Coachella Day 3 Recap

So we survived Coachella. Phew!

Sorry I'm a little late with this recap, but I've been in recovery mode. Still in it, actually, but I have some time on my hands right now.

Anyway, on Day 3 I started to get a little lazy. I didn't feel like stage hopping as much, but I still managed to catch some killer sets.

The Roots - They were burning. My favorite was their medley of covers, including "Just A Friend" by Biz Markie, "This Is Why I'm Hot" by Mims and "Push It" by Salt N Pepa. Sweet. They pulled out all the hits too. I was so amused by their dancing tuba player. Does he always do that?
Willie Nelson - The sound on the main stage was surprisingly really bad for 'ol Willie's set, but once we moved closer everything was much better. His sons are great on the drums and guitar, and I really enjoyed just sitting on the grass and listening to their set.
Air - They went on about 40 minutes late, which is a big deal at Coachella since everything was pretty much running on time. The crowd was getting really antsy; people to see, places to go. Anyway, they finally came on and I was really entranced by their set. However, I wanted to go backstage for a little, but after some lame problems there we finally decided to head over to Manu Chao.
Manu Chao - By this point, all I wanted to do was sit and get ready for Rage. But from what I did hear of Manu Chao, they sounded pretty good, so I'll definitely want to check them out at Prospect Park this summer.
Rage Against the Machine - Oh god, Rage were fucking insane. Everyone was completely losing their minds. In a good way, duh. It was amazing seeing "Killing In the Name" live. Rage was the best way to end the festival, I think. People were just so pumped and the atmosphere was magical/insane.

Willie Nelson

Crazy hippie tents

Fire sculpture

The train!

Anxious crowd waiting for Air

Air

Rage

The mass exodus

Coachella Day 2 Recap

Ugh I'm almost dead right now, but last night was amazing. I could watch Arcade Fire every single night for the rest of my life and never get bored.

I was actually pretty true to my sched yesterday:

Regina Spektor - Flawless set. She played all the hits, including "Fidelity," "On The Radio," "Us," "Poor Little Rich Boy," "Samson," and "That Time." At first I thought she was just solo, but she did bring her band out for part of the set. She was such a great artist to see in the daytime in the hot sun.
New Pornographers - They played all the hits too! Nothing from the new album, which was ok by me. They sounded great, playing songs like "Jessica Numbers," "Sing Me Spanish Techno," "Use It," and "Bones of an Idol." Excellent.
Kings of Leon - They sound so f'ing rocking. I'm not as familiar with their song names, but they played equal amounts of Aha Shake Heartbreak and Because of the Times.
Arcade Fire - Oh Arcade Fire. What can I say? They were definitely the highlight of my night last night. Nothing could have compared to them. They closed their set with "Neighborhood #3," then "Rebellion (Lies)" and finally "No Cars Go." So much fun. "My Body Is A Cage" breaks my heart every time they play it.
Girl Talk - He kept flashing the audience with weird messages on the screen. He's really great, but I wasn't in the mood for him at that point. Not after seeing AF.
LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture both had pretty solid sets. Very fun to dance to. Yay.
[Some RHCP in between]
Day 2 = Amazing.

New Porns

The atmosphere

Kings of Leon

Arcade Fire

Girl Talk

And I'm off. Day 3 here we come.

Coachella Day 1 Recap

Day 1 of Coachella is overrrrr! :(

Here's what I caught:

Of Montreal - Sounded great. Pretty much the same set I saw two weeks ago at Indie Rock Karaoke. So left early to catch SSPU.
Silversun Pickups - They're great live! The Brian Aubert is a good frontman and the band was just fun the watch overall.
Arctic Monkeys - Fun set. Saw them from far away, but they sound a lot better live than I thought they would.
Rufus Wainwright - Impeccable voice as always. Loved his outfit. See pictures below!
The Jesus & Mary Chain - Crowd was amazing during their set, which was rockin'. But you could tell that they hadn't been playing a lot (obvs, it was their reunion show). However, it was amazing just to be there.
Interpol - Solid set. Saw this from far away also.
Bjork - AMAZING. No words to describe this. Head to BrooklynVegan for set list, pics, etc...

Silversun Pickups

Silversun Pickups

Silversun Pickups

Coachella Main Stage

Rufus Wainwright

View from inside tent

Jesus & Mary Chain

Look at S-Yo's entry for more tales of our desert adventures.

Hey Everybody! Of Montreal Did Karaoke Part 2

Let's see. Where did S-Yo leave off? Oh yeah, Paul Rudd and David Wain sang "More Than A Feeling." Well, before that wondrous performance, Michael Showalter did INXS's "Need You Tonight." Here's a clip I got of it:

Shortly after that was "Dancing Queen," where a bunch of the previous singers got on stage, Kevin Barnes slid over to the keys and chaos ensued.



And here is the winner for best costume and most outlandish performance of the night: Aqua Man. He sang David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream" and he was INTO IT. He even had a trident.


Later, Michael Showalter came back on stage for the last song, "Hot Blooded."
And then the sound guy stole the mic from him. Kind of an anti-climatic finales, but still fun nonetheless.Afterwards, Flosstradamus got right on the 1s and 2s. His set was flowing with the best dance songs we haven't heard in 10 years, including "Motownphilly" by Boyz II Men and "100% Pure Love" by Crystal Waters. Amazing.

Now THAT'S What I Call Karaoke!

Last night, Stereogum posted the karaoke list for this Saturday's New York by New York Indie Rock Karaoke event.

Of Montreal's Master Karaoke Playlist
ABBA - "Dancing Queen"
Big Star - "September Gurls"
Boston - "More Than A Feeling"
Buzzcocks - "Ever Fallen In Love"
Cheap Trick - "Surrender"
Clash - "Train in Vain"
David Bowie - "Moonage Daydream"
David Bowie - "Starman"
David Bowie - "Suffragette City"
David Bowie - "Hang On To Yourself"
Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers - "Islands In The Stream"
ELO - "Don't Bring Me Down"
Fleetwood Mac - "Little Lies"
Foreigner - "Hot Blooded"
Gnarls Barkley - "Crazy"
Guided by Voices - "Motor Away"
Guns N Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine"
INXS - "Need You Tonight"
Journey - "Don't Stop Believin'" (performed by Griffin Walker)
Kinks - "All Day And All Of The Night"
Marvin Gaye - "Let's Get It On"
Pavement - "Cut Your Hair"
Pixies - "Here Comes Your Man"
Prince - "Raspberry Beret"
Spinal Tap - "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight"
Steve Miller - "The Joker"
Violent Femmes - "Blister In The Sun"
Rolling Stones - "Rocks Off"

Of Montreal Songs Folks Can Sing If They Don't Want To Do A Cover
"Party's Crashing Us"
"Requiem for O.M.M. 2"
"Rapture"
"Suffer For Fashion"
"Bunny Ain't No Kind Of Ryder"

Today, Pitchfork posted an interview they did with Of Montreal frontman Kevin Barnes, and he has this to say about karaoke:

At the time of our chat, Barnes was busy poring over the fakebooks in anticipation of a series of karaoke performances for which Of Montreal will serve as the backing band. "Because karaoke is always a bit campy, you know, and gives people a chance to sing their favorite Elton John song or whatever, it's not necessarily the coolest material, so we're trying to pick somewhat campier stuff, 'Islands in the Stream' and 'Let's Get It On', you know, funnier, somewhat comical stuff that you wouldn't really necessarily put on a mixtape."

He laughed, then diplomatically added, "Well, I don't know, I guess it all depends on what kind of person you are. It gets a bit weird doing like, 'Hot Blooded', or whatever, like, we're doing some Foreigner and Boston, and you realize, 'God, these songs are really... bad. Or just silly.' But at the same time, there's a reason why they're fun to sing, because they're kind of extreme."

Umm, I'm calling "More Than A Feeling." What would you guys wanna sing?

The Long Winters @ Union Hall

Last night [April 2nd], The Long Winters played Union Hall in Park Slope, Brooklyn. I've seen The Long Winters about 4 times since last August, and they've always played a solid set and I always have a good time. This is partly because when you go to a Long Winters show, you not only get to see the band, you get to hear John Roderick's stand-up routine. Well, not really...But it feels like that because John takes a break in between most songs to make a joke of some kind, to take requests, or his favorite, to "argue" with someone in the crowd. So I know that when I go see The Long Winters, I'm going to see good music and laugh my ass off at the same time. Good combination, no?

While they did play a good set last night, including songs from all three of their albums, there was something amiss with the sound. Everything sounded muffled, guitars were slightly out of tune, levels were unbalanced, mics were feeding back, etc...Throughout the entire set, John was trying to get the sound guy to fix things. Maybe they didn't have time for a good sound check? Or maybe the sound at Union Hall sucks? I don't know.

Suffice it to say, though, that during their acoustic portion of the set, things were going well. It was just John and Eric up there, playing acoustic guitar and bass respectively. They did 3 or 4 songs like this, including "Mimi," "Seven" and "Bride and Bridle." After their little acoustic number, the rest of the band came up and they finished the show with a few more songs, ending with "Stupid" (against John's will!). Other highlights during the set include "The Commander Thinks Aloud," "Rich Wife," "Pushover" (MP3 below), "Scared Straight" (<3 style organ) and "Shapes."

DOWNLOAD: The Long Winters - "Pushover" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Long Winters - "Stupid" (MP3
Cross-posted at Skank Your Art.

+/- and Bishop Allen @ Mercury Lounge

Friday's show [March 30th] at the Mercury Lounge was amazing. One of the best shows I've seen in a long time.

+/- rocked their set. The second song they played, "Fadeout," came off amazing live. There's a 4 minute buildup in the song, during which you are just waiting for the rest of the guitars and drums to kick in, and when they do it's so satisfying and worth the wait. Another highlight in their set was "One Day You'll Be There," which I imagine is really hard to pull off live with the weird syncopation, but it sounded so good. The band was really tight; but the drummer was the real star.

In between sets, they played snippets of stage banter in between songs at a KISS concert. Funny and amusing the first few times, but a little annoying towards the end. The only thing that was disappointing during their set was that the crowd didn't seem to be into it. Maybe they were all there to see Bishop Allen? Who knows, but I thought that +/- did a great job and I can't wait to see them again.

When Bishop Allen came on, the crowd was loving it. Everyone knew all the words and people were actually dancing, it was really fun. I saw Bishop Allen during their Pianos residency about a year ago, and I thought they were good, but not amazing. So I was curious as to what they sound like live now, what with all their additions and changes to the band, as well as signing a record deal with Dead Oceans. What a difference a year has made. They are a tight band now, and they have a full sound that comes off really well and fills the room. Their songs just came to life on Friday.

DOWNLOAD: Bishop Allen - "Click Click Click Click" (MP3)

I never considered myself a Bishop Allen fan, mostly because I didn't think I knew their catalog well enough. But at the show on Friday, I realized that I knew most of the songs they played, and not only that, but I really love those songs. Highlights for me included "The Monitor," "Corazon" (<3 style="font-style: italic;">Clementines due out later this Summer.

Cross-posted at Skank Your Art.

Illinois in the Lower East Side

Last night, banjo-rocking Illinois [from PA] played Cake Shop. They pretty much rocked the house. They are four tall, lanky similar-looking guys who put on an energetic and fun performance. Highlights include lead singer Chris Archibald singing through a telephone. It seemed like the crowd was full of their friends, so it was a fun environment to see them in.

Here's an MP3 from their latest EP What The Hell Do I Know?:
DOWNLOAD: Illinois - "Alone Again" (MP3)

Head to their myspace to see where they're heading next.

Odd Czar @ The Annex

Hey all,

Come out to The Annex on Wednesday night [March 28th] to see Odd Czar.
They will melt your face off with their Rock.

Catch them at 10PM. Elemeno P [from New Zealand] goes on at 9PM and Bears Repeating go on at 11PM.

Jamie T @ Mercury Lounge

Last night, Jamie T played a somewhat secret show at Mercury Lounge. It was one of those rare New York nights where the crowd was perfect and there was just a great vibe in the room. Jamie T played an acoustic bass and performed a short set of about 7 songs. It was great. He's so charismatic and so British, he charmed the pants off the crowd. And the Brits were totally representing last night, singing along to all the songs and even getting ahead of Jamie at times (hilarious!).

I'm not that well acquainted with his music, but I fell in love with him and his songs last night. He was a really great solo performer, and did songs like "Sheila" and "If You Got The Money" (which was great because everyone knew all the words). I'm looking forward to catching him the next time he's in town with his band.



DOWNLOAD: Jamie T - "If You Got The Money" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Jamie T - "On Holiday" (MP3)

Cross-posted @ Skank Your Art