Saturday, November 18, 2017

Believe: @FreshHeirStl - Album Showcase Fri. 11/24 @ZACKonLocust

Happening this Friday in Grand Center is a showcase and celebration of new music by Fresh Heir at a new theater to the area .Zack and this is an all-ages event. Fresh Heir is a pop, soul, rock group from Saint Louis. The show starts at 8:00pm and goes until 10:00pm. Visit HERE for the event details on Facebook.

The music of Fresh Heir is intended to connect the mind, body and spirit.  To also keep their audiences moving while they deliver meaningful words of encouragement in harmony over a high-energy musical platform featuring blazing guitars and rippin' horn lines.

This past summer Fresh Heir were westward bound. The #BeliefTour2017 took them across the states to L.A. and back. Check out this video of the new favorite song "Believe" that was shot in MO, CO, UT, NV, and LA.

Fresh Heir:

https://www.freshheir.org

https://www.facebook.com/freshheirstl/

Thursday, November 16, 2017

(Brother) Video By @CindyWilsonATH : #KCMO w/ @OliviaJeanMusic Fri. 11/17 @riotroom

CINDY WILSON RELEASES LANCE BANGS - DIRECTED VIDEO FOR NEW SONG "BROTHER"

DEBUT SOLO ALBUM CHANGE ARRIVES
VIA KILL ROCK STARS ON FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

Cindy Wilson and Olivia Jean will be performing on Friday, November 17th in Kansas City, MO. at The Riot Room. Visit HERE for event details on Facebook.

Cindy Wilson of the legendary B-52s has shared a video for the new song "Brother" off her soon-to-be released debut solo album CHANGE. The video was directed by the great film and video director Lance Bangs. It was shot mostly in Jeremy Ayers backyard in Athens, GA. Ayers is an Athens arts legend famous for writing the iconic song "52 Girls" from the B-52's first album. The video also feature Iron & Wine Sam Beam's old bicycle. CHANGE arrives at all music retailers and streaming services on Friday, December 1.

- WATCH THE VIDEO FOR "BROTHER" HERE

CHANGE is available now for pre-order at all DSPs as well as Wilson's official PledgeMusic, the latter featuring exclusive updates, content, and merchandise spanning limited edition signed colored vinyl to a private house show performed by Cindy and her band.

PRE-ORDER CHANGE VIA PLEDGEMUSIC

Billboard premiered the album's "No One Can Tell You." It is also streaming via Kill Rock Stars' official YouTube channel. "It's hard to believe this is the first solo album Wilson is putting out throughout the entirety of her career," notes Billboard, adding, "With CHANGE, Wilson was able to experiment with her own creativity and learn about music in an entirely different light. The result is something melodic, calm even, and at times fueled by disco- tinged rhythms."

- LISTEN TO "NO ONE CAN TELL YOU"

CHANGE is further highlighted by the shimmering single, "Mystic," hailed by Stereogum as "an excellent slice of icy, synth-streaked new wave" in its exclusive premiere earlier this summer. "With lush synths and a funky motorik rhythm section, 'Mystic' is a celestial wave of chill," raved NPR Music. "Wilson's voice is still a tease, perfectly suited to the Gary Numan-indebted cool the band cultivates."

- LISTEN TO "MYSTIC"

Known the world over as a vocalist, songwriter and founding member of the one and only B- 52s, Wilson has been touring all summer and fall with additional dates to be announced soon. For updates and more, please see killrockstars.com.

CHANGE began for Wilson nearly a decade ago upon her part-time return to her hometown of Athens, GA. She first encountered local musicians Ryan Monahan and Lemuel Hayes when their Beatles tribute band was hired to play her son's birthday party. Wilson, Monahan, and Hayes began teaming up for gigs, performing classic garage and psychedelic covers, before ultimately hitting the studio to create new music all their own. Athens-based producer/musician Suny Lyons was soon enlisted to join the creative quartet, resulting in the SUNRISE and SUPERNATURAL EPs, acclaimed by PopMatters for possessing "an undeniable sense of adventure."

Produced by Lyons at The Space Station in Athens, CHANGE is as bold as anything in Wilson's groundbreaking four decade canon, melding future pop, disco drama, American standards, electronica, and more into her own distinctive creative vision. New songs like "Mystic" and the transformative title track are intricate and inventive, lush and luminous with strings, synthesizers, harmonies, and Wilson's utterly distinct vocal magic. Further highlights include a pair of unexpected covers: New Colony Six's soft rock classic, "Things I'd Like to Say," and "Brother," written and originally performed by Athens' own beloved Oh-OK. With CHANGE, Cindy Wilson has once again remade pop in her own innovative, irresistible image.

* For more information, please visit:

CINDYWILSONB52S.COM

FACEBOOK

INSTAGRAM

TWITTER

KILLROCKSTARS.COM

Savage x The Soul: @TheRealTank @LeelaJames Tues. 11/21 @ThePageantSTL

The R&B General Tank and the amazing soulful songbird Leela James are excited to announce that they will be co-headlining the “Savage x The Soul Tour.”   It makes a stop at The Pageant on Tuesday, November 21st. Visit HERE for event details on Facebook. The run kicked off November 13 in New York at the Playstation Theater and culminates on December 8 in San Francisco at the Historic BAL Theater. For more information fans can go to Tank’s (Click Here) and Leela James’ (Click Here) websites.

Leela James has had quite the busy year, having toured with Maxwell, Ledisi, and Daley in support of her sixth studio album Did It For Love (BMG/J&T), released in May of this year.  The album features the UAC chart-topping #1 single  ‘Don’t Want You Back’ as well as current top-15 single  Hard For Me and the powerful ballad  All Over Again.  In addition to releasing new music this year, Leela also welcomed a new baby and survived Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas. In early September, Leela assisted in gathering artists for a benefit concert to help victims affected by the storm.

Fresh off his 14-city “SAVAGE Tour,” Tank has finally unleashed his new album SAVAGE with much excitement from his fans. The 11-track LP features appearances by Candice BoydJ. ValentineLudacris, and labelmate Trey Songz as well as production from Da InternzHarmony Samuels, and Cardiak. Like the name, the lead single “When We” has aggressively moved its way up the UAC radio and Billboard R&B charts from being the #1 most added song three weeks in a row to now coming in at #5 with over 1.3 million streams. In addition, the accompanying video for “When We” (click here to view) had the internet on their toes.  Tank also released singles “Savage,” “F It Up” and “Sexy.”  Savage is currently available in stores and all digital retailers.

#LivinThing 7 Inch Release w/ #Substance #SpellBreaker #Undone @ #BlackSheepCafe Sun. 11/19 #SpringfieldIL

The band Livin' Thing recently debuted "The Godhead Hates Him" on New Noise Magazine. The vinyl is being released by Rat King Records and the album release show happens in Sunday, November 19th starting at 7:00 pm at the Black Sheep Cafe in Springfield, IL. Both the group and the label are Springfield, Illinois based. This is primarily a punk-oriented show from acts around the area, plus one from Texas which is Substance. Spell Breaker is also releasing a new physical release that night. Undone is a fairly new band. There just happened to be a video of them online to watch. Visit the event details on Facebook HERE. Below are links to check out the artists online:

- Livin' Thing: (Pre-Order)

http://store.ratkingrecords.com/product/livin-thing-the-godhead-e-p

* Stream/Purchase Livin' Thing:

https://ratkingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-godhead-e-p

https://ratkingrecords.bandcamp.com/album/its-a-livin-thing

- Spell Breaker:

https://www.facebook.com/spellbreakerspringfield/

- Substance: (TX)

https://substancetx.bandcamp.com/

- Undone:

https://youtu.be/p8wAftS2Ytk

Brand New Abyss: @thebl0w (Brooklyn, NY) Tues. 11/21 @BlueberryHillMO @DuckRoom

Brooklyn, New York's The Blow will be in town on Tuesday, November 21st at the Blueberry Hill's Duck Room with it's supercharged brand of electro-pop. The doors open at 7:00 pm, the show goes from 8:00 pm to 11:30 pm. This is an aa-ages show, minors will incur a $2.00 surcharge. For more details visit the event details on Facebook HERE. This show is presented by Pagan Productions.
Their new album  "Brand New Abyss" is now available.

Buy it: http://smarturl.it/BrandNewAbyss
Stream it: http://bit.ly/BrandNewAbyss
Get it physical: https://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/theblow

The Blow shares new track/video via BUST, shares full details of upcoming tour w/ EMA

STREAM: "The Woman You Want Her To Be" -
YouTube / BUST

The Blow recently announced its new album, Brand New Abyss, with a Pledge Music campaign and today shares the third track from it, "The Woman You Want Her To Be," via BUST. ICYMI, check out the previous two singles, a re-working of "Greatest Love of All" via NYLON and "Get Up" via NPR's All Songs Considered. The album's out Sept. 22 and the band will also tour this Fall on a co-headlining run with kindred spirit EMA (see full dates & openers below) which they have dubbed the POWER CONVERGENCE TOUR. The Pledge Music campaign has some pretty unique premiums, such as a Blow beach towel set, a Gold Lamé Crystal Stereo Pair and a "vibe chain" worn by Melissa during the making of the album (see a full list of premiums, including turquoise vinyl, here).

About the Album:
The Blow’s new album, Brand New Abyss, is a lightning rod. A wild assembly of frequencies produced out of a thrust of electroacoustic punk energy, the album is a search for a new sound of rebellion in an environment where the aesthetic of punk has been commodified into submission along with most everything else. Brand New Abyss was written and produced by The Blow (Melissa Dyne and Khaela Maricich) using a production rig that the duo painstakingly developed over the past four years; a mothership of patched-together modular synthesizers, ancient samplers and audio production gear.

Like wizards in a craggy laboratory, they worked in seclusion, teaching themselves to control the raw material of sound using basic elements of electronic synthesis. Their aim was to be able to channel frequency into new shapes that would be useful to them, like tools to break through the algorithmic limits they were growing bored of. Says Dyne, “After having worked heavily with a samples in the past we got to a place where we wanted to treat electronic sound more acoustically, like something more alive. We wanted to make waves that we could ride and play around in- newer waves.”

Brand New Abyss was produced in response to, and in spite of, a series of atmospheric upheavals. Early in the composing process two large scale construction sites sprang up outside the windows of the band’s downtown Brooklyn apartment, like dueling high-volume hell-mouths, to which the duo responded at times by joining the noise battle and blasting out their own new beats, and other times by packing up their rig and reinstalling it elsewhere. They often found themselves working in odd locations, like off season vacation towns and 80’s timeshare condominium colonies, and the songs on the album reflect these environmental contrasts, spanning from intense rap bangers to open-hearted crystalline confessionals.

Working from remote locations, wherever space to work was available, was disorienting; isolated from community and not seeing themselves reflected in their surroundings, the band had to ritually reestablish a sense of who they were and what was the point. In each new place they rearranged the furniture and then rearranged the air, making spheres of sound to surround themselves like halos of protection, providing them themselves a feeling of home and a radiating purpose wherever they went.

When the greater atmosphere dramatically shifted last year The Blow was strangely prepared, already living inside a portable vibe sphere, having practiced for years the art of alchemically transforming gnarly feelings into something nicer. The new single “Get Up,” was similarly prescient. Begun in Brooklyn as a parking lot was being demolished out the band’s windows, the song took on an extra charge in recent months.

Maricich says of the song, “‘Get Up’ started with a crazy sound that Melissa made on the modular synth, and the chorus just popped out of my mouth like something I’d been needing to be able to say for a long time without knowing it. It was like how you write a love song so easily when your heart is being crushed- with this it’s the feeling of my whole spirit being crushed by extreme capitalism, like everything I used to love got demolished and replaced by a glossy new bank. Then in recent months it was like, yeah, having an intense rap about how it’s all just too much right now feels pretty right.”

The songs on Brand New Abyss were for the most part tracked in The Blow’s downtown Brooklyn apartment, next to the construction sites, in the early months of 2017. All songs were written, performed and produced by The Blow, and engineered and mixed by Melissa Dyne. To cheer themselves along in the process of producing the album, the duo created the project WOMANPRODUCER, a multi-platform archive highlighting the history and present of female and gender nonconforming sonic innovators (hosted at womanproducer.com and @womanproducer everywhere else). Last fall they held a series of performances and talks in New York City bringing together producers from across a broad range of genres and eras, with the participants Zola Jesus, Neko Case, Pauline Oliveros, Suzi Analogue and Deradoorian, among many others. The Blow composed Brand New Abyss as a companion to their 2013 release The Blow, which was featured on both of the New York Times’ Best Songs of 2013 lists, as well as selected as a top album of the year by Bob Boilen of NPR’s All Songs Considered. They will be co-headling an extensive US tour this fall with fellow new style punk EMA. ​
 
The Blow
Brand New Abyss
(Self Released)
Street Date: Sept. 22, 2017
Pre-order Here

Track List:

1. Peaceful Easy Feeling
2. Dark Cold Magic
3. So There
4. Greatest Love of All
5. The Woman You Want Her To Be
6. Get Up
7. Think About Me
8. Summer

THE BLOW LINKS:
Twitter
Facebook
Instagram
Official Site

Decade Of Decadence: #AnnieAndTheFurTrappers @TheThaxtonSTL 10th Anniversary Sat. 11/18

The Thaxton Speakeasy is celebrating a decade of decadence as downtown's modern day throwback to the times of the prohibition. Joining in on the party is the increasingly popular dixieland, traditional jazz and blues artist Annie And The Fur Trappers from St. Louis. Join them on the 10th Anniversary celebration of this unique venue on Saturday, November 18th. Visit HERE for the event details on Facebook. The music starts at 9:00 pm and this is a 21 and up show. Visit the artist online:

https://www.facebook.com/annieandthefurtrappers/

https://annieandthefurtrappers.bandcamp.com/

Monday, November 13, 2017

Kids These Days: @ChrisMilam (TN) @KarenChoiMusic (STL) Fri. 11/17@StLEvangelines

The "Kids These Days" tour rolls into town this Friday, November 17th featuring singer/songwriter Chris Milam (Memphis, TN) at Evangeline's Bistro & Music House. St. Louis' Karen Choi will be performing some Americana music, as well. You can catch Chris from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm and Karen plays at 8:30 pm until 9:00 pm. Visit HERE for event details on Facebook. Continue on below for more about the artists.

- Chris Milam:

http://www.chrismilam.com

https://www.facebook.com/ChrisMilamMusic/

"Invites--and earns--the Paul Simon comparisons." --American Songwriter

- Karen Choi:

http://karenchoimusic.com

https://facebook.com/karenchoimusic

https://karenchoimusic.bandcamp.com/album/through-our-veins

* About the artists:

Chris Milam had a bad year.  

Following a broken engagement, Milam lost everything but what he could fit in his car.  Then, while on tour, that car—and everything in it—was stolen.  Milam found himself with only a bag of clothes and a stack of questions: what happens when your plans fail?  Where do you go when your future disappears?  

Chris Milam went to the studio with a dozen new songs that tackle these questions and define his sound. He emerges after months of recording with an eagerly-anticipated new album: Kids These Days (released April 7 on Namesake Records).

For the project, Milam teamed up with Memphis producer Toby Vest [High/Low Recording, Memphis TN].  To fund the recording, Milam spent a year without a home–couch-surfing, pet-sitting, troubadouring—saving for studio time rather than rent.  He called in Memphis musicians Greg Faison (drums), Pete Matthews (bass), Luke White (guitar), Jana Misener (cello) Krista Wroten (violin), and Vest (keys, effects) to illustrate the tension, loneliness, and loss in each song. 

We wanted the record to feel atmospheric, dynamic, and unpredictable,” Milam says.  “It was important to me that these songs were built around live takes.  Memphis musicians have a way of filling a song with life—beautiful, weird life.”

On March 3, Milam released the album’s first single, title track “Kids These Days.” It introduces the darker sounds and carefully-layered arrangements found throughout the album. These sounds evolved in the studio, but started with an atmospheric vocal, shimmering guitar, haunting strings, and a driving drumbeat.

Toby and I talked about combining elements of folk and classical with elements of rock and even hip hop.  On one hand: there are ethereal strings and bright guitar tones.  Then underneath: this cold, ominous backbeat.”

Milam’s gift for melody and lyricism revisits earlier comparisons to Simon & Garfunkel (Bookends).  But this album also evokes richly-orchestrated works by R.E.M. (Automatic for the People) and Chris Bell (I Am the Cosmos).  Reflecting the songs themselves, Milam’s voice has matured: plaintive vibratos shift in a flash to a shout, growl, or croon.

From its first moment, the single typifies an album full of inflection points, exploring the ways in which Kids These Days aren’t kids any more.  The LP tells a story of heartache and recovery while each song examines a different answer to an underlying question: “what now”?

Kids These Days,” “Autumn,” and “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know” form a breakup trilogy: the moment before, the breaking point, and the chaos that follows.  The buoyant pop of “Half Life” fades, enacting love’s diminishing returns.  Other tracks seek answers in addiction (“New Drug,” “Coldweather Girls”), escape and celebrity (“Hey, Hollywood”), and nostalgia (“When I Was Young”).  Spirituality takes the form of a supplicant’s cry for help (“Prayer #4). In “All Of Our Ghosts,” all roads lead back to a harsh reality and uncertain future.  A final moment of hard-won optimism (“The Sun Isn’t Up”) precedes a fitting epilogue.  Ultimately, the album ends where Milam’s journey began: with questions.

“I’ve read about my generation growing up for a long time.  But we’re here—we’re in our twenties and thirties.  And I know a lot of folks who, despite hard work and good intentions, aren’t where they thought they’d be.  Maybe they’re even starting over.  I hope that, by telling my story, other people see theirs in it.”

For Chris Milam, Kids These Days isn’t a break-up record; it’s a break from record.  The loss of a defining relationship carried with it the loss of youth.  And it’s a break from that path, and that youth, that this record truly mourns.

Stream the album now:

https://open.spotify.com/album/3UAdoH14chmV0usqwqSkoQ

Karen Choi is a singer/songwriter living in the American midwest. Karen’s sophomore album “Through Our Veins” is rooted in the Americana tradition and shaped by the places and people she has met along the way. This new collection of songs explores common human experience from a rich lyrical perspective and with soulful vocal clarity. Karen was born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska. She first picked up her dad’s old Martin guitar when she was 13. Since then, songwriting became a means of storytelling for Karen and an artistic channel for expressing the realities of every day life. Karen currently resides in St Louis with her husband and three sons.

Listen to Karen’s newest album, Through Our Veins, in its entirety:

https://karenchoimusic.bandcamp.com/album/through-our-veins

Free Show: @WhoaThunder Live Fri. 11/17 @VintageVinylSTL

The Southside power-pop band Whoa Thunder will be performing live this Friday, November 17th at Vintage Vinyl in conjunction with their recently released album "The Depths Of The Deep End". They have been getting some good press too. The latest was a video premiere on St. Louis Magazine and Episode 2 of Mound City Mixtape. Just prior to these was a Riverfront Times article on them. KDHX has also been spinning their music routinely.

So, this Friday from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm people of all ages are welcome to this free show. If you are 21 or older you also can partake in some free Schlafly beer too. Visit HERE for event details on Facebook.

Whoa Thunder:

https://www.facebook.com/WhoaThunder/

https://whoathunder.bandcamp.com/album/the-depths-of-the-deep-end