uuuuuuugh. It's kind of like having another class. Atleast I'm getting it done and not waiting until I'm almost done with highschool (like my brother).
Days like today make it apparent why I read Pitchfork (not for their review but the news. I really hate them but they report the news I want). So the Cure were coming to Seattle at the Key Arena and it would have been really cool to see them but I wouldn't want a shitty seat at the Key Arena (it's just terrible for concerts) but I wouldn't want to wait in line with tons of hardcore Cure fans seeing as I'm not really hardcore about them at all, so I just wasn't going to put down that 50 dollars. But they cancelled their tour for some reason and now they've resheduled it for later... much later. Like nextMay and June. it looks like their playing next year's Sasquatch Festival. WOO HOO! That gets me excited. That'll be incredible. The Cure - Hello I Love You (Doors Cover) The Cure - Friday I'm in Love (Acoustic) Buy The Cure Records
And then I found out M.I.A. is coming to Seattle November 16th! I was really bummed when she cancelled this year's Sasquatch performance, she was basically the main reason I was going, but now it looks like I'll see her yet! I hope... there's still a posibility that it will be 21 and over. It's at this new Showbox venue they just opened in the Sodo district. It's kinda wierd that they have two venues... And the downside of this is Stars is the same night at the main venue. Well sorry Stars, M.I.A. wins this battle. M.I.A. - What I got (Kala B-Side) M.I.A. - Galang (Hot Chip Remix)
This is wierd. I wish they did more episodes like this instead of cruising around and checking out everyone's cars and bland rooms with unnecessary things luxuries and things so expensive you've never heard of them. There's nothing I would like more than to stay a night or two at Devendra's hosue and jam with his buddies and make jewelry.
Also, have you seen this commercial?
I haven't seen it on TV et. I kinda love it cause it's funny but I hate it at the same time because it's such a dumb ad. What do you think?
I don't think I'll be posting so frequently or often for a little bit. I know that's what I've been doing, but you know... unispired posts are the worst. Plus I've been reading some other blog's and those dudes are way more knowledgable than I am and are doing a way better job, it makes this blog feel pretty insignificant. But I'll come back, and I'll come back hard! (to my 12 readers) Doesn't mean to say I'll stop posting, but I just can't think of anything real special to post. Here are two remixes that I think are really awesome: Bjork - All Is Full of Love (PLAID Remix) Wu Tang Clan - Wu-tang Clan Ain't Nutin to Fuck it (Bird Peterson Remix)
Don't worry, I'm still working on getting those other Bumbershoot posts out. I know I'm slow, but atleast I'm posting other stuff and not putting it all off. So last night I was at the Vera Project seeing YACHT, The Dirty Projectors and White Rainbow (those pictures from above are what I took last night). I was super pumped for YACHT but I've already raved about him in another post, so I'll just tell you it was awesome (but suprisingly short). But I had not really heard the Dirty Projectors too much before tonight. They put on quite the show. They sound so clean, but all over the place and sloppy at the same time. I think it has something to do with the really intricate drums and incredible harmonies matched with that dirty messy sounding guitar parts that harmonize so well. But seriously, their vocal harmonies they come up with are just amazing. The two girls in the band just carry the show to new heights. I got the CD after the show and I must admit, right now I'm not liking it as much. Maybe it will grow on me, but the mixing and recording of the songs sound a bit wierd. Also live the gutiar was way more... I dunno. They were a little out of tune and it gave a really cool raw sound that doesn't come across on the recording. Live it was definitely way more raw, but the CD isn't bad by any means. I think I've got to listen to it more and more and I'll appreciate it the same way. It's interesting though, the newest album that I got is a recreation of Black Flag's Damaged. While I'm not that familiar with Black Flag, I'll admit, I know one or two, and it's pretty wild what they come up with. But if this tour is coming your way, I really recomend you go! Dirty Ps/YACHT: 09-08 Portland, OR - Satyricon ^ 09-11 Sacramento, CA - Fools Foundation ^ 09-12 San Francisco, CA - Bottom of the Hill ^ 09-13 Visalia, CA - Howie & Sons ^ 09-14 Los Angeles, CA - The Echo ^ ^ with White Rainbow
YACHT:
09-15 Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre (Monolith Festival) 09-22 Melbourne, Australia - Parklife Festival 09-30 Sydney, Australia - Parklife Festival
Dirty Projectors:
09-16 San Diego, CA - The Casbah * 09-19 Austin, TX - Emo's ^ 09-20 Houston, TX - Rudyards ^ 09-21 Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon ^ 09-22 Tallahassee, FL - Club Down Under ^ 09-24 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn ^ 09-25 Durham, NC - Duke Coffeehouse ^ 09-26 Washington, DC - Black Cat ^ 09-27 Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's ^ 09-28 New York, NY - Mercury Lounge ^
Want to know how Bumbershoot was? Well here we go, I'll try to get through this as quick as possible, giving you pictures and videos of the highlights from each set.
We'll start day by day. First up...
Saturday: First things first there's a mainstage show with Crowded House and the Shins. Crowded House: Plain and simple, this was not a good show. I was bored, and I hadn't heard them before. I was hoping they';d be OK but I guess I should have known that a one-hit-wonder band from the 80's might deliver a live show of this caliber. The songs were just plain old rock ballads that all sounded the same. Sorry if I offended any fans. Interesting fact though, Eddie Vedder came onstage. It was just kinda like, "oh hey, that's Eddie Vedder". To be honest I'm not a huge Pearl Jam fan. I used to be but it seems every day I like them less and less. Here's a picture (or the best one I could get)
The Shins: They started pretty strong with Sleeping Lessons. That's just such a stellar opening track. But the whole time James Mercer just looked a little tired and like he didn't really want to be playing that show. They just kinda went through the motions, you could tell that they'd been touring that set for awhile. That plus the sun directly overhead us made the show a little bit of a slow start. But morning gigs on that huge mainstage is just a shit gig in general. I could see the Shins doing a really good show some other time, when the mood was just right. I really wanted to hear their cover of Breathe by Pink Floyd but it was taking awhile and they weren't playing it, so we left a bit early, and then as we were leaving I them strike the song up. Damn, I missed out. Oh well. But as we were leaving we heard someone mutter "they're song stealers!" which made my laugh.
I took a little break and met up with tons of people I didn't want to see. Soaked in the festivites and food and made my way over to my friend's neighbor's band...
Lillydale: These guys are alright. But it turned out this was their last show ever. I don't think they had a very long run. But they're kinda fun live. Their music is a bit mediocre but they've got a nice vibe going on. But man, the skychurch's background animations kept distracting me. There was this one pattern I just couldn't figure out what was happening. It was some sort of thing spinning but there was like 100 things going on at once. I love that venue though. I saw Cloud Cult there last year and that was one of the best show's I think I've ever seen. Next we dashed over to the KEXP stage for
Menomena: !!!!!!! I was most excited for them today. I forgot they were bringing their choir. Turns out it was only their second show with the choir. Man was it stellar. The choir came on in sweet outfits singing Rotten Hell (or what sounded like it), and then they tore into The Pelican. I only know the material from Friend & Foe so I didn't recognize every song, but I enjoyed every one. The choir really brought the songs to new heights, especially on My, My and the epic closer of Rotten Hell. Man are they cool. (Youtube's not liking my videos right now, I'll put these up soon)
Afterwards, our next few shows were at the same stage with 30 minute gaps between each set so we got to relax in the grass and rest our backs and feet. Next on our list was....
Aqueduct: To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be all that great, I was sort of into his music and I had a CD but I got tired of it quick. Something about their live show really gets me into their music. Now I've had Or Give me Death on my speakers constantly this last week. The crowd was so psyced for them, the energy was great. The highlight was their cover of R. Kelly's I'm a Flirt. They said they learned it on their van ride to Lollapalooza but now they've mastered it, so I think it was one of the first times they played it live. They finished their set early so they were just pulling songs out of thin air I think for the last few. And another bonus: I think this was the only time I've ever seen a band play a song requested from the audience (they played Heart Design). Unfortunately I did not get some of the best moments on video but these should suffice:
So after that we took a longer break. We tried to peak in to see Rodriga Y Gabriella but it was packed to the limit, I couldn't see anything. So we sat in the food court for awhile and saw some friends and talked. But before we knew it Devotchka was starting!
Devotchka: I honestly did not know what to expect, I hadn't heard much before. But man, oh man, they blew me away! Serious theremin playing and whistling from the lead guy, and when the time came his fingers flew across the strings. And the violinist played like nothing I'd heard before. The only part I didn't like is the tuba. Tuba's sound terrible, I don't think I'd enjoy any tuba part in a song. But it just played the bass part which blended in easily, and the other 3 memebers attracted enough attention to themselves. It was epic and danceable at the same time. I think they did an encore but we had to leave a bit early, when their first set ended. I couldn't get any video or pictures from where I was, but here's a great one of "How It Ends" I found.
I just got M.I.A.'s new album, and it's pretty fucking fantastic. It's going on my best of 07 list for sure. I do this a lot, where I go into one mood for part of the day, and then I'm listening to the exact oposite. After I wear myself out by dancing in my room to Kala, I've been getting into Sparklehorse and Damien Jurado again. Especially the Ghost of David by Damien Jurado. That album used to be overlooked by me, for some strange reason. I always listened to it at the wrong times, like when I was reading something I would put a song on in the background and get bored, but when I sat down and actually listened to it with my full attention I got it. It's a really great album, front to back. It's one of the more personal sounding records he's down,, in my oppinion, probably just because it sounds pretty lo-fi. I'm convinced this man can do no wrog. Every album of his is excellent, and every time I listen to him my admiration just grows. Here are my favorites from Ghost of David: Desert Great Today Parking Lot
Now about Kala. I know all the blogs are raving about it and M.I.A. is hot on the town right now, but sometimes you've just gotta forget about all the buzz and really pay the music some attention (I'm not saying that you don't... that's just a bad habit of mine, I get sick of hearing about things so I don't pay it attention). I shrugged it off at first after hearing Boyz and Hit That. I thought Bird Flu was great, but then those two tracks just annoyed me. But Hit That's not even on the album, and Boyz is the only track I don't like. It sounds like a more advanced Arular, there's more depth, but at the same time it's more fun and less serious. This is how sophomore albums should be done. $20 Bamboo Banger Hussel
In other news... If you read any other music blogs or have a myspace (which qualifies everyone reading this blog I bet) you've got the new Band of Horses track. I think it's really really good. That's pretty much all I can think of to say about it. It's good, and louder and faster than normal BoH. But not by much. Download it at their myspace.
Also, Sage Francis is having a remix contest, if you'd like to take a crack at Hoove Tracks in the Sand. Check it out here.
I bought Know By Heart by the Amaerican Analog Set, and I'm really loving it. I had a few tracks before but I knew i needed to buy some albums, and I don't regret it at all. Million Young Aaron & Maria
And I've been listening to lots of Kind of Like Spitting. Expect a blog feature about them soon!
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And I thought I should let you know I won't be blogging for another little while, Bumbershoot is this weekend!!! And this time i will give a full recap of it, with pictures and videos, but as a result it will probably take me aa little while also because school is starting on Wednsday for me. I'm pretty pumped. Hope this post will hold you over.
Sorry, I should have said I was leaving for a trip for like 2-3 daysfor Lopez Island, in Washington. It was fun, my freind's mom let us use their cabin, and I won monopoly. That was a blast (as you can see by the picture). Hmm... what to post? This blog is slowly turning into a "what-I'm-listening-to" blog, which is OK I guess. If anything, I think it's pretty cool. Sometimes I'll throw out playlists with themes or lists with MP3's, but trying to run news isn't the best thing for me, cause I just get everything from other blog's, that you probably read also.
So... Here's what I've been listening to:
Pigeon John - Do the Pigeon At Lopez me and my friend played a ton of hip-hop. This tune was on constant rotation with us. It's so happy and easy going. This album's alright, sometimes it's great, but sometimes it's terrible actually. But seriously, I don't think you can be sad when you listen to this. Buy The Summertime Pool Party
Dntel - Rock My Boat This is going high on my best of '07 list for sure. This album is so good track by track. I'ts all real mellow and the electronics on it are genius. Way more adventerous than his last album or his work with Postal Service. This song's one of my favorites, it's got some dark sounding chords at the beginning that make it sound out of place, but definitely in a good way. Then in the chorus the guitar comes in and adds a whole new level to the song. I love it. Buy Dumb Luck Sparklehorse - It's Not so Hard I got back into this album on the car ride back from Lopez. I almost forgot about it for awhile. It was deifnitely my favorite album of last year. It's Sparklehorse at it's happiest and poppiest. There are a few moments where it gets pretty loud, like this song, and I just love that. And the tracks that Danger Mouse produce are amazing. Buy Dreamt For Lightyears in the Belly of a Mountain
DJ Shadow - Stem/Long Stem On the drive up, I was tired so I just closed my eyes and listened to Endtroducing andlots of Dntel, which was perfect. Ambient, but lots of little things to peak your interest. I don't really need tot talk about this album a lot, it's already been hailed by so many other blogs probably. It is a classic. But this song especially. It's so epic and huge and different. I really really really recomend you listen if you're not already into this song. It's headphone music. Buy Endtroducing...
Gorillaz - All Alone As I got further into Rise of the Ogre, I got into the part about Demon Days, which got me more into the album. It's really cool and progressive. It flows way better than the first album, and it's way more polished. And the guest stars are even better. Roots Manuva just tears through this track and brings it to life. Buy Demon Days
