Music Report

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