November 5, 2009
At some point during the Very Best's set at Santos last night, Johan Hugo -- the half of production team Radioclit that made the trip overseas with the human manifestation of sunshine that is Esau Mwamwaya -- said something like "Yo I think all the journalists are up front, we need the fans to come up and get wild up here!" (I think he made it sound cooler, or at least more Swedish accented; probably both.) There were two ways to know he was right: the ring of photographers creating a flashbulb barricade up front, with a secondary line of lots of white haired dudes holding notebooks. Then again, this bill was built to spill ink: Between the visa issues that kept Esau out of the country during CMJ, and the lack of any real business/promotional infrastructure for opening Band To Watch Sleigh Bells -- making the Brooklyn duo's under-attended but modestly epic sets during that same week the ones people kicked themselves most for missing -- you could understand why more than one person described the vibe in the Santos basement as that of a "showcase."
Continue reading Sleigh Bells/The Very Best @ Santos Party House, NYC 11/4/09...
Posted at 12:48 PM by amrit in ,
Tags: Radioclit | Sleigh Bells | The Very Best
latest by Filth
November 4, 2009
After kicking things off with the "Secret Agent Man" video, the men of DEVO launched into their debut LP Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, 3-D glasses in place. They didn't stop until the album was done -- tonight it's Freedom Of Choice, as both LPs are getting a re-release -- over a short but incredibly energetic set that drew the likes of Zack De La Rocha and Tony Kanal, cited by photographer Andrew Youssef as a testament to the new wave icons' far-reaching influence. Opening the night was the soulful singing and human beatboxing, performance artist/socially satirical stand-up mindbender Reggie Watts (you're welcome to describe him in less clauses), a suitable fit for a crowd with a bent toward unclassifiably whimsical artists.
Other DEVO bits: Next year the band will release the unofficially titled Fresh, their first album in 20 years. And on Halloween, Pearl Jam donned the red energy domes and covered "Whip It." It looked like this:
Continue reading DEVO/Reggie Watts @ The Henry Fonda Theater, Los Angeles 11/3/09...
Posted at 4:51 PM by amrit in , ,
Tags: DEVO | Pearl Jam | Reggie Watts
latest by Spudboy
November 3, 2009
Vampire Weekend's sold out show at the Art Theater of Long Beach followed a couple of secret-ish L.A. outings -- at the former site of Madame Wong's on Halloween (Ezra was dressed as Jon Gosselin, or a douchebag, or both) and at Hollenbeck Rec Center the following day -- but Koenig called last night the first "official" show of their California itinerary (and first "movie theater" gig). Local buzz band and recent Sub Pop signees Avi Buffalo (grab an MP3 below) were there to open things up, while Ice Cream Man stuck around afterward to make sure people went home with frozen treats. Between those bookmarks, VW dedicated "Horchata" to Lola's, the Mexican restaurant across the street, and stated a number of times that they dig California. Of course, the setlist included "California English," but the song was not performed. (UPDATE: Ezra was apparently too hoarse.) As far as new ones, they also did Contra's "White Sky," "Holiday," "Run," and "Cousins." Along with Andrew Youssef's terrific photos, check out the setlist and newly expanded tour itinerary.
Continue reading Vampire Weekend/Avi Buffalo @ Art Theater, Long Beach 11/2/09...
Posted at 5:27 PM by brandon in , , ,
Tags: Avi Buffalo | Vampire Weekend
latest by Nate
November 2, 2009
The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame celebrated a quarter century as the self-appointed, oft-suspect gatekeeper for canonical artists in the rock world (no Replacements, no Sonic Youth, no etcs. -- no vote of confidence, RRHOF dudes) with a pair of concerts at Madison Square Garden this past Thursday and Friday. Never mind that the Hall is technically 26 according to its articles of incorporation; 25 is a prettier number for a party, and also for packaging the concert's highlights for the pared down HBO telecast, airing 11/29. We linked you to footage from night one last week, with performances and collabs coming from John Fogerty, Crosby Stills & Nash, and the like. Now we have some bits from Night Two for you, with Mick Jagger joining U2 on "Stuck In A Moment You Can't Get Out Of," and similar stage-sharing from Black Eyed Peas, Bruce Springsteen, Patti Smith, and on. Pair them with the pics and you almost don't even need a subscription to HBO.
Continue reading U2 Jam With Black Eyed Peas, Jagger, Springsteen At Rock Hall 25th Anniversary Show...
Posted at 5:36 PM by amrit in , ,
Tags: Annie Lennox | Aretha Franklin | Fergie | Jeff Beck | Jerry Lee Lewis | Lou Reed | Metallica | Mick Jagger | Ozzy Osbourne | Patti Smith | Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame | Stevie Wonder | Sting | Tom Hanks | will.i.am
latest by amrit
While you were out drinking as vampire Sarah Palins and slutty John McCains (research for this post conducted in 2008), musicians were celebrating Halloween in myriad ways their own: Phish covered Exile In Main Street in Indio; Titus Andronicus did an all-Weezer set while fending off security at the Vice 15 party in Williamsburg; Monsters Of Folk morphed into KISS; Pearl Jam dressed as Devo and covered "Whip It"; and doubtlessly countless more. Brooklyn's Dirty Projectors celebrated pumpkin day in Los Angeles with some silly headgear -- Longstreth in 10 gallon hat, Nat Baldwin in bozo wig, Angel in some cloth chainmail type thing -- but the DPs costume honors go to Amber Coffman who showed them up in Stevie Nicks regalia. The band played the Jensen RecCenter with openers Little Wings, and just today announced a return to Los Angeles to co-headline the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, who will play selections chosen by Dave before the DPs do a set of their own. That isn't until February 27th (although tix are on sale 11/14/09); until then, have a pass through Andrew Youssef's shots.
Posted at 2:51 PM by amrit in ,
Tags: Dirty Projectors
latest by steven
Despite the mixed response Rivers is getting in coming off like the long lost Jonas Bro of late, last week's performances of "If You're Wondering If I Want You To (I Want You To)" and "I'm Your Daddy" (in Weezer Snuggies) on Letterman were an irrefutable reminder that, while their fun-compass seems to lose its bearing in the studio, that very same ham-standing makes for some fun times live. With that in mind, photographer Kyle Dean Reinford hit Hammerstein Ballroom on Halloween night for what was sure to be a special Weezer event: Matt & Kim opened (dressed as Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick) before the =w= set, during which the guys had crowd members strip them of their insect costumes (repurposed from the Yo Gabba Gabba! taping) to the tune of "Undone (The Sweater Song)." Rumblings of a secret guest netted not a Weezy, but a Gossip Girl: Leighton Meester joined the band for "If You're Wondering"; at this point, collaborating with a The CW star is very much par for the course plotted out by that wonky fun-compass. Besides, Leighton's got a "pop song" so it's not like they've totally lost the plot. I think! Here's video of that:
Continue reading Weezer @ Hammerstein Ballroom, NYC 10/31/09...
Posted at 12:50 PM by amrit in , ,
Tags: Leighton Meester | Weezer
latest by tommy
On the same day they unleashed the rather awesome "Ambling Alp" MP3, Yeasayer headlined the latest installment of the Guggenheim museum's It Came From Brooklyn series. Opening were Tanlines (the Brooklyn production/guitar/vocal duo who moonlighted as Glasser's backing band at our CMJ party), and the event was emceed by fast-rising and quicker thinking BK comic Max Silvestri (who hosted last year's Gummy Awards Live), so needless to say Stereogum was there.
Continue reading Yeasayer/Tanlines @ Guggenheim Museum, NYC 10/30/09...
Posted at 11:22 AM by amrit in ,
Tags: Max Silvestri | Tanlines | Yeasayer
latest by jsf3000
October 29, 2009
A few weeks ago we posted an early take of "When You Were Born" (aka "When Yer Born") from The Long Count. At the time, Aaron Dessner told us the track would eventually include Kim Deal singing on it. Now that we know the piece focuses on twins via the Dessners and the Deals, the Cincinnati Reds' second back-to-back World Series victories in 1976 (the year the Dessners' were born), Popul Vuh's Mesoamerican "ball game" (aka "a reenactment of the creation of the universe," according to The Long Count artist Matthew Ritchie), and that the project combines a recording of the 1976 World Series with the first two books of Popol Vuh, etc., the context of that track makes sense. (The Long Count's title comes from Mayan cosmology's "vast, millennial calender," which ends/starts again/resets on 12/12/12.) Last night the brothers Dessners' collaboration with Ritchie opened at BAM and folks got to see how all of this worked off the page. If you weren't there, take a look at the photos taken by Julieta Cervantes that find the Dessners, guest vocalists Matt Berninger, Shara Worden, and Kim and Kelley Deal and various other players performing on a stage and in front of projections designed/created by Ritchie. There are two remaining performances at 8PM on 10/30 and 10/31. Before the performance on Saturday -- full-disclosure, etc. -- I'm moderating a discussion at 6PM with the Dessners and Ritchie at BAM's Hillman Attic Studio. You can get info about all of this at BAM. Here's a preview in the form of "Bull Run," (featuring Kelley Deal on vocals) recorded at the University of Illinois' Krannert Cente last month.
Continue reading The Long Count (Bryce & Aaron Dessner, Kim & Kelley Deal, Matt Berninger, Shara Worden) @ BAM 10/28/09...
Posted at 5:39 PM by brandon in , ,
Tags: Aaron Dessner | Bryce Dessner | Kelley Deal | Kim Deal | Matt Berninger | Matthew Ritchie | My Brightest Diamond | The Breeders | The National
latest by buns
