December 4th weekend forecast

W

Ratatat at Terminal 5, 4/22/09

After hearing how awesome the first Ratatat concert at Terminal 5 was we decided to go see them on their second night. The show wasn't sold out and we bought tickets at the door. The opening acts Despot and Kid Cudi were both rap artists out of New York, (Kid Cudi is from Cleveland originally but is now in NYC.) Despot talked a lot but was a pretty good rapper and rapped some brand new stuff. Kid Cudi had a little more variety and seemed very smooth. He did an awesome rap over a Ratatat song and just looked fresh.

Then Ratatat came on and immediately played some awesome songs off of Lp3. They mixed in some from Classics and 17 years but mostly the songs were from LP3. In my opinion their best song of the night was Loud Pipes, but I am biased because that is my favorite song of theirs. Wildcat, Gettysburg and 17 years were also pretty awesome and crowd engaging. Awesome concert!

+for some reason they didn't allow photography but I managed to snap a few that I might put up+

Steal.

Einstein.

Emile Hirsch, Man of 'Milk'

(Click to Enlarge)

By, Emma Rosenblum

[New York Magazine, December 2008]

Last.fm

I just have started to get into last.fm. It seems like the best music networking site out there. If you want to find new music last.fm does almost all the work for you. All you have to do is listen to your favorite songs, as I am sure you already do, and last.fm updates your library and play counts, recommends you new artists, and tells you people who have similar tastes as you. The charts and graphs are also cool because you can find out music trends you didn’t even know you had. For example, if you have been posting on FML.com lately you probably have been listening to lots of the smiths, or funeral for a friend and last.fm will show you the bright blue graphs to prove it.

Last.fm’s library seems to be pretty extensive and since members contribute to the content almost every band has a description and pictures. Another great thing is they list each concert as a separate page so you can be “attending” a concert, or try to get a ticket from someone before the concert, or post the set list and discuss the concert afterward. Another cool thing is if a band is on tour there is a red tag next to their name so you can be sure to go see them.

A brief history, Last.fm was started by Richard Jones while he attended the University of Southampton School of Electronics and Computer Science. In 2003 last.fm, which had become pretty developed, merged with audioscrobbler and they have grown into the site it is today.More @ wikipedia

You can sign up here: https://www.last.fm/join
This is the widget that syncs your media player and iPod (or other mp3 player) with last.fm: http://www.last.fm/download


Here is my recently played

Tapes 'n Tapes

Tapes 'n Tapes is an indie band originating at Carleton College in 2003.

Their sound can be closely characterized as a lo-fi muffled, garage-revival style, riff-driven rock. The vocals are not boring, echoing drones common in similar bands. Rather, lead singer Josh Grier uses a mixture of shouting and singing similar to the vocals of Modest Mouse, with lyrics far more poetic than typical shoegazer bands but with a certain garage darkness. The guitar work includes interesting picking patterns, not repetitive chord progressions, creating impressive guitar melodies.

Taken from their wikipedia page: Tapes singer Josh Grier says their first album was recorded "...in the winter time at a cabin in the Winsconsin woods with no running water. It was a lot fun to do it on our own and get a little crazy, but it was also frustrating since we didn't really know entirely what we were doing"

Tapes 'n Tapes - Last.fm

Recommended Album:


The Loon (2005)

Save The Trees

[Harper's Magazine]

Bon Iver

[Last.fm]


[Last.fm]

Bon Iver is made up of Justin Vernon, Mike Noyce, and Sean Carey.
Discography:
Albums
-For Emma, Forever Ago (late 2007, self-released; February 19, 2008, US; May 12, 2008, UK)
EPs
-The MySpace Transmissions (September 12, 2008)
-Blood Bank (January 20, 2009)
Singles
-"For Emma" b/w "Wisconsin" (September 15, 2008) (7" vinyl)
Compilations
-"Brackett, Wi" Dark Was the Night (February 17, 2009)
-"Big Red Machine" Dark Was the Night (February 17, 2009) (As Justin Vernon)
Daytrotter Session
- Bon Iver: Broken Man Makes Lovely

Videos:
La Blogotheque Take Away Show (6 songs)
- Part 1
- Part 2
Wolves Music Video:
- The Wolves
Myspace Transmission:
- Transmission


Bon Iver is my favorite band that I have discovered in the past 6 months. Until recently I had only been listening to For Emma, Forever Ago and I think I will be listening to it for the rest of my life. Skinny Love is the most popular track of the album but my favorites as include Wolves (Act I &II), Re: Stacks, Flume, Creature Fear, & Lump Sum. I prefer to listen to the whole album as one song however. The EP's and comps. are very good as well.
At first I was taken aback by Justin Vernon’s falsetto but then after a few listens I realized how amazing it was. It fits perfectly in with the simple acoustic strumming, and drums and I think is what separates Bon Iver from the mass of very good indie-folk-alternative bands. Once, you learn the melodies of these songs they will play in your head for days on end. It is beautiful.
I also admire the way Bon Iver came to be. Almost all of the record was recorded in Justin Vernon’s father’s hunting cabin on 80 acres of Wisconsin wilderness (see myspace interview for more info.) The record was at first independently distributed, but eventually was signed to an independent record label.
Since then they have released Blood Bank and EP of which I think Blood Bank is the best song, but definitely get the whole thing. Justin/Bon Iver also have two great tracks on Dark Was The Night a sweet compilation album. They play 6 songs on Take Away Shows, which are all amazing.
I don’t think there is much more than I can say about Bon Iver besides for that I want to have a bonfire with all of Bon Iver and stay with Justin Vernon in his Wisconsin cabin.

Ben Folds With Jukebox the Ghost

Venue: The Wellmont Theatre
Price: $38
Date: March 26th, 2009

About an hour and ten minute drive to Montclair, NJ it was certainly worth the drive to see Ben and Jukebox play live. I love Ben Folds and all of his music, but i liked Jukebox the Ghost much more live. I hadn't hear them before the concert, but they really got their songs stuck in my head with their catchy piano riffs and eccentric beats just grabbed hold of me. The lead singer, also the piano player, was really entertaining to watch play live and was constantly joking around like crossing his legs while playing the keys.

Ben Folds played a lot of the stuff from his new album such as Effington, Dr Yang, Cologne, and You Don't Know Me, but he also played a few Ben Folds Five songs and of course Zak and Sara, Annie Waits, and Still Fighting It (actually sang by an a cappella group). He didn't play the Ascent of Stan which was a huge disappointment, but the music was great and Ben was really entertaining and funny. He got the crowd really singing, not jumping, but its not a jumping type concert really after all.

Here are some pics:

Annuals

Annuals. The Annuals. They prefer to drop the "the" and let you choose.




The Annuals are a six person set consisting of: Adam Baker, Kenny Florence, Mike Robinson, Zach Oden, Anna Spence, and Nick Radford. Started by Adam Baker in 2003 out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a side project and now has released two studio albums.

Discography

Albums:
Lay Down Dry (Self Released, 2005)
Be He Me (2006)
Such Fun (2008)

EP's
Git' Got EP (Self Released, 2006)
Big Zeus (Ace Fu, 2007) UK-Only EP
Frelen Mas (Ace Fu, 2007) Digital-Only EP
Wet Zoo (Ace Fu, 2008) EP

Daytrotter Sessions:




Videos:
Confessor(Live)
Hardwood Floors(Live)

So far in 2009 they are by far the best new band that i've come across. So far i have the albums "Such Fun" and "Be He Me" as well as their "Daytrotter Session." For a good taste, and because its free i'd start with the daytrotter. But before you go downloading them i'll give you a little description of what they sound like.

When i listen to the song "Confessor" it pretty much sums of what they sound like. Its a combination of soft acoustic strumming, a little electric guitar dancing around in the background, a soft violin, and a piano playing the occasional few notes. A more piano focused song would be "Springtime" which is my first and still favorite song that got me into them to begin with. Some of their songs can feel a little country influenced, which is because they are from North Carolina. They can be compared to Animal Collective, Sunset Rubdown, Noah and The Whale and even The Decemberists.

So far they are my favorite discovery this year and i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.

Modest Mouse

I saw modest mouse on Sunday night. Best concert I have ever been to, although I am not yet an avid concert goer.
Here are some pictures and a video

From an amorphous blog

***
Video on Vimeo
***

Paris, Je T'aime

For those of you who don't take French such as myself, the title means, "Paris, I Love You." Now you might say, "well that's a silly name for a movie, especially a movie i've never heard of before," but you would be terribly mistaken to judge this movie by the title if you made that assumption.

This is of course a foreign film, but is very much in English as it is in French. It also has some very not so foreign actors such as: Elijah Wood, Wes Craven, Steve Buscemi, Catalina Sandino Moreno, and Natalie Portman.

The movie is a series of different love stories that occur in Paris. The great part about the movie is, its not only about the mushy gushy sorta love with babies and sex and chocolates...its about all the different types of love (including bro love). Its about the love a mother has for her child, the love you feel for a stranger in need, or even the love you feel for a soul-mate (guy or girl) who you truly believe is entirely compatible with you.

Give the movie a chance. It got some great reviews and it kept me laughing as well as feeling all warm and tingly inside. Plus Oscar Wilde's grave is in it. I give it a 9/10 so please enjoy.

I have a copy if anyone wants to watch it, and i also think Blockbuster has it.

This is my favorite scene.

MMW

Medeski, Martin, and Wood were pretty good, pretty impressive, and sucked a lot at some points. My consensus was that they were three very talented musicians. period.  

So for that 8 o'clock show, I drove into the city. The drive wasn't bad at all. It didn't even eat up my gas tank. But there was some traffic, and we finally parked a little after 7.  Then, since we were downtown anyway, I figured it would be close enough to go to Katz's deli. Really just about a dozen short blocks east. Half way across manhattan. Two thirds maybe. It's really not that far. We finally got there at 7:30 and it was a little crowded so we ate at Famous Original Ray's next door. The pizza was damn good, but not famous or original.  Then back to the concert-parking area in the West. Much quicker. We got into the show. Pretty full, sat in the back.  They played well, then a half hour break, then more, and a ten minute (awful) noise jam, and some real good stuff, and then they stopped, and a twenty minute encore. Piano. Bass. Drums... Jazzy

Twenty eight bucks for parking. The car was fine. The drive was fine. It seemed to pay off not to take the train, until i was almost home.  Bam. cops. pulled over. done.

License, registration, insurance? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here, here, here... This insurance card is expired. 93 bucks. and for speeding....254.

Gran total 347. you have a month to pay it. have a nice night

T-Wayne

Venue: Nassau Coliseum
Artists: Lil' Wayne, T-Pain, Keisha Cole, Gym Class Heroes, and the majority of the rappers in the "Young Money" family.

The concert was actually really really good for a rap concert. It got the whole crowd jumping, and for certain was no John Mayer concert. The whole crowd was shrouded in a cloud of smoke, and i'm pretty sure there wasn't a single person without a blunt/joint in their hand. It was like being at a Dead concert haha.

T-Pain was hilarious, he had midgets dancing around and kept using his Three Ring Circus metaphor for the rap industry. He said that every ring has a midget and that is "Bow Wow". He had a midget Britney Spears dancing to Gimme More.

Wayne did his thing end of story...he's got swag.

LAMC

Is sweet..


..pics below.....and video of pictures set to Kurt Vile and The Violators (so you can hear the song)

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

From LAMC

LAMC from digestivemachine on Vimeo.

The full photo album can be seen here: http://picasaweb.google.com/digestivemachine/LAMC#
Video in HD here: http://vimeo.com/2781937

and KURT VILE IS THE MAN check out stuff below
http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2008/08/kurt-vile-live.html

Yeah!

Cracker Barrel is the best.

And KFC might be the second best.

If you don't agree, speak up.