I'm Addicted to Music

#9

2010-03-14T16:29:00Z

Fever Ray. An artist('s pseudonym) that I'd barely heard of, don't think I'd heard anything. Some great ideas on the album, but I don't know if I'd call it a great album. I'd like to see her (I see Coachella is the only currently announced date), or The Knife.

BK

2010-03-09T21:22:00Z

Went to Trophy Bar on March 3 to see this talented guy, a/k/a Aman Ellis. Some photos.

Oh yeah

2010-03-09T08:07:00Z

I watched and/or listened to most of Trey's show on February 23, as it was webcast. That was nice.

Epic week of epicness

2010-03-09T06:53:00Z

It started February 16 at Terminal 5: Big Red himself, Trey Anastasio. Holy crap was it too loud at first without ear plugs. Right in front of the first set of speakers back from the stage. Once that problem was resolved, he played an enthusiastic marathon of songs, including the first acoustic set of the tour. He is so happy, healthy, I hope this means good things for Phish. This band was well rehearsed, with some good new material some of which will certainly slip into the Phish repertoire. This band isn't Phish, but they're good, and I'm glad I went. Photographic evidence below:

Now I'm not just saying the week was epic because I saw Trey. It gets more epic.

I had no plans for Wednesday night, until I got a last minute message from a friend in Canada, saying the auteur of the pic I posted from the Dan Deacon concert was back in town. Hadn't seen him since then, was looking forward to seeing him, but the where part was strange - he said to meet him back at the Bowery Ballroom. Who's there? I didn't know. It's Daniel Lanois. Cool! I make the last minute decision to go.

Well, without going into (argh!) all the details, it turned out it was his new band Daniel Lanois' [sic] Black Dub, and they were fantastic. Among the many songs that knocked me out was their cover of Ring the Alarm. Smokin'. Brian Blade is damn good. There was a different bass player at the show than in that video. And In DL's band at the Bowery, as in that video, is the talented Trixie Whitley. Oh, did I mention I got to go backstage? Now I did. And the seats allowed a ridiculous view for pics like the below:

I wound up doing a tiny bit to help some of the crew pack up. I can't divulge everything about this night so as to protect the innocent. Here's a shot close to the end:

Well, on Monday of this week in question, I had no plans for Thursday. But because of this DL show that fortunately changed, because I learned that Trixie was playing a solo gig at Rockwood Music Hall on Thursday, and Monsieur Lanois was planning to pop up a bit as well. So it was off to the Rockwood on Thursday. The woman playing before her was very good; unfortunately I don't remember her name. She got the crowd to help her in a fun sing-a-long, I do remember that. Then Trixie. She was very nervous, had to abort a few songs, and her voice was a bit beaten up. All the same, it was still a very heartfelt set. As expected, DL did come out for a few tunes. To prove it with your eyes:

Here's an art-y shot. And to answer your question, yes, I was about 3 cm from the stage.

Ladies and gentlemen, that's not the end of the epic week of music! That was just Thursday!

The next night it was off to Lincoln Center to see Dirty Projectors. Some heavy hitters in the crowd. Weird show, playing 2005's The Getty Address start to finish for the first time (live, anyway), and then encoring with a few more tunes. The dude playing duct tape pretty much stole the show.

But that's not the end of the epic week of music! Then it was off to the midnight show at Mercury Lounge to see Leslie & the LY's. We walked in as the last song of Christopher and the Conquered was being played, which ended with the band in the audience, something that can never really fail. But to cut to the important stuff: Leslie & the LY's blew GaGa out of the water. Absolutely fantastic. The pics from this show are a ton of fail, but here's one:

Whew! What an epic week of music - can you believe it ?!

HA! I tricked you! It's STILL not over!

Saturday was off to see Billy Elliot on Broadway. Very good. Not my favorite, but a ton of talent up on stage, and enjoyable.

OK, now I mean it. Back to the top 10 from that list asap.

If you don't like this song...

2010-03-08T18:27:00Z

...you're in the wrong place.

Tighten Up

Uh, what?!?!

2010-03-05T04:48:00Z

Listening to this now

#10

2010-03-04T00:32:00Z

Girls - Album. This did very little for me.

10 downloads for ya

2010-03-01T03:56:00Z

enjoy

The last track is 30+ min?!

2010-02-28T23:48:00Z

Now I'm really not sure what to make of this Neko Case album. Mellow doesn't necessarily mean bad. Hmmm.

#14 - 11

2010-02-28T23:08:00Z

#14 - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I searched for their name on this site but didn't find them. I had planned to see them last summer at a free show on the east side at some pier, but bailed day of. I'd probably listened to some of their stuff on myspace when I was planning to go, but have never listened to this album, and have none of their stuff on my iTunes. Sounds fine, didn't blow me away.

#13 - Atlas Sound. Someone I don't think I'd ever heard of. I thought one track really sounded a lot like Animal Collective, when I realized it had Panda Bear. And then another song sounded a lot like the amazing Stereolab, when I realized it had Laetitia Sadier. Generally ok overall.

#12 - Two Suns, by Bat for Lashes. I have Fur and Gold, but had never heard this. I'm not sure why I was expecting something a bit more rockin', but it has a lot of mellow songs. I liked it a lot, would listen again. Not for all moods.

#11 - Neko Case. Good, but too consistently mellow overall, particularly for me as I'm listening right now. Should be way, way behind Raekwon.

#15

2010-02-28T19:45:00Z

The great The Flaming Lips put out a great album called Embryonic. Who knew? Well, I guess basically everyone, since it was one of the most blogged about albums of the year. I knew about the Dark Side of the Moon thing, but not Embryonic. I saw these guys open for Wilco on NYE one year, and also watched a webcast of their Earth Day show on the National Mall last year. Great, fun, interesting band. The album is another in a series of interesting noise experiments by a group of weird, talented dudes. Hmm, it doesn't seem like I've ever mentioned Fearless Freaks, I great documentary on The Flaming Lips. Now (dun dun dun dun!) onto what is supposed to be twee music? I have no idea what that means.

#16

2010-02-26T16:30:00Z

I've got to write about last week too. I keep putting that off. But for now:

Florence and The Machine. (Wow I would not want to have to put up MasterCard on my website if I could avoid it.) I'd heard probably just Kiss With a Fist before, maybe something else. I don't have any of her music in my iTunes. She definitely appears to have some issues with love. Several songs talk about, explicitly or nearly explicitly, violence and relationships. It's not just Kiss With a Fist, whatever she herself says about it being a metaphor. Fine, it's a metaphor that involves violence and relationships to make its point. What about Hurricane Drunk? Even You've Got the Love is not all sunshine. Anyway, there are a lot of good things about the album. And writing about reality, which involves dark things, is important. I guess I like it, it's a bit shocking in a way (and at times seems patronizing, like in Girl With One Eye), and I look forward to what comes next. I see there's a several CD set you can get of this? Weird.

Now onto (ugh!) an album I didn't even know came out! WORST. GUY. WITH. A. MUSIC. BLOG. EVER. And two tracks in I am so mad at myself for hearing this for only the first time.

Epicness

2010-02-21T07:42:00Z

I just concluded one of the more epic weeks of live music of my life. I'll get to it momentarily. For now, #18: St. Vincent. Someone I'd heard about (and considered seeing, barely) but hadn't really heard at all. It's alright. I'd give her another chance and see her; I'm not sure if I'll be running back to this album. Now onto (had to happen - that word! (or words!)) #17. Here's my weird Decemberists story. Long before this blog existed I went to see The Joggers at The Black Cat. More accurately, Backstage at The Black Cat. This was a Navi pick (the same person who told me her friend in some new band called The National had an album out I should check out about a billion years ago), and we got there real early. So early that we got to hear the opener, another Portland band I'd never heard of (I'd never heard of The Joggers) called The Decemberists. They were stunningly good that night. Since you've never heard of The Joggers, I presume, you can see how the opener that night kind of upstaged the main act. I haven't heard this album before. I know I had some Decemberists in my iTunes at some point, but just checked and don't seem to have any at the moment. His voice is so - his. He sounds like a guy who wears glasses.

#20

2010-02-16T04:01:00Z

Mastodon's Crack the Skye. I'd heard about these guys, in part because Sasha has written about them, and also in that magazine whose name I can't remember that I got for free after seeing All Points West, but had never really listened to anything. Anyway, I hear a lot of Metallica here, which is a very obvious thing to say, but I also hear Battles as well. I like it, but the vocals are not my fav. I understand there's an instrumental version of this album? Interesting. I doubt I'll be relistening a lot, but I'm glad I understand more about what these guys are up to.

#21...

2010-02-15T05:18:00Z

...is Wilco's seventh album, Wilco (The Album). I like it. It sounds very Wilco-y. I've seen this band in concert a few times, and have some of their stuff (including, somewhere, a copy of the MSG NYE show I saw a few years back), but had never heard this.

I have no idea what this is...

2010-02-15T03:57:00Z

...but I'm certain that you should see it.

#22

2010-02-14T05:08:00Z

I've heard a few of these Avett Brothers tunes, but not all of them. Absolutely fantastic. I actually wrote to their manager recently. Here's our correspondence:

avett brothers tour

Inbox
X

Richard Caplan

to paullohr

show details Jan 14

why must you spurn nyc? it burns.
***********************************************************************
Then his response to me:

Paul Lohr

to me

show details Jan 14

They were just there in October.

Happy New Year,

Paul

PLEASE NOTE THAT OUR ADDRESS HAS CHANGED!

Paul R. Lohr, President

New Frontier Touring

1503 17th Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37212

615-321-6152

www.newfrontiertouring.com

**********************************************************************************************

I tried to burn him, and he burned me! pwnd

#23

2010-02-13T23:22:00Z

Another great find, another band I'd never heard of before this countdown. This is a fantastic album, and the fact that their wiki tells me it's totally different from their last makes me love them even more. Static musicians are boring. Wow. The Horrors.

Of course their myspace has over 4 million hits and I've never heard of them. Music fail.

#24

2010-02-13T21:23:00Z

Post-Nothing by Japandroids. Maybe my favorite album of the countdown so far? I'd heard their name before, but never actually heard them. Certainly has made the long slog worth it. It's like Pavement updated with the manic energy of Arcade Fire, with a certain hypnotic element from the frequent repetition of short phrases. So funny, I typed that during the second to last song, and now as the eighth is playing, the opening riff sounds so much like Arcade Fire's Neighborhoods, I think it is. Hmm. Young Hearts Spark Fire and a few other tracks are so anthemic. The last two tracks of this album aren't quite up to the rest. Still very enjoyable and worth a listen.

#25

2010-02-13T05:37:00Z

Tarot Sport by F*&k Buttons. It's a good listen, but if you told me it came out 10 years ago I'd believe you.