NEWS ROUNDUP: FJM, Elliot Smith & Philadelphia

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We’re not going to talk about Kanye’s Twitter breakdown. Here’s some real music news instead:

  • FJM Posts Creepy Lullaby to SoundCloud

    Last weekend, most of us were stuck inside while snow piled up, and it looks like the cabin fever got to Father John Misty pretty early. On Saturday, he uploaded a hilariously terrifying lullaby to SoundCloud. According to its description, the song was written for a Stephen Colbert skit but had to be cut for time/content. Well, the content is a super creepy description of a very, very bad dream, which includes a pile of dead birds, maggot-filled Lunchables, and human hair hats.

  • Unreleased Elliot Smith Track Now Available

    The upcoming Elliot Smith documentary Heaven Adores You will feature a new mix of the track “True Love,” which was originally recorded in 2001 with Jon Brion. According to the documentary’s producer, Kevin Moyer, it was one of the last songs Smith played at Largo, a L.A. music club where Smith would usually play after-hours sets. He also said that the gentle, haunting track originally started out as focused on love, but then shifted to drugs: “My love had gotten so strong, just to try to being back on my own/ I had to go to rehab.”

    “True Love” and other rare or unreleased Elliot Smith songs will be available on the Heaven Adores You soundtrack, available February 5th. Listen to “True Love” here, or the full soundtrack at NPR, and check out the documentary trailer below.

 

Interesting Revelations Arise About Bowie & Michael Jackson

  • Maybe this isn’t so surprising, but Coldplay’s Chris Martin and  Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers have revealed that the late David Bowie turned down offers to collaborate with and produce the two bands.

    I played a lot of Sonic The Hedgehog as a kid, and the mere mention of the video game gets its theme music stuck in my head for hours. Turns out there’s a good reason it’s so catchy: Michael Jackson wrote a lot of it, but asked to remain uncredited when he realized his music would be translated into synth-y video game sounds instead of gamers hearing his original recordings.

 

  • Important News For Philly Musicians

    A proposed bill in Philadelphia, PA would require all performers playing at venues with a 50+ capacity to give their names, addresses and phone numbers to police. Police would then create a registry of entertainers, and be able to prevent certain acts from playing in the city if their events have previously been associated with violent incidents. A change.org petition against the bill states that, “Not only is it unnecessary and likely to cause a massive administrative backlog, it’s a gross violation of our civil liberties. Philadelphia is currently one of the best cities in the country for live music-this bill would make it one of the worst. We call on City Council to reject this dangerous, costly, and unnecessary bill, and to continue to protect the civil rights of its residents.” We agree- if you do too, you can sign the petition here.

 

 

NEWS ROUNDUP: Hinds, Making a Murderer, and David Bowie

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With the new year we’re going to be bringing you a weekly news round up. Here are our highlights. Dig in.

  • HINDS Takes Over NYC Hinds, the Madrid-based, garage rock band, released Leave Me Alone today, and made a few noteworthy appearances in NYC to celebrate: An in-store session at Manhattan’s Other Music on Tuesday, and a wild, karaoke-style party at Bushwick’s Palisades last night. If you were lucky enough to get in, we’re jealous.

  • Making a Murderer/Making a Mixtape

    If you have a Netflix account- or a maybe nice friend’s password- chances are, you’ve spent the holidays obsessing over the true crime drama Making a Murderer, the story of crooked cops who will stop at nothing to frame a man who is innocent (or is he?!?). Dan Auerbach is right there with you, guys. He enlisted his new band The Arcs to record “Lake Superior,” a song about the story of Steven Avery. It’s a spacey, lo-fi track featuring lyrics that echo the corruption the documentary tackles: “Back on the shore where the poor get whipped/ Where the fat get fat and the rich stay rich.” All proceeds the song earn will go to the Innocent Project, Auerbach says.

  • It’s (Almost) Music Festival Season

    Tickets went on sale for two California festivals, Coachella and BottleRock. Guns N’ Roses are reuniting for Coachella, and other notable headliners include LCD Soundsystem and Sufjan Stevens. But as many sites have pointed out, there is, and always has been a serious lack of female headliners at the famous festival. There’s only ever been two instances where a woman was a headliner, but both of those were Bjork (in 2002 and 2007), so that’s really like one and a half. Also, that poster is practically impossible to read. Back on the east coast, the lineup for the 2016 Governors Ball festival in NYC was just announced as well. 

  • Upcoming Shows

    For readers in NYC who need help planning their social life for next week or so, may we suggest these shows:

    • Rubblebucket at Brooklyn Bowl: Tonight, 8:30 PM
    • NYC’s Hardest Working Bands (featuring Pill, Future Punx, Acid Dad, Gingerlys, Surf Rock is Dead,Dreamcrusher, and Vomitface) at Baby’s All Right: 1/09, 4 PM
    • A Tribute to Lou Reed (featuring Sinkane, Mirah, Invisible Familiars, Your 33 Black Angels, Pencil, Cassandra Jenkins, Jolie Holland, and Sam Owens) at Manhattan Inn: 1/10, 8:30 PM
    • Metz/Bully/Palm at Bowery Ballroom: 1/13, 8 PM
  • Happy Birthday, David Bowie and Elvis!

    “The King of Rock’n’Roll” would have been 80-years old-today. David Bowie also turned 69 today and finally released Backstar. We’re calling today David Bowie Day. Stay tuned for AudioFemme’s take on his much anticipated 26th studio album.