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Bits: Atlas Sound, Justin Townes Earle, The Wu-Tang Clan, Conrad Plymouth, The Black Keys

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  • Atlas Sound has released two free albums this week. Download Bedroom Databank Vol. 1 here and Bedroom Databank Vol. 2.

  • Justin Townes Earle has updated his tour schedule, including some European dates and a show at the Kent Stage on February 8 with Jessica Lea Mayfield.

  • The Wu-Tang Clan has announced a full tour.

  • Our friends and internet drinking buddies Conrad Plymouth have announced a series of Wisconsin and Minnesota live dates, including the Muzzle of Bees 6th Anniversary show.

  • It’s been 11 days since I’ve mentioned anything Black Keys-related, but our friends at Rubber City Review have afforded me the opportunity to do it again. They have joined the dark side and finally become a part of the Twitter stream, and to promote this new foray, they have a special contest to win a pair of tickets to the sold-out Black Keys New Year’s Eve show in Chicago.

This isn’t really news, but Gorilla Vs. Bear posted their favorite videos of 2010, and it gives me the opportunity to mention one of my favorite albums of 2010 as their #1 video is Gil Scott-Heron’s “Me and the Devil” from his gorgeous album I’m New Here.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OET8SVAGELA?fs=1]

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Rebirth of the Cool: Trick Bag

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As I’ve copped to before, sometimes I discover great music through questionable sources. For example, my discovery trail to Earl King’s “Trick Bag” began in 1990 thanks to a cassette tape that featured one of the most ubiquitous songs of that era. But let’s start at the beginning…

Released in 1962, King’s original has a solid, loping, irresistible groove and an engaging story.

 

 

In 1964, Seattle band the Artesians took the song and added layers of noise and bombast with muscular organ and lots of hi-hat. I swear if you put your face close enough to the speaker when you listen to this version, you’ll feel your hair blown back. (Incidentally, if anyone has information on this band, please let me know. I’m having trouble turning up much on them.)

 

 

Now let’s leap to the ’90s. In 1990, Robert Palmer created a cultural phenomenon with his video for “Addicted to Love” – you know the one, with the heavily made-up, dead-eyed ladies in their little, black dresses. Despite the fact that everyone grew sick to death of that song, the album it came from, Riptide, was actually pretty good for its time and was loaded with some fairly non-conventional twists, including Palmer’s slightly disco-ish cover of “Trick Bag”.

 

 

Then in ’91, the guitar returned to save our souls, and in ’92, the Gories brought “Trick Bag” back to its roots, hitting somewhere between the sparse groove of the King original and the freak-out of the Artesians cover.

 

The Gories – Trick Bag

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Notable Shows in the Greater Cleveland Area + The Gories

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Fri, Nov 19| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Asylum Street Spankers
    Caravan of Thieves
    $18 adv / $20 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Fri, Nov 19| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Whiskey Daredevils
    Lords of the Highway
    45 Spider
    $7
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Sun, Nov 21| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Raquy & the Cavemen
    Durga Dance Company
    $10 adv / $12 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Sun, Nov 21| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
    Misery Jackals
    $10
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Wed, Nov 24| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
    The Floorwalkers (cd release)
    The Modern Electric
    Tom Evanchuck
    $8
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, Nov 24| 9 PM (7 PM door)
    This Way Out 5th Anniversary Show
    Afternoon Naps
    Clovers
    Dreadful Yawns
    (Bands start playing @ 9PM
    Free appetizers 7 PM to 9 PM)
    $5
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Sat, Nov 20| 9 PM
    No Age
    Lucky Dragons
    Herzog
    $12 adv / $14 dos

  • Sun, Nov 21| 8 PM
    Free Energy
    Hollerado
    The Globes
    $8

Now That’s Class

  • Sat, Nov 20| 1 PM – 7 PM
    Bling Bling Bazaar
    (featuring vendors, DJ’s, food)
    Beardo Bandini
    Jukebox Value
    Muamin Collective
    Vigatron
    FREE

  • Sun, Nov 21| 9 PM
    Destroy Nate Allen
    Beckett & Friends
    Back to Bouvet
    19 Action News (cd release)
    Dan Polo
    $5 donation

Musica

  • Sat, Nov 20| 7 PM
    River City Extension
    The Modern Electric
    Shivering Timbers
    Tinamou
    $8

  • Sat, Nov 20| 10 PM
    Party of Helicopters
    Sun God
    New Body Type
    $5

  • Wed, Nov 24| 10 PM
    Cap C & Random X
    $5

The Kent Stage

  • Fri, Nov 19| 8 PM
    Kent State Folk Festival
    Loudon Wainwright
    Shawn Colvin
    $40 / $65

Happy Dog

  • Fri, Nov 19| 9 PM
    Benefit for Secondhand Mutts
    Misery Jackals
    Scoliosis Jones

The Gories are coming! The Gories are coming! I first encountered the gigantic and gigantically cool Mick Collins when his band the Dirtbombs opened for the Detroit Cobras at the Beachland Ballroom. The Dirtbombs blew that place up and made the Detroit Cobras seem flaccid in comparison. Now Mick Collins is back together with his old friends in the Gories, and they’ll be playing the Beachland on November 27.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvjIq0j6hjY?fs=1]

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Paolo Conte: [Imagine Something in Italian Here]

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It’s tough being a fan of singer/songwriter/pianist Paolo Conte if you don’t know much Italian. I first heard Conte’s music while working in a bookstore in northern California thanks to one of my spectacular co-workers playing Conte’s Best of… CD over the PA. I fell in love with the music – which, though I tend to shy away from direct artist comparisons, I have often described to people as “if Tom Waits sang French songs in Italian” – but it’s been difficult keeping up with him since.

You may well have heard Conte, too, as songs like “Come Di” and “Via Con Me” have been used in a couple of American films (like the Cleveland-set Welcome to Collinwood). His bi-lingual music is often upbeat and infectious but also ranges to the utterly beautiful. A lawyer as well as a musician (his family have been solicitors for generations), he is known to accompany himself by producing trumpet sounds with his mouth.

And it just so happens that he released a new album last month called Nelson (in honor of his dog).

Italian journal-makers Moleskine love Conte, too, and have produced a lovely special edition Nelson journal.

You can purchase Nelson on Amazon and iTunes Italy (though apparently not iTunes U.S.). And your guess is as good as mine on where to get the Moleskine journal.

Paolo Conte Official Website

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Video Round-Up

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This week, Jennifer makes NTSIB one of the few places on the internet where you will see the words “killer xylophone action” used together.

No shows this week, so I’m dipping into the video vault (aka YouTube) to highlight some music I’ve enjoyed recently:

Jail Weddings – I Just Thought You Were Someone I Knew

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR–xZltoAE?fs=1]

I have already enthused at y’all about their EP Inconvenient Dreams, which is a five-song slice of joy. Now I am here to be flappy and flaily about their latest full-length release, Love is Lawless, which is both delicious and dirty. As you will see from the video, there are a lot of them, and they harmonize beautifully while singing songs with titles like “What Did You Do With My Gun?” The track in this video is something of a bitter kiss-off to a cruel, inconstant lover, with some killer xylophone and fiddle action.

Tour status: They just wrapped up a West Coast run, but it looks like they’ll be playing at The Echo in Los Angeles on Nov. 29, along with The Black Apples, Dante vs Zombies, and My Pet Saddle.

Surfer Blood – Floating Vibes

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_RBxVpM_AI?fs=1]

A couple of weeks ago I had cause to get up at 5 in the morning to watch Subterranean a show on MTV wherein they actually play videos. (I know! On MTV! Has the world slipped off its axis?) The show is meant to be the reanimation of 120 Minutes, but it doesn’t quite get there, mainly because – at least in the episode I saw – the artist being interviewed between videos doesn’t seem to have much of a connection to what is being played. The videos themselves were actually quite interesting. I pulled this one out to share specifically because I like the “cable access tv” visual style they have going on, as well as their guitars.

Tour status: Currently running around Europe with Interpol, though they will be part of the Bruise Cruise to the Bahamas in February.

Christina Perri – “Jar of Hearts”

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvnASKvi2H8?fs=1]

Perri recently rocketed up the charts and into a record deal almost literally overnight after this song was featured on So You Think You Can Dance Canada. I happen to like this version better than the “official” video because I think it being just her and the piano showcases the power of her voice. Also, this is the kind of song you play – loudly, repeatedly, and as often as necessary – to stop yourself from taking a bad boy/girlfriend back into your life.

Tour status: She’s making appearances at various Christmas-special style shows; check her listings to see if there is one near you!

— Jennifer

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Bits: Sub Pop’s Andy Kotowicz, Einstürzende Neubauten, Tom Waits and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, The Low Anthem, Raekwon

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  • On October 24 of this year, Sub Pop executive Andy Kotowicz was killed in a car accident, leaving behind a wife and young daughter. On December 4, the Showbox will host a benefit concert for the Andy Kotowicz Family Foundation, featuring A-Frames/AFCGT, Fruit Bats, Mudhoney, Michael Yonkers, Pissed Jeans, Shabazz Palaces, Vetiver, and Wolf Eyes.

  • At 2:00 PM EST (if my calculations are correct) today, November 16, Arte will have a live webcast of Einstürzende Neubauten’s 30th anniversary show in Paris.

  • Beginning Friday, November 19, Preservation Hall will have for sale a special 78 of Tom Waits and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s recording of “Tootie Ma is a Big Fine Thing”, signed and numbered by Ben Jaffe. (Online sales begin November 20.)

  • The Low Anthem have announced that their new album Smart Flesh will be released on February 22.

  • November 13 would have been the inimitable Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s 42nd birthday. In memory, Raekwon has released the video “Ason Jones”.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJtGqCyiMOA?fs=1]

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Young Circles: I’ve Got Shit for Brains, and They’re Out of Stock

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You can’t go wrong when you start your album out with feedback, at least in my book. So, Young Circles had me at ‘SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH’ with the first song off their forthcoming debut EP Bones (out 1.11.11). But feedback will only get you so far, and Young Circles keep up (and expand on) the interest with some seriously heavy low-end, Britpop-style vocals and decidedly infectious grooves. And for a three-piece, these guys throw a lot at you in one song, sometimes flowing from sweet to jarring in seconds. There are layers of good things here.

“Sharp Teeth” is my favorite track off of Bones, with it’s clap-stomp rhythm and rap-chanting. Check it out, download it, love it.

Young Circles – Sharp Teeth

Young Circles Official Website

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Notable Shows in the Greater Cleveland Area

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Shows worth checking out this week in and around Cleveland:

The Beachland Ballroom & Tavern

  • Fri, Nov 12| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    Beachland Co-Presents
    @ The House of Blues
    Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
    The Rebirth Brass Band
    $22
    |All Ages

  • Fri, Nov 12| 9 PM (8 PM door)
    The Schwartz Brothers
    $6
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Sun, Nov 14| 8:30 PM (8 PM door)
    Spindrift
    Stereo Workers Union
    Mother Country Mad Men
    $7
    Tavern | All Ages

  • Mon, Nov 15| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band
    Thieving Irons
    $18 adv / $20 dos
    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Wed, Nov 17| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Band Aid with Doc Rock
    First Anniversary Ball
    Zach
    The Modern Electric
    JD Eicher & The Goodnights
    Kurt Scobie

    Free show with ticket
    (Pickup your ticket @ the Beachland!)

    Ballroom | All Ages

  • Thu, Nov 18| 8:30 PM (7:30 PM door)
    Members of Morphine & Jeremy Lyons
    Non Fiction
    $15
    Tavern | All Ages

Grog Shop

  • Sun, Nov 14| 9 PM
    Aloe Blacc
    The Grand Scheme
    Maya Jupiter
    MuAmin Collective
    $10 adv / $12 dos

  • Mon, Nov 15| 9 PM
    Fang Island
    Delicate Steve
    Chat Logs
    Simeon Soul Charger
    $10 adv / $12 dos

  • Tue, Nov 16| 9 PM
    Stalley
    Camp Lo
    Moriarty
    Brainsick
    DJ Terry Urban
    $10 adv / $12 dos

  • Thu, Nov 18| 7 PM (6 PM door)
    A Benefit for Chris Jordan’s Family
    Presented by the RedHeaded StepChildren Collective feat.
    Tino
    N 2 Deep
    Army Gang
    & More
    $10 adv / $15 dos

Now That’s Class

  • Fri, Nov 12| 9 PM
    Cheer-Accident
    Filmstrip
    Low Lamps
    Nate Scheible-Bob Drake-Andrew Klimek
    $5

  • Mon, Nov 15| 9 PM
    La Otracina
    Snuff Film
    Own Weather
    Main Street Gospel
    $5

The Kent Stage

  • Fri, Nov 12| 8 PM
    The Flatlanders
    $30 / $40

  • Wed, Nov 17| 8 PM
    Kent State Folk Festival
    Night of Brazilian Music featuring
    Luca Mundaca
    Moises Borger Trio
    Capoeira
    Samba Joia
    $10

  • Thu, Nov 18| 8 PM
    Kent State Folk Festival
    Jessica Lea Mayfield
    Tim Easton
    Frontier Ruckus
    $20

Palace Theatre

  • Sat, Nov 13| 7:30 PM
    Walking to New Orleans: The Music of Fats Domino and Dave Bartholemew
    Featuring
    Lloyd Price
    Dr. John & the Lower 911
    Irma Thomas
    The Rebirth Brass Band
    Robert Parker
    $30-$250

House of Blues

  • Sat, Nov 13| 8 PM (7 PM door)
    Michael Franti & Spearhead
    Bobby Long
    $25 adv / $27 dos / $35 balcony

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Jessica Lea Mayfield: My Self-Esteem Is Heating Up the Room

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Discovered by Chuck Auerbach (father of that guy in the Black Keys) when she was about 16 years old, Kent, Ohio’s Jessica Lea Mayfield (now 21) has come a long way, championed by the likes of the Black Keys, the Avett Brothers and Justin Townes Earle, and with her new album, Tell Me, it sounds like she doesn’t plan to stop.

Tell Me, which will be released on February 8, is Mayfield’s second full-length album and her second album produced by Dan Auerbach. And by the sound of the sneak-peek song “Our Hearts Are Wrong”, it will be twice the album that 2008’s With Blasphemy So Heartfelt was – which was a beautiful album to begin with – expanding her sound in new ways. Download “Our Hearts Are Wrong” below and catch Mayfield as she tours with Jay Farrar and Justin Townes Earle, with a stop back home for the Kent Folk Festival on November 18.

http://cdn.topspin.net/widgets/email2/swf/TSEmailMediaWidget.swf?timestamp=1289467648

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Rock ‘n’ Roll Photog: Lucero/Social Distortion

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Social D., yo. What more needs to be said? (Aside from, “Buying music at the grocery store, what!?”)

Before I get started on this one, I have to tell y’all that Social Distortion has a very special place in my heart. I spent a good decade (1998-2008) in cultural exile, by which I mean only listening to the classic rock station, buying music at Whole Foods and getting my (musical) news from Rolling Stone — okay, perhaps not so much cultural exile as descent into premature middle-age – and as you might have guessed, I didn’t go to a whole lot of shows during this time. The few I did attend were either Bon Jovi or Social D. (The epiphany that prompted my return to modern rock occurred at a Bon Jovi show, but that is a story for another time.)

Back then my sister had to coax me out, arguing that Social D hardly ever came east and I shouldn’t miss seeing them play. Things are different now, obviously, but their shows still feel like a special treat. This particular one also featured Lucero, who I honestly had forgotten was going to be there, and so was pleasantly surprised to see them.

IMG_4016

After listening to their set, I concluded I’d like to see them at their own show, somewhere other than the big cavern that is Roseland Ballroom. They didn’t get lost in it, but something about the ambiance was off. They have a big heavy country sound – this might seems like a contradiction in terms but I promise you it isn’t – and I think I might have gotten more into it at, say, Irving Plaza or the Bowery Ballroom. In any case, I only took a few pictures before I retreated to our spot on the risers. There was a big column blocking my view of the stage, but being up away from the crowd where I could breathe was well worth it.

At one point I did try to see if I could wiggle my way back in to edges of the pit to get some shots of Social D, but there were just too many people. So here’s the view from the risers:

IMG_4026

Brent Harding


IMG_4039

Brent Harding, Mike Ness


In the end I didn’t really care that I couldn’t really see them all that well. I could hear them just fine, and the power of Mike Ness’ voice has not diminished one bit. Plus they played my favorite song – Ball and Chain – and it occurred to me that I used to sing along because I could identify with the sentiments (I’m sick, and I’m tired, and I can’t take any more pain) and now I sing along because I did actually manage to slip loose of my metaphorical ball and chain. Though I do still sometimes buy music at the grocery store. Anyway, in conclusion: Thank you, Social D, for keeping me company during those bleak times, and I look forward to seeing you (and perhaps actually seeing you) the next time you come around.

— Jennifer