different weblog.

electro!

2007-09-12T14:40:00.000-04:00

It's been a budding genre this summer, with discs from Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism, and more as electro-house, or electro, has been the term to describe this music that's not quite house, not techno, but will definitely get you on the dance floor. Rochester gets its first taste of it this Saturday, as LA's remix duo/Kitsune recording artist Guns'n'Bombs (pic left) aim to bring down the house over at Pearl at 349 East Ave. The dudes have already created some nasty remixes of Chromeo's "Fancy Footwork" and Klaxons' "Gravity's Rainbow." They also have a few club bangers of their own, which you can check out on their myspace at the link above.

It doesn't stop there for Pearl, as a week later will be "Thrash Thursday" on September 20th. Featuring Rochester's own DJ Annalyze and DJ Ewun who will be spinning electro, retro, hip-hop, and of course, thrash-up. This seems like this may be a weekly or monthly thing, but I can't say for sure, all I know is it's time to dance!

Easy/Lucky/Rochester

2007-08-30T00:00:00.000-04:00

Great fall tour news Rochester, as Omaha's golden boy Conor Oberst, aka Bright Eyes makes a stop at the Main Street Armory on November 15th. Supporting his latest release Cassadaga, expect Conor to bring out both the emo kids and hipsters, as his already impressive catalog of seven studio albums, numerous EPs, singles, rarities/b-sides collections, and work with his other group Desaparecidos, and still only 27 has spanned solo acoustic drunken loveless croakings, to electro-pop gems, and to now a more folk-oriented indie rock. Bring tissues or alot of money for the bar to this show folks, becuase this one might make you cry or drink until you're not sad anymore.

Daft Punk | Arrow Hall, Toronto

2007-08-07T18:04:00.000-04:00

This summer's big concerts make it seem as if we're in some kind of strange time warp. The Police, Bjork, Rage Against the Machine, Pearl Jam headlining Lollapalooza, and Wu-Tang Clan are all touring the country, but let's not forget everyone's favorite robots, Daft Punk. Playing only a few select dates this summer across the U.S., it is their first U.S. tour in eight years, save for the few festival appearances last summer as well. The closest they would have come to Rochester was Toronto, so it was a day trip up to the great white north on Sunday.

Arrow Hall isn't in Toronto acutally, but in Mississauga, about 20 minutes out of Toronto. Part of the International Centre, it is a massive complex used for conventions and a handful of concerts. Inside was similar to that of an airplane hanger, massively high ceilings complete with makeshift barriers and bars. I walked in to SebastiAn and Kavinsky already spinning, set up on the floor in the middle of the hall. Rocking what appeared to be CD turntables, the dudes fromEd Banger Records reminded folks what they were there to do; dance. Playing a nice mix from their own music to other Ed Banger artists to other electro-house club-bangers, their work did not go unnoticed, although a few folks may not have realized it was actual live DJs providing it.

Personal favorites The Rapture, took the stage, playing a pretty good blend of their two full-length releases, Echoes and Pieces of the People We Love. However, the band didn't seem too into the show, and looked as if they were just going through the motions. "House of Jealous Lovers" doesn't have the same effect when it's in the middle of the set, and no longer makes the crowds go crazy when it first came out. Their new tracks have grown on me, as I lose myself in "W.A.Y.U.H." and "Get Myself Into It." Solid set from the NYC boys, but they new everyone was there for something bigger.

The anticipation was impalpable, as SebastiAn & Kavinsky kept the crowd pumped with tracks from Justice, The Chemical Brothers, and semi-strangely enough, a Mr. Oizo remix of Rage's "Killing in the Name Of." Then, as the music faded and the lights went down, the crowd went wild as the faint beginnings of "Close Enounters" echoes through the hanger. Slowly the lights come up, and the outline of a large pyramid in the middle of the stage takes shape, and the outline of two men in robot suits becomes clear, and bliss is reached; Daft Punk has taken the stage. The duo of Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo don't just play any of their famous tracks cut for cut, but wonderfully blended each tracks together, creating a remix of sorts that paired "Around the World' up with "Television Rules the Nation" and "One More Time" with the Stardust hit "Music Sounds Better with You." How much the two are actually doing live is questionable, as they are fitted in robot helmets and gloves, but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

Props also to who ever is doing the lighting for these shows. The pyramid lcd screens, flourescent tube lattice, backscreen, and the rest of the lights are intricately timed to the music which is really what creates the surrealistic experience.

There's not much else to say, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Interpol | Harro East Ballroom, Rochester

2007-07-20T12:45:00.000-04:00

Fresh off the release of their third full-length album, Our Love to Admire, the 5-piece NYC group better known as Interpol was ready to kick off their summer tour, playing their first show since the album was released...in Rochester?? I have no idea who does their booking, but it is nice to see someone give The Flower City some attention, as the band played at the Harro East Ballroom Thursday night.

Harro East is a really nice facility, however, it was never made to hold a concert. There's nothing soft on the walls, there's long windows, and the space is almost square shaped. The sound wasn't bad as I thought it was going to be, as openers Calla took the stage to warms things up. The band's sound was simialr to that of Interpol's with more of a rock edge to it, and Aurelio Valle's vocals were indecipherable through Harro's PA system. The band was tight and kept the set short, which is what most openers should do.

Interpol built up the suspense by taking a while to get to the stage, but once they did the crowd erupted as they launched into "Pioneer to the Falls." This being their first show since the release of the album, I was worried the set would consist mostly of new songs, but the band did a great job of blending songs from all three releases, keeping in mind those who have been there since Turn on the Bright Lights.

A new experience for me occured not even three songs into the set, when as I was taking pictures for you fine folks, I was grabbed by two security guards and dragged out the side door. I was completely unaware of the no camera policy, as I didn't see the sign when I came in, and no one stopped me about it either. Pissed off, and even more so when I realized I miss "Say Hello to Angels," I reasoned with another security guard who agreed to let me back in. I quietly enjoyed the rest of the show much farther back from the stage, and without my friend Lindsay.

The band seemed much more into their performance than when I had last seen them in Niagara Falls two years ago. Then, then band could barely be seen with the sparse backlighting, lead singer Paul Banks barely uttered more than six words the entire night, most of them "thank you," and the only one who seemed to have any form of life was bassist Carlos D, as band went from one song right into another. This time around, guitarist Daniel Kessler got into it, moving around the stage, most likely to cool off a little from being in a suit on stage in the quite hot ballroom. Carlos D was into it as usual, but now sporting a new sweet 'stache. Even Banks drifted from his usual stoic position, twiddling with effects pedals and feedback. Banks also had a little more to say this time mumbling something about "Rochester" and "thank you" and "new album" in between a few songs. Could this be a new, friendlier Interpol, now being on a major label, taking time between songs to switch guitars, drum and guitar techs, and fancy lighting? Did I actually see Banks crack a smile at the end of the show? Is the band actually happy? Whatver the reason, it seems the band has actually reached some form of commerical status, with videos on MTV, and selling out shows in Rochester, New York. Well done boys, well done.

Due to the lack of pictures, here's a setlist:

Pioneer to the Falls
Obstacle 1
Narc
Say Hello to Angels
Rest My Chemistry
Mammoth
Slow Hands
Leif Erickson
Scale
The Heinrich Maneuver
Evil
Not Even Jail

Encore:
NYC
Length of Love
Stella was a Diver and She's Always Down

Pitchfork Music Festival, Day 3 | Chicago, IL

2007-07-18T13:15:00.000-04:00

The final day in Chicago definitely didn't disappoint, as most of the performers turned out great sets.

The day kicked off with Atlanta's Deerhunter. Lead vocaist Bradford Cox, who isn't anorexic, but suffers from Marfan Syndrome, sported a dress as he has been lately, and also had a glove on which little puppets dangled off strings from the fingers. It was quite strange, but the band put on a wonderful performance with Cox's looped, reverbed vocals a la Animal Collective, while the band's laid back punk feel was similar to Sonic Youth. A great way to start the last day of the festival, and it would only get better.

I stuck around the Connector Stage to see Menomena. I was startled to discover that the band is only a three piece, as Brent Knopf manned guitar, keys, and glockenspiel, while Justin Harris took care of guitar, bass, and saxophone. All three members share vocals, and the band played a great set, featuring songs mostly from its latest release Friend and Foe. It's quite amazing how much music the three Portland boys could make, as they rocked it with great piano lines, bass and guitar riffs and great drumming.

I then took a break to grab a bite to eat and check out the poster sale, as I had seen Junior Boys a few months back and their live show is pretty much just like the album tracks cut for cut, and I know nothing about The Sea and Cake. It would be the Aluminum Stage the rest of the day, as I staked out a spot for the greatest man in showbusiness, Jamie Lidell. I had seen Lidell about this time last year in Toronto, and immediately fell in love with his combination of soul singing and electronic noodling. This time around it was no different, as Jamie came out sporting his usual robe, and donning an unusual turban with strips of colored aluminum foil through which he was somehow still able to see and sing. Opening with "Game for Fools" which was almost acapella, Lidell then launched into his usual building of his beats live through beat-boxing and looping, and singing the original songs over it. He also debuted a new track which was quite catchy and wonderful, although the name of it escapes me. I'll say it before and say it again, Jamie Lidell is the best kept secret in music right now, but it may not stay that way after his wonderfu performance at the festival.

I immediately claimed Lidell's set the best of the festival, but merely an hour later I was proved wrong, when Of Montreal took the stage. Kevin Barnes and co. came with more crazy getups, three headed tigers, masked men in spandex, gold women serving strange red substances, and ballons filled with glitter than you can think of. Not to mention they played a fantastic set that pulled almost exclusively from their latest, Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, save for a new song, "Softcore" which was prefaced with the band in football attire throwing passes to each other as well as the crowd, ending the set with "The Party's Crashing Us," and returing for an encore with a cover of The Kinks "All Day and All of the Night." Easily the my favorite performance of the weekend.

I then decided that I need to see the headliner, since I had not seen one at the festival last year, and skipped out on Yoko Ono the night before. I was barely familiar with De La Soul's 3 Feet High and Rising, but it didn't matter as the group blazed through songs spanning their nearly 20 year career. Getting the crowd amped with the unintentionally funny statements "give it up for the Pitchfork" and "give it up for the Pornogrpahers (referring to the New Pornographers), they doin' their thing" was forgiveable as they got the crowd enthusiastically involved throughout the set. If their was a roof, it would have nearly came down when the group brought out their special guest, 3 Feet High.. producer and hip-hop legend Prince Paul. Paul spun, and also did one short verse as the crowd went wild. De La Soul was a wonderful way to close out another fantastic weekend at the Pitchfork Festival.

More pics will be up in the coming weeks, keep it tuned.

Pitchfork Music Festival, Day 2 | Chicago, IL

2007-07-17T12:29:00.000-04:00

So we spent this past weekend the same way we spent it last year; at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. We skipped Friday's performances of Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation, GZA's Liquid Swords, and Slint's Spiderlandto check out Chicago and play tourist. But Saturday we were there at the start. Here's how it went down:

I started the day off with Chicago's own Califone. They put on a wonderful set of folk/rock/experimental, through which Wilco comparisions can easily be made, from the band's sound down to Tim Rutili's voice. The band also brought a horn section with them which added alot to the band's sound. A great early surpise from a band I was not familiar with at all.

I then camped through Voxtrot's set to have a good spot for Grizzly Bear, and I wasn't disappointed. The band, pulling mostly from their latest effort, Yellow House, was fantastic, harmonizing their ghostly voices while floating through strange song structures. The cover of "Deep Blue Sea" was great, as well as their own songs like the wonderful "Knife," which many of us couldn't stop singing the whole weekend.

From GB I ran over to the other stage to try to get somewhat close to Battles. While I hadn't heard much of their music, and was slightly annoyed by Tyondai Braxton's vocals on "Atlas," I had heard good things about their live show, and this was affirmed. The band ripped through songs new and old, and was quite tight musically, as both Braxton and Ian Williams played keys and guitar simultaneouly, Helmet drummer John Stanier ripped it up on drums, and Dave Konopka followed suit on bass and guitar. While technical difficulties midway through the set did kill a little of the energy, the band brought it right back when they went into "Atlas." Easily the best performance of the day.

I then rolled over to the Blanace Stage, which was the tent last year, and housed a sick collection of mostly electronic artists. This year, the tent was gone, and the Balance Stage features a few of electronic artists, but mostly smaller bands, like Profesor Murder. Yet another Brooklyn dance-punk outfit that seems to love playing music, the band was quite entertaining as Michael Bell-Smith, banged away on two snares as he yelped along. At times I found it to be kind of annoying and campy, and I think I enjoyed their between song music than their actual music.

After finding the shortest line for food, I made my way over to the main stages to check out Clipse. Hell Hath No Fury was one of my favorite records of 2006, and Malice and Pusha T didn't disappoint. Pulling mostly from the latest album, Clipse shared their stories about the coke game and uncomfortably ended each song with an explosion followed by gunshots. They also did a few mixtape tracks and the track that started it all, "Grindin'". An energetic performance from two fellas who probably didn't know what Pitchfork was until they reviewed their latest album.

I regretted opted out for Cat Power and quickly rushed back over to the Balance Stage to try and get a spot for Girl Talk during Dan Deacon's set. Deacon always plays on the ground, so I couldn't see a single thing. He sounded alright, but was cut short due to so many people at the stage it was causing a fire hazard. The threat to do the same to Greg Gillis was given before he started, but that didn't stop people from cramming in to see the king of laptop djing. I was about halfway back from the stage, and the sound system was terrible, and I could barely hear Girl Talk's crazy mashups. I could see the giant inflatable spider entrance on stage, and people throwing confetti and spraying silly string. Grizzly Bear made another appearance as Ed Droste provided the vocals for Girl Talk's remix of "Knife." Quite a party for anyone up front, but massively disappointing for everyone else who could barely hear the music.

While a great day ended poorly, Day 3 would really bring the noise...

July 10th: great day, or greatest day?

2007-07-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

I have been waiting for this day the entire summer. July 10 is arguably the best day for album releases this summer, and my wallet is slowly buring through my shorts, begging me to get to a record store to pick up some of the most anticipated releases of the year. Here's what's out today:

Justice- †

This is my most aniticipated release of the summer. I have been waiting for this album ever since I actually started to listen to DJ PTRQ (my newest co-host for the Transient State, Tuesdays 10-11pm) about how amazing the duo of Xavier de Rosnay and Gaspard Auge really are. Being hailed as the next Daft Punk (both duos actually share the same manager), Justice (pronounced Just-eece) bring it down with their brand of electro-house that ranges from the gritty synth lines of "Phantom" and "Waters of Nazareth" to the upbeat catchy Michael Jackson tribute "D.A.N.C.E.", which has already been remixed enough times to make a full remix album of just that song. Keep an eye out for the band's label, Ed Banger Records, as well. The French label, which is affiliated with Vice Records, has an arsenal of dance music artists waiting to explode onto the scene after Justice kick down the door.

Interpol- Our Love to Admire

The NYC gloom-rockers are back with their third full-length album, and their first for major label Capitol Records. As of this post, this is the only release I've heard in it's entirety, and it is solid. From the slow tempoed opener "Pioneer to the Falls" to the catchy, obviously placed single "The Heinrich Maneuver" to the empty spaced, guitar shaking "Lighthouse" to end the album, it's nothing extraordinary from these fellas. The album does suffer slightly from the crip, clean production quality, but gems like "Rest My Chemistry" and "No I in Threesome" are quality. This album may not draw any new Interpol fans, but it's definitely not going to lose any current ones.

The Smashing Pumpkins- Zeitgeist

The first Pumpkins album in seven years is garnering a ton of attention, especially from the die-hard fans who thought they'd never live to see another album from the band. Despite that the reunion consists only of Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, they've been hard at work since 2005 working on this album with their three new members. I've only heard the single, "Tarantula," and while I'm not too fond of it, I was never a big Smashing Pumpkins to begin with. Making the album available with five different albums covers each with a different bonus track each available at separate big store retailers (Best Buy, Target, etc.) doesn't help their case either. But I'm still willing to bet this one's going to top the billboard chart at the end of the week.

Spoon- Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

With probably the worst album title ever released, Spoon's sixth studio album will probably land on it's feet as a solid indie-rock album, as most of their albums do. While I haven't been to excited about this one, listening to "The Underdog" reminds me that these guys just make good music. Hearing the horns is a nice addition, almost seems like a throwback to doo-wop and 50s rock and roll with a modern twist. Without a doubt it's worth a listen.

Ulrich Schnauss- Goodbye

The third full-length from one of the best artists in ambient electronic right now, Schnauss's Goodbye has slowly snuck under the radar, mostly because of all the other albums being released today. Schnauss has been making music for twelve years, and has a penchant for making beautiful atmospheric soundscapes like Sigur Ros, but still retain an IDM quality like Boards of Canada. The new album seems to have more of a shoegaze element than usual, and seems a bit more fast paced, and features vocals on multiple tracks. I am stoked and can't wait to hear it in its entirety.

(Don't) Tell Everyone We're Dead.

2007-07-08T20:37:00.000-04:00

We return! Due to a lengthy school year, lots of work, and other inexcusable distractions, different weblog. kind of got left on the back burner. Now that I've had the time to sit down and remember HTML, different weblog will hopefully be up and running the rest of the summmer, and hopefully the school year as well.

Unfortuately, it will have to go on without its pioneer and fearless leader, David. At the end of spring semester, David mysteriously left WRUR and Rochester, and was last seen roving the hills and forests of Michigan with a pack of wolverines. We wish David the best of luck in life for the future.

Meanwhile, we're gearing up for a big week here at different weblog. On Thursday we again trek to the Windy City for the Pitchfork Music Festival! Hopefully it won't be as hot as last year, and I'll be able to dance around without dying.

Not too soon after that, the arguably best show of the Rochester summmer arrives, as Interpol roll into the Harro East Ballroom on July 19. Don't ask why the band is playing Rochester, just be grateful it is happening and turn out as the band looks to promote their latest effort, Our Love to Admire, which hits shelves on Tuesday.

As I prep my camera for Chicago, I will try to put up some pictures of some shows I saw during the year. Keep it close, the next post won't be in sixth months.

justin's 2006 picks.

2007-01-01T15:22:00.000-05:00

As 2006 came to as close, of course all the blogs, websites and such posted their lists of the year, and while it may already be 2007, that isn't going to stop us here at different weblog from sharing our favorites from 2006. Here are my picks:

Top 10 Albums of 2006

10. Junior Boys - So This Is Goodbye

My newest acquisition of all of these on the list, Junior Boys are masters of making me dance while using what seems like the least amount of music in each song. The vocals are lustful, desparate, and hauting. Junior Boys downbeat techno is also extremely relaxing. This is some sexy music.

9. Page France - Hello, Dear Wind

I adore this album. Page France creates the most charming folk-pop I've ever heard. Catchy lyrics, a tinge of religious influence (see the wonderful song "Jesus"), and the nasally vocals of Michael Nau makes for the cutest album of the year. Yes, I just used the word 'cute' to describe an album, I'm not above that.

8. Anathallo - Floating World

The concept album based around a Japanese folk tale about a dog that finds treasure, Anathallo uses an array of instruments a la Sufjan Stevens and Broken Social Scene to craft an album that dances around dark corners and angelic beauty. Floating World is dazzling from start to finish, and I can't wait to see what results from their collaboration with Page France (see no.9 album).

7. Matt & Kim - Matt & Kim

The first time I heard this duo, it was the video for their song "Yea Yeah," which hilariously features the two being pelted with various foods. The song was catchy as hell, as I soon found out so was the rest of their self-titled debut. With Matt on synths/keys and Kim on drums, the duo cranks out extremely poppy, catchy songs about baseball, track and field, and pretty much whatever they want! One of my favorite discoveries of 2006.

6. Ghostface Killah/Lupe Fiasco/Clipse - Fishscale/Food & Liquor/Hell Hath No Fury

I just started to get back into hip hop this year, and these are the three records that did it for me. Ghostface has a ferocious delivery that I think is the best in the game. "The Champ" is my favorite song of the year. Clipse a la Ghostface provided us with another album in the evolving "coke rap" genre, showing that the wait for this album was well worth it. The Neptunes cooked up the hottest beats of the year for this album, and Pusha T and Malice trade raps coolly and confidently. Lupe Fiasco put out a wonderful debut of thoughtful hip-hop, making fun of the genre Clipse and Ghostface are pioneering right now. A rising star channeling the likes of Kanye West and Talib Kweli, this guy will be around for a while. All equally strong albums, and that is why they all occupy one space on this list.

5. Xiu Xiu - The Air Force

While it's is most likely Xiu Xiu's most accessible release, it's also one of thier best. Jaime Stewart still retains the extreme emotions that are trademark of his recordings, but to an extent that it doesn't completely freak the listener out. Xiu Xiu still remains as one of the most unique artists I have ever heard, and that's what draws me to the dark twisted electronic/post-punk music they create.

4. The Thermals - The Body, The Blood, The Machine

This is what punk rock should be. Loud, yet melodic. Protesting, but not preachy. The Body, The Blood, The Machine is politically and religiously charged, but not in a way that bangs the listener over the head with their beliefs. Call it the thinking man's punk rock: Hutch Harris yells and hollars his controversial vocals amidst a blistering charge of guitar shredding, bass and drums. Punk's never sounded so good.

3. Hot Chip - The Warning

Hot Chip is just another reason among many for my love of DFA Records. The label puts out release after release that keep me dancing all through the day. The Warning is no different. They had me sold the first time I heard "And I Was A Boy From School" and the rest of the album to boot. Filled with great electronic sampling, synths, and all sorts of other goodies, Hot Chip know how to keep kids on the dance floor.

2. Islands - Return to the Sea

The first album post-Unicorns era for J'aime Tambeur and Nick Diamonds is more than just a "Rough Gem" (LOLZ PUN). What's great is it's not just The Unicorns Part 2, but Islands developed a great pop sound, but also managed to really rock with tracks like "Swans (Life After Death)." Add in a little hip-hop from Subtitle and Busdriver on "Where There's A Will, There's A Whalebone," (which also has my favorite lyric of the year, 'laying low in a tropical hideout/ if anyone finds out i'll turn their lights out), and you've got a album that is diverse, has great lyrics, and shines from beginning to end.

1. Ghostland Observatory - Paparazzi Lightning

I have to thank David for recommending this one to me. Released on Ghostland drummer/synth man Thomas Ross Turner's own label, Trashy Moped Recordings, Ghostland Observatory sound like a dancier Neon Blonde. The "electro-dance soul rock" beats cooked by the duo of Turner and Aaron Behrens are nasty, and get me dancing every time I heard them. Behrens yelps and wails throughout the whole disc, creating a funky, fresh new sound. The album does die out and slow down a little bit towards the end, but that can be ignored to appreciate the upbeat tracks the dominate the majority of the album. Paparazzi Lightning is that crazy whacked-out disco party you wish you had in your basement that you could visit anytime you wanted to, and always fucking enjoy it.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Thursday - A City by the Light Divided, Grizzly Bear - Yellow House, Tapes 'n' Tapes - The Loon, Destroyer - Destroyer's Rubies, The Hold Steady - Boys + Girls In America, Annuals - Be He Me, The Foundry Field Recordings - Prompts/Miscues, Band of Horses - Everything All the Time, Sunset Rubdown - Shutup I Am Dreaming, Beach House - Beach House, Justin Timberlake - FutureSex/LoveSounds

ALBUMS THAT HAVEN'T BEEN MENTIONED YET BECAUSE I (EMBARRISSINGLY) HAVEN'T HEARD THEM IN THEIR ENTIRETY

The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
TV On The Radio - Return to Cookie Mountain
Joanna Newsom - Ys
Belle & Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
Herbert - Scale

FAVORITE EPs OF 2006

Born Ruffians - Born Ruffians
Cars & Trains - 2 A.M.
Klaxons - Xan Valleys
Sparrow House - Falls

FAVORITE CONCERTS OF 2006

1. The Flaming Lips, (Ween), Sonic Youth, (The Magic Numbers) - New York State Fair, Syracuse, NY
2. Jamie Lidell - Harbourfront Centre, Toronto, ON
3. The Hold Steady - Mohawk Place, Buffalo, NY
4. Xiu Xiu, Cong for Brums, The Dirty Projectors - Bug Jar, Rochester, NY
5. Matmos - Pitchfork Festival, Chicago, IL

Islands, Blueprint, Subtitle | The Icon, Buffalo

2006-11-24T23:53:00.000-05:00

How could my return home to Buffalo for Thanksgiving get any better than a delicious turkey dinner? How about Islands hitting the Buffalo Icon the day before???

Luke, Jason, Pam and I entered the Icon around 8:15ish, and I was half expecting the show to have already started, but I also had read that Islands's shows had been running late. I was very surprised at the extremely sparse crowd that showed up. The Icon usually packs them in, but with all the college kids back home and being the night before Thanksgiving, the draw was surprisingly very small high school scenesters. I knew the first two acts were rapppers, so I was intrigued to see how they would react to it.

Subtitle stepped up first, an exteremely tall man with a Southern accent, who talks and raps extremely fast to beats played off his iPod. While his stories were funny, ranging from getting gear stolen his previous trip to Buffalo and trying to stop Islands frontman Nick Diamonds from having sex in the back of a car full of gangsters, his beats were simple and muffled, and his raps didn't seem to flow to well with them. I'm curious to hear him on record, I feel the iPod beats don't do him justice. He didn't get too much response from the crowd besides the laughs at his ridiculous tales.

Blueprint and DJ Rare Groove jumped on stage almost immediately thereafter, and had wonderful stage presence. His recent work with RJD2 as Soul Position, Things Go Better with RJ and Al, is anti-bling, very funny and thoughtful. He pulled a few songs from this including "I Need My Minutes," "Blame It on the Jager," and "No Gimmicks." Maybe it was the fact that he had a real DJ and more volume output, but Blueprint comanded the stage, got the kids into it and had fun.

After waiting a very long time, Islands took the stage, clad in white, and two members carrying a drum case onto the stage. Only a drum was not in it, but Nick Diamonds was as he jumped out, also in white and white facepaint, and launched into "Humans". The band played a majority of its debut, Return to the Sea, including "Bucky Little Wing," "Tsuxiit," "Rough Gem," "Volcanoes," and "Where There's A Will, There's A Whalebone," which featured Subtitle coming back and doing his rap and Bus Driver's from the crowd. The band also included several new songs, "Pieces of You," "The Arm," and others . These were quite good, some of them with some alt-country influence, and some of them a bit heavier and rock oriented than the debut. It's good to know the loss of J'AimeTambeur isn't slowing these guys down.

The bands live show is quite wonderful, with Diamonds singing all over the stage and crowd when he isn't on guitar or keyboards. Alex and Sebastian Chow are great on the violins and percussion, jumping all over the stage and create a wonderful dynamic to the music. Islands encored with "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby" and ended with a wonderful version of "Swans (Life After Death)" putting all their effort into the last song of their tour, and Diamonds leaving the stage with his guitar osciallating feedback from his amp. I was quite surprised by the great show Islands put on, and their new material is promising. Hopefully they won't fall to the same fate as The Unicorns, and we'll stick around long enough to comeback to Buffalo and play to a full crowd.

Jeremy Enigk | 'World Waits' Album To Watch

2006-10-04T10:32:00.000-04:00

If I had to judge now, I would say that few albums if any have jumped out of the pack as classics in 2006. There have been several great sophomore efforts (I'm thinking Grizzly Bear, TV On The Radio and Junior Boys within the past two months alone) that'll likely make numerous lists come December, but overall this year has been solid yet quiet.

I want Jeremy Enigk to say something about this. I want Jeremy Enigk to stand up, brush back his long, flowing mullet and say, "Hm. Why don't you listen to my new album World Waits when it arrives in stores on October 17th. Perhaps you will change your tune."

The former Sunny Day Real Estate frontman's first solo effort since 1996's 'Return of the Frog Queen' is a grower, as most great albums are. I've been listening steadily since late July and it continues to amaze me. His voice leaves a vapor trail and he croons over cushy instrumentation that ranges from delicate padding for his oh-so-gentle to soul-lifting power ballad arias that would make Foreigner cower in shame. At its core though, it's beautiful simplicity all the way through. Emotionally unguarded, barebones simplicity, just Jeremy, the listener, and the mullet."

I don't mean to imply that this is the best album of the year, I don't really think in those terms. But World Waits is among the year's best. Find it when it comes out.

Boo-urns! I can't get a satisfactory link for the 'Been Here Before' single. I loathe doing this, but you can listen to it on Enigk's myspace.

The Flaming Lips, Ween, Sonic Youth, Magic Numbers | NY State Fair, Syracuse

2006-09-07T22:54:00.000-04:00

Although a little late, we eventually did end up at the state fair for one of most anticipated shows of the summer for us. Unfortunately we missed the Magic Numbers, but were just in time to catch Sonic Youth’s show. SY put on an excellent set, blending songs from a multitude of their releases, and looked great for an “aging” band. Bassist Kim Gordon was stunning as she danced around the stage as she sang and rocked out on bass when she wasn’t. Clearly these guys haven’t lost it at all. They’re still putting on great shows and putting out great discs.

Ween was certainly a crowd pleaser. Their style of Tenacious D meets prog-rock meets calypso music with ridiculously absurd and lewd lyrics played well with the mostly frat-boy mentality of the audience. People went crazy for them, much more for them than Sonic Youth anyway. It was hard to understand this overwhelming response, especially when their set dragged on past the hour and a half mark.

That being said, the Flaming Lips could never play long enough. EVER. They put on a fantastic show, complete with a dozen dancing female Santas on the right, an equal number of martians on the left, confetti cannons, balloons, Captain America, Superman, The Flash, Spaceghost, giant hands, strobe lights, smoke, and three gigantic video screens showing live concert footage, Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, and the Telletubbies to name a few. Blending songs from their three most recent releases, At War with the Mystics, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, The Soft Bulletin, and Transmissions from Satellite Heart, the Lips had the whole audience singing along with every song. In fact they demanded it, most notably for the “Yeah Yeah Yeah Song,” which, with audience participation, sounded as though a bomb had gone off at the New York State Fair in Syracuse.

Our only complaints would be that the encore was too short, and unfortunately Wayne Coyne did not come out in a giant inflatable ball. Other than that, it was one of the best shows we’ve seen in a while, and we highly recommend you see them live as soon as you can.

Here’s the setlist:
Race For the Prize
Free Radicals
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1
Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 2
Vein of Stars
Yeah Yeah Yeah Song
The W.A.N.D.
My Cosmic Autumn Rebellion
She Don't Use Jelly
Do You Realize??
A Spoonful Weighs a Ton

Styx | Artpark, Buffalo

2006-08-20T23:45:00.000-04:00

Guest review by Autumn of WRUR:

I need to begin by saying that this is very difficult to write objectively, because Styx has been my favorite band for the longest time. Their August 8th show at Artpark was my sixth time seeing them in four years, and I would place Styx very close to the top of my list of musical obsessions.

The crowd was out of control, partly because people enjoy free things, but mostly because Western New York loves classic rock. They had to stop allowing people into the show because there was literally no more room in the venue, despite its size. We managed to shove our way toward the stage and ended up about ten rows back, with a great view.

The concert was amazing; and of course, completely identical to almost every single other show I’ve seen them perform. Styx are such rock-stars that they don’t even need to change their setlist, dance moves, or cheesy audience participation from year to year. And yes, there are dance moves. I’m sure that half of the audience was disappointed when “Mr. Roboto” was not played, but that is a Dennis DeYong song, and he is no longer in the band. However, they made sure to cover all the other hits - “Blue Collar Man,” “Come Sail Away,” and, in the encore, “Renegade.” I’m sure they knew that this is all the audience wanted, but Styx is for some reason still making music, and they felt it necessary to validate themselves as a band by performing a song off of their latest album, Big Bang Theory. The song is called “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” and aside from failing grammatically, it failed to elicit anything but blank stares from the audience. To the contrary, the band may in fact require the aid of a physician; especially Lawrence Gowan, who looked as though he was going to die of exhaustion by the end of the song.

Overall, the show was entertaining, loud, and sweaty, which is everything a rock concert should be. I was even more thrilled by the fact that it was free, because I had paid more than fifty dollars to see them play at Darien Lake just months earlier. I am not recommending that you pay to see this band unless you are looking for an opportunity to laugh at yourself. But honestly, you can’t go wrong with free.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy | New World Record, Buffalo

2006-08-20T23:42:00.000-04:00

I've gotten quite into the work of Will Oldham, aka Bonnie "Prince" Billy this summer, so it was quite a treat for him to come to Buffalo for a free in-store performance at the city's most well-known independent record store. Travelling by himself and with only his acoustic guitar, Joe and I saw him stroll up the sidewalk as we were sitting out side Spot Coffee which is right next to New World.

Touring in support of his upcoming release 'The Letting Go', which drops September 19, Bonnie played several songs from that, including the single, "Cursed Sleep." He pulled from his Palace discography with "The Mountain Low" and from the Will Oldham album Joya with "Rider." The rest I assume were from the Bonnie "Prince" Billy moniker with notables like "Even If We Love," "I See a Darkness," "A King at Night," and "Nomadic Revery (All Around)." Will has a wonderful voice on record, and it's even better live, in such an intimate setting with at most a hundred people or so.

But get excited, because after the show, Joe got to interview Will Oldham! This will eventually get transcribed for the blog, but should also be on his show, The Different Bulletin this week, which airs on Wednesdays from 12pm-2pm on WRUR!

In the meantime, check out the video for "Cursed Sleep," posted below. Also check out the plug for The Letting Go featuring Neil Hamburger.

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "Cursed Sleep"

Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, "THE LETTING GO" Promo

To Seek or Not To Seek (the Leak)

2006-08-18T18:44:00.000-04:00

In this ever growing digital age, my moral fiber grows weaker and weaker with every passing moment. I have always tried to purchase CDs at local, independent music stores, supporting local businesses and the artists. But after being at school and not having a car to drive to the nearest record retailer, and file sharers are more readily available to macs, downloading has become very tempting.

David, no stranger to listening to an album a few weeks before he buys it, has crippled my defense even more by finding a few albums that have leaked early and dangling them in front of my mouse button. As he already shared with you his discovery of The Decemberists' 'The Crane Wife', he had me drooling when he told me he was in digital possesion of 'Young Machetes', the latest album from The Blood Brothers. With much hesitation, I submitted to his trap and let him send it to me. I'll buy the album when it comes out anyway, so I didn't see the harm. And I am glad I did. With help from Fugazi's Guy Picciotto assisting in some production, The Blood Brothers have regained a little bit of their form that made me love '...Burn, Piano Island, Burn' so much. While it may not be nearly as assaulting with the heavy guitars and low growls of Johnny Whitney and Jordan Billie, and may still have a little bit of Crimes in it, it still has the trademarks of a Blood Brothers album that makes their sound one of the most distinct in music. Also, please be aware that the cover art is terrifying.

While getting discs early is kind of exciting, it also can hinder the excitement I get going into the record store and purchasing the record they day it comes and, and spinning it for the first time. While I debate whether or not to try and get my hands on these early, here are a few albums coming out that I am stoked for. David mentioned some of these, but here are the other (equally important) albums due to drop by the end of 2006:

August 29
Bob Dylan - Modern Times

September 5
Whitest Boy Alive - Dreams

September 12
The Rapture - Pieces of the People We Love
Xiu Xiu - The Air Force
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass

September 19
Bonnie "Prince" Billy - The Letting Go

October 3
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
The DFA - The DFA Remixes: Chapter 2

October 10
The Blood Brothers - Young Machetes

November 21
Swan Lake - Beast Moans

To be crystal clear, I'm not condoning file sharing in lieu of actually purchasing albums. I'll be the one of the first ones at the record store on October 10th to pick up Young Machetes, after all.

Updates

2006-08-16T21:27:00.000-04:00

-The Decemberists' "The Crane Wife" has leaked. If it's anything like The Tain, it'll take a few listens to really appreciate. I'll be sitting down to it right after this.

-Latest from DJ Shadow leaked, too. Save for a few decent cuts, his new LP entitled "The Outsider" is getting panned everywhere.

-I'm a fan of the Headlights debut full-length, "Kill Them With Kindness". They're coming to the Bug Jar on October 26th. It's not on their site yet - you owe this bit of knowledge to my detective work. EDIT: Silversun Pickups are coming on October 16th for an early show, too. Thanks Justin. ur detektiv skillz roxor mine.

-Jason Molina (of Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co.) talks about recording his latest solo endeavor "Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go":

"There are no windows at all in that studio and it is pitch black around the clock. There was a small lamp rigged inside a vintage kickdrum and that eerie thing burning above my head along with sparse candles was the extent of the lighting...with the occasional silent movie projected on the wall. The place screamed doom as far as atmosphere goes and I put myself to the task of writing about what is human about that particular feeling; the concrete and tactile nature of depression and actually writing or working yourself out of that."

I've listened to the whole LP, and rest assured, it's as uplifting as it sounds. It's also quite good.

-YouTube wants to have every music video ever available for streaming. Even Mike Skinner's 20-minute epic? Yeah, move over, "Thriller" - you and your paltry 13-minute running time.

'thoughts in passing.'

2006-08-14T18:37:00.000-04:00

As David curiously reported, I am not lost, I've just been enjoying my last few weekends in Buffalo, (weekdays each consist of 8 hours of mindless drone work embarassingly as an indirect death merchant for a company I will not name) before all of us at different weblog and WRUR reconvene at the University of Rochester.

'thoughts in passing.' is a new piece in which I will dispense many things that have been on my mind, or that I have forgotten to mention that I really meant to. Here goes:

Pitchfork Festival
Just to give an overall wrap-up in my view, I thought the festival was very well done. Barring a few overlaps that made me make some tough decisions (Futureheads vs. Matthew Dear, Matmos vs. Ted Leo, Devendra vs. Glenn Kotche vs. campout for Yo La Tengo, Diplo vs. Spoon, etc.), and a very annoying MC by the name of Tim Tuten, the water was well priced ($1), and the food wasn't terrible, when I found time to get some.

Three strange fashions that I noticed during the festival:

-big sunglasses, the least surprising of the three, were everywhere
-cutoffs, inspired by Tobis Funke?
-mustaches, inspired by Eddie Argos?

These are the things that keep me up at night.

Three of my favorite performances at Pitchfork, in no particular order:

- Matmos. Mind blowing. Drew Daniel and M.C. Schmidt owned the Biz3 tent with some of the most innovative electronic/experimental music that's around today. I had downloaded a few songs by these guys over the past few years, and never really got into it, although I was curious as to how it was recreated live. Simply amazing. With Drew Daniel holdin' it down for most of the electronic stuff, Schmidt and another fellow used creative instrumentation from percussion with dead roses, to blowing water in a bowl with a trumpet mouthpiece, to playing a small tuba-like instrument with a balloon in its bell, these guys totally blew me away.

- Art Brut. While David is still regretting his chance to rid the world of these blokes, the only person I could recruit to see them with me was Luke, who could only take half the set. I don't care what anyone else thinks, I like Art Brut, and they put on a great show. Coming on stage to AC/DC, Eddie sans mustace, and guitarist Ian Catskilkin looking like Nikki Sixx, the band rocked from beginning to end. Sorry David, but "Modern Art, makes me, want to rock out!"

- Jens Lekman. I was very surprised that he put on a very upbeat, enjoyable show. Joe, a fellow WRURian and author of no nino rota, saw him a week earlier in Rochester and said he was great. After seeing him for just a half-hour in Chicago I totally believe him. Backed by six Swedish blondes in white, Jens showed off not only his singer-songwriter skills, but also his witty Swedish humor.

I forgot to mention the two great local bands here in Buffalo that opened for The Hold Steady, The Exit Strategy and Semi-Tough.

The Exit Strategy had some great energy, as Mark Costantino's vocals reminded me of Daryl Taberski of Snapcase, and the band had a very rock oreinted style, with hints of Franz Ferdinand here and there.

Semi-Tough had a more alt-country/rock style, more similar to the band they were opening for. Danny Kutzbach reminded me of John K. Samson of The Weakerthans, and had some good lyrics. He was also probably the biggest Hold Steady fan there, jumping on stage asking for more each time the band left the stage, arguably being the reason they played TWO encores.

The dudes from Anathallo were at Lollapalooza and picked up some snacks for the road. They introduced me to the Larabar, a completely organic food bar that comes in some interesting flavors like cherry pie, banana cookie, ginger snap, lemon bar, cinnamon roll, and chocolate coconut. They were quite good.

I will try to survive my last two weeks of work, but they will be interrupted nicely on Sunday with a FREE performance by Bonnie "Prince" Billy at New World Record on Elmwood in Buffalo. Show review and pics will follow.

OMG TE3H BLAYST, IT SH0KD DA INTRNETZ/.

2006-08-13T21:36:00.000-04:00

WRUR has burst into flames. Justin and David have exploded. The Chairman of the FCC called us into a room and smiled as he tore our contract apart and slowly ate it.

All of these hypotheses would be entirely plausible, given our unexplained sabbatical from the different weblog. I've personally been dying of a sinus infection, while Justin was reportedly moving snowflakes by the OZ with modest success. At some point between two and three weeks from now, The University of Rochester (one of the 'New Ivies', apparently) river campus will once again be flooded with the near entirety of its student body, including Justin and I! As such is the case, the different weblog will not be seeing much of our minds until the end of August.

There will still be a few things to report over the next two weeks. A guest review of a recent Styx(!!) show in Buffalo will be forthcoming. I'll have a few more things to say once I'm no longer undead, too. Justin is probably lost to us, at this point.

Towards the end of August, the fun will begin anew. Expect more contributors, less Jay-Z references, and actual content.

Interview with Anathallo

2006-08-08T22:29:00.000-04:00

The first interview for different weblog (and myself, actually) was for Mt. Pleasant, Michigan's Anathallo, touring in support of their latest release Floating World. Centered around the Japanese folk tale Hanasakajijii, the album tells the story of a man and his wife who take in a stray dog that later finds treasure in their backyard. Their greedy neighbor takes the dog, but kills it when it finds nothing but "slugs and bug and slugs and bugs..." is his yard. The dogs ashes then rise up and kill the greedy neighbor. Self described as a "marching band gone wild," this eight-piece band incorporates horns, a collection of drums, xylophones, handclaps, and wonderful vocal-interplay, in English and Japanese, that gives the band a unique sound. I was fortunate enough to sit down with guitarist Danny Bracken, bassist Seth Walker, drummer Jeremiah Johnson, and later joined by guitarist/lead vocalist Matt Joynt after their set in Rochester opening for The Format.

different weblog: So you guys kinda got here a little late. What was the holdup in Toronto?

Anathallo: Um, poor planning and traffic. We left Toronto at noon, and it was supposed to be a three hour drive. It took us seven hours. We got stuck in traffic, there was some kind of festival or holiday going on there.

dw: Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm from Buffalo, and that traffic coming back to the States can be brutal. So how exactly did Anathallo get started?

Danny Bracken: The band was formed in 2001, right after I graduated high school. Brett, Matt, and Seth all went to the same high school, and we were all in different bands. We kinda had this group of friends that it just kind of formed out of. Our drummer left in January, and we knew Jeremiah from another band, and he decided to join.

dw: Your latest disc Floating World, was self-released on your own label Artist Friendship, and for a while was only available on your website. How did you guys get the word out about the new album?

A: Our management company has a distribution deal with Sony/BMG, so they were able to help us press the record, and gave us some money up front, which really helped, and we were still able to keep all the rights to our music.

dw: Are they are other bands on, or planning to be on Artist Friendship?

A: Originally, the label was to kind of function as a co-op with other bands that we're friends with, and we would take other bands CD's on the road with us. We just didn't bring any other bands CD's with us on this tour.

dw: I find the structure of your songs and how they travel from during the course of a few mintues fascinating. How does an Anathallo song come together?

A: It's usually different with every song. Sometimes somone will share a melody that they've been working on and it will build from there. We usually start with a skeleton of a song, and collectively it comes together. It's part of the reason each song has a kind of different sound from the next.

dw: What artists or music influences the style Anathallo has developed?

A: Everybody in the band has different tastes. There is a lot of classic and jazz that some of us listen to. Andrew likes stuff like the Beach Boys and Randy Newman. And some of us listen to the regular indie stuff.

dw: What have you guys been listening to lately?

Seth: Queen's A Night At the Opera.

Jeremiah: Thom Yorke.

Danny: Jeremy Enigk.

[Enter Matt Joynt]

dw: From what I've read you guys started out by booking your own national tours. Now you're on a great tour with the Format, and Friday you guys played Lollapalooza. How's it all going?

A: Awesome. Lollapalooza was amazing, it was like being a little kid again being at something like that. We have the same manager and booking company as the Format, and we had toured together earlier in the spring, so we did it again this summer. It's been alot of fun.

dw: That's awesome. It seems that this tour and the new record are building some buzz for you guys. I read a nice piece about you guys on I guess I'm floating and there are alot of other blogs mentioning you guys. I also angrily read a recent review of Floating World on Pitchfork. How much of this stuff do you guys read and how much do you take to heart?

A: We find it entertaining, and try not to take them too seriously. This band is our job and we are trying to make a liviing out of it, despite what people's personal opinons on blogs and websites say.

Matt: The pitchfork thing was kind of funny, because it was rated just a little higher than the latest Paris Hilton single.

dw: Yeah it's kind of crazy how much power they have, particularly Pitchfork. My friend and I were talking the other day that they can basically make or break a band just on what rating they give their latest album.

Matt: Well, they haven't broken us!

dw: Haha, I sure hope not.

Matt: I feel that those types of reviews and articles are important, because I think dialogue is very important when talking about art. It's important to hear what other people say and how they interpret it. Critics seemed to be more fickle about music, whereas fans have more of an investment in it. They're not listening to determine whether it is good or not like the critics, but as to whether they enjoy it or not.

dw: What do you guys think about all the comparisons to Sufjan Stevens that you guys get?

A: Well, we'd always rather have critics and reviewers break down our music rather than just compare it to another musician. While there are alot of commonalities, the use of horns, time changes, spiritual elements, and we're both from Michigan, it can be problematic. When people make associations with your music to a more familiar artist, it always seems as if they are measuring up your music to theirs, and almost judging it in comparison to an artist they know better, and already has some acclaim among the critics.

dw: Speaking of the spiritual elements in your music, there seems to be references to Biblical passages in your music. Is there a strong sense of faith within the band?

Matt: All of us have faith in some capacity. I grew up with a foundation of evangelical Christianity. Floating World is when people enter a space inbetween faiths and how they all connect together. It deals alot with figuring out how to interpret history and ones relation to the supernatural. These ideas are rooted in Christianity for us, they just tend to rule out the cultural constructions of what faith is.

dw: Matt, the lyrics to Floating World are centered around the story of Hanasakajijii, what inspired you to write about this story and what was your songwriting process?

Matt: The songs each have their own space, as they were written over a period of two years. For the most part, the record moves in the order in which they were written, shifted just slightly.

dw: Which is why the four Hanasakajijii songs are out of order on the album?

Matt: Yes. These songs are move away from the harder, more cathartic songs of our earlier work. The lyrics are really frustrated, as at the time I was dealing with these existensial problems in my life. I was reading Kierkegaard's Second Son to Death at the time. The songs definitely have a more sense of openness. I took a Japanese class in college to fullfill my language requirement, and I went to Japan with Erica and Danny. Later on I was writing a letter to a friend and wanted to include a Japanse folk tale, and I found Hanasakajijii, and I was just blown away by it. It's a children's story, as alot of these folk tales are, but alot of them deal with a way to address space and a dual nature of existence. I also studied some Japanse poetry and was fascinated by Japanese death poems. Haiku poets would write poems about those who had just died, and the goal of these poems would be to sum up the person's existence, while still being as finite as possible.

dw: That's so awesome. So what's in store for Anathallo for the rest of the year?

A: The tour with The Format runs through September. A six week tour is in the works from October to December with Page France.

dw: And I heard you are also collaborating with then?

A: Yes, we did some recording with them in late February and beiginning of March.

dw: Any new material in the works?

A: This fall, maybe. The goal is to write in the winter and record in late spring. We're aiming for a very tentative fall '07 release.

dw: Awesome. [I remeber I saw a cast on Matt's leg when he was on stage]. Hey Matt, what happened to your leg?

Matt: Oh, man. We were in Nashville at this apartment complex, and there was this security gate that I couldn't figure out how to get out of. So I tried to hop it and my flip-flop got stuck on the top and I ended up fracturing my leg. There's a piece of bone floating around in there somewhere.

dw: Ouch.

I highly recommend checking out Matt's floating bone on tour and their new disc, Floating World. Remaining tour dates with The Format and albums are available on their website here.

The Format, Rainer Maria, Anathallo, Street To Nowhere | Water Street Music Hall, Rochester

2006-08-07T21:04:00.000-04:00

This show was kind of role reversal for me and my friend Steve. We're usually going to shows that don't start until 9 or 10, and we're usually the youngest fools there. Sunday, at different weblog's first show coverage in Rochester, we felt like some of the oldest kids there, as Water Street was filled with 15, 16, and 17 years old girls and boys screaming to see The Format as doors opened at 6pm as it was still quite light outside. Now while I do enjoy Format, I was mainly there to see Anathallo, and Steve was there to see Rainer Maria.

Oakland's Street To Nowhere opened with some fairly uninspring emo-pop/punk, but had prettty good energy. Vocalist Dave Smallen is heavily influenced by Conor Oberst, from his hair down to his vocal style and songs about drinking.

Anathallo was running quite late, as I was supposed to interview them at 4:30, and they didn't even show up for their scheduled set time. Rainer Maria graciously stepped on early in their place, and put on a great set, largely featuring songs from their latest, Catastrophe Keeps Us Together. Lots of energy from guitarist Kyle Fischer, and beautiful vocals from bassist Caithlin De Marrais. I wasn't expecting their music to be so loud and rock oriented, as I thought it was slightly more down-tempo and experimental, but Steve said their music has been changing with each release.

Finally Anathallo arrived, and frantically rushed all their equiment on stage after Rainer Maria left. Quite impressively, the band got everything set up and did a quick sound check in probably 20 to 30 minutes or so. I think those in the crowd who weren't familiar with the band were quite confused, as 8 people were on stage with everything from xylophones, to drums up on stands, to tambourines, to a horn section, and a laptop. The band put on a blistering set with fantastic stage presence, jumping around and handclapping and performing songs from the album off of their own Artist Friendship label, Floating World. Barring some feedback during the set, Anathallo was quite wonderful, even blowing up balloons during one song, from which I thought they would leak air to create sound, but simply just let them fly off into the audience. This is definitely a band to watch out for.

I only caught the beginning and end of The Format's set, as I was interviewing a couple dudes from Anathallo during it. I could still hear it most of the time, and it was pretty fantastic. Touring in support of their self-released Dog Problems, the band blended songs from that and its first disc, Interventions and Lullabies. Complete with stand up displays of dogs on stage, the band had the crowd screaming along from start to finish, and I'm sure no one left disappointed.

Violent Femmes | Thursday at the Square, Buffalo

2006-08-07T18:46:00.000-04:00

For those of you who don't know, Thursdays at the Square is a free concert series put on in Buffalo every summer right in the heart of downtown. Usually bringing acts more jam-based or not very well known, as it is more of a social event than a concert for most, the Square is attracting bigger and bigger acts every year like Medeski, Martin & Wood, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Sam Roberts, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and even Broken Social Scene(!!!), who were a last minute replacement for Sound Tribe Sector 9(???) that I will forever regret missing. The only one I was truly had to see this year was Gordon Gano and The Violent Femmes, who came around last Thursday.

As soon as I got there, I remembered why I don't go to the Square. It's packed with people, most don't even know who is playing, many are smoking, many are being annoyingly drunk, and others are just plain skeevy. My friends and I were lucky enough to stand behind a Johnny Depp look-alike, complete with greeen bandana, Depp facial hair, sunglasses, leather gloves (that was the scary part), and a cigar, which he never lit, as he stood completely still during the entire Femmes performance, and never clapped once.

Anyways, The Femmes were awesome. Despite the Square's crummy soundsystem, the old dudes still had it, playing for about an hour and a half, including a healthy amount of songs from their self-titled debut album. I was hoping they would do a Gnarls Barkley cover after playing "Gone Daddy Gone," but there was not even a mention of Cee-Lo or DangerMouse. They had some great help from a horn section, and Brian Ritchie ripped it up on bass and what looked like a one-string bass attached to a bamboo stick. Minus the atmosphere the Square created, free doesn't get much better than this.

The Hold Steady | Mohawk Place, Buffalo

2006-08-04T12:54:00.000-04:00

Mohawk Place couldn't have been a more perfect place for The Hold Steady to play. The classic-rock/blues/bar band sound is perfect this small venue in the B-lo which its main function is, well a bar. As I was waiting for them to take the stage, I saw these fellows carrying large amounts of shots into the alley next to the stage, and I could smell the alochol as they brought it by. I had heard these guys liked to play a little wasted, but I figure a musician can only drink so much before he can't play his instrument anymore, right? Wrong. These guys stepped on the stage fairly drunk, and consumed a pretty good amount of Corona and Pabst Blue Ribbon during their hour and a half set, which included TWO encores. Halfway through the set all of the band did shots, except guitarist/vocalist Craig Finn, "I don't do shots on stage anymore because the last time I did shots on stage I started talking about Uzbekistan, and I can't even point it out on a map."

These guys had the crowd into it the entire time, and Finn has such great stage presence. His stream of consciousness vocal style and great lyrics about hoodrats, Holly, Charlemagne, and various religious figures is great, and is not lost at all live. The band played songs mostly from their latest effort, Separation Sunday, but also included songs from their first album and from their first release on Vagrant(???) Boys and Girls in America, which drops in October.

I was amazed at how well these guys could play smashed and in it being so warm in the venue, as Craig Finn authorized it as the hottest Hold Steady show ever.

Funniest Drunk Moment of the Night: When the band went into "Hornets!Hornets!" several dudes in the audience were yelling the opening lines to the song before Craig was, as he was doing it rather slow. Craig tells them to wait a minute, and the next time they do, except one guy, who gets a "shutup!" from another crowd member, to which he replies, "can't help it!" To which Craig Finn responds, "that's what she said," and proceeds to guitarist Tad Kubler the most drunken high-five I have ever seen. This might be one of those you-had-to-be-there kind of things, but I thought I'd share.

Also amusing, keyboardist Franz Nicolay looks like a cross between Wario and John Lovitz.

Pitchfork | Day Two

2006-08-03T23:37:00.000-04:00

After sweating through the ridiculous heat, and missing the 10:30pm train back to the burbs and having to wait for the 12:40am, it seemed like it was going to take quite an effort to do this all over again. Just as hot, and just as sweaty, day two of Pitchfork didn't disappoint (for the most part).

We entered the park and darted right for the Aluminum stage for the kickoff of day 2 with Tapes n' Tapes. Introduced by Quell Tickle, aka Aziz Ansari, we were instructed to "go home, blog about this band, put up pictures...or I will come to your house, and kill your dog. And if you don't have a dog, I'll kill the weakest member of your family." And we will do as such. Tapes n' Tapes put on a great set of their Wolf Parade meets Modest Mouse rock, but it was pretty much just like the album, and not much more.
Jens Lekman
I wasn't familiar at all of Danielson, so we stayed put for Jens Lekman. Easily the biggest surprise to me. I'm wasn't too into his latest compilation disc Oh You're So Silent Jens, but with the full band (all laides, no less) the songs have a great punch, are much more enjoyable, and actually pretty good to groove to. Funny and talented, Jens was one of my favorites for day two.

A lull for me after Jens, as I had never even heard of The National, although I heard they put on a great set. I was very curious about CSS, and decided to head to the tent to see what they were all about. The tent was packed, built it up for me because I thought it would be good. It wasn't. While CSS's members had alot of energy and funky outfits, their music wasn't much of anything, and I left after a few songs.

After grabbing some food, I was actually someone bored, as there wasn't anyone I really wanted to see for a while. I decided to check out Liars, despite that I wasn't all too taken by their latest Drum's Not Dead. However, I'm very glad a did.
Liars
Liars put on a great set, with frontman Angus Andrew all over the stage, yelling all kinds of lyrics, shredding on guitar, and stripping down to some kind of robe, which did not keep him covered all to well. I only wish I was at a better angle where I could see the rest of the band, as the drum and bass were fantastic, keeping a tribal feel for most of the set.

It was back to the tent for Tarantula AD, a post-rock outfit from NYC, and had contributions from Devendra Banhart for their latest album. Devendra showed up just before they started, but left shortly thereafter, most likely because his set was not too long after that. Tarantula AD wasn't anything special, and the set was a lackluster effort from drums, double bass-guitar, cello, and keyboards.

Yo La Tengo

Caught the end of Mission of Burma's set, which was impressive for old dudes, and camped out there for Yo La Tengo, as much as I wanted to see Devendra Banhart. I wasn't too disappointed though, because I don't care much for his band, I like his acoustic stuff much better. Yo La Tengo put on interesting set. I was looking forward to some of my favorites like "Stockhold Syndrome," "Autumn Sweater," and more of their mellower, catchy stuff. Instead, but not surprisingly, a majority of thier set was from their latest effort due this fall,I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass, all of which were fantastic. It also included a cover of a song I cannot recall, and two 10 minute jams where Ira shredded his guitar like no other. A little bit of a let down, yes, but no disappointment at all. YLT put on a great set, and I would love to see them for a 2, maybe 3 hour set.

Again, decisions, decisions. I really like Spoon. We also could have stayed where we were and would have been front row for Os Mutantes. We decided to do neither. It was back to the Biz3 tent for what David had been raving about all day - Diplo. The cat put on a ferocious DJ set to a PACKED tent. It was one of the hottest and sweatiest things I have ever partaken in, but I loved every minute of it. Sampling everything you could think of from Peter Gunz to Daft Punk to The Bangles, Diplo had the whole crowd in a dance frenzy. When we finished, I had sweated all the way through my shirt, but couldn't have been happier. PItchfork couldn't have ended any other way but in the worst sweat of your life.

Diplo

That's all from Pitchfork for me. Posts coming up soon from the Hold Steady and Violent Femmes in Buffalo.

Pitchfork | Day One

2006-08-03T02:24:00.000-04:00

I was in such awe of being in Chicago for this great festival, I didn't know what to do first. I walked around a bit, since I had no desire to see any of the early bands on the main stage. Pitchfork did a nice job of getting food vendors from the city, and props for the $1 water and $2 Fuze. I didn't like how band t-shirts came on sale kind of sporadically, as whenever the bands brought them over.

I started my day off in the Biz3 tent for Chicago's 8 Bold Souls. Kind of neat jazz-calypso type stuff, entertaining for a little while, but can only hold me for so long. The best part was when the trombone player looked like his left eye was going to pop out of its socket.

Man Man put on an outrageous show, dressed in white and war-paint, these guys were jumping all over the stage, using all kinds of crazy instruments, and throwing feathers into the crowd. I'd love to see these guys again in a smaller setting.

Next was Band of Horses, who I was really excited to see. Despite some sound problems, they put on a great set pulling mostly from their debut Everything All The Time. Ben Bridwell has a great voice, and backs it up with great guitar and steel guitar playing. I totally rocked out to these dudes who remind me of one of my favorite bands, My Morning Jacket.

Stayed at the Connector stage for Dan Bejar, a.k.a Destroyer. Mostly songs from Destroyer's Rubies, the set was good, but nothing more than the album. Clearly doesn't like to converse with the crowd, but we love his music.

Skipped out on the end of Destroyer's set to see Art Brut. Easily one of my favorite shows of the day, as Eddie Argos and co. rocked the Aluminum stage with their rock 'n roll British humor. Even jumping into the crowd during "Modern Art," Art Brut puts on an excellent show, and are only slightly annoying at times, although David would largely disagree (Ed. note: what Justin means by this is that David would use a much larger quantitative adjective to describe how annoying Art Brut is). However, their new songs, save for one, were nowhere near the quality of some of the great tracks on Bang Bang Rock & Roll.

I then headed back to the Biz3 tent, caught the end of the Spank Rock show David was raving about, and saw an excellent Matmos set, but you've already heard about how great that was, so I'll spare the details.

As much as I wanted to stay and see Matthew Dear, I had to see the Futureheads. And although I wasn't as close as I would have liked, they put on a great show. Pulling surprisingly slightly more songs from their first disc, the band was tight, and produced a stirring rendition of "Hounds of Love," dividing the crowd in half for the chants. I was surprised at their late set time and crowd they drew, I didn't think these blokes were that popular here in the States.

It was back to the Biz3 tent for A-Trak who was spinning some ill beats and samples. I got my dance on until he ended. I then caught the end of Silver Jews from afar, who really didn't impress me, as they seemed to be very lifeless on stage. I guess there's a reason they didn't start touring until now.

That's Day One. Day Two Tomorrow.

Pitchfork | Biz3

2006-08-02T15:41:00.000-04:00

I should make this clear now. I wasn't at Pitchfork for the headliners. Don't get me wrong, I was front-row for several of the main acts. Liars was one of my favorite parts of the entire festival. But save for Destroyer, Yo La Tengo, maybe a few other mainstage acts, I had a moderate to passing interest in most of the bands playing. As for the headliners of both days, I like Dave Berman's poetry far more than his music, and I never felt much for Os Mutantes. As such, I'm hardly the best source of information regarding the Pitchfork festival, seeing as I spent a vast majority of my time in one particular corner of the grounds. I'm sure that my opinion is both unpopular and undocumented in the blog world (rest assured, mine is NOT the official stance of the WRUR Blog - in fact, as I write this I am sure our governing board is sharpening their sticks on both ends and preparing to stick me like a pig), but sweating in a pile of closely-packed humanity at the Biz3 tent was the most enjoyable part of the entire festival for me.

Ghislain Poirier
Incidentally, the first day saw Biz3 at its best. Justin raved about openers 8 Bold Souls (unfortunately, everyone I know missed Flosstrodamus, who I heard wonderful things about), but the first act I personally caught was Chicago Underground Duo, who closed their set with a remarkable little number, using only a Polymoog and a xylophone. Tyondai Braxton of Battles disappointed, but afterwards, the magic began.

Found a great spot along the left side of the stage, right up front to the gate. Optimal view of all the hands moving and such. I hadn't heard of Montreal's Ghislain Poirier before Pitchfork save for a Lady Sovereign remix he pulled a while ago, but he was remarkable. Extremely tight and controlled beats, I wish I had arrived earlier.

Afterwards, it was Spank Rock. It started off with an Spank Rock himself backed by three sound engineers, two of them on the ones and twos and one bloke handling the drum machines and making cuts. Their first song was remarkable, a full sound with shades of Boards of Canada against absurdly thick beats. Spank Rock himself was simply wiling out. However, one of the tables had huge sound issues (the only time Biz3 had sound trouble from my experience) and Spank Rock was left with half of his gear actually operational. You'd never have noticed. The sound engineers came up and sang with Spank Rock in shifts. They must have thrown thirty beers into the audience. One of the engineers took a bottle of Ketel One and poured shots into the open mouths of the front row. The front row began to filter onto the stage (this was before Biz3's reputation began to precede it and before security brought barricades over to the stage) and half of the band climbed the speaker columns. Not the best show of the day, but by far the most entertaining.

Matmos
The best show? That award goes to San Francisco's Matmos, who required twenty minutes longer than any other Biz3 band to set up. "Sorry about the wait," Drew Daniel said as he fiddled with his two laptops and connected his 24-channel mixer to the rest of his equipment, "but we had a show in New York recently where things weren't working and the audience thought everything was fine. But we'd rather have everything working." Matmos had an additional man with them, who helped with horn, guitar, and, uh, dried rose percussion. They played the best set of the day, with a live self-interpretation that harnessed the energy of their completely manic albums while providing enough rhythm for the audience to maintain interest. Hell, some of their songs that day were downright danceable.

More grooves came with Matthew Dear, the act following Matmos. I stood with Luke at the front of the stage and danced in awe (assuming such a thing is possible) for an hour. Matthew Dear's got a rare control of vinyl, and his beat maneuver was infallable. A-Trak only continued to kick ass. Along with Day 2's Diplo, he got most of his cheers pandering to the large indie crowd contingent by sampling Broken Social Scene and TV On The Radio, among other acts. Day Two was less than stellar in the Biz3 tent (unless you're one of the six people who like CSS or Bondo De Role, but I won't judge), but Diplo brought the the proverbial and literal heat - The temperature and smell of sweat was completely overpowering. Essentially one thousand bodies dancing as close as possible to one another in 90-degree heat, all under a thirteen-foot canopy. When we finally left Diplo, not only were we literally drenched in sweat, but it was cool outside by comparison.

So, uh, other stuff was good, too. But I'll leave it to everyone else. I won't pretend to have unequivocally enjoyed all of the main stage acts, but there were some great performances that other members of WRUR would be able to recap with far better accuracy than I could. As for me, it was all about the little tent that could.

Upcoming Albums | August 2006

2006-08-02T15:16:00.000-04:00

All the big hits this month are due out towards the end, with a pretty staggering number due out on the 22nd.

August 8th
Comets On Fire - Avatar (Sup Pop)

August 22nd
Amy Millan - Honey From The Tombs (Arts&Crafts)
Broadcast - Future Crayon (Warp)
Cursive - Happy Hollow (Saddle Creek)
Early Day Miners - Offshore (Secretly Canadian)
Headlights - Kill Them With Kindness (Polyvinyl)
Jason Molina - Let Me Go, Let Me Go, Let Me Go (Secretly Canadian)
M. Ward - Post-War (Merge)
Mountain Goats - Get Lonely (4AD)
My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me The Workhorse (Asthmatic Kitty)
Nouvelle Vague - Brande A Part (Luaka Bop)
Snowden - Anti-Anti (Jade Tree)
Uzeda - Stella (Touch And Go)
Windsor For The Derby - Minnie Greundzfeldt (Secretly Canadian)

August 29th
Bob Dylan - Modern Times (Sony BMG)
The Roots - Game Theory (Def Jam)

Being at home and not at the station, I don't have the benefit of listening to most of these before their respective releases. However, I've heard a few. Expect a big flash from Headlights' first full-length. Jason Molina's solo album looks good, and M. Ward's latest sounds promising. Snowden's first full length is going to be [insert extolling adjective here].

Procrastination, Small Updates

2006-08-02T15:01:00.000-04:00

I've been swamped since returning home, and the energy I require for making a full festival update has been elusive. In the meantime, a few tiny updates.

-You may have heard it first here, but it's official now. Islands will be embarking on a US Tour (a pretty full one minus the entire southeast) upon their return from Europe. Dates below:

10-8: Boston, MA - Middle East
10-9: New York, NY - Bowery Ballroom
10-10: Brooklyn, NY - Northsix
10-11: Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of the Living Arts
10-12: TBA
10-13: Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
10-14: Charlottesville, VA - Satelite Ballroom
10-15: Clevland, OH - Grog Shop
10-16: Detroit, MI - Magic Stick
10-27: Chicago, IL - Metro
10-28: Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
11-6: Seattle, WA - Crocodile
11-7: Portland, OR - Disjecta
11-8: Eugene, OR - WOW Hall
11-9: San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
11-10: Los Angeles, CA - Henry Fonda Theater
11-11: Pomona, CA - Glasshouse
11-13: Salt Lake City, UT - In The Venue
11-17: Denton, TX - Hailey‘s
11-18: Austin, TX - Emo‘s

-Old news at this point, but there is currently a presale for the Decemberists and their new tour, with a mere website registration required.

-More old news, but nevertheless exciting: Bob Dylan is doing his annual thing and playing Minor League stadiums all over the country, in such exotic locales as Winston-Salem, Pawtucket, Fargo, and every single town named Rochester in the United States (read: Rochester, MN and Rochester, NY). Much of the WRUR staff will be in attendance for Mr. Zimmerman's August 30th performance at Rochester's Frontier Field, and expect full coverage as such.

Pitchfork 2006: The Aftermath

2006-08-01T00:42:00.000-04:00

Every blog is buzzing about the 2006 Pitchfork Music Festival held this past weekend in Chicago, and over the course of the next few days, the different weblog will be no exception. Through various vantage points, we'll cover both days of the festival, with Biz3 coverage by yours truly and comprehensive coverage of both main stages by other WRUR attendees. Pictures, reviews, best in show awards - all will be forthcoming over the next few days, provided the safe return of a majority of the WRUR team from a pitstop in Indiana, where earlier reports placed them attempting to repair their Buffalo Bills conversion van (as I said, pictures to follow).

I personally just got back a few hours ago and I'm headed for some shuteye, but expect more soon.

Sabbatical

2006-07-26T13:12:00.000-04:00

We're a bit short-staffed over here at the different blog over the summer. As it happens, all (both) of us are headed to the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago for the weekend, with a full online debriefing to follow once we return home. Not sure how we'll delegate coverage, but we're experts at last-minute solutions.

See you in about a week!

Islands | Return to the East Coast

2006-07-26T13:01:00.000-04:00

Looks like Islands might have some staying power - at least compared to their former incarnation.

They'll be touring Europe until August, but they've already got at least one date scheduled back in the states, the date in question being October 10th at Brooklyn's Northsix. I'm sure official news will be forthcoming, so stay tuned.

'something different.' | Clan of Xymox

2006-07-25T13:45:00.000-04:00

For all of the alleged glory attributed to being ahead of the curve, there are plenty of unacknowledged negatives. Every success story of an artist defying the mainstream of their time to produce something completely revolutionary has hundreds of inevitable mirrors - artists who were largely ignored despite their ingenuity and remain so to this day. For every visionary artist who experienced endless accolade and generated consistent buzz both during and after his time, there was undoubtedly a similar mind at work somewhere, albeit in a much duller studio, picking away at the conceptual norms of his time while generating as much electricity as a bag of potatoes. If these artists long for fame, they can only hope that the mindset of a future society will someday be able to accomodate their deviant vision.

However, there is then a third and final case of unsung brilliance. Some artists will create work that is entirely ignored in their time, only for it to one day become of the time - in other words, despite having pioneered a given genre in all of its flawed beauty and rudimentary beginnings, the work is instead viewed in the present-day as insignificant, comparing unfavorably with the very contemporaries it has influenced. The result is an unfair double standard, subjecting the foundation of certain genres to an ultimate criticism that disregards the fundamental impact the work in question has had on the genre itself. In a sense, it's like the lens of an observatory scrutinizing the very brick and mortar it has been built on.

I present an example of this third and final example of largely underrated brilliance. Clan of Xymox rampaged through the 1980s bearing the torch of early industrial electronic, hoisting the mantle that bands such as Sisters of Mercy and Depeche Mode would eventually carry, while simultaneously bridging the gap between EBM and electro-pop in a manner that's yet to be duplicated. Listening to the title track of CoX's seminal 1985 "Medusa" album, you can hear the convergence of early EBM influences such as Front 242 or Nitzer Ebb combined with the goth-pop sensibilities of The Cure or Siouxsie. Clan of Xymox revelled in the darkwave movement with bands like Depeche Mode and New Order growing into the genre by the mid-80s, but the lasting draw of Clan of Xymox was its flawless blending of genres, able to unify the sounds disparate bands such as Joy Division and Wolfsheim under an umbrella of dark synths, echoing drums and reverbed guitars. The band continued in this manner, and as their contemporaries continued to define the sound of their respective genres more fully, Clan of Xymox became a sort of walking relic of the confluence of early electronic movements in the 1980s. The amount of other bands audible in their songs is staggering, and would lead one to think that they're simply imitations of other products if they didn't realize that CoX has been at the vanguard of these genres since the time they were all knit of the same cloth.

Clan of Xymox - "Medusa" (MP3)

A Few Quick Points

2006-07-24T16:12:00.000-04:00

The Decemberists have announced their fall tour, 'The Rout Of The Patagons'. What are Patagons, you ask? Why, they're a race of giant humans spotted throughout the Americas in the 16th and 17th century by European explorers. Leave it to Colin. However, of note: although they've only got one day, it's nice to see that Nethers are opening in Seattle next month. Check them out, they're wonderful. I saw them open for Dungen and was extremely impressed with their live show. You can stream their entire debut album "In Fields We Will Lie" and download a few of the best cuts at their website.

The Leonard Cohen documentary was superb - in addition to how spiritually moving and sincere it was, it was wonderful to hear some of the newer renditions. Rufus Wainwright surprised me, in particular. Of note: Teddy Thompson's cover of 'Tonight Will Be Fine'. This album drops tomorrow. Buy it.

Speaking of albums dropping tomorrow, I haven't even BEGUN to listen to most of the highly anticipated ones. Tomorrow caps off a huge month in new albums. I haven't gotten to the Joan of Arc albums or the Jurassic 5 album yet, but the James Figurine (Dntel/Jimmy Tamborello/Figurines/etc etc) album was a bit disappointing, and the Long Winters album "Putting The Days To Bed" continues to grow on me. The Knife's "Silent Shout" finally gets its US Release, and deservedly so. I anxiously await the day I'll be able to hear the title track pumping through H&M stores nationwide.

First We Take Manhattan

2006-07-22T19:45:00.000-04:00

I'll write up a 'something different' before I leave for Pitchfork next Thursday - I'm stuck between two particular bands that helped pioneer their respective genres. Post-rock. Darkwave. I know, exciting times at WRUR.

Seeing the Leonard Cohen documentary 'I'm Your Man' tomorrow with my family; I've been excited about this for quite some time. Leonard Cohen's been a hero and an idol of mine for a very long time, but oddly, the first thing that got me into his music was covers of his music; appropriate, since 'I'm Your Man' is essentially other artists talking about and performing Leonard Cohen's work, while the Ladies Man himself apparently sits back and soaks it all in. He's one of the best lyricists alive, and while he never garnered much mainstream acclaim (due to several factors - I'd venture to guess that his sepulchral voice, occasional religious overtones and reclusive personality are chief among them), he's gotten plenty of recognition for his work.

Let's face it, EVERYONE'S covered him, but rarely do the covers I hear come close to the quality of the originals (I'm a huge Cohen fan, but Jeff Buckley's rendition of 'Hallelujah' is simply untouchable, and I am torn between Concrete Blonde's cover of 'Everybody Knows' and the original depending on my mood). As for Regina Spektor? I love you, but don't even try. K.D. Lang does a good 'Bird On A Wire', however.

Anyway, full report to come. The Amazon.com soundtrack pre-sale is kicking ass and taking names - it's due out July 25th. Full report and review to come soon.

By the way, anyone notice how similar Lenny and Dusty looked back in the day? Eerie.

Leonard Cohen - The Partisan (MP3)

Mogwai @ Coachella

2006-07-21T16:32:00.000-04:00

I recall reading that Mogwai was playing two back-to-back shows at New York's Webster Hall at the end of May. I've heard their shows are great, and loud. I avoided seeing them though, party because I didn't have the money, partly because I dislike Webster Hall, and because watching THIS video over and over again, particularly the last sixty or so seconds, sets my expectations so high that at this point, I'd probably enjoy just fantasizing about seeing them as opposed to actually going to a show.

Granted, if I were to wind up at Coachella one day and they were there, I wouldn't be walking away. But I'm sure there's something to be said for seeing a Mogwai, a band that thrives on creating a physical atmosphere, at an airy outdoor venue like Coachella as opposed to a stuffy indoor box.

Ever been to a venue that wasn't simply good, but literally augmented the quality of the performers? Whether it was the crowd, the sound, the environment? For me, I'd go with New Year's Eve 2004 at Madison Square Garden. Flaming Lips, Wilco, Sleater-Kinney. I doubt I need to elaborate.

Share!

A Hole In The Wallet

2006-07-18T23:52:00.000-04:00

All apologies to Gang of Four. I lost my wallet somewhere between Rochester and New York on Monday along with all the train tickets, MetroCard fare, credit cards and petty cash it contained, so besides for the upcoming Pitchfork Fest (which I'll now require a mortgage for) and the 826 Benefit in late August, no shows (or food) for me for quite some time. Tomorrow's the I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness/Asobi Seksu at the Bowery, and it promises to be good. Asobi Seksu's latest album Citrus is one of my top ten of the year.

Lily Allen's debut Alright, Still has finally been released worldwide to great reviews, with 'LDN' topping British charts with the potential to oust 'Crazy' as the hit of the summer. The near-overnight success she's enjoyed puts her with company such as Beirut and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah in that they're all musical phenomenons that found a majority of their international fame through the aid of the internet, although the influence Lily's MySpace has had on her current fame is unprecedented - the girl had over 40,000 friends before her first LP was released. Not that I'm sure what that means in MySpace world. I'm admittedly out of touch with it. I just recently discovered what 'Top 8' means in reference to MySpace friends. Really mature, guys.

Buffalo | Queen City Hipster?

2006-07-15T12:58:00.001-04:00

Over the last few years, I've noticed that Buffalo is getting alot more shows featuring acts not named Dave Matthews, Goo Goo Dolls, or Warped Tour. I thought that Buffalo didn't have much of a market for lesser known acts, but the development of some great venues and promoters looking to fill them has led to some great acts coming to Buffalo. Just last Thursday a fantastic lineup of acts were all over the city, as Diplo was with CSS and Bonde do Role, hardcore-punk legends Lifetime and The Bronx, Icy Demons, and Ween were all here on the same night! This summer is no different, as Buffalo has slipped on its skin-tight jeans and ironic t-shirt for some great shows. Here's a list of what's coming up organized in order of my favorite venues in Buffalo.

The Soundlab - Easily my favorite venue, an extremely small place in the basement of the Dunn Building in the heart of the city. Features a small bar, to the right of the stage, and to the left several booths kind of secluded from the show and candles all over the place. Holds about 250.

July 20 - Deadboy & The Elephantmen
July 21 - Nick Castro & The Young Elders
Aug 3 - Oneida, From Monuments to Masses, Sleeping Kings of Iona
Aug 6 - The Red Krayola
Aug 20 - Red Sparowes, Daughters, Versoma
Aug 29 - Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band
Sept 3 - An Albatross, Bare Flames
Oct 12 - Okkervil River
Oct 16 - Xiu Xiu

Mohawk Place - Another small place but with more of a biker-bar feel. Looks kinda crummy, but always draws a good crowd. Holds around 350.

July 24 - Now It's Overhead
July 26 - Karl Blau
Aug 2 - The Hold Steady
Aug 4 - The Black Heart Procession, Castanets, Devics
Sept 2- The Clientele

The Icon - A slightly larger place, The Icon is usually known for punk, emo, and hardcore (it could be said its where Buffalo's new emo boys Cute Is What We Aim For got their start), but has brought a slew of good acts the last few years including Of Montreal, The Mountain Goats, and The Blood Brothers. Holds up to 900.

July 26 - Murder By Death, Langhorn Slim, Aberdeen City
July 27 - Tarantula AD, Tim Fite
Aug 3 - The Germs
Aug 4 - The Format, Steel Train, Streets to Nowhere, Starflyer 59
Aug 26 - The New Deal
Sept 22 - The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, Baby Gramps

The Town Ballroom - A great place for a show, recently renovated and has an excellent sound system. Several tiers so you can get a good view from almost anywhere in the place. Holds around 1000.

Aug 24 - Jurrasic 5
Sept 30 - Built to Spill

Kitchen Distribution - I haven't checked this place out yet, but I hear good things. It's supposed to be in some adandoned wearhouse or something.

July 18 - Six Organs of Admittance, Jax Deluca, Pow Wow
July 22 - Akimbo, Divine Machine, Michael Bettine's Gontopia
Aug 7 - Japanther, This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, Rat Rasturd
Aug 10 - The Flying Luttenbachers, Caustic Solution

Let's not forget about Rochester! The Bug Jar has some fantastic shows coming up in the next few months as well:

July 23 - Jens Lekman, Frida Hyvonen, Little Yellow Bird
July 25 - Now It's Overhead, Monotonix, Veluxe
Aug 2 - Kalpana, Saxon Shore, From Monuments to Masses, Denison Witmer
Sept 2 - Joan of Arc, Owen, Our Brother The Native
Sept 14 - Magnolia Electric Co., Shearwater
Sept 29 - Wolf Eyes
Oct 17 - Xiu Xiu

Not to mention as well that the man himself, BOB DYLAN will be hitting Frontier Field on August 30 on his tour of minor league ballparks this summer. His new disc, Modern Times, hits stores just a day before he hits Rochester.

Revenge of the Bookeaters | Nationwide Shows

2006-07-13T13:04:00.001-04:00

I got excited. Good things never happen when I get excited. Case in point: the current hole in my bank account, spurred by the opening show in New York for the nation-wide 826NYC Benefit on August 23rd at the Beacon Theatre. The lineup is orgasm-inducing, featuring solo acoustic performances by David Byrne of the Talking Heads, Sufjan Stevens, and John Roderick of The Long Winters, in addition to readings and performances by David Eggers, Sarah Vowell and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart and John Hodgman (the host).

The national tour is pretty exciting, too. Sufjan, Byrne and Stewart are only playing New York, but Chicago gets Ben Gibbard, Aimee Mann joins up on the West Coast, Seattle's got Stephen Merritt, and LA gets The Mountain Goats and Mark Kozelek of Sun Kil Moon.

It's a charity event, raising money 826NYC.org, a noble organization fostering creative writing programs in New York (with other chapters around the country, i.e. 826chi, 826la, etc) for 6 to 18 year olds. It's highly possible that I used this as my justification for buying two rather expensive tickets. It's a high price tag, but it's for a great cause - an essential donation to charity. More people should donate to charity. If anyone is interested in donating to charity, look up the David Has An Extra Ticket Foundation - I hear it's doing wonderful things.

In case you'd be interested in attending the benefit nearest to you, you can find dates and buy tickets by following the links here.

Yo La Tengo's "The Sounds of Sounds of Science" | Shea's, Buffalo

2006-07-12T21:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not quite sure what has gotten into Buffalo's greater institutions, but whatever it is I like it. Last year, the Albright Knox Art Gallery went big with their Rockin' at the Knox benefit and brought Wilco and My Morning Jacket for a show nothing short of amazing. They continued this year by brining Blondie and some great local bands, including different weblog favorites, Sleeping Kings of Iona. On Tuesday, three well-respected Buffalo institutions brought an event I never thought would bring its way around here. The Buffalo Museum of Science, Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, which I had not heard of until this event, and Shea's Performing Arts Center all collabrated in bringing Yo La Tengo to Buffalo to perform "The Sounds of Sounds of Science" to the films of Jean Painleve.

I was very surprised when I discovered this was at Shea's, because I would have bet large sums of money this wouldn't come close to filling Shea's. Shea's is usually used for off Broadway performances, and occasionally comedians like Seinfeld and Carlin, who sell out the just over 3,000 capacity venue. My prediction was right as the place probably wasn't even 1/4 full, and that's probably being slightly generous.

Despite this, the show was nothing short of fantastic. I had not seen Painleve's films before, and was amazed at the kind of footage he was able to get, considering some of them were made as early as 1929. The films feature underwater footage of sea horses, sea urchins, octopi, shrimp, and other sea-life at microscopic levels. The only drawback to being in the second row was trying to read Painleve's subtitles accompanying his films, which were both informative and witty, when Ira Kaplan or James McNew weren't blocking them.

Yo La Tengo, armed with the usual drums, guitars, and an array of ancient looking keyboards, synths, and effects pedals, beautifullly accompanied the films. The songs come to life when paired with the films, as their performance syncs up wonderfully. Most memorable to me was a scene from "Shrimp Stories" whereupon a shrimp, who had just shed its skin, was attempting to rebalance itself on its legs. Georgia Hubles scattereed, tribal-like drumming perfectly captured the shrimps frantic scrambles to get back on its feet.

As exciting as this was, it's not the last of Yo La Tengo for us here at different weblog. In a few weeks, David, myself and other WRUR crew will hit Chicago for the Pitchfork Music Festival!

'something different.' | Smog

2006-07-11T23:15:00.000-04:00

In honor of the brilliant, mentally-troubled and recently deceased Syd Barrett, this week's 'something different.' casts its focus on another clearly deranged gentleman - this one from Silver Spring, Maryland, a fellow named Bill Callahan who goes by the moniker Smog.

Hardly one to confine his insanity to his mother's basement, Callahan has instead released twelve full-length LPs, with over 25 releases in total. His work is prolific and his music is eclectic, ranging from slow-core folk and Leonard Cohen-esque musings and mutterings to distorted rolling rock sagas and looped vocals. He draws from all genres and no subject matter is off-limits (his song about life as a 'teenage spaceship' is all the entitlement I need to make such a claim), but what distinguishes Smog from any lazy-voiced Americana/Folk act is his sensitivity. Throughout his 1999 album 'Knock Knock', praised as one of his greatest (and my personal favorite), he works with soul-crushing self-deprecation reminiscent of Beck's Sea Change but with the moroseness and maturity of, say, Jason Molina throughout 'The Lioness' or Johnny Cash crooning 'Hurt'.

But even more than this is Callahan's simplicity - sure, he occasionally makes no sense at all, but when he does, it is too easy to relate to him, whether he takes up the role of rejected lover or, uh, teenage spaceship. Callahan sings for loss, joy, sadness and love in a minimalist way without preaching. In other words, Smog isn't the minister at pulpit during a funeral; he's the grizzled old man with the strong hands who knows exactly what to say, and that sometimes, words are a waste of precious breath.

Smog - "Teenage Spaceship" (MP3)

CSNY | Air Canada Centre, Toronto

2006-07-11T22:58:00.001-04:00

Now this wasn't as anticipated an event as most of the shows I've been hitting this summer, as my dad sprung it on me a few weeks ago. I wasn't very familiar with the careers of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash or Neil Young, or any combination of the four (I'm not exactly proud of that) but Neil Young is a cool cat, so I'd figured I'd go, seeing as I didn't have to pay for anything. I'm always hesitant about old-timer acts because you never know if their motive is the music and the fans or $$$. With ticket prices around the $80-$100 range, and ugly t-shirts going for $40, I questioned if these fellas were part of the corporate greed they sing out against.

Foolishly, I left my camera in the car, because these old dudes (Stills and Crosby are so round they look like they could explode at any minute) put on one heck of a show Monday night. Blending songs from the solo and group careers of all four men, the first hour rocked hard with songs from all four men, including several from Young's new album "Living wih War," seeing as this tour was entitled the "Freedom of Speech Tour '06." The first hour was heavy with blues/country/rock, the guitars raging and sounding most excellent. After a short break, the group came back with a few acoustic favorites, including "Our House," "Deja Vu," and "Teach Your Children." The group then resumed rocking the place for the rest of the three-hour set.

Besides the ticket and t-shirt costs, my only complaint was the general idea of the Freedom of Speech Tour. None of the guys said anything directly about the war, but of course many of the songs were politically charged. Besides the songs from Young's new album (which were accompanied by a desecrated peace sign hangning in the background), about halfway thought the set a video featuring the faces of soldiers who died in Iraq along with a rising count of deaths played while the group performed "Find the Cost of Freedom." Clips of President Bush contradicting himself while the group played Young's "Let's Impeach the President." Anti-war songs and protest seem sort of redudant at this point, as musicians have been doing it for a while now, and most of the country no longer favors the war. It's almost as if CSNY jumped back into the protest scene a few years too late. And the messages did not nearly have the same effect in Toronto as they probably do in the U.S., as the pot smoke drifted around me from every direction, and only receiving a mere, "Please put that out," from the ushers.

Despite this, CSNY still kicked it, with a great version of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth," ending the set with what else but "Rockin' in the Free World," and a one-song encore of "Woodstock."

In a related note, Canada rocks, man. Toronto is such a beautiful city. It's very clean, besides a few bums here and there, but there is always something going on, and the crowds are always so diverse. It kinda stinks that their's almost no exchange rate between Canadian and American cash moneys, but it still is awesome.

Oh, and Neil Young is from Canada. And Neil Young was THE MAN Monday night. The guy dresses like a farmer, but rocks so hard on guitar, I'm very ashamed I'm not more familiar with his work.

I'm a little behind on my posts, as tonight I saw Yo La Tengo perform "The Sounds of Sounds of Science" back in Buffalo. David is seeing it in Brooklyn tomorrow, so you'll hear from one of us about it.

The Weakerthans, The New Amsterdams & Raising the Fawn | Town Ballroom, Buffalo

2006-07-10T00:56:00.000-04:00

The Town Ballroom, which usually does a great job of brining acts that will fill out its performance space to capacity, was about only half-filled Sunday night, but the crowd was a devoted one, excited to see their favorite band from Winnipeg.

I came in during Raising the Fawn's set, which was mostly an uninspiring alt-rock set, despite the fact the band features John Crossingham of Broken Social Scene. The band released "The Maginot Line" earlier this year.

The closest I would ever get to seeing The Get Up Kids was when The New Amsterdams took the stage. Led by former GUK frontman Matthew Pryor, the band creates a beautiful blend of emo, folk, and alt-country. At times their performance was a bit mild, sparing a few songs where they picked up the pace, including a great upbeat rendition of "Proceed with Caution." There were some devoted New Ams fans in attendance, but some of the crowd was getting impatient and bored with the bands style. Matt Pryor & Co. could benefit greatly from a smaller, more intimate setting. The band is supporting their latest release, "Story Like a Scar."

John K. Samson took the stage all by himself to start off The Weakerthans set with "One Great City!" and it only got better from there as the band played songs from all three of their albums, but mostly from their last two, "Left and Leaving" and "Reconstruction Site." Besides his guitar solo on a new song, which featured his "guitar solo face," Samson was very still most of the night. But bassist John P. Sutton and the touring guitarist really got the crowd going as the night went on, jumping around and doing some flashy guitar work. The band also debuted several new songs, one about bus drivers, and another about Bigfoot! The bands newer material is more downtempo and more folk, alt-country influenced, as several of the songs are on "Reconstruction Site." "Aside," "Watermark," "Plea from a Cat Named Virtue," "and "Our Retired Explorer" rocked and the band definitely didn't disappoint this devoted crowd.

Tomorrow I will be in Toronto again, rocking it old skool this time with my Pops for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young!

Jamie Lidell & Konono No.1 | Harbourfront Centre, Toronto

2006-07-09T00:17:00.000-04:00

Jamie Lidell is clearly the best kept secret in music, and proved furthermore with a fantastic free performance at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto Saturday evening. This shaggily dressed Brit has the best pipes I've ever heard, and are reminiscent of Wilson Pickett, Sly Stone and Stevie Wonder. Also, being one half of the IDM duo Super_Collider, Lidell provides all his own beats, either with synths, laptop or incredibly looping his beat-boxing through all of the equipment he had.

During his live shows, Lidell likes to exeriment with his beats, and when he finds something, he goes with it. This led to many different beats backing some of the tracks from his latest album "Multiply." This included an absolutely sick version of "What's the Use" backed with the beat of Eminem and Dre's "Guilty Conscience," even ridiculously acting out of part of the video.

Halfway through the set, Lidell announced he was bringing out a special guest, who I thought would maybe be Cristian Vogel (the other half of Super_Collider) or one of last nights acts (Juan Maclean, Prefuse 73 or MSTRKRFT) whom I sadly missed. Instead it was Chilly Gonzales, an electro-rap pianist who was playing later in the evening. Gonzalez provided music for the beautiful "Game For Fools," and for the rest of the set.

I could go on about this for hours, but there's no reason Jamie Lidell shouldn't be a star right now. He has the vocals, has a marvelous stage persona (he felt sorry for the crowd because they had to watch him and he got to watch the birds flying over the harbor), and the music had the whole crowd dancing. The only thing holding back is at heart he is clearly an electronic artist, despite the fact he has an amazing voice. Were he ever to throw out the electronics and bring in a backing band, who knows how big he could be.

After Jamie, my friends and I went in search of food, and the crowd filled in and we couldn't get anywhere near Konono No.1. While entertaining for a few minutes, the groups band of tribal music with a dash of electronics (which includes a PA system built from magnets and trash) wasn't anything dazzling, and my friends desired to head home.

Excitingly, this is the first of four days of concerts for me. Tomorrow I will be checking out the Weakerthans and the New Amsterdams back in Buffalo!

Temporary Residence Festival | September 1-3

2006-07-07T21:26:00.000-04:00

Temporary Residence, Ltd. is headed to New York to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Pursuant to any post-rock wet dream, all the label's best and brightest will be ripping through New York's Bowery Ballroom throughout Memorial Day weekend. The line-up, as announced thus far:

September 1:
Envy
Sleeping People
Miss Violetta Beauregarde

September 2:
Explosions In The Sky
Eluvium
Caroline
Lazarus

September 3:
Mono
Fridge
Tarentel

Some of the openers are lesser known, but Japanese hardcore messiahs Envy and post-rock imports Mono, along with Austin's prodigal sons Explosions In The Sky, will be at the vanguard of the Lower East Side's sonic destruction come early September. If move-in day weren't throughout the entire weekend of this little shindig, you could be sure to find me there. Dunno. Maybe I'll drop out.

Tickets on sale, and definitely not for long.

Shellac | Touring?

2006-07-06T16:43:00.000-04:00

Looks like legendary noise-rock band Shellac is touring again. Results are a bit sketchy. The best I've been able to find so far are two dates:

Shellac | Tentative 2006 Tour Dates
9/1 : Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church*
9/2 : Brooklyn, NY @ Europa (tickets through Northsix)*

* : w/ Uzeda

Interesting, regardless. And who knows, maybe they're working on a new album. They haven't released any new material since the last millenium, after all.

Massive Attack Touring With 1/3 of Cocteau Twins

2006-07-05T20:51:00.000-04:00

Massive Attack just recently announced the continuation of their world tour, now including dates in the West (including three shows in a row at New York's Roseland Ballroom to close out the tour in October). However, their current incarnation is including Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Frasier as a vocalist. Uh, damn?

They've got a new album scheduled for release in 2007, and I'm hoping they keep Liz in the album for those who won't be able to make one of their four hundred scheduled shows. Seriously though, thirteen countries over four months. Rather ambitious. This is, of course, on the heels of their performance at Coachella earlier this year, and the release of "Collected", a compilation of Massive Attack hits over the past decade with an included DVD featuring every video ever.

Happy 4th to New Weird America!

2006-07-05T15:59:00.001-04:00

Hope everyone's holiday was stellar. In honor of the fourth, I've been revisiting 2004's 'Golden Apples of the Sun' compilation of some of the best and brightest of the New Weird America movement. The genre goes by a few other names; namely 'freak folk', 'psych folk', and uh, 'animal collective'.

For anyone unfamiliar, there are some great songs from this burgeoning and uniquely American (patriotism!) musical tradition. The compilation could serve as an introduction to freak folk in a pinch, with artists like Hope Sandoval, Antony, White Magic, Vetiver, Iron & Wine, Joanna Newsome, CocoRosie and others contributing. It was officially organized by Devendra Banhart, I believe (with the title coming from a collection of Bradbury's short stories I remember pretending to understand back in fifth grade), and he sings with Vashti Bunyan in the album, too. Pitchfork liked it.

The first edition sold out a while ago, understandably, but you can still pick one of the one thousand second edition prints up here. The tracklist is buried somewhere at that website, too.

Jack Rose - White Mule (MP3)

'something different.' | SLEEPING KINGS OF IONA

2006-07-03T21:40:00.000-04:00

Considering Buffalo's major contributions to the music world have been the Goo Goo Dolls, Snapcase, Everytime I Die, 10,000 Maniacs, and as of recently, Cute is What We Aim For, most wouldn't expect a powerful, shoegaze slash ambient slash electronica band to be the next thing to break out of Buffalo, now would they? The Sleeping Kings of Iona are just that, and in my opinion are the best band to ever come out of Buffalo.

I had first heard of SKOI in mid-2004, and got to see them open for a small festival featuring Mogwai and The Rapture. They opened with a cover of The Smiths "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want," and immediately stole my heart. SKOI does a masterful job of creating lush soundscapes, drawing influences from Brian Eno, Bjork, Sigur Ros, and Portishead. In seeing them live, the bands members are constantly playing a game of musical chairs, as every member plays almost every instrument and several members provide vocals, showing off their musical skill.

The only thing holding these guys back from national recognition is their touring schedule. While SKOI has opened for great acts like Mogwai and The Rapture, The Books, Mono, Prefuse 73, Aloha, and a recent performance opening for Blondie at the Albright-Knox Art Museum, they haven't toured very extensively. They've only traveled about as far west as Cleveland, as far south as Pittsburgh, as east as NYC, and as north as Toronto. I believe most of the members still have their day jobs, which prevents them from a national tour that they could benefit from greatly.

Sleeping Kings of Iona have two excellent releases, the "Faith (Our Return)" EP and their newest, "We Found a Love in the Streets but it was not Ours," the bands first full-length. I highly recommend both, and they are available on their website. The band is playing new material at their latest shows, and it sounds even better. They've only got two shows scheduled as of right now, but I'm sure a few more will trickle in by summers end.

Sleeping Kings of Iona - "Pheromone" (MP3)

Sleeping Kings of Iona | Summer 2006 Schedule

July 28 - Toronto, ON @ Savoy
August 3 - Buffalo, NY @ Soundlab w/ Oneida, From Monument to Masses

Upcoming Releases | July

2006-07-02T01:42:00.000-04:00

As promised:

July 4th
Cex - Actual Fucking (Automation)
Johnny Cash - American V: A Hundred Highways
Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army (Good Records)
July 11th
Muse - Blackholes And Revelations (Warner Bros.)
Oneida - Happy New Year (Jagjaguwar)
Peaches - Impeach My Bush (XL)
Sufjan Stevens - The Avalanche (Asthmatic Kitty)
Thom Yorke - The Eraser (XL)
July 17th
Lily Allen - Alright, Still
July 18th
Golden Smog - Another Fine Day (Lost Highway)
July 25th
Excepter - Alternation (Kill Rock Stars)
James Figurine (Dntel) - Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake Mistake (Plug Research)
Joan of Arc - Eventually, All At Once (Record Label)
Joan of Arc - The Intelligent Design of Joan of Arc (Polyvinyl)
Jurassic 5 - Feedback (Interscope)
The Knife - Silent Shout (Mute)
The Long Winters - Putting The Days To Bed (Barsuk)
Midlake - The Trials of Van Occupanther (Bella Union)
Say Hi To Your Mom - Impeccable Blahs (Euphobia)
Silversun Pickups - Carnavas (Dangerbird)

I anxiously await the debut of Lily Allen's album. A bunch of these have either already been leaked, or are just being released in America for the first time after having served their time overseas, i.e. the fantastic Knife album, 'Silent Shout'. It should be a good month.

No Money? No Problem!

2006-06-29T22:13:00.000-04:00

It seems that every year concerts get more and more expensive, and the less and less your friends want to front the dough to go with you. So how can you get your friends to join you, and save yourself some money? Free shows, of course! There many going on in and around the Western New York area, check 'em out!

ROCHESTER

July 7 - Rochester Musicfest
The first night of Rochester Musicfest '06 is free at the High Falls Festival Site, featuring the old-school hip-hop stylings of DJ Marley Marl, Big Daddy Kane, and Whodini. Only catch here is you gotta be 21 or over to check this one out. Oh, and it's already sold out!

July 14, August 11 - East End Nightlife Festival
A small festival in the East End District of Rochester promises some great local live music.

August 5, 6 - Park Avenue Arts Festival
From Alexand to Culver Road, Park Ave. is filled with arts, crafts, food, drink and music for all to enjoy on a beautiful summer August weekend.

August 26 - Bug Jar Summer Music Fest
Sponsered by everyone's favorite tiny venue in Rochester, this event takes place at the Highland Bowl, and has previously has a good track record for brining great music (i.e. The White Stripes before their popularity). The lineup hasn't been fully annouced yet, but looks promising with John Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray's Heavy Trash, Foreign Islands, and Chinese Stars.

BUFFALO

Thursday at the Square
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, TATS has become a staple of Buffalo summers, drawing large crowds and brining a wide variety of music for Western New Yorkers to enjoy. This year is no different, and the program has pulled out all the stops this year, with great performances already this summer from Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Smash Mouth (yes, that's correct), Mike Doughty's Band, Soulive with Bedouin Soundclash, and Blues Traveler, which promted a halting of the metro rails there during their set the crowd was so large. The lineup only gets better from here:

July 6 - India.Arie

July 13 - Jeff Martin (lead singer of The Tea Party)

July 27 - Robert Randolph & The Family Band with The Drive-By Truckers

August 3 - Violent Femmes (nothing will stop me from this one)

August 10 - Yonder Mountain String Band

August 24 - Sloan

Also announced for the summer are some spectacular (I can't stress that enough, espeically for the August one) in-store performances at one of Buffalo's best independent record stores, New World Record:

July 8 - Pete Yorn

August 20 - Bonnie "Prince" Billy

TORONTO

In looking to see Jamie Lidell this summer, I uncovered a series of free weekend festivals in Toronto going on at the Harbourfront Centre. Each weekend festival has a different theme, and features music, dance, art, film, and more. While not all of the festivals have been fully announced, several weekends are already looking fantastic. I highly recommend catching any of these if you can.

Power of Place: Canada Day
July 1 - Jason Collett and The Dears

Beats, Breaks & Culture
July 7 - The Juan Maclean, Prefuse 73, and MSTRKRFT
July 8 - Jamie Lidell, Konono No.1 and Cadence Weapon

From the PEG!
July 29 - The Waking Eyes and The Weakerthans

Albums To Watch For ('C' Is For Cookie Mountain)

2006-06-29T17:19:00.000-04:00

I've kept a journal of sorts this year. It contains the names and ratings for all the albums of 2006 that I've enjoyed. Ideally, my end goal is to form some sort of a Best Of list of 10 or 20 albums.

The 'problem' is, the year's half over and I've already got upwards of twenty, with plenty more to come. It seems that the best albums always come out towards the end of the year, just like with movies. This year probably won't be an exception, and July looks to be one of the busiest months we'll see for quite some time (I'll do a full post July 1st detailing the releases of the month).

An extremely brief look at five arbitrarily chosen albums coming out in the next four months:

July

Sufjan Stevens - Avalanche
Thom Yorke - The Eraser
Muse - Black Holes And Revelations
Lily Allen - Alright Still
Golden Smog (Jeff Tweedy) - Another Fine Day

August
TV On The Radio - Return To Cookie Island
DJ Shadow - The Outsider

M. Ward - Post War
Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
Broadcast - Future Crayon

September
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Album Leaf - Into The Blue Again
Yo La Tengo - I Am Not Afraid of You, And I Will Beat Your Ass
Black Keys - Magic Potion
Xiu Xiu - The Air Force

October
Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Califone - Roots & Crowns
Chin Up Chin Up - The Harness Can't Ride Anything
Micah P. Hinson - Micah P. Hinson And The Opera Circuit
Chromatics - Shining Violence

The more I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if 3/4ths of the year's best albums come in the second half. There have been plenty of gems so far, but they haven't been mainstream ones, and nothing as of yet that's made my jaw truly drop. Hell, only one album has even broken past 9.0 on Pitchfork so far! It'll be fun to watch.

1997: When Ears Weren't Safe (from music; also, from large angry men)

2006-06-29T01:01:00.000-04:00

I'm an hour late, but bear with me. Nine years ago today, on June 28th, 1997, Mike Tyson forcibly removed Evander Holyfield's ear with the help of his teeth. Three days later, Radiohead's 'OK Computer' was released.

Coincidence?

Yeah, probably. In fact, there's no evidence as of today that the two events are related.

However, in doing some rather boring research, I've realized that a sizable number of classic albums came out of 1997, the same year that brought us such globe-shattering events as Hong Kong's sovereignty, the first successful cloning of sheep, and Harry Potter. Here's my take on some of the big ones that still hold plenty of weight today, including aforementioned Radiohead album:

Bob Dylan - "Time Out Of Mind"
Dinosaur Jr. - "Hand It Over"
Radiohead - "OK Computer"
Built To Spill - "Perfect From Now On"
Pavement - "Brighten The Corners"
Mogwai - "Young Team"
Elliott Smith - "Either/Or"
Olivia Tremor Control - "Dusk At Cubist Castle"
Yo La Tengo - "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One"
Belle & Sebastian - "If You're Feeling Sinister"

That's only ten! And do you have any idea how much I'm leaving out?! How about seminal albums from The Verve, Blur, Spiritualized, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Catherine Wheel? Electronic (ugh) masterpieces like The Prodigy's "Fat Of The Land", Squarepusher's "Hard Normal Daddy" and Bjork's "Homogenic"? What's that, more mainstream albums, say U2's "Pop", Jamiroquai's "Travelling Without Moving", Oasis' "Be Here Now", Jewel, Celine Dion, Hanson, Shania Twain, Savage Garden, "SPICE WORLD"?!

Surely, this is a year for the ages. And there are plenty of great ones I haven't even mentioned. Not just in rock, either; I won't even get into some of the amazing metal and hip-hop (wu-tang, cough) that came out in '97.

I should do this retrospective more often. There's certainly plenty in both years adjactent to 1997 (perhaps you've heard of 1996's "Pinkerton" or 1998's "Hello Nasty". No? Don't worry, there are others).

'something different.' | KITCHENS OF DISTINCTION

2006-06-27T17:15:00.000-04:00

This is 'something different.', the beginning of what I hope to be something fairly regular on this site; a brief focus on artists from various genres that, for whatever reason, have flown under the radar throughout their careers and beyond. Additionally but not necessarily, these are artists that seem to have a definitive influence on their genre as it exists today.

Now for the first edition ... From South London, a band known as Kitchens of Distinction. They stood with British contemporaries Pale Saints, Ride and The House of Love at the vanguard of the dream pop/shoegaze moment of the late 80s. However, their sound fell much closer near the realm of indie rock, and save for occasional squeals of reverb they bore little in common with the other prominent shoegaze artists of the time such as My Bloody Valentine or Jesus and Mary Chain.

As 'new wave' began to emerge and define the contemporary sound of British music in the 80s, Kitchens of Distinction became a genre-bending oddity, the sole inhabitants of an island where shoegaze-meets-rock-meets-pop, surrounded by emerging bands like The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, and Echo and The Bunnymen.

Their greatest hits album 'Capsule' is aptly titled: it seems as though Kitchens of Distinction are fossilized remains of the blending of numerous musical styles emerging in Great Britain throughout the time of their existence. While they never achieved critical success (it is an unsubstantiated rumor that their lack of popularity stems from the band's open homosexuality), the swirling bevy of guitars under Patrick Fitzgerald's visceral voice would become the oft-emulated signature of shoegaze-rock, one of the numerous genres Kitchens of Distinction undeniably helped to pioneer.

Unfortunately, I can't offer a sample mp3 until I get a hosting server up and running. However, it's fairly easy to find samples of their music online. I'd suggest in particular "A History of Shoegazing: 1988-1995", which features their single "Prize" among other songs from other great artists.

DeVotchKa! + Norfolk&Western | Bowery Ballroom, NYC

2006-06-25T13:35:00.000-04:00

Such a fantastic show. The timbre of this post may suggest that DeVotchKa! in fact opened for Norfolk & Western (meanwhile the opposite is the case), but the five-piece from Portland was so amazing that I'm saving them for last.

For those unfamiliar, DeVotchKa!'s a Denver-based musical smorgasbord of Eastern European gypsy folk, South American rhythm section and North American bluegrass. They've recently come to fame with their song 'How It Ends' as seen in the trailer for Everything Is Illuminated, and they've scored the soundtrack for the film Little Miss Sunshine out this summer.

They were stellar. DeVotchKa! was clearly humbled playing before a sold-out Bowery Ballroom, but their affable stage presence was entirely unaffected.

Of note this particular evening: their covers of Velvet Underground's "Venus In Furs", a fantastic rendition of Siouxsie & The Banshees' "The Last Beat Of My Heart", and Sinatra's "Somethin' Stupid". All of these covers are to be found on DeVotchKa!'s latest EP Curse Your Little Heart, in stores now.

I wasn't expecting to be especially enthralled by any of the evening's opening acts, nor was I any of them to have more instruments than DeVotchKa!. However, Norfolk & Western put on the best show of the evening. I'd listened to a few songs from some of their recent albums, and I'd known them as the band that usurped former Decemberists' drummer Rachel Blumberg. I suppose I should give them more credit - they've been around for some time and they're all accomplished musicians. Especially the violinist - damn. I have a picture of him playing a rip saw with a violin bow somewhere, and he had what looked like a home-made theremin tucked in the corner. The entire set was wonderful, and with the setlist in hand I tried to listen to some of the songs they played while on the train home, but to no avail. Not to say I couldn't find the songs, but Norfolk & Western clearly has a live show that cannot be contained in saved audio format. I'd do a great deal to hear them cover Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" again.

So that's essentially a rap. I'm headed back to the Bowery next Friday for another purportedly excellent show, Grizzly Bear & Lansing-Dreiden with DJ Justine D from the NYC nightclub Motherf*cker opening. Overall: best show I've seen this year, and see Norfolk & Western whenever you get the chance.

THE FORMAT | New Album "Dog Problems" out July 16th

2006-06-23T20:13:00.000-04:00

How about more love for The Format?

Some of the most insanely infectious music currently found in the universe hails from their 2003 debut album "Interventions & Lullabies" and I know not a single one of my friends who didn't blast "The First Single" through their iPod's earbuds in the closing years of high school. I'd struggle to name anyone who didn't dance along in their seats to the first part of the album and quietly sulk to the somber, wrist-slitting second half.

They toured with all the big names over the past year or two (I remember legendary stories of the Taking Back Sunday/Jimmy Eat World tour they supported, but I refrained from going for a few reasons - primarily, because I didn't fit into the main demographic of being a fifteen year-old girl) but they've never quite come into their own right amongst the whiny rock scene that many of their fans in 2003 have since grown past or rejected.

Nonsense, I say. I still love The Format - they've had a significant role in my musical life, and now into my 3rd listen of their sophomore album "Dog Problems" (available for purchase on their website NOW for a measly $8 or out on CD on July 16th) my love for them only continues to grow. The beauty of the new album is that The Format have grown up right along with us! Gone are the philosophical musings fit for graduation day; what's in is a level of maturity that was merely budding on their debut release. It's just as infectious, and just as good.

If you've never listened, do yourself a favor and pick up their debut. Spend some time with it. Get to know it. Meanwhile, us longtime fans can pick up the new album and bask in the newstalgia.

SAXON SHORE, FROM MONUMENT TO MASSES | @ The Bug Jar

2006-06-19T19:36:00.000-04:00

The throng of Mogwai and Godspeed imitators grows exponentially with every release of an Explosions in the Sky album. However, two of post-rock's more promising acts, San Francisco's From Monument To Masses and upstate New York darlings Saxon Shore are scheduled to annihilate Rochester's Bug Jar on August 2nd. Both bands have relatively new albums ("Schools of Thought Contend" and "The Exquisite Deaths of Saxon Shore" respectively) available on their websites.

Saxon Shore is no joke, and they've been rolling out epic instrumental ballads since 2000. I'd imagine they put on a wonderful live show, but I sadly won't be able to see it. So I'll have to live vicariously through you.

DOWNLOAD:
(MP3) From The Exquisite Death of Saxon Shore (2005): The Revolution Will Be Streaming Test