Lilith Fair, which has been dormant since 1999, will reform this year for a North American tour this summer. Exact dates and venues are forthcoming, but the ongoing list of confirmed acts is impressive (though they won't all play every city). The lineup currently includes Beth Orton, Cat Power, Emmylou Harris, Erykah Badu, the Gossip, Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, Heart, Indigo Girls, Janelle Monae, Ke$ha, La Roux, Lights, Loretta Lynn, Mary J. Blige, Metric, Miranda Lambert, Norah Jones, Rosie Thomas, Sarah McLachlan, Serena Ryder, Sheryl Crow, Tara MacLean, Tegan and Sara.

New York City is one of the tour's confirmed stops. The rest of those and the fest's so-far lineup are below...

Continue reading "Lilith Fair 2010 (Cat Power, Norah Jones, Tegan & Sara, Janelle Monae, Metric, Grace Potter, Gossip, Erykah Badu, Beth Orton, Sia, many more)"

photos by Vincent Cornelli, words by Andrew Frisicano

Sufjan Stevens played his second night at the Bowery Ballroom on Monday (10/5). Today (10/6) and Wednesday (10/7) at Music Hall of Williamsburg will be the final two shows of his current tour.

After wading through the lines of confused people outside and the waterlogged Bowery basement floor, I managed to settle in for the quiet opening song, "The Mistress Witch from McClure," executed with Sufjan on banjo and french horn accompaniment. Someone nearby got shushed a minute in, but things loosened up as the show progressed. Sufjan's on stage demeanor did a lot to liven things up; he cracked self-deprecating jokes throughout (a few times with post-song IDs of "That was [name of song] by Sufjan Stevens").

Like others, I spent the better part of 2005 and 2006 listening to Illinois - and those were the songs that got the most reaction. Unfortunately, "Come on! Feel the Illinoise!" (an "old one" according to Sufjan) was also the most unpolished. It was nice to hear, but the execution suffered due to a poor mix (too many vocals, not enough of the four horns, which never really lived up to their potential). Afterwards he admitted that they hadn't played it in a while, and apologized with a clean, majestic version of "Casimir Pulaski Day."

One thing I didn't expect was just how in your face the new material is. It brushes up against the rest of the stage show in a stark but not totally unwelcome way. The new tunes are broad psych-rockish opuses that expand elements of Sufjan's usual light-rock shuffle with proggy guitar solos, jazz fusion-y improv passages, drum and bass style beats and glitch-pop blips. They seem made for a live setting (opposed to his complex woodwind-oriented arrangements) and loaded with plenty of testosterone (or at least some, which is a big jump). After the first encore, "Chicago," Sufjan quipped that the tune was "a little boring" and closed with new track "There's Too Much Love," a synth-driven indie-pop gem at first that descends into psychedelic anarchy over its seven plus minutes.

Sufjan's band expanded and contracted throughout the night, maxing out at eleven members with added horns. Bryce Dessner played guitar on some songs, while backing vocals were provided by opener Cryptacize's Nedelle Torrisi and Rosie Thomas, who came out between the set and encore as Sheila Saputo, her dorky, stand-up comedian alter-ego, to read a fangirl ode to the dreaminess of Sufjan.

Speaking of Rosie, she appears at John Wesley Harding's Cabinet of Wonders show on October 7th at (Le) Poisson Rouge (after the Sufjan MHOW show I guess?). She'll also be at 92YTribeca on Saturday, October 10th to do an acoustic performance and Q&A after a screening of All the Way from Michigan Not Mars, a documentary that features her as well as "intimate live performances with fellow songwriters Sufjan Stevens and Denison Witmer...the film is a lyrical examination of Thomas' quest for an expression of truth and her unique brand of performance." Tickets are on sale. 92YTribeca also hosts three of the four upcoming NYC Osso Quartet/BQE screenings later in October.

All photos, the set list and all Rosie Thomas tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Sufjan Stevens played Bowery Ballroom again (pics, setlist), Rosie Thomas was there (and will be at LPR & 92Y)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Julian Koster - Jingle Bells (MP3)

Rosie Thomas

Earlier this year, Seattle songwriter Rosie Thomas, who has collaborated with friends Damien Jurado, David Bazan and Sufjan Stevens in the past, again rounded up family and friends to put together A Very Rosie Christmas, a holiday-themed album that mixes traditional songs and covers (Peanuts' classic "Christmastime Is Here" for one) with originals like "Why Can't It Be Christmastime All Year" - a rolling indie-pop singalong truely worthy of release on Thomas' own Sing-a-long Records label. Check out the song in the video below.

Rosie's pair of NYC shows - tonight, December 2nd, at the Living Room (TICKETS) and tomorrow, December 3rd, at the Bell House in Brooklyn (TICKETS) - should be a welcome respite from long evenings locked on WCBS-FM's all-holiday programming. All tour dates below.

Thomas writes that the full band accompanying her includes "my brother Brian Thomas, Josh Myers, Andrew Rudd and my fella Jeffrey Shoop! My friend Sheila Saputo will be coming along too, opening the shows every night for us with her gift of Christmas cheer!" Read Rosie's favorite Christmas memories on her blog..

Another upcoming holiday-music event, The Music Tapes Caroling Tour, has a NYC visit scheduled for December 13th and 14th. Details are scarce but reports from the tour's earlier dates indicate that interested parties who emailed or wrote The Music Tapes in advance should be getting an email the day of with details as to a location. Someone, expect a knock from Juliian Koster between 6pm and 9pm, caroling hours...

Merge recently released Julian Koster's The Singing Saw at Christmastime (click for a preview). MP3 above. Video below...

Canadian major label singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Hawksley Workman is a pretty big deal up North (and in Europe); yet in the States, both his 2008 releases - Between the Beautifuls and Los Manlicious - are import-only...as is Hawksley's amazing 2001 album of Christmas originals called Almost a Full Moon, which features eight (re-released in 2002 with ten) quirky-but-not-cloying cabaret-esque Christmas/winter odes. It's been a annual favorite of mine since finding it a few years ago. Last Friday, Workman and band opened a show at Toronto's Massey Hall with the album's title track. This Friday, December 5th, he plays Joe's Pub as part of the venue's 10th anniversary celebration. Tickets are currently still available. All tour dates and a video below...

For more holiday events, check out our Hanukkah post. For some free tunes, check out our 2007 Holiday Mix, and stay tuned for more holiday-music announcements.

Videos and tour dates below...

Continue reading "Rosie Thomas, The Music Tapes, Hawksley Workman - Christmas shows, albums, videos & stuff"