AND THE CITY LIGHTS LIT UP LIKE THE STARS BEHIND THEM

New Weezer album Hurley

2010-10-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

I'm digging this so much. Grooveshark is so bad ass! MMM Bya!

Kenny G and Weezer should tour...

2010-05-13T08:02:00.001-07:00

One of the best Weezer songs, and some Billy Joel

2010-05-11T19:10:00.000-07:00

later song off the red album but fantastic...

and some Billy Joel to boot:

James Taylor and Carole King

2010-05-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

"So Far Away"
Heard this on the radio and sounded goo to me

This song KICKS

2010-05-08T00:09:00.000-07:00

haven't heard this one in years, shiet

Freedy Johnston - "Bad Reputation"

2010-05-02T10:42:00.001-07:00

Some songs I've been listening to

2010-04-28T09:16:00.000-07:00

Phil Collins Find a Way to my heart from angeloct1971 on Vimeo.

recommendation from Mike:

from Skooter:

Jessi Kempin's new site

2010-03-29T22:31:00.001-07:00

Amazing artist, and very glad to know her, has a new site up that showcases some great work:

http://yearofthepigstudio.wordpress.com/

Jessi's done a lot of art work for The Foghorns and she did a great poster for my band Lost Weekend. A lot of it's there so check it out.

Foghorns US Tour online!

2010-01-22T17:11:00.000-08:00

Here's a link to the Foghorns Tour Online! Enjoy.

Rich!

edit: forgot to mention, I got a lot of help from Jessi, Bara, Kopur, and of course my sister Kate in making this. :)

Head Cases

2010-01-05T16:47:00.000-08:00

Something I've witnessed in my musical heroes is a sort of inferiority complex that comes about either from traumatic experience or just plain physical inferiority. The people I'm talking about are Elliott Smith and Rivers Cuomo.

I think after having some abuse in early childhood--on top of his getting into drugs at an early age--really fucked with him for the rest of his life. Something I've noticed with my own experiences regarding inferiority complexes, is that if someone notices something wrong, they will obviously try to help. However, this sometimes can add to the feeling of inferiority for the individual because this 'care' justifies their belief that they are in fact inferior and that the care being given is synthetic. This is something I've heard in a lot of his music. The song that illustrates this best I think is "Everybody Cares Everybody Understands". This is a very very dark song.

My other musical hero Rivers Cuomo had a physical inferiority complex growing up; he spells out his own problems right here, and seems to be actually a really positive guy despite his condition:

Nothin you can't do, --except be an asshole, but you can even do that too if you want

2009-12-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

Cannot get this song out of my head.

Music head ache

2009-12-04T15:17:00.000-08:00

I've been writing a ton of new songs, I feel like I'm getting back to what I am truly about. It's a really good feeling. I want to share that with others, will be putting up some new songs on my myspace as soon as they get to a more complete state.

I accompanied The Foghorns on their US Tour in September, and it was a pretty amazing experience. At the time, my mind was kind of all over the place, for good reason, but looking back on it, it's an experience I'll cherish forever. I'd like to do it again with a clear head and some great friends.

you can get The Foghorns - "Diamond As Big As The Motel Six" on iTunes

-Rich

"Silverback Mirror"

2009-11-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

I am done with this life sucking piece of art. It's taken 3.5 years to get to the end of it. I didn't even know I was making it when I first started. But it turned into some gold I think. Please check it out at:

iTunes!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/silverback-mirror/id341899374?i=341899379&ign-mpt=uo%3D6

CDBaby!
cdbaby.com/cd/lostweekendmusic

Lubrication Is Key At This Point

2009-03-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

Coming back to Seattle I have felt a familiar grip of shame. Perhaps it is this basement that I'm living in. No matter, I'm moving back into my old room upstairs. Which brings me to some good music- these are songs that I've found while peeping around the South and just finding around my place/car

Ed Young and Emma Ramsay - "Chevrolet"

Black Diamond Bay - "New Soldier"

The Tallest Man on Earth - "The Gardener"

Justin Townes Earle - "HardLivin"

Shannon Powell and the Preservation Hall Stars

Trio at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen Street

New Awlins

2009-03-25T12:57:00.000-07:00

I have made it to New Orleans. No pictures in this update as the computer I'm using won't allow it. The first night here I was a bit frightened after hearing what I thought was a gunshot. I decided to stay in the hostel, but I developed a rather bad headache, so needed to go get some asprin. I headed out and found a convenience store nearby and picked some up. It was a long day of driving that had finally ended.

The next day I got a better look around and did some shopping in the french quarter. This is the area with the famous Bourbon street. Now I had been told about this place called Preservation Hall that had some really good blues. I didn't recognize the band that was playing that evening, and didn't have internet access so I couldn't listen to them before going, so it would be a real mystery I guess.

I chilled at the hostel for a little while then went over to the Gumbo Shop and had some red beans and rice. Basically, red beans, rice, and sausage in a bowl. I'm going to be making some for myself when I get back to Seattle.

After that, I walked a few feet up the street to stand in line for Preservation Hall. This venue is basically a box. Most people had to stand to watch the band play, they don't have a bar, and have no restrooms. The band was phenominal, The Preservation Hall-Stars. These are the most laid back and casually masterful musicians I've seen. They played early new orleans jazz-blues and their set-up from left to right was trombone, drums, trumpet, upright bass, and piano. Really really a great show. They played this gospel song that was just stellar, I have a short video of it and as soon as I get a computer, I'll be updating these posts to be more complete. Here's the Preservation Hall myspace.

After that, I walked around Bourbon street. Had some expensive beer and saw a lot of scantily-clad ladies. By the end of the night I was playing a piano at the European Jazz bar for about 10 minutes until they kicked me out for closing time.

I forgot to mention that I met this interesting guy named Azrael staying at my hostel. He's studying faith and says Seattle has a strong energy, and noted the space needle as being a major part of that. Really interesting fellow, glad to have met him. This is a very spiritual place. It seems like every block has a baptist church.

Today has been pretty slow, I thought I would come to Loyola University and take care of some writing. Got as much done as I could, also checked out the Park accross the street. It feels like I'm walking through a painting over there, there's a small river, golf course, and a bunch of people walking around. Kind of a Greenlake counterpart here in New Orleans.

Everything is pretty expensive around here. I think I'm about ready to be back in Seattle. I'm going to go check out Frenchman Street which supposedly has some great blues. Tomorrow is my last day here, when I'll be heading back for Austin for one night, then back on a plane to Seattle on Saturday.

Big Days - Austin - SXSW 2009

2009-03-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

If I were to sit down and really do this by day, it'd be a day long project, so I'm opting for posting interesting pictures and telling a story about each. Here's my South by Southwest experience from March 18th to the 22nd in a nutshell.

I was trying to see a band at the Karma Lounge but couldn't get in because the verification unit was not reading my ID. And it was just my ID, everyone else's worked. So to prove to the person checking IDs that mine was legitimate, I went to another club, took a picture of them verifying my ID, went back and showed the lady the photo on my iPhone. It worked! I got into see the band Bloodgroup, which was surprisingly good.

Holy fuck. Black Diamond Bay rocked my socks off. They were stunning. Lead singer/guitarist Patrick was great. The song Blue Mace is beautiful. And I don't know the name of the last song they played but he and the drummer just went ape shit. Best show I saw at SXSW, not by much though.

Say Hi (to Your Mom) were a bit disappointing. Their recorded stuff is way better. Though the song Northwestern Girls was pulled off pretty well. I think if they got a synth played up on stage they'd be much more interesting to listen too. The club was great though, had an amazing light show.

Ironworks BBQ was delicious. I got a huge plate of ribs, beans, and egg salad. Topped it off with some rootbeer and I was a complete man. Sat out on the porch overlooking a small creek. I would definitely eat here again.

This guy from the band Bloodgroup used lit drumsticks to hit his drum pad. Pretty cool.

Another Bloodgroup shot.

The Cedar Street Courtyard was prettiest venue at SXSW. Basically a courtyard opening to 4th street with a bunch of leaves growing on the walls and a canopy over the band and upper deck. Trees were in the courtyard. It was difficult to get a good picture of it all. Best check it out if your in Austin though.

Some guy, pretty much how I felt in the Hilton accross from the Convention Center.

Flatstock 20. I bought a great poster for Kate but I lost the damn thing. FUCK.

Sabine St.

Daytime 6th St. The Street with all the clubs.

John and Karolin? at the SxSeattle showcase. I was so tired yesterday.

More SxSeattle showcase. I left early, last day of volunteering. I just needed to get out of there.

Hey Marseilles, band from Seattle. I actually took some poetry courses with the lead singer Matt Bishop. Very good show, they were the first to go on that day at 12:30pm.

Back entrance to the Palm Door, the venue for SxSeattle.

Cedar Street Courtyard photo. I could probably get this to look better with photoshop, but I don't have that on this puter.

Sitting on the ground at Cedar Street with Lee, Joe, Chad, and Suzy (from left to right).

People resting on 6th.

Another shot of Black Diamond Bay at El Sol y La Luna.

From left to right, Suzy, Lee, Chad, Joe. I had a great time at Cedar street with these folks. I talked a bit about these folks in my last entry. They are awesome people and I hope to keep in touch with at least Lee and Joe. I owe you some drinks Lee!

Lee and Joseph at Cedar St.

Volunteers at the Convention Center. The woman in the red jacket was Erin, my crew chief. All others were minions.

A guy from Northern Canada playing slide dobro at the convention center. Bad ass.

A group from Memphis at the Convention center playing strange zydeco sounding stuff. Sounded great.

Luke Temple with Here We Go Magic from Brooklyn. There seems to be a lot of good music coming from that region these days. Unfortuneatly, the venue they were playing at this night was shitty. Basically a school bus, as Jon from Iceland described it. A tunnel with a lot of feedback problems. Some really good songs I think, just a shitty venue.

The Tallest Man on Earth was erie. He would look straight into people's eyes for long periods of time as he played. His first song he did this to me and all I did was smile back at him. But he was inpenetrable. From the recorded material he had changed a bit, he was more dynamic with his rhythm and enunciation. I hate it when musicians do this. A little bit of a disappointment, but this guy has some amazing songs. Check out "The Gardener".

Justin Townes Earle at Antone's may have been my favorite performance, I'd say tied with Black Diamond Bay. Everything about this guy's show was spot on. He started before the background music had stopped playing with a side man, Charlie that played mandolin and harmonica. He began with my favorite tune he does, a cover, "John Henry". So good.

Some posters on the wall at Antone's, Muddy Waters, Jimmy Vaughn to name a few.

Jimmy Vaughn at Antone's. Classic americana with some fine musicians. These guys were definitely greased lighting.

Quincy Jones, producer of Michael Jackson among others walking around the arteries of the tradeshow.

A band checking in at Artist Check-in. Note the trendy shoes.

Someone at the Volunteer lunch was having a lot of fun. Nice. Batman is a bad ass.

Sprengjuhollin from Iceland. These guys were pretty entertaining. Sadly they were a bit far away from the main action over on 6th. But the show in the Opal Divine was a nice way to kick off the festival for me. The song "Worry till Spring" was stuck in my head for the next few days. I was also listening to it quite a bit on myspace, though.

An art shot. Band inside, people outside. I should be a photographer. Not!

Great shot of the big silver building in the center of town. Some traffic in Austin.

Justin (left) and John at the convention center. Justin was cool, he just bought a house in Austin and is into real estate. John works at Dell.

Aliya. Cool volunteer, didn't get to know her too well, but she can talk your ear off. Great girl.

Zoey. She's got some interesting taste in music I remember. I think she was going to see the Starfuckers the last time I saw her. Go Zoey!

Artist check-in line. There were thousands. Really quite amazing.

BEES!

Austin skyline from South First St. SoCo district. Good place for shopping.

A South Austin neighborhood, nearby Karen's house.

First morning of SXSW Music, at the bus stop. There were so many birds and the sound was amazing. Flapping wings and chirping. Beautiful way to start the day.

So that was SXSW music according to Rich. Today (the 22nd) is the last day technically, but I'm just so exhausted and I need to get stuff ready for my drive out to New Orleans tomorrow. I'm going to take a shower here in a sec and get going on some laundry. Also, I talked to a musician at the SxSeattle show who said this was the place to go to for old blues--Preservation Hall, in New Orleans that is. I think I'll check it out.

I am having the time of my life, and thinking of folks back in Seattle. Will try to get some mp3 links to songs at some point. Thanks for reading!

"Try Not to Let Bullshit Enter Your Head." - Austin, Days 3,4,&5

2009-03-16T09:25:00.000-07:00

Day 3:
Spent most of this day doing work, but by the end of the day I headed into downtown to catch the Chris Brecht show. Though before the show I wandered around and saw a theater with a bunch of people crowding around a black SUV. Someone famous, I thought. Some guy I'd never seen before jumped out of the car--

So I moved on down the street to the capitol building:

After that little trip I decided to head back on the same road and it looked like some more famous people were being photographed:

It's that chick from The Office and that guy from Clueless.

The Chris Brecht show was good. It did get a bit monotonous at times but the song "I Played Cards With the Devil" and this song, "Someone Is Gonna Lose" were great. The songs from the album sound really great, I guess the show itself was a little less dynamic--hence the monotonous feeling. Anyhow, not a bad experience at all.

The second band was really entertaining. They reminded me of a modern day Wonders. Sadly their recorded music doesn't pack as much punch as their live show, "Soul Control" is a good song. Here's the myspace.

Bob Schneider came on last and didn't really do it for me, despite the uplifting sound. I really liked the trumpet player however, who also played an accordian. This guy was all over the stage and really was getting the audience going. The songs Captain Kirk and The Effect are not half bad however.

Day 4:
The first day of volunteering was at the Interactive Tradeshow. Met fellow volunteers Zoey, Lee, and Jeff. I need to get some pictures of the people I'm working with. The show itself was alright, not a whole lot of useful technologies as I would have imagined, though this was a great site: blellow.com - at least the idea is great. Basically a social media site connecting freelancers and employers.

*Zoey in the Blue Shirt (really need to get more pictures of the folks I'm working with)

When the work was done, Zoey suggested going to a party called Dorkbot and the Frog Design party. I went downstairs with her and ran into Lee and asked what she was upto for the night, she said She was going to Aces, a bar on 6th. They went into the ladies room to change out of their volunteer shirts. Lee came out after a short time, but Zoey remained. Lee and I ended up waiting 10 or 15 minutes for Zoey, but still no Zoey. Lee went off to Aces and I waited another 5 minutes for Zoey. I ended up going off to the Dorkbot party to see if I could get in. Couldn't get in, so went in search of Aces, which by this time I had forgotten the name because some guy started talking to me about a cool interactive tradeshow guide - sxsw.razorfish.com. After he left, I re-remembered the name of the bar as Arcades. I was wondering around 6th asking people where Arcades was but got nowhere fast. So I started looking for a place to eat when I got a text from Lee saying it was Aces on 6th and Neches. Finally. So I went back that way after going back and forth between many blocks, many times.

Aces was great. When I got in there, there was a huge screen on the main stage with two plasma TVs, a girl on on side, a guy on the other, dueling it out in Halo 3. I was at the right place, I thought. Met Lee there and her friends, Suzy and Joe. And there were free drinks until 8pm. Freckin sweet. I chatted with them a while and came to know Lee as an HR girl, Joe and Suzy as grad students at UT. I think Joe was in microbiology and Suzy, I forget what she did.

Anyway, after a good time there, we moved to another bar that had food, I forget the name of the place but had a Pecan BBQ brisket sandwich. Tried a local beer I forget the name of also, but reminded me of a light Manny's. Everyone headed their separate ways after that, while a wondered around a bit more looking for the Frog Design party. I went to where I thought it was and was just so damn tired I opted to catch the bus back to Karen's. Great day.

Day 5:
Another long day of volunteering, though this time it started at 11 instead of 8:30am. Pretty much just sat around inside guarding a door so that no one could get through. Only people with the right badges. Got a lot of questions about where the bathroom was. I occasionally switched positions to the front door and chatted with other volunteers.

I finally met Master Cheif, too before he walked off to kill some aliens:

AWESOME.

At the end of the day, I went to the Web Awards where I said I would meet Zoey. Saw some cool sites and here's a good list. The end boss at Crappycat.com is crazy.

Following the web awards, I was trying to decide whether to check out a film or go to a party called Imaginations. I went with a film called RIP: A Remix Manifesto. I really liked this film. It talks about how music in particular is at a crossroads with copyright infringement. The music of the artist, Girl Talk (aka Gregg Gillis), was at the heart of the movie. He creates mash-up music that record companies hate because he samples copyrighted music. Really great movie, here's a review I found of it.

Day 6:
I pretty much just laid around today. Got a little sick last night after realizing that no buses were coming and taking a cab back to Karen's around 2. The cabby was cool though, I told him I was going to be driving to New Orleans and he was saying that there was looting in east Texas after the last hurricane came through and said to be careful. It's hard to feel worried though, most everyone I've met so far has been really helpful if I needed something.

I just lazed around and wrote a song outside in the sunshine. Karen showed me how to make Frito Pie. Been occasionally adding to this blog post, and should be getting to some work tomorrow as I'll be free again. Though, Wednesday I'll be back at the Convention Center for the music Tradeshow and the beginning of insanity. I bought some gatorade, redbull, and snackbars in preparation.

Some bands I'm really looking forward to seeing:
The Tallest Man on Earth
Black Diamond Bay
Justin Townes Earle
Say Hi

Austin - Days 1 & 2

2009-03-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Day 1:
So I have made it to Austin. The plane trip was pretty painless, though the connecting flight from Phoenix to Austin was uncomfortable, as I boarded last, and the way Southwest Airlines loads passengers is kind of strange. Long story short, I got confused and as a result ended up between an older man and older woman. I began feeling uncomfortable when the man handed the woman one of his snacks over me--no words had been exchanged between them prior to this. I guessed they were a couple and having some issues. Later on the woman hands the man one of her snacks across me. The man was a short and stalky and covered most of the armrest, adding to the discomfort, and every time I moved my legs the woman scooted away from me. Anyhow I landed in Austin to rain and a sweet sweet grassy smell.

From the airport, I took the bus downtown, then caught the 10 going down 1st for about 20 minutes to Karen's house. Karen is fantastic. When I arrived there was a warm greeting and lots of good food--shrimp, pasta, and fruit. I had seconds. Her dog, Rosey, is a female something (not sure what kind dog, collie?), but she's pretty cute, brown and white long hair and she seems to like me a lot.

I learned quite a bit about Karen: she is a liberal, she has a son in the Navy that is in Iraq that will be coming back to Texas soon at Corpus Christi (Karen's home town), not too far from Austin. She has house concerts all the time in her backyard and knows many musicians. She is a bit chatty. I have found the perfect place to stay in Austin.

The rest of the day I spent napping and locking in my SXSW schedule and getting bus and event info. I could have done a bit more to prepare for this trip, but you live you learn.

Day 2:
Today was fantastic. I got up late and went to Tommy Byrd's home and home recording studio. Karen, Tommy, and I sat and talked about music for a while, mainly how to sell it and a bit about Americana. They gave some good insight into Austin music and what local acts to check out. To tell the truth, I didn't have a single Austin band on my list before this conversation. We also talked about how to be successful as a musician, calling for gigs, following up, making contacts, and simply relying on other musicians to help you out. Also, about keeping interest. Giving customers a few songs here and there to keep interest alive. I shared my experiences about being a musician in Seattle and gave some suggestions about submitting songs to blogs and about the beauty of Hype Machine.

After our sit-down, we moved into Tommy's recording studio. He has a great setup. He runs Cubase 4, with three different sets of speakers to get the perfect sound across a lot of different systems. He uses a Mark Of The Unicorn digital pre-amp, which gets a really great sound. It has two mic inputs and 8 quarter-inch inputs. I've heard MOTU was pretty bad ass and yeah, this guy Tommy gets a great sound out of it. What he puts into it great too, he uses an MXL diaphragm mic for vocals and a really nice condenser mic for instrument recording. He knows a lot of musicians and what I've heard sounds brilliant. I've got his latest CD now, Love Broke The Fall. Here's an mp3 I found on his site called "He Tells All the Girls He's a Cowboy".

After Tommy's, Karen and I went to two grocery stores. I stocked up with ground beef, cheddar, milk and pasta. Damnit, I just realized I forgot to get cereal. Anyway, I dropped my jug of milk with the white stuff all over the floor beneath the shopping carts.

Got back to Karen's ate most of two burgers. Ran to the bus stop, went to the Convention center, met a cool girl named Denise and went to bag-stuffing with her. Met some of her friends. Got pizza. Saw a band she knows called The Organics. Long story short, here are pictures:

Time to Get Going

2009-03-06T09:16:00.000-08:00

I will be leaving Seattle next Wednesday for SXSW in Austin, an accredited music festival. I will be staying with a woman that goes by the name Karen. She is a manager at SXSW in some aspect, I'm not sure how exactly. I found her through craigslist after putting out an ad saying I'd pay 300 for an 11 night stay as I was having trouble locking down people on couchsurfing.com/hostels. The funny thing is I got offers from both right at the time I sent Karen a portion of her money.

This should be a great festival, I've actually talked to a lot of people that have visited Austin or have lived there recently and they all say I'm going to have a blast.

So to get things in order, I'm going to try and catch some Seattle bands going to the festival. Say Hi has some great recorded material and I'd like to mingle with them. I do know a dude in Mount St. Helens Vietnam Band, another band playing there and going to SXSW. We'll see what happens.

A closing line of original poetry:

Not having written poetry in a long time, I am not ready to write as well as I can. But how good is that if I am just a man? Good enough.

Ree Ree

2008-07-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, I had some thoughts about my last review of the MGMT's, Oraculer Spectacular, album. And I decided I wrote it in a spit of malice, as I had been quite depressed about my stupidity. So, I am now re-reviewing the album (adding the parts I left out and editing some previous thoughts), since I've had ample time to hear it a couple of times.

The work starts with "Time to Pretend", entrusting to the listener that a vain life is a good life (it's not, right?): "Let's make some money/Make some music/Find some models for wives" - an odd way to follow such an upbeat and accredited introduction. In a later verse, the narrator pines for childhood, but retreats again in the succeeding chorus to pretend - hide about the way things really are. Yeah, this is a great song.

One song I did not mention in the previous post was "Kids". I guess it sort of talks about growing up but staying a kid at the same time - (the sound of kids on a playground), then, "Control yourself/Take only what you need from them." If you don't like the song sitting down, try standing up and let the song tell you what to do.

And as for the whole album, I said the last half was not nearly as good as the first, starting with the track "4th dimensional trans". Though the track is strange compared to its predecessors, it is a nice break from the disco-like beats up to that point. The end of the song reminds me of the music in Diablo, a computer game with really cool 12 string guitar music.

"Pieces of What" is simply a good song, with a placid Oasis quality. It could easily drive a montage of a sad sad breakup in a movie like American Pie. But, sadly, it does not. So get that dream out of your head. But do listen to it.

I also said that "Of Moons, Birds & Mon" was a bad song. Now while it is my least favorite song on the album, I think an album needs a shitty song sometimes. Especially this one, because the other songs are so damn brilliant. The last half of the song starts to change its mind however, and starts to pick itself out of the mud, with a gnarly noise jam. Eh.

The album DOES end a bit departed from the brilliance of lyrics in early songs, but it does end the way it started: upbeat. Though, this time, winding upward and outward in "Future Reflections"; a good way for a thing to end, I think. I like it.

Take that, previous post.

On and On

2008-06-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

Well, I said I'd get Sasquatch Sunday and Monday stuff up, but it just feels so long ago right now. Here's some pictures though.

* * *

So I'm moving ahead. To a sweet new band from Brooklyn called the MGMT. I found them in the most blogged artist's section on hype machine, so I guess I will be stating what others have already said: "This is good music."

"Electric Feel" is a psychedelic documentary on the sexuality of aquatic animals mixed with a simple dance beat. Oo baby girl/Shock me like an electric eel. That pretty much says everything. Unless you want to listen to the song, because that would tell you more.

Another song that grabs me is "Time to Pretend". The opening (nod to "Teenage Wasteland") makes me feel like I'm going to learn something important about life, particular to things you learn as a teenager. Like things not to do when you're dating a girl. Yeah, time to learn...but hey check out this cool video.

The album, Oracular Spectacular, as a whole may strike most people as 'weird' but sorry folks thats where music is going these days. Into total and utter weirdness. Just say that title out loud. That's not to say non-weird people will not like this music. All right. This is getting weird.

You know, as I'm listening to the album right now, the first half is much better. I get lost on "4th dimensional trans" and a particularly bad track, "Of Moons, Birds, and Mon". This bad song just loses the love groove laid down by previous tracks. Though some shards of light come through at the end of "The Handshake".

The album ends somewhat fed up and distracted from its own initial high energy and lyrical prowess. Stick to the good stuff, yeah?

Sasquatch 2008: Saturday

2008-05-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

Now before the adventure began, my friend gave me a DVD featuring the latest albums from all the bands playing Saturday. Talk about a great research tool for a festival, and a cool friend. I decided that I really wanted to see three bands, those being Beirut, Okkervil River, and Fleet Foxes.

I was only intending on going Saturday, but through happenstance I ended up going all three days. The week of the event, I bought a stray ticket for Sunday for 50 bucks, not a bad deal. And Monday morning I get a text from a girl inside that she has a free ticket. "Okay."

I arrived Friday night at the Sun Lake campgrounds, about an hour away from the festival, and had a boisterous evening of drinking and laughing and setting up deranged tents. I camped there last year too. And it's still an hour away.

So, Saturday morning came around and were off! But fifteen minutes into the drive my friend realized he had forgotten his ticket back at the campground. I became agitated, as I would most likely miss Fleet Foxes at 12:30pm. We arrived at the festival to catch the remaining seconds of their performance on the main stage. Thankfully, we are still friends after his blunder.

Dengue Fever were up next and I viewed this one from the grass, but it looked like people down by the main stage were enjoying themselves. Their music transported me directly to a shady Seattle neighborhood on Aurora, into the Chinese karaoke bar called the Mandarin Gate. Does that make me less cultured, that their music is inspired by Cambodian music? I'm just glad I didn't catch that fever.

Not a great start to Saturday, but Beirut were up next, and they were stellar. "Nantes" and "Guyamas Sonora" off their new album grabbed at the audience. It was mostly because of those soaring, heart-pulling horns. This music asks you to dance and you pretty much have to.

A cool Youtube video of Beirut performing "Nantes" in an old stairwell. (Thanks Ratika)

Oh and check it out, that's my friend with the big white hat:

Then, to much astonishment, The National, another band I was hoping to see, was a no show and Fleet Foxes ended up taking their place on the main stage. Talk about luck. They reproduced the music from their album Sun Giant very well, and Pecknold's voice against the Gorge backdrop felt surreal at moments ("Oliver James" - album version), though I think their drums could have been mic'd a bit better. The symbols lost a lot of volume when the wind picked up.

By 5:25, The New Pornographers were up and at the time, the music sounded very poppy, but I've been listening to their new album recently, and slowly the songs are weening their way into my tastes. Neko Case's voice lures me on "All The Things That Go To Make Heaven And Earth". My ears also perk up on songs "Challengers" and "Myriad Harbour".

I spent most of the day at the main stage so I didn't have to worry about jumping around a whole lot. Though, I did head to the Wookie Stage for the band, Okkervil River. I thoroughly enjoyed their album Black Sheep Boy (as noted in my April blog post). Their new album, The Stage Names, wasn't quite as good, but still has lots of heart, and it shows in Will Sheff's stage performance. That man jumps around like mad and sings feverishly and "biographical song[s]" as he said on stage, making for great entertainment, and also beckoning you to move your ass a bit. Some songs to check out: "For Real" and "A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene".

After that it was over to Modest Mouse on the main stage. I didn't have any real attachment before or after their performance at Sasquatch, but when Isaac Brock sings, it looks like he's ready to fight God. And that is entertaining enough.

I skipped out on REM.

Sunday & Monday posts coming soon.

In A Land Called "The Land"

2008-05-18T12:23:00.000-07:00

I played with a drummer a while back who said he was also in a rock opera group, and I just figured that humans were done with rock opera. I was so very very, sweetly, sweetly, wrong.

I decided to check out The Discs of Fury at Nectar in 2007 and, holy shit: smoke, a laser glove, and a one-hundred and fifty dollar plastic sword. And the really brilliant part, a robed narrator reading from a tome, as if we were visiting grandpa at his remote estate in the countryside for the evening--where the secret odyssey of Marvin Lazer and the prophecy he must fulfill could only be told.

On May 16th at LoFi, with babes and batlords, the group released The Chronicles of Lazer: Vol 1, a five song E.P. and their first release. This 'disc of fury' (yep, had to say it) covers most of Lazer's story and soars on tracks "The Prophecy" and "Blades in the Night".

Not on the E.P., there is a song introducing each member of the band and their special power. All are brilliantly absurd and fitting, my favorite being The Arctunomenon: a song about a dark mage living inside of a mountain, laughing maniacally because that's what dark mages do. "ARC-TU-NOMENON. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!"

myspace.com/discsoffury for dates and EP info.

Fire In The Sky

Some Background

2008-04-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

I spent an early summer in the Midwestern United States, listening to Graceland in the heat of my parents', red interior, maroon Chevy van--"You Can Call Me Al", being the top track in my opinion at the time, because it simply sounded "the best". The windows came down when that track came on, exposing the residual chunks of jerky stuck in our gums, as our whole family sang, "IF YOU'LL BE MY BODYGUARD". The cows on the prairie must have been terrified.

For a long time my experience with music had been love affairs with individual songs. In 6th grade, it was Snoop Dogg's "What's My Name?". Then it was Green Day's "When I Come Around". And those little love affairs continued. I couldn't seem to get away from them. Not that I was trying, or knew anything different.

Early in college, listening to an entire album was exhausting. I usually ended up putting the CD in the player, listening, and if the track didn't interest me in the first five seconds, I would skip to the next track. I suffered from 'musical ADD', according to my friends.

When sophomore year came around I was introduced to the music of Loudermilk, an alt/metal band from Tri-Cities. The band's first album, Man With Gun Kills Three, was a bit schizophrenic in that half the songs were very rooted in metal, while the other half were eclectic little diamonds you wouldn't think belonged to a metal group, and even these diamonds were singular in themselves. The track "Calcium" stood out as an emo/punk morsel, while "Blue Lucky Lucy" lurched forward in an atmospheric, creepy, country waltz.

I really enjoyed these individualistic songs, but found myself beginning to identify with the angst in the band's full-fledged metal songs the more I listened to the album. The motivation for not skipping those metal songs came, I think, from the wonder why the album's other half was so good. Other motivation I'm sure came from looking for acceptance from new musical friends.

When I listen to those metal songs now, I enjoy them, but I don't feel the need to seek out other metal artists. Maybe my ears just can't handle the sonic density of that genre anymore, but I'm thinking I just don't like that kind of music, outside of my collegiate musical education.

After graduation, I got a good part-time job--where I had my next musical revolution. All day at work I listened to other people's iPods, and I was baffled at what they enjoyed. Specifically, the winy Win Butler of Arcade Fire. Why did this band sound so good to my co-workers?

I got tickets for the Sasquatch Music Festival and saw Arcade Fire for the first time. They rocked. Undeniably. Nothing schizo about this band, they were in context. Everything about them from their gigantic video-boxes on stage, to their Sunday school outfits. And then they sang "Wake Up". I felt tremendous joy from the sound and people's reactions. This kind of music was made to change people. And even though I didn't know the lyrics that well, I could still shout that long chorus "O". The crowd was howling around the same big campfire, and strangely, I felt I was hearing music for the first time, since the first time, as a familial experience.

A friend of mine once said that a good album takes place in a certain time. I think more precisely, a really good album takes place around an event or series of related events in the artist's life, where time and place are referenced either directly or implied. Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy does this. The whole album takes place at night, or at least in a spacious dreamlike state of mind, felt through Will Sheff's vocals. His voice travels and at times sounds as if he exists in two places at once. An intimacy also exist in the album's instrumentation that seeks warmth, and finds it in the presence of other instruments, especially when horns are introduced on the track, "A King and a Queen". I imagine the story behind this track taking place at a carnival in a small Midwest town.

I still have a strong attachment to songs with individuality when listening to a record all the way through. For Black Sheep Boy it's the track "For Real". However, I can hold myself from hitting the 'Next' button now. Because, I know it's really about context and how things fit together. And it's nice not to have to continually switch tracks. Now in my musical maturity, I appreciate the long-form, highs and lows that true artists experience in their daily lives, and encapsulate into songs that we the listeners can use as small opinionated mirrors to view our lives through, allowing us to see the big picture a bit differently.