Touring in support of their upcoming release Dear Companion, Ben Sollee and Daniel Martin Moore will be performing at The Brown Theatre on Friday, February 26 at 8:30 p.m. This show was originally scheduled at The Bomhard Theater, but had to be moved due to demand for tickets. This means that even more people can come out and see a great show. I got the chance to see Ben and Daniel last year at Kentucky Center and it was one of my favourite shows of 2009, so this one is not to be missed. Tickets are on sale now for $25 and are available at The Kentucky Center box office, www.kentuckycenter.org or by phone (502) 584-7777, (800) 775-7777 or TTY (502) 562-0730. If you already had tickets for the Bomhard Theater show, the box office will call to re-seat you in The Brown Theatre. Don’t forget to check out Sollee and Moore’s new album Dear Companion, it hits shelves Feb. 16 on Sub Pop.
The Pomegranates are an amazing band from Cincy that has played Louisville a number of times. With each year, they get bigger and bigger and now their debut album, Everything is Alive, is going to be released on vinyl. It is going to be limited to 500 (100 black, 200 green, 200 red).
YOUNG WIDOWS Settle Down City LP Reissue on Auxiliary Records. Out of print for over two years, YOUNG WIDOWS debut album is now available again on 12″ LP. All copies on various mixed colored vinyl.
Drag City has released a taste of Bonny Billy’s new album with The Picket Line. It is one of my favorite songs off of I See a Darkness, “Death to Everyone.” They played it in Lexington at the Old Tarr Distillery (now Buster’s) and it may have been the highlight of the show. It is a spiced up version of the original and, if you haven’t heard it, I think you’ll like it. Unfortunately, it won’t be on the actual release. It was recorded for it, but didn’t make the final cut. Not sure why. Here is a list of the songs that will be on the album:
Funtime Comedown:
01 Ohio River Boat Song
02 May It Always Be
03 Hemlocks and Primroses
04 The Glory Goes / Wolf Among Wolves
05 We All Us Three Will Ride
06 Easy Does It
07 Lay and Love
08 Rider
09 Rambling Fever
10 You Want That Picture
11 Idle Hands Are the Devil’s Playthings
Bonnie “Prince” Billy has announced a new live LP (with digital download) through Drag City with The Picket Linecalled Funtown Comedown. I could not be more excited for this album. The album comes out November 17th December 15th, but you can PRE-ORDER HERE. (Thanks to Dan Lubbers for the heads-up.)
From Drag City:
LIVE (in the studio) is the Bonny one with next-generation bluegrass band known as The Picket Line. They’re the official dance band of Funtown, a metaphysical little community in the woods outside Louisville. Bonny and the boys (and girl) run through a set of BPB classics, some Palace songs and a few classic country covers. VINYL ONLY! (And download exclusively on the new-and-retro-improved www.dragcity.com!)
Abut the pressing…
Vinyl LP pressing. 2009 intimate live recording by Will Oldham (AKA Bonnie Prince Billy) and young Bluegrass band The Picket Line. In the wilds of greater outer Louisville Kentucky, there is a place called Funtown. You won’t find it on any map, and you might just lose yourself in the woods out there trying to pin it down to the ground as well. Yet, Funtown is a place, as much as it is a place of mind. It was in this place, in a clearing and on the shores of a pond, that Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy and The Picket Line combined forces to play his music and their music and other people’s music for a community of people to hear and watch and swing and step to. Live in front of friends and family is the way of Funtown. It was as fun as it sounds and more, in ways which have mostly been channeled down to the two sides of a groove and presented to you here, wrapped twice in full-color sleeves.
Noise Pollution is excited to announce the upcoming release of Second Story Man’sScreaming Secrets on both CD and LP. This will be their first new record since 2006’s Red Glows Brighter. Screaming Secrets was recorded over the course of two years with Kevin Ratterman and is easily the best work of their career. Noise Pollution and Second Story Man both began around the same time over 12 years ago and have followed parallel paths since, so we’re stoked to finally have them on the roster. The release show will be at Skull Alley on Saturday, December 5th with Straight A’s and Softcheque opening.
Regional tour schedule:
Saturday, December 5th- Louisville, KY @ Skull Alley
Friday, December 12th- Lexington, KY @ TBA
Tuesday, December 22nd- Nashville, TN @ The Basement
Wednesday, December 23rd- St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
Wednesday, December 30th- Chicago, IL @ The Empty Bottle
Bonnie “Prince” Billy has announced a new live LP (with digital download) through Drag City with The Picket Linecalled Funtown Comedown. I could not be more excited for this album. The album comes out November 17th December 15th, but you can PRE-ORDER HERE. (Thanks to Dan Lubbers for the heads-up.)
From Drag City:
LIVE (in the studio) is the Bonny one with next-generation bluegrass band known as The Picket Line. They’re the official dance band of Funtown, a metaphysical little community in the woods outside Louisville. Bonny and the boys (and girl) run through a set of BPB classics, some Palace songs and a few classic country covers. VINYL ONLY! (And download exclusively on the new-and-retro-improved www.dragcity.com!)
Abut the pressing…
Vinyl LP pressing. 2009 intimate live recording by Will Oldham (AKA Bonnie Prince Billy) and young Bluegrass band The Picket Line. In the wilds of greater outer Louisville Kentucky, there is a place called Funtown. You won’t find it on any map, and you might just lose yourself in the woods out there trying to pin it down to the ground as well. Yet, Funtown is a place, as much as it is a place of mind. It was in this place, in a clearing and on the shores of a pond, that Bonny ‘Prince’ Billy and The Picket Line combined forces to play his music and their music and other people’s music for a community of people to hear and watch and swing and step to. Live in front of friends and family is the way of Funtown. It was as fun as it sounds and more, in ways which have mostly been channeled down to the two sides of a groove and presented to you here, wrapped twice in full-color sleeves.
I was in Underground Sounds the other day and Phantom Family Halo’s new album Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die was playing. I didn’t recognize it at first, but what I heard was epic. Every track seemed lifted from a timeless album that changed music, but in a mirror reflecting PFH’s own image. It’s messy, its distorted, it’s trippy, it’s perfect. I’ve seen them a number of times in the past and I’ve always been a fan, but this album has taken them to a whole new level for me. The album throws pretension and convention out the window and does whatever the fuck it wants. Fast, slow, melodic, electric, old, new, hard, soft…they do it all at their pace, not yours. White Stripes, Velvet Underground? I raise my head and wonder if I’m listening to the same album, only to be reassured that, yes, it is still PFH. Get a taste of the album below, but you MUST listen to this WHOLE album. It’s one of my favorite albums of the year. No question. Take notice.
On a related note, Karate Body Records is KILLING IT!! Let’s review: This album (a beautiful 2xLP), Bonnie Billy and Cheyenne Mize (10″ Cream), Louisville is For Lovers Vol. 9 (Pink/White mix), Ben Sollee (White LP), Rachel Grimes (w/ Sheet Music), Wussy/The Fervor (Green Vinyl), Ume EP (Gold vinyl), Pokey LaFarge & Joe Manning 7″ (heavy as hell white vinyl)… It’s all ridiculously awesome and I can’t get enough of it.
Phantom Family Halo will open for Russian Circles and Young Widows on the following tour dates:
FRI NOV 27 – Detroit MI, Magic Stick
SAT NOV 28 – Buffalo, NY Soundlab
MON NOV 30 – Milford CT, Daniel Street
TUE Dec 1 – New York NY, Bowery Ballroom
WED DEC 2 – Cambridge MA, The Middle East
THU DEC 3 – Washington DC, DC9
FRI DEC 4 – Philadelphia PA, First Unitarian Church
SUN DEC 6 – Montreal QC, Il Motore
MON DEC 7 – Toronto ON, Lee’s Place
WED DEC 9 – Kalamazoo MI, The Strut
THU DEC 10 – Cleveland OH, The Grog Shop FRI DEC 11- Louisville, Kentucky, Skull Alley
Also:
PFH’s double LP Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die is out now and you can get it online at Karate Body or at a fine record store near you. Mark it down: Their record release show will be Nov. 25 in Louisville at Lisa’s Oak Street Lounge with Softcheque. Cost is $5.
We’re very pleased to announce the upcoming release of the new Second Story Man album, Screaming Secrets. It will be released on December 5th on both CD and LP. This record has been over two years in the making and is easily the best work they have ever done. The release show will be at Skull Alley on 12/5 with openers Straight A’s and Softcheque.
EvergreenWholeness of the Soul can now be ordered at www.louisvillenoise.com and is available locally at Ear Xtacy Records. It will pick up national distribution on October 27th. You can also purchase it as a digital download right now at www.thinkindie.com and it will be up on Itunes in the next few weeks. We would also like to thank everyone who made it out to the release show last month and made it such a great night.
Metroschifter’s European tour commences next month and the dates can be found at www.louisvillenoise.com. Their newest album Carbonistas is available now along with a new “greatest hits” style collection entitled Whatever’s Wrong With Me Is Here To Stay. Go to our site for more info.
Bonny Billy and The Picket Line Funtown Comedown
LIVE (in the studio) is the Bonny one with next-generation bluegrass band known as The Picket Line. They’re the official dance band of Funtown, a metaphysical little community in the woods outside Louisville. Bonny and the boys (and girl) run through a set of BPB classics, some Palace songs and a few classic country covers. VINYL ONLY! (And download exclusively on the new-and-retro-improved www.dragcity.com!)
BPB is also releasing a 7″ single with “Stay” performed with Joshua Abrams, Jennifer Hutt, Emmett Kelly, Michael Zerang and “People Living” performed with Emmett Kelly and Cheyenne Mize! It comes out October 20, 2009. You can pre-order it here for just $5 bucks.
Monoliths & These Flowers Never Die
Double vinyl gatefold LP and digital formats Coming Oct. 6
Cover artwork: Derrick Snodgrass
No clue how this whole album sounds, but I’ve been a big fan of PFH and what Karate Body Records has been putting out. You can pick up a copy HERE when it releases in October.
My brother put me on to this band a while ago after they played a “Silverlake Steps” show for We Listen for You out in L.A. (see video below). I put off listening to them, figuring it was going to be just another obscure indie rock album that I would dismiss after a week or two of being excited about it. I listened to a track here and there, but then I sat down and listened to the whole thing after picking up the LP at Underground Sounds. While it might not be the perfect 10.0 that my brother gave it, it is my second favorite album of the year (behind Animal Collective’s MPP). It released Tuesday and I highly recommend checking out the tracks below and then picking up a copy. A five member band consisting of an ex-Unicorns member (Alden Penner) and an ex-Arcade Fire member (Brenden Reed), they alreay had a lot to live up to in this release and they successfully created a masterpiece that stands by itself and not an extension of their former bands. I’m crossing my fingers that they tour somewhere close to here because I can only imagine how amazing they will be live.
Back to wearing a this vinyl thin.
Clues- Perfect Fit [audio=http://austintownhall.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/06-perfect-fit.mp3]
Clues- Remember Severed Head [audio=http://www.pluginmusic.com/music/Clues%20-%20Remember%20Severed%20Head.mp3]
Louisville is for Lovers Vol. 9 released this month and is available on VINYL! I picked up a copy at the Monkey Wrench last week and have been spinning this 2LP set pretty much every night. For one, it is basically a best of Louisville sampler. We have been covering the local music scene for nearly two years now, but still have not been able to see or hear a lot of the artists on the album. After listening to this album, I will be first in line at the next show The Deloreans put on, as well as The Cut Family Foundation, The Come Hithers, She Wears Lipstick and Eremy Jirvin. The regulars didn’t disappoint either. Lucky Pineapple, Teneia Sanders, The Fervor, Pure Dirt, The Gallery Singers, Whistle Peak, The Mack and, of course, Bonnie Billy completely hit the mark on their tracks. This album is so positive for the local music scene, it is impossible for me to say enough good things about what the LIFL people do each year. Both the artists featured and the fans buying the discs /LPs are treated to a glimpse of the immense talent this city has to offer. It seems that each year this compilation release gets better and better. For entertainment purposes, I am going with Side A of the 2nd LP as my favorite of the album; specifically, Eremy Jirvin’s “On My Own” supported by Bonnie Billy’s “The Girl In Me.” The Ferver, Whistle Peak and Paul McGee are also on Side A. It is what I would say is the ‘folkier’ section of album and that just jives well with the whole “lovers” theme. With only three songs, Side B of the same record is pretty awesome too. She Wears Lipstick’s “Sext Messages” is electro-love at its best. The Gallery Singers’ “All That’s Left” hints of Lambchop, Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen (pretty good company). The album ends with The Mack, one of my favorite local artists; mellow, beautiful and a perfect cool down after 19 tracks of ear candy.
This LP is the first vinyl release from locals, Karate Body Records. With vinyl sales up 90% from last year, expect some more release from these guys in the near future. I give the packaging of the LP a ‘B’. Without the plastic vinyl sleeve, the records would simply fall to the floor. That said, the fold allows for liner notes which is a definite positive and it is hand made. Also, I’m sure it cut the price I paid for the album down a bit. Record presentation is a solid ‘A’. I’m a sucker for custom pressings and this one is no exception. As you can see above, both records are appropriately pink and white marble with black and white art in the centerand. Both have a solid weight . If you are from Louisville and collect vinyl, this is a must own. You can grab a copy at Underground Sounds (I saw one left yesterday) and Ear X-tacy. You can also get it from the Karate Body MySpace page for $16 bucks. It is my understanding that they pressed 500 copies.