James Blake and Justin Vernon teamed up for “Fall Creek Boys Choir” five years ago. The two seem to be set to reunited and they are bringing the collaboration to the live setting.
Fans who purchased the early-bird tickets to Vernon’s second annual Eaux Claires Music & Arts Festival have also received a cassette tape containing b-sides, demos, and home recordings from a few of the acts on this year’s lineup. One track is attributed to Fall Creek Boys Choir.
Eaux Claires will take place August 12th – 13th in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The cassette tapes seem to show that Vernon will play three separate sets during the festival weekend; in addition to Fall Creek Boys Choir, he will lead Bon Iver and perform alongside The National’s Aaron Dessner.
Other artists that are expected to appear at the festival: Bruce Hornsby, Jon Hopkins, Shabazz Palaces, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, and Arcade Fire members Richard Reed Parry and Sarah Neufeld, the latter of will perform with Colin Stetson.
Andrew Bird has announced his latest album, Are You Serious. This is the follow-up to his experimental album last year, Echolocations: Canyon and it will arrive April 1 via Loma Vista. It features “Capsized,” a new track he debuted on “Conan” last night and collaborations withFiona Apple and Blake Mills. Listen to the studio recorded song and the tracklisting below.
The Deluxe edition of the album will include “Shoulder Mountain” and “Pulaski,” two tracks that will not appear on the standard version. (They will be packaged in an album bundle as a separate 7″.) Bird is selling a deluxe box set containing the LP, 7″, and the exclusive Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized 10″ as well which will feature four unheard tracks (and a “Sound City version” of “Capsized”). The box set will include a 64-page book with artwork for each song on the album.
This morning, Bird spoke about the album with NPR on “All Songs Considered.” Check out his interview here.
Bird has been scoring “Baskets,” Zach Galifanakis’ new FX show about an aspiring clown.
Are You Serious:
01 Capsized
02 Roma Fade
03 Truth Lies Low
04 Puma
05 Chemical Switches
06 Left Handed Kisses
07 Are You Serious
08 Saints Preservus
09 The New Saint Jude
10 Valleys Of The Young
11 Bellevue
12 Shoulder Mountain *
13 Pulaski *
* deluxe edition only
Are We Not Burning? The Devolution of Capsized:
01 Trimmed and Burning
02 Venetian Bedmaker
03 Dying Beds
04 Jackson Bedmaker
05 Capsized – Sound City Version
Maurice White, founder and leader of funk act Earth, Wind & Fire, has died. TMZ has reported that he passed away after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. He was 74 years old. White’s brother and bandmate Verdine has released the statement through Facebook in response to his passing:
My brother, hero and best friend Maurice White passed away peacefully last night in his sleep. While the world has lost another great musician and legend, our family asks that our privacy is respected as we start what will be a very difficult and life changing transition in our lives. Thank you for your prayers and well wishes.
In almost a month, M. Ward will come back with More Rain, his first solo album in four years. To promote the follow-up to Wasteland Companion, the singer-songwriter performed on Late Show last night with a smooth rendition of “Confession.” He also performed “Girl From Conejo Valley” as an online bonus.
Watch both videos below.
More Rain will arrive March 4th via Merge. It features collaborations with Peter Buck of R.E.M., Neko Case, k.d. lang, The Secret Sisters, and Joey Spampinato of NRBQ.
Disclosure, in support of last year’s Caracal, have announced a North American tour. It will start in April and will continue through June. Check out the full itinerary below.
Disclosure:
04-06 Monterrey, Mexico – Auditorio Banamex
04-08 Guadalajara, Mexico – Auditorio Telmex
04-09 Mexico City, Mexico – Ceremonia Festival
04-16 Indio, CA – Coachella
04-23 Indio, CA – Coachella
05-10 Houston, TX – Revention Music Center
05-12 Dallas, TX – The Bomb Factory
05-13 Oklahoma City, OK – The Criterion
05-14 Kansas City, MO – Crossroads
05-17 Morrison, CO – Red Rocks Amphitheatre
05-18 Magna, UT – The Great Saltair
05-20 San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium
05-25 Eugene, OR – Cuthbert Amphitheater
05-27-30 George, WA – Sasquatch! Music Festival
05-27-29 Boston, MA – Boston Calling Festival
06-16-19 Dover, DE – Firefly Music Festival
Seven months to the date after the release of Wildheart, Miguel hosted a “Wildheart Motel” party in Los Angeles last night featuring various performances going on at the same time in different rooms. As Pitchfork points out, one of the performances occurred with Miguel covering “My Girl” by the Temptations as a duet with Rihanna, who also sang Mary J. Blige’s “Not Gon’ Cry.” You can watch the extended Periscope footage here.
DIIV’s latest album Is the IsAre, will arrive next Friday throughCaptured Tracks. A week before the drop of the album, the band decided to make it available for streaming. Listen below via the Guardian.
Is the Is Are features ithe previously-shared title track, “Dopamine,” “Bent (Roi’s Song),” “Mire (Grant’s Song),” and “Under the Sun.”
The Melodic Tree 