Edward Sharpe

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros at Shaky Knees, 2014

La Blogotheque captured Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros in a barn somewhere in rural Saskatchewan and playing one of their best shows.  

St. Vincent on SNL

So this happened last night: St. Vincent on Saturday Night Live.  Not bad and in fact I like the mix, as you can hear her guitar even better than on her latest album, the eponymous St. Vincent, or than I heard at her show at The Tabernacle. 

Free the Album 88!

Wake Owl

Wake Owl at Shaky Knees, 2014

Just stumbled across this highly cinematic video (gotta love the widescreen format) by Vancouver's Wake Owl, my "discovery" of Day Two of Shaky Knees.

Angel Olsen

Live vid of Angel Olsen in London.

Also, if you were wondering what Shaky Knees looked like to these guys:

It looked something like this:

Bumbershoot

The line-up announcement for the last Bumbershoot music festival I will probably ever attend was made the night before the first day of Shaky Knees.  Bumbershoot has always been a sort of warm-up to me for the next week's MFNW, and I bought this year's Bumbershoot ticket before it was announced that MFNW has been altered and diluted to a poor imitation of its prior self. I probably wouldn't have otherwise decided to fly all the way to Seattle just on Bumbershoot's merits.

But I'm still going this year, and on the positive side, there are lots of opportunities in the line up to discover new bands.  I'm frankly underwhelmed by the headliners and will most likely be elsewhere (as in at other stages) during the sets by Foster The People, J Cole, and Panic! At The Disco. I have only a mild curiosity to see Wu-Tang and Elvis Costello, if only to cross them off my lifetime bucket list, and every time I see The Head And The Heart, I vow that it will be my last.

On the other hand, I'll get a chance to make up for missing The Replacements at Shaky Knees.

It's around the middle of the line-up chart that I get intrigued.  I'm interested in hearing The Both, the new collaboration between Aimee Mann and Ted Leo.  And Real Estate are one of my favorite bands.  Polica, Pickwick, and Kishi Bashi? Yes, yes, and yes! And Mission of Burma.  It will be interesting to see Jonathan Richman and Juliana Barwick in festival settings, Bomba Estereo and Mexican Institute of Sound should provide some nice Latin flavorings, and I'll get a chance to see The Dream Syndicate reunion before they play at The Earl.

San Fermin will be playing, and they absolutely killed it at Shaky Knees.

I'll also get a chance to hear some Seattle bands again that I discovered during Bumbershoots past, including Campfire OK, Dude York, and the captivating vocalist Tomo Nakayama (Grand Hallway).   Plus, I'm looking forward to Rose Windows, Western Haunts, and Hurray For The Riff Raff.  And look, there's Jessica Pratt way down there near the bottom of the line-up.

But the one act that's really got me scratching my head is Negativland.  What would that even sound like live? And I ask this having once seen their Mark Hosler live way back in the early 90s (with Half Japanese's Jad Fair opening).  But here's what Negativland is like together as a band:

What they bring to the stage will be anybody's guess.

"To Be Kind" Drops Today

With this announcement, the best album of 2014, possibly the best album of the decade, even arguably the greatest album ever, dropped:

Hello There, 

We (Swans) have recently completed our new album. It is called To Be Kind. The release date is set for May 13, 2014. It will be available as a triple vinyl album, a double CD, and a 2xCD Deluxe Edition that will include a live DVD. It will also be available digitally. 

The album was produced by me, and it was recorded by the venerable John Congleton at Sonic Ranch, outside El Paso Texas, and further recordings and mixing were accomplished at John’s studio in Dallas, Texas. We commenced rehearsals as Sonic Ranch in early October 2013, began recording soon thereafter, then completed the process of mixing with John in Dallas by mid December 2013. 

A good portion of the material for this album was developed live during the Swans tours of 2012/13. Much of the music was otherwise conjured in the studio environment. 

The recordings and entire process of this album were generously and perhaps vaingloriously funded by Swans supporters through our auspices at younggodrecords.com via the release of a special, handmade 2xCD live album entitled Not Here/Not Now. See details here: http://bit.ly/1nekqma 

The Swans are: Michael Gira, Norman Westberg, Christoph Hahn, Phil Puleo, Thor Harris, Christopher Pravdica. 

Special Guests for this record include: Little Annie (Annie sang a duet with me on the song Some Things We Do, the strings for which were ecstatically arranged and played by Julia Kent); St. Vincent  (Annie Clark sang numerous, multi-tracked vocals throughout the record); Cold Specks (Al contributed numerous multi-tracked vocals to the song Bring the Sun); Bill Rieflin (honorary Swan Bill played instruments ranging from additional drums, to synthesizers, to piano, to electric guitar and so on. He has been a frequent contributor to Swans and Angels of Light and is currently playing with King Crimson)... 

FULL MUSICIAN CREDITS: Swans: Michael Gira - vocals, electric and acoustic guitar; Norman Westberg - electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals; Phil Puleo - drums, percussion, dulcimer, piano, keys, vocals; Christoph Hahn - lap steel guitars, electric guitar, vocals; Thor Harris - drums / percussion, vibes and bells, wind instruments, handmade viola, vocals; Christopher Pravdica - bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals. Honorary Swan Forever: Bill Rieflin - (on multiple songs throughout the record) drums / percussion, piano, bass, guitar, synths, keyboards. Guest Musicians: Duet with MG on Some Things We Do - Little Annie. Strings and String Arrangement on Some Things We Do - Julia Kent. Background Vocals on Nathalie Neal, Bring the Sun, Screen Shot, Kirsten Supine - St. Vincent (appears courtesy of Loma Vista Recordings). Background vocals on Bring the Sun - Cold Specks (appears courtesy of Mute Artists LTD). Background Vocals on She Loves Us, A Little God in My Hands - Jennifer Church. More Musicians (Dallas): Violin - Daniel Hart; Mandolin - Rex Emerson; Trombone - David Pierce; Trumpet - Evan Weiss; Piano, Harpsichord, Synth - Sean Kirkpatrick; Piano – John Congleton. 

I love you!
Michael Gira

May 13th.  The day that changed everything.