It’s not often that I get shocked by a Phish video surfacing on YouTube, but I experienced that emotion yesterday when I saw that Phish video guru tdunski had uploaded
Two new archival releases surfaced on livedownloads.com yesterday including a compilation of unreleased live tracks from String Cheese Incident and a classic moe. show from 2000 picked by archivist Dr.
Nonesuch releases Sleep with One Eye Open, the debut album from mandolin-virtuoso Chris Thile and guitar maven Michael Daves, on May 10, 2011. Recorded live to tape over four days
The tenth annual Northwest String Summit festival featuring four days of music and camping returns to Hornings Hideout near Portland, Ore. from Thursday, July 21 through Sunday, July 24, 2011.
This is a collection that blends together so seamlessly it sounds as if the whole album was birthed in one torrential, tropical downpour. There seems to be a vague island/ocean theme to the record that ties the mood together in a strangely epic way. The songs themselves don’t sound particularly tropical or influenced by any notable oceanic culture but there is a wondrous, hazy feel that sprawls across the album.
The Rolling Stones plan to sell high-quality downloads of their first 27 records for the first time online.The premiere batch of five went on sale Tuesday for $20 or $30
Has anyone performed at the Beacon Theatre more than Warren Haynes? We’re willing to bet not and Warren will continue to add to his total on May 12, when the
This year has already gotten off to a good start where studio albums from our favorite artists are concerned, but as we enter the third month of 2011 samples from a number of releases we’ve had our eyes on are now available. We wanted to take this opportunity to point our readers in the direction of places to check out these new LPs.
R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now
Head to NPR’s First Look to listen to what the band and some reviewers consider a “return to form” for the seminal alt-rock band.
Robbie Robertson – How to Become Clairvoyant
I’ve had a chance to listen to the whole album and it’s by far my favorite of 2011 thus far. You can sample He Don’t Live Here No More and When The Night Was Young through Robertson’s Facebook Page.
READ ON for tastes of a few more new releases…
The Bridge/Galactic, February 18 @ Park West
On Friday, February 18, Chicago’s Park West developed a nasty case of funk-soul boogie thanks to heated performances by The Bridge and Galactic. Symptoms began to surface around 8:30PM when The Bridge opened the evening with an original set of high spirited Americana roots rock. The Baltimore sextet offered plenty of selections off the band’s fifth studio album, National Bohemian.
For such an early set, The Bridge attracted a medium-sized gathering on the dance floor, with fans twisting and swaying to the band’s genre blending blues. The music was solid and proud with a clear connection between the musicians. Initially the delivery sounded too tight and rehearsed, as if they were playing National Bohemian verbatim. As The Bridge played on, they slowly eased its grip and let the music breathe and flow while preserving its strength. The band danced and sweated onstage as the members toyed with bursts of improvisational energy.
The Bridge featured two vocalists, Cris Jacobs (guitar) and Dave Markowitz (bass). Each voice directly affected the feelings and flavors of songs. Jacobs had a fervid blues-rock soul carried by the right amount of bearded rasp. His leads rode like a lone car down an open stretch of road. Markowitz’s chords took on a more southern-roots attitude, emitting a ring of bayou twang. Then there was Kenny Liner (mandolin) a master beatboxer, who added hints of hip-hop. Liner had an incredible talent of spitting out rhythms spun into webs of vocal beats and tongue clicks, matched with syncopated rock and roll. Joined by Patrick Rainey (saxophone), Mike Gambone (drums) and Mark Brown (keyboards) The Bridge were the perfect spice for a pre-Galactic party.
READ ON for Allison’s take on Galactic’s set…
For this week’s B List, we present a two-part series penned by HT photo editor Jeremy Gordon in which he shares his ten best photos and more importantly the stories behind those photos.
Someone once said, “A picture is worth a thousand words,” and perhaps it is. But often a photo without context conceals the greater story behind it. A couple of months ago, my editor at Hidden Track, Scott Bernstein, asked me if I would like to share the stories behind 10 of my favorite photos. I jumped at the chance, hoping to impart my tale and perhaps a little wisdom to our readers and my friends. What you’ll find below is mostly true and mostly accurate, so take it all with a grain of salt.
1. 15 Minutes of Fury
[The Flaming Lips at Central Park SummerStage]
Generally, three songs or 15 minutes is all you’re going to get in front of the band. In that time you’ve got to get close-ups of each member of the band and hopefully shots of them together, interacting with energy and excitement. Sometimes the lighting just plain sucks – there’s actually a joke that the bands purposely under light the first three songs because they hate photographers – or the bands are uninteresting to watch and it becomes a frustrating mess. But then you get to shoot The Flaming Lips.
The show begins with the band being born out of a giant light – or a replica of a vagina – on stage before the lead singer jumps into a hamster ball to crowd surf the venue. Dancing girls are dressed in alien costumes (if dressed at all), giant bears and fishes join in on the fun, and confetti streams down from the rafters as 20 to 30 photographers push, shove, and run around trying to get a photo of anything they can think of. It truly is 15 minutes of fury and, except for almost going berserk on a fellow photographer, I loved every minute of it.
READ ON for four more exquisite photos and interesting stories…
