Brit upstart Ben Howard is on tour in America, gathering strength and selling out venues across this fine land.  He’s coming to Soho in Santa Barbara on June 1st, and last we checked there were still tickets available.  Get yours now before they’re gone.  If you need further motivation, check out Howard as he performed tonight on Later with Jools Holland performing Old Pine and The Wolves below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oz2Tv8mpP0&feature=uploademail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE_HTnwg9SU&feature=relmfu

Neil Young & Crazy Horse have released yet another new video from their impending new album, Americana.  Check out Clementine below.  We’re liking what we’re hearing (the Crazy Horse chorus is crazy-good).

Neil has this to say about their cover of Clementine:

“”The Americana arrangement extends the folk process using many of the original words and a new melody. The song tells the story of either a bereaved lover recalling his lost sweetheart, or a father missing his lost daughter. In both cases the daughter has drowned in an accident. The verse about Clementine’s sister has been omitted from most children’s versions. This verse has different meanings depending on whether the point of view of the singer is taken as the lover or the father.”

We have been fans of San Diego’s Delta Spirit (and particularly their live shows), but were supremely off-put by lead-singer Matt Vasquez’s bizarre, soliloquy-riddled rantings during his solo portion of Middle Brother’s last show at Soho.  We may need to get over it.  The band has a new eponymous album out, and appeared on The Jimmy Kimmel Show last night to perform the stellar California (we like the lyrical homage to Built to Spill’s seminal album, Keep It Like a Secret) and aggressive Tear It Up off the new album.  Check ’em out below and in particular Will McLaren’s guitar playing.  And go HERE to stream the new album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3viD-_KjPzY&feature=uploademail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjpMZID4fnc&feature=channel&list=UL

A guy in a crumpled cowboy hat and snap-shirt sits on a “starlit” stool with acoustic guitar.  He begins to sing of his grandpa’s death and his grandma’s efforts to comfort him in the loss.  Grandma pulls to the side of the road and plays him a song on her car’s 8-track player.   Given the singer’s gestalt and drawl, we expect grandma to play Willie Nelson (Gravedigger), George Jones (A Picture of You), Porter Wagoner (Green, Green Grass of Home), or (better yet) Gram Parsons (In My Hour Of Darkness).  Instead, country-singer Dean Brody hears Bob Marley singing that “everything’s going to be alright.”  It’s a somewhat jarring juxtaposition, but we “that knows it, feels it.”  We get grandma’s use.  Given Marley’s persistent positivity, the lyrics could be from a handful of his songs, but likely either Three Little Birds or No Woman, No Cry (make sure to check that latter link and especially at the 4:08 mark to see/hear the real deal).  The latter suits the scene better, but it makes no matter.   The lyrics never fail to comfort.

There are few universals in this world, but if there is one, it’s that Bob Marley’s songs continue to affect us universally, even in corners where you would least expect it.  Check out Dean Brody tipping his hat to Robert Nesta Marley nearly 31 years to the day that Marley left too soon (RIP—May 11, 1981).  Everything’s gonna be alright.

How the heck does this happen?  It happens rarely, but every once in a blue moon we will hear a few songs from a band that don’t pass muster, and we will erroneously toss the band into the damnation dustbin, never again to be bothered with.  And then years later, we will get smacked by a song or performance that rattles our resolve and causes us to realize the error of our eradication.

Officially joining that list is the band Spiritualized.  We were jolted recently by consistently rave critical reviews of the band’s new album Sweet Heart, Sweet Light.  And so we started to look around and listen a bit, and then Ann Powers tweeted her huzzahs about the band, and it didn’t take long before we got full-tilt, full-revival-tent religion on this band.  And now we’ve become hopelessly hooked and desperately plotting a way to get to LA next week to catch their show at the Wiltern.  Two months ago we wouldn’t have given the time of day to this British band that’s released seven studio albums and been around for over 20 years.  But we are willing to admit our mistakes and will write more about the band and its songs in the very near future.

To get a feel, you can watch the 39-minute segment above from their recent concert at the 9:30 Club in DC as captured by NPR. Or if you have less time, you can check out NPR’s just-released videos of three songs from the show. And you can go HERE to listen to the entire concert.  And please…get Spiritualized, would ya?

It was just over a year ago that The Baseball Project tore the roof off of the Goodland’s Mercury Lounge.  They continued to tour on and off most of last year, but have taken a deserved touring break.  To help you keep your eye on the band and the ball, check out The Baseball Project’s set captured at NYC’s Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the celebration of the Met’s exhibition, Breaking the Color Barrier in Major League Baseball, and the Met’s (evidently) renowned permanent baseball card collection.  So that’s who bought our cards at Mom’s garage sale while we were away to college!  Check it out below.

We will never forget the night we caught Dexy’s Midnight Runners in LA in 1981.  The big band came out on stage, horns-a-blaring, and immediately set the joint ablaze with Kevin Rowland and crew nailing their early songs, Geno, Come On Eileen, Tell Me When My Light Turns Green and, of course, Burn It Down (Dance Stance).  Unfortunately, the band rarely returned to the States and disbanded in the mid-’80s.  Rowland and various band members reappeared in various permutations over the years, but never really captured that light in that bottle again.

The good news:  the Dexys are back together again, and have a new album coming out in early June entitled One Day I’m Going to Soar.  In advance of the new album’s release, the Dexys appeared on Later Live with Jools Holland.  Check out the reconstitution below performing their new song Free off the new album, and their mega-hit from ’81, Come On Eileen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYEj0y99PKo&feature=uploademail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sj-mJDP80c&feature=relmfu

We were drawn to Daniel Martin Moore last year when his first Sub Pop album, In the Cool of the Day, was released.  We reveled in Moore’s choice of songs and uniquely subtle and restrained delivery.  And we retreated to his album when the world’s musical excesses exceeded our tolerance (which is admittedly high).

Moore has now released a new duet album with Joan Shelley entitled Farthest Field, on his own label Ol Kentuck.  For the full story of the album, as covered by the poet Marianne Worthington, you can go  HERE.   Below is a video of the first song from the record, First of Spring, recorded live at the Emery Theatre in Cincinnati, followed by another song (We Two) from the album performed in the same venue.  Below the two videos, you can also listen to the last song on the album, Would You Tell Me Your Dreams.  You can go HERE to stream and purchase the new album.  These are savory songs to soothe your soul.

We’ve written about Seattle’s Bryan John Appleby before, even including his song Glory at No. 44 in our Best Songs of 2011 list.  We think highly of his Bible-allusive songwriting, and pleasure in his plaintive voice.  Appleby recently performed on KEXP.  Check him out performing Noah’s Nameless Wife and Honey Jars below from last year’s fine Life on the Vine album.

Having spent some time this weekend at the beach in the breezy sunshine, we happened upon the perfect soundtrack on the drive home.  Check out young Newbury Park band, The Neighbourhood, and the official video for their Sweater Song.  Between the Cali vignettes, the trampolining and the song’s harmony-and-chime-a-thon from 2:36 on, it was love at first listen/viewing.  Check it out and then check out their video for another fine song, Female Robber.  They’ve got the hypno-jangle thing down.  We don’t know much about this band, but we love what we’re hearing so far.  We’re not alone here–they’re in heavy rotation on BBC’s Radio 1 and elsewhere. After the videos, you can download their first EP, I’m Sorry, for free at the widget way below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Idj5_PwRl1k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfnzRarY6Jg