Gotye - Wally's hung up on somebody he used to know

Love when you think you've discovered an obscure tune, only to find out it has a zillion youtube views and Germany's number one single.

Here's Somebody That I Used To Know, featuring Kimbra from the album Making Mirrors

Gotye, pro- nounced gore-ti -yeah, is essential- ly Wouter (aka Wally) De Backer. Though he tours with a ten piece band, this tune features only Lucas Taranto on bass and Kimbra's vocals. Wally contributes Guitar, flutes, percussion and synth samples and vocals. The tune also includes a sample of "Seville" performed by Luiz Bonfa.

Here's a clever cover of the same song by Walk Off The Earth


Gotye's currently touring Europe and the States. Click here for schedule.

Kaizers Orchestra - Norwegian's Would

I once had a boy, or should I say, he once had me...



If you can't get it up for Kaizers Orchestra...The Norwegian group is instantly recognizable because of lead singer Ottesen's marked Jæren dialect, shared by four of the other band members, and because they are lauded as one of few bands that sing in their native language who've become popular beyond Scandinavia. Their brand of alternative includes fast-paced gypsy rock and Balkan brass.

Janove Ottesen (vocals) and Geir Zahl (guitar) had known each other for years, having first played in Blod, Snått & Juling (Blood, Snot & Beating) in 1989. They formed Kaizers Orchestra in January 2000.

Ed Sheeran: Year of the Ginger?

Ed Sheeran's debut album reached the No 1 top chart in the UK within a month of it's release and has gone three times platinum since September 2011.

Could Ed be the biggest star in the U.S. by April? Could Goldenvoice be pissed they didn't book him at Coachella? -Bob Lefsetz



The really interesting thing about Ed Sheeran is this - because at the outset he seemed so out of step (and by this I don't mean just different from the mainstream, I also mean that he seemed out of step with what was cool and cutting edge too) that people were afraid to back him. Its not that labels weren't aware of him...He built a fanbase that was impossible to ignore. He courted the urban music scene, guested on a lot of cooler artist's tracks (Click here to hear) and put out an EP of collaborations with hot grime artists. -Chris Scott, Island Records

People of America...I am the main support for Snow Patrol on their US tour. -Ed Sheeran Tweet

Stay tuned.

Bowie: Golden Years

Happy 65th Birthday
David Bowie

Time may change me
But I can't trace time -Bowie, Changes

Wasn't Built in a Day - Danger Mouse, Luppi & Milk Take on Rome

Daniele Luppi, Norah Jones, Danger Mouse and Jack White collab on new album, Rome.

"Rome as a whole is a piece of music with such a specific identity and history that it was crucial for all the accompanying visuals to reflect that." -Danger Mouse, NPR on Rome, animated by Anthony Francisco Schepperd.

Chris Milk (Arcade Fire's, interactive Wilderness Downtown video, and The Johnny Cash Project) created the hand-drawn cell animation video for "Two Against One," according to NPR, the fever dream of the antagonist of the story. Also check out the interactive dream of the protagonist at www.Ro.me. FYI, Google Chrome needed to view.

Danger Mouse and composer, producer Daniele Luppi have been working on Rome since 2004 where they discovered their mutual appreciation for the classic soundtracks of 1960's Italian Westerns. The project includes musicians who contributed to original Ennio Morricone scores.

According to Milk, Brian (aka Danger Mouse) and producers Anthony Bregman (Eternal Sunshine) and Megan Ellison (True Grit) are developing the project into a feature film. Stay Tuned.

Of all my inventions, the glass armonica has given me the greatest personal satisfaction -Benjamin Franklin

Here is Poland's Glass Duo at the Chamber Music Festival in Bologna, Italy, June 2010 performing Tchaikovsky's Sugar Plum Fairy, aka The Nutcracker.



Irishman Richard Pockrich invented the "angelic organ" in 1741. Originally, he used wooden sticks like the 'glassspiel' or 'verrillon' designed a few years earlier, but ultimately settled on running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of the glasses.

Don't call it a comeback, it's been here for years.

Playing cups may seem avant- garde but glass instruments were well known in the Far East in the Middle Ages, in China in the 12th century, and in Persia in the 14th century.

A little Science: Glass is a superheated and cooled mixture of sand, soda, and lime, a liquid in suspension. Like the action of a bow to a violin string, the rim of a glass will alternately 'catch and release' from a rubbing finger. As a glass is played it changes its shape. Like a violin string or any other vibrating musical material, glass expands and contracts along its circumference.

The Armonica was invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1761 after his exposure to a wine glass concert in England in 1757. He thought it was the sweetest sound he had ever heard but thought the set up of wine glasses and water was cumbersome and wanted to hear more harmonies with his melody. Thus the Armonica was born. An instant success, Marie Antoinette took lessons on it and the famous hypnotist Dr. Mesmer used it to put his patients into a deep trance. Composers started writing for it. The most famous...Mozart, Beethoven, Donizetti, Richard Strauss, and Saint-Saens. For more, check out this piece on Franklin and the armonica on the History Channel.

Then it began to play in the most ghostly tones I have ever heard.
-Gottfried Keller

By the mid-1800's, it suddenly lost its popularity, and gradually vanished. Superstitions ran rampant. Armonicas were said to drive performers mad and evoke spirits of the dead because of its eerie and haunting sound.

Pink Floyd's Shine on You Crazy Diamond features the glass harp


Stairway to Heaven


Für Elise


Click here for a video tutorial on how to tune this baby. All you need are glasses with stems, water, a chromatic tuner with built in microphone and a boatload of patience.

Cesária Évora, Barefoot Diva, Queen of the morna, falleció: August 1941- December 2011

"She belongs to the aristocracy of bar singers...a voice to melt the soul." -Le Monde, 1991

Cesária Évora, Cape Verde's Billie Holiday, performed barefoot to support her country's homeless, poor women and children.

Accompanied by acoustic guitar, cavaquinho, violin, accordion, and clarinet Evoria emulated the universal language of longing. Her Creole-Portuguese music transcends cultureal though her blues often spoke of her country’s woes; a history of poverty, slave trade and emigration.

No doubt Évora's music will live on. Her voice and style are instantly recognizable. The international community, albeit late in her career, recognized her talent. She won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album in 2004. Following the announcement of her death on Saturday, the Cape Verdean government declared a two-day period of national mourning.

Saint Bernadette, Sweet as an angel and edgy as hell -Bust

"Grace Slick-meets-Edie Brickell vocals at their most haunting” -NYTimes

Even the band's name, borrowed from a line in Grease, is a dichotomy, equal parts saint and badgirl.

"They call me Cha Cha because I'm the best dancer at St. Bernadette's" to which Frenchy replies "With the worst reputation."

According to Blurt, DiMenna channels mythical parents, Led Zep's Robert Plant and Heart's Nancy Wilson. Read full album review here.



Now check out this beautifully stripped down bare, acoustic "Close Enough for Me" available only on vinyl, off their latest album, The Nevers, Produced by Danny Kadar, [My Morning Jacket, Avett Brothers) . To purchase, click here.



Wasn't what it seemed to be
But it was close enough for me
I don't need to wonder why
You don't need to apologize
For days and days you occupied
All the corners of my mind
It wasn't love or meant to be
But it was close enough for me

Green turned brown on city trees
Wind turned cold like you to me
The next time you feel so inclined
Don't leave this memory behind
Telling me you didn't mean
To disappear and leave the scene
Wasn't an apology
But it was close enough for me

Keep a lookout for a Daytrotter session featuring DiMenna and Joe Novelli of Saint Bernadette backed by New Jersey's, Only Living Boy.

The session, shot on the final day of their co-headline tour will feature:

Over the Line (from The Nevers)
One Time for the Record (unreleased track)
In the Next Go Round (from The Nevers, featuring Joe Cirotti of Only Living Boy)
Entertain (Sleater-Kinney cover from The Woods album)

And in the spirit of Christmas and diversity, we'll leave you with DiMenna's vocals as Chunky Pam "Rap is about bravado; it’s a song of the self.” -DiMenna, NY Times



The bravado "Rock the bells off your tobogan, knock the stuffing out your stocking, while you're drooling by the yulelog, everybody nod your noggin" might keep albums selling, but the ballsiest move yet is letting us peek behind the façade. In "Close Enough for Me" DiMenna takes the ultimate risk by exposing intimate, raw, emotion and in the process unveils the universal human condition; strength in vulnerability. Brava.

Stay tuned.

Blackbird

Paul McCartney was inspired to write Blackbird as a reaction to 1968's race riots and civil rights struggle in America.

"I had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird...this was really a song from me to a black woman, experiencing these problems in the States: 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.' As is often the case with my things, a veiling took place so, rather than say 'Black woman living in Little Rock' ...she became a bird, became symbolic, so you could apply it to your particular problem." - McCartney, Many Years From Now

For a simple song with few lyrics, Blackbird has quite a legend.

The song was written on McCartney's farm in Scotland. Shortly afterwards, on the first night his future wife Linda Eastman stayed at his house in London, McCartney performed the song to the fans waiting outside the gates.

McCartney says the song was inspired by Bach's Bouree in E minor, one of the first riffs he learned to play on guitar.

The song was issued on the double-disc album The Beatles, aka The White Album.

McCartney recorded Blackbird alone on 11 June 1968, with just a guitar and a metronome for accompaniment. It was taped in Abbey Road's studio two, while John Lennon worked on Revolution 9 next door in studio three. Only 3 things were recorded: Paul's voice, his acoustic guitar, and a tapping-- bird tweets were dubbed in later. The tap you hear is not a foot or metronome, it is a record scratch. According to The Complete Beatles video, the master was intentionally scratched.

McCartney recorded 32 takes of Blackbird, only 11 of which were complete.


Blackbird features a number of time signature changes. The phrase "Blackbird singing in the dead of night" is in 3/4, while much of the remainder of the song switches between 4/4 and 2/4. McCartney's guitar tuning was also unorthodox, with the E strings dropped a tone to D.

Charles Manson believed Helter Skelter and Blackbird had hidden messages of an impending race war that would destroy the world and leave Manson and his "Family" to inherit the earth.

Blackbird was one of 5 Beatles songs McCartney performed on his 1976 Wings Over America tour.


Blackbird Singing is the title of a book of poems written by McCartney. (Click here to purchase)

Blackbird is one of the most covered songs of all time. Some of the more notable are: Drake Bell, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Dave Matthews Band, Chris De Burgh, John Denver, Donovan, Doves, Dionne Farris, Julie Fowlis (Scottish Gaelic version, entitled "Lon Dubh / Blackbird), John Butler and G. Love & Special Sauce, The Grateful Dead, The Dandy Warhols, Dave Grohl, The Guess Who, Harpers Bizarre, Justin Hayward, Maria João and Mário Laginha, The King's Singers, Dave and Jeff Koz, Ramsey Lewis, Aimee Mann, Marillion, Jesse McCartney, Bobby McFerrin, Brad Mehldau (instrumental jazz version), O.A.R., Jaco Pastorius, Phish, Bonnie Pink, Billy Preston, Quidam (Polish band), Kenny Rankin, Arturo Sandoval, Carly Simon, Elliott Smith, Keller Williams, Sarah Mclachlan (included in 2001's I Am Sam soundtrack, Sarah Vaughn, Evan Rachel Wood (2007's Across the Universe soundtrack, and the list goes on...



Portions of lyrics have re-appeared in many songs over the years, "Broken Wings" by Mr. Mister and the Savage Garden's "Gunning Down Romance", U2's Beautiful Day during their set at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London plus some shows on the Vertigo Tour. Dynamite Hack references it at the end of their Eazy-E Boyz-N-The-Hood cover.

In the song Welcome to the Monkey House on by the Dandy Warhols, the final line of the lyrics says, "When Michael Jackson dies, we're covering Blackbird." Presumably this was in reference to Jackson's purchase of the Beatles' catalog rights and a desire to deny Jackson any royalties. On July 31, 2009, after Jackson died, the Dandy Warhols released this cover:

Wachichoo, Brooklyn God Bless You - Sunshine, brighter than a dime or a brand new diamond ring...

You and I been friends for a while, let's try steppin' up our game.
Sometime, I gotta act like I'm a man doin grown up things. -Wachichoo

Wachichoo found their sweet spot with the addition of Ashanti J'aria. Five seconds at a Miss Peppermint gig at Empire Room and the guys welcomed her aboard.



Brooklyn's grooviest alternative funk, pop-rock soul band, Wachichoo's debut release, Don't Bother Me. The video- Directed by Joseph Covino of East Village Studios- features lead singer Ill-On and actress Kaitlin Pannone traversing NYC, looking for love in all the right places: Williamsburg, Soho, The East Village and Times Square.

Someone sweats you, but you're just not interested...Sometimes it takes opening your eyes to what's in front of you. Sometimes it takes a hell of a weekend in a mad city to get it out of you. -Chris Strange aka Throwing Bones, keyboards

Download their EP here.

Wachichoo is:

Holy Man Liquor, Ill-On Cohen: vocals
Chief JavaChichoo, Ryan Conway: bass
Little Big Stuff, Dominic Rubano: drums
Throwing Bones, Chris Strange: keyboards
Little Wachita, Ashanti J'aria: vocals

Here's Wachichoo, bringing their infectious energy, an electic mix of rock, rap, funk, and soul to the NYC Alternarock Festival:

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Badass Tom Waits releases first studio album in seven years

I hate Disneyland. It primes our kids for Las Vegas. -TW

Commercials are an unnatural use of my work ... it's like having a cow's udder sewn to the side of my face. Painful and humiliating. -TW

I love Burroughs...He's like a still, and everything that comes out of him is already whiskey. -TW

If Satan himself did nothing but drink Bourbon and smoke Pall Malls for an eternity, he still would not sound like Tom Waits. -BU Culture Shock

Love him or hate him, you can't fake real confidence. It's all in the 'tude. Like Cocker, Joplin and Hendrix, Waits earned his overpowering, vulnerable, gravely voice through a lifetime of experience.

From 1973's Closing Time to 1983's One From The Heart, Waits recorded nine LPs for Asylum Records, mostly combining a jazz/blues Tin Pan Alley sound. Since then he's been included in over 100 soundtracks, developed a cult following and in March of this year, inducted into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.



The song "Satisfied" references the Stones and Keith. Was it written with the idea that he would play on it?

Waits: It's just a shout out. I was just caught up in the moment..."Can't get no satisfaction... my ass, you can't get no satisfaction!" So that was just being refuckulous. -Pitchfork

His songs and lyrics are often disarmingly simple. Take Hell Broke Luce, set to a general's marching beat:

What did you do before the war?
I was a chef, I was a chef
What was your name?
It was Geoff, Geoff
I lost my buddy and I wept, wept
I come down from the meth
So I slept, slept
I had a good home but I left, left
Pantsed at the wind for a joke
I pranced right in with the dope
Glanced at her shin she said nope
Left, right, left -Hell Broke Luce

Bad as me will be released Oct 24th. Click here to request a free listen now.

Josh Ritter and Brett Dennen, the boys next door

...that make the girls swoon.

Josh Ritter's So Runs The World Away was named one of NPR.org's top 10 albums of 2010 and featured in Paste’s 50 Best Albums of 2010.

“Josh Ritter makes really good records. And this year, he made a really, really great record. This song (Rattling Locks) just kills me...” –Bob Boilen @ NPR.org





Brett Dennen's current national "Love Speaks" tour benefits a local organization in each city in which he plays.

I don't wanna become someone
Who can't live up to what I've already done..

Here come's the Comeback
The Kid is back, he's back on track...
Everybody loves the underdog
Singin' that's my dog...
-Comeback Kid



You know I was never that cool
But I won't be taken for a fool
If they wanna talk trash
They can talk, talk, talk
But they better come collect -Sydney (I'll Come Runnin')

"Comeback Kid (That's My Dog)" Official Music Video from Brett Dennen on Vimeo.

Rodrigo y Gabriela y Tempesta - Olé!

What do you get when you mix one of "metal's most popular and well-respected players," John Tempesta, Exodus/Rob Zombie/The Cult and "...our favorite acoustic shredders"?

Viva L.A. Thank God for friends, Margarita's and Facebook. We met Johnny a couple days ago for Taco Tuesday with a few of his boys. Later that night we were treated to a preview of his upcoming release. Holy Flamenco meets Led Zep. We are "friends" now so stay tuned. Maybe he'll throw us a bone and let his newest fan share pre-release.

And here's our R y G post from two years ago, almost to the day. Enjoy!

If you like Barcelona's Ojos de Brujo, or Algecira's Paco de Lucía, check out Rodrigo y Gabriela.

Similar in form and intensity with synchopated flamenco beats and groove-- where Ojos is a nine-piece band, and Paco de Lucía is well, Paco-- these guys are simply two folk-rock guitarists.

The Dublin-based pair from Mexico City will be releasing their new studio album “11:11” (Rubyworks) soon, and will be touring NYC in mid-Sept.

Hear one of the 11:11 tracks here:

"You simply won't believe just two acoustic guitars can make such sounds." Q Magazine.

Curious how they do it? Check out Rodrigo's little tutorial here.

And here's a little nugget for your listening pleasure, NPR's Tiny Desk Concert:

Watch the Throne - Why is this album such a big deal? -NPR

Try a little tenderness...



I guess I got my swagger back...I'm about to call the paparazzi on myself. -Jay Z

...Of course, if you expected an album from two of the top-paid rappers alive – an album with gold-plated cover art, no less – to be void of posturing, you’re crazy. NPR

That's money...

The key word is legacy...an effort to firmly place themselves within the history of African American- not just music- but culture politics, everything. This effort...open blatant use of iconic voices of...Otis Redding, Nina Simone, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield.

The real reason is the ambition that these guys sunk into this project. -NPR

Benjamin Zander - "Why am I clapping?

...Because we were listening"

It's not about wealth and fame or power, it's about how many shining eyes I have around me. -Benjamin Zander



Benjamin Zander is an American conductor from Britain and music director of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra and a faculty member at the New England Conservatory.

If the eyes are shining, you know that you're doing it. -BZ



Who am I being that my childrens eyes aren't shining? - BZ

Ummah - Jay Dee, Tip and Ali - word.

The breakup. Now why you wanna go and do that love, huh?

That was really my reasoning for the film: Can they make more music? Will they make more music? Why did it end? - Michael Rapaport — True Romance Actor, hardcore Tribe fan and Documentary Director of Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest

Nas, one of the most celebrated MCs in hip-hop, told Ali Shaheed that Tribe is hip-hop's version of The Beatles - Full Story, NPR's The Rise and Fall of A Legend, click here.

You become obligated to the fans...to the promotion aspect...whereas before that it's just a matter of dreaming, creating, exploring and taking great pleasure. -Tribe's DJ, Ali Shaheed Muhammad




Tribe's members are Jarobi White, Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Phife Dawg.

Ummah's members are Q-Tip, Ali, the late Jay Dee (J Dilla)and occassionally Raphael Saadiq, and D'Angelo.

The hip-hop collective produced A Tribe Called Quest's fourth and fifth albums and provided backing tracks for many including Busta Rhymes, Whitney Houston, Keith Murray, the Brand New Heavies, Janet Jackson, and Jon B.

"Ummah" is Arabic for "community", "nation", or "brotherhood". Tip and Ali are devout Muslims.

Steve Martin - You probably didn't know it but I'm a fiddle player too

You can just park it in that chair, right there and let Steve show you how it's done.

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers. Who knew? Apparently everyone. Including my brother Brad and oh, Paul McCartney and the Dixie Chicks who collab with him on Rare Bird Alert, his follow up to 2009's GRAMMY® Award-winning The Crow.

Talk about your renaissance man- holy talented actor, comedian, writer and...musician? Hee haw banjo player since he was a mere sixteen.

“Oh, now I wish I had practiced,” said Martin as he and the North Carolina quintet took the stage to applause. They have been touring the United States and Canada on their 2011 collaboration, Rare Bird Alert. -The Runner



And here he is bringing down the Grand Ole Opry with Vince Gill, John McEuen, Tim O'Brien, and more for a performance of Foggy Mountain Breakdown:





Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers bring toe-tappin hoe-down to town.

“There’s a downside to travelling with no drummer, No pot.” -Steve Martin, He's my favorite honky.

Francobollo - Oh yes, we hope so

Scandinavians currently living in the UK, Petter Grevelius, Sam Bailey, Simon Nilsson and Sean Bean are set to release their debut EP, Harpholma.

Harpholma by Francobollo

Not Peter, Not Bjorn and Not John
Swedish lo-fi punk/electro outfit, Francobollo, landed in England only a handful of months ago and have already strummed up UK management, publishing and major label interest. Expect raw energy with a lofi electro drum sound thumping away under churning, grungy guitars and the odd lashing of synth. Simon’s perfectly imperfect vocal rounds off a great noise that sits somewhere between Pavement, Weezer and Daft Punk! -FishTankFestival

Please Sir, we'd like another Bean - Here's American/Swede Sean Bean Wadenius' track he cut with his father when he was a mere 15 years old (2004):









Check out their MySpace and Facebook and show the boys some love.