Ann’s Neighborhood

Upcoming Live Performances on MORNING BECOMES ECLECTIC with host JASON BENTLEY

Monday, December 7, Critically-acclaimed newcomers Cold Cave are playfully morose -- creating dark, danceable, experimental synthpop with serious hooks. Hear this “band to watch” perform live on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Wednesday, December 9, London-based quartet One Eskimo opened for Tori Amos on her recent tour and will melt our hearts with sonic inspiration and beautiful songs on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Thursday, December 10, Music pioneer Lou Barlow was a founding member of Sebadoh and Dinosaur Jr. He joins us to perform songs from his latest solo project on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Tuesday, Dcember 15, Sea Wolf is one of LA’s most promising bands and performed a captivating set at KCRW's Masquerade Ball on Halloween. They return to Morning Becomes Eclectic to share songs from their new release at 11:15am.

Wednesday, Dcember16, KCRW favorites Zero 7 reinvent themselves with each new release and "Yeah Ghost" is no exception. We'll hear their new songs as they make a much anticipated return to Los Angeles to perform on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Friday, December 18, Manchester's Dylan Nathan, better known as Jega, incorporates complex beat structures and colorful melodies to create experimental electronica that is accessible to all music lovers. He’s renowned for his beatmaking and he will join us to play tracks from his new album on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Tuesday, December 22, Actor Jason Schwartzman has spent a lot of time on KCRW’s airwaves as a musician, under the name Coconut Records. We'll hear what makes him tick and he’ll share some of his favorite songs when he joins Jason Bentley as guest deejay on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

KCRW.COM PRESENTS

Fri, December 11, FIERY FURNACES at THE MUSIC HALL OF WILLIAMSBURG in NEW YORK CITY.

KCRW PRESENTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Fri, December 4, FINK AT SPACELAND.
Sat, December 5, SARA WATKINS AND TOM BROSSEAU AT LARGO AT THE CORONET.
Tue, December 8, SARA LOV & AM AT THE HOTEL CAFÉ
Thurs, December 10, ONE ESKIMO AT THE SILENT MOVIE THEATRE
Fri, December 11, BAND OF SKULLS AT THE TROUBADOUR.
Sat, December 12, GRANT LEE PHILLIPS with SARA WATKINS AT THE HOTEL CAFÉ  
Sat, December 12, BRETT DENNEN AT THE WILTERN.
Sat, December 12, JOHN DOE with JILL SOBULE AT THE ACTOR’S GANG.
Mon, December 14, MEW AT THE MUSIC BOX AT THE HENRY FONDA.
Wed, December 16, ZERO 7 AT THE ORPHEUM.
Fri, December 18 and Sat, December 19, OZOMATLI AT CLUB NOKIA.
Wed, December 30, KINY AT THE CONGA ROOM
Thurs, December 31, POLLYN and DENGUE FEVER AT THE MINT.
Fri, January 8, SONIC YOUTH AT THE FOX THEATRE IN POMONA.
Sat, January 9, SONIC YOUTH AT THE WILTERN.
Fri, March 12, BRANDI CARLILE AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES, ANAHEIM.
Sat, March 13, LUDOVICO EINAUDI AT THE BROAD STAGE.
Fri, May 7, KING SUNNY ADE AT THE ECHOPLEX

Runaway is the collaboration between DJs Jacques Renault and Marcos Cabral, whose tribal disco house sound is so sincere, intense, and DIY that they've been a key ingredient in DFA's second wave. Their "Brooklyn Club Jam" single was widely-considered one of 2008's sickest bangers, 2009 found them remixing a slew of tracks, and 2010 will see the arrival of their debut album. DJ Mario Cotto will be premiering an exclusive mix from the duo during his show THIS Saturday, between 8 and 10pm. The mix will be posted online in our archives on Monday here

RR

KCRW DJ Chris Douridas hosts a performance and interview with up and coming artist Kenneth Pattengale at 1:30pm this Saturday, December 5. The LA based singer- songwriter and film composer draws comparisons to - and inspiration from - the likes of Ennio Morricone, Bob Dylan, and Joe Henry, who in fact guests on Pattengale’s new album.
 

All the KCRW DJs have gone through the tortuous task of choosing their Top 10 albums of the year. There's been a lot of great music released this year! But we're not complaining. Check it out

Not surprisingly, Grizzly Bear was a big favorite, as was Little Dragon, Mos Def, Phoenix, Band of Skulls, and Fink (who performed on Morning Becomes Eclectic yesterday)

Below is the list from our Music Director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic Jason Bentley.

Jason Bentley's Top 10 of 2009

1. Grizzly Bear - Veckatimist (Warp)
2. Neko Case - Middle Cyclone (Anti)
3. The Horrors - Primary Colors (Beggars XL Recording)
4. Mayer Hawthorne - A Strange Arrangement (Stones Throw)
5. Calvin Harris - Ready For the Weekend (Ultra Records)
6. Florence + the Machine - Lungs (Universal Republic)
7. Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us (Graveface)
8. Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Glass Note)
9. Miike Snow - Miike Snow (Downtown)
10. Amadou & Mariam - Welcome to Mali (Nonesuch)

RR

This is the latest series in my EPs reviews. I like doing these because I don't think they take that long to listen to these four or five songs. You get the gist of the band, but unfortunately, it's probably not as detailed and explored as reviewing albums.

Also, I am back on reviewing music as I have stopped going out to see live bands. I am still not accepting new music as I still have to clear out what I've already been sent/requested. Apologies to any promises that I may have made.

Sarah Elizabeth Foster - Gardening from the Ground Up

Sarah Elizabeth Foster

1 comment

SARAH ELIZABETH FOSTER
sarahelizabethfoster.com ♥ myspace

Sarah Elizabeth Foster's EP, Gardening From the Ground Up Part 1 from Studio Sarah Records, is the first submission I've received for a 2010 release. Generally around this time, I get a ton of Christmas music offers (which, hey, I will be doing a roundup next week!).

Foster actually has a degree in music, singing French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and, of course English. While this EP is only in English, it does showcase her classically singing abilities. My favorite song is actually the title-track, "Gardening From the Ground Up". There's something about this love song, from rain drops to the up-beat jazzy tempo, that I really like. This is in contrast to the opening song, "Wake Up", for a song that's about waking up, it sounds like "take it easy" evening song.

While people will automatically associate Foster to 60s girl singers, I think her vocal styles, would actually lends itself really well to modern indiepop music. I'm certainly interested in hearing what part two sounds like. If you live in New York, Foster will be playing tomorrow, December 4^th at Pete's Candy Store in Brooklyn.

FERAL CHILDREN
myspace.com/feralchildrenseattle

Feral Children is a "backwoods" band from Seattle, Washington. Their self-titled EP was a free released on Sarathan Records, while their forth-coming album, Brand New Blood, will be available digitally December 8^th, while a physical release on January 19^th, 2010.

As their name suggest, their music seems, I don't know, wild. Like "grizzly bear", "panda bear, "deerhunter" and "animal collective" wild, and this isn't surprising, considering Scott Colburn (Animal Collective's Feels producer) is their producer on the Feral Children album. Compared to previous bands I mentioned, Feral Children seems more melodic and less experimental. I'm not sure who produced their EP (I rarely get liner notes for digital submissions), but they certainly have that collective-like influence.

I did give the EP a few listens, and not entirely impressed with the singer (is it Bill Cole?). His vocals is very rough, voice cracking comes to mind on tracks like "Saint". While this may possibly be the greatest song done live, listening to it on headphones made me cringe.

Who knows, maybe their album will be much better than the self-titled EP. It is, after all, their first release, I'm sure they'll improve over time. Information on the free downloads, head over to Sarathan Records.

MOJORISING
mojorisingband.com ♥ myspace

I keep mis-reading this band as Major/ising, so I'm not sure if other people might have the same problem reading the name (it's OK people misread W♥M as "we love music" all the time...)

Mojorising recently moved from Los Angeles from Australia. So prices for their EP at $12 on the merch page might seem high, until you realize it's in AUS dollars.

My impression is that this duo makes some really funky music, but with classic rock attitudes (think Jamiroquai). The funk soul translate well on a few of their songs, "She Woke Up To Me" and "Sooth Me And Use Me". The later is very dancey, I suspect it will play well to a live audience. Incidentally if you are interested in hearing the first song, it's available as a free download.

The band is playing a few dates in California:

Dec 20 2009 THE MINT Los Angeles
Jan 10 2010 EL CID Los Angeles

SEA OF BEES
seaofbees.com ♥ myspace

Lara dismissed Julie Baenziger, aka Sea of Bees, as being too "CocoRosie/Joanna Newsom", and really - what's wrong with that ? As expected, Baenziger's vocal style is that of a small cute child. And also cute is the title of the EP, called Bee Eee Pee. This is a collection of four songs and one intermission song.

All of the songs are pretty minimalistic, usually with just acoustic and Baenziger singing. The stand-out track for me is "Willis", because it  does feature a melodic backing music (vs just acoustic alone). Also, the inclusion of the random intro is nice - it explained that this particular recording happens to be the third take.

Julie is doing some winter dates:

Dec 4 2009 Fox & Goose Sacramento, California
Dec 15 2009 Sacramento, California
Jan 26 2010 Matadero Huesca, Huesca
Jan 30 2010 Tanned Tin Festival Castelo, Castellón
Feb 10 2010 TBA w/ Mountain Man, Chelsea Wolfe and Dead Western Sacramento, California

Bee Eee Pee is out now on Bot Bot Records/Digisquad Records, you can find it on iTunes and Amazon.

PS, That's all I can manage today. Check out Ryan as he's retweeting on twitter/weheartmusic. You can see some of the tweets on the right-side of this page. The account is kept active by live blogging by myself, Ceji, and Ryan. Not just a robot account!

 12/03/2009 22:55:52 ♥ vu () ♥weheartmusic.com♥twitter.com/weheartmusic♥news.weheartmusic.com

Fink’s latest CD tops a couple of KCRW DJ’s Top 10 lists (which will be unveiled tomorrow) so I was really looking forward to checking out his live set. He has an interesting history as an artist, starting out in the dance industry making beats for the Ninja Tune label in London before moving to Brighton, where he “grew a beard, bought some sandals.” Essentially, he left the club scene behind, seeking a new start as a singer songwriter. As he told Jason, “songs last forever and dance tracks, maybe a couple a year will last forever." Seeing Beck perform songs from “Sea Change” and Radiohead playing “OK Computer” was a transformational experience. Today, he played tracks from his newest album, “Sort of Revolution,” which is out on Ninja Tune, as well as a cover of “The Apologist” by R.E.M.  A special treat just for the KCRW audience!

Check out the full set here

RR

First off, some great news from the basement – KCRW DJ Gary Calamar was nominated for a Grammy in the “Best Compilation Soundtrack Album For Motion Picture, Television Or Other Visual Media” category for his work on the “True Blood” Soundtrack. He’ll be up against some tough competition, including the soundtracks to “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Twilight,”  but we will definitely be rooting for him. If you watch the HBO series True Blood, you know what a great job he does as music supervisor.

RR

Daniel Merriweather might have an incredibly soulful voice and a musical partnership with top notch soul producer Mark Ronson, but he definitely has range beyond the new soul scene. He showed it off this morning – covering songs by the White Stripes (“You Don't Know What Love Is”) and Nine Inch Nails, in addition to his own tracks.

Merriweather first graced the KCRW airwaves as the vocalist on a cover of The Smiths’ “Stop Me” from Ronson’s album “Version.” The Grammy Award-winning producer then came on board to produce Merriweather’s debut, "Love & War". Daniel told Jason this morning: “It was important for me to really just be an artist and write all the songs and concentrate on that side of things. You can only really do that, and completely commit to that, if you're working with someone that you can trust as a producer."

The singer songwriter was greatly influenced by Boyz II Men – the first CD he ever bought – and even sang us a few notes from “Its So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.”

Check out a fantastic live set in our archives.

RR