Scuttle Buttin – Live From Japan

Before I get evil man, and I go and do somethin wrong…”

Otis Spann – “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do”

Have mercy.

Today at the Chicago Tribune blog Turn It Up, Greg Kot (of Chicago Public Radios “Sound Opinions”) announced three of the rumored headliners for the annual Grant Park festival in Chicago. It appears the Foo Fighters are on board as are MUSE and Eminem. In past years Mr. Kot has been pretty much spot on with his sources, so I think this is pretty reliable. He also said that Best Coast, Girl Talk, Crystal Castles, and Lykke Li are also solid rumors at this point. Three more headliners will be named yet and the full lineup will be announced in April.

Canadian group Stars is known for their intensely layered synthy sound, but their songs and vocals are great enough to stand without all the deep instrumentation – as shown by the Tiny Desk Concert they did recently for NPR, stripped down to just Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan’s voices with Evan Cranley’s acoustic guitar for back-up. Torq and Amy are always able to get across a lot of emotion, but it comes through even stronger here, and the haunting lyrics shine through wonderfully.

Initially the White Stripes breakup news brought a bit of sadness to my already dark mood for the day (I live in Minnesota, what do you expect? Have you SEEN this winter?). It had become increasingly obvious (Jack’s comments a few months back about getting in the studio with Meg notwithstanding,) that the more time passed, the less likely a new White Stripes album would be made. After reading the very classy press release, I realized that this probably was for the best, and it’s not like Jack White was going to disappear in Third Man records and never come out again. I assume we will be seeing more of The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather, and I have a sneaky suspicion this is a new beginning, not only an end. As restless as Jack White seems to be, there can only be more bands and collaborations up his sleeve. I for one would love to see him induldge his folk and country leanings in a full length release, considering his love of classic country. He recently produced Wanda Jackson’s latest release, and has produced everyone from the Von Bondies to The Greenhornes and the legend Loretta Lynn (helping to bring her a Best Country Album Grammy in 2005). He will only continue to be in demand as a producer. Meg has recently been married, but I do hope she doesn’t disappear completely. While it’s true she may not have had the technical proficiency of many of her peers, there is NO doubt she was the perfect drummer for that band. I can’t even picture someone different in that chair. Sometimes things just fit with the right two people and this is the case here. I really will miss this band, as it seemed every release was an “event” that I looked forward too. I can’t say that about a lot bands, but they were on the short list.
At the end of “Under Great White Northern Lights” (one of the finer tour documents made in a long time,) there is a somewhat heartbreaking moment as Jack plays a gorgeous “White Moon” on the piano, bringing Meg to tears. For some reason, this seems fitting today. Thanks for the music and we appreciated every last bit of it.

A lot of people are calling this a return to form. The most I’ve enjoyed an R.E.M. song in a long while. The new “Collapse Into Now” is available on March 8th. I always love when a legendary band still makes relevant music this late in their career. Let’s hope the rest of the disc can be on the level of this song.

The Civil Wars “Barton Hallow”

Iron & Wine are getting back on the road, (dates courtesy of Paste). Hitting a couple of warm up dates on the west coast, then hitting Europe (who could blame them), and then back to the US for a few more. The new “Kiss Each Other Clean” gets its release tomorrow, and I like the few I’ve heard so far.

warpaint – “The Fool”
I can’t stop hearing a Portishead/Joy Division mashup when I listen to this one, and I can’t think of a higher compliment to pay them. That’s not to say there aren’t original ideas and thoughts flowing through this. It’s a wild ride at times and I like it more with every listen. Out of everything I listened to this year, this is the one I kept hearing in my head over and over, and NEEDING to hear it again. I love that feeling and can’t get enough this.

The National – “High Violet”
I think we can look at this at the end of an absolutely amazing trilogy of releases from The National. First there was the stunning “Alligator”, then the exquisite masterpiece “Boxer”, and now the expectation smashing “High Violet”. I’m not going to even try to compare these guys to any other band going right now, because it’s mostly pointless. They are without peer at this stage of their career.

Ray LaMontagne – “God Willin’ & The Creek Don’t Rise”
When he digs in to “New York City’s Killing Me” you feel the melancholy dripping off the vocal, and even if you’ve never been there you can relate. “Repo Man” is one of the funkiest rock songs he’s written, a gorgeous old time shuffle in “Beg, Steal and Borrow”, this thing is brimming over with amazing songwriting from start to finish.

The Gaslight Anthem – “American Slang”
Based on the strength of their last release “The ’59 Sound”, it was great to see them take their songs to the next level. A great live act, I was hoping they would capture some of that live” feel” on this. They capture the heart of the group with Brian Fallon’s vocals taking front and center. Not always a perfect singer (but why would someone want that anyway), but so much soul in every note. “The Diamond Church Street Choir” is the perfect example of this and a great throwback to that blue eyed soul.

Black Mountain – “Wilderness Heart”
Always a sucker for a 70’s retro Sabbath throwback, “Old Fangs” is one of the greatest hard rock songs written, period. One song does not an album make though, and there’s no shortage of great songwriting on this. My standard for a great listen is something you can listen to front to back and this passed that test a few times.

Mumford & Sons – “Sigh No More”
I suppose we could call these guys an overseas version of the Avett Brothers, but I liked their release many times more than “I and Love and You”. Delicate at times and raucous at others, this is really the folk album of the year. Terrific playing and oversized songs for the genre. They deserve more acclaim.

Deerhunter – “Halcyon Digest”
This is a group I’ve kept at arms length for a few years as the indie blog hype built and built to the point where I had a hard time taking them for what they were worth. This release wore down my feelings about their hype and I realized they’re immensely talented and capable of writing interesting songs. They don’t lose any of their experimental, atmospheric tendencies, but they blend them with some nice melody which I’m always a sucker for.

Janelle Monae – “The ArchAndroid”
Keeping it more than real, this is the record that’s making me realize there’s life left in R&B. The easy comparisons to James Brown are all over the place, but she’s touching the classics and creating something wholly original and new. A wonderful record and probably my favorite song of the year in “Tightrope”. You hear instant classic too much, but this truly is. The sky is the limit for this girl.

Dierks Bentley – “Up On The Ridge”
By ditching the modern Nashville gloss and going back to his bluegrass roots, Dierks has created his best album to this point. He’s always been good at creating a sellable modern country song or ballad, but here he stretches for a whole album. All the guest appearances work to their strengths (including Jamey Johnson and Kris Kristofferson), and when you hear Kris sing “Bottle to the Bottom” you can’t help but hear the years lived. A great country record and I’m as surprised as anyone to see it in the ten.

The Hold Steady – “Heaven is Whenever”
My Hold Steady love affair continues. Many times better than “Stay Positive”, I was surprised at the critical shrug of the shoulders this one received. Much more in the vein of their earlier work, this should have received better write ups. It’s a terrific Hold Steady record.

I might get accused of being a homer on this one but one of my higher ranked releases from this year is Cloud Cult’s “Light Chasers”. Being a relative newcomer to their music, I’m looking very forward to seeing my first Cloud Cult show in November. I always love coming late to the party and getting to discover the back catalog as well. “Aurora Borealis” being the favorite for me so far, “Light Chasers” continues the tradition of inventive playing and experimental soundscapes and even taking some time out for the beautiful acoustic ballad “You Were Born”, which actually makes me “well up” a bit thinking about my two beautiful daughters. Here is the official video for “You’ll Be Bright”, A standout from the latest.

Cloud Cult – You’ll Be Bright from Dan Huiting on Vimeo.

Not sure how I missed this but the Austin City Limits Music Festival is streaming this weekend at IClips.net. There’s a nice lineup today with The xx, LCD Soundsystem, Matt and Kim, and then a Phish show to close out the day. Sundays lineup is even better with sets from Yeasayer, Band of Horses, The National, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, and a closing set from Muse. This, once again, brings up the question why am I sitting in front of a computer instead of drinking in Austin and taking this in live? Next year my friends.

Ok, so maybe there’s a little hyperbole spewing from my fingers while listening to the new one from Black Mountain and their “Wilderness Heart”. Totally retro, totally seventies, and totally great. All the typical seventies influence is here which is unavoidable when you make, well, retro rock music. It’s pretty hard to avoid showing some influence from all the great rock touchstones of that era when reaching to put your own stamp on it. The “Black Mountain Army” (as frontman Stephen McBean and his collection of players like to call themselves), manages not to fall in to all the easy trappings of cliche by great songwriting on this. Standout tracks are the chugging and ripping “Old Fangs” (that descending organ part is just a killer, as is the organ on the rest of the record), the Communication Breakdown influence of “Let Spirits Ride”, the spaced out “Buried By The Blues”, the gorgeous closer “Sadie”, there’s really not a bad song on this one. This is a must listen and must own and really the first one of the year that sends a chill up my spine.

“The Hair Song”

“Old Fangs”

World, meet mini-Stephen Hawking…

This years installment of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass will be taking place October 1st, 2nd and 3rd and will feature the now typically anticipated dizzying array of talent. Hardly Strictly staples like Steve Earle, Buddy Miller, Emmylou Harris and Del McCoury will take the stage alongside relative newbies like the Avett Brothers, Lucero and Jenny and Johnny. It is always an interesting lineup and it’s all free, (minus the plane ticket, food and nightly accomodations of course). One of these years. Definitely have to go one of these years. Here’s an unrelated Buddy Miller performance.