Lights That Flash in the Evening: Jason Isbell @ 930 Club (1-14-2010)

My piece on Jason Isbell's set at the 930 Club on Friday went live today at the paper today. Check it out here.

Additional photos from the set can be found here.

Yes, Virginia, the Archers of Loaf Show Last Night Really Did Happen...

From another Chapel Hill expatriate, I give you the visual evidence that it did indeed happen, the great Archers of Loaf reunited last night as the second opening band for Love Language last night at the Cat's Cradle in Chapel Hill! Set list is also below. Wowza!



SET LIST, Archer of Loaf @ Cat's Cradle, Chapel Hill, NC (1/15/11)
1) Audiowhore
2) Harnessed In Slums
3) Revenge
4) Nostalgia
5) Lowest Part Is Free
6) Freezing Point
7) Greatest Of All Time
8) You and Me
9) Might
10) Web In Front
11) Wrong
12) Slow Worm

Archers of Loaf ReunitesTonight in Chapel HIll

Pavement did it. The Pixies did it. But tonight in Chapel Hill, NC, opening for Love Language a reunited, original lineup of Archers of Loaf. Yes, THAT Archers.

I gotta move back to the Triangle.

Leave Your Souls at the Door: Black Keys and Vampire Weekend in "Sell-Out Off" on Colbert Report

According to Stephen Colbert, the Grammy's "Best Alternative Band of the Year" category is decided by who got the most songs in the most commercials. So the The Black Keys and Vampire Weekend square off, head to head. Me, I've long despised VW and have a mad crush on the Keys' Dan Auerbach, so my choice is obvious...

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Pearl Jam to Release Live Compliation Record 1/18

Pearl Jam announced the release of Live on Ten Legs, a new live compilation album that will be available through Pearl Jam’s Ten Club and select digital and independent music retailers on 1/18 in the US, 1/19 internationally.

Kicking off the band’s twentieth anniversary year, the record features 18 Pearl Jam tracks recorded over the course of the band’s 2003-2010 world tours by recording engineer, John Burton. All tracks have been newly remixed by longtime Pearl Jam engineer Brett Eliason and remastered.

Live on Ten Legs is a follow up to their platinum 1998 live release, Live on Two Legs,, which consisted of performances recorded during the band’s summer 1998 North American tour.

Live on Ten Legs tracklisting
1. Arms Aloft
2. World Wide Suicide
3. Animal
4. Got Some
5. State of Love And Trust
6. I Am Mine
7. Unthought Known
8. Rearview Mirror
9. The Fixer
10. Nothing As It Seems
11. In Hiding
12. Just Breathe
13. Jeremy
14. Public Image
15. Spin the Black Circle
16. Porch
17. Alive
18. Yellow Ledbetter

Justin Townes Earle (with Jason Isbell!!) Plays "Harlem River Blues" on Letterman

Justin Townes Earle brought his country ode to NYC to Late Night with David Letterman last night. The track, "Harlem River Blues," is a wonderful example of why JTE has been characterized as "Nashville North," because it sounds like barreling down a country back road, as well as barreling down NYC's 2nd Avenue.

And look closely at the guitar player in the swanky fedora behind JTE...if you think that's the super cool Jason Isbell, you would be correct. (Isbell is playing the 930 Club on 1/14 with Justin Jones FYI...)

JTE is touring Europe this winter but will do a one-off show at the YMCA Boulton Center in Bay Shore, NY this Saturday (1/8). Ticket are still available here.

Middle Brother Releases First Single from Debut Record, "Me, Me, Me"

Middle Brother, the indie-music equivalent of Blind Faith, released the first song, "Me, Me, Me," from their forthcoming debut record, which is due out March 1.

Comprised of the lead singers of Dawes (Taylor Goldsmith), Deer Tick (John McCauley), and Delta Spirit (Matt Vasquez), Middle Brother plans to tour for the record following its release.

Give a Listen: Me, Me, Me-Middle Brother

What the World Needs Now: David Lowery Releasing Solo Debut, Cracker & Camper Van Beethoven Touring January 2011

RadioVA interviewer, Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven frontman Dave Lowery is releasing his first solo record on 2/1, The Palace Guards.

A little Appalachian-woven folk, a little psychedelia, and a little of the usual suspects for a Lowery song, the record is meant to show many of the musical sides of Lowery and his cohorts. “One of the reasons the album sounds the way it does is that I have pretty strong personalities playing with me,” says Lowery, “guys who I’ve worked with for years, who have done engineering or playing on Camper and Cracker albums. There’s that instant easy rapport that shines through. Working with them brought out the more extreme edges in these songs and amplified them. It was also liberating to start with no preconceived notions of what they would end up sounding like or worrying about how they might sound in a live setting, as I have to do when I write songs for Cracker."

The Palace Guards has many of the musicians that Lowery has played with over the years at his Richmond, VA-based studio (Sound of Music), as well as Cracker bandmates Sal Maida and Johnny Hickman, and the late Mark Linkous (Sparklehorse) who played keyboards on “Big Life.”

Tracklist for The Palace Guards
1. Raise 'em up on Honey
2. The Palace Guards
3. Deep Oblivion
4. Ah, You Left Me
5. Baby, All Those Girls Meant Nothing To Me
6. I Sold the Arabs the Moon
7. Marigold
8. Big Life
9. Submarine

Give a Listen: The Palace Guards-Dave Lowery/Buy The Palace Guards

In January, Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker will join together to perform Key Lime Pie and Kerosene Hat respectively, in their entireties, live as a doubleheader on the east coast. New music from both bands will be out in 2011.

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN & CRACKER'S "KEY LIME & KEROSENE" SHOWS
1/14: NY, NY, Highline Ballroom
1/15: Toronto, ONT, Lee’s Palace
1/16: Cambridge, MA, Middle East Downstairs

The Strokes Talk Mixtapes on the TDK Life on Record Chronicles Series

If you ever made a mixtape, you'll want to check this out...

TDK, that company that makes cassette tapes and related items of the electronic realm, started a neat little series of interviews with bands "recounting their experiences with making mixtapes," and "paying tribute to the days of cassette tapes and the music that inspired them." Called TDK Life on Record Chronicles, the series is kicked off with The Strokes.

Dawes, Deer Tick, Delta Spirit Frontmen, Formerly MGV, Announce New Name, Record Date, Upcoming Tour

Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes, John McCauley of Deer Tick, and Matthew Vasquez of Delta Spirit, the three frontman previously calling themselves MGV, announced a name change to Middle Brother, a record release date of 3-1-2010, and a forthcoming tour for the spring today. The self-titled debut was recorded in the fall of 2009 in Nashville, where McCauley resides.

The idea for the trio came in "mid-2009 when the three songsmiths realized, after several on-stage collaborations, that they shared a unique vision and wanted to take it one step further, into the studio." As MGV, they played out for the first time at last year's SXSW (which, sadly, I had to miss as I was commissioned to shoot a showcase).

"Someday" From the IFC Crossroads performance at SXSW 2010:



"Daydreaming"


Middle Brother Track Listing
1. Daydreaming
2. Blue Eyes
3. Thanks For Nothing
4. Middle Brother
5. Theater
6. Portland
7. Wilderness
8. Me Me Me
9. Someday
10. Blood and Guts
11. Mom and Dad
12. Million Dollar Bill

Pre-orders are being taken for the record now (here), with offers of it on CD, and special vinyl. The pre-order of vinyl gets you an extra 10” of b-sides from the Nashville recording sessions.

There is talk of tour sometime in spring 2011. In the meantime, Middle Brother will be playing a one-off show at the Troubadour in Los Angeles on 12/20, the Invisible Children benefit curated by KCRW and Yours Truly, with all proceeds going towards Invisible Children’s programs to help the war-affected people of East Africa. The show will also feature an acoustic McCauley set.