Bill Bentley reviews Dime Box :-)
Current mood: accomplished
Category: Music
Always nice to get a good review from someone who's been around the block. Bill Bentley, producer, publicist, music exec and journalist, Bill recently reviewed Dime Box's Five and Dime Waltz.
Here's an excerpt from his review in the Sherman Oaks Sun:
...Callan returns in a new band Dime Box, and this time just might be in the right place and the right time. Her voice has become even more expressive, now that of a grown woman who knows exactly what she's singing about. Some might put the band in the long line of Los Angeles rockers gone country, but Dime Box is too original for such silliness...Listen to their version of Dolly Parton's 'Do I Ever Cross Your Mind.' Call it what you want, but know there aren't many others who can get to that spot where sound and spirit take flight so sweetly. Dime Box does every time.
Dime Box gets air Down Under
Current mood: satisfied
Category: Music
Radio KLFM from Bendigo, Australia played songs from Dime Box's debut album, Five and Dime Waltz.
DJ Phil Knife played Dime Box on both his Thursday night Rough Mix show (roots) and on Honky Tonks & HIghways, a country and western oriented show. Unfortunately KLFM does not yet stream their programs or I'd put up a link to the shows. But, we're happy to know that Dime Box is getting some airplay down under.
Family Tree Analog Hate People at Mr. T’s
Current mood: impressed
Category: Music
Finally managed to catch a show by Family Tree Analog. We saw them at least a year ago at the non-defunct Zamakibo!. They were just a 3-piece, no bass player, but they were interesting and stuck in the back of our heads.
We popped over to their MySpace page every so often to see what they were up to but never managed to actually end up in the right club at the right time to catch them. Wednesday night we were planning on catching FTA before running over to Safari Sam's to see The New Fidelity. Alas, both bands were playing at 10 pm.
What to do, what to do?? Go to the smaller club, of course!
And what a good decision that was. A year ago they were interesting, now they are awesome! The people hanging along the edge of the floor in front of the stage took less than 10 seconds to move forward, and a minute into the first song they moved closer still. Me, too.
Check out a video of I Hate People X Hospital Ex by clicking on the pic:
Shindig says "This is a little gem." Cool.
Current mood: pleased
Category: Music
Shindig magazine has some very nice things to say about Tom Stevens's album Home.
In part:
"This is a little gem...Tom always contributed a song or two to the Ryders' albums, but this release finally allows him to showcase his considerable talents as a songwriter, singer and musician....Although he only usually sang capable back-up vocals with The Long Ryders, Stevens is very comfortable as a lead vocalist; the warm and tuneful singing is one of the real strengths of the album....This is definitely not "the bass players" album! -- it deserves a lot more attention than it will probably get.
Go buy a copy and read the whole review!
If you haven't already picked up a copy, what are you waiting for?! You can get it direct (and fastest!) from the Avebury Records' website, or from our friends at Bomp!, CD Baby, Amazon or if you're in the Seattle area, Silver Platters.
Slipcue.com reviews Dime Box
Current mood: pleased
Category: Music
Check out the very nice review of Dime Box's Five and Dime Waltz by Joe Sixpack at slipcue.com:
Independently-produced, pleasantly twangy, bluegrassy folk-rock-twang from Los Angeles... This all-gal five-piece ensemble wrote all but one of the songs on here, and their pride of ownership comes through loud and clear... They sing with pleasure and harmonize with joy, sort of like a 'grassier version of the Emmylou Harris/Dolly Parton/Linda Ronstadt Trio of yesteryear... The musicianship is solid, although you can hear the rough patches as well -- this doesn't sound like a big-budget Nashville album where every tic and quirk has been smoothed out in the studio... In short, this is real music made by real people: twangfans who cherish old-school folkies like the Any Old Time Stringband, Sally Van Meter or Laurie Lewis might wanna check these gals out as well. Nice to hear a little twang still coming out of SoCal.
Mr. Slipcue (Joe Sixpack) has an interesting website so if you've got time, go check out the review at the source:
Kelly @ Avebury Injured :(
Current mood: optimistic
Category: Life
You might not see Kelly at a show for a couple of weeks or so.
She was riding a dirt bike in Death Valley and took a tumble. A trip to urgent care revealed strained ligaments in her left ankle, and she left in a soft cast.
The Del Reys’ House of Sand
Current mood: Great!
Category: Great! Music
Does one really need another reason to go out at night and see live music? Aside from the obvious--it beats sitting on the couch watching TV and it's more fun than listening to music on your iPod--you never know what a live show will bring and you never know what other bands that you didn't come to see will be like. (Well, that's not totally true, what with the advent of MySpace. Most of the time we do check out the other bands to see if we want to get there early or stay late and catch them. But that's a minor point, and often enough the band we're going to see doesn't list the other bands playing with them because they don't know or don't care. But I digress. I'll blog on that gripe another day.)
Sunday night we went to the The Maui Sugar Mill Saloon to see The Curbhounds and they were great, as expected. As we were packing up our cameras to leave we noticed a familiar face carrying equipment onto the stage. Whoa, I haven't seen Tony in forever! What's he doing here?
Tony used to play with The Cruzados, one of my favorite bands back in the '80s. He later went on to play with Matthew Sweet and The Martini Kings. Now he's doing a surf, garage thing called The Del Reys. So we unpacked the cameras and stayed for a cool set of surfing goodness. Check out House of Sand by clicking on the pic. And don't forget to go out and see live music sometime this week!
The Curbhounds at The Maui Sugar Mill Saloon
Current mood: rockin
Category: Music
Sunday night in Tarzana--yep, it's all happenin' at the Tarzana Square shopping center. That's where we dropped in to see The Curbhounds who played a thumpin' set of 2-step cow-punk at The Maui Sugar Mill Saloon. These dudes used to be Battery Life, one of the reasons we started Avebury Records way back at the end of 2003. They're still a good reason to start a record label. Check out Left Handed Lighter:
Dime Box played to a full house at their record release party Saturday night at Taix. The band sounded quite fine and in their element in this favorite-amongst-musicians French restaurant/club. They moved quickly through their set, but made time for a few trivia questions related to their music in order to award free CDs to the country music savvy. And, despite the Mexican radio channeling through Yolande’s amp betweens songs, Kristi’s vocals soared through the room, accompanied by Edie and Yolande on harmony. The album’s title track is a fine example of the vocal strength of the band. Check it out below.
Disclaimer: musicians love the club because of the fine French food given free to the band. Photographers and videographers dislike the club because it is so darn dark! However, the sound is good so I’ll try not to be too cranky about it.
Dime Box record release show Saturday night!
Current mood: enthusiastic!
Category: enthusiastic! Music
I know what you’re thinking--it’s been quite a stretch since Avebury released something new, right? You’ve been wondering what we’ve been waiting for, and heck, we don’t blame you. It’s April already, springtime just about everywhere and new tunes ought to be a bloomin’.
Well, then make sure you head over to Taix this Saturday night to catch Dime Box at their record release party. I hear they’ll be selling t-shirts along with their new album, so you can freshen up your wardrobe at the same time as your CD collection. Not a bad deal.
Dime Box plays at 10:30, David Serby at 11:30. Should be a good ’ol time.
You can order a copy of Five and Dime Waltz right now from Avebury Records, or from our pal Derek at CD Baby, or Amazon. Or better yet, come on down to the show and get it directly from the band!
accomplished
satisfied
impressed
pleased
optimistic
rockin
