Archive: 2011

Great news for those of us unable to make it to Colorado for this weekend’s Phish shows – the band will webcast all three shows through LivePhish.com. You can purchase a three-day pass for $34.99. Single-day passes are also available for $14.99 each. The performances take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Dick’s Sporting Goods […]

When Van Ghost releases their forthcoming studio effort The Domino Effect, it will serve as a fitting allegory. The band is at the tipping point, the sweet spot where the grind becomes success. They have checked all the boxes: the catalog, the festivals, the press, the fanbase and the team. Now,  it’s time to let the pieces fall into place and reach a broader audience.

Of all the exciting things on the docket, the development that has perhaps aided the success more than any other is the establishment of the permanent lineup. In the past, the band functioned as a bit more of a collective, but now the five-piece led by Michael Harrison Berg and Jennifer Hartswick is as Michael puts it, “the band.” This adds a challenge to the scheduling given the various members’ other projects, but it’s done wonders for cementing the sound and taking things to new heights musically.

We caught up with Michael Harrison Berg to catch up on the new music, the recent “Pick the Single” partnership with Grooveshark, the story of that curious guitar and a little fantasy football.

Hidden Track: To start, I’m dying to know the story of your electric guitar. I’ve been noticing it in a lot of pictures and it looks an awful lot like a Doug Irwin guitar. Could it be?

Michael Harrison Berg: A ton of people ask me that. It is actually called a Phiga from a custom shop luthier in Texas named Phil Gawen. It is an identical replica/tribute to Jerr’s Bolt guitar. Even though we don’t play Dead songs or sound like the Dead, it’s a cool way for me to represent for that community. Anyone who knows freaks and usually even the people who have no idea think it’s cool. It’s really buttery and stays in tune so well. I love it and have almost switched over to exclusively doing that even though I always write on my acoustics.

READ ON for more of our chat with Michael Harrison Berg…

Over the weekend, Medeski, Martin and Wood finished their month-long residency at The Whitney in New York during which they explored a number of facets of the MMW sound as well as side projects, including MSMW and Billy Martin’s Wicked Knee, as part of their 20th anniversary celebration. Here at Stormy Monday we’ve already started […]

Back in 1996, DJ Shadow dropped his groundbreaking, and critically acclaimed debut Endtroducing…. The album, made up entirely of  samples, featured snippets of everything from A Tribe Called Quest to Nirvana to Bjork to Kraftwerk, creating a heady, layered, mind bending and sonically diverse record that has has been named to just about every Best Of […]

While their hometown was in the midst of Irene-mania this past weekend, The Strokes were overseas, where they served as one of the headliners at the Reading Festival in England. During their Saturday night slot, Julian Casablancas & Co., used a part of their 18-song set to invite out Pulp front man Jarvis Cocker, whose […]

Pavement honcho Stephen Malkmus released Mirror Traffic with his band The Jicks on August 23. On Tuesday, the group visits Jimmy Fallon and on September 20 in Detroit will kick off a month-long US tour that concludes October 20 in Solana Beach, Calif. Monday, August 29 [All times ET] The Head and the Heart on Conan […]

JEFF The Brotherhood is Jake and Jamin Orrall of Nashville, Tennessee, owners of Infinity Cat Recordings. The bare bones duo, just guitar and drums, played 230 shows last year and were hailed by Spin magazine as one of the “must see” acts at this year’s South by Southwest.  Their new album, We are the Champions, is eleven tracks and a short 35-minute. It’s packed with jagged scuzzed-out guitar riffs that hop between Weezer style chunky rhythms, sharp, classic rock swagger, and blasts of powerful punk power.

“There are the things that haunt my mind: The blurred relationship of good vs. evil, ghosts, and the lessons and stories of history….. I’d like to think that this isn’t an exhaustive list,” says Montreal based artist Chris Velan on the vast inspiration of lyrical themes found in his songs.  His latest recording Fables For Fighters (NewSong Recordings/Fontana North) is influenced by a range of influences spanning David Byrne, Randy Newman, Neil Young, West African music and reggae that can be summed up best as “smart pop/folk song-smithing.”

Death Cab has perfected the nuance of seductive annihilation. “I Will Possess Your Heart”, “Cath” and “Long Division” stroked the membrane, while “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” was a mesmerizing lullaby with Gibbard standing on the stage alone with his acoustic guitar, pouring his soul out on a blue-lighted stage. Even then, he could not stand still. At times, like on “We Looked Like Giants” and “The Sound Of Settling”, it was like he was an ADD moth teasing a flame.

Dancing Barefoot recalls many events that may already be familiar to fans of Smith’s career and readers of NYC music history. But the author does bring a deeper insight to the artist’s motivations and a great deal of much-needed perspective on the era in which she blossomed.

Oftentimes hype way exceeds the result, but in the case of the Avett Brothers, it really is a act you have to see and experience for yourself, because you sincerely won’t regret it. Here’s to next year’s West Coast tour!

Nashville’s Caitlin Rose first appeared on the radar of music critics this year with the release of her debut full-length album Own Side Now, out September 27th on ATO Records. Rarely does an artist display this level of uninhibited honestly and vulnerability in their writing; the fact that this wisdom is found at the start […]

One of the biggest stories in the world of music this year is undeniably the public return of Jeff Mangum. The reclusive Neutral Milk Hotel front man, who has performed only a handful of times since the band went on permanent hiatus in 1998, is mounting somewhat of a full-scale comeback, as he will headline […]

[rating=4.00] When Dave Stewart’s new album, The Blackbird Diaries, opens, the initial shock of finding a smoking, swinging roots-based rock jam is quickly assuaged by digging into the caliber of the musicians present. Stewart’s band, put together by John McBride, features many of Nashville’s best sessions players, such as Tom Bukovac, Chad Cromwell and Mike […]

Hurricane Irene is bearing down on the East Coast as we speak, so for this week’s Friday Mix Tape we thought it only fitting to focus on hurricane/storm-themed songs. However, instead of using the original versions of the songs you’d expect to find on this mix, we’ve gone with covers to switch it up a […]

The last scheduled Phish shows of the summer take place next weekend at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park near Denver. To help get the fanbase even more excited, archivist Kevin Shapiro has selected tracks from past Phish performances in the state of Colorado for the free Live Bait Vol. 6 compilation. Head over to LivePhish.com to […]

On November 8, singer-songwriter Laura Veirs will release her first album of children’s music called Tumble Bee: Laura Veirs Sings Folk Songs For Children. Inspired by the birth of their son, Veirs and her longtime producer Tucker Martine dove head first into the history of children’s folk music to select songs for the 13-track album, […]

Chicago, Chicago that toddlin’ town.

Frank Sinatra certainly sang it straight up about The Windy City.

Words cannot express how thrilled Chris and I were when our favorite band Phish announced they were playing three nights at the famous UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois, this year. We have friends in Chicago that we don’t see nearly enough and the prospect of Chicago eats for a week had us salivating. We had many fun culinary experiences during our stay, but three restaurants topped the pack. I will tell you about our adventures in eating at Hot Doug’s and The Purple Pig this week. Stay tuned for next week’s article about our fantastic meal at Girl and the Goat.

HOT DOUG’S

While planning for the Phish run, one theme came up repeatedly: SAUSAGE! Chicago is well known for its tubular meat—whether it be in the form of the famed Chicago hot dog, Polish sausages or the more creative gourmet sausage sandwiches—and we were determined to try them all. Chris insisted that we spend at least one lunch at Hot Doug’s – otherwise known as “The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium.”

Hot Doug’s is a bit of an enigma. It is a tiny space by Chicago standards, and their hours are 10:30am – 4:00pm six days a week. You are almost always guaranteed to wait in line—sometimes for hours—while you drool at the thought of eating these encased masterpieces. Doug Sohn creates all of his sausages in-house, and each sandwich receives careful consideration in pairing the ingredients.

• Previously: Jon Hochstat’s Chicago Hot Dog Trip

READ ON for more on Hot Doug’s and The Purple Pig…

The Flaming Lips‘ 2009 album Embryonic signified a return to the band’s early acid-drenched days, trading in their pop hooks for a healthy dose of weird psychedelia. For their latest release, Wayne Coyne & Co. have teamed up with noise-rockers Lightning Bolt for a four-song EP that is fully bathed in day-glo and Syd Barrett-era […]

The season VH1’s Storytellers that just finished has been among the best in the series’ 15-year run. You can catch repeat of episodes airings featuring HT faves My Morning Jacket, Ray LaMontagne and Death Cab For Cutie in all their HD glory this Sunday morning on Palladia. Friday, August 26 [All Times ET] Raphael Saadiq […]