“They wanna know who got that N.A.S.A. music”

Last year N.A.S.A. delighted speakers, stages and soundwaves alike with the release of their critically acclaimed global collaborative project The Spirit of Apollo. Only one short year later, Squeak E. Clean and DJ Zegon dropped another sonic treasure with The Big Bang – a project which features remixes of Apollo tracks crafted by a wide assortment of international artists, as well as two new original tracks by the N.A.S.A. crew. A short while ago Squeak E. Clean stopped by the bakery for a little chat session with your boy and we got a chance to talk about conspiracies, cover art, collabos and much more…..

Audio Muffin: Welcome to the bakery sir. How about starting with telling our readers how you two fine gents met and how long you’ve been making music together?

Squeak E. Clean: We were both in L.A. and we were taking a needlework class together. We were making sweaters and stuff…we met…started talking abut music, and before you knew it we had a record.

AM: The Spirit of Apollo was one of my favorite releases of 2009 – can you tell us about the process of creating that album? How did all those insane collaborations come about?

SEC: I can’t go into it too deep, but we have a lot of connections in government agencies and various associations with the Illuminati and other secret societies…again, I can’t go into it too deep, but the White House was involved.

AM: Speaking of collaborations, you recently dropped The Big Bang, which features a host of remixes and reimaginings – how did you select the remixers?

SEC: We selected our favorite remixers. Just got the people that…we love what they do. And ourselves. Ape Shit Brothers is Zegon and our boy from Brazil, Doo Doo’s crew, and Boombotz is me and my boy Kool Kojack.

AM: The cover art for The Big Bang is awesomely random, how did you come up with that?

SEC: The cover art is this guy Trevor Hernandez. He’s just an awesome graphic designer. I wanted monumental images of beginnings of eras, MLK, the A-bomb, DNA – you know…monumental discoveries. So he just gathered them and that was how we got the art.

AM: Who is on your list of dream collaborations (that you haven’t had the chance to work with yet)?

SEC: James Brown…my favorite artist ever. Andre 3000, one of my all time favorites, just so many people. Peaches…she’s been ahead of the game and has such an original take on her music.

AM: Speaking of which – your music collection must be pretty impressive. What are you guys listening to these days?

SEC: I’m really into the Kraftwerk record – Man Vs. Machine right now. Never really dug that deep into Kraftwerk before but that record is perfect

AM: I know you perform all over the planet, what have been some of the highlights of touring over the last year?

SEC: Touring in Asia, particularly Japan. We just got back from Korea and had so much fun. Australia is always great. Brazil is always amazing.

AM: ….and the lowlights?

SEC: Hard to say…nothing is really a bummer, touring is fun. Maybe not sleeping…ever.

AM: What’s next for N.A.S.A.? (More) worldwide domination?

SEC: Working on new music. Trying to branch out and dominate the solar system.

AM: And the one question we like to ask everyone who stops by the bakery – what is your favorite kind of muffin?

SEC: Banana nut.

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Bootsy and I had a chance to meet up with the guys and drink some beers several weeks ago in Santa Monica, and now that the album is out, we follow up that meeting with some questions.

Frank: This album definitely sounds grittier and more rock n roll than your last albums.  You mentioned over beers that things were different this time.  What was the new process and so far, has it worked out?

Teddy: We had just finished a two-month tour before starting to record the album and were feeling very comfortable with our live sound. We wanted to capture that raw, live energy on the record, and the move to a new studio, Electrical Audio, allowed us to achieve that. Rather than putting down the instruments one at a time and building a track piece by piece, we’d cut the track as a full band playing live onto 2-inch tape, then go back for any overdubs and vocals. It was definitely more fun to do it that way, and I think the end result has a much more organic and exciting feel.

Frank: You mentioned some bands you were into during the writing of this new album, and one that seemed to come back to me while listening was The Black Keys.  To me, this album sounds on the same caliber as the Keys – how does that feel?

Johnny: That’s pretty good company! We really look up to those guys–we were lucky enough to play a show with them in St. Louis in 2009 and, besides being just really cool dudes, they put on an amazing live show. We’ve had their new album, Brothers, on repeat since it came out. They’re definitely one of the better bands out there right now, so to be compared to them is certainly high praise.

Frank: Okay, I know you’re coming to LA in August (yes!), but how does the rest of the tour look?  Will college shows still be the backbone?

Pete: Given that it is the summer, this time around we are playing mainly small to mid-sized clubs and festivals. We are visiting parts of America that we have never been to before. We’re looking forward to traveling back to the eastern seaboard and making it down south all the way to New Orleans. The itinerary even includes a stop in Vegas–no shows, just seeing the sights. Then we’re heading out west with a great bill lined up at the Troubadour in L.A. that includes our friends Red Arrow Messenger and All Wrong and the Plans Change. Really excited to finally get together with those bands for a couple of shows in California.

Frank: It was really interesting talking to you about working outside the label structure and doing it alone.  How has that been so far?

Casey: Our version of walking and chewing gum at the same time is loading the van while confirming shows with talent buyers. Controlling both the business and creative aspects of our band has been rewarding and a real advantage in many instances.

Frank: Your last album, Near or Far, had a very robust companion videos to the music.  What can we expect with The Nerve?

Johnny: Expect the unexpected. And the unexplained.

Frank: You told me an awesome story about some USB Flash Drives, I think the Muffin readers must hear this.

Pete: Lets just preface this by saying we have since severed business ties with this company…We ordered some flash drives from a company in China that does custom-printed, 2-gig flash drives. When they arrived, they had “customized” MTV logos on each drive and also “customized” less-than-2-gig memory. They were useless. Might as well have been Legos. Just another lesson in Running Your Own Business 101.

Frank: Okay, so I already asked you what muffin you guys liked in our last interview.  So what is your favorite place to eat in LA and Chicago?

Casey: Let’s start with Chicago, which is probably the best food city in America. Hitting all three Windy City food groups: Giordano’s for pizza, Hot Doug’s for hot dogs, and Kuma’s Corner for burgers. In LA, Cha Cha Chicken has great jerk chicken. $3 beers at Dillon’s is always a great time, too.

You can check out the band’s website to see when they will be playing in your city. And don’t forget to pick up their new album on iTunes. And I would expect some crazy video stuff to come soon from Filligar, so either bookmark their site or we’ll try and keep you updated.

Filligar – Resurrection Song

Filligar – Robbery (Shocking Love)

There are several reasons that The Knew have made their way back to the bakery to be featured in this segment of Old Friends New Tunes.

For those who appreciate lists, go nuts..

1. The Knew have released a new album, The Knew’s Pulperia and my ears are extremely pleased with me as the album has been on repeat since its March release.

2. Pulperia has been on the CMJ Top 200 list for three weeks straight, currently and comfortably sitting at #121.

3. The Knew tore up the scene @ SXSW.

4. The Knew have locked a position on the Mile High Music Festival bill with the likes of Weezer, My Morning Jacket and a little duo you might remember from a couple days ago, Jr. Gong and Nastradamus.

For the record, we have been huge fans of The Knew’s previous EP releases, Boom Bust (2008) & Holladay (2007), but our boys from Denver have really stepped it up a notch with their first full-length, Pulperia (2010). The unblemished sound and insightful instrumental layering and composition can only be the result of tireless efforts in the studio in aims to make this album a true gem. Hats off to Jacob, Tyler, Tim and Patrick for what we consider a piece of work that will surely take The Knew to the next level. Additional kudos to artistic visionary, Adrian Diubaldo, for his work on the following video – an inside look @ The Knew in Photo Roadies Project #1.

We were able to catch up with Ty (lead guitar) from The Knew for a few…

AM :  The Knew has been selected to play Denver’s premier summer music event, Mile High Music Festival and you will be sharing the stage with rock icons, My Morning Jacket. What are you looking forward to most about playing a big event like this?

TY : We are looking forward to playing the MHMF mostly because we will be able to play with My Morning Jacket - a band we admire musically and personally – even though we’ve never met them.  Hopefully we will be able to.

AM : Whats your favorite song on the new album and why?

TY : My favorite song on the full length is Neckbreaker, because it is really just a combination of 3 of my favorite Knew songs.  It has our poppy stuff, or spacey stuff and our heavy stuff.  I also really like Citytown.  Musically, it was a hoot to put together, lyrically it tells where we are from, and live it moves and makes me move.

The Knew – Neckbreaker

AM : When can we see The Knew on another west coast tour?

TY : As soon as my current sunburn (obtained in 5 minutes during our set at a suburban high school) resides, you’ll see our lanky asses in California.

AM : Whats in The Knew’s immediate future?

A 7 inch (2 songs – vinyl only) coming out this summer with some longer, heavier numbers.  Being recorded this weekend and Black in Bluhm Stuios in Park Hill, Denver.  Jake is doing his vox in the other room right now and I am drinking a Modelo Especial in the control room. Finally, a few local festivals this summer and a midwest tour with The Fling (LBC) in September.

As always, The Knew is pumped up and charging hard. Audio Muffin will continue to be a guiding light as to their travels, musical releases and marital statuses. Listen close.

The Knew – My Meridian

Download Pulperia on iTunes HERE!

Old Friends New Tunes Part I : Writer

2010 is all about getting back to the basics. Just ask the brothers Ralph of Writer, an Audio Muffin go-to for several years now. Its seems they have found, through the integration and eventual purging of various “additional members” to the band, that nothing seems to sound quite as sweet as the original. Although Writer is now just Andy and Jayme, their sound has anything but subdued. Quite the contrary actually. After taking SXSW by storm, playing several shows with another San Diego favorite, Tape Deck Mountain, its abundantly clear that Writer has implemented new styles, new instruments and even a semi-acapella song into its repertoire. Fierce boys, very fierce.

In conjunction with their trip to Austin, Writer has released a SXSW EP with a few new tracks that are sure to leave Austin’s toes tapping. We were lucky enough to snag our copy early on and have been playing it on repeat ever since. Here is a snippet from the band’s e-journal recalling part of their galavant to SXSW.

Writer – Head To Toe

Writer – Hot Days

Audio Muffin’s Inside The Bakery series continues with an electrifying band from my adopted hometown, NY to the C.  The Postelles are gearing up to drop some doo-wop laced indie rock on the masses with the March 2nd release of their EP, White Night, which features production from The Strokes axeman Albert Hammond Jr., and an iTunes-only remix courtesy of Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor.  You can head on over to their Myspace to catch a sampling of their tunes (and I suggest you do – ’123 Stop’ is a jaaaam), but for now settle in and hear what lead singer Daniel Balk had to say when he stopped by the bakery for a nice little chat.

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Audio Muffin: How did the band form?

Daniel Balk: We all met in high school  The band started with just me and David.  I walked into our school’s music room one day to find John playing The Beatles on cello so I asked him if he’d like to join.  Billy was in another band, but we were able to snatch him up as well.

AM: Where does the name The Postelles come from?

DB: It is really just influenced by the old Motown bands like The Shirelles and some of the Phil Spector groups.  We thought ‘Post’ would obviously mean after that time period, but it’s a nice little gesture to that era.

AM: I love the sound of the band – infectious contemporary jams with a sprinkling of old school Back To The Future charm – how would you describe the sound?

DB: You described it just fine! To us it’s just rock ‘n roll.  We love the idea of the perfect pop song, much like the Motown groups so finely crafted time and time again.  We really believe in plugging and playing, and we try our best to stay authentic to that idea.

AM: Tell the readers a little about your influences – musical and non-musical – that inspire you to do what you do?

DB: I think as a band we all have similar influences.  We love the late 70′s punk scene like The Ramones and The Clash.  I think they had the same “we don’t care” attitude that Elvis and Buddy Holly did in the 50′s, which is appealing to us.  Of course we are influenced by the Motown era, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, but also our music is influenced by other forms of art.  We all read frequently, drifting between Hemingway and Salinger among others.  We also each watch at least one Woody Allen film a week, just to keep a New York state of mind.

AM: Speaking of which, it looks like we’re all NYC boys here – what are some of the benefits and drawbacks to trying to make it as a band in NYC?

DB: The immediate benefit is that there is a huge music scene with so much opportunity, and the immediate drawback is that there is a huge music scene and so many bands to compete with! There are so many venues to play and so many music fans, but it is tough getting noticed in such a big city.

AM: If you had to pick a neighborhood in NYC that best represented your songs, what would it be and why?

DB: We all grew up uptown, but we definitely spent most of our nights downtown.  I would say our music is influenced by the downtown nightlife with a pinch of uptown flavor.

AM: Craziest New York moment?

DB: I’m not sure I can share one single moment with you, but I do remember us religiously visiting a Japanese restaurant on St. Marks practically every weekend when we were younger.  We would do sake bombs, which consists of dropping a glass of sake into a much larger glass of beer.  Afterward we would have sing-a-longs on the street – I remember us singing “Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand over and over again.  We’d sing until we lost our voices or our minds, whichever went first.  Whenever that song comes on the radio we always have a nice band moment and remember those days.

AM: I see that you’re playing both SXSW and Bonnaroo this year – what’s in your festival survival kit?

DB: For Bonnaroo and SXSW you need water and sunscreen.  It gets hot, hot, hot at both of those festivals.  Especially when you drink in the heat, you need lots of water.  Bonnaroo can get very muddy, so bring boots.  SXSW is in a city, so just bring your patience.

AM: What else do The Postelles have on tap for 2010?

DB: We are excited to release a three song EP on March 2nd, and then embark on a long U.S. tour in March/April.  After that we will have more touring – we want to visit as many places as possible.

AM: And the most important question of all – what’s your favorite kind of muffin (besides the Audio kind of course)?

DB: Personally, I have a sweet tooth so I’d have to go with chocolate chip.  I get along with blueberry as well.

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And there you have it folks. The EP should be out on iTunes and Amazon come Tuesday, and an album will be dropping sometime in the early summer.  I’ll be back with a full report once I’ve soaked in some more soundwaves – but until then I’ll leave you with one song that sums up the flavor of the interview…

Nas – N.Y. State Of Mind

Be sure to follow your boy Train on Twitter to keep up with the freshest news coming out of the Muffin bakery!

Audio Muffin’s Inside The Bakery series is proud to continue with words and wisdom from melodious dreamweavers, The Middle East.  The Townsville, Queensland (Australia) band has been featured on The Muffin before (link!), but this time out lead vocalist Jordan Ireland was kind enough to share some thoughts with us on music, monkeys, muffins and more…

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Audio Muffin: How did the band first find each other? What’s the music scene like in Townsville?

Jordan Ireland: The scene is small and that’s how we found each other.  Everybody knows everybody and there’s no segregation between music genres.  It’s a bit like monkeys in a small jungle – they all dig bananas and bound to each other in that way.

AM: The album, The Recordings of The Middle East, has such a haunting atmosphere about it, especially ‘The Darkest Side’ – is that something you consciously try to create, or did it just naturally come about?

JI: I definitely didn’t plan it.  The majority of it was recorded at my Dad’s shack house out of town at a place called Alligator Creek.  The place has a certain stillness about it that can be eerie for some.

The Middle East – The Darkest Side

AM: The album has been warmly embraced by people the world over – are you pleased with making the transition from a local/national band to an international band? Are there any challenges that come with that?

JI: It’s strange.  They’re such old recordings for now and not something we’re very pleased with or wanting to be known by.  It is nice to be able to play more and travel with mates.  I find it hard trying to get some meaning out of it sometimes.  It’s hard to stay sharp and not be the goose.

AM: Now, a lot of people feel like music blogging (and the internet in general) is a double-edged sword. Some say it has contributed to even shorter attention spans for listeners, while others argue that it gives bands exposure that they never would have received without it.  What are your thoughts on the digital age of music?

JI: I haven’t known any other age so I can’t comment too much.  I think a lot of music blogs are excellent. Ones that are about the music and not mass advertising work really well, plus I always dig hearing new music.  It’s true though – there’s so much on offer now that people don’t care.  You can hear any kind of music you want to hear with a few clicks. It would be nice to have to travel to hear different kinds of music…to Spain to hear Latin music, to New Orleans to hear jazz, to Australia to hear the didgeridoo, or to the moon to hear space rock.  There’d be some different stuff coming out if people had to do that.

AM: Speaking of increased exposure for the band – are you excited about playing SXSW and Coachella this year? Is a full U.S. tour in the works?

JI: I haven’t thought about it too much – I think I’ll be excited to be over there. And yes [a U.S. tour is] in the works…somewhere.

AM: What else is on tap for The Middle East in 2010? Any new music we can look forward to?

JI: We’re recording an album at the moment. I’m not very happy with it so far, but it’s not finished so who knows. It could be gold. It could break your mind. We’ll see…we’ll see.  We’re hopefully releasing it in June.

AM: And lastly, a question that we like to ask of every band that passes through the Audio Muffin bakery – what is your favorite kind of muffin?

JI: Blueberry….wait….chocolate.

The Middle East – Lonely

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The Recordings of The Middle East is available now at Amazon

Be sure to follow your boy Train on Twitter to keep up with the freshest news coming out of the Muffin bakery!

As a part of the Inside the Bakery Series, we here at Audio Muffin had a chance to catch up with a promising young band, Hotel St. George back around Halloween. After we all decorated some muffins with orange and black icing and plastic draculas, we decided it was time to talk shop for a bit.

Audio Muffin : From past local San Diego bands, Vinyl Radio and A Week’s Worth, came Hotel St. George. How did you guys all decide to come together and how was the transition?

HSG: Both of our old bands broke up at the same time and we were both pretty gutted about the situation. We had a chance encounter at a party and decided to start a band together before we had even heard each other play. Here we are now almost two years later and I think we’re just starting to figure out how to play together as a proper band.

AM : Your recent release of City Boy Lemon echoes the same energy and enthusiasm you guys bring to the stage night in and night out. Following allusions to Spoon and even Bowie by your critics, you must have been pleased with how this album was received?

HSG : We’re very pleased with the reaction that the album has received so far. If people want to draw comparisons between us and Bowie or Spoon then that’s great. However, I wouldn’t ever tell anyone that we sounded like Bowie. I’m not that big of an asshole.

AM : How would you describe a perfect performance for Hotel St. George? Venue, crowd, pre and post show cocktails?

HSG : We just want a chance to play every night. The way it is now, we play a show every two weeks or so and never really get a chance to get into a groove. We would love to go on tour with a bigger band for a couple of weeks and steal all of their fans and drink all of their booze.

Hotel St. George- All Those Dancing Stars

AM : Whats on tap these days? Gearing up for a busy holiday season?

HSG : Things are very busy. We are actually recording another LP in December. This one is going to be very different because Erik (City Boy Lemon bassist) has moved to lead guitar and Brian (City Boy Lemon guitarist) has moved to keys and bass synth. It took us two years and three records to figure out what instrument each of us should be playing but now that we’ve got it dialed, we are ready to go make a new record.

AM : To each member of HSG, a standard Inside The Bakery interrogator, what is your favorite type of muffin?

Matt: I had a carrot cake muffin once that was pretty badass.

Brian: Otis Spunkmeyer Banana Nut Muffins were my favorite snack in middle school.

Simon: I prefer a good scone but I’d have to say maybe a chocolate and peanut butter muffin.

Erik: I just like the tops like on Seinfeld.

Hotel St. George- The Summation

There you have it, Hotel St. George. Stay tuned to their Myspace page and be sure to keep in tune with The Muffin for Hotel St. George’s December LP and daily posts on music around the world.

Inside The Bakery with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Inside The Bakery with Lightning Dust
Inside The Bakery with Writer

As part of the Audio Muffin Inside the Bakery Series we were fortunate enough to catch up with Lightning Dust, the talented Canadian side project emerging from a BC favourite, Black Mountain. Following an intense Muffin fight, we made peace and talked about music.

Audio Muffin : In forming Lightning Dust, essentially as a side project of Black Mountain, how has it exceeded or fell short of your expectations? When you first created this project, what did you want to accomplish and has that happened?

Lightning Dust : In terms of when we first started, we’ve done nothing but exceed our expectations as we couldn’t have even pictured playing these songs live when we first started making four track recordings on the side. So playing live with our our friends in the band all over N.America feels like a major accomplishment for us. Not to mention that we somehow have already managed to play the Apollo Theater in Harlem. That was way beyond any expectation.

Lightning Dust- I Knew

Audio Muffin : How has the dynamic changed now that it is just Josh and Amber and not the five from Black Mountain?

Lightning Dust : Just less heads on the table, and we’re approaching the band differently as we don’t really “jam” to perfect songs. We just start with an idea and toss it back and forth until it’s done.

Audio Muffin : You are currently on a very long tour. How is life on the road? What are your must-have’s while traveling? For example, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart confessed their love for Dairy Queen gift cards and Nintendo.

Lightning Dust : The life is nice…currently we are enjoying a summer-like weather that Vancouver isn’t. We try to do some fun things other than driving and playing, but often there’s no time. Mexican food and swimming holes are crucial to our crew.

Audio Muffin : Who have you had the most fun playing with on tour? I know we here at The Muffin are looking forward to seeing you all share the stage with our boys from Seattle, The Cave Singers.

Lightning Dust : Naturally, The Cave Singers are our favorites! We have a long history of road trips together. We’ve been joining each other a little on stage on this tour too.

Lightning Dust- Never Seen

Audio Muffin : Finally, and a question that we have found often defines a true artist, what are your favorite kinds of muffins?

Amber: Doesn’t like muffins
Ashley: Lemon Poppy Seed
Ryan: Raisin Bran
Josh: The ones that look like muffins but are really carrot cake in disguise

We just have to sigh and shrug at Amber (no muffins, at least say Audio Muffins are your favorite kind of muffins), but all in all we had great pleasure in getting to know Lightning Dust. We would encourage all you Muffiners out there to check them out too. For our San Diego faithful, Lightning Dust is playing The Casbah tomorrow night!!

Get tickets to see Lightning Dust at The Casbah on 10/2 HERE…

Buy Lightning Dust’s Infinite Light (2009) HERE…

Recently, Pop Punk Phenom Alli with an I reunited for some grown up fun in Vegas and realized that the nostalgia of performing together was a void that needed to be reconciled. Here’s what drummer Michael Sileno had to say about it!

AM: It’s been 4 years right? Tell us what prompted the Reunion show!?
AWAI: Yes, it has been 4 years. We had been talking about doing a reunion show for a while, but it just never worked out. Tom got married back in February and that brought us together in Vegas. We decided there to commit to doing the show. Plus, Tom is moving to Baton Rouge, LA to start working on his PhD at LSU. It seemed like it was now or never.

AM:How did it feel to be back on stage since the last show? Has the crowd changed?
AWAI: It really was amazing. We had such a good time. It really felt like we never stopped playing. We wanted it to be a reunion for our friends and family too. That was definitely accomplished. There were some new faces in the crowd, but mostly it was people that used to come to our shows.

AM: What are each of you doin to nourish your talent since alli with an i retired?
AWAI: Ry is in an awesome band called Colossus with some friend of ours that everyone should check out. Matt owns his own company called the Intuitive Group, Tom is still doing the school thing as I stated earlier, and I am working in the IT field. I’ve played drums in a couple of bands and projects (Jawbreaker cover band with Tom which was awesome).

AM: Do you still give regular playtime to the bands that influence the alli with an i sound?
AWAI: Definitely! All that stuff we grew up on and got to be around still gets played. We had some of that music playing during the reunion show. That music will always be part of us.

AM: What’s your favorite new music ?
AWAI: I’m still loving Propagandhi. Their new album is great. I’m excited to hear what Alkaline Trio puts out next. I keep hearing good stuff about this new Mos Def album, so I have to check that out.

AM: Shall we hope and wonder if you guys will ever get back in a studio together again?
AWAI: I wish that could happen. I really do not think it will, but you never know. We joked about recording an album remotely using audio programs and the Internet. We are all very good friends and will always be in contact with each other. If our lives converge once again, I wouldn’t resist it.

AM: anything else you wanna tell the world via AudioMuffin?
AWAI: Thanks for checking us out, even now. We always did this to have fun and meet great people. We still are! Please check out our websites and get in touch.

Facebook Fan Page:
Also, our myspace page
and the STORE, where you can buy albums, tshirts, buttons, etc.

Mixed Emotions – from the album LONG STORY SHORT

For Future Reference – from the album I LEARNED IT BY WATCHING YOU

Here’s the video shot for the Reunion

To unfamiliar visitors, The Casbah, with its black leather cushion lined walls and dark atmosphere, may seem like a black hole. To those of us who frequent the joint, we relish in the fact that it has been home to intimate performances from the likes of Nirvana and The Smashing Pumpkins to Vampire Weekend and Ben Harper. This quaint venue has become the face of the San Diego live music scene and finds itself comfortably tucked within the limits of downtown. Bottom line, I jump at nearly any opportunity to pay a visit to The Casbah to see a show. Following a drink at the Waterfront in Little Italy, I found myself stage right anxious to see Annie Clark a.k.a St. Vincent there this past Saturday.

If you follow the indie-music scene you have undoubtedly heard of St. Vincent. She has opened for bands like Arcade Fire and The National and even played in the touring band for Sufjan Stevens (an Audiomuffin fav). Now, others are opening for her. She has the touring band and deservedly so. Clark has some serious pipes and basically dominates the guitar like no female musician I have ever witnessed. Her classic beauty and ranging vocals make her captivating live. Her most recent album, Actor (2009) was a big step up for this young singer/songwriter as she explored new sounds musically and vocally and amazingly is able to re-create the sound impeccably live. Her touring band’s got the goods, she works the double-mic and basically shreds the guitar on every song. Annie wrote and arranged all 11 songs on the album and had some production assistance from the talented John Congleton who has worked with such bands as Modest Mouse and Explosions in the Sky.

Combine these elements with the sound generated by one of the best small musical venues of all time and you can paint that black hole blacker.

The Strangers by St. Vincent

The Party by St. Vincent

Order Actor (2009) here or buy it wherever good music is sold.