Portland’s Black Prairie released their third studio album, Fortune, on April 22 via Sugar Hill Records. The 5-piece bluegrass band is the vision of Decemberists musicians Chris Funk and Nate Query, who formed the band during some downtime in touring. They gathered up fellow Decemberists Jenny Conlee and John Moen, and brought singer/violinist Annalisa Tornfelt of Bearfoot and The Woolwines, and guitarist Jon Neufeld of Dolorean, along for the ride. Together the folksy supergroup have quite a bit of talent amongst themelves and have used their skills to create a unique sound that dabbles in jazz, indie/folk rock, and of course the aforementioned bluegrass. 

Their new video for the fantastic track, ” Let It Out,” is a macabre story of taxidermists whose profession takes a dark turn at the request of some unusual customers. Those customers just so happen to be Grimm star Claire Coffee and folk musician Michael Hurley, who makes his acting debut. It’s a great song and super-cool video …and I’m very happy to share it with you super-cool people. Enjoy!

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Jack White has just released the title track and first official single from his his forthcoming album, Lazaretto, out June 10th on Third Man Records/Columbia. With creating the ‘worlds fastest record’ this past Saturday for Record Store Day, readying the release of his new album, and planning the subsequent tour (still no Boston stop announced dangit!), it seems Mr. White is keeping himself rather busy…which is not unusual at all for a man who also happens to be in two other bands.

Enjoy the new single, spoiler alert… I dig it!

Denver’s Tennis recently finished recording their new album and are now preparing to hit the road in May for a string of sold-out shows with HAIM.  To celebrate all this greatness the duo have released a fantastic new video for their super-funky song “Cured of Youth,” off the 2013 EP Small Sound. It’s chock full of eighties style and cheesy sci-fi fun, including time travel and a slick red DeLoarean.  Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley both receive an A+++++ for their homage to Back to the Future and Quantum Leap, and for the terrific use of Technicolor.

When a friend wants to give tickets away sometimes they come to us to find a good fan that would happily enjoy seeing one, or two of their favorite bands play a fantastic show. When we get that opportunity, we try to give it back to all of you. So please enter in this quick little giveaway and we’ll pick a winner tomorrow to see The Hold Steady & Deer Tick rock the House of Blues. Enter now, win a pair of tickets. We’re not really asking for more than just sharing the opportunity with others.

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Feel like you need a boost of energy? Rather than reaching for another cup of coffee take a kick in the rock n’ roll pants with the debut single, “Wasted Pearls,” from Australian band The Cherry Dolls. The Melbourne four-piece are relatively new to the music world but they have been tearing it up across the Commonwealth long enough to start making waves here in the states. Joshua Aubry (vocals), Lachie Gilmour (guitar), Mick Byers (bass), and Jimmy Leahy (drums) create a sound clearly influenced by the bands of yesteryear and squarely focused on future music conquests. Which is perfect because after all, good ol’ rock n’ roll will never die!

The single “Wasted Pearls” will be released May 26th through Australian label Pavement Records and we are pleased to share with you the new video for the track. I recommend turning it up nice and loud.

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Baraboo born band PHOX have been steadily making their presence known outside their home state of Wisconsin, and with a headlining tour to start on June 24th, the 6-piece band will most certainly find many new fans. The 24th of June is also the date their debut, self-titled, album is released and we are pleased to share with you the first single titled “Slow Motion.” The track is a stellar introduction to lead-singer Monica Martin’s amazing voice, which floats between classical jazz and modern rock without missing a beat. The banjo mixed with that head bopping drum beat keeps you entertained, and then out of nowhere we get a clarinet solo to make things even more interesting. “Slow Motion” is a really fun song created by some really talented people. I think you will enjoy it as much as I do.

Be sure to check them out this summer when they come to your town. I had the pleasure of seeing them here in Boston last week and they were fantastic. From openers to headliners before the release of their debut album…. that’s saying something!

PHOX Tour dates:

06/24 – Omaha NE @ Waiting Room
06/25 – Kansas City MO @ Riot Room
06/27 – Austin TX @ Stubbs Jr.
06/28 – Dallas TX @ Three Links
06/30 – Phoenix AZ @ The Western
07/01 – Los Angeles CA @ Echo
07/03 – San Francisco CA @ The Chapel
07/05 – Portland OR @ Mississippi Studios
07/06 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
07/08 – Salt Lake City UT @ State Room
07/09 – Denver CO @ Hi-Dive
07/11 – St Louis MO @ Duck Room
07/12 – Champaign, IL @ Mariposa Music Festival
07/13 – Nashville TN @ High Watt
07/15 – Birmingham AL @ Bottletree
07/17 – Asheville NC @ Grey Eagle
07/18 – Chapel Hill NC @ Local 506
07/19 – Washington DC @ DC9
07/21 – Philadelphia PA @ Boot & Saddle
07/22- Brooklyn NY @ Knitting Factory
07/23 – New York NY @ Mercury Lounge
07/25 – Newport, RI @ Newport Folk Festival
07/26 – North Bennington, VT @ The Vermont Arts Exchange
07/28 – Montreal QC @ Motore
07/29 – Toronto ON @ The Garrison
07/31 – Cleveland OH @ Grog Shop
08/01 – Detroit MI @ Magic Stick
08/03 – Green Bay WI @ Meyer Theatre
08/04 – Minneapolis MN @ 7th Street Entry
08/06 – Milwaukee WI @ Turner Hall
08/07 – Madison WI @ High Noon
08/08 – Madison WI @ High Noon
08/09 – Chicago IL @ Lincoln Hall

Photos by Boston Concert Photography

Some rainy Saturday nights it just doesn’t pay to wander outside your door. You’re better off getting cozy and watching a bad movie in your living room. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that if on that rainy Saturday night there’s a Kitchen Session going on, it always pays to venture out into the world.

This was precisely the case last weekend. After bundling up, I grabbed my camera and a few beers and headed off to watch two of Providence, Rhode Island’s best new bands — The Silks and Smith&Weeden — play in a friends living room, inches from the crowd. And I’m damn glad I did.

If you’ve never been to a house show, the experience is the ultimate in musical intimacy. A very small group of people, tightly packed together to watch a band (or several bands) strut their stuff in a space normally reserved for watching those second tier movies. The chance to be part of the performance is second to none. You’re eye to eye and shoulder to shoulder with the people who are crafting the tunes you want to hear over and over again as you pass through your work week. It doesn’t get much better than that if you’re a music fan.

Smith&Weeden kicked things off with their own fantastic brand of Americana Country Rock (yah, I know… just go with it.) They’ll be releasing their debut LP in May and — trust me on this one — you’re going to want to pick it up. With tight harmonies, catchy hooks, and great stories, these guys aren’t going anywhere but up. Find them online, go see a show and buy me a t-shirt.

Looking to get your face melted? Well that’s what The Silks will do for you. This power trio is rock ‘n roll reborn. Tyler-James Kelly, Jonas Parmelee and Matthew Donnelly have already hit a stride that a lot of groups probably never find. They’re able to produce that fantastic 70′s rock sound in a way that doesn’t feel fabricated or dishonest in any way. I believe these guys, Tyler especially, live life exactly the way they play their music – loud, proud, and unapologetic. That’s pretty damn refreshing these days.

It should be pretty hard to miss these guys if they come to your town. If you need to get out, get rowdy and have a good time, wherever these guys are is the place to be.

Both of these bands are ripe for bandwagon jumping, so get to it.

With the 50th (!) Kitchen Session just a few weeks away, there’s time to get on that train as well. Do some Googling and figure out how to get to the show. You’ll be glad you did.

photo credit Boston Concert Photography

We here at Music Savage mourn the loss of Brown Bird singer-songwriter David Lamb, who passed away on Saturday after a brave battle with leukemia. He was diagnosed with the illness last May and thanks to a massive fundraising effort started by fellow Brown Bird musician (and Lamb’s wife) MorganEve Swain through the website YouCaring, he was able to receive the medication and care needed to put up a good, hard fight.

Last December Brown Bird released a beautiful track about that fight titled “Weathering,” which was written after a round of chemotherapy and recorded after Lamb received a bone marrow transplant in September. It is an ode to a life that has suddenly become so much more than the daily routine, so much more than one might have expected, and yet so blessed for the time that has been granted. The song has become one of my favorites.

We have posted many times about Brown Bird over the years, and we were not alone in our love for the Rhode Island based duo. Lamb and Swain created a beautiful sound rooted deep in Americana folklore and filled with unflinching stories about life, love, death, and everything in-between. Their music was instantly recognizable and hard to categorize at the same time. Their love for each other, and for the songs they created together, made it easy to be a fan. Lamb’s lyrical prowess and foot-stomping showmanship made him bigger than life on stage. I’m so grateful I got to witness it for myself and so sad that I won’t be able to again.

There will be a celebration of David’s life tomorrow, April 8th, at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI. The event is free and open to the public and will feature performances by some of David’s closest friends including Joe Fletcher, Death Vessel, Alec K Redfearn, and Last Good Tooth. Doors are at 7:30pm, event starts at 8:30pm.

Local boys (and Music Savage favorites) Larcenist kick off a great show at one of Boston’s great venues Great Scott. Their latest release, Eager City, Patient Country, is an album which translates beautifully live, and in the intimate setting of Great Scott you will easily be swept up in the band’s showmanship and storytelling in songs of unbridled hope, mixed with a just twinge of despair. Our bearded brothers play their hearts out each and every show and you should most definitely head out early tonight to help them start up the fun.

San Francisco based banjo-wiz Kelly McFarling called Boston home at one point and is back in town this evening with her band The Home Team to saturate your soul with their modern twist on that good old-fashioned folk-tastic sound. The band’s latest release is an EP titled, Others, which is a six song collection featuring reworked covers of songs by Chris Isaak, Tom Petty, and others. Kelly and Co. regularly sell out shows in California, find out why that is tonight!

Massachusetts bluegrass outlaws Cactus Attack play the kind of powder-keg rock that you might have heard during the Civil War if the soldiers had been able to plug in their instruments. The Attleboro 5-piece headline the show this evening and will most likely bring on a full-blown, boot scootin’ hootenany of epic proportions to end what will be a stellar evening of music!

Doors open at 10:00 pm, show starts at 10:30pm. Tickets and further information on the show can be found here.

Blistering new instrumental track from Jack White’s forthcoming album, Lazaretto, out June 10th on Third Man Records. I admit it, I’m a Jack White fan! I celebrate the guy’s entire collection! For my money it doesn’t get any better than when he sings “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground.”

You better believe I will post more on the new album as the release date draws near. Until then enjoy the paint pulsing sounds of Jack White’s guitar from the first track to be released from Lazaretto titled “High Ball Stepper.”

We here at Music Savage know full well that we cater to a particular music loving portion of the globe, and have been both praised and criticized for not embracing every style of music for the sake of our readers. People ask us all the time if we have any “guilty pleasure” artists or songs, and if we did Music Savage should have the courage to write a post on what song we secretly play while writing the review for (insert folk-artist here). Well for everyone out there that thinks we don’t cover enough genres of music I give to you the newest video for a fantastic song from a Music Savage favorite Enrique Iglesias.

Whether he is singing swoon-worthy love songs in Spanish to scantly clad supermodels in bed, or he is dancing his way through a wild party full of scantly clad supermodels, we can’t think of an artist better than Iglesias to represent the day Music Savage finally showed the world its true colors. “I’m A Freak,” you’re a freak, hell we are all freaks when it comes to the aptly named King of Latin Pop!

Minneapolis musician Haley Bonar is getting ready to release her fifth full length album, Last War, on May 20th via Graveface, and I am thrilled to share with you fine folks the first single, “No Sensitive Man.” This track is straight-up guitar rock, mixed beautifully with dance-rhythm drums, and the one-two punch of dreamy vocals that quickly turn ferocious, Kristin Hersh style. Bonar captures you with her ethereal charm and before you know it “No Sensitive Man” punches you square in the face, just like a good song should. When she states “Shut your eyes and play me something good/I don’t want to talk,” this would be the song I would turn on.

We’ll have more from Haley Bonar as the release date for Last War draws near. Until then enjoy “No Sensitive Man” with the speakers turned up to 11.

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Heartbeats lead this stunning new song from UK’s Matthew and the Atlas. It is the first single off their upcoming full-length, Other Rivers, which is set to release in a couple of weeks. Matthew Hegarty’s vocals on this track totally make it, the quiver and vibrations increase the emotionality captured in this tune that I haven’t been able to turn off, and I can’t wait to hear more.

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It may have taken the six friends that make up Wisconsin’s PHOX a few years of living in the same house to realize that they were truly meant to play music together, but it’s only taken a few months for the Madison-based band to gain a whole lot of attention.  They released the phirst PHOX EP, Unblushing, in June 2013, along with a terrific series of self-produced videos taken during the recording, and just had a hugely successful round of shows at this year’s SXSW music festival, which put the fledgling band next in line for breakout group of 2014. Speaking of which, PHOX will release their debut self-titled album on June 24th, having just announced their singing with Partisan Records, and are set to hit the road for a bunch of shows this April.

One of those shows will bring them right to our neck of the woods for a night at The Sinclair, opening for the lovely Laura Mvula, on Wednesday April 7th. The show is already sold out, but I don’t think it will be very long before the members of PHOX make their way back to Boston as headliners. I’m pretty excited about this band and will have more on them as the release date for their album draws near.

A band that needs absolutely no introduction, The Black Keys announced last week via Mike Tyson (yes that one) that they’d be releasing a new album, and a new single today. Well here we are, and we’ve got new tunes.

The Black Keys’ new album, Turn Blue, will be released May 12 on Nonesuch Records. The album Turn Blue was recorded at Sunset Sound in Hollywood during the summer of 2013.

The band is definitely exploring some different moods and textures that are apparent on “Fever,” its definitely exciting, and I desperately want to hear more.