W♥M (Archive)

Christmas 2014: A Holiday Cheer

Read More Hey Rosetta! What's new with Hey Rosetta! is that they have a new album called Second Sight, which is set for January 27th, 2015... which I'm going to assume they will preview some tracks for us …

Please send your Christmas-related music now with the subject header "Christmas" and also include cover artwork, your band biography, etc. Read more Christmas.

HEY ROSETTA!
heyrosetta.com

We just caught Hey Rosetta! with Stars last month... but it looks like Hey Rosetta!'s singer Tim Baker is in the news, with a recent performance of the band's holiday-themed song "Carry Me Home" with Toronto’s Choir! Choir! Choir!. Watch the video via Paste, who hails the “rich rendition” of the song, which is off the band’s 2012 Christmas EP A Cup Of Kindness Yet.

As previously mentioned, Sonic Records will release the band's new record Second Sight in the U.S. on January 27.

To celebrate the release the band will tour throughout the winter:

01/21 New York, NY - Rockwood Music Hall
01/23 Northampton, ME - Iron Horse Music Hall
01/24 Portland, ME - One Longfellow Square
02/16 Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark
02/18 Madison, WI - The Frequency
03/05 Seattle, WA - Sunset Tavern*
03/06 Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios*
03/08 San Francisco, CA - Brick and Mortar

*with The Quiet Life

SHEL
shelmusic.com

SHEL is the acronym of four classically trained sisters: Sarah on violin, Hannah on keyboards, Eva on mandolin, and Liza on drums, djembe and beatboxing. The band recently recorded a free five-track Christmas 2014 EP available at shel.cashmusic.org.

"This was such a wonderful year of touring and meeting listeners face to face, so we wanted to thank them for all the love and support they've shown us with a free Christmas EP," says SHEL's Eva Holbrook. "All our fond childhood memories of Christmas include a soundtrack, so we were very excited to weave our own silver thread through some of the most beautiful melodies ever written."

Catch the sisters on tour this January:

01/17: Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
01/23: Anaheim, CA - She Rocks Awards
01/30: Fort Collins, CO - Hodi's Half Note

BRIEFLY

ARRICA ROSE & THE ...'S arricarose.com We've written about Arrica Rose & the ...'s a few times (recently about her latest album Wavefunction, which came out November 4th via pOprOck records). The Los Angeles singer is back with an original holiday song called "What the Devil", available at soundcloud.com.

KRISTOPHER JAMES facebook.com Singer/Songwriter Kristopher James has a new holiday-themed Silent Night EP that's up for download, featured on the "New and Notable," section on popular indie music site, Noisetrade! Hear "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" at soundcloud.com.

INDIE RECORDINGS indierecordings.no Scandinavian hard rock/heavy metal powerhouse, Indie Recordings, has just released their Christmas Carnage 2014 sampler yesterday (December 16th). The album name is a bit of a misnomer, as I did look over the track listings, I don't think any of these songs are actually Christmas or holiday-related... but maybe it's best that these Viking metallers should avoid Christmas altogether. Christmas Carnage 2014 is available digitally in North America via Indie Recordings now.

ZERBIN zerbinmusic.com Indie-rock trio Zerbin is spreading holiday cheer with a free download of their latest Christmas-themed Merry Christmas release. The EP comes with three classic standards, "Oh Come Oh Come Emmanuel", "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", and "Oh Holy Night (A Reprise)". The free download is available via NoiseTrade. Formed in Edmonton in 2009, this Canadian band has shared stages with the likes of The Flaming Lips, FUN., Said The Whale and AWOLNATION.

DEVYN ROSE devynrose.com We previously mentioned Devyn Rose before, saying that she previously recorded under the name Tanya. Devyn's latest holiday release is called "Home for the Holidays", produced by Diamond Style.

AUGUST YORK augustyork.com Folk-pop duo August York (based in Nashville, not New York) just released their new holiday single "Warm Memories," out now. The band reached the #1 download on NoiseTrade, placed Top 40 in singer/songwriter on iTunes for their album Swimming Upstream and they have been featured on Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, MTV Canada and more.

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

And Ampersand

Read More Belle & Sebastian We've been very excited about news of the new Belle & Sebastian 2015 album for a while now, but the band recently made things official: It is called Girls in Peacetime Want To Dance …

BELLE & SEBASTIAN
belleandsebastian.com

We've seen these type of crowd-source music videos before, the latest is from Scottish band Belle & Sebastian for the "Nobody's Empire" video. I've criticized a few bands for doing this, mainly because I feel it's a cheap of them (I know the band can afford to produce a music video). But hey, who am I to say, as long as fans love doing this for their favorite bands... Full details of this at belleandsebastian.com.

They need the video clips by no later than Thursday 27th November so that we have time to edit them into the video.

Tour dates:

01/26/15 Auckland Laneway Festival, New Zealand
01/29/15 Sydney, Enmore Theatre
01/31/15 Australia, Taronga Zoo, Sydney
02/01/15 Melbourne, Palais Theatre
02/03/15 Australia, Perth, Astor Theatre,
02/10/15 Hong Kong, Asia World Arena
02/12/15 S.Korea, Seoul, AX Club
02/16/15 Hostess Club Taipei, Legacy, Taipei
02/21/15 Japan, Tokyo, Hostess Club
03/30/15 USA, Cambridge, House of Blues
04/01/15 Canada, Toronto, Massey Hall
04/02/15 USA, Royal Oak Music Theatre, Royal Oak
04/03/15 USA, Riviera, Chicago
05/03/15 UK, Cardiff, St David’s Hall
05/04/15 UK, Bristol, Colston Hall
05/07/15 UK, Cambridge, Corn Exchange
05/08/15 UK, Norwich, Open
05/10/15 UK, Birmingham, Symphony Hall
05/11/15 UK, Westminster, Central Hall
05/12/15 UK, Westminster, Central Hall
05/14/15 UK, Manchester, Albert Hall
05/15/15 UK, Manchester, Albert Hall
05/16/15 UK, Newcastle City Hall
05/18/15 UK, Buxton, Opera House
05/19/15 UK, Leeds, Town Hall
05/22/15 Glasgow Hydro Arena
05/24/15 UK, Sound City, Liverpool
06/10/15 New York, Radio City Music Hall
07/02/15 KEFLAVIK, ATP Iceland

Read More She & Him She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) just released a new EP called The Capitol Studios Session. The digital-only release features new version of four songs taken from their latest Volume 3 album. …

SHE & HIM
sheandhim.com

She & Him (Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward) have a new cover lover album Classics this December 3rd, on Columbia Records.

The entire album was recorded live and and accompanied by a 20-piece orchestra.

Track Listing

1. Stars Fell on Alabama
2. Oh No, Not My Baby
3. It’s Not for Me to Say
4. Stay Awhile
5. This Girl’s In Love With You
6. Time After Time
7. She
8. Teach Me Tonight
9. It’s Always You
10. Unchained Melody
11. I’ll Never Be Free
12. Would You Like to Take a Walk
13. We’ll Meet Again

Read More Gardens & Villa Gardens & Villa are back with Dunes, their second LP, which came out two weeks ago on Secretly Canadian. …

GARDENS & VILLA
gardensandvilla.com

Gardens & Villa recently shared a remix from multi-platinum, Grammy nominated producer N.O. Joe of "Domino" off of Gardens & Villa's Dunes, released earlier this year on Secretly Canadian.

N.O. Joe (I believe the "N.O." stands for New Orleans, because he is based out of Louisiana) has worked with everyone from Ice Cube to Lil Wayne, and is a multi-platinum Grammy Nominated producer.

The secret origin of this collaboration about when G&V randomly met with N.O. Joe at SXSW 2014 at a late-night tacos eatery. The two became friends and out of this, the remix of "Domino".

Hear it now:



Gardens & Villa will cap off their year with a headlining show at The Echoplex in Los Angeles on Saturday, December 13.

Read More Yoko Ono Smith speaks on the phone with John & Yoko, who are in their suite at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel in Montreal for the second of their two Bed-Ins. Among other things, they discuss selling Peace as a commodity, the Activist … The Flaming Lips I think this was my first time seeing The Flaming Lips, but I could be wrong. Seems odd that this was "a very special Early Evening performance", since the band's psychedelic/space rock seems to work better at night … Jessica Hernandez Jessica Hernandez is a first-generation American, living in Detroit, Michigan. She lists her influences are Gogol Bordello and Tom Waits, both bands that we like on W♥M. …

YOKO ONO & THE FLAMING LIPS
yoko-ono.com

I know it's only November, but Christmas time is almost here.

Yoko Ono & The Flaming Lips have teamed up to record "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" for All Is Bright - The Exclusive Amazon Holiday Playlist.

The playlist features over 40 songs by artists such as the other ampersand artist Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas, Ashley Monroe, Brandi Carlile, Liz Phair, Jessie Baylin, Lucinda Williams, PHOX and many more

All Is Bright is an exclusive newly-recorded holiday songs available for listening on Amazon's Prime Music service. This is the first-ever exclusive holiday playlist from Amazon is available for unlimited ad-free listening on Prime Music for Amazon Prime members at no additional cost to their membership. If you want to own the album, they are not sold as an album, instead they are variously priced (mostly $0.99 each). It can end up costing you over $30, so the value isn't quite there if you want to own it.

Newly-written holiday songs for All Is Bright:

Anna Nalick — “Till the End of the Year (Bye Buy By)”

Blondfire — “Christmas Lights”

Emi Meyer — “Everything this Christmas”

Jenn Bostic — “Light a Candle For You”

Julian Moon — “Best Christmas Ever”

Liz Phair — “Ho Ho Ho”

Ruby the RabbitFoot — “Under Any Limb”

Selena Garcia — “Hold-up Holidays”

Never heard before renditions of holiday classics for All Is Bright:

Amanda Palmer — “The Angel Gabriel” Ashley Monroe — “Tennessee Christmas” Beth Orton — “River” Brandi Carlile — “O Holy Night” Elastic Bond — “Winder Wonderland” Escort — “Last Christmas” Heartless Bastards — “White Christmas” Hero Fisher — “Pretty Paper” Houndmouth — “Blue Christmas” Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas — “I Want a Hippopotamus...” Jessie Baylin — “Purple Snowflakes” Jillian Edwards — “O Come, All Ye Faithful” Kat Parsons — “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” Kate Davis feat. Gabe Schnider — “Greensleeves” Kelly Hogan — “Blue Snowfall” Ladyhawke — “Merry Xmas Everyone” Laura Gibson — “A Wonderful Christmastime”

Lauren Shera — “(It’s Gonna Be a) Lonely Christmas” Little & Ashley — “Someday at Christmas” Lucinda Williams — “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” Mia Doi Todd — “The Cherry Tree Carol” Natalia Clavier — “My Favorite Things” Natalia Zukerman — “What Are You Doing New Year’s Eve” No Sinner — “Baby Please Come Home” PHOX — “The Christmas Song” Ruby Jane Smith — “Make a Wish” Ruthie Foster — “Amazing Grace” Shaprece — “Carol of the Bells” Shelby Earl — “We Three Kings” Sinclair — “The Christmas” Tal Wilkenfeld — “All I Want for Christmas Is You” The Rosebuds — “Let it Snow” This Is The Kit — “It’s Christmas Time” Yoko Ono & Flaming Lips — “Happy Xmas (War is Over)”

Read More Sonny & the Sunsets I Need You Bad is a compilation curated by Sonny Smith (of Sonny & the Sunsets) documenting the current garage rock scene in the Bay area and beyond (not every band included here is from the Bay area & it's not 100% garage rock!). …

SONNY & THE SUNSETS
sonnysmith.com

San Francisco's Sonny & the Sunsets is back with Talent Night at the Ashram, set for February 17, 2015, on Polyvinyl Records.

You may remember that we reviewed Sonny & the Sunset's compilation/curated album I Need You Bad, which wrote was, mostly from California's "60's surf".

Talent Night at the Ashram will be available in all the usual formats (CD, digital, cassette, and vinyl). The 180g Vinyl will be limited edition of 500 exclusive to the Polyvinyl webstore on light blue (preorder now to guarantee a copy polyvinylrecords.com). There will also be an unlimited version on red vinyl.

Track List:

1. The Application
2. Cheap Extensions
3. The Secluded Estate
4. Talent Night at the Ashram
5. Alice Leaves for the Mountains
6. Happy Carrot Health Food Store
7. Blot Out the Sun
8. Baby Jokin
9. Icelene's Loss
10. Secret Plot

Read More Cracker Upcoming December Shows 12/01/14 Allah-Las and Tashaki Miyaki at Turf Club 12/04/14 Cracker at Varsity Theater …

HUGH BOB & THE HUSTLE
hughbobandthehustle.com

I believe Wisconsin's Hugh Bob & The Hustle (headed by 'North Country' singer/songwriter Hugh Robert Masterson) will be appearing with Cracker this December 4th at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis. If you listened to our new podcast, you can clearly hear us singing to various Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven songs off the top of our heads.

Opening up the Minnesota show will be Hugh Bob & The Hustle, a band that's been compared to all the greats, including Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, John Prine, etc.

Check out his song "Butternut":



When Masterson play live, he's joined by The Hustle, a band comprising of bassist Nicholas Stuart, keyboardist Bradley Kruse, guitarist Quinn Scharber, and drummer Justin Krol.

Hugh Bob & The Hustle's other show will be at The Frequency in Madison on December 5, 2014.

Read More Arrica Rose & the ...'s Arrica Rose & The ... is essentially Arrica Rose, she's backed up by her band The ...'s (The Dots Dots Dots), and I'll bet that her latest album, La La Lost, is in reference to being lost in her residence of Los Angeles. …

ARRICA ROSE & THE ...'S
arricarose.com

Remember Arrica Rose & the ...'s (The Dot Dot Dots)? They just released their latest album Wavefunction, out November 4th via pOprOck records.

The album was designed for vinyl, each side featuring a distinct mood. Rose explains, "We think of it as music for different occasions, a choose your own adventure kind of album." (Which incidentally, " Choose Your Own Adventure" one of the key creator R. A. Montgomery passed away November 9th).

Track List:

1. Song in Your Head
2. Love You Like That
3. Tiny Broken Boats
4. California On Repeat
5. Oh the Day (Then the Night)
6. In Dreams
7. Safety Pin
8. The Shallow End
9. Cut It Out
10. Where You've Been
11. (Oh the Day) Then the Night

BRIEFLY:

RAZOR & TIE razorandtie.com Record label Razor & Tie had a breakout year at rock radio in 2014 with hits from The Pretty Reckless ("Heaven Knows" finishes the year as the #1 song at Active and Mainstream Rock), All That Remains and Starset making the label the most successful indie in the format and the second strongest rock label, second only to Warner Brothers.

TOOTH & NAIL toothandnail.com Record label Tooth & Nail announced a new album from Copeland (who we saw in 2009) called Ixora.... his first album in six years. Also, they recently also signed Long Beach's Hearts Like Lions.

MILK & BONE milkandbone.mu Montreal's Milk & Bone recently signed with Bonsound with a single and music video called "New York". The electro-pop duo (Camille Poliquin and Laurence Lafond-Beaulne) will be releasing their debut album early spring 2015.

KING GIZZARD & THE LIZARD WIZARD kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com One of the most ridiculous band names, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are wrapping up their UK tour in support of their latest LP I'm In Your Mind Fuzz (released November 11th on Castle Face in the US and Heavenly in the UK). Remaining tour dates: Bodega Social Club, Nottingham (11/26) and Rough Trade East, London (12/01).

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

Arrica Rose & The ...'s

Arrica Rose & The...'s - Uh-huh Arrica Rose & The...'s Tour Dates 05/07/08 Cafe Cordiale Sherman Oaks, CA 05/23/08 Lestat’s San Diego Discography [2002] Arrica Rose [2002] The Tone Bank EP [2004] ...auto-pilot [2006] People Like Us [2007] Last Night on Earth [2008] La La Lost Band Members   ♥ Arrica Rose ♥ Abby Kincaid ♥ Steve Giles ♥ Ryan Brown ♥ Laura Martin ♥ Jason Mezilis (ex-member) Sounds Like The Spinanes http://weheartmus... The Spinanes were an indie band from Olympia, Portland and Chicago, in the 1990s. The founding me...

Arrica Rose ♥ photograph by Larissa Underwood

Arrica Rose & The ... is essentially Arrica Rose, she's backed up by her band The ...'s (The Dots Dots Dots), and I'll bet that her latest album, La La Lost, is in reference to being lost in her residence of Los Angeles.

Although her biography and influences lists Mazzy Star^[W♥M] as a heavy influence, I didn't hear that dreampop/shoegazing in La La Lost. I suspect that perhaps her earlier releases (which I don't have any for reference) might be more Sandoval-ish inspired.

La La Lost, instead, sounds more like a two-man operation such as Rebecca Gates and Scott Plouf's The Spinanes, it's very stripped down and low-key, with focuses mostly on the vocals and storytelling lyrics to carry the song.

I find that the only exception is the very easy to love "Uh-huh", which really stood out in the middle of two quieter acoustic songs: "I Love to Miss LA" and "Little Wars" (also includes some nice violas). Definitely "Uh-huh" should be checked out, it sounds very 60s rock n roll with that guitar hook.

The rest of the album isn't like "Uh-huh", and I think she's trying to be a little ironic when she sings that she is "trying to be more rock n' roll" in her aptly named song, "More Rock n' Roll".

She also really shines on the peppier song, "Break-ups & Commitments", which sounds like it includes a lap guitar, and the Tom Waits cover of "I Hope that I Don't Fall in Love with You".

If you can't get enough of her songs, she's currently uploading new demos every week on her Apartment Archive. You can get her latest album, La La Lost (which was released April 14th), off of iTunes, but I have also include links to her older releases if you click on any of the discography icons, however you get most everything on her official website.

 04/20/2008 11:43:02  vu my♥posts arricarose.com myspace.com/arricarose

News for the Week of 4/13/2008

 

CrackedCD

I wanted to mention that Arrica Rose & The ... (arricarose.com) has an LP that was released yesterday (April 14^th), but due to the rough post office, the CD arrived last week cracked (see image). Does anyone know if you can fix cracked CDs?

I've requested another CD to be sent out, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm pretty good about deadline/due dates, even though I am off by one day. You see, Tuesday is normally "new CD release day", not Monday.

As soon as I get a review copy, you'll see something written up, apologies to Arrica Rose.

Hilary McRae - Every Day (When Will You Be Mine)

Speaking of new CD releases, here are stuff that's being released today (April 15^th): Everclear - Vegas Years, The Kooks - Konk, Phantom Planet - Raise The Dead, William Shatner & The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra - Exodus: An Oratorio in Three Parts (WTF????!!!??), Ours - Mercy (Dancing For The Death Of An Imaginary Enemy), and Hilary McRae - Through These Walls.

That last name listed is Hilary McRae (hilarymcrae.com), who I've reviewed earlier this month.

I've noted that she is on the Starbucks Record label, which I think will do very well for her - and you know what? It's paid off. She's apparently the opening up or have opened up for such major acts as Huey Lewis & The News, Fergie, and Natasha Bedingfield.

And did I mention she's only 21? Far out.

Here are the rest of her Spring dates:
April 15 – Jackie Gleason Theatre w/ Todd Rundgren – Miami, FL
April 21 – The Living Room – New York, NY
May 2 – SunFest – West Palm Beach, FL
June 7 – Pride Fest – Milwaukee, WI

Read more at press.weheartmusic.com

Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan-Who Built The Road

Isobel Campbell Mark Lanegan - Deus Ibi Est

Fans of Ex-Belle & Sebastian Isobel Campbell (isobelcampbell.com) should be happy to know that she and Mark Lanegan (myspace.com/marklanegan) have decided to team up again for their second duet album Sunday at Devil Dirt, which comes out on May 5, 2008.

You see, after their highly successful Ballad of the Broken Seas (2006), she went off and released Milkwhite Sheets (2006), which many critics cited was "beauty without the beast". What they were trying to say is that, although Campbell's vocals are sweet and pure, it's really the sinister growl of Lanegan that made it consistently interesting.

And based on the songs that I've listened to, it's true. Lanegan, once again, takes the spotlight on this album.

Hope to hear more from them soon.

 

REDiCLAN - Arsenal

My last news item comes from ISL, who announces "Romanian-Born Band Raises The "Iron Curtain" on File Sharing".

Once in a while, I do see bands being very pleased that their music is being trade and are happy that their music are getting in the hands of those that would not have bought it in the first place.

To add a twist to this, REDiCLAN (rediclan.com) noted that most of the music sharing are from Eastern Europe and that "Due to the harsh social conditions before the crash and burn of communism, Eastern Europe has always been friendlier to underground and trend-breaking music than the Britney Spears culture. I’m glad to know RED i CLAN is among the bands people want to hear."

I do have the CD, Killohead, in-house for review so I'll make sure the review is up prior to April 29^th, which along with a ton of other CDs are being released.

That's it for this week's news. Unhappy tax day!

 04/15/2008 10:38:58  vu my♥posts weheartmusic.com