New Bob Dylan Record

Bob Dylan's 33rd studio album, Together Through Life comes out today. The first single off the new LP is Beyond Here Lies Nothing.

Terrific 'These Days' Cover by St. Vincent

Annie Clark, aka. St. Vincent, has spent time with both The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens and toured with the likes of Arcade Fire and The National. That's some pretty heavy company for a young artist and come May 5th, Actor, the follow-up to her remarkable debut album, Marry Me,  will be released. For anyone who enjoys cerebral pop music, St. Vincent is a voice that can't be missed. 

Point: anyone who covers Nico* must be good. That's not my opinion, that's just one of the laws of nature. One of the lesser known ones but it's in there. Look it up.

*I know the song was actually written by Jackson Browne and then recorded and popularized by Nico. Sheez, give me some credit.

First Post of 2009: The Best Albums of 2008

This was posted earlier in the year on my personal blog while I had the Black Tambourine on hiatus. It seems like a fitting and proper first post for our return. These were my favorite records from last year. Enjoy.

1. Dear Science - Tv On The Radio

2. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver

3. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes

4. Volume One - She & Him

5. Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!! - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

6. Rook - Shearwater

7. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

8. Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

9. Only By The Night - Kings of Leon

10. Brighter Than Creation's Dark - Drive-By Truckers

11. The Renaissance - Q-Tip

12. Stay Positive - The Hold Steady

13. Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket

14. Rockferry - Duffy

15. Third - Portishead

16. Modern Guilt - Beck

17. Rising Down - The Roots

18. Viva La Vida - Coldplay

19. Made in the Dark - Hot Chip

20. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab For Cutie

21. Seventh Tree - Goldfrapp

22. Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby - Wreckless Eric & Amy Rigby

23. Real Emotional Trash - Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks

24. Day & Age - The Killers

25. Seeing Things - Jakob Dylan

26. 19 - Adele

27. Electric Arguments - The Fireman

28. Real Animal - Alejandro Escovedo

29. Consolers of the Lonely - The Raconteurs

30. We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings

Agree? Disagree? Think I left someone out or got something wrong? Don't be a wanker, comment and let me know what you'd change and i'll write back explaining how you're wrong. Oh the joy of the internet. 

Opening The Doors - Cue Dramatic Comeback Music

Oh yeah. We're back. Stay tuned.

Closing The Doors - Cue Dramatic Music

With busy schedules and other things stealing our time, we're no longer able to keep this site updated. We'd like to have it back in operation as soon as things get less hectic but can't say when that will be. 

A big thank you to all who stopped by, even by accident. The only thing we wanted to do with The Black Tambourine was to share music with others and you and all the artists who responded made that possible. It's been a blast.

Keep listening,

The BT crew

Isaac Hayes (1942-2008)

New Music Tuesday: August 12, 2008

Whoa, it's been awhile since we've updated. Hope everyone is having a fandamtastic summer. It was nice to take a vacation but now we're rolling up our sleeves and getting back to work covering the ins and outs of all that we consider relevant in music.*

We've got a few things for you today but for now let's kick things off with a New Music Tuesday.  

This weeks biggest release, for some, is probably the Jonas Brother's third LP, A Little Longer. Continuing the long standing tradition of mediocre but photogenic teeny bopper bands, the Disney created Jonas Brothers insist on making soundtrack music that appeals almost exclusively to the lucrative "tweener" market in which they and Miley Cyrus rule as Kings and Queen. 

A Little Longer will sell well, just as the brother's previous albums, but the real question is, how long before the bubble bursts and this albums title becomes ironic? Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying these type of young pop stars are void of any musical integrity, I'm just heavily implying it. 

You've probably never heard of Pop Levi, or if you have, congrats on being way cooler than anyone else. The disco lite, electro-rock of Englishman Jonathan Pop Levi is slinky, funky, weird, and terrific. His second album, Never Never Love is out now and comes highly recommended by us, people you don't know.

Our gun is loaded with bullet points:

• Sick of Sarah - Sick of Sarah
• Funeral Mixtape - The Pack A.D.
• Bird's Eye View - Amy Kuney
• Look What You Made Me - Yung Berg

*this may seem selfish and smug but to be fair, it's our blog ya hippie

Vacation Time

Sorry for the lack of updates folks. We're all taking a short vacation but will return soon with more music news, release dates, and new artist features. Thanks for stopping by and reading.

New Music Tuesday: July 8, 2008

Seems we've moved beyond the mediocre batch of last Tuesday's releases and finally have some music worth talking about, so let's get to it.

Modern Guilt marks Beck's sixth album in ten years and his eighth overall. The new album sees him hooking up with producer extraordinaire Danger Mouse (Gnarls Barkley, Gorillaz, The Black Keys) and features a couple guest vocals from the always lovely Cat Power. The new creative forces help give Beck and Modern Guilt a much needed breath of fresh air and a feeling of contentment when it's all over. Less glitchy than The Information, think more of an uptempo Sea Change or a more refined Mutations. 

While a new Strokes album is on indefinite hold, Albert Hammond Jr. hasn't been waiting around with his hands in his pockets. Como Tel Llama?, the follow up to his charming and decidedly good debut Yours To Keep, is more focused and feels like Albert finally took the time to really expand his own sound outside of Strokes territory while remaining faithful to his influences. 

Here are some releases I didn't write about:

• Two Men With The Blues - Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis (could be interesting)
• I Pledge Allegiance To The Grind II - Killer Mike (If nothing else, you have to like him for the fact that his name isn't Killa' or Killah)
• Exit Strategy Of The Soul - Ron Sexsmith
• Used And Abused - Danger Radio
• Three Flights Fro Alto Nido - Greg Laswell
• Love Is Dead - Kerli
• The Stoop - Little Jackie
• Nude With Boots - Melvins

New Music Tuesday: July 1, 2008

Unfortunately all we have this week is a watered down helping of blah-ness. Well, I suppose that depends on who you are and your taste in music. Still, so totally uninspired by this week's releases am I (interesting phrasing no?), that I can't seem to muster the creative energy (read: I ran out of beer) usually focused on a couple of standouts; so we're going straight to the bullet points. Better luck next week.

• Where The Light Is: Live In Los Angeles - John Mayer
• Identified - Vanessa Hudgens
• T.O.S. (Terminate On Sight) - G-Unit
• Forgiven - Los Lonely Boys
• Agony & Irony - Alkaline Trio
• Join The Band - Little Feat
• The Bird and the Bee Sides - Relient K