Year: 2010

No comments

Bits: Lolla’10, Yuri’s Night, Lou Barlow tour, TBK in NYC2, new Big Boi jam

  By

  • While we don’t post too many festival line-ups unless A.A. Bondy or the Felice Brothers are involved (we play favorites, we admit it), the Lollapalooza 2010 line-up is pretty great. Standouts for us: Jimmy Cliff, the Black Keys, Cypress Hill (we saw them on a previous Lolla go-’round, and they had one of the best sets of the day), Mavis Staples, Mumford & Sons, Dawes and Royal Bangs. It’ll be a something-for-everyone weekend.

  • If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area, you should be getting tickets for Yuri’s Night at the NASA Ames Research Center this Saturday because the entertainment lineup is straight-up awesome. Les Claypool, The Black Keys, Common, N.E.R.D. and more. We ain’t got nothing like that going for the CLE celebration.

  • Lou Barlow will be touring with Mike Watt’s missingmen, though sans Watt, in June.

  • After the quick sell-out of the Black Keys’ upcoming Summerstage show, a second date has been added. Go get you some, NYC.

  • Pitchfork has a new Big Boi track, “Shutterbugg”, for you to listen to. BB has signed with Def Jam, so his solo album should finally see the light of day.

If it was possible to have carnal relations with music, while we would have a steady conjugal visiting schedule with the entire Black Keys catalogue, we would also have a tawdry affair with Lou Barlow’s “Gravitate”.

http://www.lala.com/external/flash/SingleSongWidget.swf

No comments

Conrad Plymouth: I could have been a preacher if I suffered fools

  By

We’ve talked Conrad Plymouth up before, and we’ll continue to do so if they keep it up. If you don’t like music that moves you, that can fill you with yearning, a little melancholy and a strong sense of place – even if it’s a place you’ve never been – then stay away from these guys. If, however, you are a fan of beautiful music, heartfelt vocals and exceptional songwriting, go download Conrad Plymouth’s new EP and throw some bucks at them.

If you already took a listen to “Fergus Falls” when the band posted it previously, you already know you need this EP. If not, here’s your chance.

Conrad Plymouth – Fergus Falls

No comments

Notable shows in the greater Cleveland area & Ohio girls, best in the world

  By

Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Sun, Apr 4| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    South Memphis String Band
    featuring Luther Dickinson / Alvin Youngblood Heart / Jimbo Mathus / Austin “Walkin” Cane
    Presented with the support of Roots of American Music
    $15.00 adv / $18.00 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, Apr 7| 9 PM (8:30 PM door)
    Megafaun
    Charlie Parr
    $10.00
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Tues, Apr 6| 9 PM
    Japandroids
    Avi Buffalo
    Jaguar Love
    Two Hand Fools
    $10.00

  • Thurs, Apr 8| 9 PM
    Rare Birds
    Winters Warm
    2nd Half
    FREE

Musica

  • Sat, Apr 3| 8 PM
    Cameron McGill and What Army
    Gallery
    Stereovox
    Sweet Spot
    $8.00

Oberlin College

  • Wed, Apr 7| 10 PM
    Girls
    Dum Dum Girls
    $10

Now That’s Class

  • Fri, Apr 9| 9 PM
    Easy Action
    Short Rabbits
    The Exploding Lies

House of Blues

  • Fri, Apr 9| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    The Dan Band
    Dot Dot Dot
    $17.50 adv
    $20.00 dos
    $25.00 balcony

Ohio girl Jessica Lea Mayfield will be playing the Beachland next month. We like her.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=5131892&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

KEXP inStudio 5.2 – JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD from More Dust Than Digital on Vimeo.

No comments

Slackday: NTSIB has a crush on Duke Street Blog

  By

Duke Street Blog assured themselves a place in NTSIB’s heart the moment they posted those amazing A.A. Bondy videos back in February. They’ve continued to deliver and have been posting some really great stuff from SXSW. This Roadside Graves clip had me smiling all the way through, and the Schocholautte clip is total rock ‘n’ roll.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10558611&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Roadside Graves – Valley – SXSW 2010 from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10557315&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Schocholautte – Spilled Milk – SXSW 2010 from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

And look at that: I got through an entire post without mentioning that Akron duo. My gift to you.

Duke Street Blog

No comments

Bits: listen to new Conrad Plymouth, see through Mike Watt’s eyes

  By ,

  • Conrad Plymouth are streaming their newborn (as in, the masters were just finished yesterday) EP on their MySpace and Facebook pages. I have even stopped listening to “Next Girl” to hear it.

  • Thunderbroom legend Mike Watt becomes an exhibited photographer tonight. If you’re in the Santa Monica area, you can see his Eye-gifts from Pedro exhibit at Track 16 through May 1.

No comments

Rock ‘n’ Roll as Educational Tool

  By

I’ve always liked the Black Keys, but I have been getting more into them lately thanks to an early taste, via the uber groovy track “Tighten Up” (not a cover of the Archie Bell and the Drells’ song as I originally suspected), of their new album that’s coming out in May. Dan and Pat are Ohio boys who grew up in Akron, relatively speaking, just down the road from where I grew up. This is sometimes weird and slightly unsettling.

For instance: In doing some TBK fansite reading, I came across a familiar face.

See that big, craggy-faced dude with the feathers who’s lurking behind the amps? I know that dude. I’ve passed him many times throughout my life. Never knew his name or where he came from, but I always gave him a nod and a smile in passing.

Well, not that dude exactly. You see, that dude is a representation (possibly to size) of this dude:

I don’t know how many times I’ve passed him, and I’ve always admired him (especially during my high school years when I was obsessed with American Indian culture), but I never knew a damn thing about him until today. He has a name. Rotaynah. His creator is Hungarian-born Ohio artist Peter Wolf Toth, and Toth has erected at least one monolithic Indian head sculpture in every state in the country (some states have two or three of them), as well as in some provinces of Canada. They each have a name, and, collectively, they make the Trail of the Whispering Giants.

And it only took me twenty-plus years to find that out. Thanks, Dan and Pat!

(Astute observers may have also noted that Rotaynah makes an appearance on the cover of the Black Keys’ album Rubber Factory.)

  • Speaking of TBK, it didn’t take long for “Next Girl” to get posted on the net after it was offered as a tour tickets pre-sale incentive. You can listen to it at I Am Fuel You Are Friends. Though I have already listened to it enough times for all of us combined.

No comments

Late to the Party: BlakRoc

  By ,


NTSIB could be all late-to-the-party all the time. Some music I am slow to warm up to (I’m just now starting to get on board with Local Natives). Some music I know I like, but I don’t really get into until years after I first hear it. Some music I don’t even know about until it’s old news.

BlakRoc falls into the third category for me, and I’m still mystified that I didn’t even know about this project this time last week. For others who may be as out of the loop as I have been on this: BlakRoc is a collaborative project between the Black Keys and Damon Dash of Roc-A-Fella Records. Dash helped bring a number of hip-hop luminaries in for the project, like Mos Def, Ludacris, Raekwon, Q-Tip and the RZA. The fucking RZA! Names even white people recognize! There’s even a from-the-grave appearance from Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

It’s no secret that the Black Keys have soul, and their groove-heavy music is a perfect, strong background for the rhymes laid down on this project. BlakRoc is fucking sweet, and NTSIB hasn’t been this instantaneously excited about an album in a long time.

http://www.lala.com/external/flash/SingleSongWidget.swf

The BlakRoc website could keep you busy for hours because not only have they posted videos of their appearances on Letterman and Fallon, but they also have webisodes of each of their recording sessions.

BlakRoc Official Website

No comments

Bits: Black Keys pre-sale tix, new Low Anthem in the works, Radio Free Song Club, MGV first performance, Lissie’s AD interview

  By ,
  • Pre-sale tickets for the Black Keys summer tour went on sale this morning. Early birds will get the new album, Brothers, when it is released and instant downloads of “Tighten Up” and “Next Girl”.
  • The Low Anthem are working on a new album, which will include the lovely “Apothecary”.
  • Gather a bunch of seasoned songwriters, give them a monthly song deadline, make a podcast about it. That’s the premise of Radio Free Song Club, whose members include Victoria Williams, Peter Holsapple and Freedy Johnston, among others.
  • Duke Street Blog have begun posting their videos from SXSW, including the first performance by mini supergroup MG&V; – John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit.
  • Lisse gets the Aquarium Drunkard treatment.

    • Here are the Low Anthem performing “Apothecary” in Grand Central Station for La Blogotheque’s Take Away Concert series:
    http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9319392&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

    The Low Anthem – Apothecary – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

    No comments

    Bob Wills: Talkin’ ‘Bout the King of Western Swing

      By ,

    The first time I heard the name Bob Wills was in the Brian Setzer/Joe Strummer-penned tune “Ghost Radio” from Setzer’s Guitar Slinger album. I learned a little more about Wills and his Texas Playboys from one of my many visits to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and decided to take the plunge and scrounge some of Wills’ western swing to actually listen to.

    Confession: I hated it.

    Wills constant, high-pitched interjections of “A-haaa!” and “Yes, yes…” got on my nerves in record time. I could appreciate the music, but I couldn’t get past Wills’ voice. So I set Wills aside, thinking it just wasn’t for me.

    A few years later, I checked out the first volume (and the only volume that my library has…) of the PBS documentary series American Roots Music. Not only was Wills mentioned in the doc itself, but one of the extras on that first disc is a full performance of Bob and his boys playing “Sitting on Top of the World”.

    I kinda fell in love.

    It seems in the later years, Bob cut down on the high-pitched interjections and cranked up the funny asides. I decided it was time to give Mr. Wills another go. I found that if I started with the later work, I could get past the frequent “Ahhh!”s of the early work. I could even begin to enjoy them because they started to make me smile.

    Wills’ music not only hits the spot on two-stepping, but it also throws in some down ‘n’ dirty booty-shakin’ and it also fills a niche for music I don’t have enough of: sweet, languid fiddle music that puts me in mind of a mild summer evening, sitting on a porch swing with a glass of sweet tea and a sweet boy.

    This is the very performance that turned the tide for me. Please try to ignore Bob’s old man pants. And the wife beater seen through his shirt. I repeat, DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY INTO BOB’S CLOTHING.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sS5jSbV0Vg]

    And a clip from one of a number of film appearances that Bob and the boys made, this one of my favorite Wills tune, “Stay a Little Longer”:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM50ZQpSSTY]

    Bob Wills Official Website