World's Fair

Daptone Record’s the Budos Band has been continuing to assert its afro-beat-funk dominance on the West Coast with a handful of dates this past weekend, including a Friday Night gig in Seattle for the record release party of the Saturday Knights (got that?).

(Photo by Abbey Simmons/The Seattlest)

The omniscient Seattlest was there, and here’s what they had to say:

Our brief summary: the Budos Band sounds like “Hot damn!” spicy, and we’re head-over-heels for the sunny punk-pop-rap-rock of The Saturday Knights.

The classy Budos Band, aptly labeled as Afro-soul funk by critics, played a diverse and absolutely danceable set. We loved “Up From The South” and “Budos Rising,” both of which you can hear on their Myspace page. The guys on stage ranged from a cutely dimpled trumpet player out of L.A. to a wiry, grey-haired guitar player straight from the ’60s—East Coast style—and a dreamy-eyed dude on the keyboard with lovely curls. This is music Seattlest and our father could both appreciate for once, bridging generations with skilled brass players, memorable song composition, and hot, organic rhythm.

We couldn’t agree more, but if there is, for some reason, any lingering doubt, there are still chances this summer to see them (and having an invite to the MLB’s All-Star Game Private Pre-Party isn’t an excuse!), including a gig the Waverly Hotel in Cumberland, BC, tonight.

Here’s the “Origin of Man” video to pass the time (4:37 minutes of it, in fact. Which means you could watch it 4,520 times before the pre-party starts).

July 1 - Cumberland, BC @ Waverly Hotel
July 11 - Ottawa, ON @ Ottawa Bluesfest
July 13 - Camden, NJ @ XPoNential Music Fest
July 15 - Randall’s Island, NY @ Official Major League Baseball All-Star Game Pre-Party (Private Party)
July 18 - New York, NY @ Damrosch Park - Mid Summer Night’s Swing
July 19 - Los Angeles, CA @ Getty Center

Artist: The Budos Band
Album: The Budos Band II
Label: Daptone Records
Street Date: August 7th, 2007
Formats: CD, vinyl, mp3

The Dandy Warhols’ new album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols, is coming out fewer than two months from now, and to celebrate the band, in collaboration with AOL Spinner, has released another track, “The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers aka The Ballad of Sheriff Shorty.”

Here’s what Spinner had to say:

“It’s 2008, but it sure sounds like ’90s all over again with records dropping from the Lemonheads, Matthew Sweet and the Dandy Warhols in the coming months. Portland’s psychedelic rock quartet are back in full swing with ‘Earth to Dandy Warhols,’ the bands sixth album. The record will surface on August 19, but you get a taste of the band’s updated and untamed eclectic sound on ‘The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers aka The Ballad of Sheriff Shorty.’”

You yourself can download this new track right here.

The Dandys, of course, also have a North American fall tour lined up, starting at the home of Prince and ending in their very own hometown.

TOUR DATES
Sep 09 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue*
Sep 10 - Madison, WI @ Barrymore*
Sep 12 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater*
Sep 13 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus*
Sep 14 - Montreal, QC @ Club Soda*
Sep 16 - Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre*
Sep 17 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5*
Sep 20 - Philadelphia, PA @ TLA*
Sep 22 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club*
Sep 23 - Atlanta, GA @ The Center Stage Theater*
Sep 26 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall*
Sep 27 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater*
Sep 28 - Aspen, CO @ Belly Up*
Oct 03 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
Oct 04 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield %
Oct 05 - Portland, OR @ The Roseland Theater (No Pre-Sale)

More dates TBA

All shows with the Upsidedown
*With Darker My Love
# With A Place to Bury Strangers
% With the Charlatans
^With Monstrous

Artist: The Dandy Warhols
Album: Earth To The Dandy Warhols
Label: Beat The World Records
Street Date: August 19, 2008

CONNECT: World’s Fair | Myspace | Website | YouTube | Facebook

As part of a schedule leading up until release date, Daptone Records has just released the fourth installment of the documentary for its upcoming album, the a cappella gospel record COMO NOW.

This week it’s The John Edwards Singers, a group of 4 siblings who contribute two songs to the compilation, including a stunning interpretation of the Sensational Nightingales’ “Burying Ground” (called “New Burial Ground”), while next week promises Brother and Sister Walker (who are actually a husband-and-wife team. Take that White Stripes).

The entire album comes out August 19 (and pre-order is available soon).

Album: COMO NOW
Label: Daptone Records
Street Date: August 19, 2008

Tomorrow, June 26, Apollo Sunshine will play a show in San Francisco’s 12 Galaxies. The band has been hard at work for a while playing songs off their new album, Shall Noise Upon, which will be out physically on September 2 (August 5 for iPods and turntables and iPod turntables), and it shows, because their live set is pretty awesome.

Apollo Sunshine with Big Light
12 Galaxies
2565 Mission St
San Francisco
$12 adv/ $15 door
9pm
21+

Yes, San Franciscans, you, like RCRD LBL, Largehearted Boy, and PopMatters can listen to or download “666: The Coming Of The New World Government” on this blog, OR you could go see it live and in action, which at least seems like it will be slightly more fun than looking at a computer screen alone, but, well…the choice is yours.

Or if you’re in Massachusetts, you can see them on August 8 and 9 in Wellfleet, at the Wellfleet Beachcomber.

“666: The Coming Of The New World Government,” here. [DOWNLOAD]

Artist: Apollo Sunshine
Album: Shall Noise Upon
Label: Headless Heroes
Street Date: September 2, 2008 - CD; August 5, 2008 - Digital/ Vinyl

CONNECT: World’s Fair | MySpace | Website

Beginning June 26, the Oklahoma-based Colourmusic will embark on a Midwestern tour — including stops at Milwaukee’s Summerfest and Des Moines’s 80/35 Festival — in anticipation of their upcoming album, f, monday, orange, february, venus, lunatic, 1 or 13, out September 9.

The record may be their full-length debut, but Colourmusic are no strangers to the stage; besides their own creative, energetic performance (live painting? attempted hypnosis? identical dressing? check, check, and check) they’ve just recently toured with British Sea Power and Liars. Suffice it to say, if you’re anywhere near these cities in the upcoming weeks, you should definitely check them out.

Here’s a video for the live favorite “Yes!,” which was commissioned by the Oklahoma Creativity Project:

Here are the dates:
June 26 - Columbia, MO @ Mojo’s
June 27 - Chicago, IL @ The Hideout
June 28 - Milwaukee, WI @ Summerfest
June 29 - Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
June 30 - St Paul, MN @ Turf Club
July 02 - Fargo, ND @ Aquarium
July 03 - Omaha, NE @ The Waiting Room
July 04 - Des Moines, IA @ 80/35 Festival
July 05 - St. Louis, MO @ The Bluebird
July 06 - Lawrence, KS @ Replay Lounge

And here’s a song for the road:
Check out the song “Put In A Little Gas” here [DOWNLOAD]

Artist: Colourmusic
Album: f, monday, orange, february, venus, lunatic, 1 or 13
Label: Great Society
Street Date: September 9, 2008 - CD; August 19, 2008 - Digital/ Vinyl

CONNECT: World’s Fair | MySpace | Website

LA cult band the Autumns have just announced that they will be playing a special show this Friday, June 27, in their hometown!

Spaceland
The Autumns with Run Through The Desert
1717 Silverlake Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
323.661.4380
8:30pm
21+

In more Autumns news, their transvestite-featuring video for “Boys” premiered on June 15 on MTV Subterranean.
 

 

And finally, the band was a featured artist on Uncensored June 1, where they share their views on everything from the Iraq War to PJ Harvey.

 
 
Tons of stuff, so check it out!

Artist: The Autumns
Album: Fake Noise From A Box Of Toys
Label: Bella Union / World’s Fair
Street Date: April 15th, 2008
Formats: CD, mp3

CONNECT: Website | Myspace | World’s Fair

With their brand-new album, Earth To The Dandy Warhols, hitting stores in North America on August 19, the Dandy Warhols are bringing their extraordinary live show to fans across the US and Canada. Pacific-Northwesterners are fortunate enough to be able to see the band during their exclusive June shows, but everyone else will have the chance come early fall, with stops in Denver, New York, Toronto, Atlanta, Los Angeles and pretty much everywhere in between. The band will be supported by LA pysch-rockers Darker My Love for most of the fall tour, as well as their newly-signed labelmates the Upsidedown on all dates.

The Dandy Warhols have already established themselves as musical icons with their songs “Bohemian Like You” and “Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth,” but Earth To The Dandy Warhols, their sixth full-length and first of many on their own label, Beat the World Records, raises them to a new platform. This is classic Dandys, of course, and songs like “Talk Radio” and “Mission Control” continue to reaffirm the band’s position in alternative rock annals, but the album also sees the band moving into repertoire-broadening territory, from the tongue-and-cheek and very Dandy-esque take on outlaw country, “The Legend of the Last of the Outlaw Truckers AKA The Ballad of Sheriff Shorty,” to “Love Song,” which features Dire Straits’ Mark Knopfler and the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell, and of course, the opener “The World Come On,” which was made available for download on May 5, courtesy of a Stereogum premiere.

Although tickets officially go on sale June 21, members of the Dandys new fan-club subscription service will be able to buy tickets during a special pre-sale starting June 17. Pre-sale for the general public begins June 19 through the band’s website.

Also of note to those in The Dandy Warhols’ home base, the Portland show, initially planned for June 21 at the Roseland Theater, has been rescheduled for October 5 (same venue). The band’s European tour kicks off at the top of July, and due to unforeseen circumstances with gear routing, the equipment must ship out of Seattle on June 21. All tickets purchased will be honored at the October 5 show. Refunds are available at point of purchase for those who cannot attend the rescheduled show.

In other Dandys news, Courtney recently did an interview for Wired.com’s Listening Post, where he talks about the new record, among other things. Here’s a clip:

LP: So you’re not in search of a new sound, you just have a lot of toys in the studio.

CTT: A lot of both. Monkeys like “new” and “familiar” in some kind of unquantifiable proportions. I’m pretty sure this is what led to us making records that sound different from each other. That and the fact that it seems to be about three years between albums.

LP: Talk about the digital release. How has the response been?

CTT: Our digital subscription package with first download of the album turned out to be a great idea, since we own our studio we can produce a lot of music. I feel that digital subscription is the obvious way of the future. If the old-school ASCAP and BMI people had been on the ball, they could have become the new superpowers of music by creating monthly subscription sites in the web’s early days. They snoozed.

Check out “The World Come On” here! [DOWNLOAD]

TOUR DATES
June 20 - Seattle, WA @ Showbox SoDo^

Sep 09 - Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue*
Sep 10 - Madison, WI @ Barrymore*
Sep 12 - Chicago, IL @ Vic Theater*
Sep 13 - Toronto, ON @ Kool Haus*
Sep 14 - Montreal, QC @ Club Soda*
Sep 16 - Boston, MA @ Wilbur Theatre*
Sep 17 - New York, NY @ Terminal 5*
Sep 20 - Philadelphia, PA @ TLA*
Sep 22 - Washington, DC @ 930 Club*
Sep 23 - Atlanta, GA @ The Center Stage Theater*
Sep 26 - Lawrence, KS @ Liberty Hall*
Sep 27 - Denver, CO @ Gothic Theater*
Sep 28 - Aspen, CO @ Belly Up*
Oct 03 - Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern #
Oct 04 - San Francisco, CA @ Warfield %
Oct 05 - Portland, OR @ The Roseland Theater (No Pre-Sale)

More dates TBA

All shows with the Upsidedown
*With Darker My Love
# With A Place to Bury Strangers
% With the Charlatans
^With Monstrous

Artist: The Dandy Warhols
Album: Earth To The Dandy Warhols
Label: Beat The World Records
Street Date: August 19, 2008

CONNECT: World’s Fair | Myspace | Website | YouTube | Facebook

So at this point in time Daptone Records has pretty well established itself as the go-to place for funk and soul in the 21st century. Sharon Jones is practically a household name, and acts like the Budos Band and the Sugarman 3 are getting more and more exposure daily. Being the kind of label they are, though, and not content to rest on their laurels, Daptone is releasing an a cappella gospel album on August 19, called COMO NOW. It was recorded live in a church in Como, Mississippi on July 22, 2006, and it’s as soulful and rootsy and real as any Dap-Kings hook or Sharon Jones chorus.

In order to celebrate, the label is releasing one chapter of their COMO NOW Documentary a week, each featuring a Como artist. They’re on “Chapter II - Como Mamas,” right now, and this Thursday “Chapter III - Mary Moore” will roll out. There are nine in all, so stay tuned for the rest to come.

In other Daptone news, Sugarman 3 are playing tomorrow, Wednesday, June 18 alongside than Rich Medina as part of Stuyvesant Town’s Music on the Oval series (show starts at 6pm).

Album: COMO NOW
Label: Daptone Records
Street Date: August 19, 2008

Beginning June 20, Def Jux’s Junk Science will be hitting parking lots, amphitheaters, and fairgrounds across the country as part of the Vans Warped Tour, balancing the punk guitars of bands like Against Me!, Reel Big Fish, and Be Your Own Pet with their seamless and energetic rhymes and beats. Recognizing the gap in hip-hop after Hangar 18 had to cancel their own Warped Tour dates, Junk Science jumped at the chance to join what is otherwise affectionately referred to as “punk rock summer camp.”

Baje One and Snafu, the MC/DJ duo that comprise Junk Science, have known each other since they were both kids growing up in Brooklyn, and now, as part of the celebrated Nuclear Family, they’ve brought their music to the rest of the world, most recently on their second LP, Gran’Dad’s Nerve Tonic — out on Definitive Jux last October — and through extensive touring with the tireless Del the Funky Homosapien. Warped Tour gives them yet another opportunity to show off their stuff, the perfect mix of cool and swagger, complementing and enhancing the line-up and winning over plenty of fans in the meantime.
 
Get ready for show with a sweet remix of “Hey!” with The Boys & Girls Club.
Junk Science - “Hey! Boys & Girls Club Remix” [DOWNLOAD]
 

And the tour dates…
June 20 - Pomona, CA @ Fairplex Park
June 21 - San Francisco, CA @ Pier 30/32
June 22 - Ventura, CA @ Seaside Park
June 25 - Phoenix, AZ @ Cricket Wireless Pavilion
June 26 - Las Cruces, NM @ New Mexico State University-Intramural Field
June 28 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah State Fair
June 29 - Denver, CO @ Invesco Field At Mile High
July 1 - Maryland Heights, MO @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater St Louis
July 2 - Bonner Springs, KS @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 3 - Dallas, TX @ Superpages.com Center (form. Smirnoff Music Center)
July 5 - Selma, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 6 - Houston, TX @ Sam Houston Race Park
July 9 - Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Exhibition Center
July 10 - Orlando, FL @ Central Florida Fairgrounds
July 11 - Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Park
July 12 - Miami, FL @ Bicentennial Park
July 13 - Elkton, FL @ St Johns County Fairgrounds
July 14 - Charlotte, NC @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 15 - Virginia Beach, VA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheater
July 16 - Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
July 17 - Cleveland, OH @ Time Warner Cable Amphitheater at Tower City

Artist: Junk Science
Album: Gran’ Dad’s Nerve Tonic
Label: Definitive Jux
Street Date: October 23rd, 2007
Formats: vinyl, CD, mp3

CONNECT: Definitive Jux | Junk Science | Myspace

In case you didn’t hear, the one and only Sharon Jones and her Dap-Kings graced the stage of Late Night with Conan O’Brien yesterday, performing a very emotional, very tight rendition of “Let Them Knock,” off 100 Days, 100 Nights.

The Music Slut has posted the performance. Sharon and Conan make quite a pair…check it out!

Ms. Jones has been going strong for the past couple months now (last Saturday she put on a killer performance as part of the Roots Picnic in Philly — see pics here and here), and she’s showing no signs of letting up, playing Bonnaroo this upcoming Saturday, June 14, and continuing on to Aspen, LA, Chicago, and New York, the latter as part of the Central Park SummerStage series with the whole Daptone gang in tow.

Speaking of Daptone, the label hasn’t been doing too shabby a job of keeping itself in the music spotlight. Their 7″ Singles Collection, Vol. 2 was just released last week (June 3), Naomi Shelton’s “What Have You Done?” was just featured as NPR’s Song of the Day, and the Sugarman 3 are playing Wednesday, June 18 alongside none other than Rich Medina as part of Stuyvesant Town’s Music on the Oval series (show starts at 6pm). No excuse not to see at least someone from the family this summer. And, unlike your Aunt Ida’s potato salad, you won’t regret it later.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings Tour Dates:

Jun 14 - Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music Festival
Jun 21 - Aspen, CO @ Rio Grande Park (Jazz Aspen Festival)
Jul 20 - Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl (w/Feist)
Jul 25 - Portland, OR @ The Portland Zoo
Jul 27 - Seattle, WA @ The Seattle Zoo
Aug 2 - Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza
Aug 3 - Montreal, QUE @ Oshega Music and Arts Festival
Aug 9 - Baltimore, MD @ V Festival
Aug 16 - Westhampton, NY @ Westhampton Performing Arts Center
Aug 17 - New York, NY@ Central Park Summerstage (Daptone Revue)
Aug 21-22 - St Paul, MN @ Minnesota State Fair
Aug 24 - San Francisco, CA @ Golden Gate State Park (Outside Lands Music and Arts Fest)

Artist: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Album: 100 Days, 100 Nights
Label: Daptone Records
Street Date: October 2nd, 2007
Formats: CD, vinyl, mp3

CONNECT: Website | World’s Fair | Myspace | iMeem | YouTube