I recently posted Sudan Archives being the album of the week, and she is back again with her violin (and snakes!) for her Glorious video. Frazey Ford is getting a little help from her friends in her new video for The Kids Are Having None Of It. Yuna partners up with Tyler, The Creator for her classy video for Castaway.
Bonus: Sindri Már Sigfússon has been incredibly busy lately, with a new Sin Fang album out in a couple weeks - and now surprise dropping a new Seabear single and video, 9 years after their last album.
"Althoug new in-car entertainment features such as Apple CarPlay, Android Auto or Bluetooth streaming, many drivers still like to play the good old radio.
More than half of the study participants indicated that the radio is their preferred source of music in the car. It might be the question of being too lazy or not having enough time to tap into the touchscreen of a smartphone. Over 1/3 never change the station and 44.2% constantly look for the best music by changing radio stations.
Best and worst tunes to play in the car
Among the top best driving songs are: ‘Bohemian Rhapsody‘ by Queen, ‘Shape of You‘ by Ed Sheeran, ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)‘ by the Proclaimers, ‘Wonderwall’ by Oasis, ‘Highway to Hell’ by AC/DC, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and ‘Mamma Mia’ by ABBA."
Getting a chance to see other house concert venues in the city is always a treat. This time I was able to catch the performance of Buck McDaniel + Jacob Kirkwood over at the Emerald City World Fair in Old Brooklyn. This one was quite different with a blend of performances throughout the house. Quite interesting. The focus of the night was a performance by Buck McDaniel + Jacob Kirkwood in the small basement stage. A great performance, great sound, and a colorful audience (additional photos below).
Yung Bae caught my attention by the juxtaposition of his moniker with his white bread imagery. Once I started listening to his music, it was so deliciously dance-inducing that I knew this would be a good show. I wasn’t quite expecting a full DJ dance setup for this performance, but you couldn’t help but be moved to move at this show. Just watch the tape.
Black Marble just released a new album, Bigger Than Life and is getting things started with this incredible video for Private Show being filmed at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi. Nilüfer Yanya tells us a tale in her new video for H34T RISES. Yoke Lore is back again, this time with NVDES with his video for what’s been one of my new favorite songs, Everybody Wants To Be Loved.
Bonus: I was pleasantly surprised to see Hercules & Love Affair releasing some new stuff, supported by this captivating dance video.
I was approached by the Library and Archives of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to contribute some of my video clips to the annual Home Movie Day project. You can read more about Home Movie Day below. The event was held at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and screened was a collection of local home recordings of concerts, mostly of local bands. A selection of clips of local bands I recorded were collected and several were part of this screening. It was incredibly fun to be part of this event. Check out some of my photos below.
"Home Movie Day (established 2002) is an annual event that celebrates amateur films and filmmaking. It is a worldwide event, held at local venues all over the world and organized locally by volunteers. Home Movie Day events provide the opportunity for individuals and families to have their films inspected and to see and share their own home movies with an audience of their community. The event is an opportunity to discover the personal, historical, and social importance of home movies and for individuals to learn how to best care for them."
The last couple Moon Boots albums have been on a short list of go-to feel good dance albums. They’re absolutely delicious. I was thrilled to see him touring for his newest release and I was happy to take a road trip to Detroit to catch him at the Magic Stick. It’d been a minute since i’d been there. One of the best parts of this show was the rotating cast of guest vocalists brought to the stage.
Orville Peck continues to dominate the gay country singer market, granted it is a pretty small field. However, his non-stop touring has really garnered a strong fan base, as evidenced by recently selling out Mahalls a few months ago - and this time the Grog Shop. I had missed out on tickets on this show, until a friend came through with some extras. I already had plans, but still swung through to see what all the buzz was about.
I get it. He’s got that country crooner vibe down, his mask hiding his identity is intriguing, and he’s definitely not your typical country singer. It’s country camp almost - but I’m here for it. More about him below.
"The enigmatic country singer known as Orville Peck is riding high these days. He is on the cover of British GQ Style, wearing star-spangled boots and a black mask that obscures his face.
The New Yorker, in a review of his debut album, ‘Pony,’ called him the ‘masked man our yee-haw moment deserves’ and described his voice as having ‘the sexy, menacing melodrama of Roy Orbison.’
The Los Angeles Times declared that he is ‘as venerated as any pop diva’ by the ‘hipsters in West Hollywood,’ which seems to be a thinly veiled reference to his large gay fan base."
These women continue to be fantastic. This tour they’re without their band, like the last time I saw them at the Beachland. While I’d love to see their full band live show at some point, I’ll continue to be amazing by their excellent songwriting and harmonizing.
Keller & Cole opened for Lily & Madeline, with their own brand of Indiana folk. Thoroughly enjoyable and talented folks.
If you haven’t heard Sudan Archives first two EPs, do yourself a favor. She also just released a new album, Athena, along with this video for Confessions! ● I wouldn’t normally put Galcher Lustwerk in the chill category, but this is such a smooth groove. This Cleveland-raised artist has his new album, Information, out on Nov. 22nd. ● 4AD recently released Neon Brown by an artist named Velvet Negroni. It’s an incredibly interesting and dynamic album worth checking out, as is this new video for ONE ONE.
Bonus: Going in a COMPLETELY different direction for this video day, Sin Fang released their first new music video in awhile. A series of their home movies from a time with camcorders and no cell phones. It’s also fun to witness their boyish (and quite dangerous) Icelandic antics, which extend well beyond the length of this song. New album Sad Party is out 11/8/19!
I somehow stumbled on this Mando Diao video for Long Long Way, featuring this troubled wolf who you just can’t help sympathizing in the end. It’s an incredibly catchy song too! Son Little won me over when I saw him perform at the Beachland back in 2016, and continues to do so with this new single “hey rose” off his new EP coming next Friday! The Chromatics dropped a surprise album recently and it’s total pop confection, like their video for You’re No Good.
Bonus: Cerrone has been seeing a resurgence in his career, starting back in the 70’s & 80’s as a France-based disco producer, who I’d put in line with Giorgio Moroder. He just dropped a new video for The Impact that included this note: "Big Thanks to the amazing Jane Goodall : "Every single day we make some impact on the planet. We haven't inherited this planet from our parents, we've borrowed it from our children. If we get together, then we can start to heal some of the scars that we've inflicted." "
"‘High-empathy and low-empathy people share a lot in common when listening to music,’ he says. That includes ‘roughly equivalent involvement in the regions of the brain related to auditory, emotion, and sensory-motor processing.’
But there’s one major difference when it comes to listening to music. An empathetic person’s brains shows more involvement of social circuitry when listening to tunes, such as the areas that light up when feeling compassion for others.
‘This may indicate that music is being perceived weakly as a kind of social entity. As an imagined or virtual human presence,’ offers Wallmark. This enhancement gives empathetic folks a more pleasure when listening to music."
"‘In terms of imaging we have captured from the brain, studies have shown that listening to music activates multiple parts simultaneously, which corresponds to far more parts than any other stimulus produces in humans.’
The fact that music activates so many brain systems at once is why it makes it so sweeping and pleasurable. Music exerts its deepest effect on the emotional nucleus of the brain, the limbic system.
The most amazing thing is that music automatically activates areas of the brain that are essential to feelings of pleasure and reward. So much so that the same pleasure centers of the brain that become active when we listen to our favorite tunes are exactly the same as those that are linked when humans eat chocolate or have … sex!"
I continue to hone in and focus my love of dance music towards the house music genre. I couldn’t be happier that Cleveland has their Groovehaus party, and I still think about my first one with Derrick Carter. I was thrilled I was able to make it to another, to see DJ Heather. I had started coming down with something, so I wasn’t top form this night, but I still took up some space on the dance floor. I also want to give a shout out to The Winchester for being a great venue for this party! Check out some of DJ Heather’s beats below:
I’ve seen Andrew Bird plenty of times before (2005, 2006, 2017) - enough that I wasn’t going to go to this one - but they ended up handing out free tickets like candy on Halloween. I know a lot of big Andrew Bird fans would probably be aghast by my being indifferent. I do respect him as an artist, it’s just that I’ve moved on - but hand me tickets and I’d still go. There’s something so cavalier and enjoyable about going to a free show without concern of timing or length. What did concern me is how poorly the show was selling to be giving them away, particularly as the Masonic is still getting its footing as a music venue in Cleveland. Regardless, I had a great time. He sounded great. And there were enough people there that Cleveland need not be embarrassed (free tickets aside).
However, if you’re new to him, or haven’t seen him before - GO see him next time! The strings and whistling alone are worth the price of admission.
Angel Olsen recently released this beautifully epic video for her new single, Lark. Alicia Keys new video for Show Me Love feat. Miguel caught my attention, and I’m glad it did - it’s gorgeous. Milky Chance continues to put out some quirky, bright reggae-influenced singles like The Game.
I’ve been able to see Lily & Madeline multiple times over the last couple years. Their new album only raises the level of excitement I have to see these women perform again, surprisingly still in Beachland’s Tavern. Should be an epic night of song & harmony! Don’t miss it!
Face Recognition Software Recognizes Animals Now Too” by terrykimura is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
"Earlier this month, the nonprofit digital rights group Fight For The Future — whose mission statement includes, ‘We envision a world where everyone can access the internet affordably, free of interference or censorship and with full privacy’ — launched a campaign lobbying the music industry to abandon use of facial recognition tech before it becomes more widespread. At banfacialrecognition.org, the group argues that facial recognition tech presents myriad ethical problems: It’s an invasion of privacy, its high rate of inaccuracy jeopardizes justice, it’s a gold mine for identity thieves, it could be weaponized by authoritarian regimes, etc. ‘The companies that run major festivals should not be experimenting on music fans by scanning our faces and collecting our biometric information,’ Fight For The Future’s Deputy Director Evan Greer said in a press release. ‘People deserve to know whether their favorite event has plans to use facial recognition technology.’" (Via Facial Recognition Ban Adopted By Festivals Including Bonnaroo, ACL - Stereogum.)
I’ll admit, Wolf Eyes is not a band that would be on the top of my list to catch live. However, their credibility as an experimental band out of Detroit is undeniable. Apple Music has an impressive list of releases by them, though not quite as towering as you can see on their Wikipedia entry! It was definitely intricate - and interesting. Those who are cooler than I can probably speak more to the impact of their music, but I’ll leave you with this video in the meantime.
The real reason I was at this show was to catch a local composer and producer combo, Buck McDaniel and Jacob Kirkwood. They performed a compelling set, yet another one that I’m unlikely able to describe properly for their genre. But trust me, it was beautiful and you should try to catch them again sometime. More details:
McDaniel & Kirkwood, with Andrea Belding Elson, violin, John Karkosiak, electric guitar, Buck McDaniel, piano & electronics & Jacob Kirkwood, percussion & electronics. Kirkwood’s Nitch (rev. 2019), McDaniel’s plainsong (rev. 2019) & McDaniel’s & Kirkwood’s Difference & Repetition (2018).
Holychild has been putting out a series of great singles lately, and just dropped this newest video for Over You. I just discovered this video by Yanni Burton through this appropriately titled Towlroad article, and I stayed for the catchy song. Speaking of new finds, I stumbled on this new video from 15yo Lewis Blissett, with a surprisingly catchy pop-trance Killing Butterflies.
Bonus: I thought I would a couple other (ambitious) videos from Yanni Burton.