by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Delta Spirit - Bushwick Blues (MP3)

The Delta Spirit's second record, History From Below, came out earlier in June on Rounder Records. If you order it at Amazon, you get an exclusive bonus track.

That album's "Bushwick Blues" (which you can get above) was debuted here in May...and now there's video to accompany the impassioned lost-love tune. Though there's no audience at the session, recorded at Prairie Sun Studios in Cotati, CA, singer Matt Vazquez has no problem throwing himself into the song's romantic vortex. Somewhere around the two-minute mark the band seems to collectively fixate on the inevitability of the words, recharging for the final heartrending thrust a minute later.

The band has a pair of NYC shows coming up, at Bowery Ballroom on June 30th and Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 1st, both with Ezra Furman & the Harpoons and The Romany Rye. The first night of that is sold out but tickets for the second at MHOW are on sale.

Those shows are part of a larger tour for the band that continues all the way to California. All tour dates and the video are below...

Continue reading "the Delta Spirit 'Bushwick Blues' video premiere + tour dates "

photos by Tim Griffin

MG& V @ the All House

MG&V, the new project of John McCauley (frontman of Deer Tick), Taylor Goldsmith (frontman of Dawes), and Matt Vasquez (frontman of Delta Spirit), made their debut (not counting a private performance they taped for IFC one day earlier) with a late-night set to a capacity crowd at Austin's Ale House on Friday, March 19th. Taylor's brother and bandmate Griffin played drums. Delta Spirit's Kelly Winrich played keys. Deer Tick family member Jonny Corndawg helped perform a song he also recorded and wrote with the group. As Duke Street Blog points out, "The set was filled with heartfelt Americana tunes, all featuring a healthy splash of CSN-like harmonies." Deer Tick actually played a set an hour earlier at Lucero's SXSW showcase at Red Eyed Fly (where they were joined by Nikki Darlin for a song). John ran right from show to show (as did Tim and I) (luckily we all saw Lucero earlier that same day). More pictures and a bunch of videos from both shows are below.

Their regular bands all made their fair share of appearances at SXSW this year too. Deer Tick (who played BV shows in 2009 and 2008) even had their own unofficial showcase this year at Threadgill's (with Cordawg, Those Darlins, Liz Isenberg, Chris Paddock and others on the bill). One of Dawes's shows was at the official BrooklynVegan showcase. Various videos from the week below.

Coming up, Deer Tick have a huge list of tour dates, which include shows with Those Darlins and run with Dr. Dog that makes a May 15th stop at Terminal 5.

Dawes's shows include opening for Josh Ritter at Town Hall on May 19th and a June tour with Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros.

Jonny Corndawg will play shows in April and June that include April 7th at Pianos, April 8th at Knitting Factory with Tim Barry, and June 11th with David Allan Coe. All dates below.

Last but not least, Delta Spirit have announced a run of tour dates set for June and July. They'll bring along Ezra Furman & the Harpoons and The Romany Rye for those. The three bands play Bowery Ballroom on June 30th and Music Hall of Williamsburg on July 1st. Tickets just went on sale.

Delta Spirit's new record, History From Below, is set to come out June 8th on Rounder Records.

"All we wanted to do is put the record together one song at a time," says Delta Spirit's singer/guitarist Matthew Vasquez about History From Below. "It's been three years of straight touring off our last record so most of the songs were written in hotel rooms and tested in front of an audience. We spent spent six months of this last year making a record that sums up three years of growing up."

The album was produced by My Morning Jacket's keyboardist Bo Koster and Eli Thomson, and you can check out the album art and tracklist below.

Everything mentioned, pictures, videos & lots of tour dates, below...

Continue reading "MG&V debuted @ SXSW (pics & video), Delta Spirit releasing new album & touring (dates), Jonny Corndawg shows & more"

DOWNLOAD: Anni Rossi - Ecology (MP3)

Tiny Mix Tapes: Any favorite experience [at SXSW], your own sets or someone else's?

Anni Rossi: Well, there's an artist whose out on Rough Trade right now called Micachu and the Shapes. Her and I played this show together, which was pretty notable for my set too; it was on this patio at this placed called Ms. B's. Her and I played back to back one day, and her live show is awesome. We actually played with her in New York, too.

TMT: How have your influences changed or matured, specifically in classical, on strings...?

AR: Um, well, I've always loved pop music more than classical music, from when I was little. But I think that's natural. I mean, that transitional point when I really started writing music and transitioning out of classical music was when I was playing chamber music, like quartet music. I really liked Bartók and more contemporary composers. Then I discovered Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk -- that was maybe like 5 years ago. My musical taste now has really ranged from somebody like Modest Mouse -- I really like their recordings -- and, like, Black Sabbath I've been really into lately. I generally go through phases where I'll listen to one thing over and over.

Anni Rossi plays a one-off show tonight (6/23) on the main stage at Pianos weekly Cross-Pollination series. Joining Rossi will be Pearl & the Beards and Ezra Furman & the Harpoons (who have a residency at the venue). Tickets for tonight are on sale.

The show comes in midst of Rossi's tour with Camera Obscura. As part of that, both acts will play Webster Hall on Wednesday, June 24th. Tickets are still on sale. In March, Anni opened for Camera Obscura at the much smaller Mercury Lounge.

Anni will join Micachu on some of her July tour dates leading up to Micachu's appearance at the Siren Festival in Brooklyn. Maybe Anni will add another NYC show around then too.

Anni Rossi's second LP, Rockwell, came out in March on 4AD. In April she played "West Coast" off that record live at Permanent Records in Brooklyn. The video, with all tour dates, below...

Continue reading "Anni Rossi on tour w/ Camera Obscura, plays Pianos tonight"

"Though promoters around the country report strong early ticket sales for festivals and summer tours, the recession is causing jitters. This year Coachella, which has the most glamorous reputation of all American festivals, began selling tickets on layaway, and 18 percent of its customers took that option, Mr. Tollett said.

The proliferation of big festivals, like Bonnaroo near Nashville and Lollapalooza in Chicago, has not been without casualties. This year Langerado in Miami shut down, citing the economy. The Pemberton Festival in British Columbia is on hiatus after only one year, although its promoter, Live Nation, said the problem was permit delays." [NY Times]

With all the leaks of bands playing Lollapalooza this year, there are almost no surprises in the official lineup announcement, except maybe the Animal Collective DJ set... The whole thing below...

Continue reading "Lollapalooza 2009 - the official & complete lineup"