Rilo Kiley Wraps It Up with “RKives”

While indie-rock fans might be rightly bummed about the demise of L.A.-based Rilo Kiley, the members are at least delivering their fans a fine parting gift in the form of a new compilation that collects much of their rare and unreleased material.

The quartet, comprised of frontwoman Jenny Lewis, guitarist Blake Sennett, bassist Pierre de Reader and drummer Jason Boesel, fortunately never relied on their easiest gimmick to raise outside interest: both Lewis and Sennett were former child actors, she best known starring opposite Fred Savage in the cult-classic video-game film The Wizard (1989) and he a supporting player on the kid sitcoms Salute Your Shorts and Boy Meets World. (The pair also dated for a time, splitting around the release of second full-length album The Execution of All Things in 2002.)

In the mid-’00s, a slew of plum opening gigs for Bright Eyes and Coldplay, coupled with a few notable extracurricular endeavors (Sennett and Boesel formed The Elected and recorded for the Sub Pop label, while Lewis sang and toured with The Postal Service), broke the band further into the mainstream. These boosts in popularity coalesced into their signing with Warner Bros. to release 2007’s Under the Blacklight.

Unfortunately, that album would prove to be the band’s last: officially on hiatus since 2010, interviews with Sennett for various media outlets the following year indicated that the band were no more. But they’re not leaving without RKives, a generously-curated 16-track compilation featuring seven previously unreleased tracks. Until March 5, fans can also submit personal videos and other footage of the band for inclusion into a video for lead track “Let Me Back In.”

RKives will be released on April 2. Hit the jump to pre-order your copy and check out the track list!

“Trouble is a Lonesome Town” For Lee Hazlewood and Light in the Attic

The catalogue of the Cowboy in Sweden, Lee Hazlewood, continues its upgrade from the folks at Light in the Attic Records with the March 19 reissue of 1963’s Trouble is a Lonesome Town.  The Mercury LP is the earliest of Hazlewood’s works to be rediscovered by the LITA team, and in fact, was Hazlewood’s solo debut.  It follows the label’s acclaimed 2012 releases from Hazlewood’s own LHI label including an introductory compilation, a rare soundtrack, and a vinyl singles box set.

Trouble is a Lonesome Town predated Hazlewood’s Reprise Records debut The N.S.V.I.P.s, released the very next year.  The colorful liner notes to that LP boasted that Lee was “impossible to explain.  Basically a writer, Lee has created a number of great rock-and-roll smashes of the past decade.  But at heart, Lee’s still a country-type fella.  He chews straw a lot, stuff like that.  He’s also one of the funniest guys ever.”  All of those sides of Lee Hazlewood were fully formed by the release of Trouble on the Mercury Records label.  The LP was loose concept album about that fictional town: “You won’t find it on any map, but take a step in any direction, and you’re in Trouble.”  As he would on his future LPs for Reprise and LHI, Hazlewood blended his singular spoken-word passages with story-songs rendered in his laconic drawl.  As confirmed by Light in the Attic, Hazlewood initially didn’t plan on a concept album.  He commented in 2000, “That was a demo.  I didn’t know it was a concept album.  I wrote a complete story of a make-believe town.”  Trouble haunted Hazlewood, though.  Years later, in 1968, he proposed a half-hour television program also called Trouble is a Lonesome Town.  Unfortunately, the series wasn’t picked up for production.  The album was reissued on the LHI imprint in 1969 with new cover artwork, but LITA’s CD reissue (its first in nearly fifteen years) restores the original cover with Hazlewood sans his famous moustache.

What extras will you find on the generously expanded Trouble is a Lonesome Town?  Hit the jump!  Plus: a pre-order link and more!