Spottiswoode & His Enemies: tour dates

photo: Brian Geltner

Spottiswoode & His Enemies take their jazzy vaudeville songs on the road. Front man Jonathan Spottiswoode goes out on his own as well.

Live dates:

• 10/13 Camden, London @ Green Note Basement Bar (Spottiswoode solo)
• 10/24 New York, NY @ Rockwood Music Hall (Stage 2)
• 10/25 Concord, MA @ Private House Concert
  (Spottiswoode w/ Henry Dennis - mail for ticket inquiries)
• 10/26 Washington, DC @ the deej

HCTF's best of 2018 (5-1)

• 20-16
• |
• 15-11
• |
• 10-6
• |
• 5-1

» Best of playlist

» Listen here

HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. This blog covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally.

Today: countdown from number 5 to 1.

Please shop at your local record store, buy directly from the artist, attend live shows. Don't block anyone's view with with your phone (better still, switch it off altogether). Shut the fuck up while the band is playing. Educate your friends. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music.

Spottiswoode: "Dreamer Boy" live @ City Winery, New York

Watch Spottiswoode perform Dreamer Boy @ City Winery in New York (May 13, 2014), a track from the latest Spottiswoode & His Enemies album English Dream. Audio and video by Ehud Lazin.

Live dates:

• 09/13 Littera Nova (Spottiswoode, Matti Muller and Angi Stricker), Hildesheim, Germany
• 09/18 Lagari (Spottiswoode, Matti Muller and Angi Stricker), Berlin, Germany
• 10/10 The Iron Horse, Northampton, MA (w/ David Berkeley)
• 10/11 Liberty Public House, Rhinebeck, NY (supported by Steven Pague)
• 10/12 Felicia's (2 sets), Ithaca, NY

» spottiswoode.com

HCTF review of English Dream.

HCTF's XMAS songs extravaganza

It is the season to be jolly, bur for serious music lovers, Christmas is Hell on Earth, with muzak dripping out of cheap speakers everywhere you go. Don't panic, there is some good stuff (old and new) too.

How about some funk? Christmas Past is a track from Holidelic, an album written by NYC citizen Everett Bradley. Christmas Past was co-written by Don Rosler and features a nifty harp solo by William Galison:

» holidelic.com

Singer-songwriter Anna Vogelzang folkifies Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, with her rendition of Christmas (Baby Please Come Home).

» theanna.bandcamp.com

As per usual there is some controversy. A Michigan teacher can't handle the word "gay" in the Welsh traditional Deck The Halls and goes on tho suggest to replace it with "bright". There are thousands of versions this song. Listen to NOLA blues singer Olga:

(Olga - Deck The Halls by Here Comes The Flood)

» laolga.com

If you are a bigot, skip the next track. Spottiswoode & His Enemies sing about Chelsea Boys roaming the streets of NYC Video & illustrations by Maria Eugenia.

» spottiswoode.com

Need something a bit louder and darker? Nightmare On Christmas by Los Angeles heavy metal outfit KRASHKARMA is about death and destruction:

» krashkarma.com

Last but not least: Dutch alt.rockers De Staat fuck up sugar-coated classic Let It Snow in a good way:

» destaat.net