This past Wednesday night I saw Wolf Parade play First Avenue. No, strike that. I saw them ROCK First Avenue. Yes. Rock. In fact, as I sit here writing this short post three days later, I can't quit listening to them on iTunes and I keep replaying bits from the show in my head.
Their set list bounced in between songs from Apologies To The Queen Mary and At Mount Zoomer
perfectly to create a soundtrack to the evening that cascaded into an
encore that left me wired and starving for more. I can't remember the
last time I left a show so energized. Standouts from the night were certainly the closing of the main set with "Kissing The Beehive" and the second to last song of the encore, "I'll Believe In Anything."
A friend I've made through Twitter put it perfectly, "They're just a straight-up killer rock band -- the kind that makes you
realize as you're watching them that you're raising your fist and
hollering like you did when you went to your first great rock show as
kid." Their energy and passion for their music is contagious. You can feel it as they play.
The close of the iTunes review for Apologies To The Queen Mary says, "Have you heard of Wolf Parade? They'll change your life." With a slight change, that statement becomes pretty true for what I experienced on Wednesday night...
Have you seen Wolf Parade live? They'll change your life,
Got to see Bon Iver at the Turf Club a while back. If you ever have the chance to see them, do it. While the number of songs they have are relatively few at the moment, the passion with which they play them is plenty and Justin Vernon is quite the humble and talented musician.
The other night, I went to First Ave to see a "Best of Local Music" show and caught Romantica and The Alarmists. Two very different bands, both putting on solid performances.
Listening-wise, like many others I've been giving Santogold quite a bit of airtime as well as Vampire Weekend. Those two took me a bit to get into, but that's not the case with these next two. Handsome Furs and Miracle Fortress, both hailing from Montreal, grabbed me almost immediately.
Handsome Furs is comprised of husband/wife duo Dan Boeckner, from Wolf Parade and Atlas Strategic, and short story writer, Alexei Perry. Miracle Fortress is the creation of Graham Van Pelt, and for live shows, he brings along drummer Jordan Robson-Cramer of Sunset Rubdown and Magic Weapon, guitarist Jessie Stein of SS Cardiacs and The Luyas, and keyboardist Adam Waito of Telefauna.
Last night The Jealous Girlfriends, Grand Archives and Most Serene Republic played The Entry. It was one of the very few times I have ever seen all three bands on one bill. I have to say I enjoyed all of them, but by far the highlight of the evening for me, as it appeared to be for many others as well, was the Grand Archives performance in the second slot.
Being a fan of Mat Brooke's two priorbands, I had been looking forward to a full-length album since first reading about them in Pitchfork last year. Then when looking through the show listings for various venues in town back in January and seeing that they were coming to town, I was a bit excited.
While all of the band members harmonize on vocals in addition to playing their instruments, it was primarily Mat and Ron Lewis (formerly of Ghost Stories, Joggers and Mines) leading the charge on vocals with Mat taking the lead most often. The same was true for their interactions with the crowd which were humorous, self-deprecating and genuine.
The band played through their songs at a good pace, having fun being on stage and truly enjoying playing their music for others to hear. It was my first time at The Entry and I fell fortunate to have been able to see them there. At the end of their set, everyone in the audience was asking for a couple more songs, but being in the second slot and out of time, the guys were unable to oblige. We'll just have to wait for another time, and likely a larger venue, to hear more of them in person.
Since getting The Grand Archives back in early February, it has been on heavy rotation. Now after seeing their live show, it will only continue to be so. (As a matter of fact, it's playing right now in a mix with Band of Horses, S and Carissa's Wierd in my iTunes.) If you don't have The Grand Archives yet, take a listen to one of the below places where it's streaming and if you're into it, support these guys by purchasing it at your favorite music store or site. They're very deserving of it in my opinion.
Before purchasing the DVD, I probably watched this trailer a good dozen or so times in anticipation of getting my copy in the mail. So yesterday afternoon when I saw that, Sigur Rós had taken over the home page of YouTube, with the main feature being that they've posted the entire 97-plus minutes of their Heima film, I was very, very happy for them to get this kind of exposure.
While I can't understand a single word of the Icelandic language, I find their music to be some of the most emotive and beautiful art I've ever experienced. Additionally, I think the film is gorgeous, inspiring and very telling about what a generous and humble band Sigur Rós is. If you can't tell, yes, they're one of my favorites. Anyway...
SIGUR ROS YouTube Global Takeover Friday March 7 1:39pm Thursday, Mar 6
Sigur Ros and YouTube make a little bit of history this Friday (Mar 7) with the band taking over the entire front page of the site around the world for a whole day, becoming the first group to ever have a feature-length music DVD streamed on the channel, with their acclaimed ‘Heima’ documentary shown in its complete 97- minute glory.
All 12 available slots on YouTube’s home page will be devoted to the Icelandic quartet for a full 24-hours, putting them before a global audience of hundreds of millions. The link-up follows the success of ‘Minn Heima’, a competition hosted by YouTube (http:// www.youtube.com/group/MinnHeima) for fans of the band to create their own little version of ‘Heima’, using audio and video clips posted online. The 10 best entries, as judged by the band, will be featured on the home page, alongside the film itself, as well as a special message from the band, taking time off from recording their new album in Reykjavik.
YouTube has only previously hosted a handful of long form presentations, none for music DVDs. It is the first ever UK home page “takeover” since the launch of http://uk.youtube.com – the localized home page that allows for country-specific video rankings and comments.
Simultaneous with the YouTube promotion, the band will launch www.sigurros.com, giving away a free audio-visual download clip of the song ‘Ny Batteri’ filmed live in Reykjavik in the the summer of 2006 as part of the Heima tour. ‘Ny Batteri’ is just one of a dozen additional songs not featured in the film that the band are intending to make available via the site in the near future. Information about the forthcoming album will also be revealed via www.sigurros.com.
To see all of what they posted now that the takeover is complete, simply jump to their YouTube page. And if you're a fan of Sigur Rós, I highly suggest that you pick up a copy of the DVD. It's well worth it.
Liam Finn stepped into the headline slot at the 400 Bar last night and took full advantage of his opportunity to play a longer set. He was to play the second time slot, opening for Pela, but due to an unfortunate accident, was moved into the spotlight. (Sorry to hear about the accident Pela. Hope Billy heals quickly.)
Supported on stage by his good friend EJ Barnes, Liam played a mix of songs off of his album, I'll Be Lightning, along with a few spontaneous jams (one based on saying the word "Minneapolis" in various tones and looping them). I had somewhat of an idea of what I was going to see, but was still very impressed with Liam's show.
Liam primarily played the guitar and drums, along with the Theremin at times. EJ supported him on vocals while playing tambourine, autoharp,
cymbals, cow bell and the wood block/temple block (I think). Both used
pedals and loops to give the songs much more dimension and character.
I would describe his performance as raw, unpredictable, melodious electricity - well on his way to becoming lightning. His interactions with the crowd were fun, humorous and very uncensored. He even got the crowd to yell out the "C" word near the end.
He is an incredibly talented musician and a gifted performer. Getting to watch him croon a slower song one minute and then rock out the next; moving between recording loops for the guitar to hammering on the drums with unbridled passion for the music, was quite an incredible spectacle. (I would have to say that my favorite moments were those when he was going crazy on the drums. You can't help but be affected by his energy.)
If you have a chance to catch Liam live, I would recommend you do so. The live version of his songs become much bigger than what you hear on his album/CD and the little spontaneous surprises make it even more enjoyable.
Related: Some great photos of last night's show can be found here. My lesser quality ones can be found here. More from other recent shows here and here.
Provided he continues on this tour without Pela, you can find his next live dates here.
(A note to my friends in Denver - he's scheduled to play Hi-Dive on Monday, March 10.)
Foreign Born opened for St. Vincent on Friday night. Per the advice of some friends who had been to see shows at the Cedar before, I got there early so I could get a good spot to see everything. Caught Foreign Born's full set and have to say I was pleasantly surprised.
They had abundant energy and were very entertaining. I wasn't a fan of every song, but found myself liking most of what they played. If you're going to catch any of this short tour, I highly suggest you get there in time to see a little bit of their performance, if not all of it.
It's official. I have a crush on Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent. I can't help it. Last night at the Cedar Cultural Center she disarmed me with her charm, humility and all-around resplendence. Then she blew me away with her ambrosial vocal dexterity and gift of being able to strum a delicate string of chords together on the guitar one minute and completely shred it with mastery the next.
I had some notion of what to expect going into the night and had been looking forward to it all week. At the end of the evening, all of my expectations were greatly surpassed and I now have a new-found appreciation for Ms. Clark not only as a chanteuse, but also as a delightful woman willing to share more than just her music with her fans.
Some artists use pedals, effects and a variety of microphones to cover for a lack of talent. Not Annie. She uses these tools to take her music and natural abilities to another level. She kept the pace of the show undulating expertly throughout the night, starting off with a couple of her more popular/known songs*, moving into a mix of stuff off of Marry Me, bringing out one or two new songs and rocking out a phenomenal solo cover of The Beatles song "Dig A Pony."
(*I think she opened with Now Now and Jesus Saves, I Spend. I could be off though.)
Her interactions with the crowd were endearing and engaging. Between songs, she responded to louder comments made by enamored members of the audience and shared stories from recent adventures on the road. She was genuine and playful. At times, she was even a bit demure. She appeared to be truly flattered that people applauded and cheered after each song. When she couldn't quite get her guitar tuned to the perfect note, rather than continue fussing with it, she'd just stop, say something to the effect of, "Oh, the hell with it. It's a rock show, right?" and then begin playing.
Every glowing review that has been written of her live performances is well deserved. I can honestly say this was one of the best shows I've been to in quite some time. It was one of those shows where nobody in the audience wanted to see it come to an end, least of all, myself. I will definitely go back to see her the next time she comes to town or if she happens to be playing somewhere I also am at the moment.
Thank you, Annie. Thank you for not only sharing your music with the world, but for also being so open, real, elegant and interesting when performing it.
One of my co-workers tipped me off to Justin Vernon's new band/role, Bon Iver, on Thursday. She saw him play at Electric Fetus on Wednesday night. DOH! Why couldn't I have found out about this before! And why and I just finding out about him now! Oh well. At least I know of him now and will be all over his new album, For Emma, Forever Ago, when it is relaunched on Tuesday. (Unless when I swing by Electric Fetus in a bit, they have it.)
The story behind Bon Iver's new album is quite possibly one of the most interesting back stories to an album I've heard in quite some time. The story goes:
It wasn't planned. The goal was to hibernate.
Justin Vernon moved to a remote cabin in
the woods of Northwestern Wisconsin at the onset of winter. Tailing from the swirling breakup of
his long time band, he escaped to the property and surrounded himself with simple work, quiet, and space.
He lived there alone for three months, filling his days with wood splitting and other chores around
the land. This special time slowly began feeding a bold, uninhibited new musical focus.
This slowly evolved into days filled with twelve-hour recording blocks, breaking only for trips
on the tractor into the pines to saw and haul firewood, or for frozen sunrises high up a deer
stand. All of his personal trouble, lack of perspective, heartache, longing, love, loss and
guilt that had been stock piled over the course of the past six years, was suddenly purged into
the form of song. The end result is, For Emma, Forever Ago, a nine-song album comprised of what's
been dubbed a striking debut by critics and fans alike.
Bon Iver (pronounced: bohn eevair; French for "good winter" and spelled wrong on purpose) is a
greeting, a celebration and a sentiment. It is a new statement of an artist moving on and
establishing the groundwork for a lasting career. For Emma, Forever Ago is the debut of this
lineage of songs. As a whole, the record is entirely cohesive throughout and remains centered
around a particular aesthetic, prompted by the time and place for which it was recorded. Vernon
seems to have tested his boundaries to the utmost, and in doing so has managed to break free
form any pre-cursing or finished forms.
For Emma's tracks consist of thick layers draped in lush choral walls, with rarely more
than an ancient acoustic guitar or the occasional bass drum providing structure. Vernon sings
the majority of the record in falsetto, which painfully expresses the meanings behind its overt,
yet strangely entangled words. This newfound vocal path acts as each song's main character and
source of melody.
Despite its complexity, the record was created entirely by Vernon with nothing more than a few
microphones and some aged recording equipment. This homemade aspect shows itself in sections
as creaks and accidentals are exposed in the folds of the songs, but is hidden well by the
highly impressive and almost orchestral sound that Vernon managed to produce by his lonesome,
within the creaky skeleton of his father's cabin.
For Emma, Forever Ago comes out on Tuesday (2/19), but you can pre-order it from his label (Jagjaguwar) or Amazon.com now. According to the note on the Jagjaguwar page, their pre-order comes with an offset-printed poster.
Liam Finn, the singer-songwriter son of Crowded House’s Neil Finn, is on several "Artists to Watch" or "Bands to Watch" lists and for very good reason, in my opinion. Just watching these two takes on the same song make me want to go see him. It's a good thing then that he's on tour now.
Grand Archives (Live)
Last night The Jealous Girlfriends, Grand Archives and Most Serene Republic played The Entry. It was one of the very few times I have ever seen all three bands on one bill. I have to say I enjoyed all of them, but by far the highlight of the evening for me, as it appeared to be for many others as well, was the Grand Archives performance in the second slot.
Being a fan of Mat Brooke's two prior bands, I had been looking forward to a full-length album since first reading about them in Pitchfork last year. Then when looking through the show listings for various venues in town back in January and seeing that they were coming to town, I was a bit excited.
While all of the band members harmonize on vocals in addition to playing their instruments, it was primarily Mat and Ron Lewis (formerly of Ghost Stories, Joggers and Mines) leading the charge on vocals with Mat taking the lead most often. The same was true for their interactions with the crowd which were humorous, self-deprecating and genuine.
The band played through their songs at a good pace, having fun being on stage and truly enjoying playing their music for others to hear. It was my first time at The Entry and I fell fortunate to have been able to see them there. At the end of their set, everyone in the audience was asking for a couple more songs, but being in the second slot and out of time, the guys were unable to oblige. We'll just have to wait for another time, and likely a larger venue, to hear more of them in person.
Since getting The Grand Archives back in early February, it has been on heavy rotation. Now after seeing their live show, it will only continue to be so. (As a matter of fact, it's playing right now in a mix with Band of Horses, S and Carissa's Wierd in my iTunes.) If you don't have The Grand Archives yet, take a listen to one of the below places where it's streaming and if you're into it, support these guys by purchasing it at your favorite music store or site. They're very deserving of it in my opinion.
Related note 1: My photo set from last night.
Related note 2: Video of Most Serene Republic singing (Oh) God here.
Related note 3: A great review and Flickr photo set of the CD launch party for Grand Archives at The Triple Door in Seattle, which included opening performances by Mat's former Carissa's Wierd bandmates, Jenn Ghetto (S) and Sera Cahoone.
Related note 4: An article from the Seattle Times when the band was first getting noticed that's a good read.
Grandarchives.com | MySpace | Last.fm | iTunes | Amazon
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