Polica

Poliça is the newbie with perhaps the most buzz — thanks not only to support from Twin Cities Non-Comm station The Current, but also thanks to a few shout outs from Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

It’s good to have friends in high places. Keep up your stamina, because the band will close things out Friday night with a set that starts at 12:05 a.m.

JD McPherson

JD McPherson traveled from his hometown of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to an all-analog studio in Chicago to record a throwback rock and roll album that sounds like it came directly from Memphis’ Sun Studios.

The first single, North Side Gal, is killer. And the Killer would agree. Thursday night upstairs.

While Rebecca Ferguson was schooled in music, a career in the field seemed remote after the birth of her second child.

Rebecca Ferguson

But a somewhat shaky audition on the U.K.’s X-Factor was deemed just good enough to bring her back. Subsequent performances solidified, and Ferguson ultimately placed second in the competition.

She wrote every song on Heaven, which debuted overseas last fall, and comes out May 29 domestically. She performs Friday Evening upstairs. Update: Rebecca Ferguson has canceled. She will be replaced on the schedule by Megan Reilly.

Strong buzz precedes Dry the River as they come to the NON-COMMvention in support of their debut album Shallow Bed.

Dry the River

Formed in 2009, the band started building that buzz by releasing low-fi videos that were passed and linked around the web. The BBC took notice of the band’s early EPs.

They then headed stateside to record with Peter Katis, the producer who’s indie rock credentials include The National and Interpol. Get back from dinner in time for their 8pm set on Friday.

Sons of Fathers

David Beck and Paul Cauthen lead Sons of Fathers, a band reviewers liken to The Byrds, The Eagles, The Everly Brothers, and Crosby Stills and Nash.

Okay, we get it — harmonies. But the comparisons end there.

The Austin Texas duo will be part of the Saturday event in Penn Park.

With a smokey voice and inspired delivery, Rebecca Ferguson gives an immediate nod to the greats that she admires — soul greats like Sam Cooke and Ray Charles; and newcomers like Florence and the Machine and labelmate Adele.

The Liverpool native’s road to the making of her debut album was an unlikely one. She had vocal training as a teen, and went on to performing arts college. But by the age of 19 she was the mother of two, and the musical career took a back seat to an apparently more realistic path as a legal secretary.

She then took another shot – a long shot – by auditioning for the British television show The X Factor. A self-conscious performance (she looked at the floor while singing) was just good enough to be asked back.

Ultimately, she lasted 10 weeks and become runner-up to the winner.

Her debut album Heaven is led in the U.S. by the single Nothing’s Real But Love, of which she says,

“People used to say to me ‘Being rich doesn’t make you happy.’ And I’d think, I’ve got no electricity, nothing—tell that to my empty fridge. But now I’m doing okay, I realize, they were right. It doesn’t matter what you’ve got, as long as you’ve got love. I know that sounds cheesy, but that’s everything.”

Rebecca is currently in the States and will play the 12th Annual NON-COMMvention May 18.

Watch the video for Nothing’ Real But Love…

Justin Townes Earle says that album number five, Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, is his most personal.

The son of Steve Earle started off the promotion for his last album, Harlem River Blues, in unfortunate fashion by getting arrested for a post-performance fight with a club promoter.  It wasn’t the first time Earle has found trouble, famously struggling with drugs since the age of twelve.

The good news is, the episodes are increasingly rare.

He finished up Harlem strong, nabbing song of the year honors for the title track at the Americana Music Awards. He immediately headed back into the studio to work on Nothing’s Gonna Change…

On writing, Earle told Australia’s Rolling Stone, “I’ve always been a very cocktail napkin kind of writer. I write in hotel rooms and airports and truck stops — end up with little pads full of shorthand that nobody can decipher if they wanted to.”

Get more of a feel for the making of the new album in this trailer…

And here’s the title track from Harlem River Blues as performed at last year’s NON-COMMvention…

Earle plays dates in Iowa and Illinois this weekend before heading to Australia. Details on his site.

Purple-panted Yuna performing at S.O.B.'s in NYC

Things are looking up for the 25-year old Yunalis Zarai.

The multi-talented native of Malaysia has wrapped up her law studies and opened a clothing boutique.

Spotted outside New York’s Lincoln Center by fashion site Refinery29 , they gushed about her amazing look.

We agree. If all else fails, Yuna could make a fortune in fashion and design.

And then there’s her music career. After a rise to Malaysian pop stardom with an indie EP, an award nomination from MTV Iggy (the global channel), and now play on MTV’s 120 Minutes, Yuna’s stateside debut with the Fader label is a self-titled effort, which arrives April 24.

Just something she threw together, as photographed by Refinery29

This was the first time Yuna had the full attention of producers, after producing, recording and releasing singles on her own in Malaysia — something in our interview she sheepishly, and incorrectly, called “amateurish.”

For the debut album, she set up shop in Los Angeles and ultimately found herself lucky enough to collaborate with Pharrell Williams (The Neptunes, N.E.R.D.) for a song that would become the lead single, Live Your Life.

We caught up with Yuna after a performance at Manhattan’s S.O.B.’s and talked with her about her fast-rising career, working with Pharrell, and her impressions as a Muslim artist working in the United States.

Check out our exclusive videos from the evening…

Here’s a performance clip of a song called Decorate from S.O.B.’s in Manhattan…

And another for a song called Island…

And finally, the official clip for the Pharrell-produced Live Your Life…

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band earlier this week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

As the Wrecking Ball listening tour comes to a close, we’re honored to have been chosen to host the stream for We Are Alive, the song that closes out the album.

After being introduced to various characters throughout the first ten songs on the album, We Are Alive introduces us to past victims. To our ears, Bruce seems to be reminding us that many different times and in many different ways, we have been here before — that countless others have also been tripped up in their pursuit of the elusive American Dream.

Yet the ghosts tell us “We Are Alive” — we are not a nation of fatalists — and the Dream lives on. The song isn’t so much closure as it is a beginning…

The stream will be live for just 24 hours, going dark at 11:59 pm EST March 2.

However, fans will be able to stream the entire album starting Monday, March 5 at 12:01 am EST until Tuesday, March 6 at 11:59 pm EST at BruceSpringsteen.net.

The album is released Tuesday, March 6.

And while we’re at it, if you missed the band’s appearance to kick off Bruce Springsteen week on Fallon, make sure you take a look. We’ve mentioned before that the sound quality on Fallon is possibly the best on television, and this performance is just another example.

We Take Care of Our Own

Wrecking Ball

Jason Schwartzman "Poolside Chattin" with Ben Kweller

Here’s the Reader’s Digest on Ben Kweller, if you don’t know the back story:

Born in SF but raised in Texas, Kweller starts a band with friends called Radish. Ben’s dad grew up with Nils Lofgren, so he gets a copy of the band’s indie releases. Lofgren loves it and passes it on. Suddenly, huge bidding war.

Radish releases one album and records a second that never gets released when their label, Mercury, gets caught up in the Polygram/Universal merger.

Meteoric brilliance and flame out – and he’s not even 19 years old.

After a few releases with ATO as a solo artist, he goes independent — and almost militantly so — by starting up his own Austin-based label, The Noise Co.

While he dropped limited edition, home-made recordings before, Kweller’s new CD, Go Fly a Kite, is the first big test of his fully DIY strategy.

Thus far, it seems to be working. The lead track, Jealous Girl, debuted in The Top 22 of the Public Radio Chart February 5. Even better, this past week, the disc debuted at #3 on the sales chart from the Coalition of Independent Music Stores.

Ben calls in a couple of favors from famous fans for an interview conducted by Jason Schwartzman and featuring Shawn White as Ben’s doppelgänger. With a “Between Two Ferns” vibe, here’s Poolside Chattin‘…

Kweller hits Japan and Australia over the next couple of weeks before returning to Hartford, March 20 to start a U.S. tour.

Feist: The Pantsuit Days

Nova Scotia’s Leslie Feist won the hearts of AAA with her second album Let it Die and the track Mushaboom.

But it was the homespun video for 1234 that broke her nationwide, thanks to Apple. As lo-fi as that clip was, the new mini-movie for The Bad in Each Other is at the other end of the spectrum.

With the new album having scanned more than 120,000 units and Bad having just debuted in the Public Radio Top 22, Feist appears set for a strong year. KBCO, WXRV, KCMP, and WFUV are just some of the stations on board.

Check out the clip, a performance for the excellent Black Cab Sessions, and tour dates below…

And here’s a performance from the UK’s Black Cab Sessions…

Feist from Black Cab Sessions on Vimeo.

Feist has announced the first leg of her upcoming tour…

April 14th Indio, CA @ Coachella
April 21st Indio, CA @ Coachella
April 22nd Phoenix, AZ @ Orpheum Theatre
April 26th Austin, TX @ Stubb’s: Outdoors
April 28th New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival
April 30th Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room @ Old National Centre
May 1st Nashville, TN @ The Ryman Auditorium
May 2nd Asheville, NC @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
May 3rd Raleigh, NC @ Memorial Auditorium
May 5th New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
May 7th Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
May 8th Philadelphia, PA @ Academy Of Music
May 9th Washington, DC @ The Strathmore
May 11th Burlington, VT @ The Flynn Theater

What to do if you’re Ingrid Michaelson.

The super-clever-funny girl that the AAA and Hot AC radio formats have come to know and love seems at a crossroads.

Known for simple, often ukelele-driven pop songs with BIG hooks, Michaelson’s fanbase should be much bigger than the boutique that is adult rock.

Throw in the risk that, if she were to remain that ukelele playing prankster, she might well get lost among the growing crowd of sound-a-likes that has cropped up in her wake.

And heck, maybe as an artist she just wanted try something different — such as replacing a bit of clever with a bit of deeper. With Human Again, she may have been in no mood to make another version of the first four albums. And that’s laudable.

In hiring veteran producer David Kahne (Paul McCartney, Shawn Colvin, Regina Spektor, Lana Del Rey) over previous partner Dan Romer, the die was cast.

Unfortunately, Kahne did not seem to have a game plan beyond making sure it didn’t sound like an Ingrid Michaelson album. When compared to her light-tight-and-bright previous work, Human Again largely comes off as over-produced, with everything from bombastic electronic drum kits to an overabundance of strings that, at times, literally overpower Michaelson’s fantastic voice. At other times, such as on the track I’m Through, the strings and vocal reverb take her dangerously close to a Broadway show tunes production value.

Yet there are standouts. Among them is Ribbons, which finally gives us a taste of the clever that we’ve come to expect from Michaelson. The song is thisclose to perfection, but again Kahne can’t resist a soaring chorus that feels mismatched with the rest of the song.

Another strong track is the lead single at radio, Ghost. Ghost may take a few spins before the stealthy hooks emerge. But once they do, the song is hard to get out of your head.

Looking very forward to seeing Ingrid play these songs live. Her tour starts April 9 in Montreal.

Back in 2004, Cincinnati’s Heartless Bastards got a break from fellow Ohio rising star Patrick Carney from The Black Keys.

Carney delivered a demo tape of the Bastards to the folks at the Keys’ label Fat Possum Records. And off they went.

Now signed to Brooklyn’s Partisan Records, Heartless Bastards are about to release album #4 — called Arrow — produced by Spoon drummer Jim Eno at his home studio in Austin.

The first single, Parted Ways had a strong week at Public Radio this week, debuting in The Top 22.

Get a feel for the band as they perform Parted Ways for Austin blog Do512…

And here’s the studio version…

Heartless Bastards – Parted Ways

Ray Manzarek and guitarist Roy Rogers interviewed for our sister site TheBluesMobile.com

Legendary Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek has teamed with bluesman/producer Roy Rogers for a new CD called Translucent Blues.

Manzarek’s resume is well known, but less so is that of Rogers — a critics darling on the blues circuit as a singer, songwriter, and slide guitarist. Rogers also has a stellar reputation as a producer, having revived the career of John Lee Hooker with the album The Healer in 1989.

In our conversation, taped for our sister site TheBluesMobile.com, the two talked not only about the album, which features lyrical contributions from Jim Carroll and Warren Zevon, among others.

Ray also talked about how he came to the blues, as well as the two conversing about Doors guitarist Robby Krieger — and Robby’s surprising first songwriting contribution…

We had cameras rolling.

On Translucent Blues…

On Robby Krieger’s first songwriting contribution to the Doors…

A concept album that features just seven songs.

But they each take their time, in total clocking in at more than an hour. Songs that bring to life the Snowflake, the snowman (Misty), the yeti (Wild Man), and the story of snowed-in lovers (a duet with Elton John).

With the exception of the clever and humorous title track, 50 Words for Snow (#12 is “hunter’s dream”, #42 is “peDtah ‘ej chIS qo’”), the album is subdued and meditative, driven by piano and light percussion from Steve Gadd.

Listening over a Thanksgiving weekend in New York, where Indian Summer was putting up its last fight, it sounded so good.

Several times in the next 90 days, when we’re socked in by a Nor’easter, it will sound great.

The TV commercial featuring the hook for 50 Words…

And a animation segment for Wild Man…

Lana Del Rey sells some, um, music on French television show Le Grand Journal

The only question we have is how many hits Lana Del Rey will have.

So far she has one.

And it will take very adept management to not blow this. After all, the album is apparently not done yet — due in January.

It reminds us of an artist named Vanessa Carlton, who dropped a single called A Thousand Miles on radio and MTV when there literally was no album. The song was huge, an album was slapped together, and we essentially haven’t heard from her again.

Lana Del Rey is unquestionably talented, but her confusing look — she’s 25, but sometimes looks like a 15-year-old trying to look 25 — and her vocal gymnastics — sometimes breathy chanteuse, sometimes baby-talker, may bring haters.

Del Rey, a.k.a. Elizabeth Grant, from Lake Placid, New York, is being carefully packaged.

The viral hit Video Games was produced by veteran David Kahne, who started out with industry legend Howie Klein and San Francisco’s 415 Records (think Romeo Void). Kahne has since produced everyone from Tony Bennett to Linkin Park to Paul McCartney. So he’s unlikely to screw this up.

But when you see something like this, you can’t help but think she’s surrounded by myopic handlers. Let’s hope that’s not the case, and Lana develops for the long term. There’s something special here.

Del Rey is currently making the rounds on European television — hitting the best music shows — Jools Holland and the like.

But it was this performance from last Saturday, on a German show called Inas Nacht, that sold us…

Note to radio: Hit this song before it’s everywhere.

Raised in Fort Collins, schooled at the University of Colorado/Boulder, and now based in Nashville, singer songwriter Katie Herzig explores new territory on The Waking Sleep, her fourth CD.

Herzig thus far has done well on the music supervision circuit, having songs placed on episodes of Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, and HBO’s Bored to Death, among others.

Independent to this point, Herzig released The Waking Sleep with Downtown/Mercer Street Records, all part of a new approach that had her rethinking her sound and lyrical themes — less about relationships (although there are songs about those), and more about bigger issues facing the world.

“I was afraid that all I wanted to write about was global warming and the economy,” she says, “and I don’t really know how to write about those things. But I just needed to raise questions. I see all these things happening around me, what can I do about them?”

Katie Herzig's Post-It Dress

She can write and sing about them, for starters.

The first single, Free My Mind, is a polyrythmic dittie that does well to separate her from the pack of acoustic-guitar-wielding singer-songwriters.

And there’s a quirky video to match — a stop motion film directed by Shih-Ting Hung that features 300 of Q-Tips, two thousand Post-Its, three thousand glue dots, and other items from The Dollar Store.

Herzig has hit the road in support of the new album, with dates throughout the Midwest and East Coast through early December.

Get a better feel for what Katie is up to by checking out the video for Free My Mind, as well as a “Making Of” The Waking Sleep below.

Free My Mind

The Making of The Waking Sleep

Upcoming Tour Dates:

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Trombone Shorty rocked the Fox Theatre at FMQB's Triple A Conference

Troy Andrews (a.k.a. Trombone Shorty) mixes funk, blues, jazz and more — possibly just what you might expect from the music-schooled New Orleans native.

That sound, when it’s rocked up, puts Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue right alongside jam bands like the Dave Matthews Band in terms of party appeal.

The group played FMQB’s Triple A Radio Conference in advance of the release of For True, their second on Verve.

The star-studded album features Lenny Kravitz (Andrews played in Lenny’s band previously), Kid Rock, Ivan and Cyril Neville, Warren Haynes, and on the current single Do To Me, Jeff Beck.

We caught Trombone Shorty at the Fox in Boulder performing One Night Only, from the previous album Backatown. (We featured the clip on our sister-site TheBluesMobile.com.)

And here’s the official clip for the new track Do to Me…

The band hits Charlotte, Asheville, and Virginia Beach this week. Check dates here.

Hailing from a town about 45 minutes from Austin, it’s perhaps not surprising the musically rich area spawned yet another promising talent.

However, the spectrum of music and musicianship on her sophomore album, Follow Me Down, is only partially rooted in Texas. There’s a lot of Northeast and elsewhere in the mix as well.

Jarosz’ talent was recognized early on, earning her a Presidential Merit scholarship at the New England Conservatory of Music. So she packed up her mandolins, banjo and guitar, and headed for Boston.

For the new album, she teamed up with producer Gary Pacsoza, known for his work with Alison Krauss and Chris Thile (Nickel Creek).

You can hear those influences throughout Run Away- the current emphasis track.

Watch the new video here…

And here’s the trailer for the album where you can learn a bit more about Sarah…

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When Melissa Ferrick took the stage at FMQB’s Annual Triple A Radio Conference in Boulder this past August, she said she recognized faces from the last time she played the conference — almost 20 years prior.

She also thanked NYC’s indie label Mmpress (Rachael Sage, Seth Glier) for saving her from “indie hell.”

After leaving Atlantic after her first two albums, she moved on to indie W.A.R. – What Are Records, before releasing music mostly recorded live on her own label for the last ten years.

Still Right Here is her first studio album in five years, and features guest spots from Ani DiFranco and Kaki King.

Ferrick’s performances exhibit an infectious enthusiasm, some of it evident in these two live performance videos we captured in Boulder:

The title track, Still Right Here…

And another track from the new set, Seconds Like These…

As of this writing, Ferrick is working her way down the West Coast. Check dates in her website.