Roy's Posts


Roy's Photo I'm a veteran KDHX programmer, host of Feel Like Going Home every Wednesday morning from 7-10 a.m. Central. Follow my blog for news and reviews of recent and vintage indie rock, twang, soul, folk and everything in between. And come visit me on Myspace and Twitter, Posterous and Facebook. And here are my Top Ten Albums of 2010.

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Discovery: Hoots & Hellmouth go there (and then some) on new single (MP3 download)

facebook.com/hootsandhellmouth / Deneka Peniston

If memory serves, I first stumbled across Hoots & Hellmouth at a show — Why was I there? Who was I with? — four years ago at Off Broadway. The band was clearly following the lead of the Avett Brothers — mangy, loud, old-time music with a vulnerable heart — but I liked the way the two (apparently) songwriters contrasted light and dark, introspection and resentment, while the band as a whole wielded their acoustic instruments with bluesy grace and crazed stomps, from the parlor to the pit.

The band has a new full-length album called “Salt,” due out in April on the sonaBLAST! label. It was recorded in their hometown of Philadelphia with Jon Low (Dr. Dog, Sharon Van Etten, Twin Sister). The first single is called “Why Would You Not Want to Go There.”

The song lights out, on soft noise and unsteady strums:

I’ve built such a fanciful kingdom in my head
You say you don’t, you won’t go there
Why would you not want to go there?

The answer unfolds in the drama of the song; the beautiful world of a good songwriter’s imagination is one shaky step away from terrible delusion. Still, why wouldn’t you want to sing along?

“Why Would You Not Want to Go There” – Hoots & Hellmouth

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Posted by | February 6, 2012 | Downloads, Music | Comment 

Thursday morning music news: Abigail Washburn returns from the Silk Road, Garbage and Jack White return (full stop) and Don Cornelius and King Stitt journey on

facebook.com/jackwhite

Farewell to the chief engineer of Soul Train. Don Cornelius has died.

Alan Lomax dreamed of a global jukebox of folk music and culture. That dream is about to come true.

Lana Del Rey has had a really bad couple of weeks. Or has she?

Coming to a theatre near you soon: Katy Perry in 3D.

RIP King Stitt, reggae dancehall legend.

Abigail Washburn is back from a rather extraordinary tour of China, and she has the video and photos to prove it.

Fucked Up counters (not really) by streaming all of its Chinese New Year singles (really).

Adele is slated to appear at the Grammys. Ditto for Glen Campbell.

Dear Mr. Gingrich: Better luck with “Eye of the Newt” as a theme song.

Listen to “Love Interruption,” the new single by Jack White.

Fader shares a new MP3 by Vancouver’s Teen Daze.

UK acid housers Happy Mondays are reforming and touring. No US dates as yet.

So, you were probably wondering: “Just how many songs get shared on Facebook monthly?” About 1 billion.

Brooklyn Vegan shares a new song from the forthcoming Jim Jarmusch and Jozef Van Wissem album.

John Morthland profiles Don Robey and the Duke-Peacock label.

Village Voice Media has thought better of suing to keep control of two little words: “Best of.”

Was January 20, 1992 a really, really good day for Ice Cube? “Nice try.”

Neil Young and Crazy Horse set first live show in eight years.

Techdirt shares an infographic on the entertainment industry. Spolier: It’s a happy infographic.

Garbage (the band) is making a comeback. Shirley Manson speaks.

Patterson Hood and Mike Mills (and friends) take on Walmart, in video and song.

The Flaming Lips have a new band member. Her name is Siri.

The Black Keys’ Dan Auebach digs into Nashville cuisine with Bon Appétit.

Not to be a killjoy, but the Super Bowl is about money, not sport. Gary Glitter likes it that way.

Posted by | February 2, 2012 | Music, News | 1 Comment 

Breaking: Van Dyke Parks in St. Louis at the Luminary Center for the Arts, April 5, 2012

Howard Stanbury

This just in from the Luminary Center for the Arts:

On April 5th, The Luminary welcomes the legendary composer Van Dyke Parks to the Elevator Music Series. Over the course of a 50 year career, Parks has worked with the Beach Boys, Joanna Newsom, Ringo Starr in addition to his own celebrated releases. Join us for this very special seated performance in The Luminary’s gallery space. Seating is limited to 250, so we recommend purchasing in advance.

Very exciting, and who knows when he was last in town? Tickets available through Brown Paper Tickets.

Posted by | January 31, 2012 | Music, News | Comment 

Discovery: Charlie Parr drives a mean ‘Gospel Plow’ (MP3 download)

charlieparr.com

Charlie Parr is a Duluth-based country blues musician, a juxtaposition of location and genre which is only surprising if you haven’t heard of Bob Dylan.

At the deepest core of Dylan’s music, in all its peregrinations, is, quite simply, the blues, especially the country blues, a point Dylan punctuated with his two mid-’90s albums “Good as I Been to You” and “World Gone Wrong.”

Charlie Parr’s career, which goes back to the early 2000s, has always stayed close to the howling, hieratic vernacular of Furry Lewis, Son House, the Mississippi Sheiks, Dock Boggs and Dave Van Ronk. Greg Brown, another Midwestern, contemporary country blues-based musician, has sung Parr’s praises.

Just listen to Parr’s take on “Gospel Plow” and you’ll hear why.

Recorded in a baptist church in St. Paul, Parr’s new album is “Keep Your Hands on the Plow,” and features the talents of fellow Minnesotans Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker (of Low), among others. It’s hard-scrabble, joyous and profound — the way country blues should be.

You can catch Charlie Parr, live in St. Louis, at Off Broadway for a 7:30 p.m. seated show on Thursday, February 2.

“Gospel Plow” – Charlie Parr

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Posted by | January 30, 2012 | Downloads, Music | Comment 

Thursday morning music news: Norah Jones meets Danger Mouse (again), Best Coast meets Dusty and Dolly (sort of) and Ben Folds Five regroups (really)

Best Coast. flickr.com/photos/joeyjojojo/4465037589

We lost two very great artists this past week: Etta James and Johnny Otis. Read KDHX DJ Tom Ray’s take on Etta.

What better ambassador then Iggy Pop for Record Store Day 2012?

Music video moguls Vevo may be bailing on YouTube and heading to Facebook.

The week in St. Louis concert announcements includes dates from Portugal. The Man, William Shatner, North Mississippi Allstars, Florence + the Machine, Janus, Polica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mission of Burma, White Denim and Yonder Mountain String Band. Phew!

Ben Folds Five is back. Ditto for 2 Live Crew.

Spin is spinning the new of Montreal album, “Paralytic Stalks.”

American Songwriter continues its 30 Days of Dylan series with some thoughts from Tom Petty.

The touchstones for the new Jon Brion-produced Best Coast album? Dusty and Dolly.

Congrats to all the volunteers who contribute to the KDHX Blog. The RFT Point and Clique Awards just named it Best Music Blog of 2012.

Norah Jones is working with Danger Mouse on her next album, “Little Broken Hearts.”

Jon Caramanica does a musical/cultural autopsy on Lana Del Rey.

Craig Finn chats with one of his heroes, Bob Mould.

M. Ward kept his new album, “A Wasteland Companion,” well under wraps, but details are out, and they are awesome.

Burt Bacharach is working on a memoir.

RIP Alice Jacobs, co-owner of Cicero’s in St. Louis.

Battles announces a four-part remix series, starting February 21.

Did you get your Mickey Mouse Joy Division t-shirt yet? No? Too late.

The silliest listicle of the week goes to the Awl: The 18 Purplest Musical Artists of All Time.

Mark Reale, of the band Riot, has died at age 56.

If Megaupload made a dent in iTunes revenue, you wouldn’t know it. $6 billion (with a b) was the take in 2011.

M.I.A. and the worst Photoshop experience in the known universe are back with a new single next week.

Julian Casablancas interviews the Doors. Jim Morrison withholds comment.

Behold the Minutemen, unplugged, on public access TV in 1985.

Posted by | January 26, 2012 | Music, News | Comment 

Discovery: Grace Woodroofe’s darkly armed ‘Battles’ (MP3 download)

facebook.com/GraceWoodroofe / Ben Sullivan

With the not quite over-night success of tUnE-yArDs, it appears that the immediate forecast calls for more chopped and drizzled rhythms, the clink and clatter and whirring whiz bang of more-is-always-never-enough lo-fi sample upon sample. Who needs tunes and songs and singing and stories and stuff when you can just throw a kitchen sink of grime-step at the indie wall and see what sticks?

I would go on but a new song by young Australian songwriter Grace Woodroofe won’t let me. It’s called “Battles,” and it hails from her debut album “Always Want” released today on Modular Recordings. You might guess from the way her smokey, lonely alto breathes over spooky wind chimes that she’s a femme fatale with a generous prescription of benzodiazepines, or at least that she can play one in this dark little movie of a song.

Then in come the skittering jazz rhythms, the bitter guitar figures, the scary ennui of lines like “I tell my daughter I’m method acting.” The singer in the song is trapped in a poisonous, alienated spiral. She never thought she’d turn out to be a middle-aged waitress. And she probably never thought she’d be singing about it so strangely and beautifully.

Battles by modularpeople

Posted by | January 24, 2012 | Downloads, Music | Comment 

Thursday morning music news: Springsteen drops ‘Wrecking Ball,’ Dylan serenades Scorcese and Jimmy Castor passes on

facebook.com/theAlabamaShakes

Listen to the first single from Bruce Springsteen’s new album, “Wrecking Ball,” due out March 6.

Jimmy Castor has died at the age of 71.

The Grammys get a host: LL Cool J.

The week in concert announcements features St. Louis dates for Hayes Carll, Social Distortion, Rosie Thomas, Band of Heathens, Brad Paisley, Miranda Lambert and Kim Massie.

Joseph Arthur has released a double album, for free, on his website.

Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen is releasing a solo EP in March.

On good authority, there will be two Public Enemy albums this year.

Maybe it’s time to bring back the boom box. Headphones are killing us.

The Paper Bag Sessions Volume 1 features the Rural Alberta Advantage, Austra, Elliott BROOD and Cuff the Duke. Download it for free.

Merle Haggard has been hospitalized with pneumonia.

Bob Dylan treats Martin Scorcese to a version of “Blind Willie McTell.” Watch.

L Magazine has a 101 tips for indie rock triumph.

The 39th Pazz and Jop Poll is out.

Watch Arcade Fire on Austin City Limits.

In 1963, a very clean cut Frank Zappa showed Steve Allen how to make music with bicycles.

Jarvis Cocker interviews Leonard Cohen about his new album.

Two great country music sidemen died this week: Pee Wee Moultrie (of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys) and Charlie Collins (of Roy Acuff’s Smokey Mountain Boys).

Alabama Shakes reveal track list for forthcoming debut, “Boys & Girls.”

Lookout! Records closes up shop. RFT Music picks its six favorite tracks from the beloved punk label.

Flavorwire ranks the 10 most unlikely samples in music.

Wilco fans will have to wait another year for another Solid Sound Festival. They can console themselves with a new iTunes EP.

Posted by | January 19, 2012 | Music, News | Comment 

Discovery: Field Music gives a guided tour of ‘A New Town’ (MP3 download)

Force Field PR

I’m sucker for a good stereo mix of doubled or tripled drums — see every other track on “Soft Bulletin” and “Yoshima” — and also a pushover when it comes to the bass stating the hook — see jazz — but I’m on the fence when it comes to blowing bubbles in music. I suppose there are some days when I just really need to hear “Octopus’ Garden,” but it’s been a while.

Still, I’ve found myself playing “A New Town,” the new single by UK group Field Music, quite a bit of late. It’s got all the aforementioned, plus falsetto, melodica, more statement of melody from a remote acoustic guitar and a persistent sense of dread that juxtaposes nicely with the overall fruitiness of the track. If this is where highly-studio-crafted indie pop is headed in 2012, sign me up. New album “Plumb” is due out February 14 on Memphis Industries.

“A New Town” – Field Music

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Posted by | January 17, 2012 | Music | Comment 

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