Jenny Lewis @ the Apollo Theater (more by Chris La Putt)

The previously announced Brooklyn show is just one date on a much larger tour Jenny Lewis will be undertaking this spring and summer.

Lewis is also proud to announce the forthcoming film "Welcome to Van Nuys." The documentary film records the making of Acid Tongue and features the live tracking of several songs from the record as well as behind-the-scenes, candid footage from the recording at Sound City Studio in Van Nuys, CA. The film will be released soon with screenings to be announced shortly.

In addition to her headline tour, Jenny will also be performing at this year's Coachella and Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festivals, as well as the Telluride Bluegrass Festival. She will also be playing her first-ever show in Hawaii on April 10th and will be playing several Australian dates beginning with this coming weekend's V Festival.

Tickets for all North American shows go on presale Wednesday, April 1st, and then regular sale Friday April 3rd. All dates below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis - 2009 Tour Dates & a documentary"

photos by Jacob Blickenstaff

Call it folk, country, rock, folk/rock, alt-country or Americana, the young members of Rhode Island's Deer Tick write and play some of the most soulful, inspired music around, littered with lyrics as sharp as a shot of whiskey and rapid-fire guitar solos strong enough to blow the dust off your boots.

Though the band's Wednesday night performance at Club Deville exploded immediately, Deer Tick found its footing on Friday night a few songs in with a galloping rendition of "Art Is Real (City of Sin)."

"There gotta be some old recipe/'Cause I gotta get drunk/I gotta forget about some things," the loopy-eyed frontman Joseph John McCauley crooned in his raspy howl, cigarette stuck between his guitar strings.

But that was one of the only songs the band played from its 2007 release "War Elephant." The rest were a tantalizing preview of the forthcoming "Born on Flag Day," due out in June. [Austin 360]

Continue reading "Deer Tick - Brooklyn show w/ JENNY LEWIS, more SXSW pics "

Crystal Castles @ MHOW - New Years Eve (more by Ryan Muir)

Al Green @ the Wellmont Theater - Nov 2008 (more by Eric M Townsend)

Superfly Productions and A.C. Entertainment are excited to announce the initial lineup for the 2009 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival. The eighth annual four-day camping and music festival will be held on June 11 - 14 on the same beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee, 60 miles south of Nashville. Every year Bonnaroo seeks to make history by offering unique and exclusive performances by rock's greatest legends as well as its most significant newcomers. A full list of confirmed acts follows, and more will be announced in the coming weeks. The final Bonnaroo 2009 lineup will total over 120 bands and over 20 comedians performing on 13 stages over four days. Tickets go on sale exclusively through www.bonnaroo.com on Saturday, February 7 at 12:00 PM Eastern.

Coachella announced their initial lineup less than a week earlier.

Metallica played Bonnaroo in 2008. Metallica played NY & NJ this past weekend.

Full (initial) 2009 Bonnaroo lineup below...

Continue reading "Bonnaroo announces initial 2009 lineup (Bruce Springsteen, Phish, Beastie Boys, NIN, Wilco, Animal Collective...)"

The Watson Twins' Top 9 albums of 2008

1. Elbow, The Seldom Seen Kid (Geffen Records)
2. Everest, Ghost Notes (Vapor Records)
3. Chica Libre, Sonido Amazonico (Barbes)
4. My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (Ato Records / Red)
5. Cat Power, Jukebox (Matador Records)
6. Radiohead, In Rainbows (ATO)
7. David Byrne/Brian Eno, Everything That Happens Will Happen Today (Todo Mundo)
8. Jenny Lewis, Acid Tongue (Warner Bros.)
9. Bob Dylan, Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (Sony)

Continue reading "Watson Twins & Ben Kweller - tour dates & favorite albums"

I just saw the animated Disney movie Bolt. Like the critics said, it was really great, and not just because it's completely in 3-D.

I won't post any spoilers, but the film is about a dog named Bolt (John Travolta) and his human Penny (Miley Cyrus). In additon to the score, there are basically two full songs in the movie. One is actually sung by John and Miley. That comes at the end. The other, by Rilo Kiley's Jenny Lewis, is during a (what I think was a) major scene of the movie. It completely surprised me. I wasn't 100% sure it was her, but the credits confirmed it, and then the credits confirmed that the child actress is also assistant director which had me leaving the movie thinking she had that job, though IMDB points out that she is the voice of a character called "assistant director" (which makes more sense I think).

The Jenny and Miley songs are both on the soundtrack which is otherwise all John Powell's score. Not on the soundtrack: Motorhead's "Dog Face Boy" which has a quick cameo in the movie (no spoilers). The Jenny Lewis (new) and Motorhead (old) songs, and another video that ties them together nicely, below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis barking at the moon in Bolt, Motorhead too"

Jenny Lewis "with special guest Elvis Costello" (he sings the song on her album too) played Letterman last night (Nov 3). David introduced them while holding up the giant sheet of acid, but after they performed their song, Jenny was nowhere to be found and Elvis in turn became the next interviewed guest. They mostly discussed Elvis' new talk show. Elvis said 13 episodes are taped and ready to go (and implied there wouldn't be more than that if the show which debuts on the Sundance Channel on December 3rd is not successful). David seemed sincerely interested from the "you're doing what I do, but different" point of view. Johnathan Rice was also there playing guitar and singing backup. Video of the musical performance below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis & Elvis Costello on Letterman (video)"

concert photos by Chris La Putt, backstage shots by Kyle Dean Reinford

DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (MP3)

"It was a great show with a nice mix of songs from Rabbit Fur Coat & Acid Tongue and I have to say, the songs from Acid Tongue (most of which I was seeing live for the first time tonight) came across very well, especially "The Next Messiah"! It was a a really nice show tonight and I had a lot of fun!" [Sean]

Sarah Silverman (who made a guest appearance in one of Jenny's videos) made a surprise appearance as the Apollo opener. More pictures below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis & Sarah Silverman @ The Apollo, NYC - pics"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

M. Ward took the stage first to start off Conor Oberst's aftershow at La Zona Rosa around 10 p.m Sunday, without the high-powered band that accompanied him during his Friday set at the festival. Ward is just as good solo as he is with his band, however, as the big sound of his finger-picking style compensates for the lack of umph. He played a few repeats from his Friday set, including, "Sad, Sad Song" and "Chinese Translation," before bringing out Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, who appeared at the festival on Sunday. Rawlings and Ward traded licks and Welch sang backup on Ward's "Fuel For Fire," a mellow cover of "It Hurts Me Too" and Ward's "One Life Away" to finish the set.

Lewis came out second. Her performance on Friday in the WaMu tent was good, but inside La Zona Rosa the show was bigger and better. [Austin 360]

Continue reading "Conor Oberst & Jenny Lewis @ La Zona Rosa, Austin - pics"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Jenny Lewis is in the midst of a tour in support of her new album that has her in Texas at the moment. Yesterday, Friday September 26th, she performed for an hour on the WaMu stage on the first of three days of the ACL Festival. On Sunday she plays another Austin show and by October 4th she'll reach NYC to play one at the legendary Apollo Theater. More pictures from yesterday below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis @ Austin City Limits, Austin, TX - pics"

DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue (MP3)

this much would even last Jay Reatard a while

No I've never heard of a bible officer

"Acid Tongue" (that MP3 up there) is the debut track off the new Jenny Lewis album with the same name. Acid Tongue is out September 23rd via Warner Brothers. I can't tell who the backup singers are on the track, but if we were going to guesss, we have Johnathan Rice, Farmer Dave Scher, Jason Boesel, Jason Lader, M Ward, Chris Robinson, Benji Hughes, Zooey Deschanel, and Vanessa Corbala to choose from. I would have added Elvis Costello to that list, but we already know his track is called "Carpetbaggers". The cover art would make Albert Hofmann proud. You can see it above. The track listing can be viewed below.

Tickets may still be on sale for the show Jenny Lewis is playing at the Apollo Theater on October 4th, and tickets just went on sale for a show she added one day later in New Haven, CT. All tour dates below...

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis - a new MP3, LSD & more 2008 Tour Dates "

Tickets are on sale for Iron & Wine's show at Terminal 5.

Joe Jackson is playing Grand Ballroom. Tickets are on presale.

Martin Rev of Suicide is playing Pianos. Tickets are on sale.

Tickets are on sale for the Crystal Castles / Fujiya & Miyagi show at Webster Hall.

Tickets are on sale for the Jenny Lewis show at the Apollo Theater.

Liam Finn is headlining Bowery Ballroom and tickets are on sale.

Tickets are on sale for the Beachwood Sparks reunion show at Bowery Ballroom.

Tickets are on sale for both upcoming NYC Feelies shows.

Tickets are on sale for a September 9th Stereophonics show at Webster Hall.

Tickets are still on sale for Fender's 50th Anniversary at the Knitting Factory.

For free NYC shows, check the free show calendar.

Rilo Kiley @ Terminal 5 (more by Kyle Dean Reinford)

Jenny Lewis will release a solo album Acid Tongue on Warner Bros Records in September. This is the follow-up to her internationally acclaimed 2006 album Rabbit Fur Coat (Team Love Records). The album announcement comes just weeks after Jenny wrapped a world wide tour in support of Rilo Kiley's Under The Blacklight album (Warner Bros Records, 2007).

Some of Lewis' most steadfast collaborators appear on Acid Tongue: Johnathan Rice, Farmer Dave Scher, Jason Boesel, Jason Lader and M Ward. She also invited other notable musician friends into the fold, including Elvis Costello for a duet ("Carpetbaggers"), Chris Robinson (of The Black Crowes), Benji Hughes, Zooey Deschanel (of She & Him) & Vanessa Corbala (of Whispertown2000) on backing vocals, Paz Lenchantin (A Perfect Circle / The Entrance Band) and her sister Ana provided strings, Davey Faragher (of The Imposters) on bass, as well as Laurel Canyon's own Jonathan Wilson on guitar, and even members of Jenny's own family. Her sister Leslie Lewis provided backing vocals on two songs while her father, harmonica virtuoso Eddie Gordon makes a star turn on rumbling bass harp.

The all analog, no Pro-Tools sessions were all part of a shared aesthetic between Lewis, her producers, and her musician collaborators, working quickly and tracking her vocals entirely live and without embellishment. Recorded at Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California in just 3 weeks, the album's tracks, disparate as they are, share a sparkling vitality; Lewis' voice has never sounded so expressive and the narratives have never been so hard-hitting and acerbic.

Continue reading "Jenny Lewis - 2008 Tour Dates & a new album starring Elvis Costello, She, Him, Chris Robinson & others"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

The set was split pretty evenly between the band's last three albums. There was a jovial performance of "Breakin' Up," which has to be the most cheerful break-up song ever recorded. "With Arms Outstretched" included what was perhaps Lewis' best moment of the night when she really let loose during the song's climactic ending chorus. "I Never" and the encore performance of "Portions For Foxes" were also highlights. [a review of last week's Toronto show]

Continue reading "Rilo Kiley @ Terminal 5, NYC (night 1) - pics "

indie rock paper dolls (sally grosart)

* Rilo Kiley added a 2nd show at Terminal 5.
* The Kooks added a 2nd show at Terminal 5.
* Beth Orton added a 2nd show at Hiro Ballroom.

Can you name everyone in the above picture?

Genghis Tron (crowd) @ Market Hotel - Mar 1, 2008 (mercurialn) (video)

* Help Wanted
* Yaz is reuniting
* Killing Joke is reuniting
* Vampire Weekend is playing SNL
* Blake Sennett's fiance is Winona Ryder
* Jenny Lewis's boyfriend Johnathan Rice is playing Bowery
* The Constantines are NOT playing Mercury Lounge anymore tonight
* Saturday Looks Good To Me are playing Knitting Factory w/ Spanish Prisoners

Video of Rilo Kiley (Jenny Lewis) watching the Paris Hilton sex tape below.
What else?

Continue reading "What's going on Monday?"

Winona Ryder revealed she is engaged to Blake Sennett, a guitarist in the indie rock band Rilo Kelly, at the fall 2008 Valentino fashion show in Paris. In addition to the surprising engagement, she and Sennett have been working on a film Water Pill and she'll soon start filming The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Winona has had a history of romances with rockers ranging from Soul Asylum's Dave Primer to Counting Crows' Adam Druitt, prompting former BFF Courtney Love to remark, "You're no-one in music until you have feuded with me or until you sleep with Winona". [Getty]

ELSEWHERE: Jenny Lewis is working on a new solo album "which features several guests, including the Black Crowes' Chris Robinson, M. Ward, actress/singer Zooey Deschanel and Elvis Costello."

More photos of the happy couple (by Eric Ryan of Getty Images) below....

Continue reading "Winona Ryder NOT engaged to Rilo Kiley's Blake Sennett"

Ulrich Schnauss @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - Sept 21, 2007 (CRED)

Subhumans @ Studio A in Miami - Sept 15, 2007 (CRED)

Rilo Kiley @ Webster Hall, NYC - Sept 22, 2007 (CRED)

* Hair in Central Park - FREE!
* Takka Takka record re-release party @ Sound Fix
* Subhumans are playing Knitting Factory again
* Eartha Kitt is still @ Cafe Carlyle
* Bjork, Klaxons & Santogold @ MSG
* Beirut is at the Society for Ethical Culture
* Thurston Moore is playing Maxwell's
* Spank Rock & Santogold @ Rebel
* Kate Nash is at Luna Lounge for free
* Mystery Jets are playing Joe's Pub
* Bettye LaVette is playing BB King's
* Scott Matthews is playing Joe's Pub
* Aloke premiere a new lineup at the Annex
* Angela McCluskey & Papercranes are at Mercury Lounge
* Bruce Springsteen is playing Asbury Park

Kate Nash, Eartha Kitt, Bjork, Bettye LaVette, and Angela McCluskey all in one night. So many divas (and I don't mean that negatively) to choose from. Thank god Nellie McKay's Brooklyn show is not until tomorrow. What else?

Indie darling and Rilo Kiley frontwoman, Jenny Lewis explains: "As a woman, the older I get the more comfortable I feel writing about sex and singing about it, whereas in my late teens and early 20s I wouldn't have dared. But now I feel comfortable enough where I can start writing about sex -- not necessarily about my own experiences, but the sexual lives of others. And the somewhat deviant sexual lives of others." [The Music Slut]

Continue reading "Rilo Kiley - some 2007 Tour Dates"

Huh, Who, What?...

Continue reading "VIDEOS: Rilo Kiley - 'The Moneymaker' (short & long)"

DOWNLOAD: Feist - Inside & Out (Mocky Remix) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mocky - In The Meantime (featuring Jamie Lidell) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - Melt Your Heart (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - Born Secular (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - Happy (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - Happy (reprise) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - Rabbit Fur Coat (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jenny Lewis w/ the Watson Twins - Run Devil Run (MP3)

Bright Eyes is bringing out a special guest at each of his seven shows at Town Hall in NYC this week. Many were dismayed by the appearance of Lou Reed at night one. Ben Kweller came out during night two, and I'm losing track, but Jenny Lewis was the guest at either night three or four, or both or something like that. I don't have a picture, but there is the recent video of Jenny on stage with Ben Gibbard & John Vanderslice, and here are some photos from October of Jenny on stage with Feist (actually the other way around).....

Other stuff
* Cannes Film Fest Award Winners
* Concerts get 'Second Life' on Internet
* Kanye West samples Peter Bjorn & John & Daft Punk
* Sufjan Stevens & friends 'Take Away show" video @ Blogoteque
* Jenny Lewis contributed vocals to Jayhawk Gary Louris' new album
* Mocky, Feist, Gonzo, Lidell | Zero 7 & Jose Gonzalez | MP3s
* Mocky, Gonzales & Lidell helped make 'The Reminder' happen
* CBC Radio 3 Exclusive: Fans Ruin Feist Show (for me)
* LIVE: Feist Audience A Little Too Respectful

Mocky feat. Feist - Fightin' Away The Tears

More pics of Jenny, Feist & The Watson Twins below......

Continue reading "Feist, Mocky, Jenny Lewis, Bright Eyes, Kanye West, etc"

It's like if the cast of The OC, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars & Grey's Anatomy all got together for one big Christmas special hosted by Zach Braff...

Continue reading "VIDEO: Ben Gibbard, John Vanderslice, Jenny Lewis & David Bazan - 'Such Great Heights' @ the Fillmore"

DOWNLOAD: DNTEL - Dumb Lunck (MP3)

Among this week's new releases you'll find "Dumb Luck" by DNTEL aka Jimmy Tamborello aka James Figurine aka 50% of The Postal Service (the other 50% is Ben Gibbard).....

An album five years in the making, and Jimmy Tamborello's first for Sub Pop. Thick with his signature sampler finessing, warm electronic washes, and genius beat placement, Dumb Luck is an album lyrically as much about human distance as connection. Includes vocal contributions from Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley), Edward Droste (Grizzly Bear), Valerie Trebeljahr and Markus Acher (Lali Puna), Mia Doi Todd, Grant Olsen and Sonya Westcott (Arthur & Yu), Andrew Broder (Fog), Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), and Christopher and Jennifer Gunst (Mystic Chords Of Memory).

And now...
* STREAM THE WHOLE DNTEL ALBUM AT AOL
* Dntel's Dumb Luck Inspired By Animal Collective
* Remix DNTEL, win prizes
* Jenny Lewis Receives Award; New Rilo Kiley LP Due
* Maria Taylor Plays Down Her Conor Oberst Connection
* Ben Gibbard played drums w/ The Long Winters
* Ben Gibbard touring w/ David Bazan + Johnathan Rice
* Bright Eyes touring, playing Town Hall a lot
* Ed Droste plays DNTEL on Sirius Radio
* Grizzly Bear touring w/ Feist & stuff