BAND YOU SHOULD KNOW: Those Darlins

This one time at band camp...Nikki and Jessi Darlin met while attending Rock N' Roll camp in their hometown state of Tennessee.  It wasn't too long after the two moved in together and were playing some tunes on the front porch, when they met and invited Kelley Darlin to join them.  Since leaving the porch, these three bad ass chicks have spread their crawfish eating, beer guzzling, country-style rock n' roll all over the country.

Trust me, these darlins are not your typical girl group -- their songs may be catchy and relatively simple, but in no way do Those Darlins resemble a pop group.  The band's self-titled debut album released in 2008 was jam-packed with songs that sounded as if they were recorded directly onto a cassette tape (which is actually how they record their songs), in a large red barn somewhere in the Appalachians. Tracks like "Snaggle Tooth Mama" and "Wild One" capture the rural, punk-like party character of these tomboy girls, while "Hung Up On Me" leaves listeners with no doubt that this trio aren't the type of girls you want to mess with.

With the recent release of their new album, Screws Get Loose, Those Darlins take a slight turn in sound, perfectly bridging their typical country/bluegrass song structure with their good ol' fashioned rock n' roll aesthetic.

Check out Those Darlins' newest music video for "Be Your Bro" below:

Those Darlins - "Wild One"

run fo' cova, SANTI is back!

A record deal with Roc Nation, an appearance on new stand-out Beastie Boy's album Hot Sauce Committee Part 2, and songwriting for Christina Aguilera....what can't Santigold do? From the immense guest-appearance catalog under her belt and almost three years since her last full-length album release, the queen of unconventional pop is back again, this time with an album she claims is, "Peter Gabriel-big."

With one of the new album's tracks, "Go" fetauring Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's, leaked earlier this year, there is major talk about the not-yet-named album and its unbelieveably long list of collaboraters that helped with this record including--Diplo, Switch, Nick Zinner and Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio.

After her last album, Santogold, released in 2008, Santi has a lot of people and fans hoping that she will live up to expectations. In an interview with Paper Mag she talks new album and life after the release come Fall.

"For now, though, she's sequestered in the studio, finishing her album. Then it's back out on tour across Europe, sharing her new songs and learning to play them live. 'For me, writing songs is a cathartic process,' she says. 'I always say my songs are about myself. Some of them are meant to be almost like a pep talk. It takes a lot to put yourself out there like this. You need all the reinforcement you can get.'" 

Check out the single "Go" leaked in April below:

 

What do you think about "Go"? Think Santi's new album will live up to her first?

the mysterious Shabazz Palaces

Seattle, Washington-- Shabazz Palaces, the brainchild of Ishmael Butler, former member of Digable Planets, is the first Hip Hop act to be signed to indie rock powerhouse label, Sub Pop, so there must be something noteworthy about them. Few interviews, lack of web coverage, a bare official website, Palaceer Lazaro, the name by which Butler now goes by likes to keep himself and those he works with under wraps. For Butler, fans should be focusing on the music and the lyrical poetry that infest ever bump of his dubstep sounding beats.

Palaceer's (Butler) music defies most all hip hop and rap guidelines-- no lyrics about getting bottle service and taking a bunch of bitches back to the hotel room --and not the usual followable, danceable beat of a T. Payne song. Shabazz reaches deep into the dirty, grimy corners of the electronic music forum, but does not get pigeonholed in any specific sound. Shabazz Palaces explores the depths of funk, London-sounding dubstep, and typical Mbira drums and music. Political hip-hop for the Obama generation.

Their new album, Black Up, due out June 28th transcends hip hop boundaries, is forward thinking, and displays a diverse range of sounds as original as Palaceer himself.

Although the album does not come out until next week, you can stream the entire album on NPR. Which you should totally do, you won't be disappointed.

MUST CHECK OUT: "Youlogy" and "An echo from the hosts that profess infinitum"

COCOROSIE: THE NOMADIC SISTERS

Cocorosie: two American born sisters who spent little time together growing up, meet up suddenly in Paris in 2003,  start making music, and travel all around Europe, spending most of their time in Paris, Buenos Aires (where they team up with multiplatinum studio engineer, Nicolas Kalwill), and New York, and make sweet, sweet music AKA their new album, Grey Oceans.  This new studio album was made in 6  recording session with Kalwill at this renowned local Buenos Aires studio called, Panda.

The album's first single, "Lemonade", pieces together an assortment of elements including the sisters' characteristic simple piano-driven melodies with sporadic, stale-sounding drum, and melancholic lyrics. But what is best is their unbelievable vocal prowess; their whispery, yet childlike pitches; their voices, our only guide on a journey through their chaotic culmination of sounds, that they call sounds.

With much attention being paid to their newest album, don't forget to check out their others, especially Noah's Ark, which I actually have on repeat right now. Be sure to check out the album titled track "Noah's Ark" and "Beautiful Boyz" below:

HOLY CRAP, diplo and douster 'turn us on'

Question, how is it that whatever Diplo touches, turns to gold? Like how can one man take three amazing songs and make them into one MEGA song and prove it better than the originals?

With the help from good friend and fellow DJ/Producer Douster, Diplo pulled off a collection of mixes called ON! Its their track, "One Kid" a masterful reworking of Nicki Minaj's "Just Shitted On 'Em", Sleigh Bells' "Beach Girls", and Swedish House Mafia, that the two Producers' talent really shine through.  Based on how I automatically started dancing when I heard this song at work, I am sure that this song will soon prove the anthem for those warm, raunchy summer nights. 

If you go to Diplo or Douster's facebook page all you have to do is LIKE their page and you will automatically be able to download the first three songs of the album, including their mix of Travis Barker's "Can a Drummer Get Some".  

here it is on youtube:  ONE KID

GARDENS AND VILLA

I was lucky enough to interview these guys last September for The Santa Barbara Independent's annual band issue, during which they expressed how excited they were about working on and completing their first album with singer/songwriter/production guru Richard Swift in rural Cottage Grove, Oregon. Now, almost nine months later, Gardens is fostering a strong following all over the country, particularly in Santa Barbara (their musical hometown) and Los Angeles (where they will be playing a show at the Echo July 14th).

They’ve got kindred spirits in Bowie and the Moody Blues, thanks to melodies dressed in the fanciful trappings of ’70s psychedelic jams, but unlike their predecessors, these five also weave in lessons from disco and new-wave synth-pop. Growing out of the collapse of an earlier music project, AVE Caesar, which consisted of guitarist/vocalist Chris Lynch, keyboardist Adam Rasmussen, and drummer Levi Hayden, the trio later added bassist Shane McKillop and Dustin Ineman to round out the Gardens and Villa lineup. In turn, the grooving quintet has recorded and finished their debut album (set for a July 5th release), and, in the process, fostered the vibes that propel every aspect of their current musical catalogue.


Check out these Santa Barbara natives and don't be afraid to get lost in their intoxicating and addicting haze-pop!

PLANNINGTOROCK channels Bowie/Berlin

Janine Rostron, aka Planningtorock, might hide behind a fake block-like nose that almost appears as if she had a large lego piece implanted under the top layer of skin on her nose, but on her new album titled, W, trust me when I say that she does absolutely nothing to hide her experimental expertise.

In an attempt to channel the darker, grimier, and particularly unexplored territories of a seedier Berlin club scene, which seems that only Bowie (on his albums known as the Berlin Trilogy) and now Rostron have been able to capture on an album, she has created a mix of songs that not only show-off the vigor behind her slow and soulful crooning, but also demonstrate her outstanding ability to puzzle sounds and samples together, in ways that even seem foreign to the uber diverse group of musicians/producers/instrumentalists on her label DFA.

Although Rostron's electronically charged vocals play a major role in the spacey feel that each track expels, its the synthesized bass, collection of bells, thick strings and the chopped-up eighties style sax that linger in the background that make you feel like you are being pushed and pulled in disparate directions. From the bump and throb of the song, "The Breaks", to the hypnotic vibrato of the album's ninth track, "Jam", Rostron serves up a sundry blend of grooves.

check out this junoplayer for a preview of the new album, W

the weekend just got better.

I usually would never be caught dead endorsing an artist that the crippled kid from Degrassi, oh wait... I mean the rapper Drake also champions, but I must say that THE WEEKND is truly the one man that could possibly change the face and sound of typical R&B. It's funny, the term Rhythm & Blues was originally used in order to describe the heavy and insistent beats of blues music that flooded the music scene during the 1940's and 50's and ultimately contributed to the development of GREAT rock and roll, like that of the Rolling Stones. Lately, R&B has become a term loosely thrown around to describe corny Ne-Yo love songs and music that is seriously lacking the urban soul that original R&B relied so heavily on.

Well, this was my view until I heard the Weeknd's song, "Glass Table Girls", where he starts out the song saying, "Two puffs for the lady who be down for that". This sex infused number will have you riding on the shallow thump of the songs underlying drum, while his lyrics expel the unsightly feelings of a three-day long drug haze as he vehemently spits, "i heard you do drugs now/you heard wrong i been on 'em for a minute/we just never act a fool that's just how we fuckin live it."

Although this ins't the official video for "Glass Table Girls", I think it perfectly parallels the song's spacey feel. When the Weeknd saw this video he posted it on his tumblr and wrote "in white girls we lust".  check it out.

With the recent release of his first record, House of Balloons, (which he released on his own and is actually now available for download via his website), the Weeknd has and will continue to receive notoriety for his intriguing sound and even more for his stimulating lyrics.

If you like "Glass Table Girls", definitely take the time listen to the rather hypnotic and passionate song, "Coming Down".

HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PART 2

Beastie Boys are at it again with their new album, Hot Sauce Committee Part 2.  From throwback funk on the track "Nonstop Disco Powerpack" to an onslaught of vocoders on "OK" the Boys are back and sound hungry to remind all of those that their iconic hip-hop is still going strong.

Besides the fact that you'll think that your speakers are evaporating with every drop of the bass on the track "Too Many Rappers", it also screams classic Beastie with raw battle-style lyrics like, “Oh, my God –- just look at me / Grandpa been rapping since ’83”.  It's hard to believe that after three decades as pioneers of the hip-hop scene and not getting that great of a response to their last album To the Five Boroughs, that the Boys would be back to throw down an album that is of the same caliber as Licensed to Ill.  

Take a listen for yourself, this album will definitely be on repeat. Each track brings something new, its like you almost can't even wait for a song to finish because you're so excited to hear the next one.  Seriously digging "Funky Donkey" because you just can't get enough of dat funk, and "Lee Majors Come Again" is a punk rock/hip-hop combo that only the Beastie Boys could pull off.

don't even try and download this illegally, stop being cheap and BUY THIS ALBUM!

no bullshit rock 'n roll

I think I found my new favorite band.... at least for the moment. But first, an ultra brief 90's grunge history lesson.  So in 1988 Neil Hagerty and at-the-time girlfriend, Jennifer Herrema decided to create a band called Royal Trux.  The two came out with their first self-titled album, Royal Trux, that same year and soon found themselves cashing in on the overwhelming corporate interest in underground grunge rock after Nirvana's mainstream emergence.  After signing with Virgin records Royal Trux not only added drummer Chris Pyle (son of Artimus Pyle, drummer of Lynyrd Skynyrd), but came out with Untitled, Thank You, and Sweet Sixteen.  

Now, after the break up of Royal Trux and the dissolve of their romantic relationship, Herrema and Hagerty have since been working on solo projects with the record label, Drag City, but have also come together as RTX.  Since 2004 the band has released four albums, Western Xterminator and JJ Got Live Ratx being their most notable.  

I saw these guys open up for Kurt Vile on April 22nd at the Echo in L.A. and let me tell you...Herrema's performance and aura, reek the swagger and snarl of bar-room rock and roll. With face hidden beneath a faded oversized brown cowboy hat, Herrema stumbled around stage serenading those in attendance with her mettlesome voice, a voice that at times got lost in the heroin-haze of her Royal Trux days.  Anyways, Herrema's Siouxsie meets Sunset Boulevard glam is great and you should keep up with these guys.

Check out the Western Xterminator video here

And go to their myspace here and listen to "CHEAP WINE TIME"

www.myspace.com/rtx

little loud x ariel pink

This song came out earlier this year, but either way... Little Loud, well-known UK new waver, has put together a great remix of the Ariel Pink's seedy, low-fi masterpiece,"Round and Round". Just when you thought Pink's song couldn't get any better, Little Loud adds an ambient, almost euphoric dance-floor worthy sound (picture yourself wanting to shake your hips while jumping from one foot to the other with your arms in the air).

Listen for yo' self....

still starry-eyed.

Last night wasn't the first time I saw Ellie Goulding (I was lucky enough to see her first ever U.S. show at the ROXY earlier this year), but from the way I was screaming and dancing along to her you wouldn't have been able to tell.  Like usual, Ellie's vocal prowess paired with the thunderous clamor of her simple snare drumset took everyone in attendance by storm as she quickly opened with one particular crowd favorite, Under The Sheets.

I feel like its almost impossible for someone to give Ellie a bad review, between her insanely sonorous voice, friend-like charm on stage, and her serious skills on the drums and guitar. Over the past year Ellie has paved the way for an unsurpassable amount of strong female vocalists to break out with huge singles, like Adele and Robyn.

After an 11-song set and 2-song encore that included, "Human" and "Starry Eyed", Ellie still had the energy to stay after for a quick meet and greet with those die-hard fans that bought her cd at the show.

Great show, enjoy the song below:

the other dengue fever.

I heard about Dengue Fever a while back, but never seriously got into them (stupidly). These LA natives who got their start back in 2001 mixing cambodian style pop music with psych rock, resurfaced on my playlist after realizing they were making their way through Santa Barbara on April 28th at SOHO. After having come out with two full length albums, Escape From Dragon House and Venus on Earth, they've released a new track called "Cement Slippers", downloadable below.

Just a link to another one of their tracks that I absolutely love....  Tiger Phone Card

king...wait, Prince of last minute surprises

Only His Purpleness could announce via telephone call with George Lopez on Lopez Tonight, that his 'Welcome 2 America' tour is not only set for Los Angeles, but that he will be doing a 21-show residency at the Forum in Los Angeles.  What's even more surprising is how fast the string of shows will begin; the first tomorrow April 14 and the second and third gigs will take place next week, April 21-22.  True to his mysterious character, Prince has yet to release the rest of the dates, and will probably announce them as the days and weeks roll along.  There's little doubt that all of Prince's fans have been dying to see him back on stage and working his magic.

Not to rub it in or anything, but I was one of those people up at 9:59am today waiting for tickets to go on sale until i got 'em. I will definitely be partying like its 1999 until the show. Look for a review and pictures from the show next week. 

taking that Minneapolis flavor on the road.

You know when you ask people who their favorite artist, musician, band, or whatever you want to call it, is, and they come back with....The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, or one of the many other bands that have a couple songs on VH1's "BEST 100 ROCK SONGS OF ALL TIME"...well I'm not one of those people. Ask me this question and I'll probably emphatically scream the name Atmosphere in your face. Maybe its his ultra self-depreciating lyrics ladened by funky beats and sunshiney samples or just the fact that he is probably one of the largest pioneers of Minneapolis' hip-hop scene (that has grown out of Minnesota, and is now being heard all over the country), but I just can't get enough of Slug.

Atmosphere is finally hitting the road again (after a year) on The Family Tour, which starts in Columbus, OH on April 20th. This time around it won't just be Slug and Ant, Grieves will be joining the usual duo with Blueprint and Sab the Artist.  Got my tickets for his show @ the FOX in Pomona, May 5th.

Slug is all about his fans and how he can continue to bring them the kind of music he has from his last 6 albums. In an interview with FILTER magazine, Slug talks about the new album and what to expect from his live show, and why he loves what he does.

"There’s a validation that goes along with that.  As artists, we are supposed to say we just love playing music, but really it’s more than that. We could sit in our basement and play music, but to see people appreciating your music and to hold conversations with them afterwards, to see what they like and don’t like—that’s the void I need to fill."

full interview: FILTER: Atmosphere

Bibio is back.

So on March 29th, Bibio, the UK experimental producer whose worked with Flying Lotus and made some big waves with his last album Ambivalence Avenue, released Mind Bokeh, a more funky sound than his last. 'Anything New' is one track that you really see his innovative style, especially when he comes in with the talkbox-like 'la la la' sound towards the end.

listen to this, and you'll probably want to keep it on repeat for awhile...

Kurt Vile @ the echo

After Smoke Ring For My Halo, released March 8, received an overwhelming amount of good reviews, anyone would be dumb not to try and catch one of his shows on his tour, extending through June.  Fortunately, he'll be in LA on April 21st at the Echo.  With moody songs like 'Ghost Town', and the more familiar sounding, but at the same time oh so seamless tune, 'Jesus Fever',  he has created a wonderful set of songs that take you through a confusing, but obviously emotional ride through Vile's own convoluted feelings.

One of my favorite's on the new album:

RUSKO RUSKO RUSKO

Pretty soon this will be streaming out of every frat house window you walk by....but you can't really blame them, this song definitely makes me want to stand on an oceanside balcony in my bathing suit with cocktail in hand. To me it sounds like Rusko is taking after his Major Lazer father figures a little too much with the more than usual amount of laser noises on this track.

Before you listen to 'Everyday', let me ask you a question...

Remember when Rusko used to make DUBSTEP??

I don't know if you will want to go after listening to this latest single, but Rusko has a line of shows in the US starting in Oakland at the Fox, and ending in LA at the Wiltern.

If you haven't already get your tickets HERE

Fitz does 'sweet dreams'

If you've had the opportunity, or should I say the privilege, to see this sextet of old school soulsters then you've also probably heard their rendition of the Eurythmics' most well known single, 'Sweet Dreams'.  In the midst of their lively motown-esque shows, Noelle Scaggs and Fitz usually find time to thrown in this number. Having just seen them for a second time in the past 6 months, I must say that their live performance never ceases to translate their vibrant nature.

Stream here: 'Sweet Dreams'

the charming Theophilus

Theophilus London is no joke. His ultra funky tracks make it hard for anyone to not want to stomp their feet and break out into a full-fledged groove in the middle of a party. On 'Girls Girls $', its not only the dance-party beat, but his quippy, fast-paced lyrics that make you want to playfully pull out a wad of twenties and make it rain whenever he yells, "Girls, Girls...Girls, Girls, Girls, and Moooney".

 London's debut LP will be out this summer,  but until then you can enjoy his track "Why Even Try", from the Lovers Holiday EP.

Check out this video:  Doesn't get much better than this...