DOWNLOAD: Cory Chisel and The Wandering Sons - Born Again (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jason Boesel - French Kissing (MP3)

Mr. Chisel & Ms. Harris (photo: St. Vincent Skeltis)

The songs on [Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons's] Death Won't Send A Letter were recorded [with producer Joe Chiccarelli (The Shins, The White Stripes)] primarily at Blackbird Studios in Nashville, TN with Chisel's backing vocalist/keyboard player Adriel Harris and "Little Jack" Lawrence (The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather) on initial tracking. Cory, Adriel and Little Jack were then joined by Jack's longtime collaborator Patrick Keeler (The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes) on drums. With Patrick and Jack's driving rhythm section the albums' sound took on a grittier hue. And in Brendan Benson Cory found a writing and arranging partner that birthed the lead album track "Born Again." Carl Broemel from My Morning Jacket also contributes on guitar.

Death Won't Send a Letter came out in September 2009 on Black Seal Records. Its lead song, the Benson/Chisel co-written "Born Again," is posted above, and the video for it, featuring both of them, is below. Chisel and Brendan Benson toured together in late 2009.

For Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons' next tour, they'll be co-headlining with California band Dawes this February and March. They play a Friday, February 19th show at NYC's Bowery Ballroom. Tickets are on sale.

Jason Boesel will be opening at Bowery and all other dates on te tour. His debut solo album Hustler's Son just came out on January 12th on Conor Oberst's Team Love. A song from that album is above. Boesel's fairly storied history as a drummer and sideman is documented in his Wiki page...

Jason Boesel is the drummer for Rilo Kiley and has also played with The Elected. He also drummed in the Bright Eyes touring band during their 2005 tour, and went on to write the liner notes for the consequent Bright Eyes live album, Motion Sickness and contributing to Bright Eyes' latest record, Cassadaga. From December 2007, he has played with Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst in his latest project, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band. The band played this year's Reading and Leeds festivals in England and released the album Conor Oberst in August on Merge Records. On May 5 Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band released their second album Outer South - in which Boesel wrote and sings lead for two tracks. He is also said to have worked on at least one track, on the Young Veins (featuring former member of Panic! at the Disco, Ryan Ross and Jon Walker) debut record.

Dawes will play as his backing band on the tour.

Dawes (Photo: Matt Fruen)

Dawes' debut record, North Hills, produced by Jonathan Wilson (Elvis Costello, Jenny Lewis), came out in September on ATO Records. Their single for "When My Time Comes" is available for free if you sign up for their e-mail list. Their song "When You Call My Name" was recent featurd on NPR. Dawes' humid, summery video for their plainspoken song "Love Is All I Am," is worth watching and posted below.

All tour dates and videos are below...

Continue reading "Cory Chisel & The Wandering Sons, Dawes and Jason Boesel touring (2010 dates)"

Shudder To Think @ Webster Hall, Oct 2008 (more by Tim Griffin)

In the fall of 2008, ten years after the band's breakup, ...Shudder To Think embarked on a limited number of tour dates during which the band delivered some of the most compelling and potent shows of their career... The best of the band's live shows can be found on Shudder To Think's new album Live From Home to be released via Team Love on September 15.

And with that live album comes ANOTHER live date for NYC (yay!), Sept 2nd at Bowery Ballroom. Amex Presale kicks off at noon TODAY (7/15), with gen pop getting a crack at 'em at noon 7/17. No more Shudder dates to report at the moment, though STT front-man Craig Wedren has a show scheduled at Joe's Pub on August 4th. At that one he'll be playing with The American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME). Not only does that sound like a bill straight out of the Worldless Music Series, it is a bill straight out of the Wordless Music Series.

Team Love, the NYC-based label that was co-founded by Conor Oberst (and who are releasing the new Shudder album) are also the people that released Craig's 2005 solo album.

Live From Home cover art and full track-listing, along with a message from Craig about the album, is below..

Continue reading "Shudder to Think releasing live album, playing Bowery Ballroom ++ Craig Wedren playing Joe's Pub w/ ACME"

sort of....

"Born of social ineptitude and an ageless belief in trick-or-treatery, EL MADMO offers escape, justice, karmic postulation, and that feeling you get when you know something that no one else does. Starting out as a garage band trapped in the basements of various hockey arenas, theirs is a powerfully raw sound that could only be inspired by the smell of Zamboni fuel and sweaty skates.

The band consists of guitarist/singer, Maddie, bassist/singer, El, and majestically afroed drummer, Mo. Their self-titled debut album is a solid piece of body rocking ear-munition revealing a musical labyrinth that challenges you to, "Choose your own adventure." From the Aeolian darkness of "Vampire Guy", to the sassy cha-cha of "Fantasy Guy", to a song that simply asks, "What good is a smile when your head's in a vise?", EL MADMO serves up a hot and tasty meal that'll fill you up and also "Rock Yer Balls Off."

EL MADMO's Debut record will be released on 5/20."

To be more specific, the record will be released on Team Love Records (a New York City-based independent record label founded by Conor Oberst and Nate Krenkel in 2003"), home of Tilly & The Wall, Jenny Lewis, Gruff Rhys, David Dondero, and Craig Wedren. You'll notice the press release doesn't actually say anything about Norah Jones, but you can see that that's her if you look close at the picture. Okay, I wouldn't have noticed either, but when I heard the news, I thought, "El Madmo....that sounds familiar....". Cover art and tracklist below.....

Continue reading "Norah Jones signs to Conor Oberst's label Team Love"

DOWNLOAD: The Felice Brothers - Frankie’s Gun (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Felice Brothers - Wonderful Life (MP3)

Team Love will release a collection of The Felice Brothers hottest new tunes combined with some select and hard to find tracks from the tour-only full length “The Adventures of the Felice Brothers Vol 1”.

The Felice Brothers self-titled American debut will be available at brick and mortar retailers and digital stores on March 4th. In April, an 180 gram double vinyl version complete with a free download card will hit stores.

The brothers hit the road with the Drive By Truckers in February kicking off with a stop at the Mercury Lounge on February 1st and winding up at the Langerado Music Festival in the swamps of Florida.

Check out the video below...

Continue reading "The Felice Brothers sign to Team Love, MP3s"

DOWNLOAD: Flowers Forever - Black Rosary (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Flowers Forever - Beach Bum (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Flowers Forever - Happy New Year (MP3)

Flowers Forever are from Omaha, Nebraska. They have a new self-titled album coming out on Team Love Records on February 19th, 2008. A video biography is below....

Continue reading "Flowers Forever - MP3s, album on Team Love"