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Night Beds with special guest Jenny O.
Wednesday, June 19 - 9:30pm
Brillobox - Tickets On Sale Now!
It's difficult to say where Night Beds begins, but it could be here: August 2006, a young Winston Yellen is invited to a longtime friend's apartment. They talk, they record a little aimlessly, and something exciting emerges. Maybe it's a little later, when one is studying engineering in Nashville, and the other remains behind, an unhappy captive of secondary education. It could be any number of moments, really, along a series of migrations, but probably here: the summer of 2008, back in Colorado Springs, when they write the first Night Beds song, "You Were Afraid."
God knows that we try to do the best we can
After that there is a lot of time spent in basements, a lot of alcohol, a lot of irreverent tuning, but not all that much need for talk. Most things are shared, understood: in thin mountain air, or in a waterlogged summer atmosphere, there can be a sense that breathing is effortful, that sleep is easy but not restful. The songs that come out of those first few years, collected on three EPs (night beds, every fire; every joy, and hide from it), are an exercise in catharsis. They're deeply ringing things, washed in whiskey. The sound is like something emergent from a tunnel. It may be the red eye of a cigarette in the dark, or it may be the dawn peeking out.
Somewhere we might find softer light
"It was never thought. It just was always what felt good." So the songs come together over acoustic guitars, over the first skeletal melodies, and then they grow. Yellen's voice takes on a pure kind of thirst when wrapped in the sonic landscapes he devises. It's searching. It's taken several years to map everything out, but after a hiatus spent driving the deserts and prairies and coastal roads of the United States, sleeping in a hatchback or on friendly couches - after a long time spent alone - Night Beds has found a home in Nashville. Soon it will see the release of Country Sleep, a full-length album in the spirit of the vagabond, in the winding path to a place of good rest.
-Nika States
It's difficult to say where Night Beds begins, but it could be here: August 2006, a young Winston Yellen is invited to a longtime friend's apartment. They talk, they record a little aimlessly, and something exciting emerges. Maybe it's a little later, when one is studying engineering in Nashville, and the other remains behind, an unhappy captive of secondary education. It could be any number…
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Club Cafe Sunday Brunch
Sunday, June 23 - 10:30am-2:00pm
Club Cafe
Please return Wednesday afternoon for This Week's Specials!
Check out the complete Sunday Brunch food & cocktail menus: http://clubcafelive.com/img/banners/brunchmenu.pdf
Club Café, a landmark of Pittsburgh's South Side, is now hosting Sunday Brunch with an international twist. With the curtains drawn up, soft daylight pours into the recently remodeled music venue, bringing a new feel to the room so familiar to its concert patrons. The concept of the European Café comes to Pittsburgh here, combining imported ingredients with fresh, locally sourced items to keep prices reasonable for comfortable dining with subtle refinement. Head Chef Monique Achaia Ruvolo and craft cocktail wizard Abigail Smith have joined forces to create a menu that fills the soul and excites the palate. Open every Sunday from 10:30am with last seating at 2:00pm.
Please return Wednesday afternoon for This Week's Specials!
Check out the complete Sunday Brunch food & cocktail menus: http://clubcafelive.com/img/banners/brunchmenu.pdf
Club Café, a landmark of Pittsburgh's South Side, is now hosting Sunday Brunch with an international twist. With the curtains drawn…
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Say Anything: Rarities and More Tour 2013 with special guest Eisley, HRVRD, I The Mighty
Tuesday, June 25 - 6:00pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
Say Anything has been making odd, unclassifiable indie rock music since they were 14 or 15 years old, playing strangely literate and loud rock, characterized by what one might imagine if Larry David fronted a Fugazi cover band with the members of Queen. Not that that's a stretch or anything.
Having been birthed from the indie/punk boom of the early twenty-first century, Say Anything rose to prominence with their (oddly) popular record ...Is a Real Boy and somehow broke the "pretty boy punk" mold by establishing a career that thrived somewhere between music your pretentious college student of an older brother would like and the loud crap that your little brother uses to annoy him with. Say Anything followed that record up with the equally eclectic and lengthy, In Defense of the Genre and their exceedingly bratty (hopefully in a good way) self-titled LP. Say Anything will release their highly anticipated fourth studio album, Anarchy, My Dear in March 2012
through Equal Vision Records.
All together, those records sold almost half a million copies and were illegally downloaded by even more people, who were too broke to pay for them but still really dug the band. Those listeners did however, care enough to go see Say Anything play, which allowed for them to contribute to a reliably chaotic, cathartic live experience. Say Anything has toured heavily with other weird bands such as Thrice, Manchester Orchestra, mewithoutYou, Saves the Day, Biffy Clyro and Eisley, among many others, and has established themselves as one of the few bands nowadays who end up as sweaty, busted up and bruised after a show as the people who are actually watching them.
After ending a long relationship with the large corporation who put out their records for many years, Say Anything has signed with the aforementioned amazing and independent label, Equal Vision Records - who actually want the band to play whatever they want to play and have it be as neurotic and strange as they want it to be. Say Anything recorded Anarchy, My Dear in August 2011 with Tim O'Heir (the eccentric and brilliant gentleman who produced their first record) and has committed to playing music in this band until they finally, once again, are forced to wear diapers.
Say Anything has been making odd, unclassifiable indie rock music since they were 14 or 15 years old, playing strangely literate and loud rock, characterized by what one might imagine if Larry David fronted a Fugazi cover band with the members of Queen. Not that that's a stretch or anything.
Having been birthed from the indie/punk boom of the early twenty-first century, Say Anything…
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91.3fm WYEP presents Yeasayer with special guests Reptar
Tuesday, June 25 - 8:00pm
Mr. Smalls Theatre - Tickets on sale now!
Yeasayer's third album, Fragrant World, is a hulking beast of a record. Keyboards clank and wheeze, tiny claps stumble against busted drum machines, and there's very little obvious guitar. It's an album that grapples with the schizophrenia of the modern world by gathering piles of electronics and molding them into something huge and often gorgeous.
After touring endlessly in support of 2010's Odd Blood, Chris Keating, Ira Wolf-Tuton and Anand Wilder holed up in Gary's Electric Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to record Fragrant World, working away as the borough transitioned from fall to winter. While Odd Blood played with electronic textures and future paranoia, Fragrant World fully immerses itself in those themes, virtually dripping with worry, love, and concern for the planet we live on. Keating bleats and yammers his lyrics-sometimes, like on "Longevity," piling so many effects on his voice that the music takes on an otherworldly sheen. In direct contrast are Wilder's vocal contributions, which hover serenely over droning synths on "Blue Paper," and later weave in and out of staccato hand claps, and what sounds like a vintage computer dying, on "Devil and the Deed."
Across Fragrant World's 11 tracks, genre mashing is taken from a broad spectrum of sources: updated takes on dusky pop, jittery funk, exotic keyboard experimentation, haunting whirs of backward organ, exuberant bass, etc. "I wanted to make a record that was legitimately, to use a bad word, funky," Chris Keating told Under the Radar magazine. Even at it's darkest, that statement holds true. On their first single and album centerpiece, "Henrietta," Keating is in great form. The track is loosely based on Henrietta Lacks, a woman whose cells were cultured by a doctor in the 1950s without her permission. Those cells would later go on to be the most commonly used human cell line for medical research. Keating teases out universal ideas from bizarrely specific moments in history, repeating the refrain, "we will live on forever," referencing Lacks' story directly, contrasted against a darkly optimistic worldview. It's a risky move, but it pays off.
It's a testament to their sound and the unique identity they've carved out for themselves in the music community. They've managed to grow and expand into what they are now without losing touch with what made them so compelling in the first place: their willingness to pull from every musical source imaginable. Whether it's the warped and clipped alien-dancefloor banger "No Bones" that has strong ties to Timbaland's most experimental work for Aaliyah and Missy Elliott, or the gothic, almost industrial pulse of "Reagan's Skeleton," Yeasayer are truly making 21st century music. Couched in healthy fear, yet unafraid to move forward and expand, pulling in new influences just as frequently as new worries, Yeasayer have created a difficult, dense and beautiful record. It's as much a synthesis of the last three decades of pop music as it is a new way of grappling with the end of time.
Fragrant World was produced by Yeasayer.
Yeasayer's third album, Fragrant World, is a hulking beast of a record. Keyboards clank and wheeze, tiny claps stumble against busted drum machines, and there's very little obvious guitar. It's an album that grapples with the schizophrenia of the modern world by gathering piles of electronics and molding them into something huge and often gorgeous.
After touring endlessly in support…
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Os Mutantes with special guests Tuff Sunshine
Thursday, June 27 - 8:00pm
Club Cafe - Tickets On Sale Now!
When the members of the legendary "Tropicália" band Os Mutantes took the stage before an audience of thousands at the Hollywood bowl a few years back, it seemed one of the greatest secrets in modern music was finally out. The seminal band whose ethereal absurdist pop music had inspired so many prominent musicians since their breakup decades before, were back. This time the world seemed ready. Now this influential band has reemerged with a brand new much anticipated album entitled Haih or Amortecedor on Anti-records.
Those who have not heard the music of Os Mutantes have undoubtedly experienced their influence. During the band's absence, their records have been passed from musician to musician like cherished gifts, ever inspiring and altering the contemporary musical landscape. Kurt Cobain of Nirvana was tipped to the band by members of the band Red Kross. When Nirvana toured Brazil in 1993, Cobain tried desperately to arrange a meeting with Mutante bassist and singer Arnaldo Baptista. Unable to locate the musician he sent him the following note. "Arnaldo, best wishes to you, and be careful with the system. They swallow you up and spit you out like a maraschino cherry pit."
The Mutantes' cut-and-paste, sonic collage approach and their tendency for cultural irony, is an aesthetic now prevalent in modern music. The band has received praise from a growing list of luminaries including the Flaming Lips, David Byrne, Devendra Banhart and Of Montreal. But of any contemporary musician, it is Beck who appears their direct heir. For his part, Beck readily admits a longstanding admiration for the Mutantes, even dedicating his song "Tropicália" from the album Mutations to the band. As he explains, ''Hearing Os Mutantes for the first time was one of those revelatory moments you live for as a musician. When you find something that you have been wanting to hear for years but never thought existed. I made records like 'Odelay' because there was a certain sound and sensibility that I wanted to achieve, and it was eerie to find that they had already done it 30 years ago, in a totally shocking but beautiful and satisfying way. For years it was pretty much the only thing I listened to."
This admiration by fellow artists is something Mutante founder and singer/guitarist, Sérgio Dias, appreciates. "I think it is really beautiful how our sound caught on with newer generations through the songs of Beck and others," he explains. These kids were influenced by our music and started to talk to other kids and tell them. And then Beck made Mutations and he was so eloquent about that. I think it is a wonderful portrait of how things happen today."
Mutantes' unique otherworldly sound was forged in a time and place of turmoil. San Paulo Brazil of the early sixties was a city and nation under siege. The military had seized power and the authorities were coming down hard on anything resembling descent. It was amidst this precarious backdrop that, in 1964, two teenagers, Arnaldo Baptista and Rita Lee Jones met at a high school band contest. Inspired by a Revolver era Beatles, the two soon drafted Arnaldo's brother Sergio and formed what would become Os Mutantes.
Soon the band, along with other forward-looking musicians, writers and artists, were taking part in lively discussions that would eventually evolve into a culturally defining movement. With elements of political criticism, prankster humor and an eclectic range of musical styles, Tropicália was born. "In Brazil we were influenced by things like the Beatles and Picasso," Dias explains. "But we didn't know what the Beatles were singing about and we didn't know the history of Picasso. We were in the middle of a very bad situation and we were responding to all of this. We only had bits and pieces of everything and so we formed this image of what rock and roll was supposed to be. Our music is like a patchwork quilt made up of all these different pieces from different places. We put all these elements together and just let them cook in this witches brew and that became our sound."
It was during Tropicália's start that the Mutantes recorded their self-titled debut album. As students battled the police and military, the Mutantes recorded an ambitious album merging seductive Brazilian music with the new psychedelic pop of the Beatles and Beach Boys. The end result didn't so much take a direct political stand as offer a complete aesthetic rejection of the harsh reality surrounding them.
The ruling generals soon regarded the Mutantes as musical emissaries of an emerging counter culture steeped in sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and the group's performances began to get raided. The Mutantes, for their part, seemed to delight in their role as cultural provocateurs: with Dias performing in a Napoleonic military uniform, his brother Baptista in a priest's cassock and singer Rita Lee appearing in a bridal gown. "Many people were being arrested by the government at that time," Dias explains. "So we fought back the only way that we knew. They would try to censor our lyrics. But instead of changing the words we would put all sorts of strange noises on top of them. I don't think they knew how much we were making fun of them."
By 1969, when the band's third album "A Divina Comédia ou Ando Meio Desiglado" was recorded, Brazil's political situation had only further deteriorated. A governmental edict called as AI 5 (Institutional Act 5) resulted in the persecution of intellectuals, artists and activists, the closing of the congress and countless arrests. The crack down was the beginning of the end for the Tropicália movement. Giberto Gil and Caetano Veloso, close friends of the Mutantes and two of the leading forces of Tropicalia, were arrested and exiled. Despite this the Mutantes had their biggest hit with the song "Ando Meio Desiglado". Propelled by a rocking Motown inspired bass line, the lyrics offered a forthright description of the effects of marijuana. On another song "Desculpe, Babe," Sérgio's voice was distorted through a rubber hose connected to a hot chocolate can with a tiny speaker inside, as he sung over melodic Beatlesque guitars.
While performing in Paris, the band recorded an album for Polydor UK. The record was intended to introduce the band to a broader western audience and featured many of their previously recorded songs sung in English. The masters from the session were subsequently lost and the album, "Technicolor," wouldn't resurface for nearly three decades. Singer Rita Lee soon left the band to pursue a solo career and eventually it was only leader Sérgio Dias, leading the band until they finally disbanded in 1978.
But in the band's absence, Mutantes' standing amongst the rock cognoscente only intensified. In 2000, the lost 1971 album "Technicolor" was located and released to a near euphoric critical response. In 2006 the band finally reunited and performed at London's Barbican Arts Center. This was followed by triumphant shows throughout North America and the Mutantes being awarded the Brazilian equivalent of a Grammy for best band. "Playing live with this band is so amazing," Dias says. "I can not describe anything better than maybe going into space. When we were playing at the Pitchfork Festival it was like looking at yourself when you were a kid trying to mumble the words to "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" in English and not understanding the words. There were hardly any Brazilians there but the kids were all singing our songs in Portuguese. It was really beautiful."
So this acclaimed band who inspired so much now prepares to release Haih or Amortecedor, their first new album in over three decades. On it Sergio Dias has collaborated with two of the founders of Tropicalia, renowned songwriter and multi instrumentalist Tom Ze and Jorge Ben who wrote the band's first hit Minha Menina. But don't expect anything like nostalgia from Haih or Amortecedor. The end result is a record that brilliantly updates the band's legendary "Tropicalia" sound, propelling it out of the sixties and into an uncharted but undeniably exotic future. As expected, the songs utilize a startling assortment of instrumentation, from austere violins to distorted metallic guitars and something called a crazy flute, lending an underlying theatrical power to their genre defying music. The song Bagdad Blues, with its tinkering old piano and seductive horns, conjures an otherworldly cabaret while Querida Querida is modern rock music unlike anything you've heard before."It would be awful to mimic something we had done when we were teenagers," Dias explains. "When we were making this album we were absolutely vigilant that the ideas were entirely fresh and I think we did a very good job. Everyone who has heard this album say it doesn't sound like Mutantes - but then it is also pure Mutantes. I really think it is a perfect vision of what Os Mutantes should sound like in the 21st century."
When the members of the legendary "Tropicália" band Os Mutantes took the stage before an audience of thousands at the Hollywood bowl a few years back, it seemed one of the greatest secrets in modern music was finally out. The seminal band whose ethereal absurdist pop music had inspired so many prominent musicians since their breakup decades before, were back. This time the world seemed…
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Jill Sobule & Julia Sweeney
Saturday, July 07 - 7:00pm
Club Cafe - Tickets On Sale Now!
Jill Sobule is a Denver-born singer, songwriter, storyteller, guitarist and gypsy. Over seven albums and nearly two decades of recording, Jill has mused on topics such as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence and the Christian right.
Her recording career began in 1990 with her debut album Things Here are Different, recorded by Todd Rundgren. Her 1995 self-titled album, Jill Sobule, yielded the hit songs I Kissed A Girl (the original) and Supermodel. Since then, she has continued to record, produce and tour with an ever-growing loyal fan base. Jill is considered a pioneer in crowd sourcing, with her 2009 fan-funded record, California Years. She continues to be at the forefront of exploring and creating new models for artists in an ever-changing changing music industry.
She's performed with Neil Young, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, Tom Morello and Warren Zevon and inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame. She can be seen live as a solo performer as well as the co-star of the Jill & Julia Show, an unusual and mesmerizing combination of song and storytelling in collaboration with comedian/actress Julia Sweeney. She also served as songwriter/composer for the hit Nickelodeon network show Unfabulous during that show's three-season run. She composed the music for the off-Broadway show Prozak and Platypus and her songs have appeared in a multitude of films including Mind the Gap, in which Jill herself co-starred. She has been a political troubadour for NPR stations across America and most recently performed original music at the keynote session for Netroots Nation. Jill is a longtime participant as well as musical contributor at TED.
A veritable gypsy, Jill divides her time between a busy touring schedule and a variety of other projects. The recently released A Day at the Pass finally captures an ongoing collaboration between Jill and John Doe (from the iconic punk band X) and was recorded live at The Pass studio on one fine day in Los Angeles. She is currently recording her next record, Dottie's Charm's - a collaboration between her and 11 of her favorite authors, including: Rick Moody, David Hajdu and Jonathon Lathem, Jill is also working with Steve Cossin (The Civillians), Jim Lewis (FELA) and Robin Eaton (a longtime collaborator) on the musical, Times Square.
In the words of New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles, "Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant...grown-up music for an adolescent age." She's an American original.
Julia Sweeney: I'm a writer and performer.
I'm probably best known for having been on the comedy/sketch show, Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1994. My most well known character on that show was undoubtedly Pat, an androgynous character who confuses everyone.
I made a film called It's Pat: The Movie, which was a bomb at the box office. However, it is still a winner in my own heart.
I am also known for doing one-person monologues. The best known of these are God Said Ha! and Letting Go of God.
God Said Ha! is about my brother's battle with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, a deadly type of cancer and about my own cervical cancer. It's about my parents living with me for nine months and how crazy and funny and frustrating that time was. And it's about my brother's death and my own survival. I did runs of God Said Ha! in San Francisco and Los Angeles. In New York, God Said Ha! was on Broadway at the Lyceum Theater – truly one of the highlights of my life. Quentin Tarantino produced a film version of the stage show, which I directed.
Letting Go of God is about my search for a God I can believe in. I was raised Catholic. I appreciated my birth culture and still consider myself to be culturally Catholic. But as I delved into the Bible more deeply, I found it impossible to reconcile my skepticism and what the church expected us to believe. I tried to find God through other religions and eventually gave up on believing in God entirely. This was a profound and wonderfully transformative experience for me, which deepened my connection to all living things. I did runs of Letting Go of God in Los Angeles and in New York. I directed the film of the stage show. This film was shown on Showtime.
Jill Sobule is a Denver-born singer, songwriter, storyteller, guitarist and gypsy. Over seven albums and nearly two decades of recording, Jill has mused on topics such as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence and the Christian right.
Her recording career began in 1990 with her debut album Things Here are Different, recorded…
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The Warhol Sound Series presents Belle And Sebastian with special guests Yo La Tengo
Saturday, July 13 - 7:00pm
Stage AE Outdoors - Tickets On Sale Now!
Belle And Sebastian, Summer 2013.
Stuart Murdoch - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Stevie Jackson - vocals, guitars
Chris Geddes - keyboards
Richard Colburn - drums
Sarah Martin - keyboards, violin, flute, vocals
Mick Cooke - bass guitar, trumpet
Bobby Kildea - guitars, bass guitar
Since being launched on the River Clyde in Glasgow in 1996 the good ship Belle And Sebastian has sailed far and wide on the oceans of international indie-pop, stockpiling a treasure trove of gold
and silver records, a loyal legion of fans and critical kudos by the barrel-load.
The current line-up has been in place for more than 10 years, selling over 3 million albums, releasing a dozen singles and playing countless sold-out concerts around the world. During this
period the band also moved from their original label for the UK and Europe, Jeepster - through which they released five studio albums - to Rough Trade.
Moving to Rough Trade cleared the way for the band to collaborate with producer Trevor Horn in 2003 on Dear Catastrophe Waitress, their fourth gold-selling record after debut Tigermilk (1996) If
You're Feeling Sinister (1996) and The Boy With The Arab Strap (1998). All three singles from the album reached the UK top 20.
Three years later, the band decamped to California to record The Life Pursuit with Beck producer Tony Hoffer, a record that took B&S into the UK album top 10 for the first time and went on to sell
more than a half a million copies globally. A key highlight of the touring for the group's seventh long player was a sold-out show with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, where they
played to an audience of 18,000.
B&S repeated the formula of The Life Pursuit in 2010 with Belle And Sebastian Write About Love, recording in California with Hoffer. Notable guests on the album include Norah Jones and actress
Carey Mulligan, a long-time B&S fan. In the UK, Write About Love equalled its predecessor's album chart position of number 8.
The latest instalment in the illustrious recording career of Belle And Sebastian comes with the release of The Third Eye Centre in June 2013, a gathering of rarities and B-sides from the past
decade. Then, after touring festivals this summer, the band intend to get straight back into the studio. Look out for more from Scotland's greatest export in 2014.
Belle And Sebastian, Summer 2013.
Stuart Murdoch - vocals, guitars, keyboards
Stevie Jackson - vocals, guitars
Chris Geddes - keyboards
Richard Colburn - drums
Sarah Martin - keyboards, violin, flute, vocals
Mick Cooke - bass guitar, trumpet
Bobby Kildea - guitars, bass guitar
Since being launched on the River Clyde in Glasgow in 1996 the good ship Belle…
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91.3fm WYEP presents The Flaming Lips with special guests Spiritualized
Tuesday, July 16 - 6:30pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983. Instrumentally, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles-such as "What Is the Light? (An Untested Hypothesis Suggesting That the Chemical [In Our Brains] by Which We Are Able to Experience the Sensation of Being in Love Is the Same Chemical That Caused the "Big Bang" That Was the Birth of the Accelerating Universe)". They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and frontman Wayne Coyne's signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. In 2002, Q magazine named The Flaming Lips one of the "50 Bands to See Before You Die."
The band is best known for its associations with 1960s and 1970s psychedelic subculture, with elements of this culture permeating the group's instrumentation, effects, and composition. Coyne's lyrics, in particular, both reference and embody the fascination with the science fiction and space opera genres of fiction that were popular during the golden age of psychedelic subculture. His lyrical style tends to use the imagery and plot conventions of space opera to frame more abstract themes about the unfolding cycles of romantic love, highlighting its vulnerability while delving into its metaphysical implications.
The group recorded several albums and EPs on an indie label, Restless, in the 1980s and early 1990s. After signing to Warner Brothers, they scored a hit in 1993 with "She Don't Use Jelly". Although it has been their only hit single in the U.S., the band has maintained critical respect and, to a lesser extent, commercial viability through albums such as 1999's The Soft Bulletin (which was NME magazine's Album of the Year) and 2002's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots. They have had more hit singles in the UK and Europe than in the U.S. In February 2007, they were nominated for a 2007 BRIT Award in the "Best International Act" category. By 2007, the group garnered three Grammy Awards, including two for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. -Wikipedia
The Flaming Lips are an American rock band formed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1983. Instrumentally, their sound contains lush, multi-layered, psychedelic rock arrangements, but lyrically their compositions show elements of space rock, including unusual song and album titles-such as "What Is the Light? (An Untested Hypothesis Suggesting That the Chemical [In Our Brains] by Which We Are…
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SOLD OUT - fun. with guests Tegan And Sara
Thursday, July 18 - 7:00pm
Stage AE Outdoors - All Tickets are Sold Out - Thank You!!!
It may be tough to imagine an outdoor show under the stars when it's 30 degrees out, but summer is just around the corner and fun. will be embarking on their Most Nights summer tour on July 6th in Toronto, ON. It's a fitting kickoff city because fun.'s Canadian friends, Tegan and Sara, will be opening almost every show on the tour...
Tegan and Sara have been one of my favorite bands for a very long time. I remember when I discovered them - we were in LA recording Aim and Ignite and at that point everything I was listening to had been made before 1980. I was having a real "everything modern sucks" kind of chip on my shoulder moment. Discovering The Con not only changed my life the way a brilliant album does, it also renewed my faith in modern music. Tegan and Sara greatly impacted the way I think about writing and recording music at the moment that fun. was forming and for me, that makes it extra special that we get to tour together this summer.
Beyond my personal experience, their new album Heartthrob is absolutely incredible and the three of us are so thrilled to hear it live every night this summer!!!! - Jack
This may be the last North American tour of the Some Nights album cycle so the band is looking forward to seeing all of you.
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Following the Format's breakup in 2008, frontman Nate Ruess took his songwriting skills to Steel Train's Jack Antonoff and Anathallo's Andrew Dost, both of whom shared a similar affinity for vintage pop music and quirky, melodic hooks. The trio began a series of collaborations in Antonoff's parents' living room and soon enlisted the help of producer Steven McDonald, who recorded their work and handled bass duties. After enlisting the help of former Jellyfish keyboardist Robert Joseph Manning, Jr., who arranged several tracks, the bandmates completed work on their first record. Dubbing themselves Fun., the group introduced their Queen and ELO-influenced big pop sound in 2009 with the debut album Aim and Ignite. In 2012, Fun. returned with its sophomore effort, Some Nights. The album was produced by Jeff Bhasker, who worked on Kanye West's My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The album drew much inspiration from hip-hop, and West in particular, while staying true to their roots and blowing their sound up to impressively large proportions. The record's first single, "We Are Young," featured vocals by Janelle Monae and reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
It may be tough to imagine an outdoor show under the stars when it's 30 degrees out, but summer is just around the corner and fun. will be embarking on their Most Nights summer tour on July 6th in Toronto, ON. It's a fitting kickoff city because fun.'s Canadian friends, Tegan and Sara, will be opening almost every show on the tour...
Tegan and Sara have been one of my favorite bands…
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Gogol Bordello
Sunday, July 28 - 7:00pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
Internationally renowned gypsy punk rock group Gogol Bordello return with their sixth full-length album Pura Vida Conspiracy via ATO Records on July 23. Produced by Andrew Scheps, the new album was recorded in El Paso, Texas at Sonic Ranch Studios and is a powerful collection of 12 surging new songs. In celebration of May Day, an ancient public holiday known for raucous celebrations, Gogol Bordello offer up a stream of their rebellious new song "Malandrino" to get the party started.
The album's title is derived from a Spanish slang phrase for "pure life," which is a theme that resonates throughout the new material. The disc's opener, "We Rise Again," introduces the album's limitless, all-embracing themes instantly, centered on a chorus of "Borders are scars on face of the planet." The new songs are infused with ideas rooted in Eastern philosophy but also search for a means of joining fragmented parts and persons, and of creating a worldwide consciousness.
"For me music is a way to explore human potential," Hutz says. "And that's my main interest in life - human potential. Everyone knows there's something inside of us that we're not using. How do we get it? How do we reach it? Every single person knows that there's something and nobody knows what it is. So at one point I said to myself, I'm gonna get down and get it."
Gogol Bordello has spent the last decade getting down with that energy through their meteoric live shows and has earned a solid reputation as "the hottest global touring act to come out of New York (Billboard)" and "the world's most riotous live band (Rolling Stone)." Their wildly energetic live shows are celebrated by fans worldwide and have brought them to nearly every corner of the globe and to the main stage of festivals like Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Roskilde, Rock am Ring, Reading and Leeds to name just a few. In addition, Gogol Bordello's recordings have earned them critical acclaim worldwide and have attracted some of the most respected collaborators and producers including 2005's Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, produced by indie legend Steve Albini, 2007's SUPER TARANTA! (produced by Victor Van Vugt) and declared by music critic Robert Christgau as "the best rock album of the decade. Period." and 2010's Trans-Continental Hustle produced by Rick Rubin.
Internationally renowned gypsy punk rock group Gogol Bordello return with their sixth full-length album Pura Vida Conspiracy via ATO Records on July 23. Produced by Andrew Scheps, the new album was recorded in El Paso, Texas at Sonic Ranch Studios and is a powerful collection of 12 surging new songs. In celebration of May Day, an ancient public holiday known for raucous celebrations, Gogol…
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The Black Crowes / Tedeschi Trucks Band with special guests The London Souls
Wednesday, August 07 - 5:30pm
Stage AE Outdoors - Tickets On Sale Now!
THE BLACK CROWES and TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND have announced a co-headlining tour, with special guests The London Souls, running July 19 in Nashville, TN through August 15 in Rochester Hills, MI. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 12 at 10:00AM local (except for Nashville, which goes on sale Friday, April 26).
THE BLACK CROWES have sold over 35 million albums and are known as one of rock's best live acts. They're currently touring the U.S. on their "Lay Down With Number 13" tour, their first tour since recently ending a two-year hiatus. The in-progress tour launched with five sold-out U.K. shows and began this week in the U.S. and continues through June 2. After that, the group will return to Europe for a leg of dates June 18 to July 6, including headlining shows, festivals and two stadium concerts with Bruce Springsteen. The iconic and influential band-Chris Robinson (lead vocals, guitar), Rich Robinson (guitar, vocals), Steve Gorman (drums), Sven Pipien (bass), Adam MacDougall (keyboards) and new member Jackie Greene (guitar, vocals)-are reaching deep inside their songbook and extensive catalog, performing greatly varied set lists.
The band recently released WISER FOR THE TIME, which features a mammoth eight sides on four vinyl albums containing 26 songs-15 acoustic and 11 electric-from THE BLACK CROWES' five-night, sold-out NYC performances in the fall of 2010. These never-released-before versions are also available as a double album digital download. The WISER FOR THE TIME track listing can be found on www.blackcrowes.com
TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND, the 11-piece ensemble led by husband-wife team Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, have proven themselves one of the most uplifting acts on the road today. Formed in 2010, TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND delivers a hearty roots-rich musical mix fronted by Trucks' signature slide guitar sound and Tedeschi's pliant, honey-to-husk voice. The band kicked off 2013 in the studio where they recorded their second studio album before hitting the road again. They recently wrapped up five shows in Australia and are back on tour in the U.S. this spring before launching the summer tour.
TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND'S debut album, Revelator-praised as a "4-star masterpiece" by Rolling Stone-won a Grammy for Best Blues Album in 2012 while Trucks himself was also honored with a lifetime Grammy for his longstanding membership in the Allman Brothers Band. With the band firing on all cylinders, they released their first live album in May of 2012-Everybody's Talkin-a double CD set of originals and vibrant covers that showcases the band's dynamic energy on stage. On the heels of the album's release they toured the U.S. and Canada including a run of dates with B.B. King and a headlining spot at Newport Jazz Festival. The band's new album is slated for release summer of 2013.
THE BLACK CROWES and TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND have announced a co-headlining tour, with special guests The London Souls, running July 19 in Nashville, TN through August 15 in Rochester Hills, MI. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 12 at 10:00AM local (except for Nashville, which goes on sale Friday, April 26).
THE BLACK CROWES have sold over 35 million albums and are known as one of rock's…
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The Adam Ant & The Good, The Mad & The Lovely Posse Tour with special guests Prima Donna
Friday, August 23 - 7:00pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
One of the seminal figures of new wave, Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) had several distinct phases to his career. Initially, he explored a jagged, guitar-oriented post-punk with his group Adam and the Ants before giving way to a more pop-oriented, glam-tinged musical direction that brought him to the top of the charts. After that had run its course, he refashioned himself as a mainstream singer, which enabled him to stretch his career out for a couple of years. Once it seemed that his musical career had evaporated, he made an unexpected comeback in the early '90s as an adult alternative artist. During all this time, he recorded several great pop singles and had a surprisingly large impact on alternative rock.
Adam Ant formed Adam and the Ants with guitarist Lester Square, bassist Andy Warren, and drummer Paul Flanagan in London in 1977. The group's approach was more theatrical than most punk groups, incorporating sadomasochistic imagery into their concerts. During this time, the group's lineup was fairly unstable, with Square being replaced by Mark Gaumont. The band released their debut, Dirk Wears White Sox, on the independent label Do It in 1979. Dirk was an ambitious and somewhat dark album, filled with jerky rhythms and angular guitar riffs, and elements of glam rock crept into Adam's vocals; Adam re-acquired the rights to the record in 1983, reissuing it in a resequenced and remixed form, with the tracks "Catholic Day" and "Day I Met God" replaced by "Zerox" and "Kick," as well as including a new version of "Cartrouble."
At the time of its release, Dirk Wears White Sox wasn't a critical or commercial success, and the band felt the need to rework their image. Ant hired Malcolm McLaren, the manager of the Sex Pistols, to help redefine them. McLaren dressed the band in pirate outfits and suggested a more accessible and pop-oriented, rhythmic variation on punk. Adam and the Ants followed his advice, preparing material for a new album. However, McLaren persuaded all of the Ants to leave Adam, using them as the core members of Bow Wow Wow. Adam Ant immediately formed a new version of the Ants, adding guitarist Marco Pirroni, bassist Kevin Mooney, and drummers Terry Lee Miall and Merrick (born Chris Hughes). Pirroni, in particular, became very important in the band's musical direction, co-writing the majority of the songs with Adam, thus beginning a collaboration between the duo that would continue into the '90s.
Driven by a relentless, driving beat and chanting melodies, the new band's first album, 1980's Kings of the Wild Frontier, became an enormous hit in the U.K., launching three Top Ten hit singles, including the number two "Ant Music." The band's success was helped by a series of visually enticing videos, prominently featuring the skinny, handsome Adam Ant decked out in pirate gear. Prince Charming, released the following year, retained the same formula as Kings of the Wild Frontier, spawning two number one singles, "Stand and Deliver" and "Prince Charming." Even though the album was a commercial success, the formula was beginning to wear thin.
After Prince Charming, Adam Ant ditched the Ants for a solo career, retaining Marco Pirroni as a songwriting collaborator and a supporting musician. Adam's first solo album, Friend or Foe, was released in 1982 and featured the number one single "Goody Two Shoes" and the Top Ten title track. Although his next album, 1983's Strip, had some highlights and hit singles, it marked the end of his reign as one of Britain's top pop stars.
Released in 1985, the Tony Visconti-produced Vive le Rock had some fun moments, but the performance was too studied and the record didn't earn any hit singles, so Adam Ant pursued a surprisingly successful career in acting. In 1990, Ant made a comeback with the catchy hit single "Room at the Top" from the Manners & Physique record, but the album failed to produce another hit single. For the next five years, Ant concentrated on acting.
By the time Adam Ant returned to recording in 1995, echoes of his music could be heard in the spiky singles of Elastica, the neo-goth industrial rock of Nine Inch Nails, and the pseudo-glam of Suede. Instead of capitalizing on the burgeoning new wave revival, Adam Ant's 1995 comeback, Wonderful, had little to do with the stylish, intensely rhythmic music he made in the early '80s. Instead, the album repositioned him as a more mature pop-rocker, with crafted songs that featured acoustic guitars as prominently as electrics. The album was a moderate hit in the U.S. and the U.K., as was the single "Wonderful."
Following the promo push for Wonderful, Adam Ant and Pirroni attempted to write a new clutch of songs but no finished album came of it, nor did anything surface from various sessions over the next few years. Instead, the rarities-studded retrospective Antbox appeared in 2000. Ant continued his attempts to launch new projects -- including a collaboration with Morrissey guitarist Boz Boorer, who did appear on Wonderful -- but he also suffered from erratic behavior, resulting in several arrests between 2002 and 2003, leading to a period of hospitalization for mental health (he was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder). A further round of reissues arrived in the mid-2000s, this time expanded double-discs of his first six albums, all containing a second disc with rarities, B-sides, and unreleased material. At the conclusion of this campaign came Stand & Deliver, Ant's autobiography, which he promoted with his first live performance in 11 years. Soon, Adam Ant began to mount a proper comeback, beginning a new label called Blueblack Hussar Ltd in 2010, then starting to perform with regularity, touring the U.K., Europe, U.S., and Australia as he began to work out new material. This new material finally surfaced in January 2013 as the messy, ambitious pseudo-concept album Adam Ant Is the BlueBlack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter.
One of the seminal figures of new wave, Adam Ant (born Stuart Leslie Goddard) had several distinct phases to his career. Initially, he explored a jagged, guitar-oriented post-punk with his group Adam and the Ants before giving way to a more pop-oriented, glam-tinged musical direction that brought him to the top of the charts. After that had run its course, he refashioned himself as a mainstream…
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We The Kings - Summer Fest Tour 2013 with guests Breathe Carolina, T. Mills, The Ready Set
Sunday, August 25 - 6:00pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
We the Kings are a melodic emo-pop band from Bradenton, Florida, a small Southern town that doubles as the home base for Tropicana orange juice. Friends since childhood (the band's moniker even refers to the name of their junior-high mascot), the four bandmates -- singer/guitarist Travis Clark, guitarist Hunter Thomsen, his bassist brother Drew Thomsen, and drummer Danny Duncan -- formed the group while attending high school. Under the guidance of manager Bret Disend, they placed a number of tracks on the social networking site Purevolume in 2007 to build online buzz. Meanwhile, they also pursued a deal with EMI's imprint S-Curve Records, which eventually signed the group.
We the Kings' self-titled debut album was produced by Sam Hollander and mixed by Lou Giordano, both of whom had done work with some of emo-pop's most marketable acts, and released in October 2007. "Check Yes Juliet" cracked the Pop 100 that fall, and the group spent much of the following two years on the road, playing shows alongside simpatico bands like The Academy Is... and Hey Monday. They also found time to record a second album, Smile Kid, which arrived in late 2009. Like the band's debut, Smile Kid spawned a Top 100 single with "We'll Be a Dream," which featured guest vocals from Demi Lovato. We the Kings continued to tour heavily, supporting All Time Low for several months before headlining their own shows at home and abroad. The shows stretched into 2011, by which point the group had already begun work on a third album. Sunshine State of Mind was released that summer.
We the Kings are a melodic emo-pop band from Bradenton, Florida, a small Southern town that doubles as the home base for Tropicana orange juice. Friends since childhood (the band's moniker even refers to the name of their junior-high mascot), the four bandmates -- singer/guitarist Travis Clark, guitarist Hunter Thomsen, his bassist brother Drew Thomsen, and drummer Danny Duncan -- formed…
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Sigur Ros
Thursday, September 19 - 7:00pm
Stage AE Outdoors - Tickets On Sale Now!
Named in part after a sister of one of the bandmembers, Reykjavik, Iceland's Sigur Rós (Victory Rose) was formed by guitarist and vocalist Jon Thor Birgisson (who later went by the name Jónsi), bassist Georg Holm, and drummer Agust. Formed in early 1994 while the members were teenagers, the trio's first recorded song earned them a deal with Iceland's Bad Taste label. Their sprawling debut LP, Von (Hope), was released in 1997, followed the next year by a collection of remixes from that album, Recycle Bin. Kjartan Sveinsson joined the band on keyboards and the band recorded 1999's strings-heavy Ágætis Byrjun (Good Start), earning themselves numerous accolades in their homeland and achieving platinum status in sales. Agust then departed and was quickly replaced by Orri PÁll DýRason.
Svefn-G-Englar, their first release to be distributed outside of their native country, was hailed as NME's Single of the Week during September of 1999, launching a press hype steamroller in the U.K. and -- to a lesser extent -- in the U.S. The "Ný Battery" single was issued in early 2000, the band's break-out year. British independent Fat Cat began distributing the band, stretching their reach beyond Icelanders and rabid journalists. April dates in England with Godspeed You Black Emperor! were capped off by an appearance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, and they also opened several dates of Radiohead's European tour before year's end.
Sigur Rós spent the first three months of 2001 off from the road, setting up their own studio and making their third album. Meanwhile, Ágætis Byrjun found a label in the U.S. and world-wide press became increasingly positive and varied; both Entertainment Weekly and The Wire ran features on the band. The group began touring again in April, playing more shows in Europe, a handful in the States, and several more in Japan throughout the remainder of the year. By the end of the year, Ágætis Byrjun had won the Shortlist Prize for Artistic Achievement in Music; it was also declared Iceland's Best Album of the Century.
( ), Sigur Rós' third album, was released in 2002. The majority of the material was honed on the road prior to being recorded at Alafoss, the group's studio, located outside Reykjavik. The album featured a raw sound in comparison to its predecessors and scaled back the extreme highs and lows that were prominent on Ágætis Byrjun. Three years later, they issued 2005's Takk..., featuring some tighter arrangements and brighter tones. In 2007 they released the documentary film Heima, which chronicled the band's tour of Iceland the previous year alongside an intimate acoustic show at a coffee shop in the small town of Borg.
Released in 2008, Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust found the group adding fairly straightforward pop songs to its sound alongside the traditionally epic soundscapes. After Sigur Rós completed touring for the album (the final weekend of shows recorded and captured on film and then released in 2011 as Inni), they headed back to the studio but scrapped the results and went on a hiatus. During this time, Jónsi launched a solo career, first collaborating with boyfriend Alex Somers (as Jónsi & Alex) on 2009's Riceboy Sleeps, then releasing 2010's Go under his own name. His main claim to fame, though, was recording "Sticks and Stones" for the soundtrack of How to Train Your Dragon. The group ended its hiatus in April of 2010, playing a set at the Coachella Festival. In October of 2011, they released their first live album, Inni, a document of their 2008 tour. Their understated sixth studio album, Valtari (Steamroller), was issued in May of the following year.
Named in part after a sister of one of the bandmembers, Reykjavik, Iceland's Sigur Rós (Victory Rose) was formed by guitarist and vocalist Jon Thor Birgisson (who later went by the name Jónsi), bassist Georg Holm, and drummer Agust. Formed in early 1994 while the members were teenagers, the trio's first recorded song earned them a deal with Iceland's Bad Taste label. Their…
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91.3fm WYEP presents The xx
Saturday, September 21 - 7:00pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
The xx exist in a time and space of their own making. In 2009 the south London trio's debut album 'xx', quietly made at night over the course of two years, bled steadily into the public consciousness to become shorthand for newly refined ideas of teenage desire and anxiety. Articulated with a maturity beyond their years, its hallmarks were restraint and ambiguity. In the age of the over-share, 'xx' was pop with its privacy settings on max.
Three years on, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim and Jamie Smith are back with a new album, 'Coexist', and a new perspective. Where 'xx' lent in close to whisper in your ear, 'Coexist' gazes warmly in your eyes. Much has happened to lead to this point: most pertinently, they've grown up.
Following the release of 'xx', the trio spent the lion's share of 2010 far from home, taking their gentle shaping of a new London sound to ears and hearts in America, Japan, Australia and mainland Europe. Critical acclaim was matched by commercial success around the world, before The xx won the UK's prestigious Mercury Music Prize. With all the successes and new experiences of that intense year and a half, a period away from the stage and studio was inevitable. In late October 2010 The xx returned from tour for some time apart, and normality.
"All of our friends had been to university and left home," says Romy. "We really wanted to do that natural thing that you do when you go to uni or grow up." All three moved out of their family homes within two weeks of being back. They made up for lost time with friends, hung out and embraced a summer of festivals and shows that Jamie was booked to DJ. "We were his groupies," laughs Romy.
Previously cast as the quietest of the three, Jamie became the public face of The xx in 2011. In-between DJ gigs, he focused on growing his production skills, developing a distinct sound and presence. His remix of Adele's Rolling In The Deep, re-imagining of Gil Scott-Heron's final album on 'We're New Here' with its defining single I'll Take Care Of U, and his debut solo single Far Nearer set him apart as a highly regarded producer in his own right. That position was cemented when Drake asked Jamie to produce the title track of his album 'Take Care', inspired by I'll Take Care Of U.
Behind the scenes, there was evolution too. Romy and Oliver's writing process on 'xx' had been to exchange lyrics over the internet and only sing what they each had written. Having begun to write again quite soon after returning from tour - "Much sooner than I expected," says Romy - they discovered that their initial reticence to bare so much of themselves in person had faded.
"The newest thing that we've done on this record is that me and Romy wrote in a room together," explains Oliver. "We went into a room with nothing and talked through early ideas together, which was fun but bizarre because we've never done that before. I also sang one of Romy's lyrics for the first time, which felt really nice."
Where dreams and expectation had largely coloured Oliver's lyrics on 'xx', on 'Coexist' he draws on his own experiences: "Which I'm surprised I've done because I knew people were going to hear them; I'm surprised I was able to put it out there confidently." Conversely, Romy wrote quite openly from experience on their debut: "It felt very much like a direct diary - although obviously we've always written quite cryptically. I think my lyrics have become more from observation and expectation, which is a complete swap."
That realignment extends to Jamie's role. When he originally joined the band they'd been writing and gigging for a year. This time around it was the three of them working together from the start. Following a short spell in a Dalston practice room, Jamie found a space in Angel that would become their studio. Essentially a couple of rooms in an ordinary office block, they turned the once mundane space into a nocturnal hub of creativity among the nine-to-five surroundings, hanging black velvet on the walls as soundproofing and fitting it out with a set-up that now included piano, drums and steel pan. Back together again, separate from both their label in west London and east London's music scene, Romy, Oliver and Jamie wrote 'Coexist'.
"We just ended up playing new stuff to each other to try and write which was a fun way to do it," explains Jamie. It wasn't always plain sailing: "The idea I had at the beginning when we started wasn't the right idea because I'd been in a place where I was making music for Drake and other people, and myself, and I'd kind of forgotten about working with these two, which is very different because we're so close." Jamie continues: "Learning to work together as grownups was the biggest thing - it's the thing that influenced the album the most. We just needed to find a balance."
Understanding that balance became the heart and soul of 'Coexist'. "Jamie has done his solo stuff and Oliver and I have done separate things but The xx is only when we're together. That's when it's really us," explains Romy. "I was reading up on oil on water - when you see a puddle on the floor and it's a rainbow. Oil and water don't mix, they agree to peacefully coexist. I really liked that - these two simple things, oil and water, that together make something beautiful."
"To coexist doesn't paint the rosiest picture but I think it represents the realness," continues Romy. "Learning to live together, learning to work together again, learning to live with the person you're with, or your ex. It's all connected." Through that learning process, the anxious night time of 'xx' has made way for sunrise on 'Coexist'.
While the fingerprints of R&B remain, 'Coexist's dawn realisations flicker into life under house music's gaze, most resonant on Reunion, Sunset and Swept Away. It also echoes in Romy's guitar riffs and Oliver's bass lines, which circle and build like loops. "That's something I love about dance music, how something insignificant can somehow become profound after the fifth repetition," says Oliver.
Above all, though, 'Coexist' is an album of confident adult reflection. Angels, sung by Romy, is a perfectly distilled love song. Its counter is Fiction led by Oliver, a bittersweet ballad that's strength lies in naming its fear. What has changed for The xx? Nothing, and everything. Older and wiser, surer yet still so tender, 'Coexist' finds itself on the other side of heartbreak, when the light returns.
The xx exist in a time and space of their own making. In 2009 the south London trio's debut album 'xx', quietly made at night over the course of two years, bled steadily into the public consciousness to become shorthand for newly refined ideas of teenage desire and anxiety. Articulated with a maturity beyond their years, its hallmarks were restraint and ambiguity. In the age of the over-share,…
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91.3fm WYEP presents City and Colour
Tuesday, November 05 - 7:00pm
Stage AE - Tickets On Sale Now!
The voice is unmistakable - immediately identifiable by those that know it and intensely intriguing to those that don't. It belongs to Dallas Green, perhaps better known as the man who writes, records, and performs under the moniker of City and Colour.
Already renowned across Canada thanks to the success of his previous two full length albums - 2005's Sometimes and 2008's Bring Me Your Love - and a live CD/DVD combo released between the two, Green is set to propel his profile to a new plateau with the June 2011 release of his third album, Little Hell.
The effort shares its title with one of its tracks - a song that explores the little heavens and little hells that comprise a relationship and, as Green explains, "the things you do to get through them both." It's a theme explored throughout the album - the balance of both the blissful and harrowing experiences that come with relationships and life as a whole. Says Green: "You have to go through those little hells to get to the really great parts of love and life."
The collection was recorded at Catherine North Studios in Hamilton, Ontario - a converted church with wide-open architecture - with producer Alex Newport (Death Cab For Cutie, At The Drive-In) at the helm. The return to the studio where BMYL was documented was in-part due to the honest aural atmosphere it imparted on these 11 songs (not a single isolation booth was employed, but rather entirely tracked in the live room), but also in-part as a tribute to late studio owner, BMYL co-producer/engineer, and dear friend Dan Achen, who passed away suddenly in early 2010.
Adding to Little Hell's signature sound is the fact that the release was recorded and mixed on tape - an at-first foreign and subsequently frustrating endeavor for Green, who struggled to stick with the decision. The songs are all the more special because of it, though, capturing the very essence of Green as a writer and performer in the purest sense. "It's just a beautiful place to make music," says Green, looking back on the effort's birthplace, "and Alex really brought out the best in these songs. We were very much in-tune throughout the process."
Aiding in the album's assembly are some of Green's frequent collaborators, most prominently including his close friend and creative counterpart Daniel Romano, whom Green cites as invaluable to his creativity. City and Colour's live rhythm section, Dylan Green on drums and Scott Remila on bass and beautifully harmonized backing vocals, also took part in musical masonry.
Tracks like opener "We Found Each Other In The Dark" or the gorgeously sung ballad "Northern Wind" find Green capturing some of sweet, succulent slivers of life and love, his stirring vocals and eloquent lyrics heightening their appeal.
Conversely, songs like "O'Sister," with its haunting but moving melody, or the album's first single, "Fragile Bird," find Green relaying more arduous experiences. The former examines the struggles faced by the singer's own sister through some tumultuous times while the latter was inspired by his wife's frequent night terrors. Says the singer about his subjects: "I view writing as a very cathartic experience. It's my way of coping with or processing things happening, whether they're positive or not, and I think people can often identify with how they're interpreted."
Though Little Hell's hooky, heartfelt numbers boast familiarity for City and Colour fans, the album also delves deeper into the folk, blues, and even soul influences that surfaced on its predecessor thanks to the gorgeously-executed instrumentation and honest essence of Green's voice, though the two aren't mutually exclusive: "With this record," explains Green, "I tried to use every facet of my voice - low, high, quiet, and loud - so it's almost like another instrument."
When he's not playing in post-hardcore Canadian band, Alexisonfire, Green can be found touring as City and Colour, selling out thousand-seat venues across his native North America and respectably-sized European shows weeks in advance, including an April 2011 performance at the UK's treasured Royal Albert Hall which sold out in mere hours.
Considering his already impressive album sales, his latest album's potential impact is enormous. Sophomore Platinum-seller BMYL debuted at #2 on the Top 200 Soundscan chart (Canada), #5 on Billboard's Alternative New Artist chart, # 11 on its Heatseekers chart, never losing momentum through to the present. Though such things aren't what drives the artist to continue refining his craft.
"I'm just always aiming to become a better player and better songwriter, and this is the culmination of that at this point in time," says the man with the heavenly voice about Little Hell. "I'm very proud of it, and that's what's most important to me."
The voice is unmistakable - immediately identifiable by those that know it and intensely intriguing to those that don't. It belongs to Dallas Green, perhaps better known as the man who writes, records, and performs under the moniker of City and Colour.
Already renowned across Canada thanks to the success of his previous two full length albums - 2005's Sometimes and 2008's Bring…
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