"Hard Bargain, the new album from musical icon Emmylou Harris, will be released April 26 on Nonesuch Records.... Hard Bargain, which comprises 11 new songs by Harris as well as two covers, was produced by Jay Joyce (Cage the Elephant, Patty Griffin). A deluxe edition of the album, which includes a DVD featuring six performances interspersed with interviews, will also be available. In addition, Hard Bargain is now available for pre-order at nonesuch.com with an exclusive manuscript lyric sheet of the album's opening track, "The Road," a number of which will be autographed by Harris.

In celebration of the release, Harris will embark on a series of performances including a showcase at the 2011 SXSW Music and Media Conference as well as special intimate shows in New York and Los Angeles. Additionally, on April 27, Harris will perform on the Late Show with David Letterman."

Emmylou Harris's NYC show happens at Bowery Ballroom on April 26th, the date of the Hard Bargain release. Tickets go on AMEX presale Wednesday (3/9) at noon, and regular sale on Friday.

Hard Bargain contains 11 new songs and two covers. The covers are of songs by Ron Sexsmith and producer Jay Joyce. Full track list below.

Ron Sexsmith will hit Highline Ballroom on March 28th as part of a tour that kicks off in North America at the end of March and then hops the pond at the tail end of April for dates in Europe. The shows are in celebration of his new LP Long Player Late Bloomer which is out now and with a bonus DVD via his site.

Some of Ron's tour, including the Highline show, is with Caitlin Rose who is also heading to SXSW soon, and is touring with Johnny Flynn in May. That brings her back to NYC to play Bowery Ballroom on May 28th.

All tour dates for all of them, Emmylou's LP track list, and some videos, below....

Continue reading "Emmylou Harris announces select live shows & a new LP, Ron Sexsmith is touring w/ Caitlin Rose & releasing stuff too"

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: Everything Everything - Schoolin' (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Everything Everything - Schoolin' [Games Remix] (MP3)

Manchester's Everything Everything make their NYC debut during CMJ next week, playing Music Hall of Williamsburg on Friday, October 22 and then a day party on Saturday, October 23 at Arlene's Grocery (with 12pm - Light Pollution
1pm - Lower Dens, 2pm - Kisses, 3pm - Young Empires, 4pm - Everything Everything, 5pm - Shilpa Ray).

How to describe their sound? Their name kind of says it all -- as in "...and the kitchen sink." Their 2009 single "My Kz Ur Bf" really exemplifies that, and is kind of like a collision between ABC and Muse... and I mean that in a good way. Their new single, "Schoolin'" (downloadable above) still kind of sounds like that, but with a hook that might make some think of a PC Richards commercial. There's a whole lot of seemingly disparate elements going on in any one song. Sometimes it works, sometimes less so.

The band's debut album, Man Alive, came out over the summer (in the UK, no American label yet) to somewhat polarizing reviews in the press, that tended to fall on which side of the Atlantic they were from. For example, the NME gave it 8/10, saying:

Thanks to the slackers, there are three dirty words in indie right now: ambition, intellect and effort. Everything Everything don't just fit those terms, they pole-vault over them. It probably goes some way to explaining why, over the past nine months, they've not become the chart-bothering megastars they deserve to be.

On the other end of the scale is Pitchfork, which gave the album a 3.8:

But stuffing everything humanly possible into your songs can be overwhelming, if not identity-sapping. The first 10 or so seconds of this record is pretty much the only span with any negative space-- and even that resembles the obelisk-staring intro of Coldplay's "Square One". From there on, Man Alive is jacked up with bizarre key changes, superfluous time-signature switches, electro noodling, and half-rap lyrics delivered in run-on melodies, and you ultimately think, "hey, what would happen if Dismemberment Plan got a crash course in Pro Tools and a record deal with Fueled By Ramen?" Everything Everything aren't afraid to answer those tough questions...credit Everything Everything for finding their own niche, but it's one that's been unoccupied for good reason.

I caught them at SXSW this year and thought they were pretty good. That they can even pull off these crazy songs live is an achievement in itself.

All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Everything Everything coming to CMJ -- MP3s & tour dates"

photos by Leia Jospe

Friends and tour-mates Laura Marling and Johnny Flynn played around five songs each at the Virgin Megastore in Union Square last night (Sept 16). We thought for sure they'd go from there to Union Pool to help their friends in Noah & the Whale play their first-ever NYC show, but that didn't happen. Laura and Johnny also played a full show one night earlier and Bowery Ballroom and now they're on tour. More Virgin pictures below...

Continue reading "Laura Marling & Johnny Flynn @ the Virgin Store - pics"

photos by Kyle Dean Reinford

Laura Marling

Mumford & Sons haven't been held back by their short time together as a "proper" band since December 2007 and are making leaps and bounds up the stairs of musical success. Their first EP Lend Me Your Eyes has just been released on ChessClub on a ltd 10" format. Lovely.

The name Marcus Mumford might get a few bells ringing with Laura Marling, Noah & The Whale, etc. fans as he has given them his multi-tasking genius hands on several occasions. The other members Winston, Ted and Ben also play in Laura's band, (the now defunct) Captain Kick & The Cowboy Ramblers, The Moulettes and Hot Rocket. It's astounding how they even get the time or the energy to suggest yet another band. [I Am Machin]

Like he did at SXSW, Marcus Mumford assisted Laura Marling and band on stage at Bowery Ballroom last night (Sept 15). Mumford & Sons was also the third band on the Laura Marling / Johnny Flynn bill and will be opening for them on every date of their current co-headlining North American tour.

Laura kicked off her short (just under an hour) show-closing set with "Ghosts," played a good bit of her Mercury Prize-nominated album, and played two beautiful new songs to the mostly-American-with-a-splash-of-British crowd (she took a poll, and was surprised that so many Americans were interested). There was no encore. There was no appearance by her friend Noah (and the Whale) who kicks off his own tour in NYC with two shows tonight.

Earlier on Monday Laura appeared on WNYC's Soundcheck. You can listen to that at their site. All Noah, Mumford, Johnny & Laura tour dates HERE. More Bowery Ballroom pics below...

Continue reading "Laura Marling, Mumford & Sons and Johnny Flynn @ Bowery Ballroom, NYC - pics ++ WNYC stream, videos"

Laura Marling & Noah & The Whale @ SXSW 2008 (more)

Laura Marling is playing Bowery Ballroom on September 15th. The show is part of a co-headlining North American tour with fellow UK musician Johnny Flynn who Laura has toured with before. Actually...

...Just after Charlie [Fink] moved to London - when he changed the name of his group from Johnny Hatracket to Noah and the Whale - we went to see Emmy the Great play with Diane Cluck, Emmy announcing that Johnny Flynn was leaving her band and that she was looking for a new multi-instrumentalist. Soon after Charlie joined her band; soon after that Emmy left, to be replaced by the then relatively unknown Laura Marling, with whom Charlie had just toured with. He went on to produce her EP, My Manic and I, and then her full-length record, Alas I Cannot Swim. [Drowned in Sound]

I'm confused. Tickets for the NYC show go on sale Tuesday at noon. Laura Marling is on this year's Mercury Prize shortlist. All other known tour dates below...

Continue reading "Laura Marling - MP-nominated, 2008 tour dates, Johnny Flynn"