Friday, April 12, 2013

NYC INDIE ROCKERS SWEET SOUBRETTE KICK OFF LITTLE BROOKLYN BRIDGE FESTIVAL ON MAY 11, BRINGING BROOKLYN PARLOR ROCK TO LOS ANGELES FOR MULTI-VENUE CONCERT SERIES

Sweet Soubrette, a "sensational" (Phildaelphia Inquirer), "enchanting" (Metro NY) ukulele-powered indie rock band based in NYC, make their West Coast debut on May 11, performing a set of their signature dark love songs at The Roxy.  Sweet Soubrette's cabaret-influenced indie rock has been described as “one part circus…one part poet…third part rockstar” (CultureMob).  Time Out New York says "Sweet Soubrette's style comes with a pinch of Regina Spektor quirk and a spoonful of old-timey burlesque.” The Deli Magazine praises front woman Ellia Bisker’s “rock star command and intelligently crafted music."

Check out the music video for the dark and passionate “What’s My Desire?” inspired by the literary love letters of Anaïs Nin and Henry Miller ("a compelling bitter-sweet pop song of the highest order" -The 405).

Photos.

This show kicks off the Little Brooklyn Bridge Festival, which brings together three Brooklyn-based bands and two L.A./Brooklyn hybrid bands for a series of L.A. concerts from May 11-14.  Brooklyn's Kotorino, Sweet Soubrette, and Charming Disaster join with L.A./Brooklyn hybrid Peach & Knife to offer Los Angeles a taste of New York City’s best “parlor rock” along with epic instrumental soundscapes courtesy of L.A.'s Whale Fall. Showcasing the best parlor rock that Brooklyn has to offer and the influence of Brooklyn on L.A. bands, each group offers a unique musical experience, united by a common thread: intimate yet theatrical songs with dark, expressive lyrics, intense harmonies, and a hint of gypsy wildness (also, ukuleles)

SWEET SOUBRETTE
Sat 5/11, 10pm, $10 cover
The Roxy, 9009 West Sunset Blvd, West Hollywood

LITTLE BROOKLYN BRIDGE FESTIVAL
Sat 5/11:     Sweet Soubrette at The Roxy, West Hollywood (10pm)
Sun 5/12:    Charming Disaster (6:30pm), Peach & Knife (7:15pm), Kotorino (8pm), Whale Fall (9pm) at Center for the Arts Eagle Rock
Mon 5/13:   Charming Disaster at Skinny’s Lounge, North Hollywood (11pm)
Tue 5/14:    Peach & Knife (9pm), Kotorino (10pm) at Villains Tavern, Downtown L.A.

ABOUT THE BANDS
Whale Fall: An L.A.-based instrumental collective whose history dates back to previous incarnations in Brooklyn in the early 2000s, Jared Matt Greenberg (keyboards and trumpet), David Pomeranz (guitar), Ali Vazin (guitar), Erik Tokle (bass), and fresh-off-the-boat Brooklyn transplant Aaron Farinelli (drums) navigate the heights and depths of creating live cinematic musical environments, complete with accompanying visual delights.

Kotorino: Jeff Morris leads Kotorino in darkly elegant, gypsy-flavored chamber pop with carnivalesque touches. Vocal harmonies are haunting and lyrics flirt with adventure, unease and triumph. WNYC says: "Kotorino has one of the most unique and unusual sounds of any band, ever…quite pretty, and downright haunting."

Peach and Knife: Recent Brooklyn transplant and L.A. native Molly White joins Italian-born Elena Degl’Innocenti in this duo project on guitar and ukulele for acoustic living room music that captures two side of life: dark psychological moods and the wholesome goodness of a tree bearing fruit. The music is lucid, unsettling, and always inspiring.

Charming Disaster: Jeff Morris and Ellia Bisker team up in this supergroup, performing duets about murder, auto theft, paranormal romance, carnival performers, con artists, and more, exploring through song the different kinds of trouble a couple of people can get into.  New York Music Daily describes Charming Disaster as "dangerously torchy noir cabaret and gypsy rock."

Sweet Soubrette: Indie rock meets cabaret: Time Out New York says "Sweet Soubrette's style comes with a pinch of Regina Spektor quirk and a spoonful of old-timey burlesque.” The Deli Magazine praises front woman Ellia Bisker’s “rock star command and intelligently crafted music."

"JUKE JOINT PROFESSOR EMERITUS" (ROLLING STONE) KEVIN GORDON TO PERFORM AT NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL

FULL BAND ROCK & ROLL SET CONFIRMED FOR SATURDAY, MAY 4 AT 5:15PM AT LAGNIAPPE STAGE

LUCINDA WILLIAMS ON GORDON: "SONGS LIKE SHORT STORIES"

Kevin Gordon – the southern rock and roller and poet who is the subject of a NY Times feature -- will perform at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Lagniappe Stage May 4 at 5:15PM. He will also appear on the Interview Satage on May 4 at 2:30PM.

In the Times piece, Lucinda Williams said, "He’s writing songs that are like short stories, and I really like the kind of swampy, bluesy sound."

His latest album 'Gloryland' earned him three and a half stars in Rolling Stone, which said, "The smarts on 'Gloryland' never undercut the roots-rock rush. Dude's a juke-joint professor emeritus."

In the Times, Peter Applebome writes, "'Gloryland' [is] an often harrowing tour of the back-roads South with scenes of burning churches, a serio-comic brawl after a ZZ Top concert in Shreveport, La., and — most memorably — the time the Klan showed up when his seventh-grade marching band performed about 90 miles from there in Colfax."

Gordon also earned a rave from Oxford American, which said, "'Gloryland' should enhance his already sizable reputation as a poet-songwriter and an impassioned performer."

USA Today's Jerry Shriver wrote, "Four stars… The sheer brilliance of the lyrics to Colfax/Step in Time alone justifies a top rating for the first album in seven years from this Southern-raised poet/rocker. Gordon sketches a not-so-simple portrait of a junior-high marching band on a bus trip, and every single image feels, tastes, smells and sounds absolutely true."

Meanwhile, The Philadelphia Inquirer called 'Gloryland' "unforgettable."

Thursday, April 11, 2013

CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN ADDS ADDITIONAL TOUR DATES AS AV CLUB PREMIERES NEW MUSIC VIDEO, WALL STREET JOURNAL POSTS FEATURE

Since Camper Van Beethoven played the Brooklyn Vegan party at SXSW, the band continues to gain attention for its new album 'La Costa Perdida' (429 Records) and its thirtieth anniversary.

The Wall Street Journal ran a Q&A with David Lowery this week in he talks about the band's "strange song structure"; "the secret weapon of Camper"; and writing as a team.

The AV Club premiered a new music video for "Someday Our Love Will Sell Us Out," during the filming of which the band crashed a rental car.

Camper has also added additional spring tour dates:

May 9—The Firebird—St. Louis, Missouri
May 10—The Cubby Bear—Chicago, Illinois
May 11—Majestic Theatre—Madison, Wisconsin
May 12—The Intersection—Grand Rapids, Michigan
May 16—State Theatre—Falls Church, Virginia
May 18 –Hatch Memorial Shell – Boston, Massachusetts
June 14—The Bluebird Theatre—Denver, Colorado
June 19—Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk—Santa Cruz, California

Monday, April 8, 2013

Dan Kaplan "Sink or Swim" single


Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Camper Van Beethoven "Someday Our Love Will Sell Us Out" music video


JOHN MURRY'S 'THE GRACELESS AGE' OUT TODAY ON EVANGELINE RECORDING CO.

NPR HERE & NOW SEGMENT, WALL STREET JOURNAL FEATURE RUN ON "MASTERFUL" (DAYTROTTER) & FASCINATING FAULKNER-RELATED ARTIST

NPR: "ONE OF THE BREAKOUT STARS OF THIS YEAR'S SXSW FESTIVAL"

John Murry – the Mississippi-born, UK breakout artist – will see his debut album 'The Graceless Age' released today on Evangeline Recording Co. to across-the-board raves. A fascinating, two-part conversation with NPR's Robin Young aired on Here & Now yesterday as the pair discussed his Mississippi roots, connections to southern literature, working with co-producer Tim Mooney (Sun Kil Moon, American Music Club), Murry's heroin overdose in his adopted hometown of San Francisco, and the role honesty played in both the album and in his recovery from addiction.

Full album stream:

More US raves for John Murry's 'The Graceless Age':

"Alluring, emotional, and infectious."
– NPR World Café, February 22, 2013

"Great songs."
– Andy Langer, Esquire, March 9, 2013

"Arresting."
– John Jurgensen, Wall Street Journal, March 29, 2013

"The real deal."
- Robin Young, NPR Here & Now, April 2, 2013

"With an arresting sense of honesty and human insight, Murry is man that you should certainly get to know."
– Hillary Weston, Black Book, March 13, 2013

"The guy's got gravitas [with] widescreen imagery and a soulful moan."
- Jim Allen, MTV Hive, February 5, 2013

"Masterful."
– Sean Moeller, Daytrotter, April 1, 2013

"There are standouts everwhere [from this] artist of major stature."
– 4.5 stars out of 5, Jim Beviglia, American Songwriter, March 1, 2013

"Masterful."
– Dorit Finkel, Baeble Music, January 23, 2013

"Raw, powerful lyrics and Springsteen-like cinematic sweep."
- Michael Mayer, San Jose Mercury News, March 22, 2013