Interpol stranded on Buffalo Highway for 40 hours due to snowstorm

As the country continues to be in the middle of a deep freeze, Interpol, an alternative rock band, gets caught in Buffalo, New York’s record-breaking blizzard. Currently trapped in heavy winds and taken over by nearly 60-plus inches of snow, the band’s tour bus has been in the same location for more than 40 hours.

Interpol were on their way to Toronto, Ontario after their show in Columbus Ohio Monday night when the snowstorm started to occur. The band had to cancel their show in Toronto and Montreal, Quebec due to the fact that they do not know when they can move.

Banshee Bones: the unstoppable traveling band

Having released their latest album, Birds of Prey, over a year ago, there is no stopping the high-energy rock band, Banshee Bones, from playing shows virtually nonstop. Currently on their Last Legs tour, the band has been on the road for eleven weeks and will continue to be for the next four, capping it off at a show in Las Vegas on December 12.

A rock band based out of Los Angeles, California, Banshee Bones are tirelessly making new material and touring. Brothers, Eugene (lead singer) and Ryan Rice (drummer), met Joe Perez (guitarist) and Salem Romo (bassist) at the famous Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, while studying there. Behind their eccentric name, Eugene describes it as the fact that “the banshee in Irish mythology is supposed be kinda like the grim reaper it comes and brings souls that are lost back to where they started so it is kinda harrowing or beckoning to bring people back to [like] the roots of rock.”

Touring and constantly being on the move leaves the young band with various opportunities and bizarre experiences. Whether it is being held up at gun point or playing at the Los Angeles Fetish Film Festival, the band will be left with stories for years to come. Hailing their recent show in Seattle as one of their best shows, one of the reasons was due to the crowd response and the city’s love for old school rock.

The inspiration behind Birds of Prey was to put something different from their previous releases, Life & Limb and Banshee Bones. Explaining that the band gathered inspiration from themselves, Perez stated that “I think we kinda inspired ourselves to put out something new and better than our old stuff and I think we kinda zoned in on that and wanted to make a really original, creative, new album and go on a little bit of a different direction than our EP was.” Eugene added that they did not want to put out the same type of material they have done in the past because “that’s not what being a musician is.” Romo said that he wanted to make something “harder and more rock’n’roll.”

Currently playing shows in Texas, the band plans to play shows on their way back to California such as Tucson and Prescott. For the dates, the remaining dates are below.

Last Legs tour dates:

11/20 Houston TX @ Acadia
11/21 Houston TX @ Super Fun Land
11/22 Port Arthur TX @ Kings
11/28 Fort Worth TX @ Cowtown Bowling Palace
11/29 Marfa TX @ Padres
12/4 Tucson AZ @ Sky Bar
12/5 Prescott AZ @ The Drunken Lass
12/6 Phoenix AZ @ Chopper Johns
12/7 Prescott AZ @ Hooligans Irish Pub
12/10 Hollywood CA @ Boardners/Club Moscow
12/11 Ventura CA @ Sans Scoui Cocktail Lounge
12/12 Las Vegas NV @ The Hard Hat

Alt-J announce new US tour dates

Alternative rock band, Alt-J, a few months back announced their plans for a performance at Madison Square Garden on March 30th, 2015. As it appears to be, it is one of many shows in a much more extensive US tour, playing shows in cities such as Cleveland, Atlanta, and Nashville. The tour, including a series of radio festivals in December and a few South American shows in March, is in support of the their latest LP, This Is All Yours.

Alt-J 2014-2015 Tour Dates:
11/30 – Indianapolis, IN @ Egyptian Room (Alt 103.3 Deck the Hall Ball)
12/01 – Columbus, OH @ LC Pavilion (CD 102.5 Holiday Show)
12/02 – Milwaukee, WI @ Eagles Ballroom (WLUM Big Snow Show 9)
12/03 – St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant (KPNT HoHo Show)
12/05 – Jacksonville, FL @ Met Park Big Ticket
12/06 – St. Petersburg, FL @ Vinoy Park (97X Next Big Thing ’14)
12/12 – San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino (91X Wrek the Halls)
12/13 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena (Live 105′s Not So Silent Night)
12/14 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum (KROQ’s Almost Acoustic Christmas)
12/16 – Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom (KNRK A December to Remember)
12/30 – Marion Bay, AU @ Falls Festival
12/31 – Lorne, AU @ Falls Festival
01/01 – Sydney, AU @ Field Fay Festival
01/02 – Byron Bay, AU @ Falls Festival
01/13 – Tokyo, JP @ O-East
01/24 – London, UK @ The O2
02/03 – Brussels, BE @ Forest National
02/04 – Paris, FR @ The Zenith
02/05 – Amsterdam, NL @ Heineken Music Hall
02/07 – Offenbach, DE @ Stadthalle Offenbach
02/08 – Cologne, DE @ Palladium
02/09 – Hamburg, DE @ Spothalle
02/11 – Berlin, DE @ Columbiahalle
02/13 – Winterthur, CH @ Eishalle Deutweg
02/14 – Milan, IT @ Mediolanum Forum
02/16 – Vienna, AT @ Gasometer
02/17 – Munich, DE @ Zenith
02/19 – Copenhagen, DK @ Tap1
02/20 – Stockholm, SE @ Munichen Brewery
02/21 – Oslo, NO @ Spektrum
03/12-14 – Bogota, CO @ Festival Estereo Picnic
03/14-15 – Sanitago, CL @ Lollapalooza Chile
03/21-22 – Buenos Aires, AR @ Lollapalooza Argentina
03/28-29 – Sao Paulo, BR @ Lollapalooza Brazil
03/30 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
04/01 – Cleveland, OH @ State Theater at Playhouse Square
04/02 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Benedum Center
04/03 – Raleigh, NC @ Red Hat Ampitheatre
04/04 – Atlanta, GA @ Chastain Park Ampitheatre
04/06 – Nashville, TN @ Grand Ole Opry
04/08 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Chevy Bricktown Events Center
05/08 – Brisbane, AU @ Riverstage
05/09 – Sydney, AU @ Qantas Credit Union Arena
05/10 – Melbourne, AU @ Rod Laver Arena
05/13 – Adelaide, AU @ AEC Theatre
05/15 – Perth, AU @ HBF Stadium
07/09 – Oeiras, PT @ NOS Alive Festival

The Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

1. Dark Depths – Banshee Bones

2. Coming of Age – Foster the People

3. My Time – Minus the Bear

4. Promises and Troughs – We Were Promised Jetpacks

5. Fever – Maps & Atlases

6. Turn Off This Song and Go Outside – The Lonely Forest

7. Follow My Feet – The Unlikely Candidates

8. Satellite – The Cinema

9. Jungles – Stepdad

10. Four Days Straight – Scattered Trees

11. Young – Air Review

12. Against the Grain – Hudson and Troop

13. For You – the Sparrow

14. Carousel – Miner

15.  To Be Young – Tall Heights

16. The End – The Lower 48

17. I Found a Body – Tan Vampires

18. Every Little Thing – Soft Swells

19. Mr. Bones – Tiny Victories

20. Up! – The Black and White Years

Melodic Tree’s Weekly Playlist

Smallpools, Magic Man, and Panama Wedding at Emo’s (Live Review)

On November 13th, Smallpools performed at Emo’s in Austin, Texas with Magic Man and Panama Wedding. As this was their first headlining tour, it came with much excitement that they were coming through Texas.

Being a year and a half old, the band has received much critical reception for their EP, Have a Great Summer!, it comes to no surprise that the band has flown under everyone’s radar. Personally, having seen the band twice already open for Grouplove and Neon Trees, I already could tell the show was going to be fun and energetic, especially since they were going to perform songs from their new album, which, they hope, will come out early next year.

Originally, the three bands were billed to perform at the Parish in Austin, however, they soon changed it to Emo’s in order to fit a larger crowd.

Panama Wedding was the first band to come on that night and raised the spirits on the shivering crowd. Known for their two singles, “Uma” and “All the People,” Panama Wedding has a very 80’s synth-pop sound to them. The band performed songs from their Parallel Play EP and had an enthusiastic performance overall.

Magic Man, the synth-pop band behind Before the Waves, played after Panama Wedding and danced their set away. Opening with the opening track from their album,”Texas,” and ending with their hit, “Paris,” Magic Man got the crowd going and singing along. Lead singer, Alex Caplow seemed to never stand still, moving and dancing to the music.

Smallpools set, in the slightest of terms, started in grand terms. Walking on stage, Beau Kuther, drummer, Michael Kamerman, guitarist, and Joseph Intile, bassist, it seemed like an odd choice for the band to enter with classical music. But, once Sean Scanlon, singer got on top of an amplifier in a shirt and dress coat, pretending to conduct, it all came together. After this grandiose entrance, Smallpools went into “No Story Time.” The energy in the room sky-rocketed from this entrance and went on for the entire set.

The set included songs from their EP and new songs from their upcoming album, including “Bruce Lee.” The onstage banter was enjoyable as the band made witty remarks and interacted with the crowd. Scanlon told a story about how in the beginnings of the band, they would search for themselves online only to find rants about killer whales being kept in small pools. This, incidentally, lead to their latest single, “Killer Whales.” As usual, the band threw inflatable killer whales into the crowd, including a massive one with the band name spray painted onto the stomach. As an ongoing tradition, before the band performed their last song, “Dreaming,” they took a picture of the crowd with their two small dogs.

All three bands had lively sets and it will be interesting how each of them will do next.

Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar unveil previously unreleased collaboration

A clip of an previously unreleased collaboration by Flying Lotus and Kendrick Lamar has appeared online.

The pair worked together for the track, “Never Catch Me,” on Flying Lotus’ new album You’re Dead!, They also have worked together on Lamar’s verse on Eyes Above, however, it did not make the final cut because of “political reasons”. Flying Lotus has been performing song on his current tour, completing it with Lamar’s verse.

Kendrick Lamar has revealed recently that his 10-year-old brother has the only copy that is available of his upcoming album.

The follow-up to Good Kid, Maad City is planned to be released before the end of the year. Lamar also released the official video for “i” earlier this month. This song is the first from the upcoming album.

Smallpools Magic Man and Panama Wedding live at Emo’s (Austin, Tx) in photos

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YouTube launches own music streaming service

The music industry has evolved over the last 30 years. In Recent years, music streaming has dominated listening. Streaming services such as Spotify continue to be the major places where music fans from all over the world can listen to their favorite artists and discover new ones.

After having some legal hiccups about how to properly compensate indie labels, YouTube has revealed their new streaming service, Music Key.

The streaming service is prepared to launch in a “beta mode” for a small group of people on Monday, and to the general public in 2015 for a $10/hour subscription. There will be a focus on mobile devices rather than browsers on the desktop. The service will allow its users to listen to their music while using other apps at the same time as well as allow music videos to be cached for offline use.

The service will not change the site, but it will change the way tracks will be organized. Songs will be organized through artist and album, like iTunes and Spotify, thus making it easier to search. Music Key will allow for its users to switch between its streaming service and the Google Play download store.

Kindness releases video for his Robyn collaboration, “Who Do You Love?”

Kindness, the alias for UK singer Adam Bainbridge, releases a video for his Robyn collaboration, “Who Do You Love?.” The video features portraits of both singers’ family and friends. Bainbridge explains, “This video and this song is about people and connection, and how you can identify who you are by those you love. Those people say a hell of a lot about you.”

Along with the video, Kindness announced the first leg of his 2015 tour to support of his sophomore album, Otherness. The dates includes a few shows in February, as the tour gains momentum in March. More shows are yet to be announced.

Kindness 2015 Tour Dates:
01/16 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton
02/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey
02/28 – San Francisco, CA @ Mezzanine
03/05 – Portland, OR @ Doug Fir
03/06 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
03/07 – Vancouver, BC @ The Biltmore Cabaret
03/08 – Calgary, AB @ Commonwealth
03/10 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock
03/11 ­– Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
03/13 – Toronto, ON @ Wrongbar
03/14 – New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom
03/15 – Brooklyn, NY @ Rough Trade
03/18 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
03/19 – Washington, DC @ U Street Music Hall