Black Swan Songs » live music

New Album: Adam Franklin and the Bolts of Melody

black swan — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 22:30:25 +0000

One of BlackSwanSongs.com all-time favorite artists, Adam Franklin (Swervedriver, Magnetic Morning) continues his prolific run with a new Adam Franklin and the Bolts of Melody album entitled I Could Sleep For A Thousand Years which will be released June 29, 2010, on Second Motion Records.

You can hear an acoustic version below of a beautiful track from the upcoming album entitled “Yesterday Has Gone Forever.” The melancholy lyrics and atypical pop song structure are just the type of soul-penetrating solipsistic poesy that make rainy days feel that much more lonesome. As Mick Jagger once said to John Lennon, “It’s a blues, John. It’s a blues.”

And if you can’t wait until June 29, 2010 to listen, you can hear a sample of the entire album right now on Amazon.com.

SXSW 2010 band showcase picks

black swan — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 01:48:41 +0000

Looks like this is the first year in a while that I might not be writing reviews for any publication other than the one you are reading, but my editor at the Austin American-Statesman asked me for some showcase picks and the following showcases are what I delivered to her. I’ve provided links for some of the bands that I think you must hear:

Note: showcases in bold hold the highest probability of my attendance.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

8:00 Strange Boys – Emo’s Jr.
9:00 Here We Go Magic – Club de Ville
10:30 Motorhead – Austin Music Hall
12:00 Nas & Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley
1:00 Sixteen Deluxe – Encore

Thursday, March 18, 2010

8:00 Ozomatli – Auditorium Shores (free show; no wristband or badge required)
9:00 Miles Kurosky – Emo’s Main Room
10:00 Rogue Wave – Emo’s Main Room
11:30 Band of Horses – Stubb’s
12:00 Centro-matic – Emo’s Annex
1:00 Evan Dando – The Ale House

Friday, March 19, 2010

8:55 Band of Horses – Central Presbyterian Church
9:30 Cruiserweight – Buffalo Billiards
10:00 Smokey Robinson – Austin Music Hall
11:00 Girl in a Coma – Buffalo Billiards
12:00 Broken Social Scene – The Parish
1:00 Dengue Fever – Encore Patio

Saturday, March 20, 2010

8:00 She & Him – Auditorium Shores (free show; no wristband or badge required)
9:30 Sarah Jarosz – Austin Music Hall
10:00 Margaret Cho – Esther’s Follies
11:20 Xzibit – Club de Ville
12:30 Big Star – Antone’s
1:00 Adam Franklin & The Bolts of Melody – The Tap Room at Six

Ghostland Observatory circa 2006

black swan — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:20:40 +0000

Vocalist Aaron Berhens and keyboardist Thomas Turner rock Trophy's.

I just uploaded some shots of Austin, TX electronica rockers Ghostland Observatory rocking Trophy’s Bar back in 2006 (back when they could still play small clubs in Austin. I’ll upload the definitive interview I did with them quite soon. As soon as possible. You can check out the other Ghostland photos in the blackswansongs flickr photostream here.

The interview was conducted over three different sessions. The first with both members after a show. Then the second and third parts were conducted with each member seperately. Behrens and Turner have such unique backgrounds that them at first seem like unlikely partners, but so many things had to align just perfectly that their collaboration feels more like fate during the telling of their story.

More to come…