News

Hey gang...well, too much day-job work has prevented proper updates. They are pending, I assure you. In the past two weeks I've seen Arcade Fire, !!!, and LCD Soundsystem. Tonight is The National, touring in support of Boxer, one of my ultra-faves of 2007. Reviews and visual goodies for all shows to come!!!

Midnight Records

The always-faithful losanjealous.com recently had an awesome article about independent hip hop shop Midnight Records. The shop's owner, Sam Fuston (above), and others expound on their fave records, hip hop marketing, and the future of the genre, among other things. Great, great read. (Photo courtesy losanjealous.com).

Album Roundup: August/September

Ok, in no particular order are some recent albums I've had in the mix, well, recently. If you're up on things, you'll know that none of these records are debuts. Two are sophomore efforts, several are a few records in, and one album is yet another release in a very dense catalog. This music ranges from respectable to amazing and I recommend checking out whatever you can get your hot little hands on. The list:

Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Minus the Bear - Planet of Ice
Pinback - Autumn of the Seraphs
The Go! Team - Proof of Youth
Hard Fi - Once Upon a Time In The West

Live: Animal Collective @ The Henry Fonda Theater - 9/18/07

Last night, accompanied by aspiring rapper Greater Good, I caught a sold-out Animal Collective show at The Henry Fonda Theater. The band is currently touring as a threesome and although I have no idea where Deakin was, Avey Tare, Geologist, and Panda Bear were in full freakout effect.

The last time I saw these critters, Deakin and Avey Tare played a lot of guitar, while Geologist ran electronics and Panda Bear pounded the skins and ran additional samplers and keyboards. Things were changed up a little last night. Avey Tare played guitar on only a few songs, and instead focused on delivering his incredible barrage of chants and shrieking. Both Panda Bear and Geologist ran multiple samplers and effects units. Panda also sang and banged on a floor tom, snare, and a few cymbals.

Based on recent live reviews, I expected only to hear tracks (and interludes) from their latest LP, the excellent Strawberry Jam. Although they played a lot of that record -- including mesmerizing interpretations of "Peacebone", "Fireworks", and "For Reverend Green" -- they also performed some choice cuts from Sung Tongs. The hypnotic "Leaf House" appeared early in the 1.5 hour set, and they closed with "Who Could Win A Rabbit".

After a near-seamless set, the animals left the stage and did not return. Honestly, they didn't have to. Animal Collective delivered a phenomenal performance that truly pushed the boundaries of sonic experimentation and made me believe that they owe a large debt to a secret musical witchdoctor deep in a forgotten forest.

As you can see in my craptastic pictures, the band is ready for Halloween. I sure hope those skeletons are made of peacebone.

Live: The Flaming Lips @ The Uptown Theater - 9/12/07

Alert readers Kfuture and Jenny-Jen attended a performance by The Flaming Lips tonight at Kansas City's Uptown Theater. (That's Kansas City, Missouri for those of you taking notes.) I saw Bela Fleck there back in June of '99 and remember the venue to be a good early Twentieth Century American theater. It boasts a capacity of around 1,500 -- a nice size for The Flaming Lips to flex some live muscles.

According to my esteemed & embedded concert-going colleagues, the Lips played for 2.5 hours in one of their best shows "ever". They performed several tracks from each of At War With The Mystics, Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, and The Soft Bulletin. The band pounded 1993's "She Don't Use Jelly" in one of two encores, and a Zaireeka track poked its head in as well. Somewhere near the end they performed The Rolling Stones' "Moonlight Mile".

Apparently, the band gave laser pointers to everyone in the audience for some crazy Wayne Coyne mirror/heart laser reflection experiment. Killer, man!

Top photo by Jenny-Jen, bottom by Kfuture.

Live: Art Brut @ The Key Club - 9/11/07

Last night I caught the hilarious and fun Art Brut at the Key Club. The Lady Doc couldn't make it due to professional commitments, and despite my best efforts at selling her ticket, I ended up donating it to the Ice Cream Man. Hopefully he gave it to a lucky fan along with an Astro Pop.

Although the Key Club is down the street from my office, I had never been there until this show. It's rare that a band I care about plays there--it seems to be somewhat of a random venue. Ice-T was there recently, they host something called "Metal Skool" every Monday, and David Allan Coe, The Kottonmouth Kings, and Q-Tip are all upcoming acts. Not a bad venue, but definitely not a place I'll be going to regularly.

Anyway, on to the main event. Art Brut were exactly what I though they would be: peppy, fun, funny, and extremely entertaining. The band was about as good as they could be live and Eddie Argos was in full effect, spouting off about how we (the audience) must form a band, jumping rope with the mic cable, and pogoing through the audience during "Modern Art". He went on a few tangents, and the funniest was about the band's trip to Disneyland and Disney's California Adventure. He couldn't get over the absurdity of having a California-themed park in California.

A few asides. The drummer doesn't have a drum throne; he plays standing upright through the entire show. I found the mix to be OK, but the lead guitar was definitely too quiet given the presence it's supposed to play in the songs. Also, the bass was loud (but not too loud), but the sound was slightly too bright for my taste.

Pretty much every song was awesome. Highlights included "Blame It On The Trains", "People In Love", "Late Sunday Evening", "Modern Art", "Direct Hit", "My Little Brother", "Nag Nag Nag", "Emily Kane", and "Rusted Guns of Milan" (a snippet of which is included below).

Septemberly

Lots of stuff this month in the music world. Stay tuned for pics and reviews!