After leaving Wednesday night's Jens Lekman show with a huge smile on my face, I left Thursday's Hold Steady/Art Brut party drenched in sweat and with shredded vocal chords. It's not every day that you get to see your favorite American band and your favorite British band sharing the stage, so it was a pretty special night. It was one of the shows where you leave the front of the stage bleeding, but it's from someone trying to hug you instead of moshing. The Hold Steady played a new song called "Stay Positive," which in addition to rocking super hard, really summarized the whole feel of the night.
Art Brut was accompanied by a Powerpoint projected behind them with all of the song titles and the occasional lyric thrown in for emphasis. Eddie Argos seems to have added some new stage moves since the band last came to Austin, but he still pulled out the classics like the microphone cord jump rope. Now with another album's worth of tasty meta-punk, Art Brut proved once again that there's no cooler band in the world. For all that's written about how talentless they are, Jasper Future and Ian Catskilkin are a mighty fine guitar duo. As I think he does at every show, Argos flung himself into the crowd during "Modern Art," but the cool thing about this time is that I was close enough for him to give me a big, nasty, sweaty hug. Highlights were "Emily Kane," which I think is one of the most genuine love songs written this decade, "Post-Soothing Out," and a "Good Weekend"/"Formed a Band" medley which closed out the set. For a second I was concerned that The Hold Steady wouldn't be able to match up to Art Brut's level of rocktitude, but then I remembered that they were the Hold Steady and I punched myself in the face.
The Hold Steady established that they were about to take us on a sleazy journey as soon as they walked onstage, each equipped with a different adult beverage, ranging from Tad Kubler's handle of Jim Beam to Franz Nikola's bottle of fine chardonnay to match his vest and infamous moustache. Craig Finn seemed a little bit more dancey than usual, which only added to the positive energy in the packed La Zona Rosa. The set leaned heavily on Boys and Girls in America, but they threw in old classics like "Your Little Hoodrat Friend" and "The Swish." Less dependent on schtick than Art Brut, The Hold Steady made it feel like we were all a bunch of friends drinking together, which essentially we were. There were about 4 new songs thrown into the mix which seemed to continue the band' s route towards classic rock. Craig Finn kept banter to a minimum which was kinda lame, but Galen Polivka picked up the slack by throwing dollar bills and cigarettes into the crowd. The encore was all Almost Killed Me material, closing as always with "Killer Parties," which is a song that I always forget how much I love.
Certainly ranks among the top shows since I've started going to UT. The next big one will be Dinosaur Jr., so there's a good chance that it'll be on par with this one. More importantly, though, LSU is number one again and Thanksgiving is on Thursday.
Turkey...stuffing...beer...tiiiiiight.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Sweden: No Longer Just a Subject of Jamie Lee Curtis's Mockery
I've been pretty busy the past couple of weeks so I haven't had time to post, but I've been inspired by the resurgence of the Swedish music scene. On Tuesday The Hives released a new record, and last night Jens Lekman played a show at the Parish in Austin, both of which left me with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside me tumbly.
The Hives have followed a very similar career path to that of The Strokes: Breakthrough album sells huge due to string of popular singles; everyone hates the second album but then realizes a few months later that it's actually better; release third album which isn't revelatory but explores new ideas and sticks enough to the old style to keep old fans happy. I thought that Tyrannosaurus Hives was criminally underrated when it came out a few years ago, and its lack of a popular single caused The Hives to slip into relative obscurity since.
However, their new record, The Black and White Album features a few songs that could put them back in the spotlight where they belong. B & W is by no means as good as T. Hives or as viscerally fast-paced as Veni Vidi Vicious, but the album finds the band trying out plenty of new things. Most notably, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist shows much more vocal range, much like Julian Casablancas did on the third Strokes record. "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.," produced by Pharell Williams, grooves like a Kraftwerk-Queen mashup with Howlin' Pelle busting out his best Les Savy Fav falsetto. You could even argue that he croons on "Won't Be Long," which is the album's strongest track and features a super-groovy synth lead.
All three of the first tracks are potential blockbuster singles, with "You Got it All...Wrong" providing the catchiest chorus of the three. Everybody always calls The Hives "dumb rock," which it most certainly is, but their lyrics -- still hilariously credited to the mysterious Randy Fitzimmons -- are often just as clever as Joey Ramone or Jonathan Richman, which is especially impressive considering that English is their second language. The best example of this is the "school-stinks" closing anthem, "Fall is Just Something That Grownups Invented," which has the same tongue-in-cheek quality as "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" or "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out."
The album is not without its flaws, though. Sometimes the band's newfound experimentation gets the best of them, as on the too-kitschy instrumental, "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors" which tries to emulate the horror-movie dramatics of the excellent "Diabolic Scheme" off of T. Hives, but just comes off bland. Also, "Puppet of a String" tries a slow vaudeville piano effect while Howlin' Pelle ambles through the lyrics, marking the first time in the man's career that he could be accused of being lazy. Overall though, the album is fun as always and a great way to spend a half-hour. 7/10
Now, on to Jens Lekman
I've been gushing about Jens Lekman since he came out with his stunning Night Falls Over Kortedala a couple months back, so I was pretty ecstatic to find out that he was coming to Austin and playing at The Parish, arguably the best venue in town. Even though I ended up going to the concert alone, drinking the amount that I would have spent on a date, I walked away feeling happier than I ever have following a concert. I saw him at the bar during the opening act and said to him, "Hey Jens, you got a good one for us tonight?" He crawled into his shell and meekly replied, "I sure hope so" and then crept backstage to regather himself.
Shy as he was beforehand, he was an impeccable showman. Accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, he provided all of the necessary beats and background vocals with a loop pedal. After about the third song, he requested that the house lights be turned on in order to "take a look at all you charming people," only to become more nervous when he saw how many people were there. Among the best songs was Kortedala standout "A Postcard to Nina," which he annotated with the full story of playing boyfriend in front of a lesbian friend's father. Also fantastic were "A Pocketful of Money" from When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog, which ended in a haunting a capella audience singalong and a charming cover of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al." Also, one of the girls from Architecture in Helsinki, who were doing a set down the street at Emo's, came onstage to dance and do backing vocals on "The Opposite of Hallelujah." Normally I don't like to listen to band for at least an hour after seeing them live, but I was singing along to Jens on my bike the entire ride home.
Check back tomorrow when I will hopefully have an update on tonight's epic Art Brut/Hold Steady show. Top of the Pops!
The Hives have followed a very similar career path to that of The Strokes: Breakthrough album sells huge due to string of popular singles; everyone hates the second album but then realizes a few months later that it's actually better; release third album which isn't revelatory but explores new ideas and sticks enough to the old style to keep old fans happy. I thought that Tyrannosaurus Hives was criminally underrated when it came out a few years ago, and its lack of a popular single caused The Hives to slip into relative obscurity since.
However, their new record, The Black and White Album features a few songs that could put them back in the spotlight where they belong. B & W is by no means as good as T. Hives or as viscerally fast-paced as Veni Vidi Vicious, but the album finds the band trying out plenty of new things. Most notably, Howlin' Pelle Almqvist shows much more vocal range, much like Julian Casablancas did on the third Strokes record. "T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.," produced by Pharell Williams, grooves like a Kraftwerk-Queen mashup with Howlin' Pelle busting out his best Les Savy Fav falsetto. You could even argue that he croons on "Won't Be Long," which is the album's strongest track and features a super-groovy synth lead.
All three of the first tracks are potential blockbuster singles, with "You Got it All...Wrong" providing the catchiest chorus of the three. Everybody always calls The Hives "dumb rock," which it most certainly is, but their lyrics -- still hilariously credited to the mysterious Randy Fitzimmons -- are often just as clever as Joey Ramone or Jonathan Richman, which is especially impressive considering that English is their second language. The best example of this is the "school-stinks" closing anthem, "Fall is Just Something That Grownups Invented," which has the same tongue-in-cheek quality as "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue" or "Tommy Gets His Tonsils Out."
The album is not without its flaws, though. Sometimes the band's newfound experimentation gets the best of them, as on the too-kitschy instrumental, "A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors" which tries to emulate the horror-movie dramatics of the excellent "Diabolic Scheme" off of T. Hives, but just comes off bland. Also, "Puppet of a String" tries a slow vaudeville piano effect while Howlin' Pelle ambles through the lyrics, marking the first time in the man's career that he could be accused of being lazy. Overall though, the album is fun as always and a great way to spend a half-hour. 7/10
Now, on to Jens Lekman
I've been gushing about Jens Lekman since he came out with his stunning Night Falls Over Kortedala a couple months back, so I was pretty ecstatic to find out that he was coming to Austin and playing at The Parish, arguably the best venue in town. Even though I ended up going to the concert alone, drinking the amount that I would have spent on a date, I walked away feeling happier than I ever have following a concert. I saw him at the bar during the opening act and said to him, "Hey Jens, you got a good one for us tonight?" He crawled into his shell and meekly replied, "I sure hope so" and then crept backstage to regather himself.
Shy as he was beforehand, he was an impeccable showman. Accompanied only by an acoustic guitar, he provided all of the necessary beats and background vocals with a loop pedal. After about the third song, he requested that the house lights be turned on in order to "take a look at all you charming people," only to become more nervous when he saw how many people were there. Among the best songs was Kortedala standout "A Postcard to Nina," which he annotated with the full story of playing boyfriend in front of a lesbian friend's father. Also fantastic were "A Pocketful of Money" from When I Said I Wanted to be Your Dog, which ended in a haunting a capella audience singalong and a charming cover of Paul Simon's "You Can Call Me Al." Also, one of the girls from Architecture in Helsinki, who were doing a set down the street at Emo's, came onstage to dance and do backing vocals on "The Opposite of Hallelujah." Normally I don't like to listen to band for at least an hour after seeing them live, but I was singing along to Jens on my bike the entire ride home.
Check back tomorrow when I will hopefully have an update on tonight's epic Art Brut/Hold Steady show. Top of the Pops!
Sunday, November 4, 2007
Fun Fun Fun Fest Recap
So this weekend was Fun Fun Fun Fest, the newer, smaller, more indie-focused music festival in Austin. It's a very different environment than that of ACL for a number of reasons. First of all, the November weather is much more conducive to a day in the park than the September hear. Also, FFFFest brilliantly got rid of the hour-long wait between acts at most festivals by splitting each stage so that one band could set up while the other band played, making it a maximum of ten minutes between shows. Most importantly, however, FFFFest is far stinkier than ACL. As I touched on earlier, FFFFest is only indie bands, metal bands and DJs, who all have incredibly stinky fans. The entire place reeked of vintage elitism. Regardless, it was a fun time...
Day 1
I started my day at Okkervil River, who most recent album has been in constant rotation on my iPod. Singer Will Sheff, clad in a nice three-piece suit, occasionally let his emotions get the best of him, with his voice occasionally cracking and quavering due to his on-stage freakouts. Regardless, standouts such as "For Real" and "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe" sounded great as the band had a much meatier sound than they have on their records.
Immediately after Okkervil on the same stage was Of Montreal, who are always impossibly fun live. They didn't play anything older than Satanic Panic in the Attic, but their mostly-drum machine based set certainly had the crowd in a frenzy. I didn't take any pictures, but the costumes were obviously over the top and hilarious. With about fifteen minutes left in their
set, the lights went out and Kevin Barnes thought that he was being kicked off the stage so he threw a fit and ended early. However, they sorted everything out and came back out for a "totally unironic" cover of "Purple Rain. I never thought I'd say this about anyone, but Barnes might just be a bit too effeminate to carry The Purple One's classic.
The New Pornographers followed, with a set leaning heavily on their recent Challengers disc. Fortunately, all three core members are on this tour, with Carl Newman and Neko Case singing the whole time and Dan Bejar occasionally putting down his beer and coming onstage to sing. As much as I love their records, the New Pornographers really aren't a terribly exciting live band. Perhaps it was because I just noticed that Carl Newman has a lisp or maybe it was that they focused on material which was a bit boring, but nobody other than Bejar seemed to have any kind of stage presence. In spite of that, "Mass Romantic", "Jackie Dressed in Cobras" and "Myriad Harbour" were all beautiful and fun to see live.
After this I went to the hip-hop stage to see Girl Talk which was the disappointment of the festival. I'd been pretty into Night Ripper for a few months, so I was pretty pumped to go to a big dance party and watch Greg Gillis spin. He certainly had a lot of energy, as he invited everyone onstage to dance around to his set. The problem was that A) I had a bunch of stinky indie kids touching me from all over the place and B) the set was pretty terrible. While Girl Talk's albums are fluid and focused on recognizable parts of popular songs, the live set was pretty meandering and annoying. Disappointed, I made my way to Explosions in the Sky, who were pretty incredible. All of the songs they played were intertwined, and they alternated between beautiful energy lows to bone-crunching highs. Their songs moved so fluidly that they would start shredding and pounding on the drums and you wouldn't even notice until your ears started to hurt.
Day 2:
The Day 2 lineup was not quite as rich, but the two bands that I wanted to see were both very intriguing. The first was Ted Leo and his Pharmacists, who I had seen the year before at ACL. Ted Leo is one of my very favorite musicians working today, because he delivers on absolutely every level. He's a guitar hero, and excellent lyricist, and most importantly he's a showman. The energy level onstage was amazing, with everyone from Leo to his Will Oldham-looking drummer seemed hellbent on making everyone in the audience certain that they were at a punk rock show. There were notable omissions from the setlist such as "The High Party" and "La Costa Brava", but "Biomusicology" was a nice surprise, as was their super-fun cover of Daft Punk's "One More Time".
The last band I saw at the festival was Battles, who were far and away the most bizarre show of the weekend. The instrumental math rock group with the super groovability was very technically proficient, with two members playing piano with one hand and guitar with the other. All four members played at incredible speed and showed a great knack for combining sounds in
interesting ways, but it was apparent that these people were not normal people. It seemed like they were trying to do "rock moves", but it all ended up looking like a bunch of muscle spasms. It was a bit disconcerting how much they relied on pedals and computers, making it hard to tell when they were actually playing and when they were playing a loop or a recording, but they were nonetheless very impressive with their mastery of their instruments.
So that was Fun Fun Fun Fest in a nutshell. Cat Power is playing as I'm writing this, but I skipped her to come home and watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. I figure if I missed the LSU, Texas, and Colts games this weekend, I at least owed myself some Larry David.
Day 1
I started my day at Okkervil River, who most recent album has been in constant rotation on my iPod. Singer Will Sheff, clad in a nice three-piece suit, occasionally let his emotions get the best of him, with his voice occasionally cracking and quavering due to his on-stage freakouts. Regardless, standouts such as "For Real" and "Our Life Is Not A Movie Or Maybe" sounded great as the band had a much meatier sound than they have on their records.
Immediately after Okkervil on the same stage was Of Montreal, who are always impossibly fun live. They didn't play anything older than Satanic Panic in the Attic, but their mostly-drum machine based set certainly had the crowd in a frenzy. I didn't take any pictures, but the costumes were obviously over the top and hilarious. With about fifteen minutes left in their
set, the lights went out and Kevin Barnes thought that he was being kicked off the stage so he threw a fit and ended early. However, they sorted everything out and came back out for a "totally unironic" cover of "Purple Rain. I never thought I'd say this about anyone, but Barnes might just be a bit too effeminate to carry The Purple One's classic.
The New Pornographers followed, with a set leaning heavily on their recent Challengers disc. Fortunately, all three core members are on this tour, with Carl Newman and Neko Case singing the whole time and Dan Bejar occasionally putting down his beer and coming onstage to sing. As much as I love their records, the New Pornographers really aren't a terribly exciting live band. Perhaps it was because I just noticed that Carl Newman has a lisp or maybe it was that they focused on material which was a bit boring, but nobody other than Bejar seemed to have any kind of stage presence. In spite of that, "Mass Romantic", "Jackie Dressed in Cobras" and "Myriad Harbour" were all beautiful and fun to see live.
After this I went to the hip-hop stage to see Girl Talk which was the disappointment of the festival. I'd been pretty into Night Ripper for a few months, so I was pretty pumped to go to a big dance party and watch Greg Gillis spin. He certainly had a lot of energy, as he invited everyone onstage to dance around to his set. The problem was that A) I had a bunch of stinky indie kids touching me from all over the place and B) the set was pretty terrible. While Girl Talk's albums are fluid and focused on recognizable parts of popular songs, the live set was pretty meandering and annoying. Disappointed, I made my way to Explosions in the Sky, who were pretty incredible. All of the songs they played were intertwined, and they alternated between beautiful energy lows to bone-crunching highs. Their songs moved so fluidly that they would start shredding and pounding on the drums and you wouldn't even notice until your ears started to hurt.
Day 2:
The Day 2 lineup was not quite as rich, but the two bands that I wanted to see were both very intriguing. The first was Ted Leo and his Pharmacists, who I had seen the year before at ACL. Ted Leo is one of my very favorite musicians working today, because he delivers on absolutely every level. He's a guitar hero, and excellent lyricist, and most importantly he's a showman. The energy level onstage was amazing, with everyone from Leo to his Will Oldham-looking drummer seemed hellbent on making everyone in the audience certain that they were at a punk rock show. There were notable omissions from the setlist such as "The High Party" and "La Costa Brava", but "Biomusicology" was a nice surprise, as was their super-fun cover of Daft Punk's "One More Time".
The last band I saw at the festival was Battles, who were far and away the most bizarre show of the weekend. The instrumental math rock group with the super groovability was very technically proficient, with two members playing piano with one hand and guitar with the other. All four members played at incredible speed and showed a great knack for combining sounds in
interesting ways, but it was apparent that these people were not normal people. It seemed like they were trying to do "rock moves", but it all ended up looking like a bunch of muscle spasms. It was a bit disconcerting how much they relied on pedals and computers, making it hard to tell when they were actually playing and when they were playing a loop or a recording, but they were nonetheless very impressive with their mastery of their instruments.
So that was Fun Fun Fun Fest in a nutshell. Cat Power is playing as I'm writing this, but I skipped her to come home and watch Curb Your Enthusiasm. I figure if I missed the LSU, Texas, and Colts games this weekend, I at least owed myself some Larry David.
Friday, November 2, 2007
It's 4:40 and Kevin Durant is Still My Personal Savior
You may be aware of the fact that there is a rookie basketball player in the NBA named Kevin Durant and that last year in college he wore a beautiful burnt orange jersey on the court. Well, two games in and KD looks even better than I thought he would. 18 points in the first game followed by a brilliant 27-point performance against the Suns last night. Granted, he was a less-than-great 7-23 shooting in the first game, but the important part is that he was able to get off 23 shots. Turns out that it doesn't matter if he can bench press no more than 185; if you're lankier than Tayshaun Prince and Stretch Armstrong's lovechild, then you can shoot the ball over anybody.
You can tell a superstar on a team by the aura that surrounds him when he plays. Just like when you watch LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, you can't help but fix your eyes on number 35. While it's upsetting that we don't get to watch KD play in the same league as Gred Oden this year, it puts the microscope that much tighter on Durant. He could handle the spotlight in high school and college, but it will be interesting to see how he handles it on the world's biggest stage. I honestly don't think it'll affect him, because I'm not sure that he's aware that he even has fans -- or sometimes, teammates. He's simply a basketball savant, like Boobie Miles before his tragic injury. I'm just super excited to watch this former 'Horn blow up so I don't feel so bad that I missed VY in college by one year. Just imagine if Vince had stuck around for one year -- Heisman trophy winner and unanimous POY award winner at the same school...alas.
Speaking of alas, I'm at a crossroads this weekend about how I will entertain myself. On one end, Fun Fun Fun Fest is this Saturday and Sunday, so I'll get to see Ted Leo, New Pornographers, Girl Talk, Battles, Explosions in the Sky, Zykos, and MC Chris. On the other hand, there are three of the most highly anticipated football games of the year this weekend in ASU-Oregon, LSU-Alabama, and The Sporting Event Which Will Alter History and Change/End Lives. Fact is, I already bought a ticket, so I'm going to the festival, but it's not something I'm necessarily proud of. I'd pay a good deal of money to see some Manning Face on Nick Saban this weekend.
Have a good weekend, knuckleheads. Goodnight Canada.
You can tell a superstar on a team by the aura that surrounds him when he plays. Just like when you watch LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, you can't help but fix your eyes on number 35. While it's upsetting that we don't get to watch KD play in the same league as Gred Oden this year, it puts the microscope that much tighter on Durant. He could handle the spotlight in high school and college, but it will be interesting to see how he handles it on the world's biggest stage. I honestly don't think it'll affect him, because I'm not sure that he's aware that he even has fans -- or sometimes, teammates. He's simply a basketball savant, like Boobie Miles before his tragic injury. I'm just super excited to watch this former 'Horn blow up so I don't feel so bad that I missed VY in college by one year. Just imagine if Vince had stuck around for one year -- Heisman trophy winner and unanimous POY award winner at the same school...alas.
Speaking of alas, I'm at a crossroads this weekend about how I will entertain myself. On one end, Fun Fun Fun Fest is this Saturday and Sunday, so I'll get to see Ted Leo, New Pornographers, Girl Talk, Battles, Explosions in the Sky, Zykos, and MC Chris. On the other hand, there are three of the most highly anticipated football games of the year this weekend in ASU-Oregon, LSU-Alabama, and The Sporting Event Which Will Alter History and Change/End Lives. Fact is, I already bought a ticket, so I'm going to the festival, but it's not something I'm necessarily proud of. I'd pay a good deal of money to see some Manning Face on Nick Saban this weekend.
Have a good weekend, knuckleheads. Goodnight Canada.
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