Category Archives: TVD Memphis

If Albert Einstien were to eat a rainbow and get beat with drumsticks until he busted open like a piñata, the sound it would make would probably be much like Rubblebucket’s music.

The Brooklyn band has been building a following for their abstract take on pop, with songs that hit you hard with unforgettable choruses and keep you coming back for all the weird extra bits floating around in the background. I got the chance to catch up with the principal songwriter of Rubblebucket, Alex Toth, to talk about the aesthetic of their art and the happy medium of making the abstract palatable.

You guys have an excellent sense of pop while simultaneously having lots of strange quirks. How does merging the abstract with the pop aesthetic play into your music?

That’s everything. That’s the whole thing I’m always messing with, balancing that scale. How far out can I take it without losing people. I try to find new ways of dealing with composition and sound. You can make those wild and imaginative, using it in a distinct way. Maybe people can understand it, and in that way, you’re bringing your audience into your imagination. That’s important for us. If I’m working on a song, and it sounds like a million other things I’ve ever heard, I’m gonna scratch it. I want us to have our own thing. I want our songs to be distinct.

Read More »

Hey Weekend Warriors, are you ready to take the next two days off? Too bad! This weekend has a hefty list of great shows that have as much in common with each other as good music and Chad Kroeger.

The welcomed amount of variety is ushered in by an indie name that’s currently cultivating massive amounts of street cred, some crazy guitar work from an awesome singer-songwriter, and some of the most hard ass gangsta shit you done ever heard. Strap on your scuba gear, and let’s get deep!

Friday (7/20) brings indie upstart He’s My Brother She’s My Sister to The Hi-Tone Cafe. The “folk” music featured harkens back to music of yesteryear, yet still wears a fresh coat of modern sounds. Golden Animals is also billed. The dynamite duo (turned fourtet for performance) fills out the evening’s sound, guaranteeing you a great show of some modern takes on the very broadly defined genre of “folk.”

Read More »

Want to listen to good music? Want to give money for a good cause? Well, do I have the deal for you.

Not only does Omnivore Recordings have great taste in music, they also have inclinations of do-goodery. The label has joined forces with the Joseph Gomoll Foundation for a compilation whose profits benefit the battle against epilepsy.

The collection on two CDs, both of which feature live and unreleased studio cuts, and will be released to the public on August 14th. The first of two discs features a wide range of talent including power pop act Star & Micey, Grammy award winner Rosanne Cash, and ’90s alt-pop breakout Sam Phillips.

Read More »

The Dirty Guv’nahs have made quite the splash over the past few years. From modest origins to a fully funded record (paid for by the fans!), the sextet has built a solid fanbase on strong musicianship and an ear for the hook.

I talked to singer James Trimble in the middle of a stretch of dates, with their third album Somewhere Beneath These Silver Skies looming overhead.

You guys have been touring a lot. How’s that been going?

It been a lot of driving, Knoxville to Virginia Beach to western North Carolina to Rosemary Beach. This fall, the tour is a little more of dates strung together, but when we do summer there are a lot more summer festival one-offs that you can’t say no to, so you end up going on long drives all of the time.

So you’ve got a new record coming out in the fall. Can you tell me about it?

Yes, we’re releasing it August 14th. We’re doing a big free show August 17th in Knoxville to open it up as a big thank you to our home town. We did a Kickstarter campaign and raised almost $40k, so it paid for the record and some publicity work, too. 65% of our backers were from Knoxville, so after they basically paid for our next record, we wanted to do a big free show.

Read More »

What’s up Memphis? This weekend is set up to rock your face all of the way off and then rock your faceless face some more.

With a long list of hardcore axe weilders, you’ll be reeling all week long from the head banging you won’t be able to resist this Friday and Saturday.

Friday (7/13) isn’t fucking around when it starts the weekend off on a heavy note. The New Daisy will play host to some great local acts, showing off how hot Memphis can get in the summer. (Seriously, it was 108° the other day.) Local rock acts 714, Collide Over Me, Pangea, and Chicago Skyline are all set to play. With lots of Memphis love going down, this is definitely a great way to start your weekend.

Read More »

Another band hitting up multiple festival stops this year are Toubab Krewe. The jam aficionados are a collection of incredibly knowledgable and talented musicians (as well as men with great taste in tequila).

Their music is best digested in a live setting, were foreign instrumentation is brought to life through their unique take on jamming out. Fueled by great intentions for community growth (both musically and socially), Toubab Krewe’s music has a charm and charisma to it that is only matched by their off-stage activities and projects.

We caught up with Toubab as they closed their set at Wakarusa to talk a few festivals of their own.

I see you tour constantly, What have you guys been supporting this year?

Supporting habits.

No, but seriously, we’re always supporting [Toubab’s sophomore album] Tk2. Currently we’re supporting Carnavalito—a two-day festival we’ll host in Asheville on July 13th and 14th. Also, Manifestivus in Vermont in August on the 17th & 18th. Those two productions of ours are definitely getting a lot of our attention.

Read More »

The summer heat has been blaring down on Memphis all week long. Luckily, this weekend will offer some cool tunes to take the edge off.

From the best of a good ol’ Louisiana tradition to new music from young rockers, this weekend is gonna have you chilling out to a lot of fantastic live music even as you’re cursing the summer swelter.

Friday (6/29) will come stocked with plenty of sweet treats. While simultaneously looking classy as fuck, CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band will be playing at The Levitt Shell. Son of Clifton Chenier, the “King of Zydeco,” the accordionist carries on the southern Louisiana tradition of mixing creole with cajun music. The guy is one hell of a show and has more style than Elvis in the ’70s. If you’re looking to have a good, light-hearted time, don’t miss out on this one.

You’re in luck If you were wanting to stay out all night and get crazy—Friday doesn’t stop at the Shell. Organic electropop outfit Fast Planet will be playing at The Hi-Tone Cafe. They’ll more than likely feature a hefty load of material off of their debut album Jes. Heavy ’80s throwback pop act Future Unlimited is also billed. The duo has gained attention for their authentic recreation of the synth blares and electronic back beats of the ’80s.

Read More »

Forty years ago, Memphis’ own Stax Records organized the socially conscious concert WattStax, featuring Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, and many others. The event was coordinated to bring attention to the riots that occurred in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1965.

Although the Stax name dissolved into obscurity in the early 1980s, a new campaign to revamp the aging Memphis label has been making large strides. With the Stax Museum built and the label revived by 2003, the Memphis stronghold has shown that it’s still got its grooves. One of Stax’s modern efforts is the Stax Music Academy, an afterschool program giving Memphis’ youth insight into the music business. Celebrating the history the Stax name was built on, the Academy will be holding a 40th anniversary concert for WattStax at the Levitt Shell Pavilion, another hotspot of Memphis musical history (having hosted the likes of Elvis and Jonny Cash).

With WattStax being a perfect opportunity to drop knowledge and a little bit of history, the Academy aims to celebrate the event in hopes of imparting tips, tricks, and tools of the trade for their students to be successful in the music industry today.

Read More »

In the midst of big summer festival rumblings, we were able to grab conversations with The Weeks, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds, and Big Gigantic to round out another edition of Festival Fast Talk.

The Weeks are a young alternative rock band who in their early twenties have already released three full length albums and two EPs. They’ll be re-releasing last year’s Gutter Gaunt Gangster EP later this year. I got a chance to lob a few questions at The Weeks after they visited Bonnaroo.

You guys aren’t far down the Tennessee trail from us here in Memphis, but I hear you’re transplants; how is the volunteer state treating you?

It’s a faster pace than in the Mississippi Delta, but we’re acclimating nicely. We knew from the outset that we weren’t trying to become the next big Nashville band. This town is so super saturated with music that to try to take it all over is too big of a mountain to climb. I can see how it would be overwhelming to think of that much competition just in the town you live. We’ve just used the scene here to draw inspiration from. Back home in Mississippi, you are your own barometer, but here you can find a new favorite band every week. Between Turbo Fruits, Pujol, D. Watusi, Diarrhea Planet, and a boatload of other awesome bands, Nashville is home to a lot of incredible artists right now.

Read More »

Urban Dictionary defines “heady” as “An adjective describing a trait of certain strains of cannabis that causes their user to experience or perceive increased or enhanced cognitive activity or ability.” While pot talk is more or less absent in The Flaming Lips’ newest collaborative project, references to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds thrown out by Bon Iver, Ke$ha, and Nick Cave lend to the album’s title Heady Fwends.

The album (which was initially released on vinyl this past Record Store Day) is released digitally tomorrow, the day before The Flaming Lips are set to challenge the world record for most concerts performed within a 24-hour period with eight shows lined up and down the Mississippii.

Starting in Memphis, the psych rock act will perform in Clarksdale, Oxford, Jackson, Hattiesburg, Biloxi, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans. With hope that the Lips’ will overtake Jay-Z’s existing record, the effort will be extensively covered online and promoted to kick off the brand new MTV O Music Awards, an online music award show set up by the aging music network.

Read More »

If your woman steps out with another man, that’s the breaks. If she runs off with him to Japan, that’s the breaks. If this past week has you feeling the breaks of life, no worries—The Vinyl District is here to cure your blues with a list of great live music to see in Memphis… and one very special surprise!

Friday (6/22) will start the weekend off on a very pleasant note. Norah Jones is the singer/songwriter who penned that song that the smart quiet girl who helped you out in Calculus loved so much. Not only that, she’s sold 40 million records. The piano crooner will be taking the stage at the lovely space that is the Mud Island Ampitheatre. Having released her fifth album, Little Broken Hearts, earlier in the year, Jones has enough material to keep you swaying back and forth all night. Also, this’ll score HUGE brownie points with any lady with class, so buy two tickets and grab a date who likes to talk of the modern application of Kant for a fun insightful evening.

Over in Midtown, another great locale is paired with another fantastic performer when Trombone virtuoso Glen David Andrews will take the Stage at the Levitt Shell Pavilion Pavillion. The New Orleans native is full of musical voodoo, providing a damn good show for anyone that likes to boogie.

Read More »

Did you go to Wakarusa or Bonnaroo? Are you going to make it out to Outside Lands or Hopscotch?

Recent scientific studies done in super-official science laboratories have concluded that there are now something like 38,479 festivals a year in America alone. Running from one giganto music event to the next to catch a new obsession or an old favorite is a great way to snag a quick convo with artists from all over the map. Recently, we were able to grab such chats with The Infamous Stringdusters, EOTO, and The Flavor Savers, adding up to this edition of Festival Fast Talk!

Bluegrass band The Infamous Stringdusters have been kicking up dust since their 2007 debut Fork in the Road. Lauded for their traditional stylings with modern frills, the five-some have released five full lengths in six short years, landing them critical acclaim and award nominations, such as the 2011 Grammy award for Best Country Instrumental and the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Entertainer(s) of the Year. They released an album in March of this year titled Silver Sky. In between their sets at both Wakarusa and Bonnaroo, I got the chance to chat with Travis Book (Bass/Vocals).

Read More »

By Charles Gray and Morgan Swank

Going to Bonnaroo is kind of like being at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. If everything around you is delicious, how the hell do you choose to what to eat your fill of?

Although it’s probably the best first world problem you could have, Bonnaroo was a long weekend full of difficult decisions of which fantastic act to catch over the other. Luckily, Thursday started things lax as the day went over without the aid of its biggest stage. With plenty of smaller groups filling out This Tent or That Tent (literally), opening day was packed end to end with a wide range of music starting with Bonnaroo’s first act, The Dirty Guv’nahs.

Somewhat folky and kind of poppy, the Dirty Guv’nahs are an outfit whose sound fits snugly in all the right places and hangs loose exactly where it’s needed. Throughout the set, they pushed their southern comfort song style and huge stage presence with many cuts off their newest effort Underneath these Southern Skies. The Guv’s went through a fast-paced hour in front of a large crowd who swayed to their tunes and sang along as the Guv’s closed with an energizing “Hey Jude” that left behind a sense of optimism for the long weekend ahead.

Read More »

Hey, Memphis! Here’s another round of shots to keep you partying through the best days of the week.

This weekend features a festival for a good cause, an album release party for a much buzzed-about Memphis trio, and a low-key electropop project from a member of one of your favorite indie rock bands. Get those feet ready; it’s time to groove all weekend.

Friday (6/15) features the album release party of the self-titled debut from Hi Electric at the Poplar Lounge. Todd Bartlett is a young rock composer who’s spent time crafting a full length with drummer Henry Talbot and bassist Alan Yee. Their music is skilled low-key rock and roll with textural flourishes and dry lyricism from Bartlett. Vaun is an ethereal textural pop project from the keyboardist of The Generationals. Also billed is Good Luck Dark Star, The Sultana, and Harlan giving the show lots of Memphis love.

Read More »

If you’re in the mid-South area and you don’t live under a rock, you’ll know that Bonnaroo is this upcoming weekend. The 3-day festival occurs throughout 700 acres and brings in over 150 performances on 10+ stages.

The giganterous Tennessee monster party is about to kick off, and there’s a lot of information to digest, but never fear! TVD is here to provide you with a concise list of the hottest heat and some underground slowburners that are must-see’s at this year’s festival.

This Tent will be the main attraction Thursday, pulling in Dirty Guvnahs (4pm), Left-of-center rap act Danny Brown (7pm), and alt hip hop phenom Yelawolf (8:30pm) immediately following Brown.

That Tent offers an equally tantalizing amount of talent with Orgone (7pm), Moon Taxi (8:30pm), Soja (10pm). The evening will be capped on this end when Big Gigantic (11:30pm) take the stage.

At The Other Tent, you could experience a late night watching White Denim (8:45pm), followed immediately by Phantogram (10:15pm), who in turn will pass the stage baton of to the chill-rave sounds of MiMosa (11:45pm).

Read More »