"With huge handfuls of fairy dust from Chuck Prophet, no less.

By Fred Mills

One of our favorite albums from last summer was Geckos In the Elevator by songstress Jean Caffeine, a concept album utilizing folk, country and rock Americana tropes to convey a hugely creative vision. (Read the BLURT review here.)

She's got a new video called "Jane Rearranged" and it's a real treat, featuring photos and video by Sabrina Armani, David Hirsch, Oliver Diaz Espinosa, Penelope Houston, Robert Carrithers, George DuBois. It was written by Caffeine "with huge handfuls of fairy dust from Chuck Prophet." Players: Ned Dogherty bass, rusty Miller: drums, jean and Chuck: acoustic guitars, back up vocals Julie Lawler, keyboards, engineering and production: JJ Weisler. Check it out:

Watch some classic clips, below: "Willie and the Hand Jive," "The Signifyin' Monkey"

By Fred Mills

The R&B world lost a legend Tuesday, Jan. 17: bandleader Johnny Otis, who passed away at his Los Angeles-area home at the age of 90. No specific cause of death has been announced yet but it's known he had been in poor health for some time.

Otis, the son of Greek immigrants, grew up in the African-American section of Berkeley; his swarthy skin complexion led some to think he was black himself, an impression that was bolstered by the type of music he performed - jazz, blues, and eventually hard-charging R&B that would land him numerous times in the Billboard charts. Among his hits: "Harlem Nocturne" and "Willie and the Hand Jive."

In addition to fronting a succession of bands that included the Johnny Otis Orchestra and the Johnny Otis Show, he was a radio DJ, a TV host and an author (must reading: his 1968 part-memoir/part-history lesson Listen to the Lambs, which was inspired by his experiences during and in the aftermath of the 1965 Watts riots in L.A.). He also worked closely with artists who would go on to be legends in their own rights: Etta James, Hank Ballard, Big Mama Thornton. He also sired two sons, Shuggie and Nicky, plus two daughters, with Shuggie going on to considerable musical fame himself.

The Johnny Otis Show traveling R&B revue, which featured a 16-year old Shuggie on guitar, became famous in the ‘70s and toured the world, attracting the kudos of Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and many other musicians who owed him stylistic debts.

Clear Heart Full Eyes, released next week on Vagrant, finds the Hold Steady frontman moving into rock and roll adulthood. Listen to a couple of tracks, below.

By Jason Gross

Scribes love Hold Steady frontman Finn - he's one of them, chronicling the rock lifestyle in song.  In solo mode, Finn cranks out a record that's a real departure.  Instead of yelling over roaring guitars, he's made the 'soft rock' record that he's joked about since his former band, Lifter Puller.  Before, he was reflective about the bar- band lifestyle, now he's lyrically and musically thoughtful about life in general, which is fitting since he's just turned 40.

Craig Finn - Jackson by fulltimehobby

Still, Finn's compelling without the usual bluster that provides him momentum - his voice never approaches its old roar but his nice melodic sense comes out here more. He pals around with Jesus, toasts novelist Graham Greene (on the relatively up-tempo "Honolulu Blues") and crafts low-key gems like the sweet broken-hearted "Rented Room" and gently despairing "Not Much Left of Us." Once confident and angry, now doubtful and fearful (but not self-pitying), Finn's become a rock and roll adult.

Craig Finn - Honolulu Blues by fulltimehobby

Why yes, yes that IS Wilco gracing the cover of our latest issue.

By Blurt Staff

Next week, on Jan. 24, BLURT cover stars Wilco release their iTunes Session EP comprising 8 songs recorded recently at their home studio. Included will be a pair of older songs, a Nick Lowe cover and five versions of  songs from The Whole Love. Here's the setlist:

1 Dawned on Me
2 Born Alone 
3 I Might
4 Black Moon
5 Whole Love
6 War on War
7 Passenger Side
8 Cruel to Be Kind [ft. Nick Lowe]

Limited edition 12" to be followed by full tour.

By Blurt Staff

The recently announced musical collaboration containing members of Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem (with special guest appearances from Planningtorock) is called New Build, and their new 12" single, 'Do You Not Feel Loved' will be released Feb. 20 via New Build's own imprint Lanark Recordings.

It's a 500 limited edition release that includes two remixes from Dominik Eulberg and Juju & Jordash. Listen to a stream of it, below. New Build will be touring the US, UK and Europe in support of their upcoming album this March.

New Build - Do You Not Feel Loved? (Lo-Res Streams) by newbuild

Sax-blowing cave man will be missed. Check out some tunes, below.

By Fred Mills

Funk and soul fans received bad news on Monday (Jan. 16) when it was announced that Jimmy Castor, of The Jimmy Castor Bunch, passed away at the age of 64 in Las Vegas. According to Billboard.com, no cause of death has been disclosed.

As frontman and sax player for his Bunch, Castor hit it big in '72 with "Troglodyte (Cave Man)," which reached number 6 on the Hot 100. He continued to enjoy occasional chart success during the ‘70s and went on to become heavily sampled during the hip-hop era. (Kanye West sampled "I Just Wanna Stop" a few years ago for his hit "We Don't Care.")

"Big Mouth" from upcoming album.

By Blurt Staff

Following a pair of hometown shows at Music Hall of Williamsburg that sold out in five minutes, Santigold is releasing "Big Mouth," from her forthcoming album Master of My Make Believe, due out this spring on Downtown/Atlantic.

According to her label, the Cody Critcheloe-directed video finds Santigold "calling out all trash-talkers on with a schoolyard taunt melody backed by an explosive carnival beat that will shake the streets from Bed-Stuy to Baja." The track is available for free download at www.santigold.com, and you can watch the video below.

Arkeology is finally set to be released.

By Fred Mills

Nearly a year ago Karl Wallinger had announced he was preparing a 5CD box set of World Party rarities, live tracks and unreleased material, for a 2011 release on his own Seaview label. He was also set to do a US tour last March and then - nothing. An "unforeseen illness" was cited.

Now we learn that the box is back on track, according to Slicing Up Eyeballs. The box is to be called Arkeology and among the unreleased goodies will be new compositions and cover tunes. No details yet on an eta, but you can keep tabs at the band's Facebook page.

A track a week will be previewed.

By Blurt Staff

Anthony Williams, aka Addison Groove, started out life under a different pseudonym altogether. Recording as Headhunter with an LP and 12" releases on the influential Tempa label stretching back to 2007, he achieved legendary status within the dubstep scene. His work at the deeper end of the spectrum graced the label an impressive seven times, a figure matched only by luminaries such as Skream. This work looked as though it would continue until 2012, when, seemingly out of nowhere, he crafted one of the biggest bass music tracks of the decade, "Footcrab," under the new name of Addison Groove.

Addison Groove will release his debut album Transistor Rhythm on Berlin's 50WEAPONS on April 3^rd, and the label will post a track snippet on Soundcloud each week until the release date. Starting here:

Addison Groove "Sooperlooper" (50WEAPONSCD06) Out March 30 by Modeselektor

To backtrack a bit: speaking of  "Footcrab," it received critical and commercial success in equal measure across the dance music scene. Getting plays not only from the dubstep DJs that Williams was used to reaching, it also found its way into the record boxes of techno and house heavyweights such as Aphex Twin, Surgeon, Ricardo Villalobos and Mr. Scruff, bringing an enormous new audience to his music in the process. Taking influences from the Chicago ghetto tek and juke scenes, Addison Groove's impact on UK bass music has been colossal and unprecedented, sparking a huge interest in these styles from his peers and the listening public alike.

Progressing at a breakneck pace, he was quick to develop a live 808 show which has graced some of the finest nightclubs in the world including Fabric, London and Berlin's infamous Berghain. With his hectic touring schedule including USA, Australia, New Zealand, Asia and numerous dates in Europe, he continues to bring his hybrid sound to captivated audiences across the globe.

Tracklisting:

01. Incredibly Exhausted Bunny Ears

02. Savage Henry

03. Bad Things feat. Spank Rock

04. Beeps feat. Spank Rock

05. Rudeboy

06. Night To Remember

07. Sooperlooper

08. Energy Flash Back

09. Ass Jazz

10. Skylight

11. Starluck

12. Dance Of The Women feat. Mark Pritchard

13. Entropy

Sixth studio album arrives March 27 via Warner Bros.

By Blurt Staff

Even as the music world continues to ponder the recent announcement of At The Drive-In's impending reunion (which will include Coachella performances), news arrives today that ATDI offshoot The Mars Volta - Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala - will release their next album, Noctourniquet on March 27. It's the followup to 2009's Octahedron (which was the followup to 2008's The Bedlam in Goliath, the source of the group's Grammy win for Best Hard Rock Performance "Wax Simulacra").

Produced by Rodriguez-Lopez, the 13-track album explores musical territories previously uncharted in the duo's 20 or so years of creating music together. The spectrum of musical and emotional textures conceived and created by  Rodriguez-Lopez on Noctourniquet  ranges from the opening bombast of "The Whip Hand" to the menacing crawl of "The Malkin Jewel" punctuated throughout by hypnotic melodies and borderline electro-ambient washes, most notably in the epic "In Absentia."

As with previous Mars Volta efforts, Bixler-Zavala's lyrics trace a narrative journey with a defined protagonist, this time inspired by disparate elements including '80s UK alt-rockers The Godfathers, Superman comic nemesis Solomon Grundy and the Greek myth of Hyacinthus.

Noctourniquet was performed by Rodriguez-Lopez, Bixler-Zavala, Juan Alderete de la Pena, Marcel Rodriguez Lopez, and Deantoni Parks.

A full track listing is posted at the band's website: www.themarsvolta.com