The Hounds Below, officially the main project of The Von Bondies’ Jason Stollsteimer, stayed busy with multiple shows scheduled each day of SXSW. Even though they’ve been whittled down to a typical rock four-piece from a band that has seen many larger incarnations over the past couple years, the Hounds Below somehow now boast...
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Some notes on seeing Fiona Apple in a church: music, an already sacred enough phenomenon, is made even more sacred-seeming in the church setting, which paradoxically makes the whole thing a tad sacrilegious. For example, a polite applause followed each song, followed by a solemn silence, which Apple sheepishly filled with anecdotes like using...
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The annual South By Southwest festival draws musicians and music fans from all over to the Live Musical Capital of the World- that’s Austin, TX- and once again Detroit was well-represented. Detroit-related festivities kicked-off in earnest at a FADER-sponsored party with a much-hyped performance by rapper Danny Brown, taking to the stage (ironically? …Reverently?)...
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Mick Bassett has had a new record available for about a month, and while he appears on Here Lies The Lion That Lied In Your Bed without his backing band The Marthas, it does mark his first full-length record. The songs are stripped-down compared with the band’s typical trombone-laden fare, but feature a dynamic...
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For its annual songwriting challenge feature, Esquire Magazine gathered five musicians– Detroit’s own Brendan Benson and Ben Blackwell in addition to Dhani Harrison, Raphael Saadiq, and Dierks Bentley– in the Motor City for a fashion shoot for its May 2011 issue. Esquire also challenged the musicians to write a song inspired by the theme...
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Blogging from an iPod Touch with a Bluetooth keyboard. The future has arrived, and it is goofy. Arrived in Austin Friday morning for a brief two day music binge. I’m wishing I came earlier after hearing Jack White played a brief solo show at his Third Man Rolling Record Store. No Jack White was...
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The keen Metro Times reader should have noticed something familiar about the cover of this year’s Blowout issue. A nod to the iconic cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, MT photographer Doug Coombe replaces Dylan, muse Susan Rotolo and the Greenwich Village background with couple Christopher Jarvis and Lianna Vanicelli of Blowout band Phantasmagoria...
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You know what the thing is about plans, Laura? They usually never work out anyway. Spent the weekend floating from show to show at the suggestion of others. Late start with CARJACK.’s dance party at Paycheck’s to catch him play guitar briefly with a toy robot. Bummed I missed The White Stripes cover. At...
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