Wednesday Music News

05/10/2017

Janice Headley

That David Byrne is unstoppable. The influential icon was just in town, launching a run of his musical Here Lies Love at the Seattle Repertory Theater (watch an exclusive KEXP interview about it here). And now, upon his return home, he's announced a "music-related variety show" to held for one night only at the Town Hall in New York City on June 1st. According to a press release, the evening "will include all sorts of performance: music, of course, but also magic, theater, dance, science, and humor… and more." The event ties into a new chapter being added to his 2012 book, How Music Works; the updated version was released last week on Three Rivers Press. Tickets for the event are on sale here. And be sure to tune in on Friday, May 19th as KEXP Presents Six Degrees of David Byrne Day, our annual day of “on-the-fly” programming inspired by the music of David Byrne. [ Consequence of Sound ]

It's only a one-minute clip, but Father John Misty (aka Josh Tillman) continues to turn around some musical political commentary within the hour. Last night, FBI Director James Comey was fired by Donald Trump, prompting the couplet: "James Comey was fired in the month of May/James Comey was fired from the CIA." (FJM adds on Twitter "CIA rhymes.") Watch below, and be sure to check out KEXP's exclusive interview with Tillman about his latest release, Pure Comedy, out now on Sub Pop. [ Under the Radar ]

Folk music pic.twitter.com/4PG5wBl61g
— FEATHER JAM MINISTRY (@fatherjohnmisty) May 10, 2017

Just days after Sigur Ròs announced their Icelandic music festival, UK trio The xx share that their own Night + Day Festival will head to Iceland in July following stops in Lisbon, Berlin, and Brixton. The weekend of July 14th through 16th, at a waterfall called Skogafoss two hours away from Reykjavik, The xx and Jamie xx will perform, as well as Kamasi Washington, Warpaint, Earl Sweatshirt, Sampha, Jagwar Ma, Floating Points, to name a few. In a press release, the band explain, "We fell in love with Iceland while recording some of I See You there a few years ago and we are so looking forward to returning and bringing some of our friends, from near and far. We hope you can join us there in July!" [ Stereogum ]

With their Take Away Show series, French website La Blogothèque places musicians in unconventional locations to perform their songs. With Mac DeMarco, whose most recent album is This Old Dog, the location is a dog park in Paris. As he casually strolls around with an acoustic guitar, his songs ("Still Beating" and the album's title track) are filled with the sounds of children playing, police sirens, and occasional passer-bys, all punctuated with DeMarco's cartoonish giggle. Watch below. This Old Dog is out now on Captured Tracks; DeMarco plays the Moore Theatre on Sunday, September 10th. [ Pitchfork ]

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