After last years Dancapalooza, I hope Lolla brings some more quality electronica-pop-dance-funk acts to this years fest. Last year we had Daft Punk, LCD Soundsystem, !!!, and The Rapture. There is something about the dance acts that perfectly match the mood and feeling of an outdoor festival. These bands were, by far, my favorite sets of last year's Lollapalooza. Daft Punk and The Rapture were euphoric. !!! and LCD were simply mind-blowing.
I hear Radiohead, NIN, Wilco, and Rage Against the Machine will be coming to Lolla this year. If these rumors are all true, it should be an amazing weekend, but someone needs to fill the dancing void left by Daft Punk's absence.
Cut Copy is a band from Australia. They make dance-pop. I hope they are at Lolla.
We need a repeat performance of M83. Me, Mike, and Pat began our lolla experiences with their amazing set on the first day of lolla 05. Car Crash!!!
P.S. The new album is pretty damn good
Here is one of their new songs "Kim and Jessie" cut to scenes of Donnie Darko
I think a little Gui Borrato during the inevitable 100 degree Lolla afternoon would be a nice touch.
Non-Dance Acts that should be at Lolla this year
I mentioned Foals in my last post. I also want them to be at this years Lolla.
Tokyo Police Club needs to come back this year, for reals.
Hello, I am back for the time being, so enjoy, my stay will be brief if it is long. Here are three non-emo bands that impress me. I only share these likings because I am sure some of you are not familiar with at least one of these bands, and I am sure you will enjoy them all to some extent.
First is my new favorite band, Foals. They are from England. They are what the Bloc Party promised to be and much more (no offense Pfeiffer). Here is one of the better live performances I have seen in a long time.
Second, Vampire Weekend is too precious for words. I can't tell if their ultra-preppiness is a shtick or if it is just who these lads are. I know one thing for sure, they know aesthetics. Check out their website: simple, subtle, and warm. It makes me want to be a WASP just like them.
Third and lastly, MGMT (pronouned "Management"). A New York hipster band who does more than just act like douches. They do act like complete douches most of the time, but they also make some good music while doing it.
While I browsing a great Emo/great music newsite (absolutepunk.net), I came across a story about Amy Winehouse refusing to go to rehab just like in her famous song Rehab. The story linked to a old magazine I use to read often. New Music Express (NME) is kinda like having a good friend who knows every new band in Britain and has claimed that each one is the best band in the world. Its a great read, and they are often very right (Kings of Leon, Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and sometimes very wrong (A near perfect score for Oasis' Be Here Now). They are the keepers of British music past, present, and future. I recommend you read their reviews for the new YYY's ep (IS IS) and the new Interpol (Our Love to Admire. You may not agree with all their superfluous language, but it sure is entertaining and almost always insightful.
In addition to interesting reviews, reading NME is one of the best ways to find new bands that often hit it big in the UK but never get off the ground in the states. For instance, after reading a 7 out of 10 review of the Goodbooks debut album, I came across this great song and alright video. My guess is they will never make a peep in the US despite their hipster friendly sound.
Re: gimme indie rock...after tuning in to see what's on top 40.
Reading Chris' "gimme indie rock...after tuning in to see what's on top 40" post was a blast, but I did take issue with his slander against Rihanna's "Umbrella." Sadly, Polley gave "Umbrella" a D-, a wholly undeserved bashing. Granted, his sediments concerning Jay-Z's phoned-in performance are right on the money, but the rest of the song deserves much more respect. My reaction was strong to Polley's D+, because I had planned on blogging about Rihanna's "Umbrella" the day before. Unfortunately, I got side tracked with US soccer team's brilliant first-half performance versus Argentina in the Copa America, and I never got around to writing my piece on how AOL Sessions is the American version of John Peel's BBC Sessions. Needless to say, the US lost to Argentina 4-1 and I got too depressed to blog about AOL Sessions and Rihanna's "Umbrella."
On first listen to the album version of "Umbrella," even through head phones, the song comes off as pretty flat. I like the synthesizer and the main chorus, but it feels pretty lifeless I must admit. Enter AOL Sessions, and Rihanna's live version of the song. Rihanna's "Umbrella" (live AOL Sessions)... it follows the short ad.
Rihanna is a obviously a great performer: she dances and sings with absolute ease, which helps to liven up the song. In addition, the organic production of the song (people playing each part individually, in real time) greatly enhances the song's thrust. The band is essentially playing the track exactly as it appears on the album version, and it sounds nearly identical to the album, but the kicker is that these people are playing live together. The song is not being concocted in a studio by slicing together segments of musical performance, its right there. I was totally blown away by the quality of the sound coming from this live performance, and its pretty much on par with most of the AOL Session videos. The song totally shines in this setting.
First, the new Yellowcard single is available for listen at their myspace page. So I loved the last album, I thought it was brilliant. This new singe "Light Up the Sky" is pretty freaking good. Its pretty much classic Yellowcard. I think their is some veiled references to suicide bombings in the first part of the song, but nonetheless the song had a great flow and structure. They even use the violin dude in this song. Their new album comes out July 17th if you're interested. The lead singer has said the album "is like Ocean Avenue with balls." Awesome?
New Album Cover
"Only One" Acoustic... brilliance
Second, How awesome is the return of the Smashing Pumpkins. At first I was like, Not ANOTHER Zwan, but this time around it seems Billy has his (broken)heart really in this one. The new album looks very promising. I have also come to realize that no song really captures teenage suburban angst in the mid-90s like SP's "1979." My entire concept of suburbia is based on that song: boredom, freedom, convenience stores.
Lastly, I have come to two major realizations in my life. The first is that I no longer believe in any afterlife. No heaven, no hell, no anything. Not sure how that happened, but it just doesn't exist for me. Secondly, I have come to realize our country is totally doomed to become a fascist empire or at least a tattered police state. BUT thankfully neither of these major life crises matter anymore because I found this video of Michael McDonald singing on the The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. If there is an afterlife, it is within the confides of these eight minutes and thirty seconds. Our country has a chance to avert our current path towards human damnation if we can somehow remember this moment in 1985. If we can somehow live inside the croon of Michael McDonald, we will be free, all of us, together as one. Just listen to his voice and you will feel it, I hope, for us all.
I forget to post a song and video by one of my current favorite bands. You mostly like have never heard of them, simply because you don't dare travel the back roads and dark alleys of Emo. I heard this band first on purevolume.com which is pretty much like Mecca for emo folks, you find a lot of random bands that are really good. The Static Age sounds like they are from the 80s, but they are most certainly not. This song, "Cherry Red" opens like a Police song, and the rest of the album could be mistaken for an orgy between the Cure, Depeche Mode, and maybe some Echo and B-men. At first, I felt this band just randomly selected different sounds from the 80s and mashed them together. Often when this happens (Blink 182's "Miss You") the end results is fun and sounds good, but ultimately it is without depth. In other words, you listen to it for fun, but it never grows within you, it never propels you forward, it just feeds your sweet tooth. "Cherry Red" started out that way, but after listening for a long time, the song appears to be heartfelt and, more importantly, the song is idiosyncratic, but never to the point of irrelevance.
For me, there is no greater achievement than maintaining an individual and unique voice while still working within the confides of a common musical experience. It is far too easy to simply copy others as well as yourself(Jet, Audioslave, Tool, NIN...) or to make unique music that is essential so far outside the scope of the common aural experience that its action is essentially irrelevant (Radiohead, Beruit, The Natioanl). By no means am I degrading the music of these bands, especially those that are innovative to the point of obscurity. But I think much can be said for bands that are able to sustain an individual voice while also playing within the confides of our collective musical experience. I find that these bands and their songs keep coming back into my mind and propel my emotions much further and farther than any other music.
A good example of this style, or achievement, would be Yellowcard's "Ocean Avenue." Its a simple radio single that is built upon an omnipresent pop-punk sound, yet its structure and lyrics elicit a continued pleasurable response over a period of years rather than days. I guess if there is one way to truly judge and classify music, it is to observe how long or how often you feel the need to listen to it. They are always those great songs that hit you, but they soon fade after 10-20 listens. Those are saccharine songs: they fill you up but leave you unfulfilled like having a Coke for lunch. I love Coke, but it only works as a supplement to a meal, and that meal is made of songs by bands like The Static Age.
The Static Age "Cherry Red"
Other Examples of the Mainstream Innovation style
Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye"
Angels and Airwaves "Do It For Me Now"
30 Seconds to Mars "The Kill" stripped down acoustic
Not having a job or a much of a purpose, I have taken to absorbing, consuming, as much stuff as a I can. The assumption of this mission is to find some cool stuff and share it with people who actually have lives and don't have the time to look for "the goods."
First is a the new single from the Editors, who I admire on a basic level. They write songs that sound like they from the 80s yet filtered through the 00s, it works very well. Their last big song was "Munich" which I felt was a near perfect single. They follow up that hit with an equally good if not better song, "An End has a Start," which is also the name of their new album coming out soon. The video is pretty freaking awesome: check out the girl's face after she stops kissing the dude and jumps back, I don't think I have ever seen any woman as beautiful as she is in that moment. Its just a moment, so don't miss it.
Next, Jericho, the greatest show on Television, has been canceled by CBS as part of a backlash against serialized dramas, which were all the rage this last season. Think of how many serialized shows started in the Fall and never made it till Thanksgiving (Kidnapped, The Nine, Vanished, Smith, etc...). Jericho started out as crap, but it got progressively better until the end. Granted, Jericho is not the best show on Television, but is easily in the top 5 of network shows. The campaign has begin to SAVE JERICHO, join the movement, save our manufactured reality and escapist fantasy.
Finally, two paths of my life intertwine perfectly: an emo band from Peoria, IL. The Forecast is a second-tier emo band, but their place of origin quickly overrides their lack of audacity. This video is shot in Peoria, so check it out to see how I would have ended up if my family hadn't bolted when I was three. Notice the "farm" party at the end, if I could only be so lucky.
