One of my favorite things to do is listen to music in my car. It just sounds better when it can be a little bit louder and it surrounds you in such a small space. I also think the reaction to it is genuine since I drive most of the time by myself and I've got nothing else to do but drive, sitting there and listening. I'm also a big fan of the mix CD, even though I'm trying to end this by upgrading to an Ipod relatively soon. Until then, I make these mix CDs every couple of months with the sole intent being to listen to them in my car. These end up being the songs I really love. I thought I'd share these mix CDs here. So without any further ado here is the first installment.
1. Addicted to Love - Florence + the Machine
2. In Passing - Company of Thieves
3. Smokers Song - Imelda May
4. Calabria - Enur
5. Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
6. Better Things - Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
7. Twisted - Annie Ross
8. And It Spread - The Avett Brothers
9. All I Do Is Win - DJ Khaled
10. I Got Love for You - Michael Franti & Spearhead
11. Darkness Descends - Laura Marling
12. I Want You - Bob Dylan
13. Funkier Than a Mosquito's Tweeter - Nina Simone
14. Star of County Down - Van Morrison & the Chieftains
15. Mrs. Officer - Lil' Wayne ft. Bobby Valentino
16. I Can Change - LCD Soundsystem
17. Pressure - Company of Thieves
18. Medicine - Grace Potter & the Nocturnals
19. I'm into Something Good - The Bird & the Bee
20. On a Night Like This - Bob Dylan
If I haven't reviewed the album some of these tracks are on, I'm about to.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Forecastle July 11, 2010 - Minus the Bear, She & Him, Company of Thieves, Spoon
Another beautiful, but HOT, day at Forecastle. We didn't get there until later because of the World Cup game (yay for Spain!). Minus the Bear played a good set, but I'll have to listen to their albums before I give much of a review. The music didn't leave much of an impression on me.
We headed down towards the stage near the end of their set to get a spot close to see Zooey Deschanel and M.Ward as She & Him. I love her acting but so far I'm not sold on the music. This performance didn't sell me either. Her voice was way off, especially in the beginning. M. Ward's voice was barely audible. Each song was the same 4 chords and a bland melody. She gets a little credit for switching between multiple instruments (a keyboard, an electric ukulele, and tambourine), but aside from a few jumping jacks, there was no involvement with the crowd and barely a smile on her face. Very boring like I was expecting. We left early and gave up our front row spot to fans more interested in her pretty blue dress and bright red lips (she did look cute, although a little bit bummed)
Eager to get away, stay awake, and hear some better music, we made our way over to the North Stage, only to catch the last song from Paper Route, which I really enjoyed. I'll definitely have to check them out again at some point. Then we hung around until Company of Thieves came on.
This was absolutely the find of the festival. These guys are real musicians. I'd never heard of them or any of their music although WPFK had been circulating them quite a bit the week before. A lot of reviews compare her voice to Fiona Apple, and I can see where they get that from, but trust me you need to hear it yourself. For such a tiny girl, there's a lot of power there and a lot of skill. She slides and pulls on each word as she belts them out. Then when the song is quiet, her voice gets a bit jazzier. I enjoyed the band here too. Not a jam band, by any means, they still are able to draw out the details of each song and explore them in depth as a nice compliment to Schatz's vocals.
Althought their first album, Ordinary Riches, has been out, reissued, since 2009, everything I heard was new to me, including a few songs which Schatz introduced as forthcoming on their album to be released later this year. She seemed excited to play them and the crows was very receptive, making this one of the few performances at the festival from not only a musicians, but an entertainer. This is far too often lacking in real shows. Here's a few videos of my new favorite band.
So engrossed was I in Company of Thieves, that we were late to the Spoon set. It was too crowded to get anywhere near the stage, but it was easy enough to hear everything from the back of the field. They played a decent show with lots of sound experimentation and plenty of their better known songs and a few new ones.
We headed down towards the stage near the end of their set to get a spot close to see Zooey Deschanel and M.Ward as She & Him. I love her acting but so far I'm not sold on the music. This performance didn't sell me either. Her voice was way off, especially in the beginning. M. Ward's voice was barely audible. Each song was the same 4 chords and a bland melody. She gets a little credit for switching between multiple instruments (a keyboard, an electric ukulele, and tambourine), but aside from a few jumping jacks, there was no involvement with the crowd and barely a smile on her face. Very boring like I was expecting. We left early and gave up our front row spot to fans more interested in her pretty blue dress and bright red lips (she did look cute, although a little bit bummed)
Eager to get away, stay awake, and hear some better music, we made our way over to the North Stage, only to catch the last song from Paper Route, which I really enjoyed. I'll definitely have to check them out again at some point. Then we hung around until Company of Thieves came on.
This was absolutely the find of the festival. These guys are real musicians. I'd never heard of them or any of their music although WPFK had been circulating them quite a bit the week before. A lot of reviews compare her voice to Fiona Apple, and I can see where they get that from, but trust me you need to hear it yourself. For such a tiny girl, there's a lot of power there and a lot of skill. She slides and pulls on each word as she belts them out. Then when the song is quiet, her voice gets a bit jazzier. I enjoyed the band here too. Not a jam band, by any means, they still are able to draw out the details of each song and explore them in depth as a nice compliment to Schatz's vocals.
Althought their first album, Ordinary Riches, has been out, reissued, since 2009, everything I heard was new to me, including a few songs which Schatz introduced as forthcoming on their album to be released later this year. She seemed excited to play them and the crows was very receptive, making this one of the few performances at the festival from not only a musicians, but an entertainer. This is far too often lacking in real shows. Here's a few videos of my new favorite band.
So engrossed was I in Company of Thieves, that we were late to the Spoon set. It was too crowded to get anywhere near the stage, but it was easy enough to hear everything from the back of the field. They played a decent show with lots of sound experimentation and plenty of their better known songs and a few new ones.
Forecastle July 10, 2010 - Umphrey's McGee, Grace Potter & the Nocturals, CAKE
Day 2 of Forecastle was gorgeous. We got there in time to see Umphrey's McGee, but watched them from the CokeZero party bus. I don't know if it was the extreme heat (close to 100), but they seemed a little bland. This is a video earlier in their set.
I was fine watching from the back of the field, taking in the whole scene and the nice view of the bridges that head to Indiana. It was good background music while we had some more BBC beer. When the band started a cover of the Beatles' "Dear Prudence," there was a rush down towards the stage. It woke me up and was a nice break in the drone of their typical jam music.
Luckily for us, and not so lucky for them, Grace Potter & the Nocturnals are still relatively unknown so the crowd wasn't very large at the front of the stage for their set. We got a great spot near the front, right behind the VIP section, close enough to see all the red flowers decorating the stage.
They are great live, fantastic stage presence. Its her voice that really carries the music, but the blend of funk, soul, rock, and blues that gives the performance character. They just released a new album last month, which I'm dying to listen to. In the past, their produced albums have been lacking compared to their live shows. I'm hoping this new album has finally captured that something, but still I never mind seeing them live. This video is of their signature song which they sing at every show, "Nothing But the Water." Grace is singing it a capella which really showcases her vocal abilities.
By the time Grace Potter's set was down, it was pretty crowded up front. Everyone was ready for CAKE. I've been a big fan since high school and was excited to finally see them live for the first time. Their albums sound so produced and detailed and John McCrea's voice is so unique that I couldn't picture how it would transpose to a stage.
Ultimately, I was a little disappointed with CAKE's set. He seemed a little condescending and unwilling to relate to the crowd. With a body of work that large and already well-known and liked by so many fans, I thought he was just resting on it, expecting a good set to happen by just playing crowd pleasing songs exactly as they sounded on the albums without any excitement or creativity. Ho hum. To top it off, they didn't really play any of my absolute favorites, but with CAKE I honestly like all their stuff anyway. So I'm glad I saw them and put a face to their music, but it's not something I would do again. This is and excerpt from their song "Short Skirt, Long Jacket." The quality is really bad since we were so close to the speakers. Just listen to the album version anyway, the live show added nothing.
We stuck around enough to see Devo perform "Whip It" and a few covers. What else have they written themselves?
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