Lights That Flash in the Evening (Err...Day): Nicole Atkins In-Store @ Som Records, Washington, DC (8-7-2011)

Nicole Atkins was in DC over the weekend to play The Birchmere but she came by Som Records for an in-store (or on-sidewalk as it was). Atkins was supposed to be plugged in, but no proper cable could be found, so what we got instead was her lovely voice and an acoustic guitar-I think we made out better in the end. If you don't know her, she's well worth investigating: her songs are observant and witty, with a voice like the blues covered in honey.

I shot Atkins' set for The Vinyl District-DC, which you can check out over here.

Peter Wolf Crier to Release New Record, Tour in September

Peter Wolf Crier is a Minneapolis, MN-based duo that makes incredibly lush music using just a drum and a guitar. I've long thought their music sounds like that feeling of sitting before a fire during a snowstorm: quiet, warm, and full, with just a hint of danger running underneath (what if we're snowed in forever gaaaah). Their 2010 debut, Inter-Be, includes "Untitled 101" which is quite the stunning pining-for-love-prayer.

PWC will release its follow-up to Inter-Be with the full-length Garden of Arms on 9/6. Says they of it, rather accurately:

Peter Wolf Crier's second album Garden of Arms is a document that paints a vivid portrait of all the pain and beauty of growth. Written with the at-home repose demanded by performing a hundred shows in six months, these eleven tracks were nurtured from their hushed origins with a new-found footing of confidence and experimentation. Adapting the tenets of the grinding live show, the duo of Peter Pisano and Brian Moen transformed the fuzzy distortion, rolling and crashing drums, and laser-focused purposefulness into an intensely dynamic yet supremely polished album.

Give a Listen: Settling It Off-Peter Wolf Crier (from Garden of Arms)

Peter Wolf Crier Tour Dates
09/23 Minneapolis, MN- Cedar Cultural Center
09/24 Chicago, IL- Schubas
09/27 Cambridge, MA- The Middle East (Upstairs)*
09/28 Philadelphia, PA- Kung Fu Necktie*
09/29 Washington DC- Red Palace
09/30 New York, NY- Mercury Lounge*
10/03 Chapel Hill, NC- Local 506*
10/04 Atlanta, GA- Drunken Unicorn*
10/07 Austin, TX- Lambert's*
10/08 Denton, TX- Dan's SilverLeaf*
10/10 Norman, OK- Opolis*
10/11 Columbia, MO- Mojo's*
10/12 Bloomington, IN- The Bishop*
10/13 Bloomington, IL- The Castle Theatre
10/14 Madison, WI- The Sett*
10/15 Milwaukee, WI- Club Garibaldi
10/24 St. Louis, MO- Off Broadway
10/25 Omaha, NE- The Waiting Room
10/27 Denver, CO- Hi-Dive
10/28 Salt Lake City, UT- Kilby Court
10/29 Boise, ID- The Neurolux
11/01 Portland, OR- Mississippi Studios
11/02 Seattle, WA- Tractor Tavern
11/04 San Francisco, CA- Cafe du Nord
11/05 Visalia, CA- Cellar Door
11/06 Santa Cruz, CA- Crepe Place
11/07 Santa Barbara, CA- Muddy Waters
11/08 Los Angeles, CA- Bootleg Theatre
11/11 Tucson, AZ- Solar Culture
11/12 Santa Fe, NM- SOL @ Santa Fe Brewing Company
11/14 Lawrence, KS- Jackpot Music Hall
11/15 Ames, IA- Maintenance Shop

*with Milagres

Surfer Blood to Release New EP, Opening for Pixies This Fall

The big rock sound of Surfer Blood is returning in October (25th to be exact) in the form of a four-track EP titled The Tarot Classics. The record is being released on vinyl, digital, and CD, and each format will include bonus remixes by Totally Sincere (Connor Hanwick of The Drums and Peggy Wang of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart), San Francisco-based Speculator, School of Seven Bells and Allen Blickle. Tarot is the follow up to 2010's Astro Coast.



Tracklist
1. I’m Not Ready
2. Miranda
3. Voyager Reprise
4. Drinking Problem

Surfer Blood will be opening for The Pixies on dates this fall. Check out the coverage we did of their DC show earlier this year for WCP over here .

Surfer Blood Fall 2010 Tour Dates
(Headlining)
8/27: LOUfest Music Festival, St Louis, MO
8/31: Neumo’s, Seattle, WA
9/3: Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
9/10: Firestone Fest, Orlando, FL

9/16: Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA
9/21: Crowbar, Tampa, FL

9/22: Double Down Live, Gainesville, FL


Opening for The Pixies
10/27: The Wellmont Theatre, Montclair, NJ * 

10/28: Asbury Park Convention Hall, Asbury Park, NJ *
10/29: Palace Theatre, Waterbury, CT * 

10/30: Hampton Beach Ballroom, Hampton Beach, NH * 

11/1: State Theatre, Portland, ME * 

11/2: The Armory, Rochester, NY * 

11/3: State Theatre Center for the Arts, Easton, PA * 

11/5: Paramount Theatre, Huntington, NY *

11/6: Grand Opera House, Wilmington, DE*
11/8: War Memorial Auditorium, Greensboro, NC*
11/9: Louisville Palace Theatre, Louisville, KY * 

11/10: Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, TN * 

11/11: North Charleston Performing Arts Center, North Charleston,SC*

Lights That Flash in the Evening: Archers of Loaf @ Black Cat, Washington, DC (8-5-2011)

The late 90s were quite a time to be in the North Carolina Triangle if you were a music nerd. One of the Triangle's bigger-name bands, Archers of Loaf,went on its hiatus around the time of my arrival for graduate school in '98, so they were one I never got to see live. Which I think is why I wasn't so much into them then. On record, I didn't catch the melody and the hooks enough to dig further than Icky Mettle, and on that, I definitely preferred the more accessible tracks like "Web in Front" and "Plumbline.

Friday night at the Black Cat changed my mind on that. Oh, what a dumb little girl I have been.

Archers live is full of powerful bravado and a drum-and-bass combo that is a visceral call to arms. After they started, bass player Matt Gentling asked us in the first row, "Hey, if you see my amps start to topple over, can you let me know?" Amps tend to do that when you have someone pogoing in front of them for 90 straight minutes (thankfully, they stayed in place). The melodies and hooks that alluded me on record jackhammered my eardrums over the set's 21 songs and it was glorious. Archers of Loaf on record is one thing, but Archers of Loaf live was how rock music should be played.







Other photos from the set can be seen here.

Check out my piece in the Washington City Paper about the show here.

Avett Brothers Debut New Song During "CMT Unplugged" Episode

The Avett Brothers used their gorgeous tones to perform quite a few tracks from their most recent release, the lovely I and Love and You, for an upcoming CMT Unplugged episode. They also debuted a new track, "The Once and Future Carpenter," during the show, for which we have the video! These boys really take beauty and harmony to a whole other level.

The Once and Future Carpenter (CMT Unplugged) - The Avett Brothers - The Avett Brothers Videos

Virgin Fest Lineup: Black Keys, Cee Lo, TV on the Radio, Patti Smith, and More

Virgin Fest Lineup: Black Keys, Cee Lo, TV on the Radio, Patti Smith, and More

"Big Man" Clarence Clemons Suffers Stroke

The NJ Star-Ledger reported earlier that Bruce Springsteen"s "Big Man," saxophonist Clarence Clemons suffered a stroke tonight at his home in Florida.

Hang in there Big Man, our thoughts are with you...

"Rave On Buddy Holly" Tribute Record to Include, Well, Everyone

LA Times reported today that a Buddy Holly tribute with, well, everyone in music today is coming out in June.

Rave On Buddy Holly, out 6/28, will include 19-tracks from folks like Modest Mouse, Cee Lo Green, and The Black Keys.

“As the tracks from various contributors were gathered for the album, we seemed to be gathering pieces of a complex and original puzzle … that traces back to the roots of rock and roll and shapes so much of the music that followed," says the press release. Rave On will, apparently, "steer clear of the reverent re-creations typically found on similar projects." Maybe that's why the peppy "Rave On" will be done by the droll-voice of Julian Casablancas?


Rave On Buddy Holly Tracklist:

1. "Dearest," The Black Keys
2. "Every Day," Fiona Apple & Jon Brion
3. "It’s So Easy," Paul McCartney
4. "Not Fade Away," Florence + The Machine
5. "(You’re So Square) Baby, I Don’t Care," Cee Lo Green
6. "Crying, Waiting, Hoping," Karen Elson
7. "Rave On," Julian Casablancas
8. "I’m Gonna Love You Too," Jenny O.
9. "Maybe Baby," Justin Townes Earle
10. "Oh Boy," She & Him
11. "Changing All Those Changes," Nick Lowe
12. "Words Of Love," Patti Smith
13. "True Love Ways," My Morning Jacket
14. "That’ll Be The Day," Modest Mouse
15. "Well… All Right," Kid Rock
16. "Heartbeat," The Detroit Cobras
17. "Peggy Sue," Lou Reed
18. "Peggy Sue Got Married," John Doe
19. "Raining In My Heart," Graham Nash

Poly Styrene Passes from Cancer, Age 53

Cancer took another musician this week...Poly Styrene, who fronted the pioneering punk band, X-Ray Spex passed away today from spinal and breast cancer today at age 53. Many of today's indie babes, such as Karen O and Beth Ditto cited Styrene's persona as their big inspiration. All of 19 when X-Ray Spex started, Styrene and her braces were game-changing in terms of how a front woman needed to look and act. Awhile back, one of her nurses said, "Get back out there! Don't let Kylie Minogue take over!". So she put out Generation Indigo, which, ironically, came out today in the U.S., promoting it from her hospice bed.

Read this great piece from the UK's Guardian for more info on Styrene and her new record.

Give a Listen: GermFree Adolescence-X Ray Specs

SXSW 2011-Day 1 (3-16-2011)

Another year, another SXSW Music survived. It's crazy, it's five days of no sleep and eating on the run. But then you see that new band that knocks your socks off, or start chatting with that established musician whose music you've always loved on the street as you race from one venue to another, and no matter how tired you are, you know you're coming back next year.

Carrie Brownstein of Wild Flag @ NPR' Day Party @ The Parish

This year, I also covered acts from Washington, DC for the Washington City Paper, which you can read here. Wild Flag, a girl-super group of Mary Timony, Sleater-Kinney and Helium was tremendous. They may very well rank as my favorite act during SX. Other locals were These United States, Ted Leo, and the Bad Brains. I think the Nikon and I survived that madness by the grace of God and the 6'5 guy who stood behind me the whole time.

H.R. of Bad Brains @ Emo's Main Room

I'd never seen the Brains live before but I had a feeling it would be mayhem. What was really interesting though was watching while the crowd went insane, the band just stood there calm and collected-no leaping about for H.R. And he bowed to everyone, including the audience, after every song. Complete serenity in the midst of chaos. It was amazing to witness.

Other bands I caught Day 1 included Hayes Carll, The Tender Box, Duran Duran, and Fake Problems.

Hayes Carll @ American Songwriter's Day Party




The Tender Box @ Rusty Spurs







Duran Duran @ Stubbs








Fake Problems @ Dirty Dog Bar



(See the rest of the photos from each set here)