Legendary soul/spoken word artist Gil Scott-Heron will be honored July 20 with a tribute in Downtown Los Angeles at 8 p.m. at California Plaza (350 S. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90071) as part of Grand Performances. The "Peace Go With You, Gil" celebration will feature performances by Scott-Heron’s longtime collaborator Brian Jackson, Amoeba Music staffer Jimetta Rose Smith, Carlos Nino, Jeremy Sole, and more. The celebration is said to explore “the soul, vitality, power, humor, social activism, humanity and dynamic messages” of Scott-Heron through a musical and artistic experience. Amoeba will be there with a booth, so come check it out.
 
Amoeba also has several Gil Scott-Heron albums available in store, including the harrowing I’m New Here, released in 2010, and its remix album with Jamie XX from moody Britpop duo The XX. I recently picked up Reflections on vinyl, it's awesome. Check out all the releases in stock here.

"One man's attempt to dissect the method to 3 days of madness in the desert"
  - By Scott Butterworth

On the 3rd weekend of April my Coachella will give to me.....
.....12 DJ's.....11 Angelenos....10 Duos Duet-ing....

....and 9 Debut Albums:  

Passion Pit
Hockey
The XX
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
The Temper Trap
Miike Snow
B.o.B.
Florence + The Machine
Little Boots


Each year, the stages of Coachella are graced by legends in music, many with careers spanning decades and musical catalogs expansive enough to fill the entire 3-day weekend. But there's also another pool of artists at Coachella each year -- usually found on the smaller "tent" stages or in the early hour slots of the main stage -- making a name for themselves in the music world on very limited but deserving musical output. Coachella promoters make a profession of spotting these artists early and presenting them to us before the "rest of the world" catches on. And it's not rare to see some of these artists, who are featured in the smallest font on the above flyer, go on to headline the festival in future years. The following 9 artists are playing Coachella this year on the strength of their debut albums. All 9 of them include singles that have permeated diverse avenues of pop culture within the past year, but all 9 artists have inaugurated their careers with "albums" that bite as hard as their "singles" bark. 

Greetings from New York, New York! CMJ kicked off at the beginning of this week and NY became a mammoth showcase for new music. I love autumn in New York -- it's ridiculously beautiful. Walking is of course the greatest pastime while in the city. The weather was nice, so nice, for the first couple nights, which made it easy to get around and still look half way put together by the time you got to your final destination.

Unfortunately, by Friday night, it was cloudy with a chance of matzo balls, which meant an extra change of clothes was imperative. Luckily, it was short lived. OMG, there was so much going on. I was overwhelmed with work, with a lot on my plate, and didn’t get to see nearly as many acts as I would have liked to, but I made notes of the little I was able to soak in.

Green Label Sound hosted a party sponsored by Cornerstone at The Brooklyn Bowl with Chromeo, Thelophilus London, Amazing Baby and Solid Gold that was off the chain. DFA's Holy Ghost provided a dj set. This new bowling/concert venue is ginormous, 1,000 capacity at least, and it was packed wall to wall. An eclectic mix of industry folk, unbigoted music-minded individuals, people dressed like hipsters, aspiring and established artists roamed the joint. The night's festivities lasted well into the night, but time just seemed to fly by. I enjoyed great food, had a couple rounds on the lanes with friends, enjoyed the live acts in a concert setting, and danced till I broke a sweat all under one roof. If you get the chance to go check out this spot, do, and order the cajun catfish, it's scrumptious!