W♥M

R.I.P. Shawn Smith (Brad) and Les Reed

Tom Jones: It's Not Unusual Read More Pearl Jam Here's a band that needs no press or introduction - Pearl Jam. It's been a very long time since they were in town, but since they were already headlining Austin City Limits .…

It’s been a while since we mentioned a musician death. Although there are many deaths, there just didn’t seem to be any big names for the month of April.

If you’re a Pearl Jam fan, you might be sad to hear that American singer, songwriter and musician Shawn Smith of the supergroup Brad had passed away at the age of 53 to a torn aorta.

Personally speaking, the biggest name on the April death list, so far, is Les Reed, who co-wrote (with Gordon Mills) the song “It’s Not Unusual”. The song was originally offered to Sandie Shaw (one of Morrissey’s idols), but she turned down the song.

Of course, the song became a massive hit for then-unknown singer Welsh singer Tom Jones. Listening to the song, it did kind of have that nice Decca sound that was big in the mid-60s.

For the full death list head over to Musicians who died in 2019.

April (44)

[24 Apr 2019] Dick Rivers (French rock and roll singer for Les Chats Sauvages), 74, cancer

[24 Apr 2019] Pedro de Saint Germain (Brazilian singer), 69

[23 Apr 2019] Charity Sunshine Tillemann-Dick (American soprano singer and presenter), 35

[22 Apr 2019] Jim Dunbar (American radio program director for KGO), 89

[22 Apr 2019] Dave Samuels (American percussionist for Spyro Gyra), 70

[21 Apr 2019] Yasmim Gabrielle (Brazilian singer), 17, suicide

[21 Apr 2019] Atli Heimir Sveinsson (Icelandic composer), 80

[20 Apr 2019] Amar Pal (Indian folk singer), 96, heart attack

[20 Apr 2019] Wu Yili (Chinese-Singaporean pianist), 88

[19 Apr 2019] Martin Böttcher (German composer, arranger and conductor), 91

[19 Apr 2019] MC Sapão (Brazilian singer), 40, pneumonia

[17 Apr 2019] Frederick Hemke (American saxophonist), 83

[16 Apr 2019] Jörg Demus (Austrian pianist), 90

[16 Apr 2019] Kent Harris (American songwriter and record producer), 88, cancer

[15 Apr 2019] Les Reed (English songwriter), 83

[15 Apr 2019] Joe Terry (American rock and roll singer for Danny & the Juniors), 78

[14 Apr 2019] Rakhal Chandra Mohanty (Indian music director and singer), 86

[13 Apr 2019] Paul Raymond (English keyboardist and guitarist for Plastic Penny), 73, heart attack

[13 Apr 2019] Hubert Wayaffe (French radio personality and disc jockey), 81

[12 Apr 2019] Dina (Portuguese singer), 62, pulmonary fibrosis

[12 Apr 2019] Johnny Hutchinson (English rock and roll drummer for The Big Three), 78

[12 Apr 2019] Gary Stewart (American music executive and archivist for Rhino Records), 62

[11 Apr 2019] Mus Mulyadi (Indonesian singer), 73

[11 Apr 2019] Ivan Ponomarenko (Ukrainian opera singer), 73

[10 Apr 2019] Earl Thomas Conley (American country music singer-songwriter), 77, cerebral atrophy

[10 Apr 2019] Greg Haymes, aka Sarge Blotto (American singer of Blotto)

[09 Apr 2019] Paul Severs (Belgian singer), 70

[07 Apr 2019] Gino Stefani (Italian jazz musician, musicologist and semiologist), 89

[06 Apr 2019] Jim Glaser (American country music artist), 82, heart attack

[05 Apr 2019] Ib Glindemann (Danish jazz composer and bandleader), 84

[05 Apr 2019] Pastor López (Venezuelan singer-songwriter), 74, stroke

[05 Apr 2019] Samuel Pilafian (American tuba player), 69, colon cancer

[05 Apr 2019] Shawn Smith (American singer, songwriter and musician for Brad), 53, torn aorta

[05 Apr 2019] Davey Williams (American avant-garde guitarist for Curlew), 66, cancer

[05 Apr 2019] Wowaka (Japanese Vocaloid producer and vocalist), 31, heart failure

[04 Apr 2019] Alberto Cortez (Argentine singer and songwriter), 79, gastric haemorrhage

[04 Apr 2019] Marilyn Mason (American concert organist), 93

[04 Apr 2019] Tiger Merritt (American singer and guitarist for Morning Teleportation), 31

[03 Apr 2019] Einar Iversen (Norwegian jazz pianist and composer), 88

[03 Apr 2019] Maurice Pon (French lyricist), 97

[02 Apr 2019] Rick Elias (American musician for A Ragamuffin Band), 64, brain cancer

[02 Apr 2019] Kim English (American house and gospel singer-songwriter), 48, kidney failure

[01 Apr 2019] Caravelli (French conductor and composer for And Satan Calls the Turns), 88

[01 Apr 2019] Armando Vega Gil (Mexican writer, composer, and bassist for Botellita de Jerez), 64, suicide

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

Emily's 2014 Best Of Lists

Read More Kelis W♥M 2014 Album of the Year Nomination: Kelis' Food, a concept about food. W♥M 2014 Album of the Year Nomination: Suzanne Vega's Tales From the Realm of the Queen of Pantacles …

Emily's 2014 Best Of Lists

ALBUMS OF THE YEAR

1) Kelis, Food
2) the Afghan Whigs, Do To The Beast
3) Sloan, Commonwealth
4) the Pack AD, Do Not Engage
5) Beverly, Careers

SONGS OF THE YEAR

1) Future Islands, "Seasons (Waiting on You)"
2) Lana Del Rey, "West Coast"
3) Sharon Van Etten, "Taking Chances"
4) Eels, "Parallels"
5) Mark Lanegan, "Floor of the Ocean"

*Special mention:

- Big Freedia, "Explode"
- Old 97s, "Longer Than You've. Been Alive"
- Spoon "Rent I Pay"

SHOWS OF THE YEAR

1) Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the State Theater
2) the Replacements at Midway Stadium
3) Sloan at the Turf Club
4) the Afghan Whigs at First Avenue
5) Eels (and Steve Perry) at the Fitzgerald Theater
6) Mark Lanegan at the Bottom Lounge
7) Pearl Jam at the Xcel Energy Center

New Elvis Perkins and Sleater-Kinney next year! Here we go 2015!

emily (emily@weheartmusic.com) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Rocktober: October 19, 2014

Read More Smallpools Indie pop band, Smallpools, hasn't been around very long, forming earlier this year, but they are already making big waves. The band opened with one of their singles, Mason Jar, before going on to play ....

Magic Man Coming off from touring with Walk the Moon, Boston band Magic Man plays three shows for this year’s CMJ Music Marathon: October 17 .…

Here are shows taking place in Minneapolis/St Paul on October 19, 2014.

SMALLPOOLS, MAGIC MAN with Waters
at Varsity Theater
Sunday 10/19/14, 7pm
$15/$17: varsitytheater.org

Los Angeles' Smallpools will be on their Live Nation “Ones To Watch” tour, which kicks off at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis this Sunday (October 19).

The other headliner, Magic Man was a clear favorite from Justina, who saw them at CMJ 2013.

San Francisco's Waters are last band on the bill, they have a new record It All Might Be OK, which recently came out October 14th.

Tour dates:

10/16 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
10/19 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theater *
10/21 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall *
10/22 – Detroit, MI @ St. Andrews Hall *
10/24 – Toronto, ON @ The Opera House *
10/25 – Montreal, QC @ Cabaret Mile-End *
10/26 – Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club *
10/28 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg *
10/29 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of Living Arts *
10/30 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza *
10/31 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club *
11/02 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West *
11/04 – Nashville, TN @ Exit/In *
11/06 – Chicago, IL @ HOB Chicago *
11/07 – Louisville, KY @ Mercury Lounge *
11/08 – Indianapolis, IN @ Deluxe *
11/10 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theatre *
11/12 – Houston, TX @ HOB ^
11/13 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s ^
11/14 – Dallas, TX @ HOB Dallas ^
11/16 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom ^
11/17 – Anaheim, CA @ HOB Anaheim ^
11/18 – San Diego, CA @ HOB San Diego ^
11/19 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre ^
11/20 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent ^
11/23 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom ^
11/24 – Seattle, WA @ Neptune Theatre ^
11/25 – Vancouver, BC @ Venue ^

* w/ Magic Man and Waters
^ w/ Magic Man and Panama Wedding

Read More The Airborne Toxic Event The Airborne Toxic Event are a bit of an enigma. Blasting out of the gate to national attention in late 2007/early 2008 with the breakout single ‘Sometime Around Midnight’ .…

AIRBORNE TOXIC EVENT w/ In the Valley Below
at First Avenue
Sunday 10/19/14, 7pm
$19/$22: first-avenue.com

The Airborne Toxic Event is back in Minneapolis this Sunday... along with Los Angeles synth-pop band In the Valley Below, who will be playing tracks from their album The Belt. Personally, I think In the Valley Below should tour with Death From Above 1979 (who is stopping by Minneapolis on November 24).

As for Airborne Toxic Event, apparently members from that group and The Duke Spirit also have a project called The Bulls - their debut single "Come Unwound" is out now.

Tour dates:

Oct 15 Liberty Hall Lawrence, KS*
Oct 17 Eagles Ballroom Milwaukee, WI*
Oct 18 The Vic Chicago, IL*
Oct 19 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN*
Oct 24 Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC*
Oct 25 Crystal Ballroom Portland, OR*
Oct 26 Showbox at the Market Seattle, WA*
Oct 28 Ace of Spades Sacramento, CA*
Nov 03 The Depot Salt Lake City, UT*
Nov 05 Belly Up Aspen, CO*
Nov 06 Ogden Theatre Denver, CO*

*with In The Valley Below

Read More Pearl Jam Like Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam decides to create their own music festival, in celebration of their twenty years together as a band. The line up consists of Eddie Vedder's hand-picked artists, including The Strokes .…

PEARL JAM
at Xcel Energy
Sunday 10/19/14, 7:30pm
$69.50: xcelenergycenter.com

Here's a band that needs no press or introduction - Pearl Jam. It's been a very long time since they were in town, but since they were already headlining Austin City Limits, they decided to add 10 additional shows to their schedule in October.

And yes, the show is sold out.

Fans who can't attend, the consolation prize is PJ are usually good about making their live shows available on CD.

Tour dates:

10/16/14 Detroit, MI Joe Louis Arena
10/17/14 Moline, IL I Wireless Center
10/19/14 Saint Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
10/20/14 Milwaukee, WI BMO Harris Bradley Center
10/22/14 Denver, CO Pepsi Center
10/25/14 Bridge School Benefit
0/26/14 Bridge School Benefit

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

RNDM: Acts

Tour Dates 11/02 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg 11/03 Washington, D.C. The Black Cat 11/04 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 11/07 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club 11/08 New York, NY The Bowery Ballroom 11/09 Montreal, QC Théâtre Corona 11/10 Ottawa, ON Algonquin Theater 11/11 Toronto, ON Lee's Place 11/13 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall 11/14 Milwaukee, WI Turner Hall Ballroom 11/15 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue 11/16 Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck 11/18 Boulder, CO The Fox Theatre 11/21 Los Angeles, CA Troubadour 11/23 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall 11/25 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge 11/26 Vancouver, BC Biltmore Cabaret 11/27 Seattle, WA Showbox at the Market Read More Pearl Jam Like Dave Matthews, Pearl Jam decides to create their own music festival, in celebration of their twenty years together as a band…

The term “supergroup” in the world of music can be a very dangerous thing. What starts as an innocent collaboration between musicians can snowball into a bloated vanity project where there are too many egos in the kitchen. (I’m thinking recent groups like Velvet Revolver or, worse, Chickenfoot.) All one can hope for when encountering a band made up of players from other, often times more successful acts is that they use this new platform to explore and expand their sound, to utilize their new bandmates and create something different and unexpected. Or at least make music that doesn’t suck.

RNDM (pronounced simply “random”) features songwriter/artist Joseph Arthur, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament, and drummer Richard Stuverud, who has performed with the Fastbacks and War Babies, and could be considered a supergroup simply because of the big names therein. But “supergroup” is just too flaky a word to be applied to these three creative, seasoned musicians. Their partnership began when the three men met at a gig over ten years ago; Ament and Stuverud were playing together in a band called Three Fish and Arthur opened for them. Arthur stayed in touch with Ament over the years and was even invited to play at Pearl Jam’s exclusive 20th anniversary concert in Alpine Valley, WI over Labor Day weekend last year.

The group’s debut “Acts” gets released on Monkeywrench Records October 30th. At first blush, the album has a fairly straightforward rock sound, absent of the loop pedals and spoken word that Arthur seems to favor on a lot of his solo recordings. Many of the tracks are upbeat and almost anthemic and actually reminds me quite a lot of those late-80s, early 90s Jeff Lynne-produced Tom Petty records. The insanely catchy “The Disappearing Ones” and some wilder tracks like “Look Out!” and “Throw You To the Pack” keep this record from getting too meandering. I really enjoyed the falsetto vocal harmonies and hand claps that snuck out from behind choruses like on the stand-out tracks “Hollow Girl” (my favorite) and “Williamsburg.” Arthur, himself, sounds relaxed; his strong, versatile voice fitting in comfortably with Ament’s clean, driving bass-lines and Stuverud’s solid, no-frills drumming.

The band starts their 18-date North American tour next month, even making a stop at the 7th Street Entry on November 15th! I (along with many others, probably) am really curious to see Jeff Ament perform original material outside his usual Pearl Jam stuff, something I’m sure he relishes seeing as how monolithic the 90s-era veterans have become. And I had the distinct pleasure of watching Joseph Arthur play a wonderful set (and paint onstage!) at the PJ20 event last year, so there is really no doubt that the RNDM show will be a unique and exciting one.

emily () ♥ rndmband.com