W♥M (Archive)

Christmas 2014: The Final Christmas

Happy Christmas. This is the final Christmas 2014 post, if you submitted your seasonal song and did not see your band listed on W♥M, it is because you did not put "Christmas" on your subject header or did not include cover artwork or band biography. Read more Christmas.

Read More The Church The first time song I heard from the Australian band, The Church, was "Ripple", which remained my all-time favorite Church song. Of course, even at that time, in 1991, they were well on their second wind from their big "come back" …

THE CHURCH
thechurchband.net

Just in time for the holidays, the Australia band The Church has issued a free, previously unreleased song "Xmas", available on soundcloud.com. The band writes, "We are giving away a free download of the beautifully-sad, seasonal song 'XMAS' to all The Church fans to thank you for your ongoing support and to wish you all a happy and safe holiday."

In other The Church news, the Sydney-based band will be releasing a brand new album called Further/Deeper, set for release on February 3, 2015, via +180 Records. Although "Xmas" won't be on the CD, the song will make its way on the double vinyl version of Further/Deeper (due out in early January).

To support Further/Deeper, the legendary band will head out on a world tour, and also to coincide with their 35th anniversary as a band!

Tour dates:

02/21/15 Vancouver, BC Rio Theatre
02/22/15 Portland, OR Aladdin Theater
02/23/15 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
02/24/15 Seattle, WA The Triple Door
02/26/15 Noise Pop Festival
02/27/15 Los Angeles, CA El Rey Theatre
02/28/15 San Diego, CA The Casbah
03/02/15 Aspen, CO Belly Up Aspen
03/03/15 Englewood, CO Gothic Theatre
03/05/15 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
03/06/15 Chicago, IL Double Door
03/07/15 Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop
03/09/15 Washington, DC 9:30 Club
03/10/15 Philadelphia, PA World Cafe Live
03/12/15 Cambridge, MA The Sinclair
03/13/15 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
03/14/15 Brooklyn, NY Rough Trade
03/15/15 Carrboro, NC Cat's Cradle
03/16/15 SXSW 2015
03/17/15 Atlanta, GA Terminal West

BRIEFLY

VULFPECK vulfpeck.com Funk instrumental band Vulfpeck has a "regional" Christmas song called "Christmas in L.A.", featuring David T. Walker on guitar. You can hear the song on bandcamp.

SCOTT GAGNER scottgagner.com Singer-songwriter Scott Gagner recently shared his song "I'll Be Drinking This Christmas" on Stereo Subversion. No cover artwork was provided, but we are reminded us that his second LP Rise & Shine, was released earlier this year.

XAVIER CAFEINE cafeinemusic.com Montreal's Xavier Cafeine recently shared his Christmas song, "Love Disease (Christmas in New York)" on soundcloud.com. Look for Cafeine's upcoming album New Love on February 17, 2015.

THE GRUBBY MITTS thegrubbymitts.com Bedford's The Grubby Mitts recently sent in their holiday song, "Come On Home For Christmas", to BBC Radio 6's Tom Ravenscroft. The song is available on Soundcloud.

ROUGH SHOP roughshop.com St. Louis-based band, Rough Shop, has a new holiday album Lit Up Like a Christmas Tree, out now. Rough Shop features songwriters John Wendland and Andy Ploof, along with the voice and bass of Anne Tkach.

THE STUFF thestuffweb.com Stockholm's The Stuff (not to be confused with late 70s band Stuff or the now-defunct UK band The Stuff), released their compilation cover-lover album Frog Bouquet, featuring covers of Bryan Ferry, Beck, The Damned, and The Kinks' "Father Christmas". Hear "Father Christmas" on soundcloud.com.

CHRIS MASTHEIM nicholaskrgovich.com Canadian Chris Mastheim's latest holiday album Chris Mast Style is out now on bandcamp.com. Mastheim's last holiday album Chris Mastheim Is Here came out in 2011. Chris Mastheim normally release music under his other name Nicholas Krgovich.

PASTE pastemagazine.com Paste's annual Paste Holiday Sampler is available now. The ten free songs can be downloaded at pastemagazine.com. Free Christmas songs from Swear and Shake, Sinclair, River Whyless, Powerkompany, Over the Rhine, The Oh Hellos, Odessa, Dwayne Shivers, James Apollo, and Field Report.

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

The internet killed the video star

I don't really post a lot of youtube videos here because personally I think youtube's interface is ugly. Too ugly to live! Yes, I have a personal goofy youtube account, but I left the service when the copyright police came in and took down some videos because I used their songs in the background.

Still, youtube is the place to be, especially when it comes to viewing videos on the internet. I just wish they'd update their interface, something smooth, like vimeo.

Anyroad, here are some videos in my inbox.

GOTYE
gotye.com

This was brought to my attention recently, but the newspaper Wall Street Journal has a YouTube channel featuring a show called "Off Duty" which focuses on lifestyle, entertainment, fashion, and music - which is really odd because when you think of WSJ, you think "business", "stocks", and "boring".

I am told that the show just started last week, so it should be interesting to see where it goes. Looking over their 40+ videos so far, I can say that some of these things don't really belong (in my opinion). Like, perhaps there should be subcategories for music, cars, cooking, etc., because I can tell you right now that personally, I wouldn't be interested in subscribing to a channel and getting car tech.

Anyway, the music-related episode that I saw is an interview with Australia's Gotye, who had a big hit with his "naked" music video for "Somebody That I Used To Know". The video, featuring Kimbra, clocked in at an astonishing 66 million views!! Holy cow!

Their press people sent out his American tour dates with "Sold Out" listed on all the dates. Not sure what is the point in posting these dates, but just in case there are some "door tickets" left, see below:

North American Tour Dates:

March 22 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club (SOLD OUT)* March 23 Philadelphia, PA @ TLA (SOLD OUT)* March 25 New York, NY @ Terminal 5 March 27 New York, NY @ Webster Hall (SOLD OUT)* March 29 Boston, MA @ House of Blues* March 30 Montreal, QB @ Corona Theatre* March 31 Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus (SOLD OUT)* April 2 Eastern Michigan Uni @ Pease Auditorium* April 3 Chicago, IL @ Park West (SOLD OUT)*

April 4 Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity (SOLD OUT)* April 6 Denver, CO @ Odgen Theatre (SOLD OUT)* April 8 Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre (SOLD OUT)* April 10 Seattle @ Neptune (SOLD OUT)* April 11 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom (SOLD OUT)* April 12 San Fran, CA @ Independent (SOLD OUT)* April 15 Indigo, CA @ Coachella (SOLD OUT) April 22 Indigo, CA @ Coachella (SOLD OUT) *Kimbra supporting

THE DARCYS
thedarcys.ca

Toronto art-rock, The Darcys, just released Aja, their second release in a triology. What's cool for cover lovers is that it's basically the entire Steely Dan's 1977 Aja album, reinterpretated. You can grab The Darcys' version for free on their website. If you really love it, look for a limited edition 180-gram colored vinyl from GalleryAC.com.

Their latest music video is for "Josie", a black and white video featuring a cast of lovely women: Ali, Anne, Annie, Charlotte, Claire, Chelsea, Coral, Elyse, Gill, Laura, Leah, Lisa, Liza, Madison, Molly, Raina, Rebecca, and Sophie. You know what's missing from that list? A Josie.

Watch the video for "Josie" video on youtube:



Tour dates below:

02/10/2012 London, ON London Music Hall 02/14/2012 San Diego, CA Casbah 02/15/2012 Los Angeles, CA The El Rey Theatre 02/16/2012 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw 02/17/2012 Portla/OR Doug Fir Lounge 02/18/2012 Seattle, WA Crocodile Cafe 02/20/2012 Vancouver, BC The Commodore Ballroom 02/21/2012 Kamloops, BC Blue Grotto 02/22/2012 Calgary, AB The Republik 02/23/2012 Edmonton, AB The Starlite Room 02/25/2012 Winnipeg, MB West End Cultural Centre 02/26/2012 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry 02/27/2012 Chicago, IL Subterranean 02/29/2012 Columbus, OH The Basement

03/1/2012 Toronto, ON Phoenix Concert Theatre 03/2/2012 Montreal, QC Cabaret du Mile-End 03/3/2012 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall Of Williamsburg 03/5/2012 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom 03/7/2012 Washington, DC 9:30 Club 03/8/2012 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's 03/9/2012 Cambridge, MA Middle East Club 03/10/2012 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer 03/15/2012 Austin, TX SXSW 03/16/2012 Austin, TX SXSW 03/17/2012 Austin, TX SXSW 05/11/2012 Brighton, UK The Great Escape 05/12/2012 Brighton, UK The Great Escape 07/14/2012 Toronto, ON Downsview Park

JAMES APOLLO
jamesapollo.com

Seattle's James Apollo recently appeared on KEXP Radio, the public station in Washington. You can watch "Two by Two" on vimeo. The video had several cameras and well edited (even though I detest "artsy hand held" cams). If you like what you saw, you can download the audio version as the song of the day (February 9th). Entire performance here, complete with "Real Audio"!

RELEASE INFO
Artist: James Apollo
Release: Live on KEXP

1. Big Dipper
2. Grandad's Morphine & Wine
3. Happiness
4. Two By Two

UNISON
weareunison.com

UNISON (in CAPS), is a French duo, their self-titled US debut LP will be coming out April 10th, 2012.

The album promises "deathgaze" a music genre combination of "Crunk" and "Shoegaze". If you have to hear their song to understand it, head over to soundcloud.

As for their music video for "Brothers & Sisters", I have to confess, I love kaleidoscopes. They make everything look cool.



OF MONSTERS AND MEN
ofmonstersandmen.is

Icelandic folksters Of Monsters and Men have added additional shows and upgraded their venues to accommodate their massive fan base. If you have ever liked Mumford and Sons, you'll love Of Monsters and Men.

Their debut album, My Head is An Animal, is coming out April 3rd via Universal Republic Records. You can watch the music video for "Little Talks" on vevo.com.

Tour dates (the latest upgraded venues and additional dates) below. Of course, they sold out the Fine Line Cafe in Minneapolis, and they didn't upgrade the venue :/.

3/14-3/17 SXSW - Austin, TX 3/20 Los Angeles @ Troubadour 3/21 Los Angeles @ Troubadour* SOLD OUT 3/22 San Francisco @ The Independent* SOLD OUT 3/24 Portland @ Roseland Theatre^ 3/25 Vancouver, BC @Venue Nightclub* 3/26 Seattle @ Showbox ^ March 29 - Fine Line - Minneapolis, MN* SOLD OUT 3/30 CHICAGO @ Park West ^ 3/31 Columbus, OH @ The LC Pavilion SOLD OUT 4/2 Washington, DC @ The Black Cat * SOLD OUT

3/3 Phila @ Theatre Of The Living Arts* SOLD OUT 4/4 Philadelphia@ Theatre Of The Living Arts* 4/5 Brooklyn @ Music Hall of Williamsburg* SOLD OUT 4/6 NYC @ Webster Hall^ 4/7 Boston @ House of Blues ^ 4/9 Rochester, NY @ Club At Water Street Music Hall* 4/10 Albany, NY @ Jillian's* 4/11 Montreal, QC @ La Sala Rossa* 4/12 Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Theatre^ 5/25 The Gorge, WA @ Sasquatch * with Special Guest Lay Low

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

jaklumen writes:

Saturday, 11 February 2012 at 10:09 PM

speaking of videos:



note where Craig asks
"Do your fans ever get mad at you? Y'know, like 'Come on, man, you can't cover that, that's my favorite band, that's not fair!'"

and Al says "No, because I make them better. How can you get mad at that?"

So, see, Vu, you don't even need to like or be aware of who Al is parodying currently: He makes them better!