Grinderman Personally Invited Shilpa Ray to Join North American Tour Dates


Grinderman, currently in the midst of their North American Tour, were in need of an opener for their show one night in Washington, DC, and they were personally requesting Shilpa Ray be there to play the date. Without hesitation she jumped out the door, harmonium in hand, and was on her way south to the 9:30 club.

Once praised by Nick Cave as a “Band of The Day” in the canadian National Post, Shilpa Ray was honored to help warm up the audience that night. She then joined Grinderman on their next few dates in Atlanta, Memphis, and Nashville as well.

Following the release of their album “Teenage and Torture” January 18th 2011, and a CD Release party at Brooklyn Bowl January 21st with Hooray For Earth and Soft Black, Shilpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers will embark upon a National Tour with Japanese psychedelic group Acid Mothers Temple.

Check out this track from the new album, Heaven in Stereo, a punky garage rock with a great female voice in the lead.

http://soundcloud.com/justgentile/shilpa-ray-heaven-in-stereo

Upcoming Tour Dates:
* = w/ Acid Mothers Temple
JANUARY
21 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Bowl (Record Release w/ Hooray For Earth, Soft Black)
22 – Buffalo, NY – Mohawk Place
MARCH
23 – Los Angeles, CA – Spaceland*
24 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill*
26 – Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge*
27 – Bellingham, WA – The Wild Buffalo*
28 – Seattle, WA – Chop Suey*
29 – Vancouver, BC – Biltmore Cabaret*
31 – Calgary, AB – Broken City*
APRIL
01 – Missoula, MT – The Badlander*
02 – Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge*
03 – Denver, CO – Larimer Lounge*
04 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre*
05 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th Street Entry*
06 – Chicago, IL – Empty Bottle*
07 – Kalamazoo, MI – The Strutt*
08 – Toronto, ON – El Mocambo*
09 – Montreal, QC – Il Motore*
10 – Allston, MA – Great Scott*
11 – Milford, CT – Daniel Street*
13 – Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brendas*
14 – Washington, DC – Red Palace*
15 – Baltimore, MD – Ottobar*
16 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506*
17 – Knoxville, TN – Pilot Light*
18 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl*
19 – New Orleans, LA – One Eyed Jacks*
20 – Houston, TX – Fitzgeralds*
21 – Dallas, TX – The Loft*
22 – Austin, TX – Red 7*

Cage The Elephant Dish Out First Single from New LP

Thank You, Happy Birthday, the sophomore album from Kentucky’s finest rock band is coming out next year, but being that it’s November, that’s pretty soon.  The record will drop January 11th, and if you were looking for a streamable preview, Cage The Elephant have just doled out the album’s first single, “2024.”  The track winds up initially, like a cosmic needle dropping as the gears engage and the turntable picks up speed.  Just as the song begins to morph into some sort of ill-advised, lost Audioslave track, the band thankfully brings out a pop riff and tones things down just the right amount.  All that’s left is three minutes of raucous jamming where it’s slightly difficult to differentiate chorus from verse.. wait, no. They bring the Audioslave riff back for a little bit at the tail end of the bridge to switch things up.  Try not to let that throw you, because overall, “2024” is indication that Thank You, Happy Birthday is going to hit heavily and provide some questionable curveballs that may or may not serve to make things interesting in a music scene where rock is cashing in it’s last social security checks.

Listen in below:

Christmas Song of the Day: Death Cab for Cutie – “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”


Every day from now until Christmas we are presenting you with Christmas Song of the Day! You’re favorite indie bands plus Christmas songs new and old to brighten up your holiday!

Death Cab for Cutie – “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” by ModernMystery4

The Duke Spirit Announce New Album Details


London’s The Duke Spirit, return this coming Spring with a new album, entitled Bruiser. Bursting on the scene back in 2003 with the release of a single (“Darling You’re Mean”) and mini album (“Roll, Spirit, Roll”), The Duke Spirit have showcased their scuffed, soulful guitar aesthetic across a handful of albums, relentless touring and TV appearances on all the late night talk shows. With two LP’s and a handful of EP’s under their belt, The Duke Spirit have harnessed their sound as “completely enveloped in a shroud of huge emotion – a mix of warm swirling dissonance, minor chords and a pounding minimal ‘60’s rock rhythm section.” FILTER Magazine. With Bruiser, The Duke Spirit make a conscious effort to strip down the fuzz and create space in which the drums, guitar and bass have their own sonic place.

Tracklist:

1. Cherry Tree
2. Everybody’s Under Your Spell
3. Villain
4. Don’t Wait
5. Surrender
6. Running Fire
7. De Lux
8. Procession
9. Northbound
10. Glorious
11. Victory
12. Homecoming

Album Review: No Joy – “Ghost Blonde”


The 90’s are back, girls and boys and I, for one, am pretty stoked about it. Laura Lloyd and Jasamine White-Gluz are the feminine forefront of the noise-fuzz-dream-rock band, No Joy. Their second album, Ghost Blonde was just released on esteemed Brooklyn label, Mexican Summer – host to buzz-worthy band Best Coast, among others – who picked up No Joy in less than a year after their conception.

If you could pick out a song to be released as a single on the album, it would be the second track, “Heedless.” It’s driving and droning with plenty of feedback, distinct guitar melody and soft, silky, and sweet vocals a la The Breeders or Amber Valentine from Jucifer when she’s not shrieking. That pretty much goes for the rest of the album, as well. Their signature sound is largely due to a contrast between masculine, forward music and feminine, restrained vocals. It’s hard to make sense of the lyrics amid the sonic layers but one line from “Heedless” is discernable: “if you don’t care, then I don’t care,” adding to the grungy, submissive tone of this great song that could easily have been released in 1992.

A lot of songs like “Maggie Says I Love You” start out with the slow buildup of static and dissonant guitar reminiscent of Sonic Youth that lead into echoey, drawn out vocals and persistent and repetitive percussion. Others like “You Girls Smoke Cigarettes?” are quick, loud and more varied musically, making for a song that’s easy to rock out to. Each song is about four minutes long on average, so you get the best of both worlds: progressive rock sensibility and pop rock length. This gives the listener just enough time to come up for air before plunging back in to the pool of noise laden with reverb and distortion.

It might be assumed, for no other reason than their name, that No Joy is a sad, complaint-rock band, and even if traces of such mentalities are detected, they are in a purposeful and passive way. More than somber, Ghost Blonde is a female driven record with balls that has sexy guitar riffs and vocals that knock you down and then float you away.