The art-loving folks who live at the house at Washington and Lucas have turned their basement into an official D.I.Y. venue called the Glory Hole. The first show kicks off tonight featuring Tree Tops (from Chicago), Uneven Universe (from Detroit), and locals Uncomforter and Supersonic Piss. This is a great thing for Iowa City. It means more art and more music. The venue is a cozy basement with killer sound and astounding intimacy. Look forward to seeing some of the best local and underground touring talent at the Glory Hole. There is another show on Thursday, July 3rd. Details forthcoming. The show tonight begins at 930PM.
Archive for the 'New Music' Category
Nothing like waking up to good news, especially when it involves my personal hometown hero Greg Gillis. I pre-ordered Girl Talk’s Feed the Animals album sometime back in 2007, only to wait and wait as the thing was delayed until, well, right now. The mysterious and legendary head of the Illegal Art label, Philo Pharnsworth, sent us pre-order nerds an email that the album can now be snatched in delicious mp3 320 kbps format. Even if you didn’t pre-order, the album is available Radiohead-style (read: “free!”) from the Illegal Art website. Jump on it.
With each release Gillis smooths out his style, from the IDM leanings of his sophmore effort Unstoppable (2004), to the club-friendly mash-ups of Night Ripper (2006), to the even more refined mix of the new Feed The Animals. Here the music seems more like an exceptional mix tape than the genre-pushing collage that thrust Gillis into the limelight, aligning him closer to Mission Creek alums The Hood Internet, or other ‘net DJ stars like Siik or Certified Bananas. [This is especially true due to the short shelf-life of music like this and it’s popularity. I mean, I understand that Gillis essentially had to include R. Kelly’s “I’m a Flirt,” but the Hood Internet version is already the definitive interpretation.]
That’s not to say that the music itself isn’t awesome; these are guaranteed ass-shakers that will have every music geek in the world laughing out loud AND singing along. Additionally, I’m only 80% through my first listen, it’s 10 am, and I haven’t had breakfast yet. So judge for yourself with the sample below. As you’ll soon hear, you can expect everything from AIR to Dexy’s Midnight Runners to Tag Team to Busta Rhymes to Lil’ Wayne, with a little Tom Petty thrown in for good measure. I’ll let you do your own careful listening.
Download: Girl Talk - What It’s All About
Today’s featured Daytrotter session comes courtesy of Dri, our favorite Lawrence, KS songstress who released her lovely debut, Smoke Rings, last year on Range Life Records. Smoke Rings has been on heavy rotation for me since it came out, so to hear these reworked versions from the intimate Daytrotter vaults is totally a treat. I saw her show at Huckleberry’s the night that she did the session, if you remember, and it marked one of the first (if not the first, I can’t remember) times that these songs ditched the iPod backing track in lieu of a full band. The session itself features three cuts from that album and a cover of a Brazilian band called Spectrum. The added bonus here is that album opener “Two Are One,” done as a solo take, happens to be one of the best Daytrotter session songs I’ve ever heard. I admit that I have not listened to every single one, but I’ve heard a lot and this just blows me away with how rich and warm it sounds. Click the link below to download the songs for free. Non-Iowans will be able to catch Dri on a leg of Conor Oberst’s solo tour with his Mystic River Band in July in support of his forthcoming solo record.
Dri on tour with Conor Oberst:
Jul 29 - Richard’s on Richards - Vancouver, British Columbia
Jul 30 - Neumo’s - Seattle, Washington
Jul 31 - Midtown Ballroom - Bend, Oregon
Aug 1 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California
Aug 2 - Bottom of the Hill - San Francisco, California
Aug 3 - Rio Theatre - Santa Cruz, California
Aug 5 - Troubadour - West Hollywood, California
Over the last year I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know one of Iowa City’s finest musicians, Mike Finders, first through work, then through his music. Sadly (for us, not for him), Mike and his wife Amy, the main components of the cleverly titled Mike and Amy Finders Band, have decided to make their way west to the state of Colorado to ply their trade. In doing so, they’ve hooked up with Aaron and Erin Youngberg (no, seriously), yet another musical couple to form something of a matrimonial roots music supergroup - the still cleverly named Finders and Youngberg. They’re totally stoked, as are we, to send forth their debut album (a debut only in the same sense that Japanese baseball players can be rookies at age 30) Keep Your Suitcase Packed, which is available now.
There are songs that harken to an older time of music – such as “Ball and Chain Blues,” and there are songs with a more contemporary angle – such as “Roots Run Deep,” but through it all the overarching feeling is that these are exquisitely written songs by some legitimate musicians. More undeniable is the synergy developed by these four over a Midwestern traverse from Iowa to Colorado and back. This record reflects that, seamlessly planting one foot in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and the other in the black Iowa dirt of the Mississippi valley. It’s an impressive debut that’s truly something for them to hang their hat on - for a group with so much collective experience to come together on such short notice and create such a mature and multi-dimensional album is really something - perhaps more impressive is that I can’t help but think that with their move to Colorado that this quartet’s best is yet to come. Expect them to be blowing up the roots and bluegrass music circuit for as long as they feel like doing it. In the meantime, enjoy “Roots Run Deep” below, and you can catch Finders and Youngberg live this Friday as the opening performance of the Iowa Arts Fest at 6pm in the Ped Mall.
Download: Finders and Youngberg - Roots Run Deep
Iowa City tape enthusiasts Wet Hair have finally put up a Myspace page. Now we can enjoy their delicious psychedelic musings on our laptops! Comprised of former Raccoo-oo-oon heads, Shawn Reed and Ryan Garbes, this duo culls together sounds from various analog tape sources and electronic gear. Conventional songwriting isn’t the focus here but rather challenging and enjoyable aural experiences that stretch out like Faust or Can’s most oblique recordings or even, dare I say, late-60s / early 70s Pink Floyd when the band would spend 10 - 15 minutes in the middle of a pop song playing around with a bunch of tape reels and new guitar pedals. Reed nevertheless does sing vocals. But with all of the noise and space he filters them through, good luck on deciphering those lyrics. Maybe he’s just asking us to go pick him up a falafel.
Wet Hairspace: HERE
Calico Horse’s recent take on Radiohead’s “Idioteque” moans like a Southern drawl, working its bittersweet basslines beneath a set of seductive harmonies. Emily Neveu, frontwoman of this San Diego band, appears to be primarily responsible for turning this postmodern club banger into a captivating folk song. At the heart of her version are rickety guitars and beautifully layered vocals. There’s almost a bit of a Jana Hunter sound to this song. But Neveu’s cover isn’t just a great track in its own right: it also goes to show how good those songs really were on Kid A (2000). Despite what some haters would have us think, those songs weren’t just a bunch of random laptop experiments after all. Give the cover a listen and then check out some Calico Horse originals via their Myspace page.
Calico Horse - “Idioteque” (Radiohead cover)
Calico Horse - Myspace
If there’s one thing that’ll get me writing a Sunday morning post it’s a new Alanis Morissette album. I’m not kidding here; Jagged Little Pill (1995) is one of the few albums, like Michael Jackson’s Thriller (1983), to move 30 million units and still be awesome. While Googling around this morning I found out that a new Alanis record, Flavors of Entanglement (wtf is up with that title?), comes out June 10th and features Guy Sigsworth at the helm. How did I not know this? Sigsworth is one of my favorite producers, getting his start on Seal’s “Crazy” (an undeniably great song), working with Bjork, being a member of Zach Braff darlings Frou Frou, and programming strange, really dramatic, quasi-religious songs for Lamb. It’s an interesting, though not necessarily mind-blowing career. His work often eschews innovation in favor of listenability, which makes complete sense given the kind of artists he works with (ed note: Bjork? Listenable?). Sigsworth is at his best is when wrapping great vocalists (Seal, Bjork, Imogen Heap) in a more interesting sonic space that doesn’t threaten to steal the spotlight. In this way I think much of Sigsworth’s work can be seen alongside the brilliant production that William Orbit did for Beth Orton and what Ben Watt did for Tracey Thorn in Everything but the Girl…
Today, May 27, sees the release of some brand new jams from your favorite mash-up artists the Hood Internet, who just happened to rock one of this year’s sickest parties at the Mission Creek Music Festival. The newest mix from this cutting edge duo is called The Hood Internet vs. Chicago and it features 23 “brand new” tracks of artists who bear ties to Chicago. And “brand new” is totally in quotes because these guys make music out of music, nah mean? And yeah, I know what you’re presently thinking: “Mash-ups are so 2006,” but the only thing I can really say about that is that I’m sorry you haven’t been getting your dose of the Hood Internet recently. They hooked me with that R.Kelly/Broken Social Scene jam early in their career and now with new tracks for free (!) on at least a weekly basis, I can find no ill will for these progressive remix artists. So please don’t hesitate: download The Hood Internet vs. Chicago and get your groove on.
Options Galore!:
Download via zShare [full mix; 192kbps; 93.7MB mp3 file]
Download via Megaupload [full mix; 320kbps; 156.0MB mp3 file]
Download via Sendspace [split tracks; 192kbps; 114.2MB zip file]
Download via Sendspace [split tracks; 320kbps; 150.9MB zip file]
Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Pro Nails Forever (Kid Sister vs Walter Meego)
3. Frog Minutes (Shawnna vs LMNOP)
4. Cakeicide (Hollywood Holt vs Prairie Cartel)
5. Juke And Pop (Mic Terror vs Green Velvet)
6. Superbowl Jesus (Kanye West + 1985 Bears vs Wilco)
7. Trenchache (Juice vs Liz Phair)
8. 80s Problems (Tha Basix vs Mahjongg)
9. When Baby Mamas Collide (Qualo vs Chin Up Chin Up)
10. Simple X-plosion (Diverse vs Andrew Bird)
11. Your Love Iz What It Iz (The Cool Kids vs Frankie Knuckles)
12. Sisters Of Chicago-Rillas (Rhymefest vs The Changes)
13. I Ain’t That Bowie (Twista vs The Sea And Cake)
14. Hay Electric (Crucial Conflict vs Reds and Blue)
15. Watch My Big Feet Jump (Dude N Nem + Twista vs Office)
16. Ten-Day High (Do Or Die + Kanye West vs Tortoise)
17. Eatchyo Stigmata (Yea Big + Kid Static vs Ministry)
18. Smash That There (Yung Berg vs The Smashing Pumpkins)
19. Stages Of Standby (Psalm One vs Kleenex Girl Wonder)
20. Can You Eat Some More Heavy Fists Of Love? (Kanye West + GLC vs Bumps + Terminal 4 + Big Black)
21. I Used To Love The Blue Line (Common vs Bang! Bang!)
22. I Gotcha Trees (Lupe Fiasco vs May Or May Not)
23. What Chu Like, Old Mare? (Da Brat vs Sleep Out)
24. Kells-Tone For The Painfully In Love (R. Kelly vs Casiotone For The Painfully Alone)
I recently teamed up with Bay Area music bloggers, the Bay Bridged, to put together the first in a series of Bay Area Scenecast’s for Cokemachineglow’s ongoing scenecast project in which a different region’s music scene(s) is highlighted via an in-depth podcast. This entry on the Bay Area specifically hones in on that region’s indie-pop scene. So if you’re interested in hearing some new tunes from the place that gave us the Grateful Dead, Too Short, and Devendra Banhart, head on over to Cokemachineglow and stream / download the scenecast. The mix features 14 bands, ranging from more established acts like John Vanderslice and Papercuts to virtually unknown but impressive bands like Magic Bullets and Scrabbel. Check it out…
Click here for the Bay Area Scenecast
and… for an added bonus, check out the Iowa City Scenecast culled together by myself and Freak staffer, Craig Eley, about a year ago: click here
Say what you will about the piles of sonic bullshit that Weezer has piled on us in the years following their debut and Pinkerton (1996), but I think we all have to admit that their new video / single, “Pork and Beans” is a stunning return to form. Snarky as ever, Rivers Cuomo and the boys have rubbed out a pure pop nugget that would make Ric Ocasek proud of them all over again. The music is melodically punchy and the lyrics comprise one long post-modern, pop culture-referencing, cheeky rant. The accompanying video is an homage to the You Tube era, pitting various You Tube celebrities against the backdrop of Weezer’s music. It’s funny, it’s sharp, it’s irresistible: it’s a surprising new high for one of our generation’s best (and worst) pop bands. Click on the link below to see / hear “Pork and Beans”.
New Weezer! Yay! “Pork and Beans”
