Emily Danger (Dark Cabaret) Plays Rockwood Music Hall on Nov. 23rd / New Album (2014 Release) Available for Pre-Sale

Substituting lead guitar for lead violin using electronic pedals, looping, and computerized drums, Emily Danger is known for their modern and accessible sound. Described as “Radiohead meets Jeff Buckley and Heart”, Emily's voice packs a punch with her over four-octave range and incredible versatility. Emily Danger is playing an early show at Rockwood Music Hall this Saturday, Nov. 23rd - the band takes the stage at 8PM and cover is the usual "one drink minimum per set".

The band just released, "Easy Remix" (streaming above), which is the first single off the upcoming Emily Danger full-length album Peace Arch (to be released in early 2014). Breaking out of their former folk rock shell, the NYC-based indie band Emily Danger dives deeper into their dark cabaret sound by remixing their catchy folk ballad “Easy” into a magnificent new rendition featuring the distinct operatic vocals of Emily Nicholas over shivering strings and minimalist percussion. The accompanying music video is a true work of art that abstractly explores the very dynamic between hunter and prey and what it means to be human. Shot in the San Bernardino Mountains, the video tells the suspenseful story of a man and his son who fall prey to an unexpected hunter. The band regularly address social, political, and feminist issues in their songs and desire to connect to their audience as well as inspire change with their words. The recording and music video for “Easy Remix” are the very embodiment of that change.



Emily Danger was formed in 2011 in New York after a sold-out cabaret show of oddball covers and original music written by lead vocalist Emily Nicholas and drummer Ryan Nearhoff. The entire band is classically trained and joined forces to shed their former conservatory backgrounds and create orchestral, dark rock ‘n’ roll. Emily's powerful vocals compliment Cameron's violin virtuosity while Ryan's theatrical arrangements create the band's unique sound.

Links:
Emily Danger Band

The Flamin' Groovies - Interview with Cyril Jordan, Nov. '13 / Show at Warsaw in Brooklyn on Nov. 15th

Having just completed a successful tour of Japan and Australia this year, and then dates in June and July in London, NYC, San Francisco and LA, The Flamin' Groovies have returned in full force. The Cyril Jordan, Chris Wilson, George Alexander line-up that rocked the UK, Europe and the US from 1971 - 1980 are back in action. With the addition of Victor Penalosa on drums, they continue to present their own unique and infectious style of rock n roll with such cult classics as "Slow Death," "Shake Some Action" and "You Tore Me Down."

Mike from BrooklynRocks talked with Groovies founding member Cyril Jordan earlier this week about the band's new single ("End of the World"), forthcoming disc and the impetus behind the reunion of the Shake Some Action lineup. They also went back into the Groovies' history as Cyril talked about his encounters and friendships with rockers Jimi Hendrix and Cream and how the Groovies were the house band for the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Cyril is documenting his memoirs in a column in Ugly Things magazine.

This Friday night, the Groovies are playing the Norton Records Bash at Warsaw in Brooklyn on Nov. 15th. Tickets are $35 and the other bands on the bill are old-school garage rockers The Sonics and Daddy Long Legs.

Links:
The Flamin' Groovies

Cold Blood Club: Brooklyn Indie Dance Band Premiers New Track - "Down" / Show at Bowery Electric on Tues., Nov. 19th

Cold Blood Club are going tear up Bowery Electric next week with their brand of infectiously catchy dance rock. CMJ described the band's music as a "fist pumping ode to a party at the end of the world" and Bowery Electric's stage almost seems too small to hold the energy of this eight member band. Cold Blood Club has a full length, Tear Down the Maps, coming out soon and the advance singles have been trickling out over the last few months. The sing-along party anthem "Goodbye to All That" (streaming above) was released in July and the band has now followed that with a brand-new cut, "Down". This new song features guitarist/vocalist Tom Stuart trading off vocals with Kendra Jones over top of a driving bass and drum rhythm and sweeping keys.

Brooklyn-based Cold Blood Club is a gang of musicians who have been conquering the New York Indie dance scene one packed venue at a time since they debuted their edgy blend of soul, rock, and pop in the summer of 2011. Now, Cold Blood Club offers a taste of their forthcoming LP with new single/video, "Goodbye to All That."



Four piece rock n' roll band Aloud will be opening for Cold Blood Club. Helmed by longtime songwriting partners and husband-and-wife team Henry Beguiristain (lead vocals/guitars) and Jen de la Osa (lead vocals/guitars), the band has recorded three studio albums — with a fourth in the oven — and has crisscrossed the country on several independent tours.



The show at Bowery Electric is on Tues., Nov. 19th and doors are at 6:30PM. Cover is $8 and Cristina Taddonio and Owen Cohen are also on the bill.

Links:
Cold Blood Club
Aloud

Jimmy Somerville (x-Bronski Beat) Sings Impromptu Version of "Smalltown Boy" with Berlin Street Busker

Wow...I'm starting to feel really old as I had a brief stint as a dance-radio DJ in the 80's and Bronski Beat and The Communards were staples on the playlist. Aside for having a vague memory of Somerville playing a show at Tracks in Washington, DC sometime in the mid/late 90's, I completely lost track of Somerville after The Communards.

Last weekend I saw this video posted of a Berlin street busker playing "Smalltown Boy" who is joined mid-song by Somerville, who appears to have been walking his dog. There is no mistaking Somerville's falsetto but the busker turns to him at the end and asks "Is it you?".



Links:
Jimmy Somerville

The Canon Logic Play Brooklyn Night Bazaar on Nov. 22nd Along with Bear Hands and Dead Stars

In a recent CMJ edition of Deli Magazine, the magazine described The Canon Logic's sound as "punchy choruses, prettily constructed melodies [and] rich vocals". The band has a new disc, WYLD, coming out soon and just released a video for the song "Crocodiles", which was filmed two days after Hurricane Sandy, in a blacked out lower Manhattan and on the shut-down subway tracks.

The Canon Logic are playing a free show at Brooklyn Night Bazaar on Friday, Nov. 22nd along with Bear Hands, Brooklyn shoegazers Dead Stars, Desert Sharks and DJ Who Am I. The new Brooklyn Night Bazaar location is at 165 Banker Street in Brooklyn and the show runs from 6PM - Midnight.



Links:
The Canon Logic

Paul McCartney - 'New' CD Review (Hear Music)

STREAM: Paul McCartney - "New"

Paul McCartney’s sixteen solo disc outside of Wings, New (Hear Music), was released on Oct. 15th and this is his first album of new material since 2007’s Memory Almost Full. After 2012’s reflective covers album, Kisses on the Bottom, New is a welcome return to McCartney’s rock roots as the disc’s 13 tracks touch upon the sounds of later-period Beatles and McCartney’s work with Wings. There is also little of the sentimental schmaltz that weighted down some of McCartney’s solo work in the 80’s.

The key facet of the new disc which immediately jumps out of the speakers is that McCartney seems revitalized and the songs have a new sense of urgency. There is also a nod to Macca’s past as many songs contain multi-layered loops and effects which bring to mind the effects on The Beatles’ Revolver and/or early Pink Floyd albums. McCartney embraces a variety of styles across this disc and the strongest tracks are the rockers (which were also the first singles from the disc). Producer Paul Epworth gives the disc opener “Save Us” and “Queenie Eye” a post-punk edge that more than justifies anyone who questioned Macca’s work with the surviving members of Nirvana. The final Epworth track, “Road”, has a completely different sound as this is full-sounding, hazy number that bears more than a passing resemblance to the ‘urban cool’ of the early 90’s trip-hop bands.



Producer Mark Ronson produced the tracks that sound the most like classic McCartney – “New” and “Alligator”. “New” sounds somewhat ‘Beatle-ish’ with its multi-tracked array of sounds, bouncy rhythms and big hooky vocals and this song proves Macca still has the chops to turn out those perfect AM Radio hits. “Alligator” is a uptempo rocker which combines some great bluesy guitar lines with harpsichord and other instrumentation over which Paul expresses his need for “someone who can save me”.



McCartney seems to lose steam on some of the slower numbers, two of which were produced by Ethan Johns. While “Early Days” seems to be about Paul and John’s pre-Beatles friendship, it seems to be a schmaltzy walk through a bygone era and the only reason that the song doesn’t go completely off the rails is the painful and raw emotion in Paul’s falsetto vocals. “Hosanna” is measurably more interesting and, outside of the song’s hazy veneer, this tale of romantic brittleness is very similar to songs on almost all of Paul’s previous albums.

The remainder of the disc was produced by Beatles’ producer George Martin’s son Giles. Some of the more interesting of these tracks include “On My Way to Work”, a commuter’s tale of the daily grind of riding the bus to work but waiting/hoping for dreams to come true and this number sounds like it could have come out of The Beatles’ back catalog. “Appreciate” is a dance club number with an industrial beat which is the most adventurous that I’ve heard Macca in years. The disc ends with the hidden track “Scared”, which is a stripped-down piano ballad where Paul seems to be afraid of telling his new love how much she means to him: “Afraid to let you see/ That the simplest of words won’t come out of my mouth, though I’m dying to set them free/ Trying to let you see/ How much you mean to me.”



Links:
Paul McCartney

The Flamin' Groovies Premiere "End of the World" (first new Cyril Jordan/Chris Wilson cut in 32 years) / Show on Nov. 15th at Warsaw in Brooklyn

STREAM: The Flamin' Groovies - "End of the World" (hosted on RollingStone.com)

Having just completed a successful tour of Japan and Australia this year, and then dates in June and July in London, NYC, San Francisco and LA, The Flamin' Groovies have returned in full force. The Cyril Jordan, Chris Wilson, George Alexander line-up that rocked the UK, Europe and the US from 1971 - 1980 are back in action. With the addition of Victor Penalosa on drums, they continue to present their own unique and infectious style of rock n roll with such cult classics as "Slow Death," "Shake Some Action" and "You Tore Me Down."

This incarnation of the Groovies played their first US show this past May at The Elbo Room in San Fransisco and the show sold out in less than 24 hours. The Flamin' Groovies came through town in July for a show at Bowery Ballroom which was followed by a sold-out show at Maxwell's.

This time around, the Groovies are playing the Norton Records Bash at Warsaw in Brooklyn on Nov. 15th. Tickets are $35 and the other bands on the bill are old-school garage rockers The Sonics and Daddy Long Legs.

Here is the set list for the show at Maxwell's - I can't imagine the band will switch things up too much this time around:
 - Yeah My Baby
- Tallahassee Lassie
- You Tore Me Down
- I'll Feel a Whole Lot Better (The Byrds cover)
- Yes I Am
- I Want You Bad (NRBQ cover)
- I Can't Hide
- First Plane Home
- Please Please Girl
- Don't You Lie to Me (Tampa Red cover)
- Married Woman
- Between The Lines
- Slow Death
- Shake Some Action

Encore:
Teenage Head



The Flamin' Groovies story goes all the way back to 1965 when the band began as the Chosen Few in their hometown of San Francisco, California. After a name change and a self-released 10 inch album called Sneakers, which sold amazingly well, the band caught the attention of Columbia who signed them up and sent them into the studio with a big budget to record their first real album, Supersnazz, on the Epic label. Their next two albums were on Kama Sutra (home of their heroes, The Lovin' Spoonful): Flamingo and the now revered classic Teenage Head.

Lead singer Roy Loney left the band right after that and lead guitarist Cyril Jordan moved the group to England with Chris Wilson (formerly of Loose Gravel) taking over as front man. They continued their style of straight ahead guitar driven rock n' roll but this time with a more 60's rather than 50's influence. A few singles on United Artists, recorded at the legendary Rockfield Studios in Wales with Dave Edmunds producing, followed in the early '70s. In '76 they signed to Sire Records, who released three true gems of power pop: Shake Some Action, Flamin' Groovies Now and Jumpin' In The Night.

Another lineup change ensued in the next decade with Wilson moving to England and joining the Barracudas. The Groovies continued on thru the 80's and into the early '90s touring Australia and Europe, putting out a fine but overlooked album called Rock Juice and then finally calling it quits. Jordan formed a new band called Magic Christian while Wilson released solo albums in Europe.

Now in 2013, Jordan, Wilson and original founding member and bass player George Alexander, have reunited for the first time since 1981. They're joined by drummer Victor Penalosa, a fine musician in his own right who faithfully recreates the style heard on the classic recordings while at the same time adding his own flavor. The foursome has gone back into the studio to finish up long lost recordings as well as cutting brand new material. They recently toured Japan and Australia, returning home to San Francisco to do a show that sold out in less than 24 hours. Fans have been delighted with what is being called "a dream set list", including original songs the band has never performed before onstage. Newcomers are asking, "Why haven't I ever heard of this group?" It's hard to say just why the group hasn't gotten the attention they deserve (at least in the USA) but they're back to give everyone another chance at hearing and seeing just why those in the know consider them one of the greatest rock n' roll bands ever.

Links:
The Flamin' Groovies

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan - Live Photos from M is for Montreal @ CMJ, Arlene's Grocery, NYC 10-18-13

I've seen some shows over the years that were so completely "out there" that I probably spent most of the show staring at what was unfolding on stage and I couldn't tell you after the show whether the band was good or bad. These shows come immediately to mind and include Butthole Surfers at Hammerjacks in 1991, Marilyn Manson at the 9:30 Club in 1994 and now Yamantaka // Sonic Titan's performance at the M is for Montreal CMJ show will be added to the list.  These guys are pretty far out there, both musically and visually, so I don't know how to describe them - the best that I can come up with is "noh wave" Suicide channeled through Bjork.

Here is how Wikipedia describes the band: "The group was originally conceived while [vocalists] Kato Attwood and Alaska B were art students at Concordia University, as an art project based around exploring and subverting the cultural signifiers of their shared Asian Canadian heritage; both are of mixed Asian-European heritage, and were previously members of the defunct Montreal noise rock band Lesbian Fight Club. They developed a music and performance style that incorporated aspects of Asian C-pop and J-pop, progressive rock, heavy metal and industrial music, as well as Buddhist philosophy, anime and manga, Chinese opera and Kabuki and Nôh theatre."

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan's sophomore disc, UZU, which roughly translates as "spirals" or "swirls" in Japanese, came out October 29 on Suicide Squeeze/Paper Bag.



This video isn't from the show at Arlene's but was filmed at a CMJ show earlier the same day:


Links:
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

Kandle (Osborne) - Live Photos from M is for Montreal @ CMJ, Arlene's Grocery, NYC 10-18-13

Of the 8 - 10 performances that I attending at last month's CMJ Music Marathon, Kandle (Osborne)'s set was clearly one of the highlights (though having her go on right before Yamantaka // Sonic Titan was certainly a style, if not culture, clash). Kandle plays fuzzed-out delta blues that falls somewhere between Cowboy Junkies and Mazzy Star and her compelling vocals are matched by shimmering tremolo provided by long time musical partner and co-producer Sam Goldberg (Broken Social Scene).

Kandle released her debut EP last year which Sputnik Music rated excellent and they described the disc as: "With some stomping drums, twanging guitar and fuzzed-out vocals, "Kandle" in many ways sounds straight-up like outlaw blues music; the perfect stuff for driving alone through the desert in if you know what I mean." More recently, Kandle signed with Dare to Care Records and her full-length disc is coming out early next year. The video for first single, "Demon", follows the photo set from Kandle's performance at Arlene's Grocery.

Kandle was in town earlier this summer for two shows at Stage 48 with Coeur de Pirate and, in an interview with TimesSquare.com, she was asked about her forthcoming disc:

TS: Musically, how will this be different from the other material you've released?

KO: I find that it's a lot stronger. When I did the EP, it was an experiment. I wasn't very confident with what I was doing and I didn't know if I could sing! I made it, and I got comfortable. I started experimenting more, my voice really developed, and I went crazy with writing. I think this shows more of what I can do and what the band can do with me.





Links:
Kandle