Archive: 2011

Phish was not the only band to take advantage of the fact that New Year’s Day fell on a Saturday night this year, as the Black Keys too capped off a three night run in Chicago with a big performance on the holiday. In this video for I’ll Be Your Man, guitarist Dan Auerbach professes […]

We were saddened to learn yesterday of the death of Gerry Rafferty at the age of 63. While his name is most closely associated with the saxophone-rock-hit Baker Street, Rafferty also was a member of Stealers Wheel and wrote the classic Stuck In The Middle With You. The Guardian wrote a very in-depth obituary that […]

We’re barely days in 2011, and while we continue to find confetti in our pockets, and clean up the empty bottles from our New Year’s Eve celebrations, the Disco Biscuits’ duo of Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner, who are fresh off a five-night run that featured a rotating cast of drummers filling in for Allen […]

On April 5, 2011, 429 Records will release How To Become Clairvoyant, Robbie Robertson’s fifth solo album and his first record in more than 10 years. Guitar virtuosos Eric Clapton (who co-wrote three tracks with Robertson), Tom Morello and Robert Randolph guest on the album, which Robertson co-produced with Marius de Vries. How To Become […]

In a statement released today, Jane’s Addiction announced it has added Dave Sitek to its creative team. Sitek, who has done production work with TV on the Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and the Foals, will write and play bass on the new Jane’s Addiction album. The announcement didn’t indicate whether or not Sitek would join […]

This spring Florida’s Surfer Blood and Texas’ …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead are hitting the road for a short US tour. AYWNUBTTOD’s new album titled Tao of the Dead will be dropping February 8th on the band’s own label. You can check out their latest tune, "Summer of All Dead […]

Gerry Rafferty has died aged 63. The ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ and ‘Baker Street’ singer/songwriter died this morning (January 4) after a long illness, reports The Guardian. His family said he passed away peacefully. Best known for the aforementioned songs plus hits including ‘Get It Right Next Time’ and ‘Don’t Give Up On […]

The Original Mono Recordings of Bob Dylan are almost as much of a revelation as those of The Beatles, albeit for different reasons. The Bard from Minnesota never took recording as seriously as the Liverpool quartet, but his music lends itself better to the vintage recording technique. A fifteen-track collection culled from his first eight albums illustrates why.

Considering the fact that this supergroup hasn't really existed for three years, this DVD release of a 2005 Velvet Revolver performance shows that for a short period, these guys were a real force to be reckoned with.  The set captures the band at that brief moment in time when they were on the top of their game and on top of the world: their debut album Contraband had just hit #1, and all band members were sober (something which was soon to change as their tour continued).

In anticipation of their new album to be released in the spring, Explosions in the Sky will be playing a one off show at RadioCity Music Hall.  Tickets go onsale to the general public at ticketmaster.com on Friday January 7th.

The Allman Brothers Band will be returning to the Beacon Theater 10,11,12,14,15,17,18 and 19. The run of shows have now been expanded by an additional week. The group also will perform at the Beacon on March 21, 22, 24, 25 and 26. Tickets for these new shows will go on sale this Saturday, January 8th […]

Widespread Panic will officially kick off its 25th anniversary with a performance at University of Georgia in Athens, GA with a performance at the Classic Center on February 10 and 11.  Widespread Panic will also perform at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on February 14.  Tickets go on sale for all three shows Saturday, January 8th.

For the second consecutive year at Hidden Track, we concocted our innovative little experiment for the year-end Best Albums list. Instead of picking the old fashioned way – subjectively – we opted for something a little different: a collaborative, collective list that incorporates the opinions of everybody here at HT.

To begin, we devised an all-encompassing list of well over 100 nominees, whereby most everything our contributors recommended made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently and blindly vote on the whole list on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees as some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we deployed our egghead algorithm for rating albums: (two times the average rating) + (the total number of votes). At that point, we took the top 25 highest scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2010. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.

We’re on to day two of on our week long countdown, let’s check out albums number 16-20…

20) Marco Benevento – Between The Needles & Nightfall

Key Tracks: Greenpoint, Between the Needles, Numbers

Sounds Like: Brad Mehldau meets Tortoise

The Skinny: Marco Benevento’s latest solo record is the prolific keyboard player’s most impressive release yet. Bassist Reed Mathis’ sense of space and harmony along with drummer Andrew Barr’s subtly explosive poly-rhythmic playing lay the foundation for Benevento’s hook-laden melodies, shape-shifting piano, and circuit-bent sounds. While his first two studio releases were solid, Between the Needles and Nightfall has a cohesiveness not found on either that allows Marco’s songwriting to truly shine. The one-two punch of Greenpoint and Between the Needles at the front of the album set the overall tone for the album, while Marco’s solo at the end of Numbers highlights the whole thing.

READ ON for the next four albums in our countdown…

Welcome to a new year of Cover Wars. I could think of no better cover tune for the occasion than this 1983 U2 classic. New Year’s Day has quite the resume appearing in both Rolling Stone’s and Pitchfork’s Top 500 songs of all-time. We’ve got a good collection of covers this week, one of which was played just a couple of days ago, so enjoy and don’t forget to vote at the bottom.

The Contestants:

Though this was not the first time The Dresden Dolls covered this song, it certainly is the most recent. The band put together quite the New Year’s Eve setlist this year for their show at The Warfield in San Francisco. There is of course, the celebratory sounds of balloons being popped on the recording. Source: 12-31-2010

Video of the performance:

READ ON for more covers of New Year’s Day.

Back in 2007, Dispatch shocked the world when they reunited for three benefit shows at Madison Square Garden that sold out within hours of going on sale. The jam-pop trio, who originally disbanded back in 2002 followed by a handful of reunions over the the years, have been teasing their fans with a countdown clock […]

It might be a little early in the morning for this much guitar rock as Umphrey’s McGee rips through one of their oldest tunes Much Obliged and then plays the second half of Bridgeless at the first night of their New Year’s Eve run in Chicago. There will be plenty more where this came from […]

[Originally Published: 10/26/2010]

Zelig, chameleon, “I’m 12 years old. I run into a Synagogue. I ask the Rabbi the meaning of life. He tells me the meaning of life. But, he tells it to me in Hebrew. I don’t understand Hebrew. Then he wants to charge me six hundred dollars for Hebrew lessons.”

Rich sounds of some subterranean nature, specifically the voice, guitars and drums as it flows in the design, a sublime addition to a fine piece of cinema, an engaging slice which subtly celebrates the hidden truths of daily sounds, shadowing an almost silent unheard music captured by the Masqued Wind and carried off to another breathtaking locale.

And within the Unheard Music, the silent sounds of the daily ritual that you and I share, we toil amongst ourselves, neither forgetting or acknowledging each other’s existence, until we are free…a moment and then nothing, glass shatters beyond this window and the earth winds to a halt. Beyond this window something unknown is watching you and me. There’s laughing inside, but we’re locked outside the public eye. X marked the spot.

We venture forth and move backwards through time and space. Most people are unaware that on the initial release of London Calling, The Clash’s landmark double album, their hit single, arguably the most commercial piece of old school ear candy the band would ever record, wasn’t even listed on the sleeve. Train in Vain appeared as a hidden track, the last song on side four, kicking in after Revolution Rock, and solidified the legendary status of the album and the band. The gesture also spoke volumes about the post-punk quartet’s confidence that a) they could record a cool, timeless track, and b) they didn’t need to shove the product down the consumer’s throat by highlighting its appearance.

This punk mentality definitely found a home on the West Coast of America, as well. Many punk bands flourished in their own artistic way in the 1970s and 80s, but arguably no other Los Angeles punk rockers had the enduring longevity as X. Indeed, 30 years on, they celebrate their anniversary with a holiday run beginning in December. Before each show, the band will screen a film, this week’s Hidden Flick, X: The Unheard Music.

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

Some previously-unreleased songs from Johnny Cash will see the light of day very soon. A new Johnny Cash compilation titled Bootlegs 2: From Memphis to Hollywood will be a two-CD set and will hold 11 demos and seven outtakes from Cash's time a Sun records. There will also be b-sides, outtakes, and non-album singles from his time at Columbia Recordsfrom 1958-1969. […]

Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne has told Rolling Stone that his band plans to release a new song every month in 2011. Coyne says that the new tunes could take different physical forms, saying "The dilemma is whether we're going to release it on vinyl, cereal boxes, or some of it on toys that we […]

Columbia, South Carolina’s Chaz Bundick (aka Toro Y Moi) rose to the fore of the music blogosphere in summer 2009 when he and a few peers made their hazy bedroom recordings the most talked-about sound of the season.  Critics across the board took notice of the range of his compositions, and his debut album, Causers […]