W♥M

Ash at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (03/18/13)

Tour Dates 03/20/13 Detroit, MI / Magic Stick Lounge 03/21/13 Newport, KY / Southgate House 03/22/13 Indianapolis, IN / Radio Radio 03/23/13 Pittsburgh, PA / Altar Bar 07/19/13 Truck Festival Hill Farm, Oxford 07/20/13 Super Bock Super Rock Portugal 07/27/13 Kendal Calling Lake District 08/02/13 Camp Bestival Dorset 08/03/13 Y Not Festival Derbyshire Read More Ash Sure, I mentioned Ash last week, but today, they released the official SXSW shows and "mini" tour dates - which looks like they are catering to the mid-west .…

"We got delayed by a storm for... seven years," joked singer Tim Wheeler from Ash, as they apologized for staying away from Minnesota for so long. Ash is currently on small U.S. tour, making a rare Minneapolis appearance at the Varsity Theater last night, March 18th.

STRANGE NAMES

Opening up the show was Strange Names, a band from Minneapolis, who may or may not be friends with Howler's Jordan Gatesmith. For a new band, I thought Strange Names was really comfortable on stage and sounded like they've been doing this for a while.

The two key players were dedicated singer, and sometime tambourine player, Liam Benzvi, and guitarist, and sometime singer, Francis Jimenez. Both of them were excited about an upcoming new single or EP on March 26th, as they played two new tracks from it called "White Irish" and "Minor Times" (which they ended their set with).

As for Ash, what can I say? It's been a long time, but well worth it, finally seeing them again. I've seen the bands a few times, but they usually were not billed as headliner - for instance, opening up for Saves the Day in 2003 or Bravery in 2005.

For casual fans, let me help catch you up: the Irish band started off as a trio (Tim, Mark, and Rick) and had a massive hit with 1977 in 1996. Charlotte Hatherley joined the band in 1998 with Nu-Clear Sounds, she became an integral part of the band, until her departure in 2004 with Meltdown. By 2007, the band returned to their music roots as a trio with Twilight of the Innocents, but Tim and company were unhappy with its release that they announced it will be Ash's last album. That's not the end of the story: Ash would come back as strictly a "singles" band, returning with the "A-Z" series (recording a new single every two weeks for a year).

“Return of White Rabbit” was really, really good!

If you were afraid that Ash is only doing "A-Z" songs on this tour, let me squash that fear right now. Only a few selected songs were played ("Arcadia", "Joy Kicks Darkness", "Binary" and "Return of White Rabbit"), and they sounded great live. In particular, the set closer, "Return of White Rabbit" was really, really good!

I am also happy to report that a good portion of songs on this current tour were taken from my personal favorite 1977 album ("Goldfinger" , "Angel Interceptor", "Kung Fu", "Oh Yeah", and "Girl From Mars"). You can tell that the audience loved the album as well with their strong sing-along feedback and dancing.

There were a couple of surprises for me at this show, first is Nu-Clear Sounds was largely ignored (no "Jesus Says", no "Wildsurf", etc.), the second is that songs from Free All Angels ("Walking Barefoot", "Shining Light", and the encore "Burn Baby Burn" ) got huge responses from the fans, and third, who knew bassist Mark Hamilton was such a rock star? Wow check out his moves!

It's really been too long. Let's hope we don't have to wait another seven years to see Ash again, the band promised to come back soon.

Ash's A-Z Series is out now. You can pick up all 62 songs at a bargain price of $8.99 on amazon. The physical discs (both Vol 1 & 2) can be picked up at their merchandise table for $10 each.

Ash at the Varsity Theater, Minneapolis (03/18/13)

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ ash-official.com ♥ strangenamesmusic.com

W♥M173: The Varsity Theater

W♥M173 (12 mins)

Shayna from the Varsity Theater is our guest this week on W♥M Radio.

The Varsity Theater is the prettiest/best-looking venue around town; this is mostly thanks to their other business of booking wedding receptions and private events. They also get some of the best national bands with upcoming acts such as funnyman John Mulaney (03/16) , one of my favorite Britpop acts Ash (03/18), Frightened Rabbit (03/21), Mercury Prize Winner Alt-J (04/01), Pop Star Mika (04/02). We are actually covering a lot of bands at the Varsity - if I'm not there, usually I send someone else to cover it for me.

Anyway, too many good bands to mention, head over to varsitytheater.org to see their full calendar.

Shayna is really excited about Carroll (carrollmusic.net). The band won Vita.mn's fourth annual "Are You Local" contest and is heading down to SXSW:

03/14 SXSW Funk-It Rec Showcase
03/15 SXSW Minnesota Nice Showcase
03/15 SXSW Free Now Showcase

Song of the show is Jim James' "State of the Art (A. E. I. O. U)" from his album Regions of Light and Sound of God. I've previously written about James and how he's the singer of My Morning Jacket. He recently announced some exclusive "Conversation at SXSW", which I'll list all the tour dates and information below. His North American tour kicks in April.

For the latest updates, check with jimjames.com.

03/12 SXSW MTV/VH1/CMT Present 03/13 SXSW Interview w/ Bill Flanagan 03/13 SXSW Aquarium Drunkard Presents 03/14 SXSW Heartbreaker Banquet 03/15 SXSW Auditorium Shores’ show 03/16 SXSW Record Signing @ Waterloo Records 04/17: Louisville, KY @ Brown Theatre 04/19: Milwaukee, WI @ The Pabst Theater 04/20: Chicago, IL @ Vic Theatre 04/21: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue 04/23: Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall 04/24: Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre 04/26: Boston, MA @ Royale 04/27: Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer 04/29: New York, NY @ Webster Hall

04/30: Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club 05/02: Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom 05/3: Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel 05/6: Austin, TX @ Stubb’s Waller Creek 05/7: Dallas, TX @ House of Blues 05/9: Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre 05/11: Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre 05/12: San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore 05/14: Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom 05/15: Seattle, WA @ Neptune 05/17: Gulf Shores, AL @ Hangout Music Fest 06/13-06/15: Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo 06/22: Dove, DE @ Firefly Music Festival 07/12-7/14: Louisville, KY @ Forcastle Festival 07/27: Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival

BONUS: Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (or rather the shortened OMD) is coming to the Varsity Theater on July 8 July 22. This is a long way from now, but hopefully, if it all works out, I will be at that show. I don't want to call Shayna out on this one, but the song appeared on "Pretty in Pink". Although between you and me, I often get all of those John Hughes/Molly Ringwald movies mixed up ("The Breakfast Club", "Sixteen Candles", and "Pretty in Pink").

I don't think if it's officially announced yet, but Diamond Rings will be opening up for OMD on their US dates. We previously covered the Thomas Hardy book lover at 7th Street Entry. Update: OMD made the Diamond Rings news official on March 6th.

04/05/13 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 04/06/13 Seattle, WA Showbox At The Market 04/07/13 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom 04/10/13 Salt Lake City, UT The Depot 04/12/13 San Francisco, CA Regency Ballroom 04/14/13 Indio, CA Empire Polo Club 04/21/13 Indio, CA Empire Polo Club 04/28/13 Margate, UK Winter Gardens 04/29/13 Birmingham, UK Symphony Hall 05/01/13 Nottingham, UK Royal Centre 05/02/13 Ipswich, UK Ipswich Regent Theatre 05/03/13 London, UK Roundhouse 05/05/13 Bristol, UK Colston Hall 05/06/13 Oxford, UK New Theatre Oxford 05/08/13 Sheffield, UK Sheffield City Hall 05/09/13 Leeds, UK O2 Academy Leeds 05/10/13 Manchester, UK Manchester Academy

05/13/13 Gateshead, UK The Sage Gateshead 05/14/13 Liverpool, UK Liverpool Empire Theatre 05/21/13 Hamburg, Germany Docks Konzerte 05/22/13 Bielefeld, Germany Ringlokschuppen 05/24/13 Berlin, Germany Tempodrom 05/25/13 Leipzig, Germany Haus Auensee 05/27/13 Cologne, Germany E-Werk 07/11/13 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall 07/12/13 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 07/13/13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 07/15/13 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club 07/17/13 New York, NY Terminal 5 07/19/13 Toronto, ON Danforth Music Hall 07/20/13 Detroit - St. Andrew's Hall 07/22/13 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater 07/23/13 Chicago, IL Metro / Smart Bar

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SXSW 2013: ZZ Ward, Flume, Ash, Current Swell

Read more SXSW coverage at sxsw.weheartmusic.com.

Hundreds and thousands of bands are heading to SXSW this year to play little thirty-minute sets on March 14 through March 17.

If you are a band heading to SXSW, send me your biography and stuff (see guidelines for more details), and I'll add you to an upcoming SXSW article. Please put "SXSW" in your subject header.

Here are just some bands scheduled to play at SXSW 2013:

ZZ WARD
zzward.com

Zsuzsanna Ward, aka ZZ Ward, has sold out all her shows on this current tour as she heads down to SXSW. ZZ is stopping by Minneapolis' Varsity Theater this Friday, February 22nd. We are covering a few shows this Friday (Emily is doing Eels and I'm covering Painted Palms), but I'll swing by to catch ZZ.

ZZ Ward is currently on tour in support of her debut album, Til the Casket Drops (released last October via Hollywood Records).

NOTE: Six-piece rock group Delta Rae is co-headlining with ZZ Ward on most dates, but not the Minneapolis show.

Tour dates below:

02/21/13 Kansas City, MO The Riot Room 02/22/13 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater 02/24/13 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall 02/25/13 Columbus, OH A & R Music Bar 02/27/13 Cleveland, OH Beachland 02/28/13 Toronto, ON Virgin Mobile Mod Club 03/02/13 Cambridge, MA Middle East 03/04/13 Baltimore, MD The 8X10

03/05/13 New York, NY Irving Plaza 03/06/13 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of The Living 03/08/13 Norfolk, VA NorVa 03/09/13 Charlotte, NC Visulite Theatre 03/10/13 Nashville, TN 3rd & Lindsley 03/11/13 New Orleans, LA Parish 05/24/13 Quincy, WA Gorge Amphitheatre 05/31/13 Ozark, AR Mulberry Mountain

ASH
ash-official.com

Sure, I mentioned Ash last week, but today, they released the official SXSW shows and "mini" tour dates - which looks like they are catering to the mid-west (Chicago, Minneapolis).

If I have some spare cash, I will likely pick up their A-Z tri-color vinyl (I already own all the MP3s, but I still like to physically touch my music) when they come to Minneapolis. Yes, we are fans.

Confirmed tour dates:

03/12 Dallas TX / Cambridge Room
03/13 SXSW - Buffalo Billiards
03/15 SXSW -- BD Riley's / Full Irish Breakfast
03/17 Chicago IL / Lincoln Hall
03/18 Minneapolis MN / Varsity Theater
03/20 Detroit, MI / Magic Stick Lounge
03/21 Newport, KY / Southgate House
03/22 Indianapolis, IN / Radio Radio
03/23 Pittsburgh, PA / Altar Bar

FLUME
facebook.com/flumemusic

One of the hottest remixer/producer, as indicated by four of his remixes were in the Triple J Hottest 100 last year (with two of them in the top 20), is Australia's Flume. His "first ever" US tour is taking place this March and April… centering around SXSW, of course. And yes, Flume and one hundred other Australian bands are playing at the legendary Aussie BBQ.

Flume's self-titled album is available now via Mom & Pops Music.

Flume at SXSW:

Mar. 13 @ Red 7 - Windish Agency Official Showcase
Mar. 14 @ Hype Hotel - I Guess I'm Floating Party
Mar. 14 @ Latitude 30 - Transgressive SXSW
Mar. 16 @ Maggie Mae's - Aussie BBQ

Mar 20 - Miami, FL @ HARD Miami Mar. 21 - Miami, FL @ Bardot Miami Mar. 22 - Chicago, IL @ The Mid Mar. 23 - Philadelphia, PA @ The Rotunda Mar 26 - Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex Mar. 28 - San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop Mar. 29 - Vancouver, BC @ Electric Owl

Mar. 30 - Seattle, WA @ Lo Fi Mar. 31 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios Apr. 2 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg Apr. 3 - Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall Apr. 4 - Cambridge, MA @ Middlesex Lounge Apr. 5 - Toronto, ON @ The Hoxton Apr. 6 - Montreal, QC @ Le Belmont

CURRENT SWELL
currentswell.com

Victoria's Current Swell returns to the US next week (February 27th) as part of their long road to SXSW (note: date is not finalized). They are touring for their recent album, Long Time Ago, released on Nettwerk Records last October.

Tour Dates:

02/27/13 Wilmington, NC @ The Soapbox
02/28/13 Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
03/01/13 Folly Beach, SC @ Loggerhead’s Beach Grill
03/02/13 Sarasota, FL @ Jake's Tavern
03/03/13 Naples, FL @ South Street
03/04/13 Vero Beach, FL @ Filthy McNasty's
03/05/13 St. Petersburg, FL @ The Local 662
03/06/13 St. Augustine, FL @ The Standard
03/08/13 Colorado Springs, CO @ Black Sheep
03/09/13 Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theatre
03/10/13 Ft. Collins, CO @ Aggie Theatre
03/31/13 Tyagarah, Australia Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm
04/01/13 Tyagarah, Australia Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm

TOY toy-band.com London's five-piece band called Toy recently announced some side dates, in addition to their SXSW appearance. Their self-titled album was released on Heavenly Recordings / Cooperative Music in 2012. March 14 SXSW@Cedar Street Courtyard March 15th-16th - SXSW (shows TBA) March 19th - Mercury Lounge – New York, NY March 20th - Knitting Factory – Brooklyn, NY

YEAH YEAH YEAHS yeahyeahyeahs.com Last week, Yeah Yeah Yeahs announced that they will play NPR Music’s SXSW Showcase at Stubbs on March 13th, 2013. The official showcase will also be broadcast worldwide on NPR.org/music. Also on the bill is Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, who will open the evening with a special set. YYY's latest album, Mosquito, will be out April 16th on Interscope Records. Expect the band to preview some tracks live at SXSW.

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Britpop Now!

Read more Britpop. Blur, Suede (new song), Pulp ("new" song), and Stone Roses were recently covered on W♥M #167.

Read More Johnny Marr Lots of Radiohead's Ed & Phil and Johnny Marr (The Smiths) and lots of Wilco. In fact, there were one or two comments about how they thought it was such a clash of quintessentially British and American sounds.

JOHNNY MARR
johnny-marr.com

If you know me, you know that I'm actually a huge Smiths fan. I discovered the band years after they broke up through Morrissey, who came into my world in 1991 on the Johnny Carson show. Once I saw Morrissey singing about his friends in hell, I knew I had to find out more about Moz. This was pre-internet, so most of the information I had to work with came in the printed form: letters, fanzines, magazines, and books. It was only a matter of time did I get my first Smiths album, The Queen is Dead, at Tower Records. I don't care what anyone say, that album is perfect from top to bottom.

In case you haven't figured it out, Johnny Marr is the legendary guitarist from The Smiths. He co-wrote/wrote all the Smiths' songs and eventually went on to a ton of other solo projects post-breakup in 1987. Marr acted as "guitarist-for-hire" on various project, such as The Cribs, Modest Mouse, but he's finally decided to release a new solo album called The Messenger, coming out February 26th. I suppose this is the follow-up to his 2003's Johnny Marr and the Healers album (which I caught them live at First Avenue).

With a confirmed appearance at Coachella, Marr decided to put together a North American tour in April and early May:

04/11/13 Las Vegas, NV Pool at Cosmopolitan 04/12/13 Indio, CA Empire Polo Club 04/13/13 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore 04/15/13 Seattle, WA Neumos 04/16/13 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater 04/18/13 Santa Barbara, CA S Barbara Bowl 04/19/13 Indio, CA Empire Polo Club 04/21/13 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater 04/22/13 Omaha, NE Waiting Room

04/23/13 Minneapolis, MN Varsity Theater 04/25/13 Chicago, IL Metro / Smart Bar 04/26/13 Detroit, MI Magic Stick 04/27/13 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert 04/29/13 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 04/30/13 Philadelphia, PA Trocadero Theatre 05/02/13 New York, NY Irving Plaza Powered 05/03/13 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall 05/04/13 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club

Read More Noel Gallagher You know I love Oasis, so I'm always happy to mention Liam and Noel whenever I get the chance. As it is, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds' first US single is called "If I Had A Gun"….

NOEL GALLAGHER
noelgallagher.com

I love Oasis, I still can't believe we interviewed Liam Gallagher through KFSR 90.7 and had special treatment by the band circa 1994 when they first tour here in the USA. By the time "Wonderwall" happened, the band was no long accessible to us! It's fine, we still love Oasis to this day.

Since wrapping up his promotional tour for his 2011 album, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, Noel has been pretty quiet.

If you missed his tour, like I did, you will be happy to know that his DVD, International Magic Live at The O2 is coming out February 26, 2013, in North America. The video release will be available in a variety of formats: video downloads, 2 disc DVD, and Blu-Ray (with exclusive CD called Faster Than The Speed of Magic featuring demos of album tracks, B-Sides and live tracks).

From my understanding, the video captures two live shows: "International Magic Live" at the O2 in London and "Live At The Mod Club" from his Toronto appearance. I have been to the Mod Club and I can tell you that it's probably a lot smaller than O2 Arena.

Noel Gallagher will appear at "Give It Up For Comic Relief" in London's Wembley Arena on March 6th and "Teenage Cancer Trust Benefit" in London's Royal Albert Hall on March 23rd.

REPUBLICA
facebook.com/officialrepublica

Republica is set to come back in 2013. You may have remembered this female-fronted-band from the 90s with their massive big hit song, "Ready to Go"? Fans might argue they had other hits, but c'mon, no one knows them. The popular song was recently used in the video game Everybody Dance, which I'll confess I own on PS3.

So Saffron and the original line-up is back in 2013, with a new EP set for March with an accompanying tour:

03/14/13 London The Relentless Garage
03/15/13 York Fibbers
03/18/13 Newcastle O2 Academy Newcastle
03/19/13 Leeds Brudenell Social Club
03/21/13 Nottingham Bodega Social Club
03/22/13 Bristol Thekla
06/16/13 Newport Seaclose Park

ASH
ash-official.com

Yeah, you already know I love these guys. 1977, what a great album …. but you can tell the Scottish lads were young at the time, listening to the album on retrospect. They're not the greatest lyrics, but who cares, it sounds so good and simple.

Since finishing their A-Z project (this was their weekly write a song for twenty-six weeks straight), the band has been on constant tour. They haven't been to Minneapolis since 2005, so I was surprised to find out that they'll be at the Varsity Theater on Mar 18.

I tried looking up the rest of their US tour schedule, but I guess these are the only two announced:

Mar 12 House of Blues Dallas Dallas, TX
Mar 18 Varsity Theater Minneapolis, MN

STEREOPHONICS
stereophonics.com

I've seen Stereophonics a few times in Minneapolis, as the band ready for their UK tour, singer/songwriter Kelly Jones opened up to The Daily Mail about the passing of ex-drummer Stuart Cable.

Apparently Cable had drugs and alcohol problems that lead Jones to fire the drummer in 2003. Although the two kissed and made up within a year and a half, his sudden death in 2010 affected Jones.

He's quoted as saying, "I think about him, and miss him, every day. Every time we play an old song, he's still there."

Stereophonic's upcoming album, Graffiti On The Train, will be out March 4, just in time for their UK tour dates. The single, "Indian Summer", is out on February 25.

03/15/13 Leicester De Montfort Hall 03/16/13 Wolverhampton Civic Hall 03/18/13 Leeds O2 Academy Leeds 03/19/13 Leeds O2 Academy Leeds 03/21/13 Cheltenham The Centaur

03/22/13 Portsmouth Portsmouth Guildhall 03/23/13 Plymouth Plymouth Pavilions 03/25/13 Doncaster The Dome 03/26/13 Blackpool Empress Ballroom 03/27/13 Edinburgh Usher Hall

DODGY
dodgyology.com

Sally's favorite band ever is doing a one-off date special acoustic set at Selby Town Hall on February 16th. They will play nothing but the hits "Staying Out For The Summer", "In A Room", "If You're Thinking of Me", "Good Enough", etc.

Since Dodgy's original line-up re-formation in 2007, the band's been on and off the music festival circuits. Pretty soon, they went back into the studios to record and release Stand Upright In A Cool Place, which came out in 2012. Their previous album, Real Estate, was released in 2001. What's interesting to note is that the original line-up's last album prior to breakup was 1996's Free Peace Sweet.

Anyway, you can see Dodgy at Selby Town Hall on February 16th for a mere 13 of your English pounds.

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Ash

Read More Ash Of course, being a fan of of all-things-Britpop, I do love Ash. They were a little band out of Northern Ireland, who were big Star Wars nerds and wrote power rock/pop songs about Kung Fu movies and cute love songs like "Girl From Mars". .....

To this day, I think Ash's 1977 is one of the best album I've ever listened to. It's like every song on the album is a standalone single. I think they tried that formula with their A-Z singles/compilation album that was released officially in the U.S. last November 6th, 2012, on Noyes Records. I have listened to A-Z, and as much as I love Ash, circa 1996, I found A-Z's 26-song epic album a little too much to absorb. If you haven't heard A-Z, check out the free song "Return of the White Rabbit" at Rollingstone.com.

Ticketstub to Saves the Day and Ash at The Quest, Minneapolis (10/27/02)

I've seen Ash a few times, but definitely my favorite was seeing the band support Saves the Day. I spent the majority of Saves the Day's set actually hanging out with Ash. They were signing for Free All Angels, which I already own the UK release. I bought the album again (although it was the U.S. version with a bonus DVD) to have something for them to sign. See scan below of all the autographs, including Charlotte Hatherley!

A few years ago, I guess Ash went back to basic and kicked out Hatherley, but she's actually continued on as part of Bat for Lashes's touring band. She's currently on tour with them:

01/26/13 Singapore, Singapore Gardens By The Bay
01/28/13 Auckland, New Zealand Silo Park
01/30/13 Newtown, Australia Enmore Theatre
02/01/13 Brisbane, Australia Alexandria Street
02/02/13 Sydney, Australia St. Jerome's Laneway Festival Grounds
02/03/13 Melbourne, Australia St. Jerome's Laneway Festival Grounds
02/05/13 St. Kilda, Australia Palais Theatre
02/08/13 Adelaide, Australia St. Jerome's Laneway Festival Grounds
02/09/13 Perth, Australia Cultural Centre

Something Big

Also, Hatherley is part of the collective, Sylver Tongue (with Al Spx of Cold Specks), which I previously mentioned. Her EP, Something Big came out on Dancing Coins on November 6.

Check out the title song on Soundcloud:

Ash autographs at The Quest, Minneapolis (10/27/02)

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The Silver Age

Read More Charlotte Hatherley I love Charlotte and I think she really compliment KT, by taking the heavy guitar work and leaving KT to do the vocals thing.

SYLVER TONGUE
sylvertongue.com

As you know, I am a big fan of Ash and Charlotte Hatherley. Hatherley is back under a new project called Sylver Tongue, and you can preview two of her songs via Soundcloud.com.

NME described the new songs as "space-age synths and subtle glam stomps" and "Creatures" as "meaty throb" and "Hook You Up" as "subtler, sultrier" … so two different type of sound coming from Sylver Tongue.

Pretty exciting, can't wait to hear more new material from Hatherley.

Also, I would love to see Charlotte Hatherley as headliner, I have previously seen her play with Ash, Bat For Lashes and KT Tunstall - but never as a solo artist or as main singer. She does have a great voice and a knack for writing songs, so it just seems like a natural move for her to step in the spotlight.

Wish I could attend one of these shows (I love S7B!):

07/04/12 Village Underground w/ Gaggle
07/19/12 Thekla w/ School of Seven Bells
07/29/12 Slade Rooms w/ School of Seven Bells

BRIEFLY:

SIMONE WHITE simonewhite.com National Public Radio recently named Simone White's album, Silver Silver, as best music of 2012 (so far). They loved her so much that they recently debut her video, "Flowers in May" via NPR's All Songs Considered. See her live: 7.24 Largo (with band) Los Angeles, CA 7.29 Museo Balenciaga Paradiso Getaria, Spain 8.3 Crystal Club Santiago, Spain

ZULU WINTER zuluwinter.com Going to Splendour in the Grass? I am told that there will be "mini-Splendour" parties at Melbourne and Sydney with Minneapolis' Howler and London's Zulu Winter. Zulu Winter's latest song and video is called "Silver Tongue", which you can see on youtube.com.

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W♥M136: Matt Pinfield

W♥M136 (18 mins)

We ♥ Matt Pinfield. With over 25 years of experience as a radio DJ, television VJ, Pinfield is truly "The Rock and Roll Encyclopedia".

Pinfield is part of Skype's "Join Say it with Skype" upcoming competition to be the Skype house band. This is a great opportunity for young musicians to showcase their music and win a professional studio recording. Judges (and later mentors) will include Matt Pinfield, Pete Wentz (Fall Out Boy) and Ryan Tedder (OneRepublic).

Here's how it works:

• Using a laptop or computer with a webcam, log into Facebook
• Add the Join Say It With Skype app
• Find the "submit a URL of your band" and hit "record a live performance"
• The next step is to just rock out.

IMPORTANT: Bands can submit their entries on the Skype Facebook page until Thursday, June 14 at 11:59 P.M. EST. Winners will be selected and notified on Tuesday, June 19 via email and will be announced publicly on Monday, July 9 at 9:00 A.M. EST.

Besides from "Say it with Skype", Pinfield also talk a little about Dave Kendall and 120 Minutes, how he consume his music (he has a record player in his kitchen).

Song of the show is Gaslight Anthem's "45", which is Matt Pinfield's favorite song at the moment.

Keep up with Matt Pinfield on twitter, he's currently started MTV's The Hivecast with Matt Pinfield (they're on episode #1 with Mark Ronson), he's on "terrestrial radio" with Cumulus Media-produced "Flashback" show (which is carried by 200 stations, including 92 KQRS), and is working on a book.

BONUS:
• Matt's hilarious Prince story, plus Bob Mould.

• I should also mention that I use the standard Skype phone and computer application all the time, but not so much the Facebook's "Say It With Skype" app. As part of the research, I did check it out by sending a birthday greeting with our favorite Ash band. It's really cool, I even got to put in my own text in the message:



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Emily

I want to spell 'emily', but my fingers keeps typing emaily. And speaking of email-y, we get a lot of emails, so please include a brief biography if you're an establishing artist - it would really save me some time!

EMILY BEANBLOSSOM
whipsoflove.tumblr.com

The special K Singles Zip-Pak for the week of June 23, 2011 is for Emily Beanblossom. If you don't know what that is, I suggest you head over to K Records or here. It's basically an annual subscription for a weekly service that works out to be "69 cents a song" according to the K people. It's recommended if you like K Records artists and/or just want new and random music in your email inbox. You didn't hear it from me, but I guess the service will be changing to something more "awesome", I'll let you know if I hear anything official.

Anyway, going back to Emily Beanblossom, I listened to the whole Zip-Pak and it was one of the shorter Paks, it was probably less than five minutes. The main and exclusive song was "Tax Evasion" from Beanblossom's Where Monsters Dwell Session and an excerpt of the demo (less than a minute). Also included was an "interview" with Selector Dub Narcotic/Calvin Johnson (which amounts to nothing more than an introduction and a "let's do this!") and a demo version of "The Moon Rhythm Mastah".

I did like Beanblossom's voice, you'll like her if you like Cat Power-type, but Beanblossom's a bit more on the experimental side (see her regular band, Christmas).

EMMY THE GREAT
emmythegreat.com

Can you get more egotistical than that? I'm sure it's a joke and a nod to Alexander, you know, Alexander the Great.

Anyroad, despite dating Tim Wheeler (we love Ash), I've actually have never listened or wanted to listen to her. Judging from her latest video and single for Iris, I would have to describe her as pop. Definitely not teenage rock as I half-imagined a name like Emmy the Great should be.

The news I got is that her followup to her 2009 debut First Love will be called Virtue and will be out this August 16th in the US, courtesy of Close Harbour Records (although it looks like it was made available digitally and in the UK a few weeks ago). The album was produced by Gareth Jones, famous for producing some Depeche Mode albums in the 80s.

EMILY'S ARMY
emilysarmyband.tumblr.com

Emily's Army is an East Bay punk band, who recently premiered their video for "Broadcast This" on Rollingstone.com. I did see the video, they are pretty power punk (ala Green Day) and they look insanely young.

If you were wondering, the trio (although in a recent picture, it looks like they added another band member), they are 15, 16, and 17 years old.

Catch them now before they supernova:

8/11-8/13 — INSUBORDINATION FEST @ Ottobar, Baltimore MD
9/11/2011 — 924 Gilman Street — 7:30PM-10:30PM — $5 at door

Christy & Emily: Bells

CHRISTY & EMILY
www.christyandemily.com

Christy Edwards and Emily Manzo, otherwise known as Christy & Emily, like duh. From what I've gathered, they've recently added a bassist (Peter Kerlin) and drummer (Kristin Mueller) for a fuller sound.

Their last release was in April, for a split 7" called Quick Words with Talk Normal via Klangbad Records (founded by Cornelia Paul and Hans Joachim Irmler and based in Germany), and you can download "Bells" via Tom Tom Magazine. As a special bonus, if you get the 7", it comes with a download code for both songs, plus another Christy & Emily's cover of Oakley Hall's "Endtime Evangelist".

Look for a full-length by Christy & Emily to be out this or next year.

Emma Shaheen: Life is Beautiful

EMMA SHAHEEN
emmashaheen.com

Emma Shaheen, based in Leeds, is of Kashmiri/Irish descent. I scanned her biography, nothing really stands out, except she was in a nu-jazz band called Today's Mathematics when she was seventeen years old.

You can download The Life Is EP for free at bandcamp, but the song "Falling for You" will set you back £0.79.

The songs on The Life Is EP varies, from the rap-ish/dub "Life is Beautiful" (the best track here), to smooth pop on "Play On" and "Morning Sun", and semi-acoustic "Kissing You" (mixed with some beats).

I am a sucker for British accents, so if you are too, check out the free EP. I was especially impressed by "Life is Beautiful", so I'm including the song in this article.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

W♥M088: Double Podcast

W♥M088 [download (51min, 35mb)]

There were a couple of posts that did not transition over to Typepad, one of them was the entry for #87, so I'm including the entry below (for searching/archive reasons).

This special Double Podcast edition comes in two parts: Sally (Sydney, Australia) vs Brody (New Orleans, Lousiana).

PART ONE: SALLY
♥ Internet: My lamentation of the Vox service is going away. Although we both had numerous problems with posts and formatting. The nice thing about Typepad is that it does offer a no frills html composure (although I hear there's some issues with the new editor).
♥ Sydney: Miami Horror, touring the US and releasing a double disc album. Details previously mentioned here.
♥ Melbourne: Clubfeet's debut album Gold on Gold is quite good! Then I found out that "Teenage Suicide (Don't Do It)" is a bit of a joke song - from an imaginary band on the movie Heathers (which, incidentally, I own on a special tin-edition DVD).
♥ London: Goldfrapp has an iPhone pinball game. The concept of the game is interesting: you remix a Goldfrapp song when you play. You can download the game via iTunes.
♥ Sydney: Peabody is going to stream all their music from Loose Manifesto via their website eventually. Currently showing two songs.
♥ New York: Das Racist returning with a new mixtape called Sit Down, Man out on September 14^th. Watch the trailer on youtube. Pitchfork premiered their video for "Who's That? Brooown!" a few days ago.
♥ Brisbane: Hungry Kids Of Hungary not going hungry on their two years-winning of 2010Q Music Award for the Alternative Category. The Q stands for Queensland, not the UK music magazine.

PART TWO: BRODY
♥ New Orleans: Brody's big easy move. He's on the scene! Will be trying to attend a bunch of upcoming bands, especially keen on Sasha Masakowski and the famed-Voodoo Music Festival.
♥ New York: Peelander-Z touring New Orleans. Can't stop praising them.
♥ Tennessee: Those Darlins, no idea where they're at now, but if they're in town, you know I'll be there.

Those Darlins - Wild One

♥ London: Lucy Rose is the song of choice from Brody. She's a rising star, watch out for this one, Brody tells me.

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

vu ()

Ash - A to Z, Vol. 1

Ash - Return of White Rabbit Ash Tour Dates 04/15/10 Absolute Radio London 04/17/10 Rough Trade Instore, London 04/19/10 Southampton University 04/20/10 Cambridge Junction 04/21/10 Waterfront  Norwich 04/23/10 Irish Centre  Birmingham 04/24/10 Leeds Metropolitan University 04/25/10 O2 Academy Newcastle 04/27/10 O2 ABC Glasgow 04/28/10 Academy 2 Manchester 04/30/10 O2 Academy Bristol 05/01/10 Concorde 2  Brighton 05/02/10 O2 Academy Oxford 05/04/10 Electric Ballroom  London 05/05/10 Roadmender Northampton 05/06/10 Koko London 05/13/10 Point FMR Paris 05/14/10 Sugar Factory Amsterdam 05/15/10 Luxor Cologne 05/16/10 Logo Hamburg 05/17/10 C-Club Berlin 05/19/10 John Dee Oslo 05/20/10 Vox Hall Aarhus 05/22/10 59:1 Munich 05/23/10 Flex Vienna 05/25/10 Abart Zurich 05/26/10 Roehre Stuttgart 05/27/10 Batchkapp Frankfutt 05/28/10Botanique Brussels Discography [Oct 1994] Trailer [May 1996] 1977 [Oct 1998] Nu-Clear Sounds [Apr 2001] Free All Angels [May 2004] Meltdown [Jul 2007] Twilight of the Innocents Read More Ash http://weheartmus... Ash confirmed that Twilight of the Innocents (to be released July 2007) will be their last album....

Of course, being a fan of of all-things-Britpop, I do love Ash. They were a little band out of Northern Ireland, who were big Star Wars nerds and wrote power rock/pop songs about Kung Fu movies and cute love songs like "Girl From Mars". My first record by them was 1977, and eventually tracked down Trailer, but admittedly was not a fan of their debut album - save for the catchy "Jack Names The Planet".

Since 1996, I've bought every album they've released. I imported a copy of Nu-Clear Sounds, only to repurchased it when it was released domestically - mostly because there were alternate remixes of five tracks (plus it had a different cover artwork). I bought Free All Angels twice, because I eventually saw them on tour and just wanted something for them to autograph (since I didn't bring along my original copy).

With Meltdown, I was smart and did just wait for them to release the album domestically. I waited for Twilight of the Innocents, but their final album was never officially released in the US. I've often thought about buying an import copy, but I suppose I never got around to it.

Then about two years ago, Ash said that they weren't going to release albums anymore. That they were just going to release singles. So born The A to Z Series. Every two weeks, the band recorded and release a song, a total of twenty-six tracks over the course of one year.

The idea behind the project was that since they were all going to be singles, that they'd all be strong tracks. Was their theory correct? Sort of.

Since each song is a strong contender for radio play, it just seems that when they collect them (tracks A to M) into an album, A-Z Vol. 1, it feels a little even to me. With a lack of slow songs to space out the tracks, it just feels a little boring to me sometimes. But then again, the idea was that you were supposed to collect each song and were meant to consume them one at a time, over a course of two weeks.

After listening to part one over and over again, I can tell you that these songs have a very "back to basic" sound to them. Nothing too complicated (although there is an occasional experimental sound at the beginning of a song). Perhaps this is because the band no longer has Charlotte Hatherley?

If you're not quite ready to commit to subscribing to Ash's single club, I mean $20-ish dollars for songs that's not recorded yet or another $20 to import the compilation CD, I can guide you to check out the free "Prequel" single, "Return of White Rabbit", single A "True Love 1980" and single H "Space Shot" - you can preview these songs at their official website.

If you haven't heard Ash in a while, I can tell you that hearing Tim Wheeler's vocals is like hearing an old friend. You can pick up A-Z Vol. 1 on April 19^th, 2010. For track listing and additional details, head over to ash-official.com. Currently, they are going on tour, highly successful from the looks of some big shows selling out.

 04/07/2010 03:10:42 ♥ vu () ♥ ash-official.com ♥ myspace.com/ash ♥ twitter.com