The Birthday Suit is a new Scottish quintet about to drop its first album, The Eleventh Hour, on November 11. (See what they did there?) The band is led by Rod Jones, vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for Idlewild, which has been on hiatus for the last year while its members focus on solo projects. Eleventh [...]
When singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata was growing up, she went to all-girls school that she says warped her into the relationship-obsessed woman she’s become, at least in the lyrics of her songs. She began singing with a funk-crazed dance band called Bumpus while she was in college studying theater. While touring and recording with Bumpus, she [...]
Kathryn Calder has the confidence of a well-seasoned musician, which is really no surprise as she spent years with Immaculate Machine and became a member of the New Pornographers before releasing solo music of her own. It’s even more apparent in her out-there video for “Who Are You?”; Calder has developed a terrific sound, not [...]
Ever wonder what will happen during the last five minutes of late-night TV talk shows? They let musicians onstage! Here are tonight’s notable performers: The Late Show With David Letterman (CBS): Foster The People L.A.’s Foster The People is supporting debut full-length Torches. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (NBC): The Original 7ven Funk band the Original [...]
When singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata was growing up, she went to all-girls school that she says warped her into the relationship-obsessed woman she’s become, at least in the lyrics of her songs. She began singing with a funk-crazed dance band called Bumpus while she was in college studying theater. While touring and recording with Bumpus, she [...]
There’s a winsome earnestness to Winfred E. Eye. The band, which has been playing shows for 13 years, is getting set to release its fifth studio album, Today Was Another Day. The quartet brings a bit of country, a bit of soul and a whole lot of heart to its music, and “Movin’ On” is [...]
The ever-prolific Craig Wedren is back to make MAGNET his second mix tape in honor of solo album Wand, which just came out on Nerveland Recordings. Never one to stay idle, Wedren created the record while in the midst of writing the score for the new David Wain/Judd Apatow film Wanderlust and the third season of [...]
When singer/songwriter Rachael Yamagata was growing up, she went to all-girls school that she says warped her into the relationship-obsessed woman she’s become, at least in the lyrics of her songs. She began singing with a funk-crazed dance band called Bumpus while she was in college studying theater. While touring and recording with Bumpus, she [...]
Grainy home-video footage let Okkervil River‘s “Your Past Life As A Blast” hit nostalgically close to the heart. The song, off I Am Very Far (Jagjaguwar), builds and builds over lo-fidelity shots of family vacations, swimming babies, laughing children, smiling relatives and all that is growing up. Will Sheff explains the lyrics “deal with a [...]
