Kate Bush

Like Loser's Lounge & friends did at Le Poisson Rouge recently, Theo Bleckmann, who also did it at Le Poisson Rouge, and his Hello Earth! project will be performing the music of Kate Bush at David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center today, Thursday (1/5). Tonight's 8:30 show is FREE, so get there early if you want to guarantee a spot. The Hello Earth! lineup, in addition to Bleckmann, includes John Hollenbeck, Skuli Sverrisson, Henry Hey, and Caleb Burhans. As mentioned, they've performed Bush's music in the past and a video of them doing so at Joe's Pub in 2010 is below.

Kate Bush's most recent album, 50 Words For Snow, came out this past November...

"There are only seven songs on 50 Words for Snow-each one clocking in at between 6 and 14 minutes. At first glance, hardly enough music to wrap my arms around after such a long separation from this friend it turns out I've missed terribly. And yet, it is enough. Perfect. I am so glad that she is back." [Geek Mom]

You can buy the album on eMusic. Check out some animated accompaniment to the track, "Misty," below called "Mistrapdespair."

Speaking of other people playing Kate Bush's music, Parenthetical Girls, who more recently released a new Christmas EP, put up 3 demos of Kate Bush covers on their bandcamp this past October with the message:

In the Summer of 2011, Parenthetical Girls performed a brief evening of songs in tribute to Kate Bush. In anticipation of said performance, the group prepared a series of demonstrative recordings for personal use. These are those demos.

You can download the demos at any price of your choice. Tour dates HERE.

Some people play Kate Bush's music. Some were very influenced by it (even if they don't know it). That was especially evident in 2011 when we got great albums by not just Kate, but artists like Austra, Zola Jesus and Chelsea Wolfe too.

UPDATE: Read an interview with Kate at the Daily Swarm.

UPDATE 2: Theo Bleckmann also has multiple shows coming up this month at the Stone.

Videos below...

Continue reading "Theo Bleckmann covers Kate Bush (free show tonight), Parenthetical Girls did too (listen)"

If on you're way out of the subway in late July you happen to notice a busker that looks a helluva lot like Billy Bragg surrounded by an army of other guitar-weilding maniacs, don't be alarmed. The spectacle is just the opening act for the two+ week Lincoln Center Out of Doors Festival, which will feature shows with Mavis Staples (as discussed), "Laurie Anderson and Friends", Bettye LaVette, a girl-group heavy Ponderosa Stomp, the 28th Annual Roots of American Music Festival, The Bar-Kays, and many, many others at the Damrosch Park Bandshell and other Manhattan locations from July 27th until its close on August 14th. The full schedule is below.

Billy Bragg leading The Big Busk in the UK

The Big Busk is the first performance scheduled (and it happens twice on July 27th), and will see Bragg leading a play-along concert flanked by an army of cue-cards detailing what chords he is playing. Check out a video from a 2008 'Big Busk' that took place in England, below.

Billy Bragg will also make up his cancelled dates from earlier this year around that 7/27 appearance. He'll play City Winery in NYC on 7/26 (tickets), 7/28 (tickets) and 7/29 (tickets).

All Lincoln Center festival dates and lineups, and all Billy Bragg tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Lincoln Center Out of Doors 2011 schedule announced, rescheduled Billy Bragg dates too"

photos by David Andrako

William Brittelle and Merrill Garbus

Roomful of Teeth (Esteli Gomez, Martha Cluver, Caroline Shaw, Virginia Warnken, Eric Dudley, Jonathan Woody, Dashon Burton, Cameron Beauchamp & director/founder Brad Wells) were the constant Saturday evening at Merkin Concert Hall. The show, entitled "Roomful of Teeth & tUnE-yArDs: The Music of William Brittelle, Caleb Burhans & Merrill Garbus" was part of the Ecstatic Music Festival which continues hosting unique performances through the end of March.

Roomful of Teeth were joined by Merrill (aka tUnE-yArDs) and Caleb Burhans on older tUnE-yArDs song "Hatari", and the women of Roomful of Teeth and Merrill performed "Doorstep" from her forthcoming album. Caleb also joined the group for his piece "why must you leave...".

tUnE-yArDs kicks off a proper tour, of all her music, in April. More pictures, two videos and the full setlist from the Merkin show are below...

Continue reading "Roomful of Teeth, tUnE-yArDs, William Brittelle & Caleb Burhans got 'Ecstatic' @ Merkin Hall (pics, video, setlist)"