This week in music (week of 2/5/2013)

It'll be a short post this week (Note: Now that I'm done, it did not end up being short. One day I'll learn how to just post quick and move on.) even though there was a bunch of great new music.

New release of the week - Pedestrian Verse by Frightened Rabbit

Frightened Rabbit is one of my five or so favorite artists, so there is little doubt that I would enjoy this album. However, just how much I've enjoyed it has caught me a bit off guard. Their 2008 album "Midnight Organ Fight" has an argument as my favorite album ever (along with M. Ward's "Post-War"). In 2010 I named "The Winter of Mixed Drinks" my second favorite album of the year, so you can see that expectations were sky high for me. Despite that, this album fits very well within those expectations.

For those that don't know, Frightened Rabbit is a Scottish indie rock band. I can't remember where I read it, but lead singer Scott Hutchison said he wrote "pedestrian verse" on the cover or a notebook that he used for the lyrics to this album. Seeing that motivated him to avoid trite lyrics. As he explained it, if you call your album "Pedestrian Verse" and the lyrics really are pedestrian, you'll be called out on it. The first line on the album is "I am that dickhead in the kitchen giving wine to your best girl's glass," so I'd say he has avoided regurgitating generic lyrics at the very least. The delivery of his lyrics in that wonderful Scottish accent mean he probably could spout pedestrian verses and I'd still enjoy it. Fortunately that's not the case.

The album is full of potential favorite songs (like both of their last two albums were). Early on, I'm really enjoying "The Woodpile," "The Oil Slick," "State Hospital," and "Holy." My favorite song on "The Midnight Organ Fight" has probably changed dozens of times, so I'm sure if you ask in a couple weeks I'd give you a different list of favorites. Here are three songs from the album if you want to sample it:



Runner-up of the week - Regions of Light and Sound of God by Jim James

This is the first full-length released by Jim James (lead singer of My Morning Jacket, member of Monsters of Folk) under his own name. While I've always enjoyed My Morning Jacket, it has never been a band that I got too into. This album may make me go back and spend some more time with those older albums though because it is just growing on me more and more with each listen.

Most importantly though, everyone should take a few minutes to watch this performance of "A New Life" by Jim James on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. He is backed by The Roots along with a string section and perhaps some other additions as well. The steady build of the song and adding of more members along with the camera/light/whatever else work is amazing. I know Jimmy Fallon can rub some people the wrong way (I used to dislike him but have since been converted), but what he and The Roots are doing with music on their show is fantastic. They refuse to just do what everybody else is doing, and it's great for music / tv. I can't think of another show that would give you a performance like this.

Miscellaneous Links, News, and Notes

* Over the weekend I finally got around to watching Searching For Sugar Man, an Academy Award nominee for best documentary this year. I'll probably write a longer post about it later, but for now I highly recommend checking out the film and the soundtrack. As good as the movie was, the soundtrack is even be better (it's only $5 on Amazon right now). It's a shame Rodriguez never took off as an artist and that we are limited to only two of his albums.

* This weekend, I went to a local record store and saw Velvet Underground's classic album with Nico and the Andy Warhol banana on the front. However, in this version the banana was green, which caught me off guard. After some Googling on my phone, I found out that this version (called "Unripened") was what was originally presented to the studio and in turn rejected along with the note "You have got to be kidding me". I'm waiting for a record cleaner I ordered to arrive before listening, but it sounds like the tracks are re-ordered and several versions of the songs are a bit noisier / rougher around the edges. Regardless, I'm pretty excited to add this to my slowly growing vinyl collection and to get a chance to hear it soon.

* I agree with a lot of what was said in this post about the cheapening of the music industry. It is well worth a read. Don't worry, it's pretty short.

* Dawes is set to release a new album in April. A few days ago they gave us the first taste of the album:



* Sasquatch Music Festival announced their lineup a couple weeks ago, and it was something to behold (including The Postal Service, Sigur Ros, The xx, The Lumineers, Mumford & Sons, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, and just a ton more great acts). Because of this, I expected tickets to sell a bit faster than the couple months it took last year. What I didn't expect was for them to sell out in just over an hour. Here's hoping I can still find a not too expensive ticket on Stub Hub or something and can make my second trip to George, Washington this summer.

Sasquatch Review: Day Three

If you missed my reviews of day one and day two, you can see them here and here.

We kicked off Sunday by checking out the Seattle indie folk/pop band Hey Marseilles. Hey Marseilles is probably my favorite band that I discovered prior to the festival by listening to performing artists I was unfamiliar with. Their album "To Travels & Trunks" from 2008 has some insanely catchy songs. If you're unfamiliar with the band, I recommend checking out "Rio" (below) and "Cannonballs."



After Hey Marseilles, we stuck around and saw Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. on the main stage. Then, I had one of the tougher decisions of the weekend with Hospitality and Trampled by Turtles performing at the same time. Since Hospitality has released one of my favorite albums so far this year, I headed over to another stage to catch the first 2/3's or so of their set. They put on a fun show that I was glad I was able to catch. I made sure to head back to the main stage to see at least a bit of Trampled by Turtles, and I was pleased to be reminded of home by the Minnesota bluegrass band.



The crowd and band both seemed to be loving the music and atmosphere. The band really seemed to be able to command the large crowd of the main stage better than almost any other early afternoon band all weekend. After Trampled By Turtles, Blind Pilot slowed things down on the main stage. Their album was a pleasant surprise to me last year, and while the energy was lower than that of Trampled by Turtles, the songs were great. Next, we headed over to another stage to see The War On Drugs on a side stage before returning to the main stage for the rest of the night. I didn't know any music by The War On Drugs, but I really enjoyed their set, and I plan on checking out more of their music now.

Anyone who has read this blog for a while or knows me well probably knows that M. Ward is my favorite artist (and it's not all that close). So I'm probably not coming at this in the most unbiased manner, but I thought M. Ward killed it in his set. It was the first set on the main stage that we decided to actually get close to the stage rather than remaining on the hill. As M. Ward tends to do at shows, the talking between songs was minimal and instead his set was just packed full of songs. Considering the shorter set times at a festival, I love this approach, and he was able to pack a ton of songs into his allotted time. He also seemed to cater to the festival atmosphere by focusing on more of his upbeat tunes and on those that allowed him to really rock out on guitar (which he is fantastic at doing). Another thing I love about M. Ward is how much he shows his appreciation for other artists, and during his set I counted 5 covers (including John Fahey's "Bean Vine Blues No. 2," Daniel Johnston's "To Go Home," and Chuck Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven"). This was my third time seeing M. Ward live (fourth if you count with Monsters of Folk), and each time he has really delivered.

After M. Ward, we stayed down by the stage for Seattle indie folk band The Head and the Heart. I really enjoyed their debut album, which was re-released on Sub Pop last year, so I was looking forward to seeing them. However, I had no idea how lucky I'd be to see them at Sasquatch as opposed to another venue. There was such an incredible mutual love and appreciation going back and forth between the band and the crowd the whole set. It was obvious that the band loved being able to play before such a huge and affectionate audience in their home state. They played a great set made all the better by enjoying it in that specific environment. Violinist / sometimes vocalist Charity Rose Thielen was actually moved to tears saying thank you for everyone's support at the end of the set.

After the excitement of M. Ward and The Head and the Heart sets was Beirut. I think Beirut could put on a really fun show, but unfortunately it just seemed like the wrong time and wrong place for me. Between being a bit tired and people talking over the sound of the music, the set just didn't work for me. However, it wouldn't deter me from going to see Beirut another time. One of the people behind me was actually saying that Beirut played one of his favorite shows ever at real small and intimate venue but that he wasn't too into the set going on at the time.

However, after Beirut's set was one of my most anticipated sets of the weekend, Bon Iver's. Extremely long time readers of the blog may remember that my very first post was inspired by Bon Iver. While the setting didn't seem to work to Beirut's advantage, it was perfect for Bon Iver. The sun had gone down, creating a perfect darkness to accentuate the lights on stage and draw all focus there. Where people had talked over Beirut, Bon Iver played louder and people talked less. I know there is a lot of backlash to Bon Iver's music and Justin Vernon's quick rise in popularity, but I love the way he has chosen to handle his new found fame and how humble he seems to remain about all of it. Justin Vernon many times mentioned how humbling it was to be playing in such a gorgeous place in front of such a large crowd. In terms of the actual music, I'm not a good enough writer to really do it justice, but if you think you might want to see Bon Iver perform live, all I can do is urge you to act on that. I had sky-high expectations for seeing Bon Iver, and every single one of them was met. It was an absolutely wonderful way to cap off the third night of the festival.



SUNDAY SUMMARY

Artists I saw: Hey Marseilles, Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr, Hospitality, Trampled By Turtles, Blind Pilot, The War On Drugs, M. Ward, The Head & The Heart, Beirut, and Bon Iver

Favorite sets: M. Ward and Bon Iver

Below is "I Get Ideas", one of my favorite tracks from M. Ward's new album. It's a cover song that has been done by many people, but I was most familiar with Louis Armstrong's version. If you haven't heard the full album yet, it looks like you can stream the whole thing here.



Bon Iver released my second favorite album last year, and in that post, I included the beautiful video for "Holocene," which features a little boy walking through picturesque Iceland. Since I already posted that one, here's the track "Towers," which follows someone on the opposite end of the life spectrum doing... I have no idea.



I'll be back in a day or two with the final Sasquatch post from the weekend.

Sasquatch Review: Day Two

If you missed my review of day one, you can check it out by clicking here. Otherwise, onto day two!

We kicked off Saturday by checking out Reptar, whose album I previously mentioned really enjoying. Their music, which just seems perfect for careless summer fun, was a great way to kick off the second day of the festival. After that, we headed over to the main stage to see Charles Bradley perform. Charles Bradley is a 60+ year old soul/r&b singer who released his debut album last year. It was one of my favorite albums of the year for all of the soul and emotion that he can squeeze out when he sings. His live set was a real joy too as he danced around the stage and routinely told the crowd how happy he was to be performing and how much he loved everyone there. It may have been a bit sappy, but after how far he had come to finally achieve his dream, sappy fit.

After sticking around to see Blitzen Trapper, I headed over to one of the smaller stages to see Alabama Shakes, one of the bands I was most looking forward to this festival. Their debut full length, which came out in April, is one of those albums that has a mysterious power of making the volume dial on my car stereo or headphones just creep further and further up while it plays. I'm not sure I can listen to the song "Hold On" at anything approaching a normal volume. I had heard plenty of people say that they put on a rockin' show, and their set at Sasquatch did not disappoint in the least. Lead singer Brittany Howard has a great voice, which I knew from the album, but she does a great job commanding the stage as well, and the whole band feeds off that. I was really hoping their set wouldn't have to end, but everyone watching got to enjoy plenty of rocking out while they were on stage.

After Alabama Shakes, I returned to the main stage and watched as country singer Jamey Johnson managed to show as close to no emotion as seems humanly possible. That said, he was still entertaining, but really I was waiting to see Childish Gambino (aka Community actor Donald Glover's hip-hop alter ego). My big takeaway from his set is that Donald Glover must be in ridiculously good shape. The whole time, he was running back and forth around the stage furiously spitting out his lines, barely taking time to breath it seemed. Despite not listening to much hip-hop, I really enjoyed his album "Camp" last year, and he brought a lot of energy to the stage and put on a really good live show as well.



After Childish Gambino, we saw The Helio Sequence on a smaller stage and then the end of Metric's set back on the main stage. The Helio Sequence were one of the first bands that I discovered by just listening to Sasquatch artists I have never heard before. They put on a good set, and I'm looking forward to their new album later this year. I absolutely loved Metric's "Fantasies" album from 2009. Despite that, I've still never managed to spend the time to get into their older stuff. Their newest album will be released on Tuesday, so I'm sure I'll at least spend a good chunk of time with that. They closed their set with lead singer Emily Haines performing an acoustic version of "Gimme Sympathy," which was one of my favorite tracks of 2009.

After Metric, we headed over to see tUnE-yArDs on a side stage. I still know very little about the band, but they put on one of the more unique shows you are going to see. A lot of the sound the band creates comes from layered drum and vocal loops created by the lead singer. I'd love to see how she goes about creating new music because it seems like a complex but fun process. Also on stage were two saxophone players, which for a former horn player in a ska band in high school, is always a plus. I was actually surprised by how many bands over the course of the weekend incorporated horns in some form.

After tUnE-yArDs, we returned to the main stage for The Shins. I was a big fan of The Shins albums "Oh, Inverted World" and "Chutes Too Narrow" in late high school and early college, but I've sort of drifted from the band since then. I enjoyed hearing some of the older songs, but their set wasn't grabbing me. I feel like this was the start of a longer weekend-long trend though. The weekend was a ton of fun, but being outside and being generally short on sleep most of the time meant I was routinely sort of exhausted, so some bands that I'm sure I otherwise would have enjoyed more just sort of blew by without making much of an impression. Also, while the huge stage and the giant gorge behind it did wonders for some sets, other artists just seemed to get lost in it. I'm sure a lot of this was just me and that many, many other people really enjoyed the sets though, so I wouldn't put too much stock in any artist that I wasn't enamored with.

After The Shins, Jack White played, and it had gotten dark, and I experienced just how cold it can get when the sun goes down and you haven't planned appropriately. I haven't listened to much of Jack White's music, and I'm not entirely sure most of it is my cup of tea. That being said, he put on a pretty fun show, and it's pretty clear that he's a really good musician. His newest album has started to grow on me as I listen to it more, and after seeing him live, I think I'll have to make sure to give it several listens.

The last performer of the night was The Roots. They've been a band for a while that I've admired (I love what they're doing on Jimmy Fallon's show) but that I've never been able to get into (like I said, I don't listen to much hip-hop). Now that that's out of the way though, their live set was FANTASTIC! It was absolutely one of the highlights of the weekend. We planned to just swing by for a song or two and then head back to sleep (because lack of sleep was already catching up with us), but I found I was having a really hard time tearing myself away. They started out by paying tribute to MCA (the Beastie Boys rapper who passed away recently) by performing "Paul Revere." A good chunk of Saturday was a lot more low-key than Friday because I think a lot of people burned themselves out too quickly, but while The Roots were playing, everybody's energy seemed to come back and then some. I would absolutely go see them perform again and recommend anybody else who gets a chance do the same. I think I may have to dig into their recorded stuff a bit more too. Any suggestions on where to start from anyone who listens to them?




SATURDAY SUMMARY

Artists I saw: Reptar, Charles Bradley, Blitzen Trapper, Alabama Shakes, Jamey Johnson, Childish Gambino, The Helio Sequence, Metric, tUnE-yArDs, The Shins, Jack White, The Roots

Favorite sets: Alabama Shakes and The Roots

I can't believe I haven't posted about Alabama Shakes yet (although they'll definitely be on my top albums of April-June). Since that's the case though, here is "Hold On," which is one of my absolute favorite songs of the year. It looks like the widget below will actually play the full album if you so choose after hearing "Hold On."



You can download "Hold On" for free along with several tracks by other bands on their label for the price of an email address here.

Like I said before, I don't know much about The Roots, so I can't really draw on a wide body of music to pick a song for them. However, I do know that one of the singles from their 2010 album was a remake of the Monsters of Folk song "Dear God," so enjoy the music video for "Dear God 2.0" below featuring Jim James himself:

Sasquatch Review: Day One

Late Thursday night, I completed my 3,600 mile trek to and from Sasquatch Music Festival, which took place over the Friday through Monday of Memorial Day weekend. Since returning home, I've helped a friend move, entertained my parents who visited, and worked on decompressing and unwinding from such an intense trip. I think now I'm getting back into enough of a normal rhythm that I can get back to writing a few posts.

Over the course of the four days in the wonderfully named George, Washington and at the breathtakingly gorgeous Gorge Amphitheater, I managed to take in sets from almost 40 bands. In the interest of not leaving anyone out and of being able to highlight some of my favorite sets in more detail, I'm breaking my recap of the festival into four posts, one post for each day I was at the festival.

I arrived at the festival on Friday afternoon after picking up Carly, a friend from undergrad who had taken a bus into nearby Quincy, Washington. Our first exposure to the size and scale of the festival was in the form of a between two and three hour line of cars just to get into the campground. Once we made it into the camp site, we wanted to quick set up our tent before dark and then rush into the venue to catch Of Monsters and Men performing. Little did we know, the tent had other plans for us. After struggling with setting it up for 15 or 20 minutes, a couple guys from Calgary came over from a neighboring tent and offered to help us out. Another 15 to 20 minutes later and with the full help of four people, we were able to get the tent set up. We thanked them and rushed to the venue, which was about a mile walk. After exchanging our tickets for wristbands and going through a security check on the way in, we were into the festival grounds.

There were five stages throughout the weekend performing music (and some comedy). We made our way to the main stage, which resulted in our first view of what makes this venue just so great. After you walk over a hill, the main stage is situated at the bottom of the hill, with the gorge and the Columbia River behind it. We went to shows for four days, and each day when I first made that trip over the hill, I was amazed at just how beautiful the location was. I have no idea how long it would have taken for me to stop being dumbfounded by the beauty, but it's much longer than four days. Unfortunately, pictures taken by me can't do it justice, but here is one taken on my phone anyway.



We were able to make it in time to see the last 15 or 20 minutes of Of Monsters and Men's set including the song "Little Talks", which may be my favorite song of 2012. I just cannot get enough of it. The set was a great way to kick off the weekend, and I'm glad we were able to catch at least some of it.

Over the next couple hours, we went and saw Minnesota's own Polica over on another stage. I haven't spent much time listening to the band, but after watching their set I plan to fix that in the not too distant future. After that, we checked out Santigold back on the main stage. I can't say that it is my favorite music, but the performance was something else with backup dancers that never stopped throughout the whole set. I was impressed by their memory, endurance, and number of costume changes. Santigold has certainly figured out how to keep people entertained even if they aren't already into your music. After that, we stuck around to see the beginning of Girl Talk's set. I'm very intrigued by Girl Talk. It isn't really my thing, but they excitement that he can generate in his fans is really impressive, and I can see how his live shows would be a lot of fun. This was our first look at one of the massive trends of the weekend, which was people who seemed to have an infinite number of glow sticks. During several of the more dance-y artists, people would throw dozens of glow sticks at a time into the air, only to repeat the process again over and over. I would love it if there was a way to know just how many glow sticks were brought into the festival. I can get whoever is figuring it out started: it was A LOT!

We cut short our stay at the Girl Talk set to go get a spot for Explosions in the Sky on another stage. This was one of the sets I was most looking forward to before the festival. I have steadily fallen more and more in love with Explosions in the Sky over the last year or so. That combined with the fact that I heard they put on a great live show and that I had yet to see them set the bar pretty high. Throughout the first few sets we watched, Carly had remarked how it was a little weird that a lot of the time you could hear noise coming over from other stages while bands were playing. This was not even close to an issue for Explosions in the Sky because they play LOUD. With some bands, I may consider it too loud (and if I listened to them for too long, I may go deaf), but it was perfect. One of the things I love about their music is the way it can just envelope you and make it seem like everything else goes away. I don't listen to a ton of purely instrumental music, and I've wondered why I love Explosions in the Sky despite this fact. Throughout their set, I realized that I think a lot of it is the way that they can play with your expectations and ears by transitioning so quickly from ear busting noise (and seeming chaos) to a relatively quiet and lovely guitar riff that pulls you out of the noise and transfixes your attention to the next part of the song. Or maybe all of this is just an attempt to rationalize and the music should just be enjoyed and appreciated without a reason for it. Regardless, they more than lived up to the hype and expectations I had for them. You can always tell a band/set is something special when you walk away feeling like it wouldn't feel right to listen to any other music ever again. If they ever feel like just following me around and soundtracking my life, I'm up for it. Their set was the clear highlight to day one for me and is up their with some of my favorite shows I've ever experienced. I would absolutely love to get a chance to see them headline at their own show sometime.

We finished off the night by going back over to the main stage for a little bit to see Pretty Lights perform. I knew nothing about who Pretty Lights was, and I still don't really, but he/they lived up to their name. The stage was a spectacle of lights, and the glow sticks really came alive for this set. We only stayed for a few songs, but the crowd down by the stage was whipped up into a frenzy with glow sticks flying everywhere, people dancing like it would be their last chance to do so, and everyone capping off the first night of the festival with a ton of excitement.




FRIDAY SUMMARY

Artist I saw: Of Monsters and Men, Polica, Santigold, Girl Talk, Explosions in the Sky, Pretty Lights

Favorite set: Explosions in the Sky

Since Explosions in the Sky was my clear favorite show of the day, here is their song "Your Hand In Mine"



I realize this was super long, so kudos to anyone who actually made it through. Hopefully I'll be back in the next day or two with Saturday's recap.