Premiere: Foxx Bodies – ‘The Walk’ music video

Foxx Bodies

Desert punks Foxx Bodies didn’t come to play around. They moved to Los Angeles from Arizona not quite two years ago and have made a lot of noise since their arrival.

In between a few music videos, endless shows and recording their new album Vixen, they opened for the now-disbanded Sorority Noise on their “You’re Not As _____ As You Think” and now Foxx Bodies are in the process of filming a documentary about their own history with the abuse that came to inspire so much of their material.

Last year was a busy one for the foxxes, but 2019 promises to be even fuller. Before they drop their sophomore studio effort, they wanted to release one more video in support of their self-titled debut, calling it a proper send-off as they move onto the next phase of the band.

“Our first record was recorded in a day, after we had only been a band for a month,” guitarist Bailey Moses explains. “It’s rough and sloppy and punk as fuck. We’re really excited to show everyone this music video as an end cap to that first chapter of Foxx Bodies. This is the first one we filmed in Los Angeles, making it the perfect bridge between our old and new music.”

Foxx Bodies - 2019 Winter Tour

Fox Boddies’ sound is fun, impossibly infectious and self-described as “feminist surf punk,” but the message behind their music is far from light — something that’s readily apparent in lead singer Bella Vanek’s trademark screeches and palpable vocal emotion.

The quartet spent a few weeks in Seattle last fall, recording its upcoming LP with legendary indie-rock producer John Goodmanson (Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Death Cab for Cutie) and promising that it will continue to talk about the very things that make so many people these days uncomfortable.

Vixen continues on the Foxx Bodies theme of talking about the hard shit, the things that stem from your childhood trauma,” Moses says. “Our first record focused largely on sexual abuse, but this one explores the aftermath of that. Mental health, religious stigmas, eating disorders … all of the shit you end up having as an adult and need to process. We want this album to be something people can listen to easier, but still feel that punch in the gut when they pay attention to the lyrical content.”

Foxx Bodies are hitting the road next month for their first tour in 2019, and their live show is truly unmatched (parental discretion advised). They’re playing in both LA at the Viper Room on February 15th and in the Bay Area at the iconic, non-profit Berkeley club 924 Gilman — or known by locals as just “Gilman” — in March, so make sure to take a peek at their new music video for “The Walk” below, which we have premiered exclusively here at Showbams, before copping tickets to one of their shows.

Father John Misty wins our unofficial NYE 2015 photo contest

Father John Misty

Known for some of the best stage banter in the business and his classic improv-snark, which includes his 1989 antics just a few months ago, Father John Misty was back at it on New Year’s Eve, deadpanning in true FJM fashion.

In what’s become an ongoing series of Instagram photos (now up to a total of 10) that shows our No. 4 favorite live music act of 2015 glued to his phone, whether he’s playing air hockey, doing a television interview or performing live, Tillman made us laugh — as he often does — with his latest offering on NYE, sitting by himself with a drink in hand while checking his phone in a decked-out hotel room full of colorful balloons at the famed Chateau Marmont, one of his favorite spots in Los Angeles.

https://www.instagram.com/p/__JEFmjU4R/

Around this time last year, we asked if “Father John Misty is playing a character”, and while we still don’t have a definitive answer to that question (and who knows if we ever will), we admittedly just can’t get enough of the FJM persona, whether partially manufactured or not.

We can only assume that Tillman was hanging out with LA-based pop artist Alia Penner since she was tagged in the photo (serving, presumably, as a photo credit) and due to the fact that she documented the scene sans Tillman with her own Instagram photo shortly thereafter, but based on what we saw via social media from across the music industry Thursday night, “Mr. Honeybear” undoubtedly won our unofficial NYE 2015 photo contest before the ball dropped on 2016.

Father John Misty

Run the Jewels drop remix album ‘Meow the Jewels’ as free download

Meow the Jewels

What started as a joke is now a reality.

After Run the Jewels announced a year ago that they would release an alternate version of their critically acclaimed sophomore LP Run the Jewels 2 (read our community review here) using strictly cat sounds if they raised $40,000 on Kickstarter — which they collected and more in merely a month — the electrifying hip-hop duo featuring El-P and Killer Mike have done just that.

Behold, Meow the Jewels:

The cat-remixed album features some clever track titles, including “Meowpurrdy”, “All Meow Life” and “Paw Due Respect”, while El-P and Killer Mike welcome guest appearances from Snoop Dogg, Dan the Automator, Baauer, Massive Attack and Portishead’s Geoff Barrow.

We weren’t sure if this day would actually come, but well, it’s finally here — even if it came relatively late on a Friday night (after 10 p.m. ET) of all times. So, before the group’s website crashes, make sure to download your free copy of Meow the Jewels here.

Father John Misty wakes up, deletes ‘1989’

Father John Misty

By cosmically lassoing Monday’s pop-scene zeitgeist, Josh Tillman and company (heretofore known as The Father John Mistys) found themselves trending in the hearts and minds of the post-modern millennial class by releasing their Velvet Underground-inspired versions of the Ryan Adams/Taylor Swift 1989 experiment in aesthetic appropriation.

As if it were all a dream (and since nothing on the Internet lasts forever these days), the songs disappeared early Tuesday from FJM’s Soundcloud page.

Haunted, allegedly, by the ghost of Lou Reed, Tillman explained his decision — in plenty of detail — on FJM’s Facebook page:

I had a very strange dream that I abruptly woke up from around 3am early this morning. I was crab-walking around a neighborhood in New Orleans that, though it does not exist, is a recurring location in my dreams. My childhood friend Brian Kawamura was was telling me I still owed the tennis rental place $7000 when the French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan was suddenly standing over me, saying over and over, “The only thing crazier than a peasant who believes he is King, is a King who believes he is a King.” He put one of those birthday Burger King crowns on my head and out of the clouds a sort of “Switched on Bach” version of “Ode To Joy” began to play. A crowd which had formed around me began to sing along, with tears streaming down their faces. The crowd was obviously hypnotized and I assumed if I crept away discreetly no one would notice. The earth became a sort of treadmill, and though the locations (The Great Wall of China, a McDonald’s where I had my 3rd birthday, the town from Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon, Vignola’s restaurant in Rockville, Md.), “Ode To Joy” and the crowd remained all around me. All of a sudden it was time to soundcheck, which I was late for, and Barack Obama offered to give me a ride on Air Force One. He told me he needed urgent advice regarding some important policy decisions, and we spent the day in Hawaii playing basketball, petting his dogs, golfing and the like when I, gripped with anxiety, told him I really needed to get to soundcheck so we needed to discuss the ruling of the free world. By this time he had turned into an obscene visage of my Father and said, “I have one injunction for you, son: That you enjoy life. It is by this mandate that all is ruled. It is the true tyranny; the equalizing force that binds us all.” I jumped out of Air Force One and landed on top of this massive pink, sparkly, glowing blob that stretched for miles beyond miles, covering entire cities, and I had to keep gulping down chlorophyll because the thing was emitting insane levels of EMF’s, so my mouth and hands were stained dark green. Down inside the blob I could see thousands of familiar faces and one of them was Lou Reed on a catwalk hand-cuffed to supermodels who had adopted babies handcuffed to them and Lou said, “Delete those tracks, don’t summon the dead, I am not your plaything. The collection of souls is an expensive pastime.” Then I woke up.

Listen to Father John Misty’s take on “Blank Space” below while you still can.

Kevin Parker links to new Tame Impala track “Disciples” via intriguing reddit AMA

Tame Impala

Photos by James Nagel // Written by Mike Frash //

Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker took to the reddit AMA community format on Thursday to answer questions from the masses for an intriguing information dump.

He also linked to a new track from Currents titled “Disciples.” Listen to it now:

Parker spoke on his favorite guitar petal (surprise! it’s reverb), how he’s developed his singing voice over time, along with the evolving nature of Tame Impala’s album artwork. His current artistic inspirations include Kanye West, Tyler, The Creator and Caribou.

The big takeaway? When he was asked about people downloading and streaming music for free:

Eh…. I feel like music will be free sooner or later, and i think I’m all for it. There’s all this talk of music needing a monetary value, this ownership of music, even that it needs a physical form. But intrinsically… it’s MUSIC, it should be better than that. Some of my most important musical experiences were from a burnt CD with songs my friend downloaded for me at a terrible digital quality… I didn’t care… it changed my life all the same. For me the value of music is the value you extract from it. You want to know a story? Up until recently, from all of tame impala’s record sales outside of australia I had received…. zero dollars. Someone high up spent the money before it got to me. I may never get that money. Then Blackberry and some tequila brand or something put my song in an ad. Then I bought a house and set up a studio. I know what you’re thinking… “wait so…when I bought an album I was helping some businessman pay for his mansion on an island somewhere, and when some dude bought a mobile phone he was helping to pay an artist? WHHHYY?” I’ll tell you why, IT’S MONEY. It doesn’t always go where you want it to go. It’s like a shopping trolley with a bung wheel. As far as I’m concerned the best thing you can do for an artist is LISTEN to the music…fall in love with it…….talk about it………get it however you can get it….Let the corporations pay for. This is just my brain rambling remember, I’m sure there are holes in my theories… for example I realise not everyone’s music is suited to a mobile phone ad, and it would be lame if artists tailored their music for that purpose.

Zero dollars on record sales until recently? This is a brutally honest indictment on the music industry as a whole. Also, what a refreshing artist take on music streaming, one that doesn’t feel forced like Jack White’s recent Tidal-cross promoting proclamations that “music is sacred.”

Parker also was asked about Tame Imapla’s LP3, Currents, and if it will be “more pop based” in line with “Let It Happen” and “‘Cause I’m A Man.” He said:

Pop you say….. That’s a broad word… I’ve always thought all Tame Impala was total pop (whatever pop is these days) (I guess because I don’t hear the oceans of reverb and distortion… which can influence ones perception of the “genre” of a song no doubt…). Like I heard this full on piano ballad R&B cover of Backwards once, and I was like woah! is that my song??

There’s a lot of different stuff on the new album, It definitely has the most variation of any album I’ve done in the past.

In response, a reddit user asked “Come on man, link me that shit, I wanna hear it,” and Parker replied “youtube bro. it’s all there.”

The promotional effort is clearly gearing up, Tame Impala played Conan between Coachella appearances, and still there is no album release date on the books. It makes you wonder if Parker might drop it out of nowhere on us. Is it possible the new album is spread out all over YouTube, ready to be discovered by internet sleuths? Probably not, but that would be fun and parallel to Parker’s statement on music streaming.

The most important revelation of the day: If he weren’t a musician, Parker would be a scarf designer “Because a well designed scarf is hard to come by…”

Tame Impala

Phish announce 2015 summer tour and festival

phish-tour-2015Photo by Sam Heller // Written by Kevin Raos //

Jam-band titans Phish have announced their summer tour plans, including the annual Labor Day run at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado.

Additionally, they have announced their 10th festival, the Magnaball, to be held August 21st-23rd in Watkins Glen, N.Y. Tickets for Magnaball GO ON SALE THIS FRIDAY! All information for this festival can be found here.

All of ticketing information can be found here.

2015 SUMMER TOUR DATES

7/21 Les Schwab Amphitheatre, Bend, OR
7/22 Les Schwab Amphitheatre, Bend, OR
7/24 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, CA
7/25 The Forum, Los Angeles, CA
7/28 Austin360 Amphitheater, Austin, TX
7/29 Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie, Grand Prairie, TX
7/31 Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood, Atlanta, GA
8/01 Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood, Atlanta, GA
8/02 Tuscaloosa Amphitheater, Tuscaloosa, AL
8/04 Riverfront Park Amphitheater, Nashville, TN
8/05 Starlight Theatre, Kansas City, MO
8/07 Blossom Music Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH
8/08 Alpine Valley Music Center, East Troy, WI
8/09 Alpine Valley Music Center, East Troy, WI
8/11 The Mann, Philadelphia, PA
8/12 The Mann, Philadelphia, PA
8/14 Walnut Creek Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC
8/15 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
8/16 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
8/21 Magnaball at Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY
8/22 Magnaball at Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY
8/23 Magnaball at Watkins Glen International, Watkins Glen, NY
9/04 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO
9/05 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO
9/06 Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, Commerce City, CO

trey-anastasio-band

Help protect SF music venues from developers & new noise complaints with one minute of your time

ggb-stars_postPhoto by James Nagel // Written by Mike Frash //

San Francisco is changing. Rapidly. As technology jobs increase every day in the Bay Area, high-income people from all over the world are moving into San Francisco, which has always been a transitory City.

Case in point, the February median price of a one-bedroom apartment:

SF Rents February

Supperclub, I-Beam, Cafe Cocomo, Lucky 13 & The Lexington, have all bit the dust or have a significant threat to their existence. There is development in the works near both The Independent & Slim’s…the threat to the arts in San Francisco is real and it’s happening now.

Supervisor London Breed is introducing legislation that to protect nightlife venues from new developments. The legislation prevents venues from being shut down if they are operating within their permits, requires developers to work with venues before they start construction, and ensures that all potential tenants of a new development know about the local venues before they move in.

SF bar & venue owner Ben Bleiman has organized this petition you need to sign (it will a take a couple minutes), which aims to gather support for Breed’s new legislation.

300 more signatures are needed in the next four days to fulfill this petition (at the time of publishing), which will show a unified voice to SF City Hall. It’s the only way to ensure our world-renowned nightlife will continue to thrive throughout this period of rapid change in SF.

Click here to sign the petition.

Bleiman writes:

As a bar/venue owner in San Francisco, I have seen time and time again how one new neighbor or a group of new neighbors from a recently developed “market rate” property can force beloved nightlife venues to endure lawsuits, harassment and even closure. These venues’ only “infraction” was conducting their businesses legally and as they have for years before the new developments. Supervisor London Breed has bravely and rightly proposed a commonsense solution, and I enthusiastically, wholeheartedly support her legislation!

Protect live music in San Francisco by joining this petition and spreading the word.


RELATED: Best Live Music Venues in San Francisco // Bay Area

San-Francisco1

Tickets for the last Grateful Dead shows are reselling for as much as $4,000

HeaderBy Mike Frash //

Grateful Dead nation is split into two distinct factions after the Ticketmaster on sale Saturday morning for the group’s final shows — those who scored tickets and the other ones left with none. This is arguably the most in-demand concert series in recent years, and most Deadheads knew what they would be up against after only one in every 10 mail order tickets were awarded for purchase.

Many folks have reported Ticketmaster crashed at the on-sale time of 10 a.m. CT. From there, many hopeful attendees had their souls crushed as the Ticketmaster waiting room minute countdown continued to fluctuate one hour later, which is common for instant sellout events.

The final three shows, dubbed “Fare Thee Well” for the 50th Anniversary of the Grateful Dead, will feature Bruce Hornsby and Phish’s Trey Anastasio filling in the Jerry Garcia role over Fourth of July weekend at Chicago’s Soldier Field. The injection of the phanner community has helped to make these three shows the hottest tickets of the year.

In opposition to the ethos of the Dead, premium tickets are being sold for as much as $215. And of course, many 21st century scalpers took notice of the demand and have taken to third party sellers for mad, mad profit.

A sign that the day of granting miracles to show-going hopefuls might be kaput, tickets for these shows are selling for as much as $4,000. Granted that could be a deal between a greedy scalper and someone that gives no fucks about spending money, but the overall median for sold tickets so far is $933 for the first show and $941 for the second at 11 a.m. CT.

GD50 Stubhub1

So if you’re considering the idea of dropping $1,000 to get into this show, don’t let that deal go down. Ticket prices will likely go down from here and will be broadcasted in some way. But come on, it’s not like Jerry’s coming back for the event — that I’d pay a grand for.

What are your thoughts on this over-demand fiasco?

https://twitter.com/ztrebeil/status/571727146567122944

Sigur Ros Announces Spring US Tour

Photo courtesy of Sigur Ros.

In continuing support of their under-appreciated 2012 album Valtari, Sigur Ros has extended their tour to include a new batch of North American dates from late March to mid April. Tickets go on sale Friday, and presale tickets will go on sale sometime before then. You can sign up for presale information at the Sigur Ros site.

This development indicates the group will be one of the top acts at Coachella 2013, and that Sigur Ros will continue to headline festivals next summer.

The San Francisco date is smack-dab in the middle of Coachella’s two weekends.

NORTH AMERICAN SHOWS 2013
03-24 Washington, DC – Patriot Center
03-25 New York, NY – Madison Square Garden
03-26 Boston, MA – Agganis Arena
03-27 Montreal, Quebec – Bell Centre
03-29 Ottawa, Ontario – Scotia Bank Place
03-30 Toronto, Ontario – Air Canada Theatre Bowl
04-01 Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
04-02 Chicago, IL – UIC Pavilion
04-03 Minneapolis, MN – Roy Wilkins Auditorium
04-06 Denver, CO – 1st Bank
04-08 Dallas, TX – Verizon Theatre
04-09 Houston, TX – Bayou Music Center
04-10 Austin, TX – Cedar Park Center
04-12 Phoenix, AZ – Comerica
04-17 San Francisco, CA – Bill Graham Civic

Watch mystery film experiment #6 for “Varúð”

Help fund a new Jerry Garcia documentary

Written by Pete Mauch //

“Jerry: The Movie” is a feature-length documentary about legendary music icon Jerry Garcia directed by rock ‘n’ roll filmmaker Malcolm Leo. Leo’s credits include films on The Beach Boys, Crosby, Stills & Nash and the Rolling Stone documentary “Twenty Years of Rock & Roll.” One of Leo’s most famous pieces of work, “This is Elvis”, the seminal documentary on “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, has been considered by many critics as one of the top 10 music documentaries of all time.

The film is being built around a never-before-seen 1987 interview Leo filmed with Garcia at the height of his charm, brilliance and success. Drawing from this intimate interview as well as photographs, home movies and concert footage, Leo creates a singular portrait of an American icon who graced our lives through music, art and the counter-culture of the 60’s. Garcia opens up his heart and describes to you the things he believed in, valued and loved.

Also joining the Leo/Hartmann Productions’ team is producer Aaron Godfred (whose last film “John Dies at the End” screened at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, Toronto, London and AFI film festivals), co-producer Justin Kreutzmann (son of Grateful Dead founding member Bill Kreutzmann) and associate producer Gina Podley.

We are funding the documentary on Kickstarter.com and are going to the one place where Garcia knew he could always find support: From Deadheads. We need as much help as we can get from fans like yourself.

Leo/Hartmann Productions has created an exciting Kickstarter rewards package that begins with having contributor’s names added to the list of supporters at jerrythemovie.com for a simple pledge of only $1. Other rewards include T-shirts, posters, CDs, DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, box sets, tickets to private screenings and all the way up to an “Associate Producer” credit on the film. The Kickstarter program launches today and runs through December 22nd.

Watch a video of the story behind the project here, and you can check out the Kickstarter page at jerrythemovie.com. For more information about “Jerry: The Movie”, please contact Aaron Godfred at aaron@jerrythemovie.com or Gina Podley at gina@jerrythemovie.com.

Stream The xx album ‘Coexist’

Stream The XX album ‘Coexist’ @ NPR Music a week before it’s release Tuesday, September 11th.

Expect
a more mellow album than the self-titled release that made Jamie xx, Baria Qureshi, Romy Madley Croft, Oliver Sim famous – but the songwriting is as strong as ever.

Top Tracks:
Angels
Sunset
Swept Away

FYF Fest 2012: 10 not to miss

Written by Mike Frash //

FYF Fest //
LA State Historic Park – Los Angeles
September 1st-2nd, 2012 //

Nestled between downtown Los Angeles and Dodger Stadium at LA State Historic Park, FYF Fest opens its gates Saturday with a blend of punk, indie, garage, micro house, comedy, future pop and and reunions that should satisfy music fans. Fuck yeah!

FIVE FOR SATURDAY: One word: stacked. Get crazy with Fucked up, Sleigh Bells and The Men, mellow out with Chairlift and Tycho and don’t sleep on Chromatics, Future Islands or Tanlines. Bottom line: Saturday is conflict-laden. Here are five I’m focusing on:

Simian Mobile Disco

Get your dance on and the rage out.

Quicksand

You never know … I could go to M83.

Purity Ring

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. (I’ve heard they’re great live, too.)

Cloud Nothings

They put out a great album from earlier this year.

King Tuff

Alone and stoned. Oh the irony at a festival …

CONFLICT BONUS: James Blake

Really it’s the most gut-wrenching conflict Saturday. Purity Ring vs. James Blake. Maybe a split set will do?

FIVE FOR SUNDAY: Sunday offers another day of great variety. The power of Ceremony vs. the crooning of Father John Misty. Tiger & Woods’ 70’s disco grooves vs. Aesop Rock’s flow. The Eastern brass of Beirut vs. Gold Panda’s hypnotic beats.

Yeasayer

New set design and at least three good songs from their new album.

Nicolas Jaar

All sources indicate this set can be classified as “must-see live.”

Liars

No. 1 against the rush. Gotta love Day 2 at a festival.

Atlas Sound

Bradford Cox destroys as the frontman of Deerhunter and is an epic looper. Anything can happen.

Wild Nothing

They released a new album this week. It’s pretty fucking good. I found this video that’s not official, and I think it works perfectly with the music.

CONFLICT BONUS: The Field

More micro-house! Dance while you can, but I must see Bradford Cox’s solo project.

Conflict Double Bonus: Father John Misty

Honestly, I could see Ceremony, Father John Misty or Givers. They are all great bands — and all great live bands. I’m thinking of deferring to a mellow Sunday morning, but we’ll see.

Stream Animal Collective’s ‘Centipede Hz’ @ NPR

Stream the new Animal Collective LP ‘Centipede HZ’ @ NPR Music.