Crooked Pirates vs. Tender Heathens

Well, here we are at my day job, blasting the remastered Revolver while we load trucks. Was the release yesterday? How is it that teenaged Russian pirates already have the whole works online, and my co worker got the link from somebody who got the link from somebody who... Far be it for me to comment here on the morality of online music piracy... it is the Beatles, after all. Anyway, "Tomorrow Never Knows" sounds pretty damn good.

I give a pretty damn good as well to the Beatles media campaign. Was the release of Rock Band- Beatles the above-the-fold headline on every major newspaper last Thursday? Every one that I saw. Main Figurehead called that one.

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Main Fig. calls the Crooked show tonight right on, too. It's not bluegrass, or new grass or old time. It's damn fine ensemble playing by young players not afraid of anything. Too bad they won't have on their Wizard of Oz costumes this time. ( as they did at the Cedar on Halloween 2008) I never did get a photo of that for the blog. Anybody got one you could email us? It was a classic moment. As their website notes:

We'll start things off in Minneapolis, MN at the Cedar Cultural Center on Wednesday, September 9th. The Cedar is one of our favorite venues and we're so excited to be back. Last fall we had a very memorable gig there on Halloween where we dressed up as characters from the Wizard of Oz. Probably no costumes this time, but the show is sure to be great.

Shucks. "One of our favorite venues." Bet you say that to all the concert halls.

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The Unthank sisters are letting fans know their new disc, Here's the Tender Coming, is available in England as off September 14. Preliminary review are positive, as in ""Absolutely exquisite. A real work of art. I will be playing it at least forever." according to British music journalis Paul Morley. Racheal Unthank herself calls the album "a warmer shade of sad." (Compared to 2007's The Bairns ..)

Uncut magazine says "There is a wintry elegance to much of Tender . It's an often exquisite mixture of light and dark, instinct and artistry that honours both the power of old songs and the stoicism of the lives that shaped them. Rarely has the deep past sounded so stirring, or so modern. " (For a link to a PDF of the complete review, check out the Unthanks website, above.

The Unthanks let some boys in this time, but the girls still wear the frocks in the band.

All I really want to know is, when do we get it in the U.S.??? (Isn't that the eternal Mama E Dub question?)

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Finally, just because there is something twisted in me that loves to juxtaposition quiet eerie English folk with loud rocking Pagan metal, I've got the news that my Swiss faves Eluveitie are headlining the Heathenfest U.S. tour this fall and will be stopping at Station 4 in St. Paul on November 9. Hmm, that's a Monday night.