Mirel Wagner – No Death

I stumbled upon the song “No Death” from Ethiopian born, Finland raised singer-songwriter named Mirel Wagner on urban arts blog Frontier Psychiatrist. I was immediately blown away and had to learn more about this woman with such a melodically charismatic voice singing in stark terms about a dead lover, as divergent as that sounds. And then I saw the video. Wow.

Turns out, Wagner was discovered by happenstance after an American journalist witnessed her [...]]]>

Mirel Wagner – No Death

I stumbled upon the song “No Death” from Ethiopian born, Finland raised singer-songwriter named Mirel Wagner on urban arts blog Frontier Psychiatrist. I was immediately blown away and had to learn more about this woman with such a melodically charismatic voice singing in stark terms about a dead lover, as divergent as that sounds. And then I saw the video. Wow.

Turns out, Wagner was discovered by happenstance after an American journalist witnessed her perform live at an open-mic night in Helsinki. So, without producing a demo or contacting any record labels, Wagner found herself sitting in a real recording studio. Over two days she recorded 12 songs straight, and nine of them can be found on her  self-titled debut, released in North America through Friendly Fire Recordings on March 27.

Wagner’s dark and minimal version of folk has a potency that is heavy and heartbreaking. Although her record is stylistically minimal, her impact is not—her gloomy voice truly resonates in your mind, and her spooky songwriting leaves you floored. The lyrics are particularly fragile, and paired up with her curiously alluring and powerful voice, her music almost feels like a trap.  She has created something that you rarely or never hear these days–the truth.

When I got the pleasure of speaking with the eccentric electronic duo from Muscle Shoals Alabama, Zion [...]]]> This is BoomBox. As blatant as the URL for their official website, BoomBox sits atop a mountain of inherent, nearly subconscious laws that govern the art of living without limits. It’s a seemingly ironic paradox based on the innate concept of music — nothing about this band is created with a blueprint, no sound is dependent on a trend. BoomBox is what it is.

When I got the pleasure of speaking with the eccentric electronic duo from Muscle Shoals Alabama, Zion Godchaux and Russ Randolph had no trouble informing me of that fact. While most bands are concerned with their relativity in indie culture or how their sound should/could/would be different, BoomBox does not give a fuck. And that’s fucking cool.

Come check out the boys this Thursday, February 16 at Trees in Deep Ellum with local dance pop group ishi. You’re guaranteed an exceptional time!

BoomBox – Me And My Baby

dfDubReport: The deep south like Louisiana and Alabama are primarily recognized for blues and country music. How does that atmosphere in your home state incubate electronica and funk? Is there a scene for that?

Zion Godchaux: Maybe on the surface level you wouldn’t think so, but the roots of soul music and a lot of the music that came out of here is funky by nature. It definitely is an influence on us. Even though you wouldn’t think of the area as a dance music capital, in a way it really is. It’s just the current music coming out of here may not be dance oriented. Back in the day the music was made that way — to make people groove and feel the funkiness of it. We’re definitely not strange or far from that.

DFDR: Who were the main leaders of that scene?

Russ Randolph: Specifically — we live in the Muscle Shoals area — The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, who recorded with everybody. They were a back up band behind Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, you know the staple singers. Those players created very funky thing that attracted a lot of swing. That is very much a part of Alabama’s musical history, that’s for sure. They had a signature sound that people all over the place wanted to be become a part of. It was an evolution from the blues thing, but what’s odd is it was a bunch of southern white boys playing a lot of this funky music. [The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section] kind of solidified that sound.

DFDR: The first time I saw you guys perform live at Trees, I was absolutely blown away. I went in stoked to hear my favorite song, but your set was a continual jam session with those songs just in the mix. Do you guys prefer to do that instead of playing studio tracks? How is the live experience calculated for you guys?

Randolph: We really don’t have plans. We definitely several tracks from our studio albums, but we’re not going to play exactly the same arrangement track, which begins in one place and ends in one place. A track will be blended with what came before it one the album, but not necessarily with the one that comes after it. They all become this stew of groove on any given night.

Godchaux: I would say probably a sixteenth of our music has been recorded. Realistically, the majority of our stuff is not on a record. We haven’t gotten around to recording any of that legitimately. It might sound like these disconnected jams, but no less of a completed thought than any of our studio that just hasn’t made it on a record. It ultimately gets weaved into a fabric. Not to say we’re not a jam band, we are very much improvising going from one place to the next.

DFDR: It was really cool! I left feeling like I had seen a whole new and different side of Boombox. Another thing I noticed at the live show was your physical style. Where is your wardrobe from? Who dresses you?

Godchaux: My mom … haha, no … To keep a long story short, somehow what we’re wearing is just a reflection of the music. It feels like it makes sense when we’re on stage. It feels weird to just wear street clothes or jeans and a T-shirt. I feel really out of place having that music come through.

DFDR: So you do wear normal street clothes?

Randolph: [Laughs] Yeah.

Godchaux: [Laughs] it’s so funny because we’ll walk out into the crowd before our set in normal clothes and [the people there] won’t even recognize us. The common idea is that’s just how we dress, but you wouldn’t catch me dead wearing that out in public. I’m not an expressionist by nature as far as paying bills, going around town and running errands. That’s just how we feel comfortable on stage. It’s a whole other thing.

DFDR: I love that you make it a whole production though. I know that I can go to a BoomBox show dresses like a neon clown and fit in.

Godchaux: That’s the whole idea! We’re very serious about our music, but at the same time we’re very serious about it being very not serious, as far as the atmosphere goes. We want the music to be really good, but for the listener when they come to a show we want them to feel free.

DFDR: Now Zion, it’s no secret who your parents are – the legendary Keith and Donna Jean Godchaux of the Grateful Dead. What kind of inspiration does Boombox take from the pinnacle of all jam bands?

Randolph: A lot!

Godchaux: Everything.

Randolph: it’s a huge part of who the band is, our band core mentality … we take a lot from those guys. Those guys blazed a trail that few other bands went down. Just looking at their history and all they’ve accomplished and musically they are probably our biggest influence.

Godchaux: The influence is undoubted, it’s in there and it’s a major influence, but, once again, we didn’t set out and go, “Okay, let’s have a band … we love the Grateful Dead and we think they’re where it’s at … let’s go and play like they did.” We didn’t say that about any music or style or genre for that matter. We didn’t want to imitate any of these cats that influenced us. It’s just that their influence is strong and deep, and when any of our influences did, but when we get on stage or pick up our instruments or go into the studio to work on a track, our perspective is really connected to them. It’s not a real conscious thing it’s just the way that we see things.

DFDR: Are there any things about BoomBox you guys actively decided you wanted out of the project?

Randolph: Zion and I never sat down and said “This is what we want to sound like.” We knew we were making beats, we knew we would be existing in the electronic world. Other than that, we are obviously influenced by house music — San Francisco house, Chicago house, what’s now considered “old school” in the DJ world. But those influences are coming through us.

Godchaux: The only thing we ever really set out to do, was to create a vehicle of expression that wouldn’t block out any influence. Our goal at the beginning was to be a metaphorical boom box where all these flavors and all the influences as well as the people and musicians we are can come through in pure form and be our own sound. We spent at least a year figuring out how to set that up. That was very premeditated. Our dream sound would be the summation of anything you hear coming out of a boom box.

“Although the life style of being a full-time touring musician can be very tiring, unpredictable [...]]]> Music is the motivator for Andrea Moreno-Beals. As a long time cellist and vocalist who chose a life on the road with her band Breathe Owl Breathe over a college scholarship to study classical music, Beals loves learning from experience rather than a textbook. Even if she has to answer my phone call in the middle of a grocery store somewhere between Houston and Austin, Texas.

“Although the life style of being a full-time touring musician can be very tiring, unpredictable and down right crazy, it is also an incredibly rich experience,” the Michigan native says. “I have learned and grown so much from being in a band for the past seven years — from learning how to work diligently as a self-directed artist, to learning many ins and outs of being self-employed and having and running your own small business.”

Breathe Owl Breathe – Dragon

Beals and her bandmates Micah Middaugh (guitar/vocals) and Trevor Hobbs (percussion) also had the unique opportunity to create a children’s book with two coinciding songs recorded on a 7” vinyl. The Listeners/These Train Tracks (available to read here) began as a picture book in Middaugh’s pocket and became a reality after a successful Kickstarter to raise funds. Breathe Owl Breathe was stoked to add a visual piece to their music, according to Beals, who said the band is always looking for innovative ways to express themselves.

“Our book relates to our band in the simple way that we are all very happy, close friends who are very different from each other, and choose to find a playful way to make an artistic collaboration the strength of which is made up of its diversity of musical and personal backgrounds,” Beals says. “We all appreciate each others quirky sides and gifts, and have learned how to have a lot of fun playing music together.”

Breathe Owl Breathe’s minimalist, dream folk style fits the prose of their children’s book, but will also make for a romantic show this Valentine’s Day at Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton. Beals weaves her cello in and out of soft drums that hover beneath Middaugh’s kitschy lyrics. It’s easy to follow the band through their midwestern roots on cross country skiing trips, autumn hikes and relaxing swims in Lake Michigan. For Breathe Owl Breathe, life goes in via the senses and out via their instruments.

“We write and play songs because they are in us and we live to discover them as a group of friends that inspire each other,” Beals says. “We play music for ourselves, and the simple joy it brings us comes across to people … we play these songs because we love to.”

Los Angeles chill wavers Best Coast and Australian pop group POND are just two of 10 bands announced in the fifth and final release of performers at the up and coming North Texas music festival 35 Denton. And the list was full of local Texans too — David Ramirez from Austin, Holy Fiction from Houston, Danny Malone from Austin, and Cowboy and Indian also from Austin. Check out the promo video and full lineup below. Click here to see the list of [...]]]>

Los Angeles chill wavers Best Coast and Australian pop group POND are just two of 10 bands announced in the fifth and final release of performers at the up and coming North Texas music festival 35 Denton. And the list was full of local Texans too — David Ramirez from Austin, Holy Fiction from Houston, Danny Malone from Austin, and Cowboy and Indian also from Austin. Check out the promo video and full lineup below. Click here to see the list of more than 110 bands accepted via SonicBids and showcases.

Now playing 35 Denton: Millionyoung, Teengirl Fantasy, Typhoon, American Royalty, The Rassle

Previously announced: The Jesus and Mary Chain, Atlas Sound, Night Beats, Finn Riggins, White Fence, RACES, Aan, Chapter 24, Dinosaur Feathers, Twin Tigers, Dum Dum Girls, OM, The Hood Internet, Oberhofer, El Ten Eleven, Class Actress, Woodsman, Bleached, The Romany Rye, Sleep ∞ Over, MAKU Soundsystem, Devin the Dude, Danny Brown, G-SIDE, Main Attrakionz, Built to Spill, The Raincoats, John Vanderslice, Designer Drugs, Wooden Wand, Gardens & Villa, Milo Greene, True Widow, The Pass, Cities Aviv, R. Stevie Moore, Evangelicals, Tropical Ooze, Bun B, Mountain Goats, Thee Oh Sees, Light Asylum, Peaking Lights, High Places, Bare Wires, Julianna Barwick, Psychic Ills, Sun Araw, Xray Eyeballs, Wet Hair, Mikal Cronin, Natural Child, Mannequin Men, Terrible Twos, Psychedelic Horseshit

BEST COAST, Confirmed Artist 35 DENTON 2012 from 35 Denton on Vimeo.

Denver indie pop husband-and-wife duo Tennis is releasing their spankin’ new album Young and Old today, perfectly in tune with Valentine’s Day. Young and Old, the band’s Sophomore LP released by Fat Possum, is chock full of catchy percussion, haunting progressions of strumming guitars to great driving choruses, and the soulful purrs of singer Alaina Moore’s melodic voice. And It doesn’t hurt that Black Key‘s drummer Patrick Carney helped produce the album.

From the opening bars of “It All Feels The Same” [...]]]>

Denver indie pop husband-and-wife duo Tennis is releasing their spankin’ new album Young and Old today, perfectly in tune with Valentine’s Day. Young and Old, the band’s Sophomore LP released by Fat Possum, is chock full of catchy percussion, haunting progressions of strumming guitars to great driving choruses, and the soulful purrs of singer Alaina Moore’s melodic voice. And It doesn’t hurt that Black Key‘s drummer Patrick Carney helped produce the album.

From the opening bars of “It All Feels The Same” you realize that Tennis and Patrick Carney are on the same wavelength. This is no attempt to adopt a ‘rockier’ sound than their debut LP Cape Dory. The extra production is beautifully subtle, merely giving the album a dash of added power while maintaining the trebly fuzz and dusty sound that gave Cape Dory such a human feel.

It’s sweet but sultry Motown and lost 60′s soul that are the touchstones in this album. “Origins,” “Traveling,” and “High Road” sound timeless, and it’s remarkable that such a strong set can be created in such a short amount of time. “My Better Self” is enough to make any classic songwriter green with envy and “Dreaming” is a pure pop delight.

Songs flow from these guys as effortlessly as their seemingly immaculate relationship – they met each other studying philosophy in college and formed the band after a seven-month sailing voyage down the Eastern Atlantic seaboard. Unlike Cape Dory, this is not another record about the sea, rather it is about life after that voyage. This album has as much youthful charm and exuberance as its predecessor; it’s still wide-eyed and romantic, but maybe not quite so naive, maybe a touch more knowing.

Written in three months and recorded in three weeks, it’s a collection that feels fresh and clean, uncomplicated by over-thinking. It’s the sunny pop any listener caught in winter’s grip needs to have blasting on repeat: it’ll be over before you know it, and the songs might not stick, but at the album’s end you’ll feel a whole lot warmer deep down.

Steam the album in its entirety below before you buy it!

February 10, 2012

Photos by Brian Hamm, Starsite Photography (click to expand)

I had the privilege of meeting with Air Review this month to talk about their past, present, and especially the future of their yet-to-be released EP America’s Son. I met them at Swan Studio in Irving Bible Church, and caught them before their recording session began. The Dallas band has over 3,000 Facebook fans already, and opened up for Portugal. The Man at a sold out Granada Theater concert back in October 2011. Now they have another big [...]]]>

I had the privilege of meeting with Air Review this month to talk about their past, present, and especially the future of their yet-to-be released EP America’s Son. I met them at Swan Studio in Irving Bible Church, and caught them before their recording session began. The Dallas band has over 3,000 Facebook fans already, and opened up for Portugal. The Man at a sold out Granada Theater concert back in October 2011. Now they have another big show lined up with School of Seven Bells at the “Midnight at Modern“ event on April 14 .

I sat down with frontman Doug Hale and band mate Jeff Taylor as we sipped on Stella Artois and waited for other band mate and guitarist Richard Carpenter to join us at the studio. Carpenter made his way in looking quite suave, and looked as though he had just escaped the set of Rebel Without a Cause, the remake. Newly cut hair, the likes of James Dean, and rolled up tight jeans, he made his entrance and joined us around the table.

DFDR: Wow Richard you look like you should be in Rebel Without a Cause. Look at that hair.

Taylor: He posted the new haircut on Facebook and got ripped for it. It was a typical camera shot in the mirror. It was hilarious. (as he points and laughs at Carpenter)

DFDR: That’s hilarious. I can’t believe you did the typical mirror pose. You all are so close, I want to know all about Air Reivew. Tell me about the birth of Air Review? Where did it all start?

Hale: You want conception?

DFDR: Yeah, I want conception.

Hale: Richard and I grew up together and have been making music together for a long time. We had a band called Whistle, that’s for the record. I met Jeff at church and we started making music together too, and we decided we would start a band.

(Carpenter interrupts Hale)

Carpenter: Let me interrupt, it’s going to take forever. Basically, Jeff and Doug were doing music and decided to get together and write. Doug didn’t want to do that because Doug doesn’t write well with other people, but they got together anyways. I was invited to join and we practiced in a backroom converted garage, just writing songs for a year.

DFDR: When did Landmarks come out? On the album, who was in the band at that point?

Taylor: It was the original five of us, and now Dragan is with us, we released our first album in 2009, and it all started with that LP.

DFDR: Who engineered and produced Landmarks?

Taylor: I engineered a lot of it, but Paul Williams, a very well known engineer in town came in too. We got to the place where we were beat down on doing it alone, and he lit a fire under us

DFDR: I noticed the album has an overall darker sound to it, a lot of minor chords. What was the driving force behind the album?

Hale: I don’t know if there was a specific theme. It was kind of a conglomeration of a years worth of songs. Freshman albums are usually that way, and you have a stock pile of songs and you go through it and pick songs to make an album. We picked songs that Jeff wrote, and Richard wrote, and threw it all out there. We wanted to have something released before we started playing shows, and create a buzz.

DFDR: I love the song “At the Switch” off Landmarks. It was one of the main songs that caught my attention.

Hale: We only play two songs from Landmarks live, we’ve dropped most of the other songs. That’s definitely a darker sounding song.

DFDR: What about the new EP America’s Son?

Hale: American’s Son is an EP that we are still working on, and finishing up. We are releasing it as a string of singles, and we will release the full EP in the Spring.

DFDR: I read America’s Son was on CMJ. How did that come about?

Hale: We hired a publicist, and sent out a press release and CMJ picked it up. We didn’t think it would get picked up because it’s an older song, but that’s the point of the EP. We are still recording new songs for it, so it will still be a fresh EP when it’s released in the Spring.

We closed out the interview by sticking around as the band recorded vocals for  a new song. A very chill band indeed, and so much talent. We learned that everyone in the band is basically multi-instrumental, so when you listen to their albums, you just might be surprised to find out that the singer is playing guitar and the guitarist is singing.

Check out Air Review at Lola’s Saloon in Fort Worth on February 17, and at “Midnight at Modern” on April 14 at the Modern Arts Museum in Fort Worth.

THE JESUS AND MARY CHAIN, Confirmed Artist 35 DENTON 2012 from 35 Denton on Vimeo.

It’s obvious Re:Evolution Media is going bigger and better than ever before! After the success of last year’s event at The Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, there was no way the [...]]]> The four-year-old music and arts conglomerate known as Manifestation Celebration dropped some big news today, announcing Thievery Corporation, Flying Lotus and EOTO as headlining performers for the 2012 lineup. The fest welcomes back Austin’s The Nadis Warriors, New York’s D.V.S* and Austin’s Govinda, while also adding San Francisco’s Random Rab.

It’s obvious Re:Evolution Media is going bigger and better than ever before! After the success of last year’s event at The Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, there was no way the team could move to a more unique venue. They have, however, expanded the festival grounds. More musicians will be playing in the IMAX theater with 79 foot-high projected art … there’s an outdoor stage … and it’s backed by the historic Fair Park Band Shell!

Read a little bit about the mission of the Manifestation Celebration here and about my experience last year. Tickets are currently on sale so get ready to open your mind and gain some food for thought, body and soul.

Photo of Mark Ronson by Brian Nevins

We live in an age where we literally see technology change and advance on a daily basis. And in terms of music and musicianship, that means we constantly see the standard being pushed to a higher level with new equipment, faster production, more content, and inconceivable fusions in sound. Realistically, those in the industry will never stop trying to create something that is new and innovative and now [...]]]>

Photo of Mark Ronson by Brian Nevins

We live in an age where we literally see technology change and advance on a daily basis. And in terms of music and musicianship, that means we constantly see the standard being pushed to a higher level with new equipment, faster production, more content, and inconceivable fusions in sound. Realistically, those in the industry will never stop trying to create something that is new and innovative and now we have proof.

For the first time since the millennial electronic scene gained footing comes a documentary about the process of evolution. The RE:GENERATION Music Project challenges five of the nation’s most popular DJs to work with musicians from the genres of country, jazz, rock, classical and R&B to produce an original track of epic proportions and unprecedented blend.

Enticed yet? You can download the soundtrack with songs by Pretty Lights (feat. LeAnne Rimes and Dr. Ralph Stanley), Mark Ronson (feat. Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Trombone Shorty, members of the Dap Kings and Zigaboo Modeliste), The Crystal Method (feat. Martha Reeves of the Vandellas and the Funk Brothers), Skrillex (feat. members of The Doors), and DJ Premier (feat. NAS and the Berklee Symphony Orchestra) totally for free here.

The next step is to watch the trailer and find the theater nearest you for the documentary’s premiere on the evening of February 16. Get ready to experience the RE:GENERATION Music Project.

List of Venues

Studio Movie Grill Dallas/Royal - 11170 N. Central Expressway, Dallas, TX 75243

Rave Ridgmar 13 - 2300 Green Oaks Road, Fort Worth, TX 76116

Studio Movie Grill Lewisville - 1600 S. Stemmons Freeway, Lewisville, TX 75067

Studio Movie Grill Plano - 4721 W. Park Blvd. #100, Plano, TX 75093

Studio Movie Grill Arlington - 225 Merchants Row, Arlington, TX 76018

Rave Northeast Mall 18 - 1101 Melbourne Road, Hurst, TX 76053

Rave Hickory Creek 16 - 8380 South Stemmons Freeway, Hickory Creek, TX 76205