Current Music Blog

Yesterday the Cold War Kids announced a new 4 song EP called “Behave Yourself,” which will be released on January 19. As a teaser for the EP they posted a trailer video by filmmaker and CWK friend Vern Moen.

From the band:

As promised we will be releasing a 4 song EP called Behave Yourself on January 19. We made a 1 minute video with our friend Vern to give you a preview of the songs and the video for “Audience” that will come soon. We had a great time filming it in San Pedro; in our rehearsal space, skating on the docks, driving on the bluffs, shaving in the tide pools and being nude in a friend of a friend’s bathroom. Thanks to O’Brien for letting us borrow the ‘71 Triumph. We are in the studio now writing and recording so we are only going to do 4 shows in January. We are going to find a way to make them special by giving a free recording of each show that you can download with ticket purchase.

I’m a big fan of the shooting and editing used in the trailer. You see so many EPK and promotional videos when you work in music and it’s nice to see something original that doesn’t suck. It helps that the new songs sound good as well.

We spent some time with the band recently, and you may get to see some of Vern’s video included in our final piece. Stay tuned for that.

>> On tour with the Cold War Kids in Lake Tahoe [photo set]

I’ve been a fan of Mason Jennings for a long time, ever since I saw him open for Richard Buckner at the Tractor Tavern in Seattle many years ago. That night he listened to me complain about my job at an architecture firm, then recommended a few books—East of Eden and everything by Toni Morrison. Since then I’ve seen him play more times than I should probably admit. He recorded a couple songs for a documentary I was editing (one of them ended up on his album “Use Your Voice”), and I’ve interviewed him a few times for Current, covering everything from transcendental mediation and Rick Rubin to skateboarding and the Wu-Tang Clan.

Mason’s last album, his eighth, is called “Blood of Man” and it caught me off guard as somebody who knows his music pretty well. This album is different. It is harder and more of a rock album; it is certainly more biographical and the electric guitar is more present than in any of his previous work. It is an album made by an artist who is clearly experimenting. Mason recorded the entire album by himself at his cabin in Minnesota. It’s what Mason Jennings wanted to make right now, in this moment—and his experiment worked. The album is amazing.

Recently I was lucky enough to catch up with Mason at Brushfire Studios, where he played two songs from “Blood of Man.” I wrangled Danny Carney from Roll The Tanks into bringing his 4-track tape recorder along to get some analog audio for “Tourist” and “Lonely Road.” These two songs break from the rest of the album and offer “the other side,” in Mason’s words, from the overall darker tone of the album.

As always, it was great catching up with Mason and I look forward to the next time and place our paths cross.

Watch Mason Jennings sing “Tourist” and talk more about that song and “Lonely Road” at current.com/music.

The Dodos played a great show at the El Rey in Los Angeles on Sunday night. It seems like a lot of people are talking about the fact that “Fools” has been running in a Miller Chill ad and that was definitely the song that everybody knew.

Setlist:

Pain the Rust
Longform
Two Medicines
Company
Fables
Jodi
Troll Nacht
Acorn Factory
This is a Business
Fools
The Season
——–
Walking
Red and Purple

Our good friend Common is a busy man. When he isn’t acting opposite Queen Latifah in an upcoming NBA rom-com, vlogging from all over the globe or asking fans to direct his next music video (with Current!), he stays busy by looking out for young people that need a hand. He’s got his own foundation—aptly titled The Common Ground Foundation—which provides mentoring and reading programs in urban neighborhoods.

On Saturday, September 26 at the Hollywood Palladium, Common is throwing a benefit concert for the foundation with an insane lineup that includes The Roots, De La Soul, Ludacris, Nas and a special guest.

To get tix, head here.

The Decemberists started out their Hazards of Love Tour this week at The Palladium in Los Angeles on 5/19. They went on at exactly 9pm and played for over two hours. The first set consisted of the entire Hazards of Love “folk opera” all the way through with no talking. At one point Colin commented that they were “singing a lot of songs about dead people.” With The Decemberists you would be disappointed any other way.

Here are some photos I took as well as a setlist.

Set 1:
The Hazards of Love Entire Album

Set 2:
Los Angeles, I’m Yours
July July
Eli the Barrow Boy
We Both Go Down Together
If I Could Only Win Your Love (Emmylou Harris cover)
Yankee Bayonnet
Dracula’s Daughter
O Valencia
Sons and Daughters

Encore:
Raincoat Song
I Was Meant For The Stage

Read more about the Decemberists at Current.com.

Sometimes in an interview you want a Frost/Nixon approach. Other times you want quick and to the point. Three question interviews by Current Music’s senior producer Alex Simmons are for the non Frost/Nixon times.

Today’s 3? subject is prodigious Memphis punk singer/songwriter Jay Reatard.

MTV has a new scripted reality show created by producer Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) called $5 Cover. It is shot in Memphis with local musicians playing themselves. Do you think the artists MTV picked are a good representation of the Memphis music scene?
Memphis doesn’t sound like or look like or act like the characters in this ummm…short film series. Well at least not the one I have been part of for 20 years or so.

What is up with your new album?
Flew up to NYC and finished it last week. Don’t have too many details for you other than that the songs are longer and there are fewer of them than on previous LP’s I have been involved in. As far as what it is mostly about, it is about your friends wanting to see you fail from the sidelines.

When I say the name Phil Collins, what do you think of first?
I saw a trailer recently for some film with Mike Tyson air drumming “In The Air Tonight.” Shit was pretty hilarious. [Trailer is for The Hangover, Tyson is at the end]

Jay will be touring the states for a good bit of June and July. Go see him when he is in your town. Read more about Jay at Current.com.