Check out the New York set video for VIRGIN FOREST’s track “Don’t Be Afraid,” filmed in St. Marks and at frontman Scott Stapleton’s home (the opening scene is shot in Scott’s bedroom). We went to St. Mark’s so it would have an uber NYC vibe, and we also wanted it to be where kids still hang out,” Stapleton said. “We have some awesome Goth kids in the video and wonderful people we met on the street — I want to give a shout out to “Batisha!!” (the African American woman throwing a goat in the video). None of it was planned out, just the basic idea and the neighborhoods. The Satanic shit is my room; that’s my bedroom.”

The mellifluous, three-voices-as-one organic unit known as MOUNTAIN MAN have been stunning audiences as Feist’s backing band on her Metals tour. But the ladies are incredibly compelling in their own right. Check out their breataking harmonies on this a-cappella Mills Brothers cover from their acclaimed debut, Made the Harbor.

Mountain Man: How’m I Doin’

Listen to/Watch entire show:

 

When Feist recorded her last studio session for KCRW, she brought along her stellar band and a trio of back-up vocalists that have their own project called Mountain Man. After the recording, these ladies sat me down and treated me to an a cappella song from their debut that moved me deeply. It’s a cover once sung by the Mills Brothers. Today’s Top Tune is “How’m I Doin’,” from Made the Harbor.

A sold-out crowd was on hand to be a part of the live performance of Eno’s landmark album Here Come the Warm Jets. WNYC’s John Schaefer hosted (and performed) and an eclectic group came together to perform an album that had never been performed live (or intended to be for that matter). Knitting Factory artists Phantom Family Halo and Partisan Records’ Warm Ghost joined J.G. Thirwell (Foetus), Jim Sclavunos (Bad Seeds), Travis Morrison (Dismemberment Plan) , Vernon Reid and more!! 

Congrats to Partisan artists Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside for a great year! The Portland-based band’s Partisan Records debut, Dirty Radio, made #4 on Immaculate Noise’s Top 25 Albums of the Year.  From their scene-stealing performances at Bonnaroo and the Newport Folk Fest, to their late-night TV debut on Letterman and recent sellout performance at France’s Trans Musicales Fest, Sallie and the band have proven they’re one of the breakthrough artists of 2011. 

Sallie Ford & the Sound Outside’s album “Dirty Radio” is one of the sleeper discs of the year. Blowing fans and critics away in 2011 with debuts at Bonnaroo, Newport Folk Fest and on Late Night With David Letterman, the Portland band showed they’ve got what it takes to be in it for the long haul!

Our favorite belter Sallie Ford tries out her French accent and wows French audiences when she and the band make their sold-out debut at the Trans Musicales Fest in Rennes, FR! 

Nothing beats Portland songwriter AL JAMES, aka DOLOREAN, for making heartbreak sound so good. The Onion AV agrees and says that “‘Thinskinned’ expresses how wide-open vistas can be spoiled by ‘one burr under the saddle.’”