Video of the Day: Imogen Heap, “Canvas”
This is the first video from “Ellipse,” due Aug. 25.
Cake Talks Independence and New Album at Dfest
In an interview that should be up on the Dfest go-to page tomorrow, I spoke with Cake in a video interview at Tulsa’s Crowne Plaza about their long-awaited follow-up to 2004′s Pressure Chief, which will be their first released as an autonomous independent act through cakemusic.com. It appears that it will be released next year, unless it isn’t.
Vince DiFiore, most identifiable trumpet sound in rock: You know, I think it sounds more bold than any other Cake record. Its sorta like when you learn to tie your shoes, you get faster and faster, better and stronger at tying your shoes. We’ve had practice as a group together working on this process, and everyone’s put the right foot forward, and brought everything they’ve learned musically to the process. We didn’t make any deliberate attempt to make a different sound or reinvent ourselves, but it’s just stronger by virtue of being the next step for us.
John McCrea, “Oh no, all right”: That was the great freedom of being on our own label — we don’t have to look at our watch all the time. We’ll release it when we feel like it. I think we’ll probably start to release songs from it — we’ll give them away to people who signed our mailing list at cakemusic.com, and then maybe early next year we’ll release the album. If we feel like it.
Dfest: Andrew W.K. On Bloody Noses For Fun and Profit
Andrew W.K. speaks at Dfest. Photo by George Lang.
Andrew Wilkes-Krier, aka Andrew W.K., said he receives countless generic CD-Rs with labeling rendered with a Sharpee and nothing to catch the eye. Andrew W.K. knows better than that.
For his debut disc, I Get Wet, Andrew W.K., keynote speaker at Dfest, said he went through several concepts, but the one that he knew would earn the attention of both label executives and fans was this one:
He gave himself a bloody nose.
“There’s only one photograph of that image,” W.K. said during his address at the Crowne Plaza in downtown Tulsa. “I said, ‘Let’s do a photo shoot, I’ll do this for my demo.’ We showed up, we took about 30 or 40 photos. I got a bloody nose. It was a painful process. I won’t tell you exactly how I did it. Then I took one when I was smiling.
“There was a lot of debate about this bloody nose,” he said. “At the same time, I thought. Everybody’s had a bloody nose. Even your grandmother, if it was a dry day, or if she had a rough night with Grandpa Chester.”
“Ultimately, the I Get Wet cover was censored with a sticker. While some artists might consider this a defeat, Andrew W.K. was eternally thankful.
“This was my dream all along: I wanted an album cover that had to be censored,” he said. “Sure enough, a lot of people who bought the CD said they wanted to see what was behind the black sticker.”
Static, Episode 21: Fiawna Forte
Static ends its first season with Tulsa singer-songwriter Fiawna Forte, who enjoyed the distinction of performing while 75 mph winds buffeted the Oklahoman office tower, causing the power to flicker during her performance. No matter — she kept going, and it just fed into the atmosphere of this great episode.
Static will return in mid-September with all-new episodes — this gives videographer Tanner Herriott a break to get married and me a chance to get the family moved into the new house. Ah, domestics. Meanwhile, go see Fiawna Forte at 10:10 p.m. Saturday at Dilly Deli in Tulsa during Dfest.
Interview
“Or Not At All”
“Boat Song”
“3 Dead Men”
Dfest, Day 1: Colourmusic’s VIP Party
Fresh from a touring regimen that saw the Stillwater band toughen its sound considerably, Colourmusic performed a brutal and melodic set at IDN in Tulsa Thursday night. The fencing suits were gone, replaced by street gear, but within those sheets of noise dwelled Colourmusic’s highly evolved sense of melody and dynamics. The VIP opening was attended mainly by performers and media, and Colourmusic set the bar high for the over 160 acts playing Friday and Saturday.
Dfest Video Blowout and Times — Saturday Edition
I will be live-blogging, filing reports and doing on-camera coverage of Dfest throughout the Friday-Saturday festival for NewsOK in conjunction with OklaTravelNet and the Tulsa World. You’ll be able to keep track of everything I’m doing through StaticBlog and through NewsOK and OklaTravelNet: I’ll be taping interviews with as many artists as I can possibly corner with a camera, so be here.
And by all means, please go to Jennifer Chancellor’s BarrelhouseBeat for her take on Dfest. We’ll be covering the fest together, so if you can’t be at Dfest, Jennifer, the OklaTravelNet team and I will do our best to give you the Dfest experience.
6 p.m. The Knux, Triton Stage
6 p.m. The Uglysuit, Poseidon Stage
The Uglysuit - Chicago
7 p.m. Mates of State, Poseidon Stage
7 p.m. Ra Ra Riot, Triton Stage Ra Ra Riot at The Conservatory from tannerherriott on Vimeo.
8:10 p.m. Bruder, Joe Momma’s Pizza
Bruder's Video
8:10 p.m. Dead Sea Choir, Dilly Deli
8:15 p.m. Rooney, Poseidon Stage
8:30 p.m. The Cool Kids, Triton Stage
9:10 p.m. Erin Austin, Electric Circus
10 p.m. Metro Station, Triton Stage
10:10 p.m. PDA, Route 66 Mother Roadhouse
P.D.A. "Get Together" LIVE!
10:10 p.m. Fiawna Forte, Dilly Deli
10:20 p.m. Ali Harter, Doenges Stage, Tulsa PAC
11:30 p.m. Cake, Poseidon Stage
12:10 a.m. Jabee, Joe Momma’s Pizza
Album Video Blog Take 1
Dfest Video Blowout and Schedule — Friday Edition
I will be live-blogging, filing reports and doing on-camera coverage of Dfest throughout the Friday-Saturday festival for NewsOK in conjunction with OklaTravelNet and the Tulsa World. You’ll be able to keep track of everything I’m doing through StaticBlog and through NewsOK and OklaTravelNet: I’ll be taping interviews with as many artists as I can possibly corner with a camera, so be here.
And by all means, please go to Jennifer Chancellor’s BarrelhouseBeat for her take on Dfest. We’ll be covering the fest together, so if you can’t be at Dfest, Jennifer, the OklaTravelNet team and I will do our best to give you the Dfest experience.
Andrew W.K. — Keynote Speaker, 1:30 p.m. Friday, Grammy Room, Ballroom D, Crowne Plaza.
Other Lives — 6 p.m. Friday, Poseidon Stage
Other Lives - AM Theme
Hush Hush Commotion — 6:10 Friday, Electric Circus
Dengue Fever — 7 p.m. Friday, Triton Stage
Ozomatli — 8:30 p.m. Friday, Triton Stage
La Gallina
Citizen Cope — 9 p.m. Friday, Poseidon Stage
Back Together
Maggie McClure — 9:20 p.m. Friday, Doenges Stage, Tulsa PAC
Crocodile — 9:30 p.m. Friday, IDL Ballroom
The Burning Hotels — 10:10 p.m. Friday, Electric Circus
Gogol Bordello — 10:30 p.m. Friday, Triton Stage
Gogol Bordello "American Wedding"
Black Crowes — 11 p.m. Friday, Poseidon Stage
The Pretty Black Chains — 12:10 p.m. Friday, Electric Circus
Dfest: Static Revisitation Vol. 1
I will be live-blogging, filing reports and doing on-camera coverage of Dfest throughout the Friday-Saturday festival for NewsOK in conjunction with OklaTravelNet and the Tulsa World. You’ll be able to keep track of everything I’m doing through StaticBlog and through NewsOK and OklaTravelNet: I’ll be taping interviews with as many artists as I can possibly corner with a camera, so be here.
And by all means, please go to Jennifer Chancellor’s BarrelhouseBeat for her take on Dfest. We’ll be covering the fest together, so if you can’t be at Dfest, Jennifer, the OklaTravelNet team and I will do our best to give you the Dfest experience.
As a warm-up, here’s a first wave of Static performers appearing at Dfest along with their gig information.
Maggie McClure — 9:20 p.m. Friday, Tulsa Performing Arts Center
Ali Harter — 10:20 p.m. Saturday, Tulsa Performing Arts Center
The Pretty Black Chains — 12:10 a.m. Saturday morning (Friday night), Electric Circus
Video of the Day: The Newno2, “Yomp”
Dhani Harrison’s band goes Dia De Los Muertos in the new video from You Are Here.
New Flaming Lips: “Silver Trembling Hands”
The Flaming Lips recently posted two tracks from the forthcoming double CD Embryonic on their MySpace page, “Convinced of the Hex” and “Silver Trembling Hands,” and they signal the band’s renewed love affair with noisy fuzztones and delicious atonality. The mid-period Floydian sound of “Silver Trembling Hands” is the most easily embraced of the two, but both tracks pay healthy dividends — get on board now.
