Silver Firs

Silver Firs self titled debut album previewed May 2, 2012. Listen to the cd here at Oh, Sister Records.

link

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Delta Spirit's New Release

Delta Spirit's self-titled record arrives March 13, 2012 on Rounder Records. Delta Spirit was produced by Chris Coady at Dreamland Recording Studios -- a converted church built in 1896 in Woodstock, New York. The album follows 2010's History From Below and 2008's Ode To Sunshine.

Through the recording process the band grew their sound sonically, inspired to use instruments they had not previously experimented with. The album's raucous energy and no-holds barred performances will appeal to Delta Spirit's fan base, which has grown consistently thanks to their explosive live shows.

http://www.deltaspirit.net
http://www.facebook.com/Deltaspirit
http://www.twitter.com/Deltaspirit

VIEW Delt Spirit on iTunes - Link

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The Private Life of George Harrison

New article in current Rolling Stone. Can you even imagine what it was like to live at Friar Park? 120 rooms. Here is an interesting page of photos of George and family @ Friar Park. Link



Link

As a young girl, I also loved the Beatles but I leaned towards John and Paul as a twelve year old when they first came out and released a US album.

By the time I was seventeen I was off to college but my Christmas vacation return was blessed by the gift of George Harrison's solo album, All Things Must Pass from my fifteen year old sister, Robin. To this day that is my favorite Christmas gift ever. I was totally consumed by that album. It was and still is of reverent, holy grail importance to hold it and to play it.

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Letting His Freak Flag Fly

Chris Robinson (lead singer of The Black Crowes) doesn't do many interviews. At this point in his career he doesn't have to, and this year he has mostly, as one press agent put it, "let his music speak for him." But he took time to talk to Xpress in advance of his Orange Peel show with his current band, The Chris Robinson Brotherhood, because "No. 1, I really love Asheville and I love that area," he says. "It's small and that's good. It's like how we're starting — what we're doing is very hands on and grassroots."

 Robinson says that he's not into talking heads and sound bites, but "if you have something to say, it's better to take a little time and do that." So what does he want to say to his Asheville fans? "People should know that Freak America loves them," he says.

who: The Chris Robinson Brotherhood 
where: The Orange Peel 
when: Saturday, Sept. 3 (9 p.m. $18 advance/$20 doors. theorangepeel.net)

written by: Alli Marshall | Read More...

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"THEY TRY TO MAKE ME GO TO REHAB...

and I said, No, No, No"... until that very first time when I was 39 years old and my 2nd child was still two years old.



BACKSTORY: I found early success by my mid-twenties. And I lost it all, but I didn't even slightly put the brakes on because I was blinded by my drug addiction. Addiction is one cruel bitch that I believe is perpetuated by unresolved emotional conflicts.



During this time I was so proud that I had bought a home on my own at age 26, working two full time jobs for several years as a functioning addict. Office work days from 8a - 4p and 4-5 evenings a week bartending. Working on my feet so much took a toll on my knees and hips (subsequent surgeries). More dope was called for and cocaine was the cure. It kept me working through the pain, but eventually blowing out my knees like a car tire blows out.



More dope = more trainwrecks via the fuck-up express. I ended up losing all my relationships, my respect, lost my first home, but by far, worst of all was losing custody of my only child in an ugly child custody case when he was just eight years old. This has been a dark shadow looming for 30 years with very little contact and sighting.



I've been a bit maudlin about Amy Winehouse's death. Her overdose hit me hard because I *was* Amy Winehouse 30 years ago-- only without the kickass voice. We shared an iv drug abuse habit (It's still too hard to say the name) and mine gained steam when I began college in Fall of 1970 and continued with ebbs and flows for 20+ years.



So many of my good friends died from ODs on drugs. Some friends had such close calls we had to shock and/or ice them back when you only had a matter of seconds waiting for the EMTs or ambulance to arrive. Soon after they were stabalized, they'd fire up another spoonful. That was typical addict behavior.



I have to keep telling myself that I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm still here. Those of you who are still actively using, I feel your pain deeply. But it'll come only in your time.



I have been in recovery for 20 years this past June with outstanding success and no slips. I still meet with fellow addicts regularly and there is such strength in numbers. "Their success is MY success." And vice versa.



Love & Light, dear ones... I'll always keep a big shoulder for you to rest upon.



I really related to Amy Winehouse BUT I didn't know how much until she passed. I mean, I loved her music and rooted for her peace of mind and sobriety like mad but I didn't know how connected I had felt to her and her struggle until her death and I was pretty well consumed about it. I lived the same way at the same age so I'm I've cried for four days now for her and for me and for all those who have gone before us.

by Susan Cook on Sunday, July 24, 2011 at 3:43pm

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40th anniversary of Jim Morrison’s death

Ray Manzarek desperately attempts to resurrect the 40 year old corpse of Jim Morrison.

Yesterday, on the 40th anniversary of Jim Morrison’s death, Ray Manzarek and Robbie Krieger played a Doors gig after visiting Morrison’s grave site at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Fronted by one of the band’s endless series of faux Lizard Kings, Morrison look-a-like David Brock of Doors cover band Wild Child, Manzarek and Krieger did their best to remind anyone watching why their music careers have been utterly insignificant since Morrison died. John Densmore had the good taste and wisdom to not attend.

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Super Heavy - Newly Formed Band w/Mick Jagger & More

Damian Marley, Joss Stone, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart and Indian film composer A.R. Rahman. The band has quietly been recording together over the past 18 months, with their debut LP planned for sometime around September.

About 18 months ago, the band gathered in a Los Angeles studio. None of them had prepared any music. "We didn't know what the hell we were doing," says (Dave) Stewart. "We were just jamming and making a noise. It was like when a band first starts up in your garage. Sometimes Damien would kick it off and then Joss would sing something on top of it. We might have a 22 minute jam, and it would become a six minute song."

The loose method was inspiring for Jagger. "One of the beauties is that, just speaking as a vocalist, I did other things," Jagger says. "I played guitar and harmonica, but there's four vocalist on the album. Not everything was reliant on me."

The band’s name came from some improvised vocals by Marley. "He was just singing 'Heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, super heavy,'" says Stewart. "We thought that sounded good and it sort of stuck with us."

Link

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The Incredible String Band and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

Read an exclusive extract from Wire's editor-at-large Rob Young's new book published by Faber & Faber and out this week.

The Incredible String Band and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
Extract from Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music by Rob Young
Published by Faber And Faber, 5 August 2010. {via}

For more information go to: http://electriceden.net, which happens to be a very good read as is The Wire.

In the summer of 1967 The Incredible String Band's Robin Williamson and Mike Heron traveled to the United States to perform at the Newport Folk Festival. Passing through Elektra's New York offices on their way back, they helped themselves to as many LPs as they could carry from the famous Nonesuch International Series, which was part of Jac Holzman's record-company empire.

In the wake of Alan Lomax's pioneering Columbia World Library, Nonesuch was one of the first off the block to market the indigenous music of non-Western cultures with professionalism and integrity. Their world-music releases had been available for a few years, but in 1967 producer David Lewiston and field recordist Peter K. Siegel initiated the Nonesuch Explorer Series, recordings from far-flung regions marketed at a sophisticated younger listenership assumed to possess the intelligence to join the aural dots between ancient ethnic musics, modern folk and psychedelic rock.

Robin Williamson and Mike Heron walked away with albums of kabuki theatre from Japan; of Bulgarian choirs; Greek bouzoukis; an album of guitarists from the Bahamas – Brucie Green, Frederick McQueen and Joseph Spence; and one of the first widely available glimpses of Balinese gamelan, Music from the Morning of the World.

Steadily imbibed along with hallucinogenics over the following autumn, this grand bazaar of non-tempered noises would play its part in steering the direction of the album The Incredible String Band created in December 1967. It's the album that remains their best known, one that took them to a high placing in the British charts: The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. {via: arthur newsletter}

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CocoRosie - Grey Oceans

CocoRosie are two American-born sisters, Sierra (Rosie) and Bianca (Coco), who started making music together in Paris in 2003.

The nomadic duo (currently and temporarily residing in New Mexico) spent much of 2008 writing and recording in Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Berlin, New York, and Paris, finding amazing and diverse musicians to collaborate along the way. The result is their 11-song Sub Pop debut, Grey Oceans, which came out May 11th, 2010.

CocoRosie's Lemonade | Buy Grey Oceans

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in Sun by WAGES

WAGES is a new impressionist band made up of members from NYC band Arizona. They recorded a debut album produced by Hank Sullivant (the Whigs, MGMT, Kuroma) at Echo Mountain Recording.
"in Sun" is the first in a series of EPs to be released by WAGES in 2010. Nick was kind enough to give me a few links off the new EP, in Sun. Hurricane Cocaine and You. (See below.)

LISTEN: WAGES - Hurricane Cocaine.mp3
LISTEN: WAGES - You.mp3

credits:
released 10 May 2010
Engineered by Alex Hornbake and Julian Dryer
Produced by Hank Sullivant
Mixed and Mastered by Alex Hornbake
Recorded, Mixed and Mastered at Echo Mountain Recording, Asheville, NC.

Download Album $5 USD or more or have a listen to the songs here on their website.

Facebook | MySpace

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Rangda

RANGDA is (L-R) Ben Chasny, Chris Corsano and Sir Richard Bishop.

Download: “Bull Lore”—Rangda (mp3) - Sir Richard is tearing it up.

Album (”False Flag,” out May 18) and May-June UK/Europe tour info: Drag City website

link

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Arizona Splitting Up

via email today:
Before reading on we want to thank you very much for several great musical years as Arizona. We always appreciated the thought and time people gave us and our music. There's such a large musical world out there, and it meant a lot to us that we were able to share and be a part of that world for so many people.

As of now, Arizona is on an indefinite hiatus. Creative and philosophical differences sparked an amicable split – all of us care very much about each other and making music – and we'll all continue to make music. We put our hearts into the music we made as Arizona, and as of now this is the best way to make sure that the people who enjoyed Arizona get to hear as much from us as possible. We're now working as the following two bands:

WAGES
New Beard

Attached is a parting (for the time) gift. It was a recording we made for fun/a laugh, for a friend, and thought others might enjoy it as well. The track can be downloaded for free by clicking here. We recorded this tune when we were at our sharpest as a live 4 piece, just off the Glowing Bird tour.

You may be receiving just one more email from each of these new bands (the email will give you a simple way of being taken off of the mailing list if you would prefer that).

Thanks again for letting us share our music!

Love,
AZ

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EP release party for WAGES - May 8th @ LAB in Asheville

They came to my attention when I learned they'd recorded some in Asheville, NC, and they turned out to be one of my favorite bands. And one of my favorite cds of recent years was Arizona's Glowing Bird. Damn, people, it's beautiful. It's melody driven, it's harmony driven and you can't go wrong with that combo. The Beatles had that combination, Yeasayer has it. A few more bands do... so I'm anxious to listen to the two bands that came out of Arizona listed above.

For now I'm going to hunt Glowing Birds and listen to it again. Fucking classic. =)

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Broken Social Scene

Song of the Day: Broken Social Scene - World Sick (MP3)

Broken Social Scene’s debut album, Feel Good Lost, was an atmospheric 2-piece featuring Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew, and although they put out some interesting tracks it was only until they swelled into an 11-piece manifesto of Toronto’s indie rock community and became the Canadian Juno-Award winning supergroup including Metric’s Emily Haines, and Do Make Say Think’s Charles Spearin. And while they may not have the name recognition as the Traveling Wilburys or even Monsters of Folk, Broken Social Scene have the staying power needed to be more than just another supergroup. With as many as 23 musicians in the collective’s roster, and such a liquid mentality, they wont be held back.

Only a taste of the new album courtesy of Broken Social Scene’s website including the tracks, "Forced to Love," "All to All," and today’s song, "World Sick," is enough to stir up some buzz and excitement for the mega-group’s first album in five years. After stepping away from the group mentality, BSS’s Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning having both released solo albums under Arts and Crafts and with the Broken Social Scene flag still flying high, they have reconvened as Broken Social Scene to create Forgiveness Rock Record, released May 4th on Arts and Crafts. The follow up to these solo endeavors, the Broken Social Scene is back together as a whole. The whole lot of them. [via]

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Who Remembers Poco?

In the fall of ’71, Poco was no doubt the most popular of the first generation country-rock bands. By then, their album Deliverin’ had entered the Top 30 and Poco thanked its label, Epic Records, with a private showcase at the CBS Records’ Hollywood studio.

“We just set up as we would have for a small club,” recalls frontman Richie Furay, whose bandmates included guitarist/singer Paul Cotton (from the Illinois Speed Press), bassist Tim Schmidt (later of the Eagles), pedal steel player Rusty Young and drummer/vocalist George Grantham. By then, Poco was evolving from country-rock towards an edgier rock sound.

Furay says, “Though we were innovators of the L.A. ‘country-rock’ sound, we weren’t going top be pigeonholed into being a one-sound band.” The 14 songs they performed for label employees that day were a solid cross-section of tunes that had appeared on its first four albums including the medley “Hard Luck Child/Child’s Claim to Fame/Pickin’ Up the Pieces,” plus “I Guess You Made It,” “A Man Like Me,” “Ol’ Forgiver,” “Heart That Music,” “Hurry Up,” “You Are the One” and others for an hour of music. {via}

This rare, live, Poco’s Live at Columbia Studios, Hollywood 9/30/71, will be released will be on April 20 (4/20). They are still touring; see website for info.

website | wikipedia

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Fang Island

Fang Island is the latest band I've found to get excited about. I especially like the song, Daisy. It's part Animal Collective (vocal harmonies) and Arcade Fire (organ melody) as is much of their music. Beautifully soaring guitar melodies with just the right amount of harmony. How can you go wrong with that? Def my new favorite band.

Stop by the website and buy the latest (3rd) cd or listen to it here.

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Yeasayer and the Polyphonic Spree to Visit Uganda

Invisible Children + La Blogotheque + The Polyphonic Spree from Alexander Collins on Vimeo.

Yeasayer have signed on to travel to Gulu, Uganda later this year, aiming to learn first hand the effects of the Ugandan civil war. They join the already-committed Polyphonic Spree. The trip is being organised by the charity Invisible Children, which is dedicated to improving the lives of these children who are forcibly recruited into the civil war. Whilst in Uganda the bands will learn about the war first hand, and perform live in various locations.

A documentary is set to be made by La Blogotheque, the site behind the 'Take Away Shows,' which puts bands in unusual locations, then films them. They've made a trailer for the project, which can be seen here (video below).

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Bowerbirds

Not a very awe-inspiring name or one that necessarily makes you want to explore further. But you have to take MY word for it. These guys are good. Mighty damn good. One of those bands that their whole album is good, not just a few songs. All in the neofolk vein. Think: good melodies, good harmonies, good acoustics.

Now. Go forth and multiply, er, um, explore! You can hear them at all three of the links I've included below.

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Bowerbirds are Beth Tacular, Phil Moore and Mark Paulson from North Carolina. They make leafy folk-pop with guitars, accordions and violins.

Their first full length album, Hymns for a Dark Horse, was released in Spring 2007 on Burly Time Records. Their fluent, characteristic style, marked by wonderfully skilled songcraft and bucolic imagery, has since earned them several positive reviews.

Their latest album, Upper Air, was released July 7, 2009 on Dead Oceans.

LastFM | MySpace | Website

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Jeff Mangum Does Chris Knox Cover

Neutral Milk Hotel's Jeff Mangum on a new benefit CD called Stroke: Songs for Chris Knox.

From the All Things Considered Show on NPR.

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New Plants and Animals CD

LA LA LAND

Parc Avenue, the 2008 debut from Montreal indie poppers Plants and Animals, brought the band to continental prominence and landed them a set at last year's Pitchfork Music Festival. And on April 20, the quartet will release sophomore album La La Land, via Secret City. (Just one more reason to look forward to 4/20.)

Plants and Animals recorded the LP at their own studio, the Treatment Room, and in an old mansion outside Paris. According to a press release, they've rediscovered electric guitars and effects pedals, so look for these guys to rock a little harder this time out.

Stream and/or download the track "Tom Cruz" here.

link

"Tom Cruz" is a well written song. Listen more than once and it'll be in your head all day. No way this is not going to be another excellent cd. They're quite simply blessed with talent and gimmick free.

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Yeasayer Coming To Asheville!

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APRIL 5, 2010 | 9:00 PM

Where: The Orange Peel, Asheville

TICKETS

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