Detroit soul singer Nathaniel Mayer, who embarked on an unlikely comeback four years ago with the help of some young punk musicians [The Black Keys], has died from complications following a series of strokes, his representatives said on Tuesday. He was 64.
Mayer died on Saturday in Detroit, according to a blog posting on his MySpace page (http://www.myspace.com/nathanielmayer). Funeral arrangements are pending.
Well, now they’ve done it. Now there is a Mac App. for the iPhone/iPod Touch I think I cannot live without. According to Wired’s blog, Listening Post, the good people at Sonoma Wire Works have created a four-track recorder for Apple’s touch-based portable technologies. For a measly $10, you can aspire to be just like Guided by Voices circa 1994 or any of your other lo-fi heroes, except, uh, you'd be using an iPod to record your songs. Each track is stored as a 44.1 kHz WAV file that can be sent wi-fi to any computer for further work if desired. The application is rather basic, functioning mainly to arm tracks to record, pan, and skip through the progress of a song, but it will fit in your pocket, so who can complain?
Now, while this product is indeed drool-inducing (or perhaps wet dream-inducing for the likes of, I don't know, Phil Elverum?), there are of course some limits, as this is being pumped out of an MP3 player or phone depending on what you are using. A major cited problem is that the internal speaker of the iPhone/iPod Touch is soft, so without headphones and a microphone that fit the outlet on these devices, there is not much hope of making a meaningful recording. Also, this program will not work for the first-generation iPod Touch.
But it's still a pretty solid application. Each track is stored as a 44.1 kHz WAV file that can be sent wi-fi to any computer for further work if desired, which is pretty sweet. With the holidays a month away, if any of you reading are feeling especially generous this year, feel free to hook me or any other member of the TMT family up with an iPhone and this app. I promise you will be on my “good list” if you do!
Now that’s sarcasm! Umm, anyway, yes it’s true. Just as you were getting a bit tired of that Bonnie “Prince” Billy record from this past summer, yet another bearded man with yet another loosely titled, Appalachian-inspired spiritual folk outfit is hitting the road this fall to keep up the nationwide enthusiasm for the gospel of, well, for vibing-out on ghostly folk tunes and drinking colorful wines with your chi... or something.
This time it just so happens to be the notable Matthew Houck and his roving band of facial hair aficionados, otherwise known as Phosphorescent, who are tagging-in for a few rounds in the southern and eastern U.S., while Will Oldham and Sam Beam rest their fragile fallapart voices.
Originally from Alabama and a longtime resident of Georgia, this will be the rustic Shaman’s first tour of the Dirty Dirty since the release of his band’s last album, the widely-acclaimed Pride (TMT Review). Hell, speaking of south, it even looks like Houck and co. plan on camping out in Florida for some five dates while the weather presumably turns to shit just about everywhere else in the country. You’ve gotta rest that facial hair after a while, don’t you know?
In other hippie folk news, Phosphorescent have announced plans to release new material in very early 2009. No need to wonder what it’ll sound like, though. We might as well just give it a 4/5 or so now.
So yeah, looks like The Kinks, who according to the BBC "had hits like You Really Got Me, Lola and Waterloo Sunset" are getting back together. Frontman Ray Davies confirmed to the BBC yesterday that they've been writing new material in preparation for a comeback.
That's more or less the entire story, save the fact that Ray is only participating pending the good health of his brother Dave (that's good) and also that Ray is currently working on an album of collaborations that may sound like "a mixture of Snow Patrol and Chuck Berry" (that's bad). He contains multitudes, that Ray Davies.
Byron "The Dragon" Lee passed away peacefully on November 4, after a valiant battle with cancer. But the memory of his phenomenal presence in the music of Jamaica, the wider Caribbean and, indeed, the world to which he helped introduce Jamaican music - will live on through the dynamic band that he founded: Byron Lee and The Dragonaires. With mega hits, such as "Jamaica Ska", "Tiney Winey" and "Dancehall Soca", the band's music has spanned and remained relevant and popular over its more than 50-year existence. The world-famous band will continue to entertain and to bring the music of Jamaica and the Caribbean to a worldwide audience. The Dragon may be gone but he lives on through the Dragonaires!
Edie Sedgwick (not to be confused with the Andy Warhold Superstar) is the moniker of Justin Moyer, founding member of El Guapo (not to be confused with El Guincho) and Antelope (not to be confused with Crystal Antlers). Aside from his music projects, his recent history is punctuated by occasional epileptic seizures. According to Dischord co-founder Ian MacKaye (Fugazi, Minor Threat, he Evens):
Justin's seizures spawned erratic behavior. His bands broke up. He started wearing cocktail dresses. He wrote an autobiography of Meryl Streep and tried to stage readings at Fugazi shows. And Edie Sedgwick was born.
Sedgwick's new album, Things Are Getting Sinister And Sinisterer, is set for release via Dischord on November 11. With track titles like "Angelina Jolie," "Sissy Spacek," and "O.D.B.," something tells me this'll be quite the weird little bugger.
