TA Live! Ticket Alternative Blog

Leila's Three Picks of the Week

We skipped a couple of weeks on this feature due to happy summer holidays, but we're back on track now and ready to give you some great bands making some great music.

Y-O-U - a band of many faces in our Atlanta hometown, their original music comes in the form of Y-O-U, a glorious celebration of all that is good in rock and pop. We'll be reviewing their latest run of sharp, smart songs as well as chatting with the band's head honcho Nick Niespodziani on Atlanta Music Guide soon ahead of the CD Release Party. The band plays Smith's Olde Bar on July 25 to celebrate the EP's release, and tickets are at Ticket Alternative.

Soulsavers - with Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan, this British production duo manages to make some seriously moving dark, gothic pieces. They're about to set out on tour, playing DC's Rock and Roll Hotel on September 21. Tickets are available on Ticket Alternative.

The Noisettes - moving from "soulful pop" to "electro-dance music," this UK gem epitomises catchy and versatile. They play Rock and Roll Hotel on August 12. Tickets are at Ticket Alternative. Check out their video for the infectious "Don't Upset The Rhythm" below and read their full review here.

CD Review: Destroyer -- Trouble in Dreams

Destroyer
Trouble in Dreams
Merge Records

By Micah McLain

Dan Bejar makes unique music - whether it be flawless indie rock as a part of the New Pornographers, challenging avant-garde pieces with Swan Lake or laid-back orchestral pop under the cover of Destroyer. Trouble in Dreams, Destroyer's eighth release on the Merge imprint, picks up right where his previous effort (2006's excellent Destroyer's Rubies) left off. The songs are built up through the use of acoustic guitar with the gradual addition of keys, percussion and electric guitar.

Trouble in Dreams is more of a "studio" album than Bejar usually makes under the Destroyer moniker, as it takes on a much dreamier, layered sound when compared to his earlier work. Bejar continues to employ his impressively lazy drawl, making it sound as if he's simply wandering through the songs draping his lyrics over the sparse drum beats and atmospherics.

CD Review: T Bird and the Breaks -- Learn About It

T Bird and the Breaks
Learn About It

By Al Kaufman

T Bird and the Breaks bring the funk. They bring the soul. The bring the horns, the soul, the swagger, the sweat and everything else that comes with being a 10-piece soul/funk ensemble.

While critics have been drooling over themselves trying to come up with comparisons for Black Joe Lewis to James Brown, Austin bands have been performing the horn-drenched soul/funk thing for years, and T Bird and company are just the latest incarnation. However, after just a year in existence, they have already garnered wide attention in the Live Music Capital of the World, including during their riveting SXSW showcase.  

CD Review: Wilco -- Wilco (The Album)

Wilco

Wilco (The Album)

Nonesuch Records

By Eileen Tilson

Perhaps it’s the fact that there is a camel named Alfred on their latest album appropriately titled, WIlco (The Album), that gives the indication that after 15 years of migraines, drugs, band fights, anxiety and depression, Wilco has finally decided it is time to lighten up. After years of Woe is Me Wilco, Jeff Tweedy has come out with an album that wants to have some fun. This is the seventh album from the band, and rose quickly to their third top 10 album in the U.S. pop charts.

CD Review: Company of Thieves -- Ordinary Riches

Company of Thieves
Ordinary Riches
Wind Up Records

By Eileen Tilson

Oscar Wilde was one of the greatest celebrities of his time. He ran with the upper circles, hobnobbing with the rich through his status of famed playwright. He had an uncanny ability to remain in-tune with his culture and upper-class society, and yet made fun of them in his work. He famously reflected that “Ordinary riches can be stolen, real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.”

His words resonated deeply with Chicago-based trio Company of Thieves, whose debut album Ordinary Riches was not only based upon, but their first single, “Oscar Wilde,” is directly dedicated. The band's driving force is to create songs that give a cinematic view of a world full of turmoil, all while trying to reveal the deeper truths. And yet, it is singer Genevieve Schatz’s voice that grabs your attention. “We’re influenced by a lot of different artists,” Schatz adds. “Everything from jazz and Motown to Billie Holiday and The Beatles. Seeing how they expressed themselves helped us to figure out another way to express ourselves in music.”

CD Review: The Noisettes – Wild Young Hearts

The Noisettes

Wild Young Hearts

Mercury

By Chris Homer

With their second album and debut for Mercury Records, The Noisettes continue their unique blend of soulful pop and electro-dance music. Judging from the five song press sampler of Wild Young Hearts alone, it is easy to see the UK trio’s versatility.

Vocalist Shingai Shoniwa has a powerful voice that brings to mind the style of Atlanta’s own Janelle Monae. She uses it with great success on “Never Forget You,” where swooning orchestral lines mix beautifully with a simmering bass part. The overall effect of the song is like being transported back to the 1960s at the height of soul and R&B. However, The Noisettes aren’t merely imitating this sound, the band still sounds believable when compared to other artists of the past era.

Cobra Starship @ Rock and Roll Hotel in Washington, DC, August 26 - On Sale Wednesday, July 8 at Noon!

Known for their previous associations with Pete Wentz and currently for having Leighton Meester feature on their latest track "Good Girls Go Bad," Cobra Starship have been making waves with some pretty famous friends. But they're keeping their fans of their own accord, with some killer songs grabbing the attention - and keeping it - of many.

The band plays Rock and Roll Hotel in Washington, DC with Friday Night Boys, The Plasticines and DJ Skeet on August 26. Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, July 8 at Ticket Alternative.

CD Review: Drew Smith -- Drew Smith's Lonely Choir

Drew Smith
Drew Smith's Lonely Choir
Fat Caddy Records

By Al Kaufman

Austinite Drew Smith is everything that's right with CDs, both musically and aesthetically. For the visual sense, this is a gorgeous CD. Dave Schwab's intricate pen and ink drawings are whimsical, and the artistry on the liner notes is brilliant. This is a wonderfully packaged CD.

What is so amazing is that the music is just as great. Andrew Smith is a gifted songwriter who wears his influences on his sleeve. In case you wondered who they are, he opens the CD with the bouncy piano tune, "Nilsson Sings Newman," about a loserish guy who thinks his life will get a little better if he can convince his girlfriend to listen to Harry's album of Randy's songs.

CD Review: Yourself and the Air -- Friend of all Breeds EP

Yourself and the Air

Friend of all Breeds EP

Hands Organic

By Samantha Parvin

If “indie” has come to describe a particular style of music, Yourself and the Air are the poster children for the genre. The Friend of all Breeds five-song EP is polished and well-rehearsed; it makes sense, which is less easy to find these days than one may think. The milieu of sounds created by sturdy drums, rhythm and lead guitars, and precise vocals painted with semi-heavy effects is satisfying and lacks little. “So You’ve Come to Mingle” features a glockenspiel and “Less is Less” has a triangle, which adds a magical, ultra-pop dynamic. 

Soulsavers Feat. Mark Lanegan @ Rock and Roll Hotel, Washington, DC, September 21

You might not have heard of Soulsavers, the English remix/production duo of Rich Machin and Ian Glover, but you have probably heard of the musicians associated with them. Most notable and closely related to the band is Mark Lanegan, who has been a stalwart of indie music for decades, from his first band Screaming Trees, to being heavily involved with Queens of the Stone Age and leading The Gutter Twins. He'll be taking the lead vocals of the band's upcoming record, Broken, to be released August 10 as well as touring with them to this date.

Other notables who are involved with the new project include Mike Patton (Faith No More), Jason Pierce (Spiritualized), Richard Hawley and Gibby Haynes (Butthole Surfers). Phew! With guys like that lining up to take part in the album, the live show is bound to be impressive. Tickets are available now through Ticket Alternative.

CANCELED: Tyler Hilton @ The Revolution Music Room in Litte Rock, AR, July 21

Tyler Hilton's July 21 show at the Revolution Music Room in Little Rock has been canceled. Tickets have been refunded. No word on whether or not there will be a rescheduled performance.

CD Review: Lord Cut-Glass -- Lord Cut-Glass

Lord Cut-Glass

Lord Cut-Glass

Chemikal Underground

By Julia Reidy

Ex-Delgado Alun Woodward’s lilting Scottish accent wraps itself around the haunting, intricate instrumental arrangements in his songs. His debut LP under the moniker Lord Cut-Glass — named for a character in the radio play Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas — turns seamlessly from folk to waltz to military march to a ditty about being the “product of the modern man.” Each song is a fleshed-out stand-alone composition, a full story and an entire piece of music in its own right. Listening to Lord Cut-Glass as an album feels like being at the theater; one can almost feel the velvet of the curtains and the see the glow of the stage lights.

Maybe it’s because most of the phrasing seems directly derivative of theatrical song composition in the best way. Woodward plays with tempo and volume in a manner that creates interest and tension, helped in his efforts by drummer Paul Savage (also formerly of The Delgados), as well as a large collection of Glasgow classical musicians. Together, they man a toy piano, a full horn section, an accordion and slews of sweeping strings; they supply choral backup singing to supplement Woodward’s fast-picked acoustic guitar and produce his bizarre mental collages.

CD Review: Regina Spektor -- Far

Regina Spektor
Far
Sire

By Al Kaufman

Regina Spektor is a poet. As such, she has license to be nonsensical and downright weird if she so desires. She can talk about making a "computer out of macaroni pieces," or boldly state that "blue is the most human color." But she can also utilize beautiful metaphor. When she says, "It's like forgetting the words to your favorite song," like she does on "Eet," she creates an extremely relatable line. But Spektor continues to delve into the subject deeper and deeper, making it feel more and more personal.

DVD Review: Farmer Jason -- It's a . . . Farmer Jason!

Farmer Jason
It's a . . . Farmer Jason!
Kid Rhino

By Al Kaufman

“Kid’s music” is always a term that makes parents cringe. Incessant blips and beeps interacting with tinny music, high pitched voices and simplistic feel-good rhymes are enough to make any adult rethink parenthood. But lately, rock and rollers have entered the kid’s genre and made it not only tolerable, but downright pleasant for parents. People like Dan Zanes, They Might Be Giants and Asylum Street Spankers have saved many a parent from reaching for that bottle of Valium.

Add Jason Ringenberg’s name to the list. Ringenberg was the frontman for the groundbreaking country-punk band, Jason and the Scorchers. The story goes that he wanted to make something for his two little daughters to remember him by when he was on the road. Since his family lives on a farm in Tennessee, he created the Farmer Jason moniker. He released A Day at the Farm with Farmer Jason for fun and never thought it would be his biggest selling disc. He followed that with Rockin’ in the Forest with Farmer Jason and an Emmy Award winning Nashville Public Television Show, It’s a Farmer Jason.

CD Review: Phoenix -- Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

Phoenix
Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Glass Note Records

By Eileen Tilson

When most people visit Paris, they are overwhelmed by how incredibly beautiful and luminescent the “City of Lights” is; the city literally glows, and at night can be a spectacular sight. Ironically, most of these tourists do not realize that underneath Paris lies an entire city of darkness. The Catacombs of Paris house the bones of over six million Parisians, creating a labyrinth of skulls in these old underground quarries. The catacombs are a burial site, illegal party spot, graffiti museum, and unusual respite from the city rolled into one. Not many people realize the great antithesis that is Paris: on the surface bright and romantic, and deep down cryptic and layered. 

Parisian four-piece Phoenix captures this dichotomy in their latest album, Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. This is the fourth album for the Frenchmen, and is their most creatively complex release yet. Rumor has it that music industry legend Daniel Glass heard the band, and the next morning hopped on a plane to Paris, refusing to leave until they signed with him on Glass Note Records. The record is fast and immediate, making you feel like you are in a secret underground Parisian all night dance party that you never want to leave.