Post Tagged with: "rock"

I am producing and hosting a brand new radio show on the Dash Radio Network.  “The Expedition – A Journey Into Sound with Frank Foreal” is all about uncovering music,new and old, from all over the world. New bands, producers, DJ’s, as well as vintage finds. I’m very excited to be producing this show alongside fellow music junkies, Derrick Ah Sam and Michelle Choug, who I’ve spent many hours (and years) with talking about music that we love.  The Expedition airs every Friday at 5pm PT /8pm ET, with a re-broadcast every Saturday at 7pm PT / 10pm ET.

You can listen to our recent archives via our new Mixcloud page, and make plans to tune in this week.  We could also use your support via all social media networks: find us on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter @EXPEDITIONRADIO.  If you enjoy what you hear, please like and share!

That being said, this is a bittersweet moment, as I will be stepping away from my duties on Soundwaves Radio, a great program that I have had the honor to work on the past 20 months. Without Sean Osborn‘s generosity, bringing me on the airwaves with him, Val The Vandle, and Francesca Harding, I could not have earned the confidence and experience to lead me to this point. I am so grateful to you all!

photo by Kris Perry

I had a great conversation with Oakland’s DJ Platurn a few weeks back, after he made a visit to LA for Boombox’s Native Tongue Appreciation night.  I scooped up his new mix CD, “So This is De La Heaven, PT2,” which is an amazing De La Soul tribute, and we talked in depth about this project (which took him over a year to make).  Listen and enjoy!

What The Fuck.  Southern Rock at its finest, but from Philly.  Dig it. Just wait until you get to 3:22 and I promise you, you will be ballin like some mid-life crisis tele-banker.

I really love how new bands are going with non-traditional drum rhythms.  Dig the tribal, sort of vampire weekend-ish, sound.

http://thedeepseadiver.com/

Tame Impala blew me away when I heard the "Innerspeaker" album.  I don't even know how to describe it anymore.  Is it psych-rock? Prog-rock? Dub-rock-wave (I don't even know what that is)?! AHHH! All I know is whatever this sound is that they create, I'm all over it.  So when their newest album, "Lonerism," came out, I knew it was going to be good.  No worries of them falling off, whatsoever.  And I was right. 

So yesterday on the bus I'm listening to music on my phone, and I heard "Be Above It," the opening track to Tame Impala's "Lonerism," and I started thinking about the importance of the opening track of any album.  Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of The Moon," Nas's "Illmatic," ATCQ's "Low End Theory," Michael Jackson's "Thriller," Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue."  You can pretty much go to any classic album and find that the opening track was as equally important as the album as a whole.

"Lonerism" is no exception.  Check out the opening track, and become a fan.  This is still a band who i have not seen perform live, and I regret missing every one of their Los Angeles appearances.

I heard this track quite a bit over the last month, and then stopped hearing it, as DJ's moved on to other songs from her new album, "Is Your Love Big Enough?" But this one was in my head allllllllll morning.  Lianne La Havas is an amazing singer/songwriter from London, who really solidified her place in my heart with "Forget." This is one of very few artists whose lyrics actually stay with me.  I NEVER pay attention to lyrics. My brain doesn't process them, for some reason, but rather groups the melody of the voice as part of the overall musical piece.  So this is a big deal.

Another thing I can't stop praising is Lianne's guitar playing and great arrangements to accompany her insightful, somewhat melancholy take on love and ex-boyfriends (I watched her performance on this year's iTunes festival and she attributed a whole segment of the show to her ex). I absolutely love the guitar intro of this song (kind of reminds me of this), and would love to make a re-edit of this if I can make some time in the near future. Lianne La Havas is in town this November at The Roxy. I highly recommend you see her.  I'll definitely be there vibing out!

Enjoy.

Went up to Seattle for Memorial Day Weekend.  Katrina was working a conference up there, so I tagged along and explored the city while she worked.  The first thing I noticed was the clean air.  No smog!  Pretty amazing.  Apparently, the warm, sunny weather I experienced this past weekend was NOT a normal thing in Seattle, so I appreciated it that much more.  Spent some time trying out local food joints, buying records, people watching, and walking around Downtown and Ballard, mostly.  Caught a folk festival, visited the EMP museum, and evaded a shooting at the space needle.  Quite the interesting experience.

I flew in Friday night after work, and didn’t get to the hotel until almost 10pm, so I figured I’d grab a quick bite from room service, get some good sleep, and start Saturday off early.  I walked about 30 minutes to this breakfast spot called The Shanty Cafe in Lower Queen Anne.  Then I headed to Seattle Center to spend most of my day at the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum.  Very similar to the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, but this seemed to have much more in volume, engagement, and overall presentation.  I spent over 3 hours going through the Jimi
Hendrix, Nirvana, and AC/DC exhibits.  They even have an area called Sound Lab, where you can play instruments, jam with others, and pretty much just rock out however you want.  The most extensive, and most interesting, was the Nirvana exhibit.  Artifacts, guitars, clothing, original artwork, contracts, and more were on display, accompanied by video and audio archives from various shows, tours, etc.  I felt like my experience with Nirvana in the early 90’s was so naive, and I didn’t quite understand (when I was 10) how important, and rare, it was for this band to crossover into mainstream America (or as the exhibit said “Mainstream American came to Nirvana”).  Not only did Nirvana make it, but numerous other bands from Seattle ended up blowing up as a result of the grunge scene going viral.  I left EMP feeling very humbled and full of information!  Always a good thing.  More about my digging adventures to come…

I was searching for some Alabama Shakes vinyl, and it looks like Third Man, Jack White’s own record label, released a live 7″ of a couple of tracks from this southern soul-rock band.

Then I happened upon this really cool iPhone case, made out of die-cut 45’s from Third Man Records!  Just when you thought people ran out of creative ideas for records (besides actually playing them, of course).

Now, if you haven’t had a chance to witness the Alabama Shakes, check out their live session on KCRW back in January.  Big up to my man, Nate Martel, for putting me on to this fresh group.

I posted on Facebook today that I was waiting for a band to make me as excited as I was when Chin Chin’s “The Flashing, The Fancing” was released in 2009.  As I decided to write this post, I checked out Little Shalimar’s homepage and what did I discover? Torbitt Schwartz, the brains behind Little Shalimar, is also founder of Chin Chin.  I thought there were striking similarities in the vocals.  Chin Chin’s sound is much more dance oriented, with some other instruments involved.  I was instantly impressed with Torbitt’s new release, The New Pneumonia Blues, and couldn’t wait to share it with you.  Unfortunately, no upcoming shows in Los Angeles, but maybe we can convince to come out for no money.  This is just good, fun, rock n’ roll, and I can dig it.

You can download the new Little Shalimar EP for free on bandcamp.  Check him out on Facebook as well.  “Winds of Wackness” is definitely my favorite track.

This is from a new project from White Denim that I could not for the life of me seem to find about a month ago. Now it’s all over the place.  Not connecting to the vocals, but the production here is really fresh.  Love the breakdowns, and the solo!