HOORAY...We made it to Friday and the beginining of the long holiday weekend. I have been laboring away for quite some time, so I'm ready for my well deserved vacation. I am heading out to Palm Springs for the weekend to get a little R&R. Don't worry if you don't hear from me for a few days... I just need a minute to regroup and then Ill be back better than ever!
Next week kicks of the new season of some our favorite shows. I am so excited for the fall season to begin, especially the new 90210. Another fave of mine is DIRTY SEXY MONEY, and the new single “Beautiful Dirty Rich,” by the dirty, sexy Lady Gaga is the official music video for the new season of this ABC show.
Check out the video of Lady performing at a club, so you can get an idea of what the song sounds like. Also, it was one of the songs that played on The Hills this last episode. Also, take a peek at these pics from TMZ. http://photos.tmz.com/galleries/rehab#25168
My boys were on Leno last night, and of course killed it! This is the second late night appearance Low vs. Diamond has recently done over the past few months.
If you have not already been exposed to The Last Shadow Puppets, you are in for a special treat! From the lead singer of the Arctic Monkeys, comes a side project much worth listening to. I was so excited when I heard this album, songs playing constantly on 103.1, I checked out what they had to offer and it just blew me away!
They are definitely going to make an impact on music today, bringing us a new sound that excites and makes me happy. I love discovering new music, especially when every song on the album is grand!!
Sunday night at the Troubadour, I had the honor of attending an intimate evening with Sondre Lerche. I have seen him previously, but in much larger venues ala opening for AIR. It was nice to see him in such a small place and one of my favorite venues in Los Angeles. He just finished doing the soundtrack for Dan in Real Life, and is currently recording new material which he performed several tracks of.
I would like to give a "shout out" to the lovely Alisha, hopefully spelled correctly, my favorite Troub employee, and always gives me VIP treatment and my BFF Johnny Debut, just for being awesome and one of the best friends anyone could have. So back to Sondre....I think he is one of the most underexposed artists, so please check him out, both old and new material. one of my favorites....
After more than two years of touring for their debut release, and having gained and lost a few members, Land of Talk retired to their hometown of Montreal to roll tape on a batch of new songs. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Elizabeth Powell set about making an album that could encompass a great deal with very little, an aesthetic in stark contrast to the orchestral pop and digi-tweaked indie chic. With bassist Chris McCarron and drummer Andrew Barr (The Slip), the band set up in an old converted church outside of Montreal and recorded 9 songs with the helping hands of Justin Vernon (Bon Iver). The tenth and final track “Troubled” was recorded in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at Vernon’s parents' home.
Land of Talk isn’t so banal as to pretend that a new album is a departure, or a disconnected effort from the last. There’s a longer narrative at work here and this isn’t some paint-by-numbers pop. It’s simply a continuation of the internal conversation Powell has been holding with herself since she began this musical lark, more than a decade ago, with a 14 year-old’s creaky-voiced acuteness, spouting the uncomfortable truths of a woman thrice her years and many times more guarded.
The album opener, “Yuppy Flu”, and the two songs that follow, “Death By Fire” and “The Man Who Breaks Things (Dark Shuffle)”, are stealthy nods to Land of Talk’s much ballyhooed debut EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss. Powell is as unrelenting in her appraisal of the world as she’s ever been, and it’s a world as pitiably venal as it is lovingly rendered. These songs might easily have sat in tandem with the urgent rawness of the EP tracks but with Powell’s sense of story and Vernon’s fresh perspective, they find better use on the new album. Here they set a perfect bridge from the jangling dissonance and ferocious doubled voicings of the debut, towards the road-weathered clarity and reflectiveness she has now begun to own so fully–a narrative string from there, to here, and beyond. When the titular track hits four songs in, it’s clear why “Some Are Lakes” is the album’s anthem call, as much a nostalgic tramp through summers past and love unending as a backhand ode to the very album it appears on. It’s a statement of intent with a sea change at its heart.
“It started at a summer lake / a sentence and a name / If only for a moment’s sake/ We called it and it came” Powell sings. The fierce spotlight of Powell’s attention points inward and has begun exposing a more private side of the nascent iconoclast. There’s nothing fragile in it. The honesty makes it steel. That in itself is a kind wonder. Where once one might have questioned whether Powell was shielding herself under the gauze and frenzy of her music, songs like “It’s Okay,” with its Afghan Whigs-inspired soul, and the alt-country amble of “Troubled” prove that she is ready to strike at the heart of even her own cherished conceits, and come out of it fresh, fighting fit and game for putting herself on the line in the spirit of true musical confession.
As a portent of things to come Some Are Lakes is nothing short of inspiring. On its own merits, it’s simply striking. The simplest things are the hardest to make.
TOUR DATES:
Fri-Sep-11, New York, NY @ Mercury Lounge Sat-Sep-13, Quebec City, PQ @ Envol & Macadam Festival Thu-Sep-18, Ottawa, ON @ Zaphod’s Fri-Sep-19, Montreal, PQ @ La Sala Rosa Sat-Sep-20, Kingston, ON @ The Grad Club Mon-Sep-22, Laval, PQ @ CEJEP Tue-Sep-23, Sherbrooke, PQ @ Telephone Rouge Wed-Sep-24, Peterborough, ON @ Montreal House Thu-Sep-25, Guelph, ON @ E Bar Fri-Sep-26, Hamilton, ON @ Casbah Sat-Sep-27, Toronto, ON @ Sneaky Dee’s Wed-Oct-08, Grand Rapids, MI @ Calvin College Thu-Oct-09, Chicago, IL, Vic Theatre Sat-Oct-11, Madison, WI @ Union Theatre/Univ. of Wisconsin Mon-Oct-13, Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue Tue-Oct-14, Omaha, NE @ Slowdown Thu-Oct-16, Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont Fri-Oct-17, Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note Sat-Oct-18, St. Louis, MO @ The Gargoyle Sun-Oct-19, Urbana, IL @ Foellinger Auditorium/Univ. of Illinois Tue-Oct-21, Richmond, VA @ Toad’s Place Wed-Oct-22, Falls Church, VA @ State Theatre Fri-Oct-24, Brooklyn, NY @ Masonic Temple Sat-Oct-25, Brunswick, ME @ Bowdoin College Sun-Oct-26, Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre 9/13 with Islands and Sebastien Grainger 10/8-26 with Broken Social Scene
Like I said yesterday, the music throughout the show wasn't over the top amazing, however, one song did stand out in particular.
This is my choice for Hills Pick Of The Week...
It's "Untouched" by The Veronicas. Check out the video for "Untouched"! I was a big fan of their last album, and I'm looking forward to their forthcoming release. It seems to have more of an electronic vibe this time around.
Another Monday = Another MUSIC (& drama) filled episode of The Hills. The music wasn't amazing last night and there was definitely a theme focused on Rich Girls, Famous Girls, Dirty Rich Girls....GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS! WE GET IT...You're RICH & FAMOUS & SEXY & HOT!
I'll have my "Hills Pick Of The Week" shortly. Here is last nights music...ENJOY!
So, most of my weekend consisted of nights at the Hotel Cafe. Saturday night I hit the Hotel Cafe, this time to see Mandy Moore perform. She was there to perform songs from her upcoming album that she has been recently working on. She sang a few older tunes off her most recent record, but most of the night consisted of tracks that she finished weeks, even days before Saturday night.
I mean, I didn't really know what to expect and I kind of felt a little silly admitting that I was taking in a Mandy Moore show, but whatever! Okay, Ill admit it...I'm a closeted Mandy Moore fan. Don't judge...there is just something about her that I dig. She's had a pretty decent career that has spanned over the years, and I have seen her grow from her "Candy" years, to her stint as an MTV VJ to her budding acting career. Nonetheless it was pretty cool to see her perform and to see the passion she has for her new found singer songwriter status. Gone are the days of that pop tween who was made famous by that song "Candy" and in is a girl who can stand proud amongst her Hotel Cafe peers.
This girl has a ton of talent and genuinely seems like a super sweet, passionate girl with the most amazing energy. She got up on stage, giggled, interacted with the audience and told stories about the conception of her new songs...it was great! She is doing one more show next Saturday at the Hotel Cafe, so if you're in the neighborhood I definitely would recommend checking her out.
I took in a couple of shows this weekend. One being Greg Laswell at the Hotel Cafe in Hollywood. Greg is an amazing singer songwriter for those of you who don't know much about him. His latest album was released last month and he performed a bunch of new stuff from it.
You can still catch Greg at the Hotel next Friday and he has a few other gigs around town coming up. Here are a few pix from the show of Greg and then me & my friends posing.
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