You are currently browsing the monthly archive for May 2009.
This summer, August 9, at Asbury Park Summerstage: The Pretenders, Cat Power and Juliette Lewis. Hot damn! If this show weren’t put on by Live Nation, it would be amazing. The price is actually not too bad: $44. (Promo code: live) That doesn’t include the insane service charges though….
Who wants to go and sweat and shake? Think Bruce will be there??
Actually, truth be told, I’m not really into the music of any of the three artists. BUT- the lineup is pretty awesome and all three acts are guaranteed to be entertaining.
Photo by Danny Hahn
There was a time when Rilo Kiley made me so happy I could hardly believe it. Hearing any track off their excellent “Execution of all Things” from 2003 was like a dream. I couldn’t believe a band could sound so perfect, could make music that literally made me believe in life and humanity and all that. Really. This sounds cheesy as hell but Rilo Kiley saved me. They made me believe!
This song, “Pictures of Success,” is not off that album, it’s off “Talk Offs and Landings,” from 2001. A good album, bit nothing in comparison. This is a very heartfelt song. And it feels just right on a rainy day like today.
Where are the sex kitten costumes Jenny?? Oh right, this was when she was a musician, not a prancing object.
Rilo Kiley: Pictures of Success
click the above link
Rilo Kiley: Pictures of Success
Photo by Natasha Ryan
(& free MP3 below: “Bleed”)
by Kemp Baldwin
Into the electronic wilderness we go. Animal Collective constructed a feral playground of sound last night at Terminal 5, populating it with bouncing loops, caterwauls, Beach Boy harmonies, and magic. There’s some wizardry going on atop those ghostly dressed and hovering boards –knob twisting, drum machine hitting, button pushing, occasional instrument playing– but what they’re really doing I haven’t the foggiest idea. The best I can surmise is they’re casting spells. Playing sounds so disparate and odd, these guys somehow craft wildly catchy tunes. Yes, it can get weird at times – or I guess weirder – but, man, all sorts of people are really starting to take a shine to this chaotic jubilance.
A couple of years ago, Animal Collective shows were attended pretty much exclusively by hipsters and hippies looking for the new-new weird. Last night, these folks probably still made up the majority of revelers, but the increasingly diverse crowd – models, part-time models, frat boys, girl’s night girls, I-bankers, out-of-work I-bankers, AARP members – and their conversations, reactions, and actions shed some light on the band’s growing popularity. Listen in:
Note: I may have taken liberties with of the names of the concertgoers. I was also, for the most part, reading lips.
Photo by Victor Martinez
I’ve been thinking about the Hatfield a lot lately. Maybe it’s because she twitters really personal stuff all the time. Or maybe it’s because her songs are timeless classics. They’re the best for both a pick-me-up, and if you’re feeling sorry for yourself.
Daytrotter has a session with her…..just posted today. It features 2 new songs for download, “Butterflies” and a Rolling Stones cover, “It’s Only Rock and Roll.”
Juliana Hatfield: “Butterflies”
This is weird, and interesting. The things people do with their time….The things people even dream up!!
Who am i kidding, what the f do I do all day???
What is cool about this, and is kind of actually a trend, is the crowd-sourcing to pay deal. He’s already raised almost twice as much as his goal, $2,000. Rad!
What will Miles sound like in bleeps and bloops? I guess we’ll have to wait and see…..
photo by Redheadwalking
By Kemp Baldwin
Openers Zaza were halfway through their set of bass heavy shoegaze sprinkled with airy vocals when I arrived. Maybe the first half was wildly dynamic – hopeful thinking is nice when it comes to derivative shoegaze.
Zaza is not bad; they’re just not worth that name yet. They sound like a poor man’s My Bloody Valentine with a marching band beat, which is nice, but not entirely interesting. Their drummer plays standing up – this seems to be in vogue – and in the pocket, but the band would have been more interesting if he was Shelia E or some other upright percussionist that would take them exploring new ground.
Back lit by a Pollack-ed light box, the threesome hid in shadows, which was sadly apt. They should try stepping out with a name like Zaza. Or just give it to headliners, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, who need a tutorial in nomenclature.
Click to read more
OKAYYYY you all know i’m a big sucker for the 90s music, especially Boston 90s. And I just looooove Belly. Tanya Donelly‘s crazy vocals turn me on in a strange way and the big pop-hooks are better than ever in the classic “Feed the Tree.” This was a big song on MTV back in the day- you will all recognize it.
Watch the video here….on MTV!
Belly: “Feed the Tree”
click the above link.
Belly: “Feed the Tree”
Call me old fashioned but I still say allowing your songs, your artistic life blood, to be used commercially to sell Bacardi and cars and other bullshit, is just plain sad and pathetic. I understand everyone needs money, this is capitalism, after all. But whatever happened to pride? Morals? Values?
Meh, out the window with those. Pay ME!!!!! PAYYYY MMMEEEEE!
Check out the Vegan’s roundup…..
Stringer Bell once famously chastised his underlings in The Wire:
That’s good. That’s like a 40-degree day. Ain’t nobody got nothing to say about a 40-degree day. Fifty. Bring a smile to your face. Sixty, shit, niggas is damn near barbecuing on that motherfucker. Go down to 20, niggas get their bitch on. Get their blood complaining. But forty? Nobody give a fuck about 40. Nobody remember 40, and y’all niggas is giving me way too many 40-degree days! What the fuck?
Well, here’s Idris Elba’s “40-degree day” of a new song. Bonus points for not using auto-tune, I guess.
(via Videogum)
