Under Cover

Fruit Bats cover "The Other Woman" by Loretta Lynn

Love the Fruit Bats, and the AV Club's viral music series, "Undercover" -- where popular artists cover a list of classic tunes chosen by AV Club staff (I guess). Here, the Fruit Bats cover Loretta Lynn.

Happy Monday ...

Vetiver/Fruit Bats Tour the Northeast!!

A nice surprise for my Monday when I read on Sub Pop's website that the Fruit Bats and Vetiver will be hitting the road together this fall and will actually venture away from their native Pacific Northwest for shows on the eastern seaboard, where I, for one, will welcome them with open arms.

Take the opportunity to catch them at these east coast venus in September:

Sep 10 Mr. Smalls Theater, Pittsburg, PA
Sep 11 TRUCK America Festival, Big Indian, NY (See you there!)
Sep 12 Middle East, Cambridge, MA
Sep 13 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
Sep 14 First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA

Some awesome musical inspiration to start your week:

Vetiver - Wonder Why from Bella Union on Vimeo.

Fruit Bats - The Ruminant Band from The General Assembly on Vimeo.

Also, here is a teaser for the Fruit Bat's upcoming album, Tripper, to be released Aug. 2. Details on the new album, as well as a download of a super cool, bright new song "Tangie and Ray" HERE.

- Thanks ; )

Bon Iver, Bon Iver

Exciting news today as I've learned Bon Iver will release their sophomore album, self-titled "Bon Iver, Bon Iver," on June 21. My wishes have been fulfilled as all my favs are releasing new stuff this summer: My Morning Jacket, Fruit Bats, Vetiver, Fleet Foxes, the Beasties!, and, now, Bon Iver.

Track listing for Bon Iver, Bon Iver

A.
Perth
Minnesota, WI
Holocene
Towers
Michicant

B.
Hinnom, TX
Wash.
Calgary
Lisbon, OH
Beth/Rest


Listen on ...

- J

Oh yeah, and Radiohead's new album, King of Limbs, can be downloaded Saturday!!

A true crouching tiger, hidden dragon move by Radiohead to announce their album a week before it's released (and then sneak it out a day earlier than the press was anticipating), but I'm all for it! This First-Listen, album preview nonsense takes all the excitement out of holding a new album in my hand and tearing it open when I get into my car -- love it or hate it. I would say that was the reason why I haven't gone out and bought the new Decemberist and Iron & Wine albums (although they are good).

More good news for your Tuesday:

This, on the Fruit Bats blog:

"Just starting work on the latest album, expect new Fruit Bats jams sometime this year! Also, I've composed the score to a couple of movies this year. The first of those is called Ceremony (in theaters April 8th!), directed by my buddy Max Winkler. You can check out the preview here - we even used an old Fruit Bats chestnut for the trailer as you'll hear! More to come very soon, friends... Much love, EDJ"

Check out said trailer for "Ceremony" here.

Fruit Bats

So, yeah, the Fruit Bats ...

I just recently got introduced to the band thanks to the AV Club's "Undercover" Webisode series, where the band did a cover of Hall & Oates One-on-One.

Today, a Rhapsody promo/Web series caught my eye on RollingStone.com's Rock & Roll Daily blog. It features video of Fruit Bats' frontman Eric Johnson doing solo acoustic versions of Fruit Bats songs as well as an interview. The session was co-sponsored by Northwestern University, where, apparently, Johnson either hangs out or goes to school (I can't determine which based on the short synopsis beneath the video).

Either way, I thought I'd share the link here because I like it and I think soon most people will too. It's a smooth blend of The Shins (who the Fruit Bats have been touring with) and Wilco (like Wilco, the Fruit Bats are Chicago natives, but are now based in Portland).

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.