Show Alert Wilco with Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band Saturday brings what just might be the show of the summer to the area. Wilco continue on their tour of minor league baseball stadiums when they play Lelacheur Park in Lowell, otherwise know as home to The Lowell Spinners. The AGP staff will be on hand to witness our first rock show in a baseball stadium and I for one am looking forward to hearing the excellent new material found on the bands just released Wilco(The Album).
The pairing with Conor Oberst as the opener is an added bonus to say the least. Conor Oberst and The Mystic Valley Band will open the show with their multi-textured Americana folk. The band is on tour in support of their sophomore album Outer South (Merge).
Gates open at 5:30 with the show scheduled to begin at 7PM Tickets are still available through Higherground/Frontgatetickets
From the NPR Archives:[MP3/Stream] Check out this performance and interview culled from the NPR archives from 2005 shortly after Wilco picked up two Grammy Awards for A Ghost Is Born Wilco on NPR's Talk of The Nation with Neal Conan 02/24/05
Show Prep Wilco- One Wing Is it too early for some pre-show hype? I certainly hope not. We'll have an official show preview tomorrow but this will do nicely until then. Recorded last year when Wilco played Lollapalooza in Chicago. A still in the works early version of One Wing which you can now find on Wilco (The Album).
The fireworks have been acquired, the grills are ready to be lit, and the coolers are overflowing. However before I head out to enjoy this years Independence Day festivities I thought I'd take the opportunity to share some new tracks from some of Americas finest. Spoon have just released their first recording since releasing Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga back in 2007. This past Tuesday Brit Daniel and Co. released Got Nuffin, a three song single via Merge. Be sure to check out the title track below and good luck not getting it stuck in your head for the next two days. Spoon are set to play their own festival, SpoonX3 in Austin as well as Merge's 20th anniversary festival, XXMerge later this month.
San Diego's,The Black Heart Procession will deliver their new album on October 6th. The band will release Six through their new label Temporary Residence and return to the economical approach to naming albums. They released One, Two, and Three earlier in their career. Earlier this week the band posted the track Rats and I have to say it sounds pretty great.
I was taken by surprise earlier this week when Matador announced the release of The Reel Feel, the new release from Pavement's Scott Kannberg and his first proper solo album under the Spiral Stairs moniker. The album was recorded in Seattle and features his old band mates from Preston School of Industry as well Ian Moore, Jon Aur (The Posies), and Kevin Drew (Broken Social Scene). The Reel Feel hits stores worldwide on October 20th. Maltese Terrier was posted on the Matador site earlier this week and it couldn't have come a better time. It's nice slab of summer pop goodness. Welcome back Spiral.
An Interview With Andrew Kenny of The Wooden Birds
Over the past couple of months I've been singing the praises of Magnolia, the first release from Andrew Kenny's new project, The Wooden Birds. In fact it's going to be hard to top as my favorite album of 2009. So imagine my excitement when Andrew agreed to take some time to answer a few questions from The Ash Gray Proclamation via e-mail.
Andrew is best known as the creative force behind The American Analog Set. However with the sparkling and downright beautiful indie pop found on Magnolia, you can add The Wooden Birds to his already impressive resume.
Thank you to Grant MacCallum at Barsuk for his assistance and especially to Andrew Kenny for his time.
The Ash Gray Proclamation: After the end of Amanset you worked with a handful of bands including Keven Drew & Broken Social Scene, can you tell me what led to the forming of your new band The Wooden Birds?
Andrew: After the AmAnSet stopped touring I was really depressed for months. When I started playing bass with Ola Podrida, it was a great opportunity to not be "the guy" and just have a good time performing music that you like. That definitely put some wind in my sails so when Kevin asked me to join his tour for a while I was ready to start traveling again. They also kept an acoustic guitar on their bus where I finished up a few of the songs on Magnolia. When I left the Broken Social Scene, I knew I was ready to put something of my own together.
Andrew: I've been a DCFC fan since the first time I saw them in 1999 so Barsuk has been on my radar for a decade. We'd spoken a few times over the years about the AmAnSet and so I knew they were aware of me as well. I was happy to hear from them too! I think The Wooden Birds are a good fit here.
AGP: When you starting writing for Magnolia what were your expectations for the sound of the record?
Andrew: I used to demo songs by pounding out beats on my guitar top and then playing along. It was always my way of explaining the feel of each song to Analog Set drummer, Mark Smith. Over time I started liking the way those beats sounded on their own.
When I started putting songs aside for Magnolia I chose songs that would take advantage of those kinds of beats. It will be the next Wooden Birds album that I will get to write a few new songs specifically for and I'm really looking forward to that process.
AGP: I've read that the new record was inspired by heartbreak, can you tell me why that theme seems to keep creeping into your music?
Andrew: I'm not special. Like everyone, I have a lot of heartbreak to write about. These days I'm happily married so I'm mostly writing about things that happened in my past. Eventually I'll run out of sad things to write about though, huh? Maybe 2030 or 2035. The 90's were tough.
AGP: The Other One sounds like it could have been an Amanset song, speaking of your former band, can we expect to hear any Amanset material when you play Boston?
Andrew: There are a few songs on Magnolia that began as AmAnSet demos but maybe didn't make sense on an American Analog Set record. I presented The Other One as a song for Set Free in 2004 and everyone said, "Um.. you already have one Aaron and Maria, you need two?".
We're playing a few AmAnSet songs on this Wooden Birds tour. We play Kindness Of Strangers. And yeah we play Aaron and Maria as well which is a lot of fun because The AmAnSet never did!
AGP: Can you tell us how Hard To Find, the newly released Amanset rarities compilation came about?
Andrew: There was a tour only 12" called Everything Ends In Spring that we took with us on our last tour in 2005. It contains a coupe of my all time favorite AmAnSet moments and as an EP, I couldn't be more proud of 30 min of AmAnSet music. We'd always talked about making that EP available in some kind of digital format. And then other songs emerged as moments that were special for some reason. A 7" that was never released.. Hard To Find b/w Make It Take It. Another 7" that sold out quickly... New Equation. I love that version of Sharp Briar that Matt Pond sings on. And for years we opened every show with the slowed down version of Promise Of Love that we called, Stoney Chariots, though we never made it available officially. It just made a lot of sense to sequence them all together and make them downloadable.
AGP: Magnolia has been called your best work by your new label? How does that statement make you feel?
Andrew: I've written a lot of music over the years. It's a dangerous cycle to fall into to think that you have to top yourself somehow every time you write or record. My goal has always been just to make music that I believe in and when I get to share it with people, it's a wonderful feeling. So is the bridge on Never Know better than the moment when the vocals kick in on Continuous Hit Music ? Are the lyrics on Hometown Fantasy better than She's Half ? Aaron & Maria and The Other One are really similar songs but is one better? I'd rather think of myself as the guy that over the last 10 years wrote all 6 of those songs and many others and might have a few gems left in him. (I hope more than a few!)
AGP: What is the status of your other career as a biologist?
Andrew: Oh gosh. It's something that I think about every day, but resuming my career in science is going to be a major undertaking. I'd be a clumsy menace in a laboratory right now. It's in my future though. Laboratory science is the only thing I've ever done in my life that I've ever felt good at. I'd like to have that satisfaction resume someday.
AGP: Do you write on the road or do you prefer to focus on playing the songs you've just recorded?
Andrew: That's come up recently. I have a few bits of music recorded on my little cassette recorder and so I think about lyrics a lot while I'm driving. But as for the whole band, we're still working on making our set / show better. that's our #1 goal.
AGP: Here's question I like to ask all touring bands, what have you been listening to in the van?
Andrew: I'm never the van dj, but when I get a little backseat headphones time I've been listening to the newest Phoenix album which is absolutely going to be my favorite record of 2009. I also like the Land of Talk record that came out late last year. Also Grand Archives and Night Control. I've been enjoying a renewed interest in the House Of Love lately. I also just got a mix cd of Li'l Flip freestyles that I'm 'bout 'bout.
AGP: Four years have passed since you released Set Free, please tell us we won't have to wait another four years before we get the next Wooden Birds album?
Andrew: Ha, ha, right? The Wooden Birds is what I'm doing these days. I've been on tour for almost 3 months so when I'm home I'll need to spend at least that long proving to my wife that I'm worth putting up with the hassle of absentee husbandism. And then I'll start working on the next round of Wooden Birds songs. I'd like to keep my album cycles a little tighter with this project. We'll see.
The Wooden Birds-Seven Seventeen Recorded on the streets of Valencia, Spain 5/6/09
Oklahoma's archetypal popstersThe Starlight Mints have returned with their new offering Change Remains via Barsuk. The album was released to digital shops on June 9th, with the bricks and mortars release set for July 21st. Over their previous three releases The Mints have honed their unique brand of psyche-pop and with Change Remains they've taken another step forward towards making the perfect oddball pop record. Barsuk is throwing in the digital version of Change Remains when you pre-order prior to the albums official physical release date.
01. Coffins 'R' Us [01:49] 02. Natural [02:41] 03. Paralyzed [03:51] 04. Zoomba [03:34] [MP3/Stream] 05. Black Champagne [03:24] 06. Power Bleed [03:25] 07. Gazaretti [02:48] 08. Sesame (untie the wrath) [03:49] 09. Snorkel with a Turtle [01:53] 10. 40 Fingers [03:46]
In this current economic climate it's a good idea to spend wisely. So, in the interest of good consumerism and lets face a worthy excuse to tell you about some new music. I'd like to direct your attention to three new and upcoming releases that you can check out right now before you plunk down your hard earned cash.
On July 7th Jay Farar will release his 6th album with Son Volt and the 2nd since rebuilding the band in 2004. According to the press release issued by the bands label, American Central Dust recalls the sparkling melodies and country twang found on the band debut release, Trace. Based on the tracks I've heard I have to agree with that comparison. A return to form? I'm not ready to make that statement just yet, lets just say I'm eager to hear more.
On July 21st Wye Oak will release their 2nd LP, The Knot. You can expect a more refined sound from Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack this time around while still maintaining their droning Americana. If you were lucky enough to be in the crowd at last months show at T.T. The Bears you already know how strong the new material found on The Knot is, and if not you need to introduce yourself to Wye Oak immediately. Double Dagger -More (Thrill Jockey) The More Preview @ Thrill Jockey I thought I'd finish up by calling your attention to an LP that's already on the shelf at your favorite record shop. More is the 3rd full length from Baltimore's art punks, Double Dagger. It's another dose of drum and bass cacophony that features the bands strongest material to date. More was recorded on the fifth floor of an abandoned office building that was scheduled to be demolished, a perfect setting for their ambitious and raw sound.
Show Alert The Decemberists with Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 The Bank of America Pavilion The Decemberistsare in town tonight to support their epic fifth album The Hazards of Love. An ambitious folk play and not the rock opera as some have suggested. Hazards is a bombastic rock record that tells the tale of a love between a mythical forest creature(Colin Meloy) and a delicate mortal (Becky Stark of Lavender Diamond) as well as the vengeful forest queen (Shara Wooden of My Brightest Diamond) who tries to put an end to it all. If it sounds a bit over the top that's because it is, not to worry The Decemberists provide the necessary pop firepower to pull it off with ease.
Robyn Hitchcock & The Venus 3 open the show. Alongside Hitchcock, The Venus 3 features Scott McCaughey( Young Fresh Fellows), Bill Riffin(REM/Ministry), and Peter Buck(REM) respectively. The band is touring in support of their excellent Goodnight Oslo LP released via Yep Rock. Get there early so you don't miss a note.
Saturday brings what just might be the show of the summer to the area. Wilco continue on their tour of minor league baseball stadiums when they play Lelacheur Park in Lowell, otherwise know as home to The Lowell Spinners. The AGP staff will be on hand to witness our first rock show in a baseball stadium and I for one am looking forward to hearing the excellent new material found on the bands just released Wilco(The Album).
