Sunday, May 17, 2009

Animal Collective Live at The House of Blues in Boston


At 7:06 the doors to the House of Blues open for one of the wildest concerts they will put on this spring.  The fans pour in, filling the huge pit and general admission balcony.  The opening artist Grouper is far from appreciated.  Her droning synthesizers, overly distorted guitar and modulated vocals wash over the crowd like low tide.   There is no sign of Animal Collective until nine when the doors to backstage open with a billow of their signature smell. With every waft the crowd cheers louder and the anticipation builds.  With the first peek of the wild trio, the once stagnant crowd becomes a pool of ultra excited electrons.  They jump, bounce, push and shove.  The stage remains dark but the band begins to play.  Soon a psychedelic light show begins with blue and green strobe lights. The first song is an untitled track, which doesn’t appear on any album or EP.  The first song fades directly into their most popular piece My Girls.  The opening synthesizer echoes through the crowd with a wave of energy and excitement. The music of Animal Collective creates a distinct soundscape.  Their mixture of sharp percussion, foundation rattling bass, ambient synthesizers, and abrasive noises creates a sound that is lush and intricately woven with generous amounts of, what one fan described after the show as, “Ecstasticle Vibes” (Vibes that are similar to ecstasy). Each song had its own soul-shifting climax, which moved many concert goers to shake and groove for the whole two and a half hour set.  The intro to fourth song in Animal Collectives set pushed the whole crowd into the throws of a heroin binge. As the reverberated synthesizer swept across the venue and the intestine shaking bass began to compound its rumble, fans were paralyzed from their incessant dancing and thrown into a gentle sway of bittersweet sedation.  As the show came to an end with an upbeat groove from Summertime Clothes, the band retired to their backstage lounge. Fans cheered and screamed even chanted and it seemed there would be no return of the beloved Animal collective, but as the animal noises and howls began erupting form the crowed the faithful trio returned to the stage for one last song.  Just as they opened the show they began with an anonomys synthesizer beat that faded into My Girls.  As they played an beefed up and improvised live cut of their most popular track, the crowed broke into an uncontrollable bump and grind.  When asked, after the show, about the encore one fan says, “The energy in the room was infectious, all I could do was dance and smile.”  This was the feeling throughout the show and most fans had faces of pure joy and excitement.  Upon exiting the venue, the streets surrounding the House of Blues and Fenway Park were filled with coyote howls and laughter.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Spinsters Get Spun

Here is my Two cents on every album on the Spin Top 20 Albums of 2008

20) The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley     8
the production and the vocals on this song are great; props to danger mouse and Cee-lo
19) The Stand-Ins - Okkerville River   6.5
these guys make some nice music with great lyrics. 
18) DIG LAZARUS DIG!!! - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds    7.5
This music has more energy and passion, not to mention rage, than any other album out this year.
17) Rising Down - The Roots  7
Not the best Roots album
16) Evil Urges - My Morning Jacket  4.5
Personally, I don't know how these guys got a record deal. 
15) Modern Guilt - Beck   8
Love Beck, Love Modern guilt. Has that great weird LA feel too it.
14) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend    7
Fun and obsessive the first 50 times then you realize its obnoxious like the the Hiltons
13)  No Age - Nouns   8
this is a great unknown who is now known. pick up the cd is my advice.
12) New Ameryka Pt. 1 4th World War - Erryka Badu  less than 1
all i know is the album art is wack the name is wack and the music is pretty wack.
11) The Seldom Seen Kid - Elbow  7
i guessed and gave it a 7. it looked good and i have heard good things about it. 
10) Oracular Spectacular - MGMT  9
This album is as weird as the cover but better than any other album this year.
9) Viva La Vida - Coldplay   2
 fuck coldplay.
8) Made in The Dark - Hot Chip  8
Fun Indie-elcetro-blues  Music. if you find a band like it i will be amazed.
7) Microcastle - Deerhunter  7.5
i dont like this band or album but some of the tracks were sampled in a few great Mixtaps and mash ups.
6) Santagold- Santagold  ?
never got a copy...
5) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes  8.5
got an advanced copy.  you should have too.
4) The Chemistry of Common Life - Fucked Up  9
saw them live in montreal.  awesome music made by awesome people.
3) Third - Portishead    8
its only good when your head feels full of portis...
2) Tha Carter III - Lil Wayne   8.5
I gotta give Lil Wayne a good score even if this album was mediocre.  He released so much free mixtape content this year it was unreal. go get some of that instead.
1) Dead Silence - TV on The Radio  --
When I saw that TV on The Radio had gotten the best album of 2008 I went dead silent. 

http://www.spin.com/gallery/20-best-albums-2008

By The Way (Album) - Red Hot Chili Peppers




























By The Way was a monumental vision and album for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  It redefined their sound and image. In 2001, after finishing the Californication World Tour, lead guitarist John Frusciante collaborated with other band members and began to write By The Way. At this time Frusciante had been clean for almost 2 years; he had a new mind and would change the sound of alternative music's most popular band.  The music moves away from the Red Hot Chili Peppers classic cross of Punk and Funk to a new, more melodic and emotional, sound.  
Frusciante formed an emotionally provoking soundscape across the entire album. He was influenced by musicians such as Vini Reilly of The Durutti Column and John McGeoch. Frusciante made use of textured and multilayered guitar progressions on By the Way. One of the most unique tools he used on the album is a Mellotron. Wikipedia defines it as a "Electro-Mechanical, (Analog) Polyphonic Keyboard". the keys play pre recoded 8 second samples of tape underneath the keyboard. In addition to the layering and polyphonic analog keyboards, there is plenty of Do-Whop influenced vocals and no lack of that ever popular Red Hot Chili Pepper energy.  Frusciante described the time he spent recording By The Way by saying "It [was] one of the happiest times in my life." In short, By The Way has more music, love, positive vibes, and energy than any other Red Hot Chili Peppers album Out there.


Dalley, Helen (August 2002) "Interview with John Frusciante" Total Guitar Magazine

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Mr. Bear – Rubber Duckies


Jack Bishop is the man behind the name Mr. Bear.  This up and coming one-man-music-machine started by playing the trombone in his 6th grade band.  After mastering the trombone Jack learned the piano, banjo and guitar. By then he was a full fledged musician and still 17.  Now at age 20 Jack Bishop is credited with 18 different instruments on his album.  He began recording 2005 as a hobby in his hometown of Little Rock, AR. In 2008 he launched his final product under the name These Machines. The music on These Machines is intricately orchestrated with quirky sounds, from more than the 18 official instruments.  The sound of Mr. Bear is similar to that of his fellow Midwestern Noise-Rocker Sufjan Stevens. They both play an astounding array of instruments and have lush sounds with gentle voicing. While both have folk roots, Mr. Bear’s ever-present banjo and prayers to god keeps the country scenery locked in my mind.  Mr. Bear is one of the few examples of Noise-Rock that: A) tantalizes my musical palate B) graces my ears with fluidity and C) has a widely accessible sound.  Jack bishop can orchestrate everyday sounds, as well as, his vas array of musical instruments.