This Weeks Reviews on Kevchino.com

This Weeks News on Kevchino.com

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Outside Lands - Rodrigo y Gabriela


Master guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela showed off their gypsy flair, rocking flamenco and Mexico City roots the third and final day of Outside Lands in San Francisco, playing many songs from their most recent release, 2006’s Rodrigo y Gabriela. They also teased the crowd with excerpts of Metallica, Extreme, The White Stripes and finally an inspired version of Stairway to Heaven, also from the latest record.

Photo & Words ~ Dru

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Free Chemical Brothers Download


The Chemical Brothers have a free download here in trade for your email address of "Hey Boy Hey Girl (Soulwax 2 Many DJ's Remix." The Chemical Brothers are playing a one off, free DJ gig at the Forever Heavenly Festival. They will be taking over the lobby of the Royal Festival Hall for one night only, playing a very special one off DJ set in the company of their old friends at Heavenly Recordings. This gig is ticketed but is entirely free.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Stereolab Video for Neon Beanbag


Stereolab and director Julian House teamed up and made a video for "Neon Beanbag," off their new album their new album Chemical Chords. Watch it here. Read our review of the LP here. If you pre-order their new LP you get a free 7 inch of "Spool of Collusion" and B-side "Forensic Itch" while supplies last.

Lykke Li plays free Amoeba Records LA show


Sweden's Lykke Li plays a free show tonight August 25th 6:30pm at Amoeba Records in Hollywood, CA.

Outside Lands - Sunday - Sharon Jones


No one was safe from Sharon Jones of Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, who brought the traditional spirit of funk and soul to the final day of Outside Lands. She dominated the stage with blistering, howling vocals and an ecstatic performance. A number of backstage guests as well as audience members were commanded on stage, like this young man, whom she serenaded and dirty-danced with. "He's young," she said, "but I can show him."

Photo & Words ~ Dru

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Outside Lands - Saturday - Happy B-Day to Kaki King


Kaki King nearing the end of her set at Outside Lands was surprised when the audience turned the tables and sang her a round of Happy Birthday. She said she'd remember the moment forever. She and the band will be back in San Francisco Oct 23 at the Independent and Oct 24 at the Fillmore with the Mountain Goats for the Last Happy Night Of Your Life Tour.

Photo & Words ~ Dru

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Outside Lands - Friday


Northern California Bay Area festival Outside Lands kicked off Friday, Aug 25 in Golden Gate park to a crowd numbering over 60,000. A concert of this magnitude has not seen the light (or fog) of day in San Francisco since the proverbial Summer of Love over 40 years ago. Opening night saw some of the biggest draw bands such as Beck and headliners Radiohead, which were the first band in the park's history to ever play after dark (and who blew the power. Twice). A wide range of acts also performed, such as heavy bluesmen The Black Keys, reggae giants Steel Pulse, and Berkeley-based rapper Lyrics Born... a historic testament to the birth city of the band that started festival touring-- The Grateful Dead-- and the legendary concert promoter-- Bill Graham-- that changed live music forever. 

Photo & Words ~ Dru

Radiohead - Thom Yorke

Beck

The Black Keys

Photos by: Photos by Jeff Kravitz

Friday, August 22, 2008

Outside Lands Begins - Radiohead in SF


AT&T will be hosting live coverage at www.attblueroom.com/music and Kevchino music reviewer Dru will be sending in some posts!

Damon Albarn goes for the Monkey


September 23rd Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz, Mali Music, The Good, the Bad and the Queen) will release a new LP entitled Monkey, Journey to the West. Journey to the West is performed by both European and Chinese musicians and singers and produced by Damon Albarn. The LP is based on the opera Monkey Journey to the West, the album is a natural development of the art and music which Jamie Hewlett and Damon Albarn created with director Chen Shi-Zheng. All formats come with a lyric book in Mandarin with Pinyin and English translations. You can read our review here. Visit www.monkeyjourneytothewest.com for more details.

Sunset Junction 2008


If your in California, head for the gates to Silver Lake this weekend for 2008's Sunset Junction. Saturday's headliner Isaac Hayes was scheduled to headline at the Sunset Junction Music Festival before his death. The festival has announced that friend of Hayes and a legendary soul man himself, Sam Moore (of Sam & Dave) will perform in his place. The Festival takes place from 10am till 11pm both Saturday and Sunday, August 23rd and 24th.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Limited Edition Metallic Margarita Airline Guitar


EastWood Guitars announced the release of a Limited Edition Metallic Margarita Airline 2P Guitar today. They only made forty-eight of these bright green beauties. Twenty-Four with a Bigsby tremolo (Pictured Above) and twenty-four without. Pick one up at My Rare Guitars before they go.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

New Atlas Sound virtual 7"


Visit here to download the new Atlas Sound free virtual 7" featuring "Holiday and b-side "S.S.C."

Friday, August 15, 2008

Stereolab "Spool of Collusion" 7" Inch


The cat is out of the bag Stereolab is still an amazing band proven by their new LP Chemical Chords. Read our review here. If you pre-order their new LP you get a free 7 inch of "Spool of Collusion" and B-side "Forensic Itch" (pictured above) while supplies last. Both tracks our not on the standard jewel case edition of Chemical Chords. And if you catch the Lab on tour this year you can pick up another tour only 7-inch which will include the tracks "Explosante Fixe" and "L`exotisme Intérieur."

Andrew Bird US Tour Dates


Unfortunately Andrew Bird's pair of intimate New York Hiro Ballroom shows are both sold out by the time I got to this post but other shows are still up for grabs. The October shows mark Bird's first NYC headline engagement since his sold out November 30, 2007 Beacon Theater date and are likely to feature selections from his as yet untitled next record, due out in early 2009 on Fat Possum. Upon the completion of the itinerary below, Andrew Bird will head back into the studio to put finishing touches on the new record.

08/24/08 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival
08/31/08 - Vancouver, BC - The Stanley Park Singing Exhibition at Malkin Bowl
09/03/08 - Chicago, IL - Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park
10/02/08 - Tarrytown, NY - Tarrytown Music Hall
10/03/08 - Bethlehem, PA - Zoellner Arts Center at Lehigh University
10/04/08 - Ithaca, NY - State Theatre of Ithaca
10/06/08 - New York, NY - Hiro Ballroom
10/07/08 - New York, NY - Hiro Ballroom
10/08/08 - Portsmouth, NH - The Music Hall
10/09/08 - Albany, NY - Sawyer Theatre
10/10/08 - Northampton, MA - Calvin Theatre

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Taken By Trees - Union Hall 8-12-08


Victoria Bergsman of Taken By Trees and formerly of The Concretes dropped in from Sweden to play Brooklyn's Union Hall. A mellow alternative to the Sold Out Bob Dylan show also in Park Slope. Victoria seemed as frighted as a school girl in a recital on stage but along with her band she delivered some nice ambient child-like tunes mostly off her LP Open Field. Check out her MySpace page to hear her take on Guns N' Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine."

Radiohead score new Palahniuk film Choke

Update: This story has been updates at AT/EASE.com saying that Radiohead is not doing a score for the film just including a song in the film.

AT/EASE.com Reports: Controversial Fight Club and Snuff author Chuck Palahniuk has revealed Radiohead have written brand new music for the soundtrack to the new movie adaptation of his book Choke.

Speaking to BBC 6 Music on the Shaun Keaveny Breakfast Show, Palahniuk explained it all came from his love of the band’s music, saying: “Clark Gregg, who directed the movie version of Choke which comes out on September 26 (in the US), he knew that I’d written Choke while listening to Radiohead’s Pablo Honey, with Creep, over and over and over.

“So Clark got Radiohead to contribute a song; to write a song for the very end of the movie, the final credits. Apparently Radiohead liked the movie so much, they’ve written the score, most of the ambient music throughout it. So it’s ‘Choke – with the music of Radiohead’“

When asked if he felt honoured to have such a respected band write music solely for his film, the author laughed, “I quit believing in my own life at this point! My life is just too incredible to be believable anymore. It’s a living dream.”

Palahniuk’s work is famous associated with alternative music, with his use of Pixies’ Where Is My Mind during the finale of the feature film adaptation of his novel Fight Club. See our review of Choke back in June here, sans Radiohead score.

Yeasayer Reveal Fall 2008 Tour


After nearly a year of incessant touring totaling over 200 shows we are happy to announce a wrap-up of sorts for the propagation of Yeasayer’s debut LP All Hour Cymbals. The gospel of YEASAYER spread through word of mouth (in some turf known as blogs) and the swapping of sounds. In celebration of what has been a splendid term on this continent we are pleased to announce the following in bullet point format:

Yeasayer will embark on two journeys through N. America, the Northeast/Midwest in October, and the West Coast in November. These shows will be Yeasayer’s first ever-headlining engagements.

Promised on this tour will be:
• brand new songs not heard on previous N. American tours
• a repaired voice for the son of Cricket, Anand Wilder
• new stage design incorporating projectors, lcd grids, and possibly a weather balloon

The LP format for All Hour Cymbals will finally be realized in late fall/early winter. The LP will include lyrics and will be pressed on 180 gram black vinyl. Yeasayer will be returning to the studio in early 2009 to begin recording the follow up to All Hour Cymbals. I have heard demos and they are mind slaying. The debut barely breached the surface of magnificence that is to come.



YEASAYER TOUR DATES
10/22/2008 Paradise, Boston
10/24/2008 Le National, Montreal
10/25/2008 Legendary Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto
10/26/2008 The Blind Pig, Ann Arbor
10/28/2008 Bottom Lounge, Chicago
10/29/2008 Turner Hall Ballroom, Milwaukee
10/30/2008 Triple Rock Social Club, Minneapolis
10/31/2008 Gardner Lounge - Grinnell College, Grinnell
11/19/2008 Richards On Richards, Vancouver
11/20/2008 Neumos, Seattle
11/21/2008 Aladdin Theater, Portland
11/22/2008 Bimbos 365 Club, San Francisco
11/23/2008 Troubadour, Los Angeles
11/25/2008 The Loft, La Jolla
11/26/2008 Rhythm Room, Phoenix
11/28/2008 Sheridan Opera House, Telluride
11/29/2008 Bluebird Theater, Denver
12/03/2008 Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, Washington
12/04/2008 First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia
12/05/2008 Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn
12/06/2008 Music Hall Of Williamsburg, Brooklyn

Monday, August 11, 2008

Hercules & Love Affair - NYC 8-8-08


Hercules & Love Affair has come to us from another New York – three decades ago, New York was a time of extremities and excess. With a massive debt crisis, nightmarish crime rate, and a crumbling factory industry, the city was crippled with some very low lows. But Vietnam was over, it was the dawn of gay pride, and women were winning the fight for their rights. People wanted to dance, dance, dance. Uptown, Studio 54 was flooded with starlets and wannabes. Downtown, The Loft and The Gallery housed epic parties with epic dancing to epic music. The effect of the New York disco scene and sound gave rise to the house, techno, and rave scenes which followed in the 1980’s and 90’s, and left an impression on the city for years to come.

Hercules and Love Affair's show Friday night at The Fillmore gave the audience a taste of what the high highs of a past New York used to be like. The show was a pastiche of elements from the past three decades of club culture in New York – and not dependent on nostalgia alone, Hercules was able to take these elements, and classily appropriate them to contemporary culture.

Opening with a cover of Daniel Wang's 1993 club classic "Like Some Dream (I Can't Stop Dreaming)," paying homage to one of New York’s left-field disco finest, the 8-piece band burst onto the stage with a combustion of pink helium balloons spilling out onto the audience. Nomi Ruiz took on vocals as the band merged the show’s opener into “True/False,” one of the closing tracks on Hercules’ recently released debut album. Switching back and forth with the petite, androgynous Kim Ann Foxman, the two made an engaging pair. At first, both Kim Ann and Nomi seemed a bit overcome by shyness and timidity; the audience didn’t seem quite sure how to react to the group at first, and kept quiet. But by the end of “Shadows,” there was a strong connection between Kim Ann, Nomi, and the audience which lasted for the rest of the show. Bordering on a style somewhere between feminine sophistication and tranny-tackyness in the best possible way, Nomi’s voice was a more-than suitable filler for the missing Antony Hegarty on “Blind,” The bands first single which has caught the ears of both critics and audiences alike, the live performance of “Blind” lived up to the excitement surrounding the recorded version, and was definitely the hit of the night. The boyish Kim Ann dedicated the sexy, slow-moving “Athene” to “all the girls,” and got down with a drum pad during the spacey, hypnotic, bass-pumping “Classique #2” which could have been taken directly from an old-school rave. The encore included “You Belong,” another one of Hercules’ club hits, and ended with “Hercules Theme.” By the end of the show, Nomi and Kim Ann had the entire audience singing along about the perils and triumphs of the transcendent Greek God.

As great as the music was, Friday night's show was just as much of a celebration of the queer culture surrounding it. On opposite ends of the stage were three vogue dancers, adding a flamboyant theatrical touch with moves taken straight from the New York City drag balls of the 1970's and 80's, where voguing originated. Many of the band members, including two live trumpet players, wore shirts adorned with the word "Banjee" underneath the band’s logo – a slang term used to describe a gay man of color who dresses in stereotypical urban fashion. Andy Butler, the main man behind Hercules and Love Affair, was perched at a set of keyboards and synthesizers, and with his platinum blonde hair, looked like he stepped out of a new-wave music video. Hidden behind the theatrics of Kim Ann, Nomi, and the dancers for most of the show, when he did address the audience towards the end of the night, he told them he was proud of his fellow New Yorkers for keeping the party going. “You guys are starting to make me think that New York is fun again!”

Watching members of a multiracial, pan-sexual band flaunting their strengths and sexuality while simultaneously expressing their earnestness and vulnerabilities provided an emotional wave of communication between the band members and audience. In recent years, there haven't been too many dance acts that have taken the party and have turned it into a heartfelt, sincere experience. It's refreshing to have a band like Hercules and Love Affair who can make exciting and edgy dance music and turn it into a joyful, inspiring, and meaningful live show.

Review & Photos by Alison McCarthy

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Isaac Hayes RIP


Soul legend Isaac Hayes (Chef on South Park) was found dead in his home located just east of Memphis, Tennessee on August 10, 2008 as reported by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Department. A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy responded to Hayes' home after his wife found him on the floor near a still-running treadmill. Hayes was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08pm. We just saw him perform an amazing free show in Brooklyn's Prospect Park this June.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

All Points West - Friday - Andrew Bird


Chicago's Andrew Bird was the most amazing surprise for me at the festival. I had heard his song "Heretics" off Armchair Apocrypha and loved it but just never got around to giving his music a thorough spin. His live set was amazing! His band consisted of Martin Dosh (check out his band Dosh) on Drums, bassist Mike Lewis and guitarist Jeremy all from Minnesota. Bird would construct songs plucking his violin recording it with a loop station then playing violin over sometimes adding guitar or Xylophone to it while he made tons of bird chirp and sung. Then his band would come in and flesh out the songs. His vocals at times were not unlike Thom Yorke, Tom Brosseau or Joey Burns of Calexico. He played a few new tunes "Non-Element" and "Skin Is Mine" off a forthcoming album. Sometimes his whistling would sound like a theremin or a melody from Ennio Morricone.

All Points West - Friday - Grizzly Bear



Believe it or not this was Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear's first time playing in New Jersey. Jersey got a great set performed for them with three new songs from their forth coming album. Not too shabby but those of you lucky enough to get tickets to their show this Saturday at Music Hall of Williamsburg should be in for a much longer and more intimate set.

Grizzly Bear Set List - All Points West - August 8th 2008
Fine For Now
Knife
Wide Eye Faltering
Two Weeks
Fix It
On A Neck On A Spit
While You Wait For The Others

All Points West - Friday -Radiohead



Radiohead killed it as always as New York and New Jersey got their first dose of In Rainbows live mixed into a twenty five song set. Thom Yorke was in a playful mood and thanked the crowd saying "Thank you New Joisey." in a Jersey accent! He also dedicated "Pyramid Song" to New York City, as he said "This song is dedicated to an extremly hectic city for those moments when you try and find some peace!"

I highly recommend for Saturday attendees to get your Radiohead real estate early on. We waited to long as you can see by the horrible photo. Those who thrive off alcohol in outdoor settings, beware the festival gives you a wristband with five pull-off tabs. Each tab is only good for one beer. So it's a five beer max . . . unless you create a work around. And last but not least, we took the Path Train from WTC to the Grove stop and walked in to the festival bypassing the Light Rail. It went pretty smooth both ways.

Radiohead Set List - All Points West - Friday August 8th 2008
15 Step
There There
Morning Bell
All I Need
Lucky
Nude
Arpeggi
The Gloaming
Optimistic
Videotape
Reckoner
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
You And Whose Army
Idioteque
Climbing Up The Walls
Bodysnatchers
How to Disappear Completely

1st Encore:
House of cards
Pyramid Song
Paranoid Android
Dollars and Cents
Street Spirit

2nd Encore:
Cymbal Rush (Thom Yorke song)
Just
Everything is in it's right place.

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

All Points West - Sunday Schedule

All Points West - Saturday Schedule

All Points West - Friday Schedule

Burial is not J. D. Salinger

The once unknown artist Burial released a statement on his MySpace blog that is he is in fact not the writer J. D. Salinger or DJ Fatboy Slim or even the cartoon drawing on his debut LP but his real name is Will Bevan. His site read:"hi for a while theres been some talk about who i am, but its not a big deal i wanted to be unknown because i just want it to be all about thetunes. over the last year the unknown thing become an issue so im not into it anymore. im a lowkey person and i just want to make some tunes, nothing else. my names will bevan, im from south london, im keeping my head down and just going to finish my next album, theres going to be a 12" maybe in the next few weeks too with 4 tunes. hope u like it, i'll try put a tune up later sorry for any rubbish tunes i made in the past, ill make up for it a big big thank you to anyone who ever supported me, liked my tunes or sent me messages, it means the world to me. big up everyone, take care, will ( burial )"

Bats for Lashes cover The Cure


UK darlings Bat For Lashes take on The Cure's "A Forest," on a new compilation entitled Perfect As Cats: A Tribute to The Cure. The tune only clocks in at a little over three minutes unlike the original which is over five minutes but the Lashes version uses hammer dulcimer to recreate the guitar melodies and some heavy tom tom drums at the end of the tune, along side of repeated shout's of "Hey!" which add some nice other-era Cure influences to the cover.

The LP will be released worldwide on October 28th, 2008 through LA indie label, Manimal Vinyl. The charity album (to benefit the Invisible Children organization) boasts 32 tracks from 32 artists ranging from UK bands Bat For Lashes and Jesu to American anglophiles The Dandy Warhols to newcomers like Hecuba, blackblack and Army Navy.

Bat For Lashes A Forest.mp3

Monday, August 04, 2008

Free David Byrne & Brian Eno Download!

Visit www.everythingthathappens.com to download the free track "Strange Overtones" off David Byrne & Brian Eno's forthcoming album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Eli "Paperboy" Reed - Union Hall


Eli "Paperboy" Reed just returned from a string of shows across the pond and performed at Brooklyn's Union Hall this Friday night. Eli and his band The True Loves gave an amazing performance dishing out soul jams which got the whole basement dancing. Eli's extremely loud voice is reminiscent at times of Otis Redding and is as wild as Screaming J Hawkins or James Brown. If you missed this show it's OK. He's playing a free show next Sunday afternoon August 10th at McCarren Park Pool.

Mission Of Burma West Coast Dates


Mission Of Burma will be bringing their beloved Definitive Editions tour to the West Coast! Two day passes are available for both San Francisco shows. If you get your tix that way you get a Burma poster, which you can pick up at the merch table on the 26th! Pre-sale link is here:

The dates and which albums they will be playing are below:
9/25 - LA at Echoplex - Vs.
9/26 - SF at Independent - Signals, Calls & Marches
9/27 - SF at Independent - Vs.
9/29 - Portland at Doug Fir - Signals, Calls & Marches
9/30 - Vancouver at Plaza Nightclub - Signals, Calls & Marches
10/1 - Seattle at Neumo’s - Vs.