W♥M

Refreshing Sounds for 2013

2013 is expected to be a big year for music. Music lovers have high expectations from top musical artists and bands. However, you may not be terribly familiar with the ones that have recently burst onto the music scene and have made a name for themselves with their unique and meaningful sounds.

Here’s a list of the unique sounding artists to watch out for in 2013:

1. Foster the People Foster the People made a name for themselves with the release of the super catchy Pumped Up Kicks. They’ve created their own ‘Foster the People’ sound, something that you can listen to for hours while relaxing on the sofa. The best part about the music is that it makes you want to dance at the same time. The lead singer Mark Foster has a unique voice, a mixture of high pitch chorus and lower note verses. His voice blends with the other two members, making them a pleasure to listen to. The Indie band has plans to release a new album this year.  Their engrossing sound will attract new listeners.

2. The Head and the Heart Seattle’s the Head and the Heart brings a twist to the usual indie-folk music. The band has 6 members that play Americana, indie-rock, pop and a variety of other sounds. Sometimes, they play all the music within a single song. It was a surprise when 10,000 copies sold of their debut album Sub Pop, mostly on word of mouth. They stick to the old block harmonies playing the same chords, but they have hundred different ways to do so.

3. Imagine Dragons The Indie Alternative Rock band from Las Vegas topped iTunes chart with ‘Night Visions’ in 2012, beating all the pop sensations that people are familiar with seeing on the top of the list. Their dubstep pop music captures attention from a variety of genres. The magical, pulsating pop beat will make you want to press the repeat button again. They also have formulaic ingredients to make a radio friendly tune. Imagine Dragons tickets are high in demand for their upcoming concerts in U.S and U.K. Imagine Dragons' tour schedule:

02/08/13 Tempe, AZ The Marquee 02/09/13 Las Vegas, NV The Joint 02/11/13 Dallas, TX House Of Blues 02/12/13 Houston, TX House Of Blues 02/14/13 Atlanta, GA The Tabernacle 02/15/13 Lake Buena Vista, FL House Of Blues 02/16/13 Asheville, NC The Orange Peel 02/18/13 Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory 02/22/13 Silver Spring, MD Fillmore Silver 02/23/13 Portland, OR Roseland Theater 02/25/13 Boston, MA House Of Blues 02/27/13 Toronto, ON Sound Academy 02/28/13 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room 03/01/13 Detroit, MI The Fillmore Detroit 03/02/13 Milwaukee, WI The Rave 03/04/13 Chicago, IL House Of Blues 03/05/13 Chicago, IL House Of Blues 03/06/13 St. Louis, MO The Pageant 03/09/13 Winnipeg, MB Garrick Centre 03/11/13 Edmonton, AB Starlite Room 03/12/13 Calgary, AB MacEwan Conference 03/14/13 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom 03/15/13 Portland, OR Roseland Theater 03/16/13 San Francisco, CA Warfield Theatre

03/18/13 San Diego, CA House Of Blues 03/19/13 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues 03/20/13 Los Angeles, CA The Wiltern 03/22/13 Salt Lake City, UT Complex 03/23/13 Denver, CO Fillmore Auditorium 04/02/13 Bristol, UK O2 Academy Bristol 04/04/13 Liverpool, UK O2 Academy 04/06/13 Glasgow, UK Garage 04/08/13 Manchester, UK Club Academy 04/09/13 Birmingham, UK Library Theatre 04/11/13 London, UK HMV Forum 04/13/13 Amsterdam, Netherlands Melkweg 04/15/13 Stockholm, Sweden Debaser Slussen 04/16/13 Oslo, Norway BLA 04/18/13 Copenhagen, Denmark VEGA 04/19/13 Hamburg, Germany Grosse Freiheit 36 04/20/13 Cologne, Germany Live Music Hall 04/22/13 Berlin, Germany Astra 04/24/13 Prague, Czech Republic The Roxy 04/26/13 Vienna, Austria FLEX 04/29/13 Frankfurt, Germany Gibson Club 04/30/13 Munich, Germany Muffathalle 05/02/13 Brussels, Belgium Ancienne Belgique 05/03/13 Paris, France Le Bataclan

4. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros The band gets inspiration from Southern Californian communities of the 60’s and 70’s. Their first album sold over 315,000 copies and was on number 1 for 69 straight weeks on iTunes. Their high-pitched synths and driving bass line adds an extra charm to their music. A focal point of their music is the soulful vocals, with a touch of southern rock guitar and piano. They’re planning to release their third album this year.

5. Mumford and Sons The quarter has developed their own genre with their own sound transcends. The band brings fervent energy, blistering banjo and acoustic guitar tunes. The real-life Begbies ask for more drinks whenever the band plays live, evoking melancholy but still inspiring hope. The band is currently leading BRIT award nominations and has an upcoming tour in February. USA dates: 02/05/13 Boston, MA TD Garden 02/06/13 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center 02/08/13 Los Angeles, CA Los Angeles Convention Center 02/12/13 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center 02/13/13 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center 02/14/13 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center 02/16/13 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center 02/17/13 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center

Watch out for these bands in 2013, you’ll be in for a surprise.

rebecca ♥ weheartmusic.com

W♥M112: Splendour in the Grass Preview

W♥M112 (50 mins) Listening options: Archive.org: W♥M112

Happy holidays! It's also Sally's birthdate week, as she was kind enough to stop in to preview Splendour in the Grass, which takes place this July 29th to 31st. Doors at 9am, music starts at 11 and ends after midnight. Details at splendourinthegrass.com.

Before we get into the meat of the matter, we did wrap up NXNE, which you can read more details at nxne.weheartmusic.com and all my exploits and adventures and lessons learned.

I did touch a bit on Jo Williamson, not literally, but I kept running into her. Saw Washington played twice, saw loads of other bands too. Disappointed with Brian Wilson, but Men Without Hats, Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield saved the festival. Outro song is "Everybody Loves Me But You" by Hatfield.

Splendour in the Grass 2011 will be covered by the fine Festival Ladies, but Sally and I looked over Coldplay (it was all yellow!), Kanye West (he just shows up everywhere). A good bunch together of Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Gomez, and Regina Spektor in a block is pretty amazing. Also, Grouplove, who I saw a few months ago, they are on the up and up. Yelle, the French girl is pretty hot too. Of course, Foster the People are a really good band, love their songs!

Amazed that DJ Shadow is still around, he pretty much was the first guy that made a whole album of just entirely out of samples.

Song of the Podcast is: British Sea Power's "Georgie Ray" from their new album, Valhalla Dancehall.

BONUS
More Pulp than you can stand. Fitz & The Tantrums are playing the same night as Pulp, so Sally will have to miss out.

Britpop class of '95 article available on independent.co.uk spotlights on Justine Frischmann, Louise Wener, Debbie Smith, David Roundtree, and Tim Brown. Where are they now and what they are doing. Kind of glad to see Debbie Smith is still playing in several bands (I met her a long time ago in a bar and she asked about my t-shirt - it was my penpal's artwork of Morrissey).

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

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

Foster the People at the Fine Line Cafe, Minneapolis (06/11/11)

Tour Dates 06/13/11 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop 06/14/11 Columbus, OH - Newport 06/16/11 Boston, MA - House of Blues 06/17/11 Montreal, QC - Club Lambi 06/18/11Toronto, ON - Mod Club 06/20/11 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall 06/21/11 New York - Bowery Ballroom 06/22/11 Washington DC - 9:30 Club 06/28/11 Philadelphia, PA - TLA 06/29/11 Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge 06/30/11 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade 07/01/11 Houston TX - Warehouse 07/02/11 Austin, TX - Emos 07/03/11 Dallas, TX - Loft 07/05/11 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress 07/06/11 S Diego, CA - House of Blues 07/07/11 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey 07/08/11 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey 08/11/11 Brooklyn, NY -Prospect Park

As expected, Foster the People's show at the Fine Line Cafe in Minneapolis sold out. I knew they would do well here, especially after catching them at 7th Street some months back.

Many of the fans from the 7th Street show were also at the Fine Line, where it was packed from front to back. I am reminded why I hate sold-out shows at this venue. But that's okay, everyone's friendly and having a good time.

GARDENS & VILLA

Starting off was Gardens & Villa, a band that we previously mentioned here. They did a brief forty minute set and surprisingly did a few songs with flutes. You don't see too many flutes in bands, especially because Gardens & Villa seems like a New York-ish band. Highlight of their set was the closer: a cover of Gary Numan's "Cars". That song sounded awesome live, and kind of came out of nowhere, considering that the band's artwork and t-shirt suggests a Michael Jackson revival band.

What can I say about Foster the People? They are white hot, possibly one of the biggest buzz band around. They were super pumped to return back to Minneapolis. The larger stage at the Fine Line Cafe allowed the band to really perform, jumping up and down, sweating it out, and going nuts. Watching them last night compared to the tiny stage at 7th Street, it was almost like watching a completely different band.

They stuck to their setlist pretty closely, ending with, of course, "Pumped Up Kicks", which got the entire audience to sing along to the catchy chorus.

They came back for the encore, doing my favorite song, "Helen Beat" (sounds amazing, yes everyone all singing along as well), and "Don't Stop (Color On The Walls)".

Foster the People are on a very successful summer tour to promote their debut album, Torches, which 99% of the songs on the set are from that album. If they are coming to your town and hasn't sold out, I suggest you get tickets now.

PS, I'm going dark in the next day, or so, because I'm flying into Toronto, Canada tomorrow (in four hours), to do coverage for nxne.weheartmusic.com, so stay tuned for some mobile blogging.

FOSTER THE PEOPLE

vu () ♥ gardensandvilla.bandcamp.com ♥ fosterthepeople.com

We the People

FELA KUTI
www.fela.net

Fela Kuti, or simply known as Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist who pioneered Afrobeat music and was known for being a human rights activist.

Obviously the man had long history, but the most important bits you should know was that he was also a bit of a political leader. He even formed his own commune called Kalakuta Republic, declaring itself independent from the Nigerian state. After his release of his hit album, Zombie in 1977 (which brutality criticized the Nigerian military), the government responded by attacking his commune. His mother was murdered and Fela's music master tapes were destroyed in this attack. Fela, himself, was beaten almost to death. Throughout the 80s and early 90s, Fela was arrested on various reasons, but all political motivated.

Fela passed away at the age of 58*, but his influence and music are still felt today, with the Broadway music show, and, just announced, the "Movement of the People" parties, celebrating human rights. Details of the "Movement of the People" (M.O.P.) shows are listed below. You can get Fela CDs, buttons and posters, by simply attending:

05.28.11 - Urban Element - Indianapolis, IN
05.28.11 - The New Empowering Church - London, UK
06.01.11 - Global Soul - Chicago, IL
06.04.11 - Burlington's Discover Jazz Festival - Burlington, VT
06.06.11 - The Fla - Houston, TX
06.09.11 - Brick & Mortar Music Hall - San Francisco, CA

If you don't live near those venues, you get involved and create your own M.O.P. party by emailing mop@fela.net, or visiting fela.net/files/mop for instructions and downloads on various stencils. I am doing my part by this article, as well as including his 37 minute track "M.O.P. (Movement Of The People) Political Statement Number 1" (via soundcloud.com). I did get a chance to listen to it, it has a weird 'funk' feeling in the beginning and then the Africana chants steps to give it a more 'world music' rhythm. Fela actually doesn't even sing until nearly 16 minutes in, so it's quite a buildup.

* I thought for sure that the government was behind his death, but he ultimately died of heart failure due to A.I.D.S. (this information is taken from thetalkingdrum.com).

FOSTER THE PEOPLE
fosterthepeople.com

Not really sure why, but Foster the People's name have been coming up a lot lately. Sally said they're on JJJ's hot band and I did end up spending some time with their debut album, Torches, while I was editing the podcast. The more I listen to such dancey groove like "Helena Beat" and "Pumped Up Kicks", I realized that they remind me a lot of MGMT. Whoever is writing their songs, they know how to write catchy songs.

Torches came out last Tuesday on StarTime International/Columbia Records, and already the buzz is amazing. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live doing their big, big hit, "Pumped Up Kicks". Which, incidentally, had a different album mix than the EP version that I've heard. In other Foster news, they've just had a piece on Spin Magazine and MTV's Push Artist of the Week.

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, I suggest you get your concert tickets now, many of their shows are sold-out. See details below.

5/30 George, WA Sasquatch ** SOLD OUT 5/31 Vancouver, BC Venue ** SOLD OUT 6/1 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom ** SOLD OUT 6/2 Sacramento, CA Harlows 6/3 Santa Barbara, CA Santa Barbara Bowl 6/5 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amp 6/7 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge 6/8 Denver, CO Bluebird Theater 6/10 Lawrence, KS Bottleneck 6 /11 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line 6/12 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall ** SOLD OUT 6/13 Cleveland, OH Grog Shop 6/14 Columbus, OH Newport Music Hall 6/16 Boston, MA House of Blues 6/17 Montreal, QC Club Lambi		6/18 Toronto, ON The Mod Club 6/20 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall ** SOLD OUT 6/21 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom ** SOLD OUT 6/22 Washington DC 9:30 Club 6/28 Philadelphia, PA TLA 6/29 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge 6/30 Atlanta, GA Masquerade 7/1 Houston TX Warehouse Live 7/2 Austin, TX Emos ** SOLD OUT 7/3 Dallas, TX The Loft 7/5 Tucson, AZ Club Congress 7/6 San Diego, CA House of Blues 7/7 Los Angeles, CA El Rey ** SOLD OUT 7/8 Los Angeles, CA El Rey ** SOLD OUT 8/11 Brooklyn, NY Prospect Park

Nat Baldwin: Weights

NAT BALDWIN
myspace.com/natbaldwin

A few years ago, we saw that Dirty Projectors' keyboardist, Deradoorian, branched out on some solo material, this year we see their bassist, Nat Baldwin, releasing People Changes. The album just came out last Tuesday, May 24^th on Western Vinyl. As the label's name suggest, this company specialized in releasing vinyls of new music, but, of course, you can still pick up albums on CD and digital MP3s. I believe most of their vinyls also comes with an MP3 coupon, which is the right thing to do, in my opinion.

I don't have the liner notes for this album, but it sounds to me really double bass heavy, which probably shouldn't surprise anyone since Baldwin plays the double bass. Lots of chaos and experimental scratches on "Real Fakes" and crazy saxophones (?) on "Lifted" suggests to me that they have freestyle jazz influences behind them. Overall Nat Baldwin's sweet calming vocals and lyrics ground these songs in a weird folk-pop music.

I feel like these songs on the album were designed to be performed live, so it should be interesting to check him out in person. Too bad, he's not going anywhere near the Mid-West, but if you are on the East Coast and Canada, see below:

Jun 19, 2011 Ithaca NY Castaways *
Jun 20, 2011 Washington DC Rock and Roll Hotel *
Jun 22, 2011 Cambridge MA TT The Bear's*
Jun 23, 2011 Montreal QC II Motore*
Jul 7, 2011 Portland ME One Longfellow Square+
Jul 21, 2011 Buffalo NY The Ninth Ward
Jul 23, 2011 Hamilton ON Casbah Lounge
Jul 24, 2011 Cleveland OH Beachland Tavern+
Jul 26, 2011 Pittsburgh PA Brillobox+
Jul 28, 2011 Philadelphia PA World Cafe Live+
Jul 31, 2011 Sackville NB Sappy Fest

* with Chad Van Gaalen
+ with Callers

GET PEOPLE
getpeople.co.uk

Finally, Get People is from London, they have an EP called Rain Tears coming out June 6^th, and you can grab the free track "Away" on Soundcloud

The note I have is that they are a trio, consisting of Dom, Caspar and Martin, and has a "tribal-infused, dance pop music" sound. They have also remixed other artists, including semi-famous UK acts like Is Tropical, Mystery Jets, Morning Parade and The Wombats (whom they have played live with on tour).

This Summer, they will be doing a string of music festivals, including the Isle of Wight, V Festival and Burning Man. Details below:

May 28, 2011 - Dot To Dot - Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester
May 29, 2011 - Dot To Dot - Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester
May 30, 2011 - Dot To Dot - Nottingham, Bristol, Manchester
Jun 2, 2011 - Trinity Theatre - Tunbridge wells, London
Jun 11, 2011 - Isle of Wight Festival - Isle of Wight
Jul 30, 2011 - Farr Festival - Newnham
Aug 19, 2011 - V Festival North - Weston, Staffordsh
Aug 20, 2011 - V Festival South - Hylands Park, Chelmsford
Aug 29, 2011 - BURNING MAN - BLACK ROCK CITY, Nevada

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

W♥M109: PULP

W♥M109 (37min) Listening options:Archive.org: W♥M109

Sally recaps Groovin the Moo in Maitland.

We touched a bit on Washington, The Go! Team, and Architecture in Helsinki. All bands we've previously love.

Strangely, Foster the People came up in the mix. I've already listed their tour dates with Gardens & Villa, so please look them up if you've never heard of them.

GRUFF RHYS
www.gruffrhys.com

We like Super Furry Animals, so it's natural that Sally reported on his live show. I'm including his tour dates below because I thought I'd miss his US appearance (but I have not):

5/27 Austin, TX @ Mohawk
5/28 Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
5/30 Tempe, AZ @ Sail Inn / Rhythm Room
5/31 San Diego, CA @ Casbah
6/1 Los Angeles, CA @ The Echo
6/2 San Francisco, CA @ Rickshaw Stop/ Popscene
6/3 Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios
6/4 Vancouver, Canada @ Biltmore
6/5 Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
6/8 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
6/9 Chicago, IL @ Schuba’s
6/10 Pontiac, MI @ Pike Room
6/11 Toronto, Canada @ Horseshoe Tavern
6/14 Boston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
6/15 New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge

**All dates with support from backing band Y Niwl

PULP RETURNS
www.pulppeople.com

After hearing that Pulp reformed, it was inevitable that they are going to be doing some live dates. At first only the UK dates were announced, but now they've decided to invade Australia. Obviously, Sally will be there to do the stalking when they arrive. Notably that they are only non-festival dates are at Sydney and Melbourne.

27 May 2011 Primavera Sound Barcelona, Spain 11 June 2011 Isle Of Wight Festival, UK 1 July 2011 Open'er Festival Gdynia, Poland 3 July 2011 Wireless Festival London, UK 7 July 2011 Exit Festival Novi Sad, Serbia 8 July 2011 Bazant Pohoda Trencin, Slovakia 10 July 2011 T In The Park Kinross, UK 14 July 2011 Vieilles Charrues Carhaix, France 15 July 2011 Dour Festival Dour, Belgium 17 July 2011 Melt Festival Grafenhainichen, Ger 23 July 2011 On The Bright Side Perth, Australia		27 July 2011 Hordern Pavilion Sydney, Australia 29 July 2011 Festival Hall Melbourne, Australia 31 July 2011 Splendour In The Grass Woodford 10 August 2011 Sziget Festival Budapest, Hungary 12 August 2011 Oya Festival Oslo, Norway 13 August 2011 Way Out West Gothenburg 18 August 2011 Festival Paredes de Coura 20 August 2011 Terra Vibe Park Athens, Greece 27 August 2011 Reading Festival Reading, UK 28 August 2011 Leeds Festival Leeds, UK 4 September 2011 Electric Picnic Stradbally, Ireland

BONUS
Crow, an Australian band from the 90s. I don't have any of their music so I just glaze of this segment. Other Australian bands, RATCAT, and Smudge (Tom Morgan). The Cure doing their first three albums at the Sydney Opera House... and speaking of house, House of Pain at Groovin the Moo.

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

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

Black

Evan Ayllon - Ruperta (Lando) Read More Secret Stash Records We are excited to announce that we are GIVING AWAY A FREE MP3 download of the song “El Mayoral” by Peña. We recorded this track in the Spanish Cultural Center located in Lima, Peru on April 16th, 2010.

Theme is 'black', please also see White.

>>>
THE RHYTHMS OF BLACK PERU
www.rhythmsofblackperu.com

The Rhythms of Black Peru is the latest release from Secret Stash Records, on sale today May 24^th.

For fans of world music, particularly Latin-American music, you'll like this compilation. I think to understand this collection, you have to understand Peru's two main cultures: the Spaniards and the African slaves that were brought over. Somehow, over the centuries, these two distinctive music style fused together in popular music of what Secret Stash is calling Black Peru. You can hear these styles at work on this compilation, the Flamenco plucking ("Charango") and the clearly Africana rhythm ("El Mayoral").

As a beginner (clearly I am unfamiliar with these artists), it's a learning experience of where modern Salsa music comes from. But if you're an expert, you'll find that the artists compiled here are some of the most important musicians today.

Like 99% of Secret Stash's releases (with the exception of the Pena CD), they only press vinyls, but they'll also give you an MP3 download, so you can put the music on your iPod to go. What's really nice about The Rhythms of Black Peru is the vinyl is a mixture of black and white wax - indicating the mixture of Latin and African music.

You can pick up the vinyl today at secretstashrecords.com, read more about the history of Peru and music at rhythmsofblackperu.com.

Gardens & Villa - Black Hills

GARDENS & VILLA
gardensandvilla.bandcamp.com

Gardens & Villa just announced their new single (and video) is called "Black Hills". I did get a chance to listen to it, which has a slow start, but once it gets going (especially with the backup vocals), it's pretty good.

Their debut self-titled LP will be out July 5^th on Secretly Canadian Records.

Other than that, I don't really know much about this new band. I can tell you that they are doing a ton of tour dates, and opening up for Foster the People. You know the story about Foster the People, I randomly saw them live was that I was very impressed with them when I noticed that only after two EP releases that they've amassed a ton of fans (all singing along to their songs!).

I know I'm flying out to NXNE the next day, but I have agreed to see Foster the People at the Fine Line on June 11^th. I'll also report back Gardens & Villa - I usually always try and catch the support acts.

Tour dates below:

Jun 8 Denver CO – Bluebird Theater ^ Jun 10 Lawrence KS – The Bottleneck ^ Jun 11 Minneapolis MN – Fine Line Music ^ Jun 12 Chicago IL – Lincoln Hall ^ Jun 13 Cleveland Heights OH – Grog Shop ^ Jun 14 Columbus OH – Newport Music Hall ^ Jun 17 Montreal QC – Club Lambi ^ Jun 18 Toronto ON – The Mod Club ^ Jun 20 Brooklyn NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg ^ Jun 22 Washington DC – 9:30 Club ^ Jun 24 Brooklyn NY – Glasslands Jun 28 Philadelphia PA – Theatre of Living Arts ^ Jun 30 Atlanta GA – Masquerade: Hell Stage ^ Jul 1 Houston TX – Warehouse Live ^ Jul 2 Austin TX – Emo’s ^ Jul 3 Dallas TX – The Loft ^ Jul 5 Tucson AZ – Club Congress ^ Jul 6 San Diego CA – House of Blues ^ Jul 7 Los Angeles CA – El Rey ^ Jul 8 Tempe AZ – The Sail Inn * Jul 9 Tucson AZ – Club Congress * Jul 10 San Diego CA – Casbah * Jul 14 Los Angeles CA – The Echo *		Jul 15 San Francisco CA – Café Du Nord * Jul 16 Davis CA – Sophia’s * Jul 17 Portland OR – Mississippi Studios * Jul 19 Seattle WA – Tractor Tavern * Jul 20 Boise ID – Neurolux * Jul 21 Salt Lake City UT – Kilby Court * Jul 23 Santa Fe NM – Corazon * Jul 24 Oklahoma City OK – The Conservatory * Jul 26 Chicago IL – The Empty Bottle # Jul 27 Cleveland OH – Happy Dog # Jul 28 Washington DC – Black Cat Backstage # Jul 29 Philadelphia PA – Kung Fu Necktie # Jul 30 New York NY – Mercury Lounge # Jul 31 Allston MA – Great Scott * Aug 1 Montreal QC – Casa del Popolo * Aug 3 Pontiac MI – Vernors Room at the Crofoot Aug 8 Wichita KS – Rock Island Live Aug 9 Fort Worth TX – Lola’s Saloon Sixth Aug 10 Austin TX – The Mohawk ^ w/ Foster the People * w/ Generationals # w/ Craft Spells

Matt Bauer: Blacklight Horses

MATT BAUER
mattbauermusic.tumblr.com

Matt Bauer is offering a free song, "Blacklight Horses" from his upcoming album, The Jessamine County Book of the Living (out June 7^th via Crossbill Records). New York Magazine called Bauer's newest collection of "haunting, weird folk music" and Under the Radar said "An album of fragile beauty", and judging from the free download, with ghostly violins, I agree. What I did ultimately liked about the song is that somewhere in the middle, it turned into a duet with Jolie Holland.

Incidentally, June 7^th is also the day he returns to Minneapolis, at the Aster Cafe. I've never been there before, but I am assuming it's a nice quiet (and tiny) venue. I think Holly from Zoo Animals is opening up.

06.02.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool 06.05.11 - Indianapolis, IN @ Laundromatinee 06.06.11 - Rock Island, IL @ Daytrotter 06.07.11 - Minneapolis, MN @ Aster Cafe 06.08.11 - Chicago, IL @ house show 06.09.11 - Lincoln, NE @ Zoo Bar 06.10.11 - Denver, CO @ TBA 06.11.11 - Salt Lake City, UT @ TBA 06.12.11 - Boise, ID @ house show 06.13.11 - Olympia, WA @ TBA 06.15.11 - Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern 06.16.11 - Portland, OR @ Music Millenium 06.16.11 - Portland, OR @ The Woods 06.18.11 - San Francisco, CA @ TBA 06.19.11 - San Francisco, CA @ Chasing the Moon 06.20.11 - Davis, CA @ Amardillo Records * 06.20.11 - Davis, CA @ DM3 House * 06.21.11 - Marin, CA @ house show * 06.22.11 - Sacramento, CA @ Phono Select* 06.22.11 - Nevada City, CA @ The Tin House 06.23.11 - San Francisco, CA @ the Verdi Club		06.24.11 - Los Angeles, CA @ TBA * 06.25.11 - Los Angeles, CA @ TBA * 06.26.11 - Sedona, AZ @ Live In-Studio * 06.27.11 - Santa Fe, NM @ TBA 06.29.11 - Austin, TX @ Live on KUT at 11 a.m. * 06.29.11 - Austin, TX @ The Mohawk * 06.30.11 - New Orleans, LA @ Circle Bar * 07.01.11 - Little Rock AR @ TBA * 07.02.11 - Hot Springs, AR @ The Art Church * 07.07.11 - Nashville, TN @ house show 07.12.11 - Cincinnati, OH @ TBA 07.13.11 - Columbus, OH @ TBA 07.14.11 - Pittsburgh, PA @ TBA 07.15.11 - Albany, NY @ TBA 07.16.11 - Biddeford, ME @ The Oak and the Ax 07.24.11 - Manhattan, NY @ the ACE Hotel 07.25.11 - New York, NY @ Live on WFMU 07.28.11 - Brooklyn, NY @ Zebulon 07.31.11 - Frederick, MD @ Cafe Nola * w/ Dana Falconberry

BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS
blackjoelewis.com

I actually accidentally saw Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybear last month, and I really liked them. They recently announced a new video for "Livin' in the Jungle" (you can watch it on vevo.com). They also list their tour dates, which I'll repost here (should be an amazing time, especially with Sharon Jones touring with them!)

05/29/11 - Quincy, WA - The Gorge (Sasquatch! Music Festival)
06/04/11 - Houston, TX - Free Press Summer Fest
06/11/11 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music Festival
06/12/11 - Hoboken, NJ - Maxwell’s
06/12/11 - New York, NY - Madison Square Park
06/16/11 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway
06/17/11 - Columbia, MO - Mojo’s
06/23/11 - Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone Café
06/24/11 - Louisville, KY - Iriquois Ampphitheater
06/25/11 - Indianapolis, IN - The Lawn at White River State
06/26/11 - Columbus, OH - LC Pavilion
07/02/11 - Portland, OR - McCall Waterfront Park
07/03/11 - Portland, OR - McCall Waterfront Park
07/16/11 - Greenfield, MA - Green River Festival
08/6/11 - Philadelphia, PA - Theater of Living Arts
09/10/11 - Bowling Green OH - Black Swamp Arts Festival

*with with Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings

AMY BLACK
www.amyblack.com

This New England singer/songwriter is holding a "iPod One Time Music Collection" contest (it's loaded with Amy Black's music and videos, I think).

In order to win, you have to watch the video at www.amyblack.lotosnile-dev.com, where you'll get a special URL. Once you spam all your friends to watch the video, you may be a winner of an iPod Touch, providing you have the most viewers by June 2^nd. I own three iPod Touch (different generations), and I can tell you, if you don't already have one, it's really worth getting one - especially if you can win one for free.

Tour Dates below:

06/02/2011 - Framingham, MA - Amazing Things
06/05/2011 - Boston, MA - WUMB Boston Music Fest
06/10/2011 - Shirley, MA - The Bull Run
06/16/2011 - Norwood, MA - Perks Coffee House
07/20/2011 - Nashville, TN - Music City Roots
07/22/2011 - Nashville, TN - The Basement
07/29/2011 - Lowell, MA - The Backpage
09/09/2011 - Portland, ME - Port City Blue
09/18/2011 - Middleborough, MA - Joe Davies Folk Festival
11/05/2011 - Cambridge, MA - Club Passim

BLACKOUT FESTIVAL
hozacrecords.com

HoZac Records is back again to curate the Blackout Fest that takes place in Chicago, coming up this week: May 27-28 at The Velvet Perineum in Logan Square. Unlike the previous nearly week-long music marathon, it's just down to Friday and Saturday this year. Although, I am told that there is a special opening party show on May 26th, so technically it's a three-day event.

I'll confess, I have not heard of many of these bands. I reckon they are all local bands in/near the Chicago-area.

Thursday, May 26 Timmy Vulgar Canderson Nathan Jerde Mac Blackout Christopher Ilth Rob Karlic Ben Lyon + bands TBA!		Friday, May 27 The Spits The Brides K-Holes TV Ghost The Happy Thoughts Mickey Squish		Saturday, May 28 Nervous Eaters Nobunny Tutu & the Pirates Timmy's Organism Puffy Areolas Idle Times Reading Rainbow People's Temple Heavy Times Radar Eyes Outer Minds Nones

BLACK DUB
www.amyblack.com

Black Dub, or Daniel Lanois' Black Dub, are about to set on tour this May 27^th. It's headed by, you guessed it, Grammy Award-winner Daniel Lanois. A free track they giving away to get you excited is a live version of "Last Time.

Hopefully you can get a tast of the energy and performance from the live song. Tour listing below:

May 27 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues
May 28 Los Angeles, CA Music Box
May 29 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore
May 31 San Diego, CA House Of Blues
June 9 Detroit, MI Magic Stick
June 10 Chicago, IL Park West
June 9 - 12 Manchester, TN Bonnaroo Festival
June 14 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
June 15 New York, NY Webster Hall, NY
June 17 Pittsburgh, PA Diesel
June 18 Philadelphia, PA TLA
June 19 Westhampton Beach, NY WBPAC
July 3 Ottawa, Canada Ottawa Jazz Festival
July 4 Montreal, Canada Montreal Jazz Festival
July 5 Toronto, Canada Opera House
July 8 Chicago, IL DMB Caravan Festival
August 27 Dundas, Ontario Harvest Picnic
September 8 Champaign, IL University of Illinois

Now, for some quickies. All 'black'-themed:

BLACKWOLFGOAT last.fm/music/Blackwolfgoat BLACKWOLFGOAT's second album, Dronolith, is to be released tomorrow, Tuesday, May 24th, via The Maple Forum. It is an all-instrumental album, which isn't a surprise because they're a progressive drone project by Darryl Shepard (Milligram, Hackman, Slapshot). What's really interesting is that there will be a limited 100 hand-numbered gatefold digi-sleeve of the album, featuring artwork by Alexander von Wieding.		BETTY BLACK www.sylviablack.net Let me know if I'm getting this right, Sylvia Gordon (of Kudu), is also known as Silvia Black, and her latest music project, she is known as Betty Black. Her forthcoming EP is called Slow Dance Out , to be released June 28th on Frau Pink Productions / KID Recordings. Under the Betty Black name, I see she's covered a few songs (see www.bettyblack.bandcamp.com), including a cover of the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen In Love" (which Cristina and I mentioned in our cover lover show).
SILVER MEDALLION slavetothecity.com Whoever sent me the announcement for "Blackmail", they supply all the good details: where the band is from (Phoenix, Arizona), cover artwork provided (see image on the right), and detail about the song. The song features LA Boys Noize and Dame Fifty5 and is described as a punk meets hip hop. If you like the song, it's available as a free download at soundcloud.		DAVID'S LYRE davidslyre.co.uk Not a lot of info sent my way regarding David's Lyre. Maybe a little biography on the meaning behind "David's Lyre" next time? Looks like Black Masa is a East London DJ duo, who decided to remix David's Lyre's song, "Heartbeak". You can hear the remix here. David's Lyre just played the Lexington (in London?) yesterday, and his EP, In Arms is out now.

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

Site Update (May 2011)

Assassins of Kings

I am sick. I don't know how it happened, but it's not fun coughing and wheezing. I did manage to do two podcast recording, with Sally and Cristina, which will likely be edited for this week and next week's show.

I also picked up The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, at Walmart, which came with a lot of bonus items like a DVD and Soundtrack (all at the normal cost of a game product). They are on the right track, I definitely feel like you get more value out of it, when this is the 'standard' version of the game. There is a collector's version, which is way too expensive for my blood ($129).

Unfortunately, the game is plagued with problems. Activation was a nightmare (finally got it to work eventually), downloading bonus content wasn't working (it kept saying the code was bad, when in fact, it was the correct code - eventually this worked out), and the game does not work on my Nvidia 7800 SLI. I understand that this card is old, but I can run modern games on it just fine at 1280x720 (which I'm OK with). But seriously, they need to fix some of these bugs... but I don't think they will because their minimal support is Nvidia 8800 card, just a generation above mine. So, right now, it's not recommended if you have an older card.

Since I can't really play it until they patch it, or if Nvidia update their drivers, I might actually go back to the first Witcher game, which I never finished.

The bonus soundtrack is composed by Adam Skorupa & Krzysztof Wierzynkiewicz, and it's what you expect for a gaming soundtrack. The DVD is in Polish, so be prepared to read a lot of subtitles.

I got the latest Spin Magazine in the mail today and it's pretty sweet that they are offering not one, but two, free albums this month. Like I've previously mentioned, it's free for all US residents. You can grab them at spin.com/itunes (expires June 30^th) and spin.com/itunes-lolla (expires Aug 31^st), what a good deal! Especially for Sleater-Kinney and Isobell Campbell.

While you're enjoying the free music, you can consider subscribing the magazine. For one year, it's $9.95. I do recommend the print version, you get more content for the buck, and I've always been a fan of glossy magazines vs digital ones.

Not to say that the iPad digital version doesn't have a lot going for it, but it just seems like the iPad version is more or less about pictures and very, very few words. The only advantage you have on the digital Spin Magazine is that you can stream the month's soundtrack, and "breaking" news is constantly flowing. I actually turned off auto-renewal for the Spin digital magazine, but I am definitely keeping my print subscription.

That's not all, for late April and this month (May), you can purchase a 2-disc special Spin Magazine "Must-Hear Music" edition, available only at Target stores. For the price of the magazine $4.99, you get two 16-track bonus CDs, featuring Mumford & Sons (they are on the current cover), and The Strokes (they were on last month's cover).

The full CD track listings are:

Disc 1 1. Two Door Cinema Club - What You Know 2. Matt & Kim - Block After Block 3. Saigon - Bring Me Down 4. Royal Bangs - Grass Helmet 5. Innerpartysystem - American Trash 6. A Day To Remember - Better Off This Way 7. Funeral Party - Finale 8. Does It Offend You, Yeah? - Monkeys Are Coming 9. Baroness - Swollen & Halo 10. Kopek - Cocaine Chest Pains 11. Trampled By Turtles - Wait So Long 12. Meat Puppets - Damn Thing 13. Juke Kartel - Bullet Wearing Trademark Clothes 14.Bear Hands - Crime Pays 15.Foster the People - Helena Beat 16.Go Radio - Any Other Heart		Disc 2 1.Cage The Elephant - Shake me Down 2.She Wants Revenge - Must Be The One 3. Peter Bjorn & John - Breaker Breaker 4. Red - Feed The Machine 5.Emmure - Solar Flare Homicide 6. Flogging Molly - Don't Shut 'Em Down 7.Old 97's - The Grand Theatre 8. Aiden - Hysteria 9.Royal Bangs - Fireball 10.AWOLNATION - Sail 11.OTEP - Fists Fall 12.Steve Earle - Waitin' On The Sky 13.No Justice - 2nd Avenue 14.Acrylics - Nightwatch 15.Computer Magic - Running 16.New Politics - Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Update: Here is a picture of the Spin Target Edition next to my iPad with the Spin digital issue. As you can the see the Target Edition is a smaller print, you can find the issue at the music/CD area, not magazine area.

Lastly, The Hype Machine (hypem.com) is a very popular blog music indexer. We were lucky enough to have been featured on their iPhone Application. As a result, we're getting a ton of mobile traffic, and suddenly the song we posted by Scattered Trees climbed up the Hype Machine's Twitter Chart. I think by the time you read this, it would've dropped off the charts, but here's a screen capture (see picture).

Details of the application below:

>>>
Hundreds of Stations Included

• LATEST: freshest music posted from music blogs
• POPULAR: a collection of the most popular music on blogs
• RADIO SHOW: monthly highlights of music + bloggers
• GENRE STATIONS: latest music from blogs filtered by genre
• BLOG DIRECTORY: featuring every blog from our directory
• MY MIX: a mix of music from blogs you watch
• MY FRIENDS: what your social music circle is loving

Gorgeous Playing Experience
Enjoy artwork and the ability to read each blog post behind the music directly within the app. Includes every blog in our Music Blog Directory as its own radio station. Don't know where to start? Browse music by genres like acoustic, british, dance, electro, experimental, indie pop, psychedelic, shoegaze and more.

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

W♥M108: Coachella 2011

W♥M108 (30min: archive/podomatic/mypodcast)

Covering Coachella Music Festival 2011, in the comfort of his swimming pool, Brody gives us a play-by-play of what's going on.

It seems Coachella is streaming their shows live on youtube. Bands on the discussion block:

Best Coast: they've blown up. Loads of buzz behind this band.

Warpaint: Vu likes them

Robyn: hopefully will make it on a future DVD/Bluray release

Foster the People: Amazed why they're so popular, they're selling out all their upcoming shows and with only two EPs!

The Strokes: Still massive, apparently. Headliner and back together, better than ever according to Brody

Cage the Elephant: We like them. They're amazing live.

Suede: Please drop that London-thing

Chapel Club: $2 show

Kanye West: The "top secret" guest appearance at Coachella.

Song of the Podcast is The Jezabels' "Hurt Me"

Bonus: Brody's rant on The National live.

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

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

Splendour in the Grass - Line-up announced today!

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2011 

“…you could barely wipe the smiles off our dials. Thank you Splendour for anticipating our every whim, and fulfilling them. A truly unforgettable weekend.” Groupie 

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS - the annual, ephemeral city of sounds that exists solely for sweet music and good times will transform Woodfordia, near Woodford, south east Queensland from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July. 

The eleventh SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS event will see 81 acts giving their splendiferous best across three stages.

COLDPLAY (only Australian show) * KANYE WEST (only Australian show) * JANE’S ADDICTION * THE HIVES * PULP * THE LIVING END * THE MARS VOLTA * REGINA SPEKTOR (only 2011 show…anywhere) * BLISS N ESO * PNAU * MOGWAI (only Australian show) * DJ SHADOW * GLASVEGAS * THE GRATES * DEVENDRA BANHART AND THE GROGS* MODEST MOUSE * THE MIDDLE EAST * KAISER CHIEFS * JAMES BLAKE * KELE * THE VINES * ELBOW * ESKIMO JOE * NOAH AND THE WHALE * CHILDREN COLLIDE * THIEVERY CORPORATION * CUT COPY * ISOBEL CAMPBELL AND MARK LANEGAN * BLUEJUICE * THE KILLS * BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS (featuring THE RELATIVES) * ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI * FOSTER THE PEOPLE * THE PANICS * FRIENDLY FIRES * JEBEDIAH * THE VACCINES * GOMEZ * BOY AND BEAR * GOTYE * DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH? * CLOUD CONTROL * MONA * SPARKADIA * WARPAINT * MUSCLES (Live) * FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS * THEJEZABELS * DRAPHT * BRITISH SEA POWER * TIM & JEAN * LEADER CHEETAH * GROUPLOVE * SEEKER LOVER KEEPER * YELLE * KIMBRA * PHRASE * OH MERCY * DANANANANAYKROYD * THE BLACK SEEDS * MARQUES TOLIVER * THE HOLIDAYS * GHOUL * LIAM FINN * THE HERD * YOUNG THE GIANT * GUINEAFOWL * HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY * JINJA SAFARI * WILD BEASTS * ILLY * CUT OFF YOUR HANDS * GARETH LIDDIARD * ALPINE * WORLD’S END PRESS * MOSMAN ALDER * LANIE LANE

 

Pretty exciting right?

So for further information (including ticket prices) head this way: http://splendourinthegrass.com

Foster the People, Grouplove, and We Barbarians at 7th Street Entry, Minneapolis (04/01/11)

Tour Dates 04/07/11 Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall 04/08/11 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge 04/09/11 Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory Brooklyn 04/10/11 Philadelphia, PA - Kung Fu Necktie 04/11/11 Washington, DC - Red Palace 04/13/11 London, UK - Camp Basement 04/14/11 London, UK - Hoxton Bar and Kitchen 04/17/11 Indio, CA - Coachella 05/30/11 Quincy, WA - Sasquatch 05/31/11 Vancouver, BC - Venue 06/01/11 Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom 06/02/11 Sacramento, CA - Harlows 06/07/11 Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge 06/08/11 Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater 06/10/11 Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck 06/11/11 Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line 06/12/11 Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall 06/13/11 Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop 06/14/11 Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall 06/17/11 Montreal, QC - Club Lambi 06/18/11 Toronto, ON - The Mod Club 06/20/11 Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall Of Williamsburg 06/21/11 New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom 06/22/11 Washington, DC - 9:30 Club 06/28/11 Philadelphia, PA - TLA 06/29/11Nashville, TN - Mercy Lounge 06/30/11 Atlanta, GA - Masquerade 07/02/11 Austin, TX - Emos 07/03/11 Dallas, TX - The Loft 07/05/11 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress 07/07/11 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey

We Barbarians, Grouplove, and Foster the People stopped by 7th Street Entry on April 1^st to play to a sold-out show.

Everyone in line were eager to see either Grouplove or Foster, one young lady mentioned that they were on Carson Daily and she decided to head down to see Grouplove.

We Barbarians played Minneapolis before, but claimed otherwise, jokingly stated, "This is our first time in Minneapolis!"

They were heavy on the rhythm and the highlight of their set either the David Byrne/Brian Eno song, "Strange Overtones" or their song "Warning".

Grouplove is based out of Los Angeles, and their debut self-titled EP was released on January 25^th via Canvasback Music. They were handpicked to open for Florence + The Machine last year and with the recent television appearance mentioned earlier, they certainly have a lot of buzz going for them.

The not-so-secret origin of this band seems to be about five strangers who took up residency in a home in Greece. After living together for a Summer, they grew and bonded together as Grouplove.

Lead singer Christian Zucconi explains it: "We all understood how rare it is for five strangers to feel as close as family and create passionate music together. We couldn't just return to Brooklyn and let the music we all made fade into a memory of that summer we had in Greece."

Watching the band live, it looks to me to be between Hannah Hooper and Zucconi, who looked and sounded quite happy and cheerful. Every photograph I have from that night shows them laughing and smiling, it's pretty infectious.

What I liked about them is the harmony of girl/boy pop vocals. Their songs seems fun (note: no depressing Morrissey sadness here).

I didn't know their music, but I'm certain they played all the tracks off their self-titled EP, including "Gold Coast" and the closer, "Colours".

The strong performance was "How Love Will Save Your Soul", which I know is not on their EP.

I didn't know anything about Foster the People, other that they are quite a new band, also based out of Los Angeles.

Apparently the band hit a chord with Australia by appearing on Triple J's Hottest 100 of 2010 for "Pumped Up Kicks". The irony: as Sally, from Sydney, have explained in the past, they don't drink Foster down there.

The other thing you should know about Foster the Band is that they have a lot of synths in their band. We're talking like three majors and two minor keyboards!

As for the performance, lots of intense singing and hand waving-action. As I've previously mentioned, I didn't know any of the songs played, but it sure looks like the audience knew all the songs (and were singing along).

They are returning to Minneapolis, so who knows, maybe I'll see them yet again.

vu () ♥ fosterthepeople.com ♥ grouplovemusic.com ♥ webarbarians.com