Kate Bush

Like Loser's Lounge & friends did at Le Poisson Rouge recently, Theo Bleckmann, who also did it at Le Poisson Rouge, and his Hello Earth! project will be performing the music of Kate Bush at David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center today, Thursday (1/5). Tonight's 8:30 show is FREE, so get there early if you want to guarantee a spot. The Hello Earth! lineup, in addition to Bleckmann, includes John Hollenbeck, Skuli Sverrisson, Henry Hey, and Caleb Burhans. As mentioned, they've performed Bush's music in the past and a video of them doing so at Joe's Pub in 2010 is below.

Kate Bush's most recent album, 50 Words For Snow, came out this past November...

"There are only seven songs on 50 Words for Snow-each one clocking in at between 6 and 14 minutes. At first glance, hardly enough music to wrap my arms around after such a long separation from this friend it turns out I've missed terribly. And yet, it is enough. Perfect. I am so glad that she is back." [Geek Mom]

You can buy the album on eMusic. Check out some animated accompaniment to the track, "Misty," below called "Mistrapdespair."

Speaking of other people playing Kate Bush's music, Parenthetical Girls, who more recently released a new Christmas EP, put up 3 demos of Kate Bush covers on their bandcamp this past October with the message:

In the Summer of 2011, Parenthetical Girls performed a brief evening of songs in tribute to Kate Bush. In anticipation of said performance, the group prepared a series of demonstrative recordings for personal use. These are those demos.

You can download the demos at any price of your choice. Tour dates HERE.

Some people play Kate Bush's music. Some were very influenced by it (even if they don't know it). That was especially evident in 2011 when we got great albums by not just Kate, but artists like Austra, Zola Jesus and Chelsea Wolfe too.

UPDATE: Read an interview with Kate at the Daily Swarm.

UPDATE 2: Theo Bleckmann also has multiple shows coming up this month at the Stone.

Videos below...

Continue reading "Theo Bleckmann covers Kate Bush (free show tonight), Parenthetical Girls did too (listen)"

by Andrew Frisicano

DOWNLOAD: Skúli Sverrisson - Volumes (MP3)

Skúli Sverrisson is an Icelandic bassist & composer with a history of backing up his talented friends (recent appearances by Skúli include Laurie Anderson's Homeland and Ólof Arnalds's Innundir Skinni). He celebrates the release of his own album, Sería II (out on his own Sería label), with a show at (Le) Poisson Rouge tonight (March 15); his backup band will include clarinetist Anthony Burr, guitarist Brad Shepik, bassist Eivind Opsvik , violinist/vocalist Caleb Burhans and guitarist/banjoist Brandon Seabrook, saxophonist Chris Speed and drummer Jim Black. Tickets are still on sale.

The album's compositions use a mainly acoustic palette of sounds to paint brief, evocative portraits, like series of self-contained short films. Good stuff for a day inside, a drive through the countryside or your room with the lights off. The first song off the album, above, should give an immediate idea of the texture.

A video of "Volumes" being performed live with Ólof Arnalds on vocals (on the record, they're provided by Kristín Anna aka Kría Brekkan) and one of the title song from first Sería, which came out in 2006, are below.

Ólof Arnalds plays the BrooklynVegan official showcase in Austin Wednesday night with Sam Amidon, Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, Ted Leo, Sharon Van Etten and Evan Voytas. It will be her first of four shows this week in Texas. Her full schedule is also below...

Continue reading "Skúli Sverrisson celebrating 'Sería II' @ LPR (tonight), Ólof Arnalds heading to SXSW (BV show Wed night)"

You may recognize the name Ryuichi Sakamoto as a member of the pioneering Japanese synthpop band Yellow Magic Orchestra, or as composer for one of many film scores including The Last Emperor (with David Byrne), Babel, The Sheltering Sky, or one of dozens of others. But now the solo artist/composer will embark a new adventure, a short set of US dates including Skirball Center at NYU on 10/18- one of only ten US dates on his calendar where he'll be...

"...bringing his music to audiences through sustainable and ecologically sound touring. In addition, a carbon offset will be made for all carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the tour. Sakamoto has devoted much of his time in recent years to environmental concerns - to turning Ego into Eco as he puts it. Beginning in 2001, he has made a huge attempt to use alternative energy for touring."

NYC show tickets are on sale.

These rare appearances are part of a tour in celebration of the release of his TWO LPs playing the piano and out of noise, out on Decca on 9/28. The first disc, playing the piano, finds Sakamoto covering his previous works with solo piano while the second finds him "the ambiguities between music and noise".

"The second CD, out of noise, is arguably Sakamoto's most ambitious to date in which he continues to explore the netherworld between music and noise that has fascinated him for years. He is joined here by, among others, Austrian guitarist/laptop artist Christian Fennesz, guitarist Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada), England's renowned early music group Fretwork, and Icelandic multi-instrumentalist Skuli Sverrisson."

Ryuichi was last in NYC in 2009 for the Bang on a Can Marathon.

Some Sakamoto videos, as well as his full tour sked, below...

Continue reading "Ryuichi Sakamoto releasing new LPs, touring (dates) "

photos by Ryan Muir

Nico Muhly

Sam Amidon

Just in time for the Olof/Sam/Kria show in a church tonight (Sept 16), here are the pictures from last week's (le) poisson rouge show that Deerhunter also played (if you count it all as one show with a late intermission) (Sept 9). More below...

Continue reading "Olof Arnalds, Nico Muhly, Laurie Anderson, Skuli Sverrisson, Sam Amidon, Shahzad Ismaily & friends @ lpr, NYC - pics "

photos by Chris La Putt

Shahzad Ismaily & Ólöf Arnalds

Ólöf Arnalds's set time was 2:30 at the East Village Radio Festival at South Street Seaport on Sunday (Sept 7). That's when I planned to get there, so naturally I arrived at 2:50. Luckily I was still able to catch a couple of her instantly-recognizable songs from her 2007 Sigur Ros-produced album Við og við.

The crowd watching her was small, and included many random passerbys including tourists and some homeless dudes with 40's (the crowd filled in later by the time the Vivian Girls took the stage). That didn't stop Olof from seeming excited to be there. She even introduced one of the songs with a story about her younger sister who she wrote the song for twelve years ago. The song urged her sister to be creative, and now at 20 years old, she was just accepted into graphic design school. She asked us to give her sister (who I don't think was in attendance) a hand. We all clapped for her sister.

Kind of an Icelandic Joanna Newsom, Ólöf has the kind of voice people either love or hate. The Seaport security guard in front of the stage definitely seemed to be in the latter category. I like it, but I didn't see enough of her live show to say she was amazing. That said, I never wanted to see Joanna Newsom perform outside, and Ólöf is probably also better off in a darker enclosed room with great acoustics. Luckily she is playing two such places before she goes home to Iceland.

Tonight she performs her entire album at a special show at (le) poisson rouge...

On September 9, Skuli Sverrisson and Olof Arnalds and will debut their respective albums, Seria and Vio og Vio in full at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City. Seen as brother and sister albums, each was voted Best Alternative Album at the Iceland Music Awards as well as Record of the Year at Iceland's biggest daily newspaper, Morgunblaoio. Olof played an important role on Skuli's album Seria, singing her own lyrics on three songs as well as playing guitar, viola, charango, koto, and glass. Skuli in turn was influential in bringing the various players together to make Olof's debut album, Vio og Vio.

With Skuli living in NYC and Olof in Reykjavik, the two have been unable to bring their albums together in the live domain. However, Olof's recent addition to the East Village Radio Festival lineup offered them one day (9/9) in their disparate tour schedules to make this happen. Joining them on stage for this historic show will be a glittering array of guests including Laurie Anderson, Peter Scherer, Okkyung Lee, Hilmar Jensson, Shahzad Ismaily, and Nico Muhly.

I don't know how she met all those cool Americans, but I do know that Nico Muhly is friends with Sam Amidon and that Sam and Shahzad Ismaily are both Doveman band members. If you haven't noticed already, that was also Shazad and Sam playing her at the Seaport, and Sam is billed to play solo at her 3rd NYC show next Tuesday in a church with Kria Brekken (who has a connection to Olof through Mum).

In June she opened for Sigur Ros and Bjork in Iceland. Shahzad also played with her at that show. Tour dates and more Seaport pics below...

Continue reading "Ólöf Arnalds - SSSeaport pics & 2 more NYC shows (dates) "