Breathe Owl Breathe have released the basketball-themed (and appropriately timed) song, “MVP” as a free download. We’re thrilled to be bringing them back through Wisconsin in April. Check out the tour dates and don’t miss them if they come to a city near you.

MP3: Breathe Owl Breathe – “MVP”

Breathe Owl Breathe Tour Dates:

04/13/11 – Oberlin, OH @ Oberlin College
04/14/11 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
04/15/11 – Mt. Pleasant, MI @ Central Michigan University
04/16/11 – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
04/17/11 – Madison, WI @ University of Wisconsin
04/19/11 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Cactus Club
04/20/11 – Appleton, WI @ Lawrence University
04/29/11 – Grand Rapids, MI @ Covenant Fine Arts Ctr/Calvin College
06/04/11 – Sonoma, CA @ Huichica Music Festival

Previously: Photos: Breathe Owl Breathe – Cactus Club (Milwaukee)
Previously: Breathe Owl Breathe :: Versus

MP3: Breathe Owl Breathe “MVP”
MP3: Breathe Owl Breathe – “Across The Loch”
MP3: Breathe Owl Breathe – “Own Stunts”
MP3: Breathe Owl Breathe – “Swimming”
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Buy: Breathe Owl Breathe – “Magic Central”

We’re bringing Timber Timbre + The Barr Brothers to the Cactus Club in Milwaukee on Sunday, May 22nd in support of their new album Creep on Creepin’ On (April 5th, Arts & Crafts). Said album is currently available as a full album stream here, go have a listen. We highly recommend it.

MP3: Timber Timbre – “Black Water”
Video: Timber Timbre – “Woman”
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Pre-Order: Timber Timbre – Creep on Creepin’ On

Pre-Order: Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues

(Sad Songs & Waltzes is a recurring feature on Muzzle of Bees, where artists share their favorite sad songs. Previous contributors include Megafaun, Delta Spirit, Damien Jurado, Over The Rhine, Conrad Plymouth, Frontier Ruckus, Strand of Oaks, and Roadside Graves.)

Few albums have retained their spot in heavy rotation like Sharon Van Etten’s gorgeous 2010 release, Epic. I never tire of it. We’re very excited for the upcoming tour dates which include stops in Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago and thankful for Sharon’s contributions to our continuing Sad Songs & Waltzes feature.

Talk Talk – “After the Flood” (Listen)
In the back of the van. Thinking about Japan. Feeling helpless and lucky and sad and grateful at the same time. Sensing confusion and loss all around me as we cross borders and live this strange touring existence. I close my eyes and I am in my own world. Wondering all I do not know, what travesties are occurring all over the world, as I listen to music in the van with my headphones on. I am meditating without knowing it. It is darkly uplifting. I shake my head with Mark Hollis.

Tori Amos – “Pretty Good Year” (Listen)
Every time I hear this song I think about Jr High. My friend Maggie V. and I used to lay on the floor and sing along to songs we couldn’t fully understand yet, but somehow said everything we wanted to. I think about the friends I lost touch with and the new lives I have been given. I look at how lucky I have been and feel like this is going to be a really good year. Gosh, I know that sounds super cheesy, but I feel like something explosive is the air for 2011. I have the best friends, the best family, and I hope to be able to live up to deserving it.

Sharon Van Etten Tour Dates:

03.30 Portland, OR: Doug Fir ^
04.01 Boise, ID: Neurolux ^
04.02 Salt Lake City, UT: State Room ^
04.03 Denver, CO: Walnut Room ^
04.04 Omaha, NE: Slowdown ^
04.06 Minneapolis, MN: Cedar Cultural Center ^
04.07 Milwaukee, WI: Pabst Theater ^
04.08 Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin ^
04.09 Chicago, IL: Lincoln Hall ^
04.10 Cleveland, OH: Beachland Tavern w/ Uno Lady
04.12 Toronto, ON: Drake Hotel w/ Picastro
04.13 Montreal, QC: Casa Del Popolo w/ Hidden Words (Alden Penner -ex Unicorns)
04.14 Boston, MA: Brighton Music Hall w/ Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
04.15. Northampton, MA: Iron Horse Music Hall w/ Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
04.16 Brooklyn, NY: Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Megafaun & She Keeps Bees
04.17 Washington, DC: Red Palace w/ Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
04.28 Munhall, PA: Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead w/ Iron & Wine
04.29 Cleveland, OH: House of Blues w/ Iron & Wine
^ with Little Scream

Buy: Sharon Van Etten – Epic
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MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Don’t Do It”
MP3: Sharon Van Etten – “Love More”

Set: Via Chicago / One Wing / Pieholden Suite / Not For The Season / I Am Trying To Break Your Heart / She’s A Jar / The Ruling Class / Hesitating Beauty / Radio King / You Are Not Alone / Born Alone (new!) / How To Fight Loneliness / I’ll Fight / Jesus, etc. / Hummingbird / Theologians / A Shot in the Arm

Encore One: The Late Greats / Candyfloss / Passenger Side / I’m The Man Who Loves You
Encore Two: Walken / Acuff-Rose

Review: Jeff Tweedy–3/28/11, Madison, WI (Capitol Theater)

Discuss: What did you think of the show? Drop a comment with your thoughts/reviews on last night’s show.

By Jon Stone | @jwstone

I just returned from an epic journey out to the Capitol – my first ever visit to those Eastern States. For a middle-class west-coast guy, exploring the east feels not unlike getting to visit the places that only ever existed in books and movies: Metropolis, Coruscant, The Emerald City. With its rich history, its monuments, museums, and memorials, Washington D.C. especially has this flavor for me. So too, then, does the 9:30 Club, that venue that has been emblazoned upon my mind as the legendary site of so many stellar NPR podcasted shows. Surely these places don’t actually exist.

But they do. I’ve now been there. What’s more, I had the chance to see Megafaun – probably my favorite band right now – on Friday night in that city at that spot. Filling the warm-up slot for the Mountain Goats, the trio played a short set to a sold-out Mountain Goats crowd and rarely have I seen such gracious openers. They came out with beards, banjo, and black Gayngs sweatshirt blazing, and pushed through what seemed to be initial sound issues (faulty guitar connection, touchy vocal mic levels) and into a solid 45 minutes of great songs spanning their five-year, three-release career.

More and more, I find myself drawn to bands like Megafaun — likely due to my ever-increasing proclivity for acoustic instruments and music. I’m fascinated by the ways that a small group of modern musicians are utilizing old-time traditions in thoughtful and progressive ways. This isn’t just a casual mining for old-time gems easily appropriated for a barn stomp – there are only a few bands that do that well (Old Crow comes to mind). Instead, artists like Megafaun’s Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund seem more interested in the chemistry and molecular structure of the old-time tradition. Their songs aren’t so much appropriations as they are alchemic deconstructions and re-assemblages of string-band traditions and sounds (see “Darkest Hour” from Gather, Form, & Fly [2009] or the twelve-and-a-half minute tone poem/song “Comprovisation for Connor Pass” on the mini-album Heretofore [2010]). And while an opening slot may not be the best place to experiment sonically like Megafaun does so masterfully on their records, there were glimpses of that genius at Friday night’s show.

They played several of my more-straightforward favorites on Friday including “The Fade,” “Carolina Days” and “Kaufman’s Ballad.” We also were treated to a ‘round-the-mic version of “Worried Mind.” They encouraged and succeeded in getting the audience to sing back-up harmonies on the latter. We were also treated to the Westerland-led spiritual “His Robe” and “Lazy Suicide,” both from their debut Bury the Square (2008) – a song Phil said had been played so many different ways, he’d lost count.

Though the 9:30 Club didn’t blow me away in their treatment of Megafaun’s unique amplification needs (Mountain Goats sounded much more balanced), their set was over too quickly and I’m left pining after my next opportunity to see them and with a renewed desire to practice my clawhammer banjo.

I left the show with both Gather, Form & Fly and Heretofore on vinyl. You should do yourself a favor and check them out as well.

Buy: Megafaun – Gather, Form & Fly - Heretofore