W♥M

New British Music: Kaiser Chiefs, Bombay Bicycle Club, Fanfarlo, and Donovan

Read More Kaiser Chiefs After not actually planning to attend this show, thinking $90 was a bit steep for a band that will probably tour Australia a few more times before they vanish off the face of the planet, I went. But honestly... the Kaiser Chiefs with Razorlight .…

KAISER CHIEFS
kaiserchiefs.com

I saw Kaiser Chiefs when they played in Minneapolis, at a venue that is actually no longer around (at Trocadero on 21 Apr 2007). The Leeds band were a big deal back then, and I think if they were to play here again, they can probably sell out any venue of their choice. It's been five years, after all.

The Kaiser Chiefs announced their fifth album Education, Education, Education & War, which is coming out on April 1st, 2014 via ATO Records (March 31st for UK release).

The ten-track collection was written in London, Los Angeles and Nashville, recorded at The Maze Studio in Atlanta, Georgia and mixed at Electric Lady Studios by Michael Brauer (My Morning Jacket, Coldplay) with producer Ben H. Allen III (Gnarls Barkley, Animal Collective, Deerhunter).

Of course, they are going on tour in support of the album, although at this very moment, only a handful of dates are announced:

02/11/14 Manchester, UK @ Gorilla
02/13/14 London, UK @ The Scala
02/14/14 Madrid, Spain @ Sala Arena
02/15/14 Barcelona, Spain @ Razzmatazz
02/19/14 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
02/21/14 Guadalajara, Mexico @ Teatro Diana
02/22/14 Mexico City, Mexico @ Plaza Condesa
02/25/14 Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey

Read More Bombay Bicycle Club Singer Jack Stedman, a.k.a. the young Jarvis Cocker, shunned the throne at the House of Blues on October 8th. A gal by the name of Lucy Rose sings on a few of the tracks on the tracks on Bombay Bay Bicycle's third release "A Different …

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB
bombaybicycleclubmusic.com

Bombay Bicycle Club just announced the release of their fourth album in five years, So Long, See You Tomorrow, coming out February 4, 2014 via Vagrant Records.

Of course, the band will be heading out on tour in support of the new album. We've seen BBC a few times, hopefully they'll be bringing Lucy Rose with them on tour:

02/09/14 Brussels, Belgium Orangerie
02/10/14 Amsterdam, Netherlands Melkweg
02/11/14 Copenhagen, Denmark Lille Vega
02/12/14 Stockholm, Sweden Debaser Medis
02/13/14 Hamburg, Germany Uebel & Gefährlich
02/14/14 Paris, France Le Trabendo
02/16/14 Munich, Germany Backstage
02/17/14 Cologne, Germany Luxor
02/18/14 Berlin, Ger Fritzclub im Postbahnof
02/19/14 Zurich, Switzerland Mascotte
02/21/14 Barcelona, Spain Bikini
02/22/14 Madrid, Spain Club But
03/02/14 Leeds, UK O2 Academy Leeds
03/03/14 Glasgow, UK O2 Academy Glasgow
03/04/14 Aberdeen, UK Music Hall
03/05/14 Newcastle, UK O2 Academy Newcastle
03/07/14 Nottingham, UK Rock City
03/08/14 Birmingham, UK O2 Academy Birmingham
03/09/14 Norwich, UK Univ. Of East Anglia LCR-Union
03/10/14 Portsmouth, UK Portsmouth Guildhall
03/12/14 Bristol, UK O2 Academy Bristol
03/13/14 London, UK O2 Academy Brixton
03/16/14 Cardiff, UK Great Hall
03/17/14 Exeter, UK Great Hall
03/18/14 Brighton, UK Brighton Dome
03/20/14 Manchester, UK Albert Hall
03/21/14 Manchester, UK Albert Hall

Read More Fanfarlo We've written about Fanfarlo's a couple of times. Kate G wrote about their show in New York: "they had a man suspended upside down from the rafters and escape from a straitjacket," which sounds …

FANFARLO
fanfarlo.com

London's Fanfarlo will be releasing Let's Go Extinct on February 11th, 2014 via Blue Horizon, the British blues label revived by legendary record industry veterans Seymour Stein and Richard Gotteher.

The album was recorded by the band and David Wrench in North Wales, and is a true successor to their debut album Reservoir.

Track listing:

1. Life in the Sky
2. Cell Song
3. Myth of Myself (A Ruse to Exploit Our Weaknesses)
4. A Distance
5. We’re the Future
6. Landlocked
7. Painting with Life
8. Grey and Gold
9. The Beginning and the End
10. Let’s Go Extinct

Read More Bert Jansch Speaking of death, influential folk music, Bert Jansch, passed away earlier this week (October 5th). He was 67. It is not made clear what he had died of, but since he had both heart and lung surgeries …

DONOVAN
donovan.ie

Donovan has a new album Shadows of Blue, which was recently released on his own label.

The Scottish singer was also announced as the main headliner for the 2014 Fest For Beatles Fans show coming up in New York:

Friday February 7th 5:00pm - Midnight
Saturday February 8th 10:30am - Midnight
Sunday February 9th 10:30am - Midnight

In addition to headlining The Fest For Beatles Fans, Donovan will be giving a talk "Meditation and the White Album" and joining Beatles cover band Liverpool on stage for more musical highlights.

Tickets prices varies, you can see all the different tiers at thefest.com.

Apparently Donovan is more closely related to the Beatles than I ever knew, including being invited to their Abbey Road sessions and also involving with various drug busts with the Beatles! Personally, I discovered Donovan through Belle & Sebastian, who were often compared to Donovan's folksy style and lyrics.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

Starlight Mints

Starlight Mints - Zoomba Starlight Mints Tour Dates 06/09/09 The Annex Madison, WI 06/10/09 Turner Hall Milwaukee, WI 06/11/09 The Bottom Lounge Chicago, IL 06/12/09 Highdive Champaign, IL 06/13/09 The Firebird St. Louis, MO 06/25/09 Granada Theater Dallas, TX 06/26/09 House of Blues Houston, TX 06/27/09 One Eyed jacks New Orleans, LA 06/28/09 Alabama Music Box Mobile, AL 06/29/09 Bottletree Birmingham, AL 07/01/09 Common Grounds Gainsville, FL 07/02/09 The Social Orlando, FL 07/03/09 New World Brewery Tampa, FL Discography [Aug 2000] The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of [May 2003] Built on Squares [Apr 2006] Drowaton

Starlight Mints is an indiepop band from Oklahoma, they just played here in Minneapolis last night. The band had huge indie buzz on their debut album, The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of. 

Starlight Mints - Pusher Girls Donovan - Sunshine Superman [Unedited Version]

I've always thought the band had a more 60s sound to them, especially on their bonus song "Pusher Girls" from the See Thru Broadcasting Reissue. I'm not sure if it was intentional or unconscious, but to me, "Pusher Girls" and Donovan's "Sunshine Superman" sounds very, very, similar.

Any band that wants to sound like Donovan can't be all that bad, intentionally or otherwise.

Anyway, since then, the band signed to [Pias] (a Belgium-based company no longer have a US office?) and are currently on Barsuk. Their latest release is Change Remains which you can receive the entire album digitally today, if you pre-order their CD (it comes out July 21^st).

If you're not quite sure, you can sample the free track, "Zoomba", which you can download from the preorder page. Although I didn't immediately love the song, the song did grow on me. It dawn on me that I'm not suppose to think too much about the high-pitch singing or the slow intro, and just enjoy it.

Starting the album off is an all-instrumental surfy track called "Coffin R Us", perfect for any B-Movie classic theme song. What follows are nine tracks that feels like it was recorded at another time, particularly in the 60s and 70s. Also, the vocal range is pretty interesting too, for instance, Allan Vest does a bit of a typical rock vocals on "Natural" but then takes it down to a hippy vocals on "Paralyzed" followed by indie rock "Black Champagne".

There's no downer songs on the entire album, you'll find yourself wanting to dance to each song "with your soft shoes and purple JB". Maybe you can wear that to one of their shows - they are on tour through the midwest and down south, ending in Florida.

 06/09/2009 11:16:00 ♥ vu () ♥ starlightmints.com ♥ myspace.com/starlightmints