Whoa, I’m so stoked about this. Tomorrow (February 11), the Buzzcocks are doing a show in Amsterdam. UK site Fab Channel will be streaming it live on the web, starting at 11:30 am PST and 2:30 pm EST – nothing like a punk show while you’re at your desk working. If you’re not sure if you should bother to put on your headphones and watch (hint: you should), you can check out their website, Myspace page, Wikipedia entry, or this previous z=z post.
Here’s the webcast site: link.
Brooklyn-based The Bloodsugars are doing a show at the All-Asia in Cambridge on Saturday night (February 7). Man, there’s all these great East Coast bands that aren’t making it out to the West Coast. If you’re on the right side of the country, go check out The Bloodsugars sweet indie pop. While they are presumably supporting their recent release, BQEP, they have do two songs on the 1980s cover album Guilt By Association 2; I know I’d have my fingers crossed for their version of Chris De Burgh’s “Lady in Red.”
While we’ve previously discussed the role of advertising in getting new music heard here at zed equals zee, it’s just come surprisingly close to home. Nike decided to use a riff from the song “Guilty,” by Boston band and z=z faves Electric Laser People for their “Be Transformed” campaign. The song is part of the soundtrack for an ad called “Punching Bag,” which features Hong Kong volleyball player Sonia Kong working out with a heavy bag, which then transforms into an animated monster. The whole ad campaign is really interesting, actually – it’s for Nike Women, and it focuses on women transforming themselves through sports and competition. Given that its target market is Asia and the Pacific Rim (including countries like India, mainland China and the Philippines), it really does send a strong message to cultures that haven’t traditionally valued women.
You can read more about it at the ELP blog and at TrashBagAesthetics, where you can also watch the ads. Or you can see them in the wild at one of the Nike pages, such as this page for India.
Because Electric Laser People are super cool, you can download their whole album, Straight Talk on Raising Kids, at their site (it’s free and under a Creative Commons license). Also, you should go check them out live at the All-Asia Cafe in Cambridge, MA on February 27, and if you are an MIT person (or enjoy hanging out with MIT people), they are playing The Thirsty Ear next Friday, February 13th. More tour dates at their blog.
Tomorrow night (Thursday, January 29) is the premiere of “Influenza,” a new Boston-based monthly show that features local artists playing a mix of their original material and covers of songs that influenced them (hence the title). I think this is a great idea – one of the things that makes it a little tough to see a new band for the first time is the absence of the familiar. You don’t really know what they sound like, or what to expect, and unless you are a dedicated neophile, that’s a little off-putting. “Influenza” makes it a little easier to go out and try some new music, because you know you’ll hear something you’ll recognize, even if it’s from a band you’ve never heard before. Conversely, however, you’ll get to hear original music too – it’s a far cry from cheesy cover bands.
So go check out the show tomorrow night at Great Scott. If you need some additional motivation, this show includes z=z faves (and fellow bloggers) The Motion Sick.
Boston Globe article on Influenza
MP3: The Motion Sick – 30 Lives [buy]
So, last Friday, my friend dragged me out to see this guy Jonathan Colton. We got there right at eight and we didn’t have to wait very long at all, which was good because my mom wanted me home by 11. *pout*
The opening band were pretty fun – I don’t really remember their name. Paul and…something? Thunder? But ewww! One of them got some things called jafa cakes, they didn’t really look like cakes, they looked more like cookies and he dropped one on the floor and HE PICKED IT UP AND ATE IT! EWWW GROSS!!!
I didn’t really get a lot of the main guys songs. There seemed to be a lot of robots. And there was something about a vacuum cleaner? All of the songs seemed to be about guys who have crushes on girls. Just ask them out already! Unless you’re really a dork, cause then they’ll probably just say no.
All in all, it was a pretty good concert. I got to wear a really cute outfit but it was really, really cold in the theatre so I had to keep my coat on so no one could see it. But it was still really cute.
Current mood: 🙂 happy
[For those of you thinking ‘WTF?’, today is Rabbit Hole Day. For those of you not thinking ‘WTF?’, might I refer you to some of my other postings? If you actually prefer this one, you may wish to return to the LiveJournal from whence you came. And my sincerest apologies to Jonathan Coulton and to Paul and Storm.]
We’ve spent a bunch of time here at z=z discussing different models for the future of music. Here’s an interesting one. Boston-based Illius Rock runs ‘campaigns’ for artists. Emerging artists ask their fans to make contributions, typically for studio expenses, to shoot videos, touring and the like. In exchange, fans get treats, like exclusive songs, parties, cameos in music videos and the like. Interested in learning more? They’re throwing a launch party tonight (Monday, January 26th) at the Middlesex Lounge in Cambridge, featuring z=z faves The Main Drag.
MP3: The Main Drag – A Jagged Gorgeous Winter
[via Bradley’s Almanac]
Word on the street (well, actually, in the coffee shop) is that the Seattle’s famed Crocodile Cafe, which closed abruptly nearly a year ago, is on track to re-open. While the Croc is still pretty mum and the website is still under construction, The Ting Tings are scheduled to play on April 12th. zed equals zee didn’t relocate to Seattle until after it closed, so I am really looking forward to checking it out.
(thanks to Peter for the tip!)
The Constantines and the Weakerthans are teaming up again to reprise their 2005 Rolling Tundra Revue tour. As the name suggests, they’ll be touring all across Canada, starting in St Johns, Newfoundland in March 2009 and ending with a show in Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. They won’t be crossing into the US on this tour, but I’ll probably brave the border crossing to catch one of the Vancouver shows in early May.
Full tour details at Epitaph’s site.
[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t view it, click here]
[TT the Bear’s, Cambridge, MA; Saturday, December 6, 2008]
I really love Ted Leo. So it was terrific to seem him do a solo gig at the tiny TT the Bear’s in Cambridge, MA (capacity: about 300), even if it was utterly jammed. The setlist focused on his earlier albums and a succession of wonderful covers, including Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” as a set closer. He also reprised his cover of “Fisherman’s Blues” by the Waterboys; you can hear his version during this NPR interview, and the original is below. The Cambridge gig is the start of the tour, and the rest of the dates are here.
One of the bands that’s on constant repeat in my media player right now is Pittsburgh’s Good Night, States. They sound like a stripped-down version of Arcade Fire – a little bit more catchy, and a little less bombastic. While they’ve been getting some good press (like this Spin article), I’m more impressed that I can’t help but stop whatever I’m doing to just listen whenever “Spring is the Winter’s End” comes on. They also get the z=z stamp of approval for making all their songs available on a pay-what-you-will basis at their website.
Good Night, States will be playing the All Asia in Cambridge, MA on November 21st, and here’s a live video to give you a taste of what to expect. I asked Megan Lindsey (vox, keys, trumpet) if there were any plans for a West Coast tour. Sadly not, but she did mention that they were looking for a booking agent, and she offered up a case of Franktuary hot dogs as an additional inducement (Megan is the owner-operator of the cathedral-based hot dog stand). I’m happy to personally attest to how good the hot dogs are, and I’d add my gratitude to hers if you are someone who can get Good Night, States to visit this coast.
Good Night, States [website]
MP3: Good Night, States – Spring is the Winter’s End (Down to the Heart) (buy)
[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here]
[Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA; October 20, 2008]
I’ve seen the Mountain Goats umpteen times, and every show that I’ve been to has been amazing – I’ve never been to a show where I felt like John Darnielle has given less than his best. Last night was no exception, and the superlative Mountain Goats performance was only highlighted by opener Kaki King.
There’s a fable for artists, whose source is now lost to me. The story is that two budding potters were taking a class. One neophyte potter was told that his efforts should go towards making the perfect pot, and that he would be graded on the perfection on a single piece. The second was told that she would be graded on the volume of pots that she turned out; that she shouldn’t worry much about any given pot, as her grade would just be based on the total number. At the end of the class, the student who was just interested in getting pots made was making better pots than the student who agonized over making each one perfect. I thought of this story last night as the Mountain Goats played ‘Going to Georgia.’ It’s an astonishing piece of songwriting, a perfect merger of music, lyrics, and emotion. I once listened to it a dozen times in a row, and each time I heard “she smiled as she eased the gun from my hand,” I felt like someone had reached into my chest and torqued my heart. Darnielle is famously prolific and, like the potter in the story, it’s clear that he’s honed his craft. It comes through in both the quality of individual songs and in the sheer depth of stellar songs from his catalog that he can draw from for his live shows.
As well as being an exceptional songwriter, Darnielle is a phenomenal performer. He always comes across as happy to be performing and fully engaged in his interactions with his band and with the audience. One of the manifestations of this is his between-song banter. A highlight last night was his response to shouted-out song requests. Like most musicians, Darnielle doesn’t do requests from the audience. (listen up, concertgoers!) He described his response in terms of Kafka’s The Castle, in which the protagonist tries to convince the guards to let him in. “The guards say, “You can give us money. We wouldn’t want you to feel like you hadn’t tried everything you could.” So he gives them his money, and they take it, and they still don’t play Ace of Bass.”
Darnielle’s onstage gifts were thrown into stark relief by his tourmate and collaborator, Kaki King. It’s abundantly clear that King is technically proficient, and I’m happy to see a guitar goddess get added to the mostly male pantheon. But her performance was insular. She barely engaged with her band, much less the audience, and her few remarks were surprisingly mean-spirited. She introduced what I presume was her best-known song with, “I’m contractually obligated to play this song. So you can all touch yourselves now.” Not a very effective way to endear yourself to your existing fans, much less win over new ones. And I’m sorry, Ms. King – you’re just not famous enough to be bored with playing your ‘hits.’ The only time she seemed seriously engaged with anything besides her guitar was when she was sharing a stage with Darnielle – she was smiling, facing him, and her body language said, loud and clear, “I’m playing with you!” (they performed several songs from the Black Pear Tree EP and the Smiths’ ‘I’m so Sorry’). King has a lot to learn from her tourmate, who is admittedly a master – I would follow John Darnielle into Hell if he sang and played his guitar as we went, and I’m sure I’m not alone.
The fifth edition of Seattle’s Decibel Festival begins on Thursday, September 25 and ends on Sunday, September 28. And when they say ‘begins’ and ‘ends,’ they really mean it. With a full line-up of afternoon activities (like dB in the Park) and after-hours parties, it’ll be going pretty much non-stop. Multiple evening shows reward springing for a pass to facilitate dashing from venue to venue in Capitol Hill – for example, my Thursday night schedule has Stewart Walker at Sole Repair, followed by Barbara Morgenstern at Neumos, and wrapping up with Attentat at the Baltic Room. Other highlights include Audion and Carl Craig on Saturday night, and The Bug and Supermayer on Sunday night – you might want to clear your schedule for Monday morning.
MP3: Claude VonStroke – Who’s Afraid of Detroit (Audion remix)
Previously: xkcd on techno, The zen garden theory of minimal techno, Techno and impressionable young minds
Image: Robert Babicz @ Neumos, Decibel Festival, 9/22/2007 by Flickr user donte, reposted here under its Creative Commons license.
[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here]
[Showbox at the Market, Seattle, WA; September 17, 2008]
Note to Okkervil River: Let your bassist sing on more songs.
Previously: Upcoming: Okkervil River and Sea Wolf
There’s a lit-inspired-band-name double bill this week – Okkervil River (from a short story by Tatyana Tolstaya) and Sea Wolf (which I presume has some relation to the Jack London novel by the same name). They’re playing together at the Showbox, here in Seattle, this Wednesday, September 17th. Okkervil River are supporting their new album The Stand Ins, and I imagine that Sea Wolf will show off some new music since their last tour, which followed the release of 2007’s Leaves in the River.
Coincidentally, even as I write this, Okkervil River’s brilliant new track, “Lost Coastlines,” just came on over the speakers at my beloved local coffee shop, Fuel. I predict some serious audience participation at the concert when it comes to the ‘la la la’s towards the end of the song.
MP3 link: Okkervil River – Lost Coastlines (at RCRD LBL)
[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here]
I think that Sunday’s highlight was Cut Copy, despite everything. They were delayed at the airport and ended up doing an abbreviated set that conflicted with the headliners, Spoon. While the real diehards waited it out through Mike Reed‘s ‘psychedelic doo-wop stylings,’ the rest of us (like me and my friend Jon) headed over to catch the Spoon set, keeping one ear out for the sounds of joyful electropop from the Balance Stage. We returned to immerse ourselves in the mass of dancing indie fans and catch the last couple of songs – it was a great close-out to the fest. And short but intense wins again.
How did I ever forget how much I love Jarvis Cocker, the charismatic former frontman and principal of Pulp, especially since he wrote one of my favourite songs of all time? (“Common People,” off the 1995 album Different Class.) His self-titled solo album came out in 2006, and he played a set at the Pitchfork Music Festival on Saturday night. The standout song was the as-yet-unrecorded “Girls Like It Too”. Cocker introduced it as being based on a line from a reassuring letter that John Peel wrote to his brother as he (the brother) was just becoming sexually aware, which was read aloud at Peel’s funeral in 2004. (The YouTube video, above, is from the March 2008 premiere of the song in Buenos Aires.) And in a typically classy note, Cocker’s encore was the 1987 track “Face It” by Master C & J, a shoutout to Chicago as the birthplace of house. (thanks to Erich for helping me identify the artist).
Previously: Pitchfork highlights: Friday, Mission of Burma
I’m not going to comprehensively blog the 2008 Pitchfork Music Festival; instead I’ll point you here and here and here (and I’m sure you’ll find others, if you’re interested). Rather, I’m just going to focus on one artist from each day.
Unsurprisingly, Mission of Burma was my personal highlight from Friday, playing their album Vs as part of the All Tomorrow’s Parties ‘Don’t Look Back’ series. The played a few non-Vs tracks to start (so that fans would have the ‘definitive edition’) and, as always, they were ferocious and compelling live. As that comment suggests, they also had a signal sense of humour about the artificiality of playing an entire album, in order, including starting each ‘side’ with the sounds of crackly vinyl.
The YouTube link above is of a live performance of the last track on the album, “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate.” I don’t know yet if Pitchfork is archiving the live video; stay tuned.
The Pitchfork Music Festival has finally arrived! It kicks off at 6 pm CDT tonight with z=z local heroes Mission of Burma, performing their album Vs. in its entirety. If you’re not able to attend, the entire festival is being webcast. Given the high potential for a Midwestern version of a Glastonbury-style mudfest – the forecast is for thunderstorms all three days – that might be the best way to experience the concert. No word on whether the vids will be archived for your later enjoyment.
[embedded YouTube video; if you can’t see it, click here]
[Park West, Chicago, IL; June 14, 2008]
The songwriter Darrell Brown wrote in the New York Times’ ‘Measure for Measure’ blog that every good song needs three things: honesty, humanity, and hooks.
An honest song will show innocence, vulnerability and strength all at the same time…Then, it has to be full of humanity, and by that I mean the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual sides of humanity. The big themes — the brokenness and the triumph of it all….Then, finally — and this is extremely important to a song — it has to be filled with hooks, basically because I don’t want to bore people to death with all the honesty and humanity I am parading about.
By this measure (and, really, any other you care to name), Billy Bragg is a brilliant songwriter. I haven’t listened to much Billy Bragg recently, and I was struck by how much his songs have the power to move me emotionally. This was true of not only his older songs like “Sexuality,” but also songs from his new album, Mr. Love & Justice, including “I Keep Faith” and “Farm Boy,” both which I heard for the first time last night.
Bragg is also a remarkable performer – as he wryly put it last night, “You got to have a bit of showmanship – otherwise, it’s just folk music, innit?” This was my first Billy Bragg concert, and I hadn’t realized that his shows are about equally split between music and comic/political monologue (as the quote from his manager, near the start of the video above, suggests) – he makes Ted Leo seem taciturn. Occasionally, the humour and the music merged, such as when he played The Who’s “Pinball Wizard” in the style of Johnny Cash, or when he snuck the opening to the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” into the long guitar outro of “The Saturday Boy” – in deference to his older fans, whom he suspected might not get the joke, he followed it up with the famous riff from Deep Purple’s “Smoke on the Water.”
The only wrong note of the night was the venue, the Park West in Chicago. Think modernist dinner theatre – black and silver, all small tables and booths, with everyone was seated through the performance. The acoustics were terrific, but I’m not sure I need table service and I’m really not a fan of the insanely overpriced drinks ($9 for a tiny shot of Maker’s). What took it from oddly cushy to actually disturbing, however, was the superfluity of a bathroom attendant, an older black woman no less. It felt anachronistic – like I had time-traveled back to before the civil rights era. The cognitive dissonance of that, at the concert of a man who’s spent his life fighting against racism and sexism, left me reeling.
More Billy Bragg: website myspace emusic
Also check out his Wikipedia entry and his blog.
Sloan’s new album, Parallel Play, drops next Tuesday, June 10th. They are supporting it with a short tour and will be hitting Cambridge, MA on June 18th (yes, I will be there), returning to TT the Bear’s. I saw them the last time they were there – as well as being enormously fun live, they had the best response to Cambridge’s rather draconian curfew that I’ve ever encountered. They announced that they wouldn’t bother with a (manufactured) encore. Instead, they played until the stroke of 1am. Chris Murphy was fronting the band for the last song, and when they finished, he just set aside his guitar, sat down on the edge of the stage, and began to chat with the fans.
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