Singer-songwriter Teitur’s Universal Records debut, Poetry & Aeroplanes, is an eleven-song collection of delicate tunes that reveal the inner troubadour in all of us. Songs about travelling, waiting, post cards, and telephone conversations, dwell up cinemagraphic feelings of longing, regret and adventure.
Before changing their name to the Ryan Cavanaugh Trio earlier this year – due to the departure of percussionist Chris Dougherty – Space Station Integration released Live from Nowhere. Fusing the traditional banjo with high-energy, jazz-fusion, Cavanaugh and company heighten the bluegrass bar by further adding elements of rock, bluegrass, funk, Celtic and Indian to the mix. All done of course with a definitive focus on improvisation.
Transit’s sound is a crunchy testament to a time of simplicity, attaining the essence of improvisational originality, while capturing the moment’s true conscience – both the sunny and dark. It is this electric telepathy between the trio on stage that enables Transit to deliver this gritty passage of raw emotion that reflects in their cozy, coffeehouse stage settings.
OutKast’s double CD, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below was the big winner, taking home Album of the Year as well as Best Rap Album honors. Below are additional winning highlights:
Dave Matthews – Best Male Rock Vocal Performance:
Backed by remarkably accomplished musicians, including acoustic guitar role model Bryan Sutton and steel guitar master Dan Dugmore, Ms. Smith seems satisfied with pretty acoustic arrangements that only rarely give way to more aggressive expressions. It’s not a bad formula, as shown in “Angel Doves,” but it dominates the disc until the listener’s stupor is interrupted by the processed vocals of “Hard to Know,” a near-rocker that would be far more convincing if Ms. Smith’s tenuous voice could carry the voltage she wrote into the tune.
While moe. have retained their ability to spaz-out over reggae-tinged rock and roll riffs, they have also finally learned to chill out. Their live show used to drive steadily over a long, flat highway of Ritalin-child guitar solos and bland exploration over unchanging bass lines, but the boys from Buffalo seem to have finally learned the subtle distinction between jamming and improvising.
The First Family of Indie Rock
Burning Spear and Sean Paul head up a genre-spanning roster for the 23rd annual Bob Marley Day Festival, set for February 14 and 15. The event will take place at the Long Beach Arena in Southern California, and features an international crafts and food fair, along with ten hours of music each day.
In addition to elder statesman Burning Spear, the Saturday lineup includes Beres Hammond, Wayne Wonder, Julian Marley, Hepcat, Arrested Development, T.O.K., Baby Cham, Soul Majestic featuring Rastan, and Mr. Mutton.
On Sunday, hip-hop/dancehall crossover sensation Sean Paul will have help from Elephant Man, Luciano, Sly & Robbie with the Taxi Connection, Big Youth, Edi Fitzroy, Little John, Peter Metro, Carlton Livingston and more. Tickets for the event are on sale now through Ticketmaster and select Southern California record stores and restaurants. See bobmarleydayfesitval.com for more details.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Junior Senior, Cursive, Bright Eyes, Basement Jaxx, Thursday, the Rapture, Paul Van Dyk, Stereolab and the Queens Of The Stone Age-affiliated Desert Sessions have joined the lineup for the fifth Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, to be held May 1-2 at the Empire Polo Fied in Indio, Calif. Tickets go on sale Feb. 14; more acts may be added.
As previously reported, the festival will be headlined by Radiohead and the Cure. Other confirmed acts include the reunited Pixies, Kraftwerk, Air, Wilco, the Flaming Lips, Mogwai, Belle & Sebastian, Dizzee Rascal, the Thrills, LCD Soundsystem, Electric Six, Sahara Hotnights, Death Cab For Cutie; Kinky, the (International) Noise Conspiracy, Prefuse 73, T. Raumschmiere, Sidestepper, …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, !!! and Atmosphere.
Among the new confirmations are 2manydjs, the Crystal Method, Adam Freeland, Ash, Muse, Antibalas, the Cooper Temple Clause, Stellastar, the Killers, the Stills, the Sleepy Jackson, Broken Social Scene, the Black Keys, Future Sound Of London, Hieroglyphics, Le Tigre, Moving Units, Erase Errata, Seb Fontaine, Laurent Garnier, Living Legends, Sander Kleinenberg, the Sounds, Howie Day, Peretz (aka Perry Farrell), Mark Farina, 22-20’s, Phantom Planet, Dios, Jem, Q & Not U, the Section Quartet and DJ Icon.
Source billboard.com.
U.K. rock act the Beta Band will return later this spring with its third album, “Heroes to Zeroes.” Due May 4 via Astralwerks, the 12-track set was self-produced by the group and mixed by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, Beck). “The first single is ‘Assesment’ and the video is going to be the history of human warfare,” vocalist Steve Mason wrote on the band’s official Web site.
In November, Mason said, “all four of us are also working on a DVD to come out around the time of the LP. 12 films, three each, to go with 12 tracks. Some of these tracks may not be from the LP but will be new.” At deadline, it is unclear if the DVD is still being targeted for release in conjunction with the new album. “Heroes to Zeroes” is the follow-up to 2001’s “Hot Shots II.”
Source billboard.com.
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