How Did I Survive, Survive, Survive, Survive…?
Early last year, Brooklyn’s great new band The Drums released an EP entitled Summertime! Later that year, just before summer, they released their first full length, self titled album. Both have been in regular rotation ever since. Their latest offering, Portamento, also does not disappoint.
The missus and I caught their show last night at the 7th Street Entry (the closet that is part of First Avenue) and straight away I wondered how I survived this long without seeing them live. They had been to town twice before and, for whatever reason, I didn’t go. Their music, a delicious combo of under-the-boardwalk Americana and 80s guitar/synth pop, simply makes you smile. And want to skip around without a care who notices!
Their 17 song set last night brought all of this and more as lead singer Jonny Pierce and the lads bopped their way through tales of heartache, pain and rejection. Jonny reminded me frequently of a blond, surfer Jim Morrison…or was it Val Kilmer as Jim Morrison? Ah, the whole life imitating art imitating life thing…
Check out “Down By The Water” last night, preceding by a very special dedication.
The band is heading out west for the next 11 days so you should check them out!
My Morning Jacket – Smokin’ From Shootin’ at ACL
Here’s My Morning Jacket performing “Smokin From Shootin” at last weekend’s ACL Festival. MMJ have just announced a set of tour dates with both Band of Horses and Delta Spirit – basically my wet dream of a show. But alas, Phoenix, Arizona is once again not on the radar. So I’ll need to live through amazing live HD clips like this. Gotta love the age we’re living in when anyone anywhere can share the live experience… it ain’t the real thing, but it’s as close as you can get.
Update: The ACL clip is gone, but check out this Live on Letterman performance:
The Friday Five: August 12, 2011
Friday Five : ‘frī-(,)dā,-dē ‘fīv : On the sixth day of every week, I hit the shuffle button on my iTunes, then share the first five tracks and thought for each track. Sometimes there is a playlist involved, occasionally we’ll have a guest, but most of the time it’s just me. The rest is up to you, our friends and readers! Fire up your media player of choice and share the first five random track of your shuffle in the comments.
The Five:
“After the Love Has Gone” by Earth, Wind & Fire (from The Essential Earth, Wind & Fire, 2002)
My favorite example of The David Foster Key Change™. Truthfully, while this may be quiet storm pap at its sappiest, its still one of my favorites.
“Pop-Eye Stroll” by The Mar-Keys (from The Complete Stax-Volt Singles: 1959-1968, 1991)
The Complete Stax-Volt Singles is probably the most intimidating box set in my library. A staggering collection of classic funk and soul, the box is a basically the encyclopedia of great music.
“All Hell’s Breaking Loose” by KISS (from Box Set, 2001)
I never really cared for Lick It Up era KISS.
“Two Weeks” by Grizzly Bear (from Veckatimest, 2009)
I still don’t know how to pronounce the title of this record, but I love it.
“Feel So Good” by Mase (from Bad Boy’s 10th Anniversary… The Hits, 2004)
Today’s Friday Five is sort of akin to MXC’s “Sinkers and Floaters.” This right here is what they call a sinker.
What’s on your shuffle today?
A North Woods Blessing
The debut album from a new band is always something special. When it is a band from my hometown, it’s even more exciting. If that disc completely blows away all my expectations, it’s shovel to the head stunning.Having listened to The Worst Is Over Now by the Twin Cities’ American Revival several times over the course of the last week, I must admit that the above description massively understates the wonder and beauty of this disc. Maybe it’s my new found love for alt-country or the soulful, widescreen voice of lead singer Thomas Pendarvis but the 11 tracks on this record have overwhelmed me with a blessed North Woods melancholy that I am praying endures forever.
During the second track on the disc, “Boogabear,” Pendarvis croons, “I make the couch into a bed so I can rest…I’m so tired…fighting the battle of who could care less,” and I can smell the 25 year old fabric that has heard far too many arguments. The John Bonhamesque drumming of Jeremy Krueth snaps us immediately into this world during the intro of the song and we are instantly propelled down a dusty road filled with broken hearts.
Of course, the opening track, “King Kong,” sets the stage for all of this.
You can always do what you want to do
Hell, you can always say what you want to say
You can always lie if you wanted to
Turn yourself into somebody newIt’s every girl or every boy…everywhere…that has fallen in love for the first time or out of love for the last…
The characters that make up the tapestry of The Worst is Over Now are woven with great clarity and detail by the band. The themes of the heartache and loneliness that results from failing or failed relationships resonates throughout the entire album. Instead of making me wallow in the muck of it all, I feel comforted…just as I do when I listen to the blues…in knowing that the gutting that I have felt in my life is shared by a universal connection of far too many people slump shouldered over a bottle of beer.
Yet, heartache is not the only theme prevalent on the album. In many ways, “Virginia,” “Singapore Blues,” and “Poza” all intimate the sacred journey that each of us takes during our lives. This all comes to a zenith during the best track on the record, “Austin,” a personal saga that relates a Homeric quest for the one that got away. But this festival anthem (if there ever was one) begs the question: is the lamentation over a girl or a city? It’s not clear and that’s what is so magnificent about it.
It’s the mystery of the journey…
For those of you who live in the Twin Cities, American Revival’s CD release party is Saturday, August 20th at the Ritz Theater in Minneapolis. Information about this event can be found by clicking on this link.
For outside the Twin Cities, friend American Revival on Facebook and download music from there.
Check out this video of “Poza” from a recent concert performance.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_P3zC1W7JI
U2 at TCF Bank Stadium 23 July 2011 (Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Survive A Miserable Show)
After a long delay of one year (due to Bono injuring his back), U2 finally got to play their massive 360 Tour show in Minneapolis at the new home to the Minnesota Golden Gophers, TCF Bank Stadium. As you can see by my photo, the set was massive!
My friend Heather and I got there at the tail end of the Interpol set and we scoped out the stadium. I had never been there before and am now looking forward to taking my son to a Gopher football game at some point in the future..hopefully this fall!
Once we took our seats, I knew straight away that we might be in some trouble with the couple sitting next to us. They both seemed ripped to the tits on some sort of intoxicant and the woman proceeded to get overly friendly with me almost immediately. Normally, I don’t necessarily mind this but she was dumber than a sack of hammers. I tried to avoid eye contact with her but she kept doing odd things like putting her head on my shoulder for no reason whatsoever. The guy with her just laughed and, sadly, was even less intelligent than her. He reminded me of one of the characters from Idiocracy if that gives you an idea of what I was dealing with right before the show started.
At about 9pm, the lights went down and the woman with the attraction to my shoulder proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs, “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.” And that’s exactly how many “O’s” it was. It seemed to go on forever.
She did this for the entire show. Every fucking song…but hey, that’s show business.
As she was piercing my inner ear drum, I settled in to enjoy the lads from Dublin for the seventh time in my concert going career. The first few songs were from Achtung Baby and they sounded great. As they were doing “I Will Follow,” the rain started to come. At first it was just a drizzle but by “Pride” it was pouring. I had brought a rain coat but it really didn’t help. Within about five minutes, my Chucks were filled with about an inch of water and between that, the screaming idiot next to me, and the fact that my view of the stage was blocked by a spot light tower, I was miserable. To get an idea of how hard it was raining, check out the video below.
I started to wonder if I was pulling a Murtaugh but quickly dismissed that notion as I love being at shows at First Ave with all sorts of craziness and problems. Perhaps it was the ginormousness of the show or the aforementioned problems but I just wasn’t into it. Sure, there were bits and pieces of coolness. “Zooropa” was wonderful and brought back many memories of my life during the early 90s. “Scarlet” was a rare treat as October is one of my two favorite U2 albums (the other being The Unforgettable Fire). During “One” we all got to see a home movie (on the huge screens) of U2 cavorting in a Trabant in East Germany during the Achtung Baby sessions in 1990-91. That really was mega!
For the most part, though, it sucked. But that was OK. Sometimes you have to have a miserable show to remind you how great the other ones are. They can’t all be perfect and a craptacular one every so often really sets the perspective. Even with all the bullshit, the show last night was still better than the Pop show in 1997.
And does it really have to be all about me? Heather was a ball to hang out with throughout the whole evening and I saw some other friends over the course of the night who were a blast. They all had fun…which is very important to me. Even the woman next to me made me laugh when, after her 89th “WOOOOOOOOOO” resulted in a few cold Scandinavian stares, she remarked, “Hey, I have lungs people!!!”
My left ear understood that all to well. It’s still ringing.
My Morning Jacket Mania
[BUY Circuital
]
The last few weeks have brought on a pretty substantial My Morning Jacket-athon in my end of the world. I watched their entire Bonnaroo set (most of it with my 5 year old daughter, who dubbed them “My Morning Sweater” until the “Jacket” finally caught on); I caught the full 3 hour show from Louisville they recently performed for Amex’s Unstaged series; I caught their Mountain Jam set, their new VH-1 Storytellers special; and basically, I’ve been immersing myself in their new album Circuital
Seeing them on their Z tour almost five years ago locked them in as one of my favorite bands- and as we’re wont to do with our favorites, we always revolve back around at points throughout our lives to a full-on listening mania. So that’s where I am right now.
Here’s a couple from the UNSTAGED gig. You can’t catch all 3 hours anymore, but they do have 30 minutes up, which I would heartily recommend.
Here’s “Smokin From Shootin” – beyond the amazing build up and powerful release that this song has, what I find cool is how Jim James can put all of his heart and soul into singing the lyrics, while simultaneously playing those sparse, meaningful guitar riffs. Fun to watch & hear…
“Wonderful (The Way I Feel)” with Daniel Martin Moore | MMJ can be one of the loudest, most ferocious rock n roll bands out there, but they can soften it up as well as anyone, and with high soft vocals of Jim James , it makes for some of the sweetest music out there (speaking of beauty, whoever didn’t see Jim (or Yim) sing “All the Best” with John Prine on Letterman, go hither too). This is beautiful, and Daniel Martin Moore’s contribution makes me want to track down some of his stuff too).
And ooh look, here’s the Mountain Jam set – fuzzy white moonboots and all…
This House Is A Circus, Berserk As Fuck
In what now has become a bi-annual tradition, The Arctic Monkeys descend on First Avenue and remind the Twin Cities why they are the Colossus of UK Banks. Last night’s show was unique in several ways.
To begin with, First Ave recently installed a high capacity roof air conditioner (announced on their Facebook page to much rejoicing) so the sold out show would be cool and comfortable. This proved to be extremely beneficial as the pit became insane about a third of the way through the Monkey’s set.
This was also the first time I had ever seen the Monkey’s before they released their new album. Suck It and See is not due out until June 6th in the UK (June 7th stateside). I had only heard one new track (“Brick by Brick”) so the rest were going to be new to me. I was pretty amped to hear the new songs for the first time AND live!
They also brought a support band with them that has blown up quickly just like the Monkeys did when they released their first album. The Vaccines took the stage a little after 7pm and played a fantastic 35 minute set which included many tracks from their debut disc, What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? Check out their video for the instant and hilarious classic “Post Break Up Sex.”After The Vaccines left the stage, the pit began to swell with humanity. My buddy Paul and I camped out underneath The Forbidden Staircase which has an excellent view of the stage from the right side of the pit. The Premier League like crowd started to get rowdy and sweaty when the announced set time (now posted on Facebook (mega!) for each show) came and went. I quietly blessed the owners of First Ave as I felt the soft wisps of cool air coming down on my head and shoulders.
Finally, the Monkeys took the stage and, without playing a note, the crowd went berserk. As all of us sang “O-lay, O-lay, O-lay, O-lay” as the lads led off with “Library Pictures” from their new record. A fast tempo surf punk diddy, the song impressed me immediately as being (yet another) departure from their previous work. After that was “Brianstorm” and that was pretty much it for any sort of control in the pit. Bodies flew everywhere as the set progressed through songs from all four of their releases.
Highlights for me were, first and foremost, the new tracks. “Don’t Sit Down Because I’ve Moved Your Chair” and “Brick by Brick” were amazing. “The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala,” aside from being a fantastic song title, recalled (of all bands) The Doors and late 60s/early 70s California.A very large highlight for me was the crowd. As the lads played their older songs, their ridiculously loyal fans sang (no, screamed) along with every word. I, of course, was one of them. In many ways, we were all part of the performance as they did “Still Take You Home,” “Teddy Picker,” “Crying Lightening” and all of the others.
Coming as the second to last song of the night, “The View From The Afternoon,” took on a whole new meaning. The first track on their first album, which sets up the journey that a late adolescent man takes as he imagines what sort of evening he is going to have round the pubs and clubs, seemed last night more like confirmation of a premonition fulfilled completely. In looking at their body of work, on full display at First Avenue, The Arctic Monkeys have managed to evolve past that young man while still maintaining that spark of anticipation of what will always be a fucking riot of a night if they are playing a gig.
For the full set list, click here.
For my photos from the evening, click here.
Here is a live performance of “The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala” from the Jools Holland Show.
Some Kind Of Fine
People make fun of me because I like the band Heart. Actually, I don’t just like them. I love them. I love Heart.
I ♥ Heart.
There, I’ve said it. Heap your crooked looks and gas faces all over me if you wish but they were, are and always will be a mega fucking band. Much of the reason why I think so has to do with those magic herbs that are still lingering around in me from the 70s. More importantly, they bring that sacred feminine spirit to rock music like no other band.
Their latest disc, Red Velvet Car, is quite good. The album came out last August but I just got around to buying it about a month ago. It is their first new studio album since 2004’s Jupiter’s Darling which I also enjoyed a great deal. New studio albums from Ann and Nancy have been sparse over the last couple of decades but what they lack in quantity they make up for in quality.
Their latest effort represents a return to the sound of Dreamboat Annie which is one of the greatest albums of all time. I have a number of things to say about that album but I will wait until I am drenched in the glorious heat of the summer before I share. I need to be in the right frame of mind to convey, in those debilitating things they call words, how I feel about that mystical piece of wonder.
For now, let’s take a look at Red Velvet Car. The album opens with a slinky rocker called “There You Go” and right away we can tell that Ann is in fine form. “WTF,” “Queen City,” and the title track firmly ensconce us in that groove that only Heart can carve. “WTF” goes for (and achieves) the power of “Barracuda.” But that’s the point, right?
After the first four tracks, we get to the album’s true gem. “Hey You” written and sung by Nancy. This is sacred feminine rock in all its beautiful acoustic glory. In many ways, Nancy Wilson is THE eternal rock and roll girl-carrying with her all the swagger and history of wine soaked passion. Hammer of the Gods indeed!
Next up we have a classic road song (“Wheels”) which made me laugh with its pomp and shameless preening for victory…reminding me quite well of MTV and the various Scorpions, Loverboy, and Journey videos I watched over and over again as a young lad. “Saffronia’s Mark” evokes the mystical whereas “Death Valley” dips a toe into Heart-1980s version. “Sunflower” is another Nancy track which means amazing. “Sand” rounds out the album proper (various editions have bonus tracks which are also quite good) and is another classic Annie reflection.
Chuckle all you want at me, folks, but I will always love this band. They are one of a very few bands that epitomize the spirit and legacy of rock and roll. Here is a video I found for “Hey You.” I recommend downloading the studio version though. My inner vagina is always soaked after listening to this one!
AZ Incoming: Old 97’s
The good Lord knows Dallas alt-country stalwarts Old 97s don’t come through my town very often. So on June 6th, you will be seeing my Old 97s lovin’ ass at Martini Ranch – in the heart of old town Scottsdale. The last time I saw them in town was May 9th, 2001 at the old Nita’s Hideaway in Tempe (the original one on Rio Salado), with the Honeydogs opening.
So mark your calendars for Monday, June 6th – less than three weeks away… grab your tickets here.
MP3: Oppenheimer (from Fight Songs
)
MP3: Salome (from Too Far To Care
)
Titus Andronicus at Coachella
Can’t catch Titus Andronicus live any time soon? Here’s the next best thing – their full set at Coachella.
Can’t git enough…Note about the video player – when you click the red arrow below, another page will launch with an annoying ad. Just close that window, come back here, and click the arrow again.
