Remember when we posted about The Dream? Well, here's some R&B that's cut from the same cloth. A little slower, a little nastier, The Weeknd is baby making music gone slightly indie. There are some killer jams to be had on his first proper album, House of Balloons, and his EP/mixtape releases are solid as well. Check out Echoes of Silence, which you can download for free on his website. Dude's created a nice little internet persona for himself as well. Do yourself a favor: pour a glass of wine for you and that special someone, light a fire, and spark a bowl. As the song says...
I brought back my annual New Year's poll asking my friends to name their favorite concert of the year. It was another solid year in the music world. Here are a few selected results.
Let's start with the weather-related choices:
Amy Jordan and Luke Muellerleile - U2 in Minneapolis in a torrential downpour, worthy of two videos because this was one hell of a storm:
Fellow bloggers Nate Gagnon and Ben Siebers - Snoop Dogg in Madison:
During the Blizzaster:
Our top vote getter: Danny Linihan, Nic Tyson, Brett Keller - The Black Keys:
And Gold on the Ceiling from Letterman, because it's my favorite song right now:
One of my favored electronica acts, M83, released a new double album a little while back. Hurry Up We're Dreaming is a sprawling epic, touching a little bit of everything in M83's past: moody lyric-less soundscapes, slow building jams, and blowout dance tracks. The title feels appropriate; this stuff could easily be the soundtrack to your dreams. Here's a taste:
I thought I'd jump back into the TSAD fray by discussing a couple of bands that, while they've been on the blog before, deserve a little more of our time.
First up is J Roddy Walston and the Business. Steve mentioned them briefly in one of his ACL previews. I love this band. Fantastic blues rock. J Roddy is like a modern day Jerry Lee Lewis, pounding his piano keys while rocking out with a band that gives his songs one hell of a thump. It's the sort of stuff that Ben would describe as "rootsy" (possibly the highest compliment he can give a band) and the kind of stuff I would have featured in my erstwhile "Where has all the real rock gone?" series had I known about them back then. Drink it in:
Don't Break the Needle:
Caroline:
From ACL 2011:
Next we have The Go! Team. Gabe posted an NFL commercial featuring one of their songs (all of the Play 60 commercials I've seen use Go! Team songs). These guys had a critically acclaimed debut album back in 2004 and have cranked out a couple more albums since then. I don't particularly care for the cheerleader-style vocals; I'm here for the rockin instrumental tracks. Here are a couple:
You'll never get out of this maze you'll never get out of this maze
Ah Phish. Always a pleasure to see these guys throw down, particularly in an 8,000 person venue instead of a 68,000 person venue. I only went to the last show of their three night run at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, but I was treated to a great set. The boys played a lot of songs and rocked hard, never harder than when they covered Zeppelin's No Quarter. There weren't any truly mammoth jams and the second set kind of went in fits and starts, but the setlist was stellar and it's fun to watch a light show designed for huge amphitheaters completely light up a much smaller arena. Here's the setlist and some videos from the show.
Set 1: Colonel Forbin's Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird, Gumbo > Possum, Weigh > The Divided Sky, Alaska, Bathtub Gin, Maze, Cavern > First Tube
Set 2: Crosseyed and Painless -> No Quarter > Timber (Jerry) > Tweezer > Prince Caspian > Piper > Ghost -> Makisupa Policeman > Sleep > Buffalo Bill, Golgi Apparatus > Character Zero > Run Like an Antelope
Encore: Funky Bitch, Show of Life > Tweezer Reprise
Colonel Forbin's Ascent > Fly Famous Mockingbird
Weigh
Crosseyed and Painless jam
No Quarter - kinda low quality but man did they rock this one
Phish is what other jam bands aspire to be. You can't be a cliche if you're the trend setter. Keep that in mind folks. Great show. Happy Friday.
Two Bird Rock has released their debut self-titled album. If you like rock n roll, you will dig this. Min, Tony, Adam, and John are bringin the heat. Here's the release in its entirety:
Here's Blame Someone Else, formerly Pogmatone, formerly Franki Lee. With the new name comes a new EP and a new style. Their sound is more mature and has a cool roots vibe. Fables is a pretty kick-ass song. Check it:
Colorado isn't just folk bands, strings, and beards. Not anymore. Like crabcakes and football in Maryland, disc golf and dubstep are what Colorado does. I learned this on my recent trip to the Vail Valley, where I was exposed to the pride of Boulder, Savoy. Part trance blow out, part dubstep chaos, all you can say about these guys is that they make you want to dance. Hard.
This hard:
You can also say that you can listen to all of their recent work, and download their latest EP on their website: http://www.savoyband.com/
God bless bands who give it away for free. Happy Friday.
Note to our Lollapalooza attending readers: Savoy is playing at the new and improved Perry's stage this year, which is moving to a new location and will be able to fit 15,000 people. Needless to say, I will be catching a few sets over there.
Nate Dogg will forever be known as that guy who sang on all the gangsta rap tracks. But back in 2001, he released a solo album, entitled Music & Me, that is criminally under heard. Here for you today are some jams from that classic. Your Woman Has Just Been Sighted has been a staple of my party playlists for years, despite the presence of Jermaine Dupri. RIP.
Oh! Put this on while you pregame this weekend. Something to hold you over in case I don't get around to writing a full-blown post today. Bah Bah Bwaaahhh!
The kings of indie dance music are back. Cut Copy, whose 2008 release In Ghost Colours set the indie world on fire, return with Zonoscope, a polished and excellent album. The band has refined their style and changed their sound a bit, creating some truly amazing tracks that showcase their versatility. On average, I'd say this album is a beat or two slower than In Ghost Colours, making is slightly less danceable. But these tracks are guaranteed to get your head bobbing and a few of them are sure to be show-stoppers live. Here's a taste:
Buy Zonoscope here. The boys are on tour and will be playing The Riv in Chicago on April 8. If that concert is anything like the show I saw last year late night at the Metro, it should be an incredible time. Buy some tickets and I'll see you there. Spring concert season is upon us!
BONUS: Here's a mixtape Cut Copy released this week. It's an unusual blend of vintage live tracks, dance beats, and electro. Spectacular music to work to. A Tale of Two Journeys (Mixtape) by cutcopymusic
The continuing evolution of one of our generation's greatest singer/songwriters
Kiss Each Other Clean is the first new release in four years from Iron & Wine, aka Sam Beam. Best known for the dreamy lo-fi masterpieces that defined his early career, Beam has taken advantage of his popularity and immense ability by crafting two full-blown studio epics, The Sheperd's Dog and Kiss Each Other Clean. The latter is even bigger than the former. I never thought I'd hear a saxophone solo on an Iron & Wine album, but there it is. The song writing remains second to none, and Beam is still not afraid to drop the occasional curse word, which I respect. Check out some tracks below. When the credits roll in the movie I'll never make, Walking Far From Home will be playing.
More sweet Chicago jams this week. Check out the Smith Westerns, a group of young rockers from the North Side. Their self titled debut album is as lo-fi as you'll hear, but it's still apparent that there's some cool stuff going on. Their second album, Dye it Blonde, was released two weeks ago. It is spectacular. The band has discovered a pop rock balance that many acts spend years trying to achieve. Their harmony vocals are reminiscent of MGMT and their songs have that indie pop goodness first pioneered by Big Star. Check it out:
I love this album. You can buy it here, and I really recommend that you do. They're playing the Empty Bottle in Chi on February 26. Unfortunately that show is sold out, but given this band's love of Chicago and reputation for playing house parties I'm sure another opportunity to check em out will come along soon. Or you could, you know, scalp tickets. I'll be there, so that's one more reason to go. Happy Friday.
A little Chicago newgrass to brighten your Friday. Caught these guys at the Chicago Blues and Bluegrass Festival back in December. Don't hold the name against them; they've got a nice full sound because there's eight people in the band, playing every stringed instrument you could want to hear in a bluegrass act. They've got the vocal harmonies, songwriting skills, and live chops to back up all that sweet instrumentation too. Here's their latest album, The Joke, The Threat, & The Obvious:
You can buy the album on their website. Apparently these guys tour in a bio diesel bus and give about 50% of their proceeds to charity, so your money will be well spent. Happy Friday.
This album has been getting a lot of pub on the interwebs, but it's awesome so I thought I'd give it a bump here. The whole album is pretty spectacular and is a good listen front to back (including the 25 minute monster at the end), but here are a couple highlights. Hard to believe this is the same guy who did Seven Swans. Welcome to the machine.
I'm back in Minnesota for the holiday so it's only appropriate that I give a shout out to a couple of my favorite home town musicians.
First up is Shoveldance, a rock outfit that calls the Twin Cities home. Featuring Beau Jeffrey on bass, this band displays a 90s rock style with some funk and horns thrown in for good measure. However you describe it they sound damn good. Here are three tracks, my personal favorite Uber Shuck Dudder along with two tracks you can't get anywhere else:
Check out their website, myspace, and facebook and see em live at 331 Club in Minneapolis December 4th. There are three more tracks for your ears on the myspace page.
I wrote about Cheeks Marx (aka QBall Lives) a few months ago, and since then he's put out a full album, The Storage Capacity Mixtape, on itunes. Cheeks calls San Diego home now, and his sound has gotten even more fresh since the move. You can sample a ton of good jams below, and if you like what you hear pick up the mixtape.
If you're looking for more from Cheeks, here he is on myspace and reverbnation.
I've only gotten through part one of this because I'm in the Orlando airport and the internet is really slow, but after watching the first part I knew the rest was TSAD-worthy. Sweet beats, very well done videos. Happy Friday.
Covering classic blues songs is a rite of passage for rock bands. It's done so often nowadays that people rarely notice when a track by their favorite band is actually a cover of some blues song from the '30s. Whether its Zeppelin, Clapton, John Spencer, Kings of Leon, or My Morning Jacket, everybody who likes to rock has done it. Today let's track the classic Stop Breaking Down through the generations.
Originally recorded by the King of the Delta Blues himself, Mr. Robert Johnson, in 1936:
Picked up by harmonica master Sonny Boy Williamson when blues began taking off as a legitimate genre:
The Rolling Stones, from the classic Exile on Main Street, 1972:
And finally, The White Stripes redefine the entire blues rock genre on their debut album by annihilating this song over the course of two minutes and twenty seconds. This is my favorite White Stripes song, period:
Nobody yells WOO! better than Jack White. If that doesn't get you ready for the weekend then I can't help you. Go rock it.
Remember when we posted about The Dream? Well, here's some R&B that's cut from the same cloth. A little slower, a little nastier, The Weeknd is baby making music gone slightly indie. There are some killer jams to be had on his first proper album, House of Balloons, and his EP/mixtape releases are solid as well. Check out Echoes of Silence, which you can download for free on his website. Dude's created a nice little internet persona for himself as well. Do yourself a favor: pour a glass of wine for you and that special someone, light a fire, and spark a bowl. As the song says...
