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Bits: Rekkid Store Day, Hell & Half of Georgia show, Hank’s Pulitzer, Rush for real, Prine tribute

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  • Record Store Day is coming April 17! As the NTSIB hermitage is newly-equipped with a rekkid playa after years of watching the old vinyl collection sit quiet and sad, we are super jazzed for this Christmas of the music world this year. I’ll be celebrating the day at Music Saves, so if you’re there that day and happen to grab the last Black Keys 12″ before I’ve gotten my hands on a copy and you feel a sharp blow to the back of your head and then wake up in a pool of your own vomit to find that TBK 12″ gone, well…
  • Hell and Half of Georgia have a free show coming up on April 24 at Canter’s Kibitz Room in Hollywood. They also have new swag in the form of a pretty rockin’ Tee-shirt.
  • Did you know there’s a Pulitzer Prize for music? Yep, and Hank Williams was awarded one this year. I spotted a blog earlier answering the question of why Hank was awarded the Pulitzer for music, but was that really a question? Is “because he was fucking awesome” not answer enough?
  • Rush is touring. That’s right. Rush.
  • A John Prine tribute album will be hitting stores on June 22 featuring contributions from the likes of Old Crow Medicine Show, Justin Townes Earle, the Avett Brothers, Conor Oberst, Deer Tick and more.

We’ve been a little undecided on our feelings about Megafaun, but this performance they staged for La Blogotheque has certainly gone a long way in endearing them to us.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10851413&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

Megafaun – His Robe / A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

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Slackday: And Ohio boys ain’t too bad, either

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As it’s Slackday, I’ll just drop the (very thin) veneer of objective professionalism and admit it: I am currently obsessed with all things Dan Auerbach. I’ve always dug the Black Keys, but the release of the new songs from their forthcoming album have compelled me to spend quality time with their catalogue and to get into Dan Auerbach’s solo work.

I learned that my favorite song on Dan Auerbach’s album, Keep It Hid, is a cover of a song that was written by Wayne Carson Thompson – who was also the writer of the fantastic song “The Letter” that was popularized by the Box Tops, sung by a very young Alex Chilton – and popularized by a duo called Jon & Robin. I had never heard the song, so I went looking for it. I was a little apprehensive that I might be faced with the fact that Dan didn’t conjure magic and awesome from thin air. But I needn’t have worried. As with A.A. Bondy, I’m finding I can always trust Dan.

You see, here’s the Jon & Robin version:

It’s cute, but after the promise of the intro, it feels limp and uninspiring.

Now, here’s what Dan did with it:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLsANH1tFoY]

Fucking. A.

He took the promising intro of the Jon & Robin version, stretched it throughout the song and even ratcheted it up a few notches. I absolutely love that big-stomping carnival rhythm. I love the drop-out echo effect when he sings “more”. And, as always, I love the soulfulness of his vocal delivery. This is what covering a song should be all about, taking it and making it your own – keeping the bones, but practically rebuilding the rest from the ground up. Dan took something that was cute and twee and made it fun, sexy and absolutely rockin’.

Dan Auerbach MySpace

Dan Auerbach page at Nonesuch

Dan Auerbach KCRW In-studio Session at Rollo & Grady

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Slackday: NTSIB has a crush on Duke Street Blog

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Duke Street Blog assured themselves a place in NTSIB’s heart the moment they posted those amazing A.A. Bondy videos back in February. They’ve continued to deliver and have been posting some really great stuff from SXSW. This Roadside Graves clip had me smiling all the way through, and the Schocholautte clip is total rock ‘n’ roll.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10558611&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Roadside Graves – Valley – SXSW 2010 from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10557315&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=ffffff&fullscreen=1

Schocholautte – Spilled Milk – SXSW 2010 from DUKE STREET on Vimeo.

And look at that: I got through an entire post without mentioning that Akron duo. My gift to you.

Duke Street Blog

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Bits: listen to new Conrad Plymouth, see through Mike Watt’s eyes

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  • Conrad Plymouth are streaming their newborn (as in, the masters were just finished yesterday) EP on their MySpace and Facebook pages. I have even stopped listening to “Next Girl” to hear it.

  • Thunderbroom legend Mike Watt becomes an exhibited photographer tonight. If you’re in the Santa Monica area, you can see his Eye-gifts from Pedro exhibit at Track 16 through May 1.

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Rock ‘n’ Roll as Educational Tool

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I’ve always liked the Black Keys, but I have been getting more into them lately thanks to an early taste, via the uber groovy track “Tighten Up” (not a cover of the Archie Bell and the Drells’ song as I originally suspected), of their new album that’s coming out in May. Dan and Pat are Ohio boys who grew up in Akron, relatively speaking, just down the road from where I grew up. This is sometimes weird and slightly unsettling.

For instance: In doing some TBK fansite reading, I came across a familiar face.

See that big, craggy-faced dude with the feathers who’s lurking behind the amps? I know that dude. I’ve passed him many times throughout my life. Never knew his name or where he came from, but I always gave him a nod and a smile in passing.

Well, not that dude exactly. You see, that dude is a representation (possibly to size) of this dude:

I don’t know how many times I’ve passed him, and I’ve always admired him (especially during my high school years when I was obsessed with American Indian culture), but I never knew a damn thing about him until today. He has a name. Rotaynah. His creator is Hungarian-born Ohio artist Peter Wolf Toth, and Toth has erected at least one monolithic Indian head sculpture in every state in the country (some states have two or three of them), as well as in some provinces of Canada. They each have a name, and, collectively, they make the Trail of the Whispering Giants.

And it only took me twenty-plus years to find that out. Thanks, Dan and Pat!

(Astute observers may have also noted that Rotaynah makes an appearance on the cover of the Black Keys’ album Rubber Factory.)

  • Speaking of TBK, it didn’t take long for “Next Girl” to get posted on the net after it was offered as a tour tickets pre-sale incentive. You can listen to it at I Am Fuel You Are Friends. Though I have already listened to it enough times for all of us combined.

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Late to the Party: BlakRoc

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NTSIB could be all late-to-the-party all the time. Some music I am slow to warm up to (I’m just now starting to get on board with Local Natives). Some music I know I like, but I don’t really get into until years after I first hear it. Some music I don’t even know about until it’s old news.

BlakRoc falls into the third category for me, and I’m still mystified that I didn’t even know about this project this time last week. For others who may be as out of the loop as I have been on this: BlakRoc is a collaborative project between the Black Keys and Damon Dash of Roc-A-Fella Records. Dash helped bring a number of hip-hop luminaries in for the project, like Mos Def, Ludacris, Raekwon, Q-Tip and the RZA. The fucking RZA! Names even white people recognize! There’s even a from-the-grave appearance from Ol’ Dirty Bastard.

It’s no secret that the Black Keys have soul, and their groove-heavy music is a perfect, strong background for the rhymes laid down on this project. BlakRoc is fucking sweet, and NTSIB hasn’t been this instantaneously excited about an album in a long time.

http://www.lala.com/external/flash/SingleSongWidget.swf

The BlakRoc website could keep you busy for hours because not only have they posted videos of their appearances on Letterman and Fallon, but they also have webisodes of each of their recording sessions.

BlakRoc Official Website

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Bits: Black Keys pre-sale tix, new Low Anthem in the works, Radio Free Song Club, MGV first performance, Lissie’s AD interview

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  • Pre-sale tickets for the Black Keys summer tour went on sale this morning. Early birds will get the new album, Brothers, when it is released and instant downloads of “Tighten Up” and “Next Girl”.
  • The Low Anthem are working on a new album, which will include the lovely “Apothecary”.
  • Gather a bunch of seasoned songwriters, give them a monthly song deadline, make a podcast about it. That’s the premise of Radio Free Song Club, whose members include Victoria Williams, Peter Holsapple and Freedy Johnston, among others.
  • Duke Street Blog have begun posting their videos from SXSW, including the first performance by mini supergroup MG&V; – John McCauley of Deer Tick, Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes and Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit.
  • Lisse gets the Aquarium Drunkard treatment.

    • Here are the Low Anthem performing “Apothecary” in Grand Central Station for La Blogotheque’s Take Away Concert series:
    http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=9319392&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1

    The Low Anthem – Apothecary – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

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    Bob Wills: Talkin’ ‘Bout the King of Western Swing

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    The first time I heard the name Bob Wills was in the Brian Setzer/Joe Strummer-penned tune “Ghost Radio” from Setzer’s Guitar Slinger album. I learned a little more about Wills and his Texas Playboys from one of my many visits to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum and decided to take the plunge and scrounge some of Wills’ western swing to actually listen to.

    Confession: I hated it.

    Wills constant, high-pitched interjections of “A-haaa!” and “Yes, yes…” got on my nerves in record time. I could appreciate the music, but I couldn’t get past Wills’ voice. So I set Wills aside, thinking it just wasn’t for me.

    A few years later, I checked out the first volume (and the only volume that my library has…) of the PBS documentary series American Roots Music. Not only was Wills mentioned in the doc itself, but one of the extras on that first disc is a full performance of Bob and his boys playing “Sitting on Top of the World”.

    I kinda fell in love.

    It seems in the later years, Bob cut down on the high-pitched interjections and cranked up the funny asides. I decided it was time to give Mr. Wills another go. I found that if I started with the later work, I could get past the frequent “Ahhh!”s of the early work. I could even begin to enjoy them because they started to make me smile.

    Wills’ music not only hits the spot on two-stepping, but it also throws in some down ‘n’ dirty booty-shakin’ and it also fills a niche for music I don’t have enough of: sweet, languid fiddle music that puts me in mind of a mild summer evening, sitting on a porch swing with a glass of sweet tea and a sweet boy.

    This is the very performance that turned the tide for me. Please try to ignore Bob’s old man pants. And the wife beater seen through his shirt. I repeat, DO NOT STARE DIRECTLY INTO BOB’S CLOTHING.

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sS5jSbV0Vg]

    And a clip from one of a number of film appearances that Bob and the boys made, this one of my favorite Wills tune, “Stay a Little Longer”:

    [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM50ZQpSSTY]

    Bob Wills Official Website