FLYLEAF New Horizons; LACEY STURM Swan Song

If a Leaf falls in the forest, will anyone be able to hear it through the trees.

If winds of change gust through the Forest and that Leaf takes flight, will the flame of New Horizons keep it warm. Make it burn bright. Provide sight in the night.

Eagerly awaiting Flyleaf's third opus, their first new album in three years.

Tick tock. Tick tock...C'mon Mr. Clock...when will you strike 10:30:12am (October 30, 2012).

Encapsulation of Anticipation.

Tick tock. Tick tick tick...this sure isn't lickety-split.

I still remember the first time I heard (and simultaneously saw) Flyleaf. I had just moved into a new office in the TV Center in Hollywood and was setting up my Macbook. A co-worker forwarded me a link for a music video called "I'm So Sick" and strongly suggested I take a peek.

What happened next was extraordinary...

Time stood still. The power. The passion. The urgency. The performance. The purpose.



Numerous shows and events were ingested...my favorites; @SXSW in 2008 (at La Zona Rosa), an acoustic performance at Bar Sinister (in Hollywood) and a private show at Hot Topic corporate.

Over the years, much merch was purchased, a plethora of friendly Hellos were exchanged at meet n greets and a babbling brook of words, poetry, prose and photos were strewn about the Matrix and the Gauntlet and Kik Axe Music.

Faith in Flyleaf was Full.

And then the Clock struck 10:22:12am. October 22, 2012.

I will remember where I was when I read the news that singer Lacey Sturm decided to depart Flyleaf to continue her journey onto new horizons...a random hotel lobby in Somerville, MA. Free wi-fi. CNN Election coverage on the TV.

I blurted the word "Whoa" in to the silence of mid-afternoon. Time stood still. That frozen moment lingered.

My eager anticipation to hear the new album was now awash in mixed emotions.

I would now be listening to Lacey Sturm's Swan Song with Flyleaf. As if expectations weren't already high enough. How could it ever live up to the end of a mystical 10-year era?

The five members of Flyleaf (Lacey, Pat Seals, Jared Hartmann, James Culpepper, Sameer Bhattacharya) have an undeniable chemistry.

Much like the original line-ups of Guns N' Roses, Van Halen and, yes, Paramore (don't get me started on eager hesitation for their fourth album), the sum of the parts makes it an infinite whole. Remove one spoke and the wheel still spins but on which road will it go.

Fire Fire.

1000 days of waiting since Memento Mori and I procrastinated and procrastinated to listen to New Horizons. I had heard the title track and the song "Call You Out" and, of course "Broken Wings," an older track that the band re-recorded at their fan's behest. 

Would listening to it make the Truth too real. Would the weight of this new reality congeal.

I press play.

And I'm immediately sad. And then a rush of glad washes away the sad. And the battle of emotions swirl through song after song. Like listening to a posthumous album by your favorite artist.

When Lacey sings "You know, it breaks my heart" in 'Bury your Heart,' it's a mighty weight soaked with gravity.

But setting personal feelings aside, New Horizons is a consummate masterpiece. 

A pièce de résistance masterfully crafted by human chemistry amidst a heavenly registry. It's a fully realized work of art.

New Horizons is easily Flyleaf's strongest album (though I will always be partial to the relationship I have with their debut). Recording in the heat of the moment (six quick weeks with long-time producer Howard Benson, who instinctively kept the spontanaity fairly intact), it's a grand statement from a band percolating at their peak powers.

"Saving Grace" soars. "Green Heart" roars. "Great Love" adores. "Stand" implores. "Broken Wings" explores the sores.

"Call You Out" would hold its own in a cage-match with the best Bron-Yr-Aur stomps of Led Zeppelin, "Jesus Christ Poses" of Soundgarden or the burly Sandmen of Metallica. It's bad to the bone. And it's roaming for a home.



And then there's the beginning of the end...the atmospheric, expansive fuse igniting "Fire Fire". The power. The passion. The urgency. The performance. The purpose. Its vitality beckons the bride of Immortality.

As I listen to the glory of Fire Fire again and again, a curious phenomenon begins to transpire.

Time does not stand still. The weight of the Truth is not dire. My consciousness ascends higher and higher.

The Flight of the Leaf gave wings to a Swan on a Wire.

FLYLEAF
New Horizons
1. Fire Fire
2. New Horizons
3. Call You Out
4. Cage On The Ground
5. Great Love
6. Bury Your Heart
7. Freedom
8. Saving Grace
9. Stand
10. Green Heart
11. Broken Wings
12. Mama



Will Flyleaf continue their flight?

Yes. Singer Kristen May (formerly of Vedera) will join the boys for the New Horizons Tour, and, perhaps, become a permanent member.

Krewella Play Hard, Get Wet & Jet Set; Trolling The Globe and KILLIN' IT!

Fresh off some epic shows with Italian mix-master Benny Bennasi, Krewella (Yasmine, Rain Man, Jahan) are trolling the globe, Playing Hard, one song at a time, to Get you Wet!

Feel me?!?!





Kris Trindl (aka Rain Man), whom often sports a Suicide Silence t-shirt, and the fashion-forward Yousaf sisters will super soak dancefloors throughout the U.S. and Australia over the next few months before returning home on December 29 for a raucous one-night stand in Chicago (with Zeds Dead, Adventure Club, Stratus and Zebo). 

And then all KrewHELLA breaks loose on New Years Eve, as the dub-steppy three-wheeler two-fists twenty-thirteen, making both Dallas & Denver extremely wet. 

A follow up to the trio's debut Ep PLAY HARD is also on the way.

In the meantime, bathe ur dirty self with a sticky sweet Candyland remix of "Can't Control Myself" (Grab it Here)

Krewella
Tour Dates (2012/2013)
Oct 19 – Houston, TX @ Stereo Live (w/ Benny Benassi)
Oct 20 – McAllen, TX @ Pharr Event Center (w/ Benny Benassi)
Oct 21 – San Antonio, TX @ Rio (w/ Benny Benassi)
Oct 23 – Lubbock, TX @ Lonestar Pavilion (w/ Benny Benassi)
Oct 25 – Bethlehem, PA @ Musikfest Cafe
Oct 26 – Pontiac, MI @ Elektricity (w/ Zeds Dead)
Oct 27 – San Juan, Puerto Rico @ Circotic
Oct 30 – Penn State, PA @ Glowfest
Oct 31 – Columbus, OH @ Bluesteon
Nov 01 – Athens, GA @ The Manor
Nov 02 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
Nov 03 – Cleveland, OH @ Liquid/Sixx
Nov 09 – Orlando, FL @ Electric Daisy Carnival
Nov 16 – Austin, TX @ F1 Grand Prix
Nov 17 – Austin, TX @ F1 Grand Prix
Nov 18 – Austin, TX @ F1 Grand Prix
Nov 21 – Sydney, Australia @ Stereosonic
Nov 24 – Sydney, Australia @ Stereosonic
Nov 25 – Perth, Australia @ Stereosonic
Dec 01 – Melbourne, Australia @ Stereosonic
Dec 02 – Brisbane, Australia @ Stereosonic
Dec 05 – Las Vegas, VA @ Surrender
Dec 07 – Los Angeles, CA @ Avalon
Dec 12 – Miami, FL @ Liv
Dec 21 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater
Dec 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Starlight Ballroom
Dec 22 – Freehold, NJ @ Encore
Dec 28 – Nashville, TN @ Seen
Dec 29 – Chicago, IL @ Congress Theater (w/ Zeds Dead)
Dec 30 – Lake Tahoe, NV @ Horizon Center
Dec 31– Dallas, TX @ Lights All Night (w/ Zeds Dead)
Dec 31 – Denver, CO @ Decadence NYE
Jan 03 – Newport Beach, CA @ Sutra
Jan 24 – Detroit, MI @ Global Dance Festival
Jan 25 – Pompano Beach, FL @ Club Cinema
Jan 26 – Kansas City, MO @ Global Dance Fest
Jan 30 – Jacksonville, FL @ Pure
Jan 31 – Tallahassee, FL @ Coliseum
Feb 01 – Gainesville, FL @ The Vault
Feb 02 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Eagles Club
Feb 17 – Los Angeles, CA @ Exchange L.A.
Mar 12 – Lake Havasu City, AZ @ The Island Inn

KREWELLA
FACEBOOK

Welcome To Planet Southwork! [RIYL Cake, Vampire Weekend, The Beatles]

Just when the hallowed Rock world thought it had it all figured out, along comes a fresh detonation of color from the South side of the spectrum.

Fancy palpitating rock with a boogie beat? A bustling Ska-infused epiphany? Blistering freeform guitar solos? Psychedelic layered harmonies? Jazzy percussive flourishes? Heart-wrenching melancholy piano? Kazoos in a cage-match against mellotrons? Transitional music therapy? Exploratory sonic immersion?

Imagine if Buddy Holly met with The Beatles and The Zombies to make a Cake with Blind Melon and Mustard Plug to serenade a Streetlight Manifesto on a Vampire Weekend? Ready to mix and match a palatial palette of the 50s, the 60s, the 90s and the 22nd century?

Welcome to planet Southwork!



Eclectic and expansive, Southwork are a seven-piece band of multi-instrumentalists from Philadelphia. Anchored by the songwriting acumen of vocalist/guitarist Mike Vivas, his compositions are rhythmically propelled by Mike Vogel (Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Kazoo), Nick Anastasi (Bass) and Joe Smith (Drums, Backing Vocals) and transported to another dimension by the hellacious horn trifecta of Al Smith (Baritone Sax, Backing Vocals, Percussion), Tony Trov (Tenor Sax, Percussion, Ukulele) and Erich Miller (Trumpet, Percussion).

Formed in July 2010, Southwork is the amalgamation of two previous groups. Vivas, Trov and Anastasi were in a band called Fat City Reprise while Vogel and brothers Al and Joe Smith (who are cousins with Vivas) played together in Distant Orange. Miller became lucky number seven after being plucked from a third band and the brazen framework of Southwork was solidified.

Their sound is heft personified. It’s deft dignified. It’s the musical version of π. Strap yourself in and get ready to fly. 



From the scorching jam that rockets “Nice To Meet You” to the trippy Beatles-esque “Take A Breath” to the brass-colored parade marching through the promised land of “665” to the cotton-candy melody of “We Don’t Know” to the sublime orchestral beauty of “Only You,” the eleven tracks on ARISE rise within one another from song to song to song creating a continuous metamorphosis of music and mood.

It’s an intergalactic joy ride that Philly-based radio station WXPN, a world-renowned tastemaker, says “feels like something out of Hair, (the ground-breaking rock musical from the 60s), with definite notes of the 13th Floor Elevators and The Who.”



Available December 11 on CD, as a digital download and on limited-edition blue vinyl on their very own Writtenhouse Records (a nod to Rittenhouse Square in downtown Philly), the band is currently taking pre-orders for ARISE.

Additionally, they are providing an early taste test with the recent music video premiere of the first single “My Demise,” which fans can download for free at http://bit.ly/SouthworkMyDemise.


Aside from ARISE, Southwork are also promoting the use of their music in the full-length feature film Alpha Girls, which was co-directed by band saxophonist Tony Trov and his South Fellini film and graphic novel production studio partner Johnny Zito, best known for his serialized comic Moon Girl.

Starring Falon Joslyn, Nicole Cinaglia, Nikki Bell and Julie Chen with cameos by Philly gangsta rapper Schooly D and porn-legend Ron Jeremy as a priest, Alpha Girls is a classic slasher flick that includes two unreleased Southwork originals, “Higher” and “Love Her ‘Til The End,” and a bodacious cover of “Amazing Grace/House of The Rising Sun”.

Separately, the band shot a video for Love Her at Eastern State Penitentiary, a former prison now preserved as a National Historic Landmark.

Much like firsthand immersion within a historic landmark, Southwork are best inhaled in the flesh. With their booming three-piece horn section and exquisite four-part harmonies embracing an old-school song craft, the septet has slayed crowds in Philadelphia, New York, Washington DC over the past eighteen months and are prepping for a special hometown record release show at Johnny Brenda’s on December 13.

From there, they’ll spiritually and metaphysically fuel up their magic school bus for a slew of shows across the U.S. in 2013. Featuring a pinwheel of pretty lights, fluorescent bubbles, and cascading confetti, childlike joy envelops a whirling wave of communal elation that’s a recommended daily supplement on planet Southwork.

Take a swig. Take a gulp. And welcome back my friends to the show that never ends!

 SOUTHWORK
ARISE
1. Arise
2. My Demise
3. Trapped
4. Nice To Meet You
5. Take A Breath
6. Inside
7. 665
8. Sundry
9. We Don't Know
10. Only You
11. Peace Of Mind

Mike Vivas - Guitar, Lead Vocals
Mike Vogel - Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Kazoo
Nick Anastasi – Bass, Bus Driver
Joe Smith - Drums, Backing Vocals
Al Smith - Baritone Sax, Backing Vocals, Percussion
Tony Trov - Tenor Sax, Percussion, Ukulele
Erich Miller - Trumpet, Percussion

QUOTES
“This feels like something out of Hair... There’s definite notes of 13th Floor Elevators and The Who, but it’s hard to say if it’s in a serious sense or a Monkees-ish satirical sense.” WXPN

“Psilocybin-pop and indie-glam" Philadelphia City Paper

“Sweet summertime sounds.” Philebrity

They also jam a mean green version of The Muppets "Movin' Right Along". Kermit the Frog gives it two thumbs up!



SOUTHWORK
2013 TOUR DATES
1/25: Washington DC @ 9th and Beats
1/26: Richmond, VA @ The Nile
1/29: Norfolk, VA @ Borjo Coffeehouse
1/31: Wilmington, NC @ Duck and Dive Pub
2/01: Charleston, SC @ Awendaw Green
2/02: Savannah, GA  @ Taco Abajo
2/06: Knoxville, TN @ TBD
2/07: Murfreesboro, TN @ 3 Brothers
2/08: Nashville, TN @ Rocketown
2/12: Bloomington, IN @ Jake’s Nightclub
2/14: LaFayette, IN @ The A.N.T. Pharm
2/15: Chicago, IL @ Uncommon Ground
2/16: Fort Wayne, IN @ The Brass Rail
2/18: Muncie, IN @ Be Here Now
2/21: Columbus, OH @ TBD
2/23: Pittsburgh, PA @ Howler’s Coyote Cafe

SOUTHWORK | TUMBLR | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | YOU TUBE

PAUL KELLY To Release SPRING AND FALL, His 19th Studio Album On Nov 6

Paul Kelly’s remarkable new 11-song album Spring And Fall — his 19th studio album and first collection of new material in five years — ranks with the seminal Australian singer-songwriter’s most memorable and resonant work, demonstrating why he’s virtually a national hero in his home country and one of the most celebrated songwriters on the planet.

Spring And Fall arrives November 6 on the heels of an extended period of retrospective activity, during which Kelly celebrated his extensive body of work with the release of the career-spanning 40-song compilation Songs From the South (Volumes 1 & 2) and the eight-CD, 105-song live box set The A-Z Recordings.

In a career that’s spanned more than 30 years, Kelly has released a steady stream of albums showcasing his emotionally vivid, musically expansive songwriting and his uncanny ability to distill a novel’s worth of narrative and character detail into an effortlessly melodic pop tune.

 The qualities that have made Paul Kelly an inspiration to his fans and peers are prominent throughout Spring And Fall, which ranks with the artist’s finest work in terms of melodic craft, verbal eloquence and emotional insight, with evocatively spare arrangements that set the ideal tone for such thematically related new Kelly compositions as "When A Woman Loves A Man", “New Found Year”, “Someone New” and “Time and Tide.”



“Spring And Fall is a song cycle,” Kelly explains. “It’s been five years since I made a record, and perhaps the experience of writing a book during that time made me attuned to the idea of developing a close-knit structure for the next album I did. I knew I didn’t just want to put out a collection of songs that were loosely related to each other.

“I know that people are listening to music more and more now in a grazing kind of way, picking a song here and a song there, and that spurred me on to try and make a record that would take a stand on behalf of the album,” he continues. “I’m a music grazer myself, but there is still a deep satisfaction in encountering a set of songs that unfolds from start to finish and demands to be heard in its entirety."

"So Spring And Fall has an arc suggested by its title. There are multiple viewpoints, with links from song to song, and each song contains the seed of the song that follows. They are all love songs and the album is a love story.”

Kelly, accompanied by noted Australian producer/multi-instrumentalist J. Walker from Machine Translations and Paul’s frequent tour guitarist (and nephew) Dan Kelly, recorded most of the album in an isolated country hall in the hills of the remote rural region of South Gippsland in Victoria, Australia in the dead of a turbulent winter, with violent storms, floods, power failures and mild earthquakes regularly threatening to throw the project into turmoil.

Despite the threats from nature, the pieces ultimately fell into place, with the sessions emphasizing the immediacy of the live, up-close performances and stark, stripped-down arrangements, with the sounds of the wind and the rain occasionally getting into the microphones. The result is one of the most effortlessly compelling albums of Kelly’s storied career.

“Dan and I have worked a lot as a duo over the last five years, and a sound has developed between us — intimate yet spacious — that we wanted to retain in the studio,” Kelly explains. “In line with keeping the story paramount was the desire to make the songs as concise as possible. Our philosophy was to try and make them work with as little instrumentation as possible. We mostly achieved what we set out to do. The songs stayed short and the story kept moving. No song is over four minutes long and three of them came in under three, which for some reason tickles me a lot. Sub-three-minute songs are all I want to write from now on!”

Beyond the copious tributes and accolades, it’s Paul Kelly’s songs, and his knack for performing them with maximum conviction, that makes him a world-class creative force, and Spring And Fall ranks with his most powerful work. After more than three decades of music-making, his work remains every bit as adventurous and inspired as ever.

QUOTES
“If I was only allowed to listen to one artist for the rest of my life, I would choose Paul Kelly.” Kasey Chambers

"His songwriting is up there with the greats…  the bittersweet and hard-core honesty of his lyrics is the sort of thing you'll only see once in a lifetime if you're lucky" Amanda Palmer

“There is something unique and powerful about the way Kelly mixes up everyday detail with the big issues of life, death, love and struggle — not a trace of pretense or fakery in there.” Neil Finn (of Crowded House)



PAUL KELLY
Spring And Fall
1. New Found Year
2. When A Woman Loves A Man
3. For The Ages
4. Gonna Be Good
5. Someone New
6. Time And Tide
7. Sometimes My Baby
8. Cold As Canada
9. I’m On Your Side
10. None Of Your Business Now
11. Little Aches And Pains
12. Where Are You Roaming (bonus track)



PAUL KELLY.COM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | YOU TUBE

FRANK TURNER: Warm My Bones and Photosynthesize My Sleeping Soul

Hear ye, hear ye, friends and Romans, countrymen
Hear ye, hear ye, punks and skins and journeymen

Hear ye, hear ye, my sisters and my brethren

The time is coming near

Now who'd have thought that after all,

Something as simple as rock 'n' roll would save us all

And who'd have thought that after all, it was rock 'n' roll

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I yeah I won't grow up

And I won't sit down
And I won't shut up
And most of all I will not grow up

A clash of countries. A clash of cultures. A clash of tattoos and mouse ears. A clash of downtown and the other side of town.

Amidst the cotton candy, cinnamon buns and lollipops of downtown Disney came the faithful looking to awaken their sleeping souls before the rousing Reverend of Rock N Roll.

Punk rocker-turned-troubadour Frank Turner had descended upon the Blue House in the Orange County to paint the town Red. Or perhaps, with some Moves Like Jagger, he would Paint It Black.

Last spring, on a recommendation from a friend, I went to see Frank Turner at Hotel Cafe, the early show.

Sometimes, it's tough to go to a show, not knowing the performer, nary a single note nor clever word of any of the songs.

But in this case, by the second time through the chorus of each song, I was an instant convert, chanting all the words and trolling along.

It was enchanting. It was mesmerizing. It was addicting. It was a full tilt revival. It was rock and roll.

When Frank came into the crowd and jumped up on one of the dinner tables to a massive shower of cheers, I knew I would be staying for the late show too!

Considering that Frank sells out Wembley Arena in London, seeing him at an intimate club like Hotel Cafe must have been mind-blowing for UK transplants.

Though, much like my frothing, the word is spreading like calories to a waistband at Disneyland.

When Frank took the House of Blues Anaheim stage, headlining a HOB for the first time, it was zero to 60 instantaneously.

Opening with "If Ever I Stray" into "The Road," the energy of the well-lubricated room might have led first-timers to think he was starting with the encore first.

Much akin to an Irish, Scottish or English pub, a spontaneous sing-along burst forth and if we all had steins in our clammy hands, we would have been clanking along to the downbeat.

Forgive me someone, for I have sinned

And I know not where I should begin

Some days it feels like you just can't win

No matter what you do or say. 

But if ever I stray from the path I follow 

Take me down to the English Channel 

Throw me in where the water is shallow 

And then drag me on back to shore!

The energy in the room was palpable and palatial as a tidal wave of joyous singing, dancing and cavorting washed over the sold-out room again and again.

In addition to time-tested swash-buckling Turner Classics "One Foot Before the Other," "Glory Hallelujah," "Love, Ire & Song"  and "I Still Believe" (ft. opener Jenny Owen Youngs on harmonica), Frank also previewed three new songs, "Time Machine," "Four Simple Words" and the snarky "Wherefore Art Thou Gene Simmons," which he wrote after reading the shock-rocker's autobiography.

Life of a soliloquy in the fast lane. It was one grand verbal gesture encircling another...and when Ian Cook, from opener Larry and His Flask, amped the volume from ten to crescendo, it was the beginning of the end.



Introducing a ditty gestated on this side of the pond, Frank surmised, "You know this one...unless you were Raised By Wolves" (he's talking to you, Ronnie Radke!). And with that, the Wessex Boy crooned American Girl. And we all crowed with petty delight.

With warm bones headed home, I rested my nodes knowing that I had stewed in the dramatic literary brew of Frank 'Prufrock' Turner before he became famous...at least on this side of the English Channel.

FRANK TURNER
HOUSE OF BLUES
ANAHEIM, CA
9/20/2012
SETLIST:

1. If Ever I Stray
2. The Road
3. Peggy Sang The Blues
4. Long Live The Queen
5. Glory Hallelujah
6. Reasons Not To Be An Idiot
7. Time Machine
8. Wessex Boy
9. Substitute
10. Wherefore Art Thou, Gene Simmons
11. Fastest Way Back Home
12. I Knew Prufrock Before He Was Famous
13. I Am Disappeared
14. One Foot Before The Other
15. Four Simple Words
16. Try This At Home
17. I Still Believe

ENCORE:
18. American Girl (Tom Petty)
19. Love, Ire and Song
20. Photosynthesis

FRANK TURNER.COM

(Thanks to Michele @ Epitaph and photographer Melissa Libertelli)