April March & Staplin preview collaborative album with "Parti avec le Soleil"

April March Meets Staplin will be out on vinyl for Record Store Day, April 22. Listen to "Parti avec le Soleil" below.

Here's the scoop... 

April March went to France to record her latest studio album April March Meets Staplin (out May 5th via Velvetica Music) in collaboration with the French duo of Norman Langolff and Arno Van Colen better known as Staplin. Fans of April March will recall that she previously appeared on the Staplin track "Celluloïd" (listen below) off their 2020 debut album Neon Shades (Velvetica Music). Along for the ride this time is drummer Toby Dammit (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, The Residents, Iggy Pop) whose pounding is featured on the lead track "Parti avec le Soleil" cut during a rainy afternoon in Normandie. 

The album was recorded at Quasar Studio in Rouen, France, mixed by John McEntire at Soma Electronic Music Studios in Gladstone, Oregon and mastered by Warren Defever (see His Name Is Alive) at Third Man Mastering in Detroit. April March Meets Staplin will be available on vinyl in limited numbers for Record Store Day, April 22 followed by a full release on May 5th. Have a listen following the album track list below.  

April March – April March Meets Staplin (Velvetica Music)

1. Ton Rayon Vert 

2. Alfie Solomons' Hush 

3. Les Fleurs Invisibles 

4. Palomino Rich Man 

5. Ombres 

6. Parti Avec Le Soleil 

7. Lay Down Snow White 

8. Villain's Whisper 

9. Get Wild Elevator Man 

10. L'Horizon 

11. Natalie 

12. Underneath The Wind 

13. Guy B.

 

90s Nostalgia: Bastro

Here's David Grubbs and pals playing a few tunes off Bastro's Sing The Troubled Beast on the John Peel show on July 1, 1990.   

Tortoise @ Lee's Palace, Saturday

Tortoise have been tearing it up in Europe (see below) en route to tonight's triumphant Toronto return.

Here's a mix Jeff Parker put together for FACT Mag

Tortoise on the road
03/12 – Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
03/13 – Montreal, QC @ Fairmount
03/14 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
03/15 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
03/16 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
03/17 – Brooklyn, NY @ Littlefield
03/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
03/19 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
03/20 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern
03/22 – Louisville, KY @ Headliners Music Hall
03/23 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House Revival
03/24 – Indianapolis, IN @ Radio Radio

Beams launch new single @ The Horseshoe, January 29

Beams enlisted John McEntire to record the two songs for The Gutters & The Glass single. Here's the video.

Chicago Underground Duo @ The Garrison Thursday

Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor will be presenting new work from their boldly eclectic Locus album.

Locus is the seventh album by the Chicago Underground Duo (Rob Mazurek and Chad Taylor), following their acclaimed Northern Spy label release Age of Energy in 2012. Bits of breakbeat and Afropop are heard within the jazz, ambient and electronica elements of their unmistakable grooves captured by engineer John McEntire. Also in the mix is a Ghanian folk tune and Ennio Morricone played on cornet, drums, mbira, ballophone, bamboo flute and Game Boy.

The pairing came out of the Chicago Underground Orchestra founded by Mazurek almost 20 years ago during a series of weekly workshops at the famed Chicago nightclub Green Mill Cocktail Lounge. The Orchestra morphed into the Chicago Underground Duo, Trio and Quartet as situations demanded, and while the orchestra has counted among its members such jazz greats as Sun Ra drummer Robert Barry and the late bassist Fred Hopkins of Air, the younger wunderkind Taylor has been the only other consistent member of the Underground bands.

The duo remains core to most everything the uncompromising Mazurek takes on. With Taylor (championed timekeeper behind Marc Ribot’s Spiritual Unity Trio and projects with Peter Brötzmann, Ken Vandermark and many others), Mazurek has crafted an ever expanding sound, based in elements of jazz, techno, film music. The nine tracks on Locus find the tireless Duo exploring, as always, new sounds and new combinations. Preview the Locus album right here.

Broken Social Scene announce split... single

Broken Social Scene and The Sea and Cake, currently touring together hand-in-hand across Canada, have taken their mutual admiration to the next level. Yes, it's official, they're releasing a split single. Although, somewhat strangely, the release date has been set for October 26, a week after their final show together at the House of Blues in San Diego. Apparently no one in either group has a handle on how the whole "tour single" thing works where you have a record available for sell exclusively at shows and then use the money earned to offset the high cost of fuel to get you to the next gig. Oh well.   
In any case, both groups have come up with a previously unissued song for the limited-edition seven inch which have something in common – John McEntire's studio smarts. The BSS track is Curse Your Fail, boasting a special guest singer (relax, it ain't Tom Cochrane), is an outtake from the Forgiveness Rock Record sessions overseen by McEntire in Chicago while TSAC's Skies was also produced by McEntire at Soma Studios. 
"We are very honoured to be touring with The Sea And Cake this fall and so in celebration of this fact, a split 7" limited edition single is here for you now," explains BSS co-founder Brendan Canning.
"Eric Claridge, bass player of TSAC, was gracious enough to let us use a couple of his paintings for the artwork. Also to note, "Curse your Fail" features Sebastien Grainger on the chorus vocals. Please enjoy and hope to see you somewhere on the North American continent this year."
The BSS/TSAC single is currently available for pre-order for $8 at the Gallery AC right here and you can catch BSS on tour, coming to a fancy ballroom or soft-seat theatre near you.

Broken Social Scene On Tour

10/06/10 - Winnipeg, MB @ Burton Cummings Theatre *
10/07/10 - Saskatoon, SK @ The Odeon Events Theatre *
10/08/10 - Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Ballroom *
10/09/10 - Edmonton, AB @ Winspear Centre *
10/10/10 - Kelowna, BC @ Community Theatre *
10/12/10 - Victoria, BC @ Alix Goolden Hall *
10/13/10 - Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom *
10/14/10 - Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom *
10/15/10 - Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre *
10/16/10 - Portland, OR @ The Crystal Ballroom *
10/17/10 - San Fran, CA @ Treasure Island Music Fest
10/18/10 - Los Angeles, CA @ Wiltern Theatre *
10/19/10 - San Diego, CA @ House of Blues *
10/23/10 - Mexico City, Mexico @ Lunario Nacional
11/06/10 - Valladolid, Spain @ Two Days Fest
11/07/10 - Lisbon, Portugal @ Aula Magna
11/08/10 - Porto, Portugal @ Casa da Musica
11/10/10 - Marseille, France @ Cabaret Aleatoire
11/11/10 - Milan, Italy @ Magazzini Generali
11/12/10 - Vevey, Switzerland @ Heartlands Festival
11/13/10 - Leeds, UK @ Leeds University
11/15/10 - London, UK @ Koko
11/16/10 - London, UK @ Koko
11/17/10 - Paris, France @ Elysee Montmartre
11/19/10 - Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso
11/20/10 - Berlin, Germany @ Admiralspalast
11/22/10 - Adhus, Denmark @ Voxhall
11/23/10 - Copenhagen, Demark @ Vega
11/25/10 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ La Guess Who? Fest
12/08/10 - London, ON @ London Music Hall
12/09/10 - Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
12/16/10 - Ottawa, ON @ Bronson Centre
12/18/10 - Montreal, PQ @ Metropolis
12/19/10 - Quebec City, PQ @ Imperial Theatre

* with The Sea And Cake

A taste of Forgiveness

As most of you already know, Broken Social Scene's much anticipated new recording Forgiveness Rock Record is officially released on May 4 by Arts & Crafts, although I'm guessing all of the album's 14 songs co-produced by Tortoise's John McEntire will be familiar to fans long before the street date. Here are the first three to get you started...