A few stories maybe worth your time today…

Lollapalooza Day 2 in Pictures

Aerosmith calls off rest of tour

All the good releases this week

New RADIOHEAD track, “These Are My Twisted Words” – and it’s good (of course)

Full lineup for the Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks is now online and tickets are still available (Girl Talk, YY Yeahs, Mars Volta, M. Ward, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Deer Tick and a whole helluva lot more).

Live music this week on the late night talk show circuit.

So this is a half-assed review and recap of Lollapalooza 2009, but quite honestly this festival is so big with so much to do and see yet there is still so much I missed, words just aren’t really adequate. I will say this for starters, Sunday was the most fun I’ve ever had at any concert. Ever. Not necessarily the “best” show or even legendary show I’ve seen; it was 150% pure joy and adrenaline. I’ve never experienced anything quite like how happy Jane’s Addiction made me.

Other highlights: sitting next to Tom Gray from Gomez at Breakfast. Seeing Kings of Leon at the Pub Friday night. A fat guy passed out but still managing to roll in the mud and his own vomit. White Lies. No Security. Good friends. Old friends. New friends. Cheap food. Free Water. Friendly people. Yeah Yeah Yeahs playing just a brief bit of “What ya Want” by The Beastie Boys. Museum of Contemporary Art. New Belt Buckle (pictured below). Striking a good deal with the art dealer. Trees.

So here’s a recap of my personal weekend mostly told through images and photos that I managed to shoot while partying my ass off…

.
Read More

Danish duo The Raveonettes are due to release their fourth album In and Out of Control in the US on October 6th, and mp3s are starting to drop from it already. Hopefully that means we’ll hear some of it when they play at Lollapalooza on Sunday.

This one is titled “Suicide,” and its lyrics tend a little toward the dark side, as apparently the whole album has a tendency to do, from what I’ve heard. The music, however, is infectiously poppy in The Raveonette’s distinctive lo-fi way.

[display_podcast]

Their previous album Lust Lust Lust has been sort of a slow burn for me – not one that I immediately fell in love with and played over and over, but every time I play it I’m reminded how much I like it. Judging from my past experiences with bands, seeing them live will be just the little push over the edge that has me breathlessly awaiting the new album’s release.

Links:
MySpace
Twitter
Amazon.com

Chicago Public Radio convenes their “council of hipsters” to help you decide what bands to see and who to skip and how to choose when in a bind (Fleet Foxes or Asher Roth) at Lollapalooza:

One of my favorite bands of the past couple of years is Wales-based group Los Campesinos! (The exclamation point is part of their name, yes.) They fill up a stage nicely, with lead singer Gareth, guitarists Neil and Tom, singer/keyboardist Aleks, bassist Ellen, violinist Harriet, and drummer Ollie all vying for attention in songs that sound chaotic at first but actually wind up being very carefully counterpointed. It took me a few listens to get a handle on their style – it’s not really like anyone I’ve ever heard before – but once I did, wow. I love them to pieces.

The real thing that sets them apart, though, are their self-consciously hip lyrics that reference everything from Livejournal to British footballers and stay in very dark places of broken relationships and death while set to the poppiest music you can possibly imagine. Just look at a few of their lyrics: “This is how you spell ‘HAHAHA, we destroyed the hopes and dreams of a generation of faux-romantics’”, “If this sentimental movie marathon has taught us one thing, it’s the opposite of true love is as follows: REALITY!”, “I identify my star sign by asking which is least compatible with yours,” “I’m not Bonnie Tyler, and I’m not Toni Braxton, and this song is not going to save your relationship”, “I cherish with fondness the day (before) I met you”, “He said it’s a joy to be held so I held him too close; it was a grave mistake – he never came back again”, “And then on the way home, it always seems like a good idea to go paddling in the fountain, and that’s because it IS a good idea.” Yeah, I actually have a note in Evernote keeping track of my favorite Los Campesinos! lyrics.

Also, the band is impossibly attractive. Unfortunately, the main female singer Aleks (the redhead) is leaving the band at the end of this summer’s tour to go back to school. I’m glad for her, and wish her well, of course, but I’m going to miss her in the band. They will finish recording their third album (expected to release early next year) before she goes, so there’s that, and apparently they have her replacement all picked out, but it’s not going to be quite the same. So make sure you catch them at Lolla or one of their other dates on the tour (they’re heading west soon after) if you want to see them with Aleks intact.

I saw them at Coachella, but I may very well see them again at Lollapalooza, and I will almost certainly see them at their headlining show in LA later this month. I just can’t get enough of them. They also do a great job on their website, so if you like them, check it out and follow their blog. They actually blog like real people who enjoy blogging, not like people trying to use social media for promotion. Half the time they’re posting about Britain’s Got Talent or football or Harry Potter or something.

Oh, and in this video? They vomit rainbows and get slaughtered by unicorns. It doesn’t get more awesome than that.

August tour dates:
04 New York, NY – Webster Hall
05 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
06 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
07 Indianapolis, IN – Bluebird Nightclub
08 Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza
11 St. Louis, MO – Firebird
12 Kansas City, MO – Record Bar
14 Austin, TX – Emos Outside
15 Dallas, TX – Granada Theatre
16 Houston, TX – Warehouse (Studio)
19 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad
20 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress
21 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
22 Pomona, CA – Glass House
23 Costa Mesa, CA – Detroit Bar
25 Las Vegas, NV – Beauty Bar
26 Visalia, CA – Howie And Sons Pizza
28 San Francisco, CA – Outside Lands Festival
29 San Diego, CA – Street Scene

As hard as it will be, I’ll be missing out on seeing Band of Horses (possibly my favorite band overall of the last two years) in at Lolla this year in favor of seeing a band I’ve not yet seen: Silversun Pickups. One of the first recommendations in the Lolla handbook is to definitely skip out on bands you’ve already seen (even if you really really like them) in lieu of trying something new or something you might not be able to ever see again. Since I’ve seen BoH twice, I’m going to be checking out this slightly more bubble-gum version of Smashing Pumpkins (circa 1999).

Last night Silversun Pickups played a private short set at PC Richard and Son Theater in the Tribeca neighborhood of NYC after their performance at All Points West Fesitval. Looking at the set list, it appears they sort of went back and forth from playing tunes from the new album, “Swoon” and from the previous record, “Carnavas.” Perfect. They ended the show with their most popular song to date, “Lazy Eye”, which you can hear below along with the full set list from last night’s show.

[display_podcast]

SETLIST:
Growing Old is Getting Old
Well Thought Out Twinkles
Substitution
Panic Switch
Creation Lake (cover)
Lazy Eye

So over the next few days I thought I’d post some videos/.mp3 of some of the bands taking the stage(s) in Grant Park, Chicago this coming weekend. We’ll be sure to be covering as much of the festival as possible while there; though don’t count on too much because we’ll be too busy spacing out, rocking out and passing out to get much writing done. Still, check back over the next week for lots of Lollapalooza love.

If you’ve got something you think should be seen, please don’t hesitate to send it my way.

Today: Bat for Lashes “Sleep Alone”

.

A definite highlight of Lollapalloza 2008 for this guy was certainly Nicole Atkins’ rad singing voice and mad crazy songwriting skills. Looking around the web and with some help from my boy Scott, I found two good nuggets of information.

One, there is a free download of her new single, “Ben”,over at her personal blog.

Two, there are several dates remaining on her current tour. I think I may just take a quick drive down to Madison and crash with some of the old school friends to check out Nicole again before she heads back into the studio.

If you’re a fan of artists like Neko Case but have a bit of a nostalgic soft spot for 50′s pop/country like Patsy Cline, do yourself a favor and dig on some Nicole Atkins.

07/25/2009 Annapolis MD USA – The Ramshead On Stage
w/ Aimee Mann
SOLD OUT

08/06/2009 Brooklyn NY USA – The Bell House

08/12/2009 Haddon Heights NJ USA – Robert Norcross Memorial Dell
FREE SHOW

10/18/2009 Boston MA USA – House of Blues
w/ The Avett Brothers

10/20/2009 Iowa City IA USA – Englert Theater
w/ The Avett Brothers

10/21/2009 Madison WI USA – The Barrymore Theater
w/ The Avett Brothers

10/23/2009 Milwaukee WI USA – Turner Hall Ballroom
w/ The Avett Brothers

10/24/2009 Urbana IL USA – The Canopy CLub
w/ The Avett Brothers

10/26/2009 Ann Arbor MI USA – Michigan Theater
w/ The Avett Brothers

What a lineup this year and the official schedule was just released today! From “Band of Horses” to “Lou Reed” to “Neko Case” to “Gomez.” Or if you prefer to be more obscure, why not check out “Zap! Mama” or “The Low Anthem”? However you decide, the Lollapaloza official site makes it super easy to make your custom schedule with the bands you want to see. Then share the schedule on Facebook, Twitter and even check your schedule with your mobile phone. Everything is slick and ticks nicely.

Now I consider myself fairly up to the minute with popular music, but I’ve gotta admit that there are a ton of bands on here I’ve never heard of. Again, Perry Farrel and his gang of techies to the rescue. The main site does an excellent job showcasing (nearly) each band with a bio, description and usually a couple of streaming files of some of their tracks.

At any rate, I haven’t got time to write right now. I’ve got to get over there and put together my schedule. Looks like the Sunday lineup has a lot of conflicts. “Band of Horses” or “Silversun Pickups”? Decisions decisions. Sheesh!

Last year’s Lollapalooza Music Festival in Chicago was certainly a highlight of the year – maybe THE highlight of the year. The logistics of how the entire thing was pulled off was nothing short of spectacular. If you missed it, never miss is again!

The official Lolla web site is pretty intuitive and as the concert(s) scheduled date approaches ever closer, the site will become even more interactive with band bios and streaming listening posts. Added this year is the social networking tool with which you can share your lineup and schedule with friends, post everything to your Facebook profile, get editable mobile schedule and of course a Twitter feed.

And now for the good news: today the full lineup was announced. Umm… holy shit?

Depeche Mode, Beastie Boys, Jane’s Addiction (a band I would cut off my pinky finger to see), Band of Horses, Neko Case, Kings of Leon, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, SNOOP DOGG!, Gomez, Silversun Pickups, TV on the Radio, Santigold, Crystal Castles, Of Montreal, Raveonettes, Portugal. The Man, Thievery Corp, Atmosphere, The Killers and Lou fuckin Reed along with a shit ton more.

See the full lineup over at the official web site. Barring death, I’ll see you in Chicago on August 7th!

In Friday’s edition of the Chicago Tribune, it was reported that three of the headliners for this summer’s annual Lollapalooza festival had been chosen. Reps for the festival wouldn’t confirm, but journalist Greg Kot claims that Jane’s Addiction, Depeche Mode and The Beastie Boys will be three of the major acts performing. These actually sound like plausible choices and I guess we’ll see if Kot’s connections serve him well when the official lineup is announced on April 21.

I was one of the lucky thousands who made it to Chicago last year for the big show and I’ve got to say I will be there again this Aug (7th-9th) even if it kills me (and the heat almost did last year). To be honest, the headliners aren’t the most exciting part of the show to me. I much prefer the smaller and smaller smaller acts much more (The Ting Tings, The National, Nicole Atkins, Explosions in the Sky, MGMT, Black Keys and on and on and on…). So I super look forward to seeing who is on the bill of hundreds of bands for this year’s fest.

Still, Jane’s Addiction (if it’s the original crew – and that’s a big IF) would be a dream come true to see. They’ve been one of my favorite bands for nearly 15 years now. Depeche Mode would be quite the blast frm the past – a little shoegazing meets 80′s pop never hurt anyone. And though I’ve seen The Beasties once or twice already and I’ve sort of lost touch with them over the past few years, I’m sure they still put on a hell of a show.

Long story short. I’m going to see Jane’s Addiction this summer! That’s worth the hundred bucks right there.

Ah that wickedly creative Trent Reznor.  Always one to be at the cutting edge of technology and always fan friendly (The Slip), NIN is making available hours of live concert footage from their “Lights in the Sky” tour and asking fans to collaborate and be creative.  From the man himself:

“The internet is full of surprises these days.
I was contacted by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives who SOMEHOW managed to film a substantial amount (over 400 GB!) of raw, unedited HD footage from three separate complete shows of our Lights in the Sky tour. Security must have been lacking at these shows because the quality of the footage is excellent.

If any of you could find a LINK to that footage I’ll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool.

Oh yeah, you didn’t hear this from me.”

The 405 gb of footage is being made available via Bittorrent.   It will be VERY interesting to see what the NIN fans create with this.  I was lucky enough to catch part of this tour over the summer and it was memorable both for the music and for the visuals. 

Normally I’m a movie guy. Because of that obsession, it is increasingly difficult to keep up with all of the great new music that is released each year. As I look over others’ top ten lists on the year I realize how much I missed. I also never claimed to be a musical genius. Still, I know what I love and I do keep tabs on what Chris Robinson calls “the song.”

2008 has to be the oddest year yet, in terms of my personal tastes and trying to stretch my musical muscles a little bit and challenging myself. By mid summer I was pretty much sick of the folky, indie-rock movement (snooze). But who would’ve thought that a lot of my favorite music on the year would be from bands that showcase a female singer with poppy, bubblegum melodies and beats? And while none of them appear on this list, I’ve also flirted with some Hip Hop this year (13 and God, Why?, Citizen Cope, Forss, Person X, etc.) and even some danceable electronica.

As I look over the list below, I realize that it isn’t all that creative and fairly derivative; maybe even cliched, but hey, that’s cause they’re GOOD! So anyway, after thinking about it too much and weeding out some albums that probably should have made it, here are my top ten albums of 2008…

Read More