8 Questions with... Jason Levin of Move Lafitte

Move Lafitte is a brand new(ish) local quintet that's been blasting out small clubs around the city for the past month or so. I'd describe their tunes are sort of an indie/funk fusion, but only if you put a gun to my head. You really have to listen to these guys to get what they're doing. Think of them as Caddywhompus' big brothers with a couple of mean horns.

I caught Move Lafitte, Self-Help Tapes, and We the Grenada at Dragon's Den this past Tuesday night, and was surprised to see the new band hold their own with the other two more established acts. A day later I talked with Jason Levin, the drummer of the outfit, who was kind enough to take our little questionnaire we've thrown at some different bands around the city.


8 Questions with...Jason Levin:

1. In nine words, who are you and what is it that you do?

I go ‘bang bang’ in Move Lafitte. It’s fun.

2. What album have you been listening to for the past week?

The debut Cymbals Eat Guitars CD, ‘Why There Are Mountains’. These guys are unreal! I’m anxious to catch them live sometime in the near future.

3. Favorite venue in NOLA and why?

Tough to pick one, here’s my top three: Dragon’s Den (Upstairs), Tipitina’s, and I love me some crawfish at Maple Leaf.

4. Favorite venue outside of NOLA and why?
Outside of New Orleans I reside in the Delaware/Philadelphia area, a lot of great venues are around there. I’d have to say the First Unitarian Church in Philly is where it’s at. They have a great array of different rooms for concerts (small candle lit sanctuary rooms, massive basement, big church hall, etc.) and just an all around great sound.

5. What local band aren’t enough people listening to?

Big Rock Candy Mountain. I don’t hear enough about these guys. I got the CD a few months back and have been diggin’ it. Have yet to catch them live but definitely am excited.

6. Favorite piece of musical equipment?

For me it’s all about comfort. I’d have to say my bright gold Pork Pie Percussion Thrown (seat for the layman). Two reasons, its beyond comfortable and its AMERICAN MADE! Also my double bass pedal, I have not nearly mastered it yet, but one day I’ll shred.

7. You hate it when people characterize your music as _____?
Experimental. I mean, really what does the term even mean? I really dislike when bands use the term to describe their sound. I’m pretty sure they use it to make themselves sound distinguished and different but really it’s just a cop out.

8. Write us a haiku.

Alright, I'm going gangsta on this one:

Cash comes in like woah,
Always got a steady flow,
Jewels, Gems, and Gats BLAT!



Fair enough. You can check out Move Lafitte at their Myspace page and they plan to play next at The Maison on April 18th.

Controversy with Offbeat MNIJM Cover

Taking a moment out of our Foburg hysteria, we wanted to report on a pretty sad/silly/needless story that developed over the past week. Offbeat Magazine, a good friend of NOIR, ran a cover story this past week that featured the members of MyNameIsJohnMichael dangling playfully from a jungle gym. That would have been all well and good, except someone who obviously forgot their civil rights history for a minute decided to go with the cover headline of "Strange Fruit," with a bi-line saying that the band was ready to be picked.

"Strange Fruit" was the title of a poem and then a song famously recorded by Billie Holliday that condemned the lynching of African Americans in the Jim Crow South. The phrase "strange fruit" was used in reference to African Americans hanging from Southern trees. Whether someone at Offbeat heard the phrase in a jazz history class and then forgot what it was referring to, or this was just a complete and utter, albeit sad, coincidence, is not known. What is known is that both the band and the magazine were very sad and embarrassed by the whole thing.

Offbeat issued a extensive apology, which can be found here, to both their readers and the band MyNameIsJohnMichael. They've removed the cover picture from their website and gone with a new title of "What's In a Name" for their article.

MyNameIsJohnMichael reacted via the Twittersphere and their blog, where they issued a heartfelt statement about how torn up over the whole thing they were here, and how support from their fans got them through it. You can read their blog post here.

Basically, despite the initial uproar, this whole episode seems like a really silly and avoidable thing that was the result of a headline writer at Offbeat who forgot their cup of coffee that morning. We're glad MNIJM are feeling better about it, because it's pretty clear no one thinks they were responsible in any way.

For more info on the band, check out MyNameIsJohnMichael.com.

Glasgow, Sun Hotel, We Landed on the Moon & Elsinore

Glasgow, veterans of the Nola music terrain, will be releasing their brand new EP 1986 in digital format this Saturday, February 20th. They will be celebrating the occasion with some great friends at One Eyed Jacks. Follow their countdown at their blog here.

Baton Rouge starlets, We Landed on the Moon will be helping to ring in the joyous event. Their touring partners Elsinore, a wonder pop quintet hailing from Champaign-Urbana, IL, will be following one of the coolest young bands in Nola.

Sun Hotel opens the show fresh off of their own EP release, Team Spirit. Download it for free from their bandcamp page.

Saturday, February 20th

doors 9pm, show 10pm

Glasgow

We Landed on the Moon

Elsinore

Sun Hotel (opener)

Krewe du Vieux + La Maison

Caddywhompus

Giant Cloud

Jean-Eric

The Krewe du Vieux after-show at La Maison was a pretty special event this year. Park the Van Records planned an awesome showcase with Caddywhompus, The Bellys, Giant Cloud, and Jean-Eric. The highlight of the night was the impromptu march through the venue by the Noicisian Coalition and the Camel Toe Lady Steppers. Gotta love Carnival!

Jean-Eric was a special treat, pretty much reminded me of a band that Punky Brewster would put together. ( = Awesome.)

Here's a video treat of Jean-Eric...

Jean-Eric | Krewe du Vieux | 2010 from Rachel Puckett on Vimeo.

Sun Hotel releases EP

I fell in love with these guys during our last Noir Collective project where we helped combine local music with the film project, 50 People 1 Question. They've just released their latest EP, Team Spirit, and you've got to check out the song Swamp Thing.

This is a pretty young band in New Orleans, but is a combination of some pretty impressive players. You'll find the Caddywhompus kids and Gamma Ringo kids among the bunch .... check it out.

LIMEWIRE RELEASES NOLA SAMPLER

So, exciting stuff from LimeWire store, which who even knew was a thing. (Guess they're trying to adapt the iTunes Store model here, which best of luck to them on that.) I for one haven't used LimeWire in probably 5 years (50 years in Internet Time), but for awhile there it was the place to illegally download tunes. In any event, they seem to have remade themselves into a place that puts together great (free) online sampler CDs. They've combined forces with Gambit and put together a pretty good little set of local bands for this thing. I've attached the press release below. Enjoy!


LimeWire Store Releases
EAR TO THE GROUND: NEW ORLEANS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NEW YORK, NY - January 20, 2010 - LimeWire Store has exclusively released EAR TO THE GROUND: NEW ORLEANS curated by the staff at Gambit, New Orleans' alt-weekly paper. The 19-track free sampler features songs from an array of artists toiling away within NOLA's diverse indie-music scene, including songs from local faves GIVERS, Lovey Dovies, The White Bitch, MyNameIsJohnMichael, and Generationals.

"We're beyond excited to be working with the LimeWire Store on our first-ever New Orleans music compilation," said Gambit's Editor, Kevin Allman. "And we're looking forward to taking listeners way off Bourbon Street to discover a side of New Orleans music they've never heard."

"Most folks know that New Orleans is ripe with amazing jazz and zydeco musicians, but there's a whole lot more going on down there," said Tom Monday, Director of Partner Relations at LimeWire Store. "Our partners at Gambit turned us on to bands and artists that we wouldn't have heard of otherwise, which is exactly what we hope for when producing these regional samplers. We hope this compilation shines a light on the spectrum of interesting sounds coming out of New Orleans these days. "

For further information, please contact Tom Monday, Director of Partner Relations at 212.775.3050 or tmonday@limewire.com


Attention Bloggers!

We have music for your site!

"Get My Sound"
One Man Machine & The Powers That Be
Download it here!

"Indian Summer"
Rotary Downs
Stream it here!

What We're Listening To

Hey y'all,

Sorry I've been M.I.A. for awhile with the posts. Christmas, New Year's, start of a new semester (yes, still a student), the Saints taking up every ounce of my conscious state... But now, with two weeks left to go to the Super Bowl, thought I'd take a minute and let you know what we've been listening to in the NOIR world lately.

LOCAL

The Revivalists doing their funky thing at the Howlin' Wolf.



What with Conan O'Brien ending his term at The Tonight Show, we thought back to this great video of Theresa Andersson doing her amazing one-woman soul-folk act on his show back in February.



Awesome video of Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship doing their stomp-the-yard thing at Voodoo back in '08.



Non-Local

Great new video from the Chicago band, Filligar, one of my favorite up-and-coming bands in the country right now. The song is off their album Succession, I Guess. We hope to get these guys down to New Orleans sometime in 2010.



The Raleigh, NC band Bowerbirds do a beautiful version of their song "Northern Lights".



Trippy-as-all-hell video from Animal Collective for their unbelievable song "Brother Sport." Could be made by no one else.