Natalie Merchant announces UK tour

Natalie Merchant has announced her first European tour in 8 years. Beginning in the UK with other dates to confirm, she will appear at the following venues in support of new album 'Leave Your Sleep' (released April 9th):

Saturday May 22 London HMV Hammersmith Apollo
Monday May 24 Manchester Lowry
Tuesday May 25 Gateshead Sage
Wednesday May 26 Edinburgh Usher Hall
Friday May 28 Birmingham Symphony Hall
Saturday May 29 Bristol Colston Hall

Tickets are on sale now, please check the calendar at www.nataliemerchant.com/calendar for more information.

REVIEW: Justin Levinson - Predetermined Fate

Justin Levinson
Predetermined Fate
Independent
Out Now

1. Everything Is About You
2. Bandaid On A Bullet Wound
3. Losing You To Tennessee
4. Hopelessness
5. Myra's Song
6. Every Time You Learn Something
7. Groundhog Day
8. Soles Of Your Feet
9. Waiting For Someone To Love Me
10. Keep Your Heart Fulfilled
11. Sleep Child

'Predetermined Fate' is the third release from Vermont based singer/songwriter Justin Levinson. Winner of 'Best New Artist' at the 2008 International Acoustic Music Awards, Levinson's pop sensibilities and melodic songwriting shine through on this set of taut and radio friendly country-leaning songs. The warm, acoustic led arrangements would likely find favor with fans of Nickel Creek and The Avett Brothers.

From the kiss-off candor of opening track 'Everything's About You' to the lovelorn 'Losing You To Tennessee', the album moves along at a sprightly pace, stopping occasionally to dwell on life's broken hearts and disappointments but always looking forward down the highway. A feeling of restlessness and wanderlust permeates the lyrics; searching for meaning in life, with time all the while fleeting. It is a theme that comes to a head on the album's finale, the moving lullaby 'Sleep Child'.

The musicianship is stellar, bolstered by Sneaky Pete Kleinow style country-rock slide guitar on strong tunes like 'Keep Your Heart Fulfilled' and the album's biggest ear-worm, 'Bandaid On A Bullet Wound'. Female harmonies are also used to great effect on both the latter, and the sweetly affecting 'Soles Of Your Feet'. Justin's earnest and sincere vocals (comparable to The Crimea's Mr Croln, albeit less erratic) add charm and vulnerability throughout.

It's a gentle, - perhaps too gentle for some tastes - unassuming album, but given the chance, it's charms reveal themselves further with repeated listening.

- Michael

For more information visit www.justinlevinson.com

REVIEW: Massive Attack - Heligoland

Massive Attack
Heligoland
Virgin Records
Out Now

1. "Pray for Rain" (vocals by Tunde Adebimpe) – 6:43
2. "Babel" (vocals by Martina Topley-Bird) – 5:18
3. "Splitting the Atom" (vocals by Grant Marshall, Horace Andy and Robert Del Naja) – 5:15
4. "Girl I Love You" (vocals by Horace Andy) – 5:26
5. "Psyche" (vocals by Martina Topley-Bird) – 3:23
6. "Flat of the Blade" (vocals by Guy Garvey) – 5:29
7. "Paradise Circus" (vocals by Hope Sandoval) – 4:58
8. "Rush Minute" (vocals by Robert Del Naja) – 4:48
9. "Saturday Come Slow" (vocals by Damon Albarn) – 3:42
10. "Atlas Air" (vocals by Robert Del Naja) – 7:47

Massive Attack have always imbued their music with a sense of dread. Through numerous stylistic shifts and varying approaches, their albums are unified in that they all feel like the product of a world about to collapse under the weight of it's own problems. Heligoland (their first full length release since 2003's '100th Window') is steely-eyed even by their standards.

What is most immediately notable is the sparseness of it all. Gone are the lush arrangements of their mid 90s work, and instead the spotlight shifts to rhythm and vocal.

Fortunately the group have always chosen their collaborators wisely, and TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe, Horace Andy and Martina Topley-Bird all turn in suitably focussed, understated performances on the earlier tracks.

However, taken in combination, these minimalist choices (along with the bleak, dystopian subject matter) result in a rather alienating listening experience with little to return to.

It is only in the later tracks, beginning with 'Paradise Circus', and a beautiful and hypnotic performance from Hope Sandoval that the darkness is finally tempered with warmth and an emotional core.

Likewise, Damon Albarn turns in a surprisingly affecting vocal on 'Saturday Come Slow'. It is no coincidence that these are the album's stand-out tracks, or that this balance between unsettling grit and resilient hope has provided the group's most enduring songs throughout their career.

It is a balance that is rarely struck on Heligoland, and consequently fans of Massive Attack's early work may find the first 25 minutes or so unrewarding.

Nonetheless, this is a worthy and challenging addition to the discography of one of England's most experimental and pioneering groups.

-Michael

Leonard Cohen's upcoming European tour dates rescheduled due to injury

(Press Release – February, 05, 2010) – AEG Worldwide today announced that a run of performances by Leonard Cohen have been rescheduled to allow proper time for a sports-related injury sustained by the artist to heal.

While exercising recently, Mr. Cohen suffered a compression injury in his lower back. He has been advised by physicians to follow the typical four to six month regime of physical therapy prescribed for athletes with similar injuries.

“Doctors have confirmed that Mr. Cohen is otherwise in terrific shape, thanks to years of exercise and careful diet, and simply needs appropriate time to recover from the lower back injury,” stated Cohen’s manager, Robert Kory.

The rescheduled dates below will be amended shortly to reflect all thirteen rescheduled dates:

Sept. 15 CAEN ZENITH
Sept. 17 GRENOBLE PALAIS DES SPORTS
Sept. 19 STRASBOURG ZENITH
Sept. 21 MARSEILLE LE DOME
Sept. 23 TOURS PARC DES EXPOSITIONS
Sept. 25 LILLE ZENITH GRAND PALAIS
Oct. 04 KATOWICE SPODEK
Oct. 07 MOSCOW KREMLIN PALACE
Oct. 13 BRATISLAVA SIBAMAC ARENA

Since his return to the stage in May 2008, Mr. Cohen has played 191 sold out shows around the world, headlined the 2009 Coachella Music Festival and was hailed by Spin Magazine as the “Comeback of the Year” for 2009.

On January 30th, Mr Cohen received the 2010 Lifetime Achievement Special Merit Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS) and was honored the following night on the Grammy Awards broadcast.

New Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings album on the way

Exciting news for fans of soul, funk and R&B - according to Daptone records, the follow up to Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings smash hit 2007 album '100 Days, 100 Nights' is right around the corner.

'I Learned The Hard Way' is slated for an April 6th release date, but you can check out the title track right now by clicking this link. Sign up for the Daptone mailing list (or type in your existing address if you're already a member) and you'll receive an mp3 of the new track, free of charge.

According to the mail-out, the album '...produced by Bosco Mann and recorded on an Ampex eight-track tape machine by Gabriel Roth in Daptone Records’ House of Soul studios, this record drips with a warmth and spontaneity rarely found since the golden days of Muscle Shoals and Stax.'

As podcast listeners will know, Daptone has a strong history of stellar releases, and we're expecting this one to be no exception.

www.daptonerecords.com

February's releases in brief

The new year is usually slow to start in the music world, and January '10 was no exception. Fortunately for music lovers everywhere, February promises a spate of exciting new releases. Our 6 most highly anticipated selections follow, along with the relevant links:

February 9th:

Massive Attack - Heligoland
Sade - Soldier Of Love
k.d. lang - Recollection (Best Of-)
The Pretenders - Live In London (CD/DVD)

February 23rd:

David Byrne/Fatboy Slim - Here Lies Love
Johnny Cash - American VI: Ain't No Grave