W♥M: Green Day

02/05/2025

Keen on Green

01/30/2025

Best of the Fest: Minnesota Yacht Club and Pitchfork

Minnesota Yacht Club 2025

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Minnesota Yacht Club Festival

There is a new major music festival coming to Minneapolis in 2024. The very first Minnesota Yacht Club Festival (MYC) will be held at Harriet Island Regional Park on July 19-20, 2024. …

Minnesota Yacht Club
minnesotayachtclubfestival.com

No surprises here, but Minnesota Yacht Club Festival (MYC) returns to Minnesota. Presale (lowest priced-tickets) will be made available today, January 30 at 10am. Public on-sale to follow if tickets remain. If you want to go, I suggest getting a ticket now, because it’s likely to sell out, like last year.

We had a blast in 2024 with Alanis Morissette (on Friday) and Red Hot Chili Peppers (on Saturday).

Gwen Stefani at MN Yacht Club (19 July 2024)

We liked all the bands, particularly loved Gwen Stefani’s set, we concluded that, “It was a massive turnout; one of the best attended festivals we’ve seen…. We’re very impressed with the first annual Minnesota Yacht Club Festival. It’s incredibly well organized. They kept the music going between the two stages, as soon as one ends, the other begins. It’s an all-day event, and the best part is you can leave and come back as much as you like (before 7pm).”

The lineup for 2025 is listed below. We’ve seen most of these bands before, and the bands I’m most excited about is Garbage and Weezer.

Friday - July 18

Hozier

Alabama Shakes

Train

Sheryl Crow

Father John Misty

Gigi Perez

The 502s

Hamilton Leithauser

Mike Kota

Maygen & the Birdwatcher

Saturday - July 19

Fall Out Boy

Weezer

Remi Wolf

OAR

Cory Wong

Motion City Soundtrack

Silversun Pickups

Jake Clemons

Raffaella

LAAMAR

Sunday - July 20

Green Day

Sublime

311

Garbage

Semisonic

Beach Bunny

The Beaches

Grace Bowers

Winona Fighter

Landon Conrath

Pitchfork Music Festival announcement

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Pitchfork Music Festival

The Pitchfork Festival 2008 will take place July 18-20th and will feature over forty bands. I think this Festival is shaping up quite well, and who knows? Maybe in a few years it will rival some of England's …

Pitchfork Music Festival
pitchfork.com

Pitchfork is dead, long live Pitchfork.

On the verge of the 20th anniversary of Pitchfork Music Festival, there was a surprise announcement last November stating that the festival was no more. No reasons were given.

When we first heard and wrote about Pitchfork Music Festival in 2007, we thought they could rival “Glastonbury and Reading”, that’s how big we thought they could get. If you are going to get that big, you are going to have to hire bigger music acts to attract more people. With these popular music acts, it was going to cost more and more.

Anyway, in a recent article by WBEZ (published Jan 29, 2025), they explained that it was mostly due to “escalating costs from all corners of the concert industry, from production to artist fees, contributed to the festival’s eventual demise.”

The interview with festival co-founder Mike Reed he tells WBEZ that the event owner, Condé Nast was pushing him to get commercial pop acts such as Justin Bieber or Demi Lovato to headline Pitchfork 2025. Reed stated that his producing team were already not happy that Alanis Morissette headlined last summer.

It is a shame that Pitchfork couldn’t end with a 20th Anniversary celebration… but I wouldn’t count them out just yet. Based on everything that I know, I feel like Pitchfork will continue a little later, but on a smaller scale and with Reed in full control of who headlines this alternative music festival.

If your band is coming to the Minneapolis/St Paul area, please email details to [email protected] with a good lead time. Thank you.

vu ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Posted at 06:53 AM in 311, Alanis Morissette, Beach Bunny, Cory Wong, Demi Lovato, Fall Out Boy, Father John Misty, Festivals, Garbage, Green Day, Hamilton Leithauser, Hozier, Justin Bieber, Lamar, Landon Conrath, Minnesota Yacht Club, Motion City Soundtrack, Music Festival, O.A.R., Pitchfork Music Festival, Raffaella, Remi Wolf, Semisonic, Sheryl Crow, Sublime, The Alabama Shakes, The Beaches, Train, Weezer | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/31/2024

Halloween 2024

Trial By Fire by The Horrors

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The Horrors

The English rockers The Horrors is touring the U.S. in support of their latest V album (Wolf Tone label/Caroline International). It’s kind of rare to see these guys in the states, so if you live in the area.…

05/26/2023

Minneapolis: June 15 to June 16

03/28/2017

Minneapolis: April 1 to April 2, 2017

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Overcoats

Overcoats to open. We saw the duo last May 2016 and noted that the two only found out days before the show that they were actually going out on tour with Matt Corby. …

Here are some concerts taking place in the Minneapolis/St Paul area on April 1 to April 2, 2017. No foolin’!

Read more Minneapolis Music Guide.

MAGGIE ROGERS
at Triple Rock Social Club
Saturday 04/01/17, 7pm ($15/Sold Out)
triplerocksocialclub.com

With Maggie Rogers’ ‘Alaska’ song hitting Spotify’s Viral 50 in 40 countries and hit #1 in 23 countries (including the U.S.), it’s not hard to see why this 22-year-old multi-instrumentalist sold out her appearance at the upcoming Triple Rock Social Club show. In fact, she’s sold out her entire tour in the UK!

Rogers’ debut EP Now That The Light Is Fading is out now on Capitol Records.

Show up early to check out Overcoats. We’ve seen the duo twice now, and both times were completely different shows.

Tour Dates:

03/30/17 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge
04/01/17 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock
04/02/17 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall
04/04/17 Toronto, ON Mod Club
04/05/17 Montreal, QC La Sala Rossa
04/07/17 Philadelphia, PA The Foundry
04/08/17 Washington, DC U Street
04/10/17 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair
04/11/17 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
04/12/17 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall
06/15/17 Firefly Music Festival
06/30/17 Rock Werchter Festival
07/16/17 Citadel
08/06/17 Lollapalooza

Read More

Green Day

Green Day's ¡Uno!, the first in the trilogy of albums, hits stores today (September 25th) via Reprise Records. Be on the lookout* for ¡Dos! on November 13, 2012, and ¡Tré! …

Rachael Kilgour

Minnesota folk singer/songwriter Rachael Kilgour recently won the grand prize of “NewSong Music Performance and Songwriting Competition” and the 2015 Telluride Troubadour …

Foxygen

Duo Jonathan and Sam, otherwise known as Foxygen is heading out on tour in support of their latest album ... And Star Power, which just came out today via Jagjaguwar. ....

Whitney

Newcomers Whitney (not to be confused with the late Whitney Houston) to open. Whitney is led by drummer/vocalist Julien Ehrlich, previously from Unknown Mortal Orchestra. ..…

Other shows in the area:

04/01/17 French multi-instrumental minimalist FKJ will be headlining the Cabooze in Minneapolis in support of his debut full-length, French Kiwi Juice. Dabeull and Cezaire to open.

04/01/17 Singer and actress Bridgit Mendler will be playing the 7th Street Entry with Powers. Mendler has been recently cast in the lead role in “Thin Ice”, a new Fox comedy pilot from “New Girl” creator Liz Meriwether.

04/01/17 Punk rockers Green Day to play Xcel Energy Center with Against Me! .

04/01/17 Comedian Iliza Shlesinger will make you laugh at the Skyway Theatre.

04/01/17 Local singer/songwriter Rachael Kilgour will headlining Cedar Cultural Center. Lucy Kaplansky to open.

04/01/17 Mothership and Black Pussy to play Turf Club in St Paul.

04/01/17 Soul revival band Sonny Knight & The Lakers to play Icehouse.

04/02/17 Foxygen to headline First Avenue. Gabriella Cohen will open.

04/02/17 London’s artist, poet, playwright, novelist, and rapper, Kate Tempest will headline the 7th Street Entry. We saw her in June 2015 and noted, “Beats were somewhat primitive and a hybrid of dancehall, grime, dub, and electro, but served only as the place-setting to Tempest’s machine gun narrative lyrics of truth-telling, anti-consumerism and conformity, desperate street people, and good intentions gone bad.” Tempest’ Let Them Eat Chaos is out now on Lex Records.

04/02/17 Whitney will headlining the Triple Rock Social Club.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Posted at 07:25 AM in Dabeull, Foxygen, Gabriella Cohen, Green Day, Iliza Shlesinger, Kate Tempest, Maggie Rogers, Minneapolis, Minneapolis Music Guide, Mothership, Overcoats, Rachael Kilgour, Sonny Knight, Vu, Whitney | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/20/2013

Billies

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Green Day

Green Day's Â¡Uno!, the first in the trilogy of albums, hits stores today (September 25th) via Reprise Records. Be on the lookout* for Â¡Dos! on November 13, 2012, and Â¡TrÃ©! â€¦

Norah Jones

Norah Jones is currently on tour with Cory Chisel in support of her album Little Broken Hearts. Her appearance at the sold-out Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis last night proves to â€¦

BILLIE JOE AND NORAH
billiejoeandnorah.com

Billie Joe Armstrong, of Green Day, and Norah Jones, have recorded a full length album called Foreverly, due November 25th via Reprise Records. You can currently stream it on amazon.

I actually had no idea this was in the works, but apparently the two met in 2005 while performing on the Grammys with Stevie Wonder, Bono, and Brian Wilson (Beach Boys). They decided to do a proper reinterpreted recording of 1958 The Everly Brothers songs.

Obviously the new album will be less 'punk' than what we've previously known from Billie Joe's band Green Day, so I'm personally interested in hearing the new recordâ€¦ however, Armstrong commented on Stereogum that "The average listener might be like, 'Well, [this record's] not punk rock' or whatever ... but I like doing different things. For the past 25 years, with my band, it was this constant building of chaos and this kind of beast that just grew and grew â€“ and to jump off that train for a while and just do something for the sake of loving the music and loving a project and there's no agenda attached ... I don't know, it was good!"

Currently you can listen to two tracks on their website. There are a variety of packages you can get for the new album, including digital, compact discs, good old fashion vinyl (available December) and, yes, cassettes (available January 2014).

Foreverly will be out November 25, 2013, on Reprise Records.

Tour Dates

11/21/13 Ram's Head Onstage Annapolis MD
11/22/13 Gonda Theatre Washington DC
12/13/13 Majestic Theatre Madison WI *
12/14/13 Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis MO *
12/15/13 The Englert Theatre Iowa City IA *
12/16/13 Cedar Cultural Center Minneapolis MN *

* with Bitchin Bajas

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Johnny Cash

A while back I wrote an article on Cornershop's debut EP, Lock Stock & Double-Barrel and mentioned a little known fact: there is a hidden Johnny Cash song ("Houston Hash") at the end of the EP. â€¦

BONNIE 'PRINCE' BILLY
bonnieprincebilly.com

Low-fi maestro Will Oldham, who plays under the name Bonnie â€˜Princeâ€™ Billy, has been crafting quietly devastating music for two decades. His recording career began in the mid 90s releasing several albums as Palace Music or the Palace Brothers and working with Steve Albini on most of those albums (1996â€™s Arise Therefore was recorded at the legendary Pachyderm studio!) In 1999, Oldham, as Bonnie â€˜Princeâ€™ Billy, released I See a Darkness to critical acclaim and it hoisted him into the spotlight. Johnny Cash covered â€œI See a Darknessâ€ on his American III: Solitary Man album and Mark Lanegan sang â€œYou Will Miss Me When I Burnâ€ on a Soulsaversâ€™ split single with Oldham singing Laneganâ€™s â€œSunrise.â€ Other collaborators include Tortoise (2006â€™s The Brave and the Bold), the Cairo Gang/Emmett Kelly (2010â€™s The Wonder Show of the World) and Matt Sweeney on the exquisite 2005 record Superwolf.

Not one to shy away from emotionally raw honesty, Oldhamâ€™s music is often an intense experience. Oldhamâ€™s quivering vocals have a quiet, crushing vulnerability to them and really enhance the darkness in his lyrics. Songs like â€œMy Home is the Sea,â€ however, from Superwolf showcase a soulful sensuality in the musician.

Oldham will soon be kicking off his first solo tour in years. He will be playing at the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis on December 16th. Donâ€™t miss this rare opportunity to catch him live!

VILLEBILLIES
villebillies.com

The Villebillies are from Louisville, currently signed to Sony Music Entertainment/RED Associated Labels.

Their latest single "Love Is Kind of Crazy" features a sample from the late English pop singer Dusty Springfield's "Spooky." This is the typical style of the group, bringing in soulful harmonies with their rap verses.

You can hear "Love Is Kind of Crazy" for yourself via YouTube.

Producer Dustin "Tuck" Tucker talk about the song, "There is something about Villebillies and the fall season. We always seem to produce our best work this time of year. Dusty Springfield singing those words 'Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little boy like you' has an eerie quality to it. It fits our vibe and it makes your head nod at the same time, so it just made sense to sample and capture the tone of the original song while giving it the traditional Villebillies treatment both musically and visually."

BILLY J
BillyJJams.com

Founding member of Sacred Oath (a band that has opened up for Twisted Sister, Cinderella and Bruce Springsteen, just to name a few), Billy J just released his self-titled EP yesterday (November 19th). This is his first release in over two decades and feature five tracks of rock and blues style songs.

Track Listing:

1. She's Mine
2. New Car
3. She
4. Boomerang
5. My Baby's Blue

Stephen â€œBuzzyâ€ Krist, veteran music producer and percussionist, also plays percussion on three of the tracks. All music arrangements were put together by award-winning blues artist Dave Fields. Billy J. fronts the band on lead vocals and guitar.

BILLY FOX
billyfoxmusic.com

Billy Fox is, or rather was, the front man for the live hip hop act Botanics; he's currently based in Sydney, Australia.

Apparently Triple J's Zan Rowe loves Billy Fox's song, "Monuments", calling it, "Beautifully warm production, nice chorus payoff, strong vocal line..."

Hear it:

"Monuments" was released October 18th and is available as a free download via billyfox.bandcamp.com.

vu + emily (

) â™¥ weheartmusic.com

Posted at 08:27 PM in Billy Fox, Emily, Green Day, Norah Jones, The Everly Brothers, The Villebillies, Vu | Permalink | Comments (0)

09/25/2012

Three of a Kind

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Green Day

Other punk-ish bands in the 20+ year club includes Green Day (who just announced three albums!), Bad Religion (these guys are legendary, I love Greg Graffin - the smartest man in punk)…

GREEN DAY
greenday.com

Green Day's ¡Uno!, the first in the trilogy of albums, hits stores today (September 25th) via Reprise Records. Be on the lookout* for ¡Dos! on November 13, 2012, and ¡Tré! on January 15, 2013. The latter album is named after drummer Tré Cool.

Yes, the album is out now, but it seems like all the news is about singer Billie Joe Armstrong. He was hospitalized in Italy and the band cancelled the weekend dates as a result. Although it came back as "severe case of dehydration," we kind of all knew it was drugs-related. Then there was the breakdown on stage when Armstrong walked off stage after smashing his guitar and you found out later that "Billie Joe is seeking treatment for substance abuse."

After reading about these various incidents, I would suspect that this might be the last hurrah for Green Day. In my personal opinion, I do not think Green Day will tour again, so if you are a massive fan, you need to see them this year.

Green Day's first leg of their ¡UNO!, ¡DOS!, ¡TRÉ! TOUR will begin in November.

11/26/12 Seattle, WA Paramount Theatre
11/27/12 Kennewick, WA Toyota Center
11/29/12 Salem, OR Salem Armory Auditorium
12/01/12 Sacramento, CA Memorial Auditorium
12/02/12 Reno, NV Grand Sierra Resort
12/04/12 Santa Cruz, CA Santa Cruz Civic Aud
12/10/12 Tempe, AZ Marquee Theatre
01/07/13 Green Bay, WI Resch Arena
01/08/13 Rosemont, IL Allstate Arena
01/10/13 Wilkes Barre, PA Mohegan Sun Arena
01/11/13 State College, PA Bryce Jordan Center
01/13/13 Rochester, NY Blue Cross Arena
01/14/13 Pittsburgh, PA Consol Energy Center
01/16/13 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center

01/18/13 Manchester, NH Verizon Wireless Arena
01/19/13 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
01/21/13 Fairfax, VA Patriot Center
01/22/13 Philadelphia, PA Liacourias Center
01/24/13 Providence, RI Dunkin Donuts Center
01/25/13 Portland, ME Cumberland Civic Center
01/27/13 Quebec City, QC Colisee Pepsi Arena
01/29/13 Toronto, ONT Air Canada Centre
01/30/13 Cleveland, OH Wolstein Center
02/01/13 Moline, IL I Wireless Center
02/02/13 Madison, WI Alliant Energy Center
02/04/13 Omaha, NE CenturyLink Arena
02/06/13 Broomfield, CO 1STBANK Center
02/08/13 Las Vegas, NV MGM Grand Garden Arena

* This is a punny reference to Green Day's first record deal on Lookout! Records in 1989.

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The Devil Makes Three

I saw these guys, The Devil Makes Three, last year, I was rather surprised by the turn-out (they sure have loads of fans).

DEVIL MAKES THREE
thedevilmakesthree.com

I see a lot of shows, and one of the stand-out performances was seeing Devil Makes Three at the Triple Rock last year. They blew me away with their sold-out bluegrass/punk/country show.

Like most successful touring band, the trio is back in Minneapolis this Saturday at the Cabooze. If you want to have a good time, seeing them at the outdoor venue will be a great introduction to the band. Plus, plenty of room for you to dance…

If you were planning on catching Devil Makes Three in November, Jonny "Corndawg" Fritz will be opening. Jonny will be touring as a duo with his longtime band member, Nashville-based fiddle player Josh Hedley, who'll also be helping out on vocals. His tour is in support of I'm Not Ready to Be a Daddy and Down On the Bikini Line.

Apparently his nickname, "Corndawg" might be going away for his future endeavors. He might be called "Johnny Fritz and the In-Laws" in the future.

09/25/2012 Mr. Small's Theatre Millvale, PA
09/26/2012 The Ark Ann Arbor, MI
09/27/2012 20th Century Theatre Cincinnati, OH
09/28/2012 Lincoln Hall Chicago, IL
09/29/2012 The Cabooze Minneapolis, MN
10/02/2012 Blue Moose Iowa City, IA
10/03/2012 The Bottleneck Lawrence, KS
10/04/2012 The Waiting Room Omaha, NE
10/05/2012 Fox Theatre Boulder, CO
10/06/2012 Bluebird Theater Denver, CO
10/10/2012 George's Majestic Fayetteville, AR
10/11/2012 Cain's 2nd Stage Tulsa, Oklahoma
10/13/2012 The Parish Austin, TX
10/14/2012 Austin City Limits Music Festival, TX
10/27/2012 Communion in Redwoods Big Sur, CA
10/30/2012 Belly Up Tavern* Solana Beach, CA
10/31/2012 Orpheum Theatre+ Flagstaff, AZ
11/01/2012 Club Congress Tucson, AZ

11/02/2012 House of Blues* West Hollywood, CA
11/03/2012 The Catalyst* Santa Cruz, CA
11/04/2012 Fillmore+ San Francisco, CA
11/07/2012 Senator Theatre+ Chico, CA
11/08/2012 Historic Ashland Armory+ Ashla/OR
11/09/2012 Crystal Ballroom+ Portla/OR
11/10/2012 Showbox at The Market+ Seattle, WA
11/11/2012 McDonald Theatre+ McDonald Theatre
11/14/2012 A Club+ Spokane, WA
11/15/2012 The Wilma Theatre+ Missoula, MT
11/16/2012 Visual Arts Collective+ Garden City, ID
11/17/2012 The Depot+ Salt Lake City, UT
12/27/2012 Higher Ground Burlington, VT
12/29/2012 State Theater Portla/ME
12/30/2012 The Met Providence, RI
12/31/2012 Theatre of the Living Arts Phila, PA

* with Sean & Zander, and Jonny Fritz Corndawg
+ with Jonny Fritz Corndawg

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Dirty Three

An upcoming performance by Australia’s renowned instrumental rock band Dirty Three should have music fans frothing at the mouth with excitement.

DIRTY THREE
anchorandhope.com

Just a reminder that Dirty Three is in the middle of their North American tour! It's been three years since they were last in America, so don't miss them.

The new tour in support of Toward The Low Sun*, the band's first album in over seven years. Emily is covering their appearance in Minneapolis.

Tue. Sept. 25 - Detroit, MI @ Trinosophes (1464 Gratiot)
Wed. Sept. 26 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
Thu. Sept. 27 - Iowa City, IA @ Gabe's Oasis
Fri. Sept. 28 - Minneapolis, MN @ Cedar Cultural Center
Mon. Oct. 1 - Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret
Tue. Oct. 2 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Wed. Oct. 3 - Portland, OR @ The Mission Theater
Thu. Oct. 4 - Portland, OR @ The Mission Theater
Sat. Oct. 6 - San Francisco, CA @ Hardly Strictly Festival
Mon. Oct. 8 - Los Angeles, CA @ Bootleg Theater

* Check out "Rising Below" via Drag City.

vu (

) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Posted at 12:05 PM in Dirty Three, Green Day, The Devil Makes Three | Permalink | Comments (0)

07/05/2012

Soul'd out

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Cate le Bon

Cate Le Bon's been busy, after supporting St Vincent in the USA, Annie Clark asked Le Bon to join her band as backup vocals on her European tour dates.

CATE LE BON
catelebon.com

Remember Cate le Bon? I saw her play live earlier this year, and I reported that she has a "haunting voice". Well she's back in the news again with a couple of news items:

1. "All Souls Church" is a live session (directed by Winston Case). You can watch the performance at Paste Magazine.

2. CYRK II, the follow-up to CYRK, will be out August 21, 2012, via The Control Group.

3. She's going on tour in the US to promote the new album in September.

09/18 Toronto, ON The Rivoli
09/19 Montreal, QC Ukrainian Federation
09/21 New York, NY Mercury Lounge
09/22 Brooklyn, NY Union Pool
09/23 Washington DC The Red Palace
09/24 Charlottesville, VA The Southern
09/25 Raleigh, NC Kings Barcade
09/26 Atlanta, GA The Earl
09/28 New Orleans, LA Circle Bar
09/29 Austin, TX Red 7
10/02 Los Angeles, CA Bootleg Theater

THE BOUNCING SOULS
bouncingsouls.com

The Bouncing Souls are one of the oldest punk rock bands, having survived over 20 years together as a band. My theory is that most punk bands starts off really young … and if they're successful, surviving twenty years is really nothing.

Other punk-ish bands in the 20+ year club includes Green Day (who just announced three albums!), Bad Religion (these guys are legendary, I love Greg Graffin - the smartest man in punk), Social Distortion (I saw these guys over 20 years ago!), Less than Jake, Blink 182, Rise Against, New Found Glory. Plus don't forget the acronym of doom: MXPX, CKY, AFI, and NOFX!

The band just released their ninth studio album, Comet, via Rise Records (in conjunction with the band's own label, Chunksaah Records), in June, and they're currently on tour this summer with The Menzingers and Luther.

Jul 07 Oak Canyon Ranch Irvine, CA
Jul 08 The Nile Theater Mesa, AZ
Jul 11 House of Blues San Diego San Diego, CA
Jul 12 MAYAN Los Angeles, CA
Jul 13 House of Blues Las Vegas Las Vegas, NV
Jul 14 SLO BREW San Luis Obispo, CA
Jul 17 Slim’s San Francisco, CA
Jul 18 Slim’s San Francisco, CA
Jul 20 The Alley Sparks, NV
Jul 21 Hawthorne Theatre Portland, OR
Jul 22 Chop Suey Seattle, WA
Jul 23 Venue Nightclub Vancouver, Canada
Jul 25 In the Venue Salt Lake City, UT
Jul 26 The Summit Music Hall Denver, CO
Jul 27 Sokol Underground Omaha, NE
Jul 28 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
Jul 29 Metro Chicago, IL
Jul 31 Magic Stick Detroit, MI
Aug 01 Beachland Ballroom Cleveland, OH
Aug 02 Mr. Smalls Theatre Millvale, PA

Aug 03 Crocodile Rock Allentown, PA
Aug 04 House of Blues Boston Boston, MA
Aug 05 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, NY
Aug 24 Reading Festival Reading, United Kingdom
Aug 25 Leeds Festival Leeds, United Kingdom
Aug 26 De Effenaar, Kleine Zaal Eindhoven
Aug 27 Melkweg Amsterdam, Netherlands
Aug 29 Knust Hamburg, Germany
Aug 30 Skater's Palace Munster, Germany
Aug 31 Masters Of Rock Festival Thourout
Sep 01 Blubstock Festival Chancy, Switzerland
Sep 02 The Arena Vienna, Austria
Sep 03 Kranhalle Munich, Germany
Sep 04 Estragon Bologna, Italy
Sep 06 Sala Azkena Bilbao, Spain
Sep 07 Sala Cachamba Gijon, Spain
Sep 08 Sala Live Madrid, Spain
Sep 09 Loco Club Valencia, Spain
Sep 10 Estraperlo Club Murcia, Spain

JOSS STONE
jossstone.com

Did you know that Grammy and Brit award-winner Joss Stone has her own record label called Stone'd Records? She will be releasing The Soul Sessions Volume 2 this July 23rd, 2012, in collaboration with her first record label, S-Curve Records.

The Soul Sessions Volume 2 is the follow up to Stone's five million selling debut album, The Soul Sessions. If you are one of the five million who own the first album, chances are The Soul Sessions Volume 2 will more or less follow the same winning formula.

Stone commented on the second volume: "I really had fun revisiting The Soul Sessions idea and I’m really pleased with the results. I’ve committed long term to my label Stone’d Records, but it felt right to team up with Steve and S-Curve again for this release. I think there are some great songs on the album and I loved performing them with such brilliant musicians - so I hope people enjoy it."

BRIEFLY:

MAX JARED
maxjaredmusic.com

Max Jared announced that he'll be releasing Thoughtless Sounds via our favorite Jewish record company, Shemspeed Entertainment's new label, Soul Snack (wearesoulsnack.com).

The album comes out August 28th, 2012. Look for the launch party for Thoughtless Sounds on August 30th.

ELECTRIC COWBELL RECORDS
electric-cowbell.com

Electric Cowbell Records said that they've just released Slavic Soul Party on 7" black vinyl on June 26th, 2012 (last Tuesday).

The two tracks ("Jackson" and "Gangsta") promises to bring "throbbing funk grooves" and "Balkan brass" (no idea how Balkan brass would differ from New Orleans brass).

Check out the A-Side:

vu (

) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ +W♥M

Posted at 12:00 AM in Bouncing Souls, Cate Le Bon, Green Day | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/06/2009

Quoth the Raven

The music news of the world, courtesy of news.weheartmusic.com.

ATLAS SHRUGGED
myspace.com/bradfordcox

Broadcast - Come On Let's Go

Broadcast

I got this note that Atlas Sound is heading out on tour next week -- with Broadcast! Since we haven't written about Broadcast in, like, 2007, it's good to hear about them recently.

Unfortunately, they're not coming near Minneapolis (I've visited Northfield before - it's a bit isolated!), otherwise I would love to do some coverage on them.

The tour information:

Kylie Minogue - Can't Get Blue Monday Out of My Head

Kylie Minogue

THE SHOW'S THE THING
kylie.com

Chicagoans, please note that tomorrow's Kyle Minogue's sold-out show at the Congress Theatre has been upgraded to the UIC Pavilion (University of Illinois at Chicago: 525 S Racine Ave., Chicago, IL 60607-3303). According to the announcement, this is being done because of "the sheer scale of the production".

All the tickets that fans have purchased for the Congress Theater will be good at the UIC Pavilion. However, because of the upgraded venue, more seats/tickets are available for purchase (it went on sale October 4^th, so I'm assuming it's probably already sold out). Good luck anyway, check with ticketbastard if you still have hope to attend.

MEAT IS MURDER
transformers.com

Since Christopher can't get enough of Morrissey and the Smiths, I thought I'd offer this: did you know the Smiths is in Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen? I know this may sound trivial, but I think it's cool.

Shia LaBeouf's character evolved from loving The Strokes & Green Day, to The Smiths, apparently.

TRANSFORMERS: Megan Fox hiding

TRANSFORMERS 2: Meat is Murder poster

PHONING IT IN
nuclearoreilly.com

Nuclear O'Reilly describes themselves as:

A music duo disguised as male escorts for librarians

The world's first iPhone album, Phoning It In, by Nuclear O'Reilly is available on their website for free. I think it's a good promotion for both Apple and its software, by Intua Software (which costs $19.99). Both platform and music software is powerful enough to produce this electronic album.

I did quickly listen to the album, it sounds a bit like a video game. If you think there are no vocals, you're wrong, you can hear some mumbling on "Creamatorium", which I'm assuming they used the iPhone's mic to record it. It's kind of a gimmick, but since it's free, why not check it out? Maybe they can be the next Guitar Zeros, or even worst, iBand.

THE PEN IS MIGHTIER
olympusamerica.com

For years now, I've been using my pocket Sony T7 Camera, which I've been quite happy with - for daytime shooting. If you are interested in a credit card-sized camera, T7 is a great camera for you. Image quality is great, but sensor is slow (as with all compact camera), but you can get around this by taking small 640x480 shots. The bigger the size, the worst it looks. Plus for night shots, see example, you tend to lose details. And you can forget about "fast-action" shots, the sensor is not fast enough to capture frame-by-frame.

The $400, I originally paid for the T7 in 2005, have been totally worth every penny. But in the day of technology growing in leaps and bounds, especially in the digital camera market, my T7 is a dinosaur!

I've placed an order for the Olympus PEN E-P1 Camera. Based on reviews I've read, comparing image quality with other standard SLR camera in its class, I am impressed with the Pen Camera. It particularly did really well with low-light situations, which is what I was looking for. It also shoots 1080 HD movie files, which I think will become more useful in the future. The only complaint people have said is that is a bit expensive (base camera starts at $800), and I've also read that it's slow on the SLR class - but slow they indicate as much as three seconds to startup the camera. Three seconds is not slow! I can live with three seconds!

The tracking number said I'm receiving the camera on Thursday, just in time for Friday's show: Asobi Seksu, Lonely Dear, and Anna Ternheim.

If it all works out, we should have some fantastic pictures from the show. Sadly, I'll still have a perfectly working Sony T7. Should I sell it? Any offers? It's probably most likely going in the bin of other retired electronics, like my all my old iPods, Palm PDA, and MiniDisc players!

PS, Hooray, we're listed as a neighbor on team.vox.com.

10/06/2009 18:40:06 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

Posted at 06:51 PM in Atlas Sound, Broadcast, Green Day, Transformers | Permalink | Comments (0)

06/21/2009

American Country Music

Hank Williams - Howlin' At the Moon

Hank Williams

Yep, this week's theme is country music.

Whenever I meet people and I ask what type of music they're into, I can tell you 90% of them will answer vaguely: "I am into all kind of music... well except for rap and country music." It saddens me to hear that. (Incidentally, whenever someone tells me they're into all genre of music, I think the opposite: they only like one kind of genre).

Trust me, we get "all kind of music" and shopping around for reviewers is tough because, let's face it: we like what we like. No one is going to go out of their way to devote one or two hours listening to music genres they're not familiar with.

So basically, country music is a very popular genre that no one seems to like! I grew up on country music, so I've always had a soft spot for it. What I like about country is that they often teach us a lesson, like a story within the song. And often the story is about RL (real life) and you can relate to their flawed characters.

Below are some albums we've received that's by real singers, singing about life.

GLEN CAMPBELL glencampbellshow.com ♥ myspace.com Glen Campbell - Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) The Rhinestone Cowboy is back with a Greatest Hits album, released earlier in February. While he is known for writing original songs (his legacy expands over 50 years in the music industry!), his 2008 album, Meet Glen Campbell, is an all-covers album. What's surprisingly is his choice in covers are strangely modern contemporary, including U2 ("All I Want Is You"), Foo Fighters ("Times Like These"), Green Day ("Good Riddance") and best of all Travis ("Sing"). Just as his title suggest: meet Glen Campbell for the first time, forget his roots in country pop music. Some of the best cover, at least to me, is his version of "Sing" (you can hear it on myspace) and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". While Green Day's version is all-acoustic and somber, Campbell brought a bit of a jingle, jangle and banjo to the song. It's like a going away party, and you wouldn't think this was a Green Day song. As a cover-lover, I wholly recommend these "re-imagined" songs to fans of the bands he covers. Find out more details over at meetglencampbell.com for the cover album (available on CD, Limited Edition Vinyl, and of course digitally). Glen Campbell - Rhinestone Cowboy Bonus: "Rhinestone Cowboy" is a favorite among such acts as Radiohead and Belle & Sebastian.		NATASHA JAMES natashajames.com ♥ myspace.com Natasha James - Modern Life Natasha James is a country singer from Sonoma, California, which is close to both Sacramento and San Francisco. I get the impression that James knows and loves her liquor. Take a look at the evidence: tequila in "Tequila Time", beer on "Modern Life", and whiskey on "Boy Do We Drink". The later song is all about drinking and fighting, but I don't take it too seriously as the tone seems pretty tongue-in-cheek. My favorite song is "Modern Life". It does a great job in painting you the picture of: lonliness, our busyness, divorces, cellphones, internet games, etc. The song is bundled in what sounds like a steel guitar and violins. While the song has a sad tone to it, it's not as sad as the weepy "The Wind". She's also doing a few dates throughout California: 08/08/09 Sonoma County Fair Santa Rosa, California 08/21/09 Iron Door Saloon Groveland, California 08/22/09 Iron Door Saloon Groveland, California Tequila Time is available at most online shops, including eMusic and Amazon. Bonus: As I have previously mentioned, we don't get too many DVD submissions, so here is the video for "Tequila Time". Natasha James - Tequila Time
RUSTED ROOTS rustedroot.com ♥ myspace.com Rusted Root - Driving One Rusted Root is a toe-tapping, bluegrass/jam fusion band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They have been around since the late 80s, and have survived to this day with their recent release of Stereo Rodeo (released May 5, 2009 on Touchy Pegg/Adrenaline/DKE). I lassoed the band on this article because I thought they look country, I mean look at this psychedelic cover artwork: a cowboy roping a Japanese geisha over flames and skulls. The album cover is basically an interpretation of the song "Stereo Rodeo", a slower song that tells the story of a man going to Japan to find a girl. One thing is certain, I feel the shock of the insane cover artwork never quite live up in the song, because the song sounds a bit... normal. As far as the rest of their songs, they're full of funk and percussion and background vocals, I get the sense that the band wants the audience to be involved with them. Their songs were designed to get you to dance with the band, perhaps contributing to hand claps or singalong. Like most jam bands, they're meant to be seen live. I felt "Driving One" would best sum up the band: check out that funky percussion beat! It sounds like something out of Africa, yet feels like it belong in this American bluegrass band. Stereo Rodeo is available now, at amazon ($8!) or eMusic.		AMY LENNARD amylennard.com ♥ myspace.com Amy Lennard - Forever Tonight I actually really love Amy Lennard's I Need To Love the first time I heard it last year, I think mostly because her voice reminds me of Bonnie Raitt. Music's always been part of Lennard's life, playing guitar since nine, then moving on to composing original songs. She moved from New York to live out in California for a while, playing festivals and jamming campfire songs with friends. Ten years later, she moved back to New York, and started working on I Need To Love. Half of the album was, from what I've gathered, written and recorded in 2006 with the help of Ben Wisch. The other half is with engineerer Jon Gordon (who's previously worked with Suzanne Vega). You might think that two different producers working on the album might result in an uneven sounding album, it's actually not. Most of the songs feels like pop radio, with strong modern country music influences. There is one very pop-sounding song, it's a love song called "Forever Tonight". It's my favorite song and the easy-to-follow lyrics will cause you to sing along. You can find I Need to Love from amazon, CD Baby, and, of course, iTunes.
MIKE KOTULKA mikekotulka.com ♥ myspace.com/nycmk Mike Kotulka - Dumb Mike Kotulka is another Philadelphian, if that's a word, his sophomore album Hi-Lows will be available July 7^th. Everything tells me he's a cowboy, from hat to the harmonica that starts off his intro song, "Born To Try". While not entirely country, Koulka is more like from the Bob Dylan school, which is not a bad association. The title of the album comes from the same titled song, "Hi-Lows". The song is about standing tall, standing for what you believe in, despite the "shit" trying to keep you down. It's a bit inspirational, especially in this economic time. The songs that I did enjoy are the louder ones, "Dumb" and "Gimme Love". "Dumb", with its hand-claps, and "Gimme Love" with its catchy "gimme love gimme love" chorus, will both make excellent live songs. However, as of this writing, there are no tour dates. The nine-track album, feels really short. I decided to track down more music from Kotulka, and the good news is his album The Good, The Bad and the Ugly was available for free via the official website or empty-k.com. Hi-Lows will be available in early July at amazon.		SWAY swaymusic.com ♥ myspace.com Sway - Cowgirl Scene Perry Martin and Gina Quartaro are basically the country band Sway, based out of California. The two musician met at a doctor's office, and I suppose while waiting in the waiting room (as one do), the two started talking about music. As the turned out, both Quartaro and Martin have a lifetime of music in them. Quartaro's written and co-produced over 200 songs to day and was even called the "Female Elton John" by Russ Regan (record executive of UNI records, 20th Century Records, and Motown Records). And Martin's biography lists him as band member on "The Donny James Show". They took the show to South Vietnam from 1968-69, and did a show for radio & television called "Nashville Vietnam". I'm not going to list the other two band members' (Laurens Vernot, Trevor Hands) biography, but let's just say that each member bring a rich history of music with them. Sway's music, with its honky-talk and lyrics tells me "good times are all we need" (from "Cowgirl Scene"). Like "baseball and Chevrolet", these songs are pretty standard country love song ("When Love Finds Its Way", "I'm Over You"). Where love is the power that transcend reality. Sure, "the banks are callin' and bills are late", but we've got love, from "In The Hands Of Love". Gina Quartaro sings on all the songs on the album, minus two songs sung by Martin. Quartaro is currently doing some dates: 07/05/09 The Art A Fair Laguna Beach, CA 07/16/09 OC Fair (Mainstage) Costa Mesa, CA 07/25/09 Art A Fair Laguna Beach, CA Sway's debut album, Let It Roll, was released last year, and you can get it via CD Baby.