Music Report

Let’s consider the theme for this week the lack of any theme at all. If this week’s Report had a name it would be: Untitled. N-joy.

In the wake of Pacific Division’s appearance in the report last week, unisigned Inglewood duo U-N-I occupies the leadoff spot. Akin to Spank Rock or early OutKast/Dungeon Family records, U-N-I utilize hard-hitting beats, unafraid to incorporate elements of rock alongside traditional hip hop cliches. It is groups like this that are making it more and more difficult to usefully categorize rap in any kind of regional fashion. Notable cuts include K.R.E.A.M. (Kicks Rule Everything Around Me) and Castelvania (I’m a sucker for 8-bit samples). Check the Myspace page for a nice 80’s and 90’s collage.
http://www.myspace.com/unimuzik

Those Dancing Days come to use from the Stockholm suburbs, by way of the UK, and bring with them a sound called Northern Soul. The comparison is certainly premature but one listener characterized lead singer 18 year old singer Linnea’s voice as that of a female Julian Casablancas. “Hitten” leads the way as their best song to date among the five on their self-titled EP.
http://www.myspace.com/thosedancingdays

In response to all of the letters I’ve been getting here at The Report requesting a soundtrack for a depressing summer here is The Devil, You+Me by Deutschland’s own The Notwist. Despite hailing from Germany, they have been considerate enough to record in English so we can sing along as we slit our wrists to the melancholic beauty of their compositions. I’m surprised that I haven’t seen any Death Cab for Cutie comparisons as I could see this as a direction Ben Gibbard could have gone with Postal Service and had less widespread success but more fervency among a limited fan base.
http://www.notwist.com/

Ever the source of free and complimentary music, The Music Report directs you this week to the Adult Swim website for 4 free albums, each created in collaboration with a different indie label. The CDs, entitled World Wide Renewal Program, Definitive Swim, Ghostly Swim, Warm and Scratchy, are filled with music from the likes of El-P, TV on the Radio, and a boatload of acts you haven’t heard of.
http://www.adultswim.com/williams/music/index.html

In case you were wondering what song is featured in the commercial for the Heineken Beertender, it is “Forever” by Walter Meego, a Chicago duo. Their dance-pop stylings have appeared on EPs and compilations since 2005 but have only this year, on May 27th, released their first full length called Voyager.
http://www.myspace.com/waltermeego

Welcome to the sanitarium that is The Music Report. We can’t stop, won’t stop delivering the straight dope on vocal and instrumental artists.

Pacific Division might be described as the West Coast Cool Kids thanks to their throwback style.
Instead of the traditional mixtape, in mid-2006 Pac Div released a blend tape called “Sealed for Freshness” although the two formats are virtually indistinguishable. No word on any East Coast shows in the near future but, when they do come to town, word on the street is their stage show is packed with dance moves Tupac-with-Digital-Underground style.
http://www.pacdiv.com
http://www.zshare.net/download/37237807dcb11e/

The last show of the season at the Museum of Natural looks to be another doozy. Appearing live and in person on Friday, June 27th are Talib Kweli, Pete Rock and Buckshot along with dinosaurs who are appearing neither live nor in person. $20 advance tickets only (which includes complimentary screenings of the Space Show “Passport to the Universe” and a museum pass for future use).
http://www.amnh.org/rose/specials/

Girl Talk’s new record “Feed the Animals” is now available with a pay-what-you-want system. $5 or more gets higher quality FLAC files and a one-file seamless album mix; $10 gets you a packaged CD, with a sweet piece of cover art. Unlike Radiohead, if you opt to pay $0.00, it will allow you to do so but make you feel guilty by asking why you’ve opted for that option. Must have been designed by a Jew.
http://74.124.198.47/illegal-art.net/__girl__talk___feed__the__anima.ls___/

I didn’t really believe it until I heard it either but the new group The Explorers Club sounds like they’ve put out a new Beach Boys album. Hey, why not? If the Beach Boys or Genesis or The Beatles refuse to put out new material, who am I to criticize someone else, in this case a sextet from Charleston, South Carolina, for stepping in and filling the void left by their stubborn or dead predecessors?
http://www.myspace.com/explorersclub

Bomb the Music Industry plays old fashioned punk rock music, with a touch of ska thrown in for flavor, modeled after the greats: The Clash, Bad Brains, Rancid, etc. When Sum 41, Good Charlotte and their ilk hit the scene claiming to be punk rock, real fans and musicians went back underground to enjoy the music and the scene to the way it was meant to be. Also, one of the members when to sleepaway camp with my buddy upstate. Next show, June 24 at the Knitting Factory, then Irving Plaza with Rancid August 17.
http://www.bombthemusicindustry.com/

On the video scene, witness “Three Thug Mice” featuring cartoon rodents as they chase tail, do drugs, rob people, and generally get into trouble in an NYC populated by gun toting asian ducks, streetcorner preaching lizards, knife-fighting felines, and worms who are awesome at breakdancing.
http://www.threethugmice.com/

The Music Report is brought to you this week by AXE, the most foolproof way to get women to swoon over you in a hyper-unrealistic fashion.

Our first group is another one out of Sweden in Teddybears. Around since 1991, they’ve released only 5 albums thus far. Their name is a reaction to the morbid band names commonplace in the death metal scene at the time. Their single “Punkrocker” with Iggy Pop providing vocals will sound very familiar to most as it dominates a recent Cadillac spot. Tracks already in the can for the next album include guest appearances by Slick Rick and Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne.
http://www.teddybearsrock.com/home.php

Nas is in news this week with the upcoming release of his ninth solo album on July 15th. Formerly titled “Nigger,” the record is currently nameless after civil rights leaders (and undoubtedly retailers) demanded a change. Out now is “The Nigger Tape,” a mixtape preview of the album produced with DJ Green Lantern including “Legendary,” the theme to the Mike Tyson documentary that recently premiered at Cannes. If you like what you hear, Nas will be performing as part of the Rock the Bells festival at Jones Beach on Sunday, August 3rd.
http://www.mediafire.com/?wuzgp1mymrw
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D0040A6C64C4ED5?artistid=1141759

If anyone needed to be persuaded that DJ Green Lantern doesn’t sleep (or maybe it’s like the real Green Lantern in that whomever wears the ring becomes the hero), proof is in his second killer mixtape release of the week: “Charles Hamilton: Outside Looking.” The whole thing is a great find from a newcomer to the scene (who goes by his real name) with its Sonic the Hedgehog iconography and sample from The Offspring on “Rockstar Girl” simply adding the icing to the cake.
http://www.iamnotcharleshamilton.com/

Next on the Hit Parade is Cryptacize out of California Bay Area. At times, their music might be (and has been) described as “showtunes-inspired mayhem.” Other times “gothic folk” is the name of the game. And this is all over the course of their one LP release entitled “Dig That Treasure” on Asthmatic Kitty Records of Lander, WY. See also their excellent cover of Steely Dan’s “Peg.” Cryptacize plays the Knitting Factory tonight (Thursday).
http://www.myspace.com/cryptacize
http://stereogum.com/mp3/Cryptacize%20-%20Peg.mp3

If it wasn’t yet, the word ‘bored’ should be eradicated from the vocabulary of anyone with broadband internet access. In addition to the video networks set up by Vice Magazine at vbs.tv and the indie music sages at Pitchfork Media in Pitchfork.tv, web TV network Revision3 has partnered with Seattle music and culture rag XLR8R (like West Coast FADER) for XLR8RTV. All of the above offer plenty of good quality, on-demand video. If still pictures remain your thing, take advantage of the free PDF downloads of every issue of XLR8R current and past.
http://revision3.com/xlr8rtv/
http://www.xlr8r.com/magazine

On a final note, I am beside myself that, with all of the possible rap names out there, misspellings, made up words and all, an up and comer from the Southside of Queens would opt for one already taken by semi-famed crooner Vic Damone. Bonus on this one is how the interview begins: “Q: What's good man? A: I'm chilling, you know what it is.” You don’t have to edit anything out when you have the unlimited word count enabled by web publishing.
http://www.hiphopgame.com/index2.php3?page=vicdamone

Summer has arrived with all of its exposed love handles and skin cancer-inducing UV rays in tow. Cel-e-brate Music Report come on!

The Music Report was questioning the inclusion of the following artist based purely on her musical chops but Haley Bonar’s name made it hard not to. Out of the Great White North, Bonar brings the emotion of Cat Power, the charm and wit of Feist, and the indie-cred of Kimya Dawson according to one sympathetic blogger. On the heels of her third release, Big Star, see her live Thursday night at the Knitting Factory or Friday at Brooklyn’s Southpaw.
http://www.haleybonar.com/

VDRK is a New York DJ and designer who’s getting terrific accolades for the Subdrive Selektor mix he dropped a couple of Saturdays ago. It is 40 tracks jammed into 35 minutes with each and every track is expertly mixed and lushly overlapped. VDRK can get a little dancey for us straight folk but he usually steps back toward the mainstream just in time. Plenty of upcoming gigs including tonight, Thursday, at Savalas in Brooklyn and next Friday, the 13th, at Europa.
http://www.3onota.com/vdrk/
http://www.subdrivemedia.com/vdrk_subdrive.mp3

Somehow, it has taken this long for Fleet Foxes to make into The Report. They’re indie darlings out of Seattle who describe their style as “baroque harmonic pop jams.” Signed to Sub Pop records, hallowed home of Nirvana and their grunge brethren, Fleet Foxes. They released their first LP, following a pair of acclaimed EPs, this past Tuesday with apparent Hieronymus Bosch-inspired cover art. The FFs swing through Liberty City with a show at the Bowery Ballroom on July 9th and a performance at Brooklyn’s Union Hall the following eve.
http://www.myspace.com/fleetfoxes

Another NYC electronic act makes it to press this week in the form of Ratatat, the duo of Evan Mast and Mike Stroud. The sheer miscellany of Ratatat’s samples might be disastrous in the Mac’s of others yet they never fail to bring in a excellent rhythm despite sometimes working with sonic elements that were (seemingly) sourced from Atari’s archives and the Bronx Zoo. Ratatat productions have landed everywhere from the movies Knocked Up and Cloverfield to commercials for Hummer and the television program My Gym Partner Is a Monkey. A new album entitled LP3 drops August 8th
http://www.ratatatmusic.com/

Lykke Li arrives as the latest in a line of Swedish pop imports. Fader magazine infers that Sweden provides the world with a disproportionate amount of its catchy pop music because they don’t look down on it as an inferior genre artistically as others tend to. That being said, Li’s pop music is more like that of Feist than Britney Spears. Li’s debut album Youth Novels was released this past Tuesday in the UK. Some songs are better than others but overall it makes the grade.
http://www.lykkeli.com/

To close, here’s the Indian remake of “Thriller.” Maybe this is funny, maybe it’s simply an illustration of the growing influence of globalization. Either way, it’s 100% legit.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=LbvP7dT3Dx0&feature=related

Hello there. You’ve stumbled into the friendly confines of the latest edition of the weekly Music Report.

(Aimee) Duffy is another white British soul singer attempting to emulate Amy Winehouse’s success in much the way her labelmate Adele has. Fortunately, once we are able to see past the mimicry, Duffy has a rich sound and decent looks to offer. Duffy will appear at Jersey City’s All Points West Festival on Friday, August 8th.
http://www.iamduffy.com/
http://www.apwfestival.com/

In album releases, Steinski (Steven Stein)’s essential two-disc career retrospective album entitled What Does It All Mean: 1983-2006 came to the market this past Tuesday courtesy of Girl Talk’s record label Illegal Art. Steinski has been the epitome of underground thanks to the nuisance of copyright law. Steinski is probably best known for his “wildly influential” old school sound collages, and he is arguably one of the first to incorporate off-the-wall samples into his mixes including Looney Tunes material and Groucho Marx bits.
http://www.steinski.com/blog/links_to_my_downloadable_mixes_streaming_radio_shows_and_whatnot/

Also on Tuesday, Dallas’s I Love Math released their sophomore effort Getting to the Point is Beside It. I Love Math isn’t the electronica act their name might suggest. In fact, it’s a side project by members of Apples in Stereo and Old 97s featuring a combination of the pop-rock and alt-country styles of its constituents. Refreshingly, I Love Math return to the basic ingredients of the craft eschewing the overproduction so common today even in the indie scene.
http://www.myspace.com/iloveilovemath

This summer, the Brooklyn Hip Hop Festival returns July 10-12. With a $10 “donation” you can partake in KRS-ONE, DJ Premier and Brooklyn’s own Buckshot at Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park on Sunday the 12th. Buckshot has been doing the Underground thing since ‘92 with groups Boot Camp Clik and Black Moon but has since earned elevated notoriety via two collaborations with producer 9th Wonder, Chemistry and The Formula, in recent years. And if you missed Kidz in the Hall’s record release show at S.O.B.’s recently, they return as part of the Paid Dues Festival at the Nokia Theater June 4 with Buckshot, GZA, Murs, Blackalicious and others.
http://www.brooklynbodega.com/brooklynhiphopfestival.htm
http://www.myspace.com/buckshot
http://www.guerillaunion.com/paiddues/

On the music video front is Kanye West’s second video for “Flashing Lights” which is rumored to be prequel of the original video. Regardless, it is fairly interesting creatively with an unconventional frame rate and style.
http://therapup.rawkus.com/2008/05/flashing-lights-unreleased-video.html

The New York leg of the JVC Jazz Festival is not far hence thus I will recommend two shows it will bring to town:
• The first is the Mos Def Big Band where we find the MC and actor now also a conductor. Sat Jun 28, 8pm Carnegie Hall.
• The second is Maceo Parker, a funky alto saxophonist who played the house down at Duke University’s Page Auditorium. He’s performing Wed Jun 18, 8pm at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple.
http://www.festivalnetwork.com/events/details.php?ID=4

Greetings Music Fans. Lacking any unifying thread for this week’s Report, let’s defer to Jeopardy and call it Potpourri.

Mrs. Music Report contributes a quality pick today in the form of folky Bon Iver, a trio from Wisconsin led by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon who describe their style more as neo-soul. At one point their debut For Emma, Forever Ago was rated as Metacritic.com’s (like RottenTomatoes.com for music) top album. It is, of course, primarily a lament concerning a former flame so be prepared for that. Bon Iver will play two shows in NY in July, the first at the Bowery Ballroom and the second at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
http://www.myspace.com/boniver

To be released this Thursday, May 27 is the Volume 4 of the Verve Remixed series. Simple concept: Verve Records turns over its catalog of jazz master recordings for a set of DJ/Producers to remix into some new freshness. Source material comes from Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Astrud Gilberto, etc. with those enlisted to do the refreshment including Little Brother’s 9th Wonder and Feist producer Mocky. If you want just the pure dope, pick up Ella Fitzgerald’s The Very Best of the Rogers and Hart Songbook.
http://www.amazon.com/Verve-Remixed-Vol-Various-Artists/dp/B0016OMFQQ
http://www.vervemusicgroup.com/artist/releases/default.aspx?pid=11679&aid=2685

It is so easy to forget how good Elvis Costello is. Fortunately he’s released a new Rock album earlier this month with a title familiar to New York foodies: Momofuku, similarly paying tribute to the Japanese inventor of Cup Noodle. Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis provides back up vocals and the album “finds Costello re-energized by his past.” Costello plays two nights at Jones Beach in August with The Police.
http://www.amazon.com/Momofuku-Elvis-Costello-Imposters/dp/B0016KHAY2/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D004022039B6C22

Oakland sextet Subtle are another group who resists genre characterization but does not completely defy comparison. Elements of TV on the Radio, Saul Williams, and Gnarls Barkley are all discernable at times throughout their catalog. Subtle will release their latest album Exiting Arm June 3rd prior to which they’ll be headlining tomorrow, Friday, May 23 in the Knitting Factory’s Main Space.
http://www.myspace.com/subtlesix
http://knittingfactory.com/show.php?event_id=109804

Tonight at Studio B is hosting Flosstradamus, the previously mentioned DJ duo who are “good deejays to take your friends who don't like dance music to see.”
http://www.clubstudiob.com/news.html

As we like to do here at The Report, we’ll leave you with a Music(-related) video. Instead of being amazing or funny or even well-done, it’s a short documentary on what they contend to be the most important 6-second drum loop ever. Beware, the voiceover/narration stands as among the most monotone I have ever heard.

In advance of the Music Report’s fact finding mission to the Caribbean, this week’s edition is respectfully submitted with island undertones.

17 North Parade is an imprint of VP Records launched in 2007, its name paying homage to the address of Randy’s Record Mart, Kingston’s music mecca during the 1960’s and 1970’s. 17NP’s offerings consist primarily of anthologies that collect reggae and dancehall classics from artists that extend beyond even the most distant Marley family member e.g. Wayne Wonder, the Mighty Diamonds, Buju Banton and so on.
http://www.17northparade.com

Esau Mwamwaya is not from the Caribbean, he hails from Malawi, but the Music Report ceased the study of geography after the 7th grade. Sometimes called “the African Phil Collins,” Mwamwaya was fortunate enough to be discovered by the production duo Radioclit as his junk shop wasn’t providing the income necessary to purchase the additional vowel he longed to introduce to his last name. Esau’s tunes blend traditional tribal percussion and African vocals with newfangled, yet rudimentary, electronic sounds.
http://www.myspace.com/esaumwamwaya

The Report prefers to include good looking artists each week. Listeners may never see a given singer or tambourinist but I suspect they sleep better knowing they could meet him/her without incident. Unfortunately, Adele doesn’t meet that criterion. On the plus side, she does have a voice reminiscent of Dusty Springfield, and is playing 2 nights at the Highline Ballroom in June after the 1st show sold out. Hailed by some as the next Amy Winehouse after her album 19 rose to #1 in the UK and went platinum in a month, Adele’s sound is truly more Etta James than Motown.
http://adele.tv/

S.O.B.’s on Varick St. stands as a venerable stepping stone for ready-to-break hip hop acts. Continuing that trend is the appearance there of Kidz in the Hall on Saturday for the release of their second album The In Crowd. The University of Pennsylvania-educated duo consists of MC Naledge and DJ/Producer/2004 Olympian Double-0. These Kidz’ sonic resemblance to The Cool Kids may not be coincidental as Naledge likewise grew up on Chicago’s Southside. Kidz in the Hall play NYC again June 4 as part of the Paid Dues tour at Nokia Theater.
http://www.myspace.com/kidzinthehall

Representing the Research Triangle, we’ve got Kooley High. KH is a five-piece hip hop outfit, three MCs and two producers, formed during their stays at NC State University. The music is lighthearted thematically yet soulful in its sound. This is hip hop by and for lovers of hip hop, fame, fortune, posturing and politics aside. Some songs might even be characterized as Pop, à la Black Eyed Peas, if they fit better into the commercial mold for radio play with the addition of an infectious hook. Kooley High has had no small benefit in the mentorship of local-boy-making-good 9th Wonder, whose handiwork can be heard on both The Summer Sessions EP, available on iTunes, and the gratis mixtape Raleigh’s Finest.
http://www.myspace.com/KooleyHigh
http://www.inflowential.com/raleighsfinest/

Let us conclude with a fun video from Madvillian, for the track “All Caps,” which takes the viewer through a living comic book, Sea Monkeys ad and all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewc1hixzYPY

Welcome to another hard-hitting Music Report this week on the birthday claimed by heavyweight Sonny Liston (Apparently a “missing” birth certificate a la Miguel Tejada).

The Duke Spirit makes its way into this week’s Music Report not because of its alma mater- inclusive name nor because its lead singer, Liela Moss, has the bangs of Mrs. Music Report. It’s the Duke Spirit’s grungy blues-rock musical stylings that are most notable. Hailing from the United Kingdom, they’ve gradually gained notoriety in the indie scene beginning with their 2005 debut Cuts Across the Land and this year’s nautically-themed release Neptune. Start with singles “Lassoo” and “The Step and the Walk.”
http://www.dukespirit.com

From Stone’s Throw Records, home of Madlib, comes James Pants of lush Spokane, Washington. Much like his mentor, Peanut Butter Wolf, Pants digs ridiculously deep into the crates, pulling out and mixing obscure 80’s Soul, Electro Boogie, Early Rap, New Wave, and Post-Punk Disco into a surprisingly listenable product, though perhaps ironically so at times. Pants also bears some similarity to former Music Report feature White Williams as something of a one man band, playing instruments and singing on his more original cuts.
http://www.stonesthrow.com/jamespants/

Quick note on another electronic act in the vein of JUSTICE and their ilk. Shy Child rocks the ones and zeros with the likes of anyone on the scene right now. They’ve drawn a Kraftwerk comparison but that’s probably too far. They bring their Shy Child bring their CPUs to Bowery Ballroom tomorrow night.
http://www.myspace.com/shychildmusic

JUSTICE themselves have collaborated with Spank Rock and Mos Def to remix their hit D.A.N.C.E. with excellent results. For more of Philadelphia’s Spank Rock, and their signature unabashed raunchiness, prior to a likely appearance at this summer’s Rock the Bells Festival which turns out to be at Jones Beach, click below.
http://www.rcrdlbl.com/artists/Justice_featuring_Mos_Def_and_Spank_Rock/music
http://www.myspace.com/spankrock

A local favorite here in the Research Triangle, the Annuals are making the trip up to Tri-State area for an appearance in Coney Island at the annual Village Voice-sponsored free-for-all Siren Music Festival on June 19th. They’ll also play a more intimate show, more fitting of their sound, at Union Pool on Union Ave. in Brooklyn the prior evening. Their sound has been compared to that of Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene, who will also be appearing at the Siren Music Festival.
http://www.myspace.com/annuals

When Kanye West isn’t posting about his favorite architecture and design on his blog (very rarely), he sometimes shouts out up and coming artists that he no doubt has a financial interest in promoting. Today’s entry is Kenoe and his track “Get It.” Let’s say the jury is still out on whether Kenoe’s career will mirror more closely that of West himself or that of perpetually yet-to-blow-up Kanye confederate Consequence.
http://www.kanyeuniversecity.com/blog/?em3106=193723_-1__0_~0_-1_5_2008_0_0

In music-related humor videos, here’s a decent comedic take on John Mayer’s songwriting process from Judd Apatow and the good people at FunnyorDie.com
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/611387370c

Hopefully, dear reader, you got your fill of Jazz last week. The Music Report is dabbling in the classical/instrumental music genre in this edition.

Fortunately, this classical music breaks the Dead White European Male mold by drawing its inspiration from pop, rock and “world music.” John Luther Adams’ Red Arc/Blue Veil, blends piano, vibraphone, percussion and electronically-generated sounds in creating vast yet understated soundscapes. Moreover, it comes recommended by The New Yorker and Timeout NY, in addition to the weekly Music Report.
http://www.johnlutheradams.com/

Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians sounds as if it might be an intro to an up-tempo rock song but mesmerizing stretches into the album’s entirety. Steve Reich’s composition Different Trains, 1989 Grammy winner for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, uses recorded speech as a source of its melodies. Different Trains will be performed as part of the Tribeca New Music Festival (slogan “Nothing is too new or unusual”) on Wednesday, May 7 at the Flea Theater, 41 White Street.
http://www.stevereich.com/
http://www.nyae.org/Pages/page22.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Different_Trains

Tonight, the Julliard Orchestra plays the best student compositions. Perhaps most interesting is
the debut of Jakub Ciupiński’s DJ Guillaume, his piece based on the art of remixing. Tickets are
free.
http://www.juilliard.edu/asp/calendar/event1.php?intEvID=-1999910515

This week saw the release of Grant Theft Auto IV, which brings the game into a virtual New York City (Liberty City) with a radio dial full of stations each packed with legit music and recognizable DJs including Karl Lagerfeld, DJ Premier and Iggy Pop. A pair of notable inclusions on the soundtrack are Get Shakes, who play the type of upbeat electronic indie music that so frequently seems to make its way into the report are also featured on the soundtrack recently released movie 21, and Tom Vek, a British multi-instrumental soloist who brings nothing if not simple energetic, hard hitting rock.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Theft_Auto_IV_soundtrack
http://www.myspace.com/getshakes
http://www.tomvek.tv/

For those with a lighter appetite interested in fluffier lo-fi British tunes, Bearsuit is it. The music of the six piece group, hailing from Norwich, UK, has drawn descriptions such as shimmering, sweet and melodious. Popular comparisons include Belle & Sebastian and Architecture in Helsinki. See also side project Keytarded, an all keytar, all covers threesome.
http://www.myspace.com/bearsuit
http://www.myspace.com/keytardedband

This week, The Roots released another fine album which will be overrated by critics and underrated by music fans. Rising Down gets more political than prior records as it considers global warming, martyrdom, child soldiering, race and poverty with just a couple of few lighter-hearted exceptions. In the midst of its social commentary, Rising Down reminds listeners of Black Thought’s position among today’s top MCs. The Roots play Radio City Music Hall with Erykah Badu Friday, May 9th.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000ZK08HK

Holy Moses! You’ve just opened the Kosher for Passover unleavened edition of the Music Report.

The release of the Jews from Egypt around this time in 2448 Anno Mundi was a pretty big deal but, more importantly, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History has designated April Jazz Appreciation Month (JAM). One interesting jazz show takes place tonight and Friday at the Jazz Standard. The Nels Cline Singers are a trio named for their guitarist whom they share with Wilco, and, in fact, contain no vocalists. Could be a love it or hate it affair as there is expected to be a great deal of improvisation in their live show.
http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/jam/jam_start.asp
http://jazzstandard.net/red/secondary/jazzCalendar.html

Also this week, through Sunday at Birdland, Arturo Sandoval will be performing the Afro-Cuban Jazz hits and standards that have earned him 4 Grammys, 6 Billboard awards, and an Emmy. A protégé of Dizzy Gillespie, Sandoval plays the trumpet blending his childhood influences from growing up outside Havana, Cuba, with the traditions of American Jazz. For further enrichment, see “For Love or Country,” a movie made about his life starring (who else but) Andy Garcia.
http://www.birdlandjazz.com/

There must money in producing concert festivals because they seem to grow in number each year. One of note this summer is the traveling Rock the Bells which comes to New York July 27th. Venue is TBA but could likely be Randall’s Island. Lineup includes Cool Kids, Ghostface, Nas, Mos Def and a reunited [A] Tribe Called Quest among others. Toward the bottom of the bill is Flosstradamus, a pair of Chicago-based DJs that could prove to be second stage sensations with their combination of mashups and straight up turntablism.
http://www.guerillaunion.com/rockthebells/
http://www.feedmecoolshit.com/player.php?pcid=22

Although the genre is only about 35 years old, it’s not exactly news that hip hoppers are already sampling each other in new releases. What may be news to most though is the burgeoning hip hop scene in the Pacific Northwest. Washington State has birthed the legit trio Dyme Def, consisting of MCs Fearce Villian, S.E.V. and Brainstorm, whose album Space Music borrows generously from their predecessors but integrates the pilfered elements well with original elements and exemplary rhyme flow. Producer BeanOne, a staple of the Seattle hip hop scene, who worked on their debut calls it futuristic old school.
http://www.imeem.com/dymedef/

Instead of, perhaps prematurely, concluding the Report by touting an album as the Next Big Thing as was the case last week, I’ll submit for your assessment producer Pete Rock’s latest NY’s Finest. Rock returns to his mainstays of sampling reggae, classical music and Miles Davis. Lyricists also include some of his old favorites such as Raekwon (the Chef), Masta Killa and himself on the mic.
http://www.amazon.com/NYs-Finest-Pete-Rock/dp/B0012CQTQO/

Now that Tax Day has passed, this week’s Report provides some suggestions for music you can purchase and see with those sizeable rebates.

Turns out, Mark Ronson’s Producer of the Year Grammy was well deserved. In addition to producing singles for Amy Winehouse and Lily Allen, he released his own album Version which utilizes the talents of Robbie Williams, Phantom Planet (who released an album this Tuesday), and includes a fantastic cover of “Toxic” featuring the late Old Dirty Bastard. Prior to Version, Ronson’s released the heavier Here Comes the Fuzz with appearances by Ghostface, Freeway, Anthony Hamilton and Nappy Roots among others.
http://www.amazon.com/Version-Mark-Ronson/dp/B000PGTF4G
http://www.amazon.com/Here-Comes-Fuzz-Mark-Ronson/dp/B0000AKQGC

The Aggrolites, who passed through the Big Apple last night, describe themselves as “dirty reggae” perhaps indicating that they are somewhere between traditional reggae, ska and soul. For the purposes of The Music Report, a better description might be: white reggae from L.A. Either way, The Aggrolites play a rootsy, laidback style of music that is hard to dislike. You may have heard them previously as the backing band for Tim Armstrong (of Rancid) on his solo debut A Poet’s Life. They’ll be back in the area this Summer as part of the Warped Tour.
http://www.hell-cat.com/artists/artist/213/The_Aggrolites

If this type of music is your bag, also check out the compilation series called Give ‘em the Boot, now on volume 5, from Hellcat, an imprint of Epitaph Records.
http://www.hell-cat.com/artists/artist/95/Give_Em_The_Boot

Santogold is the next lady rapper coming onto the scene. Needless to say, her predecessors have not fared very well. She’s got a good start with an appearance on Mark Ronson’s Version, in FIFA 08, an April 28th performance on Conan and the endorsement of Bjork, for whatever that’s worth. Formerly in A&R at Epic Records, Santi White is trying her hand as an independent artist at age 32. Based out of Brooklyn, Santogold’s music is reminiscent of MIA with fewer club tracks, more New Wave synth and the same amount of vocal inventions playfulness.
http://www.myspace.com/santogold

Coming up April 22, reunited alternative hip hop group Antipop Consortium is playing a show at Other Music on East 4th Street. With their stream of conscious lyrics, Antipop Consortium might be classified as thinking man’s party rap, although they may have that category to themselves. In addition to countless EPs and mixtapes, Antipop Consortium released two full length albums on Dan the Automator’s experimental hip hop label 75 Ark before it folded in 2001.
http://www.warprecords.com/antipop/

Lastly, we have an early (prior to the creation of a Wikipedia entry for the band) preview of possibly the next great album of the year. The group is Quiet Village and the album will be called Silent Movie. Presumably the first single, “Circus of Horror” is now available as a free download. Judge for yourself whether they’ve got “it.” Album drops May 13th.
http://www.quietvillage-silentmovie.com/

Welcome to the “excessive pollen is the downside of Spring” edition of the Music Report. Jury is still out on whether that theme will resurface as we proceed.

Tonight at The Knitting Factory NYC Main Space, West Coast “party rappers” Tha Alkaholiks will appear . . . and perform. This represents a rare East Coast show for the trio who have recently reunited after a three year hiatus. The Alkaholiks notably sold out when they released the X.O. Experience album as Tha Liks with the hope of increased radio play but certainly, “!#&&@* gotta get paid.” See “Hip Hop Drunkies” off the Likwidation release for an excellent collaboration with the late ODB.
http://www.alkaholiks.com/

Hip hop producer extraordinaire Madlib dropped a set on the winter music conference in Miami a couple weeks back which his label Stones Throw was kind enough to record and offer as a podcast. An enthusiastic crate digger, with a deep reverence for jazz and soul, Madlib’s most recent work is that with MF Doom as part of Madvillian and with Talib Kweli on “Liberation.” Interestingly, Madlib’s first group, Lootpack, formed in his hometown of Oxnard, CA, made their debut on the Alkaholik’s 21 and Over in 1993. While you’re at it, Stones Throw has also digitally preserved a mellower set Madlib did on KCRW’s Chocolate City.
http://stonesthrow.com/podcast/stonesthrow_31_madlib.mp3
http://www.stonesthrow.com/news/chocolatecity/index.html

For more hot West Coast action, but this time from some unshaven white guys, there’s Birds & Batteries. NPR describe’s the group’s music as “rock and country with warm keys and glitchy beats.” The Music Report has not before come across a group that has so seamlessly integrated electronic instrumentation while maintaining a predominantly country sound.
http://www.birdsandbatteries.com/

M83 is a French electronic artist whose draws on a number of collaborators to create music that blends electronica with more traditional indie rock, frequently incorporating vocals to keep things interesting. M83 draws from the “shoegaze” genre with extensive use of reverb effects and lyrics spoken softly over instrumentals. Tunes have been featured in the trailer for A Scanner Darkly and a commercial for Pontiac. The new album Saturdays = Youth will be released this Tuesday. In case you were wondering, the name comes from a galaxy about 15 million light-years away discovered in 1752. M83 plays the New York area June 2 and 3.
http://www.ilovem83.com

Skate videos: A thing of the past? Perhaps. But also of the present. Four years in the making, Lakai Limited Footwear’s Fully Flared was partially directed by Spike Jonze and it’s got a soundtrack to match including new and old, hip hop and rock, and explosions. Bad Brains, Bowie, Public Enemy, Arcade Fire, Three 6 Mafia & M83.
http://www.lakai.com/06/arhives/movies.html

New Kids on the Block superfans should get tickets now for their reunion show May 17th at the IZOD Center, formerly Continental Airlines Arena.
http://zootopia.z100.com

Now that Spring has officially sprung, we’ll go a little bit heavier on live music in The Report this week.

The Black Keys represent a popular choice with nine upcoming sold out shows including the one at NYC’s Terminal 5. A hard rocking blues duo, the Black Keys are not completely unlike the White Stripes. Heck, their hometown of Akron, OH is a mere 3 hour drive from the Motor City by Mapquest’s count. Listen for yourself to their latest album Attack & Release produced by none other than Danger Mouse (who will be playing Highline Ballroom with his band Gnarls Barkely on Thursday April, 10th . . . My Experience: Brief show, great costumes). The Black Keys reportedly planned a collaboration with Ike Turner as their next release but the effort was curtailed by his death.
http://www.theblackkeys.com/
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=261717

The Erin Bode Group is a jazz quartet from St Louis I first saw at the Jazz Standard (which happens to be a hip spot, as Peter Farrell would say) and have listened to intermittently ever since. Erin has a sweet voice that eschews the sultriness you get from jazz singers. She plays with the excellent accompaniment of a top notch jazz pianist, drummer and bassist. Their material is mixture of originals and excellent classics like “Graceland” and “Time After Time.” Moreover, the covers take on a slightly different character instead of being just a cheap imitation of the real thing. They’ll perform at Living Room (154 Ludlow) at 7pm this Sunday. A terrific date show. I know this because I went with a girl and later learned that she presumed it was a date.
http://www.erinbode.com

Monday night, April 7th, if you find yourself in the mood for some aggro rap music, take a trip out to Brooklyn for the Jedi Mind Tricks show. As this is a family Music Report, I will not transcribe any of the lyrics although they remind of a more obscene Canibus, sometimes complex and always extreme. Almost in spite of those lyrics though, my two preferred albums Visions of Gandhi and Violent by Design are extremely listenable thanks to the MCs’ clear, confident lyrical flow and the unique, melodic sampling. Southpaw (125 Fifth Ave. in Park Slope) is not a venue I have ever visited but looks like a cool place, especially with the opening of its expansion DownSouth.
http://www.jmthiphop.com/

A little bit of an early notice on “Video Games Live” at the Beacon Theater on Saturday, April 26th. Watch as the “power and emotion of a symphony orchestra is mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert.” The most famous themes from Mario and Zelda games on the NES to Bio Shock and God of War on Xbox 360 will be on offer for your ears and eyes with synchronous lighting and out-of-this-world visuals. Rad. Try to score tickets now, or wait until the day of the show and be at the whim of the nerds as they cackle, ‘all your tickets are belong to us.’ Don’t take this lightly, Ogden, Utah and Fort Wayne Indiana were both sellouts.
http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=home

March is Women’s History month so we will be looking at some musical ladies in this week’s Report.

For good office music, you can’t go wrong with Frou Frou, a collaboration of England’s Imogen Heap and former Madonna producer Guy Sigsworth. Best known for their song “Let Go”, on the soundtrack to Garden State, Frou Frou have one full album together called Details, released in 2002. They also have plenty of excellent material separately. Heap was nominated two Grammys in 2006 and a new solo album is expected during Q2 of this year. Some very accurate comparisons for Heap’s music, or at least her vocal style, include PJ Harvery, Annie Lennox and Kate Bush.
http://www.myspace.com/froufrou
http://www.imogenheap.co.uk/

Out of Oakland, California (the location of Mrs. Music Report’s legal externship) Xiu Xiu has among its members Caralee McElroy. She and her bandmates play what might be called noise rock or experimental but there are modern classical and folk elements in there as well. Lyrics examine morose topics including suicide, AIDS, and war but are no always audible over the cacophony. That may not sound great but indie aficionados (hipsters) seem to like it. Their latest album, released this year, is called Women as Lovers.
http://www.myspace.com/xiuxiuband

Together, actress Zooey Deschanel and musician M. Ward, make up She & Him. The sound is alt-country but not aggressively so. It’s the kind of music you would probably call singer-songwriter if not for it being duo. The nice part about alt-country is you get the influence Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn and Merle Haggard without too much twang and NASCAR. Their first album Volume One is released on Merge Records in historical downtown Durham, North Carolina. Perhaps because their common acting background, Deschanel sometimes reminds of Jenny Lewis from Rilo Kiley (and co-star to Fred Savage in The Wizard).
http://www.myspace.com/sheandhim

In more masculine news, the Raconteurs have released a video for “Salute Your Solution,” the first single off their second album Consolers of the Lonely, which was released this past Tuesday. The video is made up of 2500 black and white still photos taken by legendary rock photographer Autumn de Wilde. I suspect everyone has heard Jack White’s voice but an astute observer described is as somewhere between Robert Plant and Janis Joplin.
http://www.theraconteurs.com/

Fresh off of the Bone Thugs ~N~ Harmony show, this coming Wednesday, reggae and ska legends Toots and the Maytals will play BB King’s. It’s the kind of show you’d want to have in the open air if the weather up there is as nice as it is here, but whaddya ya gonna do? If you don’t have their albums of duets called True Love, get on that.
http://www.bbkingblues.com/schedule/moreinfo.cgi?id=4030
http://www.amazon.com/True-Love-Toots-Maytals/dp/B0001GNDN4

To supplement your Music Report knowledge, and because this company is right across the street from the office, check out the new digital publication from Fader called F2. This quarterly publication, funded by Timberland (the shoes not the rapper/producer), will focus each issue on how a classic genre is being reexamined and reinterpreted.
http://thefader.com/articles/2008/3/26/introducing-f2

Welcome to the March Madness edition of The Report. Hold on to your brackets and we’ll get started.

Of all the bizarre alliances, Sports Illustrated’s NCAA Tournament blog includes a playlist with an mp3 download a day curated by indie music blog Gorilla vs. Bear. Scroll down about a quarter of the way and start downloading.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/ncaa_tourney/2008/

Last week you got a sweet recommendation from the African music scene. But there’s more . . . FRESHLYGROUND (caps not for emphasis just how they spell their name). Absurdly positive themes pervade their music which contains elements of traditional South African songs, jazz, blues and indie rock. They’ve played the World Cup’s closing ceremonies and the opening of the South African Parliament, so you know legislative types are feeling them.
http://www.freshlyground.com/

I like Singer-Songwriters as much as the next guy but they start to run together after a while. Not so with Mat Kearny. He does the whole singing and strumming thing—reminding quite a bit of Chris Martin of Coldplay—but then, out of nowhere, he’ll break off 40 bars or so of lightweight rapping. Kearny’s songs have appeared all over TV from Scrubs to Friday Night Lights to NCIS to Grey’s Anatomy and many, many more. The only caveat is that his music may have some subtle Christian undertones.
http://www.matkearney.com/

New releases are on the horizon from Brighton’s the Kooks and New York’s own We Are Scientists, although they too are bigger in the UK than they are with domestic audiences. Click below for “Always Where I Need to Be,” the first single from the Kooks’ sophomore effort Konk to be released on tax day. We Are Scientists’ Brain Thrust Mastery arrives this coming Tuesday but the consensus is that it only occasionally gets the job done. Sample the first single, “After Hours,” for yourself by clicking the second link below.
http://del.interoute.com/?id=9106c628-ac93-4544-a040-0de8d73db700&delivery=stream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rv2_LSIujHk

If your current internet radio stations are getting stale, navigate to Sky.fm broadcasting over-0 mostly high quality channels out of the UK. Nothing too edgy but good, consistent playlists. My favorites are the jazz stations and the 80’s station.
http://www.sky.fm

In the live show department, innovative jazz trio and Music Report favorite The Bad Plus are playing the legendary Blue Note tonight through Sunday. Also this weekend, Cleveland’s own Bone Thugs-N-Harmony will be playing a show at BB King’s Blue’s Club on 42nd Street.
http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/schedule/
http://www.bbkingblues.com/schedule/moreinfo.cgi?id=2975

Welcome to the South by Southwest edition of The Music Report although I will reference that festival little if at all, it just happens to be contemporaneous this week.

Melody Gardot’s story is a bit of a downer. She was hit by a car at age 19, an injury which still requires her to walk with a cane, wear dark glasses because of sensitivity to light and experience severe pain, so she knows what she’s talking about when she sings the blues. Her doctors recommended she adopt music as a therapeutic tool to rebuild her neural connections after her head trauma. She did them one better and became a lauded jazz vocalist in her native Philadelphia and beyond.
http://www.melodygardot.com/

I’d like to give a shout out to a band whose bassist waited on us for dinner last night at McCoy’s in the Orlando International Airport, Poverty Branch. They are more legit than that introduction would make them sound having played the main room at the Knitting Factory and with an album on iTunes. Their image borrows stylistically from Panic at the Disco but their music is much more subdued although not without the angst.
http://www.myspace.com/povertybranch

Our old friend Teren Delvon Jones aka Del the Funky Homosapien has a new album called 11th Hour that has been called “a tight and ruthlessly efficient 48 minutes of boasting.” Self-produced, and perhaps not his best work, 11th Hour harks back to Del’s early work almost 15 years ago. The album includes “surprising turns of phrase and the occasional flair of free association” but, stylistically, we find little original
http://www.amazon.com/Eleventh-Hour-Del-Funkee-Homosapien/dp/B0013FSV7U

I’d be overstating the quality of the BLK JKS music if I were to say that they were the best thing to come out of Africa since the human race but perhaps not by much. These group plays a distinctly afrocentric style of music yet a relatively accessible one for us crackers. Their sometimes-psychedelic, dub-inspired tunes may draw a great deal of attention from DJs and others in the wake of their appearance on the cover of Fader magazine.
http://www.blkjks.blogspot.com/

On the music video scene, we’ve got the video for the first single, entitled “Run,” off the new Gnarls Barkley album The Odd Couple. Catchy song that continues the tradition they set out with “Crazy” and the rest of their first album, perhaps the video is most noteworthy for its Justin Timberlake cameo, vintage wardrobe and throwback dance moves.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=29581750

Salutations from the Windy City where I have traveled for research so the Music Report may not ebb in its genius in the future.

Folks in the know may have heard of this group opening for J.U.S.T.I.C.E. at the WaMu Theater at MSG since they sold out two shows at the Bowery Ballroom. Chromeo is another among the 80’s throwback groups on the scene now but they do it really well down to their Dire Straits-parodying blocky 3D animated video for the song “Bonafide Lovin.’” At last, the world has a successful Arab-Jewish duo with a song about Tenderonis.
http://www.chromeo.net

Let’s bring it back to Athens, GA for a group called King of Prussia and their regal, vaguely British-sounding pop music. One commentator noted that the production on their album deserves its own instrument credit, and it gets one in the liner notes. This group may be the poor man’s Of Montreal or Apples of Stereo with their 60’s throwback sound, and that might be good because there are some things you don’t want to be rich in.
http://www.3hive.com/2006/09/king_of_prussia.php

Now for some dance music from a 2-member (aren’t they all these days) DJ team. They go by the name MEN but only one is a man. Post-South by Southwest on March 18th they’ll be doing a benefit at St. Ann’s Warehouse in Brooklyn for “Peace in Iraq and Justice at Home” along with David Byrne, Lou Reed and Norah Jones hosted by Richard Belzer.
http://www.myspace.com/mrandmrsmen
http://www.stannswarehouse.org/current_season.php?show_id=22

Lightspeed Champion is a band name taken from a comic bandleader Devonte Hynes used to draw in his math books. Formerly of the UK’s Test Icicles, 22-year old Dev Hynes has fallen in with the Omaha indie scene producing a nice album of emo crooning with song titles like “Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk” and “Let the Bitches Die.” He has been accused of sounding like an ambitious fan eager to stuff his entire record collection into a debut album but that’s kind of a cool challenge to undertake. LC will be playing at Union Pool, a former billiard supply store, Saturday in Brooklyn.
http://www.lightspeedchampion.com/

Also Saturday, neo soul singer Bilal will be playing at the HighLine Ballroom. Bilal Oliver has an impeccable resume as a backup singer appearing on tracks by Common, Beyonce, Jay-Z, Talib Kweli and the list goes on. Now that he’s doing his own thing, the sound reminds of a less rootsy, more City of Brotherly Love version of Anthony Hamilton. Some songs are borderline not safe for work because they so damn sexy, D’Angelo style.
http://www.myspace.com/bilaloliver

Here is some 3D graphic education in the form of a music video from the good people at J.U.S.T.I.C.E. This is possibly how more Concept Farm spots would have looked if Atmosphere 13 had their way.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=29486720

Forsooth! The Music Report beckons.

Jim White plays the alt-country music that was popularized earlier this decade by Ryan Adams, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco and others. Critics call his albums a sometimes-dark but always beautiful tour of the American South without all the twang of traditional country western artists. Signed to David Byrne’s label Luaka Bop, Jim White is based in Athens, Georgia but he will be visiting NYC tonight for a show at Brookyln’s Union Hall and tomorrow a spoken word performance tomorrow to benefit Housing Works.
http://www.jimwhite.net/

Let’s jump back to 2001 for a throwback recommendation with contemporary importance. Lovage is the project and the album is “Music to Make Love to Your Old Lady By.” Lovage was organized by producer Dan the Automator, who’s worked with Gorillaz, Head Automatica, and Dr Octagon, under his alias Nathaniel Merriweather between albums of his Handsome Boy Modeling School project. The other members of Lovage were Mike Patton of Faith No More, Jennifer Charles of Elysian Field and DJ Kid Koala. The album is intended to be tongue-in-cheek but offers legit grooves with “Stroker Ace” as a standout track. Patton and Dan the Automator are re-teaming under a new name, Crudo, for an album and performance at Sasquatch Festival in Quincy, WA.
http://www.bigbaer.com/nathanielmerriweather_lovage.htm

Today, I heard for the first time in quite a while a band I listened to quite a bit during my years at a privileged Southern University which will remain nameless. Jump, Little Children, formed in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, played their final show on December 30, 2005 but leave behind myriad beautiful songs including “Dancing Virginia” and “Cathedrals,” and a scholarship at the College of Charleston in their adopted hometown.
http://www.jumphq.com/

In cautionary news, Smirnoff has commissioned KRS-One, Q-Tip and Common to remix some of the tracks that made them famous. Street cred ensues until you listen to the songs which are under-produced and significantly worse versions of the originals. At least there are recipes for vodka cocktails to drink whilst you are listening.
http://smirnoffsignaturemixseries.com/

Rock the Rabbit 2008 is a campaign Playboy has put together whereby they’ve tapped
musicians across various genres to create T-shirts based on their signature bunny logo to be sold through Bloomingdales and their own website with some proceeds going to Rock the Vote.
http://www.playboy.com/magazine/features/rock-the-rabbit/

Get your ducats now for the inimitable Michael McDonald’s performance at the Blue Note March 4 and 5. Tables are sold out but you may be able to get a spot at the bar. I took this show in over the holidays and he strikes just the right balance of old Doobie Brothers material and Motown covers. Not to be missed. But if you do, Ben E. King will be “standing by” for you tonight through Sunday.
http://www.bluenotejazz.com/newyork/schedule/index.shtml

This is the pre-pilgrimage edition of The Report as I return this weekend to the Big Apple to participate in the scene I comment on weekly.

Neutral Milk Hotel is a group getting buzz right now for some reason. The group disbanded shortly after the release of their seminal album In The Aeroplane Over the Sea in 1998. Jeff Mangum, the driving force behind the group, also hasn’t recorded or performed solo since. Their sound reminds of the Decemberists and the Arcade Fire as they were undoubtedly an influence on those groups.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutral_Milk_Hotel

How I Became the Bomb is not the title of my upcoming autobiography to be released on the Random House imprint. It is the next band in this week’s Report. Diversify the Music Report like a well balanced portfolio, this is our first group of out the Music City. I’ll cautiously compare their sound to that of Devo and The Cars. In 2006, they released an EP entitled “Let’s Go” and are working on a full length release. Recommended Track: “Killing Machine”
http://www.howibecamethebomb.com

Now for the Blake Olson special. Madeline Peyroux is a French jazz songstress who has soulfully and sometimes sultrily interpreted the standards as well as the songs of contemporary artists including Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen over the course of her three albums. I can hear you saying as you read this, “Sure, but has she ever done a duet with k.d. lang?” Yes she has and it is entitled “River.”
http://www.madeleinepeyroux.com

Am I the only one that cries during “We Will Rock You” for the lost talent of Freddie Mercury? I’m happy to say my tears were of joy when I heard Ghostland Observatory’s song entitled “Dancing on My Grave.” This two man band has captured a little bit of Queen and put an electro spin on it throughout their upcoming (available next Tuesday) release Robotique Majestique. They’ll also be coming to town for a raucous live show March 28th at Webster Hall.
http://www.myspace.com/ghostlandobservatory

Have you ever thought, “I wish there were more songs that sounded like ‘Dick in a Box’ but were slightly more orchestral and without the funny lyrics?” Neither have I but the band No Kids created the song “The Beaches All Closed” anyway. Their other songs take an unrelated series of different directions “turn[ing] the mundane into [a] cinemascopic musical extravaganza.”
http://www.myspace.com/nokidsband

Don’t think I’m gonna end this thing without a dose of rap music. Junk Science perpetuates the dark, quick-slow brand of angry white boy hip hop developed by El-P, founder of their label Definitive Jux. Fortunately Junk Science get a little more playful with their craft. Based in Brooklyn, JS can be frequently be found playing shows around town independently or as part of their Nuclear Family crew.
http://www.nukfam.com/junkscience/

Love is in the air with the Valentine’s Day version of The Report.

This week, Blue Note released “Droppin' Science: Greatest Samples From The Blue Note Lab” compiling the songs from their catalog that have been most often and most famously sampled. The ten tracks have been sampled a total of 29 times by Dr Dre, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and others. One even made it onto Brian Austin Green’s rap album. Follow the link for a free mixtape sample of the material.
http://www.giantstep.net/news/748/

Ladies Night! Shara Worden, who records under the name My Brightest Diamond, will be performing two sold out shows as part of the Brooklyn Next series at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) February 22 and 23. MBD will be opening for The National, whom Angela and I saw live before they began providing the soundtrack to teen dramas on the CW. Worden “channel[s] the vocal theatrics of Kate Bush, the soulful seductiveness of Nina Simone and the gothic pop of Portishead.” All the Music Report readers out there in e-mail land are my brightest diamonds.
http://www.myspace.com/mybrightestdiamond

Something at BAM that’s not sold out (yet) is Paul Simon’s month long residency during April wherein he’ll be collaborating with a range of artists to produce three shows called “Songs from the Capeman” rife with Latin beats and 50s doo-wop (Special Guest Appearance by Little Anthony and the Imperials, “Under African Skies” featuring David Byrne among many others and picking up where Simon left off with Graceland, and American Tunes featuring Nas’ father Olu Dara and popular Brooklyn indie act Grizzly Bear.
http://www.bam.org/events/music.aspx

Kid band Smoosh will be opening for Tokyo Police Club (of Music Report fame) at three NYC shows in April, two of which still have tickets available. Smoosh, out of the Seattle indie scene, consists of Asya (16), Chloe (13), and Maia (12). They write all of their own music and have opened for the likes of Pearl Jam, Jimmy Eat World and Bloc Party. Smoosh are sometimes considered protégés of Chloe’s drum teacher, Jason McGerr, now drummer of Death Cab for Cutie but they’ve most frequently been compared with Tori Amos and PJ Harvey. I prefer the piano-driven song “Free to Stay” off an album of the same name.
http://www.smoosh.com

Watch out Concept Farm! Jay-Z has entered a joint venture with Steve Stoute of Translation Consultation and Brand Imaging and Interpublic to create an advertising agency “us[ing] his eye, his taste, [and] his understanding of the culture" to help guide the company. "He left his day job at Def Jam; he has to do something," Stoute said. Of course Spike Lee had long beat Jay to the punch with Spike DDB.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/08/business/media/08adco.html

In closing, I’ll leave you with a link to Thom Yorke’s “DJ set”/Interview on NPR’s All Songs Considered. He mentions Bleep.com and Boomkat.com as the places he finds new music but they’re both pretty tough to decipher, even with the lofty expertise and sensibilities of The Music Report.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18960914

To kick off February, The Report has the scoop, the skinny, the straight dope. Do not hesitate to use what you learn hereafter to impress your friends and members of the fairer sex.

It wasn’t but a few weeks ago I dropped a note on Vampire Weekend who happen to be the pride of Columbia University. This week it’s Chester French out of Harvard. These two crackers developed an original sound consisting of “intricately imagined pop songs that fuse lush string arrangements with modern beats” that got them signed to Interscope imprint Star Trak and favored by the likes Pharrell, Kanye, Jermaine Dupri and Damon Dash.
http://www.chesterfrench.com

I will again, unabashedly, take a cue from the latest Apple spot with French Israeli artist Yael Naim. The featured song is “New Soul” off her self-titled album not yet released in the US. She also showed up this week in the Will.i.am-produced and Jesse Dylan-directed Obama propaganda/music video “Yes We Can.” She does not deliver on looks but I give her props for her cover of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” on her album along with a few not terrible songs in Hebrew.
http://www.yaelweb.com/
http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/yeswecanvideo

Yeah, I’m going back-to-back female singer-songwriter on all of y’all. Another funny name too. Basia Bulat. Blonde. Canadian. Her album “Oh My Darling” dropped on Tuesday and she will be playing a Bowery Ballroom show February 29th. Standout tracks include “In the Night” from her debut EP and “Little Waltz.” She’s intimate, moody, and enchanting as she combines her rich voice with gorgeously simple melodies and irresistible sincerity.
http://www.basiabulat.com

Bam! Once, Twice, Three Times a Lady. Basia Bulat is actually only opening the 2/29 Bowery show for headliner Annie Clark who records under the nom du rock of St. Vincent. Clark’s struck out on her own after stints in Sufjan Stevens’ band and as a member of the Polyphonic Spree. On her debut album “Marry Me,” her “cinematic pop epics that feel at times like Paris in the 20s before all the fun ended.” St Vincent will also be playing a short set as part of the Plug Awards on March 6th at Hell Kitchen’s Terminal 5. Tickets go on sale for that on Friday at Noon. Other acts who will appear include Dizzee Rascal (who I first got into with the song “Dream” and its sampling of “Happy Talk” from South Pacific) and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
http://www.stvincent.com
http://www.plugawards.com/event.php

I understand word has gotten around about the Beastie Boys’ charity show for the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function @ Terminal 5 on March 4th. $75 tickets go on sale Friday @ 10am via Ticketmaster. The other option is not to risk a sellout by paying $100 now with the pre-sale password MUSICHASPOWER You might be able to write off part of all of this sum so don’t be shy. Although I can’t vouch for the venue.
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00004042BE8184C9?artistid=702455

In Johnny Gellos news, Billy Joel will be the final artist to play Shea Stadium on July 16th, the day after the All Star Game at Yankee stadium. Tickets for the concert go on sale February 16th. 2nd link is a honest and rather unflattering Billy Joel profile by Chuck Klosterman for the New York Times Magazine back in 2002.
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003707583
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E00EFDA1F3EF936A2575AC0A9649C8B63

As I sign off, I’ll shake things up a bit by linking to a mixtape by the Clipse that they’re offering free to thank fans for hanging with them in anticipation of their follow up to “Hell Hath No Fury.” The quick primer on Virginia Beach’s the Clipse is encapsulated in this quote from Malice, on of the two MCs that make up the duo, “If lyric-driven hip hop is dead and gone, then so am I. I can’t change and do nothing else.” There’s beats too though. For the true experience, get the DJ Drama version so you won’t have to listen to the music without someone shouting incitations over it.
http://reupgang.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/clipse

To conclude this frigid January, The Report begins with an international bent.

An excellent source of up and coming bands are the big EA Sports releases. Being el deporte de la gente, FIFA 08 includes music from around the globe. Mexican Institute of Sound (MIS) come to us from south of the border, and they bring with them mucho sabor. MIS has an eclectic catalog with influences that stretch far beyond mariachi into Colombian cumbia, Cuban chacha, Jamiaican dub, and good old fashioned electronica.
If nothing else, listening to MIS is bound to attract women who really know how to move. From the other side of the pond, we get the mellower Europop stylings of the French band Babamars.
http://www.myspace.com/mexicaninstituteofsound
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=61742352

Victoria Bergsmann is the heavenly voice on Peter, Bjorn, and John’s “Young Folks” but that’s just a side gig for her. She has been singing with Stockholm’s The Concretes, who had a breakthrough hit with “Say Something New” when it appeared in an ad for Targét, for almost ten years now. Her solo project is called Taken By Trees. The debut album is called “Open Field” with a very nice single in “Lost and Found.” Taken’s website lists a tourdate in NYC at the Zipper Theater (37th St b/w 8th and 9th Ave) on February 22nd. Gregg may recognize the Zipper Theater from its biweekly Joy Behar performances.
http://www.theconcretes.com/
http://www.takenbytrees.com/music/

This past Tuesday saw the release of the debut album by Vampire Weekend. I’ll describe it in a single word: jumpin’. The four New Yorkers of VW create a sound that often reminds of Strokes-y Garage Rock but would feel right at home in Brighton or Manchester, UK as well. Vampire Weekend played the Bowery Ballroom Tuesday and Wednesday nights to sold out audiences (which is usually a good indication that band is solid). The record is value-priced at $7.99 on Amazon and $8.99 at Targét.
http://www.myspace.com/vampireweekend

Along with Wine & Dine, the current wave of digitally distributed cooking shows includes Dinner with the Band. From Austin, Texas-based multimedia shop Super!Alright!, the show is primarily fueled by snarky comments from band members. Chef Sam Mason chaperones and allots time for lives performances during preparation. Music Report favorites Tokyo Police Club and El-P have already appeared.
http://onnetworks.com/videos/dinner-with-the-band

To close, here’s the beautifully idyllic Bob Dylan video starring Scarlett Johansson for his song “When the Deal Goes Down” from the 2006 album Modern Times
http://us.video.aol.com/player/launcher?ar=us_en_video_748x541_full&mode=0&pmmsid=1701958

Music Report. Comin’ atcha.

I always thought that Professor Murder was a pretty good moniker to give yourself, right behind the Donut Police. Later I found out that it was a group four dudes hailing from Crooklyn and Illadelphia. Regardless, Professor Murder has released an EP on Rcrd Lbl which is an online record label releasing exclusive and completely free music from emerging and established artists. Other notable acts who’ve released on Rcrd Lbl include Cold War Kids, Sufjan Stevens, and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists.
http://professormurder.com/
http://rcrdlbl.com/

For mo’ free music, check out this collaboration between Scion and indie funk and soul label Daptone Records. They’ve allowed some of the giants of the remixing community to have at their archives and the result is fabulous, and completely complimentary. The standout for me is Mad Professor’s remix of the Daktaris creating a very modern-sounding dub track. If you really dig it you can bring your sweet to see Daptone artists Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings at the Beacon Theater February 15th.
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2008/01/remixed_by_fing_2.html
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D003F9DA6FC4D83?artistid=952031

Tonight, John Legend is playing a party at Pacha, on 46th St between 11th and 12th Aves. The party marks the launch of Pepsi Stuff, Pepsi’s response to the My Coke Rewards campaign that’s found success over the past year. Your guess is as good as mine how this party will help make the promotion a hit. Requires RSVP at the link below.
http://newyork.joonbug.com/events/17904/Pacha/Pepsi+Stuff+Presents+Live+Performance+by+John+Lege.html#RSVP

This Friday at the Natural History Museum, a dance party will replace their brainwashing of patrons about the theory of evolution. Between 9pm and 1am enjoy the stylings of five-time world champion DJ A-Trak on hiatus from touring with Kanye West as he opens for cheeky Chicago MC Kid Sister and The Cool Kids, still riding high on their Real Rhapsody commercial appearance. If you miss this month, DJ Jazzy Jeff will be holding it down next month. Tickets are $20 and include a free pass to visit the museum at a later date. Use the 81st entrance just off Central Park West.
http://www.amnh.org/rose/specials/

Finally, I shall draw attention to “performance artist” Mark Malkoff who was/is living in the Paramus, NJ Ikea for some time as one of his projects. In order to assuage his wife’s anger about this doing this, he convinces her favorite artist, Lisa Loeb, to play a show there. Coincidentally, Cool in Your Code alumnus Adam Putnam-Thomas is one of the camera operators on the video. Malkoff also has a video of his purchasing and consuming something from each of the 171 New York Starbucks in a single day.
http://www.marklivesinikea.com/02_videos/23_lisa_loeb_sings_to_mark_in_ikea.html
http://www.171starbucks.com/

Yo, yo, yo, yo Music Report in the hizzouse.

This Sunday night, start celebrating MLK Day early by attending the Rakim and Chuck D show at Greenpoint Brooklyn’s Studio B. Also appearing will be Luv Bug Starski who is, in addition to a name mentioned in “Juicy,” also an actual person. Stop by Angela’s father’s restaurant while you’re there.
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=238259

Also Sunday, Tay Zonday will be playing a joint called Club Europa which is unfortunately only accessible via the G train. Who is ‘Tay Zonday?’ you may ask. His song ‘Chocolate Rain’ was all the range some months ago. Watch the video to find out why but your guess is as good as mine as to the underlying meaning if one does indeed exist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwTZ2xpQwpA
http://ticketweb.com/user/?region=xxx&query=search&interface=ticketweb&newhps=1&search=tay+zonday

An event that Jimmy and I attended last year is the Plug Awards which honor independent music. They have a bunch of nominated bands perform, there’s a comedian host (Patton Oswalt, funniest person Galen Bernard has ever, this year), and they show some hilarious videos that are germane to the nominees and ‘the scene’ as well. Tickets do not yet appear to be on sale but voting has begun. You can probably pick up a few recommendations for artists and albums even I might have missed as you vote.
http://www.plugawards.com/event.php?PHPSESSID=043421870603e816fd42a9f1a9080f8e

In forward-looking European-style festival concert news, the NYT reports that west coast festival Coachella is lending its name to a show in the Garden States’s Liberty State Park August 8th through August 10th that may be headlined by Radiohead and much less headlined by Jack Johnson. Interestingly there is already a concert festival scheduled for that weekend in Vineland, NJ with a reunited Rage Against the Machine rumored as a/the headliner.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/nyregion/16mbrfs-festival.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion&oref=slogin

In new album news, we’ve got a bit of Southern flavor with the Drive By Truckers. This group tries to picks up where Lynard Skynard, Allman Brothers and their ilk left off when members of those bands began to meet their maker. The DBT’s new album Brighter Than Creation’s Dark, has been called a Southern gothic rock n' roll masterpiece. Their past stuff is rock solid as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Brighter-Than-Creations-Drive-Truckers/dp/B000ZKRFDA

Howdy Pardners, glad to see you’re still tuning in.

You can’t swing a dead cat these days without hitting a piece of media praising HBO’s series The Wire. Aiming to capitalize on all that pub in its final season, the producers are releasing two albums of the show’s music: ...And All the Pieces Matter: Five Years of Music From The Wire and Beyond Hamsterdam: Baltimore Tracks from The Wire. The music is likely to be most satisfying for fans of the show who can recall the tense moments that correspond with each track. That notwithstanding, the albums contain a number of solid hip hop tracks alternating between gritty, angsty bangers and socially conscious opuses. The two albums overlap quite a bit with Hamsterdam probably superior musically but 5 Years of Music contains wonderful liner notes chock full of beautiful photos and insightful essays.
http://www.amazon.com/Wire-Pieces-Matter-Years-Music/dp/B000YDOOT6
http://www.amazon.com/Wire-Beyond-Hamsterdam-Baltimore/dp/B0010DJ1BU

Another album just released based on a television show is from The Simpsons. Entitled Testify, it collects 41 songs from seasons 11 through 18 including such smashes as Nelson singing “Poppa Can You Hear Me?,” “Everybody Hates Ned Flanders (Medley)” and “Lady” (sung by Ricky Gervais). Add this to your collection next to the previous discs Songs in the Key of Springfield, The Yellow Album, Simpsons Sing the Blues and Go Simpsonic with the Simpons.
http://www.amazon.com/Simpsons-Testify-Original-TV-Soundtrack/dp/B000TXZVGG

Tonight, Natalie Merchant is playing the intimate confines of Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel. If she plays “Carnival,” “Jealousy,” and “Kind & Generous” it’s totally worth it.
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00003F7C96917136?artistid=770622&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=1

Next Wednesday, Wyclef Jean will bring his stylings mentioned in last week’s Report, to the Nokia Theater. Opening up is smooth, sultry R&B vocalist Lyfe Jennings. Let’s just say when I listened to his single “Cops Up” it even got me a little wet.
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00003F7DF418C201?artistid=792240&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=3
http://www.myspace.com/lyfejennings

I want to close today with a couple more of my favorite sources of streaming radio, LA’s Indie 103.1, which is always breaking new Rock songs and artists, and AccuRadio which has a whole slew of different genre stations include Flock of 80’s, Hey, Hey We’re the 60’s and Check The Rhyme. Or you can design your own station.
http://www.indie1031.fm/
http://accuradio.com/

New Year, new albums:

Based upon the type of music that often passes the time on FarmAir, the album “The Very Best of Ethiopiques: Hypnotic Grooves From the Legendary Series” would be a excellent addition to the office collection. It is only natural to be skeptical of a series focused on reissuing Ethiopian popular music but this collection of jazzy soul, chillout tracks and “world music” rewards listeners generously for a slight digression from their comfort zone. Avid fans already include Jim Jarmusch, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and Robert Plant.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/46123-the-very-best-of-ethiopiques-hypnotic-grooves-from-the-legendary-series
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5560216

Leading up to the release of their new album “Accelerate” on April 1st, R.E.M. has established a site to provide ambiguous teaser content for fans rabid enough to care. The band will most likely preview tracks from that album at the Langerado festival they’ll be playing with the Beastie Boys and about a hundred other acts March 6-9 in the Florida Everglades.
http://www.ninetynights.com
http://www.langerado.com

Released December 4th of 2007, Wyclef Jean’s album “Carnival II: Memoirs of an Immigrant” didn’t get the publicity one might expect. He convened a stable of collaborators including Paul Simon, Norah Jones, and Shakira, along with many of the usual suspects, to produce an album that defines the word eclectic. The deluxe 2-disc set include 5 bonus tracks and 3 music videos.
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/wyclefjean/albums/album/17395636/review/17436478/carnival_vol_ii_memoirs_of_an_immigrant

Chrisette Michele of Central Islip, NY began singing on tracks for Jay-Z and Nas and has now sung her way into a Grammy nomination for best Female R&B vocal performance for the song “If I Have My Way” off of her album I Am released over the summer. My first experience was mistaking her for Ella Fitzgerald or Billie Holiday on the local smooth jazz station. As an up-and-coming act, it might pay to buy tickets sooner than later for her show February 24th at New York’s Highline Ballroom.
http://www.highlineballroom.com/bio.php?id=339

“The Killing of John Lennon” won the special jury prize at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and has been picked up for wider release by IFC First Take beginning with the IFC Center on Sixth Avenue in the West Village. Expect no stars but plenty of circa 1980 period dress, psychoanalysis, and real passages from the journals of one Mark David Chapman.
http://www.thekillingofjohnlennon.com/index.html

‘Tis the final edition of The Report for 2007.

Let’s begin with some live shows to end the year with a bang:

Sat + Sun 12/28 & 29, The Famous New York Dolls will be playing Irving Plaza presumably to the delight of Mark Albertson.
http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/47

Sunday, 12/30 @ 9:00pm, Farm Favorite Talib Kweli will be at NYC’s Highline Ballroom.
http://www.ticketweb.com/t3/sale/SaleEventDetail?dispatch=loadSelectionData&eventId=228349&REFERRAL_ID=tmfeed

The characters that put together, Yacht Rock, the series of videos lovingly satirizing the genesis of the greatest hits of 1976-1984 from the likes of The Doobie Brothers, Hall and Oates, Kenny Loggings and others will be premiering their 11th release ‘Footloose’ as two bands from The School of Rock play “Yacht Rock” hits live. It’s all going down tonight, 12/27 at 8:00pm at The Knitting Factory.
http://www.yachtrock.com/

As for New Year’s Eve itself, Gogol Bordello will bring their gypsy stylings to Terminal 5, Velvet Revolver are playing Hammerstein Ballroom, Chris Rock is at MSG, and Slick Rock and Moby, among others, will be taking over Studio B in Brooklyn.
http://www.terminal5nyc.com/
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00003F7AA1D29422
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/1D003F75FAADC5EC
http://www.clubstudiob.com/

For a smaller environment, and a DJ with a sick collection of records, the Delancey will host Prince Paul of De La Soul and Handsome Boy Modeling School on the ones and twos New Years Eve as well.
http://www.thedelancey.com/

Kid pop punk band Care Bears on Fire get to stay up late New Years Eve as they play the Knitting Factory with a slew of other acts including Bed-Stuy’s Dirty Projectors and Senryu.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=107710852
http://www.myspace.com/dirtyprojectors
http://www.myspace.com/senryu

But the fun doesn’t stop once we hit 2008. Lesser known brothers of Wynton and Branford, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis will be jazzing up the legendary Blue Note 1/1 to 1/6 with showtimes at 8pm and 10:30pm. Delfeayo, a Grammy-award winning producer, leads his sextet on trombone.
http://www.delfeayomarsalis.com/

Welcome to the yuletide edition of The Report.

Let’s begin with side projects:

There Will Be Blood Soundtrack
Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood doubles as a proper composer on the side. He composed the “stunning” string score for the upcoming Paul Thomas Anderson/Daniel Day-Lewis film about turn of the century oil prospecting. The BBC orchestra plays the recorded score but the Wordless Music orchestra will be performing a Greenwood selection live Jan. 17th at The Church of St. Paul the Apostle on Columbus Avenue & West 60th Street as part of the Wordless Music Festival.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/music/release/dj8c/
http://www.wordlessmusic.org/schedule.html

Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo
This past Tuesday, Weezer’s Harvard-educated frontman released an album of his solo work including robot voices, barbershop-quartet harmonies, over-emoting, and an Ice Cube cover. It’s basically a bunch of demos so the recordings are very polished.
http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/47569-alone-the-home-recordings-of-rivers-cuomo

Public Enemy is reportedly playing the Warsaw in Brooklyn 2nite.
http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00003F66D759A763?artistid=702514&majorcatid=10001&minorcatid=3

RZA, who sometimes goes by the pseudonym Bobby Digital according to the flyer, will be doing a show at the intimate Hiro Ballroom 12/29. Tickets are a mere $10.
http://newyork.going.com/therza

To follow up on a previous story, the same ad in Rolling Stone that got Camel smokes in trouble for using cartoons to sell tobacco is also getting them sued by indie bands for “unauthorized use of artist names for commercial advantage (right of publicity)”
http://www.thedailyswarm.com/swarm/indie-rock-universe-fucked-and-xiu-xiu-file-class-action-lawsuit-against-camel-and-rolling-stone/

From the “If you don’t know it, it’s new to you” department:

Canadian Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac is a weird dude. He is a self-described lover of watersports (I don’t mean wakeboarding) and put his genitals on display during a kilted performance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Nice enough music though. See especially “Sleepy Maggie” a song in Gaelic from his 1996 album Hi, How Are You?
http://www.amazon.com/Hi-How-Are-You-Today/dp/B000002G5C