Brooklyn Voices – April 2013

The Lone Bellow describes its sound as “Brooklyn country music,” but its self-titled debut album also brings elements of acoustic rock, folk and gospel-tinged three-part harmonies into the mix. The group got together a few years ago at Dizzy’s Diner in Park Slope and, after a gig at South Slope’s Roots Café, they were invited to tour with Grammy-winning duo The Civil Wars, which led to a deal with Descendant Records…Mistaken for Strangers, a documentary about The National directed by Tom Berninger, brother of the band’s frontman Mike Berninger, premiered at New York City’s Tribeca Film Festivalin April. The National’s new album, Fake Empire, will be released in May. The group will play the Barclay Center June 5 before embarking on a tour with fellow Brooklynites The Dirty Projectors, whose video for their song
About to Die is approaching 200,000 hits on YouTube…Jay Z can be heard on the soundtrack of The Great Gatsby, due out in May. The Bedford-Stuyvesant-born hip-hop mogul also produced and arranged music for the film… …It’s a Brooklyn Trifecta: Skyzoo, with an assist from Talib Kweli, pays tribute to a great home-grown filmmaker in the song and video, Spike Lee Was My Hero, from Skyzoo’s  A Dream Deferred album…If you missed the September gig at Williamsburg Park by Williamsburg’s St. Vincent (Annie Clark) and frequent Brooklyn visitor David Byrne that introduced the duo’s album Love This Giant, you’re going to have to go out of town to catch them. They embark on a 44-city tour of the U.S. and Europe in June. Notable Quote: “Brooklyn is not the easiest place to grow up in, although I wouldn’t change that experience for anything.” —Neil Diamond