Archive: 2009

Rather than continuing his musical journey through all 50 states, Sufjan Stevens is reworking some old material, and re-releasing it as an upcoming LP. Run Rabbit Run is a re-imagination of his 2001 album of instrumental electronic material, Enjoy Your Rabbit. The LP, envisioned by the National’s Bryce Dessner, will be backed by Brooklyn string […]

Pitchfork’s annual music festival returns to Union Park in Chicago on July 17 – 19 for three full days of eclectic bands (and presumably lots of tight jeans and small pins). Hidden Track will be there covering the good, the bad and the ugly with a full review to follow the fest. In the meantime, we’ve put together a list of the top five bands we’re most excited to catch. From the genius soundscapes of Tortoise on Friday through the closing circus of the Flaming Lips on Sunday, this promises to be a great event.

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1. Tortoise [Friday 5PM @ the Connector Stage]

Any day I can see Tortoise is a great day. Their set next Friday night is part of the “Write the Night” series where fans vote for what songs the bands playing that night will tackle. For a band whose catalogue runs as deep as Tortoise’s this is quite an exciting prospect. Personally, I’m hoping for gems – tunes such as Gamera, Djed and Onions Wrapped in Rubber. I’m also quite interested to see if any tunes off of their recently-released Beacons Of Ancestorship will make it into the set. Prepare Your Coffin would make a particularly nice addition to a set of classics and rarities.

READ ON for four more bands to catch at the Pitchfork Festival…

The promoters of Camp Bisco VIII have just unveiled the schedule for each of the three stages. CBVIII kicks off on July 16 and runs through the 18th at the picturesque Indian Lookout Country Club in Mariaville, New York. CLICK HERE for a full-sized version of the schedule for Camp Bisco VIII.

A few months back we mentioned that former Phish collaborator Kid Rock was throwing his hat in the craft beer business ring. The Detroit native will debut the new brew at his upcoming two-night stand  in his hometown at Comerica Park on July 17 and 18. Dubbed American Badass Beer the American-style lager initially will […]

Mazzy Star – Black Session #38  Paris, France – 1993-10-26 [.zip archive] 01 Mary of silence 02 Ghost highway 03 She hangs brightly 04 Bells ring 05 Halah 06 Blue light 07 Ride it on 08 Into dust 09 Give you my lovin’ 10 Blue flower 11 Tonight that i might see 12 Wasted 13 […]

With all the new columns being started around here I figured I’d get in the act by kicking off Through The Years. Each month we’ll provide a YouTube playlist with one song from each year of a band’s existence.

For our first edition of Through The Years we’ve got a killer playlist of Wilco tunes from 1995 to 2009. Let’s take a look…

READ ON for a list of the tracks we used this week…

[youtube]YMPF6lpM0XM[/youtube] Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move

While the Music-Hole mp3 bootleg blog isn’t updated often, the latest update has been well worth the wait. Their Glastonbury 2009 post contains recordings from the BBC broadcast of the world’s best festival. Among the sets you can download are the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Fleet Foxes, Blur and about ten more. Just watch out for […]

The Emmitt-Nershi Band and Assembly of Dust are excited to announce their tour together in support of the release of their upcoming albums.  The tour will start in Boston, MA in September and wrap up in Seattle, WA in October with lots of stops along the way.  This is a co-headline tour with The Emmitt-Nershi […]

JJ Grey has often described his music with Mofro as front porch soul. With no juke joints in Charleston, the Windjammer seemed as good a venue as any for the boozy, sweaty, soulful music of Grey and his band. For about two hours, Mofro churned through a representative selection of their catalogue, hitting on highlights from each of their four albums, in addition to a couple choice covers.

Pearl Jam will celebrate Halloween early with two concerts at Philadelphia’s Wachovia Spectrum to be held Oct. 28 and 30. The shows are part of a brief North American tour which also includes stops in San Diego, Seattle and Los Angeles. Ben Harper and Relentless 7 will open all announced shows except for those in […]

The Swell Season, the Oscar-winning duo of Frames frontman Glen Hansard and Czech ingÈnue Marketa Irglova, are putting the finishing touches on ‘Strict Joy,’ (Sept 29/Anti- Records), the follow-up to their beloved, surprise hit 2007 film and gold-certified soundtrack ‘Once.’ The twelve new, original songs on ‘Strict Joy’ were recorded last year and document a […]

The Black Keys’ drummer Patrick Carney has unveiled details of the debut album and tour from his side-project Drummer. Carney formed the band earlier this year with four friends – Jamie Stillman (guitar), Jon Finley (vocals, guitar), Stephen Clements (keys, vocals) and Greg Boyd (drums). Everyone in the band is also a drummer. Drummer’s debut […]

The Breeders have announced the dates of an extensive North American tour this summer. Kim Deal and company will hit the road on August 5, playing dates in cities including St. Louis, Chicago and Washington DC. They’ll conclude the jaunt in Columbus, Ohio on August 23. The tour will also include two nights at New […]

Let’s set the God Street Wednesday Time Machine for the Spring of 1998 as we take a look at an interview GSW bassist Dan Pifer did for In Music We Trust. The author, W. Jeffrey Lockwood, had interview guitarist Aaron Maxwell but he forgot to press record on his tape recorder – my worst nightmare. […]

Each month, HT Contributor Ben Wiser will take a closer look at notable performances of Dark Star. If you have any favorite Stars you would like him to cover, send the date over to darkstarstories@yahoo.com

This coming Monday will mark 25 years since the Grateful Dead kicked off a three-night run at the Greek Theater in the hot summer of 1984. 1984 was an interesting year for the band – there were good nights and there were…eh…not so good nights, but the concert the Dead played in Berkeley on July 13th is a strong candidate for show of the year.

The first set rocks, but the second set is what the show is best known for. Starting with an amped up Scarlet Begonias that tears into a speedy Touch of Gray (which was already well established in the band’s repertoire) and finally winds down into a groovy Fire on the Mountain. Phil drops a serious bass assault during I Need a Miracle and Jerry delivers the goods with a sublime and breathtaking Stella Blue. After Bobby leads the boys in a stomping Sugar Magnolia finale, only then does the real magic begin.

“If we could have your patience for another five or ten minutes, we’re going to try something a little special tonight, one night only.” – Phil Lesh

The road crew ran around the stage, setting up screens and projectors. Images of deep space appeared, and then the familiar triad of notes begins.

READ ON to find out more and to listen to the Greek ’84 Dark Star…

Back in May we told you that JVC had decided to stop sponsoring their long-running Jazz Festival series and that no company had stepped up to help George Wein throw this year’s festie. Well, we’re happy to report that an up-and-coming medical technology firm named CareLogic will resurrect New York City’s most prestigious jazz festival […]

I’ve been on a Van Hagar kick lately, so you all have to share in the pain… Van Halen – Dreams (Blue Angels)

On Saturday, the Governor’s Island Concert Series kicks off with a fun triple bill featuring quintessential Grateful Dead tribute act the Dark Star Orchestra, one man orchestra Keller Williams along with rootsy singer/songwriter Pete Francis and the Barefoot Truth. This concert takes place on the incredibly scenic Governor’s Island, which is located about a half […]

Steve Martin on banjo, performing at the Rubin Museum of Art in New York on May 28th, 2009.