Music Blog

First things first, Portland's own M. Ward continues his three-night run at the Aladdin Theater with night two tonight, also featuring openers Port O'Brien. In case you missed it, Ward recently released his sixth studio album and first in three years, Hold Time, a particularly impressive effort coming on the heels of last year's She & Him success. The short residency finishes up a fairly quick run of North American and European dates and gives Ward a respite of sorts (aside from one show at next week's SXSW) before hitting the road again in May, beginning with Coachella. Word as of now is that there are still a few tickets available for Monday night's show, which opens with Tu Fawning and Blue Giant.

Also this week, Black Key Dan Auerbach plays the Wonder Ballroom behind his new solo effort Keep It Hid. The singing, guitar-playing half of his Ohio-based blues duo, Auerbach branched out for his debut recently on Nonesuch without Pat Carney (drums) and the results are two-fold. On one hand, it's everything we've always loved about The Black Keys' music, including the sometimes spooky atmospherics of last year's Danger Mouse-produced Attack & Release (see Auerbach's excellent "Mean Monsoon"); on the other, Auerbach's open spaces are more the rule than the exception without Carney's beat-keeping, thus defining the distinction between this and a new Keys record.

MP3: Dan Auerbach, from Keep It Hid- "I Want Some More"

A slew of new releases on Tuesday sees the return of Mirah Vom Tov Zeitlyn, or just plain ol' Mirah to most of us. (a)spera is the title of the new K Records release from the Portland-based artist, and is her first in five years if you don't count last year's That Old Days Feeling odds n' ends release. Phil Elverum, Chris Funk, Tara Jane O'Neil, and Adam Selzer all lend their musically deft hands to the affair, and based on "Gone Are the Days" alone, we've all been waiting impatiently to hear this one for some time now. Mirah plays Antone's in Austin on March 20th for SXSW-- look for a Portland show coming April 4th to the Aladdin Theater.

Stream: Mirah, from (a)spera- "Education"

The Brooklyn-based band Bishop Allen also returns this week, releasing their third album Grr... on Dead Oceans. As you may recall, the band gained some attention a couple of years back for their novel approach to getting their music out there, releasing and distributing a new EP every month for a year-- some of which ended up in reworked form on 2007's The Broken String. They've kept up a heavy touring pace since, but somehow still managed to find time to finish the new 13-song record, a collection that finds production a bit more basic than last time out but isn't short on the hooks and literate wordplay we've heard in the past from the Ivy Leaguers.

MP3: Bishop Allen, from Grr...-
"The Ancient Commonsense of Things"
Stream: Bishop Allen's opbmusic in-studio session

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Tagged: mp3