Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions Get Their Touring On

Posted on | September 1, 2009 | No Comments

Has mentioned in my previous Hope post, she rarely if ever tours.

Once every decade seems to be her speed. That’s due partly of her
releasing an album every 10 years or so but also, her extreme
shyness onstage. From what i’ve heard, she performed almost
completely in the dark.

Even is she sang from the side of the stage wearing a onesie
from head to toe the whole damn show, I’d still go and enjoy her
sweet sweet voice.

Her second album with The Warm Inventions “Through The Devil Slowly”
has been moved up a week and will now be released September 29th.

“Trouble”, a new song from said album is available for download right here:

( MP3 ) Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions – “Trouble”

Good news for me and my fellow Montrealers, a date was announced last week for
October the 8th @ Le National. Big ups to show promoting workhorses
Greenland for making it happen.

Fall Tour Schedule:

North America

Sep. 19 – Jean Runyon Little Theatre ( Sacramento, CA ) * Tickets *
Sep. 21 – Doug Fir Lounge ( Portland, OR ) * Tickets *
Sep. 22 – The Red Room ( Vancouver, BC ) * Tickets *
Sep. 23 – The Crocodile ( Seattle, WA ) * Tickets *
Sep. 25 – Arcata Theatre Lounge ( Arcata, CA ) * Tickets *
Sep. 26 – The Fillmore ( San Francisco, CA ) * Tickets *
Sep. 29 – Hollywood Forever Cemetery ( Los Angeles, CA ) * Tickets *
Oct. 01 – The Bluebird Theatre ( Denver, CO ) * Tickets *
Oct. 04 – The Pabst Theatre ( Milwaukee, WI ) * Tickets *
Oct. 05 – Lincoln Hall ( Chicago, IL ) * Tickets *
Oct. 07 – The Mod Club ( Toronto, ON ) * Tickets *
Oct. 08 – Le National ( Montreal, QC ) * Tickets *
Oct. 10 – Music Hall Of Williamsburg ( Brooklyn, NY ) * Tickets *
Oct. 12 – Bowery Ballroom ( New York, NY ) * Tickets *
Oct. 13 – First Unitarian Church ( Philadelphia, PA ) * Tickets *
Oct. 14 – The Sixth And I ( Washington, DC ) * Tickets *
Oct. 16 – The Loft ( Atlanta, GA ) * Tickets *

Europe

Oct. 29 – Roisin Dubh ( Galway, Ireland ) * Tickets *
Oct. 30 – Cyprus Avenue ( Cork, Ireland ) * Tickets *
Oct. 31 – Vicar St ( Dublin, Ireland ) * Tickets *
Nov. 02 – Kampnagel ( Hamburg, Germany ) * Tickets *
Nov. 03 – Gloria ( Cologne, Germany ) * Tickets *
Nov. 04 – Café De La Danse ( Paris, France ) * Tickets *
Nov. 06 – Astra Kulturhaus ( Berlin, Germany ) * Tickets *
Nov. 07 – Botanique ( Brussels, Belgium ) * Tickets *
Nov. 08 – Southbank Centre ( London, England ) * Tickets *

Bookmark This :

Category: Hope Sandoval, Live Shows
Tags: > > > > > > > >

Giant Drag New Video “Stuff To Live For” + New EP On The Way

Posted on | August 26, 2009 | 1 Comment

Official Website
Myspace
Facebook

Annie Hardy, Giant Drag frontwoman and perhaps the funniest lady in all of
indie rockdom is back with a new record, 4 years since her most excellent
debut album 2005’s “Hearts & Unicorns”.

The 4-song EP titled “Swang Song” will come out this October.

This EP was recorded with partner in crime/drummer Micah Calabrese who
came back after quitting the band for a spell but is now back in the
GD fold full time.

They’ve been label-less after Geffen dropped them from their roster
back in 2007 and they couldn’t be happier about it. Annie decided to
turn to her devoted fans and create the Giant Drag Relief Fund which all
the donated money from said fans and also funds earned from an Ebay Store
she set up where GD merchandise and some of her personal stuff has been
put up for auction, went into recording this new EP and the upcoming
sophomore album. Hence why the long wait between records.

She’s also kept very busy.

She was a host on the weekly web radio show Get The Fuck Up Radio where
she brought the funny on a weekly basis. Why she doesn’t have her own
radio or TV show for that matter somewhere outthere is mind boggling.
I would totally listen/watch that shit. A few acting gigs went her way,
recently in a short Spike Jonze film, she also appears in the
David Lynch/Sparklehorse/Danger Mouse photo book “Dark Night Of The Soul”.

But mostly, in the last few years, she’s been fighting this disorder
called Fibromyalgia which is classified by the presence of chronic
widespread pain and a heightened and painful response to gentle touch
which kept her down but not out.

She’s kept an online presence thanks to her college interns/assistants
Amy and Ryan. She did a very funny interview with fellow recording
artist Amy Kuney, the lady Tweets as does Micah and they’ve begun
doing live stream shows where you can watch them shoot the shit,
answer fan questions, perform songs acoustic style and some live
auction action goes on aswell.

Here’s the first 3 hour live stream show they did last month:

The next show is this Saturday, August 29th @ 4:30pm EST (1:30pm PST).

Click HERE to RSVP.

A music video was just released for the new single “Stuff To Live For”.
Directed by G.J. Echternkamp, watch Annie (who went blonde for this)
being dumped on with all sorts of crap and gooey substances for
4 minute straight.

Bookmark This :

Category: Albums, Giant Drag, Music Videos
Tags: > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

Bat For Lashes “Two Suns” Album Gets Deluxe Treatment

Posted on | August 25, 2009 | No Comments

All is well for Natasha Khan.

“Two Suns”, her sophomore album released last April, reached #5 on the UK Album
Charts and it’s first single “Daniel” (an homage to Karate Kid’s Daniel LaRusso)
was a top 40 hit.

She just came off another successful north american tour and was nominated
again for the Mercury Prize with good odds on winning this time around.

So what do you when you have all this success?

Re-release your album of course. Usually, these can be considered as cash
grabs by the labels and artists doing the re-releasing but this re-issue
IMHO is well worth the money.

The 3-Disc set will be released in the UK september 7th with an North American
release to be announced soon. Buy it as an import or ask your UK friend to buy
it for ya which is exactly what i’m planning on doing.

What’s the deluxe part of this package you ask?

The bonus disc will include 8 songs, the stripped back version of “Daniel”,
covers of “A Forest” by The Cure and “Use Somebody” by Kings Of Leon,
“Wilderness” which is a most excellent b-side, a remix of “Sleep Alone”
and a few live cuts from the road.

Bonus Disc:

1. Wilderness
2. Sleep Alone (909s in DarkTimes Mix)
3. Daniel (Lo Fi)
4. A Forest (The Cure cover)
5. Use Somebody (Kings of Leon cover)
6. Good Love (live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 19 April 2009)
7. Daniel (live on Radiohead tour at Nimes, 14 June 2008)
8. Lonely (live at Koko, 29 October 2007)

What i’m really excited about is the DVD which will contain a 48 minute
documentary shot at varying locations across the world from the Joshua
Tree desert and Big Sur in California, to the streets of New York and
the Welsh countryside giving us an inside look in the recording process
for “Two Suns”.

Here’s a teaser trailer to give you a taste.

Bookmark This :

Category: Albums, Bat For Lashes, Documentary, MP3s
Tags: > > > > >

Pop Montreal 2009: The Initial Lineup

Posted on | August 21, 2009 | 1 Comment

Official Website | Myspace | Facebook | Twitter

The week long music festival that most serious music lovers around these parts
awaits each and every year for is back for it’s 8th edition.

It shall go down in most venues all over this fine city of ours starting
September 30th trough October 4th.

Pop MTL has been very good to me over the years. A few highlights that comes
to mind: The very first edition back in ’02, I got to see a little known band
by the name of Interpol in one of the tiniest venues (Jupiter Room) in town.
Or in 2005, I got to see my fav band The Posies play my favorite venue
(La Sala Rossa) to a very small crowd of power pop lovers.
Probably one of the best (albeit very short) show i’ve ever been to.

The organizers released an initial lineup of headliners a few weeks ago
and some of those picks for this year’s edition are down right awesome.

The already sold out Sufjan Stevens show @ the Cabaret October 2nd will be
by far the most talked about show. You got your Butthole Surfers, doing a
one-off show specifically for the fest. The Knife‘s Karin Dreijer coming
here with her own project Fever Ray, one of the strangest and darkest album
i’ve heard this year. Indie rock darlings Yo La Tengo coming back to town
promoting their new release “Popular Songs” playing the Club Soda on the 2nd.

At Pop Montreal, there’s always a few Veterans/pioneers of the music scene
showing up on the schedule to show the kids how it’s done and this year’s
no different.

The inventors of “Kraut Rock” Faust will be @ the Ukrainian Federation
October 3rd and on that same night, you can catch Brazilian psychedelic
rock band Os Mutantes @ Le National but whom i’m looking forward
to see the most is hip hop pioneer Roxanne Shanté. I dunno where
they dug her up but has an ol’ school hip hop enthusist, i’m likin’ it.

You also have your side “Pop” events for films, “Puce Pop” for crafts and
“Pop” events for kids that’s well worth attending.

The complete schedule, with hundred more bands and artists to be added to
the list below should be out a few weeks before the festivities begins.

Tickets for all these shows and passes are onsale right now.

Wednesday, Sept. 30

Amy Millan ( Ukrainian Federation )
Jay Reatard ( La Sala Rossa )
Matt & Kim ( Club Lambi )
Bajofondo ( Le National )
Allan Holdsworth ( L’Astral )

Thursday, Oct. 1

Butthole Surfers ( Olympia Theatre )
Fever Ray ( Metropolis )
Mono ( La Tulipe )
Loudon Wainwright III ( Ukrainian Federation )
Roxanne Shanté ( Club Lambi )
The Intelligence ( La Sala Rossa )

Friday, Oct. 2

Sufjan Stevens ( Cabaret JPR )
Destroyer ( Ukrainian Federation )
Kid Koala ( La Tulipe )
Lee Fields & The Expressions ( La Sala Rossa )
Mark Bérubé & The Patriotic Few ( L’Astral )
Buffy Sainte-Marie ( Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste )
Sam Shalabi’s Egyptian Light Orchestra ( Réunion )
Teenage Jesus & The Jerks ( Le National )
The Dø ( Théâtre Plaza )
The Homosexuals ( Club Lambi )
Yo La Tengo ( Club Soda )

Saturday, Oct. 3

Faust ( Ukrainian Federation )
Os Mutantes ( Le National )
Diamanda Galas ( Outremont Theatre )
DJ /rupture ( Club Lambi )
Dragonette ( Studio JPR )
Thee Oh Sees ( La Sala Rossa )
Think About Life ( Réunion )

Sunday, Oct. 4

Ariane Moffatt ( Ukrainian Federation )
Iris Dement ( L’Astral )
Wovenhand ( La Sala Rossa )

Bookmark This :

Category: Festivals, Music Videos, Pop Montreal
Tags: > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >

MP3 : Pocketknife – “Feels”

Posted on | August 18, 2009 | No Comments

Official Website
Myspace
Facebook

A threesome out of Brooklyn (yeah yeah I know, another one) but it’s
a pretty damn good threesome that shows great promise so I tought I
would introduce you to Pocketknife.

Jazzy guitars that’ll suit modern indie fanatics and classic Top 40
lovers all in the same chorus. Dare I say they almost have a Grizzly
Bear-ish quality to their sound. Especially from a track life “Feels”.

They can be caught periodically outside their hometown, but it’s only
a matter of time until the rest of us are fortunate enough to see the
magic for ourselves.

“Feels” is from their debut EP “We’re All Hunters Now”.

( MP3 ) Pocketknife – “Feels”
( MP3 ) Pocketknife – “Buy Back The Boat”
( MP3 ) Pocketknife – “Song In D”

Pocketknife – “Feels”

Bookmark This :

Category: MP3s, Reviews
Tags: > > >
« Go Back — Older Entries »