by Sedera Ranaivoarinosy

The Wooden Birds Premiere Tour Diary And Hit The Road

Tour diaries generally only interest die hard fans; the casual listener doesn’t necessarily care about what kind of pranks band members pull on each other or what their favorite food is. The Wooden Birds just released one of their own tour diaries to celebrate the beginning of the summer tour they kicked off in Phoenix, AZ on June 16th, but everyone can find something in it for themselves. Directed and narrated by front Andrew Kenny, this tour diary isn’t just a quick montage of random and silly video; it’s a story. And it’s told so well that Crawdaddy called Kenny “the indie rock Ira Glass.” Watch the video below:

But even better than just hearing about what tour life is like for The Wooden Birds would be to just catch them live supporting their album Two Matchsticks! Check the dates below to see if they’re coming near you in their summer-long trip around North America.

Here are their upcoming tour dates:

7/8 – Chicago, IL @ The Hideout (21+)
7/9 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Founders Brewery (21+)
7/10 – Toronto, ON @ The Drake (all ages)
7/11 – Montreal, QC @ Casa Del Popolo (all ages)
7/12 – Boston, MA @ Great Scott (18+)
7/14 – New York, NY @ Mercury (21+)
7/15 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rock Shop (21+)
7/16 – Washington, DC @ DC9 (all ages)
7/17 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl (21+)
7/20 – Austin, TX @ The Mohawk (all ages)

06.27.11

by Jane Lambert

Jack White and Stephen Colbert Release Single

Jack White has apparently been trying to fill his idle time lately, especially since disbanding The White Stripes. For better or for worse, White teamed up with news funny man, Stephen Colbert to record and release a 7″ single. Called “Charlene II (I’m Over You)”, with backing band the Black Belles, it features the b-side “Charlene (I’m Right Behind You).” You can buy the single at itunes or Third Man Records, which White owns. Don’t say we didn’t warn you. Listen below.

06.21.11

by tunmer

Hunx and His Punx Take Their Act on the Road

Hunx and His Punx is like a modern gay Everly Brother with an entourage of three hot vixens singing raunchy doo-wop back up vocals. Whatever it is these punk darlings featuring Seth Bogart as Hunx, and four lovely ladies – or “punkettes – are doing comes together in a reckless display of playful lamentation. Their first album release, Too Young to be In Love offers 10 oldies style songs about heartbreak masked by the freedom of youth. The music and their stage antics as seen in the video for “Bad Boy” begs for a sweaty house show or a dingy dive bar small enough so as to gyrate on your neighbor. There’s a chance to do just that at one of the shows listed below, so go, dance, and find an angsty Johnny Angel of your very own.

05/13 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore !

06/22 Seattle, WA Crocodile $

06/24 – 06/25 Calgary, AB – Sled Island

06/27 Vancouver, BC – Waldorf Cabaret $*

06/28 Portland, OR – Doug Fir $

! = w/ Of Montreal

$ = w/ Shannon and the Clams

* = w/ Sonny and the Sunsets

06.06.11

by Sedera Ranaivoarinosy

Tom Vek Premieres New Video

As June 7th approaches and the moment when Tom Vek’s new album Leisure Seizure is available digitally gets closer, we get a second preview of this very promising album. The song is called “World of Doubt,” and the video features two ladies dancing in front of very loud speakers and television sets. Don’t expect rap video dancing on here; what they do goes barely beyond head-bobbing and a little leg-shaking to the beat. But they’re in the zone even as their hair gets blown in their face by the sound waves because of the song’s hard-hitting beats and ominous riffs.

As the video’s first image states, this song has the best effect if watched with headphones on. Although if you have access to the same kind of amplifier set-up that the girls have in the video, I’m sure that’s equally efficient.

Watch the video for “World of Doubt” below:

06.02.11

by Jane Lambert

Jonathan Mann’s” Song-A-Day: The Album” with Nick and Tom from The Spinto Band

Yesterday Jonathan Mann started his collaboration with The Spinto Band’s Nick and Tom, on a month long journey of music fun. With a few musician friends in tow, Mann and Co. recorded their first track yesterday, as well as the video to go with it. Titled “The Song A Day Welcome Song,” featuring a good ole’ ukelele and is only the start of something great. Keep up to date as it’s recorded on on Songatron.com.

You can watch the video from yesterday’s session below:

Or take a listen!

05.31.11

by Jane Lambert

The Spinto Band Team Up with Jonathan Mann to Create a Song a Day

As you all know, The Spinto Band is one of Modern Mystery’s most favorite bands around, so when they are involved in something new and exciting, hell we are on it. Spinto vocalists Nick Krill and Thomas Hughes are about to embark on a month long live recording project with musician friend Jonathan Mann. This venture will be something like you have never experienced before. It will involve audience participation (hey, that’s you!). Mann has been writing a song a day for nearly three years, and he is about to hit his 1,000th tune. Krill and Hughes will be producing Jonathan’s record this June in San Francisco, and trust us, it is far from conventional. The recording sessions have been funded completely by Kickstarter donations of nearly $13,000 as over 250 people have backed the project. You will also get to see what goes on in the studio 24/7 as there will be live web-streaming throughout the whole time. This obviously means hearing amazing tracks as they are getting put down (and possibly Super Smash Brothers challenges). Other musicians will also be involved in the collaboration from long distances as well which makes it super exciting as we have no idea who may appear. Nick Krill has stated that it will involve “various forms of audience participation,” and that sounds super cool to us. Who doesn’t want to be a part of rock n’ roll history? Every day will bring a new song in the month of June with an accompanying music video for each one. Yes, this sounds super ambitious, but you know they can pull it off flawlessly. There is no doubt about it.