1997 Chevy corvette also known as the "C5". when describing the "C5", road testers used the word "refined", which was not how previous Corvettes were labeled. Before high performance meant a sacrifice in comfort. she could get up to 172 mph, went 0-60 in 4.72 seconds, and had cup holders.
This is a recording from Steve Reich's "Music for 18 Musicians" during 1974-1976. After The triumph of "Music for 18...", Reich's life was never quite the same again. In his own words:
"this was the crossover piece par excellence, unintended, malgre lui. When the peice was released, Bob Hurwitz said, "Why don't you play this at the Bottom Line? We'll arrange it." So I did. In the first year, 18 sold 100,000 copies. In terms of press, the fact that David Bowie went to the opening at the Bottom Line was a big deal - so yes, it was definitley the piece that changed my life."
This was also Riechs first piece of music to be labeled, minimalism. He never liked being labeled a minimalist composer and even today, twenty years later, minimalism is still used to corner his music. His most recent work falls under the label 'post-minimalism'.
Here's to David Bowie and his good taste in music. This is a recording from his 1972 album Hunky Dory titled, "Queen Bitch". David Bowie - Queen Bitch
The Knife is a blood sucking, ass kicking, sister-brother tag team, Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson. They are based in Stockholm, Sweden and have made music together since 1999. They released "Silent Shout" in 2006 on their own label Rabid Records.
The video is animated by Motomichi Nakamura. The characters have this frighting yet humorous persona. i'm not sure if i should laugh or be scared while watching this, all i know is i cant stop watching this video. you can check out more of his work on his web site.
Kinski is a four-piece rock band from Seattle, WA. When i first heard these guys my socks were literally rocked off. i walked around bare foot for the rest of the day.
This is the title track, Not the way, of Cass McCombs debut album Not the Way. I remember when i first heard this album i was going through a transient faze in my life. I had just moved out to the bay area from Chico and was bouncing from couches in Oakland and San Francisco while trying to find a new job. I really didn't know a lot of people and for the first time in quite some time, it was difficult to find some one to go grab a beer with. i remember immediately relating to this song. Cass McCombs has since become a favorite artist of mine and there is always something uplifting and peaceful about his somewhat melancholy lyrics.
#10. lower dens - twin hand movement - tea lights
#9 caribou - swim - hannibal
#8. band of horses - infinite arms - older
#7. ty segall - melted - alone
#6. the fresh and onlys - play it strange - summer of love
#5. the black keys - brothers - black mud
#4. phosphorescent - here's to taking it easy - nothing was stolen(love me foolishly)
#3. kurt vile - square shells - i know i got religion
#2. paul carry - ghost of a man - the curse of china bull
#1. deerhunter - halcyon digest - he would have laughed
