Tour Alert: Marissa Nadler

[MP3]

Marissa Nadler - "River of Dirt"

Coming off her recent release, Little Hells (dropped March 3 on Kemado), Marissa Nadler is heading on a fairly large world tour kicking off in L.A. on April 7. Matt posted on this awhile ago. Besure to check out her tour dates after the jump.
MARISSA NADLER ON TOUR
Apr 7 - 8:00p - Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles, CA
Apr 8 - 9:00p - Cafe du Nord - San Francisco, CA
Apr 10 - 8:00p - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA #
Apr 11- 8:00p -The Media CLub _Vancouver, BC
Apr 12 - 9:00p - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
Apr 16 - 9:00p - 400 Bar - Minneapolis, MN +
Apr 17 - 8:00p - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI+
Apr 18 - 8:00p - Shubas Tavern - Chicago, IL +
Apr 19 - 8:00p - Shubas Tavern - Chicago, IL +
Apr 21 - 8:00p - El Mocambo - Toronto, Ontario +
Apr 22 - 8:00p - Black Sheep Inn - Wakefield, Quebec +
Apr 24 - 9:00p - Lizard Lounge - Cambridge, MA +
Apr 25 - 8:00p - Highline Ballroom - New York, NY +
Apr 26 - 8:00p - IOTA - Arlington, VA +
May 1 - Vooruit - Gent, Belgium - w/ the Great Lake Swimmers
May 2 - The Chapel Arts Center - Bath, UK
May 3 - Halifax Parish Church - Halifax, UK
May 5 - Arts Center - Norwich, UK
May 4 - Captain's Rest. - Glasgow, Scotland
May 6 - The Luminaire - London, UK
May 7 - The Glee Club - Birmingham, UK
May 9 - Chapelle St. Jacques - Vendome, France
May 10 - Parlement de Bretagne - Rennes, France
May 14 - Init - Rome, Italy w/ Josephine Foster!
May 15 - Casa 139 - Milano, Italy
May 16 - Spazio 211 - Torino, Italy
May 20 - Le Romandie - Lausanne, CH
May 22 - Admiralspalast 101 - Berlin, Germany
May 23 - Studio 672 - Koln, Germany
May 24 - Brotfabrik - Frankfurt, Germany
May 25 - KAMPNAGEL - Hamburg, Germany
May 27 - Club Woody - Gothenburg, Sweden
May 28 - Revolver - Oslo, Norway w/ Jamie Stewart
May 30 - Orange Blossom Festival - Beverungen, Germany
May 31 - De Buze - Steenwijk, Netherlands
June 1 - Paradiso - Amsterdam, Netherlands
+ - w/ the Handsome Family
# - w/ Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter

Marissa Nadler Tonight At Joe's Pub

Marissa Nadler's fantastic new record Little Hells has provided the perfect soundtrack for the past few snow-filled frigid days in New York City. Nadler has cultivated a more fleshed out full band sound that only adds power to her haunting songs and immaculate voice. We've been hyping this album for awhile, but we just wanted to encourage you to make it out to one of her live shows on the upcoming tour and to check out Little Hells which is out now on Kemado records. Marissa Nadler is at Joe's Pub in NY tonight - the rest of her tour dates with Deer Tick, The Handsome family and Jesse Sykes (awesome) are after the jump. Tickets here for Joe's.



Apr 7 - 8:00p - Hotel Cafe - Los Angeles, CA
Apr 8 - 9:00p - Cafe du Nord - San Francisco, CA
Apr 10 - 8:00p - Tractor Tavern - Seattle, WA #
Apr 11 - 8:00p - The Media Club - Vancouver, BC
Apr 12 - 9:00p - Doug Fir Lounge - Portland, OR
Apr 16 - 9:00p - 400 Bar - Minneapolis, MN +
Apr 17 - 8:00p - High Noon Saloon - Madison, WI+
Apr 18 - 8:00p - Shubas Tavern - Chicago, IL +
Apr 19 - 8:00p - Shubas Tavern - Chicago, IL +
Apr 21 - 8:00p - El Mocambo - Toronto, Ontario +
Apr 22 - 8:00p - Black Sheep Inn - Wakefield, Quebec +
Apr 24 - 9:00p - Lizard Lounge - Cambridge, MA +
Apr 25 - 8:00p - Highline Ballroom - New York, NY +
Apr 26 - 8:00p - IOTA - Arlington, VA +

* - w/ Deer Tick
** MV + EE
+ - w/ the Handsome Family
# - w/ Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter

After the jump.

Short Takes: The Whip, Jar-e and Samantha Crain

The Whip - X Marks Destination
Release Date: March 3, 2009
Label: Razor & Tie
MP3: "Trash"
Rating: 82
________
Manchester's Bruce Carter and Danny Seville combine synth-led back beats and tantalizingly-punchy lyrics to create modern electro-rock with a bite. In their newest release, X Marks Destination, the two (with help from Fiona Daniel: drums and Nathan Sudders: bass) are making the music they know how to make. Citing influences such as Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, Seville and Carter shake speakers while inducing head-bobbing undulations (dancing?) Tracks such as album single, "Trash," as well as "Blackout" and "Divebomb," establish an electro-dance dominance that goes unattested. Get up for this one. Play it loud.

Jar-e-Chicas Malas
Release Date: Feb. 24, 2009
Label: Exotic Recordings
MP3: "An Idea", "Casa Believe"
Rating: 76
________
Jon Reid is Jar-e, but you would never guess he was a North Carolina native. Chicas Malas, translating to "bad girls," is rich with Mexican, Cuban and Latin influence --it is no wonder that Reid conceived of the album while traveling through these parts. The album is dominated heavily by the vocals of Reid and the ever-present rhythmic horn-section . There is no denying however, that the record is front-loaded as tunes toward the latter half begin to wane in off-pace balladry. Highlights include the intoxicatingly repeatable " 3 Leaf," album single "Casa Believe," and "An Idea." These tunes are saturated with Motown and Pop influences that make you want to sing in the shower --the rest of the album, maybe a nap?

Samantha Crain & The Midnight Shivers - Songs in the Night
Release Date: April 28, 2009
Label: Ramseur Records
MP3: "Songs in the Night"
Rating: 86
_________
Album opener "Rising Sun," equipped with dark overtones and pseudo-band-backed-balladry, introduces you to Crain's tipsy lyrical style. Yet, the title track that precedes it, jaunts along in a Rhett Miller sort of way; the chorus will permeate your ears and burry itself in your head. The rest of the album is like a country road: bumping along unpredictably, but never lacking in beauty. Crain lets her voice tell the tales and the band drive the car. Songs in the Night is a rustic gem that listens like it was unearthed somewhere near its creation, deep in the western landscape.

On The Blog Reel: Dent May, Jeremy Jay, Marissa Nadler

Featured:

DENT MAY "Meet Me In The Garden"

JEREMY JAY "Lite Beam"

MARISSA NADLER "River Of Dirt"

We're pretty much a sucker for anything Dent May does, so it's no surprise that the Mississippi trailer park troubadour's newest video for "Meet Me In The Garden" has us floored. The Jon Leone-helmed video for the Good Feeling... standout, which premieres today via Pitchfork TV, is a trip. In it, May parades around in vintage Elton glasses, kicks back with a bottle of bubbly and devilishly croons in a bathtub. Mysterious, low-budget and just a little flamboyant, this should definitely earn our Artist To Watch a few more fans in '09.

Meanwhile, Jeremy Jay and the gang are also using P4K to unveil the subtle video for "Lite Beam," from the Love Everlasting EP. If you fancy performance videos with uncomfortably close shots of mascaraed men, this one should be right up your alley. Marissa Nadler's "River of Dirt" video is much more pleasing: The clip, elegantly shot by director Joana Linda, captures the singer and friends on a journey through the Midwest by foot and by train. The track is from the forthcoming Little Hells, out March 3 via Kemado. All three videos are after the jump.

Marissa Nadler - River of Dirt - Directed by Joana Linda from Kemado Records on Vimeo

New Marissa Nadler - "River of Dirt"

[mp3]

Marissa Nadler "River of Dirt" mp3

This morning, via the sometimes great Stereogum "'Gum Drop", comes a new track from Marrissa Nadler's upcoming record Little Hells (due March 3rd on Kemado.) This record seems to promise a more fleshed-out, full-band sound from Nadler, who is known for her introspective and largely acoustic ruminations. On her amazing last record, Songs III: Bird on the Water, she was backed by members of the more ethereal Espers, while on Little Hells the backing instrumentation features synths, drums, lap-steel and piano. We're not saying she's going to sound like AC/DC or anything here, just that this recording promises to be more crisp and focused than her previous outings. Either way, we're looking forward to it. Marissa Nadler also has a cool blog where she posts a lot of demos and home recordings. Check it out. You can read an excerpt of Stereogum's interview with Nadler after the jump.


How did you come up with a "River Of Dirt" as the central image in this song?

The imagery for the song was written stream of consciousness. It was the first song that I wrote when beginning to write Little Hells. To be honest, I wrote the song with a bottle of wine, sitting on my floor, and I had the melody that just wouldn't go away. I had the picking going and this droning guitar piece, and then the words arrived. I tried to just let them flow, without being intentional and without censoring any of the thoughts that were coming into my head. The meaning did not clearly present itself until months later. I knew it was more autobiographical, which was a goal for the record. It grew spinning like a wagon wheel, because of the jumping around of time and place. El Camino is a car I always dreamt of having, because I think they are sexy cars. But el Camino also means the road, or the path.

In the beginning of the song, there is a desire to return home, but to a home that doesn't exist. Words of a desire to revisit a lost place linger. There is an idealized sense in the first stanza that the protagonist, or "I", would run away with my first love and live this utterly romanticized version of a life together, birds chirping and all, like some freaking children's book. That doesn't happen in the song, didn't happen in real life, and very rarely does. I have stopped romanticizing that fairy tale happy ending that we are force fed in movies and books in our childhood, and the song slowly enters my interpretation of reality by each stanza. I still believe in love, am on the wagon and all, but that is not what the song is about.