Kenny Rogers & Lionel Richie @ SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

"The Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has had some surprises artists in the past. There was some surprise when country act Dierks Bentley made the cut and maybe a little surprise when rap star Emenim was booked. But the 2012 addition of country icon Kenny Rogers may be the most surprising addition to the line-up yet.

Rogers' appearance was announced on April 26. The complete Bonnaroo schedule is expected to be announced soon. The festival will be held June 7-10 in Manchester, Tenn." [Knoxville.com]

I hope he does a duet with Danzig. Meanwhile watch him duet with Lionel below...

Continue reading "Kenny Rogers (and others) added to Bonnaroo lineup..."

photos by Ryan Muir

Angel Olsen @ Glasslands - 4/4/2012

Ryan managed to catch Com Truise AND Purity Ring, and still found time to catch three of the talented singer-songwriters playing Glasslands last night (4/4), one of whom is from Chicago and plays again in NYC this week. More of his pictures from Glasslands, below...

Continue reading "Angel Olsen, Doe Paoro & Cat Martino played Glasslands (pics)"

Angel Olsen at Glasslands in 2011 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

Chicago's Angel Olsen is in Brooklyn for two shows this week including Glasslands TONIGHT (4/4) with Sufjan/Sharon Van Etten collaborator Cat Martino, Doe Paoro , and Knox. Tickets for tonight's show are available.

Angel also plays another Brooklyn show at Littlefield on Sunday (4/8) with Companion, Emily Reo, and Alex Drewchin. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Angel Olsen is working on a new album which will be out sometime this year on Bathetic, who released Strange Cacti on vinyl last year. You can stream a track from Strange Cacti at the Bathetic website or listen to the whole album on Spotify. Below, check out a solo performance of the song "Barrier of Bodies," which will "most likely be on her record to come." For her NYC shows, Angel will be joined by Emmet Kelly on bass, guitar, and vocals and guitarist Leroy Bach will also join them both at Glasslands tonight.

As mentioned last year, Angel Olsen (like Mariee Sioux who we profiled earlier today) is one of many Will Oldham collaborators and has toured as a member of his band(s).

Speaking of Will Oldham collaborators, the mostly David Byrne-produced soundtrack for This Must Be The Place has finally been given a release date (4/23), which he and David Byrne contributed multiple songs to under the name The Pieces of Shit. Check out the track, "Open Up," by The Pieces of Shit below. Other contributors to the soundtrack include Jonsi & Alex, Iggy Pop, and Julia Kent (who plays Issue Project Room with Julia Holter during Unsound later this month).

Will Oldham also wrote a book called Will Oldham on Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, which according to the NYTimes, "answers nearly every question one might wish to ask about his prolific output." Here's what he has to say about the moniker Bonnie 'Prince' Billy:

"Bonnie Prince Billy is such a ridiculous name. It had no preconceptions to it; nobody could say what the music was going to be like on hearing the name. But it turned the music into an individual, which seemed to be what everyone -- the audience, or at least the people that I was forced to talk to about the music -- was seeking. They were seeking some sort of individual responsible for things, and I was just like, 'O.K. We'll make one up. One who doesn't really exist, and therefore I can continue to feel confident that there is no individual responsible for things, but you can think that there is one!'"

Read more excerpts from the book at NYTimes.

All dates for Angel (and Doe Paoro too), video, and song stream below...

Continue reading "Angel Olsen is here, playing 2 NYC shows; author Will Oldham & producer David Byrne are The Pieces of Shit"

As mentioned in Rachel's review, Cat Martino danced and sang backup in Sufjan Stevens' 14+ piece band and has also played with Sharon Van Etten's band. Cat is releasing her own second LP Yr Not Alone this fall. The album's title track, which you can stream below, features Sufjan on backup vocals. Sufjan also co-wrote the track "We Belong" with Cat for the album which was produced by Jack Petruzzelli (Rufus Wainwright, Patti Smith), mixed by Brian McTear (Matt Pond PA) and features guest musicians Casey Foubert (Sufjan Stevens, Richard Swift, Pedro the Lion) and C.J. Camereri (The National, Bon Iver, Antony & The Johnsons). In addition to singing, playing guitar and piano, Cat creates soundscapes by putting her vocals through a loop station. Check out a video of her covering The Cure's "Love Song" with her loop pedal below.

Cat has a few upcoming shows including Cake Shop on September 14 and opening for Megafaun at Mercury Lounge with Doug Paisley on September 25. Cat was originally scheduled to play Truck America but the festival has since been cancelled. Tickets are still available for the Mercury show.

Song stream, videos and all dates below...

Continue reading "Cat Martino playing shows, releasing an LP (featuring Sufjan)"

photos by Jessica Amaya & words by Rachel Kowal

There's no question. The Age of Adz, Sufjan Stevens' bombastic game-changer-of-an-album is hugely divisive among fans and critics alike. Many balked at its sheer absurdity and accompanying oddball aesthetic. When I first heard the new album, I admit I was one of the skeptics. It was the gentle beauty of Michigan and quirky magnificence of Seven Swans that initially drew me in, but after seeing his performance at Beacon Theatre last fall, I was a convert. I drank the neon-colored, glow-in-the-dark Kool-aid, and I do not regret it.

Before Sufjan and his 14+ band mates claimed the Prospect Park Bandshell stage last night (8/3), the one-man glam artist Diamond Rings (John O'Regan) took his turn. Like Sufjan, O'Regan's show is just as much about his attitude and aesthetic as it is about his music. Dressed in a glittering silver crown and eye make-up reminiscent of Ziggy Stardust, O'Reagan helped pump up the crowd with his upbeat synthesis of samples, drum machine beats, and live guitar/keys.

Though the rain ceased a bit during Diamond Ring's set, by the time Sufjan and his band began to play, it had begun to steadily fall once again. But in a movement of crowd solidarity, umbrellas disappeared one by one as people traded in comfort for better sightlines.

As if in an effort to ease old fans into the post-apocalyptic landscape of glow-in-the-dark electrical tape, Sufjan Stevens kicked off his second Celebrate Brooklyn show not with a new song, but with "Seven Swans" (as he did the night before). Of course, it wasn't long before the nine-minute song began to get raucous.

And in what was just the first of many times throughout the evening, Sufjan slipped into the role of spiritual guide, sage, and motivational speaker. "Oh you are fierce warriors," he said, surveying the sopping magnitude before him, "You have the patience and fortitude and strength."

Sufjan followed the more mellow opening number with a string of songs from The Age of Adz, breaking up the new material only slightly with "Enchanting Ghosts" from last year's over-shadowed but excellent All Delighted People EP. Like last fall's show at Beacon Theatre, the scene was ridiculous. Psychedelic projections, wild costumes (including massive white wings for "Seven Swans"), and the carefully choreographed moves of Jessica Dessner (the sister of Bryce and Aaron of The National) provided abundant visual stimulation.

"I'd like to apologize for being so melodramatic, but I knew you had the heart and strength and soul to take it," Sufjan said as if anticipating a backlash. "So if you're feeling a little bit wet and disenchanted, I encourage you to move your butt."

At times Stevens comes across as a parody of himself and a bit of a megalomaniac, teetering on the edge of sanity... and maybe he is, or maybe he's just channeling the eccentricities of others.

Toward the middle of his set, Stevens explained that the inspiration behind both the fantastical scene on stage and much of the music was an "amazing outsider artist" from Louisiana that he had started studying a few years ago named Royal Robertson. "I decided to use him as my muse [...] and I just really wanted to capture in the frenetic sense the sound of the universe. I wanted to sound my barbaric yawp above the rooftops. And so I threw away the acoustic guitar, and I threw away the banjo, and I decided to surround myself with noise. And then through Royal Robertson I was able to contextualize all this mess into a sort of beautiful pop pageant."

Sure, The Age of Adz is an indulgent, schizophrenic mess, but it's a marvelous mess--especially in a live setting. The neon colors, the flashing lights, the trilling flutes, and dancing girls--it all just works... if you open yourself up to it, that is. Luckily, with the steady rain and steep ticket price (which benefits the Celebrate Brooklyn series), this was no place for haters.

"Tonight we celebrate Brooklyn. We celebrate rain. We celebrate ourselves. We sing the body electric. Am I quoting too much Whitman? I celebrate myself. I sing myself [...] every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you. These are your songs this is your show. Thanks for being here." And with that, he launched into "Impossible Soul."

By turns life affirming and heartbreaking, his sprawling opus was clearly the grand finale of the set. Stevens and friends pulled out all the stops--especially DM Stith (on backing vox and keys) and Cat Martino. Though she provided backing vocals for much of the show, Martino (who also sings with Sharon Van Etten) left her post at the back of the stage for a spirited, soulful duet with Stevens, proving that she is more than capable of being the leading lady. (Look for Martino's second solo album, Yr Not Alone this fall.)

After donning an elaborate golden headdress for the auto-tune portion of the song, Stevens re-emerged wearing a crazy balloon costume that would even be a bit much for George Clinton. Then out of nowhere, inflatable dancing men--the kind typically found in side-of-the-road displays--popped up, sending cheers throughout the soaked but ecstatic crowd. As if the scene on stage were not enough, large, clear beach balls began to circulate the crowd.

Stevens concluded the show with a three-song encore of older songs, including the simple, quiet love song "The Dress Looks Nice On You" and of course, "Chicago."

One thing's for sure. As Stevens sings himself in "I Want To Be Well," he's "not fucking around."

More pictures and setlist from the Wednesday show below...

Continue reading "Sufjan Stevens played Prospect Park again, but this time w/ rain & Diamond Rings (pics & setlist)"

Lady Lamb the Beekeeper @ Rock Shop (more by Amanda Hatfield)

Singer/songwriter Aly Spaltro - formerly based in Portland, Maine, and known to fans as Lady Lamb the Beekeeper - is blowing up fast. She played at promoter Billy Ruane's rock 'n' roll wake last month, won Folk Artist of the Year at the Boston Music Awards earlier this month and performs at the Lizard Lounge tonight.

Oh, and she's already managed to get Amanda Palmer's stamp of approval. After seeing Spaltro's BMA set, Palmer tweeted, "chick blew me away live."

The exclamation of love was absolutely warranted: She blew a lot of people away that night.

The only thing off was winning for Folk Artist.

"I don't consider myself folk," Spaltro said during a visit to the Herald. "I'm really honored with the win, but I'm not folk. I don't know what genre I'm in." [Boston Herald]

Listen on MySpace, or watch some of the videos below and decide for yourself what genre the super talented Lady Lamb the Beekeeper is. Or just check her out live at one of the four NYC shows she's playing before the end of the year including the super interesting and free one happening TONIGHT (12/20) at the Delancey:

Main Floor: PAUL WALLFISCH'S SMALL BEAST / SMALL BEAST HOLIDAY EXTRAVAGANZA! with Special guest Curators this week the LYNNS [LYNN FARRELL & LYNN WRIGHT ]Featuring: 8:00 pm PETE SIMONELLI [reading] / PAUL WATSON 8:45 pm LADY LAMB THE BEEKEEPER 9:30 pm AND THE WIREMEN 10:30 pm BEE AND FLOWER 11:30 Alexander Hacke (Einstürzende Neubauten) & Danielle de Picciotto FREE!!!

If you miss that, she plays The Rock Shop Tuesday (12/21) with Cat Martino, Mercury Lounge Wednesday (12/22) with Favourite Sons, and then Rockwood Music Hall on 12/28.

She also plays a trio of shows in January with Evan Dando & Juliana Hatfield including the one happening at Maxwell's in Hoboken. Evan & Juliana played shows in NYC in September.

All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Lady Lamb the Beekeeper is here (for four NYC shows), touring with Evan & Juliana (2011 dates)"

words by David Andrako

night 1 (more)

Sufjan Steven's tour-ending show at The Beacon Theatre took an unexpected turn Monday night at the two hour mark when the subdued, seated audience leapt to its feet and turned the front orchestra section into an impromptu electro-folk hippie-intergalactic dance party. The moment happened at the midway point of the set-closing 25-minute-plus song "Impossible Soul" from Sufjan's latest album "The Age of Adz." The performance started rather inauspiciously when one of the two drummers on stage knocked over one of his snare drums and Sufjan struggled with his effects pedal causing him to nearly miss his guitar solo. A stagehand reset the drum and Sufjan recovered to lead his 11 person backing band into a rollicking, jagged, electronic extended jam that featured, among other things, glow in the dark shorts, hundreds of balloons that dropped from the ceiling, an autotuned Sufjan singing with a glowing headdress and some choreographed (and some most definitely not choreographed) dance moves featuring Sufjan, his two backup singers and frequent collaborator Jessica Dessner. The song, which is more like a mixtape than a traditional folk/rock/pop song, eventually slowed as Sufjan stepped to his microphone with his guitar and sang the final 2-minute reprise. The audience rewarded the band with a lengthy standing ovation and applause that lasted until the band returned to the stage to perform the only song of the encore, "Chicago".

Having attended and photographed Sunday night's show, I was eager to see how both crowds would react to the new material. "Seven Swans", which opened up both shows, set the tone for the evening as the 2010 version featured Sufjan's hushed singing and banjo playing until the halfway point when he stopped playing his banjo and switched over to a synthesizer. As the song reached its final peak, he began jumping up and down and playing with his entire body. The song, long a part of Sufjan's catalog, had been transformed into a bridge between the older more acoustic material and the new digitally influenced work.

The first half of the set featured songs Sufjan has released in 2010 on "The Age of Adz" and the preceeding EP "All Delighted People." Up-tempo, electronic, loud songs ("Age of Adz" and "Vesuvius") were interspersed amongst quieter acoustic songs ("Heirloom" and "Futile Devices"). The setlist was identical to the previous night until the band performed the infrequently played "All Delighted People" to which Sufjan remarked, "destroys us when we play it." The song ended with Sufjan and band taking a deep breath and a quick drink of water before launching into a delicate version of "Enchanting Ghost." DM Stith, who was the opening act for both shows (and the entire tour) and played piano in the backing band, and Cat Martino, who sang backup, both deserve special praise for their performances. Their vocals stood out and complemented Sufjan's voice especially well on "The Owl and The Tanager."

The shows featured digital art that was created by Deborah Johnson and projected behind the band and sometimes projected in front of them on a translucent scrim that was raised and lowered throughout the show. The art (and the music of "The Age Of Adz") was influenced by the work of Prophet Royal Robertson, a Louisiana based sign painter who produced thousands of paintings that feature scenes of the end of the world, monsters and religious imagery. Sufjan frequently bantered between songs, whether it was telling a fantastical story about his grandfather, an onion farmer who was blessed with the ability to shoot lightning out of his hands and feet, or proclaiming his love for trigonometry and algebra. He also thanked the band for playing all of his "32nd and 64th notes" which were the products of, as DM Stith described, some "12 hour band practices."

Night one pictures HERE. Last night's setlist with some videos below...

Continue reading "Sufjan Stevens played his tour-ending 2nd NYC show @ Beacon Theatre (videos & setlist) "

DOWNLOAD: Sharon Van Etten - Love More (MP3)

photo by Kristianna Smith

Sharon Van Etten will be putting out her second record, a seven-song collection called Epic, on October 5th through Ba Da Bing. The track above is the last song off that. If you've seen her live recently (like at the Chris Knox Benefit), you may have caught it. In April, the song was covered at the Music Now Fest in Cincinnati by Bon Iver and members of the National. Their version (captured quite blurily) is posted below, as is a stripped-down acoustic rendition by Sharon.

The new record was recorded at Philly's Miner Street Studios and features vocal assists by Meg Baird (Espers), Cat Martino and Jessica Larrabee (She Keeps Bees). A seven-inch is also due this summer on Polyvinyl.

Live, Sharon will be at Zebulon on July 7th to perform with a screening of The Builder. After that she has a pair of shows in Chicago including the Pitchfork Fest, and then a Saturday, August 7th show at Bushwick Starr with Mike Visser. She's also on the schedule for the Panda Bear- & Public Enemy-hosting Hopscotch Festival in North Carolina this September.

Tracklist for the new album, live videos and dates are below...

Continue reading "Sharon Van Etten releasing 'Epic' - new MP3 & tour dates"

words & photos by Alexandra Marvar, more photos by Claire Bennnett, Gabe Soria & Sonam Zoksang

Roadside Graves @ Truck America

"After 12 years America got its first taste of Truck at a resort in the Catskills about three hours outside of New York City. A more modest affair in size and lineup than the forthcoming Truck in Steventon this July, the Full Moon resort was perfectly situated for the comparatively small event.

The entire weekend made for a remarkably relaxed experience. While the weather in the Catskills in early May is usually akin to that of Oxfordshire in the summer, the days were unseasonably warm and the nights crisp, making sitting in an unheated converted barn after midnight a pleasant experience." [Clash]

Alexandra Marvar, who performed at British Truck festival offshoot TRUCK AMERICA this past weekend with the Mercury Rev orchestra, and with Common Prayer, reviews the fest's highlights with accompanying pictures. Check it out below...

Continue reading "The Truck America Festival in pics & review"

Truck America, the first US version of the 13-years-running UK fest, will take place Friday, April 30th to Sunday, May 2nd at The Full Moon Resort in Big Indian, NY (map), a little less than three hours from NYC. Confirmed bands include White Rabbits, Hopewell, Tim Easton, The Sadies, Ida, The Joy Formidable, Neil Halstead, The Silent League, Cat Martino, Common Prayer, Oxygen Ponies, Brandon Patton, Atlantic/Pacific, Dusty & The Dreaming Spires, The Shoestring Band and headliner Mercury Rev. Tickets are on sale now online (and details on where to get tickets in person are below).

The three-day, three-stage fest will have on-site accomodations, workshops and more. Details and poster are below...

Continue reading "Truck America comes to Big Indian, NY in 2010 - lineup includes Mercury Rev, White Rabbits, Neil Halstead, more"