Bill Frisell / Jack DeJohnette

hi-YA.

We're proud to spread the news that jazz legends Bill Frisell and Jack DeJohnette will be visiting the fair city of Birmingham October 12th. These fellas are touring along with Jerome Harris in support of the 2006 DeJohnette-featuring-Frisell release The Elephant Sleeps but Still Remembers on Kindred Rhythm. It's a pretty far removal from the other shows that have visited Bottletree, although moreseo in prestige than in genre (tell me that this show will be any more "out there" than that Arthur Doyle show earlier this month and I'll tell you you're lying). These are top names in the jazz/experimental genre, and B'ham people should attend the show if just to get they culture on.

Check these tracks out, but only if you have patience. I am particularly digging "Ode to South Africa," but I think you'll miss it if you don't hang on until the end.

Listen to the others, too, and if you're in the Birmingham area do NOT forget to pick up your tickets for the show early. This show WILL sell out.

The Elephant Sleeps but Still Remembers (DeJohnette feat. Frisell)
Ode to South Africa (DeJohnette feat. Frisell)
After the Rain (Frisell)

Click to buy:

Barzin

As if everyone hadn't heard about 1,500 different variations of Mazzy Star's "Fade into You," I write today to bring another one to you.

This time it's a DUDE singer. A CANADIAN dude singer. And it's good.

Barzin has been around awhile and has released My Life in Rooms in different countries. The US release, however, has yet to come to pass. It will, though, on the UK's Monotreme label. Oh, you mark my words--it will. Sometime this fall, even, although the date has not yet been confirmed.

He opens for Damien Jurado in Toronto October 3rd before setting off for a European tour. Who knows when we'll see him in the US. Maybe after all 1,000,000 of our readers run out and buy his record.

Back to the record--it's a supremely slow, folky venture. Great Lake Swimmer's Tony Dekker contributes to the songwriting, if that tells you anything. Think Mazzy Star, think Trespassers William. Or just listen; you'll love.

Past All Concerns, not on the new record.
Let's go Driving, on the new record.

tourdates, only a measley one of which is in the US:

10/22/06 New York, NY Knitting Factory
11/11/06 Brugge, Belgium Cactus Club
11/14/06 Paris, France Tryptich
11/15/06 Barcelona, Spain Sala Castello
11/16/06 Tarragona, Spain Sala Groove
11/17/06 Ciclo Sons Castellon, Spain Centre Municial de Cultura
11/18/06 Huesca, Spain C.C. Matadero
11/19/06 Don Benito, Spain Rincón de Don Pio Sound

José González and St. Vincent

It's been a great week of music. Rogue Wave, Jason Collett, and Foreign Born on Tuesday, Sufjan on Wednesday, The Long Winters and What Made Milwaukee Famous on Thursday, and last night Red Blondehead-sponsored Wrens, Cities, and Barton Carroll show. All were at Bottletree except for Sufjan, which was at the beautiful Fox Theater in Atlanta. Sadly, I missed Band of Horses and Chad Vangaalen to venture over to Atlanta with Sara Leah. Although I saw BoH at Pitchfork, it would have been nice to see them in such an intimate venue. Leah made it out despite my absence and if you are very nice and eat all your vegetables, maybe she will post her review. I'll also try to write up a little something about each show and post some pictures.

Bottletree continues their run of fantastic shows tonight with Swedish/Argentinean sensation José González with St. Vincent and Death Vessel. It promises to be a night full of quietly beautiful and haunting music. I've been a fan of José's music for a while now, both his solo recordings and his recent work with Zero 7. His debut Veneer first came out in Sweden sometime in 2003, but wasn't released stateside until last year. Uncut writes, "Mentioning a new artist in the same breath as Nick Drake has become shorthand for anyone with an acoustic guitar who favors melancholy restraint. Such a comparison, however, only hints at the talents of Jose Gonzalez. The Swedish singer-songwriter marries Drake's mournful minimalism to deftly picked, Latino guitar. The results -- melodic purity, a mesmeric rhythmic drive and stark emotionalism -- are extraordinary."

I'm also excited to see St. Vincent aka Annie Clark as I have heard such great things. Annie is best known for playing guitar with the Polyphonic Spree and now she's gaining acclaim for her solo project. Her sound has been described by Gorilla vs. Bear as an "'ethereal marriage of Jeff Buckley and Bjork' and if you threw in some PJ Harvey and maybe, umm...Buckethead, you'd be about half way there." Hmm. I believe that for a short period of time, a rumor circulated that said Annie Clark is Buckethead. heh.

Just a tip...guys, if you are trying to woo a special ladyfriend...this would be the show to bring her to if you want to show off your sensitive side. José is selling out venues far larger than Bottletree, so it would be a real shame to miss it.

TONIGHT
José González with St. Vincent and Death Vessel
Bottletree (http://www.myspace.com/bottletreecafe)<
3719 3rd Ave. South
Birmingham, AL
9 PM

A José González video and a few mp3's...

"Stay in the Shade" video


José González - Crosses
José González - Heartbeats
José González - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Check out José's debut album, Veneer

St. Vincent - Paris is Burning
You can listen to more songs at St. Vincent's myspace.

Soundtrack for a Rainy Monday

Today is a quieter, more introspective day at Red Blondehead headquarters, so the musical selections will follow accordingly. I've been sitting on all of this stuff for quite a while and didn't have time to post it.

A few songs from the leaked Album Leaf, Into the Blue Again...

The Album Leaf - Always for You
The Album Leaf - Shine
The Album Leaf - Writings on the Wall

I like The Album Leaf, but I have a hard time listening to a complete album in one sitting. I prefer to mix the songs into a more varied playlist so I can appreciate each song individually because I start to space out after about 4 songs. However, Leah likes to listen to the whole CD until she's in an Album Leaf trance.

Get Lonely with a few tracks from The Mountain Goats latest release:

The Mountain Goats - Half Dead
The Mountain Goats - Moon Over Goldsboro
The Mountain Goats - New Monster Avenue

Pinback released a collection of B-sides and rarities called Nautical Antiques a few weeks ago.

Pinback - Avignon (full band version)
Pinback - Verailles
Pinback - Byzantine

The Wrens in the 'Ham

Good morning, lovely readers.

We write today to celebrate (and shill) the second show that Red Blondehead will be sponsoring: the Wrens, who are playing at Bottletree in Birmingham next Sunday, Sept. 24. Please add the date to your calendar and be sure to come out. They are playing with Cities and Barton Carroll of Crooked Fingers, so it should be a lot of fun!

We've got included for you a youtube video and a few songs from 1996's Secaucus and their critically celebrated 2003 release, The Meadowlands, which was seven years in the making. Those of you hearing the Wrens for the first time are lucky since you've got years of back catalogues and cool b-sides to go through. The rest of us can sit around and grumpily wait for the next Wrens record, hoping it's NOT seven years until we get to hear it.

If you're in Birmingham--support the Wrens, Bottletree, and your local music ladies and come out for the show!



This is the Wrens video for "Everyone Choose Sides"

Surprise, Honeycomb from Secaucus
13 Months in 6 Minutes from The Meadowlands
This Boy is Exhausted from The Meadowlands

Bottletree podcast numero dos

Hi everyone,

Our second podcast for Bottletree is up. Please download it here for a preview of the following bands:

Enon
Tokyo Police Club
Acid King
Rogue Wave
Jason Collett
Foreign Born
Band of Horses
Chad VanGaalen
The Long Winters
Menomona
What Made Milwaukee Famous
Supersystem
Jeff Hanson
Southerly
The Wrens
Cities
Barton Carroll

Show dates and prices are included in the podcast. Please give us a listen and support Bottletree for some (or all) of these upcoming shows!

Hem release Funnel Cloud

I'd like to say that it's with extreme giddiness that I post new mp3s from Brooklyn's best Americana band, Hem. However, it's truly only with... pleasure. Today Hem release their third studio album, Funnel Cloud, which is quite a dip in overall quality from both Rabbit Songs and Eveningland. Not that it's terrible--it's just that there aren't songs on here that can even come close to rivaling Eveningland's "Carry Me Home" or even "Lazy Eye" from their debut record.

As always, the prime attraction here is Sally Ellyson's vocals. She's just singing a little lower than she should for her vocal range, continuing with an unfortunate trend that started with the songs on demo collection No Word from Tom.

If you get the chance--and Birmingham folks, you get a chance at least once a year--you should try to catch Hem live. They are simply one of the best bands to see live, absolutely thrilling. I cannot say it enough. Here's a link to WorkPlay's information on their upcoming show in Birmingham. The write-up gets almost every biographical detail wrong (the first record came out in '01, the band is now on Nettwerk AND their third record), but the show date/cost/time is accurate. Trust me on this one and buy your tix soon, my friends.

Not California
I'll Dream of You Tonight

Pick up Funnel Cloud at spun.com

Bottletree poddlecast #1

Hello faithful Red Blondehead readers.

After much frustration, careful consideration, and considerable weeping and gnashing of teeth, we have decided to let you hear our post-dated inaugural podcast, recorded with Brian Teasley of Bottletree by our favorite sound engineer Nick Punch, to promote upcoming shows. Nick mentioned after his final edit last week,"Listening back reminded me of how much I'm looking forward to the upcoming soul show, Shellac, Duquette, etc... Man, August is gonna be an incredible month of music." haha. It pretty much was--sorry you guys didn't get to hear some of these lovely bands on the WWWINFORMATIONSUPERHIGHWAY earlier.

The bands on this podcast include

Roscoe Robinson
Ralph Jackson
The Broadneck
Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett)
Dynamites
Duquette Johnston
Uzeda
Shellac
New Amsterdams
Hope for agoldensummer
The Evangelicals
Nowhere Squares
The Ackleys (replaced on Sunday night's bill by Gainer)
Smoking Popes

PLEASE NOTE: If possible, please download this instead of streaming it from our server--it's a very big file! Please love us, for we cannot amend the silliness of our ways.

xoxo,
leah & traci