Monthly Archives: January 2009

Dan Auerbach going back to the rust

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Dan Auerbach is best known as the front man to the blues rock duo from Ohio, The Black Keys. Their album last year was mixed in the studio by Danger Mouse, adding some glossy elements to their usual rough sound. Some of the fan base didn’t take to the polished sound.

Well, it appears Dan is giving what his followers are looking for on his debut solo album, “Keep It Hid”.

I haven’t heard the full album yet, but we’re given a sneak peak with the track, “My Last Mistake”. We also know that he brought on board Mark Neill who used analog gear to record and mix. One song, “Whispered Words”, which Dan co-wrote with his pop, was cut in mono. And for you gear heads, Dan recorded this album in his new studio, Akron Analog, which has it’s own myspace page that includes all the gritty details on the setup (Check it out).

With a full band, I’m excited to see what kind of jams Dan can pull together.

Keep it Hid is out February 10th on Nonesuch.

Pre-order CD
Pre-order CD & LP
Myspace

Tour Schedule:

Feb 28 – 9:30 Club – Washington DC, Washington DC
Mar 1 – Paradise Club – Boston, Massachusetts
Mar 2 – Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, New York
Mar 3 – Bowery Ballroom – New York, New York
Mar 5 – Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, Ohio
Mar 6 – Metro – Chicago, Illinois
Mar 7 – First Avenue – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Mar 10 – The Showbox – Seattle, Washington
Mar 11 – Wonder Ballroom – Portland, Oregon
Mar 13 – Bimbo’s – San Francisco, California
Mar 14 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, California

Listen to “My Last Mistake”:

Dungen’s “Samtidigt 2″ brings the Dead circa 1970 to life

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Not since the death of Jerry Garcia in 1995 has there been anyone who can hammer out a guitar solo with enough anticipated precision in every note to make you want to shake your head off. It was one of the greatest abilities the “dancing bear” had in his arsenal. He made you think he was going to hit one note, then fake you out and go in a completely different direction. With just one note he could cause you to leap out of your seat in awe.

This may sound stupid, but I got the new Dungen album back in the fall and I misplaced it until just a few days ago. I had left it in my disc golf bag of all places. Had I been listening to this album for most of the fall it probably would have landed on my year end list.

I was on my way home from work when I came upon “Samtidigt 2″, the second to last song on the album “4″.  If you’ve never listened to Dungen, you should know that they are typically coined as a psychedelic rock group.  So it’s not a strange thing to think of bands like the Grateful Dead when listening to their music.  However, until now, I hadn’t heard a guitar solo quite like the one on this song.  It truly conjures up memories of Jerry and his finger picking madness.

Listen and Download:

“Samtidigt 2″

Deer Tick covers Paul Simon and new album(s) in 2009

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Looking to start 2009 off with a bang, John and his cohorts have announced that they’re working on their 3rd album, and their 2nd hasn’t even been released yet.  A recent recording was polished off from their upstate New York studio and it’s a great little cover of Paul Simon’s tune “Still Crazy After All These Years”.  To show off his music skills, John hoped on the piano for this tune while his bandmates, Chris Ryan plays bass and Dennis Ryan plays drums.  Their latest addition to Deer Tick, Andy Tobiassen, is not featured on the recording.

Download and Listen:

“Still Crazy After All These Years”

Aquarium Drunkard also posted this recording and to avoid duplicating my sentiments on this cover, I’ll steer you this a way:

http://www.aquariumdrunkard.com/2009/01/09/deer-tick-still-crazy-after-all-these-years/

Their 2nd album, “Born of Flag Day”, is due out in 2009 on Partisan Recoreds.  Details are due out soon on the official release.

Marissa Nadler’s new album, Little Hells

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A rolling bass line, drums that chug along and an eerie overtone as Marissa sings of being taken back to the “river of dirt”.  “River of Dirt, a song off of Marissa’s forthcoming album,  struck a chord with me. It’s a warm, welcoming song despite its mortal concept of being put back into the Earth where we once came from.

Listen and Download:

“River and Dirt”

Marissa is on heavy rotation up here on 88.9. I don’t know why but I hadn’t given her much of a listen until now.  Kemado Records recently announced her new album will be released on March 3rd.   I’m excited to check her out in person. She will be playing two shows with another New Englander who’s album I’m also excited for, Deer Tick.

These shows are at The Iron Horse in Northampton and Café Nine in New Haven. If you’re in the area, I recommend checking these shows out. As for us Boston / Cambridge folk, Marissa will be at Club Passim on February 21st and again at Lizard Lounge on April 24th with the Handsome Family.

Listen to more of her music and see the rest of her shows at her myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/songsoftheend

She’s also a blogger!

http://marissanadler.blogspot.com/

Making some adjustements, so is Wayne Coyne

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Just about a year or so is about all I can take of one design. I’m not the most prolific HTML manipulator but I give it my all. The new design you see before you is only temporary. My ultimate goal is to use the same template as my good friends over at the freshdish.com use. It’s a slick design intended for online news journals but can be used as a blog. The Live Music Blog used it but since they’ve taken a leave of absence from the blogosphere I think it’s Kosher.

I believe that behind every music blogger is a little inner artist just screaming to be let out. To step up on that stage and become one of our hero’s (i.e. Huey Lewis). That’s why I think a lot of bloggers go through this urge to switch their design because it’s common for an artist to switch up the design of their own home on a frequent basis.

For example, check out Wayne Coyne’s ongoing home project. Fader TV brings us a great personal tour of Wayne’s home: