Bonnawho's Who

Bonnawho's Who - Stephen Marley

2008-06-10T16:39:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

If you think you don't know the music of Stephen Marley, you do-you just don't realize it. A member of the celebrated Marley sibling group The Melody Makers since the age of seven, the Grammy winning producer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist has also been the driving creative force behind the music of his brothers. Stephen's production, performance and writing credits recently earned him two Grammys-giving him a total of five: more than any other Marley family member or reggae artist in history.

Born in 1972, the second son of Bob Marley, Stephen was dancing and singing onstage during his father and The Wailers' live shows (alongside older siblings Ziggy and Cedella) by the time he was old enough to walk. As a young boy, he stayed at home-as Ziggy and Cedella entered school-where he would shadow his father, mimic his speech and quickly fall in love with such future reggae anthems as "Lively Up Yourself." At seven, he began learning guitar on a nylon-stringed acoustic.

In 1979, he made his official debut when he, Ziggy, Cedella and Sharon-collectively known as The Melody Makers-cut their first single, "Children Playing in the Streets," followed in 1985 by their debut LP, Play the Game Right. Over the next decade, the group would follow in their father's footsteps, racking up Grammy awards and bringing conscious songs and one-love rhythms to every corner of the globe.

With his highly anticipated debut album, not only does the sound and soul of Stephen Marley come into vivid focus, but the 34 year-old artist is now inevitably stepping to center stage for the first time in his 27 year career. Appropriately, Mind Control is all Stephen and a cornucopia of the sounds and styles that he loves: a blend of reggae, rock, R&B, nyabinghi rhythms, flamenco and hip-hop. It's an album with the grit and flavor to
rock old-school Kingston sound systems and slippery, waxed Miami Range Rovers alike.

Featuring cameos from roots-rock star Ben Harper, hip-hop hero Mos Def and younger brother Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, it's a collection of songs that range from conscious critiques of society ("Mind Control") and politics ("Chase Dem"), to the sweet and open- hearted ("Hey Baby"), to the simple and fun (the sexy, club-rocking, Latin-tinged grinder "Let Her Dance," which features Maya Azucena & Illestr8).

"My joy and my pain, this is me," Marley says, humbly. "It's a page from my book: Every page tells a story, but at the same time is a continuation of the page before it or the page to come. This is just one page."

The album's breezy, horn-spiced title track casts a light on a modern day form of slavery, its words conscious, its groove monstrous: "That song is about subliminal slavery, hi-tech slavery, subliminal suppression," says Stephen. "It holds you down, it holds a man down from being wholesome." It's a call to arms for us to take back our lives, free our minds,
regain our spiritual souls and think for ourselves: "Don't let them mold your mind/They wanna control mankind/Seems like their only intention is to exploit the Earth."

Tapping into the disillusionment triggered by elected leaders in both the U.S. and Jamaican governments, the vintage, easy-skanking roots reggae of "Chase Dem" rips into the insincere, crooked politicians by shouting "run them away." If the balance of Mind Control sounds wholly created in the 21st Century, "Chase Dem" blasts out of the subwoofers like a long lost jewel from Bob himself. With that song, Stephen says, "It's like me post a bill saying, 'Just say no to politics.'"

The softer and sweeter side of Stephen is also on full display in the album. A smooth, smart slab of hip-hop featuring a dose of Brooklyn flow courtesy of Mos Def on the album's first single, "Hey Baby," is based on a song Stephen would sing to his children to keep them from being sad while he was on tour with The Melody Makers: "Hey baby/ don't you worry/ even though the road is rocky/ I'll be coming home to you again." The hypnotic "Lonely Avenue," is a sweet, harmony vocal- and organ-soaked take on the Ray Charles classic-done Marley style. "I'm a big fan of Ray," says Marley. "I couldn't tell you the first time I heard him, but I could tell ya what I remember is hearing him and feeling him in pain." Blending modern sounds with classic roots vibes, Mind Control finds Stephen carrying the Marley legacy even further into the future with such samples as the smart piece of the Martina Topley Bird song "Sandpaper Kisses" heard throughout
"You're Gonna Leave."

The album includes a trilogy of sorts ("Officer Jimmy Interlude," "The Traffic Jam," featuring Damian, and "Iron Bars," featuring brother Julian Marley, Mr. Cheeks & Spragga Benz) inspired by the few hours that Stephen and Julian spent in a Tallahassee jail in 2002 for marijuana possession: On "Iron Bars"-the song in which he sings "Let me out!/Let me out!/I'm an angry lion!"-Stephen asks himself, "What am I doing here, among the wolves? For some herb? It's like I'm a murderer. Ya know what I mean? Ya make me feel like I'm a murderer, for some herb, where, ya know, it's my culture."

The genre-meshing "Fed Up" is a flute-led lament of romantic missteps-"She said, 'How could you treat me this way?'/What we had was more than words could say"-while the album closing "Inna Di Red," featuring Ben Harper, is a thoughtful, shaker-dusted meditation on inner peace.

In addition to recording his debut album, Stephen has been hunkered down in the studio serving as the secret weapon behind both of Damian's past two Grammy winners as well as behind the Ghetto Youths International and Tuff Gong imprints. In addition to executive producing 1999's lauded, star-studded tribute to his father, Chant Down Babylon, his production skills can be heard on albums by Buju Banton, brothers Julian and Ziggy, Spearhead, Eve, Erykah Badu, Capleton and Mr. Cheeks. He's performed as a
vocalist, percussionist or guitarist on albums by all the above, as well as albums by Eric Clapton and others. Marley continues to work on new music for all of his brothers. If they felt it important to carry on their father's legacy, it's not something that Stephen-nor his brothers-think much about anymore. "That work has been done", he says. "We are the
legacy now."

Stephen also embarked on two U.S. concert tours this year, including the acclaimed "Bob Marley Roots, Rock Reggae Festival," where brothers Stephen and Ziggy Marley joined together for the first time ever with reggae pioneer Bunny Wailer.

Stephen has built and laid the foundations for a full-blown Marley family renaissance and with Mind Control, Stephen has achieved that: It's an album full of confidence and diversity in styles and emotion. "I don't want to be just another artist. I want to make a statement, and to continue this legacy, this musical legacy, with my family. Just like my brothers... I aspire to be a reckoning force, when you hear my name, you know quality comes with that: good music, good message, good vibe."

Live On Stage:

Stephen becomes the third Marley to play Bonnaroo, here he is paying tribute to his dad with No Woman, No Cry...

IMEEM Playlist:

Stephen Marley

Music Videos:

Here's Stephen with his brother Damian with Traffic Jam...

For more on Stephen Marley head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Sigue Ros

2008-06-10T16:12:00.001-07:00

Official Bio:

13 years into their career, Iceland's Sigur Rós have become one of the world's biggest cult bands. While details of the musicians behind the music remain almost deliberately sketchy, what they have created over the course of four albums has become quietly ubiquitous; defying genres to find fans in almost every musical niche. They remain almost a byword for non-conformity and the artistic rewards to be had from obdurate anti-commercialism...only with great melodies.

The members of Sigur Rós are Jón Þór “Jónsi” Birgisson (vocals, guitar), Georg “Goggi” Hólm (bass), Kjartan “Kjarri” Sveinsson (keyboards/guitar) and Orri Páll Dýrason (drums). They have released four studio albums, including “Von,” “Ágætis Byrjun”, and “Takk…”; their third album, released in 2002, has no title. They released 'Heima", a film of their 2006 Icelandic tour last year, along with a companion compilation 'Hvarf/Heim'.

Live On Stage:

If you dig Radiohead and weird atmospheric rock then go check out Sigur Ros - their music just sort of makes sense for the late night slot they'll be playing. Here they are doing Hoppipolla on Later with Jules Holland...

IMEEM Playlist:

Sigur Ros

Music Videos:

Here's the Icelanders with Glosoli...

Few more to check out...

Untitled #1 (Vaka)

Saeglour

Viorar Vel Til Loftarasa

For more on Sigur Ros head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Death Cab For Cutie

2008-06-10T15:58:00.001-07:00

Official Bio:

"Transatlanticism" is a made-up word. At least, Death Cab for Cutie singer-guitarist Ben Gibbard thought so when he penned the song of the same name. He's since stumbled across evidence indicating otherwise. Whether this particular conglomeration of vowels and consonants merits inclusion in the dictionary is an argument better left to etymologists than musicians. Suffice to say, when Ben coined it, "Transatlanticism" was meant to relate to distances so vast and daunting – "such as a body of water creates between people" – that they seem impossible to breach.

Negotiating spaces and distances – be they emotional, geographic, or chronologic – is a recurring theme throughout Transatlanticism, the fourth full-length (excluding 2002’s reissue/archival release You Can Play These Songs With Chords +10) from the celebrated Seattle rock quartet. And this theme is not just a lyrical conceit, but also characterizes the band’s entire creative process. Carefully mapping out, from a new perspective, what elements did – or did not – belong in each of the eleven tracks. Allowing more time to pass between studio sessions. And introducing a new player into the intra-band dynamic.

The first thing one notices about Transatlanticism is the distinctive character of each of its eleven songs, from the glacial guitars of the sweeping opener "The New Year" to the poppy bah-bah-bahs of "The Sound of Settling." Piano forms the basis of more than one moment during the melancholy midsection of the disc. Bizarre sound effects flutter down like the first snowfall behind the folky, fleetingly dissonant closer, "A Lack of Color." No two songs are alike ("there's nothing more boring than a record with twelve of the same song," opines Ben), some are dense and others spacious. Yet taken as a whole, they constitute DCfC's most thought-out album yet, as Ben's songwriting and guitarist/ keyboard player Chris Walla's nuanced production complement each other better than ever.

Unlike the selections preserved on their previous albums, DCfC has deliberately kept these new songs out of their concert repertoire until now. "Almost everything we've done in the past has been based on touring the material before we recorded it, so by the time it gets to the studio, how it's supposed to sound is cemented in our heads," says Ben. This time, there was no set template to follow, which opened things up considerably.

As in the past, Ben submitted stacks of demos – most composed during a period of exile in San Francisco last year – to his band mates for consideration. Only this time, the other members found themselves less smitten with the initial arrangements. Ultimately, that turned out to be very beneficial. "We ended up doing a lot more surgery," explains Chris. "Stripping songs all the way down to the melody and the lyric – knowing that those were totally right on – and then building up around that. For me, from a producer's perspective, that was great. And it was really good for Ben, too, to trust us to really tear it all apart and put it back together."

Oh it was, was it? Yes, insists Ben. "I loved it! As we've continued to grow as a band, we've been able to focus on our strong points more, and trust each other. On almost every song on this record, I was much more excited about hearing what Chris, Nick, and Jason, had in mind for the arrangements and production, mostly because I had been sitting on so many of the songs for so long."

"The greatest danger for any singer/songwriter is closing the circle in on themselves, to the point where they are rewriting their own songs," adds bassist Nick Harmer. "Which is not to say that Ben had hit some sort of creative dead end, but that by asking for, and allowing more input from all of us, we could all help each other to explore new territory and take a few more risks."
"All of us," in this case not only refers to Chris and Nick, but also new drummer Jason McGerr (who the guys knew from their school days in Bellingham, WA, where Nick and Jason were the rhythm section of Eureka Farm). "We've known him for so long, and had such respect for him before we started playing together, that it makes for a much more communicative environment," says Ben. "Not only amongst all four of us, but between Nick, Chris, and me as well."

In Chris' opinion, Jason – who "turned so many of these songs upside-down, in the best possible way" – has restored a sense of balance to the line-up that has been absent the last few years. "I feel like we're back to a place where we haven't been since [the second album] We Have The Facts, where we're four people, in a really insular little unit." (Indeed, the only guests on this album are Sean Nelson and John Roderick of The Long Winters, and Phil Wandscher of Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter, all of whom contributed vocals to the choir in the epic title track.)

Another crucial change was the leisurely pace at which the band made the album. Splitting studio time between the Hall of Justice in Seattle and Tiny Telephone in San Francisco, the album was fashioned over half a year, beginning in December of 2002. "We'd record for a week, then take a week or two off, and then we'd come back and do more," recounts Chris. "We figured out that Day Five or Six was our saturation point. If we took a week off after that, then came back and listened to things, we could go, 'Oh, we did a bunch of good work – now we can elaborate on it.' Instead of working and working, and getting to Day Eight, and going, 'I hate all of it!'"

The end result? "This record was about evolution," concludes Nick. He's right. It is also very different from its predecessor, which is fine. "The Photo Album is more to the point, both in the songs and the production," adds Ben. "While I am very proud of that record, I see it now as more of a transitional album. We needed to make it to realize the direction we're now heading in, which is sonically more experimental." With Transatlanticism, Death Cab for Cutie has made a great leap, and crossed over to the next phase of its musical career.

Live On Stage:

Here's Death Cab from the short lived John McEnore show with Title Registration...

IMEEM Playlist:

Death Cab For Cutie

Music Videos:

Here's DC4C with Soul Meets Body...

Few more to check out...

I Will Possess Your Heart

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

A Movie Script Ending

For more on Death Cab For Cutie head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - B.B. King

2008-06-10T15:47:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Throughout the 1990's as well as the 1980's, 1970's, 1960's and 1950's, there has been only one King of the Blues - Riley B. King, affectionately known as B.B. King. Since B.B. started recording in the late 1940's, he has released over 50 albums many of them considered blues classics, like 1965's definitive live blues album "Live At The Regal", and 1976's collaboration with Bobby "Blue" Bland, "Together For The First Time".

Over the years, B.B. has had two number one R & B hits, 1951's "Three O'Clock Blues", and 1952's "You Don't Know Me", and four number two R & B hits, 1953's "Please Love Me", and 1954's "You Upset Me Baby", 1960's "Sweet Sixteen, Part I", and 1966's "Don't Answer The Door, Part I". B.B.'s most popular crossover hit, 1970's "The Thrill Is Gone" went to #15 pop.

But B.B. King, as well as the entire blues genre, is not radio oriented. His classic songs such as "Payin' The Cost To Be The Boss", "Caldonia", " How Blue Can You Get", "Everyday I Have The Blues", and "Why I Sing The Blues", are concert (and fan) staples.

Riley B. King was born on September 16, 1925, on a cotton plantation in Itta Bene, Mississippi, just outside the Mississippi delta town of Indianola. He used to play on the corner of Church and Second Street for dimes and would sometimes play in as many as four towns on a Saturday night. With his guitar and $2.50, he hitchhiked north to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1947 to pursue his musical career. Memphis was the city where every important musician of the South gravitated and which supported a large, competitive musical community where virtually every black musical style was heard. B.B. stayed with his cousin Bukka White, one of the most renowned rural blues performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art of the blues.

B.B.'s first big break came in 1948 when he performed on Sonny Boy Williamson's radio program on KWEM out of West Memphis. This led to steady performance engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten minute spot on black staffed and managed radio station WDIA. "King's Spot", sponsored by Pepticon, a health tonic, became so popular that it was increased in length and became the "Sepia Swing Club". Soon, B.B. needed a catchy radio name. What started out as Beale Street Blues Boy was shortened to Blues Boy King, and eventually B.B. King. Incidentally, King's middle initial "B" is just that, it is not an abbreviation.

In the mid-1950's while B.B. was performing at a dance in Twist, Arkansas, a few fans became unruly. Two men got into a fight and knocked over a kerosene stove, setting fire to the hall. B.B. raced outdoors to safety with everyone else, but then realized that he left his $30 guitar inside, so he rushed back inside to retrieve it, narrowly escaping death. When he later found out that the fight had been over a woman named Lucille, he decided to give the name to his guitar. Each one of B.B.'s guitars since that time have been called Lucille.

Soon after his number one hit, "Three O'Clock Blues", B.B. began touring nationally, and he has never stopped, performing an average of 275 concerts a year. in 1956 B.B. and his band played an astonishing 342 one night stands. From the chitlin circuit with its small town cafes, ghetto theaters, country dance halls, and roadside joints to jazz clubs, rock palaces, symphony concert halls, college concerts, resort hotels and prestigious concert halls nationally and internationally, B.B. has become the most renowned blues musician of the past 40 years.

B.B.'s technique is nonetheless complex, featuring delicate filigrees of single string runs punctuated by loud chords, subtle vibratos, and "bent" notes. The technique of rock guitar playing is to a large degree derived from B.B.'s playing.

In the army, B.B. was introduced to the music of such guitarists as Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker. "I heard an electric guitar that wasn't playing spiritual", recalls B.B. "It was T-Bone Walker doing "Stormy Monday", and that was the prettiest sound I think I ever heard in my life. That's what really started me to play the blues".

Over the years, B.B. has developed one of the world's most readily identified guitar styles. He borrowed from Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise vocal like string bends and his left hand vibrato, both of which have become indispensable components of rock guitarist's vocabulary. His economy, his every note counts phrasing, has been a model for thousands of players including Eric Clapton, George Harrison and Jeff Beck.

B.B. has mixed traditional blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound. His singing is richly melodic, both vocally and in the "singing" that comes from his guitar. In B.B's words, "When I sing, I play in my mind; the minute I stop singing orally, I start to sing by playing Lucille".

"I'm trying to get people to see that we are our brother's keeper, I still work on it. Red, white, black, brown, yellow, rich, poor, we all have the blues".

"From my own experience, I would say to all people but maybe to young people especially black, white or whatever color, follow your own feelings and trust them; find out what you want to do and do it and then practice it every day of your life and keep becoming what you are despite any hardships and obstacles you meet".

"I'm me," B.B. told Time Magazine in 1969, "blues is what I do best. If Frank Sinatra can be the best in his field, Nat King Cole in his, Bach and Beethoven in theirs, why can't I be great, and known for it, in blues?"

Sidney A. Seidenberg, B.B.'s former manager, likens B.B. to Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra. "B.B.'s goals have always been to be like an American Ambassador of blues music to the world, like Louis Armstrong and Frank Sinatra are to the jazz world. B.B. is still the King of the Blues".

In 1967, B.B. performed at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, a portion of which was later aired over PBS TV. in 1968, B.B. played at the Newport Folk Festival and at Bill Graham's Fillmore West on bills with the hottest contemporary rock artists of the day who idolized King and helped cross him over to a young white audience.

B.B. has influenced Eric Clapton, Mike Bloomfield, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix, Otis Rush, Johnny Winter, Albert King and many others while being influenced by Charles Brown, Lowell Fulsom, Elmore James, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Jimmy Rushing, T-Bone Walker, Bukka White and others.

In 1969, B.B. was chosen by the Rolling Stones to open 18 American concerts for them; Ike and Tina Turner also played on 18 shows. B.B. also made the first of his numerous appearances on Johnny Carson's "The Tonight Show". In 1970, B.B. premiered in Las Vegas at Caesar's Palace and at the Royal Box in the American Hotel in New York City as well as on the "Ed Sullivan Show".

In the early 1970's, B.B. toured Ghana, Lagos, Chad and Liberia under the auspices of the United States State Department. Besides playing the major jazz festivals around the world.

In 1989, King toured Australia, New Zealand, Japan, France, West Germany, Holland and Ireland for three months as a special guest of U2. King is featured in "When Love Comes To Town" on U2's album "Rattle and Hum". Starting in 1992, King has headlined the Blues Music Festival of American amphitheaters with three support acts.

On February 23, 1990 PBS started televising "All Day & All Night: Memories From Beale Street Musicians", which featured B.B. King and captured the lifestyles of musicians who performed on Beale Street (Memphis, TN) from the 1920's to the 1950's when being on Beale Street was like "living in paradise". King recalled on the half-hour special that Beale Street was "a place to learn, to make friends. It was a little world all of your own. There were always musicians who were willing to help you if you wanted to learn". And King and Rufus Thomas recalled Amateur Night at the Palace Theatre where "anyone who could carry a tune got a dollar for going on stage".

In 1990, King and Ray Charles co-headlined the Philip Morris Superband five continent world tour. The final concert was recorded and "Live At The Apollo" became King's first big band album. In 1991, King headlined the Philip Morris Superband International Tour again with Diane Reeves featured. And in 1991 King participated in the all-star Guitar Legends concert in Seville, Spain, where practically every guitar hero performed.

In 1990 King Received the Songwriter's Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1991 the Orville H. Gibson Lifetime Achievement Award from Gibson Guitar Company. In 1989, King's imprint was added to the Amsterdam, Holland Walk of Fame and in 1991 to the Hollywood Walk of Fame (between Milton Berle and Vivian Leigh). In 1973, King received the B'nai Brith Humanitarian Award from the Music and Performance Lodge of New York.

In 1990, King received the prestigious Presidential Medal of the Arts in Washington, D.C. with President Bush presiding. In 1991, King received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts. In 1995, King received the Kennedy Center Honors.

Over the years, B.B. has been bestowed eight Grammy Awards by his peers: Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance, Male in 1970 for "The Thrill Is Gone", Best Ethnic or Traditional recording in 1981 for "There Must Be A Better World Somewhere", and Best Traditional Blues Recording in 1983 for "Blues 'N Jazz" and in 1985 for "My Guitar Sings The Blues" from "Six Silver Strings". In 1970, King's "Indianola Mississippi Seeds" won for Best Album Cover, an art director's award. In 1989 King received two more nominations: Best Contemporary Blues Recording "King Of The Blues 1989", and Best Rock Performance by a duo or group with vocal for "When Love Comes To Town" with U2 from U2's "Rattle And Hum". In 1990 King received another Grammy for the album "Live At San Quentin" as Best Traditional Blues Recording. In 1991, King was bestowed Best Traditional Blues Recording for "Live At The Apollo" and in 1993 the same award for "Blues Summit". And in 1996, along with Eric Clapton, Jimmie Vaughn, Robert Cray, Bonnie Raitt, Buddy Guy, Dr. John and Art Neville, King received the Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "SRV Shuffle" from A Tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughan.

B.B. King was inducted into the Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, where Sting of the Police made the induction speech. B.B. was the recipient of the 1986 National Association For Campus Activities Hall of Fame Award. B.B. was Blues Act of the Year in 1985, 1987, and 1988 Performance Award Polls. He is a founding member of the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center. B.B. King received the Grammy "Lifetime Achievement Award" in December of 1987 at the first televised awards in May 1990. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Blues Foundation in 1997. B.B. Has received four honorary doctorates: Tougaloo (Mississippi) College (L.H.D.) in 1973; Yale University (D. Music) in 1977; Berklee College of Music (D. Music) in 1982; and Rhodes College of Memphis (D. Fine Arts) in 1990. In 1992 he received the National Award of Distinction from the University of Mississippi.

On May 3, 1991, "B.B. King's Blues Club" opened in Memphis, and also at the Universal City Walk in Los Angeles in 1994, and although King resides in Las Vegas, he plans to play at his clubs at least four times a year. A B.B. King Blues Club will open in New York's Times Square's E-Walk in early 2000.

In 1996, the CD ROM "On The Road With B.B. King: An Interactive Autobiography" was released to rave reviews including an "A-" in Entertainment Weekly. Also in 1996, B.B. King's autobiography "Blues All Around Me" (written with David Ritz) (Avon) was published and won second prize in the prestigious Eighth Annual Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Awards. The biography "The Arrival of B.B. King" by Charles Sawyer was published in 1980 by Doubleday.

In November 1997, MCA released B.B. King's album Deuces Wild with B.B. in tandem with 13 legendary artists. The lineup included Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Joe Cocker, Tracy Chapman, Mick Hucknall (Simply Red), Dr. John, Marty Stewart, D'Angelo, David Gilmore & Paul Carrick and Heavy D. Deuces Wild became B.B. King's second gold album.

In 1999, B.B. King released Let the Good Times Roll, his tribute to Louis Jordan. "Louis Jordan was a great musician," says King, "and in my opinion, was way ahead of his time. As people get to know him, they will realize what a great contribution he left to the music of today."

Live On Stage:

B.B. is a living legend - nuff said - go see him, who knows if you'll ever get another opportunity then this. Here's B.B. with The Thrill Is Gone...

IMEEM Playlist:

BB King

Music Videos:

Here's B.B. and Eric Clapton with Riding With The King...

For more on B.B. King head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Yonder Mountain String Band

2008-06-09T18:30:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

If Yonder Mountain String Band’s fourth studio album and self-titled debut for Vanguard Records sounds a little different, well, it should. It marks the first time the burgeoning progressive string band has worked with a stellar rock producer—Tom Rothrock (Foo Fighters, Elliott Smith, Beck and James Blunt—it’s the first time they’ve added a little drums to their mix of banjo/bass/mandolin/guitar and it’s the first time they’ve written almost an entire album spontaneously. Yonder Mountain String Band catches them transitioning into more folk and rock territories and most certainly and ceremoniously exploring different sounds and ways of songwriting.

Previously, guitarist Adam Aijala, mandolinist Jeff Austin, banjo player Dave Johnston and bassist Ben Kaufmann would each show up to the studio with their own songs, or songs that had already been worked up on the road. But with Rothrock behind the boards, they sat around and came up with songs that stirred the band’s creative juices in a new way. “It definitely was the challenge that was ready to be taken on,” says Austin. “For me, it was a very necessary step that the band had to take, just because we’ve always been about letting ourselves experiment to the full width of the spectrum. It was a part of us that was just dying to come out.”

Under Rothrock’s leadership, Aijala added electric guitar to the album, while Austin, milked an old ‘70s amplifier for feedback with an acoustic mandolin. Ambient noise accompanies the disc-ending “Wind’s On Fire.” The cinematic instrumental “Midwest Gospel Radio” was born out of Rothrock’s request for a spiritual number. Says Aijala, “Tom’s input certainly gave the songs a new and interesting feel.”

On the upbeat, rousing, first single “How ‘Bout You?” and “Classic Situation,” the band also brought into the fold Elvis Costello drummer Pete Thomas, who changed the sensibility of the record, says Ben. “All of a sudden, our perspective got a little broader. His drumming shows up fundamentally and very subtly in places throughout the record. I’ll leave that up to the listener to find these. We ended up with an album that’s got rippin’ bluegrass on it, but approached in a non-traditional way, which really appeals to me because we are not a traditional band. It’s always been forward-thinking and this is the first time we’ve captured that in the studio."

As a result, the always progressive Yonder Mountain continues to close the gap between bluegrass and rock: With its dueling electric guitar/banjo solo section, “How ‘Bout You?” has the goods to turn people on to a new way of thinking about how a banjo can be played. “There are places where the banjo and the mandolin become rock instruments,” says Kaufmann. “Angel,” meanwhile, could be dubbed “hard-folk” “That’s a song where we draw from personal influences that bridge—for us—our love of heavier rock music, with lyrical imagery that’s clearly traditional,” Kaufmann continues. “There’s a fiddle in the solo section, but it’s clearly channeling the spirits of the rock guitar gods.”

Fusing traditional elements and modern techniques, the disc’s leadoff cut, “Sidewalk Stars,” appropriately and perfectly captures the spirit of Yonder Mountain on this album.

A few of the tracks were worked up live, and a few come from outside sources. “I Ain’t Been Myself in Years” was written by band friend Benny Galloway, and “East Nashville Easter” was penned by Austin and lauded singer/songwriter Todd Snider. And it’s in songs like the latter where the band’s experimentations make even more sense.

Twisting and bending their sound with a rock producer was a natural next step for a group of guys who actually grew up on rock music. Comprised of Colorado transplants that grew up in the Midwest or Northeast, none of the band members had backgrounds in bluegrass music, but rather discovered it through old and new records and fellow musicians during college.

But it was indeed their new and growing love for bluegrass that quite unexpectedly brought the four players together during a free-for-all jam session at The Verve, a bar outside of Boulder, in 1998. Once they met, they knew they were onto something. “It was an eye-opening experience because we heard a unique sound,” says Johnston. “Something coalesced that night.”

Emphasizing song craft and unafraid to push its boundaries, things began snowballing quickly. In 1999, the band debuted with Elevation, produced by Grammy-winning dobro player Sally Van Meter and released (like each of its previous studio discs) on their own Frog Pad Records. Yonder Mountain returned in 2001 with Town by Town, helmed by Grammy Award winning songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Tim O’Brien. Van Meter was back behind the boards for the 2003 set Old Hands, a concept album of sorts that featured the songwriting of Benny “Burle” Galloway. Featured on the evocative tunes about cowboys, miners and all sorts of hard-livin’ Western folk were O’Brien, lauded fiddleman Darol Anger (Bela Fleck, David Grisman Quintet, Vassar Clements) and dobro player Jerry Douglas (Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris).

In between those studio discs, the band released Mountain Tracks Volume 1-IV, issued on Frog Pad Records, and each capturing the energy of its increasingly popular live shows.

With little radio support, Yonder Mountain has become one of the fastest rising touring bands in the country, its fanbase having ballooned over the past five years through steady gigging and high-profile festival sets, all of which are full of improv and none of which feature the same set list. “Now that we’re maturing as performers, our improvisation is more beholden to playing with good tone, good feel, good timing,” says Johnston.

It can’t be understated just what the band has achieved with that untraditional banjo/bass/mandolin/guitar line-up. Using bluegrass as its bedrock, the band has grown like few rock bands even do these days. “It’s funny,” says Austin. “But now we’re playing before 4,000 people in Denver. Last year, we played before 700 people in Atlanta and we recently sold-out a 3,000 seat venue there!” Added Kaufman, “ I think there’s just something about the banjo that makes people feel good.”

“[This album] probably represents us more than any other record we’ve done,” states Aijala, “because it incorporates more of our musical influences than ever before. It’s a really cool thing to be a part of and I’ll never take for granted just how lucky we are to do what we do. It makes me more excited for the future.”

Live On Stage:

Bluegrass has been a staple of Bonnaroo since the fests first year and Yonder Mountain are the best of the new-grass bands out there. We'll go with a double dose, first up is - Angel...

And here they are with Sideshow Blues...

IMEEM Playlist:

Yonder Mountain String Band

For more on Yonder Mountain head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Umphrey's McGee

2008-06-09T18:14:00.001-07:00

Official Bio:

The ascension continues for Chicago’s Umphrey’s McGee, not only in terms of their commercial success but in creative accomplishment and instrumental achievement as well. Their performance on Live at the Murat (SCI Fidelity), their first official live release, is as impressive as anything they’ve recorded to date, with the power and finesse, the yin and the yang, that have come to characterize their by-now classic material.

Recorded in Indianapolis in April 2007 and produced by longtime “sound caresser” / honorary seventh member Kevin Browning, the two-disc set features fan favorites like “Push the Pig,” “The Triple Wide,” “In the Kitchen,” and “Nothing Too Fancy” along with rare tunes like the set-ending “Padgett’s Profile” and the brief but torrid “Angular Momentum,” centered on the combo of drummer Kris Myers and guitarist Jake Cinninger. The band also dusts off tunes like “Hajimemashite” from ’98s Songs for Older Women, and the Yes meets Little Feat-influenced “40’s Theme,” a live favorite for the band and its fans.

Throughout the show, UM’s invention brings the progressive instrumental chops of Zappa and the stylistic savvy of Steely Dan. It is innovative without being indulgent, exhilarating without losing control, and there are plenty of improv passages that keep the band and their fans off-balance. As David Fricke notes in his four-star review of Live at the Murat in Rolling Stone, Umphrey’s McGee “always have destination on their minds, even when they fly free.”

Live at the Murat is the latest feather in the cap of the dazzling sextet. The magical odds and sods The Bottom Half, released in the spring of this year, followed their highly touted spring 2006 studio release Safety In Numbers. Contrary to its name, The Bottom Half is a top-rate sequel to Safety In Numbers. The double album is full of spontaneity and intrigue, fresh ideas, and the kind of dazzling musicianship we have come to expect from Umphrey’s. With its outtakes, alternate versions, and other nifty bits, The Bottom Half reached #26 on Billboard’s coveted “Heatseakers” Chart and received high marks from the music press. HARP magazine noted “…[The Bottom Half delivers] creamy studio work infused by diabolical skill.”

UM has — since forming in the late ’90s in the South Bend, Indiana area — cultivated an impressive presence both live and in the studio, quite an accomplishment when considering their humble roots. Cummins, Bayliss, bassist Ryan Stasik and original drummer Mike Mirro all studied at the University of Notre Dame near South Bend, Indiana, while percussionist Andy Farag at the South Bend branch of Indiana University. Cinninger, from Michigan, had a South Bend-based band called Ali Baba’s Tahini — as well as an open invitation to join Umphrey’s, which he accepted in the Fall of 2000. His addition, along with Kris Myers’ arrival in 2003, proved critical to the band’s success. Together, the gifted collective elevated its game.

Just a few months after their first gig in 1998, the band released their first album, the cleverly titled live document, Greatest Hits Volume III. Songs for Older Women and One Fat Sucka followed — as did their first ever DVD, Live from the Lake Coast. Building a reputation with the critically favored studio recording Local Band Does OK (not to be confused with Local Band Does Oklahoma — a live EP released soon after) and honing their groove as a stellar live act, by the time 2004’s Anchor Drops was released to raves, the buzz on Umphrey’s had grown loud. Rolling Stone tipped them in their Hot Issue and the Washington Post named the band “rock’s undisputed lord of sonic shape-shifting.” And if you need further convincing, one look at their second DVD—2005’s Wrapped Around Chicago: New Year’s at the Riv says it all: Umphrey’s had arrived.

The jam crowd hoisted the band up on their proverbial shoulders as heroes, heirs to the Phish throne. Fans reveled in Umphrey’s flair for inventive improvisation, incredible covers, and unpredictable moments. The band had also developed an uncanny visual language onstage that includes dozens of unspoken cues — a happy face, for example, symbolizes a major key, while a sad face indicates a minor one — that make their signature “jazz odysseys” and “Jimmy Stewarts” legendary on the jam scene. These cues manage to keep things tight and prevent their improv interludes from spiraling into hippie jam orbit. The band retains space, breath, and patience in performances, yet maintain masterly control in the process.

These days, Umphrey’s spends half the year on the road habitually flooring audiences. Their anything-goes musicianship, humor, and good-nature all make remarkable entertainment. The band shuttles between styles with precision, from straight-up pop and rock to jazz, prog-metal, and classical. If you can name it, chances are Umphrey’s can play it.

Live On Stage:

Who said that Bonnaroo doesn't book jambands anymore? These guys have something for everyone - even you metal fans out there. Here they are will Partin' Peeps...

IMEEM Playlist:

Umphreys Mcgee

For more on Umphrey's McGee head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - The Disco Biscuits

2008-06-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Uniting elements of electronic dance music with more traditional forms of American rock, the Disco Biscuits have long established themselves as one of the most exciting — and influential — touring bands in the country. In the late 90s, the band pioneered a unique style of music, often referred to as “trance-fusion,” that distinguished them from their peers, while heavily influencing an entire generation of younger “livetronica” acts.

It’s now been more than 10 years since guitarist Jon Gutwillig, bassist Marc Brownstein, keyboardist Aron Magner, and original drummer Sam Altman first formed the Disco Biscuits from within the ivy walls of the University of Pennsylvania. Since then (and with Allen Aucoin now on drums, following his victory at a Bisco firing squad drum-off at Atlantic City’s Borgata Casino in 2005), the band has repeatedly sold out many of the nation’s most prestigious venues and are a proven draw at U.S. festivals, earning key slots at majors such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. Along the way, they’ve accumulated cover stories (Relix Magazine), accolades (Jammy Award for “Jam of the Year”), and hit videos (“Caterpillar;” MTV Latin America).

The Disco Biscuits’ live show has developed from a regional nightclub attraction to a full on American experience. As Brownstein explains, “There’s this deep, fun-loving community built around the band that’s a decade old and which extends throughout the entire country. When we go anywhere, there’s something else going on that’s not just about the band and the music, but it’s a part of a greater experience.”

Standard rock concerts have become formulaic showcases where bands support their latest album by performing new songs amidst a selection of greatest hits. The Disco Biscuits, on the other hand, use their shows to create an entirely new album every night, in front of a live audience. Gutwillig equates it to watching a painter craft an image from scratch, using just a palette and a muse. “It’s unlike buying the art, where it’s already painted,” he says. “It’s watching the paint getting thrown on the canvas in a frenzy. And we’re doing it with dance beats and we’re doing it with grooves and we’re trying to make it as exciting as possible. It’s almost like getting cars into a field with cameras and just shooting a high-speed chase right there on the spot. What we’re trying to do, for the observer, is to make the most awesome, exciting, high-speed chase that they could possibly watch. And we’re trying to do it in a way that makes everyone feel like they went there, they lived it, and they felt it deep inside. That’s our goal.”

At the end of each summer, the Disco Biscuits host the largest live electronica event of its kind in the country. Called “Camp Bisco,” the festival has featured electro superstars (Amon Tobin, Infected Mushroom), live bands (Umphrey’s McGee, Brazilian Girls), hip-hop acts (The Roots, Slick Rick), and even weekend-long games of “color wars” organized and run by the fans.

Beyond just making music, the band is involved in community & political outreach. Brownstein is a co-founder and co-chair of HeadCount, a non-profit voter registration organization that registered nearly 50,000 new voters at live concerts in 2004 and aims to register 200,000 additional voters for the 2008 election. In addition to the Disco Biscuits, HeadCount has received support and involvement from a number of top-tiered touring acts, including the Dave Matthews Band and Phil Lesh & Friends, while members of the Grateful Dead, moe., and Leftover Salmon sit on its board of directors.

The Disco Biscuits are currently finishing their fifth studio album, this time collaborating with producers and legendary trance DJs Simon Posford & Benji Vaughn of UK’s Twisted Records (Shpongle, Hallucinogen, Younger Brother), as well as Grammy Award-winning Philly-based hip-hop producer Dirty Harry, whose credits include tracks for Ludacris & Beanie Segal. Much of the album has been recorded and mixed at the legendary Phil Nicolo studio in Philadelphia, with Nicolo & engineer Michael Block.

On New Year’s Eve 2007, the Disco Biscuits took over the Tweeter Center in Camden, NJ for the second year in a row, heralding the inaugural Circo Bisco, a circus-themed spectacle featuring support sets from Keller Williams, Antibalas, and Bassnectar and happenings by the performance art-oriented Philadelphia Experiment (PEX). The band also just released Progressions, a 4-hour, 2-disc DVD set documenting last year’s historic tri-city New Year’s run (TLA Video, Nov. 13, 2007).

Live On Stage:

The Biscuits return to Manchester for a late-night slot - which is where they do their best work. Here they are with their patented techno-jam-rock with Crickets...

IMEEM Playlist:

Disco Biscuits

Music Videos:

There is a reason jambands don't make music videos, here's example A...

For more on The Disco Biscuits head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Robert Randolph's Revival

2008-06-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

“We wanted to take our time and find ourselves,” says Robert Randolph. “Find out what was really inside of me and the band and bring that out. Really try to come up with the best songs, dig deep within, and let all of the experiences that we have had in the last three years come out in the music.”

With Colorblind, Randolph and the Family Band have taken the difficult leap from being great performing artists to being great recording artists. Since emerging from a House of God church in Orange, New Jersey steeped in the “sacred steel” tradition, Randolph’s astonishing pedal steel playing has had a revolutionary impact. Like a mere handful of musicians – Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Wonder – he has actually been able to redefine the sonic possibilities of his instrument. Randolph’s string wizardry is the focal point of the Family Band’s legendary live appearances, and led to guest spots with artists ranging from the Blind Boys of Alabama to Ozzy Osbourne.

But even Randolph admits that the Family Band’s previous recordings have focused more on capturing their onstage magic than on making an album for the ages. “On the last record (2003’s Unclassified),” he says, “we had some ideas, wrote as we went along, and we were out of there in three weeks – and that’s cool. But in working with so many people and getting advice from Eric Clapton, Steven Tyler, and the guys from Dave Matthews Band – they all say, ‘We’d love to see your talent showcased within the context of a great song.’ I was always caught up in the show, because I’m comfortable as a performer,” he continues. “But Carlos Santana said to me, if you ask fifty people which they remember most, a show or a record, 48 of them will say a great record. Because you live with a record, you can pick it up fifty years later and still listen to those songs.”

So Randolph set some new goals for his second studio album – something he wanted to stand on its own, not just be a souvenir of a great concert. For inspiration, he went back to some classic sources. “I listened to Sly Stone, a lot of Hendrix, Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder,” he says. “Then I’d go back to a church service and I’d think, I want Colorblind to be a mixture of all of these things."

The big step this time around was the decision to collaborate with other songwriters. The talent assembled was immense, including Tommy Sims (who has written songs with Eric Clapton, Bonnie Raitt, and Garth Brooks), Jeff Trott (Sheryl Crow), Mark Batson (Dave Matthews Band, Gwen Stefani), and the team of Drew Ramsey and Shannon Sanders (India.Arie, Heather Hedley). “We're fortunate to be good musicians,” says Randolph, "and we were able to channel into that foundation during the collaboration process, and grow as songwriters."

Not that it was easy for such a pure player to make the emotional commitment required to craft and shape new material. “At first, it was kinda weird,” he admits. “You put up this wall, like, this guy is going to try to change me, make me write a song that I wouldn’t be comfortable performing – that’s automatically what you think. So at first I wasn’t being as open as I should have been.”

The breakthrough, he says, came with a ballad called “Stronger,” written with Steve McEwan, who has scored country hits with the likes of Faith Hill and Kenny Chesney. “He was more of an aggressor, like, ‘Let’s go, we gotta write a song here!’ And that was really the first step, the song that got everything glued in. Then I knew I could hold my own as a songwriter."

Randolph says that he began to feel growth that was both musical and personal. “I learned a lot about myself,” he says. “You get into that mode and there’s so much uncharted territory, it’s like discovering a whole new country. That confidence helped feed myself and the band."

As the album’s title indicates, the results on Colorblind range from infectious R&B to timeless ballads. “Ain’t Nothin’ Wrong with That” is a sure-fire party-starter, while “Blessed” presents Randolph’s more spiritual, introspective side. And, there is a blistering version of the Byrds’ “Jesus is Just Alright With Me,” featuring Randolph and Clapton – who became a close friend and mentor to the younger artist when they toured together – in a blazing guitar battle recorded live in the studio.

Though Randolph has been defined by his jaw-dropping pyrotechnics on the pedal steel, he notes that the studio time devoted to this album led to an evolution in his playing as well. “Now instead of playing over the top of everything, I’m learning to play within the melodies and the concept of the song,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be the most fancy lick, but everything needs to work together – the melodies and the lyrics and the music.”

Having grown up in urban New Jersey and making the leap from playing in church to headlining rock festivals, Randolph’s aspirations go beyond expanding his own musical boundaries. “I’m trying to create a new field and a new style that’ll influence some kids to go, ‘wow, I can be Black and be from the inner city and I don’t have to be a rapper,’” he says. “I look at Sly Stone, how he came in and just ripped the music industry apart – I think music fans are ready for that again.”

Having broken through to a new level of creativity, Robert Randolph now finds that he can’t turn it off. “I’m still writing today,” he says. “It’s like being Willy Wonka – this is that first door that opens up and all this other stuff comes out. We’ve definitely stepped into some new dimension.”

Live On Stage:

This will be Robert Randolph's sixth time playing Bonnaroo and will be his third different band - previously playing with The Family Band and as part of The Word. Here's Robert with his signature tune The March...

IMEEM Playlist:

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Music Videos:

Here's Robert with the Family Band with I Need More Love...

Few more to check out...

Thrill Of It

Going In The Right Direction

For more on Robert Randolph head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Chali 2na

2008-06-08T11:50:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

MC. Musician. Actor. Painter. Renaissance Man.

Chali2Na has done it all. From his days growing up on the hardscrabble streets of Chicago’s south side, to his subsequent explosion on to Los Angeles’ burgeoning hip-hop scene, to his tenure as MC for seminal hip-hop group, Jurassic 5, Chali epitomizes the portrait of a 21st century artist.
Indeed, with his unmistakable, beloved baritone, Chali has firmly established himself as one of the most distinctive personalities not just in hip-hop, but music in general. Only a select few can say they’ve rocked microphones in front of thousands at a sold-out arena in Tokyo with Jurassic 5, spit rhymes at Lollapalooza, appeared on two Van’s Warped Tours and supported Lenny Kravitz backed by the Latin-tinged rock of Ozomatli, and painted professional caliber oil color paintings in their California home.

More than an artist, though, Chali’s charismatic personality, his exquisitely humble approach to his craft, makes him an enigma amongst hip-hop’s elite. With this spirit in mind—and the varied musical, socio-cultural and geographical influences that have shaped him—Chali is poised to release his first solo album Fish Out Of Water in 2008.

A powerful and deeply personal body of work, Chali’s debut features a seemingly endless litany of groundbreaking tracks, which touch on topics the veteran musician has never bared to his listeners before. Whether it’s the trauma he experienced from the shooting death of a childhood friend to the twists and turns of his own family lineage, to the travails of maintaining creative chemistry with other artists, Fish Out Of Water, is quite simply, a life’s worth of songs in the making.

To be sure, Chali’s diverse tastes—from the blues he was raised on to the political gangsta’ rap he loved to the graffiti art he sprayed as a teenager—flow from this album, like the oil colors Chali uses for his paintings. With production from the likes of Will I Am to Scott Storch and collaborations with Damian and Stephen Marley and Raphael Saadique, Fish Out Of Water, feels like a new beginning of sorts for Chali.

Says Chali: “These are all artists whom I’ve always admired. Some of them I’d worked with before, some of them I hadn’t, but to have these cats on my album, to have them be part of what I’m doing… it’s just been an incredible, experience.”

Never one to be pigeonholed into a particular genre of music, or a specific artistic taste, Chali is also a rising talent in the voiceover world. With his distinctive bass-heavy voice, he made a name for himself as a voiceover specialist, beginning in 1991 with a Coors commercial and has since lent his talents to such mega-brands as Coca Cola and Sega Dreamcast. As a result, Chali’s work has attracted the interest of big-name Hollywood studios, as evidenced by his role as the character PUP in the animated picture: Night Before Christmas.

Rest assured, there’s still plenty of fire in Chali’s lyrical arsenal. His days of training at the legendary Los Angeles hotspot, the Good Life Café, have taught him well. Only now, he’s fused the bass-heavy bravado with his own life’s story, and in doing so, creates art that’s not only superb, it’s important.

Live On Stage:

Chali 2na is best known as a member of the now defunct Jurassic 5, here he is with Galatic from last year's Bonnaroo...

IMEEM Playlist:

Chali 2na - Fish Market

Music Videos:

We'll kick with some J5, here's Quality Control...

Few more to check out...

What's Golden

Concrete Schoolyard

Work It Out

For more on Chali 2na head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival

2008-06-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi have combined forces for a summer outing, touring together as one musical group; Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival. The guitar-slinging couple - married since 2001 - have recorded on each other’s albums and toured together with their respective bands on occasion, but this new musical adventure reveals the two side by side leading one amazing ensemble.

Fans can expect a mixture of material from both artists’ repertoire along with a batch of songs worked up especially for this tour, steeped in blues, roadhouse rock and American roots.

A 2007 concert review in the Deseret News, raved, “whether playing some of the all-time classics or their own compositions, the pair proved repeatedly why they are arguably two of the best young blues musicians in the world. Tedeschi, whose singing never ceases to amaze” mixed with “trucks jaw-dropping solos left everyone in the crowd--and on the stage--breathless.” The Dallas Morning News added, “the pair work so seamlessly together, that the songs performed – from Etta James, Junior Wells, King Curtis, the Rolling Stones, Blind Willie Johnson and others, took on an ultrasultriness that had men and women, young and old, single and coupled alike swaying sensually to the time… the Soul Stew Revival was served piping hot and with dollops of Southern spice.”

The Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi Soul Stew Revival consists of acclaimed slide guitarist Derek Trucks, soulful vocalist/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, horn players Kevin Hyde, Paul Garrett, Mace Hibbard and current members of The Derek Trucks Band; Todd Smallie (bass), Yonrico Scott (drums), Kofi Burbridge (keys & flute) Mike Mattison (vocals), Count M’Butu (percussion). The Soul Stew will also feature Derek’s younger brother, 19-year-old Duane Trucks on second drum kit.

Both Tedeschi and Trucks are known for their amazing live performances and along with the impressive individual talents of this band, it promises to deliver a high energy night filled with new and familiar grooves.

Four-time Grammy-nominated singer, guitarist and songwriter Susan Tedeschi maintained a busy schedule in 2007 in support of her latest critically lauded album Hope and Desire (Verve Forecast). She's won a large and loyal audience for her ability to craft elements of classic blues, rock, R&B, folk and gospel into a distinctly individual style that honors rootsy musical traditions without being subservient to them. Guitar Player declares that "Susan Tedeschi has got the whole package: a sultry and soulful voice, an engaging personality, a broad palette of stylistic influences, and an articulate pen that tells it like it is.”

For Trucks, already a veteran at 28 (29 on 6/8), the tour with Tedeschi caps one of the busiest years of his career which included sharing the stage with Eric Clapton as a featured soloist for the 2006/2007 world tour, a packed schedule of dates with The Derek Trucks Band including Europe and Japan in addition to U.S. dates with Carlos Santana and was featured on the cover of the Rolling Stone ‘New Guitar Gods’ issue. In 2006, The Derek Trucks Band’s best-selling album to date, Songlines, prompted USA Today to hail Trucks as “possibly this generation's greatest rock guitarist,” while the Wall Street Journal concurred that “he is the most awe-inspiring electric slide guitar player performing today.” The album also spawned Songlines Live, the group's first-ever DVD. Trucks currently divides his time between The Derek Trucks Band, The Allman Brothers Band (full time member since 1999) and now Soul Stew Revival.d

Live On Stage:

The Allman may have had to cancel their appearance, but sure to stop by for Derek and Susan's set. I had a chance to catch them at Farm Aid with this band and it was one of the highlights of the day. Let's go with a double doses, first up is Little By Little...

And here they are with the Derek & The Dominos - Anyday...

IMEEM Playlist:

Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi

For more on Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi hit up their official websites.

Bonnawho's Who - Les Claypool

2008-06-07T14:16:00.001-07:00

Official Bio:

In 2006 Primus main man/bass legend Les Claypool will be revealing his multi media talents as he releases a new solo studio album in the spring (first since 2002), publishes his first novel and releases an independent feature film that he wrote, directed and stars in. He will be doing a US tour with stops at the Bonnoroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester TN (June 16-18th) where he will be playing with his solo band, and the band Oysterhead featuring Trey Anastacio and Stuart Copeland. The Claypool train
will also be stopping at Wakarusa festival in Lawrence Kansas in June.

Les will also be releasing his first novel “SOUTH OF THE PUMPHOUSE”. A dark, clever tale of two brothers, a fishing trip, misconceptions, drugs and murder, South of the Pumphouse skillfully combines classic motifs of epic struggle and intelligent layers of imagery, reminiscent of The Old Man and the Sea, and the raw, tweaked perspective and hallucinogenic tutorial of a
Hunter Thompson novel.

Les’ movie debut “Electric Apricot” a mockumentry on the Jam Band scene that is not only enlightening, but also hysterical at the same time. (http://www.electricapricot.com) Electric Apricot will be screened at The Tiburon Film Festival on March 15th and Portland Lonbaugh Film Festival April 6th. It features cameos by actor Seth Green, South Park co-creator Matt Stone, and such jam band legends as Bob Weir, Mike Gordon and Gov't Mule's Warren Haynes and Matt Abst.

Live On Stage:

Les is no stranger to Manchester having performer at Bonnaroo with a number of bands over the years. This time he's being billed as a solo act, so we'll see what's in store. Here's he is with Rancor...

IMEEM Playlist:

Les Claypool

Music Videos:

Let's kick it with some Primus, here's a few videos to check out...

Jerry Was Racecar Driver

My Name Is Mud

Winona's Big Brown Beaver

For more on Les Claypool head on over to his official site.

Bonnawho's Who - Cat Power

2008-06-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Cat Power is the nom de rock of Chan Marshall. Her second album of cover songs is a tribute to the great vocalists that have inspired her over the years. It includes two originals which fit the 'covers' theme: "Song To Bobby" evokes Dylan in both style and content, and a new sense of triumph pervades her revisit to 2000's "Metal Heart".

Jukebox was recorded by Stuart Sikes at the Hit Factory (Miami), Rare Book Room (Brooklyn), and Sikes Studio (Dallas). Her backing band on the album and all subsequent touring is "Dirty Delta Blues" – Jim White (drums), Judah Bauer (guitar), Gregg Foreman (keyboards), Erik Paparazzi (bass). Guest musicians on Jukebox include Spooner Oldham (Neil Young, Janis Joplin), Larry McDonald (Toots & the Maytals, Taj Mahal), Teenie Hodges (Al Green, Memphis Rhythm Band), and Matt Sweeney (Chavez).

Rolling Stone: "A dazzling self-portrait...she refashions material from other artists and makes it seem like it's been hers all along."
New York Times: "Quietly assertive as well as admiring...she claims [the originals] by pondering them."

LA Times: "Subtle touches of jazz, blues, rock and country add to the dreamy, soulful elegance and make Jukebox feel like a private love letter to treasured tunes."

Live On Stage:

Chan Marshall is making her second appearance at Bonnaroo. Last time in Manchester she was backed by the Memphis Rhythm Band, this time around her touring band is Dirty Delta Blues. Here she is with them doing New York...

IMEEM Playlist:

Cat Power (Chan Marshall)

Music Videos:

I absolutely love this tune, here's Lived In Bars...

Couple more to check out...

Cross Bones Style

Where Is My Love?

For more on Cat Power head on over to her official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Tiesto

2008-06-07T12:31:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Tiësto- After nearly 25 years as a DJ, Tiësto continues to take it to the next level. In 2007 he was nominated for a Grammy for Elements Of Life, closed the main stage at Coachella, played to over 200,000 people at one show in Ipanema Beach, Brazil, had one of the biggest tours in tours in North America, including selling out 15,000 tickets in LA Sports Arena and remixed artists including José González, Tegan & Sara, Imogen Heap and Justin Timberlake.

A crowned knight of Holland, Tiësto has been chosen three times as the world’s Number One DJ, since his career began in 1994. He was the first DJ to sell out a 25,000 person stadium event and had the first ever house track smash on North-American radio. His world tours and record releases remain some of the most anticipated events around the planet.

“A wax statue at Madame Tussaud’s. A memorabilia case at Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas. Playing for a crowd of 200,000 on a beach in Brazil. Closing this year’s Coachella Saturday night after Red Hot Chili Peppers. Selling out two 25,000 ticket Amsterdam shows in less then two hours. It sounds like the resume of a classic rock band or red-hot pop star. But it actually belongs to a DJ/Producer: Dutch phenomenon Tiësto.” Reuters, 2007

“On August 11, the Dutch DJ performed a 5 1/2-hour set in front of a sold-out crowd of more than 15,000 at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. It was the largest-ever single-DJ show in North American history, featuring full-production and arena-scale theatrics the likes of which the dance community has never seen.”
The Hollywood Reporter, 2007

“Trance DJ Tiësto dominated from his main stage position. All hands were in the air as he put his own stamp on Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” and Moby’s “We Are All Made of Stars”
Los Angeles Times, 2007

“DJ. For most people, the name conjures images of a mysterious figure hidden away in a booth high above the dance floor, spinning the current crop of chart-topping tunes. International dance maestro Tiësto is determined to change that image forever.” Pollstar, 2007

“In this post-post rave world, how does a Dutch DJ demand such adoration that his fans drown out The Cure’s encore at the Ultra Music Festival with repeated shouts of the man’s name? From the sound of it, Tiësto does it by giving the people all of what they want, and none of what they don’t…No use fighting it then. Join in the chant.” URB, 2007

Live On Stage:

This one's for all you late night dancers out there, Tiesto handles the late night duties on Friday night at This Tent...

IMEEM Playlist:

DJ Tiesto: Elements of Life (Limited Edition) (2CD) (2007)

Music Videos:

Here's Elements Of Life...

For more on Tiesto head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Zappa Plays Zappa

2008-06-07T12:21:00.001-07:00

Official Bio:

Zappa Plays Zappa, Dweezil Zappa’s ongoing homage and performance of his father’s music, is hitting the road again in 2008, after hugely successful tours in 2006 and 2007.

2008 promises material performed that ZPZ have never performed, as well as some of their favorite tunes from previous tours.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) was an American composer who immersed himself in his craft with equal parts vision and vigor. Over the course of 80 albums—first as the leader of the Mothers Of Invention and then as a solo artist—Zappa raised the bar in a rock world that spent most of its time embracing the ordinary. His music was fearless, imbued with an impeccable sense of technique, but never, ever at the expense of emotion. Although critics marginalized his music (apparently too busy celebrating the “genius” of the Eagles), and radio stations would rarely play it (lest they thought they would lose the ever-important used-car dealership commercials), Zappa’s work continues to defy any calendar thrown at it.

To that end, Dweezil Zappa is becoming more proactive in the continued public display of his father’s music for years to come. Zappa Plays Zappa is a seven-person-strong ensemble dedicated to keeping Frank Zappa’s music (aesthetically eight to 10 years ahead of whatever copyright date was printed on the records in the first place) very much alive. Zappa Plays Zappa is the synergistic result of what happens when a vibrant repertoire of music is learned by a stellar band and worshipped by an audience weary of Pro Tools.

“It seems to me that people my age (38) and younger know the Zappa name a little bit, but they don’t know a lot about the music,” says Dweezil, explaining the original impetus behind the creation of ZPZ in 2004. “They might know some of the songs that accidentally got on the radio, but those songs don't represent the totality of Frank’s output. I feel that Frank’s music needs to be proposed to a new audience. The core fans have always been there, but in the past 13 years, there’s been no outreach program to introduce it to younger fans. Because his music will not suddenly just start being played on the radio 700 hundred times an hour, the only way to effectively reach new people is to play it live. I wanted to seize the opportunity now because I can't stand the notion of his music fading away in my lifetime.”

Dweezil’s commitment to his father’s work began with him listening, in chronological order, to every single one of Frank’s albums to understand its evolution. Then he began learning to play the compositions, starting with “The Black Page #2,” the piece known to strike terror in the hearts (and bowels) of musicians whose sight-reading skills weren’t up to the challenge. After learning that one, one might think the rest of the oeuvre might as well be “Louie Louie,” right? Well, negotiating time signatures that look like graduate-school algebra is one thing, but in order to approximate his father’s complex written music, Dweezil essentially had to relearn how to play guitar. To perform the uniquely difficult material live he ended up adopting a picking technique devised by veteran player Frank Gambale.

After he accomplished the woodshedding needed to realize his goal, Dweezil was faced with the aesthetic considerations of such a large body of work. (Read: Mother, Mary and Joseph! What the hell are we gonna play?) With over 1,000 pieces to choose from, he focused on Frank’s work from the mid- to late-’70s, as well as some personal favorites from his own youth. “It takes a certain snarky delivery of that material and it's difficult to execute it the way Frank did,” reminds Dweezil. “Frank's vocal style is very distinctive and I did not want any of the material we were presenting to seem like a cheap imitation.” He pauses and starts to laugh. “Attitude is everything with this music!”

From the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen in California to the stages of theatres and festivals across the globe, Zappa Plays Zappa is prepared once again to respectfully expose new fans to Frank Zappa's extraordinary acheivements in music.

Live On Stage:

I'd venture to guess a lot of people out their don't know much about Frank Zappa's music. I would definitely suggest going to check these guys out. Frank's music was complex, funny and dynamic and was a big influence on a lot of jambands. Here's a couple live performance to check out. First up is Willie The Pimp...

And here's Joe's Garage...

For more info on Zappa Plays Zappa head on over to their official website.

Cafe/Night Club Acts - Part IV

2008-06-07T11:39:00.000-07:00

Mike Farris f. Roseland Rhythm Revue

Official Website

Live On Stage:

The Nikhil Korula Band

Official Website

Live On Stage:

Nomo

Official Website

Music Video:

Person L

Official Website

Live On Stage:

Phonograph

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist

Phonograph

Rotary Downs

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Rotary Downs

Royal Bangs

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Royal Bangs

Bonnawho's Who - Chk Chk Chk

2008-06-07T11:22:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Following a titillating tour in summer '95 between Popesmashers and Black Liquorice, !!! officially formed upon their return at one of the famously ultra-hot, all-night Sacramento, CA dance parties. The tour had provided the attendees - and a few of the band members - with plenty to think about. Black Liquorice came with disco covers without the kitsch, and Popesmashers followed with loud, propulsive noise. The combination of these styles seemed odd to some, but it worked in the most primal sense, leading the aforementioned band members and others to wonder - Why NOT feel this? All the fucking time.

The eight members of !!! had grown up playing various breeds of punk and experimental music (!!! frontman Nic was vocalist for the infamous hardcore band, Yah Mos), and increasingly found themselves wanting to play music in the vein of the stuff they were dancing to. Which is not to say !!! are a punk band, nor a funk band, for that matter. They are both. And neither.

The !!! symbol was chosen, rather than a conventional band name, because it reflects the excitement shared by the band members, mixed with an intense desire to shake things up. They have toured the U.S. repeatedly,amassing a sizeable following thanks to their cathartic live shows. The years spent train-hopping, hitch-hiking and touring DIY style have forged a desire to take !!! everywhere, fast.

!!! shares three of its members with Out Hud, including Tyler Pope, who is also in LCD Soundsystem. !!! has released a 12" split EP with Out Hud, as well as a seven-inch on Hopscotch called "Dis-ease". A self-titled debut came out on GSL in 2000, which included the nine minute manifesto, "There's No Fucking Rules, Dude" - an exhortation to forget your worries and just shake your ass... dude. Got it?

!!! is John Pugh (drums), Nic Offer (vocals), Allan Wilson (percussion, horns), Mario Andreoni (guitar), Tyler Pope (guitar, keys), Justin Vandervolgen (bass, sound engineering tweaks), Dan Gorman (percussion, horns), and Jason Racine (percussion).

FYI:
!!! is pronounced as any three repetitive sounds.
Common interpretations are chicchicchic, powpowpow, uhuhuh, among many unlimited possibilities.

Live On Stage:

They may have the toughest band name to Google, but !!! are going to make you dance you ass off. Check out this live performance and you'll see what I mean...

IMEEM Playlist:

Chk Chk Chk (!!!) "Myth Takes"

Music Videos:

Here's !!! with Must Be The Moon...

Couple more to check out...

Heart Of Hearts

Hello? Is This Thing On?

For more info on !!! head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Talib Kweli

2008-06-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Ever since emerging as a member of Black Star in the late 1990s, Talib Kweli is one of the few artists making commercially viable music that matters. The Brooklyn bred rapper’s hard-hitting music has been able to educate and entertain simultaneously. So it is no wonder that at the peak of their fame, both Jay-Z and 50 Cent named Talib Kweli as one of their favorite rappers.

With Ear Drum, his first album released on his own Blacksmith Music and his sixth album overall, Kweli has delivered his career-defining work, a polished collection showcasing his advanced lyricism and his penchant for picking music that resonates long after the song ends. “The image of the ear and of the drum are powerful enough by themselves, but when you put them together, it’s an instrument that’s in your body that helps you hear,” he explains. “They’re also two very simple, yet powerful words. I wanted to focus on finding a sound that makes you move, and that’s where the word ‘Ear Drum’ popped in my head.”

Throughout Ear Drum, Kweli delivers powerful music that sparks your intellect and makes your body move. He teams with Reflection Eternal partner Hi-Tek on “More Or Less.” Over pounding drums and a minimalistic groove, Kweli makes brash declarations on how to improve music specifically and American society in general. “A statement like, we need ‘more rap songs that stress purpose/With less misogyny and less curses/Let’s put more depth in our verses,’ I haven’t made bold, blatant statements since that like ‘Manifesto.’ There are fans of mine that really appreciate those statements because there are times when those statements need to be made.”

The lead single "Hot Thing," produced by will.i.am, is a drum-driven track detailing how his lady makes things better and how much he enjoys her sexual appeals, personality and tendencies – “I love her country ass, her city sass,” after all, "She's instrumental to my life,” Talib Kweli raps on the cut.

An equally bold Ear Drum moment comes on "Say Something." Building off a horn blast made famous by Lords Of The Underground and featuring a guest appearance from Jean Grae, the intense cut showcases the pair's ingenious lyrical agility, ones that range from heavy-handed boasts to sly double entendres. Then there's "Country Cousins," which features Kweli trading verses with UGK and Raheem DeVaughn. Over a soulful beat accented by brassy horns, Kweli, Bun B and Pimp C talk about the reality of their experiences growing up in New York and Texas, respectively. "People have the perception of what an East Coast artist sounds like, who he's supposed to be listening to and what he likes, and what a Down South artist sounds like,” Kweli explains. "There’s preconceived notions and that's really what the song with Bun and Pimp C is about, the preconceived notions between East Coast artists and Down South artists."??Talib Kweli keeps the hard edge going on the macabre "New York Weather Report," a moving meditation on life's journey and struggles. "That track makes me think of really dark, bassline-driven songs like Eric B. & Rakim's 'Juice (Know The Ledge)' or 'Casualties Of War,' that era where songs were driven by deep jazz basslines. I wanted to do a song where I wasn't restricted to 16 bars and hooks, which is why the first verse is 32 bars and the second verse is 24 bars. I just wanted to do a straight rap song and that's what that song is -- and it feels like New York City hip-hop to me, like the basslines Evil Dee and them were using on Black Moon records."??The Kanye West-produced "In The Mood" changes the vibe with its feel-good, smooth approach, as does the silky, soulful, Madlib-produced "Soon The New Day" featuring cooing vocals from Norah Jones.

An equally bold Ear Drum moment comes on “Country Cousins,” which features Kweli trading verses with UGK and Raheem DeVaughn. Over a soulful beat accented by brassy horns, Kweli, Bun B and Pimp C talk about the reality of their experiences growing up in New York and Texas, respectively. “People have the perception of what an East Coast artist sounds like, who he’s supposed to be listening to and what he likes, and what a Down South artist sounds like,” Kweli explains. “There’s preconceived notions and that’s really what the song with Bun and Pimp C is about, the preconceived notions between East Coast artists and Down South artists.”

Throughout Ear Drum, Kweli makes a point to explore new topics, collaborate with a variety of artists and rap over distinctively innovative production. It is part of Kweli’s growth as an artist and as a person. “We need to challenge our audience but we also need to challenge ourselves to know that whatever our new experiences are, we can write about them, be creative and bring that to an audience without them feeling alienated,” he says.

Long-time Talib Kweli followers will say the same thing about him. Since his stellar debut with Mos Def as Black Star, Kweli has been one of rap’s most exceptional and consistent artists. Released in 2000, Reflection Eternal, the RIAA-certified gold album with Hi-Tek, was one of the most acclaimed albums of the year. In 2002, smash single “Get By,” the biting political commentary “The Proud” and the insightful examination of America’s gun culture on “Gun Music” made Quality a landmark recording and Kweli’s second gold album. Subsequent recordings in 2004 (The Beautiful Struggle) and 2005 (Right About Now) solidified his status as one of rap’s most talented and important voices.

Now, after establishing himself as a rap visionary, Kweli along with long-time manager Corey Smyth launched Blacksmith Music. The pair signed an exclusive deal with Warner Bros. to market, promote, and distribute the music of Blacksmith artists. Following Kweli’s release on Blacksmith/WBR there will be a new solo album from Jean Grae, the critically acclaimed South African-born female rapper who is among the most respected female rappers in the history of the genre. Rolling Stone called her “the best kept secret on New York’s indie hip-hop scene,” while XXL, Spin, Village Voice, URB and others have labeled her an artist to watch. Strong Arm Steady, a forthcoming Blacksmith/WBR release, is a super group whose members are Los Angeles underground star Phil The Agony, lyrical assassin Krondon and San Diego rap pioneer Mitchy Slick. Strong Arm Steady has been one of the few West Coast acts to build a rabid fanbase through mixtapes.

Kweli hopes Blacksmith will create a movement with Jean Grae and Strong Arm Steady, much as his own music has. “With Blacksmith, I want it to be a flag that everyone can wave,” he says. “I want to be packing shows and I want people to feel like they were up on Jean Grae and Strong Arm Steady before anybody else was.”

In the mean time, the lyrically and sonically potent Ear Drum demonstrates that strong, powerful messages can serve as the backbone for music at its best. “The vast majority of my subject matter focuses on black self-love, black self esteem, black self worth,” Kweli says. “That translates to other communities because if you’re a human being, it doesn’t matter what color you’re talking about. You’ve been through some sort of struggle and you can apply it to your own life.”

Especially after listening to Ear Drum.

Live On Stage:

Here's Talib with Get By...

IMEEM Playlist:

Talib kweli

Music Videos:

Here's Talib with Listen...

Few more to check out...

Hot Thing/In The Mood

Everything Man

Get By

For more on Talib Kweli head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Solomon Burke

2008-06-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

The course that led Solomon Burke to his throne atop the celestial hierarchy of soul singers has been one of the most extraordinary in pop music history. Born on March 21, 1940, his unerring gift for hitting dead center every time was developed very early in life. By the age of seven, Burke was already a phenomenon, holding forth as the regal-robed Wonder Boy Preacher before not only his own congregation in hometown Philadelphias Solomons Temple, but also an untold number of listeners who tuned in to the live remote broadcasts local station WDAS provided. Delivering innumerable sermons, Burke was already sifting through a complex spectrum of mind and spirit, coaxing right from wrong, uplifting the desperate, examining frailty and failure through a prism that not only explored human psychology but provided direct and invaluable experience with all the passionate intricacies of sanctified gospel singing, the very bedrock upon which so much American popular music is built--territory that Solomon Burke owns.

Recording for the independent Apollo label at age 14, his already skillful presentation resulted in 1954s million selling gospel Christmas Presents From Heaven, but after rhythm & blues tastemaker Jerry Wexler brought him to Atlantic Records in 1960, and Burke applied the gospel technique to secular R&B, it provided the depth, involvement and range of emotion that defined what would come to be known as soul music. His output at Atlantic was stunning, a string of classic numbers ( Cry To Me, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love, Down In The Valley) that defined the idiom with architectural precision, influenced everyone from Otis Redding to Tom Jones and ensured his subsequent coronation as the King of Rock & Soul.

An unchallenged ruler with a remarkable pedigree -- record sales topping 17 million, a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction -- Burke has thrived not only artistically, but also spiritually (he maintains his own church in the San Fernando Valley) and personally (his family boasts 21 children), and shows no sign whatsoever of slowing.

Since his 2002 Grammy win for Best Contemporary Blues Album for the stunning Dont Give Up On Me introduced him to a new generation, Solomon Burkes always impressive cachet has only expanded. He has made numerous television appearances, undertaken his second tour with the Rolling Stones, done studio collaborations with the hipster likes of Junkie XL and Zucchero, been featured in the acclaimed documentary Lightning In A Bottle -- a raft of resume additions that would be an impressive chapter in any musical career, but for an artist such as Burke, one who trades in the profound and illimitable truths of soul music, these are mere speed bumps along the way.

Solomons latest release, Make Do With What You Got brings the focus back to exactly where it should be, on that unrivaled, intoxicating voice, an instrument able to elevate, enchant and more importantly, inform. He once again provides a powerful set that both reflects his unparalleled past achievements and attains a higher artistic plateau. Presented with a warm, after-hours feel from a funky-tight sextet, Burkes incomparable vocals float with an intimate grace, grind down to the gritty rock valley bottom and deliver soul-stirring testimonials of abiding hope. Drawn from the work of some of the 20th centurys most vaunted songwriters, Hank Williams and Bob Dylan among them, the ten tracks play as a series of messages conveyed in oracular metaphor that, coming at a critically uncertain moment in history, strive to manifest the understanding and endurance so sorely needed. In 2006, Solomon received his second Grammy nomination for Make Do With What You Got.

In the Fall of 2005, Solomon collaborated with the British sensation, Jools Holland, both in the studio and in a sell-out tour of the United Kingdom, including two performances at the Royal Albert Hall. And to cap off 2005, Solomon was invited by Pope Benedict XVI to perform at the Vatican for the Christmas concert, with Maestro Renato Serio and the Vatican Symphony Orchestra.

In another step of inspired destiny, Solomon will return to his roots on is next recording: a country cd recorded in Nashville, to be produced by renowned performer, writer, and producer Buddy Miller. The anticipated release for this masterpiece will be September, 2006. In the meantime, Solomon continues to tour, preach and spread his message of peace and love in all that he does.

Live On Stage:

Solomon Burke is a soul music legend, and should be circled on your schedule - no excuses. Here's he is doing his signature song Everybody Needs Somebody To Love...

IMEEM Playlist:

Solomon Burke

Music Videos:

Here's King Solomon with None Of Us Are Free...

For more on Solomon Burke head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Little Feat

2008-06-01T07:23:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

In his preface to Little Feat’s recent retrospective compilations—‘02’s Raw Tomatos and Ripe Tomatos--the band’s Paul Barrere wrote, ”It’s almost 33 years ago exactly since Mr. [Lowell] George came to the front door of the Laurel Canyon house I was livin’ in, with that beautiful white ”p“ bass in hand, and asked if I wanted to try out as bass player for his new band. As most who know the story’s end can tell you, as a bassist I make an excellent guitarist, and 3 years later-- when I finally began my stint in Little Feat-- I would never have guessed that I would be here writing these liner notes to yet another chapter in the now storied life of a band that has been my life, and a true labor of love.“Truth is, there really is no story’s end yet, and Little Feat have indeed led a storied life ever since they formed in 1969. From then on, their unconventional signature of earthy, organic appeal and polished, first-rate musicianship wrapped around eclectic and memorable songs--clearly delivered as an authentic labor of love--has been a lasting fixture on the musical landscape. As American as apple pie--and rock ‘n roll itself--Feat’s music transcends boundaries, a freewheeling fusion of California rock and Dixie-inflected funk-boogie. In the mix as well are strains of folk, blues, rockabilly, country and jazz, inventing a hybrid sound that is truly Little Feat’s own.

Easily one of the hardest working bands in show biz, today’s Little Feat is a seven-member powerhouse that ably carries on the group’s tradition in both the recording and touring arenas. In fact, they have a brand new studio album—their first since 2000’s Chinese Work Songs—titled Kickin’ It At The Barn, produced by Feat-ers Paul Barrere, Bill Payne and Fred Tackett. It’s named after the place it was recorded throughout 2003, Tackett’s barn-come-studio in Topanga Canyon, which Bill Payne has called ”Little Feat’s version of The Band’s ‘Big Pink’,“ and which lent an invaluable ambience to Feat’s latest undertaking. In his liner notes, faithful Feat scribe Paul Barrere writes, ”If music is a conversation between the players, then we are talking like never before…this has been truly one of the most memorable recording projects we’ve done. We started with an idea to write songs on acoustic guitar and piano, like the old days before computers and samples, and then let the band interpret the music.“

The result is a spirited collection of eleven-songs, comprised of both acoustic and plugged-in numbers that finds Feat in absolutely top form, weaving magic once again with their inimitable sound. Stand-out tracks include Bill Payne’s epic and beautiful Tex-Mex inspired opus ”Corazones y Sombras“ (hearts and shadows), which was co-written in Texas with Stephen Bruton and features a stellar guest line-up of Mexican players. The sublime musical journey continues with ”Bills River Blues,“ which Barrere and Payne co-write, ”In A Town Like This,“ the title track from Fred Tackett’s last solo album, now amp-ed up and fleshed out by the full band, and the Shaun Murphy-penned groove ”I’d Be Lyin’.“ And, that’s just to mention a few, of course.

It’s a past whose long and winding history took root in 1969 when songwriter, performer, multi-instrumentalist, and all around colorful character Lowell George, formerly of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention, set out to form his own band -- at Zappa’s suggestion. The brilliant and often idiosyncratic George connected with keyboard master Bill Payne, and, along with drummer Richie Hayward and Roy Estrada, founded Little Feat. They were soon signed to Warner Bros., where Little Feat, in various configurations, would remain for twelve of their sixteen albums.

This initial line-up recorded the band’s first two LPs--their rootsy, 1971 self-titled debut, featuring the classic cut ”Willin,“ and its follow-up, Sailin’ Shoes, which added ”Easy To Slip,“ ”Trouble,“ ”Tripe Face Boogie,“ ”Cold Cold Cold“ and the infectious title track to their repertoire. Upon Estrada’s departure in 1972, Paul Barrere, Sam Clayton and Kenny Gradney (all still in Feat today) signed on, and the rest, as they say, is history…and many more great albums.

Next up was Dixie Chicken (’73), a New Orleans-influenced gumbo of greatness that offered up the signature title track and ”Fat Man In The Bathtub,“ among other delights. The two LPs that followed, Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (’74) and The Last Record Album (’75) served up ”Rock & Roll Doctor,“ ”Oh, Atlanta,“ and ”All That You Dream,“ respectively, while 1977’s Time Loves a Hero offered up, in fine Feats fashion, another unforgettable title track. That same year delivered the aforementioned Waiting For Columbus, forever memorializing their legendary stage prowess.

During Little Feat’s recording of their eighth album as a group, 1979’s Down On The Farm, founding member Lowell George—who had already been veering towards solo work-- met a tragic and untimely passing. Except for Hoy, Hoy, a 1981 full-length assemblage of rarities, live performances, previously overlooked tracks, and a new song apiece from Payne and Barrere, Little Feat disbanded until the mid-‘80s. At that point, their own lyrics from ”Hangin’ On To The Good Times Here,“ ”…although we went our own ways, we couldn’t escape from where we came, so we find ourselves back at the table again, telling stories of survivors and friends,“ proved very telling. Barrere and Payne remember that a chance jam session in 1986 brought them together again, when they were reminded of how deeply Little Feat’s music was ingrained in them.

In 1988, the reformed band—with new members Craig Fuller (handling George’s vocal duties) and Fred Tackett--rekindled Feat’s magic for fans old and new alike. That year, they released the lively reunion album Let It Roll, and the singles ”Hate To Lose Your Lovin’,“ and, of course, the title track. The 1989 follow-up, Representing The Mambo, would prove to be their last for Warner Bros. Next came 1991’s Shake Me Up (on Morgan Creek), after which Fuller departed the band. Little Feat added a new lead singer, Shaun Murphy, in 1993, and released an acclaimed studio album, Ain’t Had Enough Fun in 1995 (this time on Zoo). Shaun’s feminine energy and powerful, seasoned, bluesy vocalizations certainly upped the fun quotient for a recharged Little Feat.

This incarnation of the band— which remains current today—was captured live to great effect on ‘96’s Live From Neon Park, a two-CD set culling performances from multiple concert venues including San Francisco’s fabled Fillmore Auditorium, Portland, Oregon’s Roseland Ballroom, and House of Blues Sunset Strip. Named after the renowned album cover artist whose striking images gracing Little Feat’s releases was a time-honored tradition (until his death from ALS in 1993), this live-fest featured all the band’s best-loved songs as well as their contemporary material. The collection proved how vital they remained after all the changes time had wrought.

In 1998, Little Feat released Under The Radar, their first album on CMC International. Spotlighting a confident and well-oiled configuration of first-rate talents, Under The Radar delivered a consistently strong set of songs including new Feat favorites ”Home Ground,“ ”Eden’s Wall,“ and ”Calling The Children Home.“ With 2000’s Chinese Work Songs, also on CMC, Little Feat’s ever-evolving repertoire grew even more, featuring original compositions including ”Marginal Creatures,“ ”Eula,“ and ”Another Sunday,“ as well as vibrant covers of Bob Dylan, The Band and Phish songs.

Released in October 2003, Kickin’ It At The Barn adds to the ever-growing repertoire on the band’s very own Hot Tomato Records. ”It’s something we’ve talked about doing for a long time,“ says founding Feat-er Payne of launching the label, adding, ”it gives us the chance to do what we want, and it’s there for everybody in the band… and when it’s really up and running, for other artists too.“ In a perfect synergy of saluting their vibrant past and christening the untold future, Hot Tomato kicked-off in June ’02 with the inaugural releases Raw Tomatos and Ripe Tomatos, each a double-CD collection of live rarities spanning over three decades. Tracks were culled from a wealth of tapes amassed over the years from both fans and band sources alike, with each collection boasting well over two hours of music—they are only the first in what promises to be a Hot Tomato tradition of creatively mining the band’s inexhaustible archives.

Other Hot Tomato releases include the 2002 two-CD set Live From The Ram’s Head, capturing a 2001 acoustic show recorded in Annapolis, MD, and ‘03’s Down Upon The Suwannee, a live recording captured at the Magnolia Festival in Live Oak, Florida. The title, which is also a tip of the hat to Stephen Foster, refers to the Suwannee River, which flows through the concert site.

Fred Tackett’s solo album In A Town Like This came out in 2003 as well, and plans are in the works to release discs from various band members in the future, including one from Bill Payne slated for 2004, and a second Paul Barrere/Fred Tackett album, among other projects.

Yet another present day acknowledgement of Little Feat’s rich legacy is Rhino’s deluxe 25th anniversary edition of the band’s monumental concert LP Waiting for Columbus, released in 2002 as an expanded two-CD set with extensive new liner notes and rare photos. When it first came out in 1977, Waiting For Columbus instantly became one of the all-time great live rock ‘n roll albums, serving up bringin’-down-the-house versions of a host of Feat favorites including ”Dixie Chicken,“ ”Fat Man In the Bathtub,“ ”Time Loves A Hero,“ ”Sailin’ Shoes,“ ”Oh Atlanta,“ and ”Willin’.“ The new package restores the full 17-song sequence of the original concert, and adds seven previously unreleased outtakes. In October 2002, Little Feat commemorated Rhino’s re-release--and the unforgettable musical event that inspired it-- with a benefit concert at Washington, D.C.’s Lisner Auditorium, one of the two venues where Waiting For Columbus was recorded. An all-star guest line-up including Jackson Browne, Stephen Bruton, Joe Ely, Bela Fleck, Levon Helm, Sonny Landreth, and Billy Bob Thornton helped the band celebrate.

Rhino/Warner Bros. also saluted Little Feat’s accumulated musical history with the comprehensive retrospective Hotcakes & Outtakes: 30 Years of Little Feat, a project initiated and co-produced by Bill Payne and Paul Barrere. Released in 2000, the deluxe 4-CD, 83-track boxed set features hits from all of Little Feat’s classic albums as well as fan favorites, alternate takes and hand-picked rarities from the band’s eventful past.

Time has loved these musical heroes for more than three decades now, as have legions of fans and countless fellow musicians, many of whom they’ve played with over the years. Feat’s fabled collaborators have included Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Beck, Brian Wilson, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Plant, John Lee Hooker, Johnny Lang, and Leftover Salmon (for whom Bill Payne recently produced an album). With the success of Hot Tomato Records, an endeavor powered by an inspired band of musicians continuing to create exciting new material both individually and as a group—including their latest, Kickin’ It At The Barn--Little Feat will no doubt be sailin’ into the future with no end in sight.

Live On Stage:

It always surprises me that more people don't know Little Feat - they put out some fantastic albums in the 70s, before their lead singer died - they've seemed to have gotten lost in the shuffle because of it. Sure the touring version of the band isn't the original, but they still a great live band. Let's kick out school with two live clips. First up Dixie Chicken...

And here's Fat Man In The Bathtub...

IMEEM Playlist:

Little feat

For more on Little Feat head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - The Avett Brothers

2008-05-31T15:16:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

"It costs nothing to be honest, loyal and true."

If you put your ear to the street, you can hear the rumble of the world in motion; people going to and from work, to school, to the grocery store. You may even hear the whisper of their living rooms, their conversation, their complaints, and if you're lucky, their laughter. If you're almost anywhere in America , you'll hear something different, something special, something you recognize but haven't heard in a long time. It is the sound of a real celebration.

It is not New Year's, and it is not a political convention. It is neither a prime time game-show, nor a music video countdown, bloated with fame and sponsorship. What you are hearing is the love for a music. It is the unbridled outcry of support for a song that sings to the heart, that dances with the soul. The jubilation is in the theaters, the bars, the music clubs, the festivals. The love is for a band.

The songs are honest: just chords with real voices singing real melodies. But, the heart and the energy with which they are sung, is really why people are talking, and why so many sing along.

They are a reality in a world of entertainment built with smoke and mirrors, and when they play, the common man can break the mirrors and blow the smoke away, so that all that's left behind is the unwavering beauty of the songs. That's the commotion, that's the celebration, and wherever The Avett Brothers are tonight, that's what you'll find.

Live On Stage:

Don't know much about these guys, but after watching this great performance I think I may need to track down some of their albums...

IMEEM Playlist:

Avett Brothers

Music Videos:

Was a little surprised I'd find a music video, but here's Die, Die, Die...

One more for ya...

Paranoia In B Flat

For more on The Avett Brothers head on over to their official website.

Cafe/Night Club Acts - Part III

2008-05-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Howlin' Rain

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Howlin Rain

Jake Shimabukuro

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Jake Shimabukuro

Jessie Baylin

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

jessie baylin

Jypsi

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Jypsi

K'NAAN

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

KNaan

Lord T & Eloise

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Lord T & Eloise

Bonnawho's Who - Jakob Dylan And The Gold Mountain Rebels

2008-05-31T11:20:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

“Once I realized that this album was basically going to just be guitar and voice,” says Jakob Dylan, “I had to work a bit differently, because there's nothing but the song to grab your attention.”

On Seeing Things, Dylan's first-ever solo album, the songs most certainly do make a listener sit up and take notice. They are spare, unblinking visions, stripped to the bone, full of dread and darkness one minute and spirited optimism the next. After five albums as the leader of the platinum-selling, Grammy-winning band the Wallflowers, with this project Dylan reveals a striking and powerful new approach to his work.

“In a band, you usually use the studio as another instrument, whether as an ally or an opponent,” he says. “But this time, it was as if there was no studio beyond documenting the songs. I wanted the studio to be invisible, and to have that lack of sound become the sound of the record.”

Inspiration arrived when he went on tour opening for T-Bone Burnett, an old friend who also produced the Wallflowers' 1996 breakthrough album Bringing Down the Horse. Dylan had only his Wallflowers material from which to draw, but playing those compositions alone on an acoustic guitar led to a revelation.

"That's the way I wrote all of those songs, and the way they sounded before exploring them with the Wallflowers,” he says. “I knew that I wanted to write more songs I could play in that sort of setting.”

Still, he had to find a voice that matched his intention. “You want each record to have a language that's unique to itself,” he says. The new chapter began with “Valley of the Low Sun,” a haunting, gently ominous dreamscape. “There's always something that tells you that you've started a record,” he says, “and when that song hit me, I realized I had begun.”

The rest of the album was written over the next few months, at which point Dylan played them for Rick Rubin, who had recently become the head of Dylan's new label, Columbia Records. Rubin, who has produced legends from Johnny Cash to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, from the Dixie Chicks to Jay-Z, became Dylan's guide to unlocking the songs on Seeing Things.

“Rick got to Columbia right on time for me, because I was at a bit of a standstill,” says Dylan. “He understood what I was trying to get to, and set me in an atmosphere which gave me the freedom to do it.” Rubin's support extended down to the location of the sessions—most of the album was recorded in the producer's Hollywood home,

The lyrics of these ten songs return again and again to visions of apocalypse and war. Asked if this imagery is a result of the times we live in, Dylan allows that “I wouldn't know how to write something today and not have that sense in there.” But, he emphasizes, he isn't interested in writing literal commentary on current events. “I never find it that distinctive to reference or name-check specific moments, or to write actual narratives,” he says. “I'm still too caught up in the beauty of words. It doesn't matter what you're talking about—if you truly tell it the way you see it, you're never going to have regrets.”

More than anything, songs like “All Day and All Night” hearken back to the timeless language of American roots music. Though Dylan has often spoken of more modern bands like the Clash as his greatest inspiration, he asserts that with these songs, he was aspiring to the majesty and the mystery of the country blues masters.

“That's the stuff I listen to, that's the vocabulary I work with and always go back to,” he says. “If you're a songwriter, that should be your territory-that's the high water mark for all of us. I wanted to write songs that sounded like they've been here forever, that feel like they were carved right from the mountain, not just made in some studio somewhere.”

But there's nothing one-dimensional about Seeing Things; it is also marked by the joy found in such songs as “Something Good This Way Comes.” “I was aware that it was shaping up as a very dramatic record, but I believe those optimistic things, too,” says Dylan. “People might sometimes listen to my songs and think I'm depressed, but I'm really not. There's always been hope and humor in what I write.”

As for the Wallflowers, Dylan maintains that the band is alive and well, and that Seeing Things represents a hiatus, not an ending. “The Wallflowers are designed for a certain sound, and I needed something different,” he says. “I have a great group, and I want to make more records with them. But I've never had a chance to hear my voice sound this way coming out of the speakers.”

Live On Stage:

Jakob will be hitting Manchester will a newly released solo album, so I wouldn't expect a Wallflowers greatest hits set out him. Here's Jakob doing a solo acoustic version of One Headlight...

IMEEM Playlist:

Wallflowers

Music Videos:

We'll kick it old school with some Wallflowers, let's go with their cover of Heroes...

Few more to check out...

One Headlight

Sleepwalker

6th Avenue Heartache

For more on Jakob Dylan head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Donavon Frankenreiter

2008-05-31T09:05:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Once upon a time, mentioning surfing and music in the same sentence conjured up sepia-toned images of the early’’60s. But thanks to artists like Donavon Frankenreiter -- who, unlike most of the old-school “surf-rockers,” knows his way around a wave as well as he does a fret-board -- those images have been updated radically to focus as much on musical adventure as on the spreading of good vibes.

Over the course of the past half-decade, the California-bred Frankenreiter established himself as one of the more original voices on the acoustic-rock scene, through tireless touring and the innate catchiness of songs like “Free” (which became a Triple-A radio staple upon its release two years ago). But, unsatisfied with simply heading further down that path, he opted to shift gears for Move By Yourself, his sophomore outing -- and first for Lost Highway.

The brisk 11-track disc is something of a sonic sea change for Frankenreiter. While the sun-kissed openness of his songs is still in full effect, he’s now couching those feelings in a whole new set of sounds, from the keyboard-drenched “Let It Go” (which blends Allmans-styled soulfulness with an undeniable pop sensibility) to the low-slung funk grooves of the smoldering title track.

“I listen to so much music, and I pretty much feel comfortable singing all of it, so I didn’t want to come across as a guy who does nothing else but sit on a beach with an acoustic guitar, playing around a fire,” says Frankenreiter. “The funky stuff, especially, is fun to play -- it really lets me tap into a different part of my personality.”

In order to more fully explore different aspects of that personality, the Laguna Beach-based singer-songwriter decided a change of scenery would do him good. After releasing his self-titled debut on Brushfire Recordings -- the label run by longtime friend and collaborator Jack Johnson -- Frankenreiter chose to link with Lost Highway for the release of Move By Yourself.

“Jack and Mario [Caldato] did a great job on that last record and I had a beautiful time making it. I just felt like I needed to make a change, and there were definitely no hard feelings involved,” he says. “I wanted to succeed or fail on my own merits and I jumped at the opportunity to be part of a roster like Lost Highway’s."

Frankenreiter has been moving towards being part of that roster for ages. After establishing himself as one of the most acclaimed free surfers in the world -- a talent that took him halfway around the world before his 16th birthday -- he picked up a guitar in order to master riding a different sort of wave. By his senior year of high school, he was part of a popular live act called Peanut Butter and Jam, in which he learned that taking the stage provided an entirely different sort of pleasure -- for him and his audience.

“The reality is that surfing is my first love,” he admits. “For a long time, it was my life -- I made a living at it starting when I was 16 years old, and it took me all a round the world. But it’s vastly different than doing music. If I call up a buddy to surf, there can be a moment of clarity, but if I get a wave that’s really incredible and try to convey that feeling to someone else, they may not be able to relate. But my wife -- or anyone -- can see me on stage playing and really feel what I’m feeling. It’s magical, there’s so much togetherness.”

Exploring that communal feel was one of Frankenreiter’s primary goals when recording Move By Yourself. He’s adamant about crediting his bandmates Matt Grundy (bass), Eric Brigmond (Keyboards) and Craig Barnette (Drums) with helping shape its alternately funky and blissed-out grooves, and equally eager to spread the gospel of the sort of old-fashioned recording process they used in making the disc.

“We recorded at a studio in St. Augustine, and this guy, Jim DiVito, had tons of really old equipment, which was terrific,” recalls Donavon. “He had two inch tape, no click tracks and we had to do things the way stuff had been done before all the modern studio technology was invented. Just seeing the tape roll was fun. That had a lot to do with the way the music sounds.”

Those sounds are undeniably, unabashedly, organic. Acoustic interludes like “Girl Like You (Cali Honey)” exude a back-porch vibe so vivid that it’s easy to imagine the sound of ice swirling around in glasses hoisted by fellow party-goers. And when the volume ramps up to the point where such sounds would be drowned out -- as on the fiery “Fool,” which showcases Frankenreiter’s deft, bluesy fretwork -- other senses get a workout via the smell of sweat and the feel of heat.

Move By Yourself has no shortage of such sonic mood swings, but there’s a definite evenness of spirit. Sure, the disc has its share of assertive moments, but it’s hard to miss the delight with which Frankenreiter approaches life, whether he’s relating his feelings about his child (as on “These Arms”) or simply waking up to greet the new dawn addressed on “Beautiful Day.” He’s a happy guy, and he’s the first to admit it.

“It’s a totally positive thing for me,” Frankenreiter declares. “I’ve talked to people who’ve asked ‘why don’t you write more depressing songs? Sure, I have bad days like anyone else, but mostly, I feel lucky. When I pick up a guitar, I feel good. It makes me want to open a bottle of wine and have a party, and that’s what I’d like people to feel when they listen to my music.”

Live On Stage:

Ok once you get past the creepy 70s style porn mustache, Donavon Frankenreiter plays a funkier version of that laid back beach music that Jack Johnson made famous. Check out Call Me Pappa...

IMEEM Playlist:

Donavon Frankenreiter

Music Videos:

Here's What'cha Know About featuring G. Love....

Few more to check out...

Free

Move By Yourself

It Don't Matter

For more on Donavon Frankenreiter head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings

2008-05-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Sharon Jones was born Sheron Lafaye Jones in Augusta, Georgia on May 4th 1956. Her mother moved to Brooklyn soon thereafter, however Jones was sent down south for a few months every year to stay with her family. As a child, she and her brothers would imitate the songs and dances of James Brown, who shared their hometown. Like many rhythm and blues entertainers, she began performing in church at a very young age where her voice would find a lifelong home and inspiration. As a teenager in the early nineteen seventies, she began singing outside of the church in talent shows and with local funk groups. Later she would make her living with a combination of sporadic session work as a mostly anonymous voice on various dance records (sometimes credited as Lafaye Jones), singing with wedding bands, and a handful of day jobs which included stints as both a prison guard at New York’s notorious Riker’s Island, and an armored car guard for Wells Fargo Bank. In 1996 she was called in to sing back-up at a Desco Records studio session for 70’s soul legend Lee Fields.

Desco was a small independent specializing in traditional funk and soul pressed exclusively to wax. Co-owners and producers Phillip Lehman and Bosco ‘Bass’ Mann had called Jones in on a tip from a sax player who was seeing her at the time. As the other two girls never showed up for the session, Jones cut all the background parts for the session herself, and proceeded to cut the impromptu prison rap over Switchblade, which had originally been intended for a man. Ironically, that rant (slowed down to make it sound like a man) would be her first outing as a featured artist on a record. Though she was at first skeptical of the 21 year-old jewish kid egging her on from the other side of the glass, a common love and respect for Soul music soon created a trust and friendship between Jones and Mann which would lead them both to a fruitful career.

Over the next four years, Jones sang frequently alongside Lee Fields, Joseph Henry, and Naomi Davis as part of the Desco Super Soul Revue backed by Desco house band the Soul Providers. Desco would release a handful of singles in her name including The Bump & Touch, Damn It’s Hot, and You Better Think Twice as well as versions of funk classics I Got the Feelin’ and Hook & Sling. In the UK, a blossoming Deep Funk scene lead by DJ’s Keb Darge and Snowboy among others showed support for these Desco releases and paved the way for Jones and the Soul Providers’ first international tour in 1999, where her command of the stage earned her an overnight title as the ‘Queen of Funk’.

Unfortunately, just as the Jones and the band began to gain momentum and a reputation for a show that couldn’t be missed, internal business conflicts caused the demise of Desco Records in the early part of 2000. Though the Soul Providers would not perform again, it wasn’t long before Jones and Mann would regroup in another formation.

Guitarist Binky Griptite, would remain at Mann’s side as well as organist Earl Maxton, percussionist Fernando ‘Boogaloo’ Velez, trumpeter Anda ‘Goodfoot’ Szilagyi and Baritone saxophonist Jack Zapata (AKA Martín Perna, who would go on to form Brooklyn afrobeat collective Antibalas) all from the original Soul Providers. From the Mighty Imperials, a young instrumental organ funk group that recorded at Desco, Tenor saxophonist Leon Michels (who would later leave the group to form the El Michels Affair as well as his own label, Truth & Soul) and drummer Homer ‘Funkyfoot’ Steinweiss would fill out the line-up. Both were only 17 years-old at the time. Now for the first time, the group would be billed as Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.

In 2001, the group landed a summer residency at a club in Barcelona. Knowing that the trip would be a financial disaster without having a recording to sell, Mann penned a few new tunes and assembled the band to record. A rough eight track recording studio was rigged up in the basement beneath the Afro-Spot, a local kung-fu dojo which doubled as an afrobeat nightclub and headquarters for Antibalas’ frontman Duke Amayo. After a few weeks of tracking and mixing, the band’s debut album was completed. Dap Dippin’ with Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings would be Jones’s first full length recording. Though few hundred copies were pressed to sell on the road, it would take several months and the birth of a new record label before Dap-Dippin’ would be commercially released.

In late 2001, saxophonist Neal Sugarman, whose organ driven Sugarman Three combo had given Desco two of its most prominent releases, and Gabriel Roth, Desco’s head recording engineer, joined together to form Daptone Records. With the intention of continuing on where Desco had left off, Daptone’s debut release would be the Dap-Dippin’ album.

Over the next three years, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings would tour extensively and build steadily upon a growing reputation as the unrivaled frontrunners of old-school Soul and Funk music. The band went through several changes in personnel before settling into what would be its permanent line-up. Sugarman joined the band to replace Michels on tenor saxophone. Michels would move to baritone where he would stay until 2005, when he eventually left to give Truth & Soul Records his full attention. He would be replaced on baritone by Ian Hendrickson-Smith, a well known and respected jazz saxophonist in his own right. The trumpet chair passed from Szilagyi to Todd Simon, and was eventually filled by David Guy. Maxton left the band in 2003 to play with Antibalas, leaving the band with no organ, and guitarist Tommy ‘TNT’ Brenneck, of the Budos Band, would take up the slack in the rhythm section.

By the time they returned to the studio in 2004, the Dap-Kings roster read like a veritable who’s who of the day’s Soul and Funk scene, most of whom were bandleaders in their own right. Countless gigs had molded the rhythm section into a redoubtable juggernaut on the bandstand, and the combination of Sugarman, Guy, and Michels in the horn section was fierce. Behind the ever-increasing power and stage presence of Jones, the band was becoming a force to be reckoned with.

In 2003, Daptone Records had relocated to a dilapidated two family house in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Upstairs became the offices, and with some amount of work, the first floor had been converted to a recording studio. By the time the Dap-Kings came to record their second record in March of 2004, the studio had been outfitted with a sixteen track tape machine. (Originally, the plan was to record the second and third albums back to back. Unfortunately, on the last day of tracking the second record, a car accident on the way home from the studio landed Mann in the hospital with serious eye injuries. From then on he would have to wear protective sunglasses. It was over a month and a half before work could be resumed on the album and it was decided to scrap the third album for the time being.)

In January of 2005, Naturally hit the streets and set Jones and the Dap-Kings loose on a relentless touring schedule. Fueled by rave reviews of both their new record and the blistering live show, record sales and concert attendance began rising across the country, and as the band began to tour more frequently overseas, international markets soon followed suit. By 2006, audiences in Europe, Canada, and Australia were packing venues to see Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings.

A high point came when Daptone Records presented a Soul Revue at New York’s Irving Plaza (Fillmore East?) to honor Jones’ 50th birthday. The sold out extravaganza featured The Mighty Imperials, The Budos Band, Charles Bradley, Binky Griptite, Naomi Davis & the Gospel Queens, the Bushwick Philharmonic, Antibalas, and was of course headlined by the Dap-Kings and Sharon Jones herself.

In the winter of 2006, the band slowed its touring schedule to make time for a return to the studio. The resulting 100 Days, 100 Nights, slated for a much anticipated release in September of this year, is arguably their greatest achievement to date. With much more extensive songwriting and arranging contributions from the members of the band, the songs take more distinct and well-crafted forms, enabling a deeper more soulful return to traditional Rhythm and Blues roots. However, it is the raw fire and Soul which Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings consistently pour into their music that will make this record an irreplaceable part of many people’s lives.

Live On Stage:

Sharon Jones and her fantastic backing band the Dap Kings should be a must see this year, if you don't believe check out this clip...

IMEEM Playlist:

Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings

Music Videos:

Here they are with Tell Me...

Got one more for ya...

100 Days, 100 Nights

For more on Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings boogie on over to their official site.

Bonnawho's Who - Israel Vibration

2008-05-27T17:30:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:
The story of international reggae group Israel Vibration’s success starts out with their humbling beginnings as children in a Jamaican rehabilitation center, battling polio, a disease that attacks the central nervous system, producing muscular atrophy and often death. The whole island of Jamaica had an outbreak of this epidemic in the 1950s after a shipment of used clothing from England was found to contain the polio virus and many of the islands poor people could not afford to raise these children.

After spending several years at the Mona Rehabilitation Clinic on the outskirts of Kingston, Lacelle Bulgin (Wiss), Albert Craig (Apple) and Cecil Spence (Skelly) began to exhibit interests in music playing piano and other instruments that were laying around at the clinic. They also became very close friends and as they became teenagers they started to adhere to the teachings of Rastafari. This caused some consternation with the administrators of the clinic and they were ordered to trim their locks, stop preaching to the other patients about Jah Rastafari or they would be asked to leave. Steadfast in their beliefs they were unable to eschew their religion and were eventually thrown out of the clinic.

With no money or family to care for them, these three soldiers found themselves sleeping under trees in a field at night with only cardboard as their bed. Sometimes passersby would give them some food or money to help them get through another day. This sufferation caused them to begin writing songs and creating harmonies where each member took a turn singing lead, with the other two providing a type of harmony where their voice would vibrate. This distinctive style lead to them taking the name Israel Vibration since they has become members of a Rastafarian organization known as the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Eventually word of these homeless singers spread and noted Jamaican producer Tommy Cowan brought them to a studio in Kingston to record what would become their first LP “The Same Song”. This was picked up by EMI in England and their fame now became worldwide. Even Bob Marley picked them as his favorite group and had them play with Bob on a number of shows in Kingston. Jamaica. Their next album, “Unconquered People” was recorded at Bob’s Tuff Gong Studio and featured many of the Wailers as musicians.

As was typical with many producer/artist relationships in Jamaica in those times, the band was never fairly compensated for their work and they decided to split with Cowan. Their frustration with the music business and the difficulties of living in Jamaica with polio led them to come to Brooklyn, New York and like so many other Jamaican immigrants they settled into this community which was almost like home.

Living in America did not solve their problems and the group did not record for several years. In fact they began to drift apart and were trying to launch careers as solo artists. Around 1987 some of them approached Doctor Dread from RAS Records to see if the label would be interested in signing them as solo artists. Doctor Dread was firm in his response “Marcus Garvey always said that Unity Is Strength and if the group would re-unite, that RAS would be willing to undertake re-launching their career as Israel Vibration”. The rest is history.

In 1988 RAS recorded “Strength Of My Life” and went on to produce another seven albums by the group. RAS also was instrumental in touring the group all over the world. To see three polio victims come on stage with their crutches and perform for over two hours straight hours was a very powerful message and audiences the world over became mesmerized by the sounds that the Roots Radics (their backing band) and Israel were creating. Things kept growing and growing for the group until 1988 when Apple Craig decided to leave the group to again pursue a solo career. He released a solo project for RAS in 2001 and lives in Atlanta now.

Skelly and Wiss continue to record and tour as Israel Vibration and have released two albums for RAS and the brand new “Fighting Soldiers” CD. Their careers are peaking again as they have taken both Europe and America by storm and their legion of fans continues to grow. Headlining many large reggae festivals the worldover, Israel Vibration are the torchbearers of the roots, rock reggae movement popularized by Bob Marley. And their flame is burning brighter than ever!

Live On Stage:

Nothing beats some good reggae at a festival to put you in a good mood, and these guys have been doing it since the late '70s. Here's African Unification...

IMEEM Playlist:

ISRAEL VIBRATION

Music Videos:

Wasn't expecting to find a music video, but here's Rudeboy Shufflin....

For more info on Israel Vibration head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - M.I.A.

2008-05-24T19:30:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

“I can’t drive,” M.I.A. says flatly. “So I love cars.” She’s matter-of-fact, answering an obvious question about the possible threads running through the high-octane fumes and sour diesel smoke of her new album KALA, which opens with the roadway rush of “Bamboo Banga”. But because this woman is an uncanny combination of street style and political substance, making music about wanting what you can’t have and trying to work with what you haven’t got –This isn’t a break-up album,” she says. “It’s a wake up album.”

M.I.A. is often held up as someone different, someone with ‘that’ special something and an unerring ability to always keep ahead of the pack, continually turning in music that sounds both exciting and fresh. KALA will not change this viewpoint, it will only fuel it further.

The majority of the record was made when she was supposed to be taking time out and traveling. When she ended up in Chennai, India, she spent weeks live recording drum patterns with local percussionists, writing new songs like “BirdFlu” and “20 Dollar”, holed up in a studio used normally for Bollywood soundtracks. She ultimately filmed a fully-cast video for “BirdFlu” and freeing herself from the constraints of waiting for the time it takes to release records nowadays, aired it on the internet for free sans a commercial release to accompany it. It sent the anticipation for this album to nuclear levels. Subsequent trips found her writing and recording in Trinidad, Jamaica, Australia, Japan and briefly in the US, where she spent a New Year’s Eve in Baltimore with producer Blaqstarr before finding a studio to make “The Turn” with him.

So while her buzzed-about 2004 debut album, Arular, found her in the leftfield of both dance beats and Third World politics, rapping about her early life split between war-torn Sri Lanka and London’s council estates, KALA has got M.I.A. out in the global street or “World Town”, as she envisions it in one song. It’s from there that she continues to voice for the people pushed to the side in the shell game of international geopolitics, “the Third World deserves freedom of speech just like everyone else,” she says. “We want to fight the battle to say what we want, whether to be serious or just make fun of ourselves. That’s what ‘World Town’ is about; that’s what ‘Paper Planes’ is about — it’s what people in the Third World live through,” she continues.

Arular was a bedroom dancehall rocker that fire-wired an international fan base and appealed to plugged-in critics, KALA is a different beast, it’s the beat of the street itself — the sound of roadside sound systems, taxicab transistors, DVD-wired dollar vans, motorbike couriers and parking lot pull-ups. It’s also the sound of M.I.A. digging in as both an artist and a producer.

It never occurred to her to repeat the ideas from Arular in a paint by numbers follow-up, so even when returning to team up with producers $witch and Diplo, she often had the two meet her out in the world — whether it was Trinidad’s rough Laventille district or a Tokyo hotel room turned recording booth — and pushed the collaborations far enough to arrive at something new. KALA also features M.I.A.’s first guest artists: the Nigerian rapper Afrikan Boy who rhymes on the raving “Hussel”, a group of Aborigine adolescents, The Wilcannia Mob, who appear on the didgeridoo beat of “Mango Pickle Down River” and Timbaland who crops up on album closer, “Come Around”.

“For a while I thought I didn’t have time to grow,” she says. “But I realized my growth happened on the road. By now I thought everyone would be making albums like my first one, but that hasn’t happened. So I like this album, if only because it’s so different. I think it’s going to take a few listens, but you gotta give people the benefit of the doubt.”

Live On Stage:

IMEEM Playlist:

M.I.A. - Kala

Music Videos:

Few more to check out...

Sunshowers

Bird Flu
For more on M.I.A hit up her official website.

Bonnawho's Who - O.A.R.

2008-05-17T09:57:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

O.A.R.’s island-vibe roots rock sound first developed in Rockville, Maryland in 1996 in the basement of drummer Chris Culos' childhood home. While still in high school, the band released their first album, The Wanderer. Unlike most high school bands, which dissolve after graduation, O.A.R. decided it needed to expose its music to a larger audience and all of its members went on to The Ohio State University. By the time they had graduated from college, O.A.R. already had three albums - and hundreds of shows – under their belts.

After selling over 300,000 CDs on their own label (Everfine Records), O.A.R. joined forces with Lava Records for their major label debut, In Between Now and Then, followed two years later in 2005 by their most recent studio effort, Stories of a Stranger. The album produced radio favorites “Love and Memories” and “Heard the World” as well as mtvU’s Most Downloaded video of 2006, “Lay Down.”

During the past year, the band continued to tour throughout the country, playing in front of more than 250,000 people, and released LIVE FROM MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, a live double-disc CD set and double-disc DVD set. The band wrapped up the summer of 2007 with USO performances in both Kuwait and Iraq, followed by several months in the studio working on their next release.
Live On Stage:

Love them or hate them, there isn't much a of middle ground with O.A.R. - the face is these Dave Matthews disciples have become huge over the last half a decade and for me it's kind hard to hate a band that's built their fan base from the ground up, despite how you feel about their sound. Here they are with Hey Girl...

Couple of shows to check out...

2005-03-25 - O.A.R. - Aragon Ballroom - Chicago, IL

2004-02-27 - O.A.R. - Northrop Auditorium - Minneapolis, MN

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Here they are with Love And Memories....

One more of ya...

Lay Down

For more on O.A.R. hit up their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Tegan & Sara

2008-05-17T08:50:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

we are born (at the same time, give or take eight minutes). we are raised in calgary, alberta, canada.

fifteen years pass.

we find a guitar. we record demo tapes at school and in our bedrooms. we enter a “garage band” competition (it was the ‘90s) and we win. we make “the yellow tape”. we graduate from high school and we make two more demos, “the orange tape” and “the red tape”. we play shows and do small tours in canada.

tegan and i make “under feet like ours” in april of 1999. we start to tour more extensively in canada. we eventually send the album to elliot roberts, president of vapor records. we sign a record deal with vapor.

we then make “this business of art” and go on tour in the USA with neil young. after the tour we embark on our first national tour of canada as headliners. we tour with rufus wainwright and melissa ferrick, and make our first attempt at touring europe and japan. we play david letterman!

we head back into the studio with john collins of the new pornographers and david carswell of the smugglers in february 2002, to make “if it was you”. we tour with ryan adams, hot hot heat, and manage to get ourselves to australia for the first time! we tour canada. we play every small, dirty club in the USA.

we go back into the studio with JCDC and howard redekopp in february 2004 to make “so jealous”. we finally sell some records! we get nominated for a juno (canadian grammy). the killers take us on tour all over the USA, and the white stripes cover one of our songs. we buy hummers and do cocaine.

just kidding.

we tour and tour and tour. and after 18 months on the road, we decide to take some real time off. we see the seasons change. we record demos like crazy. we add drums, bass, guitars and keyboards.

we meet up with chris walla (death cab for cutie). we give him the demos, and we make a plan to relocate to portland, oregon to record with him at his studio in january 2007.

we move into a house in portland. we walk to the studio everyday. we tow our gear behind us in a wagon. we bring angela kendall (who filmed “the making of so jealous” and the speak slow video) down with us from vancouver to film everything we do.

we focus on keeping the songs as close to the demos as possible. after a month we’re finished tracking most of the guitars, keyboards and vocals. we bring in jason mcgerr from death cab for cutie. he plays drums and passes along life lessons. hunter from afi plays bass on tegan’s songs, and matt sharp of the rentals plays bass on mine.

we film everything, we develop segments and we gather endless footage. we build a set in our basement and every night for two months we record in-person interviews and speaker phone conversations with our friends and family.

march 12 arrives, the album is finished, the movie is ready to be edited. we go home.

i arrive in exile. tegan goes to hawaii in search of dog the bounty hunter.

the con.

Live On Stage:

Tegan and Sara's sound has evolved a lot since I saw them opening for Ryan Adams a number of years back. They've gone for indie-folk to more electro-indie-pop. Here they are with Walking With The Ghost, a song that The White Stripes covered and recorded...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Few more to check out...

The Con

Back In Your Head

For more on Tegan & Sara head on over to their official website.

Cafe/Night Club Acts - Part II

2008-05-17T08:22:00.000-07:00

De Nova Dahl

Official Website

Music Video

Dead Confederate

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist

Electric Touch

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist

Erick Baker

Official Website

Music Video

Extra Golden

Official Website

Music Video

Bonnawho's Who - Ozomatli

2008-05-16T15:53:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

It is time for a revolution. It is time for another Ozomatli album.It is time for Street Signs.

The last time Los Angelesí beloved Afro-Latin-and-beyond style-mashers released an album, it was September 11, 2001. While most bands in the United States responded to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon by canceling their concerts, Ozomatli- a multi-racial crew who have never been shy about their commitment to social justice, progressive politics, and anti-war convictions- decided to keep their dates and keep playing.

ìMusic is the key to every culture, the beginning of an understanding,î says the bandís trumpet player and co-vocalist Asdru Sierra. ìSeptember 11 really pushed us to delve into North African and Arab music. For us, music is a language far more universal than politics.î

Street Signs, the band's first full-length studio album in three years, bears this new Middle Eastern influence out in typical Ozo style, by mixing it into their trademark blend of hip-hop and Latin styles. When the bandís original MC Chali 2na (now of Jurassic 5) returns to take center stage on "Who's To Blame," he drops rhymes about "presidential motorcades" and "Yakuza tattoos" over a reedy gnawa trance session complete with tablas and hand-claps. "Believe," the album is uplifting opener that looks for hope in destruction, features Veteran Moroccan sinter master Hassan Hakmoun, whoís joined by the acclaimed French-Jewish gypsy violinists Les Yeux Noir and The Prague Symphony (yes, The Prague Symphony).

Street Signs, body-moving urban globe-trots were encouraged by Ozoís new label, Concord Records, who gave them total creative freedom to follow their songs wherever they went. "With the last record, I loved all of our collaborations, but it wasn't a complete representation of who Ozomatli is," says Sierra of the band's sophomore outing that paired them with the esteemed hip-hop likes of Common and De La Soul. "Concord just seemed happy to let us go off and do our thing. Thereís a real sense of acceptance of what we do. Plus, I'm really honored to be on the same label as Eddie Palmieri. He's my idol."

The band invited Palmieri, the legendary Latin jazz and salsa pianist, to play on "Nade Te Tira," where his gorgeous solo piano lines set off a round of horn-blasted salsa fusion. Along with Palmieri, Hakmoun, Les Yeux Noir, Chali 2na, and The Prague Symphony (who grace three tracks), Ozomatli are also joined by Los Lobos singer-guitarist David Hidalgo (ìSantiagoî) and the bandís original DJ, Cut Chemist (ìDejame en Pazî). Thereís also the bandís new MC (Jabu, formerly of 4th Avenue Jones) and guest drummer, Mario Calire (formerly of The Wallflowers).

Throw in a board mixologist whoís worked with everyone from Justin Timberlake and NERD to Michael Jackson and Prince (Serben Ghenea), and engineers whoíve collaborated with the likes of Beck, Santana, Jack Johnson, and Cypress Hill (Robert Carranza and Anton Pukshansky), and you get what is easily the bandís most vibrant and ambitious project to date.

"After eight years of being together," explains tenor saxophonist Ulises Bella, ìour overall comfort level with ourselves and with our playing has really grown. The songs venture off to a lot of different areas. That's the beauty of Ozomatli, being able to do things really differently than everyone else.

Street Signs is both a mature testament to the band's nearly decade-long evolution and a fresh, dance floor-rocking reminder of their commitment to creating original music in the face of industry conservatism. "Saturday Night" is a "dip-dive-socialize" hip-hop block party. "Love & Hope" is an anthem waiting to happen with its English-language mix of Arabic strings and new-school Chicano funk-rock. "Dejame en Paz" is a papi chulo meringue fest that boils over in to the mosh pit. The band even remixes itself (with the help of Ghenea and John Hanes) on "Ya Viene El Sol," turning its soaring concert sing-a-long into a piece of DJ heaven; a broken-beat electro cut-up of dancehall, batucada, and jarocho.

"Since we started, our perspectives have changed as our lives have changed," says Bella. "We just trust each other more now. Everyone gives everyone the space we all need. This band did not start, at all, to get a record deal. It started out of love for the music we made, and thatís exactly where we still are."

Live On Stage:

Ozomatli blend ska, hip hop and rock for a sound that is uniquely their own....

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Here's the band's ode to their hometown City Of Angels....

Couple more to check out...

Can't Stop

Vocal Artillery

For more on Ozomatli head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Mastodon

2008-05-13T18:25:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

When bands sign to a major label, their music sometimes becomes more mainstream. Not Mastodon.

Blood Mountain, the group’s third album, their first for Reprise Records isn’t just unconventional, it’s surreal, progressive and unrepentantly heavy. Instead of writing songs for rock radio, Mastodon drew inspiration from within, combining their favorite musical styles, including thrash, doom, prog and psychedelic metal to concoct something utterly original, undeniably devastating and irrefutably entrancing .

“This album is a nice collaboration of everybody’s character and individuality,” says singer and bassist Troy Sanders. “I always felt we were four unique individuals making up the band, and we’ve combined to make a meal with wicked ingredients. But most important, everything we do is completely pure and honest.”

“The Wolf Is Loose” starts as shouty crust punk, then lunges into a futuristic metal passage before tumbling into a driving doom riff and a booming vocal harmony. “Crystal Skull” progresses from a sinister lick reminiscent through a frantic series of chugging rhythms, angular lines and off-kilter beats. And “Colony Of Birchmen,” which features Queens Of The Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, wraps chunky guitars and ethereal arpeggios around moody melodic vocals. Other songs also showcase guests; Mars Volta frontman Cedric Bixler appears on “Siberian Divide” and Ikey Owen plays keyboards on “Pendulous Skin.”

The music of Blood Mountain isn’t all that separates Mastodon from the hordes of trendy metal bands. The lyrics are also pretty out there. Like Mastodon’s remarkable 2004 record Leviathan – which earned Album of the Year honors in Revolver, Blood Mountain is a brain-teasing concept album. But while Leviathan was based on Herman Melville’s 1851 novel “Moby Dick,” Mastodon hatched the multi-tiered plot for the new album out of their own demented minds. The disc tells the story of a quest to ascend Blood Mountain to find a crystal skull, reach the top and insert the skull inside the bandmembers’ own heads in order to eradicate “reptile brain” and transport them to the next phase of human evolution. Of course, the trek is far from simple.

“Pretty much anything that can happen on a mountain does,” says drummer Brann Dailor, who writes the lyrics along with Sanders and guitarist Brent Hinds. “We get lost, face starvation, have to kill our own food and eat it. We get trapped in an avalanche and we meet all these creatures along the way.”
Ah, the creatures, the inhabitants that make Mastodon’s journey so treacherous – and so cool. In “The Wolf Is Loose” the guys almost die fleeing a ravenous wolf, then during “Colony Of Birchmen” they come across a race composed of small tree people who link together to form a single, giant treeman, while in “Circle Cysquatch” they bump into a species of one eyed yeti. But just when they think the Sasquatch will tear them apart and eat them, the beasts show compassion and intelligence. “It turns out they’re wonderful, loving creatures, and they give us guidance and mental power,” Sanders says.

If it seems like the members of Mastodon have been watching too much “Lord Of The Rings,” take note: Their journey up Blood Mountain was as inspired by their counter culture lifestyle as by their DVD collections. And the phantasmagoric quality of the expedition parallels some of the strange dreams they’ve had and states of consciousness they’ve experienced in their own lives. “I wanted it all to be kind of acid trippy,” Dailor says. “In one part, there are lines about chewing up different roots on the mountain and hallucinating, and things kind of get messy from there.”

“In ‘Siberian Divide’ we get trapped under a bunch of snow from a small avalanche and then our bodies encounter brain freeze and we trip the fuck out,” elaborates Sanders. “We think our wrists are food and start to gnaw on our own wrists for the little bit of warmth that’s left inside, ultimately bleeding to death.”

Psychedelic imagery notwithstanding, Blood Mountain is ultimately a metaphor for the obstacles and triumphs Mastodon have encountered since they began their musical crusade. The band formed in 1999 shortly after ex-Lethargy and ex-Today Is The Day members Dailor (drums) and Bill Kelliher (guitar) moved from Rochester, New York to Atlanta. One night, during a High On Fire show, the two met ex-Four Hour Fogger bassist Sanders and guitarist Hinds and started talking underground metal.

“We were all familiar with each other’s histories,” says Sanders, “because we were fans of Today Is The Day. And Bill had seen our band play opening for Neurosis when he was visiting Atlanta in ‘98. They said they needed a second guitar player and a bass player to form this new band, and we were like, ‘Well, hey, dude, here we are. Hell, yeah.’ Two or three days later, we were down in the practice space making a racket just to see if the vibe would gel, and within five minutes it felt like a done deal.”

Mastodon recorded their first demo in June 2000 and played numerous dates with bands as far ranging as Cannibal Corpse, Queens Of The Stone Age and Morbid Angel. The crushing demo and powerful live shows earned them a record deal with Relapse records, and in August the band released its debut EP Lifesblood. Technically complex, rhythmically pummeling and instilled with groove, the disc earned Mastodon a loyal following even if it didn’t exactly pay the rent.

“Man, I lived on a couch with Bill and Brann for the first two years of the band’s existence and we toured like crazy,” Sanders recalls. “We lost money out the ass and yet we were all fueled with this fire to continue. There was something embedded in the back of our brains that knew we had to give this a full-on shot because it might pan out.”

In October 2001, Mastodon entered the studio with producer Matt Bayles to record their full-length debut, Remission. The album came out in 2002 and its striking blend of stoner metal, hardcore, prog-rock and, southern rock set the metal world ablaze. But it was the raging turmoil and pulverizing elegance of 2004’s Leviathan, again recorded with Bayles, that made Mastodon one of the most lauded new groups.
Revolver called them one of the 25 Greatest Live Bands Ever and Metal Hammer declared them a group you “Must Hear” and Kerrang labeled them “Best Band On The Planet.” It wasn’t just metal fans that felt the love. Alternative Press named them one the “25 Most Important Bands in Metal” and they were even profiled in Rolling Stone.

After playing Ozzfest last year, Mastodon started working on songs for Blood Mountain. They wrote tirelessly for five and a half weeks, about two weeks longer than they had to write Leviathan. The extra time gave them the luxury to demo the songs before they recorded them – something they’d never had the chance to do – as well as experiment with different techniques that give the songs extra flavor and texture. “Circle Cysquatch” features a harrowing vocoder voiceover, “Bladecatcher” includes squelching vocals that sound like an angry R2D2 and “Crystal Skull” opens with tinny tribal clatter before thundering into the opening riff.

“I did that on a 50 gallon drum I saw around the corner from the studio,” Dailor says. “There was a dude working on his car there in the street, and he had two of these 50 gallon drums. So I asked him if I could borrow them and he said I could as long as I promised to bring them back. So I recorded 12 tracks of this Middle Eastern sounding thing and it was awesome.”

Mastodon recorded the album with Bayles from the middle of February until the beginning of April before Rich Costey mixed the disc. Again, it was more time than they’d ever had, but this time there were the added pressures of living up to their own legacy, and it never felt like there were enough hours in the day.

“We sat and listened to everything at the end of every day and talked about how the songs were coming along and what we wanted to change,” Sanders says. “After a while, I kind of felt like the world was on our shoulders. We just wanted to make the coolest music possible and make sure it was as awesome as it could be – make sure every riff, every note, every drumbeat was in the perfect spot.”

In the end, Mastodon crafted an album that’s musically sophisticated yet primal, a disc where every new passage, regardless of how slow or fast, leads to the culmination of an epic adventure. And the diversity is astonishing. “Capillarian Crest” alternates between jazzy tendrils and moshpit-rattling ferocity, sounding like a fierce amalgam of Motorhead, King Crimson and Rush, “Hunters Of The Sky” is a surging, off-kilter race with drums as tumultuous as Keith Moon and “Pendulous Skin” is expansive and celestial, with guitars reminiscent at times of Deep Purple and Pink Floyd.

“I really wanted to do guitar cartwheels and finger gymnastics on this record,” says Hinds. “There are more solos on this than any other Mastodon album, but every part, no matter how complex, is there for a reason. We just really went for it more than we’ve ever done.”

In addition to challenging instrumental passages, Blood Mountain features vocals that range from melodic conversations to raging diatribes. “We’re all smart enough to know that we don’t have to scream our brains out every second for the whole album,” Sanders explains. “That’s just not where we want to go as we expand and further our catalog of music. Overall, there was just more room and more potential for various vocal sounds on this album. And we’re not at all apprehensive about doing it because we don’t feel like we’re cheesing out or doing anything wrong.”

With the release of Blood Mountain, Mastodon have reached the top of a peak, from which they can see other, even higher mountains before them. And that’s where they’re headed next. Regardless of how many cover stories or awards they receive, Mastodon are driven by the need to ascend the mountain, implant the skull and ascend to the next level of evolution. It’s not that they’re unappreciative of the accolades, they’re just too busy focusing on the next project to stop what they’re doing.

“When we started, we never imagined getting to where we are today,” Sanders says “We’re so grateful and we appreciate everything that’s been said about us. This has all been unreal. I never thought we’d do major tour support for Iron Maiden in Europe or be on a major label or be on our fourth tour with Slayer, or be ranked as having one of the Top 10 albums of the year in any magazine. It’s all been part of this crazy journey that we’ve lived, and we’ll keep rolling forward. We feel like we’ve still got so far left to go.”

Live On Stage:

Metal is the new hip hop I guess. Mastodon joins The Sword and Metallica for all you hard rock fans out there. These guys also play loud and fast, but that's not a bad thing...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Just because I love the title, here's Seabeast (tell me that's not a great name for a metal song)...

Few more to check out...

Iron Tusk

Blood And Thunder

The Wolf Is Loose

For more on Mastodon head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Superdrag

2008-05-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Though Superdrag may be best known for their 1996 major-label debut Regretfully Yours and the hit single “Sucked Out” that helped launch the band towards international success, the follow-up Head Trip In Every Key, issued in 1998, was widely regarded as the band’s creative peak. Amidst label woes and line-up changes, namely the departures of founding members Pappas and Fisher, the band would issue their third and fourth full-lengths In The Valley Of Dying Stars and Last Call For Vitriol to universal critical accolades, and expand their hard-won fan base through incessant touring, with the help of bassist Sam Powers and guitarist Mic Harrison. Many of Superdrag’s latter-day fans have never had an opportunity to see the original line-up onstage together until their greatly anticipated reunion in 2007. Superdrag will continue touring through 2008 with a new album coming later in 2008.

Superdrag formed in 1993. The band issued 3 acclaimed 7”s and one EP, The Fabulous 8-Track Sound Of Superdrag, before the release of their first proper full-length in 1996. Changin’ Tires On The Road To Ruin, a collection of b-sides, alternate versions and rarities, was released in April 2007.

Live On Stage:

Superdrag have been around since the early 1990s, getting some pretty decent MTV play back in the day. If you dig power-pop like Weezer and Fountains of Wayne, these guys will be for you...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Here's their big hit from back in the mid '90s - Sucked Out....

Couple more to check out...

Destination Ursa Major

The Staggering Genius

For more on Superdrag head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Adele

2008-05-10T13:24:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Meet one of 2008’s most exciting new talents. Even before she’s released a note of music – and at just 19 – ADELE has already chalked up a Jools Holland appearance, worked with Jim Abiss, Eg White and Mark Ronson, signed to XL Recordings and supported Jack Penate, Raul Midon, Amos Lee and Devendra Banhart.

“As soon as I got a microphone in my hand, when I was about 14, I realised I wanted to do this,” she says. “Most people don’t like the way their voice sounds when it’s recorded. I was just so excited by the whole thing that I wasn’t bothered what it sounded like.”

A fan of such diverse artists as Jill Scott, Etta James, Billy Bragg, Peggy Lee, Jeff Buckley and The Cure, Adele’s soul-tinged songs of love’s lost and memories made are set to resonate with all who hear them.

“I’ve got no problem explaining what my lyrics are about,” ADELE says. “I really like poetry: I’m not very good at reading it, but I love writing it. Singers like Jill Scott and Karen Dalton are amazing; proper poets.”

“The whole album is about being between 18 and 19; about love,” she continues. “‘Daydreamer’ is about this boy I was in love with, like proper in love with. He was bi and I couldn’t deal with that. All the things I wanted from my boyfriend, he was never going to be. I get really jealous anyway, so I couldn’t fight with girls and boys. It’s quite a sad album, [with songs about] being cheated on and not getting what you want”.

Anchoring it all together is ADELE’s incredible voice. As immediate as it is undeniable, its power is matched only by her Force 10 personality. “I’ve always liked being the centre of attention, yes,” she laughs.

ADELE is from a resolutely un-musical family. “It all comes from impersonating The Spice Girls and Gabrielle,” she cheerfully explains. “I did little concerts in my room for my mum and her friends. My mum’s quite arty; she’d get all these lamps and shine them up to make one big spotlight. They’d all sit on the bed.” Later, when her dad’s best friend, a dance producer, rightly declared ADELE’s voice ‘wicked’, he invited her to record a cover of ‘Heart Of Glass’. The first time she got a microphone in her hand, she realised her calling.

Secondary school proved instructive in as much as it gave ADELE an outlet to “meet all the R&B kids” and “sit around the playground singing.” But it was a pretty rough place and pursuing music there was something of a challenge, on account of the fact that ADELE wanted to sing and perform her songs but “the teacher was a bit rubbish. They gave me a really hard time, trying to bribe me, saying that if I wanted to sing I had to play clarinet to sing in the choir. So I left.”

So ADELE upped sticks, signing up to The Brit School, the Selhurst college whose alumni number Amy Winehouse, members of The Feeling and Kate Nash. However she had her misgivings…

“If I hear someone’s from stage school I’d think they were a dickhead, and I know it might make me sound like that. But it had free rehearsal rooms and free equipment and I was listing to music all day, every day for years. The music course was really wicked. There was no dancing or anything like that. No jazz hands.”

During her second year, ADELE’s resolve to be a singer was given a little extra boost – Shingai Shoniwa, the turbo-lunged vocalist with The Noisettes moved in next door. “She’s an amazing singer. I used to hear her through the walls. I’d go round and we’d jam and stuff like that. Just hearing her and her music really made me want to be a writer and not just sing Destiny’s Child songs. ”

Despite being quick off the mark on MySpace – her friend set up a page for ADELE’s music on the last day of 2004 – it wasn’t until 2006 that labels started noticing her talent. “I’d hate people to think that I was a ‘MySpace singer’,” she says. “I’ve got no right to be that. I’ve got, like, 10,000 ‘friends’, whereas Jack Peñate’s got about one million…”

When XL called her in for a meeting, ADELE was nervous enough to take a chum with her. “I never, ever thought I’d get signed. The A&R guy emailed me and I was ignoring it… I didn’t realise they [XL] did all these amazing names…”

Despite interest from plenty of other labels, the independent regarded for its singular, defining acts (for rock band, see The White Stripes; for rapper, see Dizzee Rascal) proved the perfect match for her singular talent, and XL will put out ADELE’s stunning debut album “19” later this spring. A single, the beautiful heartbreaker, ‘Chasing Pavements’ will precede it.

Before that comes ADELE’s debut release ‘Hometown Glory’ – a stunningly evocative picture of “all my fondest memories of London”. ‘Daydreamer’, a remarkable ballad notable for lyrics like ‘feeling up his girl like he’d never felt her figure before’ and ‘he could change the world with his hands behind his back’ has already floored the audience on the prestigious ‘Later With Jools Holland’.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen if my music career goes wrong,” she laughs. “I haven’t had a proper job yet.”

Consider that one unlikely turn of events.

Live On Stage:

Adele falls into that Lily Allen/Kate Nash camp, but sings with a bit more soul. Check her out...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Adele only has one official music video, here's Chasing Pavement...

More more on Adele head on over to her official website.

SuperJam '08?

2008-05-04T18:00:00.001-07:00

Head on over The Weight who have a fantastic post up about what this year's SuperJam might be - an All Star band consisting of Eugune Hutz, Kirk Hammett and Les Claypool doing of all things a set of Tom Waits covers?!?

They breakdown just how this all comes together. Nice work boys!

Cafe/Night Club Acts - Part I

2008-05-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

Since I won't have time to do a separate post on each of the acts playing the Troo Music Lounge and Blue Room Cafe I figured I'd lump a bunch of artists together in a few posts. Here's part one...

Alana Grace

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Amy LaVere

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Bear In Heaven

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Bombadil

Official Website

Music Video:

Carney

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Colour Revolt

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Cornmeal

Official Website

IMEEM Playlist:

Bonnawho's Who - The Fiery Furnaces

2008-05-03T11:54:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Widow City is the Fiery Furnaces' sixth album.

THE WORDS The lyrics were written by means of a method derived from the Baccalieri children's use of a Ouija board in season four of The Sopranos, and, further, a mention of Scripts for the Pageant in an article in the Windy City Times. What this means is as follows. Between seven and eight in the morning the brother in the band would pretend to ask a Ouija board what his sister would like to sing about. He would then pretend that the Ouija board gave him various answers. After this was accomplished he would pretend to write the answers down. This strenuous work of the imagination, or Imaginary Work, could occur as many times as once a month. Or sometimes, in the afternoon, the tapping table might tell the brother to stare across the room at a book that looked, for example, like a bible. "Imagine what it said," it said, it seemed. The strict subjugation of an imaginary bible to an imaginary board game could have produced the lyrics to, for instance, the title track.

The sister's job consisted of this. She would clench in her fists the names of selected lady magazine authoresses from the years 1968-1976 and, extending out her index fingers, type up what the old ladies “told” her. Or rather, “told” them, meaning her index fingers. She'd then send the notes to her brother, who would modify and add to them according to what he imagined were their "secret intentions." If the sister objected, the brother would assign responsibility to the Ouija board. In a word, therefore, to sum up, the lyrics were caused, so to speak, by: 1. Ads, for instance, at back of design magazines from the early seventies. 2. The cultural pages, if any, of local community minority or alternative lifestyle newspapers. 3. Depictions of grieving children using the aforementioned Ouija board. THE MUSIC The music to Widow City was composed by the brother in the band in the following manner. In his right hand, he would hold the broken jewel cases of scratched, and therefore discarded, Van Morrison cds, while with his left hand he would play the piano. Alternatively, he would stare at the Atlantic labels on Led Zeppelin LPs in the dark and write down the tunes inspired thereby, also in the dark. This procedure left much to chance. The tunes to Widow City ended up not much like Van Morrison or Led Zeppelin. Instead, they sounded, to the brother, as if engaged in some sort of general Paul McCartney-izing, though with a different drummer.

The drummer on this record is Robert D'Amico, 37, who has played live with the Fiery Furnaces the past two years. The personality of his playing is patently present on this particular platter. The disposal of his talents across the surface of the album makes the most obvious difference with past band product. The Paul McCartney-izing mentioned previous must have to do with how simple and schematic the tracks are. Simplicity and schematicism are most successfully exaggerated in "Clear Signal from Cairo." The words to this song, unlike many of the others, serve to further emphasize, rather than hide, those characteristics.

By the way – Eleanor especially likes, and especially her performance on, "Navy Nurse," especially since it does sound something like Van Morrison or Led Zeppelin. Sort of; and "Navy Nurse" has an oblique relation to an earlier Fiery Furnaces' tune/ditty. By the way – as for comparisons with other records/acts, Bob "Wicker Whatnots" D'Amico once wrote to me that the stuff reminded him of King Crimson's Lizard album and Larry Harlow's El Jardinero del Amor. He has also repeatedly "whispered" to Eleanor that "Restorative Beer" is a hit single. The mastering engineer (the mastering engineer on all the Fiery Furnaces records except the first one) Joe Lambert, when prompted, said that a small section reminded him of Gentle Giant. The recording engineer (recording engineer on the last three Fiery Furnaces' albums) Bill Skibbe said, unprompted, that the song "The Philadelphia Grand Jury" reminded him of Ike and Tina Turner's "Nutbush City Limits". And the imaginary record producer, the producer of the record (see credits) often pretends to be when talking in a talk-back microphone--Jimmy--thinks the record sounds like, "A million seller."

The record's string, woodwind, and brass sounds were played on a Chamberlin. If one doesn't know what that thing is, one can no doubt find out. The brother plays every instrument on the record save the drums. The sister sings every word on the record except a few. As on past Fiery Furnaces' albums, the backing tracks have a narrative aspect, excuse the expression. For instance, the long 'bassoon' and altered tabla part in "The Philadelphia Grand Jury" might indicate the singer in the song's waiting for the word (verdict).

The loud guitar-drums-and-Chamberlin 'thunderstorm' part towards the end of "Ex-Guru" indicates the thunderstorm brought about by the jilted ex-guru. The synthesizer filtering of the acoustic guitar in "Duplexes of the Dead" indicates the odd light that filters through the dirty curtains a duplex of the dead would no doubt have. The swelling melody at the end of "My Egyptian Grammar" indicates the pride that likely swells up in the breast of a blue jay referred to therein. The monkey and cow noises in "The Old Hag is Sleeping" indicate the rooster at dawn. The guitar solo at the end of "Cabaret of the Seven Devils" counts to seven. The train sound effect in "Japanese Slippers" indicates a train. And so forth. To sum up, the music on Widow City sounds lively, tuneful, simple/schematic, like a variety of previous records, with loud electric guitars, with very over-compressed bass guitars, drum-solo-having, Chamberlin-ized, and storytelling-ish. And again, THE BAND, Matthew Friedberger, 34, and Eleanor Friedberger, 30, are very confident that Widow City will not only appeal to, but find use with, the causal rock-n-roll fan both older and younger than themselves. The band has no advanced degrees or criminal convictions. Its charitable activities are none at present. Widow City was recorded in January and February of 2007, often in heavy snow, everyone stranded as if "immobilized by powerful chains of molecules." For further information, see the credits and lyrics on the album packaging or provided in this kit.

Live On Stage:

The Fiery Furnaces are a brother sister duo out of Brooklyn, here they are from a hometown show from my friends over at Baeble Music....

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Couple more to check out...

Benton Harbor Blues

Duplexes Of The Dead

Navy Nurse

For more on The Fiery Furnaces head over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - MSTRKFT

2008-05-03T11:16:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

There’s a punk disco party going on, and MSTRKRFT are ready to man the decks. JFK and ALP are here to up the ante as rock’s merger with electro continues to incite, excite, and rumble its way into dance charts the world over. They’ve got mad skills, fresh sounds, and they’ve developed a legion of loyal fans in less than a year. Just who is the mystery duo?

MSTRKRFT (pronounced ‘Master craft”) is the project of Toronto musician Jesse F. Keeler and studio wizard Al-P, two music-loving dudes who’ve been itching to make people dance as hard as they’ve made them rock. The pair has been collaborating, on and off, since 1998, when Al recorded Jesse’s punk rock band Black Cat #13. Though they went separate routes- Jesse taking a brief break from music, and Al moving to New York where he worked at studios like Sound on Sound and Chung King recording artists as diverse as Jay-Z, Wyclef Jean, and David Clayton Thomas- the friends remained in contact, trading tapes of their individual, unreleased forays into dance music.

Al returned to T.O. in December 2001, going on to work at studios including Chemical and his own Kimagure Sound, and becoming one of the city’s hottest go-to men for hip-hop, house, and rock artists alike. His short-lived, self-described “weirdo” project Girls Are Short preceded the current, popular merger of indie rock and electronics, influencing bands including Broken Social Scene who count themselves as fans.

Jesse returned to music with Solo punk rock explosion Femme Fatale, enlisting Al-P to record the many singles that ensued. The studio success naturally led to Al’s being at the helm early in 2002 when Jesse was looking for fresh production ideas to compliment his new band, Death from Above 1979, also featuring drummer/vocalist Sebastien Grainger. Jesse and Al worked 15 hours a day in the studio together to complete DFA 79’s You’re A Woman, I’m a Machine, a red-hot masterpiece that fuses the energy of rock and roll with the oomph of disco. Not only did 2004’s You’re A Woman… go on to receive rave reviews from the likes of Pitchford, MTV, Spin, Chart, Eye, and Playboy.com and spawn hit singles like “Romantic Rights” and “Black History Month,” it also gave rise to Jesse and Al’s resolve to start their own project.

Enter MSTRKRFT, a shit-hot addition to the global community of sonic warriors currently smashing down boundaries between punk, house, hip-hop, grime, electro, and all kinds of electronic experimentation.

“What we’re making now, we don’t know what the hell it is, but I know it’s danceable,” says JFK. “We were hanging out in New York with Armand Van Helden the other day, talking about making tracks, and he was like ‘As long as that thump is there, it’s fine and it will appeal to that audience.”

“So simple. So true.” laughs ALP.

MSTRKRFT is already proving this to be so. In October of 2004, the duo recorded their first remix for release- a balls-to-the-wall rendition of NYC band The Panthers’ “Thank Me With Your Hands.” An immediate underground success even before the official release (the song included a promo-only Vice magazine CD), the remix was played in dance clubs, rock clubs, and made its way onto compilations, including Plant Music’s prestigious The Sound of Young New York + Toronto.

Live On Stage:

Since Daft Punk has the market cornered on dressing up like robots, it actually makes sense that two guys from Toronto would don hockey goalie masks when they perform. Check it out...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

This video is fantastic....

A few more for your viewing pleasure...

Easy Love

Work On You

For more on MSTRKFT head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Aimee Mann

2008-05-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

From her work in the 80’s with MTV favorite Til Tuesday through her acclaimed solo discs “Whatever” and “I’m With Stupid” in the 90s, Aimee Mann has always been at the forefront of contemporary songwriters. The close of the millennium brought her greatest success, with the simultaneous releases of Bachelor No. 2 and the soundtrack to the film Magnolia, which garnered nominations for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and three Grammys. After a decade in which her music often took a backseat to corporate mergers and contractual obligations, the message was clear: Aimee Mann is here to stay.

From “Voices Carry” to the Oscar-nominated “Save Me,” Mann has always been known for her clever, literate, and dryly witty takes on emotional sabotage and self-destruction. Though happily married to Michael Penn (with whom she has toured extensively in a double-billed “Acoustic Vaudeville”), her fascination continues with “the freaks who could never love anyone.” With a songcraft often compared with the Beatles and Badfinger, Mann frequently pairs the bleakest of poetry with soaring, infectious melodies.

Mann continued her solo career with the 2002 release of Lost in Space the second release on SuperEgo Records, the label she co-founded with manager and former Til Tuesday bandmate Michael Hausmann. The opportunity to release her own CD’s independently allowed Mann the power to soar creatively. With Lost in Space Mann produced an album of songs that, like a book of stories or a novel, work collectively to become something more than the sum of the individual parts. “There were aspects of liberation that hadn’t even occurred to me. I became more creative all-around, in terms of marketing and promoting the record as well as writing and recording.” To that end, Mann commissioned graphic-novelist Seth to create a forty-page booklet that accompanied the disc version of Lost In Space.

Lost in Space Special Edition followed in 2003, featuring a second disc containing six live recordings, as well two B-sides and two previously unreleased songs. In November 2004 Aimee released her first live album and DVD with Live at St. Ann’s Warehouse recorded at a series of July 2004 shows in Brooklyn.

In 2006 Mann released what might be considered her most daring album yet with the critically acclaimed The Forgotten Arm. In a natural progression of her literary writing, the album is a concept album that follows the story of two lovers who meet at the Virginia State Fair. The main character is a boxer who is sent off to fight in the Viet Nam war, the CD explores the themes of love, war, drugs and ultimately recovery and redemption.

The Forgotten Arm is, like so much of Aimee Mann’s music, really about the inexorable pull of co-dependency in human relationships. “The King of the Jailhouse / and the Queen of the Road,” Aimee Mann sings on one song, “think sharing the burden will lighten the load / so they pack up their troubles in an old Cadillac / that's her in the mirror, asleep in the back.”

Aimee Mann also released a Christmas album titled One More Drifter In The Snow. "I wanted to do a Christmas record that reflected the whole range of emotions that people have around Christmas." Aimee said, "I thought a lot about the feeling I had about Christmas as a kid, the almost spooky beauty and mystery that the holiday has, and wanted to do something that echoed that musically." Harkening back to the classic Christmas albums of the 40’s & 50’s the CD features several classic songs and some lesser-known but no-less-classic songs: the Jimmy Webb song "Whatever Happened to Christmas," which opens the record; "Christmastime" written by Michael Penn; the brilliant "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" from the Dr. Seuss cartoon "How the Grinch Stole Christmas," featuring Grant Lee Phillips' inspired narration; and an original song, co-written with producer Paul Bryan, "Calling On Mary."
In conjunction with the holiday inspired album Ms. Mann has also launched an annual sell-out Christmas tour, incorporating various comedic hosts and fellow musicians who vary from town to town. This year’s tour included host Paul F. Thompkins and guest appearances from Jackson Brown, Nellie McKay, Ben Lee, Ben Gibbard, Patrick Park, Sean Hayes, Chuck Prophet, Josh Ritter, Joe Henry, Grant Lee Phillips, members of the Decemberists and Morgan Murphy.

Look for Aimee’s 7th solo release, Smilers, coming in Spring 2008.

Live On Stage:

I don't really know too much about Aimee other than her soundtrack work - Magnolia, I Am Sam, so let's take a listen...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Speaking of Magnolia, here's the music video...

Couple more to check out...

Save Me

Pavlov's Bell

For more on Aimee Mann hit up her official website.

Karoake Bay

2008-05-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Some info on the news attraction/distraction from the Manchester heat...

Our friends at StubHub believe you deserve to be center stage. So when you're at Bonnaroo, step up to the Karaoke Bay. Its your chance to perform in front of a live band and hundreds of adoring fans, while you enjoy a stocked bar late into the night. More good news: Well also have good ole fashioned karaoke throughout the day. Pick from thousands of songs! Not a performer? No problem, sit back at a comfortable table and watch your pals sing for their next libation.

In the meantime, make sure to check out our Charity VIP Packages, offered exclusively through StubHub. They give you a great experience while raising money for great causes. See all the details at stubhub.com/bonnaroo.

Kind of surprising they haven't thought of this before, since it seems like such a perfect fit.

Bonnawho's Who - Jose Gonzalez

2008-04-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

With his crystal-clear singing voice and vibrant, classically-inspired playing, José González is one of today’s most remarkable artists – testament to the irrefutable power of one man and a guitar.

His debut album 'Veneer' captured his magical sound in its purest state, simply beautiful and beautifully simple. Touching on a remarkable array of influences, from folk to classic pop to a dazzling spectrum of world music, 'Veneer' touched audiences across the globe. Originally released in Sweden on Imperial Recordings in 2003 and on Hidden Agenda in North America in 2005, 'Veneer' was re-issued in the US on Mute Records in 2006. In September 2007 González will release his sophomore album, the highly anticipated 'In Our Nature' (released in the US on Mute). 'In Our Nature' sees González coming into his own as a songwriter – with songs that are as instantly accessible as they are brimming with darkness and brooding intensity.

In the four years since the Swedish release of 'Veneer,' González' global profile has grown steadily. Winning the Swedish Grammy for Best Newcomer in 2004, González was awarded the European Border Breaker Award in 2006 and the Swedish Government's Music Export Award 2007. His cover of The Knife's 'Heartbeats' (which appears on 'Veneer') was used in a successful European advertising campaign for the Sony Bravia LCD Television, and González' played multiple worldwide tours, performing for audiences in Europe, Asia, South America, and North America. 'Veneer' also went Platinum in Sweden and Great Britain, Double Platinum in Ireland and Gold in Australia and New Zealand

In March 2006 González performed seven times at SXSW – winning over audiences and critics in Austin TX. This set the stage for taking on North America. He has since toured the US extensively, selling out shows in every major market, and appeared on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, The Carson Daly Show, with Zero 7 on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and on the nationally syndicated English-language television show American Latino. González was also a featured vocalist on the Grammy nominated Zero 7 album 'The Garden.'

In 2006 González performed at multiple music festivals including Central Park Summerstage in New York City, Austin City Limits, LA's Hollywood Bowl, Seattle's Bumbershoot, The Intonation Music Festival in Chicago and Toronto's V Fest. Most recently, González performed at the 2007 Coachella Music Festival in Indio California.

González, like his music, is deceptively unassuming, studied and powerful. Swedish-born but of Argentinean descent, González picked up the guitar at 14, learning the basics from his dad’s gift of a Beatles songbook, then studying classical guitar through his teens. At the same time as he was learning the ins-and-outs of his acoustic instrument, González indulged edgier tastes like The Misfits and Black Flag by playing bass in a pair of Gothenburg hardcore bands.

In 1998, González began playing guitar in a friend’s indie rock band, saving his own songs for an as-yet-undetermined purpose. He eventually put together his own trio, dubbed Junip, with an ear towards creating more experimental-tinged music a la Low and the Constellation Records catalog (home of, among others, of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion, and Do Make Say Think). Incredibly, that wasn’t enough for the young musician. His newfound interest in artists such as Cat Power and Songs: Ohia – as well as a lifelong passion for singers like Chet Baker and Joao Gilberto – compelled him to attempt some solo recordings.

While working towards his PhD in biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, González music career began to take shape, eventually forcing him to choose a career in music over one in research.

The foundation on which he builds his songs is the same on which he built his studies - he attacks his music patiently, methodically and with great interest in finding unexpected angles. 'In Our Nature' is about exploring these angels.

"I didn’t want to write about love but to find other – equally universal – themes for the songs" says González about the making of 'In Our Nature.' "These are things I have always been thinking about. But the last six months I became even more interested after I read the book 'The God Delusion' by Richard Dawkins. He’s an evolutionary biologist, but the lyrics are far from biological, I’d like to point that out. It’s mainly the themes that interest me."

"I like playing with symbolism," González continues, "On this album I’ve wanted to bring out the primitive aspects of human beings."

'In Our Nature' was recorded entirely on tape at a Gothenburg studio. Though González spent a great deal of time writing these new songs – playing them over and over into a voice recorder until he was confident in their arrangements – the actual recording of the album happened very quickly, taking less than two weeks in the studio to record and mix ten songs.

While it is sonically similar to 'Veneer,' 'In Our Nature' shows González' growth as a songwriter. Displaying a heightened emphasis on melody and strong, focused lyrics – the album is a dark combination of softness and anger that is at once mesmerizing, intimate and hauntingly epic.

Live On Stage:

Jose Gonzalez is often compared to Nick Drake - which isn't too far off. Gonzalez plays soft, sort of spooky yet beautiful sounding indie-folk. Here's a live performance he did for Spin...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

This one is a bit creepy for someone so has such a dreamy, folkie sound. Here's "Down The Line"....

Couple more for you...

Teardrop

Crosses

For more on Jose Gonzalez head on over to his official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Lez Zeppelin

2008-04-26T05:51:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Since forming in 2004, LEZ ZEPPELIN - the New York City-based,all-girl, all-Zeppelin quartet -- has gained unanimous critical acclaim as one of the most exciting live acts around, becoming the first female rock act to pay homage to Led Zeppelin and to garner rave reviews across the board. LEZ ZEPPELIN stays true to the musically audacious spirit of the original, delivering the legendary rock band's blistering arrangements and monstrous sound note-for-note at sold-out shows across the country. The thing that sets them apart, however, is the seamless and unique way LEZ ZEPPELIN inject their gender-bending performance into the original material.

Recently profiled in SPIN, managing editor and author Chuck Klosterman proclaimed that Lez Zeppelin could be "the most powerful all-female band in rock history." Bob Stanley of The Times of London raved, "they are the best band I've seen all year, no question," and CNN.com recently ran a front page feature that called the group so "electrifying" they are "driving club audiences to a frenzy."

Channeling Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham are: Sarah McLellan on vocals; Steph Paynes on electric and acoustic guitar and theremin; Lisa Brigantino on bass, keyboards and mandolin; and Helen Destroy on drums.

For those skeptics who still dare to ask: Can four women pull off the exuberant, powerful and musically intricate performances for which Led Zeppelin was known, a LEZ ZEPPELIN show is nothing short of a revelation.

The band has just released their debut album Produced by the legendary Eddie Kramer known for his work with Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, KISS, Lauren Hill etc. The record is being released on Emanation Records/Redeye Distribution worldnwide.

Live On Stage:

This is the band that caused NME to declare that Led Zeppelin was headlining Bonnaroo this year - hyping they had a midnight exclusive. Well the Manchester faithful will still be able to get the Led out though, as these ladies wail. Check them out for yourself....

Maybe Robert Plant will stop by for a sit-in.

IMEEM Playlist:

For more on Lez Zeppelin head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Rogue Wave

2008-04-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:
Emerson once wrote, "When it is darkest, men see the stars' and he might as well have been penning a poem for Rogue Wave. Last year was a rollercoaster ride for the foursome - drummer Pat Spurgeon had a kidney transplant, keyboardist Gram LeBron lost his father, singer Zach Rogue had a daughter and the band recruited a new bass player (Patrick Abernethy, formerly of Beulah). But instead of falling apart, they converted all their heartbreak, love, hurt, pain, elation and insight into a most affecting and beguiling record, Asleep At Heaven's Gate.

Rogue Wave's Brushfire Records debut, Asleep At Heaven's Gate, is a proudly defiant album shot through with heartfelt self-examination and a wider commentary on the flawed world around us. 'The entire record is about the internal joy that we've been feeling at being able to overcome so much in the last year and then looking around at the country we love, which is disintegrating before our eyes,' declares Zach Rogue. 'I heard this guy on NPR talking about duality in relation to being with his mother when she died. Most people describe death as the most awful thing they could ever experience. But as he was watching the life leave her body, that instant was both the most horrifying moment in his life and the most beautiful, spiritual, and enlightening moment he ever had. Life is all about those dualities"

"There's an intensity and a fury to Asleep At Heaven's Gate," he continues. 'There is a sense of darkness, urgency and tension that we haven't had on our records before. It's new territory and it feels like a new band in a lot of ways.'

Rogue Wave came into existence in 2002, when Zach Rogue decided to put down on tape some of the songs that had been kicking around in his head for years. After initially self-recording and self-releasing the resulting album, Out Of The Shadow, Rogue Wave became a full band and found a home on Sub Pop Records, who reissued the album to widespread acclaim. Descended Like Vultures followed in 2005, earning the band more rave reviews and landing their music on 'Weeds,' 'Heroes' and 'Friday Night Lights.'

After touring non-stop for over a year in support of their second album Descended Like Vultures they took a much-deserved break (though they did come out of hiding to contribute 'Sightlines' to the hit Spiderman 3 soundtrack). 'When we recorded Descended Like Vultures, we had been on the road for months and we had only a few days off before we went into the studio,' Rogue confides. 'We were exhausted and burnt out. This time, we had a few months off to relax and reflect - and it shows.' Produced by Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo, Sleater Kinney, Elvis Costello) with Zach Rogue and recorded in Forestville, California, Asleep At Heaven's Gate was derailed two weeks into the sessions after technical problems mis-pitched a majority of the early tracks. Refusing to be defeated, the foursome decamped to their studio in Oakland, CA where they spent days salvaging what they could, rerecorded some tunes and laid down overdubs. The results are worth it, because Asleep At Heaven's Gate finds the band at their most accomplished.

'Christians In Black,' which was inspired by a suicide, is a gentle ballad that gently combines Nick Drake and Neil Young, while 'Chicago x 12' is a dulcet slice of melancholia that deftly manages to make self-doubt sound uplifting. The shimmering and glimmering mini-anthem 'Lake Michigan' is a highlight, full of Seventies pop sensibilities and uplifting melodies, though in part it tackles 'environmental destruction and the greed that perpetuates our inability to make any kind of progress,' according to Rogue.

Part of the richness of Asleep At Heaven's Gate is due to the band's newfound sense of experimentalism. "We were listening to a lot of Wendy Carlos, who scored Tron, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining," Rogue says by way of explanation. She is responsible for a lot the ambient noise and the interesting sounds you hear. It's that noise versus melody abstract sound debate. It's the idea that banging on a wall or hitting a door with your hand can be a musical instrument.'

Asleep At Heaven's Gate is not just the work of its four members strumming chords and hitting doors though, guest appearances and collaborations abound. Matthew Caws from Nada Surf sings on a couple of songs, indie innovator John Vanderslice contributes, Snowblink's Daniela Gesundheit sings on a number of tracks, Dominic East of Our Lady of the Highway lends vocals and Bill Cameron of the Winechuggers plays keyboards on 'Ghost.' For the sun-kissed epic Own Your Own Home,' the band invited thirty friends into the studio with acoustic instruments of every ilk. In fact, Rogue estimates that they ended up using about 150 different instruments during the various recording sessions.

Asleep At Heaven's Gate is an album about hopes and fears, triumphs and tragedies, sadness and joy. Filled with darkness and light swirled together, Asleep At Heaven's Gate is a stirring sonic reminder of the dualities that make life such an unforgettable and incomparable ride.

Live On Stage:

This is a band that I just recently started listening to, after discovering their album - Descended By Vultures. I dig their dreamy California indie-pop sound, take a listen...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

If this song sounds familiar it's probably because you've heard in the Zune commercial, here's Lake Michigan...

A couple more for your viewing pleasure..

Eyes

Publish My Love

For more on Rogue Wave hit up their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Ghostland Observatory

2008-04-18T15:31:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Live On Stage:

There are two things that I know about Ghostland Observatory - 1) one of the guys likes to wear a cape on stage and 2) my friend came back raving about their performance at Langerado, after having no idea who there were before she went. From what I hear these guys are absolutely killer live if you're into electro-rock music and want to dance you ass off. Check out in action...

No official music videos, so got one more live performance for you instead...

IMEEM Playlist:

For more on Ghostland Observatory check in with their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Grand Ole Party

2008-04-18T15:07:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

"I must be the devil's daughter/ what a dark father to dwell in me oh I must be the devil's daughter/ such a dark father to dwell in me bastard child that I am/ oh you can see it in my swagger in the palmist's lines of my hands/ in my lips that bud like daggers look out young son/ when I bloom you'll come a-crawling - “Look Out Young Son”

How do you explain on a piece of paper the elements that make a band truly exciting and genuinely unique? Sometimes, a good starting point is simple geography. When Grand Ole Party sets the stage for their live show, the placement of their drums and amps is the first cue: three abreast, with the drum kit front and center. The uninitiated will then experience the next surprise when the three-piece takes the stage and the lone female musician moves her diminutive frame behind the kit. The third moment of wonderment comes when lead vocalist Kristin Gundred opens her mouth to sing and a cavalcade of power and passion comes out. But none of these things are gimmicks, and Grand Ole Party isn’t trying to shatter your preconceptions, they just wanna rock out.

Since late 2005, musicians Kristin Gundred (vocals, drums) John Paul Labno (guitar) and Mike Krechnyak (bass) have been writing music, touring clubs and putting on the kind of live show that makes friends tell friends to get off the couch and into the club. The trio met while attending University of California, Santa Cruz, jammed together in a loose collective, then decided to get serious, taking the newly-formed group around the U.S. until they found a place that seemed like a good fit. San Diego is where they landed, and where they have gone on to cultivate a rabid following of fans devoted to their raucous live show.

It has all unfolded very quickly, as tends to happen with bands who have that rare combination of fierce songs and onstage electricity. Grand Ole Party’s first show was at a friend’s house in February 2006, and the word spread like wildfire about their compelling live set; they’ve played a host of club dates, including opening for the Yeah Yeah Yeahs just eight months after their humble beginnings.

The group was nominated for the 2006 San Diego Best New Artist Award in and set out to record their debut CD in March 2007 with Blake Sennett of Rilo Kiley and The Elected at the helm. It was a blitzkrieg of 12-hour days, five days straight, largely live-to-tape, according to front-woman Kristin: “We recorded live because we wanted that same energy from our live show to be present in the studio. We were pretty excited because recording Humanimals made us more self-aware of our sound and took us from a live-only project to a tangible, playable thing.” Guitarist John Paul Labno also echoes the enthusiasm of Sennett’s production talents:“In the studio, his biggest asset was in coaxing us to do good takes, and knowing when we had them. It kept it exciting. He had certain ideas and helped us experiment with them. In the end, it sounded just like GOP.” That Grand Ole Party sound – freshly infusing raw funk and stripped-down soul into primal, infectious rock and roll – was truly captured on Humanimals.

Listen to tracks like “Gypsy March”, “Dirty Spirit Rag” and “Belle Isle” and you’ll hear a host of timeless influences coming clearly through Kristin’s vocals; the singer cites inspirations including Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Grace Slick and Motown girl groups. “It took me until I was 20 to break free from total shyness and start actually doing something,” explains Kristin. (She’s now 23)“When we play together I feel whole… It's me at my best.” While you’re listening, take note of disc closer “Radio” which was remixed by dub legend The Scientist.

Bassist Krechnyak confirms that Humanimals was a challenging process, but believes that every ounce of energy invested was well worth it: “We have sacrificed a lot but it has never been a very tough decision to do so. Music and art in general is a way of living…it's also a response to the world around you, it's survival. This record, and the music we're making, it's a very natural thing for us because it's what connects us to the elements, to the world.”

The word is spreading fast, brothers and sisters. Just prior to a fall tour with Rilo Kiley the group was once again nominated at the 2007 San Diego Music Awards, this time in two categories: Best Alternative Artist and Artist of the Year. Without question, the more they play, the more the excitement builds.

This is your official invitation to the Grand Ole Party.

Live On Stage:

Grand Ole Party are one of the latest additions to the Bonnaroo line-up and are currently on tour with Rilo Kiley. If you crossed Karen O, Janis Joplin and Grace Slick together you probably end up with someone who sounds like GOP's lead singer Kristen Gundred - oh and she also happens to be the drummer. Check them out live and you'll see what I'm talking about....

No music videos out there so let's go with one more live clip...

IMEEM Playlist:

For more on Grand Ole Party head on over to their official website.

Panic At (The Silent) Disco

2008-04-18T15:06:00.000-07:00

In the wake of the Allmans cancellation, Superfly promised us an exciting announcement for today and here it is…

The Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival is pleased to announce that Widespread Panic will now close the 2008 festival, headlining the main stage on Sunday evening, June 15.

Jack Johnson has chosen to join his friends Pearl Jam on the main stage Saturday night stepping into the slot vacated by the Allmans. Jack will perform beginning at sunset, to be followed by Pearl Jam’s closing main stage set.

We’re also excited to note the additions of Les Claypool, Chali 2na of Jurassic 5, Superdrag, What Made Milwaukee Famous, Adele, Grand Ole Party, and The Postelles to this year’s festival line up.

This will mark the Southern jam titans fifth appearance in Manchester.

Bonnawho's Who - Ladytron

2008-04-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Four very different individuals assembled three years ago from different parts of the world under circumstances that are no longer important. They had similar views on what today and tomorrow meant to them, but what really mattered was that they wanted to make an album that cleared the skies for city kids, country kids, kids who love the sound of analog synths, and kids who don’t know what a synth is.

Light & Magic is Ladytron’s second album, the follow-up to their debut 604, an album that sneaked out of Liverpool and quietly crept up on people everywhere – from London to Los Angeles – to become one of the most critically acclaimed and influential records of recent years.

Putting firm emphasis on writing pop songs that transcend genre, from the release of their first single “He Took Her to a Movie” in early ‘99, the band existed outside fashion and against the grain. Songs about Spatial Girls, City Lines, Spanish Comedowns, Jetlag, Hotels, Fires, Cheap Models.

”...the first great electro pop record of the new millenium.” – Muzik Magazine

”...the best piece of electronic music since ‘Enjoy the Silence.’” – Felix da Housecat

Ladytron spent 2001 playing festivals, touring Europe and DJing, all the while confusing, amusing, and picking up more adjectives along the way. Eventually, the band went back home and started to pull together a bag load of Techno and the Teardrop Explodes, My Bloody Valentine and the Shangri-Las, hibernating in their studio, only emerging to DJ around Europe and the USA, generally breathing a bit of life into machines.

”...existential art terrorist chic meets Comme Des Garcons catwalk show.” – NME

As spring 2002 refused to budge, they packed their laptops and took songs from rainy England to meet California sunshine, and put the finishing touches to their northern songs in a studio on the Hollywood b-side, fenced in by palm trees, kerb-crawlers and stilletto-merchants.

Meanwhile the electro sound blossomed all the way from New York to Berlin, and 604 soundtracked the way. Ladytron have – perfectly on cue – created an album that defies the “new” genre’s many cliches. With an emphasis on songwriting and narrative, and incorporating everything from analog warmth to dreamy vocals to varied beats, Light & Magic….

Boasting directness, richness and variation is an album that outshines their debut, displaying the killer pop instinct that made 604 and songs like “Playgirl” and “He Took Her to a Movie” now-classics.

From the nag-nag-nag of “True Mathematics” to the pop extreme of “Evil” (“Papa Don’t Preach” meets The Exorcist), harsh Roland riffs collide headlong with long nights of Lee Hazlewood. Elsewhere, Joy Division solos get battered by Chicago house, but most of all Light and Magic is an album of simplicity, stories and warmth made by four people in love with classic pop.

Live On Stage:

I can't even pretend I know anything about Ladytron other then what I just looked up on Wikipedia. They play electro-pop, that's about all I got - let's take a listen....

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

A plethora of videos to choose from, I dug this one for Destroy Everything You Touch...

Some more to check out...

Seventeen

Sugar

Jet Age

For more Ladytron hit up their official site.

Bonnawho's Who - Battles

2008-04-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Some bands need biographies written on them, some bands don’t, yet someone still foolishly insists on writing one. Brooklyn’s Battles fall squarely into the latter category. Nonetheless…

Rising from the ether of a pop-scarred 2004, the enigmatic EP C announced Battles arrival like a blinding succession of Morse Code strobes across an aphotic landscape. Even as a short-form debut it was clear that band members Ian Williams, John Stanier, Tyondai Braxton and Dave Konopka had established something utterly unique. Instead of the conventional band dynamic of individual players waiting for their turn to be showcased, the members of Battles are more analogous to a tangle of brain synapses all firing in time with each other.

Having served time in seminal acts Don Caballero, Helmet, Tomahawk, Lynx and The Mark of Cain amongst others, Battles draw from a sprawling range of styles and sounds and distill this erratic static into the tightest mindfuck jams to be committed to playable format. Closely following EP C, Tras/Fantasy served as another definitive dose of labyrinthine, juggernaut rhythms and equilibrium-shifting textures that would safely place the band outside the orbit of any contemporaries.

On this first pair of EPs, Stanier’s drumming is like pinpoint buckshot, Williams’ guitar is sharpened schizophrenia, Braxton’s sound manipulations are fragments focused and Konopka’s guitar is malleable granite?which is to say, all are nearly impossible to define yet none can be ignored. Late in 2004, Battles unleashed B EP and set their cryptic marks in stone. Centered by a set of extended musical movements, B EP was a fitting conclusion to the band’s inception-as-trilogy.

In 2005 Battles set off across the globe on tour with Prefuse 73 and his crack live collective, combining driving atonal grooves and bombastic improvised fury that landed them in Japan opening for The Mars Volta and establishing their reputation as one of the most exciting live acts to crisscross the globe. The sheer musical breadth of their first three EPs and the lasting impact of their live shows have left fans and skeptics alike in perplexed anticipation of their debut full-length.

This May will see the release of Mirrored, Battles first album proper and a significant measure of evolution from a band that has yet to cease moving. Still entirely intact are the unflinching experimentations and metallic angles of their young catalog, but a new melodic insight has manifested itself in the form of some of their most engaging tracks yet. “Tonto” opens with and off-kilter series of chimes and chugs which are welded to a forcibly shuffling drumbeat and a foreboding chant that gives way to a soaring midsection. First single “Atlas” is a verifiable anthem, unrelenting and gigantic, but never surrendering the skewed aesthetic of the band’s past. With snaking, entrancing harmonies and thundering percussive force, Battles are a distorted reflection of an entire musical diaspora view of innovation and tension reverberated as a flash, mirrored.

Live On Stage:

Battles play that complex derivative of punk and prog called Math Rock - and I'll warn you it's not for everyone. Here's a example of just what I mean...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

I remember digging this video looked when I caught it on Subterranean awhile back, here's Atlas...

One more for ya...

Tonto

For more on The Battles hit up their official website.

No 'Roo For The Allmans

2008-04-16T14:03:00.000-07:00

Some more unfortunate news out of the Allmans camp....

We regret to inform you that the cancellation of the Allman Brothers Band’s spring performances, including their run at the Beacon Theater in New York City, has been expanded to include the Bonnaroo Music Festival.

From the official press release:

“For the past six months, founding member GREGG ALLMAN has been receiving scheduled treatments for Hepatitis C, a virus that, with these treatments, has become curable in recent years. The treatments so far have been successful and the virus has been eradicated from his system.

However, the recovery time from the side effects of the treatment are taking longer than originally projected. Since the Allman Brothers Band are known for exhilarating and exhausting concert performances they don’t want to give fans anything less than they have come to expect; so the band members made a group decision to delay the first round of dates. “I’m getting better but I’m still tired,” says Gregg. “I need to be at 110% to do the shows the way we do them. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the support and understanding my Brothers and our fans have given me.”

As for other Allman Brothers Band dates, a 12-concert jaunt planned for August, including two that have been announced so far (8/16 in Boston, MA and 8/23 in Camden, NJ), will go on as scheduled. The rescheduling of the Beacon Theatre run and additional fall shows will be announced soon. Gregg and the Allman Brothers Band appreciate the ongoing support they have always received from their fans and look forward to seeing them this summer. The road goes on forever…”

Superfly is also promising a big announcement for tomorrow.

Bonnawho's Who - The Coup

2008-04-12T10:50:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

The Coup's new album, Pick A Bigger Weapon, kicks off with a classic Boots Riley line — "I'm a walking contradiction/Like bullets and love mixin'..."— and then it just gets better. After a 14-year career that has defined the word "uncompromising", the Coup return armed with bigger funk and taller tales.

Backed by a stellar band that includes Audioslave's Tom Morello, Dwayne Wiggins, and veterans of Parliament-Funkadelic, the Gap Band, Toni! Tony! Toné!, Jesse Johnson, and Frankie Beverly and Maze, the sound is a little edgier on this record and the beats a little faster." The Coup'suniquely bent grooves point to "Dirty Mind"-era Prince, late-80s Too Short, and the trunk-rattling hyphy sonics of the New Bay movement.

The song-cycle of Pick A Bigger Weapon highlights Boots' storytelling gifts— the same outrageous humor, underdog love, and righteous rage that produced classics like "Fat Cats/Bigga Fish" ("Genocide & Juice") and "Me & Jesus The Pimp In A '79 Granada Last Night" ("Steal This Album"). The songs capture the collisions between economics and everyday life, the political and the personal.

The album begins with "We Are The Ones", the story of a street player who could be related to Slick Rick or the late Bay Area rap hero, Mac Dre. "Laugh/Love/Fuck" is a breezy manifesto. "My Favorite Mutiny" showcases a lyricist’s dream session with the Roots' Black Thought and Talib Kweli. "Head of State" turns war-weariness into a riotous joke.

Songs like "Mindfuck (A New Equation)", "Captain Sterling's Little Problem", and the true-life tragedy of "Tiffany Hall" are as harrowing as "Two Thumbs Way Down/I Love Boosters" (with a cameo by Jello Biafra) is hilarious. "BabyLet’sHaveABabyBeforeBushDoSomethin’Crazy" (featuring the stunning singer/rapper Silk E) is an apocalyptic love song that recalls X's "The World's A Mess, It's In My Kiss" and Marvin Gaye's "If I Should Die Tonight". "IJusWannaLayAroundAllDayInBedWithYou" finds utopia in the bedroom.

"All we have on earth are our seconds and minutes, and in order to survive, we're forced to sell that time. We sell our lives off to the highest bidder," Boots says. "The question is how would we use those seconds if we had control of that time?"

Born in Chicago and raised in East Oakland's Funktown neighborhood, Boots became a teenage community organizer, but later switched from a clipboard to the microphone, forming the Coup with rapper E-Roc. Pam the Funkstress, the first female DJ star in the famously competitive Bay Area turntablist scene, later signed on.

Their 1991 self-distributed EP landed them a deal with Wild Pitch Records. Two singles, "Dig It" and "Not Yet Free", cracked BET and national black radio. Their debut, 1993's Kill My Landlord, went on to wide acclaim. The next year, Genocide and Juice shot up the charts, but stalled when EMI absorbed Wild Pitch. E-Roc then left the group.

1998's Steal This Album, released by indie label Dogday Records, was received as a masterpiece and sealed the Coup's rep. But the band's next record, Party Music, scheduled for release shortly after 9/11, became a cultural flashpoint amidst Cheney-Ashcroft hysteria. The album’s original cover (completed three months prior to 9/11) depicted the crew setting off an explosion in the World Trade Center using a guitar tuner and drumsticks. The band's label, 75 Ark, pulled the cover immediately after the attacks.

"As far as the record industry was concerned, it was the end of my career," Boots says. Instead, Boots' defiant refusal to "ride the fence" and the album's undeniable funk made it an underdog favorite. The album hit #8 in the 2001 Pazz and Jop Poll, the most important year-end critic's list.

At the same time, Boots visited South Africa's World Conference Against Racism with the Black August hip-hop tour, where he distributed tens of thousands free cassettes of music in the Oakland community, what he calls "newspapers on tape". He also founded Shoyoass Words, Sounds, & Pictures, a record and media company specializing in music and art that he calls "relevant to social change."

In 2003, the Coup joined with Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Tom Morello, and Janeane Garofalo, on the barnstorming, Bush-slapping "Tell Us the Truth" tour. Working with those artists proved influential on Pick A Bigger Weapon. "This album took a bit longer, because all of these influences were getting a chance to settle," says Boots, also citing the Clash’s “Bankrobber” as another substantial influence.

"I always think my next album is gonna be my last," Boots laughs, "like it may not sell and I’ll have to do something else. So it drives me to make an album that people might remember as the best one I did."

The record achieves a musical and thematic unity. "I like albums like Songs in the Key of Life, Death Certificate, Beatles albums," says Boots. "I like feeling like I'm getting a presentation, rather than a bunch of Polaroids of people in the studio on a certain day." Pick A Bigger Weapon is here. They say it's a democracy. You decide.

Live On Stage:

The Coup may be most famously known for the cover art for their '01 album Party Music that depicted Boots Riley and Pam the Funkstress appearing to detonate the Twin Towers and was set to hit stores in mid-September of that year. It brought a lot of attention to the act, who pushed the release back to November so new art could be created. Sorry for the weighty story, here's The Coup performing at South Paw in Brooklyn from '05....

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Just because I like the one of this one, we're going with it. Here's Fat Cats And Bigga Fish...

Few more to check out...

Funk

Dig It

Not Yet Free

For more on The Coup check out their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - The Sword

2008-04-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

THE SWORD is a colossal, high-energy powerhouse. Utilizing a potent combination of intense songwriting chemistry, eye-opening creativity and talent and a distinctly unique vision, THE SWORD is, without question, one of heavy music’s most electrifying new bands.

Conceived in Austin, TX in 2003, THE SWORD took the form of a cohesive quartet in early 2004 when guitarist / singer J.D. Cronise, guitarist Kyle Shutt, bassist Bryan Richie, and drummer Trivett Wingo joined forces. Inspired by such legendary names as SLEEP, SLAYER and THE MELVINS, the four-piece immediately began to construct the songs that would soon comprise their initial demo recording.

...THE SWORD has a double office to perform: to destroy anything that opposes the will of its user and to sacrifice all the impulses that arise from the instinct of self-preservation.

THE SWORD’s live shows quickly became the hottest ticket in Austin, as their punishing, yet melodious compositions, mythical imagery and conscious effort to slowly immobilize audiences left music fans astonished while word about the band continued to flourish and grow. Less than a year after their formation, THE SWORD became known as "Austin's most dangerous band".

Soon, an increased number of regional live dates had gained the band an army of followers. That, combined with a devastating performance at SXSW 2004, led to the band sharing the stage with respected noise heroes like JUCIFER, DON CABELLERO and MASTODON. In April, 2004, THE SWORD was invited to hit the road alongside fellow Austin music heroes ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD. The month-long tour introduced their formidable live show to thousands of stunned new devotees along the east coast and Midwest U.S.

...very frequently THE SWORD may simply mean pure destruction, and then it is the symbol of force, sometimes devilish force.

Following another much-talked about performance at SXSW 2005 and the awareness of the quartet’s talent at an all-time high, the band found a home in diverse NYC label Kemado Records. A number of new songs already in hand, songwriting for the band’s debut full-length immediately resumed.

Set for release in February, 2006, "THE SWORD" is a mind-blowing, nine-song journey inside the mysterious, yet concrete world THE SWORD call their own. Recorded at Austin’s Folkvang Studios, the album was engineered by bassist Richie and produced by frontman J.D. Cronise, ensuring the complete capture of the hard-earned sound the band has worked so tirelessly to achieve. Mastered by Rick Essig at Master Cutting Room (THE NEW YORK DOLLS, CHIC COREA) and featuring atypical album art by ...AND YOU WILL KNOW US BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD main man Conrad Keely, the band’s self-titled debut is set to send shockwaves throughout the hard rock community at large.

Exhilarating songs such as the powerfully monolithic "Celestial Crown", the heavy-handed "Freya", the graceful then rampaging "Iron Swan", "March of the Lor" with it’s gripping, towering build and the catchy, colossal closer "Ebethron" instantly convey what words can only try to describe: THE SWORD is not to be taken lightly.

...As something of divinity enters into the making of THE SWORD, its owner and wielder should also respond to the inspiration. His mind should be at one with the soul which animates the cold steel.

Live On Stage:

Metallica isn't going to the only metal band to bring head banging to Manchester this year. The Sword are everything you'll love in a metal act - heavy, sludgy, proggy, odd time signatures, lots of hair, etc. Check out this fantastically shot performance from The Local 506 in Chapel Hill, NC...

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

These guys have two videos to their name, here's Winter's Wolves...

Freya

For more on The Sword head on over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Two Gallants

2008-04-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Ever since 2002 when Adam Stephens (guitar/vocals/harmonica) and Tyson Vogel (drums/vocals) began making noise at house parties and on street corners they've slowly been carving out their own creative space. In a world where bigger is often considered better and quality is sacrificed with ease, Two Gallants have risen against the tide with their cathartic, stripped-down sound and depth of material to forge an intimate bond with a wide array of fans.

"The intensity of our interaction while playing is clearly quite different" explains Stephens. "I think it's the product of both of us pushing our own selves so hard and so far that out of necessity we have to lean upon each other to keep from flying off the track."

There is no substitute for an honest, deep connection built on trust and respect. Through the shared experience of growing up together in San Francisco, Two Gallants have pushed each other into a unique and timeless spectrum of music. They craft emotional, visceral, intelligent songs that remind us of America's folk, country, and blues traditions but are fueled with the energy of punk. Through Stephens' first-person narratives, murder ballads, and drunken outlaw tales, Two Gallants have taped into the universal struggle of the human condition as they channel the pain of men twice their age.

Speaking to their on-stage relationship, Stephens says, "[As a guitar player] I stick to the basic structure of the song, Tyson listens to the changes in vocals and melody; he draws them out and intensifies them. Tyson has a plan but it never grows old and lost in routine." While Vogel's unorthodox drumming and gut-wrenching support vocals give the songs life, it's Stephens' words that give them a soul. "There's something about the way he sees things" says Vogel. "He's very convicted, clear and emotionally pregnant. There's a real unique clarity and truth to what he sees and how he puts that forward through music and writing."

As the band continued to grow, tour, and write new songs, they found a home at the seminal indie label Saddle Creek in both the US and Europe. Always known as a record label that does things their own way, the fertile grounds of Saddle Creek have provided Two Gallants with the freedom to grow as they constantly work to refine their craft. In response to their nearly 200 international shows last year and two solid albums (2004's The Throes and 2006's What The Toll Tells) Two Gallants have garnered remarkable praise in almost every major music publication including MOJO, Rolling Stone, Harp, Paste, Uncut, Pitchfork, Vice, NME, to name a few. But it's the pair of 2007 releases, the acoustic EP Scenery of Farewell and self-titled third full-length, that finds the band coming of age in the studio. "The live context is always where we've felt the most comfortable, it's where the magic or the spiritual side of things comes in" offers Vogel; "where as recording has taken some warming up to, until now."

After working with Alex Newport (Mars Volta, At the Drive-In) on a new mix of The Throes, they developed a creative compatibility and asked him to produce their next two albums. By combining Newport's personality, experience as a musician and recording engineer with a new batch of songs the band had written specifically for the new record, Two Gallants have created their most fully-realized, cohesive piece of work to date.

While the new album documents the band's growth and maturity, as Stephens says, "This record was a bit of a return to our beginnings. I think that's why we decided to have it stay simple and self-titled." By harnessing the power of what they do live and relying on each other, Two Gallants expands on what makes this band so special: their exceptional songwriting and raw chemistry.

Live On Stage:

Like the White Stripes and the Black Keys the Two Gallants are a guitar and drums duo - but the similarities end there. While those acts are steeped in the blues, the Two Gallants sort fall into the wordy singer/songwriter camp. Check it out for yourself their appearance on Jimmy Kimmel...

Download: Two Gallants - 2007-06-03 - The Electric Factory - Philadelphia, PA

IMEEM Playlist:

Music Videos:

Here's the duo with The Prodigal Son....

Few more you might want to check out...

Despite What You've Been Told

Steady Rollin'

For more on the Two Gallants check out their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Money Mark

2008-04-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Money Mark is the most recent artist signed to Brushfire Records but he has been a long time friend of the Brushfire Family. Mark and Jack Johnson met during a late ’90s recording session helmed by notable producer Mario Caldato, Jr. (who also produced Mark’s forthcoming record Brand New By Tomorrow), with Mark subsequently playing upright piano in Jack’s band during a tour of Japan. Mark also appears on the Jack Johnson and friends dvd “Live at The Greek”.

Mark has had quite an impressive career. He has collaborated on crucial recordings with the likes of Yoko Ono, Porno For Pyros, Beck, Jack Johnson, and Blues Explosion, to name but a few. He was lynchpin of an early line-up of Jakob Dylan’s Wallflowers, and his musicality was the organic ingredient that induced the Beastie Boys’ rebirth beginning with 1992’s epochal Check Your Head. Adept at melding funk, jazz, hip-hop, folk, Afro-Cuban and Latin musics as well as brain-goggling experimentalist noise, this one-time Los Angeles Lakers ball-boy is an acknowledged master of staying in a musical pocket that’s forever changing shape. Considering his low-key heroics, it’s just desserts that a few years back Money Mark was immortalized in the form of his own collectable action figure. Among the chart-topping tracks, touring, and toys, however, Mark has also crafted out a fine solo career.

Mark’s first three solo albums (Mark’s Keyboard Repair from 1995, 1998’s Push The Button, and 2001’s Change Is Coming) were followed by a trio of rougher records (Love Stains: A Demo, Demo Or Demolition?; and Father Demo’s Square), each incorporating the word “demo” to indicate they were demonstrations of what would reach full flower later in his fourth solo album Brand New By Tomorrow.

Live On Stage:

Money Mark is probably best know for his work with the Beastie Boys - both in the studio and in their touring band - but he's also released a number of albums on his own. If you dig G. Love, Jack Johnson and the like you're going to want to circle MM's set on your schedule. Here he is in action...

IMEEM Playlist:

Here's Money Marks's latest for your listening pleasure...

Music Videos:

Got a bunch to choice from here, but since he happens to be huge in Japan (I swear, look it up) we'll go with this one....

Few more to check out...

Pick Up The Pieces

Hand In Your Head

For more on Money Mark make your way on over to his official website.

Night Club & Cafe Artists Announced

2008-04-12T08:48:00.000-07:00

The latest batch of artist additions have been announced here's some info...

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Bonnaroo is the opportunity for new musical discoveries...and, once again, Bonnaroo is eager to share with you a few of the many under-the-radar up-and-coming artists that have caught our ear in the past year or more. This time, we're delighted that the Troo Music Lounge and the Blue Room Café will host talented performers not only from the continental USA but also from Bonnaroo's increasingly extended musical community...including Hawaii, Australia, Canada, and...two from Africa.

Make sure that your Bonnaroo weekend includes a regular visit to the Troo Music Lounge and the Blue Room Café. You may discover your new favorite band!

Alana Grace - Amy La Vere - Bear In Heaven - Bombadil - Carney - Colour Revolt - Cornmeal -De Novo Dahl - Dead Confederate - Electric Touch - Erick Baker - Extra Golden - Howlin Rain - Jake Shimabukuro - Jessie Baylin - Jypsi - K'NAAN - Lord T & Eloise - Mike Farris f. Roseland Rhythm Revue - The Nikhil Korula Band - Nomo - Person L - Phonograph - Rotary Downs - Royal Bangs - Scissormen - Sometymes Why - stephaniesid - The Afromotive - The American Plague - The Big Sleep - The Duhks - The Everybodyfields - The Greencards - The Weather Underground - Your Vegas

Bonnawho's Who: Back Door Slam

2008-04-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Almost everyone, if pressed, can recall some key point in their life when a single event caused them to suddenly and dramatically alter course. To have had such a revelation at age 11 and to have made good on it—turning a spontaneous passion into a serious profession that demands life-long commitment—now that’s a little out of the ordinary.

“I was in a car with my dad, and he put on Dire Straits’ ‘Sultans of Swing,’” explains Davy Knowles, 20-year-old guitarist, singer and principal songwriter of the blues-rock trio Back Door Slam. “I just fell in love with the music then and there. That track changed my life, and I realized, ‘I really want to be able to do that.’ ”

The inspirational moment occurred on the Isle of Man, the tiny kingdom stuck in the middle of the Irish Sea (roughly equidistant from Belfast to the west and Liverpool to the east), where the teenaged trio coalesced—with this particular lineup in 2006. Knowles and drummer Ross Doyle, 20, had played together in a prior version; bassist Adam Jones, 19, was the most recent to join. Taking its name from a song popularized by early inspiration Robert Cray, Back Door Slam, has, however, acted rather swiftly on its intention to make good. Under the guidance of the same IOM-based management team that launched multi-platinum Grammy-nominated Corinne Bailey Rae last year, they have already issued a pair of EPs and a full concert DVD, wowed audiences at the U.S.’s taste-making South by Southwest conference, supported name acts as diverse as Don McLean and Elvin Bishop, and prepared an audaciously impressive debut album, ROLL AWAY, issued by independent Blix Street Records, best known for the catalogue of recordings by the late Eva Cassidy. That release was preceded by the band’s first full American tour.

If conventional wisdom has it that the most popular activity of the young is rebelling against everything that preceded them, it’s wisdom that is in need of some reevaluation. Both the general tradition of the blues and the specific experience of Back Door Slam refute it, in ways that support the linkage of all good music across any expanse of time or space. “Sultans of Swing” got Knowles started on guitar (“I nicked my dad’s acoustic and figured the song out by ear. I must’ve played it for a year.”) and led him to his father’s record collection. “That’s where I found people like John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers,” Knowles recalls with obvious fondness, “and, from there, I got into Eric Clapton and Peter Green in the early Fleetwood Mac, and [late Irish axe-man] Rory Gallagher, who I just love. Then I began reading guitar-player magazines and started seeing who the people I was influenced by had listened to, which is how I learned about Blind Willie Johnson and Robert Johnson.”

While classmates spent time tuned in to Metallica or Britney Spears, Knowles “was more into the vintage music.” So were his eventual bandmates. “Ross initially liked indie rock, though he’s really into blues now, and Adam has wide tastes; he likes Jeff Buckley and things like that.” Nor has Knowles pigeon-holed himself; if blues is his bailiwick, he’s also inspired by “English folk music, like Bert Jansch and [Jansch’s Pentangle guitar partner] John Renbourn” and classic soul singers (“Marvin Gaye and especially Ray Charles, who is just incredible and irreplaceable”).

All these elements come into play on ROLL AWAY, which was recorded at DAM Studios in Douglas, the principal city on the Isle of Man, with producer Dave Armstrong (whose credits include fellow Manx music export and renowned songbird Christine Collister). It’s an impressive set, full of stirring blues, bruising rockers and affecting minor-key ballads, that marks Back Door Slam’s as one of the year’s most stunning arrivals “We wanted to make the record as raw as we could,” Knowles says. “Not too many overdubs. We tried our best to get a real live sound.

“We recorded the album on and off over the course of a year, as we were also doing gigs across the U.K., and in France. Some of the songs we’ve had kicking around for a year or more, so this album sort of provided ‘closure’ for a lot of the things we didn’t have a chance to record earlier.”

Among such songs is “Too Late,” whose arrangement alternates between a sparse acoustic-guitar sound and full-blown band dynamics. “That was the first proper song I wrote,” Knowles says with a laugh. “I was on holiday with my parents and didn’t have a guitar for two weeks, so I made friends with this French gypsy guy who hung out at the restaurant we ate at. He lent me his guitar, and I wrote that song.” Of more recent vintage is the somewhat folk-bluesy title track, which shares a similar genesis. “It’s the first song I wrote without a guitar,” Knowles adds. “I was out on a dog walk, and I just got the melody and all the lyrics. Then, I had to put the guitar to it when I got home.”

“Roll Away” addresses the dilemma, he says, of living in such a desirable but off-the-beaten-path locale as the Isle of Man (“Roll away/Maybe I’ll return to this island some day”): “It’s a beautiful place and so nice, but it’s also small and insular in its thinking in a way. I feel lucky to have grown up there, but you can’t forget there’s also a world out there beyond it.”

Other highlights of the program are the tough-riffed “Outside Woman Blues” (the album’s one track not written by Knowles), “Come Home” (“an older one, kind of my first attempt to write a big electric blues”) and “Heavy on My Mind,” which suggests the muscular amplified style of Albert King. “That’s a funny one, actually,” says Knowles. “We were staying at our manager’s house, and it was the creepiest house, with a graveyard and an old battlefield next to it. The line ‘My mind is playing tricks on me,’ came from walking around that house. You know how [in a spooky place] you know there’s nothing there, but you keep looking behind yourself anyway to see if someone’s following you? It was like that.”

“Stay” addresses a more serious subject: the death of Back Door Slam’s rhythm guitarist, Brian Garvey, and another friend, in a car accident in 2004. “It just devastated us,” Knowles recalls. “It took a long time to come to terms with that. Writing ‘Stay’ was a kind of therapy for us.”

As much as the band enjoyed recording its debut long-player, playing live is “definitely where it’s at,” says Knowles. “It’s all I ever wanted to do: go on tour and keep playing.” Which is what Back Door Slam did throughout the spring and summer of 2007. On their Austin stop at SXSW, the musicians ran into a fellow artist with Isle of Man connections. “We got to meet Pete Townshend,” Knowles enthuses. “He was really nice and took time to speak with us. He went to school on the Isle of Man for a bit, and I think he’s still got relatives there.”

The hook-up with the Who man further underscores just how far the young trio has come in such a short time. At the end of May, Back Door Slam performed on the same bill with The Who, as featured guests at the Isle’s first annual Peel Bay Festival. It’s not at all unlikely that their performance on that stage, and on the 11 tracks that comprise the ROLL AWAY album, will wind up affecting music fans just as deeply as “Sultans of Swing” touched Davy Knowles. A tradition continues.

Live On Stage:

I've only been hearing great things about these guys - especially their live show (see Ace Cowboy's write up) - so I was excited to see their name on the bill. If you dig psychedelic blues rock then these young chaps from across the pond will be for you. Here's a monster, nine-plus minute take on Hendrix's "Red House"....

Live show, go download it....

Back Door Slam - 2008-02-02 - Proud Larry's - Oxford, MS

IMEEM Playlist:

Once again IMEEM comes through with a playlist of their debut album Roll Away...

Music Videos:

They've got one video under their belt, here's "Come Home"....

I have a feeling a lot of people will be talking about these guys after their appearance - just call it a hunch. For more on Back Door Slam head over to their official website.

Bonnawho's Who - The Wood Brothers

2008-04-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Ways Not To Lose, the 2006 debut from the Wood Brothers had, in a sense, been a lifetime in the making—the first public collaboration between vocalist and guitarist Oliver Wood, who fronts Atlanta-based blues band King Johnson, and upright bassist Chris Wood, of the long-running, genre-blasting trio Medeski Martin and Wood. As players, they displayed an easy-going virtuosity; as siblings, they had an extraordinary rapport. Their folk and acoustic blues tunes, tinged with gospel hopefulness and country melancholy, were welcomed like old friends by both fans and pundits. National Public Radio named their debut disc one of their top ten discoveries that year. Rolling Stone declared, “The flip, easygoing party music on ‘Lose’ disguises sneakily deep inquiries into what it means to be alive, struggle with temptation, and every once in a while seek some truth.”

With Loaded, the Wood Brothers engage in a more expansive musical dialogue that commenced well before they hit the studio; they collaborated for the first time on writing material together. John Medeski, returning as producer, got into the mix as the songs were just taking shape, and he plays keyboards on several tracks. The crew, working at a studio near Woodstock, New York, opened up the sessions to other musicians and friends—singers Amos Lee, Pieta Brown and Frazey Ford, steel guitarist Darick Campbell, violinists David Mansfield and Jennifer Choi, cellist David Eggar, drummers Billy Martin and Kenny Wolleson, and percussionist Donnie McCormick—making this a more fleshed-out, multi-layered band effort compared to the spare, live-in-the-studio approach of Ways Not To Lose.

Oliver still does the lead singing, in a voice that is, by turns, weathered, wounded or yearning, but Chris takes his first lead-vocals turn at the mic on the gentle “Don’t Look Back,” bolstered by Frazey Ford of Canadian roots music trio The Be Good Tanyas. Jokes Chris, “After being in an instrumental band for eighteen years, it was pretty weird to be stuck in front a microphone. When MMW fans see us play, they say, that’s the first time I ever heard you speak, much less sing.”

“We initially just brought our songs and our musicianship to the table,” continues Chris, “We had a chemistry that was good and we captured that on the first record. It’s been almost two years now and, having played constantly for the last two years together and written things together, we’ve just evolved. We have different things to say, different things are happening in our lives, and we combined our efforts much more. That combined voice has taken us to a different place and this record illustrates that.”

Songwriting, as well as playing gigs, became an important connection for the brothers, as Oliver explains, “Chris and I live pretty far apart, so unless we’re on the road, we really don’t see each other. A lot of times one of us will start a song, introduce some music or some lyric. It took a little while, but we got used to the idea of getting the other person involved to where both of us have our hearts invested in a song. That’s a different feeling than, ‘Hey, here’s my song, let’s play it together.’ It’s different for both of us to have something at stake there.”

Most importantly, their songwriting and playing got them through some tough times for their family, Oliver says, “We lost our mom last spring to ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was deteriorating over the last year or two, so we couldn’t help but have that influence what we were feeling and what we were writing about. It’s a unique situation because we are working together, but we’re also family, so we were both hit in kind of the same way by the passing of our mom. That definitely shows up in the music quite a bit.”

Loaded is bookended with a pair of wistful tunes, ”Lovin’ Arms” and “Still Close,” that address loss but also hint at spiritual regeneration. That’s a theme that recurs throughout the album. For the Wood Brothers, the blues offer solace from downheartedness; there’s a soulful quality in their work that grows increasingly compelling—not to mention, comforting—the more familiar these songs become. “Postcards From Hell” takes the Robert Johnson legend and flips it, telling the story of a singer who manages to keep his sound pure by closely guarding his soul. “Pray Enough” brings humor to a gospel exhortation, with label-mate Amos Lee joining in on backup vocals. (Lee reappears later in the album to swap verses of Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel” with Oliver.) And there’s real tenderness to “Walkaway,” an understatedly arranged breakup number in shuffle time, with drums from Chris’s MMW band-mate Billy Martin.

Along with “Angel,” the Wood Brothers cover the traditional “Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor,” turning it into a loose back-porch jam highlighted by Donnie McCormick who adds vocals and percussion by rhythmically scratching the wires of a chicken coop (“with no chickens in it,” Oliver hastens to add). The lilting melody of Bob Dylan’s “Buckets Of Rain” unfolds in a beautiful slo-mo tempo, with Oliver playing stop-start guitar leads. He hesitates before singing each line, as if he’s pulling poetry right out of the air. Says Chris, “Oliver has a magical way of playing behind the beat, an amazing laid back thing, one of those indescribable things that you can’t teach. Either you’ve got it or you don’t.”

Though the pair had a good time in the studio with their extended lineup, they plan to hit the road again simply as a duo. Multi-tasking on their individual instruments, they can cook up a mighty groove or create a seriously laid-back mood. Oliver admits, “There is something special about performing as a duo, a uniqueness to it, whereas oftentimes a group with drums and keyboards doesn’t stand out as much. In some ways we really stand out as a duo, making a whole bunch of a racket with just the two of us.”

Chris concurs: “There is a certain flexibility we have as just the two of us that we are learning to take advantage of more and more. When you don’t have a drummer back there, you can really play with the rhythm, slow down a phrase or speed it up, and be more liquid that way.”

Expect to see—and hear—a lot more of the Wood Brothers this year, on tour and on Loaded. And count on being treated like family.

Live On Stage:

For those who don't know The Wood Brother is the side project of Chris Wood from MMW fame. The brothers together produce sort of rootsy, laid-back blues infused pop music - sort of in the Jack Johnson, G. Love vein. Here's Luckiest Man off their debut album...

We'll go with another clip from Pickathon 2006, here's Chevrolet...

Here's a show for your downloading pleasure....

The Wood Brothers - 2007-08-23 - Thursday at the Square - Lafayette Square - Buffalo, NY

IMEEM Playlist:

I cobbled together this playlist, not too much of The Wood Brothers floating around, but enjoy...

For more on The Wood Brothers hit up their official site.

Bonnawho's Who - Serena Ryder

2008-04-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Though she’s only 24, Canada-based songstress Serena Ryder is already a world-traveled artist, hailed by No Depression for her “Pipes. Presence. Potential.” Elle noted that “When Serena Ryder sings about love, the most jaded world weariness dissolves.” Now the singer/songwriter Billboard declared to be “Canada’s Most Promising” is poised to present herself to American audiences with her debut Atlantic Records EP, “TOLD YOU IN A WHISPERED SONG.” The five-song calling card highlights Ryder’s powerful three-octave range – which veers from tough to tender, often in a single verse – and distinctive, classically romantic songwriting.

Ryder grew up in Millbrook, a rural/suburban town in eastern Ontario. Her mother a singing go-go dancer and father a Trinidadian-born Caribbean-folk musician, formed the origins of a truly eclectic spirit whose passion for music spans a wide array of styles, from folk and country to jazz, blues, and rock ‘n’ roll. Taking personal inspiration from a surprising spectrum of influences – she names John Prine, Neil Young, Wham!, and Culture Club in a single breath -- Serena began writing and performing at 13.

At 15, Serena left Millbrook for the more metropolitan Peterborough, where she began attending art school and immersing herself in the city’s thriving bohemian community. Over the next few years, she played countless shows, both as solo artist and as singer in a number of local combos, all the while honing her burgeoning gifts for penning inimitably creative melodies and lyrics.

Like any true troubadour, Ryder hit the road and began touring across her native Canada, Australia and France. She toured extensively with such great acts as Steve Earle, Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings of The Guess Who, The Corrs, Blind Boys of Alabama and many more. The multiple treks not only helped sharpen her stagecraft, it brought her music to an ever-increasing audience.

“My fans are awesome,” she enthuses. “They tend to be quite grounded and unique… I love having time to hear their story. God only knows they hear mine enough!”

On the heels of a Top 20 hit in Canada, Ryder traveled to Austin, TX in March 2007 for the annual South By Southwest extravaganza. Her inventive, jazz/blues-inflected vocals and intimate songwriting caught the attention of Atlantic Records and before the month was out, she had signed to the venerable label. In May 2007 she recorded her U.S. debut EP, “TOLD YOU IN A WHISPERED SONG.”

Largely a solo affair, just singer, guitar, and song, tracks such as the confessional “Weak In The Knees” represent but a precursor to what will be Ryder’s definitive musical statement thus far, a full-band recording due in early 2008. The tender title song “Brand New Love” display Ryder’s gifts in their purest form – rich vocals, gentle acoustic guitar and haunting, deeply melodic songs. The politically-tinted “Blown Like The Wind At Night” speaks volumes of her remarkable lyrical range, revealing an artist blessed with a genuinely unique perspective.

Ryder will follow the EP’s release by spending the second half of 2007 on tour in America. Already lined up are treks alongside such artists as Xavier Rudd and Chris Isaak. With the road as her home for the foreseeable future, Ryder intends to take full advantage of the plentiful downtime by writing songs for what will be her Atlantic Records debut album. “It’s going to be pretty stripped down,” she affirms. “I’m really into doing a very direct, really organic sound.”

That naturalistic approach defines Serena Ryder, from her frank and direct personality to the warmth and wisdom of her lyrics. She views herself as part of a long musical continuum, a participant and player in the centuries-old saga of the song. That sense of history, of belonging to something greater than the moment, simultaneously roots Ryder in a glorious tradition, while also setting her apart from most of her modern musical peers.

“I think maybe the reason people are feeling detached from a lot of the music that gets played on the radio today is because everyone’s trying so hard to be their own island, their own original person,” she says. “But it’s not important what makes you stand out – what’s important is how connected to everything you are. Everyone’s trying so hard to do something brand new, something they think people need or want, but really, we don’t need anything else.”

Live On Stage:

Serena falls somewhere into that Joss Stone camp - young woman with a big voice. She won the 2008 Juno (the Canadian Grammys) for New Artist Of The Year. Here she is with Told You In A Whispered Song the title track from her latest EP...

IMEEM Playlist:

Here's a playlist of Serena's most recent album If Memory Serves You Well - which consists entirely of cover songs from Canadian artists. Anytime you make a reference to The Band in your album title and cover one of their songs I'm ready to be a fan...

Music Videos:

Serena's got a handful of videos, let's check out her cover of "Good Morning Starshine" - which is best known from the musical Hair...

Few more to check out...

Weak In The Knees

Just Another Day

For more on Serena head on over to her official website.

Bonnawho's Who - Newton Faulkner

2008-03-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

Official Bio:

Newton Faulkner believes in accidents. A bona fide pop star at home in his native U.K.—where radio presence, great press and a thrilling live show drove Hand Built By Robots to the top spot on the album-sales chart upon its release there last summer—this 23-year-old singer-songwriter makes music full of serendipity and happenstance, coincidence and luck. As its title suggests, Hand Built By Robots contains acoustic music for the digital age: Faulkner croons in a voice shaped by years spent listening to Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Tom Waits and plays guitar with a distinctive tap-pick-and-strum technique that allows him to use the instrument as guitar, bass and drums all at once. Call it folk-pop for the future, and get ready to hear quite a lot of it as Faulkner goes about spreading his success to these shores.

Newton first picked up a guitar at age 13; within three years he was honing his skills at
Guildford’s prestigious Academy of Contemporary Music. Studying theory and technique, though, led young Newton to a discovery: “If you’re trying to get noticed playing normal guitar, you have to be phenomenal,” Faulkner says with a self-deprecating laugh, “because that’s what everybody else is doing. To be the most amazing soloist in the world you’d have to spend four years in a cave doing nothing else.”

Generally disinclined to cave life, Faulkner hit upon a different idea. “I was just sitting around playing guitar with a friend and I did something weird, this sort of quick slap-tap-bass thing. I wouldn’t say it was good or technically impressive, but my friend said, ‘Wow, that was cool.’ I was like, ‘What? That wasn’t cool—it was just a bit weird.’ But he made me do it again, and then I was like, ‘Wow, that is cool!’” Thus was Faulkner’s inadvertent virtuosity born.

The singer voices a similarly casual attitude toward songwriting. “To be perfectly honest, when I’m writing I try to think as little as possible,” he admits. For Faulkner, the goal with any tune is to approach an uncommon subject from an uncommon angle, a trick he picked up from some of his teenage favorites, including Radiohead, Green Day and the Presidents of the United States of America. “I like something that carries a message and isn’t just talking about how hot a girl is or how depressed you are.” To that end, Hand Built contains a song about the perils of growing old with superpowers (“Ageing Superhero”) and one about the value of certain facial expressions (“People Should Smile More”).

Faulkner penned a handful of the album’s tracks with his brother Toby. “You can spot that stuff because it’s usually slightly stupid,” he says. “‘UFO,’ ‘Gone in the Morning,’ ‘She’s Got the Time’—the most ridiculous ones he had some involvement in.” (Faulkner also co-wrote for the album “with slightly more serious people,” including Crispin Hunt of the Longpigs, with whom he crafted “Dream Catch Me,” the album’s lead single and a huge hit on England’s Radio One.

In addition, there’s a heart-stopping cover of Massive Attack’s “Teardrop” that may cause you to change the way you think about that song.) For all of Hand Built’s hand-built craftiness, Faulkner says that where he feels most comfortable is onstage before an audience, playing songs, telling stories and cracking jokes. (It doesn’t take long before you realize that Faulkner particularly likes cracking jokes.) A Bobby McFerrin gig at London’s Royal Festival Hall made a huge impact. “He was basically just strolling around making noises and chatting to people,” Faulkner marvels, “and everyone sat back and sort of said, ‘This is really nice.’”

Newton spent last year building an intensely devoted fanbase in Europe, headlining his own shows as well as opening concerts by John Mayer, Paolo Nutini and the John Butler Trio. This year he’s looking forward to following the same path in the United States. “I like to have a kind of conversation with the entire crowd,” he says. Prepare to start talking back.
Live On Stage:

From all that I've been reading (specifically for this post) Newton Faulkner seems like the U.K. version of a John Butler type performer - though with a heavy pop edge. Here's his take on Massive Attacks "Teardrop"....

IMEEM Mix:

Get acquainted with some Newton...

Music Videos:

Newton's got a handful of videos, since I'm just as to new him as probably everyone else reading this post I'm just going to pick one at random. Here's "All I Got"...

Some more you might want to check out...

I Need Something

Dream Catch Me

For more on Newton Faulkner hit up his official website.