Archive: 2006

Music legend Willie Nelson has written and recorded a new, topical song called "Whatever Happened To Peace On Earth?" to speak out about the current political climate and world conditions. Nelson had some friends help him out on the controversial track, including Ben Harper, Jack Johnson, Michael McDonald, Patrick Simmons (Doobie Brothers) and even hissons […]

We’ve gone grousing the aisles once again to help you get over this week’s hump. This edition returns to our jambandian roots, with a few clever diversions into classic rock. We’re moving beyond torrents and opening up the floor to streaming shows, as well as MP3 downloads. Don’t worry, we’ll alert you as to what’s what.

Benevento/Russo Duo – 11/3/2006 Matrix (FLAC)
bt.etree.org/details.php?id=501756

Compliments to The Duo — it’s a very fan-friendly move to allow tapers to record matrix versions and spread them within days of the show. The sound quality on this particular show is amazing, and it helps that the band kicks the proverbial asses of Something For Rockets, Becky and 9×9. The Duo gets better every show they play, and we look forward to watching their continued upward trajectory.

Read on for more on The Clash, The Who, The Santana, The Umphrey’s, The Phish, The Grateful Dead, The J. Geils Band and more…

The lineup for the 5th Annual Langerado Music Festival is now officially out there, and it looks pretty damn good. Save all your anti-jamband bullshit for Coachella, ya hipster doofus, this one’s gonna be down and dirty.

The Langerado Music Festival is known for kicking off the country’s festival season each March by attracting thousands of music lovers from all over the country to sunny South Florida. Today, the region’s premier music festival makes its first announcement regarding the artist line-up for its fifth annual event, happening at Markham Park on March 9, 10, and 11, 2007. Reputed for always gathering a diverse collection of today’s hottest artists, 2007’s Langerado Music Festival is thrilled to host Widespread Panic, Trey Anastasio, moe., O.A.R., Matisyahu, Micheal Franti & Spearhead, Paolo Nutini, The Disco Biscuits, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Toots and the Maytals, Los Lobos, Blackalicious, Yerba Buena, Girl Talk, Explosions in the Sky, Rodrigo y Gabriela and many, many others. Visit http://www.langerado.com for the complete list of confirmed artists, with more artists still to be announced.

Good lord, I know it’s a pipe dream, but what I wouldn’t give to see Trey take the stage with Stevie Malkmus and MMW. Greyboy, Toots, Tea Leaf Green, The Slip, Bela, moe., Panic, and look out for Band of Horses, Apollo Sunshine, Sharon Jones and Assembly of Dust — this thing is a dream lineup for this here sucker.

Tickets go on sale to the public December 1st, and the late-night shows will be announced shortly. Read on for the full lineup, and let us know what you think — are you a holier-than-thou hipster that’s pissed there’s no Death Cab for M. Ward, or are you a satisfied wook ready to sling phatty grilled cheese in the lots?

“Oh,” she shrugged. “You’re one of those guys.”

I’d been chatting up a leggy blonde at someone’s rooftop party well past midnight when she lobbed that one at me. The topic of conversation had turned to music at some point — it so often emanates from geeks with beat game — and having just run the table for six straight Beirut victories, my voice must’ve conveyed a loud conviction that bordered on either batshit insanity or total deafness.

“One of which guys?” I asked sheepishly, trying to play cool the fact that during my pointed lecture I had just spat on her face, breast, chest neck and head.

“You know, those guys,” she retorted. “Those guys in their twenties that talk about The Band like they’re the greatest thing in the world, as if possessing such a love for an obscure group of rock musicians you weren’t even old enough to see makes you cooler than everyone else, when really it just makes you an elitist that refuses to play nice with his own generation.”

“Look, ma’am,” I began with arrogant charm, “I make no apologies for wearing my love for the most underrated mostly non-American band in American rock history on my short sleeve for the world to see. You know how they say if we didn’t jump into World War II that all of Europe would be speaking German right now? Well, if The Band hadn’t hung ’em up in 1976 we’d all be singing Canadian-Injected Southern Country Soulful Rock right now. You don’t assemble a collection of fucking talent into one band often enough that I’m willing to just brush them into the dustpan of misplaced rock. Music From Big Pink? I mean, c’mon…”

“I’m gonna go get another beer,” she mumbled, inching away slowly. “Bye.”

I know that all sounds more like an anecdote in a J. Peterman catalogue than a newsy blog post about a new tribute album hitting shelves on January 30, 2007, but I felt the need to preface my first real post on here about The Band with a full disclosure of my belief in their greatness. Nobody puts The Band in the corner.

So when ScottyB e-mailed me the information that 429 Records is releasing Endless Highway: The Music of The Band early next year, I perked up like I’d stumbled upon a cache of free porn. Hornsby on King Harvest? My Morning Jacket on It Makes No Difference? The Allmans on The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down? ALO on Ophelia? I’m normally not a tribute album guy, but buying this disc sounds like a total no-brainer, a real Schiavo. Read on for the full setlist…

As first leaked by our stealthy Hidden Track team – next year’s Langerado Festival will once again take place in Sunrise, Florida mid-March with Widespread Panic a featured headliner.  The complete "initial" line-up has now been announced, with Trey Anastasio,  Stephen Malkmus, The Slip, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Michael Franti rounding out a diverse collection […]

With Phish now defunct, our only chance to hear unreleased music sits idly in the band’s extensive archive. As the band’s archivist for the past 10 years, Kevin Shapiro holds the key to the vault. Luckily for the fans, he’s a good man, and thorough, with an incredible ear (probably two).

Recently Kevin graciously took time to answer a few — well, eight — questions about the new Colorado ’88 issue, under-the-radar Phish shows and more…

Scott Bernstein: Why Colorado ’88? How did the idea come up?

Kevin Shapiro: When I discovered Phish around 1990, that first tour was already the stuff of legend among Phishheads. In that sense, I’m sure the general idea pre-dates me working with the band. One of the first things I did on the job was work with Shelly to get the master cassettes from Mike Lynch to keep safe in the archives. He always hoped they’d be released someday.

In the past couple years we’ve released some landmark Phish: The Island Tour, New Year’s Eve 1995 and Live in Brooklyn; plus, downloads of New Orleans Relief and the fall 1994 Olympia and Salem shows. Colorado ’88 is the earliest live Phish release, and it’s a crucial link in the chain. The composition, improvisation, intensity and wit in the music and banter are really powerful, as is the sense of being with the band in such an intimate setting. It’s must-hear Phish.

When Mike Lynch recently requested his tapes back, that was kind of the final straw to convince the band it was time to release the best of the run…

In an effort to continue wasting your valuable time, we now present you with this blonde-haired, blue-eyed installment of our regular Tuesday department piece… It’s always fun watching two grown men sing into the same mike, especially when those dudes are Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan, Slow Hand and Slurred Speech. They stand so close […]

…the environmentally friendly Green Apple Music & Arts Festival is growing. As had been widely expected at the conclusion of this April’s inaugural Green Apple in New York City, America’s Largest Earth Day Celebration will officially expand into Chicago and San Francisco for the weekend of April 20-22, 2007. That’s all we got for now, […]

We’d like to thank you all for entering the Johnny Cash: At San Quentin contest, and we really wish to give you all free DVDs. But we can’t, and now that we think about it we probably wouldn’t, because you’re all are bastard people. If you’re wondering, King of Rock won the three-disc set with […]

On Skelliconnection, Chad VanGaalen offers up a wealth of musical influences, somehow crafted into a listenable, if not exactly earth-shattering, album. One hears, in his sound, hints of Joseph Arthur, Cloud Cult, and any number of Sub Pop artists. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that he is being touted as a combination of Iron & Wine, The Postal Service, and The Shins.

To follow the success of We're Already Gone, The Beautiful Girls decided to move ahead by looking behind, filling in their new American audience with Water, a compilation of tracks pulled from those earlier releases between 2002 and 2004.

Steel Train’s set at Cambridge Mass’ TT the Bears Place on the Friday of Halloween weekend was not only the conclusion of their recent trek across the States, but their last performance with drummer Matthias Gruber. The atmosphere around the venue was laid back as fans and performers alike watched the last few innings of Game 7 of the World Series while the opening act, House of Fools, did their thing.

On February 20th, 2007, country music giant Charlie Louvin will release his first new studio album in over ten years on the New York-based Tompkins Square label. The self-titled disc, produced by Mark Nevers (Lambchop, Calexico, Candi Staton) and Charlie Louvin, was recorded in Spring/Summer 2006 in Nashville. It features guest performances by Elvis Costello, […]

New York’s most influential avant-garde rock band Sonic Youth follows up their critically acclaimed release of Rather Ripped earlier this year with a special set that is sure to complete the collection of all Sonic Youth fans. The Destroyed Room: B-sides And Rarities, a band-chosen collection of near-hidden Sonic Youth gems, will be released on […]

Hasidic reggae rapper Matisyahu will offer fans a holiday treat with the CD/DVD set "No Place To Be," due Dec. 26 via Epic. The CD sports seven tracks, among them two versions of the Police’s "Message in a Bottle" — a studio version recorded with the legendary Sly & Robbie and a dub version produced […]

It’s not often music fans find an opportunity to screw over Clear Channel, but businessman Bill Sagan did just that. Four years ago, Sagan bought legendary concert promoter Bill Graham’s archives on the cheap from the media giant, and he’s continued to leverage every piece of material in the collection. For us, it’s only getting […]

Welcome to another week of work and dress shoes. On the bright side, next week is already Thanksgiving, so stay strong, and stay black. As usual, Hidden Track helps you adjust to the dimness of Monday with a healthy serving of links: A huge score for us: Wolfgang’s Vault adds streaming audio, with over 300 concerts available […]

Was Nirvana really one of the most influential bands in rock history, or was it the most influential bullet in Kurt Cobain’s skull that posthumously bumped his trio to permanent legend status with no possiblity of a legacy downgrade?

I mean, Nirvana hit it and quit it well before the ascension of the Internets. If Kurt and Dave Grohl and That Other Guy Whose Name Escapes You existed during the irrational exuberance of the late 1990s, you just know that any album produced after 1997 would have drawn out all the cheeky, smartass sassmouths to absolutely thrash and pwn the album and the band, some constructing epic posts on PollyOnLithium.net like “If he thinks his mediocre playing’s worth a shit on this disc, he should just shoot himself in the head right now.”

A strong argument for the greatness of Nirvana hit store shelves this past Tuesday, a digitally remastered DVD release of 1994’s Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! And thanks to the good folks that make possible our Everybody Wins When I Plug Something And In Return They Offer Me Free Shit To Give Away contests, we’re giving away a free copy of this re-issue to one lucky, flannel-wearing fan.

This one’s pretty easy: Nirvana is probably right at the top of many “My Favorite Trio” lists, whether truly deserved or not. So I’d like to know which band you consider to be your favorite musical trio, be it dead or still playing, fictional or real, from bands like Nirvana to jingle specialists like Snap, Crackle & Pop.

All you gots-ta do is tell us which trio you love most and briefly explain why they’re the best ever at what they do or did. The wittier, the better. The contest ends this Sunday night, November 19th, so make yourself heard some time before then, and read on for the movie trailer and list of songs featured on this fantastic DVD…

While Eisenhower may eventually prove to be just another step in a larger, ongoing Slip journey, it proves to be the band's monumental achievement nonetheless. Not so much for it’s distinction from previous efforts, but for proving that a fledging band that debuted with such spark could persevere, and ultimately, a decade later, change the way you look at rock.

The Motet fuse together the Latin with the funk, the new break beats with the experimental sax-laden jazz. Through this fusion of sound and cultures, Boulder, Colorado’s darlings have been worldly instrumentalists since 1998. With the release of their new album, Instrumental Dissent, the experimental sextet has further stamped their claim to a sound that has become trademark The Motet.