Tag Archives: video

Rock & Roll Salvation: Jack White, The Black Keys and The Strypes

This summer we can look forward to new albums by two of today’s giants of rock & roll, and we can expect to here a lot about a young Irish band.

Jack White is scheduled to release his second solo album “Lazaretto” in June, and a couple of weeks ago he put out the video for the instrumental “High Ball Stepper”, the album’s first single.  The Huffington Post claims that you will be watching a physics demonstration of non-Newtonian fluids and the operation of a Chladini plate as you listen to Jack’s blistering soundscape.   Physicists out there, feel free to comment.

The Black Keys have announced that “Turn Blue” will be out in May.  The title track and “Fever” have been released in advance and seem to be preparing us for a bit of a different album than 2013 Rock Album of the Year “El Camino”.  Danger Mouse helped produce the new album, just as he did “El Camino”, and the track below carries his influence.

While Jack White and the Black Keys are digging into all the corners of rock & roll, The Strypes tunnel right down the middle.  The young Irishmen have been on all the late night TV shows following last summer’s major label debut “Snapshot”.   The tracks “Blue Collar Jane” and “What a Shame” leave no doubt where this band’s heart is at.  They are fun to watch, and that drummer – wow.

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Mellow Tracks from Stephen Malkmus, Kings of Convenience and Paul Simon

Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks recently released their sixth album, “Wig Out at Jagbags” to critical acclaim. Malkmus is an indie music fixture from California, heading up the band Pavement in the 1990s and The Jicks ever since.  The new album features a broad range of sounds, including the very mellow track “J Smoov”.

The Norwegian duo, Kings of Convenience, have been releasing albums together for over a decade – though they’ve been lying low since touring in the summer of 2013. Their acoustic sound has a heavy dose of bossa nova guitar. Here is “Misread” from their second studio album “Riot on and Empty Street”. If you like this song, you won’t be disappointed with their other material. Try “Peacetime Resistance” from their third album “Declaration of Dependence”.

Rounding out this week’s mellow set is an old, lesser-known tune from a lesser-known album by Paul Simon, “Train in the Distance” from the 1983’s “Hearts and Bones”. The album came out in between “Still Crazy After All These Years” and “Graceland”, both of which won Grammy awards for Album of the Year. Thanks to Jess at pH Balanced (see our list of favorite blogs) for continuing to unearth these gems.

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Rock & Roll from The Skins, Band of Skulls and Big Head Todd

This week we have new rock and roll from a barely known band, a Band of Skulls, and a band that released a platinum album over 20 years ago.

The Skins are a barely known band of teenagers from Brooklyn, but they were a big hit at the 2013 SXSW festival and recently toured with Brit sensation Jake Bugg. The band is composed of siblings Bayli (lead vocals), Reef (drums) and Kaya (bass) Mckeithan, and guitarists Daisy Spencer and Russell Chell. If you like the video below, check out their other YouTube tracks “Killer” and “Ocean”.

Band of Skulls’ third album “Himalayan” is due out on March 31st. The track “Nightmares” has gotten the first full video treatment from the new album, and it’s another in a long line of kinda creepy videos the band favors. But the lush vocals and guitars, and trippy arrangements are not scary at all. “Sweet Sour”, the title track from their second album, was their highest charting single so far, and “Bruises” is another great track from that album.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters scored platinum in 1993 with their third album “Sister Sweetly”, and their biggest single “Resignation Superman” was released in 1997. This year they’re back with their fourteenth album “Black Beehive”, and “Josephina” is the first release from that LP.

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Recommendations from Jess at pH Balanced and mvyradio

A favorite blog of ours is pH Balanced, written by Jess Phaneuf, a DJ at mvyradio in Martha’s Vineyard. This week we pass along a few of her recommendations from the past few weeks. And by the way, you can tune in to mvyradio on the internet. There’s a nice iTunes link on their website, and it’s excellent listening all around.

St. Paul & The Broken Bones is a tight soul band from Alabama, fronted by Paul Janeway. Their debut release “Half the City” is out, and the video for “Call Me” introduces you to this excellent, though unlikely looking outfit. I hope Paul will be flattered by the inevitable comparison to a certain Blues Brother.

Appearing recently on The Conan O’Brian Show was Jamestown Revival performing “California (Cast Iron Soul)”. The song appears on “The California EP” as well as on the full length album “Utah”, named for the location of the mountain cabin where the songs were recorded. Jamestown Revival is the duo of small-town Texas high school friends Jonathan Clay and Zach Chance. Before trekking to Austin and L.A. to craft their sound, both had done solo work, and Clay had a few songs picked up by TV Shows ranging from “The Real World” to “Sons of Anarchy”.

Sam Roberts Band has just released the album “Lo-Fantasy” and the single “We’re All In This Together”. Sam Roberts has been well known in Canada for over a decade, winning a number of Juno Awards – Canada’s Grammys – along the way. His first hit single “Brother Down” came out in 2002, released on his first EP “The Inhuman Condition”.

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Reader Suggestions: Jake Shimabukuro, Melody Gardot, and The Shouting Matches

Time to catch up on reader recommendations.

First up is Jake Shimabukuro, ukulele virtuoso.  Below is a video of his interpretation of George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”.  Apparently, this video was posted in 2006 without Jake’s knowledge and went viral, by now attracting over 12,000,000 views. If you want to see Jake stretch this instrument into other genres of music, spend some time watching this TED Talk. After a flamenco tune, Schubert’s “Ave Maria” starts at about 5:30 and The Beatles’ “In My Life” at about 18:00. Thanks for the tip, John!

Philadelphia’s Melody Gardot has an incredible voice and an incredible personal story. Severely injured when she was hit by a car while riding a bicycle at age 19, she faced a long rehabilitation. In the video below she sings her composition “Baby I’m a Fool” accompanying herself on the guitar, an instrument she took up in the hospital when her injuries made it impossible to sit at the piano. If you want to hear more of her singing and learn more about her story, here are links to Part 1 and Part 2 of a mini-documentary, “The Accidental Musician”. Thanks for letting us know about her, Claudine!

Shifting gears, The Shouting Matches stake out a spot in a stripped down, bluesy, garage rock place. The trio, led by singer and multi-instrumentalist Justin Vernon, has put out an EP “Mouthoil” and a full length 2013 release “Grownass Man”. Vernon’s former vehicle, Bon Iver, won the 2012 Grammy for Best New Artist. Listen to “Avery Hill” from The Shouting Matches, and compare it to “Holocene” from Bon Iver to get a sense of the range of Vernon’s musical interests. Thanks for turning us on to The Shouting Matches, Gabe!

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