Yeah Yeah Yeahs - St. Louis, June 2nd

photos are courtesy of Anne "Snapshot" Suggs

Dan Deacon Tour Concludes - Sick Video

Since being unwillingly dragged to a free Dan Deacon show in St. Louis more than a year ago, I have become an avid fan of his chipmunk-churned, hyperactive, insane music style that comes together for the most fun, unique concerts that I have ever attended. In St. Louis, I was immersed in the body sweat of the people surrounding me, pummeled by elbows, broken up into teams for a dance-off competition, and then forced through a tunnel of sweaty armpits and I still cannot recall any concert that I have gone to where I have had more fun. His music throbbed throughout the entire room and pulled the otherwise unenthused St. Louis audience to the brink of ridiculous.

I have seen him a handful of times since going to school in Jersey and having such easy access to New York City and have been greeted by a more passionate and willing fan base which often makes it easy to lose oneself in the sea of jumping chaos during his shows. His style has remained and his new album Bromst proves to be more accessable as he has utilized more traditiona instruments (if a glokenspiel can be considered the least bit traditional). He has also taken on an entire ensemble to bring greater complexity to his shows. My ONLY critique of the new setup is that the ensemble tends to blur the sound that Dan is striving to achieve during his shows and makes songs like "Snookered" actually much more simple and less danceable than the album version. I will, again, give Dan Deacon and the ensemble the benefit of the doubt, however, as I saw them at NYU at the very begining of their tour, AND this awesome video provided by NPR makes my heart skip a beat as I am reminded of my first Dan Deacon experience.

NPR Video

tUnE-YaRdS – BiRd-BrAiNs

Merrill Garbus, with her extremely dynamic vocal range going from deep, melodic blues style into chipmunk screeching similar to Dan Deacon, has created a complex incorporation of folk and tribal elements using lo-fi production techniques. The most prominent instrument she uses throughout the album is a mandolin which she uses brilliantly to bring folksy upbeat feeling to songs like “WHENYOUTELLTHELIONS” that would otherwise bring about as much joy as Clint Mansell. With use of her wide range of vocal styles and use of mandolin, yodeling, and heavy beats, BiRd-BrAiNs creates an distinctive array of moods and themes.

In a very Holden Caulfield-esque manner, the album proves to be the competition between the innocent childlike characteristics of her music and lurking mature lyrical content throughout. The immature elements of the album remain obvious in the capitalization of the title of the album, leaving me reminiscent of 7th grade AIM, along with the incorporation of children’s’ voices between tracks and vocals in songs like “News” that assume innocence. But every song is weighed down upon by the heavy lyrical intention as songs like “News,” assuming innocence, actually builds up to reveal that the news is that “I don’t need no booze to get it up in the morning.” In “SAFETY” tUnE-YaRdS actually creates a direct conflict between innocent, mandolin accompanied lyrics seen throughout the album and the dark, realistic lyrics accompanied by heavy drumming and results in total chaos.

The album itself results in a nearly-chaotic conclusion as stand-out tracks, although the highlights of the entire album, don’t seem to fit in with the remaining tracks. “Sunlight” is untouched by the rest of the songs on the album as tUnE-YaRdS uses the blues element of her voice (with what sounds like an actual drum kit) and proves to be the most cohesive song. Other songs that come close are “Little Tiger”, “WHENYOUTELLTHELIONS”, and “Little Tiger”. All of which feature the blues element in her vocal style, which happens to be my favorite of her styles, but also seem to be much more cohesive in their use of instrumentals. So while her use of yodeling on top of intense beats is intense and unique, her strengths remain in her blues style.

Tiny Mix Tapes

Dan Deacon, Frog Eyes, and Mount Eerie have come together to create an album with all the profits going to benefit Darfur. Regardless of how much you may be sick about all this crap with Darfur and the raped women, children, blood flowing throughout the land, and complete detestation of the region and surrounding countries, you can get a high quality mix and benefit a good cause. Not only does it go to a totally secular organization and 100% of your money goes directly to the cause, but you can also rest easy knowing your money isn't going to fascism, ie EMI. Enjoy!

http://www.tinymixtapes.com/FOR-SALE-Tiny-Mix-Tapes-Vol-1

the cause

Happy May Day

First, this is a declaration of love for my family, both blood and organic, human and non-human.

Second, this is a declaration of war against all self-interest, selfishness and again to the people who designed, implemented, and maintained this system called capitalism that rewards people for robbing our mothers; our future children for money.

Thirdly, this is a dedication to all who make sacrifices in this struggle against this rotten world; quiet cancer system; especially in how it manifests itself internally.

And fourth, if me talking about politics and reality instead blinking and blocking bothers you, then go fuck yourself, because I have enough friends as it is.

- 1-Speed Bike, "The Day That Mauro Ran Over Elwy Yost"

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Plants and Animals - Parc Avenue

Bands with a giant roster featuring nameless members playing violin or French horn or the singing saw have dominated the psychedelic folk scene as of late. Arcade Fire brought it a level of widespread popularity and electronic elements which spawned Animal Collective's newest album makes the possibility of the black figures of Mac commercials dancing to funky freak-folk beats conceivable. Even had bought into this after rather douche-y conversation with a friend at lunch over how the typical rock band setup (guitar, bass, drums, vocals) was dead as almost everything that could be done with this setup has already been done.

I hadn't yet listened to this Parc Avenue. Plants and Animals take the rock band setup and shove it in your face with a wide array of styles throughout the album. With more experience in creating rich guitar instrumentals, Plants and Animals have very matured sound that outpaces their lyrical content. Their early work focused completely on their guitar work and originally seemed to fringe on becoming a instrumental psychedelic group. But this album in particular shows the group's insistence in creating a more dynamic sound. Although there are instances throughout the album that reveal the inexperience working with a vocal aspect of their sound, their experience manipulating the sound of their guitar work gives them a unique sound on every track and results in a rich assortment throughout.

The vocals of guitar-vocalists Warren Spicer and Nick Basque have a broad range as they both bring out catchy gang vocals and fit in smoothly along their unique guitar riffs. As a Midwestern appreciator of Neil Young's vocals, even above those of his counterpart Bob Dylan, I find it easy to appreciate the folk-style vocals of this group. But Plants and Animals still produce a unique, mellow style to their vocals and admirably avoid recreating vocals of better-known folk groups.

Plants and Animals with Parc Avenue have made a totally new sound using their own unique experience and utilizing elements of the genre to which they adhere. Their blend of psychedelic, droning guitars with a lyrical and vocal style reminiscent of another Canadian accepted by the American South give hope to a folk movement that has nearly exhausted its resources of quirky instruments to turn to when seeking originality.

Plants and Animals are touring Europe currently and will be in the US for Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago

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del(eh)ware: whats the deal-o-where?

Del(eh)where?= aka the blah state. Its pretty much the non-committed-fence-sitting-suburban-purgatory at the geographical center of the mid-atlantic. I don’t know anyone from Delaware im sure they have great pride for philly or something since all of the philly radio stations and tv stations service something known as the Delaware valley? Im also pretty sure anyone from Delaware (if you actually get to meet one in person) would tell you that the state is about 2 hours from any-ware worth visiting. The state has everything that any other states of the regions would: beaches, col-de-sacs, strip-malls, bland revolutionary war history, the only difference is that Delaware lacks that ‘zazz that actually makes places interesting. Know anyone with a Delaware accent? Delaware is the gray porridge of America, and the lack of taxes is the state's jam which makes it palatable. I’m pretty sure I saw De La Warr at terminal5 a few months ago, they should have just stuck with that name (is he a duke somewhere still?/ he’ll probly sue anyway). It’s just strange cause the state couldn’t even get that little part of the peninsula that’s part of VA/MD, can’t VA/MD just giv’em that freebie? Like what did Delaware ever do to you guys‘cept for bein’ a big’ol parking lot for employees and consumers? Plenty of people think DE is the smallest state. Im pretty sorry that they couldn’t even win that/ who needs RI lets giv’em back to UK. They might have beaches noted for their inability to attract people, is that a skill? Miss u Rehoboth. Delaware has my single favorite piece of geography. The twelve-mile-circle was created as the border between Delaware and PA, its simply a random geopolitical border based on absolutely no physical land border, and incidentally enough it created my second favorite geopolitical anomaly the wedge. Land which was not claimed by MD, PA, or DE. No one wanted it so they just dumped it off on Delaware, think Delaware made a strip-mall there or some highway to visit some really cool places. Don’t go anywhere Delaware I need to smoke tax free cigarettes in tax free patio furniture in my backyard. Plus their liquor stores are open till one which is good since it takes a few hours to drive there after the stores in NJ and PA close. DE thanks for, well, existing?