Sights and Sounds: Cage the Elephant and Beck; Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi; Esperanza Spalding

Lots of news going into the weekend...

CAGE THE ELEPHANT AND BECK SHARE MUSIC VIDEO FOR

“NIGHT RUNNING”

THE NIGHT RUNNING CO-HEADLINING TOUR BEGINS THIS JULY

Photo credit: Citizen Kane Wayne

Last week, Cage The Elephant released their fifth studio album, Social Cues, on RCA Records. Fans can stream/purchase the album HERE. Featured on the record is a song with Beck, entitled “Night Running,” and today they debut its music videodirected by Jennifer Juniper Stratford. “For ‘Night Running,’ I wanted to create a realm where a super computer that hosts a simulation program creates a series artificial worlds,” said Stratford. “While Beck would appear to live within the software as a master control, Matt would be transported to different worlds and new identities leaving him to question what is real.”

You’ll also be able to catch the two artists performing this summer when they co-headline their “The Night Running Tour” in North America. Spoon will open all dates as a special guest with additional support from Starcrawler, Sunflower Bean and Wild Belle in select cities. Full dates below. Tickets are on sale now at LiveNation.com. Beck and Cage The Elephant have partnered up with PLUS1 and $1 from every ticket sold will be donated back into each city they are playing in, supporting local food security initiatives as they work towards ending hunger in their communities. This weekend, Cage The Elephant will headline Shaky Knees Festival in Atlanta.

Cage The Elephant’s single, “Ready To Let Go,” hit #1 at Alternative Radio in both the US and Canada, marking the band’s 8th Alternative #1. The song immediately found its footing, scoring the band its best airplay chart debut in its near-decade career. Cage The Elephant has achieved more #1s at the format than any band this decade.

THERE IS NO OTHER, THE NEW ALBUM BY RHIANNON GIDDENS WITH FRANCESCO TURRISI, OUT TODAY ON NONESUCH

there is no Other, the new album by Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, is out today on Nonesuch. Tracing the overlooked movement of sounds from Africa and the Arabic world and their influence on European and American music, there is no Other illuminates the universality of music and the commonality of the human experience. The album has received critical praise and later today the New Yorker Radio Hour will air an interview and performance with Rhiannon and Francesco. Over the past week the duo has visited WNYC, WFUV, Sirius, and NPR’s World Café for interviews and performance segments; stay tuned for run dates. 

 

Giddens and Turrisi will perform there is no Other on an extensive fall tour that includes the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC on October 4 and at Pico Union in Los Angeles on October 19. A European tour for November-December was announced this morning. Full itinerary is below.

 

Produced by Joe Henry and tracked over an intensely productive five day period in Dublin, Ireland, there is no Other is at once a condemnation of “othering” and a celebration of the spread of ideas, connectivity, and shared experience. It primarily features only Giddens and Turrisi playing one or two instruments together. The album comprises a mix of original songs penned by Giddens and a diverse set of interpretations ranging from Ola Belle Reed’s “I’m Gonna Write Me a Letter” and Oscar Brown, Jr’s “Brown Baby” to the Italian traditional “Pizzica di San Vito” to the aria “Black Swan” by Gian-Carlo Menotti. 

 

Watch the first in a series of behind-the-scenes interviews filmed during the making of the album with Giddens and Turrisi, producer Joe Henry and engineer Ryan Freeland: https://youtu.be/9NF1ufRGFNw

 

And watch the previously released video for original song “I’m On My Way”:

https://youtu.be/a4Xlyi8Is98

  

there is no Other "(shows) the ease with which the boundaries of genre and nationality can be broken through music." NPR says. "There, this album dwells: in the quiet times where people live fully with each other ... Rhiannon Giddens turns her exquisite voice and sensibility toward this psychic territory on ... her new collaboration with the Italian multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi ... (an) exploration of heartfelt exchange and private longing." – NPR Music

 

In addition to the release of there is no Other, Giddens will be joining the Boston Symphony Orchestra on May 22nd and 23rd for a pair of performances, and on May 24thand 25th she will curate concerts that highlight the great black composers who have been hiding in plain sight, featuring Lara Downes and Darius de Haas. She also appears in Ken Burns' upcoming Country Music series airing in September on PBS, revealing the lesser-known black roots of country music.   The vinyl edition of the album is available for preorder at the Nonesuch store. The two-LP set includes four previously unreleased songs, along with expanded notes about the album written by Rhiannon.

there is no Other Track List 1. Ten Thousand Voices 2. I’m Gonna Write Me a Letter 3. Wayfaring Stranger 4. there is no Other 5. Trees On The Mountain 6. Pizzica di San Vito 7.Brown Baby 8.Briggs’ Forró 9. Little Margaret 10. Black Swan 11. I’m On My Way 12. He Will See You Through Rhiannon Giddens Tour Dates: 5/16 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Symphony Orchestra 5/19 – Greensboro, NC – Harrison Auditorium (Q&A with Ani DiFranco) 5/19 – Greensboro, NC – Presbyterian Church of the Covenant (benefit concert for the Experiential School of Greensboro) 5/22 – Boston, MA – Symphony Hall (“Redefining American Music” series) 5/23 – Boston, MA – Symphony Hall (“Redefining American Music” series) 5/24 – Boston, MA – Symphony Hall (“Redefining American Music” series) 5/25 – Boston, MA – Symphony Hall (“Redefining American Music” series) 7/23 – Westport, CT – Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts (Our Native Daughters) 7/24 – Washington, DC – Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (Our Native Daughters) 7/25 – Chautauqua, NY – Chautauqua Institution (Our Native Daughters) 7/26 – Albany, NY – The Egg (Our Native Daughters) 7/27 – Wolfeboro, NH – Great Waters Festival (Our Native Daughters) 7/28 – Newport, RI – Newport Folk Festival (Our Native Daughters)   there is no Other Tour – Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi: 7/11 – Auburn, NY – Auburn Public Theater 7/12-7/13 – Guelph, Ontario – Hilldside Festival 7/14 – Greenfield, MA – Green River Festival 9/6-9/9 – Stanford Hall, Leicestershire, UK – The Long Road Festival 9/19 – Birmingham, AL – Alys Stephens Center 9/20 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery 9/21 – Nashville, TN – City Winery 9/23 – Charlotte, NC – McGlohan Theatre at Spirit Square 9/25 – Raleigh, NC – North Carolina Museum of Art 9/26 – Washington, DC – Kennedy Center Terrace Theater 9/27 – Princeton, NJ – McCarter Theater 9/28 – Wilmington, DE – Grand Opera House 9/29 – Burlington, VT – Flynn Center for the Performing Arts 10/1 – Brownfield, ME – Stone Mountain Arts Center 10/2 – Boothbay Harbor, ME – The Opera House at Boothbay Harbor 10/3 – Cambridge, MA – Sanders Theatre 10/4 – New York, NY – The Metropolitan Museum of Art 10/19 – Los Angeles, CA – Pico Union 10/23 – Kent, OH – The Kent Stage 10/25 – Ann Arbor, MI – The Ark 10/26 – Chicago, IL – City Winery 10/27 – Chicago, IL – City Winery 10/29 – Bloomington, IN – Buskirk-Chumley Theater 10/30 – Iowa City, IA – The Englert Theatre 10/31 – Minneapolis, MN – The Dakota 11/1 – Minneapolis, MN – The Dakota 11/2 – Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House 11/3 – Stoughton, WI – Stoughton Opera House 11/22 – London, UK – London Jazz Festival 11/23 – Brighton, UK – St. Georges Church  11/24 – Basingstoke, UK – The Anvil  11/26 – Bath, UK – Forum  11/27 – Buxton, UK – Opera House  11/28 – Liverpool, UK – Grand Central  11/29 – Gateshead, UK – The Sage   12/1 – Edinburgh, UK – Usher Hall  12/3 – Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenburg  12/4 – Hamburg, Germany – Fabrik  12/5 – Darmstadt, Germany – Central Station  12/7 – Cologne, Germany – Kulturkirche  12/8 – Leuven, Belgium – Het Depot  12/9 – Paris, France – Café de la Danse  12/10 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – De Duif Tour dates and ticket links https://events.seated.com/rhiannon-giddens

ESPERANZA SPALDING UNVEILS “HOW TO” FROM 12 LITTLE SPELLS – OUT ON DIGITAL/PHYSICAL FORMATS NEXT FRIDAY MAY 10 (CONCORD)

LISTEN TO “HOW TO” HERE: https://found.ee/Esperanza_HowTo_Sp photo credit: Silva Saponaro Today Esperanza Spalding has released more new music from her 12 Little Spells project in advance of release next week, when the album will be available in physical and download formats for the first time (May 10/Concord Records). Listen to “How To” here: https://found.ee/Esperanza_HowTo_Sp    “How To” is one of the four original bonus songs that Esperanza recently recorded for the expanded release. Each song on 12 Little Spells was written for a different part of the body, and Esperanza unveiled the first 12 songs over 12 days in October 2018, before the album appeared on streaming services. Last week she released “Lest We Forget.” Listen to both songs here: https://found.ee/Esp_12LittleSpells  The 12-song, streaming-only version of the album appeared on a number of Best Of 2018 lists including NY Times, Rolling Stone and Billboard, and received effusive praise. 12 Little Spells was first penned by Spalding while on a writing retreat at a castle in Italy - inspired by the healing properties of art, how music and the body interact, and her interest in Reikki. Spalding recorded the album with her band in just a few days, and then released each spell with it’s own video on her Facebook, Instagram and YouTube pages over the course of 12 days. The videos have garnered a combined 4 million views and counting to date. In November and December she unveiled a completely new live concert - with a customized stage design, gowns designed for her by Diego Montoya, choreography and projected images – limited to just 12 performances.    Order 12 Little Spells, including packages that range from signed test pressings and USB drives, colored vinyl and more: http://esperanzaspalding.limitedrun.com/   Watch Esperanza and her band perform recently on the public radio show Live From Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkzS0qPUJ3Q PRAISE FOR ‘12 LITTLE SPELLS’   “Truly intoxicating” New York Times / Top Albums and Best Jazz Albums of 2018   “[Spalding] is well over a decade into one of the most fruitful and strikingly original careers in contemporary pop…the conceptual hook of 12 Little Spells only hints at the radically inventive nature of the songs themselves” Rolling Stone / Best Albums of 2018   Best Jazz of 2018 - Billboard   “Magic…pure imagination and also incredibly tactile” – NPR Music   “‘12 Little Spells’ joins a long line of her goddess foremothers in their innovation” – Paste “The sound of a woman conjuring the contradictions, beauty, strangeness, and power of her body is deeply moving and very possibly magic” – Boston Globe   “Pure magic” – Mother Jones   “Dazzling” – Essence   “Esperanza’s most appealing album yet” – Brooklyn Vegan   12 Little Spells track list including 4 new bonus spells: 1. 12 Little Spells - Thoracic Spine 2. To Tide Us Over - Mouth 3. Til the Next Full - Eyes 4. Thang - Hips 5. Touch in Mine - Fingers 6. The Longing Deep Down - Abdominal Portal 7. You Have to Dance - Feet 8. Now Know- Solar Portal  9. All Limbs Are - Arms  10. Readying to Rise - Legs 11. Dancing the Animal - Mind/Brain 12. With Others - Ears  13. Lest We Forget - Blood 14. How To - Hair  15. Move Many - Joints 16. Ways Together - Shoulders http://www.esperanzaspalding.com/