Holiday Cheer From Adam Taylor & Band

It's the holiday season which means, it's time for holiday music! Personally, I'm not all that big on the traditional old classics or the cheesy junk that people insist on playing. So, when I come across a new holiday song that isn't cheesy I get a little giddy. Who has made me giddy you ask? Adam Taylor, that's who. Adam and his band, Kate Young, Jason Hoffheins and Mike Giblin have given us "Mrs. Mistletoe." Check out the video below and head on over to Taylor's website (HERE) to get a free download of the song.

Oh, and on this day two years ago, Taylor released his debut EP, Play The Piano Drunk. Happy anniversary! Here's to many more years of good music. If you haven't added this record to your collection, what are you waiting for? It makes a good stocking stuffer! Time sure flies ... it was two years and five days that I first saw Taylor & Young perform and they just keep getting better.

Jen Gloeckner To Play Two Dates In NY This Week

Singer/songwriter Jen Gloeckner will be making two stops in New York this week. It's cold outside folks and what better way to warm up than to check out some live music? Gloeckner will be on the LES at The Living Room on Wednesday, December 15. The following night, Thursday, December 16, she will be in Brooklyn at The Bell House. For those unfamiliar with Gloeckner, she's been on the road supporting her latest record, Mouth of Mars which was released earlier this year; check out the handy widget below and grab "Pulse" from the record.

”Mouth of Mars” was recorded at Jen Gloeckner’s own Hazy Sky Studio in Dubuque, IA with additional recording by Brian McTear ((Apollo Sunshine, BC Camplight, Danielson, Wovenhand, etc.) and Amy Morrissey at Miner Street Recordings, Philadelphia. The album was produced by Gloeckner and McTear and mixed by McTear and special guests include Joseph Arthur, cellist Helena Espvall (Espers), violin player Joel Zifkin (Rufus Wainwright), bassist Lisa Umbarger (Toadies) as well as McTear and Amy Morrissey (Bitter Bitter Weeks).

Gloeckner draws artistic inspiration from moods and images that she receives in dreams, and listeners discern a mythical, collective-unconsciousness underlying her music —songs that can be as daunting as the darkest nightmares and as redemptive as purest desire. At times Jen comes across as a fearsome seductress—cruelly masculine in her lyrical directness and often aggressive, driving rhythms, then delicate and weak with longing as a Victorian lady taking to her fainting couch. As on “Miles Away”, “Mouth of Mars” achieves impressive coherence in the masterful balance of the opposites it embraces.

Wanda Jackson Announces US Dates

Rockabilly legend Wanda Jackson has announced she will play select dates with the Third Man House Band featuring Jack White on guitar. The shows are in celebration of Jackson's latest record, The Party Ain't Over. The album was produced by White and is scheduled to be released January 25 via Third Man/Nonesuch Records.

Tickets for the Brooklyn show at Music Hall of Williamsburg as well as the Los Angeles show will be available for Third Man Record's Vault subscribers starting Wednesday, December 15 at 11am Eastern time. The general public will be able to get their hands on tickets Thursday, December 16 at 11am Eastern time. A full tour will be announced in 2011.

With a remarkable career that began in 1955, Jackson, credited with being the first woman to ever record a rock and roll song - “Let’s Have a Party” in 1958 – was convinced by her friend Elvis Presley to cross over from country to rock and rockabilly music. Now known around the globe as “The Queen Of Rock” and “The First Lady Of Rockabilly,” Wanda has teamed up with Jack White for The Party Ain’t Over, 11 tracks dating in origin from the early 1900’s to 2007. Recorded in White’s studio where he brought together a formidable band, including himself, Jack Lawrence (The Dead Weather/Raconteurs), Carl Broemel (My Morning Jacket), Patrick Keeler (Raconteurs), Ashley Monroe,Jackson Smith and Karen Elson, to name a few, the album is a retro modern collection of music that showcases Wanda, now in her seventh decade and sounding as wickedly charismatic as ever.

Tour Dates

• 1/21 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg (TICKETS)
• 1/23 Los Angeles, CA @ The El Rey Theatre (TICKETS)

Lauryn Hill To Play New York's Famed Blue Note Jazz Club

New York, it's been announced that Lauryn Hill will be taking the stage at the Blue Note on January 3, 4 & 5! Tickets will go ON SALE tomorrow, December 14 at Noon (12pm). For tickets visit www.bluenote.net.

Shilpa Ray To Release Album & Embark On Spring Tour + MP3

Shilpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers will be releasing their full-length album Teenage and Torture, January 18 via Knitting Factory Records. New Yorkers, you can head on over to Brooklyn Bowl on January 21 for the record release show before they take off for a Spring tour at the end of March with Acid Mothers Temple. Check out the upcoming dates below. To get you warmed up for the upcoming record, they are offering up a couple of songs from the record. Grab 'em while you can below in the MP3 Grab.

Shilpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers are especially eager to get on the road after the unfortunate cancellation of their fall tour dates with Cornershop. Their run with Acid Mothers Temple this coming spring kicks off on the west coast with a gig at Spaceland March 23rd, and takes them through Canada and the North East before heading back south for Austin Texas on April 22nd. By tours end they'll have played a staggering 28 shows in 31 days, including stretch of 17 straight nights in April.

Their forthcoming album Teenage and Torture, lives up to the praise Shilpa Ray And Her Happy Hookers have steadily amassed from corners stretching from The New Yorker to Nick Cave. The album both refines and expands upon the arresting qualities of their first release A Fish Hook An Open Eye. Teenage and Torture, was recorded with Black Dirt Studios' Jason Meagher at Seizure's Palace in Gowanus, Brooklyn, a studio that has also played host to Sonic Youth and Swans. The songs on the album are dark, sardonic looks inside Ray's own world and obsessions.

Tour Dates

* w/ Acid Mothers Temple

JANUARY

• 21 - Brooklyn, NY - Brooklyn Bowl (Record Release w/ Hooray For Earth, Soft Black)
• 22 - Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place

MARCH

• 23 - Los Angeles, CA - Spaceland*
• 24 - San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill*
• 26 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge*
• 27 - Bellingham, WA - The Wild Buffalo*
• 28 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey*
• 29 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret*
• 31 - Calgary, AB - Broken City*

APRIL

• 01 - Missoula, MT - The Badlander*
• 02 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge*
• 03 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge*
• 04 - Lincoln, NE - Bourbon Theatre*
• 05 - Minneapolis, MN - 7th Street Entry*
• 06 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle*
• 07 - Kalamazoo, MI - The Strutt*
• 08 - Toronto, ON - El Mocambo*
• 09 - Montreal, QC - Il Motore*
• 10 - Allston, MA - Great Scott*
• 11 - Milford, CT - Daniel Street*
• 13 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brendas*
• 14 - Washington, DC - Red Palace*
• 15 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar*
• 16 - Chapel Hill, NC - Local 506*
• 17 - Knoxville, TN - Pilot Light*
• 18 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl*
• 19 - New Orleans, LA - One Eyed Jacks*
• 20 - Houston, TX - Fitzgeralds*
• 21 - Dallas, TX - The Loft*
• 22 - Austin, TX - Red 7*

MP3 Grab: "Heaven In Stereo" & "Venus Shaver"

My Song Of The Day: Hard Nips - "Release It"

Brooklyn based, by way of Nippon, band Hard Nips nabs my song of the day title. The all-girl Japanese rock band released their four song self-titled EP this week via Mixpak Records. Sadly, I had to miss their record relase party this week but I look forward to checking them out live down the line. Check out "Release It" below.

Hard Nips - Release It by Mixpak

Track List

• Release It
• Sun Stroke
• Picture
• Alligator

Duran Duran Releases New Single Early + Visit East Village Radio

December 8, the four original members of British pop band Duran Duran, John Taylor, Roger Taylor, Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon, released the lead single from their upcoming record a week early. The song, "All You Need Is Now" is currently being offered exclusively on iTunes for FREE. The 9-track album, also titled All You Need Is Now, will be released digitally on Tuesday, December 21 and was produced by Mark Ronson. For those of you who like to have physical contact with your music, you will have your opportunity in February 2011 when an expanded physical record with additional original new tracks in various format deluxe packages will be made available.

This evening, Friday, December 10, Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes will visit East Village Radio. The pair will be on Mark Ronson's show Authentic Sh*t. Tune into EVR (www.eastvillageradio.com) from 8pm - 10pm Eastern time.

I have to tell you, I still have a soft spot for Duran Duran. Early 80's me, little barely teen-aged, quirky chick me, loved them. That was the point in my young life where John was hotness personified in my book and I wanted to dye my hair that horrid orange color Nick once sported ... yeah, don't ask.

The vibrant video for the title track “All You Need Is Now,” also set for release on iTunes on December 21st, was shot in and around London and was helmed by celebrated director Nick Egan, whose previous work includes Duran Duran’s “White Lines” and “Ordinary World” videos, as well as videos for Alanis Morissette, Sonic Youth, INXS, Oasis and more. Additional footage was provided by Gavin Elder, longtime documentary filmmaker for the band, amongst others.

All You Need Is Now, Duran Duran’s 13th studio album, features a newly announced collaboration with R&B/neo-soul superstar Kelis on “The Man who Stole a Leopard,” just one of the album’s many stand-out tracks. Trading call and response vocals with Simon Le Bon, Kelis’ shimmering vocal contribution puts the golden touch on the track’s already irresistible electro-driven groove.

Track List

• All You Need Is Now
• Blame The Machines
• Being Followed
• Leave a Light on
• Safe (in the heat of the moment) (feat. Ana Matronic)
• Girl Panic !
• The Man who Stole a Leopard (feat. Kelis)
• Runway Runaway
• Before the Rain

Kitten Goes To Sunday School + MP3

Kitten, the California based band fronted by teenage vocal powerhouse Chloe Chaidez, released their Sunday School EP on CD this week. It was released digitally in October for those who like immediate, non-physical gratification.

For those who aren't familiar with Kitten, they're a band to check out. The EP is a fantastic blend of pop/rock with a nice dose of new wave tossed in. Sixteen year old Chaidez is a vocalist to keep your eyes, or ears as the case may be, on. Her vocals display a seasoning that is beyond her years. Kitten has the makings to become an "it" band.

For the uninitiated, get to know Kitten before they blow up and Justin Bieber or Puff Daddy Diddy Doo (or whatever the hell he's calling himself these days) tries to convince the folks in Kitten's camp that they're cool enough to work with. Grab "Chinatown" in the MP3 Grab below. You'll like it, trust me. For some reason the music on this track reminds me of early U2. What? y'all know I'm prone to questionable comparisons.

MP3 Grab: "Chinatown"

Alex Kemp Streaming Rat D' Hotel Parts I & II On Facebook

California based indie musician Alex Kemp is currently streaming parts 1 & 2 of his Rat D'Hotel series on Facebook. Both can be found HERE. But, if you just can't wait or want some music to listen to while you're engrossed in the contents of my lovely home page, check out the handy dandy widget below. You'll find Rat D'Hotel II ready and waiting to tickle your ears.

Rat D'Hotel Part II - Rat Hears Love Through Thin Walls by Sneakattackmedia

The Nico Blues Releases New Video

About a month ago, I wrote about local (NY/NJ) band The Nico Blues. They're indie and reminded me of the whole 90's alt vibe. The band released their record Blame the Boredom, Blame the Basements back in July and I decided that I dig 'em. Now, they've made a video for their song "Living Proof." So, as a result of the aforementioned digging of their music, I've decided to share it with you, my oh so smokin' hot (insert eyebrow wiggle, a wink & devilish grin) readers. Check it out below.

The Nico Blues "Living Proof" from The Nico Blues on Vimeo.