W♥M (Archive)

Towns vs Cities

Whispertown is on tour. New to them? Check out this Getting To Know Morgan Nagler. Tour dates below: 05/10/12 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon * 05/11/12 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock * 05/12/12 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s * 05/13/12 Omaha, NE The Waiting Room* 05/15/12 Denver, CO Larimer Lounge * 05/16/12 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge * 05/17/12 Boise, ID Neurolux * 05/18/12 Seattle, WA The Crocodile * 05/19/12 Vancouver, BC Media Club * 05/20/12 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge * 05/22/12 San Francisco, CA Great American* 05/23/12 Los Angeles, CA Bootleg Theater * 05/24/12 Santa Ana, CA Constellation Room * 05/25/12 San Diego, CA The Casbah * 05/26/12 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom * 05/27/12 Albequerque, NM Launchpad * 05/29/12 Austin, TX Mohawk * 05/30/12 Dallas, TX Trees * 05/31/12 Oklahoma City, OK Opolis* 06/01/12 St. Louis, MO Firebird * 06/02/12 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall* * w/ Margot and the Nuclear So & So’s

Nutid is a duo (Åsa Jacobsson and Alf Håkan Åkesson), as you can guess by their names, they're from Sweden. You might know Åsa from Anna Ternheim and Peter Bjorn & John and you might know Alf from having songs in (the Swedish film) "The Girl With The Dragoon Tattoo" and "In America"... although the name 'ALF', just makes me think of "alien life form" - the puppet from the 80s television show. Anyway, coming out May 30th, 2012 is Nutid's second album, Cityflowers, via Too Many Notes. The album is said to be "a melodic journey through twelve different soundscapes". You can preview the album over at Fader.com.

BRIEFLY:

Emusic just premiered the video for "Green City" by Stephen Paul Smoker on their website. Emusic had a hard time explaining "Green City": "The song we're featuring could be influenced by Sonic Youth, maybe some stuff on AmRep, but there are also Bay City Roller handclaps and something that calls to mind Julee Cruise‘s “Falling” (AKA The song from Twin Peaks.) Maybe Six Organs of Admittance attempting to make an industrial album is an adequate summation?"

I don't quite understand it, but it looks like Grasscut is a band that's interested in geo-hunting. Their upcoming album, Unearth (via Ninja Tunes), was inspired by specific location throughout Britain. Basically ten songs for ten locations… and in each of those locations is a hidden single cassette and Walkman! The first clue "From Towns & Fields", which you can download at grasscutmusic.com, and for additional information, see youtube.com.

Old Town Hall is a free live album from We Are Ghosts, you can stream or download over at bandcamp. The information on their page is that this was a live recording over at Beit Hair (the old Tel-Aviv city hall) last year (10 Nov 2011). They also list over ten musicians, but also noted that "this is not a jam session".

Old Bricks' album, City Lights, was released nationally yesterday (May 8th). You can stream the entire album over at Spinner this week only. Old Bricks is basically two people, Stuart Edwards and Andy Holmes. When they play live, they're join on stage by Eddie Sanchez (Fin Fang Foom) and Tre Acklin (Gross Ghost).

If you've been wondering what Regina Spektor has been up since her last album, Far. Well! She has a new album coming out May 29th, on Sire/Warner Brothers Records, called What We Saw from the Cheap Seats Check out her song, "Small Town Moon", at Soundcloud.com.

New Beard's debut album is called New Beard City. The album comes out June 26th, 2012, via Shoulder Tap Records (Wigmaker's Son). Although New Beard City is the debut, it's written in their biography that it's an unofficial sequel to Arizona's 2006 album Welcome Back Dear Children (Arizona's frontsman Ben Wigler is also the head for New Beard).

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

Anna Ternheim - Leaving on a mayday

Anna Ternheim - What Have I Done Anna Ternheim Tour Dates 09/30/09 Casbah, San Diego, CA 10/01/09 Troubador, Los Angeles, CA 10/02/09 Slims, San Francisco, CA 10/03/09 Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR 10/04/09 Chop Suey, Seattle, WA 10/06/09 Biltmore Cabaret, Vancouver, BC 10/09/09 7th St, Minneapolis, MN 10/10/09 Bottom Lounge, Chicago, IL 10/11/09 Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH 10/12/09 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON 10/13/09 Il Motore, Montreal, Quebec 10/14/09 Great Scott, Boston, MA 10/15/09 Maxwells, Hoboken, NJ 10/16/09 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY 10/17/09 Johnny Brendas, Phila, PA 11/04/09 Linköping, Sagateatern 11/05/09 Norrköping, Skandiateatern 11/06/09 Skara, Katedralsskolans aula 11/07/09 Arvika, Ritz 11/08/09 Göteborg, Pusterviksteatern 11/10/09 Göteborg, Pusterviksteatern 11/13/09 Alingsås, Palladium 11/14/09 Växjö, Växjö Teater 11/16/09 Uppsala, Reginateatern 11/17/09 Uppsala, Reginateatern 11/19/09 Gävle, Spegeln 11/24/09 Nyköping, Nyköpingsteater 11/25/09 Stockholm, Södra Teatern 11/26/09 Stockholm, Södra Teatern 12/02/09 Malmö, Victoriateatern 12/03/09 Malmö, Victoriateatern Discography [2004] Somebody Outside [2006] Somebody Outside (Japan) [2006] Separation Road [2008] Halfway to Fivepoints (US) [2009] Leaving on a mayday Read More Anna Ternheim http://weheartmus... As it, I came across Sweden's Anna Ternheim in association with El Perro Del Mar, who apparently ...

I've previously mentioned that I came across Anna Ternheim mostly because of my obsession with Swedish pop music. Ternheim's name was attached to another Swedish musician, El Perro Del Mar, who did a brief tour throughout the US a few years ago.

To catch everyone up on this singer/songwriter, she quietly debut her album Somebody Outside in 2004 and was recognized as "Best Newcomer" on the Swedish Grammy and P3 Guld award. For Separation Road won "Best Female Artist" and "Best Lyricist" after two other nominations for the Grammy. So clearly, she was well-established in her hometown.

Unfortunately, repackaging her US album Halfway to Fivepoints with the best bits from her two albums, released last year was a good introduction - but it didn't exactly set the US on fire.

I hope all that will change with producer Bjorn Yttling (of PB&J) on her side for Leaving on a mayday (US release August 11^th on Verve Forecast), will change all that. In fact, it already won Best Female Artist" and "Album of the Year" in her home town.

I felt, based on the two US albums is that Yttling understand that Ternheim has a beautiful voice. No vocal trickery (goodbye, autotune) her voice comes through piercingly clear. Any effort to bring in orchestral seems to be met with it being only used in background arrangements. Check out her single, "What Have I Done", which was recently remixed by El Perro Del Mar, it shows off both Yttling's organization around Ternheim's angelic vocals.

Lyrically, I feel that Ternheim seems to write a lot about running away, unfamiliar locations, being hurt or "damaged", to yearning for unobtainable desires. Very personal lyrics, and I'm curious to see how that is interpreted when she plays some these songs live, particularly on my favorite track, "Black Sunday Afternoon". Hopefully, I'll get a chance to see that when she comes here in Minneapolis on October 9^th with Loney Dear* and Asobi Seksu).

Leaving on a mayday is out now, you can find it at the usual places, amazon or itunes.

* PS, I have for ages thought that name was "Lonely Dear", until I was schooled a few months ago.

 09/18/2009 11:22:40 ♥ vu () ♥ annaternheim.com ♥ myspace.com/annaternheim 

News for the Week of 3/2/2008

The Wombats - Backfire @ the Disco Halou - It Will All Make Sense El Perro Del Mar - Glory To The World Devices

Here's your weekly news, all stories based on press.weheartmusic.com.

The Wombats announces US EP and US Tour, see press release for more details.

They've only announced five dates, and the New York one is already sold out:

3/11/08 Los Angeles @ Spaceland
3/14/08 SXSW Great Escape Showcase, Maggie Maes Rooftop, 1am ST.
3/14/08 Filter Mag Party, Cedar Street Courtyard, 3pm ST.
3/15/08 Liverpool Sound City Showcase, Latitude, 5pm ST.
3/17/08 New York, NY @ The Annex – SOLD OUT

The EP looks interesting, but if you've already gotten the songs on import, it might be a waste of your money.

Halou announces tour with Bob Mould. We've already covered Mould, so naturally, you guys might want to check out Halou. The tracks I've heard from them, it's quite good.

It Will All Make Sense has a slow buildup, but it really does pick up.

Their music's recently included on two lifey-movies: "This Girl's Life" and "Quality of Life". See press release for full tour dates.

What else is new? More tour dates, this time from El Perro Del Mar.

What's important is that she'll be bringing two Swedish artists for support for these short dates, so I'm looking forward to checking out Lykke Li and Anna Ternheim.

Sad to say, they'll be nowhere near Minneapolis.

For full tour dates, head over to El Perro Del Mar, Lykke Li, & Anna Ternheim To Tour Together This Spring.

W♥M favorites, The Terrordactyls are also going on tour (notably the SXSW show, where every band on Earth will be there.) I think with the recent Juno film, there's been an interest in antifolk.

Also a few quick mentionings, since we haven't covered these bands before: the best band name, Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. has a second album called Searching For The Hows And Whys and Wicked Jezabel wins a Wammie.

Interested in being mentioned in my weekly news summary?  Send your press releases to [email protected]

Not all stories will be picked up, I'm interested in mostly bands we've covered on W♥M.

 03/02/2008 01:08:04  vu my♥posts press.weheartmusic.com