d'Eon & Grimes tracks now! 'Dark Bloom' split out April 19 on Hippos in Tanks/Arbitus Records

A joint release by L.A.’s Hippos In Tanks and Montreal’s Arbutus Records, Dark Bloom is the title of a thrilling new split by d’Eon and Grimes. Both rising stars in Montreal's independent music scene, they produced their respective sides independently, though the project was conceptualized together.

Following the Middle-Eastern-tinged R&B of 2010’s Palinopsia, d’Eon’s continuous, circular suite addresses reliance on technology through lyrical content and sonic allusion (for example, “Telepathy” samples cell phone interference). d’Eon broadens his stylistic breadth through reference to a number of electronic genres. He simultaneously incorporates elements of (for example) Chicago footwork and new jack swing, but surprises the listener with strange forays into bygone genres such as UK drum and bass and trip hop.

Harnessing the dark energy of her sophomore album Halfaxa with the shimmering dream pop of Geidi Primes, Grimes’s side represents a synthesis of these two sonic personalities. Displaying a level of clarity and craftsmanship heretofore unseen in her releases, Boucher presents a stunning new collection of ethereal dreamscapes that expand her creative palette without compromising the spectral presence she is known for.

Dark Bloom will be available worldwide in both 12-inch vinyl and digital formats on April 19, 2011.

TRACKLIST:
SIDE A: Grimes
01 Orphia
02 Vanessa
03 Crystal Ball
04 Urban Twilight
05 Hedra

SIDE B: d’Eon
01 Telepathy
02 Thousand Mile Trench
03 Tongues
04 Transparency

Radiohead release newspaper and a Record Store Day 12 inch

If you'd like some more Radiohead hype this year, the band have published their own newspaper called The Universal Sigh which you can pick up a free copy at the locations listed here. Or if you a environmentalist you can use some energy on your computer vs tree pulp and visit here for a PDF version.

The band will also release a new twelve inch record on April 16th for Record Store Day this year. It is rumored the release will be limited to 2000 copies and it will feature two new songs, "The Butcher" and "Supercollider."

Neil Young Inducted Tom Waits into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Neil Young inducted Tom Waits into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 14 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria. Tom performed two songs "Make It Rain" and "Rain Dogs."

Interview with Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto about her new band If By Yes

I met with Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto the day after Valentine’s Day at a cafe in Gramercy and chatted with her about her new band, If By Yes. She discussed the details of her almost-ten-year East Coast-West Coast collaboration with singer Petra Haden. The debut features some amazing guests, including David Byrne, Cornelius, Nels Cline, and Sean Lennon. Read the interview here.

Morcheeba at MusicBox Los Angeles 3/6/11

On a March night just down the hill from the Hollywood sign, Morcheeba graced the stage of the MusicBox Theatre. Supporting their latest release "Blood Like Lemonade," the band brought an ample supply of their sultry trip-hop grooves and beats, from London with love.

Having morphed over the years through members, the original core line-up has reunited; bringing the brothers Paul Godfrey (beats & scratches), Ross Godfrey (guitar/keyboards), and Skye Edwards (vocals) - together the for first time since 2002's "Charango." With the stage lights coming up - Sky illuminated the MusicBox with her personality, presence and a dress made out of red feathers and hair in a stylish mohawk.

Opening the night was a near-whispered performance of "The Sea"  from their Big Calm album. Floating from song to song and entrancing the audience along the way, Morcheeba covered their most memorable tunes from "Big Calm," "Who Can You Trust" and "Charango," as well as an ample selection from their new release "Blood Like Lemonade." In good form: the tunes had a very zen & sexy feel - never letting the audience down or missing a groove, while Skye's entrancing and sultry vocals further immersed the audience in their spell.

High points included "Otherwise," "Part of the Process," and by way of a special treat for the local audience: a rendition of Arlo Guthrie's "Coming into Los Angeles." This added a closeness akin to having friends play you a concert for your birthday. Skye and Ross were relaxed and lighthearted in their repartee with each other and the audience between lush and seductive songs.

With an upbeat topping on the desert of the evening, their encore closed with Fragments of Freedom's "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day." All in all, a really good show - better yet, an amazing show to bring a date to...

1) The Sea
2) Friction
3) Otherwise
4) Never An Easy Way
5) Even Though
6) Coming Into Los Angeles (Arlo Guthrie cover)
7) Part of the Process
8) Blood Like Lemonade
9) Slow Down
10) Crimson
11) Trigger Hippy
12) Beat of the Drum
13) Blindfold
---Encore---
14) Be Yourself
15) Rome Wasn't Built In A Day

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Clovis IV: Photos & Review
www.clovis-iv.com

Download our KevChino Winter Mix 2011

Last chance to grab the FREE KevChino Winter Mix 2011 featuring tracks by If By Yes, Dirty Beaches, Sister Crayon, tUnE-yArDs, Dirty Gold, REWARDS, Prairie Empire, Monogold, LIVING DAYS, La Sera, Ducktails, The Soft Moon, Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers.

Click here to download The link Expires: March 21, 2011. Enjoy!

If By Yes live at Littlefiled 3/13/11 plus more show dates

If By Yes is a new collaboration project featuring Petra Haden & Yuka Honda of Cibo Matto. They are releasing their debut LP on Chimera label on March 22nd. Check out our review of the Salt on Sea Glass album here. The album features some amazing guests including David Byrne, Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada), Nels Cline and Sean Lennon. Last night's live band Petra and Yuka were joined by Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, guitarist Hirotaka "Shimmy" Shimizu and drummer Yuko Araki both of Cornelius.

The band sounded great live they opened with "You Feel Right" ended the show with a David Bryne-less version of "Eliza" then the band did a even more rocking rendition of "Adrift" Petra's vocals sounded spot on to the record with a little more flair live. She had a background singer Courtney Kaiser (from Kaiser Cartel) who was helping Petra create some beautiful vocal harmonies. It was pretty amazing what the two were pulling off live vocally. The band left the stage audience gave a very big encore request but sadly Yuka Honda came on stage and announced they had no more songs left to play.

The band had a donation area to help raise money for Japan which Yuka announced over the mic during there set. Every $10 donated you you would receive a handmade card plus be entered in a raffle to win some vinyl and music from the band. They raised $300 last night but they had five people matching the money so the band is donating $1800 to Japan. Tonight's If By Yes show at Le Poisson Rouge it is highly rumored David Byrne is to guest on his tune "Eliza," also if you at SXSW be sure to catch them at one of the shows below.

March 13 (Sunday) Brooklyn, NY LITTLEFIELD
March 14 (Monday) New York, NY (LE) POISSON ROUGE with Deerhoof
March 19 (Saturday) Austin, TX LIVE ON KUT RADIO CACTUS CAFE
March 19 (Saturday) Austin, TX SXSW CHIMERA SHOWCASE at ELYSIUM
March 22 (Tuesday) Los Angeles, CA LARGO
March 25 (Friday) New York, NY MERCURY LOUNGE

10 bands not to miss at SXSW 2011

Band Camp has a link to hear 470 bands performing at SXSW 2011 here. I haven't been able to hear them all but I can highly recommend these bands below to check out:

01. Living Days
02. Dirty Beaches
03. Shilpa Ray & Her Happy Hookers
04. tUnE-yArDs
05. Monogold
06. Sister Crayon
07. The Soft Moon
08. Austra
09. Braids
10. If By Yes

I would also catch these bands too . . . Tamaryn, Sharon Van Etten, Lower Dens, SHAD[]WB[]X and Julianna Barwick

Sadly we won't be having a SXSW showcase or attending the festival this year but if your going have tons of fun. Eat lot's of breakfast tacos!

New Marissa Nadler song "Baby, I Will Leave You In The Morning"

"Baby, I Will Leave You In The Morning" is the first preview off Marissa Nadler's soon to be released new self titled LP. Visit here for a free download.

Interview with Jana Hunter of Lower Dens

Read it here.

Crystal Castles, 03/03 @ Fox Theatre, Pomona

On 03.03.11, Crystal Castles played another long sold-out Southern California show, in an outpost just to the east of Los Angeles - this round, in support of their second eponymous release "Crystal Castles, II." Just underway on their latest North American tour, CC delivered a show that was equally as fierce as it was indelible, in low-fi synths & pulsing beats.

Composed of Ethan Kath (multi-instrumentalist) and Alice Glass (vocalist), as well as tour drummer, Crystal Castles have made their live minimalist audio/visual barrage something to be loved and feared. CC have harnessed an early DIY punk attitude and channeled it through the their own envisioning of chip-modified electronica, stepping into something new.

As the show began the tour manager came on stage making an introductory note that Alice had broken her ankle some weeks back in Tokyo. The question had come up if their tour should be postponed. True to form, Alice said: "...FUCK THAT, we're playing..." and the venue lights went down.

Starting the night's mayhem was "Fainting Spells," the noisy and unsettling opening track from their most recent album. This, preformed with a cast & crutch & bottle of Jack - none of which slowed the show down for a second. Following the opener, they launched into equally edgy songs, such as "Doe Deer" and "Alice Practice." This was interspersed with hits such as "Crimewave," "Courtship Dating," and "Celestica," mixing retro electronica soundscapes with effected vocals, to a danceable & chaotic end. Succinctly said: Crystal Castles played with an intense passion and sense-of-urgency that's rare to find.

As the band was untethered by any continuous lighting, the beats and strobes propelled the audience all-but in-the-dark, providing a time-laps experience with waves of chaotic noise and electro-pop hooks. In the evolution of electro-based bands, Crystal Castles show their live musical progression to combine electronica with an edge as sharp as a surgical blade.

Unlike some live shows, the Crystal Castles 75 minute set flew by leaving the audience (as well as myself) craving more, even as the encore finished... //ie: see them this summer on tour//

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Clovis IV: Photos & Review
www.clovis-iv.com

Tiny Vipers, Natureboy & Prairie Empire at Union Pool 3/4/11

Tiny Vipers, Natureboy & Prairie Empire TONIGHT at Union Pool

Kevchino.com & Musicology NYC Presents
Tiny Vipers
Natureboy
Prairie Empire
+ DJ Scot Bowman & DJ Kevchino spinning between sets.

Friday, March 4th at Union Pool
484 Union Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11211

21+ Doors 9pm $12 at the door

Tickets are available at the door.

Dirty Beaches, YellowFever, Widowspeak Glasslands 3/3/11

I was pretty excited to check out Dirty Beaches live, his new record Badlands is on obsessive rotation. I had expectations of how the show would go and was pleased with those ideas but when Alex Zhang Hungtai set quickly became a very high energy theatrical performance my expectations were blown away. He talked about how he was mugged in Flushing Queens when he was in his early teens for only a dollar and some change and apologized to the audience and and to the bands for missing their sets. He a little late to the show because he was recording some new material in a New York studio and said he would make it up to us . . . and that he did. He ripped though his set dedicated his Johnny Cash/Nick Cave cover of "The Singer" to the late Trish Keenan of Broadcast. Just as his set got the crowd fired up, he screamed and howled into his tiny microphone, repeating "Let's see what you got New York" his power to his gear blew out leaving him unamplified for a few minutes. He finally got up and running and played a few more high powered tunes then entered into his final song and invited the gals from Dum Dum GIrls to jam with him as he crawled all over the Glasslands stage like a rockabilly Spiderman (watch the video below). You can read our recent interview with Alex of Dirty Beaches here.

Austin, Texas's Yellow Fever delivered quite a sound for a two piece. They are pretty hard to describe but in the best of ways. Very pleasing off-kilter grooves almost reminiscent of Gang of Four but more melodic like Stereolab but smoother and much dryer in sound. I am at a loss of words but definitely have a listen for yourself.

Widowspeak are a three piece from Brooklyn. There lead singer Molly Hamilton has a dreamy, woozy drugged-out Hope Sandoval circa a la Mazzy Star sound to it but her band consisting of drums and an another guitarist backed her with some very graceful and retro Patsy Cline, Nancy Sinatra grooves, making the whole experience pretty wonderful. Looking forward to hear much more from this trio. Towards the end of their they performed a tasty Chris Issak cover of "Wicked Game." Widowspeak’s are signed to Captured Tracks. They just released a 7″ single of "Harsh Realm/Burnout" The first 400 on white vinyl.

Austra , Living Days pics from Glasslands 2/26/11

Toronto Canada's Austra played Saturday night at Glasslands. Austra is the brainchild of Katie Stelmanis. Their music is filled with electro grooves a bit more upbeat than The Knife maybe more Ficher Spooner. They just released a single called "The Beat and the Pulse." Their full length debut album titled Feel it Break, comes out May 17 on Domino Records. Their sounds reminds me of being at an angelic rave. It's etherhral with a heavy beat. They sound like a disco Miranda Sex Garden. At times the lead singer Katie sounds like Kate bush backed with angelic Cocteau Twins-esque backing vocals. Check out the video for their track "Spellwork" below.

Brooklyn's Living Days are one of the most amazing new bands on the scene. The very tight band make some refreshingly great 80s pop music. Lead singer Stephonik Youth is an amazing front woman who puts 200% into every performance. The band won over the crowd at Glasslands. You can pick up their debut EP Make Out Room, Vol. 1 but I highly recommend seeing them live.

It was my first time visiting the amazing art/music space Glasslands which I mistakenly keep calling Grasslands. I am looking forward to seeing many more shows there in the near future.