Scene and Heard

American Legacies is Out April 12th

American music fans have an unprecedented opportunity to hear two masterful groups explore the common ground where bluegrass and jazz meet when the Del McCoury Band and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band release their collaborative American Legacies project on April 12^th via McCoury Music and Preservation Hall Recordings.  Inspired by the success of the Del McCoury’s participation on 2010’s PRESERVATION, a PHJB project made with multiple artists to benefit New Orleans’ unique Preservation Hall venue and its Music Outreach Program, the set offers a dozen songs filled with deep respect and joyful virtuosity.  Complementing the release, the two groups have announced a joint tour that will feature them performing on their own and together in a groundbreaking concert experience.

With common roots in the rich musical gumbo of the American south in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, bluegrass and jazz have sat alongside one another with a myriad of common influences and musical vocabularies that have nevertheless remained largely unexplored until now. American Legaciesis a no-holds-barred tour of songs and sounds that sum up the simultaneous (and often intersecting) histories of two distinctively American musical forms—the jazz that has drawn music lovers from around the world to New Orleans for more than a century, and the “hillbilly jazz” of bluegrass, created more than 60 years ago by Del McCoury’s one-time employer, Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys.

Known as one of the premiere ambassadors of bluegrass, the Del McCoury Band is fronted by veteran Del McCoury,  A hero to east coast bluegrass audiences through the 1970s and 1980s, he stepped onto the national stage with a move to Nashville in the early 1990s that started the Del McCoury Band on an unprecedented streak of International Bluegrass Music Association awards and international acclaim.  Today, McCoury, along with a band that includes his sons Ron and Rob, are admired by hard-core bluegrass traditionalists and eclectic music fans and stars alike as they make appearances everywhere from the Bonnaroo Music Festival to late night network TV shows to their own popular Delfest.  For millions of fans across the US and around the world, the Del McCoury Band is simply the face of bluegrass.

Founded just a few years before McCoury joined Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band has been carrying the distinctive sound of New Orleans jazz around the world on behalf of Preservation Hall, a unique venue that embodies the city’s musical legacy.  With a cast of musicians schooled through first-hand experience and apprenticeship into the music’s historic traditions, the PHJB has served as an irreplaceable, vital link to the earliest days of one of America’s most beloved forms of popular music, evoking the spirits of times past in an ever-evolving modern context that has found them traveling around the world.

A FREE MUSIC SITE FOR INDEPENDENT

AND NON PROFIT FILMMAKERS

 In recognition of the Oscar nomination for British director Lucy Walker‘s multi award winning documentary Waste Land, which prominently features many tracks from Moby’s album ‘Wait For Me’ on the soundtrack, Moby has announced that he will add this album to his free film music site, mobygratis.com, making the full track listing available for all independent film makers to use for free.

Mobygratis.com is a free film music resource for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.

As well as the addition of ‘Wait for Me’, Mobygratis.com features music from Moby’s previous albums, plus special ambient versions of tracks, leftfield remixes of singles and albums and lots of previously unreleased music by Moby which is available exclusively to use via the site.

Moby’s music is available for free to filmmakers as long as it is being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short. If any of the films go on to be commercially successful, then 100% of the music licensing proceeds from these Mobygratis.com facilitated projects are donated to the Humane Society.

Many of the films are available to watch at the Mobygratis Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/groups/mobygratis 

Some Moby soundtracked films which have been made possible through Mobygratis.com include:

‘HitKids’ by Karen Mayer, which won an award for best score in the 2010 Seattle 48 Hour Film Project: http://vimeo.com/groups/mobygratis/videos/12193189

‘Displacement’ by Justin Litton, which won Best Student Film, 2010 West Virginia Filmmakers Festival and 3rd Place in the 2010 West Virginia International Film Festival:

http://vimeo.com/groups/mobygratis/videos/11627308

‘One City, Many Faces’, by Tariq Chow, which was a runner up in the Tony Blair Faith Foundation’s Faith Shorts 2010 film competition:

http://vimeo.com/groups/mobygratis/videos/12151682

Moby’s music has been used in numerous films, including Heat (Michael Mann), Any Given Sunday (Oliver Stone), Tomorrow Never Dies (Roger Spottiswoode) and The Beach (Danny Boyle).

Filmed over nearly three years, Waste Land (dir. Lucy Walker, 2010), follows renowned artist Vik Muniz as he journeys from his home base in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. There he photographs an eclectic band of “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s initial objective was to “paint” the catadores with garbage. However, his collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they begin to re-imagine their lives. Director Lucy Walker (Devil’s Playground, Blindsight, Countdown To Zero) has great access to the entire process and, in the end, offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit. For further information see: http://www.wastelandmovie.com/

Click HERE for the First Single, Safari Disco Club


Shortly after their new single, “Safari Disco Club,” has sparked excitement across the international blogosphere, French trio Yelle have announced a North American tour.  The dance-pop group’s upcoming dates kick off with a performance at Coachella, where their arsenal of infectious new anthems will be on full display.  Click HERE for pre-sale tickets for the tour, and the general on-sale begins this Friday, Feb 4^th.  Yelle will also be making an appearance in New York during the upcoming fashion week.  They’ll be doing a DJ set for The W Hotel’s “Global Glam” at the Box on February 10^th.

Yelle is fronted and named by Yelle, nee Julie Budet, a sparky gamine with a deceptively demure schoolgirl voice. Joined by producers GrandMarnier (Jean-Francois Perrier) and Tepr(Tanguy Destable), Yelle first arrived amid a flurry of 80’s inspired pop, with the likes of CSS and New Young Pony Club all revered for their take on brightly colored electro. Pop-Up stood out from the crowd with its wry, frothy and unashamedly fun outlook. This infectious appeal not only led to work with Robyn and Katy Perry, but gained them fans in fellow musicians such as M.I.A. and Mika, as well as mainstream personalities like Perez Hilton and Jessica Alba.

Since the release of their acclaimed debut album, Pop-Up, the band have been keeping busy.  They covered Robyn‘s “Who’s That Girl” as part of the iTunes international exchange, and she covered their track “A Cause Des Garçons” in return. They were also were asked by Katy Perry to remix her hit single “Hot n Cold” which has led to them supporting her UK tour in April.

Yelle North American Tour Dates:

04/16:  Indio, CA @ Coachella Music and Arts Festival
04/17:  Phoenix, AZ @ Rhythm Room
04/18:  Tuscon, AZ @ Club Congress
04/19:  Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
04/21:  Dallas, TX @ Granada Theatre
04/22:  Austin, TX @ Mohawk
04/23:  Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
04/25:  Atlanta, GA @ Masquerde
04/26:  Chapel Hill, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
04/27:  Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
04/29:  Boston, MA @ Royale Boston
04/30:  New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
05/02:  Quebec City, QC @ Le Circle
05/03:  Montreal, QC @ Le National
05/04:  Toronto, ON @ The Opera House
05/06:  Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge
05/07:  Minneapolis, MN @ First Ave.
05/08:  Madison, WI @ Majestic Theatre
05/10:  Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
05/11:  Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
05/13:  Vancouver, BC @ The Commodore Ballroom
05/14:  Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s
05/15:  Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
05/17:  Reno, NV @ Tonic Lounge
05/18:  Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theater
05/19:  San Francisco, CA @ Regency Ballroom
05/20:  San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
05/21:  Los Angeles, CA @ Henry Fonda Theathre