W♥M

Isobel Campbell: There Is No Other

Read More Isobel Campbell Isobel Campbell started off her career in the band Belle & Sebastian (you may have heard of them?), she released two albums under her own …

Scottish singer/songwriter Isobel Campbell released a brand-new third album There Is No Other (Cooking Vinyl Records) to little fanfare. To be fair, the timing couldn’t be worst, as the world’s in a middle of a coronavirus pandemic, and there are more things to worry than trying to promote a record. With all concert touring coming to a halt, and record stores (no essential stores) asked to close temporarily… you probably didn’t know about Campbell’s latest release.

Like many of you, I first heard of Isobel Campbell through Belle & Sebastian. When she left B&S to create her project The Gentle Waves, I was on board! You see, Campbell had always had a wonderful sense of music arrangement and her sugarly-sweet vocals lends itself to such beautiful, calming songs. Unfortunately, despite Swansong For You being a great album, she retired the Gentle Waves name… and released her debut solo record Amorino.

It’s about this time, that she met Screaming Trees’ Mark Lanegan, and the two decided to collaborated on a few successful albums. The pairing is perfect, really. I named this type of dueling vocals, “Beauty & the Beast”, as Lanegan’s vocals sounds like an animal… while Campbell provide such a sweet, sweet soothing singing voice.

With Isobel Campbell’s latest, There Is No Other, we see a return to a music style, much like circa-2000 Belle & Sebastian and Amorino. There’s lovely guitar plucking, there’s sparse arrangements, there’s some very catchy melodies, and, best of all, some wonderful string arrangements (courtesy of Nina Violet).

I’m not going to break down the album for you, but let’s just say if you enjoy B&S’ The Boy With the Arab Strap and The Gentle Wave’s Swansong for You, you’ll love There Is No Other.

I believe Campbell chose “The National Bird of India” as her single, which I don’t fully love. Instead, I recommend, “Runnin' Down a Dream” or “Ant Life”.

P.S., if you buy There Is No Other on Amazon, it includes “Autorip” so you’ll have the MP3 in your locker (and can listen to it via Echo or other Amazon products). This is the only way I buy music nowadays, as I have the CD as backup… but able to access my personal music locker where it’s convenient.

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

Duets

Read More Tracy Shedd Indie musician, Tracy, from Arizona talked about: Her background, various band members, Teenbeat Records, "Louder than You Can Hear" album for free…

TRACY SHEDD
tracyshedd.com

Arizona is the New Granada Records debut album from Tracy Shedd, which was released earlier this week (November 12). The album is described as an acoustic duet with her husband James Tritten.

You can get a taste of the 'slowcore songtress' style with "Broken Arrows" via soundcloud.com.



Also on the album are two covers, The Magnetic Fields' "Candy" and Sonic Youth's "Teenage Riot".

Tour dates:

11/20/13 Atlanta, GA Drunken Unicorn
11/21/13 Tampa, FL New World Brewery
11/23/13 Jacksonville, FL Rain Dogs
11/25/13 Fernandina, FL The Green Turtle

BONUS: We previously interviewed Tracy Shedd on Episode #27.

Read More Active Child Active Child is the solo project of L.A.’s Pat Grossi. Pat sang for the Philadelphia's Boys Choir when he was younger and in that choir he fine tuned a set of vocal chords…

ACTIVE CHILD
activechildmusic.com

Active Child (real name Pat Grossi) just released some remixes off their EP Rapor, the remixed track features Mikky Ekko, who duets with Grossi in dueling falsettos...

Listen to the remix on Soundcloud;



The EP is the first release since his critically acclaimed full length debut, You Are All I See, which we covered his Minneapolis show when he went on tour in support of it. Rapor came out last month (October 22) via Vagrant Records, and in support of the EP, Active Child is currently on tour.

Active Child returns to Minneapolis next week:

11/15 Boston MA - Brighton Music Hall
11/18 Chicago IL - Lincoln Hall
11/19 Minneapolis MN - 7th Street Entry
11/21 Denver CO - Larimer Lounge
11/23 Los Angeles CA - El Rey Theater

Read More Isobel Campbell Isobel Campbell started off her career in the band Belle & Sebastian (you may have heard of them?), she released two albums under her own band The Gentle Waves. …

SWEET GUM TREE
facebook.com

Sweet Gum Tree is the solo project of French musician Arno Sojo, who previously 'cut his teeth' as members of various bands for over ten years, including band leader of Sojo Glider.

Sojo is putting the final touches on his forthcoming debut album The Snakes You Charm & The Wolves You Tame album as Sweet Gum Tree. The album will feature a duet with Isobel Campbell (Belle & Sebastian) for the track "Bird Of Passage". Duets with female icons are nothing new to Sojo, who previously teamed up with French popstar Buzy.

Making out the rest of the band will be drummer Earl Harvin (Tindersticks) and Marty Willson-Piper (The Church), who will join Sojo for his first UK tour this Winter:

18.02.14 Brighton Komedia
19.02.14 Birmingham (TBC)
20.02.14 London Union Chapel

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

W♥M134: Pleased To Meet Emily

W♥M134 (36 mins)

Your hosts are Amy, Emily, and Vu.

Meet Emily, the girl who fell in love with The Replacements and moved to Minneapolis in stalking pursuit of Paul Westerberg. Her first show at "the legendary" First Avenue, it was an all-ages show for Built to Spill, while her first cassette purchased was for Dionne Warwick and The Four Tops. Who doesn't love oldies and Motown?

The main focus of the show is Mark Lanegan and his latest album, Blues Funeral, which came out February 2012, via 4AD. This is the first Mark Lanegan Band album since 2004's Bubblegum.

You might know Lanegan as the lead singer of the 90s band Screaming Trees, but he's become known more and more as successful solo artist. His collaboration list is also quite diverse, being in Queens of the Stone Age, The Gutter Twins (with Greg Dulli), and Isobel Campbell (of Belle & Sebastian).

Song of the show is Mark Lanegan Band's "Ode to Sade Disco".

He's currently on tour, Amy & Emily will be seeing him at the Cedar in Minneapolis.

10 May 2012 • New York, NY - Webster Hall 11 May 2012 • Washington, DC - 9:30 Club 12 May 2012 • Philadelphia, PA - Theatre Of The Living 13 May 2012 • Boston, MA - Paradise Rock Club 15 May 2012 • Toronto, ON - Mod Club 16 May 2012 • Detroit, MI - Small's 17 May 2012 • Chicago, IL - Metro 18 May 2012 • Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center 20 May 2012 • Denver, CO - Bluebird Theatre 22 May 2012 • Los Angeles, CA - Gene Autry Museum 23 May 2012 • San Francisco, CA - Great American Music 25 May 2012 • George, WA - Sasquatch! Festival 26 May 2012 • Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom 11 August 2012 • France - La Route Du Rock Festival

13 August 2012 • Frankkfurt, Batschkapp - Longhorn 14 August 2012 • München - Freiheizhalle 16 August 2012 • Hasselt, Belgium - Pukkelpop Festival 17 August 2012 • Germany - Highfields Festival 18 August 2012 • Switzerland - Gampel Festival 20 August 2012 • Holland - Lowlands Festival 21 August 2012 • Falmouth - Princess Pavilion 22 August 2012 • Wolverhampton - Wulfrun Hall 24 August 2012 • Uk - Leeds Festival 25 August 2012 • Saint-Cloud, Fr - Rock En Seine Festival 26 August 2012 • Uk - Reading Festival 28 August 2012 • Aberdeen - Garage 29 August 2012 • Edinburgh - Picturehouse 1 September 2012 • Uk - End Of The Road Festival 2 September 2012 • Verona, It - A Perfect Day Festival

PLUS:
I have a sad, sad, sad love for Wilson Phillips. This was my first cassette purchased at the Wherehouse (Blackstone location) in Fresno, California. The trio is back, and with a new covers album, Dedicated. Check out their live performance of "Good Vibration" via youtube.com. Wendy looks great!

They're coming to Minneapolis State Fair!

6/5/12 Austin, TX Long Center for Performing Arts
6/6/12 Dallas TX Winspear Opera House
8/17 & 8/18 San Diego, CA San Diego Symphony
8/31 & 9/1 St. Paul, MN Minnesota State Fair

*more tour dates to follow

BONUS: Things taken out of context: Emily's rant on the industry failing to grow out of the 60s, Paul Westerberg is a big Twins fan, "Kurt's dead, that's great!", "I'm Vu, Vu-me!". Falsetto, explained… which lead to Jeff Hanson (yes that song I used is by Jeff Hanson!). Emily's first cassingle was Salt-N-Pepa's "Ain't Nuthin' But A She Thing" and Vu was "How Long" by Information Society (that was 1991, I bought the CD Single later on as an upgrade). The cassingle played the same on both side A & B, you can see a scan of the cover here (along with "Think").

ROCK FOR PUSSY IX: Friday, June 8, 2012, at First Avenue in Minneapolis. Featuring Steve Price, John Eller, Dave Russ, Tommy Alsides, Janey Winterbauer, Christian Erickson, Aby Wolf, Chastity Brown, Venus and All the Pretty Horses, Adam Levy, Dan Israel, Reed Wilkerson, Laurie Lindeen, Dave Campbell, Ciaran Daly, Orion Treon, Liam Watkins, Michelle Massey, Brenden Green, Chris Perricelli, Leslie Ball, Chris Lynch, Kevin Nord, Matt Coffee, DJ Jake Rudh and many more!!!

W♥M Radio is available on iTunes, please subscribe!

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on podomatic.com

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

W♥M112: Splendour in the Grass Preview

W♥M112 (50 mins) Listening options: Archive.org: W♥M112

Happy holidays! It's also Sally's birthdate week, as she was kind enough to stop in to preview Splendour in the Grass, which takes place this July 29th to 31st. Doors at 9am, music starts at 11 and ends after midnight. Details at splendourinthegrass.com.

Before we get into the meat of the matter, we did wrap up NXNE, which you can read more details at nxne.weheartmusic.com and all my exploits and adventures and lessons learned.

I did touch a bit on Jo Williamson, not literally, but I kept running into her. Saw Washington played twice, saw loads of other bands too. Disappointed with Brian Wilson, but Men Without Hats, Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield saved the festival. Outro song is "Everybody Loves Me But You" by Hatfield.

Splendour in the Grass 2011 will be covered by the fine Festival Ladies, but Sally and I looked over Coldplay (it was all yellow!), Kanye West (he just shows up everywhere). A good bunch together of Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, Gomez, and Regina Spektor in a block is pretty amazing. Also, Grouplove, who I saw a few months ago, they are on the up and up. Yelle, the French girl is pretty hot too. Of course, Foster the People are a really good band, love their songs!

Amazed that DJ Shadow is still around, he pretty much was the first guy that made a whole album of just entirely out of samples.

Song of the Podcast is: British Sea Power's "Georgie Ray" from their new album, Valhalla Dancehall.

BONUS
More Pulp than you can stand. Fitz & The Tantrums are playing the same night as Pulp, so Sally will have to miss out.

Britpop class of '95 article available on independent.co.uk spotlights on Justine Frischmann, Louise Wener, Debbie Smith, David Roundtree, and Tim Brown. Where are they now and what they are doing. Kind of glad to see Debbie Smith is still playing in several bands (I met her a long time ago in a bar and she asked about my t-shirt - it was my penpal's artwork of Morrissey).

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Archive of this show at archive.org. More information on mypodcast.com

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

Splendour in the Grass - Line-up announced today!

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS 2011 

“…you could barely wipe the smiles off our dials. Thank you Splendour for anticipating our every whim, and fulfilling them. A truly unforgettable weekend.” Groupie 

SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS - the annual, ephemeral city of sounds that exists solely for sweet music and good times will transform Woodfordia, near Woodford, south east Queensland from Friday 29 to Sunday 31 July. 

The eleventh SPLENDOUR IN THE GRASS event will see 81 acts giving their splendiferous best across three stages.

COLDPLAY (only Australian show) * KANYE WEST (only Australian show) * JANE’S ADDICTION * THE HIVES * PULP * THE LIVING END * THE MARS VOLTA * REGINA SPEKTOR (only 2011 show…anywhere) * BLISS N ESO * PNAU * MOGWAI (only Australian show) * DJ SHADOW * GLASVEGAS * THE GRATES * DEVENDRA BANHART AND THE GROGS* MODEST MOUSE * THE MIDDLE EAST * KAISER CHIEFS * JAMES BLAKE * KELE * THE VINES * ELBOW * ESKIMO JOE * NOAH AND THE WHALE * CHILDREN COLLIDE * THIEVERY CORPORATION * CUT COPY * ISOBEL CAMPBELL AND MARK LANEGAN * BLUEJUICE * THE KILLS * BLACK JOE LEWIS & THE HONEYBEARS (featuring THE RELATIVES) * ARCHITECTURE IN HELSINKI * FOSTER THE PEOPLE * THE PANICS * FRIENDLY FIRES * JEBEDIAH * THE VACCINES * GOMEZ * BOY AND BEAR * GOTYE * DOES IT OFFEND YOU, YEAH? * CLOUD CONTROL * MONA * SPARKADIA * WARPAINT * MUSCLES (Live) * FITZ AND THE TANTRUMS * THEJEZABELS * DRAPHT * BRITISH SEA POWER * TIM & JEAN * LEADER CHEETAH * GROUPLOVE * SEEKER LOVER KEEPER * YELLE * KIMBRA * PHRASE * OH MERCY * DANANANANAYKROYD * THE BLACK SEEDS * MARQUES TOLIVER * THE HOLIDAYS * GHOUL * LIAM FINN * THE HERD * YOUNG THE GIANT * GUINEAFOWL * HUNGRY KIDS OF HUNGARY * JINJA SAFARI * WILD BEASTS * ILLY * CUT OFF YOUR HANDS * GARETH LIDDIARD * ALPINE * WORLD’S END PRESS * MOSMAN ALDER * LANIE LANE

 

Pretty exciting right?

So for further information (including ticket prices) head this way: http://splendourinthegrass.com

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

Compiling Compilations

Seems silly to compile compilation albums, isn't it?

Well, compilation albums are such a great source of discovering new music. Especially if they're cover compilations (since you already know some of the songs, you're willing to take a chance on something new).  So below are some compilations that I thought I'd bring to your attention.  Plus two of them are available for download for free, so check it out:

Perturbazione - Portami via di qua sto male A CENTURY OF COVERS Head over to kirstenspostcard to download A Century of Covers: Belle & Sebastian Tribute (2006). The most interesting cover is "Get Me Away I'm Dying" translated into Italian by Perturbazione. To hear another version of this song by Bettie Serveert, head over to Cover Lover.	Haley Bonar - The Queen Of Everything TWIN TOWN HIGH: MUSIC YEARBOOK VOLUME 9 This 2007 album compiles some of the best Minneapolis bands. There are some excellent bands on here. At least five really amazing songs, so picking one is really hard for me. I've decided to just use the first song by Haley Bonar. It sounds a bit naughty. The other songs will be spotlighted later in my Minneapolis entry.
Irene - Stardust HOY COMI SANDIA EP #2: A SWEDISH INDIE-POP COMPILADO You know we love the Swedes here, so I wanted to mention about this Swedish Indiepop compilation. Most of the bands on this compilation have already been covered by us (see W♥M: Sweden). I wanted to mention a band that we haven't talked about: which would be Irene. Checking out their myspace, I noticed they're going to be playing Eurosonic Festival in January 2008. "Stardust" seems like a very short song but it's very good. I especially love Bobby's bold voice (it reminds me of 80s Europop). If you like this, you'll probably really love The Legends - which we're also reviewing here.	Lewis Taylor - Hide Your Heart HACKTONE DIGITAL SAMPLER 2007 It's free and there's no DRM on any of their 8 tracks. Download them here. I have created a custom cover art, in case you guys want to group them together under your Various Artists or Sampler folder. You can download the art by following this link (save it as a jpeg). Hacktone have been pretty good about giving free samples on their iTunes page, but since you need to live in the US and have an iTunes account, these unDRM free tracks are well worth checking out. For more details on Hacktone, visit their website or read our coverage of some of their artists on W♥M.
The Zambonis - Hockey Monkey EXOTIC RECORDINGS PRESENTS DIY DISS Check out Exotic Recordings. We've covered one of their band on W♥M, but I'm planning on reviewing a few more from them in this month. This compilation, I believe some of the songs are original. I do know each of the introduction to the song (usually a "diss") were recorded exlusively for this compilation. I'm assuming these compilation (which aren't for sale) are given away if you buy a CD from them.	Pavement - Stereo EVERYTHING IS NICE: MATADOR RECORDS 10TH ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY Released in 1999, this is a 3-disc set. The tracks that I really liked off this compilation is Non Phixon and The Arsonists. Obviously, Pavement is undoubtedly  one of the more popular band that is on this compilation - so here's "Stereo". The prices are pretty reasonably, I think I picked it up for $10 (for about 40 tracks!)
The Gentle Waves - Sister Woman REVOLUTIONS #3 These came free with Select Magazines This song is from The Gentle Waves' second album, Swansong for You (2000), it's my second favorite song after "Falling from Grace". Trivia: Isobel Campbell appears on the cover.	Lily Allen - Knock 'em Out NEW NOISE #13 They give these things out for free, they're basically samplers from EMI. I've discovered quite a few good bands from these samplers, their latest one has a great track by Lily Allen. This song is pretty cute, it's about coming up with excuses to avoid being picked up - including the hilarious "I'm pregnant, yeah."

 

 12/07/2007 23:50:43  vu my♥posts www.weheartmusic.com

Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan - Deus Ibi Est

Isobel Campbell Mark Lanegan - Deus Ibi Est

Isobel Campbell And Mark Lanegan

I am going to try and limit my post (there's just too many bands I want to talk about!).  I've started a Morrissey Vox Group....

Anyway:

Isobel Campbell started off her career in the band Belle & Sebastian (you may have heard of them?), she released two albums under her own band The Gentle Waves.

Then followed by a collaboration with Bill Wells and then her excellent solo album "Amorino".  That's where she met up with Mark Lanegan, who sang on "Why Does My Head Hurt So?" (off the EP, not the album).

Anyway, her second album, "Ballad of the Broken Seas" is the best duet album!  It's mostly Mark singing with a little Isobel's sweetness thrown in for good measures.

This track, Dues Ibi Est, I think means God is here, was given away free if you registered on isobelcampbell.com

PS, Mark is from the Seattle band, Screaming Trees, if you were wondering.