Category Archives: live

2010, live, music, reviews

Shows in brief: July 15, 2010 at The Empty Bottle in Chicago

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Managed to catch 3 bands at The Empty Bottle last night, in Chicago. The triple bill featured The Midwest Beat, John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives and headliner Jack Oblivian & The Tennessee Tearjerkers.

First up was The Midwest Beat from Wisconsin. I immediately liked them. Two guitars, bass and drums with singing duties shared by the bassist and one of the guitarists. There was some tight harmony singing supporting the lead vocal, but I feel that they could have used even a bit more to strengthen their sound. The band was very energetic with all tunes in the set very up tempo garage rock-ish songs with a sort of mid 60s vibe to them. Very tuneful and fun without a lot of effects or solos. Stripped down rock with nowhere to hide. Not too much distortion or flashiness. The two guitarists balance each other out very well. They were tight with good sound and a few interesting changes as well. Check out “Get It Started“

The Midwest Beat

Next up was John Paul Keith & The One Four Fives, from Tennessee. They are a 3 piece, straight up, uninteresting, unoriginal and very derivative blues based rock band. Perfect for your local watering hole. They play very well and John Paul Keith knows all the riffs and licks that one would expect from a country/blues guitarist. Their name is very fitting as they are not really a band that one would look to to be doing anything interesting from a harmonic standpoint. Just the basics. I-IV-V. Some songs featured the hackneyed shuffle drumbeat with steady bass dominant to tonic motion with finger picked telecaster through a Fender Twin reverb amp. Exactly the sound one would expect from this kind of band. With each song that was played I feel as though I am totally justified in wondering to myself if it was a cover tune or not. Personally I wish that this kind of blues/roots rock would just go away, never to return. The set was made all the better when he called out from the stage, “Who here is from out of town…for the Pitchfork Festival?” to which I slowly raised my hand (the only one). His reply: “I’m sure you really love this country music”. He’s right, I didn’t like that country music, but it’s not because I don’t have a varied taste, and I’m not the typical hipster. It’s because hist style is boring and hackneyed and standing in direct opposition to pushing an artform forward.

John Paul Keith

Headliners Jack Oblivian & The Tennessee Tearjerkers were up next. It’s kind of a stretch to say that this was a completely new act as it was simply John Paul Keith and co. plus Jack Oblivian (and it drives me crazy that he chooses to spell it ‘oblivian’. I hope that is really his last name).

I did like this act better than the One Four Fives. Much less of a focus on country and blues based influences and steering directly towards more rock-based music. I feel as though John Paul Keith was equally comfortable playing more straight ahead rock material and his solos were somewhat more aggressive this time out, sharing duties with Oblivian, whose main axe was a nicely weather-beaten Jazzmaster with a much dirtier tone than was present up to that point in the night. The songs worked well, and I do appreciate a little bit of a harder edge, but the songs were still quite derivative. Nothing too unlike things that you would hear at any number of bars in any number of cities at any time of the year. His not funny jokes about worshipping Satan and Lady Gaga didn’t come off as funny, but rather awkward and his repeated proclamations to not knowing what Pitchfork even was did not endear me to him very much. Instead it made him feel even more old and out of touch, playing a music that was slightly….old and out of touch. Neil Young he is not.

Jack Oblivian

All in all I am glad that I got to experience the music of The Midwest Beat. I would say definitely check them out if they come to your town. But, make sure you head for the door if they are followed by groups of old boring dudes.

2010, live, music

I'm making you a mixtape (Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 edition) 3/3

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Dear _______,

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this. I know that really the important thing here is listening to the music, and I really hope that you find something that you like. I know that good music doesn’t come through here too often. Though I guess if you keep an eye out there is some good stuff. I would have never heard any Mt. St. Helen’s Vietnam Band if I didn’t go to see Japandroids at the Soundlab. That was a good choice. I guess I’ve just grown cynical. Never happy no matter where I am. Buffalo isn’t really that bad, thanks to bands coming through here to get to and from Toronto. I guess it could be worse. We could live in Nebraska or something, or North Dakota. The Dakotas are probably an indie rock dead zone, I imagine. Anyway, what I was talking about? Oh yeah the last day of the Pitchfork Festival.

I’ve never heard of either of the 1st two bands, so unless they sound really interesting, the chances of me standing there to check them out are slim. I have to remember to get to The Bird Machine‘s table and get my official Pitchfork Music Festival poster that I always pick up (except for the first year I went, which I have regretted ever since). I love Jay Ryan’s designs. He’s done some album artwork too. He did Andrew Bird’s “Weather Systems” and Fruit Bats’ “Spelled in Bones”. He’s a nice guy too (and the lead singer/bass player in Dianogah).

The first thing that I want to check out is Best Coast’s set. I sent you that one song back in like December or January or something like that. Remember, it was all awash in reverb and sounded like something out of the early 60’s recorded by Phil Spector? The wall of sound? Well, anyway, that song was “When I’m With You” and I’m just going to re-use it again here. Best Coast is pretty much a solo project by Bethany Cosentino. She used to be in a band called Pocahaunted, which, if I remember correctly, also drowned everything in reverb and echo. As of Monday you can stream the entire album over at Urban Outfitters’ site. I checked it out. I imagine this album will be good and then the 2nd album will end up sounding exactly like it and probably won’t be worth buying. But for now, excited.

Things are going to get tricky Sunday afternoon because Lightning Bolt is playing at 4:15 and Surfer Blood is playing at 4:45. I have seen Lightning Bolt before, as you know. It was at the Soundlab again, and I was standing in the front row of people crushed against the drums and every time Chippendale hit the snare it felt like I was getting punched in the nose. I’m curious about what Lightning Bolt is going to do in a festival setting like this because they usually like to play IN the crowd. I don’t think they could get away with that here. It may take away from some of the fun if they are so far away, up on a stage, but I love all their tunes so much I guess it doesn’t really matter to me, and I will be in no mood to fight my way to the front. Their latest album, “Earthly Delights” came out several months ago. I love it. I think it’s better than their last album. The song I’m putting on your mix is “Sound Guardians“, the opening track. They named it as such because when they first began work on it they thought it sounded like Soundgarden. This has all the typical elements of a Lightning Bolt track, it’s loud, distorted, fast, with break-neck speed drumming and lead bass that’s like a drill being bored into your skull. Intense. One of my favorite bands.

Surfer Blood I only recently became aware of. More of a classic garage-band thing going on. I like what I have heard so far and my ability to make it to their set will depend on how awesome Lightning Bolt is (which will be measured in volume). “Floating Vibes”. This track sounds similar to Real Estate to me. Of course you remember me going on and on about them yesterday. Surfer Blood is from Florida though, not New York, which is strange I guess, considering.

Did I tell you about Neon Indian coming through here a few months ago? Well they did and I was going back and forth about weather I was going to see them or not and I ended up not going. I don’t regret it or anything, especially now that they are playing Pitchfork. There has been a good amount of buzz about this band. There was a new categorization made for them, people refer to them as “Chillwave”. They are really synth heavy, and from what I have read the lead guy, Alan Palomo, is a composer. “Should Have Taken Acid With You“. The songs sound like post-modern responses to the 80s. I feel like I’m listening to the aural equivalent of a grainy home video. It’s scary to refer to something that sounds like it is out of the 1980s as “retro” but there you have it.

I doubt that I’ll check out Sleigh Bells, but I may. Around the time that they are scheduled to go on (and on the ‘b’ stage everything always runs behind schedule) I should probably be heading over to the stage that Pavement is playing on. I almost feel bad for Sleigh Bells, going up against a long awaited reunion of a band like Pavement. Indie rock royalty. Anyway, I have really liked what I have heard from Sleigh Bells, like this track “Crown on the Ground” which reminds me of The Go! Team (saw them open for Sonic Youth in Toronto….I wonder what happened to them…) the way the girl sings and the way there are handclaps and distortion all over the place. It might be good to check them out for a minute, if their stage is running on time. But I really really need to see Pavement.

I don’t know if I have ever gone on about Pavement to you before. I was very late to the game as far as being a Pavement fan goes. They were broken up for 7 or 8 years before I even bothered to listen to them at all. When I did I listened non-stop for what seemed like a year. I memorized the tunes on every album. I became completely obsessed. I moved from album to album, listening to one 5 or 6 times a day for a month and moving on to the next. I have my favorite tracks, though my favorite album by Pavement changes every time I sit down. They broke up in 1999 and have been anything but forthright with whether or not they would ever get back together again. When they finally announced that they were I go so excited that I told everyone that I knew, even people that didn’t care, because I just felt like I had to tell everybody. When I heard that they were headlining Pitchfork this year I got even more excited. Just thinking about standing there and watching them is getting me excited all over again. In just a few days it’s going to be a reality. I’ll probably text you as it is happening. I’m sure you are thrilled.

A few years back Stephen Malkmus performed at Pitchfork solo. He did a ton of Pavement songs and I was so happy then. I started recording his set before he even picked up his guitar because I had a suspicion that something amazing was going to happen and it did:

And yeah, he messed up the words, but I don’t think anybody could tell or even cared. I can’t even imagine how awesome it is going to be if they play “Range Life“, which is my favorite song by Pavement, and is right up there with my favorite Sonic Youth songs. But that is a topic for another mix tape.

Well, I hope you enjoy the mix. It should give you a pretty good idea of the stuff that I am going to be experiencing while I am in Chicago. If you are lucky I will recount every last minute detail to you upon my return.

See you soon,

Adam

2010, live, music, Uncategorized

I'm making you a mixtape (Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 edition) 2/3

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Dear _______,

Considering Friday is just a ‘warm-up’, can you even imagine how excited I am about the rest of the weekend? It’s almost too much to handle sometimes. I wait all year for this weekend and then before I realize, it is over. I just try to stand there and experience every moment for as long as possible, trying to grab the moment inside those moments in a never ending fractal of amazing moments.

I didn’t even mention that I am seeing Liars twice on Friday. They are playing at a place called the Bottom Lounge after they play the festival. It’s non-stop once I get to Chicago and that’s probably the best thing. Remember how I told you about going to see The Twilight Sad at Schuba’s after an entire day of Pitchfork Festival-ing (where they opened up the day) and I fell asleep at a table despite the band being louder than an airplane taking off next to my head. Good times.

Back to what I was saying, Saturday is going to be a great day at the festival. The first band that I am going to catch is Real Estate. I bought their album several months ago and really love it. They are from New York, but when I first heard them I would have put money on that they are from the West Coast. They have this chilled out, surfer vibe to their tunes. Recorded kind of low-fi, kinda jamm-y, subdued and awash in reverb (as is the trend these days it seems). I think my favorite track off of their self-titled (only) release is “Beach Comber“. That’s the opening track from their album. I don’t think there is a bad song on it. The track that opens the 2nd side is another fave of mine too.

Let’s see, after Real Estate the next band that I am going to make a point to see is Titus Andronicus. They opened the festival 2 years ago, which means that they got to play a shorter set while people begin to trickle into the park. I remember it was starting to rain, and I remember that they played as if there was no tomorrow. I’m actually going to see them in Buffalo today, in a rather tiny room. That should prove interesting. To be honest though I don’t have any of their albums. I only am going by the fact that they were worth remembering from a few years ago and apparently are doing pretty well with their latest full length release. If a band can make that much noise and uses 3 guitarists, bassist and drummer to do it, then I am pretty much going to be interested (unless they are The Eagles or Collective Soul or something, then I’d only be interested in them stopping.). Let’s see, I guess I’ll have to just pick a track from random that I find online somewhere. How about this, it’s a video from Pitchfork’s A>D>D series.

It’s best to see/hear/experience them live. I’ll figure out a way to burn a song of theirs to CD for you though.

I’ve heard people saying that they like the Smith Westerns, so I’m sure that my brother and I will make our way over to their set. I have nothing to go on for them. I think they are from Chicago. I found this song,  “Tonight“, online. Sounds good to me. Noisy and jangly, just the way I like my guitars to sound. So much noise and guitars that you can barely make out the fact that there is even a singer in the room with them. Lo-fi. Maybe this is representative of them, maybe it isn’t, but it’s going to be fun finding out.

I’m not necessarily excited about The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. I remember that they had a song on the radio when I was in high school but I definitely have not been keeping up with everything that Jon Spencer has been up to. I’m pretty sure he has more than a few projects going on at once. At some point my brain decided to store his memory in the same place as The White Stripes. So maybe there is some logic to that. You know that I can’t figure out what my brain is doing half the time, and I know how entertaining that is for you so let’s just leave it at that. Maybe I’ll catch their set, or maybe I’ll head down to where the food is and eat. I’m sure, just like the past 4 years, I’ll make some comment about the Cevapcici booth. I’ll stay away though, because I’m a vegetarian, but you knew that already. Back to the music, because I don’t want this to devolve, like so many of our conversations, into the topic of my eating habits (or lack thereof). Yes, I’ll eat while I’m there. There might not be a lot of time to eat, but I will eat.

Wolf Parade is playing Saturday too. One of the few bands remaining with “Wolf” as part of their name. I can’t keep them straight anymore. I know they aren’t like Wolfmother, or AIDS Wolf. Is there a band called Wolf Eyes, or am I getting them confused with Frog Eyes? Well if there isn’t, then there should be. Oh, I’m remembering now, yeah, Spencer Krug of Sunset Rubdown is the lead dude in Wolf Parade (who was also at one time in Frog Eyes). This is made so much more confusing with the animal+something(usually eyes) formula. Anyway, Wolf Parade sounds like Frog Eyes and they are “ok”. Maybe a little too jittery with super cryptic lyrics and long song titles that probably only make sense to Spencer, but you know, to each his own. This track is “I’ll Believe in Anything.” I can picture you cringing right now. I know, it’s alright.

Panda Bear, from Animal Collective is playing too. He’s got a solo project that is going to be released very soon. Two tracks have been leaked and the blogs are all over it. Everyone is super excited. I guess the tracks are ok. It doesn’t really grab me though. Not too fond of seeing this kind of music played at a large festival though. It’s hard to make a connection with a guy that is a mile away, standing at a table, unless he’s doing something like what Girl Talk does. His new album is called Tomboy. The title track was one of the ones that was leaked.

Finishing up the night is LCD Soundsystem. This dude hasn’t put out an album in just about forever. He had a relatively huge, ‘memeable’ hit with “Daft Punk is Playing at My House“, which is the one I am putting on your mix CD, because I feel like most of the rest of his stuff is pretty forgettable. His new album didn’t really impress many people I don’t think. I haven’t made it a point to hear it, but nobody close to me is very into it so my excitement level is pretty low. I’m sure that his set is going to be exciting and dancy. Maybe as dancy as !!!’s set from a few years back and I know that you like them because I burned that CD for you (it only took me just over a year to remember to do so, but I DID….) and you love them. The lead dude from LCD soundsystem is one of the main guys up at DFA records, which, prior to September 11, 2001, was known as Death From Above Records. They specialize in that sort of indie dance punk funk thing that’s going on.

So Saturday will be quite a packed day, but wait until I tell you about Sunday. You may not hear from me again because I may die after Sunday. If I did, I feel like that would be perfectly acceptable. Remember the text that I sent you when Pavement announced that they were reuniting? Well, that excitement is going to come to a head on Sunday night. No matter how exhausted I am I’m sure I will have the energy to jump around and yell along to their entire set.

Talk to you soon,

Adam

2010, live, music, personal, Uncategorized

I'm making you a mixtape (Pitchfork Music Festival 2010 edition) 1/3

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Dear _______,

I know that you always think I’m such a snob with my music tastes, but at the same time I know that you think it is entertaining when I am able to spout off random facts about all these bands that you have never heard of. I revel in my pretentiousness, my “hipsterdom” and you sit there and listen patiently. Sometimes I feel really bad, like I’m dominating the conversation, and it’s mostly just because I like to hear myself talk. Well, I’m going to be away for a week baking in the Chicago sun while standing in Union Park getting my yearly does of music festival.

Over the years I have seen and heard so many bands and even continue to follow many of them. Some are, deservedly, long forgotten (Fuck Buttons) and some I wish I could go back in time to see again because I only realized how epic and amazing your set must have been, playing all of my favorite songs that only became my favorites months later (The Futureheads). This is what I am looking forward too this year, probably the most anticipated of my Pitchfork festival outings since its inception in 2006.

Friday, July 16:

I’m definitely excited to catch Liars…again….and again. I’m sure I told you about the first time that I saw them, at Pitchfork 2006. They immediately became the standout band from that years festival. The shear energy alone was enough to make me stop caring that my brains were being fried like an egg inside my head in the direct sun and 95ºF heat.

Well, they are returning this year. Since 2006 there has been a day added, Friday, that is shorter. A warm up that used to be in conjuncture with All Tomorrow’s Parties (remember when I kept going on and on about seeing Sonic Youth performing Daydream Nation in its entirety?) well, that was ATP. Anyway. Friday isn’t in conjuncture with anything but Pitchfork these days and Liars is playing at 5:30, and on the same stage I saw them on in 2006 (I know you find it amusing that I remember details like that. Well, thank god for mental illness [which is the name of an album by a band called Brian Jonestown Massacre, who isn’t playing..] mine being OCD) anyway. Liars new album is called “Sisterworld” and I’m including the track “Scarecrows On A Killer Slant“. It pretty much captures in a song what Liars are like.

They added a comedy line-up to the 3rd stage on Friday, which is usually vacant, so good on Pitchfork for figuring out a way to utilize this space. I feel like they are copying Bonnaroo with this idea though. That’s a much, much larger festival. Maybe people will be over there for part of the afternoon. I might even stop over and catch Wyatt Cenac while Robyn is performing, because I have no idea who Robyn is. Might just walk around, but then at 7:20 Broken Social Scene is taking the stage and I know that I need to see that.

They were pretty much the first band that I got into back in 2006 when I started listening to actual good music, thanks to a friend that sent me gigs upon gigs of music. That reminds me that the first song of theirs that I ever heard was “7/4 Shoreline”. Watching this video brings back so many memories.

That’s Feist singing that tune, not that you’d be able to mistake that voice for anyone else. She’s in the band, but not really, I mean sometimes she shows up, but the band is pretty much made up of about 48 people with successful solo careers so who knows who is going to show up for gigs. Maybe she’ll be there. That’d be great, considering I haven’t heard much from here lately. They have a new album out and it has been a while since that has happened. Their new one is called “Forgiveness Rock Record” and it has been getting some great press and favorable reviews. That reminds me, I need to buy that album.

After them, I suppose you could consider the ‘headliner’ on Friday to be Modest Mouse. I know you know Modest Mouse. They have gone from one of those super indie-hipster-only bands to fairly mainstream. But I think they have managed to keep themselves positioned much like the Flaming Lips, with one foot firmly planted in each realm. From what I have heard their music is just as good, and true to form, over the years. They seem to evolve without selling out, but have become much more popular. Long story not short: Good for them. I like them. I always liked this track, “Black Cadillacs“, from their album “Good News for People Who Love Bad News”. It’s not their best album, according to their fans, but they have so much material that you can check out. That song just holds some nostalgic value for me, so that is why I picked it.

Wow, this is getting wordy. I’m going to have to break it up into a couple posts. You wouldn’t mind reading a post for every day of the festival would you? I mean, it doesn’t take that long to read, does it? Considering that the next 2 days of the festival are full days, it’s going to take considerably longer to go on and on about each of the bands that I want to see.

Check back soon,

Adam

2009, live, music, personal

Coming up this weekend….

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It is that time of year again!

Time to bake in the Chicago sun for the annual Pitchfork Music Festival! I have been attending the festival since 2006. During that time I have seen several amazing bands, met many people and always had a great time. It was during this festival in 2006 that I realized that seeing live music was very important to me and it is a great experience to discover new music in a live setting. When I first went to the festival it was a scant 2 days long, now it has expanded with the help of All Tomorrow’s Parties to 3 days (though the first day is about a quarter as long as the other 2).

It was during this festival in the past few years that I came to love the music of The Futureheads, Spoon, Liars, Yo La Tengo, Dirty Projectors, and of Montreal. I also will never forget amazing performances by Girl Talk, Spiritualized, Sonic Youth, Os Mutantes, Silver Jews, Caribou, Dan Deacon, Stephen Malkmus and countless others.

It is so much more than just a music festival too. There is the flatstock poster convention too, which features gig posters by many different artists that are there to talk to and purchase posters from. I make it a habit of getting Jay Ryan’s Pitchfork poster every year. I really love his work. It is highly recognizable and he is also based out of Chicago, so he is more or less a hometown hero as well. I’m still upset that I didn’t begin this tradition until 2007, and I can’t find a 2006 poster anywhere, but such is life. Perhaps someday it will show up on ebay.

I will be twittering (www.twitter.com/quartertonality) throughout the weekend, that is certain. In addition to this I will be trying to see as many bands as humanly possible. I would estimate that I will catch somewhere between 20 to 25 sets over the weekend.  My only hope is that the weather is great. Rain would really put a serious damper on the fun. Other things I’m looking forward to:

-after-shows at Schubas or the Empty Bottle or something (I was actually so tired last year, or was it the year before?, that I fell asleep at a Twilight Sad concert at Schubas)

-record shopping at permanent records, which is located conveniently around the corner from my brother’s place, where I am staying

-meeting my brother’s new cat Dr. Pirate.

-vinyl shopping at the festival (all the labels have booths set up and it was a completely random purchase at the Sub-Pop booth in 2006 that introduced me to the awesomeness that is the Constantines….I really need to buy more of their stuff come to think of it)

So much more. I will be posting pictures and videos here as well as to my youtube and flickr pages. If I have time and am not too exhausted I will post them immediately, but I may wait until the weekend is over. Sorry, I am not a slave to the immediacy of the internet. Please stay tuned.

2009, live, music, reviews, Uncategorized

The Burning Hell at Lee's Palace, Toronto (May 28, 2009)

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The Burning Hell are Canadian Indie Rock’s best kept secret. Mathias Kom and his clan of musicians (over 10 at last count) from Peterborough, Ontario have been creating quirky, dark and self-depricating pop tunes for a few years now. I was first introduced to them in February 2008 through their album “Happy Birthday” which has several memorable tunes on it, including “Grave Situation, Pt. 1” about a woman that comes back from the dead to take revenge on her cheating lover.

The band, on that album features Kom on very low vocals and ukulele with the assistance of cello, drums, glockenspiel, trumpet, omnichord, keyboards, guitar and bass and a perfectly placed lap steel among other things that I may be forgetting. I listened to that album so much that I think I have memorized just about every line on every instrument and all the lyrics. I almost don’t need the recording anymore, as I can just recall it in my memory. That being said I was quite thrilled when I was in Toronto this past March and found their new release “Baby” without even looking for it. Apparently it had been put on the shelf a day or so before it was to be officially released. Most likely I was one of the first people to hear the new album, which is probably odd being that not too many Canadians have heard them and I’m an American. That is beside the point. I think that everyone should hear this band.

“Baby” is a bit of a departure from the very dark sounding “Happy Birthday”, but I welcome the change. The songs are brighter and more upbeat with more ensemble work (and more chords!). Mathias writes and sings in a style that is vibrant, with lyrics that take unexpected, and often funny, or at the very least ironic, turns. “The Berlin Conference” is about exactly that, while “Grave Situation, Pt. 3” and “The Things that People Make, Pt. 2” pick up where the other songs left off. It seems that Mathias likes to develop upon previous ideas. This doesn’t mean that the songs remain sounding like their counterparts from years past, rather the new style permeates and the songs receive an updated treatment.

I was, obviously, very familiar with their work by the time I saw them at Lee’s Palace. Lee’s is a great room, with the potential for a rather large audience. The stage is large and up very high, separating the band from the audience by hoisting them up above our heads. There isa large space in front of the stage, and probably not a bad spot in the house. I have had the opportunity to see only one other show at Lee’s (The Bicycles “Oh No, It’s Love” CD release) and that was amazing and memorable, so coming back was great. This show was kind of strange in that The Burning Hell were, to me anyway, the headliners. That wasn’t really the case though. The show was actually a CD release for Polaris Prize nominated band Dog Day, and there were 2 opening bands that went on before them. The Burning Hell took the stage at midnight, AFTER Dog Day had finished their set.

The Burning Hell at CMW 2008
I did buy Dog Day’s first album on the Itunes store and I have listened to it a few times, but I didn’t feel as though it was really that memorable. I prefer the work the singer did with Burdocks, and I listen to them more regularly. Dog Day’s set was not very exciting at all, and could not hold our interest (I was there with my girlfriend), so we decided to go outside for a walk for a bit after about 3 songs. When we went outside we ran into Mathias who was nervously standing outside waiting to load in. We had a brief introduction and said that we were looking forward to their set.

When they began Lee’s was rather….not full. I was disappointed. How could a band that writes such amazing and smart tunes not be filling places like this on a regular basis? After starting their set with a few new tunes, including “Baby” opening “Old World” they returned to more familiar territory, to me, with songs from “Happy Birthday” including “Everything You Believe is a Lie” and “Grave Situation, Pt. 1”. The set was full of energy, with a very excitable keyboard/glock player on stage right, a trumpet player that looks like he came off the set of “Braveheart” and a great guitarist and bassist in the back. There were a lot of people packed onto that stage.

Mathias’ singing alternated somewhere between preacher and conversation as he rattled off his lyrics of broken meter and too-many words per phrase. He rally takes authority up there on stage. It’s obviously great fun to be on stage and he is not afraid to let it show, even if he is dressed very proper in his sport coat. It’s all about juxtaposition. Here is a man of average build, dressed nicely in a sport coat, playing a ukulele, and singing in a low, serious baritone about things like dinosaurs, love (“It’s like a trailer park….”) and upbeat tunes about the world coming to an end. All of which are full of catchy hooks and wonderfully tight harmonies and rhythm section.

The show was wonderful and the end came with a nice surprise. The Burning Hell will be playing at the Legendary Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto on June 18 with King Khan and Barbecue Show. I will definitely be there, and hopefully more of Toronto will be represented in the crowd. There is one thing that I hope doesn’t happen again at the show at the Horseshoe: the very strange guy that skulked around the area in front of the stage and scared everyone. He make several strange gestures at my girlfriend and I, searched around for half-empty beer bottles to drink from and then smashed them on the ground when he discovered they were empty, harassed a girl toward the front of the stage (and then took beer bottles directly off the stage) and lit up a smoke in the middle of the crowd. I needed to retreat to the side of the stage for fear of my girlfriend or myself getting stabbed by him. It was rather disconcerting that nobody at Lee’s saw him and stopped him or was out there to do anything about it. It took away from the great music that was happening on the stage. I won’t say that this ruined the show, by any means, but I was nervous through a lot of it. Good thing I will have the chance to see them again soon.

Here are the videos I took at this concert. “Grave Situation, Pt. 1” featuring the very excitable glock player I mentioned earlier, and the grand finale that starts with Phil Collins’ classic “In the Air Tonight” and concludes with “The Things that People Make, Pt. 1”.  Please enjoy.

2009, live, music, reviews

Longwave – Mohawk Place (May 8, 2009)

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I haven’t had the chance to see Longwave at all in the past 5 years or so. I used to look forward to seeing them at least one time per semester. Those were the good old days, when they were signed to RCA and they toured a lot, and I think they had some money, but RCA never promoted them so they played smallish shows, similar to the ones that they do today, at least around these parts.

Times have certainly changed for these guys. They are no longer on RCA, and the lineup has been consistently changing since the drummer and bass player left before recording started on their 3rd full-length release (the 2nd for RCA) “There’s a Fire”. “There’s a Fire” was a departure for Longwave, who had worked with Dave Fridmann on their first major label release “The Strangest Things” which was decidedly epic, and grand, garnering them compliments from the music press around the world. It is always good to keep changing from album to album, but I feel as though “There’s a Fire” was quite a leap of faith on Longwave’s part. They were still searching for their fan base, leeching off of fans of The Strokes and other like minded NYC indie bands. “There’s a Fire” did away with the soaring echoplex effects and the Radiohead type grandiosity in favor of a very clean sound that was, in a way, stripped down. There was also the use of a recurring motive throughout (I believe lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Steve Schiltz referred to it as the “sea monster”) that apparently not too many picked up on.

More lineup changes followed after the tour for “There’s a Fire” came to an end and it was a while before work on their new album would begin, though it was hinted at on their Youtube page for about a year before the actual release. When the release date came you’d better believe that I preordered it and waited by my mailbox until it came.

The latest release “Secrets are Sinister” puts Longwave back on top, doing what they do best: catchy melodies, sweeping guitars that overtake everything in their path, interesting new guitar sounds and great rhythmic intensity stemming from drum parts that are slightly less conventional than your average 4-on-the-floor rock beats. Add to this a harder edge than before. It seems as though Steve and Company are trying harder than ever before to put themselves out there, by pure force. This album is louder than any of their other efforts, yet quieter and more contemplative in spots. Everything is amplified and stretched from one extreme to the other. Also Steve’s voice seems a little bit strained, but out front and open for everyone to notice. There is a new found honesty in his singing that was missing or covered up by extraneous effects on previous albums. It’s a great effort, regardless of what Pitchfork says (and I wouldn’t listen to a thing they say because they still can’t spell Steve’s last name correctly).

Left to Right: Jason Molina, Shannon Ferguson, Steve Schiltz, Morgan King
Left to Right: Jason Molina, Shannon Ferguson, Steve Schiltz, Morgan King

This show at the Mohawk Place, in Buffalo, New York was a make-up show for one that they had to cancel in December. I don’t blame them for canceling in December, as they were on their way to a show on their hometurf of New York City, which is much more important for them, or anyone, than Buffalo. It was great to see them in May though. The weather was beautiful and it happened to be on the last day of classes for me, which means that I could proudly say to Steve when I saw him that I had just earned my Masters degree (2 of them). He was so proud of this that after the show he introduced me to people that were asking for his autograph by stating, “This is Adam, I gave him his first guitar lessons and he just finished his Masters degree in Guitar Performance.” Needless to say, Steve and I have known each other for several years, and yes, he did give me some of my first guitar lessons back in 1998.

The venue is total shit. It’s a crappy biker-ish type of maybe blues bar in not-quite downtown Buffalo. Downtown Buffalo is not an exciting city. There isn’t much of a music scene. Anyone that tells you there is, quite frankly, is full of shit. All that exists in Buffalo are the usual mixture of uninspired bar-bands and hard-core/metal bands that will never amount to anything outside of Buffalo. This particular evening was quite lousy. There was hardly any crowd. The people at the bar were complaining about the noise before Longwave took the stage (there was some instrumental post-rock band that never mentioned what their name was on prior to Longwave).

When they did finally take the stage there was a total of about 50 people in the place, maybe a few more. I have been there to see Longwave on several ocassions. I remember the place being quite a bit more packed, but unfortunately they have been away from Buffalo for quite a long time. This doesn’t depress me as I know for a fact when they play Chicago and NYC they play in much larger venues to much more appreciative audiences. The set was tight. It featured mostly songs off of “Secrets are Sinister” and “The Strangest Things” with a few brand new ones tossed in there. I was able to make a few requests before they started, and they played all of them for me except for “Fall on Every Whim” because guitarist Shannon was not at the show because he was back at home with his newborn baby. Keith was filling Shannons shoes for the evening and he did an admirable job, and even gained some fans in the audience that began to chant his name at one point after Steve introduced him.

The new rhythm section is great and I truly hope that it doesn’t change anymore after this tour. The bassist has his own style and sound that works really well with the guitars and adds another layer of contrapuntal complexity to the songs that comes across very well in a live setting.

I will always enjoy seeing Longwave play. I have never seen them play a bad show and I have been seeing them as regularly as I can since about 1999 after their self-produced LunaSea records release “Endsongs” came out. It has been great to watch them grow and change and make music that I truly like regardless of whether or not I have been friends with them for several years. Longwave is the best band that you haven’t heard.

Here are my videos from this show. Please enjoy.

2008, live, music, reviews

Pitchfork Music Festival Day 3

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This is finally it, the end of the festival that I wait all year to go to. Day three didn’t have nearly as many acts that I was excited about performing, which made it the perfect opportunity to check out the record tent and the Flatstock poster fair. I purchased the official pitchfork poster, by Chicago’s own print artist Jay Ryan.  I purchased the new Dirty Projectors album from the Permanent Records booth (they are a record store near my brothers apartment.

The weather for Day 3 was much better, not too hot but the sun did give me a pretty rad sunburn that I was able to showoff for days. It eventually turned into a beautiful farmers tan, which I am still sporting to this day. Anyway, these are the acts I took in on day 3, reviewed in the same, direct to the point, sans bullshit style that I reviewed day 2:

Times New Viking:  Rock. Good, I remember liking them at the time, but I don’t remember them now.

Dirty Projectors: Crazy harmonies, edgy singing, complex songs and guitar parts. Very cerebral. Loved it, my favorite from the weekend. I stood in awe watching them much the same way I stood in awe 2 years ago watching Liars perform.

Boris: Pure metal, loud aggressive and fun. Too bad they had to cut their set short because, apparently, they could not get the power that they required. “Not enough electric power” they said after the drummer jumped into the crowd, crowd-surfed and then they left the stage after about 30 minutes.

HEALTH: Good electronic set. Way better than Fuck Buttons, that’s for sure.

The Apples in Stereo: Great, poppy, retro-tastic set. I really like their songs and their live performance was tight.

King Khan and His Shrines: Zappa + Sun Ra + James Brown = awesome. We were in time to hear the end of his set, which included an army of people on stage, horns, keys, guitars, drums, backup singers etc. and King Khan performed a gospel song about cunnilingus.  He was very detailed.

Les Savy Fav: The most out of control set of the entire weekend. The lead singer walked through the audience, climbed atop everything on stage, had a camera with him so that we could see his point of view. Their set was great, entertaining and energetic. Said lead singer was seen running around the park all day, and the day before was giving out $2 haircuts to anyone that happened to pass by.

M. Ward: Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzz……..

Spiritualized: Tight set. Great guitar work, though I felt that the singer wasn’t really making an effort to connect with the audience. The rhythm section and backing singers were fantastic though.

Dinosaur Jr.: I find Dinosaur Jr. really kind of droll. What I did like was the fact that J. Mascis was surrounded by Marshall stacks while he played, and hearing that song that I knew was great, the one with the dudes playing golf around NYC, riding their golf carts all around the city, yeah that one.

I was standing by the other stage Jockying for position for the Spoon set.Spoon: I’m glad that I get to see these guys again. The last time I saw them was at the 2006 Pitchfork Festival, which followed the release of their album “Gimme Fiction” which I am not a big fan of. I thought it was funny that back then the only song of theirs that I knew was “Small Stakes” and now I know all their stuff. They opened their set this year with the song “Small Stakes” and I laughed to myself. Their set was really good and they played a lot of my favorite songs and I was really looking forward to them, the lame thing was the audience.

The audience up front during the Spoon set just stood their, seemingly dazed for their entire set. It was infuriating to me. I was jumping up and down, singing along and really getting into it, but after a time I felt awkward and self-conscious and I stopped and just stood and watched like the rest of them. Attention: concert goers….it’s loud, it’s outside, it’s a rock concert, get animated, move around! Get into the music! Don’t just stand there!

All in all it was a great festival, as usual. I always have a good time at the Pitchfork Music Festival. As before I have included some videos below from that day. I didn’t take too many, my camera has been giving me problems, the battery won’t last long enough to take tons of video anymore.

2008, live, music

Pitchfork Music Festival Day 2

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The weather for the 2nd day of the festival did not start off by looking very promising at all. It looked as if it was going to rain forever and not stop. The thought of spending an entire day soaking wet, probably cold and miserable around a bunch of muddy people was not exactly the most intriguing thing in the world to me, but I was willing to go through with it if it meant that I would get to spend the entire day discovering new music. I had made peace with the fact that sometimes perfect weather just isn’t in the cards.

Now, it is impossible to see all of the performances at Pitchfork, the way that the schedule is set up the Aluminum and Connector stages alternate back and forth all day but the Balance stage is off on the other side of the park and the sets run in syncopation with the other two. So if you wanted to catch anything on the Balance stage (reserved mostly for more electronic acts like Atlas Sound, Fuck Buttons etc. and “less popular” acts like King Kahn and his Shrines) chances are you would have to skip out on some or all of a full performance on one of the main stages.  I did try my best to catch as much as possible. I would now like to sum up my Day 2 experience in as few words as possible. I joked with my brother that I would write “one word” reviews. They won’t be one word, but I am going to boil down my thoughts as simply as possible for each of the bands that I saw this day.

Titus Andronicus: Loud. Many guitars, a lot of noise and lots of energy. It was raining when they played but they didn’t care, and because of that neither did I. I’m keeping my eye on them.

A Hawk and a Handsaw: I actually missed them, but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to see them, it was because I was going to be seeing them the next week at the Calgary Folk Fest. I loved them. More on that when I blog about the Calgary Folk Fest in the next couple of days.

Jay Reatard: Punk energy. Numbskull Flying V-guitars and a lot of atitude. Good for a half hour set. Too much schtick, not enough substance. Using metal/glam/punk gimmickry ala FUBAR as some sort of ironic statement. No thanks.

Caribou: When they played “Melody Day” the rain stopped and the sun was shining for the rest of the day. In other words I was standing there in awe and it was absolutely amazing.

Fuck Buttons: You know when you are young and you wander into a Radio Shack and play with everything they have? I was excited for them, and then after 10 minutes I realized they weren’t going to do anything and I left. Fuck Buttons? more like Suck Buttons. Fuck you, thanks for wasting my time, you fucking untalented assholes.

The Ruby Suns: Good songs, I liked them. Performance could have used a little bit more energy, and a bit more instruments being played live, less prerecorded sound. What’s the point of a live performance?

Vampire Weekend: Jimmy Buffet for 20-somethings.

!!!: Great set. They make  you dance. The most the crowd moved the entire weekend was during this set. The first sign of crowd-surfing. I love !!!.

The Hold Steady: Pretty straight forward punk rock with the edge cleaned up a little bit. I liked it. They were definitely all about getting the crowd going. Great polished set.

Atlas Sound: Moving. Ambient. Great.

Jarvis Cocker: He is so British you can hear his accent upon sight. Jarvis Cocker loves to fuck, as is evidenced by the three types of songs that he writes: songs about women he has fucked, songs about women he is fucking,  songs about women that he wishes he had taken the opportunity to fuck. All of these songs were great. Jarvis is a great showman.

Animal Collective: An amazing barrage of new material that held me and the rest of the audience transfixed for over an hour. The sound didn’t stop for their entire set, and I have never experienced an hour and a half go by so quickly. Amazing end to the day. I think Animal Collective should only ever play in the dark. It worked so well in an outdoor festival setting.

That’s my day 2 roundup. I hope you enjoyed it. You will notice the video player below, it contains my videos from this day. Featured in the videos are Titus Andronicus, Animal Collective, !!! and Jarvis Cocker. Tomorrow will wrap up the Pitchfork Festival, day 3.

2008, live, music

Pitchfork Music Festival Day 1

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I guess I owe some sort of apology as it is taking me extremely long to get my videos up from the concerts that I have been to this month. I went to see a lot of shows in a few different places and it has taken me this long to get all my videos and pictures and what not organized on my own computer.

So very quickly, Day 1 of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago’s Union Park was on July 18, 2008 and, just like last year, was done in association with All Tomorrow’s Parties “Don’t Look Back” which has bands performing (what some consider to be) their landmark albums. This year featured Mission of Burma performing their album “Vs.”, Sebadoh performing “Bubble and Scrape” and Public Enemy with their phenomenal “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”.

I have seen Mission of Burma perform before, at the same venue actually, 2 years ago. Their performance was very good. I only wish that they would have been asked to perform “Signals, Calls and Marches”, which to me is a better and more important album than the somewhat lackluster “Vs.”. Seeing Mission of Burma perform now though brings a certain joy to me. To me it is witnessing a band get its second chance. For anyone that has read Michael Azzerad’s “Our Band Could Be Your Life” they know that Mission of Burma was a fantastic band with a strong following that seemed to be on the fast track to success, the only problem being that they were a little bit too ahead of their time and not quite as “militant” as Black Flag when it came to gouging their path across the United States. They were out there on the East Coast alone and had to face the fact that they had to pack it up.

Luckily for us they are back to performing. They got to skip over the whole part of being good, then bad and then resurfacing with a great album that seems to come out of nowhere. They are the only band that I can think of that went from being heard nowhere but in audiophiles basements to being the old guard of indie-art-rock. I like seeing them perform and I’m glad that they have the opportunity to do it. I still think they are ahead of their time. Their music is jarring and subtle at the same time, I think that people still have a hard time placing it.

Sebadoh is a different story. I have a few of their albums. I can’t manage to ever make it through an entire one in a single sitting. They drag on, and on and on and on. Too sludgy for me. To me it seems that Sebadoh was never really popular even when they were “popular”. Maybe I am missing something, but I have never met anyone that was crazy excited about the opportunity to hear Sebadoh live, and I have never heard Sebadoh talked about at all, let alone in a gleefully optimistic and obsessive way the way that passionate music people get when they hear a band that truly moves them.

Their performance at Pitchfork was just like listening to one of their albums at home for me. I couldn’t make it through the whole thing and I began to think about other things, and just hoped that they would eventually (soon!) get off the damn stage. After a really long time, they finally did, and justice was restored to the world.

Public Enemy was up next.

This would mark only the second time that I have seen a hip-hop act live. The first was GZA last year. The difference being that this year I would be seeing Public Enemy, a group that I am quite familiar with. I remember fondly listening to “Fear of a Black Planet” when I was in 5th grade. It is funny to listen to that now, knowing what the lyrics mean. I still love those albums, they are really great. Watching Chuck D take the stage and rap lines that I used to have memorized was a great, nostalgic feeling. I stood there and wondered why I stopped listening to Public Enemy. I honestly don’t know the answer to that question.

It was an explosive performance. Chuck D can really get a crowd going and Flava Flav is just as crazy as you’d think he is.  They ran through the entire album with a live band and an amazing DJ on stage with them. It was a spectacle. I stood there in awe because when I last heard from those guys I was 10 and I had the chicken pox, and now I am 27. I never thought that I would feel nostalgic at a rap concert, I never even thought I would be at a rap concert. Their messages now are just as important as always. Public Enemy has a lot in common with punk in that the lyrics have a message warning against opression of one form or another. Basically they are saying, “Don’t let anyone hold you down”. They preach love and protest at the same time. Flava Flav reminds us that this can be done while interjecting some humor in all the seriousness.