The ever adorable Jenny Lewis will once again hit the road for a lengthy solo tour that finds the former child actor and Rilo Kiley front woman hitting a mix of festivals and clubs across the country. Joining Ms. Lewis throughout the run will be The Sadies, Deer Tick and Heartless Bastards whom will all open various legs of the tour. In addition to the tour, a documentary called Welcome to Van Nuys will be released that chronicles the making of her sophomore solo record Acid Tongue – which will feature live tracking of several songs as well as behind-the-scenes, candid footage from the recording at Sound City Studio in Van Nuys, CA. Quite a busy lady.
If you’re not into the solo work of Jenny Lewis, than maybe you’ll be into hitting one of these recently announced tours…
Finally, after taking a break from touring for awhile The Shins will be making their return to the road this May for a short 14 date cross-country run. Speaking of The Shins, in other news the band has decided to part ways with long time label Sub Pop and will put out their fourth studio album on front man James Mercer’s label Aural Apothecary – opting to own their own masters and seek wide distribution through a label.
To say that the city of New Orleans has been through a lot in the last few years, would be an understatement. While the Crescent City recovers from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the one constant has been its rich music tradition and its flagship event the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
The fest once again returns to the city’s Fair Grounds Race Course on the last weekend in April and the first weekend of May to celebrate its 40th anniversary with a diverse and eclectic line up that brings together national touring acts with a plethora of local musicians. Among those set to grace the many stages and tents include Wilco, Kings Of Leon, Galactic, Erykah Badu, Dr. John, Emmylou Harris and just about every Neville you can think of.
If you can’t make it down to the Big Easy for the festivities, then maybe you’ll be able to hit one of these recently announced tours…
Dave Matthews Band recruit the likes of The Roots, OCMS & The Avett Brothers as openers for their spring tour (begins: 04/14)
Inaugural BtN artist Blitzen Trapper hit the road (begins: 02/18)
Kreutzmann/Burbridge/Murawski line up a five date February run (begins: 02/12)
Former Blips selection The Virgins have a busy ’09 already mapped out (begins: 01/15)
NMAS stay busy over the next couple of months (begins: 12/26)
Finally, recent tour mates The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers, as well as former Trucker Jason Isbell all head out on their own in 2009. Craig Finn & Co. will take their raucous bar band rock on the road in early Spring with the War On Drugs, while the Truckers open up their tour with a three-night run in their hometown of Athens, before heading North to South in the first two months of the year. Meanwhile, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit have lined up a lengthy three month trek in support of their sophomore release.
As we near the beginning of the third year of this sweet blog’s existence, and my writing career for that matter, there’s still plenty left for me to learn. For instance, I just found out what a series of five related works is called: a pentalogy. What does this have to do with this week’s Friday’s Mix Tape? Our mix begins with my favorite pentalogy of all-time about horses.
Ween’s epic Stallion pentalogy starts the mix off with a bang. All five parts of The Stallion come to us from Chocodog’s All Request Live release, an album recorded when the band entered the studio to perform a list of songs hand picked by their most hardcore fans. We keep the energy up with Naked City’s cover of the James Bond Theme. Next, we’ve got a song I can’t stop listening to since reading Some Dude’s Blip entry on The Virgins: Rich Girls. Finally, a DVDrip of Problems by The Sex Pistols off of There’ll Always Be An England sends us on our way with a bark and a sneer.
In our never-ending quest to dig up some great bands that cost less than a corned beef sandwich at Katz’s Deli, we bring you another round of Blips. Blips highlights some great bands that are largely still in their larvae stage, but will soon morph into their beautiful butterfly. In this edition, we have some really cool new music, so take a sec, and check out these developing artists.
Before the members of The Strokes got married, dated celebrities and went to rehab they put out Is This It? their debut album, which came to define the downtown New York sound of the early aughts. The album sounded dangerous and the Julian Casablancas & Co. were notorious for living the sex, drugs and rock and roll lifestyle that seemed to go hand in hand with their brash, Velvet Underground influenced sound. It’s been awhile since an album has felt that scuzzy and dirty to me until I heard the music of another New York City-based band – The Virgins.
The band’s self-titled debut is chocked full of songs about all night partying that end with cocaine for brunch, set to a disco-funk-rock sound that combines elements of The Strokes, LCD Soundsystem and VHS or Beta. The Virgins are about to head out for on a three-week tour holding down the opening slot for Black Kids, so head in early and check them out.
