Tag: "Blues"

With the return of hipster favorites Ra Ra Riot, Toro y Moi, and The Joy Formidable, this is an especially fertile week for indie rock releases. Also on the menu are new offerings from classic punk stalwarts Bad Religion and OurStage’s own rising star Tyler Bryant.

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown – Wild Child

We’ve been fans of Tyler Bryant’s barn-burning blues guitar skills for years, and now, with the release of Wild Child, Bryant and his band are poised to take the national scene by storm. Their new album has enough plaintive slide guitar, ripping solos, boot stomping and gang vocals to last you a lifetime. Or at least until their next release comes out.

By the way, the single “Say A Prayer” is currently iTunes’ Free Single Of The Week.

Ra Ra Riot – Beta Love

Ra Ra Riot are back with an album of danceable minimalist synth pop that also manages to incorporate more organic sounds from swelling string arrangements. Strong echoes of David Byrne are still recognizable in frontman Wes Miles‘ voice, but he generally sounds much more self-assured and in reach of a true personal vocal style this time around.

Continue reading ‘New Releases: January 22, 2013′

All you City And Colour fans out there, get ready for Dallas Green’s next installment of folksy sorrow through soulful singing. According to the Canadian singer-songwriter’s Instagram, recording for the new album is finally done “right before the final #alexisonfire tour!” For those of you who don’t know, Green’s former post-hardcore band Alexisonfire, who broke up last year, are about to embark on a long overdue farewell tour starting on December 2nd in London, UK. While it is sad to see them go, the world has a lot to look forward to with City And Colour’s newest release.

If you like City And Colour, then you might also like OurStage’s own Justin Branam.

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Ivory Drive may be a top hat wearing quintet from Boulder, CO and they may mix jazz with folk, and classical with blues, while boasting a unique mixture of keyboards, drums, bass, saxophone, trumpet and vocals, but they’re begging you-don’t call them alternative.

But they do make a good point, and as they say themselves, labeling them alternative leaves a lot unsaid. Get to know Ivory Drive here, and listen to their current chart-topper in the indie pop channel, “Intertwined” right here.

Let us know your thoughts on this week’s featured artist in the comments!

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown have added yet another impressive accomplishment to their growing list of achievements, which already includes appearances in Rolling Stone and Guitar Hero. After being selected by members of The OurStage Panel, the band brought their ferocious, bluesy rock to the stage of Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform two songs from their upcoming album Wild Child. Missed the show? Check out the two tunes from their performance below.

Continue reading ‘Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown Rock The Jimmy Kimmel Live Stage’

Ladies and gentleman, we’d like to welcome oldtimer Bob Dylan to the internet. The master of folk has finally figured out how to work that confounded computing machine and has even managed to personally update his facebook status for the first time ever!

What special occasion could possibly compel the legendary geezer to dust off his monitor and update the ol’ ‘book? Why, the election of course! Before Obama’s win was confirmed, Dylan took to his profile with the following message:

“Here’s pretty close to what I said last night in Madison. I said from the stage that we had to play better than good tonight, that the president was here today and he’s a hard act to follow. Also, that we’re not fooled by the media and we think it’s going to be a landslide. That’s pretty much all of it.”

Huh, not bad I guess. Better than my first status update at least: “Hot Pockets r good but I always burn my mouth :( lol.” Looks like Dylan is finally becoming one of us. Let’s just hope we don’t lost him to rage face memes and pictures of cats (He strikes me as a FarmVille kinda guy)… It’s a slippery slope from here…

If you like Bob Dylan, then you might also like OurStage’s own Joncallmusic.

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What’s underneath those beards, anyway? Anyone who has ever lent an ear to the legacy of long-lived boogie rock legends ZZ Top can tell you that there’s a fair share of Texas blues in the band’s background. But as an elegantly appointed new boxed set makes clear, the backstory of Billy Gibbons—the Top’s singer and guitarist since their ’69 inception—also boasts a heaping helping of psychedelia.

Moving Sidewalks – The Complete Collection, just released by reissue specialists Rockbeat Records, chronicles the journey of a young Billy Gibbons through the Houston music scene of the mid-to-late ‘60s on his way to forming the band that would become a rock & roll phenomenon. If you’ve ever yearned to peek beneath the fulsome facial hair of the famous frontman, either literally or figuratively, all you have to do is open up this enticing package. Not only does the photo-laden 54-page booklet offer up images of a clean-shaven, baby-faced Billy in his teens as a member of The Coachmen and then the Moving Sidewalks, the two CDs encompass the entirety of both bands’ output. Continue reading ‘Riffs, Rants & Rumors: Putting ZZ Top’s Fuzzy Past in Focus’

The primal bellow of the The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion is unmistakable.  For over 20 years, the band has blazed a path uniquely and entirely their own, pioneering an inimitable, cacophonous, and burly blend of punk and blues. Though the band decided to take a break after 2004′s Damage, it wasn’t long before lead singer/guitarist Jon Spencer, drummer Russell Simins, and guitarist Judah Bauer were back together writing and recording again. The result of the last few years is Meat and Bone, a classic return to form for the New York three–piece. We recently caught up with Spencer to talk about the changing face of rock ‘n’ roll promotion, social media, and why the passage of time plays a big thematic role on the new record.

OS: After your recent hiatus, what spurred you, Judah, and Russell to start writing together again?

JS: Playing concerts again. That’s what did it. In 2007, the label In The Red put out a compilation of a bunch of singles that we had done for them over the years. So, after that there was something of a renewed interest in The Blues Explosion, and in summer 2008 me and Judah and Russell figured, “Well why not take a few shows?” We went over to Europe and played a few festivals and enjoyed doing it, so we kept playing and took more concerts. About a year and a half ago we began writing songs and thinking about making an album. That followed along naturally, quite organically, out of the return to playing live and touring.

Continue reading ‘Exclusive Q and A: The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion Mine The Past, But Look Forward’

OurStage band Delta Rae have come a long way since opening for Hanson as the winners of the “Shout It Out with HANSON” Competition in 2010. Not that Delta Rae were unskilled amateurs back then – Isaac Hanson said that his band should have been opening for them instead – but since nabbing that gig, Delta Rae signed a major label deal with Sire Records, were booked to play at this year’s Democratic National Convention, and were featured in the Rolling Stone “Women Who Rock” Competition. Not bad for just two years. We recently caught up with the band to talk about their recent activity, their inventive music videos, and how opening up for Hanson boosted their burgeoning career.

The all-American folk-rock “Jokerman” himself is back… apparently followed by a posse of young cholos, scantily clad women, and a guy dressed like Gene Simmons. Yes, Bob Dylan‘s new video for his single “Duquesne Whistle” is quite a bizarre one. It starts as some cute and innocent boy-meets-girl scenario, fitting the light jaunty mood of the song, but quickly goes awry in a twisted and hilarious way. Head over to Rolling Stone to see it for yourself. The new song is off Dylan’s upcoming album Tempest, which is due out September 11th.

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Delta Rae has been making big moves recently. Scratch that. Huge moves. After inking a deal with Sire Records, the Durham, NC six-piece are ready to bring their harmony-heavy Americana sound to the masses. They’ll be releasing their debut album Carry the Fire on Tuesday, June 19. If you can’t wait until then, you can stream the record in its entirety over at Rolling Stone.

As if that weren’t enough for an up-and-coming band, Delta Rae also recently covered Fleetwood Mac’s classic “The Chain” for Billboard’s “Under Cover” program and will be performing at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles the Monday night before their album release. That show will kick off a packed summer of national tour dates for the group. Phew. We’re getting tired just writing about all they’re up to. Go Delta Rae.