Grizzly Bear - Granny Dinner

I just discovered this video of the song "Granny Dinner" by one of my favorite groups, Grizzly Bear. Enjoy.

Broadcast and The Focus Group - I See, So I See So

This is the second video in a series from this partnership. I can't get enough!

Broadcast and the Focus Group - Witch Cults

Broadcast has become one of my favorite bands as of late, and this single is one of their best. It is off their new album with visual artist and musician The Focus Group.

Though Brilliantly Sunny... Mix no. 1

On the Deerhunter/Atlas Sound/ Lotus Plaza blog ( http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/ ) they have been posting "Micro Mixes" for a while. I've decided to start doing my own equivalent. This is the first installment. I apologize for having the track list be out of order, my computer insisted on putting the artists in alphabetical order before formatting it into a .zip file. If anyone knows how to remedy this for future mixes, that would be awesome. To download, just click on the image above. Any who, here is the correct track list, in order:

1. Cavalry Scars - Deerhunter
2. Winter Now - Broadcast
3. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (Rolling Stones Cover) - Cat Power
4. So Real - Jeff Buckley
5. Hazelton - Justin Vernon
6. Chelsea Hotel No. 2 - Leonard Cohen
7. William, It Was Really Nothing - The Smiths
8. Pedestal - Portishead
9. Raid - Madvillain
10.Out On The Weekend - Neil Young
11. Peach, Plum, Pear - Joanna Newsom

Yeasayer - 'Ambling Alp'

Yeasayer's first album, All Hour Cymbals, was one of my favorite records of 2007. If you haven't heard it, I highly recommend it. This is the video for their new single 'Ambling Alp'. I love the song, and the visual style of the video is really great.

Broadcast - Tender Buttons

Ever since I saw this band with Atlas Sound this has been one of my favorite records. Their sound is very unique and I don't know exactly how to describe it so you'll just have to listen for yourself.
My favorite tracks are:
I Found The F, Black Cat, and Corporeal

J. Tillman at Modified Arts 11-30-2009

What Laura Says Thinks And Feels is a pretty awful name, but the music was pretty good. The one thing that I didn't like about them was the white-soul-beat-boxing thing the singer was doing. I didn't get it. They were, however, the best local AZ band I have seen to date.

I don't think the audience knew what to do with Pearly Gates Music; admittedly, neither did I. It was a one man acoustic set by Zach Tillman, Josh Tillman's younger brother, which consisted of mostly chorusless ramblings about herpes, Jesus, and gender disambiguation. The first song was shit in my opinion--it had no intrest for me at all, but as his set moved on I found myself liking it more and more. The last song sold me though. I bought his five song EP in the hopes that there is something on it as good as that song, and I believe it is on there, so win!

J. Tillman was great! The whole band did a great job. Josh just has such a powerful and moving voice! To be honest I don't even know what else to say about it, it was great! At the end of the set he asked if anyone had any requests, but no one did. I found myself trying to think of some of my favorite songs of his, but he had played all of the ones that I really wanted to hear, and that's a good thing! Great show!

Photos from the show courtesy of Shawn at Electricmustache.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/electricmustache/sets/72157622914472596/

Other than the fact that the doors opened an hour and a half late, there really wasn't a bad thing about this show. The first band, The Selmanaires' set was really great. I thought their sound was pretty great; it's sort of a Deerhunter/Animal Collective/Post Rock mix which was pretty fun to see live.

Atlas Sound, the show's headliner went on second (I assume he did this because of how late the show started and that there might have been people who needed to get going pretty soon). His set was really great! I have a hard time deciding what the highlight was: either the song "Attic Lights" or when Bradford invited a heckler on stage for some serious public reaming. To see a video of said reaming, here's a link to a video recorded by Shawn of ElectricMustache.com:

Bradford Cox Destroys A Heckler At The End Of Altas Sound Show in Phoenix

I guess you could call Broadcast the closing band, but that seems to carry a negative connotation and I don't mean it to because the part of their set that I saw was pretty incredible (it was getting late and I had to get going). Their light show really made it an performance. It was a series of black and white images that would warp and distort as they effected their music. It was pretty intense.

All and all it was a very fun, but late night.

Regina Spektor, November 1st, Roseland Theatre, Portland OR

I feel like I dwell on the negative a little too much in reviews, and that's something I should work on, but the crowd fucking sucked. Yes you, the crowd of 12 year old girls and high school drama nerds who have no idea what it means to be a good concert goer. When Jupiter One came out I had about 15 or 16 middle school girls inside my asshole (not literally) who started screaming like the Backstreet Boys just walked on stage.

Jupiter One did put on a good show though. Their music isn't really my cup of tea; it's a little poppy for my tastes, but I could tell that they were having fun, and that the loved what they did, so that made it pretty enjoyable. Also, their lyrics were a little cliche (a personal pet peeve), but that hasn't stopped about 99% of the music industry.

Regina was awesome! Her music is just so much damn fun! She's almost too cute to live! But the crowd got even more annoying and pushy during her set (screaming lyrics and burrowing deeper into my butt hole), so my girlfriend and I had to move out of our great spot (4 people away from the stage!) to the back in order to enjoy the show.

All and all it was a fun show, almost ruined by kids too young to be set loose onto the world without supervision. I want to close this by saying that the point of getting to a show early is to be close to the stage. If you are too short and too young to be able to see over people, come early, don't shove your way to the front when the lights go out. It's just not cool, and that's what we're all going for, right? To be cool?

I've been writing concert reviews on last.fm for a while now (if you have a last.fm account you can send me a friend request at http://www.last.fm/user/ISeeYouPan ) and I've decided to start posting them here as well.


Wednesday October 28 - Dirty Projectors with Golden Boots at The Rhythm Room

I am not that excited about Golden Boots. Their set was alright, but nothing that special. I got the impression that they thought they were a lot weirder then they were. Wacky hats and lab coats don't make your set any more fun, I'm just saying.

Dirty Projectors, however, were brilliant. This was favorite concert this year. The group is just so tight and in tune with one another. I was very impressed. Brian Mcomber's drumming really blew me away; the fact that he could keep up with Longstreth's constantly changing tempo was really impressive. Also, Amber Coffman's ability to play guitar that technically while singing the way she does was crazy, which reminds me, the vocal hocketing was insane live! I can't even begin to tell you how blown away by this band I was. If and when they come to AZ again, I'm there!

The standout songs in my mind were "Fucked for Life", "Two Doves", "Useful Chamber" and "Ascending Melody".

After the show I got Dave Longstreth, Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle to sign my LP. I'm pretty stoked.

So I finally found it! I've Been Looking for it for a few months now, and here it is!

Dave Longstreth - The Graceful-Fallen Mango

Indian Giver - Consignment


Tracklist:
1.Siete Años
2.Crops Grow In A Day
3.Circle of Obsession
4.Snow Rabbit Passing
5.Eight Boys and Girls

This is myself, Josh Eells, and Ben Ford.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada ****1/2

I got into Godspeed two years ago and have been in love ever since. This record is super intense - Almost too good!

Madvillain - Madvilliany *****

Probably my favorite hip-hop album

Deerhunter

Microcastle *****


Fluorescent Grey Ep ****

Cryptograms ***1/2

If you don't know this band, you should.

500 Days of Summer ****1/2
Starring Zooey Deschanel & Joseph Gordon-Levitt

When Forgetting Sarah Marshall came out I had friends who said it was the most realistic breakup movie they had ever seen. When I saw I thought it was really good (don't get me wrong) but I thought the circumstances of the breakup were far to specific. The thing about 500 Days of Summer is that it is completely universal; everyone has been in his (or her) position. Everything from the Hall & Oats dance sequence to the argument about titles is done perfectly. Both Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play their parts exceptionally well and make it that much more fun to watch.

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca ****

Dirty Projectors collaborated with David Byrne on the song "Knotty Pine" for the compilation Dark Was The Night. It was one of the most original songs I have hearrdin the last few years and Bitte Orca is just as good. Every song is brilliant! Enjoy!

Fever Ray - Fever Ray ****1/2

This album is almost perfect. It is by far one of the best albums of the year. I don't even know what to say.

Department of Eagles - In Ear Park ****

Daniel Rossen is one of my favorite guitarists. His main project is Grizzly Bear, but this is a really great album from his side project Department of Eagles.

Sun Araw - Beach Head ***

This record really feels like it was meant for warm weather so I'm giving you something to last you until the end of the summer. My only real gripe with this record is that it is a little inaccessible at times, however, it is great to fall asleep to.

There are more channels on YouTube than I care to think about. The Fact that Fred is the most subscribed channel on the site is extremely fucking sad. This fact aside, I thought I would post a few links to some of my favorite people on YouTube.

mitchmagee
-Hilarious dry humor
infinitesolutions
-I didn't even realize this guy was a humorist at first, it's that good.
drewtoothpaste
-Too funny!
jackcontemusic
-This guy is a truly brilliant musician. I really hope you enjoy his stuff!

J. Tillman - Cancer and Delirium ***1/2

I just found this record today and am very impressed by it. It is J. Tillman, drummer for Fleet Foxes performing as a solo artist. Hope you enjoy it.