This is great.
I guffawed.
Showing posts with label black lips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black lips. Show all posts
Monday, September 28, 2009
Friday, July 31, 2009
Pitchfork Music Festival 2009 - pt. 1
I'm the guy everyone else behind me hates at concerts - tall with a big head. But that also means I get to see everything and have a heads-and-shoulders advantage for taking pictures and video. My camera doesn't do justice to any of the guitar sounds, mostly all you can hear are the vocals and drums, and typically my pictures are mediocre at best. Just take my word for it that it was one of the best, and most exhausting weekends of my life. The festival crams about a dozen bands into 10 hours each of Saturday and Sunday, and a few bands on Friday. (I did not go on Friday.)
Acts I wish I didn't miss: The Walkmen, The National, Pharaoh Monch, Vivian Girls
Worst show: Doom
Most annoying hipster accessory I'm guilty of: Wayfarer shades
Good shows I don't have pictures of and therefor aren't covered below: M83, Matt and Kim
The following clips and videos are ranked with my favorite show of the weekend first.
Black Lips
Saturday, July 18
The Black Lips are a bunch of deviants. After a lengthy sound check, guitarist whats-his-face immediately smashed the shit out of his Gibson on the first song, tossing the broken neck into the crowd, asking if anyone needed a pick-up.
Known for their onstage antics, the boys didn't do anything illegal this time around, but they did a fine job of letting the world know that they, in fact, do not give a fuck.
Standing in the first few rows for the Black Lips, it was too rowdy to take any video, and the stills I took before we pushed our way to the front are mostly garbage 'cause it was nighttime. Needless to say, the Black Lips put on a raunchy, awesome show, full of crowd surfing, band-member drinking and fan behavior-bating. Over the course of seeing more than a dozen bands, the dirty bastards in the Black Lips still find a way to standout as the grimiest bunch of rock n' rollers in the group. They had to play a short set - Pitchfork agreed with the Po to shut everything down by 10 p.m., and the band before the Black Lips played late. I should feel guilty for skipping the National for the Lips show, they were, of course, every critic's favorite, but I can listen to the National at home. I can't jump and sweat and scream with kindred idiots at home. The set hit all the favorites - "Oh Katrina," "Bad Kids," "Starting Over," but they could have easily played for another hour and not run out of titles I wanted to hear.
The Thermals
Sunday, July 19
The Thermals mixed in several covers, opening with Sonic Youth's "100%," (a song I didn't know) along with some others easier to recognize - Green Day's "Basket Case," which they played without a hint of irony, giving it the same level of enthusiasm they imbue any of their own political indie-pop punk. This was probably the closest I got for any show, and left without most of my voice, and several ounces of sweat. This video is lame, one of my least favorite songs they played, but the crowd wasn't going as crazy so I could pull our my camera without risk of breaking it.
Japandroids
Sunday
This buzz band blew up quick as hell (and without backlash, so far), from recording on a bedroom record label to playing for thousands at Pitchfork. And they rocked. Dude's got one guitar feeding 12 12-inch fender speakers (in 4 cabinets), mic'd for the PA of course, and gets the crunch only a pile of hot glowing tubes can get. His confidence borders on cockiness, but the guys from Canada know how to put on a rock show. Did I mention/brag that I had the vinyl before anyone else? Sorry.
Acts I wish I didn't miss: The Walkmen, The National, Pharaoh Monch, Vivian Girls
Worst show: Doom
Most annoying hipster accessory I'm guilty of: Wayfarer shades
Good shows I don't have pictures of and therefor aren't covered below: M83, Matt and Kim
The following clips and videos are ranked with my favorite show of the weekend first.
Black Lips
Saturday, July 18
The Black Lips are a bunch of deviants. After a lengthy sound check, guitarist whats-his-face immediately smashed the shit out of his Gibson on the first song, tossing the broken neck into the crowd, asking if anyone needed a pick-up.Known for their onstage antics, the boys didn't do anything illegal this time around, but they did a fine job of letting the world know that they, in fact, do not give a fuck.
Standing in the first few rows for the Black Lips, it was too rowdy to take any video, and the stills I took before we pushed our way to the front are mostly garbage 'cause it was nighttime. Needless to say, the Black Lips put on a raunchy, awesome show, full of crowd surfing, band-member drinking and fan behavior-bating. Over the course of seeing more than a dozen bands, the dirty bastards in the Black Lips still find a way to standout as the grimiest bunch of rock n' rollers in the group. They had to play a short set - Pitchfork agreed with the Po to shut everything down by 10 p.m., and the band before the Black Lips played late. I should feel guilty for skipping the National for the Lips show, they were, of course, every critic's favorite, but I can listen to the National at home. I can't jump and sweat and scream with kindred idiots at home. The set hit all the favorites - "Oh Katrina," "Bad Kids," "Starting Over," but they could have easily played for another hour and not run out of titles I wanted to hear.
The Thermals
Sunday, July 19
The Thermals mixed in several covers, opening with Sonic Youth's "100%," (a song I didn't know) along with some others easier to recognize - Green Day's "Basket Case," which they played without a hint of irony, giving it the same level of enthusiasm they imbue any of their own political indie-pop punk. This was probably the closest I got for any show, and left without most of my voice, and several ounces of sweat. This video is lame, one of my least favorite songs they played, but the crowd wasn't going as crazy so I could pull our my camera without risk of breaking it.
Japandroids
Sunday
This buzz band blew up quick as hell (and without backlash, so far), from recording on a bedroom record label to playing for thousands at Pitchfork. And they rocked. Dude's got one guitar feeding 12 12-inch fender speakers (in 4 cabinets), mic'd for the PA of course, and gets the crunch only a pile of hot glowing tubes can get. His confidence borders on cockiness, but the guys from Canada know how to put on a rock show. Did I mention/brag that I had the vinyl before anyone else? Sorry.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Pitchfork Music Festival
Of course, several of the bands I most want to see at this weekend's Pitchfork Music Festival are playing at the same time, so I'll be seeing some half-shows. But, one of the biggest advantages of the P4k fest is it's condensed lineup that stresses quality over quantity — at a reasonable price. There are only two bands playing at any one time, as opposed to 4 (like Bonnaroo). Plus I won't have to dodge trust-fund hippie acts cluttering every other stage. Instead I'll have to watch my back for scarfed trust-fund brats riding around on fixed-gear bicycles.
I plan on taking some pictures, and maybe some short videos.
Bands I don't plan on missing:
SATURDAY, JULY 18
8:30 The Black Lips (I will probably have to skip the National, they play at 8:40. Oh well, I see them as more of a sit-at-home-with-the-headphones kind of band rather than a jump-in-the-heat-and-sweat-all-over-your-neighbors kind of band. And who would want to miss the dissolving depravity of a Black Lips show. It's rock 'n' roll devil's music with all the fun and dirt and stink of the garage. )
5:30 Wavves (He had an onstage breakdown a few weeks ago in Europe, and then broke his wrist skateboarding this week. We'll see how well the lo-fi train wreck plays out.)
4:30 Ponytail (Orgasmic screams bellowing from a petite art school student backed by post punk guitar riffing and swirling? Sounds good to me.)
3:35 Bowerbirds (In a festival concert setting, I like big loud guitars and concussive drumming more than mellow, female/male singer-songwriter duos, but their album is tits. I'll probably just leave the Pains of Being Pure at Heart show 15 minutes early to catch the last few songs from this boyfriend/girlfriend team.)
3:20 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (A Pitchfork-endorsed act with a gag-inducing name? Check. Abuses all the "correct" influences at just the right time to be "hip"? Check. Do I like them anyways? A little bit.)
2:30 Fucked Up (Hell yeah, Pink Eye and his other misfits are going to destroy. Too bad I'm going to be too tired after this show to enjoy the rest of the day.)
SUNDAY, JULY 19
8:40 The Flaming Lips (nothing to say here. The put on a fucking spectacle.)
7:25 Grizzly Bear (The first half of their new album, "Veckatimest," is pretty awesome. The rest? Puts me to sleep. Either way, I'll wanna catch a little of the most blog-buzzed band of the year)
6:30 Vivian Girls (Along with Grizzly Bear and the rest, P4k might as well be called Brooklyn Weekend: Chicago Addition. Oh well. These girls ain't too shabby.
5:30 Japandroids
5:15 The Walkmen
(This is the scheduling conflict I'm most pissed about. I've worn out my copy of Japandroids 2009 full-length debut "Post-Nothing," and the Walkmen's "You and Me" is one of my favorite records (and classiest) of '08. I figure since Japandroids only have one full length, and the Walkman have half a dozen, the latter's show will go quite longer. So they should have scheduled Japandroids first, so you could start there an then move on. Oh well.)
4:15 The Thermals (This is my most heavily anticipated show. I'm going to injure myself. Hopefully the set is "The body, the blood, the machine" heavy.
2:30 Blitzen Trapper (Some roots-rock will be a nice change of pace from the rest of the noise damagd, post punk fair filling the lineups here. Plus, Blitzen Trapper rule. Will be a good start to day number two.
I plan on taking some pictures, and maybe some short videos.
Bands I don't plan on missing:
SATURDAY, JULY 18
8:30 The Black Lips (I will probably have to skip the National, they play at 8:40. Oh well, I see them as more of a sit-at-home-with-the-headphones kind of band rather than a jump-in-the-heat-and-sweat-all-over-your-neighbors kind of band. And who would want to miss the dissolving depravity of a Black Lips show. It's rock 'n' roll devil's music with all the fun and dirt and stink of the garage. )
5:30 Wavves (He had an onstage breakdown a few weeks ago in Europe, and then broke his wrist skateboarding this week. We'll see how well the lo-fi train wreck plays out.)
4:30 Ponytail (Orgasmic screams bellowing from a petite art school student backed by post punk guitar riffing and swirling? Sounds good to me.)
3:35 Bowerbirds (In a festival concert setting, I like big loud guitars and concussive drumming more than mellow, female/male singer-songwriter duos, but their album is tits. I'll probably just leave the Pains of Being Pure at Heart show 15 minutes early to catch the last few songs from this boyfriend/girlfriend team.)
3:20 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (A Pitchfork-endorsed act with a gag-inducing name? Check. Abuses all the "correct" influences at just the right time to be "hip"? Check. Do I like them anyways? A little bit.)
2:30 Fucked Up (Hell yeah, Pink Eye and his other misfits are going to destroy. Too bad I'm going to be too tired after this show to enjoy the rest of the day.)
SUNDAY, JULY 19
8:40 The Flaming Lips (nothing to say here. The put on a fucking spectacle.)
7:25 Grizzly Bear (The first half of their new album, "Veckatimest," is pretty awesome. The rest? Puts me to sleep. Either way, I'll wanna catch a little of the most blog-buzzed band of the year)
6:30 Vivian Girls (Along with Grizzly Bear and the rest, P4k might as well be called Brooklyn Weekend: Chicago Addition. Oh well. These girls ain't too shabby.
5:30 Japandroids
5:15 The Walkmen
(This is the scheduling conflict I'm most pissed about. I've worn out my copy of Japandroids 2009 full-length debut "Post-Nothing," and the Walkmen's "You and Me" is one of my favorite records (and classiest) of '08. I figure since Japandroids only have one full length, and the Walkman have half a dozen, the latter's show will go quite longer. So they should have scheduled Japandroids first, so you could start there an then move on. Oh well.)
4:15 The Thermals (This is my most heavily anticipated show. I'm going to injure myself. Hopefully the set is "The body, the blood, the machine" heavy.
2:30 Blitzen Trapper (Some roots-rock will be a nice change of pace from the rest of the noise damagd, post punk fair filling the lineups here. Plus, Blitzen Trapper rule. Will be a good start to day number two.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Music to lose your values to
Welcome to nihilism week.
I feel like an undergrad who just read some seminal think piece that everyone else has already processed, but still won't stop telling everyone how much his world view has changed anyway. Sadly, all I read was a graphic novel. Double worse, I read it after seeing the movie. It didn't really change my world view, if anything it strengthened my pre-existing cynical outlook, but it did send me into a spin cycle where it was all I could think about, at least for three days. But who gives a flying fart? It was sweet, so sweet that the Comedian's "the world is one big killing joke" philosophy reinforcement sent me into an existential crises.
If nukes don't level all our favorite American cities, the economic crises and accompanying city-crumbling will surely turn us into shells of the fine human beings we once were. I can't find any euthanasia clinics in central Illinois, apparently those goddamn-pinko-commie-atheist-fag-socialist-ball-sucking-tutti-fruity-loose-booty-LIBERALS haven't run us over quite yet. So if I can't shuffle myself loose the mortal coil as easy as buying a hamburger (that's the true American way), I might as well provide a guide to some cacophonous, slimy and dirty tunes to crawl inside your soul before letting out a silent-but-deadly cyanide fart. The best subversive songs don't actually have to be about dirty things, it's the feeling, the empty, cruel feeling of absolute rotten-decay that makes really good dirty music stink. Or, they can just be the grimy music that perfectly suits the background for a bit of debouched behavior.
Black Lips - Drugs
Often, the production is the dirtiest thing in a Black Lips tune. I have no idea what they are saying through most of this song, but I caught a few words like "back seat," so that can't be good, oh, and the song is called "Drugs." This is off the band's epic 2009 album "200 Million Thousand." Go get it, or be ignorant for eternity.
Here's a video for a better song on the album: Short Fuse.
The Kills - Fuck the People
The title says it all. The pure opposite of shameless populism, the track lets you know that Hotel and W really don't give a fuck about your existence. They would rather pout, scrape the rust off guitars and wear really, really skinny jeans. (And probably drink lots of PBR and smoke Parliament cigarettes, before telling you that your favorite band sucks.)
Getto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
One of the best rap songs ever, period, and it doesn't include one verse of bling-braggadocio or forced posturing. Instead, the honest rhymes tell the story of gang-banger rendered so paranoid by all the violence and substance abuse that he thinks some huge and angry killer is always lurking behind the nearest bush, waiting to lay a motherfucker to rest. This song is thick and eerie as hell, and you will probably murder your neighbors in a fit of confused rage once it's over.
Fucked Up - Any track from "Chemistry of Common Life"
The first song, "Son the Father" begs the question "It's hard enough being born in the first place: who would want to be born again?"
Track number 5, "Crooked Head," is one of the best songs of last year.
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation
One of my favorite Punk or post-punk tunes of all time — angled guitars, sneering vocals, a near-jazz drum beat — and the genre defining lyrics. This video's audio sucks but it's the best I could do.
Rolling Stones - Rocks Off
One off the band's best party jams, and the kickoff track on "Exile on Main street," this has just about all the best elements of the Stones' straight ahead rock numbers — Richards' perfect rhythm guitar, Jagger lyrics that function as either literal rock 'n' roll tales or/and sex allegories, and a little drugged out interlude that the song can take or leave.
God damn I love rock 'n' roll.
I'm cured already.
WALTER - Fucking Germans. Nothing changes. Fucking Nazis.
DONNY - They were Nazis, Dude?
WALTER - Come on, Donny, they were threatening castration!
DUDE - They're nihilists.
WALTER - Huh?
DUDE - They kept saying they believe in nothing.
WALTER - Nihilists! Jesus.
I feel like an undergrad who just read some seminal think piece that everyone else has already processed, but still won't stop telling everyone how much his world view has changed anyway. Sadly, all I read was a graphic novel. Double worse, I read it after seeing the movie. It didn't really change my world view, if anything it strengthened my pre-existing cynical outlook, but it did send me into a spin cycle where it was all I could think about, at least for three days. But who gives a flying fart? It was sweet, so sweet that the Comedian's "the world is one big killing joke" philosophy reinforcement sent me into an existential crises.
If nukes don't level all our favorite American cities, the economic crises and accompanying city-crumbling will surely turn us into shells of the fine human beings we once were. I can't find any euthanasia clinics in central Illinois, apparently those goddamn-pinko-commie-atheist-fag-socialist-ball-sucking-tutti-fruity-loose-booty-LIBERALS haven't run us over quite yet. So if I can't shuffle myself loose the mortal coil as easy as buying a hamburger (that's the true American way), I might as well provide a guide to some cacophonous, slimy and dirty tunes to crawl inside your soul before letting out a silent-but-deadly cyanide fart. The best subversive songs don't actually have to be about dirty things, it's the feeling, the empty, cruel feeling of absolute rotten-decay that makes really good dirty music stink. Or, they can just be the grimy music that perfectly suits the background for a bit of debouched behavior.
Black Lips - Drugs
Often, the production is the dirtiest thing in a Black Lips tune. I have no idea what they are saying through most of this song, but I caught a few words like "back seat," so that can't be good, oh, and the song is called "Drugs." This is off the band's epic 2009 album "200 Million Thousand." Go get it, or be ignorant for eternity.
Here's a video for a better song on the album: Short Fuse.
The Kills - Fuck the People
The title says it all. The pure opposite of shameless populism, the track lets you know that Hotel and W really don't give a fuck about your existence. They would rather pout, scrape the rust off guitars and wear really, really skinny jeans. (And probably drink lots of PBR and smoke Parliament cigarettes, before telling you that your favorite band sucks.)
Getto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me
One of the best rap songs ever, period, and it doesn't include one verse of bling-braggadocio or forced posturing. Instead, the honest rhymes tell the story of gang-banger rendered so paranoid by all the violence and substance abuse that he thinks some huge and angry killer is always lurking behind the nearest bush, waiting to lay a motherfucker to rest. This song is thick and eerie as hell, and you will probably murder your neighbors in a fit of confused rage once it's over.
Fucked Up - Any track from "Chemistry of Common Life"
The first song, "Son the Father" begs the question "It's hard enough being born in the first place: who would want to be born again?"
Track number 5, "Crooked Head," is one of the best songs of last year.
Richard Hell and the Voidoids - Blank Generation
One of my favorite Punk or post-punk tunes of all time — angled guitars, sneering vocals, a near-jazz drum beat — and the genre defining lyrics. This video's audio sucks but it's the best I could do.
Rolling Stones - Rocks Off
One off the band's best party jams, and the kickoff track on "Exile on Main street," this has just about all the best elements of the Stones' straight ahead rock numbers — Richards' perfect rhythm guitar, Jagger lyrics that function as either literal rock 'n' roll tales or/and sex allegories, and a little drugged out interlude that the song can take or leave.
God damn I love rock 'n' roll.
I'm cured already.
WALTER - Fucking Germans. Nothing changes. Fucking Nazis.
DONNY - They were Nazis, Dude?
WALTER - Come on, Donny, they were threatening castration!
DUDE - They're nihilists.
WALTER - Huh?
DUDE - They kept saying they believe in nothing.
WALTER - Nihilists! Jesus.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
2009?
2009 is already shaping up to be a good year for music. Previous posts provided links to stream the new Animal Collective disc (which is living up to the hype - I just received my copy in the mail today), new M. Ward album (sounds as good as 2006's "Post War") and the new Andrew Bird album (I haven't listened yet).
On the horizon is self described flower-punk act The Black Lips follow up to its breakthrough 2007 album, "Good Bad not Evil." The new record, "200 Million Thousand," drops on February 24.
Wilco I believe is set to release a new record this year, I dunno when, let's hope they take a couple big steps away from 2007's boring and guitar-cliche riddled "Sky Blue Sky."
And on March 24 the Decemberists will release their concept album "The Hazards of Love" (how many times will Meloy using the word beyonette? listen to find out ...).
You can download a track off the album here: http://www.decemberists.com/
Throw in a couple debuts like last year's Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend and the decade might just close out on the right foot. Oh yeah, its time for a new White Stripes album, too, but Jack's been pretty fucking busy with the Raconteurs ... we can always hope.
On the horizon is self described flower-punk act The Black Lips follow up to its breakthrough 2007 album, "Good Bad not Evil." The new record, "200 Million Thousand," drops on February 24.
Wilco I believe is set to release a new record this year, I dunno when, let's hope they take a couple big steps away from 2007's boring and guitar-cliche riddled "Sky Blue Sky."
And on March 24 the Decemberists will release their concept album "The Hazards of Love" (how many times will Meloy using the word beyonette? listen to find out ...).
You can download a track off the album here: http://www.decemberists.com/
Throw in a couple debuts like last year's Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend and the decade might just close out on the right foot. Oh yeah, its time for a new White Stripes album, too, but Jack's been pretty fucking busy with the Raconteurs ... we can always hope.
Monday, August 11, 2008
End of Summer/Fall music preview (updated)
2008 might not be such a boring year for music after all. Notable self-titled debuts by Fleet Foxes and Vampire Weekend got the ball rolling and the momentum continued with good releases by the Hold Steady and My Morning Jacket. Even with that, the year hasn't been as strong as 2007. Maybe a few of this fall's new discs can change that.August 19
Ra Ra Riot - The Rhumb Line
I haven't made my mind up about this group yet. They have been getting some buzz from the blogs and music magazines. It sounds a little generic, but they do incorporate a smorgasbord of noises - violins, synth sirens and acoustic guitars. "A Manner to Act RAC mix" is catchy, sounds a lot like Vampire Weekend, but not all the songs do.
You can listen to tracks on their myspace page here:
http://www.myspace.com/rarariot
September 9
Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
Okkervil River isn't just another one of the innumerable indie rock bands littering the Austin, Texas landscape. Released last year, "The Stage Names" introduced me to the band and their sneaky-clever lyrics, gloomy lead singer and surprising guitar. They are a happy middle ground between the Arcade Fire's all-of-the-universe-in-a-pop-song-sound and Spoon's economic perfection.
Ray LaMontagne - Gossip in the Grain
Ray's sandpaper voice goes great with the conventional acoustic guitar and soul-flavored folk he's been peddling for a while now. I only have one of his discs, "Trouble," but I think I will get this new one, if not just for the strength of that album's title track.
September 23Kings of Leon - Only By the Night
In 2007 the brothers Followill continued to smooth out their raunchy southern rock on "Because of the Times" with (gasp!) 7 minute songs and bass lines reminiscent of U2.
The band is starting to write songs about things other than fucking groupies, not fucking groupies or thinking about fucking groupies.
You can hear two tracks off the new disc here:
http://www.kingsofleon.com/
The sound is becoming a little more conventional with each release. Caleb Followill's previously inaudible squawk/scream sing might actually be based on the English language after all.
Cold War Kids - Loyalty to Loyalty
Critics love to comment how the Cold War Kids have some blues in their sound, likely because so much indie rock is so fucking white. But, there's probably more blues in concept than in execution. You can tell these guys like the blues, but this is not a White Stripes or Black Keys garage-blooze band. Honestly, they sound like another bunch of guys who likes Spoon as much as the rest of us, and that's ok. "Loyalty to Loyalty" is the follow up to the debut that featured "Hang Me Out to Dry," one of the better songs of '06.
You can hear "Something is Not Right With Me," the first single off the new album at the band's myspace:
http://www.myspace.com/coldwarkids
or download the mp3 here: http://coldwarkids.com/
Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
Another release by the buckets-of-gloom/fun blue-grass outfit.
October 6
Oasis - Dig Out Your Soul
The seventh album from the Brit-pop group.
October 14
Q-Tip - The Renaissance
Former Tribe Called Quest emcee's latest release.
October 28Deerhunter - Microcastle
Deerhunter is wild. Fans of Animal Collective and Panda Bear need only apply. Cole Alexander of the Black Lips has a guest turn on a track named "Saved by Old Times."
Many of the new tracks are available here:
http://www.myspace.com/deerhunter
The songs feel less ambient, more straightforward than 2007's "Cryptograms."
Other fall releases:
Mogwai, Metallica, Gym Class Heroes, Of Montreal, Keane, AC/DC, Ben Folds, Travis, Rise Against, TI, Nelly, T-Pain, The Game, Missy Elliot, Sixpence None the Richer (haha), The Verve, Young Jeezy, Calexico, The Cure, Blessid Union of Souls (haha), Pink, Plain White Ts
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