(photo: Karsten Staiger)

Don’t even get me started about how old this makes me feel to know it’s been a quarter century since Living Colour blessed us with “Glamour Boys,” “Open Letter To A Landlord” and, of course, “Cult of Personality”.  That said, the band is still as vibrant, vital and ever.  Case in point: They’re embarking on a tour to celebrate Vivid that will take them all over Europe, the United States and parts of the Caribbean.  Mark your calendars and get your tickets:

Living Colour VIVID 25th Anniversary Tour (European edition)

March 7 – The Garage – Glasgow, UK – TicketMaster.co.uk
March 8 – Koko – London, UK – Ticketmaster.co.uk
March 10 – ECI Cultuurfabriek – Roermond, NL – Ticketmaster.nl
March 11 – Melkweg – Amsterdam, NL – Ticketmaster.nl
March 12 – Spirit of 66 – Verviers, BE – TicketNet.be
March 13 – New Morning – Paris, FR – New Morning
March 15 – Z7 – Pratteln, CH – Z7 tickets
March 16 – Factory Milano – Milano, IT – BookingShow.it
March 17 – Komma – Worgl, AT – Komma Tickets
March 18 – Lucerna Music Bar – Prague, CZ – Eventim.cz
March 19 – Atelier Babylon – Bratislava, SK – TicketPortal.sk
March 20 – Huxleys Neue Welt – Berlin, DE – Ticketmaster.de

And check out the guys in this interview by New York Natives:

Living Colour VIVID 25th Anniversary Tour (US edition [incomplete] )

March 27 – Fillmore – San Francisco, CA – LiveNation
March 28 – Catalyst Club – Santa Cruz, CA – TicketFly
March 29 – Belly Up Tavern – Solana Beach, CA – Belly Up
March 30 – El Rey Theatre – Los Angeles, CA – Ticketmaster
April 4 – Keswick Theatre – Glenside, PA – Ticketmaster
April 5 – Paradise Rock Club – Boston, MA – TicketMaster
April 6 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY – LiveNation
April 11 – Park West – Chicago, IL – eTix
April 12 – The Magic Bag – Ferndale, MI – TicketWeb
April 13 – The Opera House – Toronto, ON – TicketFly

May 11, 2013 – WimBash>>Cabarete 2013 – Cabarete, Dominican Republic

Yes, there will probably be more US dates forthcoming.

Additional link:

• Living Colour official

Jose’s new album, No Beginning No End, drops on January 22 and he’ll be hitting the road to support it.  If you can make it out, we suggest catching him when he comes to a venue near you.    Not going to get into any kind of review here, but we will say this: Start to finish, this album is lightning!  Get it when it comes out next week and thank us later.

JOSÉ JAMES – 2013 U.S. TOUR DATES

Jan. 23 – Highline Ballroom – New York, NY
Jan. 24 – Howard Theatre – Washington DC
Jan. 26 – Scullers – Boston, MA
Jan. 29 – Cedar Cultural Center – Minneapolis, MN
Jan. 30 – Lincoln Hall – Chicago, IL
Feb. 10 – Mar. 6 – Asia & Australia Tour
Mar. 9 – The New Parish – Oakland, CA
Mar. 10 – Brick & Mortar Music Hall – San Francisco, CA
Mar. 12 – The Del Monte Speakeasy – Los Angeles, CA

Here he is performing “Trouble” on Conan O’Brien:

Additional link:

• Jose James official

Guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. has generated a lot of buzz on the strength of his Bright Lights EP and the bangin’ title title track of the same name.  So, fans should be pleased to know that his full-length debut album, Blak and Blu, will be released on October 22.

The Warner Bros. press release highlights the song “Third Stone From The Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say.”  The two songs, one–”If You Love Me Like You Say” is by Little Johnny Taylor and popularized by blues legend Albert Collins.  The other, “Third Stone From The Sun” is a Jimi Hendrix class.   Apparently, Clark has completely the latter using a key Hendrix riff.  Can’t wait to hear it.

The lead single from the album will be the first track, “Ain’t Messin ‘Round”.

The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Ain’t Messin ‘Round
2. When My Train Pulls In
3. Blak and Blu
4. Bright Lights
5. Travis County
6. The Life
7. Glitter Ain’t Gold (Jumpin’ For Nothin’)
8. Numb
9. Please Come Home
10. Things Are Changin’
11. Third Stone From The Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say
12. You Saved Me
13. Next Door Neighbor Blues

As well, catch Gary on tour here:

Sep 17                    London, ENG                    Cargo

Sep 22                    Hamburg, GER                 Reeperbahn Festival

Sep 27                    Melbourne, AUS                The Tote

Sep 28                    Annandale, AUS                The Annandale Hotel

Oct 10                    Austin, TX                           Stubb’s – Waller Creek Conservancy Benefit

Oct 11                    San Antonio, TX                 Arneson River Theater

Oct 14                    Austin, TX                           Austin City Limits

Oct 20 – 21           Mountain View, CA               Bridge School Benefit Concert

Oct 26                    New Orleans, LA                Voodoo Festival

Nov 2-3                  Boston, MA                         The Sinclair

Nov 4-5                  New York, NY                      Bowery Ballroom

Nov 9                      Washington, DC                 9:30 Club

Nov 10                   Philadelphia, PA                   Theatre of the Living Arts (TLA)

Nov 13-15             Los Angeles, CA                   Troubadour

Nov 16                   San Francisco, CA               The Fillmore

Additional link:

• Gary Clark, Jr. official

photo credit: Andrew de Francesco

Very cool that The Heavy are back.  Some of you got to know them thanks to their sleeper hit “How You Like Me Now?” from their last album The House That Dirt Built.  But if you’re like me, you fell in love with their standout track, “Short Change Hero,” which become iconic when it was used in the trailer for the Batman: Arkham City. As Kelvin Swaby sings, “This ain’t no place for no hero to call home.”  And those of you who’ve played Arkham City know just how appropriate that is.

The new album, The Glorious Dead, was released last week, and they’ll be kicking off their North American tour tonight with a performance on The Late Show with David Letterman!  Set your DVR’s!

In the meantime, make plans to check out the guys on tour next month:

Aug. 30 – The Fillmore at Irving Plaza, New York, NY

Sept. 01 – Bumbershoot Festival, Seattle, WA

Sept. 02 – Doug Fir Lounge, Portland, OR

Sept. 04 – Slim’s, San Francisco, CA

Sept. 05 – The Blank Club, San Jose, CA

Sept. 07 – El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

Sept. 08 – Casbah, San Diego, CA

Sept. 10 – Santa Fe Brewing Co., Santa Fe, NM

Sept. 11 – The Crescent Ballroom, Phoenix, AZ

Sept. 13 – Red 7, Austin, TX

Sept. 14 – Fitzgerald’s, Houston, TX

Sept. 17 – Old Rock House, St. Louis, MO

Sept. 18 – Majestic Theater, Madison, WI

Sept. 19 – Fine Line Music Cafe, Minneapolis, MN

Sept. 20 – Double Door, Chicago, IL

Sept. 21 – Magic Stick- Detroit, MI

Sept. 22 – Pyramid Scheme, Grand Rapids, MI

Sept. 23 – Lee’s Palace, Toronto, ON

Sept. 25 – Le Cabaret du Mile End, Montreal, QC

Sept. 26 – Brighton Music Hall, Allston, MA

Additional link:

• The Heavy official

Saul Williams takes to the road again, this time in support of a new literary experiment that he engineered.  Here’s the deal behind CHORUS: A Literary Mixtape, which will be available on September 4, according to the man himself:

Last year I put a call out through social media for poets to send me their writings for the sake of a literary experiment which I hoped to engineer. Within one month I received approximately 8000 poems from which I. . .[with some help] selected 100. I then put the titles and authors aside and attempt[ed] to fuse 100 voices into one. Themes arose organically, as did the sequence of the poems (The many contributors are listed in the back, like film credits.) I then highlighted words throughout the length of the book to create a “meta-poem”, furthering the fusion of the many voices into one. CHORUS is the newest testament of a living generation. A testament that affirms that sometimes we stand on the shoulders of previous generations, while other times we are forced to stand on their necks.

You can catch Saul on tour throughout the month of September.  Check him out on these dates:

Aug 31 Howard Theatre Washington, DC
Sep 01 Baltimore Soundstage Baltimore, MD
Sep 02 Joe’s Pub New York, NY
Sep 03 Joe’s Pub New York, NY
Sep 04 World Cafe Live Philadelphia, PA
Sep 06 Brighton Music Hall Boston, MA
Sep 07 The Great Hall Toronto, Canada
Sep 08 Ottawa Folk Festival Ottawa, Canada
Sep 10 Forwell Hall London, Canada
Sep 11 Blind Pig Ann Arbor, MI
Sep 12 Schubas Tavern Chicago, IL
Sep 13 Memorial Union Terrace Madison, WI
Sep 14 Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN
Sep 15 Rifflandia Festival Victoria, Canada
Sep 17 The Triple Door Seattle, WA
Sep 18 Doug Fir Lounge Portland, OR
Sep 20 Great American Music Hall San Francisco, CA
Sep 21 San Diego Woman’s Club San Diego, CA
Sep 22 The Hotel Cafe Los Angeles, CA
Sep 23 The Hotel Cafe Los Angeles, CA
Sep 25 Sons of Hermann Hall Dallas, TX
Sep 26 Fitzgerald’s Downstairs Houston, TX
Sep 28 House of Blues New Orleans New Orleans, LA
Sep 29 Apache Cafe Atlanta, GA

Additional links:

• Pre-Order CHORUS: A Literary Mixtape from Amazon.ca
• More Saul Williams coverage on Boldaslove.us
• Saul Williams official

@meklithadero @quinndeveaux

Clearly, it’s been a busy year for Meklit Hadero.  She’s a TED Senior Fellow, which helps her push along her cross-cultural collaboration work on The Nile Project; she’s part of the Ethiopian hip hop group CopperWire; and, apparently, she’s had time to do an album of covers with fellow Bay Area retro-soul artist Quinn DeVeaux.  The album, Meklit & Quinn, will be available September 18.

What the two of them have put together is an album of covers.  According to the release notes:

Two years later we have Meklit & Quinn. A “soul record,” certainly. A project born of a shared feel for that idiom’s sounds. But not a suite of songs by its greats (although they couldn’t lay off that Sam classic, and another by Stevie Wonder). Nor an album of originals (although there are three of them here, including a toothsome groove, “Sent by You,” damp as the paper napkin they wrote it on). No. This is something else. A record comprised, as Quinn says, of “tunes that we could wear.”

It’s 12 songs that range from Sam Cooke and Stevie Wonder to Arcade Fire and MGMT, along with a couple of originals thrown in.

Meklit & Quinn Tracklisting:

1. Neighborhoods #1 (Tunnels) – Arcade Fire
2. Sent By You – Meklit and Quinn
3. This Must Be The Place – Talking Heads
4. Electric Feel – MGMT
5. Satellite Of Love – Lou Reed
6. Elegie – Patti Smith
7. I Was Made To Love Her – Stevie Wonder
8. Slow – Meklit Hadero
9. Look At What The Light Did Now – Kyle Field
10. Saving Up – Quinn DeVeaux
11. Music Arcade – Neil Young
12. Bring It On Home To Me – Sam Cooke

TOUR DATES

09/09 @ Tin Angel – Philadelphia, PA

09/12 @ Le Poisson Rouge – New York, NY

09/19 @ Playhouse – Arcata, CA

09/21 @ Center For The Arts – Grass Valley, CA

09/23 @ Monterey Jazz Festival – Monterey, CA

09/25 @ Yoshi’s Oakland – Oakland, CA

09/27 @ Hotel Café – Los Angeles, CA

Additional links:

• Meklit & Quinn official
• Meklit Hadero official
• Quinn DeVeaux official
• Pre-order Meklit & Quinn via Amazon

@cadenceweapon

If you’re not already, it’s time to get familiar with Rollie Pemberton, aka Cadence Weapon, who’s anything but your average rapper.  For one, he’s Canadian, like Toronto’s Shad K.  Another thing that sets him apart: He’s had two Polaris Prize-nominated albums and last year finished a two-year stint as Edmonton, Alberta’s Poet Laureate.

You might say that music’s in his blood.  His father, Teddy Pemberton, was a pioneering college DJ who is credited with introducing hip hop to Edmonton via his show “The Black Experience In Sound on CJSR-FM.”  In 2010, his father was inducted into the Stylus Awards Hall of Fame, Canada’s National DJ Awards.

As Cadence Weapon,  Pemberton is gaining notoriety as much for his approach to production as for his mic skills.  He uses samples as a foundation for writing the album, then works with live instrumentalists to reconfigure his original compositions.  Pemberton then turned the band-recorded tracks into samples for the album to “achieve a listenable, honest approach to integrating a live band into his setup”.  “I wanted to have a live feel, but I didn’t want to sound like the Arsenio Hall band,” Pemberton told Paste. “I wanted to make it ambiguous between where the sample ends and the live band begins.” Referencing his album’s first single “Conditioning” Pemberton goes on to say, “Originally it was a drum machine demo, I wanted it to be a Bo Diddley song. I basically have a band play it as a rock song, then when I took it home, I switched it into half time and turned it into a hybrid-blues track.”

What you’ll hear on his latest, Hope In Dirt City, is his own brew of psychedelic soul, old school rap, IDM (intelligent dance music) and mutant disco, and it injects freshness into the copycat hip hop landscape.

TOUR DATES

09/15/12 – Ottawa, ON - Arboretum Music and Arts Festival
09/21/12 – Montreal, QC - Club Soda
10/12/12 – Toronto, ON - Wrongbar [tickets]
10/13/12 – London, ON - APK Live [tickets]
10/14/12 – Windsor, ON - Phog Lounge
10/15/12 – Detroit, MI - Magic Stick Lounge [tickets]
10/17/12 – Chicago, IL - Schubas [tickets]
10/18/12 – Minneapolis, MN - 7th St. Entry [tickets]
10/19/12 – Winnipeg, MB - Park Theatre [tickets]
10/20/12 – Saskatoon, SK - Amigos
10/22/12 – Calgary, AB - Commonwealth Bar & Stage [tickets]
10/23/12 – Edmonton, AB - Starlite Room [tickets]
10/25/12 – Vancouver, BC - Fortune Sound Club [tickets]
10/26/12 – Seattle, WA - Barboza
10/27/12 – Bellingham, WA - The Shakedown [tickets]
10/28/12 – Portland, OR - Holocene [tickets]
10/29/12 – San Francisco, CA - Brick & Mortar Music Hall [tickets]
10/30/12 – Los Angeles, CA - Satellite Club [tickets]
11/03/12 – Birmingham, AL - The Bottletree
11/04/12 – Atlanta, GA - The Earl
11/06/12 – Washington, DC - DC9
11/07/12 – Philadelphia, PA - Kungfu Necktie [tickets]
11/08/12 – Boston, MA - TT The Bear’s [tickets]
11/09/12 – Brooklyn, NY - Glasslands [tickets]
11/11/12 – Buffalo, NY - Big Orbit’s Soundlab
11/17/12 – Montreal, QC - Il Motore

Additional link:

• Cadence Weapon official

If you’ve been hearing buzz about British soul singer Michael Kiwanuka, it’s for good reason.  Thanks to his spare, retro-soul vibe, he’s been compared to singers like Bill Withers and Otis Redding.  He’s done spot dates here, but plans on embarking on his first  full-fledged US tour next month in support of his debut album, Home Again, which was released on July 17.

Born and raised in North London to Ugandan parents, earlier this year he topped the BBC Sound of 2012 list, joining the ranks of previous winners including Adele, Corinne Bailey Rae, 50 Cent, Ellie Goulding, and others. Get to know him via this BBC interview:

Tour dates are as follows:

September 18, 2012 – New York, NY – Webster Hall
September 19, 2012 – Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club
September 20, 2012 – Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero
September 23, 2012 – Detroit, MI – Magic Bag
September 25, 2012 – Indianapolis, IN – Deluxe
September 26, 2012 – Chicago, IL – Park West
September 28, 2012 – Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line Music Café
October 01, 2012 – Salt Lake City, UT – The State Room
October 04, 2012 – Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
October 05, 2012 – Seattle, WA – Showbox at the Market
October 06, 2012 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
October 07, 2012 – San Francisco, CA – The Independent
October 09, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA – John Anson Ford
October 13, 2012 – Austin, TX – Austin City Limits Festival

Additional links:

• Michael Kiwanuka official

@officialmeshell

Mark your calendars for October 9, when the multitalented Meshell Ndegeocello drops her 10th  (!) studio album POUR UNE ÂME SOUVERAINE (“for a sovereign soul”): A Dedication To Nina Simone.  The album brings together songs that the iconic Simone made famous, both songs that she wrote or were written for her.  Meshell brings a great group of singers to help her in this endeavor, folks like Sinead O’Connor, Lizz Wright, Valerie June, Tracy Wannomae, Toshi Reagon and Cody ChesnuTT.

Nina Simone was a huge influence on Meshell, both musically and politically.  Her music was highly instrumental in the fight for equal rights in the United States.  “She wanted success, was pressured to make hits, but her own sound was still irrepressible,” explains Meshell. “She had things to say, she protested. She was a loud, proud black, female voice during a time when black female voices were not encouraged to make themselves heard.”

The challenge in making the album was for Meshell to find her own voice, giving the songs her own subtle spin while, at the same time, honoring Nina.  Everyone who’s familiar with Simone knows that there are multiple versions of the same songs, so the goal wasn’t to recreate them, but find a way to make them fresh.  Hopefully, that’s what Meshell has been able to achieve.

Tracklisting

1. Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood

2. Suzanne

3. Real Real feat. Toshi Reagon

4. House of the Rising Sun feat. Toshi Reagon

5. Turn Me On

6. Feelin’ good

7. Don’t Take All Night feat. Sinead O’Connor

8. Nobody’s Fault But Mine feat. Lizz Wright

9. Be My Husband feat. Valerie June

10. Black is the Color of My True Loves Hair feat. Valerie June

11. See Line Woman  feat. Tracy Wannomae

12. Either Way I Lose

13. To Be Young, Gifted and Black feat. Cody ChesnuTT

14. Four Women

Meshell Ndegeocello Tour Dates

07/20: New York, NY @ Lincoln Center, Avery Fisher Hall

07/28: New York, NY @ The Fats Waller Dance Party, Annunciation Park on Bruce Paltrow Field

08/04: Oakland, CA @ Art & Soul Festival

08/11: Burnaby, CA @ Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival

08/27: Big Indian, NY @ Women’s Music Summit, Full Moon

08/28: Big Indian, NY @ Women’s Music Summit, Full Moon

08/29: Big Indian, NY @ Women’s Music Summit, Full Moon

08/30: Big Indian, NY @ Women’s Music Summit, Full Moon

08/31: Big Indian, NY @ Women’s Music Summit, Full Moon

09/07: Pittsburgh, PA @ City of Asylum

09/08: Pittsburgh, PA @ City of Asylum

10/19: Durham, NC @ Duke University, Reynolds Industry Theater

10/20: Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall Theater

12/07: Los Angeles, CA @ UCLA Live

Additional link:

• Meshell Ndegeocello official

@flyinglotus

If you’re a fan of the experimental, musically omnivorous stylings of one Steven Ellison aka Flying Lotus, you’ll be happy to know that his fourth album has a release date. Until The Quiet Comes will be released on October 2 in the States (October 1 internationally) and will feature input from Erykah Badu, Thundercat, and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, among others.  Here’s what the press release says about the album:

Composed, according to Flying Lotus, as “a collage of mystical states, dreams, sleep and lullabies”, Until the Quiet Comes has the distinct feel of this nocturnal trip. From the twitching descent into a subconscious state and the out-of-focus time-ether of the journey that follows, the sound is an unhinged, yet elegant evolution of the melodic and rhythmic interplay that is woven into the DNA of Flying Lotus’ aural personae.

Ellison will be hitting the road to support the new album, with dates scheduled here in the states and internationally.  Dates follow the listing for the 18-track album.

Tracklisting
1. All In
2. Getting There feat. Niki Randa
3. Until the Colours Come
4. Heave(n)
5. Tiny Tortures
6. All the Secrets
7. Sultan’s Request
8. Putty Boy Strut
9. See Thru to U feat. Erykah Badu
10. Until the Quiet Comes
11. DMT Song feat. Thundercat
12. The Nightcaller
13. Only if You Wanna
14. Electric Candyman feat. Thom Yorke
15. Hunger feat. Niki Randa
16. Phantasm feat. Laura Darlington
17. me Yesterday//Corded
18. Dream to Me

Tour Dates

September
23 Los Angeles, CA, Hollywood Bowl (w/ Animal Collective) Facebook Event

October
07 New York, NY, Terminal 5 Facebook Event
15 Toronto, CO, The Hoxton Facebook Event
16 Chicago, IL, Metro Facebook Event
18 Denver, CO, Ogden Facebook Event
19 Salt Lake City, UT, Urban Lounge Facebook Event
22 Vancouver, Canada, Fortune Facebook Event
23 Seattle, WA, Neptune Facebook Event
25 Oakland, CA, Fox Theatre Facebook Event

November
03 London, UK, Brixton Academy (all-nighter w/ 2 special Flying Lotus performances) Facebook Event
04 Amsterdam, Netherlands, Paradiso Facebook Event
05 Leipzig, Germany, Conne Island Facebook Event
06 Paris, France, La Machine du Moulin Rouge Facebook Event
07 Fribourg, Switzerland, Fri-Son Facebook Event
08 Berlin, Germany, Gretchen Facebook Event
09 Manchester, UK, Manchester Warehouse Project Facebook Event