Yonder Mountain String Band invites one and all to Ozark, Arkansas on Oct. 13-16. Watch teaser video, below. But keep those nitrous tanks at home, kids...

By Blurt Staff

The words "Mulberry Mountain in Ozark, Arkansas" might not spring to mind automatically when you are pondering your annual outdoor music festival options,  but for those in the know - and who have attended the Wakarusa Festival there - it's a choice destination for all lovers of good, rootsy, jammy string-bending and tale-spinning. Enter the Yonder Mountain String Band of Nederland, Colorado, and their Yonder Harvest Music Festival, coming up on Oct. 13-16 at the Mulberry Mountain Lodging and Events site.

YMSB's Harvest Festival @ Mulberry Mountain 2011 from Brandon Sloan on Vimeo.

There will be a mind-bending (in addition to the sting-bending part...) lineup this year that includes YMSB, of course, plus Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Railroad Earth, 7 Walkers, Trampled by Turtles, James McMurtry, David Lindley, Cornmeal, the Travelin' McCourys, Steep Canyon Rangers, he Greencards, David Lindley and tons more. Literally a who's who of contemporary roots ‘n' jam music and alt-bluegrass. The entire lineup can be found right here, while the day-by-day schedule can be viewed here.

You can win two tickets to the Yonder Harvest Music Festival at BLURT. You have to get yourself there but once you do we will get you and a companion into the event. Head over to the BLURT contest page and just fill out the form to be entered into the drawing.

In addition to the music there will be other activities at the festival that weekend. For example, there's to be the First Annual Fiddlin' and Pickin' Contest featuring four competitions (mandolin, banjo, flat picking, fiddle) that anyone attending can enter. Info on that, other matters, links to the official fan forum of the festival and, of course, ticketing details can be found at the main page of the official website.

Starts in the far east and then heads, er, eastward...


By Blurt Staff


You heard it right: The National will be touring in November, starting off in Singapore of all places then wrapping in mid December with a 4-night stand in NYC. Here ya go:

11-06 Singapore - Esplanade Concert Hall
11-09 Tokyo, Japan - Duo
11-12 Melbourne, Australia - Harvest Festival
11-13 Sydney, Australia - Harvest Festival
11-15 Adelaide, Australia - Thebarton Theatre *
11-17 Perth, Australia - Metro City *
11-19 Brisbane, Australia - Harvest Festival
11-29 Vancouver, British Columbia - Orpheum Theatre #
11-30 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre #
12-01 Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre #
12-03 San Francisco, CA - Bill Graham Civic Auditorium #
12-04 Austin, TX - Austin Music Hall !
12-06 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom #
12-08 Toronto, Ontario - Air Canada Centre ^
12-09 Montreal, Quebec - Bell Centre ^
12-12 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre &
12-13 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre %
12-15 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre $
12-16 New York, NY - Beacon Theatre @

* with the Walkmen
# with Local Natives and Wye Oak
! with Local Natives
^ with Neko Case and Wye Oak
& with the War on Drugs
% with Sharon Van Etten
$ with So Percussion
@ with Wye Oak

Plus tour dates announced for late Sept and early Oct.

By Fred Mills

You've no doubt heard that the Mekons are set to drop their new album Ancient & Modern on Sept. 27. It's in heavy rotation on Blurt Satellite Radio (which we pipe in to nuclear subs around the globe, natch) and you can check out an advance MP3 teaser now too. Stream it below or right click to download.

MP3: "Geeshie"

Meanwhile, keep your eyes peeled for our interview with Jon Langford and Sally Timms...

Tour Dates:

9/30 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Hardly Strictly Bluegrass (Afternoon Show) (A wild afternoon out with the electrified MEKONS)
9/30 - SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Swedish American Hall (7:00pm) (A quiet night in with the acoustic MEKONS)
10/04 - EVANSTON, IL - Space ("MEEKAKUCHA" - An evening of Pechakucha and Mekons acoustic music hosted by Peter Exley)
10/05 - CHICAGO, IL - Lincoln Hall (A wild night out with the electrified MEKONS)
10/06 - ARLINGTON, VA - Iota (A quiet night in with the acoustic MEKONS)
10/07 - BROOKLYN, NY - The Bell House (A wild night out with the electrified MEKONS)

Listen to 8-songer, which includes a pair of fan-sourced tracks, below.

By Blurt Staff

Young The Giant have issued a new remix EP they're making available at their Facebook page (here) or via the Soundcloud embed, below.  It has 8 tracks contributed by Two Door Cinema Club, Tokyo Police Club, and Ra Ra Riot among others. 

Remix EP by youngthegiant

Young The Giant offered their fans a chance to contribute their own remix as well.  Song stems for six tracks were created and the band chose two winners from the submissions.  Those winners are CAHB who remixed "Islands" and Dado who remixed "I Got."  

My Body (Two Door Cinema Club Remix)

My Body (Tokyo Police Club Remix)

Cough Syrup (Ra Ra Riot Remix)

Apartment (Captain Cuts Remix)

My Body (K. Flay Remix)

Islands (Tapioca and the Flea Remix)

I Got (Dado Remix)

Islands (CAHB Remix)

99% upset, 1% muthafukkers, natch!

By Blurt Staff

It's been four years since Deerhoof posted one of their free web albums. In that time they've added guitarist Ed Rodriguez to the band, released two full-length LPs, and a slew of singles, compilations appearances and remixes, topped the college music charts, formed a new band with Konono No1, curated a Belgian music festival, and racked up one accolade after another in the music press. They have also toured the world relentlessly, which brings us to this web album: 99% Upset Feeling documents the drama and intensity of their live show into 11 songs and 33 minutes of raw Deerhoof (from their Deerhoof Vs. Evil tour).

It's free, too. Just go to deerhoofvsevil.com to stream or download 99% Upset Feeling. Upcoming tour dates:

Sept. 15 - San Francisco, CA - Atrium at SFMOMA (Adam Pendleton & Deerhoof present BAND)

Sept. 20 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg (White Suns, Mick Barr)

Sept. 21 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Live (Joshua Stamper)

Sept. 22 - Charlottesville, VA - Jefferson Theater (Gull, Invisible Hand)

Sept. 23 - Cincinnati, OH - Know Theatre (Midpoint Music Festival)

Sept. 24 - Champaign, IL - Polyvinyl's 15th Anniversary Party at Pygmalion (Braid, Xiu Xiu, and many more)

Sept. 25 - Chicago, IL - Bottom Lounge (Trin Tran, The Cloak Ox)

Sept. 26 - St. Louis, MO - Luminary Center for the Arts (Sleepy Kitty)

Sept. 28 - Ithaca, NY - The Haunt (Keir Neurings, Powerdove)

Sept. 29 - Cambridge, MA - Middle East (The Toughcats, Fat Worm of Error)

oct 01 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club (Benjy Ferree)

oct 02 - Asbury Park, NJ - ATP - Asbury Park Convention Hall & Paramount Theatre (w/ Portishead, Mogwai, Battles, Earth, and more)

Way more than just a remix or a remake.

By Blurt Staff

Cabaret Voltaire's Johnny YesNo - Redux box set drops via Mute on November 15. It will feature the original 1982 classic slice of "Sheffield Film Noir," Johnny YesNo, alongside a new re-imagining of the film plus 140 minutes of bonus material and 2 CDs including exclusive Cabaret Voltaire tracks and new Cabaret Voltaire mixes for the film by Richard H. Kirk.

Directed by fledgling director Peter Care with a cast of unknown actors, Johnny YesNo -- originally released on Cabaret Voltaire's video label, Double Vision -- became an instant cult hit on the independent film circuit helped in no small part by its hallucinatory soundtrack by electronic pioneers Cabaret Voltaire.

Johnny YesNo - Redux reunites the Cabs with Care almost 30 years later with a completely new cast, a relocation to LA and an entirely new soundtrack remixed by Kirk.

Peter Care and Cabaret Voltaire worked together again with the video for "Sensoria" (1984), which became the most requested independent music video on MTV. Care also directed music videos for Clock DVA, Depeche Mode, R.E.M. and Bruce Springsteen. More recently, in 2005, Care received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his music videos from the Music Video Production Association and also directed an episode of the HBO Series, Six Feet Under.

According to Mute:

Johnny YesNo - Redux goes deep into the structure of Peter Care's original film and the Cabaret Voltaire tracks used in connection with it. What emerges is as much a juxtaposition of times and places as sights and sounds. The tale changes in the retelling, but that change now seems to be taking place on a molecular level. Richard H Kirk has reconfigured the film's soundtrack, giving the proceedings an ominous sense of something slowly sliding into view from afar, glimpsed out of the corner of the eye.

Johnny Yesno film represents a split reality: a moment of transition that simultaneously reaches into the past while at the same time hinting at what might be to come.

Cabaret Voltaire knew that the way to handle this audiovisual divide was simply to embrace it: allow the senses to become caught up in the seemingly random connections between what is seen and what is heard. The resultant scrambling of impressions was often hallucinatory in effect.

First time around for the high quality stuff.

By Blurt Staff

On November 21, Eagle Rock Entertainment drops a new DVD/Blu-ray from the Rolling Stones, Some Girls Live in Texas 1978. It captures the Glimmer Twins at Fort Worth's Will Rogers Memorial Center on July 18, 1978, knee-deep in their Some Girls tour. That road trip is what many fans consider to be one of the band's greatest ever, due to the band's stripped-down, "back to basics" approach both musically and visually following the excesses of some of the earlier tours the band had mounted that decade.

The tour has been bootlegged to a considerable degree over the years, including the Fort Worth show, particularly on audio. For example, check out a pretty amazing quality take of "Miss You" from Fort Worth at the bottom. But this appears to be the first time a high-quality video of the July show has widespread circulation, officially or unofficially - most of the clips to date have been on par with this good-sounding but murky-looking one (which, we stress, is not from the upcoming DVD):

Some Girls songs like "Miss You," "Respectable," "Beast Of Burden," "When The Whip Comes Down," and "Shattered," weave into a set list which also includes "All Down The Line," "Honky Tonk Women," "Tumbling Dice,"  "Jumpin' Jack Flash," "Happy," and "Brown Sugar." Originally shot on 16mm film, the concert footage has been carefully restored with the sound remixed and remastered by Bob Clearmountain from the original multi track tapes.

The set is also to be available as special edition DVD + CD and Blu-Ray + CD digipack presentations including a reproduction tour program. Bonus features on all formats will include a new interview with Mick Jagger.

TRACKLISTING:

1) Let It Rock  

2) All Down The Line  

3) Honky Tonk Women  

4) Star Star  

5) When The Whip Comes Down  

6) Beast Of Burden 

7) Miss You  

8) Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)  

9) Shattered  

10) Respectable  

11) Far Away Eyes  

12) Love In Vain  

13) Tumbling Dice  

14) Happy  

15) Sweet Little Sixteen  

16) Brown Sugar  

17) Jumpin' Jack Flash

Band currently in the middle of an extensive US tour.

By Blurt Staff

Blurt's good friend and associate Joe Kendrick (of  Lingua Musica and WNCW-FM "What It Is" fame) talked with Michael Gira of Swans by phone on 9-9-11, ahead of a three night stint in NC cities Raleigh, Asheville and Charlotte. Michael talks about the music he plays for his young daughter, how things are better and worse in the music business now versus years ago, playing with Sir Richard Bishop and more. (Note: this is the full version of the show which was edited for radio broadcast on WNCW-FM.)

Listen to the entire podcast right here.

The Swans tour supporting My Father Will Guide Me Up a Rope to the Sky (Young God) continues this week on September 13 in Orlando and concludes Oct. 1 at the ATP festival in Asbury Park. Dates can be found at the Young God website.

September 7 at the House of Blues, Tim, Lars & Co. delivered classic after classic.

Text/photos by Rebecca Carter

It was following "Hooligans" that Lars Frederiksen mentioned to the audience that Rancid has now been around for twenty years. Has it really been twenty years? Yep, pretty much. It's been eighteen since the release of their debut self-titled album, but loud and proud Rancid is still Rancid. During those years the band has incorporated reggae and folk and branched out on their own separate projects but no matter what they touch they've always remained DIY and punk as fuck to a point where it's damn near religion.

They opened their 30+ song set with "Radio" and the energy was through the roof, instant circle pit. Lars was rocking his Old Firm Casual look, Tim looked like he had some new head ink but all together they don't look like they've aged that much. Their live style is pure energy start to finish. Tim Armstrong was constantly running in place, occasionally strumming his guitar when he felt like it and awkwardly trying to wipe off his glasses while singing with perfect sloppy charisma. New addition Branden Steineckert, formally of The Used, filled in seamlessly on the drums and it's no exaggeration to say that Matt Freeman is one of the best bass players around today, if not ever; making it look like nothing to thrash the hell out of "Maxwell Murder".

Although Rancid hasn't released an album since 2009's Let the Dominoes Fall, the house was packed and it's obvious they don't need to be touring in support of anything new to bring out the fans. Basically every song is a classic, and Rancid plays them that way. "Gunshot", "Root Radicals", "Nihilism", "Journey to the End of the East Bay", "Bloodclot"... these songs were the banner for the early 90s punk revival and Rancid still brings it strong, with "Fall Back Down", "Olympia, WA" and closers "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho" getting the biggest receptions.  They also threw in a semi-acoustic set that included an incredible reworked version of "St. Mary".

Some bands evolve by changing what they do. Rancid has evolved by consistently remaining passionate in every aspect of what they do. While bands that have been inspired by them have come and gone they are as strong as ever and you can always look to Rancid to define what is core.

Follows up the semi-new Director's Cut, which was released in May.


By Blurt Staff


At Kate Bush's Fish People website it was just announced that a new album titled 50 Words For Snow will arrive on November 21. It's to be released on her similarly named Fish People label and was recorded "during the same period" that Director's Cut was assembled.


No word yet on whether the album will have an Eskimo theme, but we are advised that the 65-minute album it will "feature seven brand new tracks set against a background of falling snow." Glad to have that clarified.


Tracklisting:


SNOWFLAKE
LAKE TAHOE
MISTY
WILDMAN
SNOWED IN AT WHEELER STREET
50 WORDS FOR SNOW
AMONG ANGEL