FOO FIGHTERS, TALIB KWELI, RYAN ADAMS & MORE TAP SINGER
On November 16th, Norah Jones will release …Featuring, an album of collaborations from the past decade. The 18 songs include duets with OutKast, Q-Tip, Talib Kweli and more.
“A lot of the people on this record are people I’ve worshiped since I was a kid, and some of them are younger and more my contemporaries,” says Jones. “Even though the musicians are so varied, the vibe of the songs makes sense when we put them all together.”
The tracks on …Featuring span her entire career, from one of her earliest recording sessions with guitarist Charlie Hunter in 2001 to her most recent performance, a song called “Little Lou, Ugly Jack, Prophet John” that she cut with Belle and Sebastian.
New Album
Tracklist
1. The Little Willies – “Love Me”
2. The Foo Fighters feat. Norah Jones – “Virginia Moon”
3. Sean Bones feat. Norah Jones – “Turn Them”
4. Willie Nelson feat. Norah Jones – “Baby It’s Cold Outside”
5. Norah Jones and Sasha Dobson – “Bull Rider”
6. Dirty Dozen Brass Band feat. Norah Jones – “Ruler of My Heart”
7. El Madmo – “The Best Part”
8. Outkast feat. Norah Jones – “Take Off Your Cool”
9. Q-Tip feat. Norah Jones – “Life Is Better”
10. Talib Kweli feat. Norah Jones – “Soon the New Day”
11. Belle & Sebastian feat. Norah Jones – “Little Lou, Prophet Jack, Ugly John”
12. Ray Charles feat. Norah Jones – “Here We Go Again”
13. Norah Jones feat. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
14. Ryan Adams feat. Norah Jones – “Dear John”
15. Norah Jones feat. Dolly Parton – “Creepin’ In”
16. Herbie Hancock feat. Norah Jones – “Court & Spark”
17. Charlie Hunter feat. Norah Jones – “More Than This”
18. Norah Jones feat. M. Ward – “Blue Bayou”
Austin City Limits Festival :: 10.08.10-10.10.10 :: Zilker Park :: Austin, TX
Extensive gallery of Vann-y goodness at bottom of this review!
Miike Snow :: ACL ’10 by Dave Vann
Austin City Limits Music Festival celebrated its 9th birthday last weekend by once again assembling an eclectic array of artists representing nearly every facet of modern, popular music while executing a nearly flawless production with spot-on set times, the highest quality sound and light systems, and delicious local food and drink (with little or no lines).. Heck, even the weather was perfect this year with all three days seeing bright blue skies and endless sunshine with temperatures in the mid-to-high 80s. In fact, the weather was one of the bigger storylines this year after the rain and mud bath of last year’s fest, the dust bowl of 2005, and the searing heat of the early years when the festival took place in mid-September.
ACL has established itself as one of the top festivals in the country since its inception 9 years ago. Tickets for this year’s event were sold out months in advance with “early-bird” tickets selling out in a couple days, way before the artist lineup was even announced. There is a certain flare and character one finds and feels at ACL that seems to be missing from other festivals of similar size and scope. Whereas other festivals create their own temporary micro-culture for the short life of the fest, ACL is distinctly Austin. The local culture shines through constantly and makes ACL special. Austin is weird, hip and funky, yet also very warm, down-to-earth and unpretentious. There is an undeniable southern charm and hospitality present.
This year’s festival saw 68,000 paid attendees pass through its gates with an additional 5,000 volunteers, vendors, media and sponsors. The festival producers, C3 Presents, recently negotiated a new attendance limit with the city of Austin raising the limit from 65,000 to 75,000. Locals and festival regulars stated they immediately noticed a difference in crowd size. Although still manageable, ease of movement around the festival grounds was an issue at times. This writer’s personal pet peeve regarding this issue was the amount of chairs that festivalgoers bring to ACL. Bringing a chair to an all-day fest to rest one’s feet and body is fine, however, I found at any given time over 50-percent of said chairs where sitting empty, unattended and simply clogging foot traffic. Oh well, if this is one of few criticisms that can be made of a festival this large, things are not too bad at all.
As anyone who has ever attended a festival of this size knows, there are always inevitable conflicts when it comes to the scheduling of bands. Not only do bands that you want to see play at the same time they are also typically playing a considerable distance apart. One would ideally have a doppelganger in order to experience twice the music and twice the fun. Unfortunately, our current reality does not allow for revelry with your evil twin. What follows is a snapshot of the daily highlights I was fortunate enough to experience. By no means is this an exhaustive list of everything magnificent that went down at ACL.
This high energy, electro-pop outfit from Sweden kicked ACL into high gear for the first time this weekend during their Friday afternoon set. Just prior to taking the stage, you could feel the anticipation in the air as several thousand people packed the Honda Stage area. Wearing all black with shiny silver face masks, Miike Snow pounded rhythmic, heavy drum beats interlaced with electronic glitch that reminded me of The Blue Man Group in a way, only these performers were creating forward thinking, live electronic music. Driving “house” beats lifted the energy high and created an ACL dance party. It is generally considered poor etiquette to cover another band’s song when that band is on the same bill the same evening, however, when the lead singer of the covered band actually comes onstage and sings the song himself the stamp of approval has been granted. Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend joined Miike Snow for a revved-up, electro version of “The Kids Don’t Stand a Chance” to the delight of the surprised thousands lucky enough to witness this unexpected, unusual collaboration.. Miike Snow delivered a smart, energizing set that gave everyone the feeling that more great things are sure to come.
Trumping the anticipation level felt before Miike Snow, the buzz in the air prior to The Black Keys taking the stage was palpable. This dynamic duo exploded onto the stage creating the sound of seemingly twice as many musicians. The set began with guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney playing songs from their earlier catalogue, with Carney, face beat-red, looking like his head might explode. Midway through the set, a full band joined the core duo to play songs off the recent and critically acclaimed Brothers album. Although Auerbach and Carney can create songs packed with depth and power by themselves, the addition of more musicians took their sound to even higher levels. With a stage backdrop of two hands in black & red joined in a “soul-brother” shake, a feeling of solidarity and brotherhood was omnipresent.
Personally, this was one of the sets to which I was most looking forward. Although outside the typical “box” for ACL, The Sword blasted their classic metal sound in front of hometown Austin to the delight of many longing for a bit of crunch in their ACL diet. Flying V guitars, bell-bottoms and synchronized jamming made me feel like I was in a rock ‘n’ roll time warp at times. Sporting the only mosh pit of the weekend, this set of smart metal put a sense of frenzy in the air as the festival continued to unfold. Kudos to ACL for stretching the musical palette and scope of the fest to include a band such as The Sword.
Bingham is one of the newest, freshest faces in the alt-country scene these days. Country rock elements interplay well with a nice pop sensibility. Bingham’s gravely voice is reminiscent of Dylan and his delivery reminds one of Steve Earle. Already a Golden Globe and Oscar winner for his contributions to the Crazy Heart soundtrack, Bingham is well on his way to being regarded as one of alt-country’s finest contributors. He is certainly breathing fresh life into a genre that has had its fair share of bland imitators over the past few years.
If Phish play a festival it is typically their own gathering and it’s all about them. It was therefore a special treat to be able to enjoy a Phish set while experiencing the numerous other great bands playing at ACL. Although the set did not have the “melt-your-face-off” energy level some had longed for, the boys nonetheless delivered a spirited two-hour set of Phish standards.
Blind Pilot at the intimate, legendary Austin landmark Stubb’s was a real treat. I must say this was the first time a band gave me the chills during the ACL weekend. Blind Pilot’s warm, soothing melodies and lyrics make you feel like they are constantly giving you a big hug while reassuring you everything is going to be okay. Excellent song craft accented with brass, strings and vibraphone create rich, pleasant sounds that naturally appeal to a wide audience.
This high-octane garage rock band blew up the stage on a hot, sunny Saturday afternoon. I got a strong Stooges vibe from this band as all its members bounced around the stage with searing energy reminiscent of Iggy Pop. I thought drummer Joe Bradley’s head was going to pop off at times as he constantly snapped and thrashed back and forth during each song. He even managed to sing lead on some songs. Black Lips deliver power rock anthems better than just about any band out there. Their boundless energy fed the crowed well and put ACL into overdrive going into Saturday evening.
The Broken Bells live performance was equally as impressive as their critically acclaimed studio album, considered by many to be one of the best of 2010. The brainchild of mega-producer and mult-instrumentalist Danger Mouse with Shins frontman James Mercer, Broken Bells creates forward thinking, cutting edge pop songs. I was most impressed with seeing Danger Mouse recreate his brilliant drum lines live on an acoustic drum kit. Broken Bells is a much more organic rock band live than on album. In Broken Bells, the producers of ACL once again perfectly juxtaposed progressive modern music within backdrop of American roots music.
Dressed in sharp black suits and ties, this super group is quintessential ACL. MMJ’s Jim James, Coner Oberst (Bright Eyes), M. Ward and Mike Mogis (Bright Eyes, Mystic Valley Band) put on a excellent set of music performing both MOF songs as well as material from their respective other projects. Simple, solid American roots music is what MOF is all about. Unfortunately, the acoustic nature of MOF was obstructed by noise bleed from other stages. Other stages were showcasing loud, Saturday night rock & roll that often interfered with the much more subtle nature of MOF. Jim James claimed he hired the other bands to play at the same time as MOF in order to make their set that much more challenging. Although an annoyance, the band and crowd took the noise interference in graceful stride.
This was one of the “throw-down” sets of the entire weekend. A warm, bright orange sun set on the stage as LCD raised the festival energy level to new heights. It was a high-energy dance party and a perfect fit for Saturday night. Putting their own stamp on Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love,” LCD got thousands of people moving, shaking, feeling good and feeling the love.
This was by far the surprise set of the weekend for me. I was blown away by the power and heaviness of their music. Deep, thunderous bass lines seemed to shake the ground I was standing on while lasers shot across the length Zilker Park for what seemed like miles. Muse has an incredible stage and light show that is backed with heavy-handed music containing elements of metal, prog, glam and Brit-rock. It seemed like a fusion of Tool and Radiohead with a dash of Queen. I now see why Muse has been selling out arenas all over the world for the past few years. I can’t wait to see them again.
Beats Antique w/ Lance Herbstrong – Late Night – MoMo’s
Lance Herbstrong got this late night party started right with their uber-fun set filled with big beats and a unique take on the Beastie Boys’ “Sabatoge.” Featuring Frank Orall of Poi Dog Pondering on drums, Herbstrong put on a carefree set that had everyone at MoMo’s moving. Beats Antique then took over and hypnotized the crowd with their enchanting old-world gypsy meets electronica sound. The crowd was also treated to special guest appearances by John Popper and Karl Denson, both of whom nearly blew the roof off the joint with their respective lung power.
This indie, psychedelic folk rock band out of New York hit the right spot as Day 3 ensued. Blue skies with cotton ball clouds perfectly accented Yeasayer’s dreamy, electro-laced tunes. As lead singer Chris Keating began singing “give it, give it, give it ’til you just can’t give no more ” it seemed the theme was set for the day.
Once again this weekend, one could feel the high anticipation in the air as another special band neared the stage. Edward Sharpe and the Zeros brought an ecstatic energy to ACL comparable to a Sunday southern revival. Immediately jumping off the stage and climbing onto the barricade separating the crowd from the stage, ringleader Alex Ebert hugged and high-fived everyone within arms reach. Appearing almost messiah-like at times, Ebert broadcast a feeling of redemption and renewal.
One can never go wrong go seeing Wayne Coyne and Co. at a festival, of which they play many. Always entertaining, the Lips seemingly create a birthday party on acid every time they perform. Streamers, balloons and random, fuzzy creatures adorn the Lips’ stage while their music makes you glad you were born and fortunate enough to witness such brilliance.
These classic rock heroes were a fitting end to ACL. Although sounding a bit tired at times, it was a special experience to witness the tens of thousands of ACL attendees singing along with the band to their countless hits. “Hotel California,” “Seven Bridges Road”, “Lyin’ Eyes,” “Witchy Woman,” “Heartache Tonight,” “In the City,” “Peaceful Easy Feeling” and so many more became rock anthems once again.
The final day at Bonnaroo was all about survival as temperatures neared 100 degrees by
midday and produced a fairly subdued Sunday crowd just trying to stay vertical and manage
to catch many of the can’t-miss acts closing down the fest (and, as per usual, conflicting
with one another). Bonnaroo veterans John Butler Trio
opened a technically flawless set on the What Stage with “Used to Get High,” and the
Aussie frontman graciously thanked the early crowd for braving the oppressive heat to
check out his set.
Next, it was off to The Other Tent for Blues Traveler,
where a crowd member challenged John Popper to a harmonica duel with a handmade
sign after “Run-Around,” to which Popper replied that they would need to take it outside
after the set. This was the band’s second appearance at Bonnaroo (first since 2003) and
the set was both well received and well attended in the smaller Other Tent. After an
interesting, dubbed-out reading of Radiohead’s “Creep,” it was time to head on back over
to What Stage, where John Fogerty was making his Bonnaroo debut.
John Fogerty by Dave Vann
The 65-year old still has the same vocal talents that accented Creedence Clearwater
Revival’s signature swamp rock sound in the early ’70s. The legend showed off his often
overlooked chops on “Green River” and ran through a mix of the CCR catalogue as well as a
number of tunes from his most recent solo record, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides
Again, which I strongly recommend.
Listening to the bare bones, stripped down Kris
Kristofferson performance while laying in the grass in front of the tent was a
fairly transcendent way to spend a lazy Sunday. After seeing John Prine on Saturday, it’d
be hard to pick a favorite between the two monster talents of the songwriting universe.
There was something very raw and exceptionally soothing about listening to one man slowly
play his guitar and sing into the mic after seeing so many varied musical displays
throughout the weekend. Sometimes less is truly more.
Ween by Dave Vann
Next, things heated up over at Ween, who highlighted the final day of this year’s ‘Roo, while
deservedly playing in front of a large Which Stage midday crowd after a few previous
Bonnaroo appearances in the smaller tents. We arrived just in time after a short stop at
the aggressive Dropkick Murphys set to catch “Roses Are Free,” “Voodoo Lady,”
“Your Party,” a bangin’ “Buckingham Green,” and an excellent cover of David Bowie’s “Let’s
Dance.” You could tell the band recognized the opportunity to win over hordes of fans in
the crowd unfamiliar with their music, and they didn’t hold back on busting out the big
guns while playing a set with added gusto.
Medeski Martin &
Wood had a fun little sit-in by Bonnaroo scenester and unofficial mascot Beatle Bob, who was
goofily gettin’ down and playing one of Billy Martin‘s many percussion toys during
a dark, heavy improv exercise. Travel arrangements caused for an early departure, but not
before catching Phoenix‘s set in front of an enormous crowd comparable to Weezer’s
the previous day. It was a cool early evening scene with a colorful, picturesque sunset
and numerous red and black balloons floating around at the front of the audience. The
band’s most intricate arrangement from the Grammy-winning album Wolfgang Amadeus
Phoenix, “Love Like a Sunset,” was appropriately placed in the set just as dusk was
beginning to sweep across the Manchester skies and was a beautiful way to cap off the
weekend.
The cultural phenomenon that is Bonnaroo once again produced an amazing four days of
diverse artistic offerings, and for the fifth or sixth year in a row, the weather wasn’t
too much of an issue (once you get over the heat part). Here’s looking forward to the
10th Annual Bonnaroo festival in 2011!
Top 5 Shows of the Weekend
1. Jay-Z
2. LCD Soundsystem
3. The Flaming Lips with Stardeath and White Dwarfs performing Dark Side of the
Moon
4. Dr. Dog
5. The Melvins
Favorite Random Artist of the Weekend
Nortec Collective presents: Bostich and Fussible
Best Day
Saturday. Getting to see Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, John Prine, Steve Martin, Thievery
Corporation, Jeff Beck, The Melvins, Jimmy Cliff, and Conan O’Brien in the same day was
exceptional, even for Bonnaroo.
What This Year’s Bonnaroo Will Be Remembered For
1. 80,000 hands moving along with Jay-Z
2. The diversity of talent on display, balancing Bonnaroo’s free spirited neo-hippie vibe
with sounds of the present
3. Excellent weather
4. Conan O’Brien MC’ing What Stage throughout the weekend
5. A legendary Saturday
6. The addition of the annoying Lunar Stage
7. The absence of a Panic, Phish or a Dead-related headliner
8. Stevie Wonder’s long overdue debut appearance at the festival.
Who would YOU like to see headline in 2011 at Bonnaroo’s 10th Anniversary? Share your
thoughts in our comments section. Never know what happens when you dream aloud!
In a word, Bonnaroo Saturday was legendary. With appearances by Jimmy Cliff, The
Melvins, John Prine, Jeff Beck, Stevie Wonder, and Jay-Z on
the docket for the day, there wasn’t much time for any of the numerous non-musical
activities in Centeroo, or downtime in general. Despite only a few hours of sleep on
Friday, we managed to check out 16 different artists on Saturday, ranging from small
gatherings in the Latin-themed Other Tent to the 75,000 strong love fest at Jay-Z. As was
the case on Friday, scorching temperatures baked the farm in the early afternoon before
overcast skies brought a cool air of relief to lobster-red-sunburned patrons. All in all,
it should be noted that the weather this weekend was abnormally excellent, if you don’t
mind a little heat.
Nortec
Collective presents: Bostich and Fussible was one of the more unique bands I’ve come across
anywhere. The group consists of a tuba, accordion, guitar, an iPad, and a NASA-looking
control center with various electronic capabilities. The songs had a campy Latino/polka
feel with dance floor undertones and the 300 or so gathered to check it out all seemed to
be perplexed and ultimately impressed. Plus, in a three-minute span, I got to see the
best accordion, tuba and iPad solo I’ve ever seen.
Next, it was over to Dave Rawlings Machine to hear “This Land Is Your Land,” “Ruby” and
“To Be Young (Is To Be Sad, Is To Be High)” before a quick jaunt over to see one of Isis‘ final shows
of their farewell tour. As very threatening skies loomed overhead, Jimmy Cliff
sang his seminal hit “I Can See Clearly Now,” and he must’ve had some kind of
meteorologist insight because the almost sure thing electrical storm narrowly skirted by
the farm without causing any problems. A good many people seemed to be hiding out until
the late afternoon, as notably small crowds at many of the daytime tent sets allowed for
ample space and some great vantage points, even for artists like John Prine and The
Melvins. After Cliff, it was over to The Avett
Brothers for a bit to check out “January Wedding” and a host of other new tunes
off last year’s breakthrough I And Love And You.
Jack White by Dave Vann
The surprising show of the weekend for me was undoubtedly over at The Melvins, who
zoned us in, causing a cancellation of our Mumford & Sons
plans. Largely unfamiliar with their music (although aware of the band’s huge influence
on bands like Nirvana), it was a wholly epic display of guitar heavy, hard rock, grunge-
tinged badassery. These old men still got it. Don’t miss your chance to see them if you
haven’t before it’s too late.
The Dead
Weather was a bit of a disappointment at What Stage and provoked a little more
‘Prine Time’ then planned, which was a treat to see the master songsmith at work. Jeff
Beck wowed a decent-sized crowd, but more impressive was Beck’s bass player, a
diminutive in stature, but larger-than-life female bass player with some serious
talent on the slap bass and some shockingly bluesy vocals. It was reported to me after we
left that Beck blew through an amazing array of cover tunes including “A Day In The Life”
and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Weezer by Dave Vann
Weezer
played to a MASSIVE crowd at Which Stage, and gave the masses what they wanted, busting
out the big guns with a Blue Album heavy set and a bust-out cover of “Kids (MGMT) >
Poker Face (Lady Gaga).” Frontman Rivers Cuomo could not be contained, singing
from backstage, on speakers, jumping on trampolines, and finding every conceivable reason
to animate the performance and rile the enormous crowd. Weezer wrapped in time for us to
head over to What Stage to take in my first Stevie Wonder concert. As he had done
throughout the weekend, Conan O’Brien played main stage MC and introduced Stevie, saying
that he was genuinely thrilled to be within 500-feet of the man. Wonder came out, keytar
in hand, and busted the funk early and often. The crowd showed Stevie a great deal of
love and provided some booming backing vocals on a few call-and-response verses. Wonder
was an excellent choice for a Saturday night headliner, but what occurred next ultimately
overshadowed all other performances before and after on this third day of Bonnaroo.
Stevie Wonder by Dave Vann
As in 2006, there was a bit of a skepticism expressed after it was revealed that Jay-
Z would headline the Roo, especially in light of the 2008 Kanye West
debacle (unfit to print spray paint tags still dominate the Bonnaroo walls devoted to the
much-maligned – in these parts at least – rapper). Nevertheless, HOVA picked up the
festival and put it on his back, taking a crowd as far as the eye could see on a two-hour
feel good journey through his catalogue, sampling and performing just about every
conceivable hit song from the rapper’s storied career (eleven #1 albums, surpassing even
Elvis Presley for top honors). Standing on the hill stage and peering out over the
audience with 80,000 hands moving together was an image that will forever remain
emblazoned in my memory bank – what a sight!
On Saturday, Mr. Carter was all about fostering a vibe of positivity and love and is
perhaps the only artist I’ve seen on such a big stage with the ability to make his
performance feel profoundly personal to each and every fan out there. One of the neatest
elements of the performance occurred when Jay-Z hollered at about 50 different audience
members (“I see you in the Bob Marley shirt,” followed by a verse from “Three Little
Birds;” then, “I see you in the Charles Oakley jersey,” “I see you with the Brooklyn
flag,” etc.) and then made a gal named Maggie the happiest girl on earth by pulling her
onstage and getting the crowd to serenade her with “Happy Birthday.” The vibe created by
Jay-Z was exactly the kind that Bonnaroo organizers have always strived for, and they hit
the nail on the head with the choice of Jay-Z to take over the festival. Carter was
nearly moved to tears at one point as he thanked each and every audience member for the
support, not only on this night but throughout his career. He shouted out to Jack
White, mentioned that he couldn’t wait to tell his mama that Stevie Wonder was taking
in his set, and gave love to the fallen rappers that influenced his music, shouting out
Tupac, Biggie Smalls, Pimp-C and many more.
Jay-Z by Dave Vann
After being crowned the king of Coachella by most critics, I’ll gladly give him the title
for this weekend as the rapper didn’t slip up at any point throughout the peerless
performance and his beaming, genuine personality was a nice change from the Friday
night headliners. It was arguably the most important and best headlining performance I’ve
seen in 8 years (the toss-up being Radiohead at the ‘Roo) and one of the best anywhere.
Bonnaroo was the center of the musical universe on Saturday night – it felt like possibly
the world at the time – and if you could’ve bottled and sold the youthful energy flowing
across the field you’d be a rich man. This perhaps marked another sea change in the
Bonnaroo landscape, and if Jay-Z’s performance is any indication of what’s to come in the
future of Bonnaroo, things are looking better than ever for the 2011 10th Anniversary
edition of the festival.
As was the case last year after Phish‘s Friday late night headlining performance last year, everything
after Jay-Z seemed secondary and hard to zone into. The show had been stolen, the
spotlight remained on Jay-Z, and even The Disco Biscuits‘ Marc Brownstein noted at the beginning of
their show just how amazing the night had been, saying, “This is so fucking sick,”
referring to the opportunity to see Stevie, Jay-Z and Thievery
Corporation in the same night. Barber said he wanted to see some sun by
the time they were through.
GWAR put on
a hilarious show that fit right into to the zany atmosphere that usually emanates on
Bonnaroo Saturday, as patrons try to soak in one last big night at the farm. All in all,
one of the best days on the whole I’ve had at the festival. Bonnaroo has outdone
themselves again by programming one of the more diverse and star-studded lineups yet. On
Sunday, we’ll check out John Fogerty, Ween, Dropkick Murphys, Phoenix, and at long last, my first Medeski, Martin, & Wood show. Please
don’t ask how that’s possible that a JamBase writer hasn’t seen them (it’s embarrassing, I
know).
Continue reading for more coverage from Friday’s Bonnaroo and check back later today
for words & photos from Sunday…
Friday, June 11th—Day Two
Bonnaroo by Dave Vann
Overwhelming heat was the modus operandi of the festival’s first full day of music as
temperatures hit an apex near the triple digit mark by mid-day. A beautiful day of music
and comedy awaited those ready and able to brave the sun’s wrath and thousands made it out
early to watch Conan O’Brien’s first career festival stand-up appearance in the small
Comedy Tent, which luckily (for us), was being simulcast on the new Lunar Stage. Walking
to join Team Coco, we got a chance to check out New Orleans youngest star Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue running through a “When the Saints Go Marching In
> Fire on the Bayou > When the Saints Go Marching In” medley on Which Stage. It was great
to see Conan’s familiar face again after several months in obscurity.
Conan (whose birth name is apparently Jet Blaze) jokingly reminisced about being beat up
by Tori Amos with a hairbrush at Lilith Fair, gained the audience’s approval
for his new bearded look (saying he looked like the Brawny paper towel guy after a bone
marrow transplant), and noted that the Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on
Television tour was the first time anyone’s paid to see him perform. The appropriate
jabbing at NBC came early and often, and Conan even gave us a spot-on Leno impression,
which he sarcastically pointed out, for legal reasons, was actually an impression of
rapper Ludacris. Truly a one-of-a-kind occurrence to see the legend at work, and as
Conan chanted, “It was sorta worth it” to check it out.
Bonnaroo by Dave Vann
String bands were the thematic trend over in That Tent and Carolina Chocolate
Drops, Hot Rize and the excellence of Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon
Rangers carved out a grassy scene throughout the day. The communal Edward Sharpe
and the Magnetic Zeros connected with the audience from the get-go, opening with the
familiar “Janglin” from last year’s debut record and harkening up comparisons to Polyphonic Spree.
The oppressive heat finally subsided in time for the day’s highlighting set by Dr.
Dog, in coincidence with the band performing “The Breeze”, off 2008′s Fate
album. Lyrically, there are few better current bands out there than these Philly vintage
rockers. The set was heavy on tunes from this year’s Shame, Shame and Fate
including the excellent new tune “Where Does the Time Go” and “Hang On”. The band’s third
appearance at Bonnaroo was a chills-inducing (even in the heat) performance and set the
tone for the rest of Bonnaroo Friday as a smokin’ and stretched out rendition of “The
Rabbit, The Bat, and the Reindeer” closed down this heater of a set.
Tenacious D by Dave Vann
Sweet Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward make up She & Him and a female-
heavy crowd took in their vibin’ folky display in This Tent. Just a likable duo altogether
and Zooey was only one of many Hollywood stars we came across throughout the day.
Performances by Steve Martin, Conan O’Brien, Jack Black and a run-in with Superbad’s
Christopher Mintz-Plasse at Tenacious D marked the star-studded day. The
National made believers in the unusually scant crowd at Which Stage with their heady
brand stern and directed rock music. Surprisingly, the band’s lead singer took a few trips
out into the audience and was far less serious and more animated than I’d of guessed after
listening to their somber new record High Violet. Tenacious D was hilarious
and bandmate Kyle Gass quit the band after Jack Black received a phone call mid-set
telling him that a sequel for The Pick of Destiny was in the works and Gass would
be replaced with the guy from Paul Blart: Mall Cop.
Kings of Leon aren’t my cup of tea but credit should be given to the band for
digging deep into their catalog for the career-making headlining set highlighted by
“Molly’s Chambers”, and a cover of the Pixies’ “Where is My Mind?”. KoL was also
the first band to rise through the Bonnaroo ranks from the smallest tent to the main stage
and I think we’re looking at the American U2, as the largest U.S. arena rock band,
for better or worse. After a run-in with a loose-talkin Caleb Followill in
Nashville on Wednesday night, it was funny to watch the man at work on what may have been
the most important night of the band’s career.
The Flaming Lips by Dave Vann
It’s no secret that Bonnaroo doesn’t really start until midnight on Friday and we
arrived just in time for the spectacle of the chaos-embracing Flaming Lips on Which
Stage. Wayne Coyne told JamBase how the idea to play Dark Side at the Roo came to
fruition, saying “we didn’t really know if anyone would care when we thought to record the
cover album.” Bonnaroo approached the Lips, asking the simple request “Why don’t you do
something weird” to which the Lips responded “Why don’t we play Dark Side of the
Moon and the rest is now history after the last night’s incredible display. As always,
the visual element was top-notch with loads of confetti, dancing girls, lasers and a semi-
circular LED wall behind the band taking the massive crowd to some far away places during
“The W.A.N.D.” and especially during the Floyd set. Few people can do Dark Side right (although many try), and the Lips put a unique spin on the classic album,
with a more gritty, raw and hard rockin’ version of songs like “Any Colour You Like” and
the absolute burn-down-the-house, hide-the -children closer “Brain Damage > Eclipse”. As a
huge Floyd fan, I was admittedly skeptical (although excited) and the Lips delivered the
best Bonnaroo set of their career (also performed in ’03 & ’07). A short trip to the
sparsely attended Galactic show was a nice change of scenery from the Lips brain-
frying visual display before we were lured over to the party scene at LCD
Soundsystem.
Largely unfamiliar with LCD until the release of their ultra-hyped newest record This
Is Happening, I had no idea what we were getting into. Comparisons to the Talking
Heads and <Duran Duran can be made, and frontman James Murphy is an odd
bird. At one point he curiously asked the crowd, “Why are you throwing things” and
concluded that “This is a weird job, it’s weird, thanks” before lyrically improv-ing his
way through the set. Their performance closed with a stunning and slow “New York (not sure
if that’s the name)” replete with a verse from Jay-Z’s monstrous hit “Empire State
of Mind”, serving as a nice transition towards Saturday, which will feature Jay-Z’s first
performance at the fest on the main stage this evening at 11:30 p.m.
Walking into Centeroo on Thursday is always a re-orientation of sorts
and it was nice to see the kindly Which Stage bobbleheads
decked out in World Cup jerseys and regalia for the big weekend.
Multiple inches of Wednesday and early Thursday rain created a muddy
environment, making veterans of the festival feel strangely at home.
As much as things change in Centeroo, notably, with the addition of
the bumpin’ new Lunar Stage, the vibe and layout of the
festival’s power center remains largely the same.
Bonnaroo 2010 got off to a roaring start as per usual on Thursday
afternoon with threatening skies clearing up just in time for Baroness who brought their gritty refined brand of jam metal,
inflicting some bruise-inducing mosh madness at The Other Tent. These
guys look to be in it for the long haul and delivered a powerfully
gnashing set that was arguably the day’s best.
Miike Snow was unfortunately placed before dusk, but regardless an early club scene
thrived amongst the youthful crowd. With numerous
dance artists performing in the wee hours (where they belong), this
time placement may have been Bonnaroo’s biggest head scratcher of them all.
Blitzen Trapper by Dave Vann
Local Natives’ harmonic indie pop was lost in the mix and
failed to meet expectations, especially after producing one of
the year’s finest albums (Gorilla Manor) earlier this year. An
unplanned (but expected) break in the action caused your faithful writer to miss out
on The Temper Trap, but we made it back in time to see Blitzen Trapper crank things up, opening with “Black River
Killer” and “Wild Mountain Nation” to a crowd mostly unfamiliar with
the young band’s work. Blitzen gave people a delectable
array of tunes (including the set’s highlight “Furr”), spanning the
band’s varied catalogue and treating the Bonnaroo crowd to a few new
tunes off the band’s three-day old album Destroyer of the Void. A quick trot over
to the packed Lunar Stage was a trip to
take in, as thousands blew it out with the future sounds beaming from
the decent-sized stage newly situated between The Other Tent and That
Tent.
Lotus by Dave Vann
Lotus stirred up a familiar air in the Bonnaroo
night, giving us Bonnaroo vets a taste of good ole jam flavor with a
surprisingly juiced up rock set. Night One as always introduced the
masses to a host of new bands and gave jam the band a long
overdue chance to perform for a large Roo late night crowd.
This
morning, festivarians were awakened to Primus’ “My Name Is Mud” from
the What Stage’s absurdly powerful P.A. system. How appropriate, Day
Two is underwayÂ…
p.s. As I’m typing this Dr. Dog is giving us media folks a
special acoustic set. Very, very appropriate lyrics flowing:
What a strange day, maybe I was dreaming, nothing seemed entirely
awake. What a strange night, it’s dancing with a candle, the atmosphere is
scandalous. We’re all in this together, as we all fall apart
Truer words never spoken? Happy Bonnaroo 2010!
JamBase | Manchester, TN
Check out our full Thursday Bonnaroo Photo Gallery below and keep up with the real-time
chatter on our Bonnaroo Page!
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Words by: Mike Bookey | Images by: Kyle Johnson, Christopher Nelson & Jackie
Kingsbury
Sasquatch! Music Festival:: 05.29.10-05.31.10 :: The Gorge :: George,
WA
It’s about two hours before sunset on Sunday night on the massive green hillside that is The Gorge when someone
starts a conga line. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking about a conga line –
except for when it, like this one, involves maybe 300 people and is performed to music
performed live by LCD Soundsystem. This is what happens on day two of the Sasquatch! Music Festival, and it’s a moment that seems to encapsulate the indie-
heavy and mostly youthful explosion of sound and culture that’s been taking place on the
banks of the Columbia River since 2002.
The Gorge by Christopher Nelson
So, this conga line heads up the hill and away from the main stage as LCD’s James
Murphy continues to belt out “I Can Change,” just one of the excellently danceable
numbers from LCD’s recently released disc, This Is Happening, only to return, its
members – many of them with faces painted neon and feathers in their hair, the chosen
party uniform of the weekend – clapping in rhythm above their heads and coming to a stop
along the main concourse. Thousands of people join in, waving their hands, stripping down
to underwear, and most noticeably, dancing as if Betty White’s life depended on it. And
that, for the most part was Sasquatch.
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros by Kyle Johnson
There was plenty more to the festival, which began with fans lining up late Friday night
and early into Saturday morning to reach the fabled Gorge campgrounds – the mowed field
that for the next three days would be a spot to relax after 12-plus hours of music and a
multi-acre spread for others to create their own personal round-the-clock discos. By
early afternoon on Saturday, fans were trickling into the music venue (separate from the
campgrounds) by way of a heavy pat down gate search to arrive in time for early
performances, including those by Seattle hip hop innovators Shabazz Palaces on the main stage and the
folk-driven grooves of Mumford & Sons on the secondary Bigfoot Stage.
As the crowds grew and the nine-dollar beers flowed, Edward Sharpe & the
Magnetic Zeros took the Bigfoot Stage and drew a sizeable hoard of curious
onlookers who soon became fans of the gang of freak folk weirdos and their dynamic
namesake leader. By the time they got to their hit, “Home,” the place was bouncing,
making for the first big moment of the festival.
The Hold Steady by Christopher Nelson
With the sun setting, The Hold Steady jogged onto the Bigfoot Stage, with bespectacled,
well-groomed front man Craig Finn looking more like someone late for his kid’s
soccer game than the leader of one of most party-friendly rock bands on the touring
circuit. The band delivered a set full of fan favorites like “Chips Ahoy,” but also some
cuts from the new Heaven is Whenever album. Crowds soon gravitated toward the main
stage, where Vampire Weekend was about to go on. Ezra Koenig‘s overly
emotive face blown up on the massive vertical video screen may have been frightening, but
hits like “Oxford Comma” got feet stomping and hands waving en masse.
Closing out the night, as they have at so many festivals over the years, was My Morning
Jacket, who came out amidst darkness and cranked out a wall of feedback before the
lights came up enough to reveal Jim James in what appeared to be skeleton moon
boots playing the intro to “One Big Holiday.” By the time MMJ closed down the stage,
they’d jumped through their catalogue, playing a reverb-drenched “Off the Record” and a
crowd-pleasing “I’m Amazed” before sending fans off to chill/party/build a teepee in the
campground, or check out a wildly lit set from party purveyor Deadmau5.
Jim James of My Morning Jacket by Kyle Johnson
By noon on Sunday, Sasquatch! was shifting back into gear with early sets from Langhorne Slim, Midlake and Local Natives, to
name a few. One of the youngest bands on the lineup, Avi Buffalo
dished out an impressive set of quirky folk-inspired, Fleet Foxes-ish pop rock on the
smaller Yeti Stage, playing their breakout song “What’s In It For” to an appreciate and
equally young audience. From there, it was a sprint – Sasquatch’s close stage setup
allows for such act-to-act darting – to catch the end of Kid Cudi‘s super-
charged hip hop, and then a fill-in set by the bombastic and excellently named indie
rockers of Mt. St.
Helens Vietnam Band before settling down at the main stage to see the end of Tegan & Sara and
prepare for the aforementioned LCD Soundsystem extravaganza.
Long after the conga line had dissipated, Pavement – a band
many at the festival had come specifically to see – took the stage and announced that it
was Stephen Malkmus‘ birthday, then said something about how much champagne LCD had
backstage. The beginning of the set was full of screwups, but “Cut Your Hair” proved
excellently nostalgic, and also, who cares if Pavement sounds sloppy? They’re supposed to
be sloppy – they’ve made an awesome career out of it.
Pavement by Kyle Johnson
From there it was over to the Bigfoot Stage to settle in for Public Enemy as
night fell and a few sprinkles dripped down. Public Enemy eventually came on stage,
complete with military escorts and busted into “911 Is a Joke” with Chuck D having
hardly lost a step and Flava Flav, well, being Flava Flav.
The night finished with Massive Attack, who rolled out their patented trip-hop stylings,
complete with a ridiculously huge screen behind them that listed one digital number after
another – things like the number of deaths that resulted from Hurricane Katrina and the
national debt. Intense? Absolutely. When that concluded it was either off to the late-
night Booka
Shade set or off to the campgrounds to sleepÂ…or make announcements on megaphones
all night.
Monday was almost completely void of the last day-of-the-festival sort of vibe that often
shadows over big events like this. Sure, there were some indications that the fun was
ending, like the two college-aged girls who walked through the festival with a sign that
read: Our ride lost his mind on acid. We need a ride back to Eugene, Oregon.
Yikes. There was still fun to be had on Monday, which began with soulful sets from The Heavy and
smooth talking cheeseball-in-a-suit Mayer Hawthorne
on the main stage. Then, there was a dance rock show from Phantogram on the
Yeti Stage right before the dusty, dirty, bloody Southern rock of Drive-By
Truckers, who seemed like they might end up proving out of place amidst the hipsters,
but were appreciated in the end as Patterson Hood‘s growl echoed down the canyon
walls.
Band of Horses by Jackie Kingsbury
Dr. Dog
proved that their sound isn’t relegated to Beach Boys-esque harmonies by turning plenty of
their numbers into high-flying, loud-as-hell rockers, even though most of the festival was
across the hill dancing to Passion Pit. With the day wearing on and time running out on the
festival, She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel ran onto the stage and wasted no time busting
out plenty of the band’s sunshiney pop numbers, with M. Ward looking
cool (as always) in his shades and nonchalant demeanor. The main stage stayed packed for
the rest of the night, with Band of Horses playing in their typical booming style, followed
closely by MGMT‘s dance-your-ass-off jamboree.
Ween closed
things down in their typical zany, impossibly eclectic style, and then Sasquatch was over
- except in the campgrounds, where there was still at least eight hours of partying and
megaphone announcements to be found. And hopefully those two girls made it back to
Eugene. We may never know.
SUMMER TOUR BEGINS MAY 28 IN SANTA CRUZ; VOLUME TWO OUT NOW
She & Him
After making acclaimed stops at Coachella, SXSW and more this spring, She & Him will be returning to the
road this summer in support of their critically acclaimed sophomore album, Volume Two, out now
on Merge Records. In addition to appearances at the Sasquatch! and Bonnaroo festivals, the
band will be playing a free show in Chicago at Millennium Park on June 7, and one in New York City at Governor’s
Island on July 4. They will also be performing at the legendary Hollywood Bowl on July 19, along with The Swell Season and The Bird and the Bee.
She & Him, the musical duo comprised of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, released Volume
Two at the end of March to rave reviews. The album, which debuted at Number 6 on the Billboard Top 200 and
has already sold 100,000 copies, simply bursts with infectious choruses and sunny harmonies. Live, these songs
take on amazing new dimensions, and these shows are destined to be highlights of the summer concert season.
Tour Dates:
5/28 Santa Cruz, CA @ Rio Theatre
5/29 Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
5/30 Bend, OR @ Le Schwab Amphitheatre*
5/31 George, WA @ Sasquatch! Music Festival
6/4 Milwaukee, WI @ Verge Music Festival 2010
6/5 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
6/6 Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Theatre
6/7 Chicago, IL @ Millennium Park – Downtown Sound Series
6/9 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy (Venue Change)
6/10 Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
6/11 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
7/1 Boston, MA @ House of Blues
7/2 Philadelphia, PA @ Great Plaza at Penn’s Landing
7/3 Oxford, ME @ Nateva Music Festival
7/4 New York, NY @ The Beach at Governors Island
7/6 New York, NY @ Terminal 5
7/7 Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
7/9 Atlanta, GA Atlanta @ Botanical Gardens
7/10 Birmingham, AL @ Sloss Furnaces
7/11 Louisville, KY @ TBD
7/18 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Bowl**
08/29 St. Louis, MO @ LouFest
ALAN CHARING FIRST RECORD IN SIX YEARS, STITCH, OUT NOW
Alan Charing
Portland, OR based musician Alan Charing is celebrating the release of his first full-length in six years, Stitch, which follows up Notes for the Conversation, released under the moniker A.C. Cotton.
Stitch (LazyBone Records) also marks Alan Charing’s return to performing under his own name. Originally playing out as Alan Charing, and then The Alan Charing Controversy, he eventually decided to call the group A.C. Cotton to give it more of a band feeling.
The result was A.C. Cotton’s 2001 debut, Half Way Down (Ahab Was Right), followed in 2004 by Notes for the Conversation (Ahab Was Right). With Notes the band toured the West Coast relentlessly, before Charing decided to take a break from music and work on other endeavors.
Five years in the making, the result is Stitch, an eleven-track collection of rock ‘n’ roll that owes as much to Bruce Springsteen as it does The Rolling Stones.
Mixed by Mike Coykendall (M. Ward, Beth Orton, Richmond Fontaine), Stitch features members of Uncut Magazine favorites Fontaine, Laura Gibson‘s band, and other Northwest musicians to help Charing fill out the collection of roots-tingled, pop-coated Southern rock songs that would make Tom Petty sit back and smile.
She & Him at Rachel Ray’s Party :: 03.20.10 by Dudelson
We celebrated the first day of spring with some of the coldest weather Austin has experienced this year. With a bitter wind and temps dipping down into the 30s, the cold definitely affected the music experience on the final day of South by Southwest. Prior to the really chilly evening, I spent my day at the 40 Watt/JamBase Party located at the Side Bar. With one indoor stage and two outdoor ones, it allowed for a nice flow in-and-out of the elements that kept patrons warm(er). Each stage took the name of a departed Athens artist with the Vic Chesnutt Stage serving the headliners, the Jerry Fuchs Stage being the secondary outdoor venue and the Jon Guthrie Stage set up inside the bar.
Psychedelic folk rock, alternative ska pop, alt-country and whatever else people call Camper Van Beethoven, the band was able to warm the huddled masses at the 40 Watt/JamBase Party with “Take The Skinheads Bowling.” Mixing a polka shuffle with a neat little violin line (that could have been louder in the mix), they twisted deeply into weird Americana/country rock landscapes and it wasn’t hard to pick up on the Leftover Salmon cross-breeding found through bandleader David Lowery‘s work with Salmon in Cracker. What’s even cooler, the band funded their trip to Austin by letting fans donate $100 in exchange for selecting a song to be performed at the fest.
Street Sweeper Social Club Rachel Ray’s Party :: 03.20.10 by Dudelson
Named after Roman Polanski’s movie The Tenant, the quartet played inside the 40 Watt/JamBase Party to a filled bar. Working a moody, dark, dream-pop motif with warm textures, they won me over quickly, even though I’d never heard of them before. One can hear the influence of Manchester bands like New Order, Joy Division and Stone Roses, but it still came off as original. Heavy on electronics but juiced with real guitars and drums, it was easy to dance with. Another band that fans of Phoenix or M-83 should really check out.
There were a lot of big, distorted guitar squalls at the 40 Watt/JamBase Party, but none knocked the crust from our tired, cold bones more than Dead Confederate. Built upon slow, patient grooves that erupted into slamming cymbals and walls of noise, it was remarkable that they could paint such a picture in the light of day. This is dark music, both in content and delivery, and it’s best experienced in a loud room with weird lights, where you can hide in the shadows. But none of that mattered during “The Rat.” Looking around the converted parking lot, heads were slamming back and forth and fists were pumping. A serious achievement considering how freaking cold it was.
Bonus Coverage by JamBase CEO David Rosenheim – Big Star Tribute
The remaining members of Big Star joined special guests to perform an emotionally charged tribute to frontman Alex Chilton, who died suddenly on March 17. Big Star was scheduled to play a fest-closing set at Antone’s, and instead of canceling the gig they brought in friends to help celebrate Chilton and his music. The capacity crowd was treated to 100 minutes of Big Star classics from the band’s influential 70s albums #1 Record, Radio City and Third/Sister Lovers. Performing with original Big Star drummer Jody Stephens were current Big Star members Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer of The Posies. Special guests ranged from original Big Star bassist Andy Hummel, Chris Stamey (dB’s), M. Ward, Mike Mills (R.E.M.), Sondre Lerche, Chuck Prophet, Evan Dando (The Lemonheads), John Doe (who sang a lovely version of “I’m In Love With a Girl”), Amy Speace, The Watson Twins and Curt Kirkwood of Meat Puppets.
Kayceman’s Top 3 Overall for SXSW 2010
1. Sleepy Sun at IODA Party
2. Kayceman’s Treehouse Party
3. Big Light Private Late Night Show in Hilton Suite
Continue reading for Sarah Hagerman’s SXSW Day 4 highlights…
The Packway Handle Band at 40 Watt/JamBase Party 03.20.10 by Hagerman
Saturday came down upon us, bitterly cold and gray. It was definitely a shock to the system after three days of gorgeous sun and mild nights. The weather seemed to cause many folks to stay indoors on the last day, which meant noticeably sparser attendance at a lot of shows, plus a fair number of cancellations and outdoor stages running late. But as the sign I spied at Green Mesquite BBQ later that day said, “It’s called Texas weather.” Texas weather means extremes that smack you in the face. So, I bundled up and rolled with the punches.
Those in attendance at the 40 Watt Day Party (co-sponsored by JamBase) seemed to have the right idea – grab a Bloody Mary at Side Bar and huddle in the warmth of conversation. As the crowd swapped stories about the previous nights’ revelries, Athens, Georgia five-piece string outfit Packway Handle Band stepped up to their dual head mic stand, set up on the Jon Guthrie Stage inside the bar. Without so much as an introduction, they launched into a set that made a believer out of everyone by the end. Packway have a fierce stage presence, with more than a touch of dramatic brimstone. Fiddle player Andrew Heaton was especially infused with hellfire, frequently leaping from the mic huddle to run around at the front of the crowd while thrusting his bow into the air like a baton. They were just a joy to watch. I adore the single mic stand set-up for bluegrass bands – it adds an element of theater, and Packway had it down to a snappy science. The four – Heaton, Michael Paynter (mandolin), Josh Erwin (guitar), and Tom Baker (banjo) would smoothly weave in and out (bassist Zach McCoy stood coolly to the side, until the end that is), leaning in close and singing, stepping out for the solo passes and even acting out the lyrics. When they sang, “Times a-comin’ when the sinner must die,” Paynter fell to his knees and Heaton mimed shooting him in the head. With his eyes menacingly wide, Heaton drew his finger across his throat, grimacing on the word “die.” From an amped-up version of “Tell It To Me,” which kicks the shit out of OCMS’s version about five times over, and a cover of The Tiger Lillies’ “Terrible,” which featured trumpets and a couple gals on backup vocals, this is a band that knows how to own any song they set their minds to. At the end of the show, they ran into the crowd, furiously picking their instruments. McCoy raised his doghouse bass over his head, sending the bar lights swinging and wildly cheering folks ducking out of their way. They pushed the crowd back and forth, as they ran into the walls of the bar. This is how I like my bluegrass served up – dark and passionate, with a side of blood.
Lumped in with the post-punk disco bands, but drawing equally on robotic electro and banging club pop, WhoMadeWho were ferociously fun at Encore. They laid down rubbery beats and squishy synth, as bassist Tomas Hoffding leapt from the speakers to the crowd and back again and guitarist Jeppe Kjellberg pointed directly at members of the audience, singing, “You! Your thoughts are dirty!” One of the most amusing things to me was that Hoffding and Kjellberg never cracked the glass cool looks on their faces – Kjellberg kept a slightly-sweet, slightly-pervy smile glued on the whole time, and Hoffding was absolutely unflappable, even when Kjellberg bent down and pretended to tickle his balls or reached over and grabbed his nipples. When Hoffding made a trip into the crowd, an audience member tried to get in on the titty twisting action. Unfazed, Hoffding simply ripped open the top of his shirt and let him have it. These are some seriously freaky Danes, and when they closed the set with a crushing cover of “Satisfaction” from Benny Benassi’s 2003 album Hypnotica (you know, “Push me/ And then just touch me/ Until I get my/ Satisfaction”), you felt like they really wanted you to push them in some very unseemly ways.
Pretty Lights at La Zona Rosa :: 03.20.10 by Aaron Bach
I’m a total Shakespeare nerd, so I had to see a band named after one of The Bard’s more obscure tragedies. I shivered in the cold and darkness of the Red 7 patio, through the end of the utterly unmemorable Crystal Antlers. Titus Andronicus was worth every minute of that wait. You can just tell when a band fervently believes in what they are doing, and lord, does this group write some new gospel. Anthemic punk with definite touches of The Hold Steady, Springsteen and The Pogues, you just want to pump fists to this. Note to self: Get their recorded stuff, so I can scream the lyrics next time. They had bucket loads of energy and are unapologetically brainy. Their latest album, The Monitor, is a loose concept album about the Civil War. They also have an album called The Airing of Grievances, which is a reference to “The Strike” episode of Seinfeld and the holiday Festivus. I’m glad there’s a band of fellow pop culture, literature and history geeks out there to freak out with, who also have the balls to write 15-minute punk songs. I think I’m in love.
Utterly beaten to a pulp, I ended my SXSW 2010 with Pretty Lights at La Zona Rosa. Although not normally my thing, I got to hand it to him – Pretty Lights is definitely on top of his game. There’s a reason he’s blown up as of late. He has a seamless sensibility as he layers and melts bits and pieces together. It’s real craftsmanship, and I was well impressed. He also had a mind-blowing light show, and drummer Cory Eberhard added a real thrust behind the sonic palette. Glitchy, dubby and heavy, with moments of exuberant flight, it was the perfect way to sweat and dance down the last hours of SXSW 2010 before 2 a.m. fell upon us. SXSW can be a harsh mistress, but, as I looked around at the beaming faces and hands raised in the air, I knew she’d already called me back for 2011.
There’s no denying that Blind Pilot has found some success over the past year and a half. But their route to this success is somewhat paradoxical. At times it seems this Portland, Oregon folk rock band has taken a meteoric rise into the mainstream, but from another angle, their trip has been a bit slow and unconventional. And here’s why.
Their album, 3 Rounds and a Sound, was released in the summer of 2008, but didn’t really hit the bloodstream of the buzz-creating, festival-going public until this past summer and fall. And there’s still some people passing it around to friends as a “new album.”
The band, which until last year was a two-piece comprised of longtime friends and former classmates at the University of Oregon Israel Nebeker and Ryan Dobrowski, also took it slow on their tours. Literally. They biked from show to show in their early days with only their instruments and a load of self-pressed CDs, oftentimes arriving in towns without any gigs booked. Sure, they had their bicycles jacked from them in San Francisco, but they were taking in the scenery and having a genuinely good time. Yet when 3 Rounds and a Sound hit shelves and the band had added a couple new members, they got out the bikes – different bikes, of course – and hit the road once again. This time, Blind Pilot traveled from Bellingham, Washington to San Diego. As they pedaled between towns, making more than 20 stops along the way, they dragged their instruments behind their bicycles in homemade trailers. This rewrote the definition of the overused music biz phrase “DIY.”
Blind Pilot Bike Tour
The last few tours Blind Pilot has embarked on have not been by bicycle, which is to be expected from an act that is now headlining sold out club dates and taking the stage at some of the country’s most prominent music festivals. Yes, the public was slow in noticing the band’s record, but Blind Pilot wasn’t in enough of a hurry to travel by automobile for their first tours either, and what this act has achieved in the past year is remarkable – massive online sales, gigs with acts like The Low Anthem and Langhorne Slim, and chatter on every music blog and magazine this side of Tiger Beat. Still, however, drummer and co-founder Dobrowski hasn’t ruled out taking the bikes out of the shed once again. But will they really, as rumored, tour Europe by bicycle?
“We’re partially serious. It’s a debate between some people in the band, and I think we would all really like to do another bike tour,” says Dobrowski, taking a break from a sound check prior to a Brooklyn show earlier this winter.
“I have some reservations about going over to Europe to do it,” he says. “Personally, I just don’t want it to become like a shtick that we were trying to do. That’s not the intention of a bike tour.”
He’s got a point. Some people do, indeed, call Blind Pilot “that band that toured by bike.” On the other hand, there are plenty of listeners who care nothing about the band’s mode of transportation but are deeply conscious of the frequently tender, always-tight folk rock the band creates. They also know of Nebeker’s silky voice, which, coupled with his pastoral lyrics, makes him one of the strongest vocalists to emerge from the explosion of American folk rock that flooded iPods during the latter years of this past decade.
Blind Pilot by Douglas Heine
It’s worth noting, again, that Blind Pilot calls Portland home, a city that is ripe not only with rock bands but folk rock bands. This is the city that gave us Blitzen Trapper‘s 2008 gem Furr and last year’s stellar Hold Time from M. Ward. But rather than get lost in the shuffle, which has happened to plenty of excellent Portland folkies, Blind Pilot has thrived in their location, transforming their duo into a sextet by adding excellent players from the Portland scene. In addition to Nebeker and Dobrowski, the band now also includes Kati Claborn on banjo and dulcimer, Luke Ydstie on upright bass, Dave Jorgensen on trumpet and harmonium, and Ian Krist on vibraphone.
“It became the six of us pretty easily because these were the musicians that we wanted with us,” says Dobrowski.
Blind Pilot may fit nicely on a bill with a folk revival band like the aforementioned Low Anthem, but in reality there’s plenty of divergence between the two acts. Where the new generation of revivalists relies on instrumentation and song structure that reaches back as far as a century for inspiration, Blind Pilot is actually quite modern. If you were to speed up some of their cuts and add some distortion, they’d be damn good indie rock songs. But they’re not sped up nor distorted, which makes this folk rock.
Blind Pilot (Nebeker left Dobrowski right) by T. Oliver
“I think there’s sort of an element of stripping things down to their basic form. But we’re more into pushing forward,” says Dobrowski. “We are into stripping it down and then rebuilding it; so that gives it a kind of folksy element.”
The sound heard on 3 Rounds and a Sound is not the touring version of Blind Pilot, but rather just Nebeker and Dobrowski surrounded by other musicians. The band was able to showcase the current touring lineup for the first time on record in late December when they released an exclusive iTunes Session – EP. The record features recordings of some 3 Rounds tracks, including the excellently emotional “The Story I Heard,” alongside the previously unreleased “Get It Out.” Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the EP is Blind Pilot’s excellent take on Gillian Welch‘s “Look at Miss Ohio.”
While some new fans are still wrapping their ears around 3 Rounds, this album will actually be two years old come the summer. Two years is a lifetime for a band like Blind Pilot that is just starting to make a name for itself in the larger touring scene. As is to be expected, there is a new full-length Blind Pilot album coming out. The band plans to head into the studio soon. As with the recent digital release, the next record will truly be a Blind Pilot album, bringing the touring band into the studio. Dobrowski sees this as the next phase of sorts for his band, even if he and Nebeker are still at the helm.
“It’s going to be exciting because there’s a lot more options,” says Dobrowski. “We started the last album with just the two of us and now we have all these great musicians to work with. I think we’ll probably try to get some ideas with just the two of us and then bring in everybody.”
By almost any metric, 2009 was a bumper crop for great new music. With bands increasingly bypassing the record industry entirely and releasing albums, singles, live sets, and more themselves via download, there was almost too much fascinating, worthwhile music on offer this year. Still, better an embarrassment of riches than a thin harvest, eh? While the mainstream continued its seemingly inexorable tide towards machine-like homogenization – notwithstanding a Lady Gaga or Lil’ Wayne adding somewhat unorthodox wrinkles – musicians got down to making a lot of very personal, very beautifully constructed, downright fabulous music. And while the general belief that most artists will earn the bulk of their monies in concert from here on out is probably true, that doesn’t diminish the rise in quality we’re hearing in recent studio work.
Advances and price cuts in software and hardware are bringing expensive studio technology into bedrooms, garages and tiny private studios in ways totally impossible to imagine only a few years ago. Nothing will ever replace the warm hum of analog tape for some folks, but the tools and, perhaps more importantly, the means of distribution are becoming increasingly democratized. Brian Wilson’s “teenage symphonies to God” are being composed and sent into the world outside the parameters and red tape of an increasingly confused industry. And these same artists are hitting the road to present their unique, non-commercial wares (as “commercial” is defined by modern tastemakers like MTV, Rolling Stone, et al.) to anyone who will listen, building fan bases through social networking, word of mouth and an engaged blogosphere anxious to discover honest, unfamiliar music. There’s a healthy sense of creative boil that happily recalls rock ‘n’ roll’s initial 1950s boom, where hit singles were forged in record shop recording booths and local sensations found national and even international acclaim on the wings of a single release.
It’s too early to say where music making is going in the near future, but it’s clear that there’s a massive shakeup underway. Musicians need to figure out how to make this new freedom pay, and audiences that genuinely care about the people making the music they love will need to stop stealing it and pony up enough to ensure the continued bloom of this musical renaissance. Now is the time to support local talent and independent neighborhood venues, and drop a few coins into your fave band’s PayPal account. As the massively successful tours of still-vital giants like Bruce Springsteen, U2 and AC/DC, or the smaller scale rises of original new voices like Fleet Foxes, The Low Anthem and Of Montreal, indicate, people are listening now more than ever, ready for music that will enlighten and delight them.
1. Bloodkin – Baby They Told Us We Would Rise Again
On the surface, no frills, meat and potatoes rock (and damn proud of it) but a closer listen reveals the finest songwriting all year as this 24-year-old band sings the horrifying tale of their trip back from the abyss and sees it through to a joyous life-affirming conclusion. It’s like that Leaving Las Vegas movie with a happy ending – unbelievable if weren’t true. Such well-treaded territory would suck if not for the magnificence of its execution. “Wild Rhododendrons” is the finest songwriting I’ve seen all year, and “The Viper” and “Heavy With Child” are just as good. Meanwhile “Easter Eggs” is the best song of man love I’ve ever heard (including “Bobby Jean” and “Angie”).
2. Bob Dylan – Together Through Life
3. Iron And Wine – Around The Well
4. PJ Harvey and John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By
5. Girls – Album
6. M. Ward – Hold Time
7. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
8. The Dexateens – Singlewide
9. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
10. The Low Anthem – Oh My God, Charlie Darwin
I just recently caught up with 9 and 10 and they could well move up in coming months. I’m sure there’s several albums lurking out there that I will love just as much that I haven’t found yet. I’m always looking and listening so I’m sure the list will change up until next year’s.
-Best Reissue(s): The Jesus Lizard Reissues
-Favorite Song: “Wild Rhododendrons” (Bloodkin)
-Favorite Tracks: “Black Hearted Love” (PJ Harvey and John Parish) / “Belated Promise Ring” (Iron and Wine)
-Favorite Live Performance: Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings / Iron and Wine at No Depression Festival in Seattle this summer
-Movies I’ve Loved: Fantastic Mr. Fox, Up, A Serious Man, Where The Wild Things Are, Let The Right One In, Inglourious Basterds
4. Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
5. The Beatles – White Album (remastered) – I know this is cheating, but the job they did on all the remasters is stunningly beautiful and breathes new air especially through this classic.
Shows
1. Neil Young at Hyde Park, London
2. Blur at Hyde Park, London
3. Bonnaroo – especially Wilco’s set… truly inspiring.
Anything Joker put out in 2009. He’s making really awesome dubstep. He had a lot of remixes in 2009, as well as official releases, so I guess he gets all of my top spots for the year.
Shows
I played 100 concerts. Starkey at Camp Bisco (the namesake festival we founded and curate) was really cool. When Phish did the dedication at Hampton to Fishman’s dad and Marc (Brownstein, Disco Biscuits bassist) was sitting next to him that was pretty funny. Charlie P & M80 Dubstation (my dubstep project) jamming samples together in ATL was sickness! Benga on the world beat tip in Philly was ragin’.
Electronic music has mostly in the past been about the party or setting the mood. As technology has improved there are many artists redefining the changing landscape of electronic genres.
There’s a new movement of young artists with equal parts musician, DJ, sound sculpture and producer that are re-shaping electronic music and how it is performed. I was blown away last week when I saw Alex B whack down the house for an official Disco Biscuits after party. This young lion has masterful control of his software that enable all of his original and banging tracks constant manipulation for live, almost improvised, computer performance.
Aron Magner
Also out of Colorado is the young Derek Smith (aka Pretty Lights). Derek took the changing climate of the music industry and used it to his direct advantage. In an new era where music fans feel more entitled to receive their music without paying for it, Derek said, ‘That’s cool, then here it is,” and released Filling Up The City Skies for free on his website, instantly catapulting his career to a new level and gaining multitudes of fans around the country almost overnight. The music speaks for itself. Deep electronic grooves with attention grabbing glitch and ear candy all with a type of soul not normally conveyed in dance music.
Eliot Lipp frequently runs in this same circle and performs with Alex B in the project Lipp Service. His 2009 release, Peace Love Weed 3D, almost feels retro-electro yet still pushed the boundaries of computer manipulation. His use of analog synth melodies lends a warm and engaging quality to his tunes. His songs evolve and have a story to tell from beginning to end.
Daedelus is more of an experimental musician frequently on bills with the artists above. He is unique as his main “instrument” is a rather insidious device know as a Monome. He is one of the pioneers of the Monome, which is nothing more than a matrix grid of unlabeled small buttons. They are all exclusively user programmable through very esoteric software enabling the end user to manipulate the parts of the tracks in a very unique way. He is the Clara Rockmore of this almost cryptic device.
And then there is Simon Posford, a revered producer and artist and pioneer in the electronic music world. He is also a very highly respected mentor of mine that I finally got to work with for the five tracks that he produced on our forthcoming album, Planet Anthem. Simon has a special ability to take an organic sound, be it a vocal or an acoustic guitar, and tweak it in such a loving way that it maintains the original feel that emanated from a human yet somehow still evolves into digital code. A delicate balance of real and surreal all masterfully placed over global beats with soundscapes that percolate your ears as if they were brain candy, all while providing for an incredible melodic and harmonic song structure. Check out one his projects, Shpongle‘s Tales of the Inexpressible and you’ll see what I mean.
Albums
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
2. Sparklehorse and Danger Mouse – Dark Night of the Soul
3. Wilco – Wilco The Album
4. Nathan Moore – Folk Singer
5. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Shows
1. Medeski, Martin & Wood | December 2009 | Lupo’s | Providence, RI (Dec)
Billy, Billy, Billy – what an amazing drum solo
2. Marco Benevento Trio | June 2009 | Carnegie Hall | New York, NY
3. The Slip | August 2009 | Bowery Ballroom | New York, NY
Albums
1. Jay Z – Blueprint 3
2. Gramatik – Street Bangers (Vol. 2)
3. Passion Pit – Manners
4. Blockhead – The Music Scene
5. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
Albums
1. JFJO – Winterwood
My last record with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey is also my favorite. Brian, Raymer and I did basic tracks in March 2008, and I finished the mixes in January 2009. It was put up as a free download on www.JFJO.com, but I’m still hoping to press physical copies with awesome artwork and stuff. We’ll see. A gorgeous album, 15 years in the making!
2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
I definitely gave this one repeated listens. Amazing production. I like the song “Foreground.”
Mathis by Miller
3. Dorian Small – Newlyweds
Possibly my favorite musician out there.
4. Surprise Me Mr. Davis – ?????
Not sure if they even titled or released this, but it’s streaming on their website, and it’s absolutely crushing! Nathan Moore with the Slip – it truly just does not get any better. Thank the lord for Mr. Davis.
5. Medeski Martin & Wood – Radiolarian III
These guys played everything there was to be played, all before the year 2000, and they’ve been through the looking-glass ever since. The Radiolarian Series is their freakiest and most human stuff in a long time, much to my liking. They continue to sum up what I love about improvising.
Shows
1. Phish | 08.02.09 | Red Rocks Amphitheatre | Morrison, CO
My first Phish show, and my first Red Rocks show – quite an eye-opener. Watched the second set from side-stage, looking out at the sea of delighted humans. Kept thinking, “Hmmm…. not a bad band!”
2. Ornette Coleman | 11.08.09 | San Francisco Opera House | S.F., CA
My first Ornette show, one of my all-time heroes. Went with a very old friend. Ornette’s band was him, plus drums, and TWO basses. Yes, please!
3. Medeski Martin & Wood | 12.04.09 | Lupo’s | Providence, RI
My 20th MMW show. Watched from side-stage, then from the rigging up above the stage. I love getting music lessons! What benevolent musicians they are. Freaking cosmic virtuosos.
Albums
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
2. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
3. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Up From Below
4. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
5. Slaraffenland – We’re On Your Side
Shows
1. Andrew Bird | Radio City Hall | New York, NY
2. Frightened Rabbit | Whitehaven, U.K.
3. Fink | Belfast, Northern Ireland
Albums
1. Kings of Leon – Only by the Night
2. Passion Pit – Manners
3. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
4. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
5. Pretty Lights – Passing by Behind Your Eyes
Shows
1. Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt | Ravinia | Chicago, IL
2. Andrew Bird | Schubas | Chicago, IL
3. Passion Pit | Treasure Island Festival | San Francisco, CA
Albums
1. Danny Barnes – Pizza Box
2. Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
3. Zach Deputy – Sunshine
4. Power up the Planet
Keller Williams
A compilation of cool music with the proceeds going to providing solar power for folks with nothing. Great cause and the mix of songs is bitchin’.
5. The Pimps of Joytime – Funk Fixes and Remixes
Shows
1.Umphrey’s McGee | Summer Camp – Felix Pastorius and Les Claypool sit-ins. Massive fire works customized to the music.
2. Girl Talk | Rothbury – Late night show mentality
3. String Cheese Incident | Rothbury – Epic production.
Albums
1. BlakRoc – BlakRoc
2. Dr. John – City That Care Forgot
3. Cyril Neville – Brand New Blues
4. Mos Def – The Ecstatic
5. Paramore – Brand New Eyes
Shows
1. Dumpstaphunk | Tipitina’s | Jazzfest | New Orleans, LA
2. The Neville Brothers | Mawazine Jazzfest | Rabat, Morocco
3. Funky METERS | Fuji Rock Festival
Albums
1. The Beatles – Remasters (Duh!)
2. Them Crooked Vultures – self-titled
3. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies
4. The Ting Tings – We Started Nothing
5. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
Shows
1. Wilco | Sloss Furnace | Birmingham, AL
2. Earl Greyhound | Turf Club | St. Paul, MN (with us)
3. The Mother Hips | The Doug Fir | Portland, OR (with us)
Albums
1. John Scofield – Piety Street
2. Water Seed – Early for The Future
3. Diane Birch – Bible Belt
4. Alec Ounsworth – Mo Beauty
5. Jack Brass Band – self-titled
Shows Played
1. The Meter Men | New Orleans Jazz Fest
2. The Funky Meters | Tokyo
3. Runnin’ Pardners | 08.08.09 | Red Rocks Amphitheatre
4. Porter Batiste Stoltz | 10.30.09 | Tipitina’s French Quarter | New Orleans, LA (the band’s last gig as a band)
I’ve been so busy this year I haven’t really gotten a chance to peep out anything outside of what I’ve been involved with. Here are my top picks for albums I appeared on in 2009.
1. Stanton Moore – Take It To The Streets (digital download)
2. Street Sweeper Social Club – self-titled
3. Diane Birch – Bible Belt
4. Alec Ounsworth – Mo Beauty
5. Garage A Trois – Power Patriot
Top Picks For Shows I Played in 2009
1. Galactic | The Fillmore | San Francisco, CA (with special guest Zigaboo Modeliste, drummer for The Meters)
2. Anders Osborne | Jazz Fest | New Orleans, LA
Introduced new band with myself, Robert Walter and Anders. We rehearsed all week at my house before the gig and are now finishing up a record with that new lineup.
3. Garage A Trois | DBA | New Orleans, LA Power Patriot record release and Skerik’s birthday.
1. Sunn O))) – Monoliths and Dimensions
2. Future of the Left – (most of) Travels with myself and another
3. Lightning Bolt – Earthly Delights
4. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
Honorable Mention: McTuff – Volume 1, Dead Kenny Gs – Bewildered Herd, Garage A Trois – Power Patriot
Shows
1. Wayne Shorter Quartet | Zellerbach Hall | Berkeley, CA
Incredible, life making, spiritual event
2. Sunn O))) | Neumo’s | Seattle, WA
Attila incantations: unparalleled.
3. Sunn O))) Duo | Vienna and Prague
Simply the heaviest thing on earth.
1. Them Crooked Vultures – Them Crooked Vultures
2. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
3. Aceyalone – The Lonely Ones
4. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
5. Mulatu Astatke and the Heliocentrics – Inspiration Information 3
Shows
1. Wayne Shorter Quartet | October 2009 | Zellerbach Hall | Berkeley, CA
2. The Secret Chiefs 3 | They killed everyone the Oddity Faire Tour
3. Aloke Dutta (solo tabla) | July 2009 | Blue Nile | New Orleans, LA
My Best Shows
1. Mike Dillon’s Go-Go Jungle | May 2009 | Dragons Den (late night) – Jazz Fest | New Orleans
2. Garage a Trois | December 2009 | The Independent | San Francisco, CA
3. Dead Kenny Gs | Jazz Fest ’09 | Megalmaniacs Ball | New Orleans, LA
4. Illuminasti Trio with Brian Coogan | Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro | New Orleans, LA
5. Sam Baker – Cotton
6. Tom Waits – Glitter and Doom
7. PJ Harvey and John Parish – A Woman A Man Walked By
Shows
1. Paul McCartney, Mastodon, Leonard Cohen, The Cure, X, Public Enemy – Coachella – April 2009
I was really impressed and amazed at all of these performances. Rarely have I seen so many sets of such high caliber at one festival… and this wasn’t even the extent of it. I should really just list this as “Coachella 2009.”
2. The Melvins – Grand Regency – San Francisco
3. Nels Cline Singers – Cafe DuNord, San Francisco, CA – September 3, 2009
4. Them Crooked Vultures – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA – November 2009
How can you go wrong with this lineup? Well, I guess they could if they tried… but they didn’t. Rock is alive.
5. Gov’t Mule – Apollo Theater – Barcelona, Spain – November 15, 2009
Best Mule show I’ve seen in a while, possibly ever. I even got to join them for a couple numbers.
6. The Pogues – Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
1. Rotary Downs | Halloween – October 31 | DBA, New Orleans, LA
Cmon, it was the best show of the year… glow in the dark, smoke machines n shit…cmon!
2. BROOKLYNOLA – Generationals, w/ the BKLNOLA All Stars | May 8 | Public Assembly, Brooklyn, NY
Simon Lott, Mike Gamble, Marc Friedman, Tony Barba, Bryce Wymer, Mitch Paone
3. Not So Super Super Hero Party 7 | February 21 | Hi Ho Lounge, New Orleans, LA Featuring Brian Coogan/Simon Lott/Mike Gamble/Anthony Cuccia/Justin Peak
1. Robert Earl Keen – Rose Hotel
2. Phish – Joy
3. Robyn Hitchcock – Good Night Oslo
4. Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ – Great American Bubble Factory
5. Tim Carrol – All Kinds of Pain
Shows (no particular order)
1. Les Claypool | All Good Festival
2. Robert Earl Keen | Bonnaroo Music Festival
3. Great American Taxi | Telluride Bluegrass Festival
Albums
1. Omar Souleyman – Highway to Hassake
2. White Denim – Fits
3. Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem One
4. Extra Golden – Thank you very Quickly
5. Pissed Jeans – King of Jeans
Albums (no particular order)
1. Greg Giraldo – Midlife Vices
2. Paul F. Tompkins – Freak Wharf
3. Patton Oswalt – My Weakness Is Strong
4. Doug Stanhope – From Across The Street
5. Flight Of The Conchords – I Told You I Was Freaky
Shows
1. Jamie Cullum | 07.17.09 | Juan Les Pin | Antibes, France
2. Playing For Change with Special Guests Ziggy Marley & Toots Hibbert | 11.13.09 | Nokia Live | Los Angeles, CA
3. David Byrne | 06.12.09 | Bonnaroo Music Festival | Manchester, TN
Albums
1. Floating Action – self-titled
2. Dan Auerbach – Keep It Hid
McMicken by Grayson
3. Elvis Perkins In Dearland – self-titled
4. M. Ward – Hold Time
5. Pepi Ginsberg – East Is East
6. Alec Ounsworth – Mo’ Beauty
Shows
The Zombies | Azkena Festival | Spain
Man, as I start thinkin’ about it, I realize that the quality of any given show I see has so much to do with my willingness to experience the beauty of that particular moment. I’ve seen great shows I missed and I’ve missed great shows I’ve seen. My nephew jammed the toy room to tears!
1. El Perro Del Mar – Love Is Not Pop
2. Papercuts – You Can Have What You Want
3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Existensminimum – OK Boys
5. Pains Of Being Pure At Heart – self-titled
6. Girls – Album
7. Brothers Of End – The End
8. Anna Järvinen – Man Var Bland Molnen
9. Where The Action Is – LA Nuggets
10. Cass McCombs – Catacombs
Shows
1. Dinosaur Jr. | SXSW
2. Neil Young | Stockholm
3. El Perro Del Mar opening for us every night this fall tour
1. BLK JKS at SXSW – March 18 – The Paradise – Austin, TX
On par with South by Southwest chaos we lugged all our equipment from one block to another to make a show in haste and when we got there the BLK JKS were playing before us and it was absolutely captivating. It stopped us in our tracks and made us forget where we were – which is hard to do in those few fragmented days in March in Austin, TX.
2. Opening for Morrissey at Carnegie Hall in Pittsburg, PA – Saint Patrick’s Day 2009 The first Carnegie Hall ever built I believe and when we peeked inside it was like playing an old Opera Vaudeville place that was just majestic. Made us feel like we were teleported into another time. During soundcheck you see Morrissey on side stage watching us sing our songs of change and revolt, out of key and dissonant. Saint Patrick’s Day opening for Morrissey in that building was quite surreal.
3. Tallest Man on Earth – April 1 – Pabst Theater – Milwaukee, WI
I went through a rough time this year, a lot of personal and family sadness that eventually released the inner hibernating beast whilst simultaneously tricking the spirit inside the confines of my detuned heart. We did a lot of tour hopping in the spring all around the country – once we started traveling with Kristian (TMOE) I felt it serendipitous that I could watch him every night and vicariously live in each song. When he performs it is one of the most genuine things I’ve seen. I needed that right then and there.
1. Skeletonwitch – Breathe The Fire
2. Baroness – Blue Album
3. Kylesa – Static Tensions
4. Black Tusk/ASG split CD
5. Coliseum – “True Quiet/Last Wave” 7-inch
Shows
1. Southern Discomfort Tour with Black Tusk, Kylesa and Skeletonwitch
2. Bison when they toured with Tombes and Kylesa
3. Backstage at Mastodon in Detroit!
1. Isis – Wavering Radiant
2. The Life and Times – Tragic Boogie
3. Satyricon – The Age of Nero
4. Converge – Axe to Fall
5. Jawbox – For Your Own Special Sweetheart reissue
Shows
1. Nine Inch Nails | Henry Fonda | Los Angeles, CA
2. Jesus Lizard | Metro | Chicago, IL
3. Sunny Day Real Estate | House of Blues | Anaheim, CA
For me, 2009 was not so much about new music as it was about hearing some legends at a new peak of their career, with that in mind I submit to you my picks.
Albums
1. The Beatles – Abbey Road (remastered)
U-Melt
2. The Beatles – Revolver (remastered)
3. The Beatles – Rubber Soul (remastered)
4. The Beatles – White Album (remastered)
5. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (remastered)
It’s hard to compete with the best. The remasters sound absolutely amazing, and I for one was very happy to have a little bit of Beatlemania in my life in 2009.
Shows
1. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band | 09.30.09 | Giants Stadium | East Rutherford, NJ
For night one of his five-night run to close the old stadium, Bruce opened with a brand new, never before played song appropriately titled “Wrecking Ball.” Over the course of the 3+ hour show they went through the Born To Run album in its entirety, which was one of the best things I’ve ever seen on a stage.
2. David Byrne | 06.08.09 | Prospect Park | Brooklyn, NY
David has a unique brand of genius, and when he teams up with Brian Eno, the results are unbeatable. The show focused on the many musical collaborations the two men have had over the years, and featured a lot of great old school Talking Heads songs. With the entire band (and three dancers) dressed all in white, Mr. Byrne’s artistic mind shone through in a wonderful way.
3. Steve Winwood | 01.16.09 | United Palace Theater | New York, NY
Every time I see Steve play he blows my mind. The amount of soul that he exudes when he sings, not to mention the fact that he doesn’t need a bass player as he is one of the greatest organists around. This night in January had Steve in top form.
Albums
1. Conor Oberst – Outer South
2. Mason Jennings – Blood Of Man
3. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
4. Mastodon – Crack The Skye
5. Pearl Jam – Ten (remixed)
6. Them Crooked Vultures – self-titled
Continue reading for more Best of 2009 Artist List…
One day I was really craving some new music so asked one of my friends for an artist to type into Pandora. He said Phoenix. I loved the track that came up. Instead of listening to the Pandora station, I bought their new album and have been listening to it since. Fresh music found.
2. Bruce Springsteen – Working on a Dream
As Barack Obama said… “I may be the President, but this guy’s the Boss.” Sometimes the production can be thick, but these songs are genuine. The last song on the album entitled “The Wrestler” is one of my favorite songs of his whole career.
3. Brandi Carlile – Give Up the Ghost
One of my favorite new artists and in my opinion, one of the best female singers around today. Great songs, great tones, and a great band.
4. The Mother Hips – Pacific Dust
I’m thankful for every album these guys have released and this new album is no exception. These guys never cease to amaze me.
5. Band of Horses – Cease to Begin
I caught the last couple of songs of their set at the Outside Lands Festival in SF. The next day I got their CD and it’s great. I like to listen to it when I’m building things.
Shows (in no particular order)
1. Brandi Carlile – 10/21/09 – Fillmore, San Francisco
Brandi is a gifted artist and in a live setting you really notice it. They started the show with an a capella song and they sounded like angels. I was hooked from the first notes.
2. These United States – 7/5/09 – High Sierra Music Festival
I was on my way to meet a friend, and as I was walking by the Vaudeville tent I was drawn in by some great music. I loved it and ended up staying until the end of the set. I love surprises like this. Great energy.
3 ALO – 2/15/09 – The Mystic Theater, Petaluma, CA
To me, this show represents ALO at its finest. We were well warmed up and everything just seemed to flow in an effortless way. A great blend of songs and improvisations. After the show I remember thinking to myself… “This is why I play music!”
2. Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
3. The Mother Hips – Pacific Dust
4. Hiss Golden Messenger – Country Hai East Cotton
5. Chris Velan – Solidago
Shows Watched
1. Phish | 03.06.08 – 03.08.09 | Hampton Coliseum | Hampton, VA
2. Dr. Dog | 10.05.09 | Brookdale Lodge | Boulder Creek, CA
3. The Black Crowes | 12.06.09 | The Fillmore | San Francisco, CA
Shows Played
1. ALO | 02.15.09 | Mystic Theater | Petaluma, CA
2. Big Light, Skinny Singers | 02.28.09 | Gramble On Big Sur | Big Sur, CA
3. Dun Four, Newfangled Wasteland, Nicki Bluhm | 10.30.09-11.01.09 | Las Tortugas IV | Groveland, CA
Albums
1. Grizzly Bear – Veckatimest
The best music in the country is still coming out of Brooklyn.
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
This album proves that if a song has a strong melody you can do whatever you want underneath it.
3. Portugal The Man – Censored Colors
One of the best engineered and mixed albums I’ve heard in years.
Jeremy Korpas
4. The Antlers – Hospice
It’s a concept album about a man watching his lover die of cancer in the hospital. It’s heart wrenching to say the least.
5. U2 – No Line On The Horizon
I would expect no less from the biggest bad in the world.
Shows Attended
1. All six of the Dr. Dog shows that I’ve seen this year. From The Fillmore to the side of the stage at High Sierra, all the way out in Santa Cruz mountains, every show turned me into a clapper, a singer, a dancer, a fist-pumper, and all those things I wouldn’t normally do at a rock show.
2. The Mars Volta | Outside Lands Music Festival | San Francisco, CA
It was an all out musical assault. Cedric’s stage moves alone were enough to make the list. They proved they have the biggest dicks in the business
3. The Mother Hips | Las Tortugas IV | Groveland, CA
They just killed it that night! Plus they let me sing “Del Mar Station” onstage with them. First time I had stage fright in 10 years.
Shows Played
1. Big Light’s Late Night Camp Harry Set | High Sierra Music Festival
“I moved to California looking for something. I found it at Camp Harry.” Swordfish
2. Green Tag Sale | Phanphest Music Festival
We played a late night indoors set that was just off the hook. 120 degrees and a packed house is exactly what the TRON calls for. But on Sunday we played the tiny solar tent at 4 p.m. and played our best show to date!
3. Paperback Radio | The Saint | Asbury Park, NJ
It felt great to play my favorite songs with my favorite band again!
Albums
1. Riceboy Sleeps – Jonsi and Alex
2. Baaba Maal – Television
3. Bela Fleck – Throw Down Your Heart
4. Vieux Farka Toure – Fondo
5. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
Shows
1. Rashied Ali | Zinc Bar | New York, NY
2. Panda Resistance | Soundpony | Tulsa, OK
3. Of Montreal | Williamsburg Theater | Brooklyn, NY
Albums
1. The Doldrums – Mirth & Songs
2. Dead Sea Choir – Thin One The Red One
3. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
4. Bullion – Pet Sounds in the Key of Dee
5. Panda Resistance – self-titled
Shows
1. NYC Winter Jazz Fest
2. Nola Jazz Fest/Skerik’s saucefest!
3. Tractor Tavern with Bill Frisell
Albums
1. Bibio – Ambivalence Avenue
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
4. The Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
5. MF Doom – Born Into This
Shows
1. Of Montreal | Williamsburg Music Hall | Brooklyn, NY
2. Private party in New Orleans during Jazz Fest where JFJO played with Kirk Joseph, Zigaboo Modeliste, John Speice and several other NOLA badasses.
3. Moodswing Orchestra and JFJO at Le Poisson Rouge, and then late night with Steven Bernstein sitting in with Bonerama at Sullivan Hall, New York, NY
Albums
1. Sufjan Stevens – The BQE
2. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
3. Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca
4. Andrew Bird – Noble Beast
5. The Flaming Lips – Christmas On Mars soundtrack
Shows
1. Punch Brothers | Fayetteville Performing Arts Center | Fayetteville, AR
2. Of Montreal | Music Hall of Williamsburg | Brooklyn, NY
3. Wilco/Tortoise | UIC Pavilion | Chicago, IL
Albums (no particular order)
1. Built To Spill – There Is No Enemy
2. Kurt Vile – Constant Hitmaker
3. Wooden Shjips – Dos
4. Animal Collective – Merriweather Post Pavilion
5. Wu-Tang Clan – Chamber Music
Shows (no particular order)
1. Black Dub | 10.15.09 | Troubadour | Los Angeles, CA
2. Monsters Of Folk | 10.18.09 | Greek Theatre | Los Angeles, CA
3. Neil Young w/ Everest | 04.21.09 | Kelowna, BC (had to do it)
Albums
1. Steve Earle – Townes
2. Bill Frisell – Disfarmer
3. Levon Helm – Electric Dirt
4. Smooth Kentucky – A Few More Miles
5. Danny Barnes – Pizza Box
Shows
1. Kelly Joe Phelps | Nightcat | Easton, MD
2. Anders Osborne | Rams Head Live | Baltimore, MD
3. The Dead | The Spectrum | Philadelphia, PA
Albums
1. Charlie Parr – Roustabout
2. Neko Case – Middle Cyclone
3. The Hobo Nephews of Uncle Frank – Traveling Show
4. Now, Now Every Children – Cars
5. Pert Near Sandstone – On a Spree
Shows
1. Homegrown Music Festival | Duluth, MN
2. Bristol Rhythm and Roots Reunion | Bristol, TN
3. 10,000 Lakes Festival
Albums
1. Thievery Corporation – Radio Retaliation
2. Matisyahu – Light
3. Breakestra – Dusk til Dawn
4. Sly and Robbie – Movin On
5. Karl Denson – Brother’s Keeper
Shows
1.Thievery Corp
2.Pretty Lights
3.Sly and Robbie
4.Pnuma Trio
Albums
1. Florence and the Machine – Lungs
2. Kasabian – West Pauper Lunatic Asylum
3. Muse – The Resistance
4. U2 – No Line On The Horizon
5. The Flaming Lips – Embryonic
Shows
1. Supporting U2 at Croke Park, Dublin in July
2. Kasabian | The SECC | Glasgow, Scotland
3. Florence and the Machine | Brixton Academy | London
Albums (no particular order)
1. MGMT – Oracular Spectacular
2. Jay-Z – Blueprint 3
3. Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon
4. Muse – The Resistance
5. Kings of Leon – Only by the Night
Shows (no particular order)
1. U2
2. Muse (opening for U2)
3. Nas and Damian Marley | Camp Bisco
Albums
1. Michael Jackson – Off The Wall
2. Ryan Montbleau Band – Stages Vol. 2
3. Bela Fleck – Throw Down Your Heart
4. The Motet – Dig Deep
5. The Derek Trucks Band – Already Free
Shows
1. Wormtown | Greenfield, MA
2. Bear Creek Festival | Live Oak, FL
3. Bonnaroo | Manchester, TN
She & Him will release their sophomore album, Volume Two, on March 23, 2010 via Merge Records. Written by Zooey Deschanel (She) and produced by M. Ward (Him), Volume Two is the highly anticipated follow up to the duo’s critically acclaimed debut, Volume One.
Volume Two makes good on Volume One‘s musical promise and then some. With eleven original tracks and two covers – “Ridin’ In My Car” by NRBQ and Skeeter Davis‘ “Gonna Get Along Without You” – Volume Two is bigger, bolder and more beautiful than its predecessor; the vocal arrangements, courtesy of Zooey, are dynamic, and show the singing heroine expanding her range in gorgeous ways, while the string arrangements, courtesy of M., are perfectly placed musical moments. Remaining constant are M.’s reverb-tinged guitar lines, a signature sound in all of his recordings, and Zooey’s incredible voice, sounding like a relic from the past and like nothing you’ve ever heard before.
She & Him created one of 2008′s most memorable recordings in Volume One, an album packed full of endlessly brilliant, effortlessly charming pop songs. Upon release, the record was met with the deafening roar of praise, a testament to M.’s sun-soaked instrumentation and Zooey’s incredible knack for writing pitch-perfect choruses. The duo assembled a live band to fill out their sound on the stage, and hit the road together for the first time, selling out shows from coast to coast. They performed on television shows from Elvis Costello‘s Spectacle to Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and dominated year-end lists. Following in the footsteps of duos like The Carpenters and Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazelwood before them, She & Him very quickly established themselves amongst pop’s finest two-piece collaborators.
Their work together also served to complement their individual talents. Indeed, the last year has been full of exciting endeavors for She and for Him: in addition to contributing vocals to Jenny Lewis‘ album, Acid Tongue, Zooey dazzled movie goers in this summer’s hit film (500) Days of Summer (She & Him actually covered a pivotal song in the film – The Smiths‘ “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” – for the soundtrack), while M. Ward released his fifth lauded solo album, Hold Time, and collaborated with friends Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Jim James under the moniker Monsters of Folk. Yet, when the pockets of downtime appeared, Zooey and M. jumped on them, working in studios in Los Angeles and Portland whenever they could to bring the newest batch of songs Zooey had written to fruition.
Described by Zooey as a “feel-good album,” Volume Two is bolstered by rich harmonies, sweet-as-sugar melodies and Brill Building choruses. From sweeping opener “Thieves” and first single “In the Sun” (featuring guest vocals by Tilly and the Wall), to the tempo and mood shifts of “Home,” and the vocals-only, hymn-like closer “If You Can’t Sleep,” Volume Two shimmers from start to finish.
“SAY PLEASE” VIDEO UNVEILED, VIDEO CONTEST FOR “DEAR GOD (SINCERELY M.O.F.)”
Monsters of Folk
Following a first-ever U.S. fall tour and unabashed praise for their self-titled debut album, Monsters of Folk (Conor Oberst, Jim James, M. Ward, Mike Mogis) are moving full-steam ahead with the unveiling of their new video for their brilliant single, “Say Please.”
Shot by acclaimed cinematographer Lance Acord, renowned for his work on celebrated films by directors Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze, the video features a frontier town, World War II soldiers, and roller-skating. The gorgeous video can be seen now here. Additionally, the broadcast premiere of the “Say Please” video will air November 17, on the Independent Film Channel at 9 p.m. EST/PST. It can also be seen here.
In other video news, Monsters of Folk have announced an incredible “make-our-video” contest for the song “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F.),” a stand-out track from the album. Sponsored by Apple/Quicktime and Death + Taxes Magazine, Monsters of Folk are inviting their fans to create their very own visual interpretation for “Dear God.” The winning video will be chosen from a list of finalists, and will be posted on the homepages of the Monsters of Folk, Apple/Quicktime, and Death + Taxes Magazine web sites. The contest winner will also receive $5000, a Gibson guitar signed by the band, and a copy of the new Final Cut Studio software. Five runners-up will receive a signed vinyl album. For more information, please go here.
Monsters of Folk – “Say Please”
Praise for Monsters of Folk:
“…a folky, harmony-ridden gem.” – Rolling Stone
“…the harmonies are groundbreaking. Goosebump territory. The amalgam of their voices mixed with the musical breathing room creates an intimacy not heard since Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. It’s a stunning record – cohesive and consistent and ambitious for how much ground it covers.” – Esquire
“…rich with details that feel worn-in like the corners of a beloved book.” – Los Angeles Times
Monsters of Folk are currently on tour in Europe; dates available here.
Monsters of Folk :: 10.17.09 :: The Fox Theater :: Oakland, CA
Say Please, Dear God, Temazcal, Whole Lotta Losin’, The Right Place, Baby Boomer, Man Named Truth, Slow Down Jo, Map of the World, Sandman, the Brakeman, and me, His Master’s Voice, sad, sad song, Vincent O’Brien, Outta My Head, To Save Me, Poison Cup, Paul’s Song, Lime Tree, Another Travelin’ Song, Soul Singer in a Session Band, At the Bottom of Everything, We Are Nowhere And It Is Now, Smoke Without Fire, The Big Picture
Single-day tickets, 3-day passes, and camping are still available at folksfestival.com or 800-624-2422.
The carefully curated lineup of main stage performers goes well beyond the confines of “folk music” into the breadth of Americana – from the classic pop of Rufus Wainwright to the jazz-folk of Madeleine Peyroux; from the blues-rock of Susan Tedeschi to the indie-folk of M. Ward; from the swamp rock of JJ Grey & Mofro to the cellist/songwriter Ben Sollee.
The 15-acre Planet Bluegrass Ranch is located in the foothills of the Rockies less than an hour from Denver or Fort Collins, and just 25 minutes from Boulder and Rocky Mountain National Park. Camping is available along the St. Vrain River on the festival grounds or under the dramatic cliffs of nearby Meadow Park. Smaller than its cousins Telluride Bluegrass and RockyGrass, the Folks Festival has a more intimate, relaxed late-summer vibe as kids play in the sandy beach while adults enjoy the music from a hammock or chair planted in the river.
Complete festival lineup:
Gillian Welch
Rufus Wainwright
Susan Tedeschi
Don McLean
Madeleine Peyroux
Brett Dennen
M. Ward (solo)
Dougie MacLean
Over the Rhine
Peter Himmelman
Mary Gauthier
JJ Grey & Mofro
Will Hoge
Blind Pilot
Ben Sollee
The Drepung Monks
Mia Dyson
Vance Gilbert
Joe Pug
Amy Speace
Chuck E. Costa
and more…
For more information about the Rocky Mountain Folks Festival visit folksfestival.com or call 800-624-2422.
“SUPER GROUP” OFFERS UP FIRST TASTE OF STUDIO COLLABORATION
Folk Monsters
Monsters of Folk – comprised of Bright Eyes‘ Conor Oberst and Mike Mogis, My Morning Jacket‘s Jim James and M. Ward – will release their self-titled studio debut album on September 22. But, the band is currently offering a free MP3 download of the song “Say Please.” Pop over to their website and type in “please” in the password box. It’s a sweet little, summery number.
Monsters of Folk began as folklore of sorts, when James, Oberst, Ward and Mogis did their first run of shows together in 2004. Like the musical revue shows that went town to town when rock ‘n’ roll was newly born, the tour was called “An Evening With: Bright Eyes, Jim James and M. Ward,” although amongst friends and crew, it became affectionately known as the “Monsters of Folk Tour.” While entertaining audiences coast to coast with gorgeous acoustic melodies and world-weary tales, the foursome vowed to make their way to a studio at some point after the tour’s completion. While individual albums and other distractions delayed their plans, they kept their promise and when downtime presented itself they convened in the studio multiple times over two years, with Mogis at the helm of their first recorded effort.
New Album
Miike Snow :: ACL ’10 by Dave Vann
Trey Anastasio :: ACL ’10 by Dave Vann
Muse :: ACL ’10 by Dave Vann
The Flaming Lips :: ACL ’10 by Dave Vann
She & Him
Alan Charing
She & Him at Rachel Ray’s Party :: 03.20.10 by Dudelson
Street Sweeper Social Club
The Packway Handle Band at 40 Watt/JamBase Party
Pretty Lights at La Zona Rosa :: 03.20.10 by Aaron Bach
Rachel Ray at the Rachel Ray Party :: Stubb’s :: 03.20.10
Dr. Dog at the Rachel Ray Party :: Stubb’s :: 03.20.10
Chapin Sisters at the Rachel Ray Party :: Stubb’s :: 03.20.10
Tom Morello – Street Sweeper Social Club at the Rachel Ray Party :: Stubb’s :: 03.20.10
Andrew WK at the Rachel Ray Party :: Stubb’s :: 03.20.10
Priestess at the Harley Davidson Party :: 03.20.10
The New Harley Davidson at the Harley Davidson Party :: 03.20.10
Exene Cervenka at Bloodshot Records Party :: 03.20.10
Big Light at Relix Showcase :: 03.20.10
The Like at Stubb’s :: 03.20.10
Blind Pilot
Blind Pilot Bike Tour
Blind Pilot by Douglas Heine
Blind Pilot (Nebeker left Dobrowski right) by T. Oliver
Patterson Hood
Dave Schools
David Murphy
Kyle Hollingsworth
Petter Ericson Stakee
Jon Gutwillig
Aron Magner
Marco Benevento
Derek Vincent Smith/PL
Deerhunter
Mathis by Miller
Gomez
Jake Cinninger
Ryan Stasik by Vann
Brendan Bayliss
Cummins by Gordon
Farag by Gordon
Keller Williams
Art Neville by Smith
Jason Isbell
Jerry Joseph
Andrew Barr
George Porter Jr.
Joe Russo
Stanton Moore
Skerik
Mike Dillon
Eric McFadden Trio
Zack Smith
Cody Dickinson
Todd Snider
Ethan Miller
Steve Molitz
Gorman by Weiand
McMicken by Grayson
Peter Bjorn and John
Harley Prechtel-Cortez by Law
Lucero
Pelican
Metric
Jeff Miller
U-Melt
Ben Kweller
Dan Lebowitz
Steve Adams
Fred Torphy
Jeremy Korpas
Bifulco by Smith
Brian Haas
Josh Raymer
Chris Combs
Matt Hayes
Pollard by Krolick
The Bridge
Trampled By Turtles
Pete Shand by Martinez
The New Mastersounds
Glasvegas
Chairlift
Telepath
Zach Deputy
Monsters of Folk
Folk Monsters