Upcoming: Dark Was The Night Live @ Radio City

Dark Was The Night is a double disc compilation benefiting AIDS relief organization Red Hot, produced and compiled by Aaron and Bryce Dessner (the National). It features outtakes and covers by Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, Spoon, Sufjan, Iron and Wine and Stuart Murdoch to name just a few, as well as collaborations like Conor Oberst/Gillian Welch and Feist/Ben Gibbard. The record skews towards the kind of indie buzz bands I generally avoid, but there are certainly a few artists on here whose work is strong enough that you'll want to investigate further. There are also some you may want to delete from your iTunes straight off the bat. Anyway, it's bursting at the seams and I'm not going to try to give it a track by track rundown, but check it out because there's really something for everyone and it's all for a good cause.

But what I'm really stoked about with this whole Dark Was The Night business is the show that WFUV and The Bowery Presents are putting on, May 3rd at Radio City Music Hall. David Byrne was just added to a lineup that already featured Feist, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, the National, TVOTR's David Sitek (also the producer of all three YYY's albums), My Brightest Diamond, and Bon Iver among others. And it's not just going to be a performance of tracks from the compilation, either. Says Aaron Dessner in an interview on Pitchfork that essentially sold me on the tickets:

We're going to have two halves. The first half will be songs from Dark Was the Night, and then there will be a short intermission. And then afterwards, there will be mini-sets by different artists and collaborations, both things that relate to Dark Was the Night and some that don't. Not every artist will do a mini-set, but most will. That's basically it. We're trying to keep the show manageable in length, you know, so it's not four-and- a-half hours or something. But it will be a lot of music.

Which, when combined with the idea of seeing Feist, Sharon Jones, and granddaddy-of-it-all David Byrne, was enough for me to plunk down the $38 for cheap seats. Tickets are still on sale.

Dark Was The Night live - tickets [bowerypresents]
Dark Was The Night (Red Hot Compilation) [emusic]
The National's Aaron Dessner on Dark Was The Night, New National Album [pitchfork]

The Supavillain

MF Doom's new record, Born Like This, dropped earlier this week. eMusic, always towing the line between online download store and valid online music magazine, celebrates with A User's Guide to the Doomography. It's pretty comprehensive, hitting the high points of the pre-Doom days as well as his later work behind the mask.

As for Born Like This, I'm still on my first listen, but so far, so good. One track on there is "Ballskin," which was also on producer Jake One's White Van Music, while "Batty Boys" is either completely offensive or a nod of sympathy to the gay community. Actually, I'm pretty sure it's both (he's a uniter, not a divider). Meanwhile, "That's That" is driven by a violin sample, dotted with handclaps and the usual comic book sound effects. And on "Supervillainz," MF takes on the autotune with all the seriousness you'd expect, which is to say none. And of course we get further teased over the forever-in-the-works Doom/Ghostface album with a track featuring Tony Starks himself. In two words: cop it.

A User's Guide to the DOOMography [eMusic Essentials]
MF Doom's Born Like This [eMusic]

Getting Down in London and Paris

Otis Redding was one of the greatest soul singers who ever lived, and his untimely death (he was only 26 years old when his plane crashed) is one of the tragedies of popular music. With such a short recording career, there are not too many albums of Redding's work to be had, although there are at least a dozen greatest hits collections. Well, there's a new record to add to the essential Redding listening, released this month by the Concord Music Group's recently revived Stax imprint. Live in London and Paris is a CD containing two sets from the spring of 1967, when Otis was on the road in Europe as part of the Stax/Volt Revue tour. His backing bands here are none other than Booker T. and the MG's and the Mar-Keys, another fantastic Stax backing band. The first set, from London, comprises 8 tunes with originals ("Respect," "Try A Little Tenderness") and some key covers ("(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Day Tripper") thrown in for good measure. The songs differ greatly from their studio versions, with the energy level amped up to 11, but what is truly amazing is how the Paris set, comprising the same 8 tunes plus 3 extras, also differ greatly from the previous versions on the same album. Just hearing the Booker T. Jones play behind Redding's introduction to "Try A Little Tenderness" is worth the price of admission alone. All in all, this could be the best reissue I've heard all year. If you have any interest in the man, pick up a copy of Otis Redding: Live in London and Paris. Giving us half the album, just one of these sets, would be short but worth it; the fact that they're both on there is not only added value but also ups the historical value of the release to nerds like me. Even better, you can get it from the link below at eMusic, the preferred online music retailer of 2DOS.

Otis Redding: Live in London and Paris [eMusic]