We got a nice note from Sune Rose Wagner of The Raveonettes today about what’s going on with them for 2009. If you were wondering, here’s a quick update from Sune on their limited tour dates and their upcoming return to studio to record their new album.
Had a great creative talk with Sharin today and we’re so ready to make the best album to date! It’ll be released in September and we wanna do a proper studio album with a genius producer. There’s only so much you can do in your living room and let’s face it, whenever you pull out one of your favorite albums, it’ll stand the test of time because of a timeless sound, excellent production and songwriting. Now’s the right time for us to step it up…
Before we go into songwriting mode, we’ll hit the road on the 15th of January for an intense tour. We’re bringing a 4 piece band on the road so it should sound massive! There’re still a few tix left so get them now!
This will be the last we’ll tour for a while because we wanna spend all our time on the next album. We’re excited about the future.
Rave On
X Sune
1.15.09 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
1.16.09 New York, NY Webster Hall
1.17.09 Washington, DC Black Cat
1.23.09 San Francisco, CA Bimbo’s 365 Club
1.24.09 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theater
We’re all super excited around here for SXSW 2009. Five blissfully insane days in Austin, TX have the ’softies all ready to pack our Aero Beds and laptops and head south. New bands are being added to the lineup on a regular basis, though rumors always fly about last-minute additions to the schedule. One thing is certain: there will be a strong Memphis contingent at the festival this year.
Want to see the latest list? Keep tabs over here at Do512 of both confirmed AND rumored acts appearing at SXSW. And if you’re on Twitter, you can always follow SXSW for their latest updates.
Happy New Year to everyone & what better way to start the new year than with a free publishing workshop? The Memphis Music Foundation is sponsoring “Publishing + The PRO’s 101″ on January 10, 2009 at the Musicians Resource Center, 431 S. Main #201 in Memphis.
The seating for this event is *strictly limited* so please RSVP if you would like to attend: info@memphismeansmusic.com
Last year, I procrastinated heavily. I think there were a lot of good records that came out the last couple of years, but I started to think that for every record that came out, there was an equal number of these “best-of” lists being bandied about. At first I thought, “Wow, it’s finally happened. Everyone’s a music critic.” Then, with this pervasive thought entrenched in my gourd, I started reading these other lists before making my own.
I suddenly felt small.
So deadlines for the “best of 2007″ rolled around, and I was in a tailspin, dogged by the massive amount of music I had encountered. I kept reflecting on these words of Billy Corgan that I’d read years ago. Billy had once quipped to, I think, Rolling Stone, that, “Not every year can be a great, or even good, year in music.” This thought just stirred in my head and fed into some neurosis. The thought actually fucked with me; maybe 2007 wasn’t that great? Or was it? So I slacked until it was way too late to really do it with any fervor.
Newsflash: Shit aint happening like that this year. I’m past all that, and this year’s going to be different.
I don’t know if my opinion is necessarily better or worse than anyone else’s when it comes to music. I’m a long-time deep music fan who combs the trenches for something new and different, someone who’s been doing that for years. I have an opinion about music which is informed by all that, but I don’t pretend to know what is or isn’t “good” or “the best”. If you love hip-hop, you’re going to think a different album is the #1 album of the year than I am (even though I love hip-hop). If you love indie rock, same thing.
If I sat down and tried to pinpoint the one unifying factor in the music that I listen to and enjoy, it would have to be “music with a soul”. It doesn’t have to preach an ideology or start a movement, it doesn’t have to be anthemic or angelic. It simply has to get me to stop what I’m doing and go, “What in the hell is this?” When I become awestruck, the music will stay with me.
This list represents the songs released in 2008 (to the best of my knowledge) which caught me in my tracks, got me to stand up and take notice, gave me a reason to write and feel good at the end of the day that I was telling everyone a new secret or spreading the good news. I hope you’ll enjoy these as much as I have enjoyed hearing them.
1 - Voxpop - “The Boomerang Generation” (unsigned)
When this London four-piece popped this song into my inbox, I had no idea what I was getting. They sent a sweet and humble letter along with it asking me to please share with my readers. The song is dynamic in a string of ways: it’s a pop song, it’s a protest song, and it’s filled with the kind of energy I love to hear. Far and away, this is my favorite song of 2008. Let’s hope that 2009 will bring us a Voxpop album to hear & enjoy.
2 - Lil’ Wayne (produced by Bangladesh) - “A Milli”
The song is inescapable. You couldn’t get away from it most of this entire year & it took some folks a minute to get with the program. But love or hate Lil’ Wayne, this song was a cornerstone of 2008 stereos, parties, clubs, remixes, and just about everything else. Respect.
3 - MGMT - “Time to Pretend”
I am extremely proud of MGMT and happy for them — what started as an experiment in their dorm room at Wesleyan has blossomed into an anthemic world-wide phenomenon. This song was on the tips of every tongue that knew its words and could relate. This song is great because, plainly, it paints a portrait of a certain truth (to which you’re either hip or you’re not). The song’s intent, along the group themselves, seem to lack the pretension that the press wants to heap on them. I, for one, can’t wait to hear what their work with The Chemical Brothers is going to sound like.
4 - Santogold - “L.E.S. Artistes”
Santi White is an operator of the highest order: she’s the real deal, wearing every helmet she comes across with dignity and sheer style. Performer, songwriter, executive — she can do it all and do it all well. In the song “L.E.S. Artistes”, Santogold has both capitalized on and captured a portrait of a time in music and arts that has seemed fairly desperate. If ever an anthemic line was needed by those on their way to whatever success, “I can say I hope it will be worth what I give up” should be the mantra to which they adhere.
5 - Estelle (feat. kanYe West) - “American Boy”
It took me a long time to get into this record, but once it stuck with me I was sold. The maturity of Estelle’s progress as a performer and singer is impressive, her vocal prowess unmistakable. The marriage of her style with kanYe’s flows make the song as world-class as it purports to be.
6 - Lord T & Eloise (feat. 8 Ball) - “Back From the Business Trip”
If you’re from down in my neck of the woods, you know that Lord T & Eloise were everywhere this year, selling out (and overselling) venues everywhere. Word of mouth has been kind to them with good reason. Not just because I told you so (and I did tell you so), but because they gave 300% to every packed out venue they set foot in and ripped every microphone they touched. “The Industry” still haven’t figured out how to classify LT&E, but they need to stop thinking about it and just blast their jams. Aristocrunk is on the move.
7 - Aimee Mann - “Looking for Nothing”
As Aimee Mann carries on her journey as a songwriter and performer, she continues to craft elegant pop song structures around stories that evoke the wistfulness of a by-gone era with distinction. Fully modern in their presentation and execution, her 2008 release was a peerless collection of satisfying, soul-wrenching odes, perfecting a sound she has long been masterful in shaping and humbled by creating. “Looking for Nothing” represents her finest material, and one of the most perfectly-penned songs of the year.
From time to time, it seems to me that the least liked (or known) songs are often the most loved. Folk singer-songwriter Meg Hutchinson has, perhaps, suffered from a curse of virtual anonymity this year, but by no fault of her music. Some songs cannot be reviewed effectively; they can only take on meaning to the listener through time and circumstance. It is my great hope that others will come to find the deep-ceded affection that I have found for this song, an ode to appreciation for the things we all take for granted far too often.
9 - Erykah Badu - “Honey”
Erykah Badu….man man man. A soul diva and performer of the highest order, she just continues to release albums (and songs) that turn my knobs, nahh mean? Seems like on every record she releases, it’s the “bonus track” that really contains an actual bonus to it. New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) will likely be in my year’s best, and this song represents to the fullest what Ms. Badu is laying down.
10 - Portishead - “We Carry On”
I didn’t know what I was going to do when I heard a new Portishead album was on the way. With so much time gone between records, I couldn’t have imagined them being in bed with their old sound. I remember my shock as darker and moodier sounds came from my stereo; it was everything that I could have hoped for. This song was my #1 favorite from Third, an album I continue to love and be fascinated by.
The Rest Of The Best (Click Individual Songs in the Playlist to Play, or play for continuous stream in order)
11 Bon Iver - Skinny Love
12 TV on the Radio - Halfway Home
13 Raphael Saadiq - Love That Girl
14 Blitzen Trapper - Sleepytime In The Western World
15 Grace Jones - Williams Blood
16 Teenagers - Starlett Johannson
17 Al Green - You’ve Got The Love I Need (feat. Anthony Hamilton)
18 Adele - Chasing Pavements
19 Q-Tip - Manwomanboogie (feat. Amanda Diva)
20 Oasis - The Turning
21 Treasure Fingers - Cross The Dancefloor
22 Kutiman - Music Is Ruling My World
23 Smoking Popes - If You Don’t Care
24 Chad VanGaalen - Bare Feet on Wet Griptape
25 Benji Hughes - So Well
26 Friendly Fires - Paris
27 Brazilian Girls - Good Time
28 John Elliott - The Ballad of Wallace Green and his Dog
29 Bob Dylan - Dreamin’ of You
30 Department of Eagles - No One Does It Like You
31 Ssion - Street Jizz
32 The Roots - 75 Bars (Black’s Reconstruction)
33 Charles Hamilton - Brooklyn Girls
34 Sigur Ros - Gobbledygook
35 Jamie Lidell - Another Day
36 Gossip - Listen Up (Punks Jump Up Remix)
37 Of Montreal - Gallery Piece
38 Fujiya & Miyagi - Knickerbocker
39 Anthem In - Down
40 Blood Red Shoes - You Bring Me Down
41 Graham Weber - Italian Lullaby
42 Oh Snap!! - Bill Cosby Sweater (Hostage Remix)
43 Beck - Chemtrails
44 Thunderheist - Jerk It
45 T.I. - Swagga Like Us (feat. kanYe West, Jay-Z & Lil’ Wayne)
46 Coldplay - Death and all His Friends
47 Ivan Colon - Gabriel
48 Cut Copy - Far Away
49 Monsters are Waiting - Don’t Lie
50 Beach House - Gila
If we can agree that the legacy built by Stax Records christened Memphis “Soulsville U.S.A.”, how fitting that in 2008 a new generation is breathing life into (and giving birth to) a new legacy in soul music, re-christening our fair city as Neosoulville. There are so many names that are a part of this important movement in music, and none are more dynamic or gifted than Tonya Dyson. A performer who exudes passion with every note, Tonya has shared the stage with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Justin Timberlake, Eric Roberson, Calvin Richardson, Algebra Blessett, Kindred, and Jaguar Wright. In other words, people, Tonya don’t play.
This coming Tuesday night, December 9th, be sure and tune in to VH1’s Soul Cities when host Nelson George goes deep, showcasing the best of Memphis’s culture, food and music, in particular the deeply soulful strains of Tonya Dyson herself.
VH1’s Soul Cities will premiere on VH1 Soul Tuesday, December 9 at 9PM ET/PT. “Find My Way” will be available 12/16/08 from iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody and other music retailers. Check back for complete details on how to purchase.
Heaven must be a beautiful place today. We here on Earth have lost the legendary folk and blues singer Odetta, a woman whose music made her a central figure of and one of the most cherished of voices for folk music and, more importantly, the civil rights movement in America of the 1950’s and 1960’s.
More than merely the voice of a generation, her music was part of the wheels that spun which brought about change. She embodied the traditions of folk music even as she found success in the folk movement of the 1950’s & 1960’s, a woman who would make appearances on the coffee house circuit and, at the same time, could fill the house at Carnegie Hall. Her voice rang out the strains of slavery and oppression, performing “O’ Freedom” to the crowd at the famous March on Washington in 1963. In a career that spanned more than 50 years, she brought a passion to folk music which never wavered or faltered. I believe personally that when people first used the term “soul music”, they were referring to Odetta.
There is no way to explain her music to someone who has never heard her than simply, “it touches a part of your soul that you never knew was there, making you at once angry and unafraid, ready and wanting to stand up and take action”.
From time to time, I face losses like this from the perspective of more than simply a writer or a historian or a reviewer. In this instance, I take Odetta’s passing very personally; at twelve years of age, I was blessed to (thanks to an introduction from Joyce Cobb) meet and share a stage with Odetta at the Memphis Music Heritage Festival where we sang “He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands” together. The time that we spent together before, during, and after that night has left a lasting impression on me and an impact that I can’t fully describe. It has meant more to me as I have grown older, for as a child I only knew that Odetta was a sweet and gentle lady who took an interest in who and what I was about. It subconsciously explains to me many of my own life experiences, my choices as a writer, as a performer and as a person. Her loss hasn’t fully tagged me yet. I am still processing, but I am very saddened.
I have neither the inclination nor the patience to regurgitate the minutiae of her career; I leave that to the capable hands of the International Herald Tribune. Instead, I leave you with some of her music and encourage you to find more.
There are few whose passion and determination are matched in the power of their voice. There are only a handful in all the world who understood and bore the traditions of folk music with such sincerity. There was only one Odetta, and partially because of her gift to the world, it seems that the world has finally turned.
Perhaps, and with good reason mind you, she felt it was time to go ahead and go; that perhaps, at last, her work here was done. But the hard work truly has begun; until we have freedom, justice and equality for all people living in this country, the struggles of which Odetta sang must continue on.
Odetta - Freedom Trilogy (Oh Freedom, Come & Go With Me, I’m On My Way) from the album At Town Hall
It’s been a very busy and awe-inspiring year for A-Trak. Looking at the whole picture, he’s worn the hat of DJ, mixer, arranger, producer, record label magnate and you know…what can I say? The man has really stepped up his game to another level. Even with so much on his plate, he appears to be taking it all in stride. If you read this blog with any frequency, you already know we tend to dote on A-Trak pretty heavily around here because, well….I mean, skillz. He’s got mad skillz. Respect.
So we had to let y’all know: his website is up and crackin’, he’s got the blog going, and he will likely hip you to content you’re not going to find anywhere else on the web. Suggest you take a trip over to http://djatrak.com and see what he’s putting out there for y’all. He’s also doing guest postings at The FADER blog from time to time, so be sure and keep an eye on the haps over there, too. Hey! He’s even giving away a fresh pair of Fool’s Gold limited-edition Nike Air Max’s too!
Now I gotta go figure out how I’m getting to Mississippi tomorrow. Y’all be good.
One of my favorite albums of the last several years has been Charlotte Gainsbourg’s phenomenal collaboration with the French duo Air, 2006’s 5:55.
Beck, the funky Scientologist, has revealed he will be collaborating with Charlotte Gainsbourg on her upcoming album. In a recent interview, Beck said he has been in and out of the studio with the French songstress, adding that he was in fact supposed to be on her 2006 album, 5:55 but failed to make it happen.
Winner of the 2008 Indie Memphis Music Video Showcase Jury Prize, this video is as beautiful and inspiring as the woman who is singing in it — the inimitable soulful strains of Miss Valencia Robinson. This song is deeply inspirational and it’s a very simple, down-to-earth tune. Definitely turn this up and watch in full screen mode.
…and really just about anything at all. Amy Lavere is always a breath of fresh air and she wows everyone who gets to see and hear her. She’ll soon be appearing in a new show from producer/director Craig Brewer entitled 5 Dollar Cover along with a number of very talented Memphis musicians and performers.
Here’s her video for the song “Pointless Drinking”. If you were one of the lucky ones who got to see her across the pond recently, hang onto your soul because it’s obviously filled with good fortune.