- Doug Stephen in FOR FUCK SAKE EVERYONE KNOCK IT OFF WITH THE GOD DAMNED ACCORDIONS JESUS CHRIST Woah, okay Vice Magazine.
- Doug Stephen in Vampire Weekend - S/T I’ve never listened to a solo Paul Simon record, or to Graceland, so I don’t know about that. But the songs I’ve heard by Vampire Weekend...
- bjyhore in New Single: Patrick Wolf’s “Accident and Emergency” She had actually been robbed of it cant be cruel. Mistress. I could do. jennifer lopez porn Three.
This is the big summer edition. It’s pretty epic. They use STP’s Vaseline as the opening preview song, which is too bad. There is some really good stuff on this one. Click more to keep reading.
Here’s the full lineup (finally!) for the 2008 Lollapalooza, held in Chicago August 1-3. I have starred the bands I am excited about seeing, since I know you all care.
Radiohead*
Rage Against the Machine
Nine Inch Nails*
Kanye West
Wilco*
The Raconteurs
Louis XIV
Love and Rockets*
Gnarls Barkley
Bloc Party
The Black Keys*
Broken Social Scene
Lupe Fiasco
Flogging Molly
Mark Ronson
Cat Power
The National*
G. Love & Special Sauce
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
Explosions in the Sky
Brand New
Gogol Bordello
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
Dierks Bentley
Okkervil River*
Amadou & Mariam*
Blues Traveler Read more »
They blew the opener, and lived to tell about it. The second of two opening acts didn’t strum his guitar once during his set, and still won over some hearts. It was a night where all’s forgiven in advance, and the obsequious audience had everything to do with it (picture it: the guys all look like Alan Ginsberg (throughout various portions of his career, of course), and the girls were either bookish aerobics leaders, Sharon Tates or modern Emily Dickinsons).
Marla Hansen, violinist of Lekman’s band, opened. She instinctively told the crowd that they were great, but her set had to compete heavily with the white noise of conversation. PIty the opening bands that play the Logan Square Auditorium, because it takes at least two opening acts for hipsters to trade stories about the latest shows they’ve seen, and their favorite band’s side projects.
Theoretically, I have a problem with bands (read: musical acts comprised of at least one person) whose live show consists entirely of hitting ‘play’ on a laptop and singing into a microphone. I guess I’d better get over that old-fashioned hang-up… Honeydrips (aka Mikael Carlsson) has some lovely songs, though it would be nice to engage the audience with something in a live show that a download can’t offer.
By the time the audience was done impressing itself with indie insider-trading, Lekman took the stage with a smaller sortie than in his November appearance, and relied to a heavier degree on the laptop, which wreaked havoc on the set opener ‘I’m Leaving You Because I Don’t Love You.’ But for that blunder, they expiated with a lively ‘Opposite of Hallelujah’, infused by the Chairmen of the Board’s ‘Give Me Just a Little More Time’. Digital gimmickry validated, the band, after an anecdote from Jens about the ’silly’ song he wrote when he was 17, went into the second of their two biggest crowd-pleasers, ‘Black Cab’. This sounds, on paper, like too much too early, but Jens has a lengthy, solid cannon with someone’s favorite song always waiting to be played next. Most of us knew intimately every number in the setlist, so there was no protest to new song ‘New Directions’ about getting lost in Gothenburg. But as hungry for new material as is his audience, the real rejoicing was reserved for oldies but goodies like ‘Maple Leaves’ and ‘You Are The Light’. Nonetheless, it was the material from Kortedala, particularly ‘Nina’ and ‘Shirin’ that made so clear why it is one of the top albums of last year (my personal favorite).
Jens’ act thrived on the intimacy that was not possible at his other big Chicago appearance in Pitchfork, and the verbose audience was particularly attentive when the band left Lekman alone to play ‘Shirin’ and ‘Friday Night at the Drive In Bingo’ before the faux close of the set. If the band was a little desultory (which is not the pejorative it usually is), Jens’ quieter moments confirmed his gifts as a confident songwriter and performer, much more at home with 1,000 people than with one.
Portland’s New Bloods are amazing. Drums, bass, and violin in tow, they rock out riot-grrl/dance-party style. Their first full-length album, “The Secret Life” is coming out on Kill Rock Stars this Tuesday. They’re playing a label showcase with Panther and Horse Feathers of which I will be in attendance before heading out on a tour of the mid-west, east coast, and then Europe.
Bass player Cassia, my coworker and good friend (yes, we rep for our friends around here. big deal.) has taken time out from working, rehearsing, and planning a three month tour and answered The Five Questions.
1. when historians listen to your most recent CD 1000 years from now,what will they say?
>>>Well, I honestly am not so sure there will be anyone living on earth in 1000 years, let alone copies of our album still in existence, due to the great catastrophes that are only bound to occur…but, I guess if that were to happen, that they’d say, “What is this beautiful noise? We must find these ladies graves and resurrect them from the dead with our crazy technology so they can play for us in the future.”
2. if you could play a show with any band/musician living or dead, who would you pick and why?
>>>I think we would pick either Sun Ra or Fela Kuti. Everything about their performance, the music, the dancing, the energy, would just be amazing to see and be a part of.
3. what is the strangest band-related dream (one of) you have had?
>>>For me, I think it’s like dreaming about work. You just dream about the things you actually do during the day. So, when I dream about New Bloods, it’s us sitting in the car, driving for hours, farting, smoking weed and making jokes.
4. what do your fans look like?
>>>Like wonderful people. They all have special light in their eyes and are the kindest, sweetest, most loving. These are emotional people we’re talking about. Their eyes get moist.
5. what bullshit do you run into at most every show that makes you think “man, this bullshit again?”
>>>Well, loading, unloading, loading and unloading is always a pain. And, we are always losing or breaking equipment. On our last tour, during our first two shows, someone broke the tambourine so then we were out one for the rest of the tour. It’s cool though.
As if this should come as a surprise to anyone… nonetheless, one of the most storied let-downs in rock history now comes to a predictable close. The band’s promo company declined to release further details, so it’s up to us to speculate why this happened. I’ll start the Top 10 Reasons Why Scott Weiland Left Velvet Revolver:
10) Slash having to be constantly reminded that every solo isn’t supposed to sound like ‘November Rain’.
Reasons 9-1… I’m sure you can all do more damage, so get on it!
