Journal
- Tuesday, April 16, 2024
The Black Keys have secured the No. 1 Current Rock Album and No. 1 Current Alternative Album in US sales following the release of their new album, Ohio Players, last week. The album also is the highest debut of the week on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums Chart and Top Alternative Albums Chart, at No. 5 on both charts, and has reached No. 4 on Overall Current Album sales and No. 26 on the Billboard 200. Internationally, Ohio Players is the band’s sixth consecutive top 20 album in the UK, as well as top 20 in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland, among others.
Journal Topics: Album Release, Artist News, Reviews
- Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman's duo tour of Europe continues with music from their respective solo work and from Mehldau's recent release, Highway Rider, on which Redman performs. All About Jazz calls the album a "showcase of Mehldau's growth as both a composer and musician ... one of those rare and potent reminders that jazz not only thrives but continues to evolve in the hands of truly creative artists."
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
The word is out: The Black Keys tune "Chop and Change" will be featured on the soundtrack for what will undoubtedly be one of this summer's biggest films, Eclipse, the latest in the Twilight saga starring Robert Pattison, Kristen Stewart, and Taylor Lautner. The album's track listing is being revealed at MySpace one artist at a time, every half hour today until all 15 tracks are revealed.
Journal Topics: Artist News, FilmWednesday, May 12, 2010
John Adams led a rare performance of Louis Andriessen's De Staat in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall on Monday. The New York Times says "it was a thrill to hear the adventurous players of Ensemble ACJW perform" the piece, calling Adams "an inspired advocate" for Andriessen. The Philadelphia Inquirer writes, after the previous day's performance in Philadelphia, that what is "so astonishing" about De Staat after almost 35 years, "is that it seems ... so completely up to date."
Journal Topics: ReviewsTuesday, May 11, 2010
New Orleans native Allen Toussaint will perform at Gulf Aid, a benefit concert to raise funds for wetland recovery efforts and to support fishermen and families affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Also scheduled to perform at this Sunday's event are Lenny Kravitz, John Legend, Mos Def, Dr. John, and many others. It will be broadcast on New Orleans radio station WWOZ 90.7 FM, online at wwoz.org.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsTuesday, May 11, 2010
Tony Allen and his new album, Secret Agent, were recently featured on PRI's The World. Allen discusses his role as "the man who put the beat in Afrobeat," his work with Fela Kuti, and in the many other musical idioms in which he has proven himself to be at home. The Cleveland Plain Dealer gives Secret Agent an A, saying of Allen: "On Secret Agent, his authoritative rhythms propel hypnotic, horn-blasting jams that dare you not to dance."
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The Low Anthem is taking a few weeks off from its busy touring schedule to prepare its next album. The good news is, a number of sites—LaundroMatinee, Baebel Music, Duke Street Blog, and The Bandwidth Sessions—have posted video sessions of live performances by the band to allow fans to experience the live feel before the band heads out on the road again in July.
Monday, May 10, 2010
The Black Keys' new album, Brothers, is due out May 18; to make the waiting easier, NPR.org is streaming the entire album as a First Listen. NPR's Bob Boilen says it's "packed with great songs and devoid of throwaways." The band will launch an exclusive pop-up store at NYC’s Housing Works Bookstore Cafe, May 18–20, highlighted by an intimate performance by The Black Keys on May 19; all ticket proceeds will go to Housing Works' efforts supporting New Yorkers with HIV/AIDS.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist News, WebMonday, May 10, 2010
Tune in to The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson tonight on CBS to see Wilco perform "Deeper Down" off Wilco (the album). The band has just announced a diverse array of musical guests for the line up of its first Solid Sound Festival, a three-day event to be held at MASS MoCA, August 13–15, in North Adams, Massachusetts. In addition to performances by the band and its members, the festival will feature Avi Buffalo, Vetiver, Sir Richard Bishop, Mountain Man, Brenda, The Books, Deep Blue Organ Trio, and legendary puppet theater company Bread and Puppet.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsMonday, May 10, 2010
John Adams begins two weeks' of events on the East Coast with a concert in Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall tonight, leading Ensemble ACJW in his Son of Chamber Symphony and Louis Andriessen's De Staat. The Kennedy Center launches John Adams: Perspectives, a two-week celebration of his music, featuring concerts with the NSO, discussions, a film screening, and book signings of his memoir, Hallelujah Junction, from which Adams will read at the Library of Congress.
Journal Topics: On Tour, Artist NewsMonday, May 10, 2010
Strange Powers, the new documentary film on Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, makes its New York debut tonight with a sold-out screening at The Bell House in Brooklyn. The screening will be preceded by a monologue from band member Claudia Gonson and followed by a Q&A with the film's directors, Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara. The film will be shown at the Seattle International Film Festival in June and begins its theatrical run in NYC this fall.
Journal Topics: FilmMonday, May 10, 2010
Pat Metheny returned to his home state of Missouri for two stops on the Orchestrion tour this weekend. "Metheny's Orchestrion is nothing short of spectacular," raves the Kansas City Star, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says, "The music spoke for itself, and eloquently." The tour continues tonight in Chicago. "Simply put," explains Time Out Chicago of Orchestrion, "the famed jazz guitarist has raised the bar for inventiveness, which says a lot for a career stretching over three decades."
Monday, May 10, 2010
k.d. lang's performance of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" at the Logie Awards, Australia's television awards, last week "held the room spellbound," says the Sydney Morning Herald. Now comes word that the lang's latest Nonesuch release, Recollection, has shot to No. 1 on Australia's album chart, a position the album first reached upon its release in February.
Journal Topics: Artist News
