We keep our eyes peeled for new tour dates announcements each week and compile them on Tuesdays for this handy column… As live music junkies we get really excited when
As we have been mentioning the last couple of months, September is stocked with a ton of great releases and next Tuesday in particular comes the mother-load with a staggering
With a seemingly rotating door on music festivals over the last handful of years it’s assuring to know that you can continually count on the Newport Folk Festival to be there year in and year out, offering up a high quality and diverse lineup in one of the most serene settings imaginable. Returning once again to the historic Fort Adams State Park, the fest delivered an amazing swath of artists from folk to funk and everything in between.
Much like how there are those musicians that are referred to as a “singer-songwriter’s singer-songwriter,” well now after having attended Newport Folk the label of a “music fan’s music fest” might be the best way to describe it. With three stages and 30-plus acts to choose from, it seemed relatively easy to plant yourself in front of one stage for the day – like many did – and take in all the action. For the ambitious music lovers though, the close proximity of the Fort, Harbor and Quad stages made it a breeze to catch an impressive amount of music over the two-day span.
Saturday kicked off with one of the fest’s biggest success stories – The Low Anthem – who just three years prior were picking up trash as on-site volunteers and now found themselves with a main stage slot. The Providence-based band showcased their gorgeous folk music, which features an odd menagerie of instruments – crotales, harmonium and clarinet – along with the obvious guitar, bass and drums. Taking in just a handful of songs, which was highlighted by a sublime take on Apothecary, and their interpretation of Rev. Gary Davis’ Sally Where’d You Get The Liquor From?, I had to pulled myself away from really the one lone conflict of the weekend to see a full set from A.A. Bondy.
READ ON for more of Jeff’s recap of Newport Folk…
We’ve been ardent supporters of the Felice Brothers around these parts for quite some time now, having been smitten with their brand of story heavy Americana. The ragtag band from
This year at Hidden Track, we concocted a little experiment for our year-end Best Albums of 2009 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 around 100 nominees and populated it in a Google spreadsheet – essentially anything that anybody who writes for Hidden Track liked at all, made the list. Then we invited our crew of writers to independently vote on the whole list (omitting anything unfamiliar) on a scale of 1 to 20 (20 = five stars). We ended up with 33 voters with varying degrees of familiarity with the nominees; some folks voted on just about everything, while some just a few. From there, we eliminated anything that did not receive at least three votes, calculated the average scores, and sorted it. We took the top 25 scores and presto: the Hidden Track 25 Best Albums of 2009. No bullshit, no big opinions; just the results.
Let’s check out numbers 20 through 16 and see what made the cut…
20) Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
Key Tracks: Stillness Is The Move, Useful Chamber, Two Doves
Sounds Like: Art Rock for people that like Folk Rock, Talking Heads
Skinny: Is it possible that The Dirty Projectors made an art-rock jamband album? With just nine tracks, Bitte Orca covers a lot of ground with a handful of songs that wind their way past the five minute mark – employing schizophrenic twist and turns that include sharp tempo changes, odd time signatures and everything from hand claps to harpsichords. The band has also impressed the likes of David Byrne – who recorded a song with them for the Dark Was The Night compilation – and The Roots who jammed with them at show at Bowery Ballroom shortly after they appeared on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.
READ ON for the next four albums in our week long countdown…
If your name is Roger Daltrey or Pete Townshend, it’s looking like 2010 is going to be a heck of year for you. As we previously reported, The Who will
In our continuing effort to keep tabs on the coming and goings of past Blips artists, we’re pleased to see Boston electro-rockers Passion Pit – who are currently in the
Turning fast beneath the mightiest of guns,” A.A. Bondy sings on “Mightiest of Guns,” the opening track off his newest offering, When the Devil’s Loose. It’s a song that exemplifies what Bondy does best—he takes his time with his talents, slowly taking you in with his dreamy voice, smart lyrics, and soulful punch.
With legendary rockers Aerosmith forced to cancel the remainder of their summer tour due to the severe injuries that lead singer Steven Tyler suffered after a fall from the stage
What could be more American than seeing two of the most iconic American musicians playing minor baseball stadiums this summer? Well, how about you throw in a third to make
