No Radio

The radio is on and I hear a bunch of nonsense. Reviews and diatribes by a guy named Mitch.
nprmusic: One of the bands I tour with, Black Tusk, includes a carpenter, a landscaper and a bartender within its ranks — all of whom are heavily tattooed and terribly well-read. My friend Elizabeth Cline just published a book on sustainable fashion practices — and plays in Mortals, a brutal all-female sludge band based in Brooklyn. I’m writing this piece for NPR, and just got a massive tattoo of a goat’s head on my right arm in tribute to Swedish black metal gods Bathory. —Kim Kelly (pictured) previews the scene at this weekend’s Maryland Deathfest in Metalheads Are People, Too  My good friend Kim wrote an awesome piece for NPR on metal. Definitely a great read!

nprmusic:

One of the bands I tour with, Black Tusk, includes a carpenter, a landscaper and a bartender within its ranks — all of whom are heavily tattooed and terribly well-read. My friend Elizabeth Cline just published a book on sustainable fashion practices — and plays in Mortals, a brutal all-female sludge band based in Brooklyn. I’m writing this piece for NPR, and just got a massive tattoo of a goat’s head on my right arm in tribute to Swedish black metal gods Bathory.

—Kim Kelly (pictured) previews the scene at this weekend’s Maryland Deathfest in Metalheads Are People, Too 

My good friend Kim wrote an awesome piece for NPR on metal. Definitely a great read!

It’s 80 degrees today, summer is here, we all need a little soul jams now.

Also, welcome back D’Angelo.

Your rainy day accompaniment brought to you by The Jesus and Mary Chain.

thedailywhat:

Early Bird Special: Bee Gees lead singer Robin Gibb lost his years-long battle with colon and liver cancer Sunday. He was 62.

Here’s what Rolling Stone had to say about the trio’s hit “To Love Somebody”: “You know you’ve written a standard when both Gram Parsons and Clay Aiken have recorded it. Robin transforms into a mighty blue-eyed soul crooner over a heaping helping of strings and horns, and, of course, his brothers’ sweet harmonies.”

[rollingstone]

Hop Along- Get Disowned

Hop Along is that band everyone you know loves.  And you should too.  The brainchild of Frances Quinlan, Hop Along was mostly a collaboration between Quinlan and friends resulting in 2008’s Freshman Year.  In the years that followed, we saw the lineup of Hop Along (Shortened from Hop Along, Queen Ansleis) shift and change, releasing two EPs in 2009 (Is Something Wrong and Wretches) until settling on the trio of Tyler Long on bass and Franches’ brother, Mark, on drums.  The trio has played together for the last two years, and their first proper full length, Get Disowned, as a solid band was long in the making.  

Get Disowned is brilliant, from start to finish.  From Frances’ unique vocals, to the constant clash of guitars, drums, and bass, the whole record somehow manages to wrangle everything in and give you an incredible listen in exercise in americana, pop, folk, and rock.  Songs like ‘Tibetan Pop Stars’ are so strong, simply executed, with all the right parts highlighted.  The chorus is hooky, the lyrics are careful and purposeful.  Songs like ‘Diamond Mine’,’No Good Al Joad’, and ‘Kids on the Boardwalk’ continue to highlight the bands diverse influences and the way they all come together.  Sparsly instrumented, powerful vocals to garage rock and distorted.  Moving in and out of choral blasts, lo-fi hazes, and rock and roll, this record is the musical equivalent of ADD.  Songs like ‘Laments’ (Originally on Freshman Year) can really illustrate where the band has come from and the direction their heading in.

It’s difficult to write about your friends, especially friends who happen to make music you love.  Get Disowned is one of my favorite records to come out this year (thus far) and will probably stay in that position.  It’s out now on Hot Green Records. 

Gemma Ray- Island Fire

Island Fire is a record that is so hard to pin down.  It floats around between lush, brilliant pop music and nitty-gritty rockabilly.  Quickly pegging Gemma as a neo-soul artist immediately throws her in the ring with the likes of Amy Winehouse, Duffy, and Raphael Saadiq. That, in some ways, is a very unfair position to throw any artist into.  Gemma is no stranger to soul music, let alone the English soul scene, but hidden inside the lush string arrangements hide more diverse influences.  Her 2009 covers album showcased songs from Obits, Sparks, and Sonic Youth brings a interesting twist to her pop songs.

Songs like ‘Put Your Brain In Gear’ are so verbatim Mowtown, Doowop era pop music retooled for the 21st century, but following quickly on its heels is the country, Dusty Springfield-esque delivery in ‘Runaway’.  Ray crosses boundaries so many times in a single song that with every listen something new pops up.  ’Troup De Loup’ is at both a country balad and haunting pop song drenched in noir-kitsch.  Her songs on the later half of the album are drenched in lounge atmosphere and would pair well with a smokey, dim nightclub over a glass of whiskey filmed in black and white.  Gemma Ray is a woman who knows no boundary when it comes to pop.  

Records like this are so hard to truly discuss in a concrete manner.  Vocals are soulful and the instrumentation is pop, country, and minimal all at the same time.  Truly a unique listen in the world of pop music.

Out now on Bronzerat.

yvynyl: It’s so hard to know what to post in times like these. As the news burst upon the social web a few hours ago, my initial impulse was to click reblog or RT or post up a quick #RIP.  I’m not sure what our human impulse is, but I kinda hate how this type of tragedy makes for tweets-cum-cocktail party fodder. Why do we all want to break tragic news to one another? Another notion to be ‘first’ in a lightspeed world. I gasp at my own trigger finger, its easy pull. I’m beginning to think that when death comes ‘round for one of our best, something more thoughtful is in order.  Something more reverent. I remember the first and only time I saw the Beastie Boys perform.  It was the summer of 1998 at the Torhout-Werchter Festival in Belgium - they wore their orange jumpsuits and whipped the massive festival crowd into a frenzy. I remember thinking, “wow, I’m 30 feet away from greatness right now. This is epic.”  They were truly magnetic performers, but what was most impressionable then was what they said between songs. This was at the height of MCA’s Tibetan freedom activism, and I recall thinking how bad-ass it was that he was able to stand on a stage in front of tens of thousands of people and use his voice for justice in the world - among these party boys, these punk rockers. Adam Yauch was a great man, an inspiration to me and many. May he rest in peace. thefader: RIP ADAM YAUCH colossal loss of a truly positive force in the world

yvynyl:

It’s so hard to know what to post in times like these. As the news burst upon the social web a few hours ago, my initial impulse was to click reblog or RT or post up a quick #RIP.  I’m not sure what our human impulse is, but I kinda hate how this type of tragedy makes for tweets-cum-cocktail party fodder. Why do we all want to break tragic news to one another? Another notion to be ‘first’ in a lightspeed world. I gasp at my own trigger finger, its easy pull. I’m beginning to think that when death comes ‘round for one of our best, something more thoughtful is in order.  Something more reverent.

I remember the first and only time I saw the Beastie Boys perform.  It was the summer of 1998 at the Torhout-Werchter Festival in Belgium - they wore their orange jumpsuits and whipped the massive festival crowd into a frenzy. I remember thinking, “wow, I’m 30 feet away from greatness right now. This is epic.”  They were truly magnetic performers, but what was most impressionable then was what they said between songs. This was at the height of MCA’s Tibetan freedom activism, and I recall thinking how bad-ass it was that he was able to stand on a stage in front of tens of thousands of people and use his voice for justice in the world - among these party boys, these punk rockers.

Adam Yauch was a great man, an inspiration to me and many. May he rest in peace.

thefader:

RIP ADAM YAUCH

colossal loss of a truly positive force in the world