Since I’m procrastinating, I figured I’d post something so I don’t feel totally useless. When the Kaiser Chiefs came out with their latest album a month or so ago, I started on a serious brit-rock kick. I had heard a lot of the heavy hitters already, but this was my first real exposure to The Futureheads. I can’t even. They’re so skilled yet so quirky that it’s impossible to find something to like in their music. “First Day” was the first track I got into, but eventually tracks like “Robot”, “A to B”, and “Stupid and Shallow” helped their debut album win me over. Also, I’m something of a sucker for accents, and these guys have such a distinct North English accent and it adds so much charm to their music. If you’re a fan of Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs or even the Arctic Monkeys, I suggest you check out The Futureheads
The track this time is “A to B” off of the Futureheads self-titled debut.
(Source: Spotify)
So did I ever tell you guys about the time when I randomly became a fan of LCD Soundsytem? No? Oh, well, I randomly became a fan of LCD Soundsystem, and I’ve been listening to them almost non-stop for about 3 months. Sound of Silver is probably by favorite album right now, but LCD Soundsytem is seriously pretty awesome as well. When I think of this kind of music -techno/dance/electronica/deargodIdon’tevenknow - I think of boring, repetitive beats with the same sample or keyboard track playing over it for like 5 hours and just sweaty club kids eating it up, but these guys are different. It’s all so interesting and well put together, and oh man, James Murphy’s attitude! That guy would have been a pioneer of punk if he was in London around 1976. That’s what I like about him, and I think that’s what attracts me to artists of different genres. Their just general aura of badass.
Anyway, the track this time is “Losing My Edge” off of LCD Soundsytem.
(Source: Spotify)
So the last time I reviewed a show was waaaaay back in June of 2011 when some friends and I saw Company of Thieves at the Bowery Ballroom. I’ve been to several shows since then, but for the first time since CoT I feel like sharing my concert experience with you guys. This time around, I saw none other than The Ting Tings at Webster Hall in NYC. I’m not gunna lie, when I first heard their uber-huge smash hit “That’s Not My Name” back in 2008 I didn’t like them at all. I was really into punk and ska at the time and these goofy and upbeat UK pop-rockers were just too much for me to deal with. By the time I heard about their newest release, the amazing Sounds From Nowheresville, I had matured enough to really appreciate what they were doing. I digested everything from their debut, We Started Nothing, in preparation for what was to be an amazing album. By the time I heard that they were heading to Webster Hall for two nights, I was a pretty big fan and there was no way I was going to miss what turned out to be an awesome show.
We almost didn’t go. When my friends and I first checked for tickets we were disappointed to find out that it was sold out. Later that day I got a text from two of my friends at almost exactly the same time saying “OMG STUBHUB FOR $7!”. How the hell are you supposed to say no to that?
If you’ve never been to Webster Hall, it’s actually kind of confusing to get into. We found the marque and the box office on 11th in Manhattan, but when we tried to get online we were approached by a big Slavic sounding man in a suit and sunglasses.
“You here for Ting Tings?” he asked unceremoniously.
“Uhh….yea?” a few of us mumbled after a moment of looking at each other.
“Over here” he said. He lead us down the street a short distance to what looked like a rusty set of fire escape stairs. “It sketchy, I know, but trust me.”
In my head I was thinking “Listen Vlad, you seem cool and all, but I ain’t goin’ up those stairs”. I was at the back of the group so I didn’t really get a chance to voice my opinion before my friends started up the stairs, so I didn’t have much of a choice. So up the stairs we went.
Turns out, after all that, we were in the right place. We walked into the bar at Webster Hall, which was half barn and half saloon. Seriously, there was a rusty pitch fork hanging above the bar. We waited about twenty minutes before they let us into what looked like the entrance hall of an old Victorian building, with marble floors and handrails decked out in bronze inlays. It was pretty dark and actually a little creepy. My friend Sio and I have a pretty serious fear of zombies, and one of the things I noticed was how much the building looked like a run down, zombie infested building in a cheap horror film. When I pointed this out to her she said “I don’t know if I should beat you or hold on to you for dear life”. Fortunately, it never came to that.
Since we were some of the first people there we got really good spots center stage right in the front. Webster has one the most open and spacious stage areas of any place I’ve been in NYC, with high ceilings and some really awesome turn of the century decor on the stage. We sat on the floor, had a few drinks, and just hung around for around an hour while the hall slowly filled up. There was only one bathroom with designated male and female stalls, but they lit incense in there so it was pretty cool overall. Just thought I’d share that part.
Anyway, it was around an hour later that the opening act came on. We didn’t know anything about them, we didn’t even know their name, but it turns out it was just one girl - who was a dead ringer for a good friend of mine - and a keyboard playing some really heavy electronic dance music. Turns out her name was MNDR and she was actually really good. She was dancing around with us having a good time, rocking out to some really well orchestrated electronica. On a side note, her tights were covered splotches of that glow in the dark green color, and it looked really cool in the fog machine she had going behind her. It was one of those shows that was really awesome and would have been visually amazing for anyone under the influence of certain mind altering substances. Another side note, I’m pretty sure, like, half of the audience was tripping. Sio had to dodge a few people that wanted to rub her face on the way back from the bathroom and I’m pretty sure someone was rubbing my head at one point.
Anyway, after a really cool set by MNDR, we waited another maybe 30 minutes before The Ting Tings came on. Most places have a screen or a curtain in front of the stage, but these guys just dropped the lights on us. It was pretty sudden, but the crowd erupted with noise as Kate and Jules walked onto the stage. With nothing but back light and a fog machine running, Kate shushed us while Jules strapped on a guitar, waiting for us to finally shut up. Slowly, the opened up with an alternative version of “Silence”, the first track off their latest album. As the song plowed on into an epic crescendo, we went insane, waiting for the final climax and the next piece of awesomeness to come through their speakers. Jules had switched over to his drums and Kate was jumping around like a mad woman with her own guitar, and we knew this was going to be a good one. Jules was all over the place, picking up a guitar, keyboards, the drums and a bass at one point. I don’t remember where it fell in the line up, but one of the highlights was definitely “Hit Me Down Sonny”, which was a good five minutes long and featured a local guitarist - I never caught his name - giving the song an awesome solo, and MNDR came out to play keyboards too, leaving us screaming for more. “Fruit Machine” was another favorite, but one of the best moments was during “Shut Up and Let Me Go”, when Kate started playing - beating, really - a bass drum, only to knock it over, stand on it, then taunt us into making as much noise while rocking out on a cowbell. Ridiculous? I’d say so, but it was nothing short of amazing. After closing off with a song I’d never heard before - “Hands” - the band walked off amid screams of approval from the crowd. They finally came back on to finish off the night with “That’s Not My Name”, which had everyone dancing and going crazy, finishing off one of the best shows I have ever been to.
What we did after the show and how we got home is another story entirely, but the show was stellar. If you ever have the chance to see them live, go do it. I can’t recommend them enough, and if you haven’t picked up any albums by them, go do that too. You won’t be disappointed.
of all the bands I’ve seen. It’s not as long a list as it could/should be, but I don’t want to forget. They’re some awesome memories. I would actually spend a decent amount of time reliving the memories, not just the shows themselves but the trips, the friends, the company, the laughs, everything about it. The excitement of getting there, the explosion of energy while you’re in the crowd, then the quiet/drunken stumble back home where you can’t do anything but talk about how much fun you just had.
Damn it all, now I want to go another show. I went to one like three days ago and I need to see another one already. Now I need to make list of all the bands coming up that I want to see! I’m never getting any real school work done, am I?
…Oh, right, I’m supposed to be making that other list….
Alty, bluesy, rocky, and fuzy, Band Of Skulls is like a melting pot of everything cool and dirty rock ‘n’ roll has offered in the last 10 years or so. Imagine if Jack White, Alex Turner, and Jimmy Page made sweet love in a garage. You’d get a massive house fire because nothing can contain that amount of awesome, and you would find Band Of Skulls in the ashes. That entire scenario will make more sense if you don’t think about it. Anyway, they recently released their second album, Sweet Sour, which is more of what their just as stellar debut offered up back in 2009. Do yourself a solid and check ‘em out, they’re well worth it.
Up top is “Lies” off of Band Of Skulls latest album, Sweet Sour.
(Source: Spotify)
I’m positive this happened a while ago, but can I just say how awesome it is that Tumblr now lets you search through Spotify and Soundcloud to bring people amazing musical noises? I had been wanting this to happen for a while and they pull it off while I wasn’t looking. Tumblr, you are one sexy, sexy genius. So yea, you should definitely expect more awesome things from me and my new-found musical library!
Workin’ on it.
So I kinda disappeared at the end of last summer. Like just straight up stopped blogging. I had a lot going on in my life and I just didn’t have time to write reviews and blogs and stuff. I know it sounds like a bit of a cop-out, but my heart wasn’t in it anymore. I dropped my journalism classes and started doing my own thing at school. But after what seems like eons, I just randomly decided to start this again. There is no way in hell I could do the same stuff, the same schedule, as I did a year ago so I won’t even try. It’s gunna be different, but I’ll still post reviews and stuff. This time it’s more for me though. It’s about stuff I like and I find cool, on my own time. I don’t have time to run a small business lol.
Soooooooo yea! Expect some stuff!
ALSO! To everyone that randomly started following me while I was on hiatus….hi…I guess.
Embracing jazz’s long tradition of molding and modifying, Trombone Shorty’s latest release, For True finds jazz, hip-hop, dixieland, rock, and swing all grooving along in perfect harmony. While definitely not the first artist to move in this direction, Trombone Shorty has the chops to lead the way for other young like-minded musicians.
The one aspect of the album is the constant emphasis on rhythm. Every track pulses with a simple, steady beat guaranteed to keep people dancing and bopping along. While he draws on all different genres of jazz, Shorty often stays within his home turf of old school New Orleans brass band jazz. Tracks like “Buckjump”, “Lagniappe”, “Dumaine St.”, and “Big 12” all have a familiar kind of exuberance to them, as if they wouldn’t be out of place at all in a brass bands repertoire.
Also in the tradition of jazz, Shorty collaborates with a host of seasoned and talented musicians throughout For True. Guitarists Warren Haynes and Jeff Beck add their own unique flavors to “Encore” and “Do To Me”, respectively. Kid Rock joins Shorty for “Mrs. Orleans”, while Ledisi lends her voice to “Then There Was You”. Most impressive, how ever, is the collaboration with Neville Brothers members Cyril and Ivan on the stellar “Nervis”. The quality and caliber of those he’s collaborated with only adds to his own prestige, which is already impressive by itself.
Artists like Trombone Shorty and others, like The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, are helping to solidify New Orleans brass bands importance in the modern jazz world. Shorty, however, with his vision and obvious amazing technical skill, is paving the way for other artists, helping breathe new life into a genre that’s almost one hundred years old. On For True, Shorty explores just how many interesting directions it can go.
