Tracey Thorn hits the WALLS remix

Tracey Thorn

Photo courtesy of Tracey Thorn

One of the year’s most pleasantly subtle surprises (for these ears, not to mention KDHX DJ Darren Snow) has been the solo album by Tracey Thorn (also of Everything But the Girl) called Love and Its Opposite. It’s a record that merges songwriter soul with mostly spare settings of guitar, drums and keyboards. It’s dream pop, I suppose, but confessional, frequently dark, and always wonderfully sung.

The Merge label recently announced a remix of some of the tracks by the group WALLS. Here’s what Tracey says:

“If the remixes for the last single “Why Does The Wind?” were aimed at the dancefloor, these are perhaps aimed more at the head. People often only remember the dance remixes I have been involved with, and forget the great futuristic re-works of my voice over the years by people like Photek, Omni Trio and Howie B. If my versions of my songs are often plain and direct, these mixes add question marks and blind alleys, and I like that. It adds a different colour and makes them closer to my work with Massive Attack perhaps.”

Check out the spooky, elegant remix below.

“Kentish Town (WALLS remix)” by Tracey Thorn and WALLS

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Posted by Roy Kasten | July 30, 2010 | Music | Comment 

New reissues + mp3s from Ola Belle Reed and New Orleans

Smithsonian Folkways has just released two collections, featuring recordings by North Carolina old time legend Ola Belle Reed and a host of musicians from the Big Easy. And, as usual, the label is offering up a few gratis downloads from each. Get more info on Rising Sun Melodies here and Classic Sounds of New Orleans here.

“Look Down That Lonesome Road” by Ola Belle Reed

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“We Shall Walk Through the Streets of the City” by Doc Paulin and his group

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Posted by Roy Kasten | July 29, 2010 | Music | Comment 

Frontier Ruckus trip through the Midwest and KDHX

The strip malls of the Midwest are so maligned, perhaps rightly so, but they’re ours, and they’re not going away anytime soon.

Matt Millia, the singer and songwriter of Frontier Ruckus, knows that. He and his bandmates hail from suburban Detroit, and on their new record, Deadmalls and Nightfalls (due out on Ramseur Records on July 20), they celebrate and eulogize those plazas, and the ghosts that haunt them.

They’re places of memory, Millia explained during the band’s in-studio session on 88.1 KDHX and Feel Like Going Home this morning. They’re not places for a band this spontaneous and inspired, who take the old time instruments of saw, guitar and banjo (played with Scruggs-style speed and dexterity by David Winston Jones), and all the junk shop trumpets and worn-out drums, and make a memorable, melodic noise, in and around Millia’s flash flood of consciousness lyrics.

Fans of the Avett Brothers and Delta Spirit won’t want to miss them at the Old Rock House in downtown St. Louis tonight.

Frontier Ruckus Live at KDHX 7/14/10 by KDHX

Posted by Roy Kasten | July 14, 2010 | KDHX, Music | Comment 

Discovery: Thieving Irons

Photo by Bernie DeChant

While I might be well-advised to leave all talk of psychedelic music to experts like valis of Trip Inside This House, I harbor a guilt-free affection for the classics of the genre and for latter-day psychsters, especially when their trips aren”t too far out. Call me a timid dabbler in the interstellar arts — I still dig a good trip every now and then.

So when I stumbled upon Thieving Irons, the recording project of Nate Martinez, formerly of the band Pela, I found myself charmed and swayed by the low key blissfulness, the vaguely Scottish accents (those aren’t bagpipes in the background), and the Lanois-esque groove of the song “Wave’s Gonna Break.” I like how Martinez just rides the simple melody, adding and removing parts, and sustaining the feel of a recovering junkie (hooked on loops and guitars that sound like sitars) lost in a desperately beautiful daydream.

This Midnight Hum by Thieving Irons will be released August 24, 2010.

Thieving Irons on Myspace

Download “Wave’s Gonna Break” at Soundcloud

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Posted by Roy Kasten | July 9, 2010 | Music | Comment 

Interview with Free the Robots on Beep Beep Boop Boop

Photo courtesy of Free the Robots

Free the Robots visited 88.1 KDHX and Beep Beep Boop Boop on May 27, 2010. Along with a DJ set, Chris Alfaro also took the time to sit down and discuss sampling, equipment, and the thriving L.A.-area music scene he’s a part of with the Glitch Mob, Gonjasufi, and others who take part in the weekly Low End Theory night.

Free the Robots – Interview with KDHX by beepbeepkate

Crossposted from Beep Beep Boop Boop.

Posted by Kate | June 4, 2010 | KDHX, Music | Comment 

Interview with Ben Bridwell and Creighton Barrett of Band of Horses

Photo of Band of Horses at SXSW 2010 by Roy Kasten

Photo of Band of Horses at SXSW 2010 by Roy Kasten

With three albums now under their belt (their third, Infinite Arms, is due to be released on May 18), Band of Horses can play yearning and soaring anthems better than just about anyone in today’s music scene. KDHX was fortunate to welcome Band of Horses lead singer and guitarist Ben Bridwell and drummer Creighton Barrett into the studio on May 4 (the afternoon before their opening set for Pearl Jam in St. Louis). Hear them talk about their new album, label change, the tour, and more in this revealing interview with Allen from Bittersweet Melody (which airs every Wednesday, 5-7 a.m. Central on 88.1 KDHX).

Band of Horses Interview on 88.1 KDHX and Bittersweet Melody by stereocourier

Posted by Allen Dahm | May 16, 2010 | Music, News | Comment 

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