Great Toronto act Bahamas made their U.S. television debut on Conan last night.  Check out the band playing their great song Lost in the Light.  Bahamas opened beautifully for Ben Howard at Soho in Santa Barbara last Friday (minus the Watson Twins on added vocals and sans the drummer, but with more audience-deserved invective).  Check it out courtesy of the Audio Perv and catch this talented band live when they come back through Cali next week.

One of our favorite bands, The Walkmen, showed up last night on The Jimmy Fallon show and performed new songs Heaven and The Love You Love off of their new album, Heaven.  Check ’em out below courtesy of the Audio Perv.

With all the great renewable-soul-energy acts gracing the airwaves (Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones, Lee Fields, etc.), you knew it was only a matter of time before the better-known stalwarts would thankfully jump back on the bandwagon.  Once again Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) read the tea leaves early and wowed Bobby Womack a few years back into singing on Gorillaz’ Plastic Beach album.  Albarn has now returned the favor and perfectly produced (together with Richard Russell) Womack’s imminent new album, The Bravest Man in the Universe.  From the tracks we’ve heard (below), Womack’s recent bout with cancer (he was thankfully declared cancer-free two weeks ago) has served these songs incredibly well.  Check the first single off the album, Please Forgive My Heart, and then a soulful solo performance of another song off the album, the gospel traditional Deep River.  And finally check out Womack accompanied by the still-up-and-coming Lana Del Rey on Dayglo Reflection.   These are the sounds of soul, acknowledgment and grace.  Long live Bobby Womack!  You can stream the entire album for a time over at NPR.

One of our favorites, Somali-American K’Naan, recently helped de-fib the Flavorpill Sessions, the renewed unplugged-music-sessions from those smarty-pants folks over at Flavorwire (as an aside, Flavorpill is sponsored by Santa Barbara’s own Sonos).  Check out K’naan, who showed up with a full band to talk about his new album (Country, God, or the Girl) and to play a couple of older hits.  The new album sounds decidedly more hip-hop, but still carries the melodic sensibilities that have made K’Naan beloved throughout the world.  Check back with Flavorpill during the week for possible additional K’Naan performances.  To see K’Naan perform the first single off the new album (as sung with Nellie Furtado on Letterman), go HERE.

On the New Album:

Flavorpill Sessions – K’NAAN at Flavorpill HQ from Flavorpill on Vimeo.

Take a Minute:

Flavorpill Sessions – K’NAAN “Take A Minute” from Flavorpill on Vimeo.

Until the Lion Learns to Speak:

Flavorpill Sessions – K’NAAN “Until The Lion Learns to Speak” from Flavorpill on Vimeo.

The great Grizzly Bear announced today that they will release a new album on September 17/18, 2012 and begin a world tour immediately thereafter.  Check out the tour dates below the new song released today entitled Sleeping Ute.  We can’t wait for all of the above.  They are not to be missed live.  Go HERE to sign up for tour ticket links when they go on sale June 8th.

GRIZZLY BEAR WORLD TOUR 2012

SEPTEMBER
16 Knoxville, TN @ Tennessee Theater
17 Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle
18 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
20 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
21 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
22 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theater
23 Montreal, QC @ L’Olympia
24 New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall
26 Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall
28 Cincinnati, OH @ MidPoint Music Festival
29 Champaign, IL @ Pygmalion Music Festival
30 Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theatre

OCTOBER
01 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
04 Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium
05 Seattle, Washington @ Paramount Theatre
06 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
09 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theater
10 Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theater
17 Gateshead, UK @ The Sage Gateshead
18 Manchester, UK @ Academy
20 Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland Ballroom
21 Coventry, UK @ Warwick Arts Centre
22 London, UK @ Brixton Academy
26 Oslo, Norway @ Rockefeller
27 Stockholm, Sweden @ Berns Salonger
28 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Falconer Salen
30 Hamburg, Germany @ Uebel & Gefärlich
31 Berlin, Germany @ Astra

NOVEMBER
02 Köln, Germany @ Essigfabrik
03 Paris, France @ Pitchfork Festival
04 Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique
05 Amsterdam, Holland @ Paradiso
20 Wellington, New Zealand @ Opera House
21 Auckland, New Zealand @ Bruce Mason

We wrote last about Anais Mitchell.  And then we tried to move on.  But we could not.  Check out Mitchell performing one of the highlights off her latest album (Young Man in America), the harrowing song Shepherd.  The song is based on a story written by Mitchell’s father.  The lyrics are below the video.  This one’s gonna hurt.  Word to the wise.  Heed the call.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oekziw9M7L4&feature=channel&list=UL

SHEPHERD

Said the shepherd to his wife / ‘The crop of hay is cut and dried
I’ll bale it up and bring it in / Before the coming storm begins’
‘Go’ she said ‘and beat the storm / And then there is another chore
Today the baby will be born / You’ll take me to the hospital’
Said the shepherd ‘if it’s true / Twere better if I stayed with you
I’d rather let the harvest go / And hasten to the hospital’
‘Nay’ she told him ‘I’ll be fine / We both have laboring to do
You do yours and I’ll do mine / And the babe will wait till the work is thru’
The shepherd rode the yellow rows / The clouds above and the fields below
Until the bales had all been tied / Then homeward turned to find his wife
The sweat was wet upon her brow / Her breath it cameth laboredly
And then the rain was coming down / Upon the fields of yellow hay
Said the shepherd, ‘it’s no use / The rain will surely win the race
Twere better if we let it fall / And hurry to the hospital’
‘Go’ she said ‘and work with haste / And bring the bales into the barn
Else the crop will go to waste / The babe will wait till the work is done’
The shepherd drove into the storm / And to and from the yellow barn
Till half the bales were safely in / Then went to find his wife again
How many times her name he called / But no replying would she make
Her breath it cameth not at all / She would not rise from where she lay
The storm was o’er within the hour / The shepherd saw the sun come out
The shepherd’s wife saw ne’er again / He buried her and the babe within
He turned the seed into the ground / He brought the flock to feed thereon
He held the cleaver and the plow / And the shepherd’s work was never done

Anais Mitchell’s masterful album, Young Man in America, is one of a handful of albums that have been dominating our listening time as we wrote earlier this year.  Mitchell is one of our most gifted songwriters, and Young Man in America bears this out once again with its deceptively simple songs.  The modern folk songs on the album speak to youthful vantages of America (imagine that) and their/its growing pains and prizes.  Mitchell’s incisive lyrics always manage to put a fine point on matters.  Any songwriter who can write lines like the following deserves our strictest attention:  “Now that he’s gone away there isn’t anyone to tell me if I’m a diamond or a dime-a-dozen,” and “Your daddy didn’t leave a will, he left a shovel and a hole to fill.”   To cap it off, Mitchell’s voice beautifully ranges from Joanna Newsom to CocoRosie to Rickie Lee Jones, and all points in between.  Highly recommended.

To get more of a feel, check out Anaïs Mitchell & The Young Man Band (Noah Hahn, Rachel Ries and Ben Davis) performing Dyin’ Day (riffing on Abraham and the near-sacrifice of his son Isaac) and Ships from the new album, and Cosmic American off of her album, Hymns For The Exiled, all as recorded last night at The Ruby Lounge in Manchester, England.

After the live performances, we must re-post the official video for one of the finest songs written this or any other year, Coming Down.  When Mitchell sings the chorus, you can’t help but hear and feel deep within the ineffable cessation of effervescence.  Within or without, it can only be prolonged so long.  Please, please don’t leave, easy feeling, don’t leave me like that, not yet, don’t set me free….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7fWKfrKmJI&feature=channel&list=UL

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gm27Q8u6I8&feature=channel&list=UL

Following on the heels of J. Tillman’s departure (thankfully to morph into Father John Misty) from the Fleet Foxes, another couple of Fleet ones (Christian Wargo and Casey Wescott) have fled from the Foxes (at least for now) to form and perform as Poor Moon.  For those of you enamored with the Fleet Foxes (check out Holiday below) and Grizzly Bear (check out Once Before and the guitar on Come Home), take a gander at their recent performances on Radio K and KEXP below.  They play Soho this coming Monday night courtesy of Club Mercy.

Holiday on Radio K

Once Before on KEXP

Come Home on KEXP