Philly singer-songwriter Kurt Vile is an interesting anomaly. On the one hand, he's totally at home in the recent wave of no-fi eardrum-abusers. He records all his stuff at home and seemingly through a couple of layers of blankets. On the other hand, he's perfectly capable of cranking out gorgeous windows-down car-radio jams.
Over the past two years, Vile has released three solo albums, a steady stream of 7-inch singles, and an EP with his band the Violators, and he's punching the clock as the lead guitarist for The War on Drugs. To make matters more daunting, his sound and mood shift drastically from release to release (and sometimes from song to song). There's Kurt Vile the hazy, bedroom pop auteur; Kurt Vile donning a Tom Petty disguise; Kurt Vile donning his avant-garde soundscape hat.
With Childish Prodigy, his debut for indie-juggernaut Matador, Kurt Vile stretches and pulls the “lo-fi” tag into interesting new shapes, The album is full of Vile's scattershot personalities, but front and center is a tough, full-bodied rock sound that he's only hinted at in his past work. Here he creates dense layers of texture, lo-fidelity only in the sense that the sounds refuse easy pop categorization, echoing and blending endlessly, blurring the lines between his reverb-soaked vocals and the intricate web of keys, guitars, trumpets, and clattering percussion buzzing and twitching underneath them.
One gets the sense that Vile is a prolific songwriter, able to knock out a bunch of tracks in one sitting. He certainly has the talent and ability to churn out incredible tunes, and his music ambles dreamily along a perfect midway point between weird and the familiar.
His show at the Iron Horse at 10PM on Thursday 11/19 with Kurt (Feathers) Weisman promises to be one for the ages. We've told you so.
Monday, November 9, 2009
Kurt Vile is Well Worth Your While at the Iron Horse on Thursday 11/19 at 10PM
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Stephen Lynch jokes and jams at the Calvin Thursday, 11/12 at 8PM
By Sam Sessa | The
Stephen Lynch has always struggled to draw the line between music and stand-up.
Lynch doesn't think he'd make it as a singer/songwriter. He's not a big fan of comedy, either. By bringing together a little of both, he struck a chord with audiences around the globe.
"I didn't set out to become a comedian," he said. "I still don't think I have a real knack for it. I just happen to have found this really small window of opportunity that allows me to play music and use whatever skills I have at being funny."
As far back as the early 1990s, Lynch wanted to be a musician. But early on, he discovered he was much better at penning playful, vulgar tunes than traditional songs. So good, in fact, that he has been able to build a career out of touring and performing as a comedic singer/songwriter. His fourth album, "3 Balloons," came out this year.
Few topics are taboo for Lynch. He sings about priests molesting altar boys, ugly babies and the things he would do if he were gay. His songs are anything but politically correct.
Over the years, Lynch has graduated from playing small comedy clubs in
In 2006, Lynch starred in the Broadway adaptation of the film "The Wedding Singer." His performance garnered nominations for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical and the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. The role was exciting, but given the chance, Lynch said, he'd probably never do Broadway again.
"It was a once-in-a-lifetime thing," he said. "The schedule's too brutal for my delicate sensibilities. ... Toward the end, I was secretly wishing for its demise so I could get back to doing what I like to do."
What he likes to do is play three or four shows a week, max, he said. Broadway had him performing eight times a week.
"Look, I'm not digging ditches here, I'm going up on stage and singing a couple songs for two hours. It's not that difficult," he said. "But there's something about the mental process you have to go through to get up on stage and be a singing and dancing entertainer."
Before each show, Lynch obsesses over the night's set list, swapping out songs and deciding on the best spot to cue up certain video clips. For each tour stop, he rummages through his archives and pulls up the set lists from the last time he played in the area, making sure he doesn't put on the same performance twice in the same city.
"It's really stupid," he said. "I should just pick a set list and do it everywhere I go. But I'm always trying to hone it and craft it so that it's better than it was the night before."
Some of Lynch's fans see him as a musical act: They have their 10 favorite songs, and they want to hear those songs every show. Others come to be surprised by fresh jokes and new routines, Lynch said. Appeasing them both can be tough.
"Every night before a show, I'm trying to find that perfect balance between what some people in the audience want, what other people in the audience want and what I want," Lynch said. "There's a lot to juggle around."
Lynch's last two albums, 2005's "The Craig Machine" and 2003's "Superhero," were recorded live. When Lynch set out to make "3 Balloons," he was sick of hearing himself on a stool, on a stage, guitar in hand. He wanted to make an album in a studio with a cast of professional musicians - the way he had originally intended to make all his albums.
"To me, the music is as important as the comedy," he said. "Probably more important, because I have no real interest in comedy. I like music."
The narratives on "3 Balloons," which came out in March, are par for the course with Lynch. The title track is about a person who smuggles several balloons filled with drugs (hidden in a certain private place) through an airport.
The music, on the other hand, is drastically different. In addition to the usual guitar or piano, there are strings, drums and a bass guitar - exotic instruments, as far as Lynch's albums go.
Lynch wanted the instruments to complement and interact with his lyrics, not just support them. "Waiting," a song about a man nervously anticipating the results of an HIV test, has a beautiful, wailing violin solo on the album.
"That beauty mixed with the horrible lyrics I was singing made it even funnier," he said. "It worked."
Since he started playing music years ago, Lynch has quietly built up a stockpile of regular, unfunny songs. He doesn't play them live. He doesn't know whether he ever will. But when he retires from the comedy shtick, they might come in handy, he said.
"Maybe someday I'll bust them out," he said. "I like to think I'll grow a big beard and change my name and embark on a whole new career."
Until then, Lynch will be Lynch - crass and comedic.
Stephen Lynch performs at the Calvin Theatre this Thursday, November 12th at 8PM. Tickets here or at NBO, 413-586-8686. Online at IHEG.com.
"Don’t forget to have a good time." Ani DiFranco returns to Calvin Theatre Sunday, November 15th
And it has been a long time coming. Red Letter Year was sculpted over the course of two years, a period in which Ani continued to hone her songwriting, performing and recording skills, all the while balancing her new role as a mom. “I think I sorely needed to be slowed down, and finally a little person came along powerful enough to do it,” Ani reflects. The end result is an album of focused, layered, panoramic music. “When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon,” Ani explains. “Now I feel like I’m in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano coproduced this record – my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that’s because of him. I’ve got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more.” Ani’s band – upright bassist Todd Sickafoose, vibraphonist/percussionist Mike Dillon and drummer Allison Miller – is a major source of Red Letter Year’s singular personality. On “Emancipated Minor,” Miller’s driving beat tethers to Ani’s killer electric guitar hook, while Sickafoose’s bass adds the perfect counterpoint to Ani’s acoustic guitar work on “Way Tight”. And on “Alla This,” Dillon’s vibes are as rich and open-minded as Ani’s defiant, anthemic lyrics. Add to the inspired, re-invigorated Ani the uncanny production skills of Napolitano (Joseph Arthur, The Twilight Singers, Squirrel Nut Zippers), the otherworldly string arrangements of long time collaborator Sickafoose, and the inspired playing of guests such as Jon Hassell on trumpet (Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Ry Cooder), and you’ve got the makings of a DiFranco classic. If there’s a fourth band member on Red Letter Year, it’s New Orleans, LA. The Crescent City has become Ani’s second home and favorite place to record, and its cultural and spiritual wealth is in this album’s bones. Louisiana artists are all over these recordings, including the Rebirth Brass Band – the stars of “Red Letter Year Reprise” – pedal steel player Richard Comeaux and Lafayette’s own C.C. Adcock (Bo Diddley, Buckwheat Zydeco). But for all the cultural influences, eloquent statements and captivating melodies that inhabit this album like a friendly Louisiana neighborhood, nothing encapsulates its overall meaning like the warm, united laughter that concludes it. “I have this subconscious bent to open the curtains all the time, and let people see into the process and the time and place,” Ani muses. “I think that’s what’s behind all those little moments of talking or laughter that seep onto the records. I’m out in the world and back in my happy self, ready to have a party.” Ani DiFranco’s feeling good, and she’s in a giving mood – Red Letter Year isn’t just a party, it’s a music lover’s gift. See Ani DiFranco live at the Calvin Theatre in Northampton, Sunday night November 15th at 8PM. Gaby Moreno opens. Tickets here or at NBO 413-586-8686.
“I’ve got myself a new mantra,” Ani DiFranco shares on her new studio album. “It says ‘Don’t forget to have a good time.’” This attitude has clearly influenced the dozen tunes on Red Letter Year, which celebrate existence, profess love and tackle thorny political issues with an infectious sense of glee. It’s one of Ani’s most joyous records to date.
And Ani’s songwriting is up to the challenge, reflecting her place in life with warmth and clarity. Highlights include “Smiling Underneath,” a rumination on love’s power to make everything better, the achingly beautiful ballad “Way Tight” and “Alla This,” a quintessential Ani anthem full of brave statements like “I won’t pray to a male god/cuz that would be insane.”
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
The Cajun Swamp Fire Of Feufollet at the Iron Horse , Thursday, November 19th at 7PM
Courtesy of NPR. Lafayette, La., is a happening place. There, musicians young and old are pushing the boundaries of their genres. Feufollet has been doing that for a decade, even though most of its members are still in college. Like its compatriots in the Pine Leaf Boys, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, the Red Stick Ramblers and several other local bands, Feufollet is trying to bring the sensibility of its generation to a much older style of music.
Feufollet translates literally from the French as "crazy fire." In southwestern Louisiana, it's used to refer to the will o' the wisp: the spectral, shifting light seen over the swamps at night. Fiddler and accordionist Chris Stafford explains that the band chose the name because folk tales came up with many different meanings for "wills o' the wisp."
"People had no idea what they were," Stafford says. "They were these balls of fire they'd see in the swamp. And they would make up stories to explain what a feufollet was."
Feufollet, the band, is a bit of a shape-changer, too. The musicians do lots of straight-ahead Cajun songs, and they clearly respect their musical heritage. But they've also been known to toss a version of the Talking Heads' song "Psycho Killer" into a live show.
Giving Traditional Music A Twist
Most of the members of Feufollet are too young to remember the Talking Heads' heyday. Nevertheless, the Louisianans started playing music early — very early. Chris Segura started going to hear Cajun music with his parents at the age of 2. He was playing fiddle by the time he was 4. At the ripe old age of 12, a friend hooked him up with Chris Stafford. Segura says that their first collaborations took place over the phone.
"We'd play for each other over the phone before we ever met," Segura says.
The two Chrisses — Segura and Stafford — became the nucleus of Feufollet. They added Stafford's brother, Mike, on drums. He was around 8 years old at the time Feufollet recorded its first album nearly 10 years ago. So the band's fans — and the older generation of musicians who've mentored the members of Feufollet — have all watched the band grow up onstage.
The enthusiasm of youth led to some playing around in the studio as they recorded their latest CD, Cow Island Hop. They ran some vocals and a guitar solo backward. They added a Mellotron, an early electronic keyboard, on one track. One of the musicians dug up a Creole song called "Femme l'a Dit" at the Archives of Cajun and Creole Folklore, where he was working. It was a field recording from the 1950s, so the band members say they felt free to adapt it as they pleased.
Some purists may wag their fingers, but Barry Ancelet, a professor of French and folklore at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette — and one of the deans of Cajun culture — says he isn't worried.
"These guys understand the songs — they understand the culture they came from," Ancelet says. "They're not just playing songs. They're not just imitating sounds. They're retelling those stories new every time. They improvise, which means you actually have to make it part of you. These guys are fluent in the music and, at the same time, they're fluent in the culture. They understand the words they're singing. They understand where this comes from. They're interested in creativity, but at the same time in continuity. They're finding ways to do something new that's still connected to what's old." Get your tickets here.
Listen to "Cow Island Hop"
Listen to "Madame Bosso"
Marco Benevento Trio Returns To the Iron Horse on Thursday, December 3rd at 10PM
New DVD Release, LIVE IN NYC: THE SULLIVAN HALL RESIDENCY featuring KAKI KING, BRAD BARR, BILLY MARTIN, JOE RUSSO And Many More In Stores On November 10 (Watch The Trailer Here)
On his final run of East Coast shows in 2009, the revered indie jazz pianist Marco Benevento returns to The Iron Horse in
It
On November 10, he will release his first ever DVD, Live In NYC: The Sullivan Hall Residency, a two hour-plus documentary with performances and interviews from his five week 2008 engagement at the downtown New York City venue, featuring special guests like Brad Barr, Kaki King, Billy Martin, Joe Russo and Stanton Moore.
As Rolling Stone recently declared, "
School of Rock is in session this Saturday at Pearl Street
Lucas Kendall, 16, of
This Saturday November 7th at 7PM. four local bands comprised of under-20somethings play the Pearl Street Clubroom in
Who Shot Hollywood is brothers Lucas on vocals/ bass and Dana Kendall, 14, on drums; Eamon Wick, 15, on keyboard; and Lucas Graham, 14, on guitar. Lucas K. met Eamon in fifth grade and formed what he deemed a “juvenile six-piece punk rock band” called Bullseye. “Now, we’re kind of stuck with Who Shot Hollywood, though none of us really like the name.” Though still in their cavity-prone years, the band has audibly matured, expressing new musical influences as soon as they discover them. “As we went through puberty, so did our band,” said Lucas K. The group appears to be taking off and have opened for Mission of Burma, The Fray, and most recently Man Man at
Client #9 is David Roud, 17, on guitar; Owen Talbot, 16, on bass; and Jeremy Levit, 16, on drums. David has been playing music with Jeremy since the fourth grade when started to learn guitar. In middle school, they hooked up with Owen, and not just because one of his relatives had a lot of musical equipment for the boys to use. They’ve developed an orchestral brand of post-rock music comparable to Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai, and My Bloody Valentine. But the influence is incidental. “It started off as an accident,” David said. “We had mics and we started singing because we were so young, but we thought it sounded stupid.” One person’s stupid is another’s “seminal post-punk era influence.” As for their age David is nonplussed. “Hopefully our age will be a draw, but I always have a great time just being there, hearing the bands get tighter and improve their sound.”
The first time Client #9 played out was the 2008 Amherst Regional High School Battle of the Bands, which they handily clinched. Buoyed by their win, they’ve since opened for several acts at the Iron Horse including another band of local origins, Apollo Sunshine. Client #9, primarily an instrumental combo, is now incorporating vocals which David said all their parents are really excited about. “It’s been amazing to watch and feel it grow,” he said. “There’s always something going on that leaves me hopeful.”
Mountain Interval is Alexa on vocals and saxophone; John Zarcone, 18, on bass; Jake Grant, 19, on guitar; Sam Witty, 18, on keyboard; Cody Ball, 17, on guitar; and Nick Duska, 18, on drums. Their name is a reference to a Robert Frost collection that the band found evoked their origins. “The
Bad Vibes is Will Cole (son of Lloyd Cole...whose album Bad Vibes is the band's namesake), 17, on vocals; Justin Hahn, 19, on guitar; Phil Haggerty, 18, on guitar; Dan Gagnon, 18, on bass; and Will Hastie, 18, on drums. They got together in early 2009, inspired by a rock ensemble class they took at PVPA and since then, Will H. said, it’s been nonstop. This is the last chance to see the garage rock of Bad Vibes for thr foreseeable future. Phil Haggerty is leaving for
The show's at 7PM this Saturday at Pearl Street.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Ian McLagan, fresh off Faces reunion show in London, plays the Iron Horse, Tuesday, November 17th at 8PM.

With respect to a Faces tour, Kenney Jones (who also drummed for The Who post-Keith Moon) said, “I’d like to think it’s entirely possible and I think it’s on the cards, I’d love to see it in 2010, if not the following year but time’s not on our side, the sooner we do it the better. Like I said it’s all subject to everyone’s busy schedules.” Rod Stewart shared similar words in a recent interview with CNN saying, “[Faces had] a reunion… in
Here’s a clip of “Ooh La La” from the Royal Albert Hall Reunion Concert
Here’s Ian McLagan and Patty Griffin on Letterman playing “Never Say Never”
Ian McLagan along with singer/ guitarist Steve Marriott, bass player Ronnie Lane, and drummer Kenney Jones, was a member of the British pop/rock band the Small Faces. A teenybopper success at first, the band eventually gained greater critical standing by adopting a more psychedelic style. In March 1969, Marriott quit to form Humble Pie. Three months later, McLagan, Lane, and Jones combined with singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood, formerly of the Jeff Beck Group, to form the Faces. The group developed a reputation for its freewheeling performances, but it was overshadowed by Stewart
Never Say Never was mixed by Glyn Johns, Mac’s old pal from Small Faces and Faces. The self produced and directed album features McLagan
Tickets for all IHEG shows are available at the
Robert Cray talks about his Animal House appearance and his role in the creation of the Blues Brothers
“It’s a classic now, but back when the movie Animal House was shot, nobody had any idea it was going to be so big,” says Robert Cray. “My band and I were living in
Right then, Belushi got the idea to start the Blues Brothers, basing his character on Curtis. They credited Curtis on the first record, and when Paul Schaeffer introduced the Blues Brothers for the first time on SNL—doing his impersonation of Don Kirshner from the Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert program—he said, ‘And with the help of Curt Salgado and the Cray Band, we give you the Blues Brothers.’ It’s crazy to look back, but that’s how it all started, and it lives on to this day with things like the House of Blues and Elwood’s radio show.”
Robert Cray and Johnny A play the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on Sunday, November 8th at 8PM.
Minds Behind Violent Femmes, Soul Coughing, Grant-Lee Buffalo, Toad the Wet Sprocket play the Iron Horse Nov. 11th-15th
Gordon Gano and the Ryans, Wednesday, November 11th - 7:00PM
Gordon Gano, co-founder/songwriter for alt-rock monoliths Violent Femmes returns to the scene he helped spawn with a new album Under the Sun on Yep Roc. Film-scoring brothers and Bogmen members Brendan and Billy Ryan join Gano for Gordon Gano & The Ryans' first collaboration and Gordon's first non-Femmes release as a front man. Gano's influence on alternative music is immeasurable and his latest work is sure to remind the music world of the force and presence with which he originally stormed onto the scene in 1983, paving the way for the commercial explosion of alternative music a decade later.
Mike Doughty Thursday, November 12th- An Acoustic Evening - 2 Shows- 7 & 10PM
Soul Coughing
Grant Lee Phillips, Winterpills, Friday November 13th-7PM
You may know him as the street musician singing between scenes on dozens of episodes of the Gilmore Girls. With golden voice and silver-dipped pen Grant-Lee Phillips, former frontman of the legendary Grant Lee Buffalo, presents another milestone in a career brimming with the like. Little Moon, his first album since 2007's Strangelet, is track after track of well-anchored classic American music - rock and folk swirl under clouds of cinematic strings for a primer on the art of the timeless tune. His legendary well of melody is in full display on Little Moon, with even the most lilting piano ballad standing comfortably on a thick, powerful trunk.
Works Progress AdministrationSunday, November 15th - 7PM
Works Progress Administration takes its name from FDR’s 1939 New Deal initiative, which put millions to work making buildings, bridges, theater, art and music. WPA is an expandable collective, the core band comprised of Glen Phillips (Toad the Wet Sprocket) Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek), and Luke Bulla (Jerry Douglas Band, Lyle Lovett.) WPA was born out of the musical community surrounding the legendary LA club, Largo, a place not unlike the Iron Horse. The collaborative's debut album came out this September ('09) and includes the other five members: Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek), Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers), Greg Leisz (Lucinda Williams), Pete Thomas (Elvis Costello and the Imposters) and Davey Faragher (The Imposters, Cracker). Glen, Luke & Sean are on the road in support of the new album, to be joined by additional band members along the way as individual schedules allow. WPA will be performing at Iron Horse as a Quintet - Glen Phillips, Luke Bulla, and Sean Watkins will be joined by Sebastian Steinberg (bass) and Jerry Roe (drums)."
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Teach Your Children Well. Offspring of greats do their lineage justice at the Iron Horse as Liam Finn and Harper Simon come to town on 10/31 & 11/3.
Home to at least two generations of fans and performers, the Iron Horse hosts a steady stream of the musical progeny of great artists, many of whom have played the Horse for years; Sean Lennon, Sara Lee Guthrie, Justin Townes Earl, Ben and Sally Taylor, Rufus, Lucy, and Martha Wainwright and /or Roche, Devon Allman, Teddy Thompson, Shooter Jennings, and Jeff Buckley among them. When we book these sons and daughters, we strike a balance between promoting them on their own merits while also making reference to their newsworthy lineage.
Liam Finn, son of Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House, burst onto the musical landscape with the force and presence of an artist twice his age. Recorded with a mixing deck that once belonged to The Who, the New Zealander, in his early 20s, plays nearly every instrument on his first solo release I'll Be Lightning. During his raucous yet intimate live performances Liam utilizes effects pedals to create, sample and loop bass, guitar, drums, vocals and even Theremin. Liam's sound ranges from foggy and intimate to fuzzed-out garage and Elliott Smith-style melodies are often part of the story. On I'll Be Lightning, Liam has translated the shambolic energy of his live show onto vintage 2-inch tape, yielding a studio album of frightening power and endless hooks. “The aesthetic is DIY, leaving the woolly edges,” he explains. His brand new EP, Champagne In Seashells, a collaboration with his live cohort Eliza Jane (daughter of Aussie music legend Jimmy Barnes) is bigger and bolder than its predecessor, revealing new lyrical complexities and pointing in daring new musical directions. The self produced EP was mixed by legendary sonic wizard Tchad Blake (Gomez, Pearl Jam).
Liam and Eliza KILL Neil Young’s Old Man- watch video.
Liam Finn-Second Chance-watch video from I’ll be Lightning
Listen to Liam and Eliza Jane’s new song Plane Crash.
In search of a sound that satisfied him, Harper decided to take those basic tracks that he recorded in Nashville to Los Angeles and eventually to New York, and gradually brought in other great players associated with other eras, including a whole new generation of wildly talented musical friends into the mix including Inara George, Petra Haden and Sean Lennon, ultimately mixing the results with Tom Rothrock, known for his work with artists like Beck and Elliot Smith, who all helped bring the shock of the new. Also on board are Steve Gadd (drummer on “50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.”), Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello), and Marc Ribot. Sure, it may have taken a village, but the result reflects one man’s wide-ranging sensibility and influences perfectly. For the Iron Horse show Harper’s band will include bass player Jeff Hill (Rufus Wainwright), drummer Russell Simins (Blues Explosion, Catpower) and multi-instrumentalist Gregg Foreman (Catpower).
Here’s Harper Simon performing Nick Drake’s from the morning.
A young Harper and father Paul on Sesame Street- watch video.
Liam Finn and Eliza Jane plus Miracle Fortress (from
Harper Simon (plus local singer/songwriter & Winterpill) Dennis Crommett, Tuesday, November 3rd, 7PM at the Iron Horse. Tickets $10 in advance
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
The Afro-Punk tour hits Northampton’s Pearl Street Clubroom on Halloween with slam champ Saul Williams and the original Living Colour
Saul Williams latest album is produced by Trent Reznor, a match made in anger management heaven. Saul is a renegade writer, actor and musician known for his synthesis of poetry and hip-hop. He was Nuyorican Poets Cafe's Grand Slam Champion and starred in the indie film Slam. On the Reznor produced 'The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust!' Williams' firebrand rhetoric is delivered over punk and industrial undercurrents conjuring the Last Poets and Public Enemy. DJ’s CX KiDTRONiK & Tchaka Diallo join him onstage. And as if Saul wasn’t enough…
Living Colour, yes that Living Colour with Vernon Reid and Corey Glover, the funk metal band who formed in
This show, loud and literate, will be the epicenter of energy in
Above: Saul Williams
Above: Living Colour
Saul Williams – Convict Colony Video
Living Colour “Cult of Personality” Video








