In between producing the new albums from Hacienda and Jessica Lea Mayfield in 2008, while continuing to be a member of the Black Keys, Akron’s filthiest bluesman Dan Auerbach is fixin’ to release his solo debut album on February 10th.
Keep It Hid will be out on Nonesuch Records, and first listens sound like fuzzed-out, skwonky rock and roll. I love his yowl. He’ll be touring in support of it in the coming months, with those Hacienda fellas opening.
Listen to two other new tracks over on the Nonesuch Records site. And if you (ahem) right click the song titles you might be able to save the mp3s. Just sayin.
Saturday night was a fantastic night for shows in Denver. I split my time equally between the Hi-Dive and the Gothic and caught a few superb and passionate performances.
First up, Haciendaopened the night at the Hi-Dive, in a sold out show with Dr. Dog and Delta Spirit. I didn’t know what to expect from this band of Mexican-American brothers (+1 cousin) from San Antonio, Texas, but their sound fit in nicely with the serrated retro vibes of their tourmates. Their 6-song demo landed in the hands of Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys (who is quite the producer lately), and their debut album was recorded in his Akron, Ohio studio with members of Dr. Dog. Loud Is The Night is out now on Bomp Records.
Finally . . . I left. No, really. Not out of spite for the wonderful Dr. Dog from Philly, but because the Dandy Warhols were taking the stage over at the Gothic. That’s a story for another day. Luckily, I stumbled across a wonderful local taper who recorded the Dr. Dog set! If I close my eyes, spill a beer on my foot, and turn up the heater it’s almost like being there.
Holy crap, it’s already September! I ushered out the unofficial end of summer/Labor Day Weekend with a camping trip that found me sleeping in a real, live, badass teepeeafter being eaten alive by mosquitoes while making several s’mores.
AND I got five bugbites on my face. That’s just hot any way you look at it.
I’ve also been developing Space Bar Wrist (new ailment) while trying fruitlessly to crack the leader board on the new awesomely ’80s Monolith shoot-em-up video game where you can win all-access passes to the fest (Sept 13-14). And I think the scorer is broken because I’m not that bad.
Tunes for the week!
Kiss Me Again Jessica Lea Mayfield Scott Avett of The Avett Brothers says that 18-year old Ohio native Jessica Lea Mayfield is “the most exciting new artist in the scene today,” her debut album With Blasphemy, So Heartfelt was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys (she sang backup on Attack & Release), and the album also features vocals from two members of Dr. Dog. These are all more than enough recommendation for me to listen to her, and I love what I hear. Similar to the fabulous Samantha Crain, Mayfield has a dusty, echoey old-time sound to her mournful music that gets under your skin. She’s playing a slew of upcoming shows with the aforementioned fan bands, as well as My Morning Jacket, and her album is out Sept 16th on Polymer Sounds.
Good Ol’ Fashioned Nightmare Matt and Kim Yeah! Brooklyn duo Matt and Kim turned in one of the single most enthusiastic performances that I saw at Monolith last year, a cataclysmic explosion of spirited yelling and jubilant rhythm. This song is a shiny new free download from their upcoming release Grand (RCRDLBL), and opens with such a sunny simplicity that it could be one of those homemade ditties you would compose on your new Casio keyboard on Christmas morning, using the program function and your siblings’ handclaps for backup percussion. I love it.
Kicking Bird Wovenhand There is an unrelenting wilderness, a near Western riot in this song from David Eugene Edwards, the Colorado solo artist behind Wovenhand. Various folks have tried to nail down the sound of this former 16 Horsepower frontman with analogies like, ‘Bauhaus meets Billy Graham’ or ‘Nick Cave and Johnny Cash in a shootout in Deadwood.’ It conjures up a whole other world on the edge of some sort of Southern friend apocalypse. Ten Stones is out next week on the Sounds Familyre label, and the current tour hits Denver on October 25th (and looks something like this).
Furr Blitzen Trapper So, do you remember that scene at the very end of Dazed & Confused where freshman Mitch lays back on his bed with the headphones on, after that beautiful and crazy night, and a huge smile spreads across his face while the record player spins? In that moment he’s listening to “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Croft but if they were looking for alternate substitutions that captured that same feeling, allow me to recommend this new song from Portland’s Blitzen Trapper. Yes, the album cover makes it looks like an especially woodsy death metal band, but just take a listen to this goodness — with those ear-catching lyrics about mothers shouting through the fog, the listening for the angels, and curling up underneath a dogwood tree. BT hits Monolith Sept 13th. Hurrah!
No One Does It Like You Department of Eagles The first thing we should establish is that Department of Eagles is not a particularly scintillating division of your local rangers outpost, but actually a side project band of Daniel Rossen of the Brooklyn band Grizzly Bear. He must be a big fan of native wildlife, what with the bears, the eagles. Either that or pro football. In any case — this song is all delightful retro-psychedelic fuzz with pieces that alternately recall the Beach Boys and tunes like the 1966 hit “Little Red Riding Hood.” Plus, the b-side to this first official single is a cover of a JoJo song, so really — come on.In Ear Park is out October 7th on 4AD.
Name: Heather Browne Location: Colorado, originally by way of California Giving context to the torrent since 2005.
"I love the relationship that anyone has with music: because there's something in us that is beyond the reach of words, something that eludes and defies our best attempts to spit it out. It's the best part of us, probably, the richest and strangest part..."
—Nick Hornby, Songbook
"Music has always been a matter of energy to me, a question of Fuel. Sentimental people call it Inspiration, but what they really mean is Fuel." —Hunter S. Thompson
Mp3s are for sampling purposes, kinda like when they give you the cheese cube at Costco, knowing that you'll often go home with having bought the whole 7 lb. spiced Brie log. They are left up for a limited time. If you LIKE the music, go and support these artists, buy their schwag, go to their concerts, purchase their CDs/records and tell all your friends. Rock on.
In between producing the new albums from Hacienda and Jessica Lea Mayfield in 2008, while continuing to be a member of the Black Keys, Akron’s filthiest bluesman Dan Auerbach is fixin’ to release his solo debut album on February 10th.
Name: Heather Browne
