According to Schiltz, however, when “Monsters” plays in “New Moon,” Twi-hards won’t be squealing for Hurricane Bells. Schiltz told Blast that the song he wrote will introduce everybody’s favorite vegetarian vampire, Edward Cullen.

“Bella gets a camera for her birthday,” Schiltz said excitedly, setting up the scene. “She takes it to school and…’Monsters’ is in that scene. It’s the first time you see Edward on camera. He pulls up in the school parking lot and…he walks out and he’s in slow motion. And then that’s when you hear the guitar riff.”

So if you think you can’t wait ’til Friday, do what I do: put “Monsters” on repeat, close your eyes and imagine Edward Cullen is coming to wish you a happy birthday.

Watch our full interview with Hurricane Bells below:

Tanya DeJesus and Melissa Unger contributed to this report.

Or so declared Ben Folds during his Nov. 5 show at Brandeis University’s Shapiro Gymnasium. As it turned out, Folds and his piano were all he needed to prove himself right.

For nearly two hours, the T-shirt-clad Folds belted almost all his classics, along with a couple of newer songs, to the delight of a sing-along crowd comprised mostly of college students. Folds uses every key of his instrument with the fervor and intricacy of a concert pianist, resulting in a fullness of sound that more than did justice to his many multi-instrument studio recordings. Folds once again showed why he singlehandedly made the piano cool again in rock music.

That is, when he wasn’t breaking the Steinway on which he played.

Folds’ merciless pounding ultimately proved to be too much for the Brandeis-owned baby grand. After a low D went dead mid-way through the show, Folds caused what he admitted was a first: a black key completely broke off, which the bespectacled rocker held up to the amusement of everyone in attendance. But the show went on without even the slightest hiccup, displaying the showmanship Folds has become well known for in his live performances.

The Brandeis appearance – which was his second show on the Waltham university’s basketball court – almost didn’t happen. Folds told the audience that he turned down the gig twice before receiving a letter “from a very nice young lady” begging him to come to Brandeis. An attempt at covering a song written by friend and former bandmate nicknamed Snüzz proved to be one of the show’s sweeter moments, with Folds teaching the crowd the song’s refrain and then asking someone with a video camera to record the tribute and post it on YouTube for his friend.

Part of Folds’ appeal – besides his boyish, silky-smooth vocals and his complete mastery of the ivories – is his ability to switch effortlessly from sentimental to silly. Anthems like “Still Fighting It” and “Landed” always empower and inspire, but the crowd favorites were those songs that showcase the wit and profanity that catapulted Folds early in his career. “Rockin’ the Suburbs” was appropriately successful, and a made-up song joking about Brandeis and underage drinking and including an entire stanza of profane filler drew big laughs.

After all, this was a college show, not the Boston Pops.

Folds’ lyrics have matured with each album, but one has to wonder how he will resolve the tension between being 43 and his decision to continue to cater to the more base tastes of college audiences. For now, he seems successful at toggling between his younger listeners (who love his 2001 album, “Rockin’ the Suburbs”) and older, “Boston Pops” fans (who prefer 2005’s “Songs for Silverman” and 2008’s “Way to Normal”) — but will it all catch up with him?

Folds certainly seemed at home Nov. 5 singing many of his more shallow lyrical offerings in front of a sampling of the YouTube generation, as evidenced by his encore selection: “Bitches Ain’t Shit.” Folds retired the satirical Dr. Dre-written song from his live shows, but agreed to play it since he’d never played it live at Brandeis. It was undoubtedly the climax of the show — the song kids had been yelling for Folds to sing the entire night — yet I would have preferred to hear one of his classic ballads like “Brick” or “The Luckiest.”

Filing out of that gymnasium, though, one thought trumped all others: this guy can flat-out entertain. I didn’t take a scientific poll, but I’d venture a guess that if I did I would have been hard-pressed to find someone who wasn’t satisfied – even if he plays one thing for the adults, and another thing for the kids.

“In the midst of my creative journey composing The Fame Monster, there came an exciting revelation that this was in fact my sophomore album,” Lady Gaga said in a statement. “I would not add, nor take away any songs from this EP; it is a complete conceptual and musical body of work that can stand on its own two feet.”

The standard and deluxe versions of The Fame Monster will be released on November 23. The collector’s edition super-deluxe version will be released on December 15.

Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance,” “Poker Face,” “LoveGame” and “Paparazzi” have all been #1 hits.

The 19-year-old Swift is the youngest performer to ever win the award and the first woman since Shania Twain in 1999.

“I’ll never forget this moment,” an emotional Swift said in a statement, “because at this moment everything that I have ever wanted just happened to me.” Swift also joked about her infamous Kanye West interruption experience at the VMA’s. “I want to thank every single person here tonight for not running up on stage during this speech,” she joked.

In other news, Sugarland picked up their third consecutive Vocal Duo of the Year Award.

Of several noteworthy performances, four-time Entertainer of the Year Kenny Chesney performed the duet “I’m Alive” with Dave Matthews.

Here are the winners:

ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Taylor Swift

MALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Brad Paisley

FEMALE VOCALIST OF THE YEAR
Taylor Swift

VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
Lady Antebellum

VOCAL DUO OF THE YEAR
Sugarland

NEW ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Darius Rucker

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Fearless
Taylor Swift
Produced by Nathan Chapman and Taylor Swift
Big Machine Records

SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“I Run To You”
Lady Antebellum
Produced by Victoria Shaw and Paul Worley
Capitol Records Nashville

SONG OF THE YEAR
“In Color”
Written by Jamey Johnson, Lee Thomas Miller and James Otto

MUSICAL EVENT OF THE YEAR
“Start A Band”
Brad Paisley (duet with Keith Urban)
Arista Nashville

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR
“Love Story”
Taylor Swift
Directed by Trey Fanjoy

MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR
Mac McAnally – Guitar

But Aerosmith fans don’t need to fret. NME Magazine reported the story this morning that Tyler isn’t going anywhere. He appeared at Perry’s solo gig at New York’s Filmore venue and informed the audience that he was in fact NOT leaving the band. Tyler and Perry then broke into one of the band’s biggest hits “Walk This Way”.

Just proves you can’t always believe what you read.

The new record represents a Mayday Parade that has weathered the up and down system of the industry. “Anywhere But Here”, hit stores in October of this year and the boys have been showing it off to the masses as co-headliners of the Alternative Press “Fall Ball 2009” tour with The Academy Is…, Set Your Goals, The Secret Handshake, and You Me At Six. Lead singer Derek Sanders managed to find a few minutes to talk to Blast from the road and tell us how things are going for Mayday and how they feel touring on a new record.

BLAST: How is the tour going so far?

Sanders: It’s just fun. We’re with good people, good bands. We’re just trying to give as much energy as possible. We have these pretty sick new risers. We just try to jump around while at the same time trying to sound good.

BLAST: How have fans been reacting to “Anywhere But Here”?

Sanders: It’s hard to tell but I think its been pretty cool. I don’t really know how to judge that. I mean as far as kids coming up to me or on myspace and twitter things have been good, but I don’t really know if anyone would come up to me and say that’s bad. I feel like it’s been a pretty good response but I guess only time will tell.

BLAST: How does “Anywhere But Here”’s sound differ from “A Lesson in Romantics”?

Sanders: It doesn’t have the double vocal sound as much. Other than that, its the same kind of songs for us. I feel like if anyone was a fan of the EP or the full length, it’s the same stuff.

BLAST: I read that you feel the new songs are more “structured” than your previous ones. What does that mean? What accounts for that?

Sanders: The thing is we spent more time in pre production and things like that. Sitting there and deciding on every single part and making sure that every single part was right. We just spent a lot more time with the songs. We made sure everything was really tight and flowed.

BLAST: You guys had about 50 songs for the record. How did you narrow it down to the songs that came out?

Sanders: It was really tough. It was a really hard thing. There was no way to make everyone happy. There are a handful of songs I would have loved to be on the album that didn’t make it. Everyone else feels the same way. We just tried to do our best to make everyone happy. I feel like it came down to the best 11 that we chose. It was just between us, our producer, our management and the label and everyone just choosing.

BLAST: What is going to happen to all the songs that didn’t make it?

Sanders: A couple of the ones that didn’t make it, were into made b-sides for and they come on the deluxe edition. The rest of them? I don’t know. I guess its a possibility we could hang on to them and use them down the road on the next CD or whatever. I don’t know at this point but I’d really love for people to be able to hear some of those songs that didn’t make it.

BLAST: That’s still an incredible amount of songs. Do you guys write on the road?

Sanders: That’s actually how we do a lot of our writing, on the road. And a lot of that is possible now because we’re riding on a bus instead of a van. So you have time to sit down and work out ideas with everyone spread out on the bus rather than cramped into a van. So that makes it a whole lot easier. On the road is where we spend most of our time. Over the past two years we’ve spent nine months out of the year on the road. You just get an idea for a verse or a guitar part and you write it down, and when it comes time to start working on the album you pull it out. And we throw all of our ideas in and put them together to try and make the new songs.

BLAST: I know you worked with David Bendeth, who produced Paramore and Underoath. How did that relationship start?

Sanders: Whenever it came time to choose producers, there were a couple of guys we were talking to, but when talking to David on the phone, it just really made sense. He’s a really smart guy. He’s a really talented guy. He just has a passion for what he does. He really cares a lot about music and I don’t know, it was just really cool. He brought a lot to the songs and we even did a little bit of writing with him.

BLAST: Any last words of wisdom?
Sanders: Thank you to the fans to anyone out there for listening and giving us a chance. The support means a lot. We really appreciate it.

“A Lesson in Romantics” and “Anywhere But Here” can both be found at all major music retailers. The rest of the AP Fall Ball Tour dates can be found at Maydayparade.com or at their Myspace.

On “Memento,” the follow-up to Flyleaf’s platinum 2005 debut, nothing is understated, and each song tends to bleeds into the next. Some don’t seem to have any breathing room, with Mosley’s howling, deafening guitars, pounding drums, or some combination of the three filling any and all available space. Religious or not, Mosley’s warbly vocals (am I the only one who thinks she sounds a bit like Coheed and Cambria’s Claudio Sanchez?) tend to be a bit melodramatic.

That’s not to say that “Memento Mori” is devoid of catchiness. First single “Again,” in particular, has deservedly made a dent in the Modern Rock chart. Even the strongest songs, however, are that kind of Paramore-esque alternative rock that angsty teenagers flock to, but that anyone past their early 20s might feel a bit embarrassed for even listening to, let alone enjoying.

Besides getting a free peek at some of music’s hottest upcoming artists, Universal and co. are giving away an autographed guitar, an autographed skateboard, backpacks and the like. Anyone who registers at the bottom of the website has a chance to win signed stuff from some of their favorite artists! Also, if you’re currently in school make sure you add which you are attending.

The site hopes to promote upcoming artists on Universal and their affiliate labels as well as connect to fans of their music.

Judging from her music, guitarist and singer Anna Rose has a lot to say. From everything to music technology, gender gaps in the industry, musical theater and sight reading-she hits the nail on the head.

The daughter of a ballet dancer and composer Alan Menken, Anna Rose grew up in an artistic and musical environment. First introduced to the guitar at age 5, she is now wowing audiences with her solid voice and musical skill. Her upcoming debut, ‘Nomad’, was co-produced with William (Billy) Sullivan, and includes five songs from her current EP.

BLAST: I appreciated that in your bio you mention that your musical process includes “full takes, no Auto-Tune, and maybe one synthesizer”. What do you think of the use of technology in music and recording these days?

Anna Rose: You know, I think the use of technology is wonderful, but personally I don’t think I have the experience to put it to its full use. My experience lies in playing guitar and singing and doing things live. The best way to capture what I do is capturing things in full takes…I don’t think there is anything wrong with Auto-tune (but) I choose not to use it in my work…it’s dishonest for me.

BLAST: I also like your quote about wearing dresses. It really struck me because as a drummer…wearing a dress is not much of an option, which people sometimes forget. Do you feel like there is an assumption of how a female musician should look on stage?

AR: Absolutely. I think that there is still that stigma of female musicians kinda just being the figurehead of a great operation…the puppet. I don’t think that’s the case with every musician…I think every great female artist has fought against it…I fight against it all the time. Keith Richards can get up in a T-shirt and jeans…if a girl does that it’s like she didn’t get dressed up for the occasion.

BLAST: That being said, do you feel there is a divide between men and women in the field of rock and music? Or does bringing it up create that divide?

AR: You know, I work really well with male musicians, my band is all guys. Personally, I’ve found I end up working with male musicians. That being said I know of some brilliant female musicians I would love to work with. Good music is good music. The important thing is to let your music be the most important part of it…and that’s what bridges the gap. It’s important for music to just be music, and not just an industry of people trying to be cool.

BLAST: So you started on piano. Do you read music or do you feel you learn and write more by ear?

AR: I don’t read music, I read tablature for guitar, but I really do everything by ear primarily. I don’t want to advocate people not learning music, it’s important for certain paths….my particular path as a writer doesn’t necessarily require that.

BLAST: A lot of guitarists strive on soloing. (The solo on Picture is awesome—reminds me of Voodoo Child Slight Return there) What do you think about that? Do you think there is too much of a focus on soloing in the guitar world?

AR: Well, first, that solo isn’t me…that solo is my lead guitarist, Adam Stoler, he’s my musical director for my band. My whole band is comprised of some (great) musicians…but I’m a rhythm player through and through. I think soloing is important …it’s a different animal than playing rhythm guitar. You’re kind of born to be a solo player or a rhythm player…its just never been my thing. But I envision for sure.

BLAST: Ok, random question. Are there any guitar riffs you’d rather not hear again?

AR: I can’t think of any off the top of my head! That’s an awesome question! I hate guitar riffs with a lot of chorus on them or chamber…anything ‘chorusy’ or ethereal…unless it’s meant for a certain sound effect. Oh! The theme from the original Beverly Hills 90210…but I also obsessively watch it. Maybe that’s my own fault.

BLAST: I noticed in another interview you stated that though you idolize a lot of artists from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ’70s that you listen to, and recording one of their songs would be blasphemous in a way. What do you think of all the remakes of Beatles songs and the all the things like Rockband and even the film Across the Universe, which take from these artists?

AR: Across the Universe was really really well done…with unique takes (on those songs). Covering someone else’s song, when it’s your own take on it….is an homage to that artist. When you’re redoing a song that was made famous by Johnny Cash or something…you need to have your own unique stance on it. Personally I think I’m too young and early in my career to have the right to do that. I need to explore my own creativity and have a couple of pieces of my own work out there before I can say I am good enough to cover someone’s song. I have too much respect of that work to even go near it, though I do cover things live but I won’t record them

BLAST: Your father has written many pieces for film and musical theater. If you could cover a musical theater piece, which show would you work from?

AR: I grew up with so much musical theater, there’s a song that my dad wrote for the live musical for Beauty and the Beast, called “The Change in Me” that is a really beautiful song. In terms of shows that are really kickass, Little Shop of Horrors. I think musicals come and go in popularity but…I think they are really wonderful expressions of our culture.

BLAST: Another random question for you-do you look at the fretboard in terms of notes or shapes?

AR: I look at it in terms of shapes, absolutely. Despite the fact that I consider myself as a guitarist, I don’t consider myself an incredible guitarist…I wouldn’t presume myself as an incredible guitarist, and I definitely look more toward shapes.

BLAST: Anything else?

Next thing coming up is my first music video, filming on Nov 14 on Connie Island (look on Youtube or her website and Myspace page: http://www.annarosemusic.com and www.myspace.com/annarosemusic) and I’m really excited! I’m doing a show on December 7 at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. My EP is five songs that are taken from my full length album that will come out in February called Nomad. And hopefully a tour in the spring!

BLAST: Come to Boston!

Definitely!

Anna Rose’s band is comprised of Adam “The Splendor” Stoler, Tyler McDiarmid, Jamie Bishop and
Jordan Perlson. To check out music and more, go to www.annarosemusic.com.

“This misfortune has fallen among many of our friends in the past,” Mae said in a statement, “and after touring for eight years this sort of thing is bound to happen.”

The band, which was scheduled to play at The Middle East in Cambridge last night, rented a van and performed as planned. With only four dates left on their U.S. tour, Mae has decided to press on with the help of the bands they are touring with, Deas Vail and Jenny Owen Youngs.

The van and trailer have not been found.

The band is currently accepting donations from fans for the loss. To donate, click here.

“It’s in these moments that our fans lift us up and remind us why we do what we do,” Mae said. “We thank you for the immediate outpouring of love and support.”

Cheyenne Medders is the proverbial patriarch of this band of brothers. The eldest, doe-eyed and soft-spoken, he is also the lead singer. His younger brothers Carson and Will back him up on the guitar and percussion, respectively. The odd man out is Joshua Stauter, the classically-trained pianist who sometimes rocks out so hard that he passes out on his keyboard.

When they took the time to chat with Blast about their new album, which was released in September, they described it with words like “haunting,” “dancing,” “rockin’” and “quirky.” Swinging melodies wrap around Cheyenne Medders’ soulful, scratchy southern voice, and make all of these descriptions true. But the passion in his voice on the record was there while he talked to us – this is a man who cares deeply about creating music…even if it’s about insects.

Blast: How would you describe your music to someone who hadn’t heard it?

Cheyenne Medders: I try to name old bands that people would know of and say we’re definitely influenced by The Band and The Beatles and Wilco, and newer people like The Arcade Fire.

It’s kind of impossible. I just wish they would hand me a guitar and I would just play you one of my songs. My taste in music is so broad. I am equally enthralled by the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” and the song “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire. And their sounds don’t really have anything to do with each other, but they all inform the music that I make.

Blast: So tell me a little bit about your new album, “The Medders.”

Cheyenne Medders: We all recorded it ourselves and produced it ourselves. These songs, they kind of go into some new territory. The first song is a really solid, Americana ballad about getting in trouble, being a gunslinger. And then they’ve caught you and you’re gonna get hung. It’s got this really cool piano lick that kind of keeps it drivin’. People have said it sounds like Neil Young and Tom Petty, a little bit. The whole album goes in some really cool directions, I think.

Then the next song is totally, kind of out in left field. It’s called “Win Win.” I wrote that song sitting on a porch at my house, and I was just lookin’ at all the insects. I had a guitar in my hand — I’m a firm believer that the best songs come when you’re not trying to write a song, when you’re not trying to force one out. Some kind of inspiration just comes along, and if you’re lucky, or if it’s meant to be, you have a guitar in your hand or you’re sittin’ at a piano. Or you’re just walkin’, you have some sort of rhythm and you make it into a song. So I was just contemplating the insects on my porch and thinking about how they have to experience time differently than we do because their whole life span is just a matter of days. So it’s kind of a quirky, silly song, but it ends up with a pretty rockin’ outro.

The next song after that is “Bee Free Honey.” It’s probably the weirdest most unexplainable title of the album. Really, it just comes from three words from the song put together in a weird way. On that song we brought in some guest musicians, Claire Indie on cello and Jordan Hamlin on French horn and trumpet. So it kind of has this orchestration…feel to it that I like a lot.

After that there’s kind of a dance beat thing. Then kind of a slow dirge kind of song. I really can honestly say that I’m proud of the songs on the album. I love them all.

Blast: I know you all can play more than one instrument and you do a lot of switching around. How do you work that out?

Cheyenne Medders: We have done a little bit of switching around. We haven’t had a permanent bass player in awhile. Ideally we have one of our friends…play bass for us. That allows me and Carson both to play guitar, which is what we love to do. When I’m singin’ I like to play guitar.

Josh, or Joshua , as he likes to be called, handles all the keyboard stuff. He’s just one of those guys that’s just incredibly musically inclined. He can just kinda hear somethin’ and he’ll come up with his own part, which is something I love. I don’t like to teach people parts, because if they come up with it themselves, then they’ll play it with more passion.

Will is on the drums. He also plays the lap steel guitar. He’s kind of developed a little knack for the slide instruments. In “Terminus,” there’s a kind of haunting electric guitar sound that just goes in and out.

Blast: You’ve all been making music for years. You went solo for a while, but now you’re all together. And how did Josh come into the equation?

Cheyenne Medders: Geographically we were separated for awhile. We all went to college, but by the time my brothers got there, I was on my way out. And I wanted to hurry up and move to Nashville, because my cousin’s studio was just callin’ my name. I wanted a place where I could just record uninhibitedly. When they were done with school, they moved here. So I call it just being a “real band.”

Carson Medders: I met Josh one day when he was a freshman and I was a sophomore. All the freshmen were supposed to be at orientation. I was hangin’ out in Will’s dorm room…and I started playing guitar in there. I thought the building was empty…

Cheyenne Medders: And he was shaking the walls! He was playing Jimmy Page.

Carson Medders: I was playin’ pretty loud because Josh heard me from the third floor. He was asleep and I woke him up. He came down and knocked on the door and came in and kinda startled me. And was like “Hey, mind if I hang out or whatever?” And I was like “Sure.”

And he picked up a guitar and started playing along with me, but he wasn’t that great. I didn’t know how I felt about him. But then kind of as he was leavin’, he mentioned that he was classically trained on the piano. And so at that point we were just trying to put something together. I thought “If he’s really good at piano and he liked our stuff, that would be a big asset.” So I invited him to a practice and it ended up working out. But I will admit at first he was his personality was pretty different than ours…

Cheyenne Medders: Well, you mentioned that he was asleep when he heard you on guitar. We thought he was narcoleptic. Because we would be just playing a song, a pretty loud song, and he’d just be hammerin’ on the organ. Then we’d just hear this dissonant organ chord just totally sustained, just *werrrr* and we looked over and Josh’s head would just be on the keys.

Carson Medders: He used to work overnight a lot. So then during the day he just couldn’t really keep it together. So we didn’t really know what was wrong with him. But turns out he’s a great guy, so…

Blast: So Cheyenne, on your Facebook profile it says that your three favorite songs all have “country boy” somewhere in the title.

Cheyenne Medders: I am kind of a country boy. I was definitely born and raised out in the country. That’s not too surprising. There’s an old guy named Jimmy Driftwood. He was a great folk singer…there’s nobody like him. He’s just a master storyteller with a voice from Heaven. He’s got a song called “The Country Boy,” one of my favorite songs.

I was also thinking about “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” by John Denver, which is one of the most joyous pieces of music I’ve ever heard in my life.

Then there’s an Alison Krauss song…called “You’re Just A Country Boy.” And it’s beautiful. And way different than the other country boy songs.

Blast: What effect do you think that has on your music? Would you call it country?

Cheyenne Medders: It’s really not.

Blast: Not in the traditional sense?

Cheyenne Medders: Or in a modern sense! Country gave birth to rock and roll. Country jazz and blues from up until the forties and fifties came together. That’s what rock and roll came out of.

And I am a sucker for a lot of old country, like Hank Williams and Johnny Cash. And what music fan isn’t?

When we were kids we were really immersed in the country industry cause our dad was a staff writer here in Nashville for Diamond Rio and Pam Tillis. Our cousin made a huge career out of writing modern country songs. The country of the late 80s and the early 90s has a strong nostalgia with me. It’s the kind of thing where you just know all the words to every hit of that time because that’s what was on the radio wherever you went. Whether you walked into Cracker Barrel or a gas station, or your dad was dropping you off at school, all these songs like “Two Of A Kind Working On A Full House” was on the radio, and it kind of becomes part of who you are. So no matter how far away you get from it musically, a little vein of that’s still gonna run through it. Whether it’s just the cleverness of the lyrics or the catchy melodies or whatever.

Blast: What plans do The Medders’ have for the future?

Cheyenne Medders: We’re working with a few non-profit organizations (Living Water International and Mission Lazarus). Their main focus is to drill wells for communities that don’t have clean water. The water crisis — you might even say it’s the worst crisis out there. So many people die from not having clean water.

So me and some friends had this idea to pitch to college campuses, and we’re calling it “We’ll Play for Water.” We’re gonna tour colleges…try to construe it to where every dollar that comes in from the public or from a college that hires us to play will go straight to build wells.

Blast: Every dollar?

Cheyenne Medders: That’s the idea. I didn’t think it was possible at first…If you can find some donors, just people with a lot of money that want to do some good with it, you could conceivably come up with all of your administration costs. Then all of the money that comes from the public could go to the cause. I think it’s gonna be good.

The Medders’ self-titled album is now available on iTunes. Check out their Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/themedders

Blast caught up with the young starlet to hear about her upcoming debut album and her lead role in the Broadway production of “Dreamgirls,” which premieres on November 22 at the Apollo Theater in Harlem and will continue on a 14-city tour throughout the country.

BLAST: What was it like to achieve the sudden success brought on by “American Idol?”

SYESHA MERCADO: It was crazy! It was such a journey and a roller coaster ride. I learned a lot about myself and about what I want my image to be. I met so many amazing people and made a lot of great friends. It was an amazing experience all around, and I am very grateful for it.

BLAST: Tell us about your upcoming album. What was the inspiration for it? What can fans expect to hear? When will it be coming out?

SM: I’ve been writing since elementary school; I’ve kept journals. All of my experiences in life have been incorporated into my music. It’s high energy, pop crossover. It tells the story of my life. It’ll be released sometime after the Broadway tour is over. I’ve been so grateful to be able to work with producers like Chris Rojas, Scott Cutler, REO (who produced Beyonce’s “Hello”), Andrew Dixon, and Evan Bogart. Soon I’ll be working with Eric Hudson and Toby Gad, and I’m really looking forward to it.

BLAST: You are quoted as saying, �As an artist, I believe experiences provide musicians with the inspiration for their music.� Could you tell us about an experience that has inspired your music?

SM: I’m inspired by love, relationships, the people around me, my family. I’m away from my family a lot, so I like to think about the good things and the good times. Being on the road inspires me, nature inspires me. My freshman year of high school, my house caught on fire. It really brought up lots of emotions and made me appreciate the small things.

BLAST: Tell us about your upcoming role in the stage production of “Dreamgirls.” Does the role of Deena Jones hold any significance to you? What is the most exciting part of being in a Broadway show for you?

SM: I can relate with every character, I think. People have many sides. Throughout the play, my character finds herself, and I can relate to that. I have lived that aspect of having a dream and working hard to achieve it. My character has a special place in my heart.

Being in the moment on stage is exciting to me. I’m inspired by the actors I work with, and by my the audience. That’s the beauty and the magic of theater: the show is different every time, it evolves. I’m moved and inspired by the audience. It’s amazing that the show is opening up at the Apollo. I am so excited to be performing there. I can feel the energy and the presence of the people who have performed there before, like Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Jackson. It’s an honor and a privilege. I’m so excited!

BLAST: What is a typical day like for you now?

SM: It’s different every day. Today I found out I have a revised schedule. We’re doing a costume parade, and I’ve never done one before. We wear our costumes and have our hair and makeup done — I wear 17 wigs! We parade across the stage and the director, stage manager and costume designer make sure everything looks right. There’s lots of standing and walking around. But there’s an amazing energy. I love being around all the other actors who love performing, too. I love it, I love the energy. And everyone’s so nice!

BLAST: What would you say to someone who has dreams of becoming a professional actor or singer?

SM: I’ve learned that you have to go after what you want, no matter what. Something’s gonna happen, there are going to be obstacles, but that’s life. You’ve got to keep going. No one is going to work harder for you than you. Be positive and it’ll happen. Oh, and practice! Practice is important.

BLAST: What do you think of the fact that Paula Abdul isn’t coming back to “American Idol?”

SM: I think it’s sad; I really love her. She was the motherly one, she really cared about us, and she was very sincere. She’d give us gifts and pep talks. Ellen (DeGeneres) is cool, too, though. She’ll be a good voice for the public, for people who watch the show but who aren’t singers. She’ll do well,� she’s so funny.

Want more of Syesha? Follow her on Twitter, @syesha, and become friends with her on MySpace.

The first opening act was Between the Oak and Ash, a folk-indie duo from New York. Next up was Landon Pigg, most recognized for his role in �Whip It� as Ellen Page�s love interest, and for his song �Falling In Love at a Coffee Shop,� which is featured in an AT&T commercial. Both acts were enjoyable and well-received by the audience.

But at 10 p.m., the real performance began. �Hello Boston!� Sudol called out excitedly from the stage. She went on to lament how long it had been since A Fine Frenzy had last visited.

Indeed, the last time the band was in town was back in March 2008. Quite a few things have changed since then. For starters, the band released their second full-length album, �Bomb in a Birdcage� back in September. The CD introduced the new, more upbeat version of Sudol (although never fear, there are still plenty of melancholy songs too). There were some changes to her live performance as well. Two new band members have been added. On the last tour, Sudol stayed seated at a piano for the majority of the set. But this time, she switched to a keyboard, allowing her to move around more and show off her dance moves.

One thing that hasn�t changed, however, is Sudol�s genuine gratitude towards her fans. No matter how emotional the lyrics, and now matter how torn up she appeared while singing, she�d break into an adorable giddy grin during the last few strains of each song. As the audience roared with cheers and applause after each number, she�d laugh and thank everyone in an awed voice, as if she couldn�t believe so many people liked her music. At the end of her set, she spent a few minutes elaborating on how much each and every fan meant to her and the rest of the band. Sudol is so sincere and appreciative; it makes it extra satisfying to see her succeed.

As if being sweet and cute weren�t enough, Sudol also has one of the most powerful singing voices of her generation. She sounds great on CD, but if that�s all you�ve heard, be prepared to be blown away. At live shows, she really lets loose. It�s enough to give fans goose bumps. One minute, she�ll be singing so soft it�s almost a whisper, and next she�ll be belting out the words. Think Fiona Apple, but less crazy. (No offense Fiona, we still love you).

The set included tracks from both �Bomb in a Birdcage� and A Fine Frenzy�s debut album, �One Cell In The Sea.� They also played a few b-sides: �Silent War,� �Coming Around� and �From Whence You Came.�

Ironically, one of the highlights of the show was when A Fine Frenzy played someone else�s song. �There are brunettes. There are girls with lovely raven hair,� Sudol began to introduce the track in a dreamy voice. �There are people with purple hair, and blue hair, and orange hair. There are people with red hair,� she said, lifting her own bright red locks. �But I have to say, I really, really, really love a little bit of Blondie.�

And with that, she launched into a rambunctious cover of �Heart of Glass� by, uh, Blondie (if you really need it spelled out for you). This is where Sudol really hit her stride. She skipped around the stage, shaking her hips and clapping her hands. She�d let out periodic cries of �woo!� before rocking out more. As the audience sang along, the band members exchanged grins. They may have played this cover on every date of the tour so far, but it was clear they were still having a blast up on stage.

Every song played during A Fine Frenzy�s set was absolutely phenomenal. All the back-up band members are extremely talented, and Sudol has pipes rivaled by few others. But the most refreshing aspect was simply how much Sudol seemed to be enjoying herself. Sure, she writes gorgeous songs about heartbreak, but it�s nice to see she can still have a good time.

Here�s hoping A Fine Frenzy returns to Boston sooner than last time.

But this indie band won’t be categorized.

Springing out of Abilene, Texas and now residing in Austin, the band is promoting their new album 20,000 Ghosts by embarking on a 31-date national tour. Blast caught up with them while they were playing in Boston, and they talked about everything from what itis like to record their first full album to their biggest influence, Miley Cyrus.

In a lot of ways, The Rocketboys are just like every other indie band you’ve seen — they’re long-haired, scruffy-faced boys wearing pearl snaps and skinny jeans. But as the six of us chatted in the back of their tour van, which didn’t take very well to the cobblestone streets of Boston, it became clear that the Rocketboys are not just another indie band.

“Anyone can make an artist myspace,” said lead singer Brandon Kinder, “and get their music out to different people. But I think there’s a certain level where it’s a little bit more than just a fun thing you’re doing.”

The Rocketboys are trying to get ahead of the game by being what few indie bands are with their music — responsible.

“We’re trying to separate ourselves by pursuing music professionally without the support of a record label,” said Daniel Wheeler, guitarist. “We have an extensive tour schedule. We have a publicist. We’re trying to surround ourselves with a team that a record label would provide to a band, but weire trying to do it ourselves, because we like having control of the business of our band.”

Add professionalism to a band that sounds as good live as on a record, and itis a surprise that these guys havenit been signed yet. Their show later that evening backed up bassist Josh Campbellis assertion that sounding good live is something else that sets The Rocketboys apart.

“It’s pretty easy now to like, get garageband and lay down a song, and autotune it,” Campbell said. “We take a lot of pride in our live shows, and making (them) as good as they can be, because I think thatis where some bands are lacking.”

The expansive sound of The Rocketboys’ music is enhanced by their deeply personal lyrics, like these from Heartbeat:

“I would sell you out in a heartbeat/Cause you can defend yourself.”

But songwriting is the one thing that The Rocketboys don’t hold to an exact formula. Band members propose ideas to one another and piece together songs, aiming for catchy melodies with hooks.

“But we definitely try to take bits and pieces of bands that we like and we just put together things that we think sound good,” said keyboard player Justin Wiseman. “And inevitably it borrows a little bit from other people, but our idea is just creating beautiful music.”

According to Brandon Kinder, though, the order of production usually stays the same.

Typically, it’s always music first. Ask questions later.

Though they’ve been playing together since college, 20,000 Ghosts is The Rocketboys first full album. “It was like what we’d done in the past, but amplified, said guitarist Daniel Wheeler. They said the recording sessions, which often lasted up to 10 hours, were exhausting, but in the end, they came out with a product that they could be proud of.

“We’re just trying to create something timeless that people can enjoy,” said Kinder.

The band, who has played with now-popular bands like Grizzly Bear and Eisley, said they really look up to artists like Andrew Byrd, My Morning Jacket and Miley Cyrus?

“She’s pretty much our main influence,” said Kinder with a wry smile.

The next stop for the band after Boston was New York City’s CMJ Music Festival.

“We’re very excited,” said Kinder. “It was kind of a close call. We were kind of accepted at the last minute. We were kind of planning our tour around potentially playing it, which may or may not be the best way to plan a tour”

But like Kinder said, they got accepted and went on to play in one of the nation’s biggest cities for up-and-coming musicians. The Rocketboys’ formula seems to be working so far, and if they continue producing quality music like the stuff on 20,000 Ghosts, we’ll be hearing from them for years to come.

Visit The Rocketboys’ website at myspace.com/rocketboys, and look for their album “20,000 Ghosts” on iTunes.

The documentary began as a means to capture the making of the band’s debut, “Everything in Transit”, when he was diagnosed with cancer at 22 years old in May 2005. The film is directed by filmmaker Corey Moss and Josh Morrisroe and narrated by Tommy Lee.

The film will be available in-stores, on the Jack’s Mannequin website www.jacksmannequin.com and via digital download through iTunes, and the Standard Edition Dear Jack DVD is available for pre-order at the website as well. On November 3rd, the Dear Jack EP will be available on iTunes with previously unreleased tracks, as well as a limited edition art book. The book, which includes artwork that became a part of the “Swim” music video, can be purchased exclusively at the band’s website. A portion of the proceeds will go to the non-profit charitable organization that McMahon founded in 2006, The Dear Jack Foundation.

Andrew McMahon will also participate in Stand Up To Cancer in December 2009. Stand Up To Cancer strives to accelerate cancer research and hopes to bring the best and the brightest individuals in the community together in order to do so. The group has raised over $100 million for cancer research thus far.

The obvious choices like �Everlong� and �My Hero� are included as well as more recent hits like �The Pretender� and �Best of You�. They probably could have done without a couple of weaker tracks like �Breakout� and �This is a Call�. The latter can be seen as a necessary inclusion though, as it was the group�s first major single.

The best tracks on here from Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo are �Skin and Bones� and �Learn to Fly�. The whimsical ditty that is �Skin and Bones� gets a nice live treatment at Wembley Stadium in London.

Two new songs, �Wheels� and �Word Forward�, make their debut on this album. �Wheels�, the new single, sounds a little poppy for them, but in a likeable way and I think Foo fans will dig it. �Word Forward� has a really awesome guitar line right before Grohl belts the chorus. It�s just a brief chord change, and most people might not even notice it, but I love when guitarists do subtle things like that to a song.

Fans can pick up the 16-song standard edition CD or the deluxe edition which comes with a lot more goodies. The deluxe package includes a DVD of some music videos, live performance clips from Wembley Stadium, Hyde Park, and the Skin + Bones tour, a 28-page book of never before seen photos and, according to the band�s website, �a few possible treats for Easter egg hunters.�

�This isn�t a one trick pony,� Adler said about the new album on Shwayze�s website and Blast agrees. �Let It Beat� compiles Shwayze�s ability to blend hip hop verses over a multitude of instruments you never expected. �Heart and Soul�, the CD�s slowed down jam about life in the Hollywood fast-lane, sports a piano driven melody that has the notion of Phil Collins (which isn�t a bad thing). �Down at the Motel� introduces itself with an organ solo before breaking into epic hip-swinging party anthem status. Insane guitar solos and full band set-ups decorate the entire album. Smith�s, who goes by Shwayze by day, rhymes flow sweetly between Adler�s crooned sing-a-long choruses.

�We set out to do better than we did last time. We just wanted to expand on that. It’s really beefed up on the production side. We started to construct really good songs on this record,� said Shwayze to Blast from his hometown of Malibu, California, �We just really tried to expand our horizons on this one.�

While you can definitely see rocking out to �Let it Beat� on a drive to the beach, Shwayze proves he can shake up the club as well. The album�s first single, �Get U Home�, is driven by an electro-popcentric beat.

�Dirty Little Girl� featuring The Knux follows in the same vein. �Wait All Night� featuring Tabi Bonney slows it down over a dulled drum loop, but the �I don�t want to wait all night/I don�t want to wait all night. I don�t want to wait all night just to watch you leave� hook is designed specifically to get stuck in your head. It�d be interesting to see what the remixes would sound like considering �Let it Beat� songs are already so layered up.

Guest appearances are not scarce on �Let it Beat�. The record leads off with �Livin� It Up� featuring Snoop Dogg. The song exemplifies a theme that seems to pervade throughout the Shwayze camp � doing the best with what you�ve got and just keep growing.

�I want to capture all genres of music. I want to rap on the Shwayze project, I want to work with a lot of different artists which we were able to do a little bit more on this record. I just want to try everything I can with music and just expand,� said Shwayze.

The Shwayze boys will be hitting the road this week on the Party Rock Tour with LMFAO. They are bringing out a full band and Shwayze guarantees that the shows will be insane, and for all ages. With �Let It Beat� as the driving force, it�s sure to be a damn good dance party.

�Let It Beat� hits music retailers today, don�t forget to get your copy and start getting down because Shwayze assures Blast they don�t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

�We’re just here for the long haul here, that’s what I want people to know.�

Per usual, Raditude’s strong points come when Weezer sticks to the winning formula that dates back to their debut album 15 (!)  years ago — anthemic, catchy choruses and simple surf-rock song structure (see: “Put Me Back Together,” “Let It All Hang Out”). The record starts and ends on strong points, with bouncy leadoff track and first single, “(If You’re Wondering if I Want You To) I Want You To” and heartfelt album closer “I Don’t Want to Let You Go.” On the eight tracks in between, it’s clear that Weezer is trying to broaden its musical horizons, with mixed results.

On the positive side of the spectrum is the Cuomo-Jermaine Dupri-Lil’ Wayne collaboration “Can’t Stop Partying,” whose lyrics take on an ironic twist with nerd-rock pioneer Cuomo singing lines like, “Monday to Sunday I hit all the clubs / And everybody knows me when I pull up / I’ve got the real big posse with me, yeah I’m deep.” The song, which first appeared as a melancholy acoustic track on Cuomo’s solo demo record that was released a year ago, has been transformed into a synth-heavy earworm, with Dupri’s fingerprints all over it.

Less successful is the sitar-infused “Love is the Answer,” which sounds like it would fit in better over the PA of my Vietnamese-owned laundromat than on a Weezer record.

Even at 39, Cuomo isn’t afraid to let his inner awkward teenager emerge. He falls for a formerly dowdy classmate on the frankly-titled “The Girl Got Hot,” while hard-hitting “I’m Your Daddy” finds him trying to woo a girl on the dance floor. Apparently, even after hanging out with the cool kids, he’s still a nerd at heart.

Sadly, Orianthi’s time with Jackson was cut short after his tragic death, but she always sticks to her mantra: Don’t let negativity hold you down.

She reflects on the three months she spent with Jackson positively, albeit a little wistfully. “He was encouraging and wanted all of us to do our best, project our energy and just put on an amazing show,” she says. Jackson helped build her confidence, and made her believe in herself. “It was an amazing and really, really surreal experience.”

Despite the cancelled Jackson tour, Orianthi is keeping busy. Her debut album, “Believe,” hit shelves October 27, just one day before “This Is It,” the Jackson documentary opened in theaters. Orianthi is featured extensively throughout the film.

“Believe” is an energetic, invigorating mix of pop and rock that could easily fit between Kelly Clarkson and Ashlee Simpson-Wentz on Top 40 radio, or after The Donnas on a rock station. There’s also a heavy 80s influence, and of course, a shrieking and wailing guitar solo in every song. But unlike some of her contemporary female singer-songwriters who only throw on a guitar to strum a few chords for a music video, Orianthi really knows how to rock. Avril Lavigne only wishes she could make an album like this.

Growing up in Adelaide, Australia, Orianthi was surrounded by music from a very young age. At age 6, she picked up one of her dad’s guitars and hasn’t put it down since. She recalls sitting for hours, just playing song after song on her acoustic guitar.

“I think in life, you should go with what you get and what you’re passionate for,” she says. “I didn’t really get math, and I didn’t really get science or anything in school but I felt music was my calling.”

It was Carlos Santana’s soulful live performance that really inspired her at age 11. “After watching him perform, I didn’t want to play classical anymore because it was kind-of boring,” she says with a small laugh. She quickly switched to electric guitar.

Three years ago, Orianthi was offered a record deal by Geffen and moved to L.A. to write and record. “Believe”has been a long time in the making, but her hard work really shines through in the finished project.

When she first got a Myspace message from Jackson’s music director inviting her to audition for the band, she didn’t think it was real. But soon enough, she was playing in front of Jackson himself. She had never been so nervous in her entire life.

After Jackson hired her, Orianthi worked hard to learn all the songs and make sure all the music sounded just right. “Every time he’d come in the room, I’d get nervous because I wanted to make him happy,” she says.

His death hit everyone in the band hard. Seeing “This Is It”once it was released to the public was tough but as usual, Orianthi tries to stay upbeat. “It was very emotional but fun looking back on some amazing memories working with the ultimate entertainer,” she says.

Just like Jackson, Vai, and Santana influenced Orianthi, she hopes to be an inspiration to kids around the world. “I really hope to inspire more young girls to pick up the guitar and keep at it,” she says.”It wasn’t easy being a female guitar player growing up and lining up at the auditions with the guys at school. It was pretty difficult but if I can inspire more females to get started, that would be amazing.”

Next up for Orianthi: a tour. She’s excited to go out on the road and start playing some of her new songs. No matter what happens, she knows everything will work out. “If I can play guitar every day, I’ll be happy,” she says.

Orianthi’s “Believe” is available in major music retailers everywhere, including iTunes and Amazon.

Lights dropped her newest full length CD “The Listening” in early October and chatted to Blast from her hometown of Toronto shortly after the release to tell us how the CD came about, how she became her own super hero and why it’s cool to be a sci-fi geek.

“A couple days before the record came out in the states we hit the road to tour on the record so its been going, going, going, but it’s awesome. For the first time I get to tour on my own record. People are coming to the shows and singing along,”said Lights about life since “The Listening” came out.

The title of the album came from Lights’s own self-reflection when writing the songs and learning a lot about herself.

“The title generated from track four called “The Listening” but it went a little deeper than that. The whole record spawned from me kind of having to analyze emotional situations where I was just feeling really low and had to pull myself out with music,” said Lights. “Through that process I learned a lot about myself. All these songs, through all this music, I’ve learned so much more about myself. I thought this is a direct result of that, listening to music. That’s why I took the mouth off of me on the album cover, to help drive that home. It feels appropriate.”

Lights will spend most of the rest of the year on the road promoting the album like musicians do, but she’s also got a little something special up her sleeve. A long time fan of fantasy and comic books Lights teamed up with Marvel writer Tim Coker to create The Captain Lights Adventure.

“The Captain Lights Adventure which [is like] a glorified comic book with my music in the background. It’s going to be playing on MTV in the morning in America and you can see it on the website as well,” explained Lights.

Comics aren’t the only way Lights lets her inner-nerd out. She’s also a WoW (World of Warcraft) veteran. She says no matter how busy she is, she always makes time for WoW the fantasy role-playing video game that has become an ever growing cult sensation among computer gamers – even Brand New’s Jesse Lacey has admitted to being a fan. Lights said she too is a huge fan of the game.

“It was totally something I just wanted to get into. And actually when I started playing, one or two years ago, I didn’t know anyone that played and I was such a lover of fantasy stuff, comic books and all of that I thought I’d have a good time with it and I love it. Every day I always make a little time for it.” Lights said.

Fantasy has always appealed to Lights, simply for what it represents to her. It’s a place to escape, which she explains on in her bio became essential to her during her childhood when her family was constantly moving around. Now fantasy worlds and comic book agendas help Lights channel her out of this world energy.

“Music for starters is something I totally love, it’s my passion, but the same with sci-fi and comics. These are all things that I love so why not implement all these things into it? It’s an absolute reflection of my personality and what I’m into. Its the idea that the reason I love fantasy and all that stuff is the notion of unlimited creativity and aliens and far off worlds and crazy powers and make it all real. It’s all stuff you can invent and the same goes for my music. If I hear a sound in my head then I’ll find a way to make it into the recording. There’s no limits or bounds for what I want. In that sense it all goes together,” explained Lights.

Lights, who changed her legal name to Lights from Valerie Poxleitner, uses her intergalactic notions to help her reach the artistic goal she set for herself when she started playing music, and holding on to that has kept her steady in an industry that’s isn’t known for playing nice.

“People will try to get to you and they are going to hate. In order to keep track of who I really am I set this one goal to always hold on to and that’s to reach as many people as I can in a positive way,” said Lights. “So anything that I do to make you happy or entertain you for a few minutes or just make you think about things – just something positive, that’s my goal.”

“The Listening” is available in all major music retailers now.

Owl City/Adam Young has made an impression on the airwaves and the internet, recently making his way to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, and a number one single score on iTunes for the single “Fireflies.” The 80s synthpop and electronic sound of Owl City has also found its way to the Top 40 and Hot AC formats on the radio, along with various other formats.

Let’s not forget the #1 song in North America, a sold out tour and huge record sales (Universal Republic Records) — that’s 200,000 digital singles and a jump from #20 to #8 in the Top Ten Nielsen Soundscan Top 200 Albums Tally for the album Ocean Eyes.

Young has stated that he started writing music in the small town of Owatonna, Minnesota in his parents’ basement, which can be seen depicted in the video for “Fireflies.” The video can be seen widely on Youtube and on rotation on VH-1.

Owl City is currently winding town the sold out door and will be in Houston on Halloween night.

Bubl� is famous for his smooth vocals, covering classic songs from past eras. �Crazy Love� features �Georgia on my Mind� and �Haven�t Met You Yet�. Bubl�s usual demographic follows him for his unique voice that has hints reminiscent of Frank Sinatra or Fred Astaire. His modern day rendition of old-time classics have become wedding anthems around the world.

In contrast, the �New Moon� soundtrack, released by Warner Brothers records to help excite Twilighters everywhere for the upcoming release of the second movie in the Stephanie Meyers series, is comprised of all original works. Death Cab for Cutie, Thom Yorke, Lykke Li, The Killers, Muse and more all wrote original songs exclusively for the soundtrack. The contributors� list is impressive at the very least, but even more so when you consider the songs were written specifically for the movie.

Paramore, who headlined the first Twilight soundtrack, hang in on the Billboard 200 chart at number 16 with �Brand New Eyes� which was released in late September.

Both �Crazy in Love� and the New Moon soundtrack are available at all major music retailers. The Twilight Saga: New Moon hits theatres November 20..

Devendra Banhart’s newest release, What Will We Be, which is his label debut for Warner Brother’s, may do just that.

Fans of Banhart will be content with the upbeat yet eclectic tunes along with funkier tracks and peaceful pieces as well. For those who are first time listeners of his work, one may be a bit confused at first with the span of musical skills ranging from a song intro which simulates the sounds of a jazz standard to folksy ballads, but ultimately intrigued, and in some cases, blown away.

Songs like “Angelika” and “Baby” are not only uplifting, but have interesting lyrics-any song that incorporates ‘holy moly’, ‘choo choo train’, ‘kangaroo’ and ‘goofy’, while still making lyrical sense gets a plus in musical expression.

In terms of catchiness, while the whole album is indeed memorable, tracks like “16th & Valencia” and “Rats” certainly stand out. The first starting out with a drumbeat reminiscent of early 60s rock, turns into a pop-like tune with a funky bass line and smooth guitar melody, while the latter, “Rats”, utilizes

one of the grooviest bass lines one may have heard in a while. Haunting vocals, similar to that of Jim Morrison and Iron Butterfly carry the tune along with a unique guitar riff.

On the other hand, the two back to back tracks, “First Song for B” and “Last Song for B” are clever and powerful.

“First Song” draws you in with an ethereal crescendo, then transforms with distant percussion, while piano and vocals reverberate in the forefront. Lines like “Now I take everything as a good sign/ because I’m in love”, are emphasized by the piano melody, and the track ends with a strong outro.

“Last Song” incorporates a creative sound design and produces beautiful imagery, all the while producing the exact emotions of what the lyrics describe.

Both tracks truly express what words cannot alone, and are somewhat cinematic in their composition.

While it may be easy to try and compare Banhart to artists such as Cat Stevens or Simon and Garfunkel on tracks such as “Angelika” and “Goin’ Back to the Place”, or The Doors for aforementioned tracks such as “Rats”, this isn’t an artists trying to imitate or recreate an era of music. We’ve all heard that with artists trying to recreate the musical styles of the Grateful Dead or Led Zeppelin, and its never as effective as creating one’s own style. One can most certainly say that with the different genres and world music influences winding their way into this album, that this is something unique in of itself.

The album, which was co-produced by Paul Butler, includes Banhart on vocals and guitar; Noah Georgeson (producer of Banhart’s last two albums) on guitar and backing vocals, Greg Rogove (Priestbird) on drums and backing vocals; Luckey Remington (The Pleased) on bass and vocals and Rodrigo Amarante (Los Hermanos, Little Joy) on guitar and backing vocals.

Devendra Banhart moved with his parents to live in Venezuela at an early age., then moved to California during his teenage years, where he first became involved in music. Banhart studied at the San Francisco Art Institute, then traveled from San Francisco to cities such as Los Angeles, Paris, and New York City, before moving back to Los Angeles, where he currently resides.

I’m completely sincere when I say thank you, Tegan and Sara Quin, for writing songs that make me feel like my heart has been ripped out of my chest and pounded into a pulp on the pavement.”

The Canadian twins have always had an uncanny knack for making everyday, universal heartaches (”I imagine you, body next to another,” Tegan repeats on “The Ocean”) seem particularly poignant and profound, and that trend continues on “Sainthood,” their sixth full-length album, released today.

Musically, “Sainthood” doesn’t live up to the last Tegan & Sara album, 2007’s exceptional “The Con,” but the sisters continue their unparalleled lyrical examination of personal shortcomings, especially in relation to unrequited love.

The album’s title, culled from the Leonard Cohen lyric “I practiced all my sainthood / I gave to one and all / But the rumors of my virtue / They moved her not at all,” refers, according to the sisters, to their practice of being on their best behavior in the pursuit of relationships.

“All I said to you / All I did for you / Seems so silly to me now,” Tegan sings on “The Cure,” while Sara, on “Alligator,” promises herself, “No hissy fits / Mind my manners / Won’t make a scene / Oh, over you.”

From the jarring opening chords of the Sara-penned “Arrow” to Tegan’s hard-hitting “Northshore,” it’s clear that “Sainthood” is a musical leap for the duo. Sara, the quirkier of the two in terms of songwriting, penned the majority of the songs on “Sainthood,” and it shows. Tegan, meanwhile, seems to have absorbed the style of punk artists like Against Me! and AFI’s Hunter Burgan (who co-wrote three of the songs on “Sainthood”) she’s recently collaborated with.

Glaringly omitted from the record are tender acoustic ballads that were strong points on “The Con” and 2004’s “So Jealous.” Bonus track “Light Up,” Sara’s gorgeous homage to her mother, falls into this category, but though it’s included on the iTunes version of the album, it’s regrettable that it wasn’t included on the regular version (though, in fairness, it likely would have felt out of place).

With most of the 13 songs clocking in under three minutes, some feel unfinished, or even that they never had the chance to truly get off the ground in the first place. Album closer “Someday” seems particularly (and surprisingly) directionless.

At 29, the twins aren’t afraid to mock their own adolescent yearnings (”I know it turns you off when I get talkin’ like a teen,” Sara pines on the stellar “On Directing.”) Tegan & Sara joke that they are “committed to obsessively seek and discuss love until the end of time,” but all kidding aside, it’s a dialogue in which everyone can find solace.

Tegan & Sara play the Calvin Theatre in Northampton on February 12, 2010 and The Orpheum in Boston on February 13.

Kicking off the afternoon was the Brooklyn Vegan showcase at Piano’s, which featured a slew of bands (as well as free Miller and bloody marys until about 3 p.m.). The standout act was Canada’s Still Life Still, who’s hook-laden indie repertoire contains as much distortion as possible to still be called pop. It might be considered shoegaze, but more than likely your feet would be tapping so fast you wouldn’t be able to focus. The tiny performance space completely absorbed their fuzz-rock wall of sound, particularly drummer Aaron Romaniuk’s Animal-like pounding, that surely left plenty of ears ringing at the end of the set.

As evening fell and a monsoon drenched the city, Blast headed over to the Village Underground to catch Lisa Bianco. The local singer/songwriter, unlike many CMJ acts who brought out the bells and whistles, played straightforward Sheryl Crowe-esque rock backed by a full band.

On the opposite end of the musical spectrum, next up was Spleen United, an electro-rock outfit from Denmark who created their own four-person mosh pit on the downstairs stage of Santos Party House. Their pulsating, industrial sound is reminiscent of early Depeche Mode, but they were followed by Lemonade, whose psychedelia-inspired noise rock was a little too avant garde for our tastes.

Not avant garde AT ALL was our final stop of the festival, the Tribute Wars showcase at Le Poisson Rouge, which featured heavy metal tributes to the Bee Gees and Michael Jackson (yes, you read that right) and an all-female Metallica cover band called Misstallica.

The Bee Gees act, known as Tragedy (tagline: “The Number One Heavy Metal Bee Gees Tribute Band in the Tri-State Area”), employs shlock in the best way imaginable, with a stage setup that featured female backup dancers (one donning feathery angel wings) and an abundance of glitter. The band members exploited basically every ’80s hair metal stereotype, down to the ostentatious screens in the background that blared “TRAGEDY” in flaming typeface. Heartfelt interpretations of classics like “How Deep Is Your Love” and “Night Fever” had the crowd in stitches, with singer “Robin Gibbens,” clad only in pink feather boots and white boxer briefs, gyrating around the stage with a not insignificant beer gut unabashedly on display. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, they brought out a cowbell for closing number “Stayin’ Alive.”

After a quick costume change, some of Tragedy’s members teamed with other musicians for “Dangerous,” a heavy metal tribute to Michael Jackson whose members include “Neverland Raunch” and “Blanket Peterson.” Formed before Jackson’s death in June, the band seamlessly incorporated snippets of metal classics like “Whole Lotta Love” and “Sister Christian” into the end of songs like “Smooth Criminal” and “Billie Jean.” They finished with “We Are the World,” which featured what can only be described as the opposite of an all-star cast, including several audience members, up on stage. As crowd members looked on with a mix of amusement, confusion and horror, it’s fair to say that the rendition may have had a unifying effect equal to that of the original’s.

Less comical but equally mind-blowing was the final act of the evening, Philadelphia quartet Misstallica. Recently named one of the top five all-female tribute acts in the country by Gibson.com, they offered note-by-note replications of early Metallica classics like “Seek and Destroy” and “Master of Puppets.” Singer/guitarist Gina Randazzo offered a spot-on imitation of James Hetfield, even mimicking his distinctive hunch over the microphone, and lead guitarist Gigi Gleason made Kirk Hammet’s brain-melting guitar solos look effortless. For anyone who can’t afford a high-priced stadium ticket to see Metallica nowadays, these girls are a worthy substitute.

It’s been an exhausting week, but we loved every minute of it. Finally, here’s a wrap-up of the marathon overall:

Best Acts: Casxio, Still Life Still

Worst Acts: Hunter Valentine, Lemonade (sorry)

Pleasant Surprise: Via Tania

Biggest Disappointment: The Fire and Reason

Best New Discovery: Dangerous: A Heavy Metal Tribute to Michael Jackson, the banh mi at Santos Party House

Best Venues: Le Poisson Rouge, Santos Party House

Photography by Sarah Be for Blast

At the Music Hall of Williamsburg, The xx cemented their reputation as one of the festival’s most anticipated bands, drawing enough of a crowd that the club began turning badge holders away at 10 p.m. Despite having played several sets already this week, with more scheduled, the London quartet showed no sign of weariness. It’s possible they were feeding off the energy of the audience, which turned the group’s dreamy, ethereal songs into feverish singalongs. Co-ed vocalists Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft complemented each other well, with Croft’s voice in particular floating from the speakers like smooth velvet.

Around the corner at Spike Hill, Siri Walberg (a.k.a. Sissy Wish) took the stage clad in skinny jeans, yellow sneakers and a homemade vest laden with cassette tapes. The quirky Norwegian’s herky-jerky dance moves and broken English was awkward yet endearing, and the enthusiastic crowd lapped it up.

The waifish Norwegian, not an outsize presence physically, allowed her music to take up most of the space on stage. Her touring bandmate, Bjare Hundvin, armed with a laptop and keyboards, created a swirling soundscape of synthesizers and floor-rattling drumbeats. Some of the darker, more industrial-sounding tunes, particularly “About a Machine,” resemble what Depeche Mode would probably sound like if Dave Gahan had a sex change.

As the marathon draws to a close tomorrow, check back with Blast for coverage of Saturday’s best performances, including Michael Jackson and Metallica tribute bands, as well as a roundup of the festival as a whole.

Blast correspondent Sarah Be contributed to this report and provided photography.

The band's formation is a classic L.A. story: they met as strangers on a ride at Disneyland two and a half years ago. (Sarah Be for Blast)

NEW YORK — Making their New York debut at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon, disco/funk quartet Casxio aren’t letting the opportunity go to waste. With sets scheduled for four of the festival’s five nights of the festival, the soul rockers are hoping to broaden their fanbase beyond their native Los Angeles.

Amidst all the running around, frontman Lucas Guerin chatted with Blast while gulping coffee at a TriBeCa diner Wednesday afternoon.

“It’s always interesting when you know you’re playing to people who have never heard you,” he admitted. “The show is a journey, and by the end you want to have the audience.”

Asked to assess the band’s  first performance, at Piano’s on Tuesday night, Guerin said confidently: “By the end of the show, we definitely had ‘em.”

The band’s formation is a classic L.A. story: they met as strangers on a ride at Disneyland two and a half years ago.

“(Keyboardist Andrea “Dre” Choe) was screaming,” Guerin recalled. “‘It’s Disneyland,’ I said. ‘It’s not scary.’ She got offended.”

That led to a conversation and musical bonding session over hot dogs and lemonade that fellow park attendees Eric Saez (guitar) and Zach Schrock (drums) joined in on. With that, Casxio was born.

Fast forward to present day, and the band is gaining buzz with their single “Seventeen,” the video of which features Guerin in full-on drag acting out the role of the song’s narrator.

“I wanted to write a song from the point of view of a 17-year-old girl,” he explained. “Because no matter who you are, as far as love goes, everyone’s got a 17-year-old girl inside of them.”

When it came time to film the video, Guerin said he pondered dressing up as the character, but was reluctant to share that concept with his bandmates. Eventually, a friend brought up the idea, unaware that Guerin had already been considering it.

“As soon as he said it out loud, I was like, I have to do it,” Guerin said.  “If I was really gonna do this right, I’m gonna be the girl. That’s got to happen.”

Utilizing his acting background, Guerin ”researched” the role by watching Madonna videos and trying to imitate her moves.

“It was awkward for the first half hour or so,” he said of the video shoot. “Until I had the third or fourth beer in me. Then it was fine.”

Casxio’s sound is a mishmash of the band members’ individual tastes, which range from 50s motown to jazz and funk, Radiohead to Phillip Glass. Choe is classically trained. Guerin is aware that the band’s aesthetic defies convention and might leave some listeners bewildered.

“The songs are about relationships, but it’s not like, someone broke my heart and I’m gonna cry about it,” he said. “It’s like, someone broke my heart and I’m gonna fuckin’ throw up all over myself, but do it in a crowded room and not even care.”

Casxio plays the Rumble CMJ Showcase at Southpaw Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.; the Official ASCAP Showcase at Canal Room Thursday at 8:30 p.m.; and the High Rise Showcase at Norwood Friday at 9 p.m.

Kicking things off was Via Tania, who channeled Bjork, Feist and PJ Harvey for her set at Le Poisson Rouge. The native Australian began her set armed with a ukulele, and later switched to an electric guitar to showcase heavier material — while simultaneously manning a keyboard and, at one point, a tape recorder around her neck. Her breathy vocals were supplanted by Charles Rumback’s delicate drumming, and together the pair breezed through a quick set of dreamy lo-fi, with just the right amount of shoe gaze thrown in for good measure. Check back with Blast on Friday for an interview with Tania!

We then moved on to the ASCAP Showcase at the Canal Room, where Casxio BLEW OUR MINDS (!!!) with a cover of Q. Lazzarus’ “Goodbye Horses” — a.k.a. the creepy song that acts as the backdrop for Buffalo Bill’s psycho-lipstick-drag hot mess of a dance in “Silence of the Lambs.” That alone would have earned the L.A. quartet high regards, but the rest of their synth-funk set was pure energy, with singer/bassist Lucas Guerin, who bears a passing resemblance to Eddie Vedder, breaking into occasional falsetto yelps. Think MGMT without the pretension.

See also:

• Fire and Reason on Brink of Fame
  
• Blast’s original coverage of the band from 2007.

Less enthralling — and that’s putting it mildly — was the third act of the night, New York’s own The Fire and Reason at Rebel. The buzzworthy electronic rock trio, whose songs have been featured on MTV and Logo, played to a surprisingly sparse crowd and were obviously not too pleased about it. Frontwoman Bella Saona, who donned thigh-high boots and sunglasses worthy of Lady Gaga, clearly envisioned herself on a much bigger stage, playing to a larger and more enthusiastic audience. Making halfhearted attempts to work the crowd, Saona only turned it up a notch when a cameraman emerged to film footage for an upcoming music video, as guitarist Steve Narvaez and bassist Lee Greenman looked bored behind her. It seems possible that The “Fire” may have already burned out.

Saona did say earlier to Blast’s John Guilfoil that technical problems forced the band to cancel its originally planned show on Wednesday.

Check back with Blast through the weekend for updates on the final two days of CMJ, and wish us luck tomorrow on our second attempt to see The xx!

Photos by Sarah Be for Blast. She also contributed reporting to this article.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-three/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-two/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-two/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 07:49:24 +0000 Elizabeth Raftery http://blastmagazine.com/?p=31220 NEW YORK — One of the great things about the annual CMJ Music Marathon is that it offers music fans the chance to see bands on the cusp of fame in intimate settings. But that can also act as a drawback — case in point, Wednesday night, when hot ticket The xx played at the 250-person capacity Mercury Lounge on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Needless to say, the lines for both hopeful ticket buyers as well as festival badge-holders stretched around the block an hour before the band was set to go on, and those who were willing to wait didn’t appear to stand much of a chance of getting in.

Fortunately, the band has three more sets scheduled for later in the week.

Blast’s Plan B was a music and comedy showcase headlined by Margaret Cho around the corner at the Living Room. The musical acts included tween trio Supercute! (”Hi, we’re Supercute!” Get it?), whose three-song set featured a ukelele cover of “Happy Together” and two original compositions. Though probably a little too precious for the typical CMJ crowd, it was a relief to hear girls aged 13 to 15 sing about Swedish Fish and hula hoops as opposed to more suggestive fare.

Cho’s act featured her usual Mom shtick, but much was centered around a purportedly recent breakup (via text message, possibly?). Supporting her were Sara Benincasa, who riffed on Meghan McCain and Catholicism among other topics, and Elon James White, whose pontifications on race amused the crowd without straying into uncomfortable territory.

The second stop of the night was a return trip to the Delancey for the Deli Magazine Showcase, which featured New York City acts The Narrative and Hesta Prynn. The former played Death Cab for Cutie-esque indie pop off of their debut EP “Just Say Yes,” but the standout track of the 20-minute set was the unreleased “Fade,” now streaming on the band’s MySpace page. Co-ed singers Suzie Zeldin and Jesse Gabriel provided a nice vocal contrast, with the songs on which Zeldin took the lead sounding reminiscent of Paramore at their finest.

Hesta Prynn’s performance was probably the closest thing to a house party any CMJ-goers will find. Perhaps it was the result of playing in front of a hometown crowd, but the former member of all-girl rap trio Northern State and her four bandmates genuinely seemed thrilled — or at least amused — to be on stage, and their enthusiasm was infectious. It’s not just the hooks of her songs that are so engaging; Hesta knows how to work a crowd, and peppering her set with saucy banter (”Can a ho get a cocktail?”) and sly dance moves practically dares audience members not to have a good time. (Word to the wise: Her Twitter feed is as charming as her stage persona.)

Rounding out Night Two was Middle Distance Runner at Fontana’s. The Washington, D.C.-based quintet offered an occasionally ear-splitting set that incorporated both jangly Americana rock and sultry funk grooves, paying discernible homage to ELO, Tom Petty, and mid-’80s era Prince along the way.

With the marathon nearly halfway over, there’s still much to see and hear. Tomorrow’s highlights include electronic dance-rockers The Fire and Reason and folk singer Via Tania.

Check back with Blast for continuing CMJ coverage all week!

Photos by Sarah Be for Blast

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-two/feed/ 1 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-spotlight-on-lights-resolve/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-spotlight-on-lights-resolve/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:57:46 +0000 Sarah Be http://blastmagazine.com/?p=31176 NEW YORK — The Tuesday night Bowery Ballroom crowd that witnessed a sweaty, high-energy performance by Lights Resolve probably had no idea that the band had just driven 19 hours to make it to New York from a tour stop in the Midwest to conduct an interview with Matt Pinfield on WRXP.

Lights Resolve (Sarah Be for Blast)

Despite a lack of sleep, and a tough act to follow in Brooklyn’s Care Bears on Fire, the New York City alt trio jumped at the opportunity to be a last-minute addition to the opening night of the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon.

“We’re often running on empty but that’s when we tend to do our best,” said singer Matt Reich, during a chat with Blast after his band’s set. “The more we get beaten down, the more we rise to the occasion.”

Reich and drummer Neal Saini met as high school students in Long Island and have been playing music together for 11 years, they explained. Bassist Luke Daniels, who had been trying to elbow his way into Lights Resolve for years, was added after their original bassist left to join Australian sister act The Veronicas — in spite of a less than stellar audition that Reich still laughs about to this day.

Drawing upon influences including U2, Sigur Ros and The Who, Lights Resolve has toured with the likes of Shiny Toy Guns, Dashboard Confessional and Panic! At the Disco.

Lights Resolve play Saturday at 11 p.m. at the Bowery Poetry Club.

Liz Raftery of the Blast staff contributed to this report.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-spotlight-on-lights-resolve/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-one/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-one/#comments Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:56:42 +0000 Elizabeth Raftery http://blastmagazine.com/?p=31114 NEW YORK — The 2009 CMJ Music Marathon got off to a predictably hectic start Tuesday, with hundreds of bands and the patrons who came out to see them scrambling around Manhattan’s Lower East Side and parts of Brooklyn in an attempt to take in as much music as possible in a few hours.

Blast started our coverage off at the Bowery Ballroom for hometown alternative act Lights Resolve. Check back here tomorrow for our interview with them!

Next up was The Bloodsugars at Piano’s. The NYC-based quartet pounded through a short, tight set of indie rock, with a dash of funk thrown in courtesy of bassist Brendan O’Grady and keyboardist Matt Katz, who single-handedly manned a trifecta of instruments. Frontman Jason Rabinowitz gamely worked through an amplifier malfunction, and the near-capacity crowd didn’t seem at all fazed by the technical difficulties.

Afterwards, we moseyed down to the CMJ Official Showcase at the Delancey, where local outfit The Cringe had just begun to work the sizable crowd into a frenzy. The band’s exuberance elevated their straightforward, catchy rock tunes, and guitarist James Rotondi’s blistering solos made the tiny space feel like an arena — or at least his bandmates’ Guitar Hero-esque fantasy of one. The act began losing steam after a while though, and we decided to move on midway through a number that sounded like David Bowie trying to appeal to the Heartland.

We ended Day One at Crash Mansion with Margaret Cho’s entourage, who were gearing up for their Wednesday showcase as Denise Barbarita and the Morning Papers played a sassy, blues- and punk-derived set before a thinning crowd.

Check back with Blast daily for all the CMJ happenings, including artist spotlights and photo galleries to come. Tomorrow’s lineup includes British buzz band The XX (if we can elbow our way into the sold-out show) and literary-minded electro/hip-hop artist Hesta Prynn.

Blast correspondent Sarah Be contributed to this report.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/cmj-2009-day-one/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/u2-blast-giveaway/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/u2-blast-giveaway/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:17:59 +0000 Megan Vick http://blastmagazine.com/?p=31018 Blast has teamed up with Total Assault once again to bring you a U2 prize pack! The prize pack includes a U2 t-shirt, a vinyl of the new single and a remix CD.

In order to win, we want you to get a little creative. Create a poster and take a picture of it then comment us with it. The most creative poster will win. A little bit extra work, but hey, it’s U2!

Contest will end Tuesday, October 27th.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/u2-blast-giveaway/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/the-kin-at-cafe-939/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/the-kin-at-cafe-939/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:16:21 +0000 Erik Ziedses Des Plantes http://blastmagazine.com/?p=30928 The first band had not even taken the stage, and there they stood: a group of girls in matching black t-shirts adorned with homemade professions of love for The Kin. “We (heart) Issac and Thorry!” said one in loud pink paint. Another shirt was covered in song titles and lyrics. They would remain in their front-row spots for the entirety of the show.

The Kin are definitely on to something if they are already able to earn such captivated fans, and as their set at Café 939 proved, they are able to reach beyond the fanatical to draw in the entire room’s worth of people, which pressed their way as close to the stage as they could.

The first two acts did not manage to entrance the audience as much as the brothers Koren, but were still perfectly respectable additions to the show. Kicking things off was the Jamie McLean Band from New York City. What they brought was a pretty meat-and-potatoes brand of pop-rock, carried by McLean’s elastic voice and solid guitar riffing. McLean seemed to playing with a sense of desperation during his set, as there was a ten-foot gap between the Kin super fans and the rest of the crowd. He was a man given the thankless task of warming up for the band that everybody was there to see, which is what made songs where he swung for the stands, like the gritty, bluesy stomper “Ain’t Nobody Like My Baby,” that much more thrilling.

New Haven, CT’s Queen Killing Kings were up next, and came very close to stealing the entire show from under The Kin’s noses. Armed with a two-keyboard, bass, and drum setup, the four-piece launched into a frantic set of majestic, doomy cabaret pop, marked by the manic stage presence of lead singer/pianist Coley O’Toole. Like a more upbeat Black Heart Procession, The Queen Killing Kings’ songs stayed firmly rooted in creepy minor keys, accentuated by Zac Clark’s horror-movie organ stylings and the ominous bass thud of Joe Ballaro. The heavily bearded and sideburned band easily won the most converts of the night, and their enthusiastic, airtight set only proved that they deserve it.

With excitement at a fever pitch within the venue, The Kin emerged and launched into their set. The first two songs were delightfully knotty pop, characterized by the Koren brothers’ immaculate harmonizing. However, if The Kin need to learn anything about live performance, it is in the sequencing of their set. After the opening salvo, the group leaned back into a long procession of ballads and quieter material. The drummer and bassist even left the stage for a four-to-five song stretch.

While each of The Kin’s songs stands well on its own, the middle section of the set seemed to drag quite a bit. It is usually not a good sign when a young woman is asleep on a couch in the back of the venue in the middle of the set. After the perpetual slow-dance section, things perked up a bit with the inclusion of TheUPside standout “Animals,” a slow burner based on bubbling electronics and hypnotic repetition. The brothers jumped into the audience and formed a circle around them for the sea-ballad “Abraham,” a tactic that sent many scrambling for their cameras and cellular devices in order to capture the action.

Things like the slow middle section of The Kin’s set are aspects of the show that only critics will notice. The line of girls held at rapt attention, singing each song like it was written especially for them pay no mind to things like set pacing. The command over their audience and the sincerity of their songs will be more than enough to carry The Kin to higher things in the future, but it’s their honesty and openness as people that will keep those fans with them even longer.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Ney

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/the-kin-at-cafe-939/feed/ 2 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/cmj-2009-ny/2009/10/blast-is-at-cmj-2009/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/cmj-2009-ny/2009/10/blast-is-at-cmj-2009/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:09:02 +0000 Elizabeth Raftery http://blastmagazine.com/?p=30896 NEW YORK — Blast is at the 2009 CMJ Music Marathon

All this week, we will be reporting from New York City, where hundreds of underground bands will descend on Brooklyn and Manhattan to try and make a name for themselves, and industry professionals will gather to try and hammer out the issues currently facing the music business.

We’ll be running around trying to take in as much music as possible, so check back here for daily coverage!

For more details and the full lineup, visit www.cmj.com/marathon.

Is there a CMJ band or artist you think Blast should be covering? Sound off below!

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/cmj-2009-ny/2009/10/blast-is-at-cmj-2009/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/cmj-2009-ny/2009/10/cmj-2009-spotlight-on-lisa-bianco/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/cmj-2009-ny/2009/10/cmj-2009-spotlight-on-lisa-bianco/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:03:44 +0000 Elizabeth Raftery http://blastmagazine.com/?p=30839 NEW YORK — Lisa Bianco describes herself as a “pop singer/songwriter with a punk heart.” Bianco, who was raised in Long Island and currently lives in Queens, said the diverse New York music scene she grew up with had a huge impact on her songwriting.

Hometown: New York
Genre: Indie rock/alternative
Influences: Pearl Jam, U2, Blondie, Radiohead, Patti Smith
Craziest Musical Experience: Traveling from New York to Geneva to Venice to see Pearl Jam perform at a festival, only to learn that it had been canceled due to a tornado. “We just got drunk on wine and went out to dinner,” she recalled. “It was really bizarre.”

“You see a lot of extremes of everything,” she noted. “You can always grab something fun from any kind of band or performer, no matter what it is. … I think I kind of incorporate all that stuff.”

Indeed, Bianco’s songs seamlessly fuse aspects of influences that run the gamut from Fugazi to The Bangles.

This will be the second CMJ Week appearance for Bianco, who regularly tours around the tri-state area, alternating between full-band and acoustic solo performances.

“I really learned a lot from the whole thing last year,” she said. “You meet people at other gigs and talk about music and the state of the industry. … New York becomes even smaller at this event.”

Lisa Bianco performs at CMJ on Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Village Underground with a full band.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/cmj-2009-ny/2009/10/cmj-2009-spotlight-on-lisa-bianco/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/getting-to-know/2009/10/blast-talks-to-brother-band-the-kin/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/getting-to-know/2009/10/blast-talks-to-brother-band-the-kin/#comments Mon, 19 Oct 2009 15:50:27 +0000 Erik Ziedses Des Plantes http://blastmagazine.com/?p=30865 When it comes up that the principal members of New York City’s The Kin are brothers, one will probably expect there to be a Oasis-esque dynamic at work. One of sibling rivalry, debauchery and bitter fighting that, as the brothers Gallagher have recently proven, leads to one brother quitting the band.

This could not be further from the truth for Issac and Thorry Koren, Australian transplants who have been doing everything they possibly can to make people hear their heavily emotional pop/rock since the band’s inception in 2003. Their relationship seems based more on wonder- a sort of “Hey, look what I just figured out how to do!” excitement that permeates each of their songs and marks each of the brothers’ frequent blog posts.

In a small, cramped back office at Berklee’s Café 939, Issac Koren sat down with Blast to talk about the touring life, New York scene politics, and The Kin’s new album TheUPside. He even provided water bottles. What a gentleman.

Blast: First off, how are you doing?

Issac Koren: I’m doing good. Rolled out of bed in New York today and for the first time there was no traffic coming into Boston. We’re really happy, this venue is really awesome and they treat you well.

Blast: You recently got off tour with Rod Stewart. How was that?

IK: We were spoiled. We played arenas and we ate his catering and our gear was delivered on stage every night. It was incredible, what can I say? Such a great experience. His audience was very appreciative. He doesn’t usually take an opener, and his audience was all there by the time we played.

Blast: Were you and your brother fans of Rod Stewart beforehand, when you were growing up?

IK: Our parents listened to him, and I definitely liked his earlier stuff the most. When he went into disco, he kind of lost us a bit.

Blast: That tends to happen whenever disco is introduced.

IK: He seemed to gain the most fans then, I guess he found his pop audience. I think when he was a working class hero writing for The Faces, I think he was a very cutting edge artist. He had a lot to say. “Handbags and Glad Rags” is a great working class ditty that you can apply to today with the girls walking around with their Prada bags that their grandfathers swept to buy. He’s an amazing artist and the fact that he’s still doing it at 65 is very inspiring.

Blast: Definitely.

IK: We also just finished up touring with Rusted Root, and musically that really inspired us to open up our sound and jam in sections a bit more, because that’s kind of where we started and over time we made our songs a bit shorter and structured. Recently we were like, let’s open them up.

Blast: You and your brother came from different musical backgrounds from what you’re doing now anyway.

IK: [Thorry] came from jazz, solos every song. I was doing this Mahavishnu Orchestra style experimental rock type band- both very different to what we’re doing now. For some reason what come out between us is different from what comes out of us separately.

Blast: You came up the same way a lot of American bands do. You moved to New York, and you started touring in a van non-stop. Why did you make a conscious decision to start the band in New York instead of Australia?

IK: We moved here to finish school. Thorry finished high school in New York, and I finished college here in Boston. I did my last six months at Northeastern. When we got together in New York, a family friend was like “I have a friend that records bands, if you guys can write some songs, I’ll pay for the demo, but you only have three weeks.” We wrote four songs in three weeks, did a demo with a bass player, and it came out pretty good. We then did over 100 gigs locally in New York over two years. Now we’ve been touring nationally since 2007, and we haven’t gone home.

Blast: Well how do you feel about that, are there any times you want to go home?

IK: There are times where I’m homesick for New York, but funnily enough, we don’t get homesick for Australia until about December, when it’s really cold and we want to be like “Surf’s up, everyone is on the beach, it’s time to go home.” So we go home and play the festivals for a month, do a tour, sit on the beach, see family. Touring has been great, I’ve managed to see every state except Alaska at least three times now, and we’ve played in 36 or 37 of them. A lot of bands make a regional footprint and get a little more traction going, but we’ve spread ourselves out around the country.

Blast: It’s good if you’re coming out of New York though, because as a very music intensive city, it’s sort of a super-accelerated scene. You could base most of your early career out of NY and then be able to make the jump to the national stage pretty seamlessly. Coming from somewhere like the Midwest, it’d be a lot harder.

IK: Yeah, but there’s no competition there, as opposed to New York, where it’s nothing but competition. I guess the old saying is true, that “If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.” If you make some noise in Ohio, you might be one of the only bands to make it out of there. There are a lot of bands that come out of cities like Portland, who have actual scenes. New York is so big that the scene has been lost a bit, or there are little pockets.

Blast: Let’s talk about the new album a bit. How did the recording process compare to Rise and Fall?

IK: It was great, we had an old 70’s recording room, got in there with Jack Douglas, who did a ton of records in the 70s. For two weeks straight we brought in songs, and fleshed out about 22 of them. We wanted to jam them out, not be over-rehearsed. In the morning we would come in, do about two songs per day and just jam them out until we couldn’t figure out what to do with them anymore, at which point Jack would stop us and say, “OK, I’m going to hit record.” We would get three to four versions of each song. We took it San Francisco and opened everything up even more, grabbing the experimental instruments. We had a base to work with with this one, as opposed to the last album, which was nothing but chaos. We tried to make chaos come around to our vision, whereas with this one we started with experimentation, but we got it so there was a groove, then we took the groove and experimented over that. Then the vocals were put on and experimented with as well. We had more of a vision of where we were going, and the help of a producer.

Blast: You say you cull most of your lyrics from conversations that you have rather than from personal experiences. Now that you’ve been blogging so much, have you found yourself taking lyrics from your blog?

IK: Interestingly enough, the process of blogging, and the process of conversations with our fans has helped us out a bunch. Our songs are collages of things they say to us and conversations we have and things that happened. For example, our grandmother once was telling us about Mark Twain, and how he got his name. She was telling us he would go down to the docks and hear all the workers yelling “Mark time! Mark time!” when the ships were coming in, which means “Look out, watch your step,” because there’s moving ropes, equipment, danger. You have to stay alert. We used that as the basis of our song “Waterbreaks.” One day I was having a conversation with Thorry, and I was telling him about my dreams, since I’ve been having these recurring tidal wave dreams. That got thrown in as well. It’s all a collage, the story our grandmother told us and the things I talked about with Thorry. It wasn’t conscious, more of just what was in our minds, it just came out. Sometimes it’s nonsensical, like the song “Photograph,”

Blast: That song has no real words to it at all, right?

IK: Yeah, it’s completely gibberish, inspired by Sigur Ros maybe, I don’t know!

Photo Credit: Rebecca Ney

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/getting-to-know/2009/10/blast-talks-to-brother-band-the-kin/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/an-airborne-toxic-event-in-boston/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/an-airborne-toxic-event-in-boston/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:34:36 +0000 Sarah Gordon http://blastmagazine.com/?p=30537 With a sort of mashup of characters, an eclectic mix of sounds, and layered melodies Airborne Toxic Event headlined at the House of Blues on October 13 and sat down with Blast to answer a few questions.

On their Beginnings

Mikel Jollett formed Airborne in 2006. Spurred by personal catastrophic events in his life Jollet turned from writing about music and started to make his own.

“I realized I was composing an album instead of a novel,” he told the Los Angeles Times in August of 2007.

He recruited some of his friends: Steven Chen on guitar, Noah Harmon on bass, Daren Taylor on drums, and Anna Bulbrook on viola keyboards and tambourine.

Less than a month later the band played its first show in Echo Park. Jollett had been keeping busy contacting bloggers and getting word out their about the band and their first concert. Jollett sent MP3s to blogs, and the bloggers started writing. “When it came to that first show, they were all there,” Chen said. Jollett remembers about 200 showing up, which is impressive for a first show.

October 5 is the anniversary of their first show Chen remembers, “and we completely forgot about it this year,” he said. Before that first show Chen had only met Harmon one or two times. “He was still on the fence (about joining the band) at that point,” Chen said.

“I’m still on the fence now three years later,” Harmon interrupted laughing.

On the Band

“We all bring something different, something new to the mix,” Chen said. Before turning to writing Jollett was a freelancer for National Public Radio and the Los Angeles Times and worked on a few novels. Bulbrook is a classically trained violinist and upon joining the band taught herself to play the viola and the keyboard. Harmon holds a jazz degree in upright bass and worked as a music teacher in LA for a few years. Chen was asked to join as a keyboardist, but petitioned to be lead guitarist.

“Anna and her viola bring something different,” Harmon agreed. String instruments are rare and few between in rock bands, and when they do appear it’s nine times out of ten a violin.

“It’s a rock and roll viola,” Harmon said, “The poor thing never knew what it was getting into.”

“Our goal, whether it be a slower song like ‘Midnight’ or a more upbeat song like ‘Gasoline’ is to write a good song and strike some chord,” Chen said. “That was the whole idea for the album.”

As for the name, it was all Jollett’s idea. Taken from Don DeLillo’s novel ‘White Noise,’ an airborne toxic event was a term coined by the military to reference a poisonous cloud emitted from a chemical spill.

“I had read the book for three classes and wrote two essays on it,” Chen said, “as the title it makes a lot of sense.”

“It doesn’t matter at all what you call yourself,” Chen said. “It’s what you do with it.”

On the Tour

“We’re just a new band,” Jollett said to the audience, “the world’s coming by us at 100 miles a minute and I don’t think any of us can make heads or tails of it.”

Airborne has played more than 250 shows this year, and the year is far from over. The band members cannot remember the last time they were home for more than a month.

“When I go home I don’t even bother putting things away,” Chen laughed. Instead he just lives easily out of a suitcase. Harmon sold his car when he realized it was doing little more than gathering dust.

“Your idea of home becomes a bit skewed,” Harmon added, “now home is a tour bus.”

Chen cannot even picture home anymore: “I can’t imagine not being in a new place every night.”

Airborne will take a nice long break around the holiday time and then jet off to the UK and beyond.

It will be their sixth time in UK this year.

“I’ve landed in London as many times as I’ve landed in Los Angeles,” Harmon laughed.

For Harmon, the UK is one of their favorite destinations, and they’ve been there six times this year. “But in the UK the fridges don’t work,” Chen butted in, “but it’s really ok because they know their fridges don’t work. They’re not trying to convince anyone that the refrigerator works.”

On “Sometime Around Midnight”

The viola starts and the crowd screams at its loudest. Everyone knows what songs coming before one bow stroke is over. It may only be 10:58 by my clock, but for Airborne Toxic Event it’s “Sometime Around Midnight.”

An acoustic version of the song was released as a free Starbucks song of the week, and from there it grew popularity on both iTunes and the music charts.

It’s not that big of a deal when your friends know who you are, when your friends-friends know who you are Chen said. “It’s when your parents friends start to notice, it’s like whoa.”

People relate to the emotions in it, Harmon comments. The record became an instant hit. Not only a top radio and music video track, iTunes also named it the “Number 1 Alternative Song of 2008.”

On Boston and the House of Blues

Now that the Red Sox season is officially over, the gem of Landsdowne has moved across the street to House of Blues. And here the players are musicians and they wear red basketball shorts and converse instead of cleats and baseball tights. “We just played the most intense game of basketball ever,” bassist Noah Harmon said, pulling his hair back. “I don’t remember the last time I was so winded.”

Two opening bands, and two hours into the night Airborne finally hits the stage. And they hit it running. For a impressive few minutes they all go a bit crazy and show off their raw talent. No vocals, no lights, just Airborne and their respective instruments. Before you know it the first song has started, and you are transfixed in a daze.

On stage they show undeniable togetherness and energy, even as the set pushes upon two hours. They bounce off each other’s backs, Bulbrook wields her viola, Harmon sporadically strokes a bow on his bass strings, Taylor hacks away with his drum sticks, Jollett spasms, and Chen stands tall and unmoving. But somehow it all works.

One of the most impressive parts of the set was an acoustic set. Jollett sat down on the stage and sang to the audience more personally, Chen went to an upright piano, and Harmon picked up a jazz bass. “I feel like we’re getting to know you now,” Jollett told the crowd.

“You were the audience, Boston, and we were the band,” Jollett ended after a four song encore. “One day, when your dead you’re one wish is gonna be for this hour and a half back, but thank you for it.”

But Jollett’s words were wrong, as the crowd’s one wish was that the night never ended.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/an-airborne-toxic-event-in-boston/feed/ 1 http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/thank-you-lima-chile/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-magazine/entertainment/music/2009/10/thank-you-lima-chile/#comments Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:12:07 +0000 Blast Magazine Newsroom http://blastmagazine.com/?p=30503 Ok kids, it’s time for second grade geography. Yay!

Lima is in Peru. It’s the capital city of Peru.

Even if you’re legendary British rockers Depeche Mode, you can’t just move Lima to Chile.

The Associated Press reported that for the third time in recent years, a visiting musician has screamed thanks to the wrong country while performing in Lima,

In a concert Tuesday, Dave Gahan yelled “Thank you very much, Chile!” to 30,000 screaming fans.

In 2004, a Mexican pop group also thanked Chile during a show in Lima. In 2003, Alanis Morissette yelled “Thank you, Brazil,” on stage there.

Peru and Chile are enemies, dating back to a war in the 1880s between the South American countries, the AP reported.

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