Fleet Foxes - White Winter Hymnal

In a year which I have been very challenged for good new music, Fleet Foxes has been a clear front runner. Their Sun Giant EP gave me a good first impression and now their self titled full length is in top running for my album of the year. The video for the second track off their full length has been a recent highlight for me and reminds me of Bjork's "Wanderlust" so check it out. They recently announced a fall tour, but the Webster Hall show is sold out.

All Points West

All summer lead up to last Friday night. A long summer of being at home and away from the city had been too much for me to handle, but on my last day as a teenager I made up for it. Friends from home and school all gathered together at Liberty State Park for the first day of the first ever All Points West festival. Despite the stellar headliner that was Radiohead, the rest of the fest left people wanting a little more. The location was beautiful yet difficult to get to, the rest of the bands were alright, and the festival just seemed to be a little under prepared. However I still had an excellent time.

The day began with Mates of State, who I have never listened to, but have heard quite a lot about. While I enjoyed their set and wished I had known some of the songs since they seemed really good, I was very distracted with trying to eat a quesadilla, rain, and wind. Nature did not seem to be on my side. Despite the weather the band held out and played their whole set. Fortunately seeing this show allowed me to get the very front position for Grizzly Bear who came on next. These guys were excellent. The band I was most looking forward to see all day did not disappoint. The harmonies, guitar work, and perfection drumming sounded great live. The band even played an astounding four new songs during the set as well as classics such as "Knife" "Little Brother (electric)" and "On A Neck, On A Spit." Whenever these new tunes get recorded and released I'll be very excited.

We took a little break after Grizzly Bear and chilled near some art while we enjoyed CSS from outside the crowd. These guys put on a great show. The costumes were great and the energy was strong. They even got us moving during "Let's Make Love and Listen to Death From Above." After their set we moved over to the main stage to claim our spots for Radiohead. During the process we were able to catch the last half hour of Underworld, however our energy was consumed for the spectacle we were about to witness. Taking the stage about five minutes late was about the only flaw Radiohead performed that night. The set list was phenomenal. Pretty much every track from In Rainbows and all the other albums packed in between. Even though I had seen these guys before this show was still breathe taking. The lights alone would have made the experience worth it. The LED rods that seemed to show every color in the spectrum at some point in the show were hypnotizing. The band was perfect. They played the classics and took them to a whole new level. The greatest band in the world playing with the New York City skyline in the background was the perfect way to end my teenage years.

setlist:
01. 15 Step
02. There There
03. Morning Bell
04. All I Need
05. Lucky
06. Nude
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. Optimistic
10. Videotape
11. Reckoner
12. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
13. You And Whose Army?
14. Idioteque
15. Climbing Up The Walls
16. Bodysnatchers
17. How To Disappear Completely
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18. House of Cards
19. Pyramid Song
20. Paranoid Android
21. Dollars and Cents
22. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
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23. Cymbal Rush
24. Just
25. Everything In It's Right Place

Mark Ronson (featuring Amy Winehouse) - "Valerie"

A friend of mine in London was really into Mark Ronson and this song was blowing up while I was there. I hadn't listened to it since I got back until today and I thought I would share it with everyone.

New Grizzly Bear - "Two Weeks"

Grizzly Bear continue to impress me as they performed a brand new song entitled "Two Weeks" on Letterman last night. The amazing harmonies and poppy melodies are once again presented in an interesting and unique manner that make Grizzly Bear one of my favorite current bands. Can't wait to catch these guys at All Points West in a few weeks.



Also according to a rumor on productshopnyc Barack Obama may be making a special guest appearance at Lollapolooza to introduce Kanye West for his headlining slot. Sounds pretty good to me.

Siren Fest 2008

If there is one thing to be said about this year's Siren Fest on Coney Island, is it was hot! The Village Voice once again hosted it's annual free summer music festival, however this year it happened to land on one of the hottest days of the summer. The weather would plague my friends throughout the day and we ended up losing a few soldiers along the way.

Weather aside, the day was great. We caught an early performance by Parts & Labor upon first arriving. These guys had a great mix of post-punk/indie rock/noise going on, however the draining heat limited my ability to enjoy the set. Since the Dodo's were running late I was unable to see any of their show and so I headed straight to Annuals on the Stillwell Stage. The band did a great job of mixing some new songs into the set while stilling being able to rock through songs off their first LP. Even the somewhat jammy finish came across with much appeal. The rest of the day was dispersed amongst other various sets by Beach House, Jaguar Love, Islands, the Helio Sequence, and wondering Astroland. As Broken Social Scene's set loomed closer we were able to catch the Helio Sequence's surprise cover of "Tomorrow Never Knows" which revived some much needed energy. BSS took the stage at 8:00 and immediately dived right into their excellent set. From the moment these guys walked out the energy began to climb and it didn't peak until they left the stage. Brilliant guitar work on "Cause=Time" was followed up by the catchy "Fire Eye'd Boy" and my personal favorite "7/4 (Shoreline)." Not only was the entire crowd drawn into the performance, but these guys just seemed to be having so much fun onstage. So much fun that only the marathon closer of "It's All Gonna Break" was able to end this weekend party.

Parts & Labor

Annuals


Coney Island


The Crowd

stolen.

I saw this last week or so on gorillavsbear and I couldn't resist. My favorite albums from each year I have been alive. Obviously the earlier it goes the harder it was to determine a favorite so I did my best.

1988 – Sonic Youth | Daydream Nation
1989 – Pixies | Doolittle
1990 – Pixies | Bossanova
1991 – My Bloody Valentine | Loveless
1992 – Rage Against the Machine | Rage Against the Machine
1993 – Nirvana | In Utero
1994 – Portishead | Dummy
1995 – Radiohead | The Bends
1996 – Weezer | Pinkerton
1997 – Radiohead | OK Computer
1998 – Neutral Milk Hotel | In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
1999 – the Get Up Kids | Something to Write Home About
2000 – Radiohead | Kid A
2001 – the Strokes | Is This It?
2002 – Wilco | Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
2003 – the White Stripes | Elephant
2004 – Arcade Fire | Funeral
2005 – Sufjan Stevens | Illinois
2006 – TV on the Radio | Return to Cookie Mountain
2007 – Arcade Fire | Neon Bible

video: drive-thru

I've always thought people should do stuff like this more often. Collaborations, while aren't always good, are at least usually fun. Thus is the case here. I really like all three of these artisits, but the song is not that great. Anyway it's a cool idea and the video is pretty sick. Maybe more things like this will start to happen.

Produced By Pharrell - Santogold, Julian Casablancas, N.E.R.D.

All I am saying is that this pin was sold at the Republican Convention in Texas this past weekend. Check it out.

Bon Iver played St. Giles-in-the-Fields Church

After spending the past five months in London I cannot think of a better way to end things then with this show on Wednesday night. After seeing Battles a few weeks ago I thought it would be a while before I saw another great show, however this did not turn out to be the case. Port O'Brien opened the show and for never having heard them before I was pretty impressed. Great job of foot stomping folk tunes to get the crowd ready for a great night ahead. While these guys were good, the spotlight clearly belonged to Bon Iver.
The church setting could not have been more perfect for the angelic voices that descended upon the audience as these three men took the stage. I was a little nervous about how well the album would translate live as those voices are simply gorgeous on the recording, yet I was anything but let down. From the opening distorted guitar sounds I knew that this show was going to be something special. Everything seemed to be perfect. The harmonies were unreal, the percussion was thundering, and the guitars were filling in all the right places. I cannot think of a better sounding live show that I have ever witnessed. The guys played "For Emma" in it's entirety (albeit out of order) and never missed a beat.
Justin kept thanking the audience over and over and referred to the experience as a dream after the audience erupted in joy and applause after each number. "Skinny Love" ranks right up there with other classics as one of the best songs I have ever seen performed live (Others being "Paranoid Android" and "Hey Jude"). However the ending rendition of "For Emma" in the middle of the church sans microphones and just and acoustic guitar and those amazing vocals was directly in front of me is an experience I will not soon forget.
The show was simply breath taking. There was nothing to complain about from the brilliant sound to the absolutely quiet audience. The last time I saw people so enthralled with a performance Thom Yorke was playing the opening to "Exit Music (For a Film)". The only thing that the show made me sad about was the fact that I do not think listening to that record will ever give me the satisfaction I felt from hearing it performed live.