Archive: 2009

Wilco’s seventh disc, Wilco (The Album), hits stores today nearly six weeks after it was leaked, which led the band to stream it on their website. With each passing release Jeff Tweedy and co. seem to be gaining the commercial success that many critics have been predicting since they formed. To celebrate the release of […]

Over the last few years the Virgin Mobile Festival has established itself as one of the premiere East Coast festivals, bringing both big name arena acts and more indie-oriented bands to the Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, MD. This year the fest, which had been a multi-day affair, is scaling back and changing venues. The […]

[youtube]OXTDIr3egbE[/youtube] Jackson Browne – Late For The Sky

[Originally Published: March 10, 2009]

When I first saw Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, his epic out-of-nowhere British zombie/uber cannibalistic/virus outbreak/mutant apocalypse mind-blowingly violent death mental film, I immediately had the same reaction I have with any incredibly talented director. Give the bastard some serious coin to spin the celluloid fantastic into hyperspace. See what they can do. Give them enough rope to either jump across the whole psychedelic lake and swing back with their sanity intact and talents furthered, OR the rope tangles around their artistic neck, strangling themselves on their own self-indulgence.

Boyle reached his total mass creative potential in a completely unexpected way with the unpredictable critical and commercial success of Slumdog Millionaire. However, Boyle’s film before the East Indian tempest in a tea pot, is an intense and visually stunning piece of work that just seemed to come and go under the cultural radar in the 2007 theatrical night like so many other obscure gems. Indeed, this week’s Hidden Flick is Sunshine.

The science fiction film helmed by Boyle, and written by Alex Garland, tells the tale of a ship in 2057 sent from Earth to detonate a nuclear weapon “the size of Manhattan” within our dying Sol in a desperate attempt to reinvigorate and give new life to a dying star. The international cast is surrounded by ingenious CGI effect shots, and the usual Boyle setups which neither foreshadow, nor echo anything that has really come before in the film.

READ ON for more on this week’s Hidden Flick…

Nine Inch Nails performing in Camden, NJ on June 5th, 2009.

Lately, it seems that the only people more excited for the return of Phish than the fans are the mainstream media. Not only does every issue of Rolling Stone seem to devote at least half a page to Phish, the newly-reunited quartet is currently on the cover of Billboard Magazine. The issue, currently on newsstands,  […]

It’s time for a summer reggae mix, kicking off with Peter Tosh back in the mid seventies with a solo acoustic version of Get Up, Stand Up, followed by his one time band mate Bob Marley, also solo with and acoustic guitar for a long medley of tunes from Guava Jelly to Cornerstone to Stir […]

As evident from our Free NYC Concert Preview, seeing great live music in the Big Apple doesn’t have to cost you a penny. Among the plethora of gratis shows around town mentioned was The Music In The Oval concert series taking place at Stuyvesant Town – the monstrous community of apartment buildings off of First […]

We’re starting a new column today called Track By Track in which an artist shares a story or factoid about each track on their latest album.

Ever since guitarist Mark Karan joined The Other Ones in 1998, he’s been winning over Deadhead after Deadhead with his soulful lead guitar work. Mark followed his stint with Bob Weir, Phil Lesh and Mickey Hart in The Other Ones by spending the last 11 years as a member of Bob Weir and RatDog and also started a band called Jemimiah Puddleduck. For all of Karan’s work as a crucial member of a number of bands, he’s never made a solo album…until now.

That album, Walk Through the Fire, comes out tomorrow on Quacktone Records and will be available in stores, on Itunes, Walk Through the Fire and at his website markkaran.com. The album features special guests Delaney Bramlett, The Persuasions, Billy Payne, The Rowan Brothers, Mike Finnigan, and Pete Sears. Each of the tracks on this disc has deep, personal meaning for Mark, a throat cancer survivor, including the title track which he wrote on his hospital bed after starting chemotherapy so we wanted him to tell us about them in his own words…

ANNIE DON’T LIE – This is a really fun, party sort of song by my friend Alex Call. I played in Alex’s band for quite a while. I hadn’t heard it in years when my friend Teresa James pulled it out at an LA blues gig as “Eddie Don’t Lie”. I remembered I always loved the song and started doing it myself. I love the singalong party vibe and the tex-mex quality the accordion brought to it. JT Thomas’ piano playing is great on this track.

LEAVE A LIGHT ON – I wrote this song when I was a songwriter and producer at Studio 56 in LA. It was poppier and more overblown back then, but I always thought it had something. I revived it for the record and tried pulling it into a more authentic, organic space. I had to twist JT’s arm to play the insistent quirky keyboard part, but it really makes the track for me.

READ ON for Mark’s take on the rest of the tracks…

As Neil Young brought his set at Saturday’s Hard Rock Calling concert in London’s Hyde Park to a close by covering The Beatles’ A Day In The Life, a shadowy figure emerged from the wings to sing harmony – Paul McCartney… A Day In The Life – Neil Young w/ Paul McCartney

Fuse will re-air its four-part series on the Dave Matthews Band, Road to Big Whiskey, beginning Wednesday at 10pm. The series takes a personal look at the band and its music, including how they dealt with losing saxophonist and founding member LeRoi Moore along with tons of footage from the studio. Monday, June 29 [All Times […]

With half undecipherable melodies, half indie pop, Dirty Projectors mash up a style that reflects the work of Deerhoof, capturing a disjointed knack of melody that is otherwise fascinating and pretentiously artsy.   At first listen, you’ll probably want to run to the more “welcoming” sounds of Wilco..

It is great to literally hear the walls of genre coffining labels collapse when Akron/Family starts a’rolling.  Their newest release Set’Em Wild, Set’Em Free isn’t as experimentally weird as past efforts, but still brings enough freak with their Nuevo-hippy folk to keep listeners on edge.

Straightforward. Subdued. Accessible. If Octohedron had been recorded by just about any other band, those words would never cross anyone's mind. However, the Mars Volta has pushed the boundaries of their music and their mania time and again, leaving the expectation that each album will be a further exploration of psychedelic insanity. This album explores to be sure, but in a different way than they have previously

Indie singer/songwriter Ingrid Michaelson will release her highly-anticipated new album, "Everybody," on August 25th on her own Cabin 24 Records. "Everybody" is the eagerly-awaited follow-up to her 2007 release, "Girls and Boys," which spawned the hit single "The Way I Am" and launched Ingrid into the mainstream consciousness. The New York Times describes Michaelson’s unique musical […]

Brooklyn based alternative/pop/rock ensemble MGMT are set to directly support Sir Paul McCartney for two special shows at Boston’s Fenway Park on August 5th and 6th.  News of McCartney’s admiration for MGMT broke in early June. Tickets for this special show go on sale to the public beginning Monday June 29, 2009 at 10a.m. EST […]

On Tuesday, June 30th, Spoon will debut its first newly recorded material since 2007’s universally acclaimed Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga! We will release the three-song “Got Nuffin” single on CD and digital download beginning June 30, with the 12″ vinyl version following in July (exact date TBD). Pre-order your CD single now in the Merge store. “Got Nuffin” was […]

In keeping up with a tradition we started after the Hampton shows, we wanted to point you in the direction of the best video on either YouTube or Vimeo of every song from each Phish Summer Tour show. Today, we’ll start with a look at the best videos from Phish’s performance at Fenway Park. Click […]

Ya’ll have probably heard this story many times, but in the interest of a few laughs, this week’s mix tape consists of some funny tribute songs to Doc Ellis and his amazing achievement in sport: the lysergically-enhanced no hitter. Doc allegedly mixed up his days and realized he was scheduled to pitch in San Diego […]

Every now and again, you come across a food product that is so good, somewhat unique, yet very simple in concept. Most recently that product for me has been the corn cookie at Momofuko Milk Bar.

Yes, Christina Tossi is extremely creative and a strong new presence on the city’s culinary scene. What she’s done with the soft serve at Milk Bar has been amazing. She recently ditched the sweets inspired flavors for fruit and herb inspired ones. The new flavors are lemon verbena, rosemary, blackberry, and apricot. I tasted all four last weekend and have to say the lemon verbana and rosemary are outstanding.

The one thing about the corn cookies is that are not made every day and sometimes sell out when they are in stock. If you can get there on a day they have them, get one. I haven’t let you down yet have I?

Other news from the foodieverse this week:

Yet another new food truck, the La Cense Beef Burger Truck. (via A Hamburger Today). READ ON for more…