In February 1999, three longtime friends from West Texas went to a pizza place in Austin, Texas, for a prearranged meeting with a young man from Illinois. The Illinoisan had
Scored by David Byrne, Big Love: Hymnal, Music Written for the HBO Series Plus Other Recent Compositions is out now on Todomundo. A selection of Byrne’s music from all 12
MSTRKRFT have announced the dates of an extensive North American tour in support of their new album. The Canadian duo, who released ‘Fist Of God’ digitally yesterday (March 10) and
Straight out of The Breakfast Club comes The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, quite the band name/album title and one that really is apropos of the music contained within. The sound of love-longed teens lounging in their Tiger Beat pin-up covered bedroom, crossed with shaggy-haired-skinny-rockers in a garage; turning up the feedback and peppering the skins and keys with the combined angst and pressure of a first kiss. Layers of acoustic guitars and feedback build on the quick opener “The Contender” before the abrupt end, leading to the swinging catchiness of distant broken lovers in “Come Saturday,” whose ending contains a sped-up Jesus and Mary Chain “Head On”-esque riff. The hooks, dreamy voices and lovelorn lyrics would flutter away if it was not for the impressive low-end teaming of Alex Naidus on bass and Kurt Feldman on drums giving the group a power-pop-punk vibe in the vein of The Exploding Hearts. Sure, you’ve heard this all before, and at times it borders on mimicry over tribute, but tunes like “Everything With You” and “Hey Paul” are fantastic and will win you over instantly. Earnest and melodic; borrowing heavily from Black Tambourine and slightly from My Bloody Valentine, while mixing in a sunshiny-sheen on top of the playing that bursts through. Where those groups were dense and required multiple listens you GET IT upon the first run through with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
For the 150 fans, friends and members of the media who showed up to the small warehouse in an industrial section of Nashville were given more than a tour of
My Bloody Valentine, the eardrum-pounding, feedback-sculpting quartet fronted by elusive guitar hero Kevin Shields, has added a handful of U.S. live dates to coincide with its Coachella festival appearance in
After an extremely successful weekend that saw their favorite band reunite for three fantastic shows, the Phish fanbase returned home to find the media picking up on the same ol’
Kentucky rockers My Morning Jacket have collected tracks from their two 2008 appearances in their hometown of Louisville to create a new live EP to be released on Record Store Day (April 18). READ ON for a letter from the band about their brand-new live EP, Celebración De La Ciudad Natal…
Last week, we brought you part one of our in-depth interview with Superfly Presents president Jonathan Mayers where we discussed his start in the industry, the booking process for Bonnaroo and so much more. This week, we bring you part two of Scott Bernstein and Jeffrey Greenblatt’s talk with Jonathan, which includes his thoughts on Outside Lands, Vegoose, Superfly’s Greening efforts and much more…
Hidden Track: What has been your favorite Bonnaroo – both, in terms of your experiences and in terms of performances?
Jonathan Mayers: I have a couple, really. I’ve had many amazing moments there. You know, to be working with your friends every day, to feel creatively inspired, realizing that you can do anything. It’s like you can have an idea and with a good team of people you can execute on it and that just for me, the festival itself happening, is very fulfilling.
In terms of performances, I’m a huge Neil Young fan and when Neil Young & Crazy Horse played [in 2003] it was just such an amazing thrill for me because here was my hero, playing the festival and totally killing it. That was amazing. And, I’m also a huge Radiohead fan and I thought, Radiohead it was just an amazing set and they are one of my favorite bands. When they played, it felt like the festival was evolving – so that was really exciting too. And even Metallica last year – we had a lot of people that didn’t feel like that was a good booking for us and I thought that they were amazing. I thought it was a statement that – you know what – the place isn’t going to burn down. They’re an amazing live band and it worked.
READ ON for more on Outside Lands, the future of Vegoose, the economy and who Jonathan is most excited to see at this year’s Bonnaroo…
The folks at Rhino put out Grateful Dead vault releases at a blistering pace last year, but all has been quiet on the Western front for the past few months…
