Man, does Mal Blum rule. I got to know Mal through Zoe Boekbinder, another Band Mom artist/pal, and she is just as great. She comes from the direction of anti-folk or folk-punk, although her new album’s clear production value and full instrumentation puts it a step above what you’d traditionally expect from that category. Her songs are at turns funny, cute, pretty, sad and/or sweet, sometimes all at once. Some of her songs are about zombies and some of them are about crappy parties or okay cities and they are all SO GOOD.
MAL BLUM
TEMPEST IN A TEACUP
Betterweather Music
“The thing about Mal’s songs is that they will rip your heart out of your fucking chest but also will make you laugh at the same time.” – Chris Gethard (The Chris Gethard Show)
Mal Blum writes tongue-in-cheek songs often filled with feelings, travel stories or anthropomorphic metaphors. Her music is best described as containing elements from folk, punk, and anti-folk genres. She has released four albums and played hundreds of shows across the US, usually alone in her little Honda but sometimes with a band or another artist to keep her company. Currently that NYC-based band also includes Maia Mcdonald (of the band Mitten) on bass and Steph Barker (of Mrs. Danvers) on drums. She has supported national artists including two tours with folk rocker Melissa Ferrick and three co-headlining tours with Zoe Boekbinder, plus single shows with Jeffrey Lewis, Amanda Palmer, Hammell On Trial and Kimya Dawson.
Her latest effort’s opening song, “Overseas Now,” was recorded by Melissa Ferrick and starts off with xylophone notes paired with Mal’s unconventional voice and straightforward guitar strumming. Throughout the album, additional instrumentation like glockenspiel, piano, banjo, harmonica, cello, harp, and more help to bring out Mal’s optimistic energy, tempered with touches of heartbreak and vulnerability.
“Mal Blum’s arrival on the indie scene gives us all hope for the future of smart music.” — Melissa Ferrick
RIYL: Kimya Dawson, Jason Anderson, Paul Baribeau, Your Heart Breaks, Madeline, Jeffrey Lewis, Mirah, Zoe Boekbinder
Start With: 3, 6, 4, 7 FCC CLEAN
Contact me for a download link if you’re a radio rep!
Seattle’s Eternal Fair are a cool new thing for me, which I got to through old pal/Band Mom artist Shenandoah Davis (remember her? She’s helping manage these guys!). They blend classic rock elements with psychy stuff and come out sounding at times like My Morning Jacket or Band of Horses or even some Spiritualized, and at other times like The Who or their major influence Pink Floyd. Track 2 is the absolute jam. And I think we all know how I feel about Seattle bands. So GET ON IT!!
ETERNAL FAIR
THE HORSE THAT CARRIES THE WHEEL
Self-Released
With a palate for stratospheric anthems, a penchant for operatic heights, and vocal harmonies that could tame the wildest of animals, Eternal Fair is turning heads all over the Pacific Northwest with their brand of neo-psychedelic rock. Their debut full-length album, The Horse That Carries The Wheel, has garnered praise from critics and musicians alike. The Stranger’s Sean Jewell said of THTCTW, “There is not a single instrument out of place here, which starts to feel more and more like a colossal feat the deeper you get into the album,” while Pickwick’s lead singer Galen Disston described the album as “Quadrophenia-era classic rock that preserves all the classic elements – soaring vocals, surprising synths and proggy, epic songs.” Lemonade Magazine rated THTCTW 5 out of 5 stars and advised, “Eternal Fair is sure to find incredible success from their debut album. This band is doing all the right things to make it big, not only in Seattle, but worldwide. Now is the time to hop on the Eternal Fair bandwagon.” Influenced by the likes of My Morning Jacket, Sigur Ros, Jeff Buckley, and Pink Floyd, singer/songwriter Andrew Vait’s compositions meet with bassist Chris Jones and drummer Daniel Nash to seamlessly weave vintage soul with modern funk, psychedelic rock with lyrical pop, the sophistication of jazz and the nostalgia of folk.
Since the band’s formation, they’ve taken their time targeting their sound, creating an undeniable formula: melodically-driven songwriting, soaring vocal harmonies, powerful instrumental breaks, and a proper dose of hair-whirling swagger. Formerly the vehicle for all of songwriter Andrew Vait’s material, Eternal Fair split from Vait’s solo project in November of 2010. The band caught the attention of the larger Seattle music community when they opened for soul singer Allen Stone at The Crocodile in July of 2011. Sound on the Sound’s Josh Lovseth said of Eternal Fair’s performance, “frontman Andrew Vait’s classic rock persona came out in full force”. Former bassist Brent Rusinow eventually went on to pursue other projects, leaving the chair in good hands with Nash’s long-time friend and musical colleague Chris Jones. Having played together for years in the Seattle indie-pop outfit M. Bison, Nash and Jones brought an unmatched ferocity to Eternal Fair’s budding neo-psychedelic sound.
In June 2012, Eternal Fair organized a tribute to Jeff Buckley, which was supported and promoted by the late singer’s music team and featured on his website and international newsletter. The band successfully organized a Kickstarter campaign in the fall of 2012 that would eventually help to fund the recording of this, their debut full-length album.
“Eternal Fair has the makings of another huge break-out band from Seattle.”– Seattle Wave Radio
RIYL: My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses, Kings of Leon, Spiritualized, Pink Floyd, The Who
Start With: *2*, 5, 4 FCC CLEAN
Contact me for a download link if you’re a radio rep!
I first met Kevin Alvir of the Hairs like 5+ years ago, through our mutual pals the Australian band The Lucksmiths (RIP Lucksmiths :( ). At the time he was in the supercool Brooklyn indiepop band Knight School and we kind of saw each other around at shows and stuff, but didn’t end up really registering on each other’s radars much more than that until several years later, when we were re-introduced through another mutual friend and I listened to his brand new band’s brand new recordings, which were already getting consistently praised by BrooklynVegan. Those first tracks I heard were really great and I was instantly hooked (in fact I even added one of them to the house mix we played on the PA between bands at my night job!), but this new EP they’ve just released on Break Records brings their recording quality to a whole new level. It’s still catchy, snarky, lo-fi indiepop, just like the first few tracks of theirs that I loved, but you can actually hear what’s going on in there underneath the fuzzy surface now, too. Check this out then brag to all your friends that you heard them first! (This EP went for Top 200 adds on 4/2, so it’s time to jam this stuff on yr station/chart on yr Top 30s now!)
THE HAIRS
THE MAGIC’S GONE EP
Break Records
Kevin Alvir, the front man of the impossible-to-get-out-of-your-head indiepop band The Hairs, has a lot to say. Alvir’s sprightly tenor skips and trips around classic pop riffs with an off-the-cuff confidence and a disarming sweetness that’s too uncommon these days. With the quirky, earnest, and slightly squirmy quality of a Daniel Johnston ditty; the fey whipsmart sensibility of the Television Personalities; the “who gives a fuck” lo-fi production of Guided By Voices; and the wide-eyed nuanced outlook of Jonathan Richman, The Hairs make good hearted music, but with an edge – reminding the listener that life isn’t all “holding hands and eating ice cream,” but instead “dropping your ice cream cone and still eating it.” Alvir is joined by Steve Tarkington on drums, and Jacob Sloan on bass.
“So far, Brooklyn indiepop outfit The Hairs have worked solely in the lower depths of fidelity, making songs that were as tinny-sounding as they were catchy. (That also goes for main man Kevin Alvir’s previous bands, Knight School and L’il Hospital.) While scratchy pop has its charms, it’s nice to hear The Hairs make the leap into mid-fi for their new EP” – from BrooklynVegan premiere of Track 1, “The Magic’s Gone”
“The Hairs’ Kevin Alvir has a great feel for those warm-sounding, catchy indie pop songs that recall the era of cassette singles and the type of fare that would get heavy rotation’d at college radio stations of yore.”…”a twee Wavves, a less punked-up/still snotty Cloud Nothings, an extremely polite Happy Flowers” – Stereogum
“finds the sweet spot between jangle and mope” – IFC
RIYL: Guided by Voices, The Clean, Television Personalities, The Drums, Daniel Johnston, Radical Dads, Woven Bones, Bleeding Rainbow, Cloud Nothings
GUESS WHAT!! Some of you may remember this amazing thing I got to be a part of working with a couple years ago (twice, in 2010 and then also 2011): it’s happening again!!! Comedian/actor/filmmaker/writer/overall Best Dude DC PIERSON just released his second novel, CRAP KINGDOM. It’s a YA novel that everybody with a heart who remembers high school will love. And to celebrate he’s gotten all the best musicians (like TED LEO, JEAN GRAE, ADVANCE BASE, FREE ENERGY, SEAN NELSON of Harvey Danger, and more!!) to write songs inspired by the novel. And here I am to get you, college radio, to play those songs!! Lots more info about DC, the book, the songs, and a bunch of other related stuff coming up below!!
VARIOUS ARTISTS
SONGS FOR “CRAP KINGDOM”
Fifty People’s Favorite Thing
You may know DC Pierson from the sketch comedy group DERRICK, their movie “Mystery Team,” his first novel The Boy Who Couldn’t Sleep And Never Had To, or the Allstate commercial in which he rear-ends an older gentleman and then speaks in the voice of 24′s Dennis Haysbert. Or as the guy who plays the recorder and blathers “Like, what even is music, you know?” in the new Tom Scharpling-directed “The Postal Service Auditions” Funny or Die video.
His new novel Crap Kingdom came out Thursday, March 7th. It’s a young adult novel about a high school kid who finds out he’s the Chosen One in a magical fantasy realm, then discovers the magical fantasy realm in which he’s the Chosen One is really, really crappy.
He’s releasing Songs For Crap Kingdom, a collection of songs inspired by the novel, by some of indie rock and hip hop’s favorite artists (Ted Leo, Free Energy, Jean Grae, The Rosebuds, Advance Base, The Ettes, Sean Nelson, and more!), to celebrate the book coming out.
He worked hard to get as many pre-orders as possible before the book came out in hopes of making the NY Times Bestseller List. If you pre-ordered the book Before Thursday Mar. 7th by following the simple directions on http://crapkingdom.com, DC wrote your name into a Custom Rap he then performed on YouTube, as he did for hundreds of readers. (I’m in #4!!)
Here’s Custom Rap #3, “Names 101-150 (ROWLING!)” in which he sort of puts JK Rowling on blast but not really: http://youtu.be/6YnenWt0Omc
In an effort to drive sales, DC also put out years worth of his work in various fields for free online.
RIYL: Ted Leo, Free Energy, Jean Grae, The Rosebuds, Advance Base/Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, The Ettes, Sean Nelson/Harvey Danger (each has a track!!)
Start With: 3, 6, 1, 4 FCC CLEAN
The last few times I did this sort of thing, the book was awesome, DC was amazing, and the tracks on the comps I promoted were really cool and great, which is all 100% very much again still the case, but this time I don’t even need to really work to convince you of those things to get you to pay attention because LOOK AT THAT LIST OF BANDS!!!
DC is available for interviews and other promotional opportunities (he’d love to call yr station!).
Contact me for a download link if you’re a radio rep! This project is DOWNLOAD-ONLY so don’t wait for a hard copy!!
I’ve got a show coming up this Friday! As you’ve probably noticed, I present live shows even less often than I have albums go for adds at radio (which is already relatively infrequently because of how selective I am about who I work with!), so you KNOW the ones I do go out of my way for are super worth paying attention to. GET THERE EARLY, the whole bill is incredible!! This time around we’ve got Band Mom Band (practically family members at this point) Good Field on their vinyl release tour from Austin TX, and Ramesh (the former leader of VOXTROT!! Yessss) playing a rare completely solo set, and Matt Bauer, sometime New Yorker (but also Austinite/Kentuckian/Arkansasan) who’s just briefly gracing us with his presence before disappearing into the nomadic ether again. Let’s give these 3 bands with Austin ties a nice Brooklyn welcome before forcing them to do the same to us when we invade SXSW in a couple weeks!!
Here is a poster for the show! My beautiful friend Natalia Zuniga made it (her third in a series for my shows!)!!
It’s at Union Hall, a favorite place of mine and a venue where I also often work the door. That’s at 702 Union St, just east of 5th Ave in Park Slope Brooklyn. It is not the same place as Union Pool, so don’t go there. Take the R train to Union St and walk 1 block east!
It costs 10 bones, the doors are at 8pm, and the music starts at 8:30. Here’s stuff about the bands! In last to first order:
Good Field began as the solo recording project of Austin, TX’s Paul Price (Brazos, The Early Tapes), with instrumentation and production help from friends who came from other Austin bands such as Tacks the Boy Disaster and Voxtrot, and who later departed for doctorate degrees and other bands (like NYC’s Bright Moments). Price, who had written some of the album in an isolated adobe by a cenote in Mexico, continued working on the songs in between tours with Brazos and Voxtrot. Shortly after the recording, which combined influences of shoegaze, indie rock, ’60s guitar tones, and pop hooks, wrapped up in the summer of 2011, Price formed the band known as Good Field – an homage to cricket and desolate landscapes. Joining Price are fellow Austin musicians Esteban Cruz (Coma in Algiers) on drums, Michael McLeod (Richard Linklater film composer) on bass and Kyle Robertson (whose work has been featured on Grey’s Anatomy, The Daily Show, American Idol, and the Winter Olympics in Vancouver) on keys. Good Field started performing live and released its debut full length in February of 2012, which went on to spend 7 weeks on CMJ’s Top 200 chart, peaking at #69 (which was, of course, their goal).
Formerly the frontman of Voxtrot, Ramesh steps out on his own in a show of diversity and intensity. Still slung across a backbone of melody, darkness and light peak in from opposing sides, and at the point of their intersection lies the spirit of the thing…Since departing Voxtrot in 2010, Ramesh has performed as a solo performer, as well as an opening act for Beirut. He has been accumulating material for a full-length album, enlisting various producers/engineers, such as Jim Eno (Spoon), Jeff Zeigler (War on Drugs), and Justin Gerrish (Vampire Weekend), and has digitally released one EP. In the words of Other Music (NYC), “The debut solo EP from Ramesh Srivastava finds the longtime singer/songwriter of the now defunct Voxtrot eschewing the guitar jangle of his old group for something more expansive and gorgeous. From electronic-tinged productions to lush chamber pop, Srivastava has clearly grown as a musician without sacrificing his gift for a great hook. Bittersweet yet absolutely intoxicating, fans of his old band (and new fans) should not hesitate.” Now is the time to catch Ramesh in a rare solo appearance before his debut full-length is released later in 2013.
2012′s No Shape Can Hold Me Now was recorded over more than a year in which Matt Bauer has had no permanent residence, and at the heart of the EP are thoughts on travel, return, and trying to find a home in the world. From a duet with Jolie Holland that imagines a red eye flight over the international date line, to a track commissioned by the Groninger Museum in the Netherlands, the songs take us to places familiar and strange, real and imagined. Following 2008′s The Island Moved in the Storm, Bauer has, more often than not, been on tour in the US and Europe, and after the release of 2011′s The Jessamine County Book of the Living has split his down time between Brooklyn, Austin, Arkansas, and Kentucky. No Shape Can Hold Me Now was recorded to a vintage Avenbeinder 5 track in Brooklyn, San Francisco, Lexington, Kentucky, and Gilbert, Arkansas. The wanderers of this EP find home not only as a place on a map, but as a shared past, a moment with friends, or in the thrill of having no idea where you are or what’s next.
Again, you can find the facebook invite for the event here, info on the venue’s site here, and the ticketweb link to buy a ticket right here.
HEY! Remember Good Field? I did an awesome radio campaign for them like exactly one year ago. Their album spent 8 weeks on CMJ’s charts, including peaking at #69 (their goal, OBVIOUSLY). They’ve been busy since then, touring across the nation a couple times, and playing CMJs and SXSWs and the like (and one fantastic show I put on myself last summer, to which David Byrne showed up!!), and recording a Daytrotter Session, and now they’ve remastered that album from last year, gave it some new artwork and are releasing it for its first time on vinyl this month. And they’re going on a tour to celebrate! I’m even putting on one of the shows myself again (at Union Hall in Brooklyn, with Matt Bauer and RAMESH, former leader of Voxtrot!!), but they’ll be cutting a wide swath across the Deep South, Midwest, and some Northeast, before landing back home in time to play their SXSW showcase on March 16. They started out in San Antonio last night, moving on to Dallas tonight, their vinyl release show in Austin tomorrow, AND BEYOND! All the necessary info should be in those fb links that say “info” in the list below!
This is NOT a CMJ charting campaign; there is no push to “add” Good Field tracks officially into your station’s rotation or on any official charts (since this is the same tracks from last year, just with new artwork and a new physical format), although especially if you didn’t already spin the album to death last year, you’re welcome to contact me for a download link, spin it and tell me what you think. But more immediately important: if you’re a radio rep in their path and can make it to a show or would like to cover one, please contact me for ticket hookups, or especially for interview or instudio opportunities with Good Field!
Oh no!! It’s that time again. I have a history of waiting until a month after the end of the year (mostly so I can fit in as many movies as possible, and to speak from a tiny position of perspective – at the cost of some relevance, I know, but I’m really only writing this for myself anyway), and then coming up with the most hilariously long lists that nobody could possibly ever want to read. WELCOME TO THIS!
2012 was a tough year for me personally in some ways, mostly due to some medical issues that are still ongoing but should be resolved pretty soon. But I have good friends who really showed up and a family who cares about me a great deal, and while I’m not so emo as to actually wish to be in a tough spot so I can “see who my true friends are”, that kinda happened anyway and it really made me appreciate what I’ve got. So if you were there for me in any way this past year, even if it was just a kind word in passing, it helped stupendously and was truly appreciated, and I hope to be able to return the favor someday. Thank you!
But I still managed to get a lot of good stuff into the year. I took super fun trips to Philadelphia, Boston, Austin/SXSW/San Antonio, Seattle/Vancouver, and Cleveland/Pittsburgh; hugged people I love, conducted a little bit of biz and did new fun things in all of those places, and hosted visitors in my Brooklyn pad from New Zealand, Australia, Texas, Ohio and more.
And my two fun part-time jobs continued, in addition to my Band Mom radio promo, which you’ll again see reflected pretty heavily when we get down to my Top Shows lists, much as they were in my Top Stuff of 2011 and actually also 2010 and 2009, before I even worked at those venues. I’m maintaining the rule that Band Mom Bands are ineligible for the Top Albums list because I couldn’t possibly rank them against each other, but that I can’t rule out shows where I worked the door or stage managed for my Top Shows lists, because then there would be almost no shows to consider.
As always, I never claim stuff on this list is the ‘best’ of the year. Art is impossible to grade on an objective scale, and it’s insulting and ugly to posture as though one could do so. These are just my favorites:
top 15 albums of 2012:
kishi bashi – 151a
the mountain goats – transcendental youth
WHY? – mumps, etc
pomegranates – heaven
father john misty – fear fun
jens lekman – i know what love isn’t
stars – the north
the pharmacy – stoned and alone
tilly & the wall – heavy mood
david byrne & st vincent – love this giant
black moth super rainbow – cobra juicy
mewithoutyou – ten stories
bright moments – natives
aimee mann – charmer
sufjan stevens – silver & gold
you know what, that’s just 5 albums tied for #1 with me up top. I couldn’t choose so they all got pictures this year. there’s like 100 more albums that I liked, but given the choice between listing 15 albums that I LOVED and 100 albums that I liked, I decided to go with the former, this time. as mentioned and as always, Band Mom artists are ineligible for this list because i wouldn’t even begin to know how to rank them: this means you, good field, eliza rickman, advance base, little, big, audiafauna, woodpecker, harlan, and tono and the finance company. I feel so proud of my 2012 lineup: bands from Texas, California, Chicago, NYC, Louisiana/Arkansas, and New Zealand! you all released FANTASTIC albums that are tied for number one in my heart, and i love you the most.
honorable mentions (roughly in order; this whole list was initially a numbered top 100 until I considered how ridiculous that is. but FYI I feel particularly strongly this time about the top 20 of the above list, but strongly ENOUGH about all of these to mention ‘em. I did see 17 other 2012 movies that didn’t make any list at all!):
the queen of versailles; seeking a friend for the end of the world; to rome with love; haywire; the lorax; brave; the loneliest planet; les miserables; footnote; something from nothing: the art of rap; friends with kids; hitchcock; goon; grassroots; the pirates! band of misfits; bernie; take this waltz; the five year engagement; lawless; the watch; secret world of arrietty; red lights; ruby sparks; hara-kiri: death of a samurai; red hook summer; the grey; prometheus; high road; not fade away; man with the iron fists; magic mike; hysteria; dark shadows; the amazing spider-man; salmon fishing in the yemen; return; the hunger games; the dish and the spoon; roadie; god bless america; tim & eric’s billion dollar movie; snow white and the huntsman; mirror, mirror; the avengers; skyfall; pitch perfect; battleship; casa de mi padre; klown; the dictator.
top NEW actors of the year (as in i’d never heard their names before/never saw them in anything and now they seem like a big deal to me, were each in several things i loved): dane dehaan (chronicle, lincoln, lawless) & adam driver (lincoln & the show Girls)
standout actors of the year (who were not new to me, but were in a bunch of stuff i loved and seemed to have a really big year): mark duplass, emily blunt, mike birbiglia, chris messina.
some stats notes on movies: in 2012 i saw 200 different movies. 65 of them were in theaters (i paid to see the dark knight rises twice, and doubled up on a ton of others on dvd), and to date i’ve seen 117 movies that came out in 2012 (that’s three more than last year, although I’m also publishing this 2.5 weeks later than last year. this includes several that i watched after the year ended, so they’ll be among the total i report having watched in 2013, but they’re also part of the group of 2012 movies i’m counting as eligible for this best-of list).
as for movies with questionable release dates, the rule i made up is basically that if i saw it in like a festival or limited-engagement special event in 2012, even if it didn’t get even limited national release otherwise, it counts for my list, but if i did not see it in a festival before 2012 and its first limited release (a usa release that’s not a specific festival, even if it showed in fests pre-2012) was this year, then it counts. in other words it’s pretty subjective to my perspective, but it had to have its (limited or wide) release begin in 2012 OR be seen by me in a festival or special event (i saw movies at NYFF and a few assorted micro fests, and in theaters and homes in New York, Boston, Seattle, Austin, San Antonio, and Ohio…somehow missed out on movies at my mainstays SXSW, tribeca, and BAM cinema fest this year, boo) in 2012. (I did, however, participate in the New York Comedy Festival, Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival, Del Close Marathon, and comedy shows at SXSW, so I guess comedy beat movies fests-wise for me this year).
also of note, i saw 11 movies in 2012 in 3d (and only one in IMAX: the dark knight rises; and I did see the hobbit in the HFR and didn’t hate it nearly as much as everybody else seemed to). i continue to think 3d is a stupid cash grab that almost never adds to the film, but I suffer from pretty severe fear of missing out so i keep getting suckered in. the only one that was really worth it this year was the hobbit, although there was a nice dive down a cliff in dark shadows and some fun flying around in avengers, prometheus and the amazing spider-man.
here’s what 1.23 trips to the movie theater a week (plus a few extraneous otherwise tix) looks like, btw:
here’s to beating it in 2013.
although i obviously saw a ton of movies this year, you’ll always miss a few; these are the ones that i suspect might have had a chance at making the above lists had i been able to catch them: wreck-it ralph, promised land, anna karenina, the sessions, smashed, bachelorette, the deep blue sea, once upon a time in anatolia, teddy bear, the turin horse, samsara, it’s such a beautiful day, killing them softly, a late quartet, this must be the place, on the road, hyde park on hudson, the impossible, chasing ice, the odd life of timothy green, hit & run, general education, the details, the central park five, for a good time call, kumare, liberal arts, flight, only the young. plus a few of the foreign & doc oscar nominees which despite all that you see here (this is not a list light on foreigns or docs!) i had somehow never previously heard of. pretty much everything else, if it came out in 2012 and it’s not listed here, it’s on purpose. SO THERE.
saw filmmakers/actors/film-related musicians in person promoting:
-we need to talk about kevin (ezra miller, angelika, jan 14)
-sleepwalk with me (mike birbiglia, ira glass, & jessi klein, IFC center, aug 26)
-head (the monkees movie, sept 20: no one from the movie was actually there but a panel was at the bell house screening to discuss it including julie klausner, kurt loder, rolling stone writer rob sheffield, and monkees historian eric lefcowitz)
-the princess bride (25th anniversary screening at the NYFF, oct 2, with rob reiner, william goldman, billy crystal, cary elwes, carol kane, mandy patinkin, chris sarandon, wallace shawn and robin wright!!!!!)
-the perks of being a wallflower (logan lerman, sunshine, oct 7)
-also went to a NYFF ‘director’s dialogue’ talk between brian de palma and noah baumbach, not after a specific film screening but more of a comprehensive career retrospective talk)
my 25 favorite comedy shows I saw (in chronological order):
-heart of darkness, hosted by greg barris with the forgiveness, featuring roger hailes, gabe liedman, pete drungle, wyatt cenac, and reggie watts @ union hall 1/7
-mr coconuts, hosted by gabe delahaye, featuring dave hill, ted travelstead, mike albo, and john roberts @ union hall 1/17
-totally j/k, hosted by joe mande and noah garfinkel, featuring dc pierson, gabe delahaye, annie lederman, and demitri martin @ ucbeast 1/19
-hot tub, hosted by kurt braunohler, featuring gabe delahaye, it gets betterish (brent sullivan/eliot glazer), joe mande, lisa delarios, demitri martin, and judah friedlander @ littlefield 2/13
-bob’s burgers show featuring eugene mirman, larry murphy, kurt braunohler, kristen schaal, jon benjamin @ bell house 3/9
-night of the living, hosted by kurt braunohler with house band adira amram & the experience, featuring wyatt cenac, ted leo, and pete & pete (danny tamberelli and michael maronna) 3/9
-dc pierson’s one man show “dc pierson is bad at girls” @ sxsw 3/15
-whiplash, hosted by leo allen, featuring ron lynch, jessi klein, tom shillue, joe derosa, gabe liedman, nick kroll, and todd barry @ ucb chelsea 4/9
-cheap date, hosted by sharron paul and calvin cole, featuring sherri shepherd, jermaine fowler, brent sullivan, travis irvine @ union hall 5/8
-dave hill’s tasteful nudes book release show featuring john hodgman, jon benjamin, doug gillard, tab the band, little michael jackson, and janeane garofalo @ bell house 5/24
-the jukebox, hosted by steve heisler, steve jacobs, and margaret lyons, featuring mara wilson, eric muller, kevin allison, and dave hill @ union hall 6/11
-kristen schaal long-form show with kurt braunohler @ union hall 6/17
-mr coconuts, hosted by gabe delahaye, featuring ted leo, taylor negron, michael che, and emily heller @ union hall 6/19
-brent sullivan’s one-man show “profiles in cowardice” @ ucb chelsea 7/5
-geeking out, hosted by kerri doherty and nate fernald, featuring ted travelstead, brent sullivan, steve heisler, robin gelfenbien, and ranmaru the cosplayer @ union hall 8/7
-auction to raise money for the eugene mirman comedy festival, featuring eugene, brendon small, james adomian, wyatt cenac, ac newman, and reggie watts @ bell house 8/24
-louis ck @ bell house 8/27
-final hot tub, hosted by kurt braunohler, featuring eugene mirman, james adomian, marcus monroe (a juggler), nick turner, pat shepherd, and chris hauselt @ littlefield 10/1
-double-header of one-man shows “dc pierson is good at stand-up” and brent sullivan’s “profiles in cowardice” @ ucb chelsea 10/3
-eddie pepitone @ union hall 10/24
-nick kroll @ bell house 11/30
-hurricane sandy benefit, hosted by ted leo and tom scharpling, featuring john hodgman as an auctioneer, gary the squirrel interviewing julie klausner, chris gethard, titus andronicus, jon benjamin, brooke shields, kristen schaal, chris elliott and adam resnick, and andrew wk @ bell house 12/7
-final pretty good friends, hosted by eugene mirman, featuring mike birbiglia, claudia cogan, mike drucker, and bobcat goldthwait @ union hall 12/9
-party machine holiday benefit, hosted by arden myrin and lisa delarios with house band adira amram & the experience, featuring nick turner, chris gethard, sheng wang, james adomian, janeane garofalo, jon glaser as “beer joe”, and tim harrington @ bell house 12/13
-the jukebox, hosted by steve heisler, steve jacobs, and margaret lyons, featuring david rees, mamrie hart, sam reiff-pasarew, and pete & pete (mike maronna and danny tamberelli) @ union hall 12/18
here’s a new category: podcasts/tapings I was a part of (in chronological order):
-how was your week, hosted by julie klausner and house band ted leo and the pharmacists. featuring sandra bernhard, tom scharpling, ira glass in the “snack nest”, and joe mande (2/2); jim gaffigan, martha plimpton, mike daisey, and katie notopoulos (6/27); tom scharpling & jon wurster, kristen johnson, and gabe liedman (10/17) @ bell house
-star talk, hosted by neil degrasse tyson and eugene mirman, featuring heather berlin, cara santa maria, and wyatt cenac (2/17); bill nye the science guy, scott adsit, sarah vowell, and cern scientist kyle cranmer (7/11); jim gaffigan, sarah silverman, and mars rover scientist david grinspoon (9/14) @ bell house
-the tobolowsky files, by stephen tobolowsky with david chen (2/28) @ bell house
-the interview show, hosted by mark bazer, featuring chuck klosterman, jon glaser, em & lo, and nova social (5/3) @ union hall
-jesse popp album taping (5/4) @ union hall
-greg barris album taping (5/10) @ ucb chelsea
-james adomian “low hangin fruit” album taping with rojo perez (6/13) @ union hall
-going off track, hosted by jonah bayer and steven smith [he of the untitled rock show], featuring julie klausner, geoffrey rickly [thursday], norman brannon [texas is the reason], and sarah lewitinn (9/22) @ union hall
-the thrilling adventure hour, with padgett brewster, busy phillips, samm levine, paul f tompkins, james urbaniak, dave (gruber) allen, colin hanks, john hodgman, scott adsit, and more (9/30) @ bell house
-the chris gethard show, featuring dc pierson, dave hill, and rl stine (10/3) @ manhattan neighborhood network [public access tv station]
-how did this get made, hosted by jason mantzoukas, paul scheer, and june diane raphael, and featuring michael ian black then julie klausner (12/6) @ bell house
-john hodgman “that is all” taping [for netflix I think?] 12/21 @ bell house
favorite new tv show:
girls
I think that’s the only show that had its debut episode in 2012 that I liked enough to even talk about at all. had all the strong feelings all the other nyc girls my age/social bracket had in response to it, but they were in sum def more good than bad. congrats girls
favorite non- new tv shows:
parks & recreation (number 1 two years in a row!! i guess this is officially my Favorite Show)
happy endings
louie
bob’s burgers
breaking bad
community
adventure time with finn and jake
american horror story
sherlock (bbc)
downton abbey
mad men
misfits
30 rock
archer
portlandia
the increasingly poor decisions of todd margaret
childrens hospital
eagleheart
delocated
the league
up all night
it’s always sunny in philadelphia
(looking forward to justified, parenthood, boardwalk empire, house of lies, veep, shameless, bunk, comedy bang bang, and enlightened eventually joining this list…need more hours in the day)
and lastly, some stray cool stuff i did in 2012 that didn’t fit into any of the above categories:
-daniel kitson’s one-man theatrical production ‘it’s always right now, until it’s later’ @ st ann’s warehouse
-alicia jo rabins’ years-in-the-making musical/theatrical production ‘a kaddish for bernie madoff’ @ joe’s pub
-voted for obama then rejoiced with 1000 of my closest friends (and liam mceneany and mike doughty) at the bell house when he won
-sold merch for tony sly (with joey cape when they played bell house) a week before his untimely death
-spent the 4th of july with some austrialian friends and got to see the city as a tourist: took the staten island ferry, watched street performers in washington square park, ate pizza, watched the fireworks over the hudson
-took several great trips, including a few firsts like wine tasting at a vineyard near seattle, walking a suspension bridge in a rainforest near vancouver, jazz brunch in boston, serious bbq in san antonio, and a speakeasy in seattle
-watched the comedy central roast of roseanne with Lecy, the original Becky
-worked as a “location assistant” on my first two real (paying) film sets, one for a tv show and one for a web video
-stood in line as an extra in aimee mann’s music video for “charmer”, directed by tom scharpling and produced by rob hatch-miller & puloma basu (production company productions): check me out at around 2:30:
Bonus: my favorite “celebrity encounter” of the year (take that, brooke shields, jake gyllenhaal, michelle williams, sandra bernhard, david byrne, rl stine, kristen johnson, martha plimpton, taylor negron, laura linney, chris elliott, andrew wk, bill nye the science guy, zach galifianakis, dino stamatopoulos, colin hanks, michael azerrad, jonathan ames, marky ramone, doug benson, adam pally, matt walsh, sherri shepherd, neil degrasse tyson, norah jones, steve buscemi, janeane garofalo, bobcat goldthwait, mara wilson, ?uestlove, brendon small, ira glass, sarah silverman, kurt loder, jonathan coulton, john roderick, malcolm gladwell, chuck klosterman, many cast members of 30 rock, freaks and geeks, archer, bob’s burgers, and home movies, and everyone else listed above):
Oh hey! My last Official Add of 2012 is my first-ever International Band! Anthonie Tonnon, of Tono and the Finance Company, is spectacular and fun and smart and funny and from New Zealand!
As many of you know, my love affair with New Zealand (and its evil stepsister Australia) goes back a long way, starting when I studied abroad in Melbourne in 2005 and took a trip to New Zealand’s North Island before heading home, running through last year when I put on my first ever Band Mom Presents show with a bunch of NZ friends, and now we’ve come to my first ever NZ Band Mom Band! I met Anthonie Tonnon (codename Tono) through Shenandoah Davis, and he came to the US for his first-ever North American tour very recently this fall (you just missed it! It was so nice having him & his gf Karlya around NYC!), but here’s hoping he comes back soon, because he is SO GOOD. Seriously so good. He’s got a real gift for fitting big thoughts into pop hooks and making you want to listen to them over and over. So START LISTENING NOW!!
TONO AND THE FINANCE COMPANY
UP HERE FOR DANCING
Self-Released
When Anthonie Tonnon finally brought his Tono and the Finance Company project to the United States in Autumn 2012, he wasn’t fronting the dramatic, Pulp-esque five-piece that toured with Beirut in his native New Zealand earlier in the year. It was in the humbler guise of an electric guitar wielding solo act, in much the style of his hero, Jonathan Richman. But that is not to understate what is a formidable achievement for a man making music as far away from home as one can get.
Tonnon grew up in Dunedin, a university city at the bottom of New Zealand’s colder, less populated South Island. He started Tono and the Finance Company a generation after the city’s explosion of alternative bands – like The Clean, The Bats and The Verlaines, and labels like Flying Nun and Xpressway, at a time when new bands there seemed destined to work in the shadow of the 80s and early 90s. But despite taking an influence from The Verlaines in particular, and their US contemporaries like Pavement, Tonnon’s songwriting quickly moved in a narrative, character-focused direction with more in common with North Island bands like The Muttonbirds and Lawrence Arabia, American cult acts like Jonathan Richman, The Magnetic Fields, or Randy Newman, and British alternative bands of the same period, particularly Pulp, Morrissey and Billy Bragg.
What set Tonnon apart was his knack of finding something universal while drawing the detail of a specific place. Moving his band to New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland – a sprawling, subtropical city of 1.5 million, he had a hit with “Marion Bates Realty”, a song that captured the frustration of young students and creatives, driven from neighborhood to neighborhood away from high rents in the quickly gentrifying city (“the tide is rising on Grey Lynn, its coming from Herne Bay, they’re painting the houses whiter shades of white”). It was enough to land the growing ensemble the Beirut opening slot, and scrape the funds together to record with legendary Dunedin engineer Tex Houston (The Clean, The 3Ds).
Details change, but Tonnon’s neighborhood of Grey Lynn exists everywhere – it could be Silverlake or Williamsburg or any other place where characters like Tonnon are “gentrified out of my street.” On his first LP, Tonnon crafts the sound of urban life and its fraught decisions for young people, whether in ode to the purgatory of being in between the age of irresponsibility and respectability in “Twenty-three”, telling drunken tales of art gallery hopping blocked artists in “Tim”, or just the difficulty of removing clothing at pressing times in the slacker guitar anthem “Skinny Jeans”.
It’s that meeting of the universal, and the strange, antipodean specifics that makes Tonnon’s writing so engaging. But growing up in a place like New Zealand – a country with such a voracious cultural appetite, yet separated by so many miles of ocean from the cultural centers of the world, can cause a heavy case of island syndrome. In “Up Here For Thinking, Down There For Dancing”, one of the more unusual songs on the album, Tonnon taps into a very real part of the New Zealand psyche, one that looks desperately outward for affirmation, singing in the shoes of an elderly man who breaks into a never-ending chorus of “America, Merica, Merica,” after offering a young man somewhat conflicted money advice. Having calmed his own island syndrome with his first US tour, we can only hope Anthonie Tonnon will be back.
RIYL: Jens Lekman, The Brunettes, Pulp, Lawrence Arabia, Okkervil River
Start With: 2, 1, 6 FCC 9
Contact me for a download link if you’re a radio rep!
My next add is another artist that I’ve actually been a big fan of for quite a while now, and am now lucky enough to call a Band Mom band for the first time this year! 2012 is a big year for that sort of thing, I guess! I first heard Harlan (the largely one-man project of John Harlan Norris) when I was a college radio music director myself, back in 2007 when his first album The Still Beat was hitting the airwaves. And here we are full circle, and I get to be the one to introduce this glorious new record to a whole new crop of radio heads! YES!
I was 100% sure Harlan was a Scandanavian band, for some reason, until this year when I learned that the guy is a Southerner: he’s from Kentucky, the band began in Baton Rouge, and now it’s comprised of two guys who live in Arkansas and New Orleans. Imagine my surprise! But maybe that’ll tell you something about the impression these jams give off: I’d say this album would be completely at home in your snacks snuggled right between The Radio Dept and Jens Lekman. Read on for more!!
HARLAN
NIGHT LOOP
Still Beat Recordings
Harlan began as a solo recording project by founder John Harlan Norris in 2005. While attending graduate school at LSU in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Norris conceived of a recording project that would coexist with a body of paintings for his Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition. The resulting album, recorded entirely by Norris himself, was called The Still Beat, and it quickly caught the ears of several local musicians who soon formed into the band Harlan. The Still Beat received national distribution in 2007. Usatoday.com called it “really smart pop from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; classic songs mixed with moments of weirdness and overall a killer.” Harlan’s second album, Spiderette, was released in 2008 and was described by music critic Alex V. Cook (Paste, Wire, Oxford American) as “a mature, confident album filled with wonder.”
Harlan’s latest album, Night Loop, began as a series of electronic improvisations that were eventually formed into completed songs through an exploratory process combining vintage analog synths and drum machines, natural instrumentation, and loop-based production. The result is an album that moves Harlan into new sonic territory, exhibiting a wide array of influences ranging from Kraftwerk and Brian Eno to The Go-Betweens and The Clean. The album, produced by Harlan, was recorded largely in New Orleans and Arkansas throughout a two-year period. Night Loop was mixed by Ray Ketchem (of the band Elk City) and mastered by Alan Douches at West West Side Music.
Thematically, Night Loop observes the sense of groundlessness that can arise during the unwieldy transition from youth to adulthood. Whether the result of perpetual roaming (the southern travelogue of “Mirrorland”), the unease to be found in domesticity (“Death in the Living Room”), or the mercurial nature of love (“Sending Your Positions”, “Catherine O’Hara”), Night Loop embraces a sense of mystery and stares deeply into the unanswerable question of where do we go once we’re supposed to have arrived.
RIYL: The National, Echo & the Bunnymen, Jens Lekman, Elk City, The Radio Dept
I’m continuing my string of solid-gold Union Hall show lineups next Friday…here comes another one where the whole bill is Unstoppable Greatness! We’ve got Advance Base (Owen Ashworth of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone!), Matador-associated antifolkie Jennifer O’Connor, and Jason Trachtenburg (of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players)’s new swing/big-band The Pendulum Swings. So get there early, stay late, and read on for more info!
Here is a poster for it! My beautiful friend Natalia Zuniga made it (her second one for me!) with pieces of fabric (and her own cute feet)!!!!
It’s at Union Hall, a favorite place of mine and a venue where I also often work the door. That’s at 702 Union St, just east of 5th Ave in Park Slope Brooklyn. It is not the same place as Union Pool, so don’t go there. Take the R train to Union St and walk 1 block east!
It costs 8 buxx in advance and 10 the day of show (fyi that includes day-of online sales-get in there early!), the doors are at 7:30pm, and the music starts at 8:00. Here’s stuff about the bands! In last to first order:
Advance Base is the new musical project by Chicago, Illinois singer, songwriter, & producer Owen Ashworth (formerly of Casiotone for the Painfully Alone). A Shut-In’s Prayer is Ashworth’s first full-length release in over three years, & his first under the name Advance Base. Recorded at home & in piano practice rooms at the Chicago Public Library, A Shut-In’s Prayer is an intimate collection of deliberately crafted but decidedly lo-fi torch songs, waltzes & ballads. Accompanying himself on his Rhodes 54 electric piano, Ashworth sings nostalgic stories about lost loves, childhood friends, estranged siblings, & hard feelings over simple drum machine rhythms & spare percussion. The additional arrangements that fill out these ten songs intertwine gentle upright piano melodies & expansive electric bass, filling the spaces between plainly-sung harmony vocals & strummed autoharp chords, with the occasional creaking floorboard or snapping reverb spring to remind you of the cramped rooms where this album was recorded. It’s a different sound than one might expect from the dude from Casiotone for the Painfully Alone, but Ashworth’s keen ear for melody & idiosyncratic skill as a lyricist have only improved in recent years, pushing his memorable songwriting in all new directions. At age 35, Ashworth has a lot of music left in him, & he’s just getting started again. You may also remember all the other stuff I said about Advance Base when I freaked out about getting to promote the record to college radio in May. This is a rare chance to see Ashworth in an intimate, headlining (and South Brooklyn) setting, before he opens for Mark Kozelek the next night at the Music Hall of Williamsburg.
Jennifer O’Connor is a Brooklyn-based singer and songwriter who has released five albums for Matador, Red Panda, and her own label, Kiam – and she’s currently at work on her sixth. Her most recent effort, I Want What You Want, garnered praise from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, the Village Voice, NBC and many more. O’Connor has toured the United States alongside bands such as Wilco, Cass McCombs, Silver Jews, The Mountain Goats, Damien Jurado, Feist, and Yo La Tengo. Her songs have appeared in numerous television shows and films such as Sons of Anarchy, Parenthood, Private Practice, The Ghost Whisperer, The Strangers, Think Like A Man, and The Sensation of Sight.
Brooklyn’s most outrageous indie-nerd big swing band, The Pendulum Swings are more than a dance band. Jason Trachtenburg, formerly and currently of the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, leads this 13-piece ensemble that has been described as “a warped Sinatra. Highly recommended.” (Time Out N.Y.) With all original songs in the vein of Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and the late Marvin Hamlisch, The Pendulum Swings deliver a memorable night of highly orchestrated music, performance, and comedy. The Pendulum Swings debut album, The Greatest Hits of Big Band, will be released in October on X5 Records.
Again, you can find the facebook invite for the event here, info on the venue’s site here, and the ticketweb link to buy a ticket right here.
SEE YOU THERE, BROOKLYN!!! Oh man, this is gonna be great.
