Magnet Magazine
Hailing from San Antonio is Hacienda, a family four-piece that blends rock with a healthy dose of Southwestern honky tonk. The Villanueva brothers and their cousin came together as a band in 2004 and have recently released sophomore album Big Red & Barbacoa (Alive). Here’s the video for first single “Younger Days.”
Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? Here are tonight’s notable performers:
The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS): Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard is supporting newest album I Am What I Am.
The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC): Norah Jones
Norah Jones promotes new album The Fall as well as forthcoming LP …Featuring, a collection of duets spanning her entire career.
Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (NBC): Black Mountain
Vancouver’s Black Mountain is supporting forthcoming album Wilderness Heart, which is due to drop September 14.
Last Call With Carson Daly (NBC): Surfer Blood
Rerun from May 13. Surfer Blood performed “Floating Vibes” from debut album Astro Coast.
In the ’90s, most indie rockers were white males who cultivated a cool, detached image. New York-based Versus stood out from its contemporaries for many reasons. Its lineup included two (and sometimes three) Filipino-American brothers, it had a female bassist/singer, and the band gleefully professed its love for sports, meat and classic rock. After several albums and lineup changes continuing through 2001, the group went on a recording hiatus, only occasionally performing live. However, a reinvigorated Versus returned two years ago, and the band has just released On The Ones And Threes (Merge), its first full-length in a decade. Now consisting of singer/guitarist Richard Baluyut, drummer Edward Baluyut, bassist/singer Fontaine Toups, plus live violinist/keyboardist Margaret White, Versus picks up where it left off sonically: hypnotic melodies, male/female vocals and the occasional heavy guitar squall. The band members will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our Q&A with them.
Richard: Working nights (or preferably not working at all) equals having to navigate a minefield of TV schlock. Teletubbies will twist your mind in time. The View is like the Kraken; at some point you’ll have to get past it. Cooking shows are false friends. But if you survive, you get an hour (or two!) of serenity and bliss. Judge Judy. Judge Mills Lane was my favorite. Judge Joe Brown because he was so cranky. Judge Hatchett. Judge Mathis. Texas Justice. Wise owl Tyra Banks noted that an Emmy was created for the genre due to its popularity, so there!
Video after the jump.
On fourth LP I See The Sign, Sam Amidon once again showcases an educated appreciation of older, less popular styles of music, except this time he’s literally re-interpreting “age-old secular ballads, gospel, folk songs and hymns.” The album pulls from the obscure children’s singing-game songs of Bessie Jones to R. Kelly’s “Relief, which we covered in April, and features collaborations with Beth Orton, Nico Muhly, Ben Frost, Shahzad Ismaily and producer Valgeir Sigurðsson. “Kedron” finds Amidon singing hymn-like about the death of Christ over picked acoustic guitar and plaintive orchestration from Muhly. It’s a brief, but undoubtedly beautiful song, one that marks one of the most inventive record concepts in recent memory. I See The Sign is out now on Bedroom Community.
“Kedron” (download):
https://magnetmagazine.com/audio/Kedron.mp3
To celebrate today’s crop of releases, here are new mp3s from Carl Broemel, Clean Equations, the Clientele, Alan Cohen Experience, Film School, Jenny & Johnny, Alain Johannes and Sonny And The Sunsets. Also, vote for your favorite of today’s new releases.