BeatCrave brings you April Smith as part of our Know Your NYC Bands series. We recently had the opportunity to talk with her before she hit the road with JD Souther for a North American tour. Having just toured the east coast this summer with her band in a van running on vegetable oil, April Smith is a fun-loving eco-friendly musician whose talent has only just begun to grow. On her recent release, Live from the Penthouse, April shines and provides listeners with one catchy track after another.

BeatCrave talked about her upcoming tour, what bands can do to go green, how she manages to take classic sounds and turn them into fresh tracks and what albums she would not be able to live without.April Smith is a singer/songwriter whose retro sound never sounds stale and is defintiely someone worth getting to know.

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This album is perfect to relax to and daydream with. Fredrik has the ability to slow your world down and highlight show the beauty that life holds. Below is a download of “Black Fur” a song off their latest album, Na Na Ni, which was released on October 28th and their new music video “11 Years,” which was made by Dutch filmmaker Iris Piers. The film was shot frame by frame with a photocamera at an abandoned train station in rural Sweden and is truly stunning.

But don’t trust me, check them out for yourself.

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New Music Video for “11 Years” below the jump…

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This is the oddest story of the day. Ben Gibbard of Death Cab For Cutie was stung by a scorpion twice on Wednesday night in San Diego. It happened while Ben was putting on his “show” pants before their set opening for Neil Young. The offending scorpion is pictured above.

Bassist Nick Harmer posted about the incident on his blog at Death Cab For Cutie’s website. He wrote “Ben’s okay, if not a little shaken, but we were worried for awhile because the scorpion was a little guy and when it comes to the wonderful world of scorpions, the smaller the deadlier.”

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Yesterday I made the trek down Sunset Blvd in Hollywood to the House of Blues to cover a barbeque headed by Forever the Sickest and Vans. The last time I saw FTSK was at Warped Tour, and I was excited to be able to see them again. Unfortunately, upon arriving, all I saw was a MASSIVE line of people waiting to get in and hardly anyone by the Vans RV.

The fans that crowded by the van were timid and shy, constantly referencing FTSK keyboardist Kent as the guy who invited them over. The cooks urged everyone to get food, but because no one recognizable was encouraging them, the food was left mainly untouched by concert-goers. Continue Reading

To celebrate Halloween, Bruce Springsteen is giving away a free song called “A Night With the Jersey Devil.” The song references the the legend of the Jersey Devil who is said to live in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. The legend is so famous that an entire episode of The X-Files was based around it.

The song is a gritty, distorted blues track with some that sounds like an old bootleg tape. It seems fitting for Halloween release.

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Last night, Wilco joined an ever increasing list of musical acts appearing on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report. Not only did Jeff Tweedy sit down for an interview, but the band debuted a brand new song which is dubbed, “Wilco the Song.” The title is a play on the “Joe the Plumber” rhetoric used by John McCain’s campaign on a daily basis.

The best thing about the song is that it is incredibly reminiscent of the more poppy, Summerteeth era Wilco. That’s a sound from the band that I would love to hear them revisit more often.

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Driving down Sunset at 4:30 on a Friday on my way home from a grueling week at work will, without fail, always piss me off. It’s the kind of thing where I will blast the music in my car so loud to drown out my profanities. Last Friday was nothing new. So I figured I’d give Miranda Lee Richards’ new album, “Light of X” a listen, to add a little productivity to my routine. Before I could even reach the end of the first track, I found it utterly IMPOSSIBLE to stay mad. This music, a blend of mellow pop with a country twist, was literally lulling me into submission, even with the blasting sun, car horns, and idiotic LA drivers doing their best to wear me down. I was in awe.

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Joaquin Phoenix announced to TV’s Extra on Monday that he is retiring from acting to pursue music. After learning to sing and play guitar for his Oscar-nominated role as Johnny Cash in 2005’s Walk the Line, it appears that he is super-serious about this turn in his career.

“Phoenix, who was curiously being followed by his own camera crews, reiterated, “Yeah. I’m working on my music. I’m done. I’ve been through that.”"

It is said that he has already collaborated to some extent with UK band The Charlatans, but it has not yet been confirmed if that is where the majority of his efforts will be directed. Fans of Phoenix might think with an inkling of hope that he’s not serious – that perhaps it’s a flight of fancy, a blip on the radar of consideration. But at this point and time, it doesn’t sound like the actor is joking or throwing around dismissive phrase for publicity.

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BeatCrave recently had the opportunity to check out the supremely popular and quite infamous Girl Talk at the Henry Fonda Theatre.  The idea of going to see a performer who doesn’t play a single instrument but  plays music that is originally someone elses seems quite odd.  Regardless of how strange it may seem, GirlTalk managed to sell out two nights in a row while he graced Los Angeles with his remixes of questionable legality.  The reason behind his ability to sell-out venues accross the country?  Quite simple really: Girl Talk is one of the most exciting, fun and energetic shows one could ever wish to attend.

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