Watch a video of a past performance at The Music Box
The Music Box is an interactive installation comprised of musical architecture. It was created by non-profit organization New Orleans Airlift in collaboration with 25 artists including the international street art star Swoon. The Music Box features a collection of purpose-built shacks and miniature houses, each containing an instrument or having instruments built into its structure. The wooden shacks that make up this “shanty-town” are constructed from salvaged materials reclaimed from a late-18th-century Creole cottage that collapsed on the site several years ago.
Housing a slew of unconventional and inventive instruments, The Music Box offers its visitors a blank canvas to create music in an entirely new way. Between now and the end of June The Music Box will host a series of recordings sessions and pop-up performances in the space by amazing and diverse musicians including Thurston Moore, longtime Swoon collaborators Dark Dark Dark, the beloved Cajun musician Jo-El Sonnier, the sample-based band Javelin, the Brooklyn pop punk duo Japanther, and noise heroes Black Dice.
A final performance by the Shantytown Orchestra will feature an unexpected and eclectic line-up including local musicians like Donald Miller (of the legendary 1980’s noise band Borbetomagus), to Rosalie “Lady Tambourine” Washinton, a familiar New Orleans character who plays with gospel acts as well as the Neville Brothers. They will be joined by out-of town performers including the transgendered harpist Baby Dee, (a collaborator of Will Oldman and Antony and the Johnsons), Magas, the electronic wizard of Chicago, and the Brooklyn-duo Javelin. These June 8th and 9th concerts mark the very last chance to experience a full orchestral performance at The Music Box before the installation is taken down at the end of June 2012.
Friendly Ghost has perfected a recipe of Eric Prydz’s “Call on Me” and Ra Ra Riot’s “Valerie”
Check it out and download here.
The video starts off showing bandmates walking on set in their tuxedos with tails. It was filmed live during the recording of the album, at RMV Studio on the island of Skeppsholmen in Stockholm, Sweden. The footage offers a glimpse into the gorgeous new studio owned by Benny Andersson from ABBA.
The Hives elaborate, “We recorded large chunks of LEX HIVES at Rixmixningsverket. It is a new studio that Benny Andersson from ABBA built in the heart of Stockholm, and he cut us a deal we just couldn’t refuse. We were the first band to record there. The video shows us walking to the studio on the first day of the second week of recordings. We basically set up a bunch of cameras in order to film while we recorded the take to make this more realistic than most “rock videos.” The thing is, we needed extra mouths and hands since we couldn’t do it all ourselves at the same time. These were generously supplied by people close and dear to us who can be seen in the film. Even Randy Fitzsimmons can be seen through the studio window wearing a mask. Randy on camera is a historical first. This moment is also a historical first. We give you.. We tell you to… GO RIGHT AHEAD!”
Their highly-anticipated new album, Lex Hives, is due out June 5 via the band’s own Disques Hives label and comes in advance of a North American tour that kicks off June 19 in Washington, D.C. A more extensive U.S. headlining tour is in the works for this Fall. Lex Hives is now available to pre-order on iTunes.
The Wallflowers have announced they are back in the studio and putting the finishing touches on a long-awaited new studio album that will be released by Columbia Records this fall. Currently recording in Nashville at Dan Auerbach’s (The Black Keys) Easy Eye Sound studio, the new album finds frontman Jakob Dylan joining original band members Greg Richling (bass) and Rami Jaffee (keyboards), with Wallflowers’ longtime guitarist Stuart Mathis and drummer Jack Irons (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam) rounding out the lineup. The album is being produced by Jay Joyce (Emmylou Harris, Cage the Elephant) and mixed by Rich Costey (Bruce Springsteen, The Shins).
The Wallflowers have taken their deep history and defining sound into new territory with the release of their upcoming album. The new record has the band doing what it does best while continuing to find new ground to cover. “It’s been a while since we’ve felt this energized and creative. We haven’t changed our stripes so much as we’re continuing to redefine the animal,” said Jakob Dylan.
In addition to their new album, The Wallflowers have announced a series of tour dates that will kick off in select U.S. cities in July. On these dates the band expects to give fans a preview of the new material, which finds them rediscovering their sound while reflecting the varied influences they have accumulated over the years.
I’m a sucker for “One Headlight”!!!
Formed in Los Angeles, The Wallflowers rose to fame with their 4x platinum album Bringing Down The Horse, which featured four top charting singles including “6th Avenue Heartache,” “One Headlight,” “The Difference,” and “Three Marlenas.” The two-time Grammy Award winners went on to sell over 7 million records worldwide with a series of critically acclaimed albums before going on hiatus in 2007. During the group’s break from recording, Jakob Dylan released two solo albums, which also garnered significant praise, 2008’s Seeing Things and 2010’s Women and Country.
The Wallflowers Tour Dates
Filed under Awesome, Highly Anticipated, Shows, Whoa!
Filed under Awesome, Holy Freaking Crap!, listen, Whoa!
With Record Store Day coming upon us, this is the perfect time to check out this app for iPhone and Android phones from The Vinyl District.
Besides having a feed from the website, The Vinyl District, the app features a geo-location record store finding tool which is also keyword searchable (helpful when planning a trip to a strange city). Have a look & take a quick tour here. The app has stores listed in over 15 countries, mostly in the US & UK, and more are being added everyday. The app also features a calendar for record fairs in the US & UK, and a social aspect as well. Users can check-in to stores, leave comments about them, and also discuss purchases. This has opened up an entire new platform for vinyl & music lovers to communicate and support what matters most to us in real time, all of the time, every day.
Filed under Whoa!
“This Brit beatmaker’s productions helped define early subwoofer-punishing dubstep.”-Rolling Stone
Rusko’s new album has quickly overtaken the charts, firmly at #1 on the iTunes Electronic chart in the USA, UK, Canada, France, Ireland and Holland!
SONGS is a collection of masterful pop songs that will reach far beyond the dance floors. Rusko has created a body of work that encapsulates all the best elements of bass heavy music and infuses them with sublime melodies and a euphoric spirit.
Download “Skanker” from SPIN here.
Filed under downloads, new albums, Whoa!
Dangerbird Records and MapleMusic Recordings are excited to announce the release of the new record by the Grammy-nominated Silversun Pickups, Neck of the Woods, on May 8. The record was produced by the Grammy Award-winning Jacknife Lee (U2, Weezer, REM, Snow Patrol), and the song “Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)” is the first single. The band is confirmed to perform from the Jimmy Kimmel Live! outdoor stage on release day, May 8.
Lead singer/guitarist Brian Aubert told Spin magazine that the songs sound “like a horror movie.” He continued, “[2009’s] Swoon was more about what I was feeling at that particular time, whereas with this one, I wanted to see what built me. It was learning why I am the way I am.” When discussing the sound of Neck of the Woods, Aubert told Spin that drummer Christopher Guanlao steals the show. “We really wanted to play with drums as textures. We played around with drums coming in here and there and building atmosphere, which guitars usually do.” But he went on to joke, “I’m not going to let the others have all the fun. It’s still a rock record. We wanted to have moments of explosions like we’ve done in the past, but we didn’t want them to carry the whole song. There’s something a little bit psychotic sounding that we really like and we didn’t want to fill it entirely with big guitars.”
The band will be touring throughout 2012 and 2013.
Filed under listen, new albums, Whoa!
Check out this new chill-inducing video for Miike Snow’s “The Wave.”
The video is a continuation of a thread which began in their last video for “Paddling Out.” In that video, a group of unfortunates were abducted to space in an experiment to create a perfect human named Jean Noel. Following some pretty brutal chainsaw surgery, the video ended with Jean crashing to earth in a spaceship seemingly manned by classical-era twins.
Both videos were directed by Swedish Director Andreas Nillson, who’s work includes MGMT and Fever Ray. Rumours the entire plot was cooked up after a real life after hours chain saw massacre are currently unconfirmed.
Click here to see the video for “Paddling Out” (the first video of the series), if you haven’t yet.
Filed under Highly Anticipated, listen, new albums, video, Whoa!
Musically Amusing 