Check out this video from Cold Specks, a 23 year-old Canadian girl by the name of Al Spx, who recently signed to Arts and Crafts.  They also happen to be the ones who brought you Stowe Provisions' favorites Timber Timbre, amongst many others.  They just released her first two tracks a couple days ago, which you can buy here.   Enjoy, love Howie Read More »

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Three years ago teenager Nika Roza Danilova arrived upon the fringes of the pop-music world with a voice as big as her 4'11" frame is small, and a sound as exotic as her Wisconsin home seems Rockwellian. Clear from the beginning was that this young, dimunitive, mid-westerner is an unmistakeable force to be reckoned with. At first encounter Ms. Danilova's Zola Jesus moniker alone carves out a place of iconoclasm and mythology in the pantheon of rock 'n roll history. Sonically, she matches that initial impression with a 21st century goth-electronic sound full of operatic drama, soaring vocals, and dissonance... Read More »

Here is a cool video surprisingly brought to you by Chipotle, with Willie Nelson covering Coldplay. Read More »

A new Tom Waits album is on the way, set to be released Oct. 25. You can watch a video of Tom and his private listening party that is unfortunately spoiled by us. p.s. I like his orange wall. Read More »

Here is a video from the show Don't Move Here filmed in Portland, OR. This episode takes you inside the house of Isaac Brock, the frontman for Modest Mouse. He gives you a tour of his house, talks taxidermy and home renovations, and plays a little music for you as well. Enjoy. love, Howie Read More »

Stowe and I just returned from a trip to Memphis. I was lucky enough to visit Sun Studio while I was in town. It was opened in 1950 by Sam Phillips and recorded legends such as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf and many others. Here are some pics for you. love, Howie Read More »

Today would have been Roy Orbison's 75th birthday. Unfortunately, he past in 1988. The man with the dark rimmed glasses had a distinctive and powerful voice. After growing up in Texas, he was signed by Sun Records in Memphis in 1956. Coincidentally, I am heading to Memphis with Stowe in May and can't wait to tour Sun Records. Here is a video for you: Roy from The Roy Orbison Show in 1964 performing Crying. enjoy.  love, Howie Read More »

2011 has already seen releases by mainstream mainstays from total opposite ends of the pop-spectrum, Radiohead and Britney Spears, that exhibit dubstep beats and characteristics, so I feel like it's time to talk about a fledgling genre learning to fly. I'll start with a disclaimer.... I'm no expert, or even, in most cases, a fan of electronic dance music. I approached the genre in the last few years from the alternate angle of a fan of ambient/experimental noise. In it's early iterations, DJ's and producers' experimentations with bass frequencies and beat echos laid the groundwork for a dark, new, mostly-instrumental.. Read More »

For those of us, including myself, that aren't in Austin for SXSW right now, here is a little Jack White performing on the street corner in my old town. Enjoy. love, Howie Read More »

If you are going to have Christmas carols this year, then they should have David Bowie and Bing Crosby in them. I like how he just stops by and they chat for a bit first. love, Howie Bing Crosby & David Bowie - Duet Read More »

While Breathe Owl, Breathe's new album Magic Central will more than likely occupy a spot in my "Best Albums of 2010" list that is soon to come, their press photo is the best EVER. love, Stowe Read More »

With all the talk in the music world about the recent Austin City Limits Festival in Austin, TX, including a performance by the Flaming Lips, I was reminded of when Wayne Coyne snuck me into a show (without really knowing about it at the time). The year was 2005 (I think, but could be wrong) and Stowe and SXSW was in Austin for the week.  TV on the Radio was playing at a bar on 6th St. that was like many others during the festival and popular only for that week.  A previously unknown to us cavernous dance club was.. Read More »

We here at Stowe Provisions are fans of many things. Two of those happen to be Nico Muhly and axes.  Nico Muhly is a classically trained come avante garde composer and arranger, as well as a member of the Bedroom Community.  Muhly has recently set music to some short films directed by Finn O'Hara, the subject of which is axes.  Pretty Axes made by Best Made Co. We eagerly await more films with beautiful music that celebrate the collision between an axe and wood. Love, Stowe Provisions CHOP (preview) from Peter Buchanan-Smith on Vimeo. Read More »

In just two LPs and an EP, Samantha Crain is turning out to be a female equivalent of Richard Buckner for me. I got hooked on Ms. Crain's voice and folksy sensibilities upon the release of her 2007 EP, Confiscation. It's a little gem of a record in the vein of Jolie Holland and Buckner's first album, Bloom. Crain's subsequent LP was a terrific example of revivalist Americana. Her new record, You (Understood), finds her navigating the revisionist terrritory of Buckner's later work (esp. Impasse), and thank god for it. She's always had a voice like a train, but here.. Read More »

TV on the Radio guitarist David Sitek has a new side project called Maximum Balloon.  Take a listen to one of the tracks over here at Some Kind of Awesome.  "Absence of Light" is the title of the track that features fellow TVOTR member Tunde Adebimpe.  You can also purchase one of the tracks at the website for Maximum Ballon. Read More »

We here at Stowe Provisions have always been fans of Mos Def.  However, apparently he does not feel the same about us.  I had tickets to see him at the Fillmore Theater in Denver, CO and excitedly went to the show.  Mos Def was sick.  Sick as in he had the flu and didn't perform sick. A year or so later, I had tickets to see him at the Boulder Theater.  Went to the show and he was feeling fine, but apparently forgot he was supposed to be filming a movie in Europe.  The movie won out. However, our luck.. Read More »

Certain people seem to pop up everywhere you look. This week, that person has been Mos Def, which means it has been a pretty good week.  First, a guest starring role on House, as a patient suffering from locked in syndrome, which you may have also seen depicted in Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.  Next, I am reading the Star Tribune, the paper from my hometown of Minneapolis, and who should appear.  By now, you better be able to guess it was Mos Def. Mos Def appeared at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.  When say theater, I.. Read More »

Zola Jesus strips away the noise and let's us hear what she is singing.  Turns out that voice is even more powerful without all the noise.  Have a listen for yourself. Read More »

Mr. Andrew Bird has always been a hugely popular at Stowe Provisions, and our admiration of Ian Schneller's horn speakers has been previously documented here. As has the connection between Mr. Bird and Mr. Schneller.  The two Chicago-based artists are teaming up to create an audio-visual landscape/performance piece for the Guggenheim's Dark Sounds Series (which also includes Beirut!). I can't imagine a more fitting setting for the performance than Frank Lloyd Wright's nautilus-inspired building. It'll be a rumination on experimentation by master craftsmen inside a rumination on experimentation by a master craftsman, amplified by hundreds of artist-created horns inside a.. Read More »