I marked the bands I'm most excited for in blue. The SF Outside Lands website lets you add your favorites to a custom lineup.
San Francisco summer music festival Outside Lands announced the 2012 lineup yesterday.
News has been whirling about the diversity of the headliners for this three-day fest full of music, food, wine and beer: Metallica, Stevie Wonder and Neil Young will be the top-billed performers August 10-12 when it all goes down in Golden Gate Park.
Jack White, Foo Fighters, Beck and Skrillex are close to follow on the lineup.
But for me, its all about the up and comers. The so-called “little guys” (who, these days, aren’t so little anymore).
The mid-sized acts I’m looking forward to: Sigur Ros, Justice, Bloc Party, Explosions in The Sky, Fun.
Beyond that, I’m always excited for Portugal. The Man, Wallpaper and Yacht, three longtime favorites that I’ve seen live before.
Of Monsters and Men, Two Gallants and Thee Oh Sees are also on my must-see list.
In past years, I’ve seen memorable performances from Radiohead, Tenacious D, Portugal. The Man, The National, The Mars Volta and more.
Since Eager Beaver tix sold out super early, I plan on getting mine (and my lady’s) Thursday at 12 PM PDT.
The lights are dim, the anxious crowd screaming and applauding, the curtains closed.
The TVs around the venue lit up with breathtaking imagery of glaciers and snowy mountains.
Portugal. The Man’s latest single “Got It All (This Can’t be Living Now)” begins to blare through the speakers, but it’s not them playing the music.
A 10-minute theatrical HD music video debuts before the band plays a note.
The video featured lead singer and guitarist John Gourley on some sort of “Into The Wild” adventure in Alaska.
Gourley, wrapped in a fur-hooded parka, is pulled through arctic tundra by a pack of sled dogs. And, without giving away the ending, finds himself on the ground, mouthing words to the song.
After the extended introduction, the four-piece started into a re-envisioned version of an old track from debut album “Waiter, You Vultures!”. Lights flashed as Gourley’s frenetic guitar noodling danced to distorted bass lines.
I’ve watched Portugal. The Man ascent to fame over the years, collecting each album and watching them live a handful of times.
Each performance is different than the last and Saturday was no different.
The Portland, Oregon by way of Wasilla, Alaska indie quartet group releases its sixth studio album “In The Mountain, In The Cloud” July 17 and used its sold-out House of Blues Anaheim audience as ears for many of the new tracks.
The group sprinkled a number of the new songs throughout the hour-and-a-half long performance that include a single song, but 10+ minute encore.
It was clear Portugal was on tour to generate steam for the upcoming release of “In The Mountain”.
Fans sang along to favorites from the popular (and more pop-sounding) album “The Satanic Satanist”, which helped but the band on the map and in 2010, secure a deal with Atlantic Records after two, two-record stints with Fearless and Equal Vision Records, respectively.
The band has progressed a lot since the falsetto vocals matched to drum machine beats and introspective guitar riffs. The sound has opened, Gourley’s voice has progressed — along with the backup singing — and the new stuff sounds wide open, soaring and even a bit grandiose. Somewhere between “Censored Colors” and “Satanist”.
You’ll have to listen to hear what I’m talking about:
I blogged about this radically…different band in January with a full album review (rating score of awesome) and checked them out live Wednesday night at Chain Reaction in Anaheim, CA.
Featuring current members of Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground and former members of Gatsby’s American Dream and Forgive Durden, this Seattle-based band is comprised of core members Kirk Huffman (vocals and percussion), Thomas Hunter (guitar), Kyle O’Quin (keys), Andy Lum (drums), Aaron Benson (percussion and effects), and Ryan Van Wierengen (baritone guitar and percussion). Wild Orchid Children have collaborated not only for the music they make but also for the lifestyle they lead. – WOC Facebook
Perhaps it was the rain or maybe it was a school night at an all-ages venue in Orange County as opposed to Los Angeles, but Chain was shockingly empty for a group with such indie street cred.
When Wild Orchid Children came on around 10:30 pm, there was no more than 30 people in the audience at the small club.
No complaining here, as I got a front row seat. And lucky for the 30 of us, the Seattle-based seven-piece played like the place was sold out.
Porter and Benson were dressed ready to rock with bandages for their conga-drumming hands and bandanas to boot. They rounded out a three-part percussion section with Lum on the kit — a rare luxury for a band this size.
Lone guitarist Thomas Hunter stole the show, effortlessly laying down psychedelic licks matched to his own demented facial expressions.
There was no bassist to be found, but with O’Quin working two keyboards and Huffman’s bombastic vocal effects, it was hard to notice.
The wild childs have cancelled a few upcoming tour dates, but are heading back to Seattle for a handful of shows. Expect them opening for an act like the Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group anytime soon.
In the meantime, check out some raw footage from “Birth Of A Cabin” live at Chain Reaction March 23, 2011:
WILD ORCHID CHILDREN spawned from the dust of the unofficial, no longer indefinite hiatus taken by early ’00s alternative/progressive rock/pop band Gatsbys American Dream.
They are one of many side projects started by Gastby members that has blossomed into far more than just a project. Or a side. The supergroup features Kirk Huffman (vocals), Kyle O’Quin (keys) and Ryan Van Wieringen (baritone guitar & percussion) from Gatsby’s American Dream, alongside three other guys rocking guitars, percussion and effects. (Wild Orchid Children doesn’t even have its own Wikipedia entry yet – it’s embedded under Side Projects within the page on Gatsby).
But let’s get to the point.
This bombastic album sounds like nothing you’ve heard before, while at the same bringing enough familiar noises and jams that associations to any modern indie/prog group are safe to make. Think Mars Volta-style mind-bending beats, with Rage Against The Machine’s Zack de La Rocha-esque vocals and Portugal. the Man instrumentation.
It’s BIG. And adventurous.
The second track, “Black Shiny FBI Shoes” clocks in a little over 18 minutes long, and a good portion of that comprises of an extended percussion jam. It’s no “Moby Dick” (Led Zeppelin) but it is damn good — changing tribal beats dance to the sound of noodling electric guitar, keeping your ears perked with curiosity about what comes next.
Kirk Huffman takes vocal duties here, but sings nothing like his normal self. He has got a very talented and unique singing style, but he throws any sense of melody out the window with Wild Orchid Children. He’s more screaming than singing, and the closest thing you could compare would be de La Rocha – if he were performing through a megaphone, that is.
Now this is no concept album like Volta’s “Frances The Mute” or Coheed and Cambria’s last four albums. It doesn’t always flow from one song to the next, like one big acid trip.
But you don’t have to be high to appreciate the talent going on here.
The sixpiece named its album after Christopher McCandless, the character played by Emile Hirsch in “Into the Wild”, who infamously begins to call himself Alexander Supertramp while living in the wilderness.
Rich with cultural references, the group takes its title very seriously…as you can see by the wilderness motif, intact with real wild animals on the album cover, according to the liner notes.
Now I must note here: this is the first album I have purchased in a really long time.
My appetite for music consumption continues to grow and I have a list of nearly 50 bands I’m slowly getting around to checking out. Normally I look for a T-shirt/CD combo deal or make my contribution to the band by paying for concert tickets.
But this was a worthwhile cost, even if I payed twice as much at Rhino Records in Claremont as I would have at Best Buy.
Take a listen at the madness that is Alexander Supertramp. I’ve embedded “Peyote Coyote”, which has apparent influence from Zeppelin to the Beach Boys,Black Keys,White Stripes and even some cowbell that reminds me of the Cypress Hill/Tom Morello song from the new Green Hornet movie, “Rise Up.” Oh and don’t forget the creep vocal effect that transforms Huffman’s voice into something from a Mars Volta song about a minute in.
Like what you hear? Gatsbys American Dream is making a comeback this year. While you wait for the new tunes, listen to Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground (featuring Huffman and O’Quin, amongst others), Search/Rescue, RedRedBlue, Keith Ledger, Zero Cool, Razia’s Shadow, Princess Dinosaur, Places and Numbers, TickTockMan, or any solo work from any of these madly prolific musical dudes.
So my biggest problem with blogging is that I don’t take enough time to actually do it!
Right now, my schedule is pretty intense — Monday Wednesday Fridays @ Current TV in Hollywood (more on my experiences with LA public transportation to come). The other four days of the week are at The Apple Store in Brea. The rest of my time consists of sleeping, eating (yet another topic of discussion to come), drinking girlfriend, email, etc.
Though I do spend a lot of time on computers, I tend to be doing other things. Like devouring news, interning, and selling them.
Computers aside, let’s get to last week’s shows (I know, sooo outdated. so sorry. my post times should improve with the upcoming purchase of a long-awaited iphone (more on that later, again)…
The experimental indie group started a dance party at the Troubadour Sept. 27.
!!! (pronounced, sometimes written chk chk chk) rocked the house at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, one of my all-time favorite venues. Small club with two bars, and a very up close and personal stage.
Played a lot of good ones from “Myth Takes” and an older one called “Intensify” that was awesome.
An all-out dance funk party. The crowd was into it; touching, fondling and grooving to the somewhat homoerotic dance moves and hip thrusts from frontman Nic Offer.
And there was an awesome old-school cool black lady singing gospel-punk style backup, dancing and clapping when she didn’t have a part.
The eight piece Brooklyn ensemble definitely kicked ass, and the crowd interaction with Offer was great. He even went up to the green room at one point mid-set, not coming back to the stage until a few minutes into a new song.
Most impressive though? The Troubadour fans actually screamed and clapped loud enough, for a good long 1 or 2 minutes (gasp!) before the band returned. Which in writing doesn’t seem all that cool, but if you’ve been to as many rock shows as I have where the audience hammers out a clap for under 30 seconds before a group comes back, that’s just lame. If you’re gonna put on an encore, make sure it’s really worth it! I can’t remember what songs were played for the encore because it’s been too long, so we’ll move on.
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Rewind one night and I’m at the Glasshouse in Pomona. I love this locati0n. Mostly because I can catch great bands really close to home. I live a good mile away from downtown Pomona and have been taking the Metrolink from there to get to Hollywood lately. The train station is actually quite nice. A transit center for buses too. But I also love the Glasshouse because there’s now an amazing bar next door called Acerogami. Nothing on tap disappoints me greatly; but Perry Tollet, the owner of the Glasshouse, Acerogami, and part-owner of the Pomona Fox and Goldenvoice, apparently has a thing for Souther American beers…so besides the basic low quality bottles of domesticated Coors and Miller stuff, ask for the unique ones.
Getting to the point here, I went with my buddy Art to see Portugal. The Man. This is a band I will not stop talking about. You can watch or listen to a live performance in the KCRW studios here from a few weeks ago to see what I mean. The band’s live show has evolved greatly from simply performing excellent quirky indie numbers to turning the set into a full-on jam experimental jam session with a few pop morsels from their latest, The Satanic Satanist, to round things out.
Words can’t describe, so go here for yourself. I’ve still got a tune called “The Sun” sitting in my box widget over on the right hand side that you can download, free of charge. I’m sure the Alaskans by way of Portland (from Alaska, residing in Portland) wouldn’t mind. Share the love right
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TO finish this age-old update, I also caught Wallpaper (I know, crazy fuckin week) on Tuesday @ Cinespace. An entertaining performance for sure. Amazing? Naw, but we had fun. Wallpaper, I recently discovered, is a hilarious side project of Eric Frederic. Who is he? He is someone I’ve been following for years, fronting Locale A.M. and more recently Facing New York. FNY is incredible — an audio triceratops as Matt Embree of RX Bandits once referred to them as in conversation.
Wallpaper is more of an autotune R&B white rapper kinda thing that is ridiculous in far too many ways to explain. The dude’s wearing white jeans, a 70s style shirt, a gold chain, shades and a hat, singing about “going big on the weekend” in my personal favorite: T-Rex. See for yourself…thanks to my friend Claire for introducing me, not knowing who was behind the creation, and to my friend Grant who probably thinks its awesome:
In two weeks and less than five hours from the time of this blog post, the fourth season of Current TV‘s “Vanguard” returns.
Interestingly enough, I have been interning with the team of about 14 for about two weeks as well. The duties have ranged from transcribing to researching and assisting the correspondents, and should hopefully flourish into something more participatory where I can really dig my nails in and get into these amazing international stories that the team covers.
Last season, they covered the recession in a three-part series, guns in America, robots in Japan, and war in Iran. This season, more breathtaking documentary episodes to come.
And in the next two weeks we will hopefully be amping up Vanguard’s online presence through social media. While plenty have written off Twitter and Facebook as wastes of time, they still prove their worth interesting new ways — it’s all about connecting. And man that online world is crazy these days. I could spend a whole day on the Internet just exploring what’s out there, and I’d still be missing tons of awesome stuff.
Gotta be careful not to become obsessed though. Too much digitalia can rot your brain! Or reduce your sperm count! Or was that Mountain Dew…
Either way, the first episode of the new season, premiering Oct. 14, is called OxyContin Express. It’s about prescription drug abuse and how Florida plays a vital role in supplying pills.
HERE’S THE LINEUP:
The Oxycontin Express : 10/14/09
Cuba: Waiting for a Revolution : 10/21/09
Forest of Ecstasy : 10/28/09
Sri Lanka: Notes from a War on Terror : 11/04/09
Porn 2.0 : 11/11/09
Prison Contraband : 11/16/09
Remote Control War : 12/02/09
Cocaine Mafia : 12/09/09
Current has also been picking up some steam and notoriety here and there, which is really cool to see. While the Gore/Clinton Korea rescue propelled Current into public eyes, others have been noticing too (see above from iambrandx) — Rolling Stone even made mention of a brand new [mini]series Current is launching called “Embedded.”
Now that looks sweet: exclusive shows on Mos Def, Common, Ben Harper, Silversun Pickups, Thievery Corporation, and The Decemberists. Cannot wait for this. And it debuts right after Vanguard on the 14th.
Rolling Stone says this about EMBEDDED in reason #47 to watch TV this season (more on that later! cable looks like its pulling up it’s pants)
“If Animal Planet had a show that captured musicians in their natural habitats, it would look like this refreshingly raw documentary series. Ben harper gives a tour of his instrument shop in California; Mos Def roams the streets of Osaka, Japan. It’s artists in their everyday lives, free of the crowds.”
Oh yeah, and Vanguard’s blog tells us that Mariana made her way onto Dr. Phil for an episode about drug abuse airing, yep you guessed it, Oct. 14.
That’s all for now. More to come from inside the Vanguard office, and reviews from a slew of shows I saw in the past week: Portugal. The Man @ The Glasshouse, !!! @ The Troubadour, and Wallpaper @ Cinespace. Phew.
Now that this is a series (did you see the vol. II in the title?), I’ve really got stay on top of new music (which sometimes includes culture).
But first off, a quick thank you. Thank you to the LA Times for calling Grizzly Bear overrated! Nothing against the guys, but the music is really so-so. Granted, I still haven’t really gotten into Animal Collective either, who were the “it” band 6 months ago when “Merriweather Post Pavillion” came out. Nonetheless, LA Times’ overrated/underrated gallery claims Grizzly Bear and Zoey Deschanel overrated, Mad Men and Nine Inch Nails underrated. Heres’ the excerpt on GB:
OVERRATED
Grizzly Bear: We’re suckers for hearing the band of the moment, and the quartet’s new album, “Veckatimest,” is touted as this summer’s must-hear. Though the first single, “Two Weeks,” is an addictively airy confection, the rest of this ornate, harmony-rich album left us kind of cold. Each song is undeniably pretty but feels like an impossibly delicate construct, making us wonder whether there’s any blood underneath it all.
Check out the full list HERE. It’s pretty awesome — upscale burgers and indiefied mix casette tapes are also overrated.
Now to the music. I hit up Rhino Records in Claremont last week and got some gems. Raided the uber cheap used section for some An Angle, Brandston, Eisley and a couple other randoms. Haven’t gotten to those yet.
The good stuff though was in the new Portugal. The Man and an album from a band I just started listening to: “The Meek Shall Inherit What’s Left” by Kiss Kiss.
Portugal does it again, with another great album. I can’t get enough of this band. Listened maybe three times through the new one (which has great artwork), and I’ll definitely approve. A more thorough review to come soon.
Kiss Kiss, which I have just noticed from checking out their myspace, has a concert scheduled in space. Yes, space. This could be completely untrue, but their tour schedule is claiming an appearance at the international space station in 2010. Somehow I doubt that, but hey I’d be down! This band has rich strings to complement some slightly avant-garde rock. The falsetto voice, slightly imperfect, is a great match and you can really hear the anguish in a few tracks. Pretty epic music, so I like it a lot. A bit like …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead or Vendetta Red.
Also checked out Spinnerette, a new group from former Distillers‘ frontwoman Brody Dalle. She’s the wife of Queens of the Stone Age front man Josh Hommes. Rolling Stone article here.
Also checked out War Tapes and Parachute at the listening stations. Stellar, but I’ll download.
Also bought 4 old school DVDs for $2.99 each: Johnny Mnemonic, Code 46, DeRailed, Species. My favorite so far (I’ve only watched Species and Code 46) is Species. Who knew that the blazing hot Natasha Henstridge walked around half the movie butt naked? Sexy, indeed.
Grand total? 4 DVDs, 6 CDs for $40. Not bad.
addendum: uploaded tracks so you can hear what I’m talkin’ about. Check out “The Home” from Portugal and “The Best Mistake” from Kiss Kiss.
I’m waiting for Rhino Records to call me with my copy of Portugal. The Man’s “The Satanic Satinist,” the new one everyone is talking about. I couldn’t find it at Target, Best Buy or Rhino last week! I’m a little in the dark, waiting for my own copy to give it a listen. Sure it’s good, though – “Church Mouth” is one of my favorite albums. And “Censored Colors” was good, but overlooked.
I just downloaded Grizzly Bear‘s new one, Veckatimest. I have to say, I’m not a fan. I’ve gotten about halfway through the album and I’m not sure what the fuss over this band is. They’ve got some good qualities, but overall I get very boredlistening.
This SoCal beach-based band has been around for 14 years, and evolved from a second wave ska act to something with far too many labels to full encompass them (progressive, reggae, ska, rock, funk to name a few). I interviewed the guys when they came to Cal Poly last fall, and just caught them on their headlining tour with Dredg at the House of Blues in Anaheim. Killer, to say the least. Their sound gets more off the wall with each record, and for me, that tends to be a good thing. “Mandala” is no different. Gets better with each listen. UPDATE: check box widget on the sidebar to download a track from “Mandala”!
Now, something a bit disappointing was The Mars Volta’s new one, “Octahedron.” I expect a lot from this band, who is now on its fifth album and has a very strong cult-like following of prog rockers, scenesters and hipsters. “Octahedron” is so-so. It’s got a few cool tracks, like “Cotopaxi,” but is nothing new. It’s easy to forget. I still have got to claim “Frances The Mute” as my favorite. Closely followed by “De Loused” and a few tracks from “Amputechture,” like the 11-minute “Meccamputechture” Now that’s the Volta I know. “Octahedron” is sort of just there. Doesn’t do anything significant for me. Just a bit too mellow for this outlandish band, who I still can’t wait to see at Outside Lands in San Francisco in about a month.
Lastly, I just saw mega mashup DJ Girl Talk @ The Fox Theater in Pomona Friday night. Great, great venue. Three bars, space for 2,000, multiple rooftop lounges. Rad. I was unsure of going to see a DJ headline a show at a venue much larger than your typical LA club. While the free show only brought out maybe 1,000, Girl Talk got 40+ people dancing on stage with him his whole show, and got me and the rest of the crowd dancing. Mixing tracks from “Feed The Animals” (download it there…you pay what you want) and “Night Ripper” with an eclectic variety of other mainstream and classic hits and beats, Gregg Gillis aka Girl Talk impressed. Not to mention, the guy plastic wraps his laptop so his sweat doesn’t get all over it.
Hit me up if you need some tracks. I’ve got the tuneage.
PLUG 