The title says it all, but for y'all who clicked without reading… Barsuk Records is pleased to announce that we will be releasing the Steve Fisk / Benjamin Gibbard original film score to the motion picture Kurt Cobain About A Son digitally on February 19th (coinciding with the DVD release of the film by Shout! Factory), and in a limited-edition hand-numbered double vinyl pressing this spring. The impressionistic images of the film are set to an original score by noted...
Cynicism aside, this bit of news is quite exciting. This Mardi Gras (February 5th), OK Go is releasing You’re Not Alone, a five-song digital EP featuring New Orleans brass band Bonerama. All proceeds from this project, available exclusively at iTunes, will benefit members of New Orleans’ music community. People who are continuing to struggle to rebuild their homes and lives almost three years after the levy failures that followed Hurricane Katrina. Admirable, to say the least; proceeds from You’re Not...
For a musician as notoriously reclusive as Eels frontman Mark Oliver Everett, the idea of a collection of outtakes and discarded ideas is an incredibly salacious one. Eels records have always been disarmingly candid to begin with so presumably anything the singer initially deemed inappropriate was either too personal (if such a feat is possible) or so far out in left field as to be laughably improper (if such a term even fits). At its core, both of those things...
Distinguished. That is the best word to describe the band and the audience that showed up Tuesday night in San Francisco's classiest venue. Well…aged, mature, ripened, not too old to rock and roll, young at heart, and lovers of some of the best rock and roll from 30 years ago still out there are some other terms I'd use too. The full house at the Great American Music Hall—predominately 40-50 year olds that were dressed to kill sort of blew...
L.A.’s Low End Theory weekly event at The Airliner definitely tips a hat towards the avant garde receptivity of 1920s Surrealism. Low End is notorious for being a musical experimenter’s Mecca. Rock, hip-hop and electronic groups merge in a whirling dervish of sorts as their music is juxtaposed with live art and video projections. It’s no surprise then that the ascot-wearing gentleman producer/artist known as Daedelus chose to release a live album from his July 2007 appearance there. The IDM...
I remember a friend playing De-Loused in the Comatorium on his car stereo, wowing at Bixler-Zavala’s high-in-the-sky vocal range. I didn’t take the notion all too seriously because this friend was more into the B-52s and show tunes. The Mars Volta fled into a whirlpool of forgotten musical recommendations. I don’t exactly recall what brought me back to them. It could have easily been the press that oh-so-emphasized their fashion-forward-looking-backward 70s-super tight jeans. When I eventually gave them a second...
Listening to any Eels record feels like going for a cup of coffee with the friend you’ve got that always makes you laugh because they’re remarkably bitter and cynical. While they have the ability to make light about those things when they’re in your company, you know that those are also the things that they agonize over in private and keep them up at night. You, for your part, laugh too at the time—but when that friend isn’t in your...
As far as I'm concerned, San Francisco Bay Area thrash legends Testament should have been included in "Thrash Metal Big Four" of Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. Testament's legacy (no pun intended) is undeniable, and they have influenced a countless number of today's metal bands. Listening to them today, their music still sounds fresh and relevant, and has definitely withheld the test of time. A staple in the Bay Area scene, I remember seeing them many times, way back to...
Tapes 'n Tapes will hit the road this spring in support of their upcoming album, Walk It Off, which is set for release on April 8. After select appearances at SXSW, they will start the tour in their hometown of Minneapolis on April 10 and continue their way across the country throughout April and May. The ticket presale starts on February 15th at noon EST via tapesntapes.com and public on sale is set for February 22. Produced by Dave Fridmann...
After a couple of stabs at being clever—which obviously didn't pan out, since you aren't reading them here—it's often time to cut the fat and just give up the meat. So here it is: April 15th—normally set aside for bitching about taxes—has been pegged as the release date for Buckshot and 9th Wonder's The Formula, follow-up to 2005's Chemistry. (See what they did there? Chemistry? The Formula? Now that's clever.) The album features a guest spot from Talib Kweli—apparently Black...