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Posts Tagged ‘Alec Ounsworth’

Alec Ounsworth Headline Tour

ALEC OUNSWORTH ANNOUNCES FIRST HEADLINING TOUR

Alec Ounsworth

Anti-Records is proud to announce Alec Ounsworth‘s first headlining tour ever. The dates will be in support of his critically acclaimed new albums: Mo Beauty and Flashy Python’s Skin and Bones. The tour begins with five shows opening for Cold War Kids and then Ounsworth and his band will do 18 headlining dates across the country.

About the band’s debut performance at 2009′s CMJ, Jon Pareles of the New York Times wrote that they “set aside the brittle Talking Heads tinges of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah for slightly more old-school approaches – meaty electric-piano funk with a New Orleans mambo flavor, bounding Rolling Stone guitar rock, and, from his band, guitar solos straddling blues jabs and post-punk dissonance.”

Ounsworth’s band is Matt Sutton, Peter Modavis, Brian Ashby and Jonas Oesterle. They will be playing songs from Mo Beauty, Skin and Bones, as well as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s catalog. Mo Beauty was recorded deep in the heart of musical New Orleans with an ensemble of local heavyweights including George Porter Jr. of The Meters and drummer Stanton Moore of Galactic, and was guided by veteran producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Replacements). The album is a stunning union of powerful rhythms and imaginative arrangements in the service of evocative literary songwriting.

Alec Ounsworth Tour Dates

01/22/10 Fri The Wiltern Los Angeles, CA*

01/23/10 Sat The Fillmore San Francisco, CA*

01/29/10 Fri Terminal 5 New York, NY*

01/30/10 Sat The Vic Theatre Chicago, IL*

02/02/10 Tue BottleTree Birmingham, AL

02/03/10 Wed One Eyed Jacks New Orleans, LA

02/05/10 Fri Emo’s Alternative Lounge Austin, TX

02/06/10 Sat Hailey’s Denton, TX

02/09/10 Tue Solar Culture Tucson, AZ

02/10/10 Wed Casbah San Diego, CA

02/11/10 Thu Bootleg Theater Los Angeles, CA

02/12/10 Fri Cafe du Nord San Francisco, CA

02/13/10 Sat The Brookdale Lodge Brookdale, CA

02/15/10 Mon Doug Fir Portland, OR

02/16/10 Tue Neumos Seattle, WA

02/18/10 Thu Neurolux Boise, ID

02/19/10 Fri Kilby Court Salt Lake City, UT

02/20/10 Sat The Larimer Lounge Denver, CO

02/22/10 Mon The Waiting Room Omaha, NE

02/23/10 Tue 400 Bar Minneapolis, MN

02/24/10 Wed High Noon Saloon Madison, WI

02/25/10 Thu Schubas Chicago, IL

*Supporting Cold War Kids


Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars New Album Due 03/23

SIERRA LEONE’S REFUGEE ALL STARS TO RELEASE RISE & SHINE MARCH 23, 2010

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars started playing music together in West African refugee camps while their homeland was racked by years of bloody warfare. Since then, audiences around the world have embraced the band and their utterly extraordinary story. On their forthcoming album, Rise & Shine, the All Stars’ sound, as well as their biography, evolves further; the music finds them “…establishing an identity based as much on skill, imagination and charisma as on their undeniably touching story” (The Los Angeles Times). Cumbancha will release the album on March 23, 2010.

For the follow up to their acclaimed debut, Living Like a Refugee, the band began recording in their hometown of Freetown, Sierra Leone then traveled to New Orleans, Louisiana to work with the highly accomplished producer Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Angelique Kidjo, Rickie Lee Jones, Michelle Shocked, Alec Ounsworth, Jackie Greene) at Piety Street Recording. The All Stars immediately felt at home in New Orleans, not only because the hot climate and spicy food reminded them of Africa, but also because the residents of the Crescent City have firsthand experience with the bitterness of exile and the redemptive power of music. The local musicians who contributed to the record (including favorites Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews, Bonerama, and Washboard Chaz) lend it an infectious spirit of celebration and optimism in the face of struggle.

Rise & Shine reflects how far the band has come in the past few years, after multiple international tours and recording experience with the likes of Aerosmith and Mavis Staples. With an expert producer at the helm, Sierra Leone¹s Refugee All Stars have realized a unique and seamlessly coherent sound: a fusion of traditional West African music and roots reggae, inflected with New Orleans styles. The album’s 13 tracks embrace the wide array of musical influences the All Stars have encountered on their rise to international fame.

The band members are broadly diverse in age and character, although they possess a strong bond forged through common experiences and values: they all know war and have struggled to survive in one of the world¹s poorest countries, and they share an unwavering belief in the transformative power of music. The current lineup of the band was cemented when Reuben M. Koroma, the sage songwriter and guiding light of the group, returned home from the refugee camps, joined by Black Nature, an orphaned teenaged rapper; Mohammed Bangura, who suffered amputation at the hands of rebels; and Francis John Langba. Back in Sierra Leone, they reunited with family, friends and former band mates Ashade Pearce, Jah Son Bull, and Makengo Kamara (many of whom they believed not to have survived the violence).

The band’s journey (which culminated in the All Stars’ first recording in a studio) was documented in the multi-award winning documentary Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, by Zach Niles and Banker White. The resulting album, Living Like A Refugee, garnered the band international acclaim and high profile fans such as Keith Richards, Sir Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, Angelina Jolie, and Ice Cube.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars deliver electrifying and uplifting live performances and will tour the U.S. in Spring 2010. They have already appeared at some of the most prestigious music festivals worldwide including Bonnaroo, Montreal Jazz, Fuji Rock in Japan, Central Park SummerStage, and Celebrate Brooklyn.


Alec Ounsworth Solo Debut: w/ Porter, Moore, Walter, Berlin

ALEC OUNSWORTH TO RELEASE MO BEAUTY ON OCTOBER 20 VIA ANTI-RECORDS

Teams up with Porter Jr., Moore, Walter, Sutton & Berlin


Alec Ounsworth

Singer-songwriter Alec Ounsworth, of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, has announced the upcoming release of Mo Beauty. The Philadelphia native recently recorded his solo debut in the music-steeped metropolis of New Orleans at the famed Piety St. recording studio.

On Mo Beauty, Ounsworth was backed by George Porter Jr. on bass, Stanton Moore on drums, Robert Walter on keys and Matt Sutton on baritone and pedal-steel guitars. The album was produced by veteran musician/producer and fellow Philadelphian Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Blasters, John Lee Hooker, The Replacements), who initially suggested the New Orleans setting.

Track List for Mo Beauty:

1. Modern Girl ( . . . with scissors)
2. Bones in the Grave
3. Holy, Holy, Holy Moses (song for New Orleans)
4. That is not my Home (after Bruegel)
5. Idiots in the Rain
6. South Philadelphia (Drug Days)
7. What Fun.
8. Me and You, Watson
9. Obscene Queen Bee #2
10. When You’ve No Eyes