Alright, alright. Another successful Austin City Limits Music Festival. Great tunes were heard, yummy food was consumed, an overabundance of queso was ingested, and the dust made a bit of a reappearance.
Here's a recap of the highlights and the lowlights:
Yeasayer - caught the tail end of these boys from Brooklyn. Having seen them twice now, I think they're more of an indoor venue band, but they can still bring it.
Vampire Weekend - the prepsters know how to put on a good show. A hot, sticky afternoon, a cold, sweaty beer, and some "Cape Cod, Kwaasa, Kwassa" - ain't nothing wrong with that. Plus, discovered that "Blake's got a new face".
M. Ward - maybe I was offput by the dust storm off to the side of the WaMu (yes, that WaMu) tent, but couldn't get too much into him. The boys went "in" and enjoyed the show more thoroughly, but I was digging the folding chairs at that point.
Hot Chip - I was all about the Hot Chip, but here's where the sound bleed was a bit of an issue. They just didn't seem loud enough.
Jenny Lewis - We headed over to catch the tail-end of Ms. Jenny "Short Skirt" Lewis. Not too bad, but not too memorable either.
Swell Season - While mellow, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening performance of the new band, formed by Glenn Hansard and Markéta Irglová of "Once" fame. Glenn is such a charming Irish bloke, and Marketa is just plain adorable. Would definitely see them again live.
Manu Chao - A great cap-off to Friday evening. Manu Chao brought a frenetic energy to the festival. We danced through to the end. Old 97s - Saturday's start to the day with a little hottie Rhett Miller and the Old 97s. Enjoyable, but I actually prefer Mr. Miller's solo acoustic performances of many of the songs. Much more original sounding.
Frattelli's - We checked out the tail end of the Frattelli's - the cute bro trio from Scotland, and of iPod commercial fame. Their songs are uplifting, but best suited to running mixes.
CSS - We skipped off to dip in Barton Springs pool, which was much needed and completely restorative, but I was kicking myself for missing to much of CSS. They kick ass and I'm going to have to find a solo show when they're back state side. Bonus: CSS, which stands for CanseiDeSer Sexy, means "I'm tired of being sexy". Amen.
MGMT - These guys are definitely the band of 2008, but deservedely so. They kick ass, and take names. A racous - if young - crowd, helped the show along and the sound was just right.
Conor Oberst - He's not for everyone, but I really like Conor Oberst (also, performs as Bright Eyes). The kids got heart, and lyric-writing charts. He definitely doesn't break out of genre, but he's got stuff to say, so I'll keep listening.
Iron & Wine - These guys won points for being best show of ACL 2006, but this year they sounded a bit too spacey. I'll just keep my memories of yesteryear in tact and continue to listen to them in a dark room with my ear phones in.
And what a week it was. No, I'm not talking about the smoldering war in Georgia, the Edwards affair or even the start of the 2008 Olympics... I'm talking Concert-fest '08. Monday night, B, Xtian, E and I enjoyed a balmy evening of Yeasayer and The National up at Central Park SummerStage. It was a good show, but not great, in my opinion. I liked the tunes, but they didn't fill up the space. A few breakout songs made the trek north of 14th well worth it like the encore version of "Fake Empire", but otherwise, I was a tad underwhelmed.
On Thursday, B and K and I kicked it up a notch at McCarren Park Pool in Williamsburg with a pitch perfect performance by The Black Keys. I still can't get over how two white guys from Akron, Ohio put out such big sound. With heat lightening illuminating the fluffs of clouds behind the stage, and an eclectic output of their repetoire, it was a strong evening. Those guys always seem to be having a great time. Shame this is the last summer for shows at the pool... fantastic venue.
Last night was the denouement to Concertfest '08. B and I ferried over in the late afternoon to Liberty State Park for a little APW action. A great space to be sure with fantastic views of the Statue of Liberty and lower Manhattan. Less props for the draconian beer rules: 5 per person per day, drinking allowed only in the beer gardens and last call at 8:30p. Call me a lush, but I like me some suds when I rock out. Anyhoo, after a little lilty New Porn (minus Neko Case a lot less exciting), we succumbed to some state-park law-inspired binge drinking, and then staked some ground for Radiohead. My first time seeing those kids, and I was as giddy as a little fangirl. The set - over two hours - was energetic and inspired from "15 Step" to "Everything in its Right Place" at the end of the second encore. The lighting and camerawork was transfixing during the evening show (thank goodness since that's most of what I could see... damn skippy I'm short). Like BK the night before, Radiohead performed a wide selection of their catalogue and cemented, in my mind, that Thom Yorke, small and scrawny though he may be, is a frontman to rival Bono or Chris Martin. All Hail for Radiohead.
A and R and B and I went to see Spiritualized on Saturday night at Music Hall of Williamsburg. Hadn't listed to the band much before, but now it's on permanent rotation. Spacey, rocking, soulful, Spiritualized is incredibly uplifting. Frontman Jason Pierce got in a terrible car accident while recording their latest album, Songs in A&E, and the songs reflect the pain and triumph of recovery he must of gone through. I think you all should get some Spirit.Or at least listen to a live set here.
xTian and I went to see Oakland band Rogue Wave at the very excellent venue Fillmore East (a redubbed Irving Plaza) on Saturday eve. For me, the show started out slow - despite a rowdy prophylactic balloon bandying about - but worked up into a crescendo. The centerpiece set was an enthusiastic rendition of "Bird on a Wire" straight into a drum frenzy, followed by a raucous "Lake Michigan". Chatty (in a good way) frontman, Zach Rogue, also played a couple of great acoustic songs in a callback set (including a beautiful "California"), and it rounded out will the full band "Love's Loss Guarantee". Overall, I'd give it a 'B', which might have been a 'B+' after free $20 iTunes gift card giveaway on our way out of the show, except that it's just a bunch of $20 worth of club tunes that I probably don't want anyway. Fech.
Things happen. You meet people. And then all of sudden, you find yourself with an inordinate amount of information about Sweden. Information like: Sweden found great wealth in much of the 18th and 19th centuries because of potatoes and the polio vaccine, the names of all the floor-coverings at Ikea are slyly named after places in Denmark, the Swedes are still ruled by a king (King Carl XVI Gustaf, please and thank you) and the Swedish people actually find the Swedish Chef funny (although really, who doesn't?).
But what I'm mostly excited about is getting more plugged into the Swedish indie rock scene. I suppose indirectly, I had been for awhile - whether I realized it or not. The SD got me into Kent back in the day, and I've been known to rock out to The Hives. But these days, there is a whole buncha good music coming from that Scandanavian land (slightly larger than California). Some recent discoveries include: The Sounds, Hello Saferide, Lykke Li, Shout Out Louds, Anna Turnheim and Maia Hirasawa. You better believe I'd like me some more Swedesplease. Have any more lovely Swedish music for me?
... oh, really? you haven't. Well, never mind, then. I'll just tell you about a really charming singer-songwriter that I had the pleasure of listening to this afternoon: Richard Julian. He played a live show today in the new webcast series, Live @ FYI (they've also hosted another fav, Jenny Owen Youngs) -- plus the host is utterly adorable. Richard's new album is entitled none other than Sunday Morning in Saturday's Shoes. The album has plenty of clever ditty's including corporate hegemony inspired "Syndicated" and the heartbreaking "If You Stay". A smart, funny, low-key and humble showman (except when it comes to describing his crossword puzzle skills), Richard has a perfect Sunday afternoon listening key, and the appropriate soundtrack to this Spring season. An upcoming low-key show at Rockwood Music Hall in the next couple of weeks.
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers: current book, enjoying
Frozen - by Jeff something?
Motherless Brooklyn, or Fortress of Solitude - Jonathan Lethum
The Power Broker - Robert A. Caro
CivilWarLand in Bad Decline - George Saunders
Beautiful Children - Bock
Mickey says to add: The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen, and Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Marquez, but I'm not much of a GGM fan. I know the guys love him and all his old-man-having-sex-with-young-women characters, but he's not a fav.
Musically - The band of 2008: The Teenagers? Christian and I heart Vampire Weekend (and their ultra-dirty openers Plastic Little) but they're all sold out this week. Boo. Going to see Cat Power next week even though her recent covers album wasn't universally adored. Can't wait for the "Coachella" NYC tickets to be announced -- rumor has it that Radiohead will be there.
Alright, alright. Another successful Austin City Limits Music Festival. Great tunes were heard, yummy food was consumed, an overabundance of queso was ingested, and the dust made a bit of a reappearance.
CSS - We skipped off to dip in Barton Springs pool, which was much needed and completely restorative, but I was kicking myself for missing to much of CSS. They kick ass and I'm going to have to find a solo show when they're back state side. Bonus: CSS, which stands for CanseiDeSer Sexy, means "I'm tired of being sexy". Amen. 
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