Results tagged “The Square Room” from Live Like This

The lineup for the second edition of the Square Room's Sound Off competition has been set, with 25 bands making it through the first round of cuts. The first night of the contest, on Wednesday, Oct. 2, at the Square Room, will feature the Ibiza-style soundscapes of electronic trio Arpetrio, alt-rockers Johnny Astro and the Big Bang and Pegasi 51, and R&B/funk ensembles Soulfinger and Dishwater Blonde. The winner of that set, based on judges' scores and audience response, will move on to the final round in March.
 
The other 20 bands will face off against each other in similar sets on the first Wednesday of each month through February, with the winners playing against each other in March. The remaining bands who made it to the cut-off round are the Big Deuce, the Black Jack of Ballarat, Bone Prophet, Brimstone Treehouse, Elliot Collett, Dave Dykes and the Grateful Heart, Jason Ellis, the Fontinelles, the Gentlemen Conspiracy, the Great Great Pines, the Hotshot Freight Train, Lions, Danielle Madison, Madre, Davis Mitchell, Gene Priest and the Cardinal Sin, Rally, Silver Jubilee, Skytown Riot, and the Theorizt. Oh, and Todd Steed is going to emcee the series.
 
The overall winner gets studio time at Rock Snob Recordings, custom merchandise, an opening spot on an upcoming AC Entertainment concert, and up to $500 in gear. 

If you (and/or) your band want to get into the Square Room's Sound Off competition, you've just got a few days left to submit your application. The deadline for submissions is Monday, Aug. 30, which is now less than a week away.

The winner of the contest, which takes place between October and March, will get a two-day recording session at Rock Snob studio, $400 worth of customized merch from Nouveau Graphics, airplay on WUTK 90.3 FM, and a CD-release show at the Square Room.

Twenty-five bands will be selected for the competition. They'll face off, five at a time, at monthly showcases, with the winners of the first five rounds advancing to a final on March 2.

For complete rules and an application, visit the Square Room website.

I really liked the first two Hold Steady album. I started to get a little bored around Boys and Girls in America. By the time Stay Positive came out two years ago, I'd pretty much had it with the band. I regret the tone of the review I wrote, even if I do stand by my assertions.



The new album, Heaven Is Whenever, hasn't exactly won me over again--it's really just a further refinement of its predecessors. But I really enjoyed talking to Craig Finn a few weeks ago; it reminded me that he's a smart guy, but I also realized just how thoughtful he is. There are no accidents in his songs, and the very specific world he's crafted--of party kids with Catholic guilt who are now closing in on 40--is a deeply personal one.

Based on that, and on the general consensus that the Hold Steady rock really hard live, I'm actually excited about tonight's show at the Square Room, something I wouldn't have expected a month ago.

Photo by Mark Seliger. 

Tom Fec, aka Tobacco, the frontman for the trippy Pittsburgh electro-pop group Black Moth Super Rainbow, is coming to the Square Room later this year. His new solo album, Maniac Meat, is out on indie hip-hop label Anticon this week, with a supporting tour starting in September.

Tobacco will be in Knoxville on Friday, Oct. 1. Andrew Clayman interviewed him last year, when BMSR played at Pilot Light. (Whatever you do, don't call what he makes in either project psychedelic music. "I've never set out to make psychedelic music," he told Clayman. "I don't listen to psychedelic music. I don't particularly appreciate psychedelic music. ... I find it extremely limiting, and I'm definitely not okay with it," he says. "I mean, I don't care what anyone does when they listen to the music. It does not matter to me as long as you enjoy it. But what bothers me is how 90 percent of our write-ups have to talk about how we're stoners or how you have to be stoned to listen to the music. It just trivializes everything that I'm trying to do. It's fine if people still want to call it whatever they'll call it, but it's just the constant, never-ending drug references that really get old."

The weekday roots-music series Blue Plate Special is kicking off its monthly Market Square shows today at noon with a performance by former everybodyfields singer/songwriter Sam Quinn (above) and master fingerstyle guitar picker Bill Mize. Quinn is celebrating the release of his first solo album, the fake that sunk a thousand ships, with his backing band the Japan Ten. You can read an interview with Quinn here. He's also playing a show at the Square Room on Friday, May 14.


The Blue Plate Special series, usually held at the WDVX studio on Gay Street at noon, with Friday installments at the Square Room, will now hold shows on the big Market Square stage on the second Wednesday of each month at noon. 

The Daily Times' Steve Wildsmith uncovered details about the Hold Steady's upcoming show at the Square Room with the Whigs. Tickets go on sale Friday, April 23, so the show's not officially been announced, but it is on the Square Room's TicketWeb page.

Both bands have played at the Bijou Theatre in the last few years (though the Whigs drew a pretty skeletal crowd), so the much-smaller-capacity Square Room should be intense.

The Whigs released their latest album, In the Dark, last month. The Hold Steady's Heaven Is Forever is due out on May 4.

The Dogwood Arts Festival's Rhythm N' Blooms Festival is officially underway--it started with the Blue Plate Special at the Square Room this afternoon--but the real kickoff is this evening at Market Square with 18 South and 6 Mile Express, accompanied by shows at Remedy Coffee and the Crown & Goose in the Old City.

Tomorrow and Sunday are the big days, though. The Square Room, the Bijou Theatre, and Barley's Taproom have dozens of performances scheduled from early afternoon until after midnight, and there are also sets at Preservation Pub and back at Remedy. Highlights for tomorrow include Pokey LaFarge, Yarn, Samantha Crain, the Dixie Bee-Liners, the Drunk Uncles, Dawn Landes and the Hounds, Medford's Black Record Collection, Brendon James Wright and the Wrongs, Taylor Brown, Kevin Hyfantis, the Songbirds, and Cutthroat Shamrock.

Sunday's big shows are at the Knoxville Botanical Garden in East Knoxville, with headlining sets by Ben Sollee (below) and Daniel Martin Moore and Carrie Rodriguez. The Black Lillies are also among the bands performing there. You can also catch Sollee at Remedy at 3 p.m. R.B. Morris and Hector Qirko are playing at the University of Tennessee Garden off Neyland Drive at 5 p.m.



 

Weekend passes are available for $40; there are no single-event tickets. Ticket info and a full schedule are available here.

Photo by M.T. Flatley

Day two got off to a nice start with Bang on a Can All-Stars at the Square Room--the five-piece set-up includes cello, bass violin, clarinet, electric guitar, and Ches Smith on drums and percussion. They're an expertly paced, tightly controlled ensemble, and closed with a few pieces by Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth. One was melancholy chamber music, the other energetic pop--the variety showed off BOAC's range. A good turnout, too--similar acts at the same venue last year drew much smaller audiences.

It's a beautiful day outside, and lots of good music ahead.

Aftah Party, the local R&B/funk/hip-hop ensemble led by jazz pianist Donald Brown's sons Keith and Kenneth Brown, walked away with the grand prize at last night's final in the Square Room's Sound Off competition. It was a tight contest--Taylor Brown and Company finished a close second, and the two groups were exactly tied in the crowd response category.

Aftah Party nailed their performance with a dirty, funky, long version of Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" arranged for a horn section. Their set started slow, with an original song very reminiscent of Bobby Brown ca. 1990, but by the end of "Welcome to the Jungle" the outcome seemed pretty clear.

Ex-Nickel Creek singer/fiddler Sara Watkins, who performed at Tennessee Shines at the Bijou Theatre last fall, will play at the Square Room on Thursday, April 15. Watkins formed Nickel Creek in 1989 in Carlsbad, Calif., with her brother Sean and mandolin player Chris Thile. Since the band broke up in 2007, she's pursued a solo career; her self-titled debut was released in April 2009.

Jag Star's just announced the CD release showcase for their new album Static Bliss--the band's first local show in two years--at the Square Room on March 19. It will be the debut of Jag Star's new bassist, Brian Davis. Tickets are $8.

The full (so far) schedule for Big Ears is up. New-ish details include:


• Terry Riley will perform on Saturday, March 27, at UT's Cox Auditorium in the Alumni Memorial Building, on the university's new pipe organ. He'll be playing music commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2008.



• On the same day, at the Bijou Theatre, Sufjan Stevens, along with members of the National and Sara Worden of My Brightest Diamond, with Clogs, which also features the National's Bryce Dessner. So far that's Stevens' only scheduled appearance, but nothing's final yet...

• Tim Hecker and Ben Frost will perform together on Sunday, March 28, at the "Big Ears Annex" (which might be the former Blue Cats/Catalyst space in the Old City).

• There will be a Big Ears listening party at the Square Room on Thursday, Feb. 25. The listening party will include recorded music and videos by Big Ears artists, commentary by AC Entertainment honcho Ashley Capps, and a chance to win a pair of Inner Ear passes to the festival.

Last night's Sound Off was the closest one yet, with local singer/songwriter duo the Songbirds squeaking by the boho indie band fronted by Joey English. (One other judge and I both had those two tied for first.)

The placements are based on a compilation of scores from the judges and a measure of crowd response from the soundboard. (Last night they were Benny Smith, Eric Nowinski, Jeff Cueller of AC Entertainment, and Chyna Brackeen of the Knoxville Botanical Garden, and me.) In each of the previous four contests, we pretty much knew who would win; the last two, won by Aftah Party and Hudson K, were apparent as soon as those bands finished playing. This time none of us could tell for sure, which made it one of the most interesting so far.

The Songbirds will advance to the final round on March 3 against Aftah Party, Hudson K, Taylor Brown and Company, and Vinyl Thief from Murfreesboro. Local emo rockers Seeing Skies have also been added to that bill as a wild card, thanks to them having the loudest crowd response. Joey English also announced that his band is heading out next week on a tour with Delta Spirit and the Willowz.  

Tonight's the final qualifying round of the Square Room's Sound Off competition, with the Songbirds, Matt Davis from Medford's Black Record Collection, Joey English, Ol' Sweet Lou, and Britta Adams facing off for a spot in next month's finals. Each band will play two originals and a Motown cover. Doors open at 7 p.m., the music starts at 8 p.m.

Aftah Party, Taylor Brown and Company, Hudson K, and Murfreesboro's Vinyl Thief have already secured spots in the final round, set for March 3. The winner gets a prize package that includes a recording session at Rock Snob Recordings, a slot on this summer's Sundown in the City, an EP, and a release show at the Square Room when it's ready. 

California power-pop band Sherwood will play at the Square Room on Thursday, March 4, with openers Hot Chelle Rae, Black Gold, and Reece.

 

Canadian "urban roots" quartet Po' Girl will host a concert and a square dance at the Square Room on Friday, Feb. 19. The jazzy folk group, which features banjo, clarinet, accordion, harmonica, and dobro in addition to a standard guitar/bass/drums set-up, will play with locals the Bearded.





Mp3: Po' Girl, "Shame" from Deer in the Night (2009)

Brooklyn singer/songwriter Rebecca Pronsky has a pretty magnificent voice, as this clip from her 2007 album Departures and Arrivals indicates. She played here last year, opening for Carrie Rodriguez at the Square Room. She's coming back to the Square Room on Friday, Feb. 12, for a WDVX Blue Plate Special, and later that day she's playing at the Glowing Body on Central Avenue.

Christina Horn of Hudson K says the band's long-awaited album, titled Shine, should be finished in time for late winter/early spring release. Horn says they've recorded all the tracks and are just about to start mixing "which could take anywhere from a couple of weeks until late February." (You can pitch in a donation here.)

Hudson K's playing at the Downtown Grill & Brewery on Friday, Jan. 22. Horn's playing piano with Michael Davis of at the February edition of the Square Room's Sound Off competition, and Hudson K's already made it to the finals of the contest in March.




Christina Horn of Hudson K by Tovah Greenwood

R&B/funk ensemble Aftah Party walked away with the fourth round of the Square Room's Sound Off competition on Wednesday night. The nine-piece band, featuring local piano giant Donald Brown's sons Keith and Kenneth, laid down some nasty grooves and propelled the biggest crowd in the competition's four-month history into a massive wave of dancing.

Aftah Party finished ahead of Grandpa's Stash, who nailed a version of Radiohead's long and complicated "Paranoid Android," acoustic Americana trio Kelsey's Woods, jam band Ga-Na-Si-Ta, and bluegrass pickers Big Country's Empty Bottle. (The latter band set a record for the longest Sound Off set ever--each group gets time for three songs, and BCEB stretched their three out with some bening instrumental jams. That record was later broken by Ga-Na-Si-Ta.)

The second installment of the Square Room's Sound Off competition on Wednesday night ended in triumph for Vinyl Thief, who broke out all their high-school band instruments for a rousing set.

Most of the bands--Vinyl Thief, Seeing Skies, Madre, Kamuy, and Enigmatic Foe--were only vaguely familiar to me, but each one had significant charm and/or promise. (As someone who thinks Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle" is one of the great singles of the decade, I especially appreciated Seeing Skies' tight and polished radio emo.)

More details soon.