Thursday: The Maine with Lydia and Arkells @ Headliners (7pm, $20, all ages)

Guitar rock played by men with swooping haircuts. Here is there video for “Into Your Arms”.

Friday: Devine Carama & Digital 859 present Brown Sugar Hip Hop Showcase @ Al’s Bar (10pm,$5, 21+)

It’s that time of the month again. A showcase for hip-hop heads around the city. Here is Devine Carama’s video for “Knight Rider”.

Friday: The Werks @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm, $10/$15, 18+)

A perennial favorite jam band around the midwest. Here is them playing at the Newport Music Hall.

Friday: Idiot Glee @ The Downtown Library (7pm, free, all ages)

Lexington indie rock’s favorite son will be playing at a new venue inside the downtown Lexington library. Here is his video for “Let’s Get Down Together”.

Saturday: Coralee and the Townies with Those Crosstown Rivals @ The Brick Alley ($5, 21+)

Local country soul music in Frankfort. This is the band’s cover of “Down in the River to Pray”.

Saturday: Absalom, Absalom with I Like You, Bears of the Blue Rive @ Al’s Bar (10pm, $5, 18+)

Young kids with literary pretensions playing rock music. Here is the band playing around at Greyskull Recordings.

Saturday: Warren Byrom with Robbie Roberts and Coralee @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm, 18+)

Laid back, psychedelic country. Take a listen to his music here, at his bandcamp.

Sunday: Leon Russell @ Buster’s (8pm,$22 adv / $25 dos, 18+)

A legendary musician whose played with everybody. Here is him playing with most of those people at the Concert for Bangladesh.

Sunday: Dunebuggy Attack Battalion, One Night Standards and The Slagsmiths @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm, 18+)

Blooze rawk with a youthful flair. Here is the band doing “Shoe Blues” in Louisville.

Sunday: Slaughterhouse with Scanners @ Headliners (9pm, $15, 18+)

An all-star hip-hop group that plays gully, hardcore jams. Here is their video for “Hammer Dance”.

Plants and Animals are an acclaimed indie rock group from Montreal, brought to Lexington by the fine folk at WRFL. I went into the show at Cosmic completely cold, not having any idea of how they would sound but the popular opinion from people I talked to  in the days leading up to the show was that the band was top notch. I have to say, as a person who was once completely uninediated, Plants and Animals put on a quality indie rock show. The band encompasses all the things that have become standard for indie rock and they do them well. The band utilizes bass, drums, guitar (occasionally keyboards), three part vocal harmonies, playing at loud volumes yet never really moving around on stage risking to look daft.

Thursday: The Polish Ambassador with Ellie Herring @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm, $12, 18+)

An electronic dance music apocalypse. Here is Polish ambassador’s song “Not Without My Chapstick”.

Thursday: Featureless Ghost, Chalaque, Three Legged Race, Idiot Glee @ Al’s Bar (10pm, $5, 18+)

A night of intelligent, electronic leaning pop-music. Here is Featurless Ghost’s song “Scanner Proof”

Thursday: Arcane Rifles, White Walls, Psychic Teens, 30th Century Men @ Sidecar (10pm, $3, 21+)

Lots of music of the “rawk” variety. Stay if you like loud guitars. This is White Walls playing at CS13 in Cincinnati.

Friday: The Butchers, 30th Century Men, Rat King @ Sidecar (7pm, 21+)

Celebrate 4/20 at the Sidecar. They will be selling Totinos pizza! Here is The Butchers’ video for “Soda Pop”.

Friday: Bear in Heaven, Blouse, Doldrums @ Zanzabar (9pm, $10, 21+)

Another 4/20 show is Bear in Heaven in Louisville. Here is their video for “Reflection of You”.

Saturday: Jovantaes, Dig Shovel Dig, CROSS, Gourmet Jerks @ The Green Lantern (10pm, 21+)

Heavy music that ironically is not being played on 4/20. Here is their song “Mountain Pass”.

Saturday: Weedeater, ASG, Couch and Stampede @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm, 18+, $15)

More post 4/20 stoner metal.  Here is Weedeater’s “Hammerhandle”.

Seluah, the great band on Karate Body Records, will be playing with Archnemesis at Cosmic Charlie’s tonight. The doors open at 9pm and the show is $10 and 18+.

You can listen to their new song, “Sail Straight Into the Bombs”, here. Their album, Red Parole, is out now on Karate Body and you can purchase it here.

Ellie Herring is a Lexington- based electronic artist who is making a name for herself in the city’s burgeoning electronica scene. I caught up with her recently to talk about her craft and how she feels about the city were she dwells. She’s delightful.

For songs and other info, visit her website here.

An Interview with Ellie Herring

Anthony/YANP: How long have you lived in Lexington?

Ellie Herring: I moved here originally in 2004 and lived here for a few years and then moved to Brooklyn. I came back here and this will be the fourth year I’ve been here. And I’m enjoying Lexington more and more, and I joke with my friends that I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older or Lexington’s getting better or all my interests have kind of aligned in this place. I don’t think it’s quite home forever but when I moved back I didn’t think it was going to be all glitter and honey.

A: You say Lexington’s not going to be home forever, where do you see yourself ending up eventually?

E: There’s a lot of potential for moving out of here in November. It’s one of those things where either I’ll move or I’ll be here another four years. I’ve considered moving back to Brooklyn, but last time I was there I was a student, so now I don’t really have a way to gauge how easy the living there will be. When I was there before I was so fucking exhausted all the time because of school and just trying to live there. It’s just hard. You’re busting your ass to just scrape by. But it’s such a compromise because you can do, see, hear anything you could ever want that’s going to roll through any town anywhere.

A: How do you define success? Is it simply releasing somethng that’s good or do a lot of people have to buy it for you to say you accomplished something great?

E: I’ve been going through this with myself a lot lately, and I have a side project that I’m working on with two other girls and I wanted to see where their heads were with success. When I first started making music years ago it was wanting listener feed back, you know? Tell me it’s good, or tell me it sucks or does anyone care? And slowly through the years it’s become “I don’t care”. If people want to listen to it that’s fine but if they don’t I’m not going to stop doing it. I don’t think success is going to be defined by making a living doing it ever. That would be amazing and a dream but I don’t expect that whatsoever. I guess success would be seeing someone happy or people coming to the live show, something like that. It makes me feel pretty good about what I’ve done. I had an album release party at Al’s [Bar]-

A: Right, you rented lights from the Doo-Wop shop. My friend who works there told me you came by for that show.

E: Yeah, I was there yesterday, I’m there all the time. I walked in on 6:30 on a Friday and I know it wouldn’t be normal for these guys if I didn’t just show up.

A: You’ve seen Cheers haven’t you?

E: Yeah

A: You’re sort of like Norm, then.

E: Yeah, oh God, totally. I went in yesterday and I didn’t have that much time and I needed a guitar-it doesn’t need to be fancy. I need a tiny amp that’s not loud because I’m in a really cramped space and I need it for a week and the guys were like “ok” and I was out the door in ten minutes. I’m such a tech, geeky person. I’m always wanting to try new things. If they weren’t there I would be blowing money on things all the time.

A: About the technical aspect of things, how do you go about making a track? Do you have a certain process that you use for every song?

E: Yeah, I generally have a process. I think that starting a new thing at all is pretty spontaneous. I go through periods, that I kind of hope is normal for a lot of musicians, where the thought of sitting down and creating something new-totally new-  feels repulsive or fake to try and do it. So, I just go on what I consider a bender where I’ll just bang stuff out for two days straight. I’ll then have one or six tracks that I feel I can do stuff to later on, and usually there is a huge wave of creation and then I back off of it. It usually starts the same way. I have a tempo, that’s usually sluggish, I usually work under 90 beats per minute and if I want something quicker I’ll speed everything up. I just work better in a slow, driving kind of beat but I don’t want to go and create chillstep or something like that.

A: Chillstep? I’ve never heard of that.

E: Yeah, it’s like a shuffle.

A: So it’s the opposite of brostep, I’m assuming,which is really aggressive?

E: Yeah it is a little bit. It’s like if you took all of the drops and shit out of brostep and you just had like- I don’t know how to explain it but I had a track and a guy who’s on the label I’m on said “this is almost chillstep”.  So I’ve been bringing it up a little bit[the tempo], but I’m not totally apposed to it and live performances have been making me do that for the energy so sometimes I’ll create b-sides to tracks that are three years old. It’s just to have a little more energy. I’m getting away from using computers or anything on stage whatsoever. The new project I’m working on would have a sampler for beats and an electric guitar probably, since I play guitar too and keyboards and a vocalist. I almost brought the little demo I had to let you hear it but I didn’t feel good with it yet. I’m moving in a direction I’m really excited about. It’s more melodic, I don’t know how to explain it other than compare it to other people. If you cross The Chromatics and Glass Candy and Grimes. If you could somehow combine those three acts somehow, it’s like The Chromatics and Glass Candy but less happy.

A: Would you say your music fits into the mainstream or is it outside of what a majority of the people listen to?

E: Yeah, I don’t even try, there’s no way the mainstream will ever be interested in listening to that or take it and run with it. I have no fear and don’t really care. To me, it’s really irrelevant.

A: So you don’t aspire to be the next Tiesto?

E: (Laughs) Hell no, I don’t. I was talking to a friend of mine who’s also a musician and you get into these debates with people who are like “yeah, I used to like them until they sold out”. I would never want to be the person who sells out but I would like to be the person who gets to make music and live comfortably. There’s got to be a medium ground, somewhere in between selling out and where I am now, where you don’t reach that level of selling out where everyone hates you. But when you are at that point do you really care? Are you just beyond who you used to be that you’re this completely different person?

A: Is there anyone who inspires you to create? It doesn’t have to be musical necessarily, just someone who makes you want to better your skills.

E: I was a classically trained pianist growing up and just got too cool for that, you know? Then I got back into it, then acoustic music. Then I got into the electronic side of everything, even analog equipment that kind of stuff. I got introduced to The Knife and I was so blown away. To this day there’s nothing better. There’s nothing in my mind that can beat them. I will anylyze their tracks, just like break them down, just pulling things out. A lot of it isn’t complicated at all but they put it all together to make it happen. You could kill those creepy vocals and it could still be just as good. Fever Ray more recently, and Kraftwerk. Whenever I first got into electronic music I remember in high school, and I’m embarrassed to say this, there’s a guy called Robert Miles.

A: I’ve never heard of him.

E: Oh God, he did this stuff that’s really ambient. Then I got into standards like Orbital and Chemical Brothers and Underworld and they sort of set it off for me.

A: How would you describe your fans? Have you noticed one group of people coming to your show more than another type of group?

E: It is all over the place. In Lexington it’s a lot of my friends and people I know as a result of playing shows and meeting people. I played a show in Knoxville recently and I could kind of gauge the kind of people who came to see me and the bands that were there. But I don’t know, it’s kind of difficult.

A: Do you feel this city is receptive to the kind of music you make?

E: I think it’s just small comparatively. Cincinnati does a little better. It’s different genres of music then there’s sub-genres, so you could say I’m electronic music. What’s the population of the audience for electronic music in Lexington? That’s a really broad alley to walk down within a sub genre that’s hard to define.

A: Do you have a favorite venue in Lexington?

E: Yeah, Cosmic Charlie’s. Overall that’s probably my favorite venue based on the sound alone in that place. And they take good care of you. The thing I like about Al’s [Bar] is I can be like “I have this date open” and they’ll be like “sure, sure”. They are really willing to work with me and when I had the electronic band, Fair Heron, like a year and a half ago, we played a ton of shows at Al’s and we had a ton of mixing problems and that kind of stuff there. It just nerve racks me as a musician to play a show and have to trouble shoot all my problems but I swear I know that mixer so well at Al’s I just don’t care anymore. I can work with it. I’ve run sound for other bands who’ve played there. I’ve played at Buster’s too but I mean not lately, there’s not been anything remotely- Junior Boys came through there, and I’m not kidding, there were ten people there. That’s what kills me. I went to a Junior Boys show downtown when the Dame wasn’t the new “The Dame”, there was like 30 people at that show and they go other places and it sells out immediately. That kind of defines interest for me around here. Like, Junior Boys, they’re huge for me.

A: Do you see interest in Lexington improving in your opinion?

E: I think it’s changing. I feel interest in designers and music is shifting, but I don’t think it’ll be something that can happen overnight, obviously. I think there’s a lot of cross genre stuff happening. [The] Tobacco [show] sold out and Black Moth [Super Rainbow] sold out and I’m not a huge Tobacco fan but I’m really happy that this has happened.  If it’s a Friday and I’m laying around, I’ll listen to a band and if they sound decent I’ll go check out a show. I don’t know how many people actually do that. Sometimes it’s hit or miss. It’s like I don’t know anybody here. It just depends on if I’m interested, I’ll track down some tracks and I’ll go to a show. I don’t know how much of that is going on but I am seeing a lot more promotion of shows around town and that kind of thing. Boomslang this past year was amazing. In the past four years something’s really changed. I don’t have to drive an hour or two to see good music.

A: Is there anyone locally who you’ve had your eye on recently?

E: Yeah, there’s the obvious people like Idiot Glee, who’s amazing. I think I was kind of late on the Idiot Glee boat. I feel like it’s so cliche to say that but how can you not, you know. I just think he’s really great. I played a show with Robert Beatty recently, as Three Legged Race and I’ve been listening to a lot of his stuff recently. It’s really, really good. It’s really different from what I do and I’ve wanted to do a remix off of his new release. I used to go to a lot of Chico Fellini shows and they’re a completely different style of music but Matt Duncan is great and so is Andrew English.

A: You mentioned Fair Heron earlier, do you like being in a group more than being alone? Is there a difference in the creative process?

E: I enojoy working alone because I have a hard time letting go control of how things are built. But I have so much anxiety starting music sometimes that I won’t even start it. I’m scared that I will sit for six hours straight and everything is going to suck. I think playing with more people eases that anxiety a little bit. I can get help when that feeling comes on. The new project is called Trells, working on that is the first time I’ve sat next to someone producing something and asking them how it sounds. I have a lot of vocals on albums, but it’s not what I want to be doing. To have a couple of true vocalists is really great.

On Wednesday April 18th Cursive will be playing at the beloved Lexington venue, Cosmic Charlie’s. YANP is giving away two tickets to one lucky winner. All you have to do to enter the contest is leave your full name and email address in the comments section of this post and if you’ve won, you will get an email confirmation before noon on April 16th. The winner will be chosen randomly, but if you don’t enter, then you can’t win.

Check out their song “The Sun and Moon” from their new album I Am Gemini.

Lexington is supremely lucky to be visited by Portugal. The Man this Sunday April 15. I’m supremely lucky enough to be giving away tickets.

To enter to win a pair of Portugal. The Man tickets, post a comment with the song you’d most like to hear them cover. I’ll pick a winner at random on Friday. Don’t forget to include your email address so I can contact you if you win!

Now that you’ve entered, you may want to spend some time checking out the Portugal. The Man covers archive I just posted. There’s some awesome gems in there.

Full show details and a link to buy tickets after the break.

[Read more →]

Joshua Edmonds aka Vagrant Black has been steadily rising in the Lexington hip-hop community over the past few years. With his latest lp, Preludes, Edmonds releases his finest effort yet. Over the course of thirteen tracks, the listener is presented with the manifestation of a unique perspective and artistic vision. The album fits in nicely with the current  hip-hop climate, one that favors emoting and genuine indifference to street cred in the Childish Gambino mold. On ” Baby Won’t You” he paints a gentle, attainable picture of a desirable woman, “The Promise” is about genuine regret in a relationship gone sour and probably most pointedly, “Champagne Dreams”  is a statement of purpose about being “middle class and black”. Though brazenly confident lyrically, Edmonds has adapted into a mid-tempo flow that rarely changes and rarely allows the mc to break a sweat. This can be a detriment, as on occasion he appears flat and falls behind the beat, but more often than not he utilizes a relatively simple, monotone delivery the way EPMD did- no flash, all substance.

However, it must be said that perhaps the true star of the album is MCLARKE who produced every track on the album with a deft and subtle touch reminiscent of Blueprint-era Kanye West and Just Blaze. Tracks are laden with elegant flourishes like a sweeping yet danceble piano line on “The Promise” or a nicely chopped vocal sample here or a massive sounding bass drum kick there. MCLARKE does nothing innovative per se, but has studied the past in such a way that renders originality unnecessary. It will be interesting to see the trajectory his musical talents take him, but together with Vagrant Black the duo have a chemistry that’s undeniably endearing to the hearts of those with a pallet for hip-hop that’s a little more than ordinary.

Download and listen to the full album at Vagrant Black’s bandcamp, here.

Thursday: Ellie Herring dj set @ Sidecar (next to Al’s Bar) (10pm,free, 21+)

Local dj extraordinaire Ellie Herring is playing dance songs. Here is the song “Crave Secrets” from her album Satiate.

Thursday: Gentleman Relish with Living with Hermits and Wol and Weeps @ Al’s Bar (9:30, Free, 18+)

It’s really hard to describe this guy. He’s a kind of one man, deranged, country guy. The shows look singular in there oddness. Here is him doing “There’s Always a Rockier Bottom” at Buster’s.

Friday: Matt Duncan @ The Central Library (7pm, Free, all ages)

You know and love him and now bring your kids to see him at the library downtown. Here is his hit song “Beacon”. Classy local pop music.

Friday: The Features with The Butchers @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm, 18+, $12)

Thrashy, punky, pop music. Combine them with the Butchers and a great show is made. Here is the song “Circus” from their album Exhibit A.

Saturday: Dunebuggy Attack Battalion with J. Marinelli and Satellite Giant @ Cosmic Charlie’s (10pm,$5, 18+)

Raucous local blooze rawk. Here is Dunebuggy doing the song “Running”.

Saturday: The Ford Theatre Reunion with The Bloodrats Barter @ Al’s Bar (9pm, $8,18+)

The best carnies in town. Theatrics and garbage percussion. Here is FTR doing the song “One Lucky Guy”.