Julie Peel Kicks Off Second Tour in Support of Debut Album // Show at Union Hall on Nov. 15th

DOWNLOAD: Julie Peel - "Unfold" MP3

Julie Peel is a Canadian singer/songwriter who released her debut CD, Near The Sun, last year on American Laundromat Records. With lyrics that sound like semi-confessional stories and a layered, atmospheric production, some immediate points of comparison are artists like Beth Orton and Lisa Germano.

Julie kicked off her fall tour on Friday, October 1st in France and the tour will take Julie to Spain, Germany, Norway, and London before she heads to the USA for several key dates. This is Julie’s second tour in support of her critically-acclaimed debut album Near The Sun. During this current tour, Julie will be performing songs from Near The Sun, and introducing several new songs from her upcoming second album.

Near the Sun has earned rave reviews, an early invitation to showcase at SXSW, placements in television shows such as NBC’s Mercy and CBS’s Life Unexpected, and opening support invites from artists such as Joe Purdy, Tanya Donelly, and Dar Williams.



Julie Peel tour dates:
10/15 Samba Resille, Toulouse (FRANCE)
10/18 L'International, Paris (FRANCE)
10/25 Café Mono, Oslo (NORWAY)
11/11 The Barn at Hamilton College, Clinton, NY (USA)
11/13 Tin Angel, Philadelphia, PA (USA)
11/15 Union Hall, Brooklyn, NY (USA)
11/21 Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles, CA (USA) *Opening for Dar Williams*
11/22 Hotel Cafe, Los Angeles, CA (USA) *Opening for Dar Williams*
11/28 Club Passim, Cambridge, MA (USA)
12/02 The Velvet Lounge, Washington, DC (USA)
12/03 The Hexagone, Baltimore, MD (USA)
12/07 The Rhythm Factory, London (UNITED KINGDOM)

Links:
Julie Peel

Alexa Wilding Plays Solo Show at Rockwood Music Hall on Tues., July 27th in Support of New Solo EP

DOWNLOAD: Alexa Wilding - "Black Diamond Day" (from new self-titled EP)

Alexa Wilding just finished a very successful tour with Au Revoir Simone and she is playing a homecoming show at Rockwood Music Hall on Tuesday (set time at 8PM). Alexa will be playing in support of her self-titled debut EP, which was mixed by Fred Smith of Television and features Tim Foljahn (Cat Power, Townes Van Zandt) on additional guitars and lap steel.

The recent tour with Au Revior Simone got great reviews and I particularly liked Nylon Magazine's preview: "Today, Au Revoir Simone announced they'd be joined by the Brooklyn singer-songwriter Alexa Wilding on their summer tour, which means you can see some cool girls with guitars, without having Sarah McLaughlin breathing down your back."

Alexa began her career performing with International Shades, the art-rock project of ex-Pussy Galore/Sonic Youth drummer, Bob Bert, and guitarist Mark C (Live Skull). "My time playing with the Shades is very dear to me. I was like the kid sister the older boys let into the club house! There would be times in practice where I’d wonder, why did they let ME in. I was thrown into a musical landscape very different from my own, and I had to learn, fast, how to swim – all the while playing it REALLY cool. I was too embarrassed to let on how exciting it was to play in a real rock band, opening for my idols like Mudhoney and Genesis P’Orridge, and maybe they thought it was pretty funny that a little girl in a dress had idols like that!" (from a in-depth interview with MeetYouAtTheShow)

Links:
Alexa Wilding

Sam Bisbee - Son of a Math Teacher CD Review (le Grand Magistery)

DOWNLOAD: Sam Bisbee - "Never Fall In Love" w/ Leona Naess (MP3)

Sam Bisbee is a singer/songwriter with a solid power-pop bent whose songs are comparable to the works of Tommy Keene, Freedy Johnston and Paul Westerberg. Sam recently released his fourth CD, Son of a Math Teacher on the le Grand Magistery label.

Sam must have terrible luck with women as love and broken romances are a consistent theme across this disc. Each song tells a vignette of lives, relationships and open emotions which Sam wraps with some wonderfully melodic hooks. There are some moments of real brilliance on this disc where Sam sings ethereal Stars-like duets with Leona Naess ("Never Fall in Love") and Lucie Wainwright Roche ("Close to Me"). The Replacements-like rockers ("Parachute" and "Ringtone") are also quite tasty. Sam embraces a wide range of styles on this disc and the most diverse is that he sounds somewhat like Roger Waters on "Curves of Your Body". Try listening to this track and not thinking about The Wall.

There are a few duds like "Letter B" where Sam pulls words the start with "B" around a breakup song but these slow moments are few are far between.

Here is the first video "Oxygen" from the new disc:


Sam has been keeping busy outside of making CDs as he scored the film Paper Cover Rock which is (of course) about troubled relationships. The film was shown last year at the SXSW Film Festival. Sam also produced and arranged Cat Power's version of The Nerves' "Hanging on the Telephone" for a Cingular commercial.



Links:
Sam Bisbee's MySpace Profile

Cat Power - Dark End of the Street EP Review (Matador)

2008 was an interesting year for Cat Power as Chan Marshall bookended the year with albums of cover tunes. Jukebox was released in January of 2008 and it featured 10 covers songs, which were predominately made up of classic folk and country tunes. Some of the artists covered on Jukebox include Bob Dylan, Hank Williams and Joni Mitchell.

Dark End of the Street was recorded during the sessions for Jukebox but, this time, Chan covers some classic Muscle Shoals style soul. The six-song EP is bookended by a pair of tunes originally made popular by Aretha Franklin ("Dark End of the Street" and "It Ain't Fair") and the disc also includes an Otis Redding cover ("I've Been Loving You Too Long"). All of the songs are recorded with the Dirty Delta Blues band who give these songs a swirling soul sound. Chan's vocal delivery is very similar to that on Jukebox - while her vocals don't rise and fall with the build in the music, Chan's world-weary bluesy singing present a unique reinterpretation of many of these songs.

One of the more interesting reinterpretations is CCR's "Fortunate Son". While this version doesn't have John Fogerty's driving guitar lines, Chan's passionate vocals drive the song through what could be mistaken for a Velvet Underground backing track.

Here is a live performance of "It Ain't Fair":


On Matador Records blog, Gerald Cosloy posted: "Chan has not retired from writing or recording her own material. We’re pretty confident her next full length album wllll either be all originals or about 90% in that direction…"

Cat Power is playing two nights at the Apollo Theater next month. The shows are February 6th and 7th and tickets are $36.00.

Links:
Cat Power