Morningbell reeking havoc on musical pretenses
Morningbell
When I was but a lad, my Granny used to pull me close and ask, her voice all aflutter, and say “Justin, what would happen if the kind of guys who danced onstage with the Flaming Lips made music influenced by Curtis Mayfield?”
I would shush her, and tuck her into bed.
“Ponder not silly things,” I would whisper.
“There’s no such thing, Granny. There’s no such thing.”
Sorry Granny, but there is. And their name is Morningbell.
[Find out more about Morningbell after break]
KY’s Jim James and Daniel Martin Moore sing out about mountain top removal
Jim James and Daniel Martin Moore are singing out against mountain top removal. Photo by Brad Luttrell | SaY
Just utter the word “coal,” and emotions flare, hotter and higher than the flames the black rock generates when burned for energy.
The supporters of coal mining fight back against the environmentalists, saying coal provides jobs and useful flat land in the impoverished Eastern Kentucky, while the anti-coal activists say the technology is readily available for a switch to green energy, and that we are destroying our environment.
Two Kentucky songwriters are coming together to help make their voices heard. Jim James, or Yim Yames as he is calling himself outside of his best-known band, My Morning Jacket, and Sub Pop’s pop-folk artist Daniel Martin Moore will be performing a show in support of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth’s effort to stop mountain top removal.
[Get tickets, directions, click more]
Read more
Harper Simon sprouting from family tree’s shadows
Harper Simon is playing Natasha's Bistro this Friday.
Harper Simon does have a sober sound, comfortable within itself, just like his father’s music does.
Oh, you know his father. Paul. Right? Paul Simon, as in Simon and Garfunkel. But Harper Simon’s music honors its family tree while sprouting away from its shadow. He has found his place in folk-pop, and it doesn’t need the preface of his father’s work.
Starting Friday the 13th, Harper Simon is touring South. He’ll be playing in Lexington, then heading to Louisville, Nashville, Memphis and Bloomington.
Natasha’s Bistro has become one of the biggest little advocates of local and good music in Lexington, Ky. That reputation gets is solidified with the booking of Harper Simon.
[Click to see tour details]
CONTEST: Free tix to Evangelicals/Holiday Shores in Louisville
SaY is giving away tickets to see the Evangelicals and Holiday Shores in Louisville.
The Evangelicals and Holiday Shores have booked a last minute stop in Louisville on Friday the 13th, and SaY is giving away a pair of tickets to the show for free, courtesy of Crash Avenue Publicity.
Since the show is last minute, the contest is also last minute. This will be quick – leave your full name and e-mail below. I will randomly select the winner on Wednesday at noon Eastern time.
This should be an awesome high energy, psychedelic rock show. The Evangelicals are getting a lot of attention right now. Go see this show, everybody is doing it.
[Show info, enter contest, MPfree, click more]
Alexa Woodward tour will be intimate in small venues
Alexa Woodward is playing a show at CD Central
Alexa Woodward is hitting very small pub and bar from Louisville to Chicago, from Knoxville to Lexington and back.
Woodward, a folk artists hailing from New York City, has a lineup of mostly Kentucky and Tennessee shows coming up, including Skull Alley, Ear X-Tacy, and the Preservation Pub. Woodward’s Americana/folk music is personal and these bars and small venues will make the shows even more intimate.
Pubs like the Preservation Pub, in the Old City of Knoxville, Tenn. A bar known for reaching out to local musicians and bringing in great unknown folk acts. The place is very small, and there is not a bad seat in the house.
[Tour info, listen to Alexa Woodward, click more]
SaY What: Heavy Pets, Dozens of MPfrees, free tickets
Heavy Pets are on tour all winter.
A few stories you may have missed but probably shouldn’t have
Backseat Sandbar has list of 2009’s best tracks. And that means a list of the best MP3s, which means you have a new playlist for your iTunes. Grizzly Bear, Andrew Bird, Portugal. The Man, Rain Machine, Neko Case and the list goes on and on. They also have a top albums list. You can get all that and more, click here.
Atlanta fans can catch The Heavy Pets at the fifth annual Scarendipity held on Halloween night. For a $20 donation, fans can hear live music by The Heavy Pets, The Arbiters and Deep Blue Sun and even enjoy an open bar. Out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Heavy Pets is a group of five friends hitting it big on the jam band circuit as they combine elements of jazz, funk, rock and reggae into an energetic blended sound. Read Sarah Morgan’s excellent story on the up and coming Heavy Pets.
Free tickets to Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights. Courtesy of Buster’s Billiards and Backroom in Lexington, Ky., SaY is giving away two tickets to this show. The show on Nov. 4 at Buster’s, and it is an 18 and over and the tickets are a $20 value. That’s the equivalent of four or five drinks, sans tips of course. As of Tuesday morning only one person had entered the contest, so get to it.
Heavy Pets scare up good vibrations at Scarendipity
The Heavy Pets has the Halloween show down. Click more to see where the group is jamming this year.
With his face aglow from the glare of a plastic jack-o’-lantern, Jeff Lloyd fingered the neck of the guitar as his right arm lay limp by his side. His mouth agape and eyes half opened, Lloyd stood surrounded by his friends, known as The Heavy Pets.
Out of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., this group of five friends is hitting it big on the jam band circuit as they combine elements of jazz, funk, rock and reggae into an energetic blended sound. For the past few years, they have hit up some of the biggest festivals including Moe.Down, Langerado, SXSW and Bonnaroo where they played a pre-Phish set. They have played over 440 shows since forming in 2006.
[Tour info, listen to Heavy Pets, click more]
Google to release music search engine
Google is about to release OneBox, a streaming Web site.
The Google empire is expanding.
Next week Google will be releasing one of its many new services called OneBox. It is a search tool that allows users to find streaming music collected from various sites around the Internet. Contrary to services such as iMeem.com, which allow users to stream directly from their site, OneBox will provide their users the means to find songs from several sites.
[More about OneBox, click more]
Read more
Video of Avetts playing “January Wedding”
My friend Doug Valloton is always good about passing stuff along. He knew I really loved “January Wedding” from the new Avett Brothers album, “I and Love and You” and he sent me this video.
I like it, but it’s very rough and really kind of lax. It’s fun though, when you love a song so much and see it recreated. I like the backup vocals and some of the banjo licks that either don’t come through in the recording or are new all together.
Enjoy the video, and click here to read SaY’s review of this album.
Kings of Leon releasing DVD with 22 tracks
Kings of Leon has a live DVD coming out.
Nashville, Tn.’s Kings of Leon is officially taking the dive. There is no turning back from here.
According to a news release, Kings of Leon is releasing its first DVD: “Live At The O2 London, England” on Nov. 10, 2009. On Nov. 24 it will be released onBlu Ray.
The DVD will have 22 tracks (listed below). It was produced by Emer Patten and directed by Nick Wickham.
The show was in front of about 18,000 fans from last June. It was one of a three-night stint that sold out within one hour of tickets going on sale, the news release said.
“These shows were some of the biggest of the band’s career in the country that was the first to embrace them and the symbolism and excitement is accurately portrayed in the DVD,” it said.
[Tracklisting below]
