The Damnwells At WNUR--and Folk You

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting Alex Dezen of The Damnwells, along with members of the band, Harper Blynn, which not only serves as The Damnwell's back up band, but is the opening band as Alex Dezen tours. I had the benefit of hearing a couple of great tunes off of The Damnwell's latest release, No One Listens to the Band Anymore, as well as getting an introduction (and free CD) from Harper Blynn.

I booked The Damnwells to come into WNUR a few months back, seeing that they would be performing at Evanston, SPACE on April 15th. My knowledge of them goes back to around 2007 when I first heard the song, Golden Days on a TV radio station that I had turned on. Meeting the Brooklyn-based band was truly a pleasure, and singing along to "Feast of Hearts", and "Werewolves", two songs off of the new release, was delightful as Dezen played the stripped down, acoustic set, with the members of Harper Blynn, Pete Harper, J. Blynn, and Sarab Singh all adding delicate harmonies.

When I am back in New York, I will be sure to catch one of their gigs if I don't see them when they're back in Chicago playing at Schubas on May 17th first!

Unfortunately, I couldn't make their gig last night at SPACE because I had a gig of my own as part of the Folk You showcase down at The Horseshoe. It was a chill round robin, led by Larry O. Dean, and gave me a chance to play some of my newest material on a relaxing night before flying home to the East Coast early this morning.

I had the chance to talk to full-time gigging musician, Michael Heaton and gain some insight into how musicians support themselves and manage to get married, finance a house, etc. while doing what they love...

Overall, a productive day of music in the life of yours truly and her headphones.

Peace.Love.Music

Kara Ali

KT Tunstall Announces EP--The Scarlet Tulip

A Quote From KT Tunstall, via her Facebook Fan Page this morning:

I MADE YOU A SOUND BABY!!!
http://bit.ly/h81i7M
I've been working hard to honour your ears. The Scarlet Tulip EP is a 7 track EP of brand new songs, totally solo, available only from my website and on the tour.
Pre-order all formats NOW!!
MP3 £4.99, CD £5.99, 10" vinyl £6.99 at www.kttunstall.com
Digital - Monday 11th April.
CDs & 10" vinyl - 1st May.
Its a limited run of 500 10" vinyl...

Enjoy, love KT xxx

As many of you may know, I am a huge fan of KT Tunstall. She is one of those artists that I've followed since High School when I picked up a guitar. Since her 2005 Eye To the Telescope with breakout hits like "Suddenly I See" and "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree", I have strived to go to every concert near me, buy every album and get all the latest news!

This morning, I was suckered in again! I just ordered both an mp3 copy and the vinyl of this special EP to be released on Monday, April 11th. In a very King of Limbs fashion, Tunstall has not given much lead time to this 7-song EP, a sizable follow up to her last LP, Tiger Suit, which was released in September 2010 and was somewhat of a departure from her traditionally light acoustic sound. I am excited for this return to a softer sound and the previews on her website sound delightful.

I can't wait to hear them in their entirety and to receive the LP sent over specially from the UK! Since I will be out of town for her next solo acoustic show here in Chicago at Park West on Sunday, April 17th, this will be the next best thing.

Peace.Love.Music

Kara Ali

The '60s and '70s and Some of the Best Rock

Hey Everyone!

Happy FRIDAY! I hope that the week has been going well!

This past Wednesday marked my first Rock Show of the quarter at WNUR as I DJ'd with my awesome co, Laura Ruch. I am always amazed by the amount of new music that there is to hear! (Not that it's even necessarily new as in current, but my ears are virgin to it!) This past Wednesday during our slot, Laura pulled some awesome tracks from Love and Moby Grape, two bands who are quickly becoming new favorites.

Love was an awesome psych/garage/folk rock group somewhat reminiscent of The Beatles that actually did a lot better overseas in the UK than it did in its home country of America. I spent all morning listening to their most well-known 1967 album, Forever Changes, which included their most popular single, "Alone Again Or". After doing a bit of research, I found out about some of the difficulties that the band faced in recording the album, where they basically had only 64 hours to record the majority of it, after a switch from session musicians to band members was made.

I am excited to keep on exploring Love, along with Moby Grape, of course, another band of the late '60s and early '70s. (Basically, I am a sucker for most music that was produced around this time period--I wish I was 18 in the Summer of Love). The biggest difference that I noticed between Love and Moby Grape off the bat was the length of the tracks. Moby Grape is a bit more upbeat, overall, with most tracks running about 2 minutes. One of their most famous tracks, "Omaha" clocks in at 2:22 and encapsulates the fun flavor of the '60s band. What I do find interesting in comparing these two bands is their use of several guitars and lush instrumentation to make the music incredibly interesting and infectious, but seemingly simple and catchy at the same time. Moby Grape was compared often to Buffalo Springfield as was Love and, indeed the smooth but interesting sound persists across the two bands and many others of the time period. (Interestingly enough, Neil Young was originally supposed to co-produce Forever Changes along with Bruce Botnick, but he had to drop off the project because of work with Buffalo Springfield.)

Regardless, I feel that I've only skimmed the surface of what these bands have to offer as contemporaries of The Byrds, The Doors, The Beatles, The Association and other more well-known bands from that era. I never can get enough.

Peace.Love.Music

Kara Ali

Ben Allison and his Jazz Band

Hey Everyone!

Hope the weekend has been amazing! It was certainly an exciting one for me! As an engineer at WNUR on the show, Airplay, where live musicians come in and play on air, I get the chance to meet some pretty awesome artists on a regular basis! Yesterday, I had the pleasure of engineering for Ben Allison and his jazz band which consisted of Michael Blake on Saxophone, Steve Cardenas on Guitar, and Rudy Royston on Drums. The four piece jazz band from New York created a fascinating fusion of jazz, rock, music concrete and alternative. The band was in Chicago for a two-night engagement at The Green Mill, a jazz club downtown known for its awesome music and goer-ship.

On the tail of releasing "Action-Refraction", Allison's 10th album, the band's chemistry was beyond compare as they turned jazz into a full-on jam, giving way to smooth guitar and bass lines with saxophone parts that made you want to get up and dance. Allison (bandleader, composer and master of the upright bass) talked about his new album, a collection of diverse and cross genre covers taking a stab at everything from PJ Harvey to The Carpenters. As a champion of experimentation, Allison is a truly wonderful jazz musician constantly keeping himself interested and excited about the music he creates.

He personally invited me to come check out his club, Kush at 191 Christie Street when I get back to New York. I will be sure to drop by on a night when the band is playing as part of his residency!

On another note, the soundscape that I created and discussed for the last blog is up on soundcloud now! You can listen to it here!

During the performance, people either stayed a while and enjoyed it, or were completely confused and left before the sound ended, as it ran on a continuous loop.

Peace.Love.Music

Kara Ali