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*

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

Puppini Sisters release “Last Christmas”

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Break out your red lipstick, vintage clothes and reindeer sweaters. The Puppini sisters, famous for their 1940’s styled tracks, are releasing a cover record for all you Christmas spirit hoggers out there. The songs range from a rendition of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” to a channeling of Marilyn Monroe in “Santa Baby”, but they all have one thing in common: the mystique of the Puppini Sisters. “Christmas with the Puppini Sisters” is going to be released by Verve Records just in time to hang it in your stocking, but here’s a sneak preview of the record with a free mp3 of “Last Christmas”.

Check it out here, and catch that early Christmas spirit!

Aesop Rock “Butchers” Grimace Federation

Not meant to confuse, “Butchers” is the humble credit Aesop Rock has taken in his remixing of Grimace Federation’s first single, “Bosico.”  The video was shot with the contribution of Cage, Jeremy Fish, and Fish’s van, and was produced by 900bats contributors Alexander Tarrant and Justin Metros.  Cruising around San Francisco — with the most recognizable shot in the video being a passing Polk St sign — Aesop lashes out on haters of a specific breed: elitists.  “I’m gonna guess you thought this all before me, but better and with a more elite view; that’s what you do,” he raps out in his oddly articulate, laid-back flow.  Then again, that juxtaposition is what allows him to stand safely on the ivory tower he builds throughout the song.  Well, perhaps less of a tower and more of a Formica countertop to give a better perspective.  How else could you possibly remix a song, call it butchering, cry fowl to hubris in that song, and all the while look like your enjoying a trip to an overcast beach with a crew including a guy with a bigger beard than Zach Galafinakis?  

Check out the video below:

Album Review: Weekend – “Sports”

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It’s not too often that the word “subtle” can be used when describing a noise rock band, but “subtle” is exactly what went through my head while listening to Weekend’s Slumberland debut-LP, Sports. The San Francisco trio is quickly gaining popularity, after a year of touring with such bands as Japandroids and A Place To Bury Strangers. The ten song collection of Sports excels in finding nuance within their wall of sound. Although all of the typical elements of noise rock are present—reverb guitars, droning vocals, hammering percussion, and washes of ambient and static sound—Weekend chooses not to use all of these elements continuously.

“Coma Summer” and “Youth Haunts” open the album with the kind of frenetic energy Weekend is gaining notoriety for in their live act, throwing rhythm and guitars at the listener in a frenetic, although not completely aggressive way. Creating this maelstrom of sound over two tracks gives Weekend the room to back off on the volume later on, and become more introspective and lyrical in the middle of the disc. “Monday Morning” is emblematic of exactly what the title states; a slower guitar beat combines with layers of vocals, making a dark snapshot of a grey start to the work week—full of longing (or even regret) for the lost reverie of the weekend. And although snippets of lyrics can be heard in tracks like “Age Class,” where lead singer Shaun Darkin repeatedly sobs “There’s something in our blood,” Sports is not an album that propels its personal message through words. Atmosphere is the main language of the music at hand, and Weekend takes you through incredibly fluid changes in texture throughout the album, making the music feel like a mix of both a summer trip to the beach and the soundtrack of your worst nightmare. The music is both insular and exposed, and all kinds of beautiful.

Many critics are making the obvious comparisons between Weekend and other post-punk outfits: My Bloody Valentine, Joy Division, Sonic Youth, and The Jesus & Mary Chain. Despite having very credible similarities, I couldn’t help thinking of more recent influences, like Liars’ self-titled album, and the earliest work of Sigur Rós, Von, while listening to Sports. These groups, like Weekend, craft music of sweeping crescendo and silences that coax the ear, rather than beating it into submission. Their diversity of sound ultimately makes for a more haunting and satisfying work. At best, Weekend are helping to pave the way to producing craftier and more nuanced versions of the popular post-punk sound, and at worst, they have just made a really, really good album.