Bjork’s Voltaic – A Luscious Concert Experience At The Montalban

One of the cooler new additions to Los Angeles pop culture nightlife is the Flux Cinema Tuesdays movie series at the Nike Sportswear Montalban Theater.

Each month guests are treated to a film, usually surfing or music based. The night includes a celeb DJ, drinks and popcorn to boot – all for free. Some of the nights have showcased the work of Michel Gondry and super hot DJ Mr. French, MC Lyte and the director of Notorious, and even the new auteur extraordinaire of horror, Tomas Alfredson and local lady DJ Valida.

Last Tuesday, Flux presented Voltaic: The Volta Tour Live , a concert film of Bjork’s recent tour. The film, which is available to buy today via Nonesuch Records, features Voltaic footage from Björk’s live shows in Paris and Reykjavik, Volta music videos, live studio performances and remixes of songs from Volta.

People who had waited in line which snaked around the block were not disappointed. The film was a gorgeous and loud cacophony of sound and vision which more than filled the small theater at the Montalban.

Bjork was joined on tour by innovative musicians such as Mark Bell, Damian Taylor, Jonas Sen and Chris Corsano, plus an all female brass section decked out in colorful sari styled jumpsuits with flags extending from the back. Bjork, with her face painted in  day glow colors, performed like the dynamo pixie she is, running the gamut of newer Volta material and songs from older albums such as Army Of Me, Hunter and Hyperballad.

It still amazes me to this day, the power of her voice. It seems less like Bjork opens her mouth to sing, and more like she is stopping a powerful magic simply by closing her mouth in between lyrics. The film is lit well and sounds fantastic. You really do feel as if you are in the room at the show – which is something a lot of concert films and rock docs lack today.

After the screening, hundreds of hipsters clamored upstairs to grab the 60 limited edition posters. And I do mean grab. I was knocked off my feet twice and my friend had a poster ripped right out of her hand. The small balcony was much too small to house the Belvedere open bar and poster melee. The pushing and shoving instantly made me want to head for the door. Not to mention the horrible house music DJ’s LA Riots were pumping through their laptops. After a wonder film experience and a great concert, it was truly jarring to exit to an angry poster mob and angry remixes of sub-par music. Hopefully the next post screening soiree will be a bit tamer, or at least less dangerous.

Luckily you can now watch Voltaic in the comfort of your own home. Dim the lights, put on your most colorful yarn scarf and turn that volume way up. You wont be disappointed.

This Is Thriller Night – RIP Michael Jackson

Whether or not I thought he was a certified nut job and alleged child molester, Michael Jackson was a music god.

Watching Beat It and Thriller on MTV were childhood milestones for me. He was played at every birthday party and then at every bat mitzvah. I even did a cheer leading dance to ‘Smooth Criminal’. If I can find the video, I’ll post it.

I’m sure I’m not alone. The amount of dance recitals and half time routines he inspired and continues to…the amount of Soul night dance night boogie-ing that he always makes an appearance at. It’s probably only rivaled by the late James Brown.

They still constantly play him all over the world.. You can’t enter a club in LA without hearing Don’t Stop Until You Get Enough or something off Thriller. The Aokis of the world have earned their ‘fame’ and ‘fortune’ by re-mixing the shit out of MJ’s work and basically turning a Hollywood club night into a hipster bar mitzvah with American Apparel and Sparks giveaways.

Drawbacks aside,  he was a huge influence on almost everyone I can think of. Think of all his hits. His posters. His performance in We Are the World. The red leather jacket. The hat. The zombies. The lit up sidewalk. The one glove. It’s such a part of my generation, our childhoods, our music…unbelievable. Even for a rock chick and self professed hater of cheesy pop music – I’d always bow and scrape to MJ’s tunes.

A huge pop icon. A piece of Americana. And for that he should be remembered.

Back To The Future With The Juan MacLean & The Ali MacLean

When I heard that The Juan MacLean was in town, I knew I had to talk to him, not only to chat about his new album The Future Will Come, being part of the uber cool electro mafia: DFA Records,  but also to finally figure out how the hell we are related. Two MacLeans from Boston in the music scene? There’s just no way this man doesn’t share a branch from my tree. I headed over to the Avalon during Juan’s sound check to get a glimpse bef0re the big performance at Control later that night, and have some pre-show tea.

ALI ON THE AIR: Hey, we need to figure out our family tree. You’re from Boston…originally Gloucester right? My Dad’s from Gloucester. What if we had the same dad, like on Springer or something where the man has two families.

JUAN: I know. Well,  my Uncle lived in Gloucester. I actually live in Dover, NH, about an hour from Boston. But I tell people I’m from New York. When you’re doing an interview in Berlin you just don’t get into explaining New Hampshire. I say New York.

AOTA: But you don’t say Boston, I notice. Hmmm.

JUAN: I’ve always felt unrelated to the music scene in Boston. I lived in Providence for a while and I liked the music scene there much better. I like the Middle East in Boston. I mean, with all the colleges, you’d figure it’d be huge but it’s not that great. But I find that I’m mostly commuting back and forth to New York. I have a couch in the DFA offices.

AOTA: Do you prefer the road or working on the studio?

JUAN: For some reason every time I go home it’s so demoralizing. There’s not this thing every night where you are the center of attention. I have a lot of work at home in general with remixes and stuff so I’m really busy. The thing that is a hassle about it is that I’m always alone when I’m DJing. It gets old after a while. I went to Europe in the winter for three weeks and for two and a half wasn’t anywhere where people knew English. It wears on you after a while.

AOTA: You have a lot of stories on your site about airport security and how they love to stop you and check out your…package. You seem to get searched a lot more than the average guy. Was Miami for real?

JUAN:  The Miami one was a 100% true story.  I thought they were joking. But the guy said that it’s such a cocaine trafficking place that people will tape drugs in their groin. The way they went about it and what they said was so insane. The woman kept pointing at my crotch and saying “There’s too much”.

AOTA: At least she thought there was too much. It could be worse, for instance if she thought the opposite.

JUAN: Yeah. But it’s like, ‘Thanks, I think’. They got the guy who is lowest on the totem pole to check me, and he kept saying on our walk to the room ‘Why didn’t they get the gay dude to do this!’ Hey, we’re not going on a date! Man! The problem is, I’m going through security with all of my records…

AOTA: With a sticker on them that says ‘Death From Above’.

JUAN: We quickly switched the stickers after 9/11…but they always check my record bag without fail and they swab my case for cocaine and it always comes up positive. I don’t even do coke. For someone who doesn’t do it, it’s all over my stuff. I pick it up on turntables and stuff in the clubs.

AOTA: Do you use vinyl or Serato mostly?

JUAN: I only use vinyl. I hate Serato. I just like vinyl in general – the tactile nature of it. I don’t understand looking at a list of MP3s and picking out a song that way. But leafing through records…there’s an emotional response in seeing them. People can mix flawlessly with Serato in a way that you just can’t do with vinyl. I feel like it’s made this artificial standard of mixing. I carry it around in my laptop in case my records go missing, but I don’t use it.

AOTA: There seems to be a glut of DJs out there these days. You’ve been doing it for a long, long time…

JUAN:  I get paid to DJ more than I get for the band playing live music which is really frustrating. There is this trend of people going on blogs and downloading a bunch of crappy mp3s and instantly you’re a DJ? What once was DJ etiquette or DJ culture or the craft of DJing has been lost. Showing up and being a headlining DJ and the person before you playing a hundred times harder than you’ll ever play and even playing your own records – people playing MY records right before I go on to DJ? You just totally blew me out of the water, man. Instead of kids buying guitars nowadays, they get the stuff you need to ‘be a DJ’. You can buy it pretty easily and it doesn’t really require any skill anymore.

AOTA: And now there’s DJ Hero coming out.

JUAN: Oh great. It’s a double edged sword because DJ culture is so much bigger than it was ten years ago, so it means that I DJ constantly.

AOTA: Do you prefer playing as opposed to DJing?

JUAN: Right now I’m so into playing with the band. Its all I want to do. But I do get the same gratification from DJing. If it’s done properly…A lot of people have a play list and they’re gonna play the same set mo matter what’s happening. But it should be like playing off the crowd. When that’s happening, and it’s going well, I like it as much as playing  with the band.

AOTA: You’ve said that people with a rock background make more interesting music than people whose only come from is electronic music.

JUAN: People who just come from electronic background tend to be genre specific and I think make uninteresting records. People who have made my favorite music tend to come from a live music background. Like Bookashade.

AOTA: A lot of artists are afraid to admit to influences/ They’d have you believe they just hatched from nothing and became an entity. You’re willing to say on this album you listened to Human League or Grace Jones.

JUAN: It’s almost become a game. People like to go through and pick out where we “stole” things from and somehow it’s become a source of derision on message boards. There’s a type of guy – and it’s always a guy – who speaks endlessly about how ‘oh he stole the piano part from this song’. Well, that’s what people have been doing since the beginning of pop music. Not only that, but we’re talking about electronic, sample based music here. So it seems odd to me that people would get so bent out of shape about it. I don’t think anyone cares except a few of these guys that spend way too much time on the internet.

AOTA: There’s always some blogger with something nasty to say. You’ve actually had the balls to respond to some of them.  Your blog is actually quite entertaining.

JUAN: At one point I thought it was overtaking the music. We’d be on tour and people would come up and say ‘Oh I love the album…but the BLOG. It’s HILARIOUS!’ When I’d post on Myspace I couldn’t believe how many people would subscribe. It’s insane. I was approached by a couple publishing people about doing a book. I was a writing teacher for a while so that’s something I’ve wanted to do.

AOTA: So, if there was no more electricity, that could be your creative outlet?

JUAN: That would definitely be my next choice. It might be what I segue into next. Or when I get too old to do this.

AOTA: Oh, come on. You wont be like Alan McGee or BP Fallon? DJing into your twilight years?

JUAN: That’s the thing I like about dance music in general. Unlike when I played in an angry rock band…when I turned thirty, I was like “I don’t want to do this anymore.” With dance music you can keep going. There’s a tradition of people that are older who are revered.

AOTA: Right, like Suicide or Silver Apples. Now, do you think you need to be angry or depressed or in pain to be creative?

JUAN: Oh god. I’ve thought about that. I’ve actually read a book about it by this guy Peter Kramer who’s from Providence. It’s called Against Depression. I’ve been prone to depression my entire life and its common with…

AOTA: MacLeans?

JUAN:Ha, my family, yeah, and with creative people. People often say if you could get rid of depression then what about artists like Van Gogh? What would happen to their art? Well, maybe they would have done better things and have been even more productive. And that’s how I see it. People who have truly been depressed don’t glorify it. For me, when I’m in that mode, I can’t do anything, so it’s not useful or productive. Things that sound depressing in my music are probably more from choices I made where things haven’t gone very well.

AOTA: This album is less angry or depressive. You and Nancy are doing duets. There’s a relationship going on. It’s less about a robot and more human. Maybe more…Wall-E?

JUAN: It’s a definite narrative that we tried to end on a happy note like with Happy House. We tried to end each side of the record with something uplifting.

AOTA: Is it influenced by more uplifting times? Or a promise of some? Yes We Can?

JUAN: For Nancy and I, when writing about our personal lives, we don’t write on the macro level. Obama isn’t explaining stuff to the girlfriend that things are going to get better after the tour. Nancy played in LCD Soundsystem so a lot of this is what being in a touring band can do to a relationship.

AOTA: So then after you get off the road, you remix a lot so you can stay in one place for a while?

JUAN: No one really buys an album now. There’s a lot of income that you lose out of from not selling cds and stuff that gets generated from that so you have to tour. People download music for free, but they will pay to come to shows. So I can play much bigger shows.

AOTA: You have a stage persona which is sort of like your blog persona.

JUAN: Being involved in the 90′s indie rock scene, which was the grunge scene – the rock star as a regular guy. Kinda like Kurt Cobain who was like ‘This is just the way I am. There’s no pretense to it at all.’ I’ve always been more into people who were like “No, I’m an entertainer/Rock Star!” who had a persona. All of the blog writing, well at least fifty percent of it is truth and a lot of it is embellishing. I’m more concerned with entertaining than I am with using my music as my diary.

AOTA: Have you gone as far as the Marc Bolan route where you’ve worn your own face on a t shirt?

JUAN: Well, there are Juan MacLean shirts with my face on them that’s I’ve worn around. Embarrassing. I do it more to be a douche bag than anything else.

AOTA: Before I leave you to change into your own face t shirt…have there been any patchouli pranks or shenanigans this tour?

JUAN: There’s this terrible cologne called Drakkar Noir. We’d all joke about it and then I actually bought some. I kept spraying it on DJ’s keyboards and he was like ‘Man! Someone’s wearing some strong cologne! The monitor guy or someone. Whew!’ It kept happening and finally one night he figured it out. Drakkar Noir. It’s like a fancier step up from Old Spice.

AOTA: I think one of my grandfathers wore Old Spice. Keeping it in the family…

Space Oddities – Looking For Rock In All The Weird Places

Space Oddities – Looking For Rock In All The Weird Places

by Ali MacLean

In this town, it’s easy to get jaded. Every club or party these days seems to need to top some pinnacle of bacchanale… a regular night with drinks and music just wont do. A warehouse rave is just ordinary. It has to be louder, harder, faster: rollerskating parties, dodgeball parties, plastic surgery parties, parties where you’re in a video game, parties where you come as your spirit animal, parties in a subway car, parties in the basement of the Ramada, Edward Scissorshands parties, staring contest parties…the weirder the better.

.

And now rock shows are going by way of parties. It’s not enough to just stage something in any old raw space or polo field. First Fridays sets up songs next to stuffed Woolly Mammoths and dinosaur bones. Tom Morello raged against deus ex machinas in a Venice Church. DJ Squeak E Clean has dropped it like it’s hot at a Hollywood car wash while fashionista DJs The Misshapes have spun for the well heeled in an airplane hangar, complete with planes standing by.

It’s time to step it up to the realm of absolutely bizarre. Rock show in a cemetery? Check.

Glasvegas are known in Hollywood more for their cataclysmic buzz and for disappointing a sweaty Coachella crowd by their last minute cancellation. Tough it’d be odd to see these Scots in a searingly hot desert rather than in pissing rain. Perhaps that’s why their playing at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery just fit. But a show at a cemetery? It has to be some sort of sacrilege or at the very least a nuisance to those who haven’t quite crossed over. And seeing how out of control Angelinos can get when their basketball team wins. Do we really want to start a riot on a hell mouth just so some indie kids can rock out in a new, exciting way?

Traipsing over graves to get to the gig, I was already feeling guilty for looking for fun in a place of death. Maybe I’m not so goth or emo after all. I’ve been interested in seeing Glasvegas since NME editor Conor McNicholas recommended them to me last year, but with all the huge hype surrounding them, I was expecting to be disappointed.

The staid, upwardly mobile hipster crowd, waited patiently as the Glasvegas wake was delayed by nearly an hour. Finally, fresh off a stunt/gig at another strange venue (Las Vegas wedding chapel), James and Rab Allen took the stage in the Masonic Lodge, by walking down the crowded Hall and waiting for a crew dude to pull back a curtain hung on a wire. This crude set up revealed a gothic, yet etheral stage complete with an old wurli, a grand piano, white roses and a giant angel ice sculpture with a red broken heart. A perfect marriage for the Glasgow boys’ moody and soaring songs. Though some people in the crowd wondered aloud whether or not the rest of the band would join them, James and Rab kept it acoustic-ish and intimate, only pausing to bring up pianist Paul Cantelon for a rendition of “Stabbed”.

Glasvegas In the Masonic Lodge

James, channeling both Strummer and Costello in dark Ray Ban sunglasses, repeatedly asked for the lights onstage to be brightened as he tried to make out the keys of his Wurlitzer in only the glow of a film strip showing old movie stars and a rain of glitter. I suppose the shades didn’t help this, but when faced with entertaining food for worms, I guess I might do the same. Tunes like “Geraldine” and “Daddy’s Gone” sounded better than the rocking originals – the whole show had a Leonard Cohen vibe to it. A man across the aisle from me complained that it wasn’t a full band, I wanted to yell at him “It’s called NUANCE! Adjust, motherfucker!”. Where I was expecting to be disappointed, I was actually swayed and haunted. It was fitting to hear these Scottish dirges on a gray, misty graveyard evening. Though the moisture did give one pause – my friend next to me remarked that she was nervous that the giant ice sculpture was melting onto the instruments and amps and might cause the Allans to be electrocuted. They could be killed. “Well, they’re in the right place, if it does happen.” I replied. Sometimes location can be the x factor of the evening.

ice sculpture of death

When I was invited to see a special acoustic performance with Bat For Lashes, I jumped at the chance. The Glasvegans had whet my appetite for some UK atmosphere and I couldn’t wait to see Miss Natasha in a dark and smoky club or out of doors under an old street lamp where the mist and fog could swirl around her layered synth songs.

Wait, she’s playing where? At a jeans store. On the Santa Monica 3rd Street Promenade. In the middle of the day. For a Neighborhood Social. Really?

Lucky Brand Neighborhood Social

As the kick off for the first Lucky Brand Neighborhood Social, Lucky lined up live silk screening by Giant Artists, denim painting by William Lemon III and provided fair food snacks for the people who stopped in. The inner sanctum of the store was reserved for a wrist banded crowd, to be treated to DJ sets by KCRW’s Jason Bentley, plus a Bat For Lashes set before their big show at the El Rey.

KCRW's Jason Bentley

Natasha Khan and her supremely talented keyboardist, Ben Christophers, took the makeshift stage which was wedged in the back of the store. People lined up and sat on jeans bins waiting for the elfin Khan to utter a sound. Khan, dressed in a gauzey pink blouse and sequined headband was instantly copied as girls in the crowd slid strings and scarves across their bangs. Ben, looking very Gold Rush/The Sting era in a long john shirt, vest and braces seemed perfect to play turn of the century xylophones, harpsichords and zithers that he whirled around like a mad scientist in a music shop. (note: see interview below for more on Natasha’s gear!)

Ben Christophers

You could hear a pin drop in between Natasha’s lilting songs, which the singer commented on, nervously. “You can talk in between songs. Be rude. It’s ok.” But the small crowd was silent and with rapt attention as if beholding the glory of a living unicorn.

Natasha Khan - Bat For Lashes

And that she is, or more closely resembling Kira from the Dark Crystal playing the keys. Her voice lilted daintily and then crecendoed into a powerful yelp, taking after her predecessor, Bjork. Natasha ended the quick half hour set with a lo-fi version of Daniel and then floated away backstage, er I mean, into the stock room.

Natasha Khan and Ali MacLean

A stock room seems hardly the place to hide away such a talent. But then again spaces and places are the name of the game today. Perhaps the thrill of the nu show is to find an oddity to jack up interest in the artist. frankly neither of these acts needed that extra push. They could’ve played in a brick walled condo in Barstow and still held as much interest.Oh dammit. I’ve just given promoters a new bad idea. Please, guys. No Barstow condo shows…

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Worn Free T Shirts – A Little Bit Comfy, A Little Bit Rock N Roll

The people at Worn Free Tees had the ingenious idea to license and recreate old soft worn in rock tees that have been seen on some of the greatest rock n roll stars of our time. Culling from the archive photos and closets of legends like Joey Ramone, John Lennon, Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Kurt Cobain, Frank Zappa and Gram Parsons, Worn Free offers up these iconic tees with a backstage pass styled hang tag that tells you when and where the star was first spotted in them.

This has got to be the best blend of music and fashion. Where else can you find the clothes of your favorite icons without breaking the bank or being overdressed? Worn Free shirts have been spotted on the Kaiser Chiefs, Travis, Joel McHale, Carmen Electra, The Roots, The Whip, Ellen Page, Robert Downey Jr. and Gary Oldman.

I was very flattered when Worn Free sent me a few tees to wear on my show. And the tees were flattering and comfortable, not to mention cool as f#*k. On my way to interview Juan MacLean at his Hollywood show at Control, photog extraordinaire Rony Alwin, who (obviously can’t read) snapped this photo…

photo by Rony Alwin. T shirt by Worn Free

Well, Worn free saw this pic and fired off a love letter. The feeling is mutual.

You can read their blog here:

Worn Free

In July there is a discount on all of the Debbie Harry tees in honor of the ultimate Blondie’s birthday. You can order shirts here:

Worn Free Tees

Detroit Rocks This City – Von Bondies Shake Up The Strip

I’ve been hustling my little bunny tail all over Southern California recently. Lately, I’m in high demand to cover shows. But once you enter the realm of music journalism, the shows become work and it’s hard to detach from being the observer, rather than the music fan.

Sometimes you just want to have a blast, and the Von Bondies are always a good time. They’ve sat on my interview couch beaucoup temps and are hilarious onstage and off. (note to self: I need to pitch a show with my funny musician friends. Signing up the Bondies and Murs first!)

Jason Stollsteimer

Christy Hunt

Local lads from Bloodcat Love opened the night at The Viper Room, with their sassy Jagger swagger and set the tone for a bit of rock city, a Detroit/LA blend. Of course lead singer and founder, Jason Stollsteimer had to make the fans nervous, mentioning something about this being their last show in LA ever.

Leann Banks and Jason Stollsteimer

Was this the big Von Bye Bye? Or was Jason just aping Trent Reznor? Sure, it’s tough without the major label throwing money at you, but Stollsteimer has managed to sign with Shout Factory and with the new line up, including hot rock chicks Christy Hunt and Leann Banks, and drummer extraordinaire Don Blum, it’s like the Bondies never skipped a beat since the days of C’mon, C’mon.

Don Blum

The show was tight, choreographed and sharp, but never artificial. The Bondies always put out a perfect blend of staged showmanship and ragged rock – rough and tumble the way it’s meant to be heard. And sweaty loud. All what I was looking for in my Von Mondie.

Ali On The Air and Jason Stollsteimer

Holocaust Museum and Hate Mongering – Guns and Blogs Used For Hate?

Hate-mongering, whether it be with a gun in a museum, or hidden behind a computer screen in the blogosphere is dangerous…what is the solution? Freedom of Speech is our right in this country. But when comments and slurs incite violence, how do we stop it, combat it, temper it? Ideas? Comments? R.I.P, Stephen Tyrone Johns. You are a hero and your steps to protect others in the face of hate won’t be forgotten.

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Band Of Skulls – Rock’s New Backseat Lovers

Dammit, I wish I still had my 1974 Chevy Monza. She was an old beater, white, with wood paneled interiors and an 8 track player. I only had 4 cassettes I picked up at a garage sale: Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack, Foghat, Sweet and some musical (Chess?), but it was a bad-ass car. Not that I appreciated it when I was sixteen. Most of my friends got a Beemer or an Mercedes when they turned sixteen, just as they spent winters in Aruba, coming back from Christmas break with cornrows and hickeys.

No, I didn’t appreciate my $200 ’74 Monza beater. I berated it for not being a cool enough car to tool around in with my fellow cheerleaders. It wasn’t a flashy Iroc or a brand new mint Audi. So, I wasn’t that bothered when the Monza met an untimely end at the hand of Mike Ruffino’s station wagon in the high school parking lot…but I mourn the little Monza now. I wish I had it today. The first thing I’d do is cruise down Vine street while listening to UK act Band Of Skulls.

BOS played two back-to-back shows last night at the Viper Room and the Rumble at the 3 of Clubs. They were rowdy but intimate shows, where I stood close enough to see the rocknroll pores of the players. If you weren’t there, you won’t get to see pores anytime soon…rumor has it their next big US date will be Lollapalooza.

photo: Quinlan

Of course comparisons to this hard rock trio will undoubtedly mention two pieces like the Black Keys and The White Stripes. Sure, the bluesy rock riffs are similar, but only if Meg White could really sing – and play a mean bass line. There’s something more here than just another searing Wolfmother scorcher too. The songs are more complex, while at the same time being catchy with a classic rock feel. I don’t know why but I imagined making out to this music in the back of my Monza, with Sweet blaring through the open windows.

Maybe it’s the dual singer pairing of Russell Marsden and Emma Richardson’s vocals, Emma bringing the Chrissie Hynde/Heart feel while Russell howls a la White. Perhaps it’s the performance level, which is hard and tight but at the same time filled with space and pregnant, rock baby pauses. Perhaps it’s because they’ve recorded their first album at the musical Vatican – Radiohead’s Courtyard Studios. Or hell, maybe it’s because it just rocks – it doesn’t have to be smart or make sense if it moves you. And it made me want to move to the back seat. If you want to get in on their rise to the top, you can download their new Shangri-La Music release, Baby Darling Doll Face Honey.

I tunes had a free mp3 download too, for the broke and hungry. That might hold you over until you can catch them on tour with Brody Dalle’s Spinerette or at the Hammer Museum in July. Otherwise, for more skullduggery, you’ll have to beg me for a ride in my Monza.

Carina Round – Backseat (Official Video)

Carina Round is my favorite female performer today. Her live show was phenomenal tonight – and every night I’ve seen it. She is about to leave my other faves like her (PJ Harvey, Auf Der Maur, etc) in the dust. Here’s one of her softer songs. Check her out!!

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Love And Rockets So Alive Again With Tribute Album

Not only does this tribute feature my childhood hometown musical hero, Black Francis, but it also boasts Maynard from Tool, The Flaming Lips, A Place To Bury Strangers, Chantal from Morningwood and my favorite San Francisco Silverlakers, Film School.

Plus it was produced with love (and rockets) by Christopher the Minister from Sirius Radio and the lovely Phil J of Swinghouse Studios fame…plus art work by Shepard Fairey…is it Christmas?

Details below:

New Tales to Tell: A Tribute to Love and Rockets

“Love & Rockets are many things, but what they are more than anything are agents of that mysterious force known as Rock & Roll, a force loved by many but truly understood by a few” –Black Francis

New Tales To Tell, A Tribute To Love and Rockets is produced by
Christopher The Minister & Phil Jaurigui
Album art created by Shepherd Fairey

Track listing:

All In My Mind – Black Francis
Holiday On The Moon – Puscifer (MJ Keenan)
Love Me – War Tapes
No New Tale To Tell – Blaqk Audio
I Feel Speed – Dubfire
Inside The Outside – The Dandy Warhols
Kundalini Express – The Flaming Lips
Life In Laralay – Sweethead
An American Dream – Film School
The Light – A Place To Bury Strangers
Mirror People – Monster Magnet vs Adrian Young
Fever – The Stone Foxes
No Big Deal – Frankenstein 3000
It Could Be Sunshine – VEX
So Alive – Better Than Ezra
Lazy – Chantal Claret vs Adrian Young
Sweet F.A. – Ian Moore
No Words No More – Snowden

LOVE and ROCKETS

Digital release: July 28th, 2009

Physical release: August 18th, 2009

Look for special bonus tracks and Blue & Red Limited Edition vinyl.