Cadence Weapon is better than Of Montreal

no doubt



Sunday

Deerhunter started things off at 1. Their singer reallly creeps me out. I've read interviews with him where he denies heroin use up and down, but the dude weighs like 90 pounds and he looks pretty tall, I wanted to buy him a cheeseburger. Cryptograms is an interesting album but this wasn't the show to start the day off with, I really didn't enjoy myself all that much. The band was really into it, and the vocals sounded great however.

The Pony's played at 1:30, this was one show both of us were pretty stoked for. The band sounded great but was plagued by the only sound problems I heard all weekend. What a shame.

We took in The Junior Boys at 3. This was another group who I wasn't sure how their sound would translate to a festival setting. Well, they sounded great. Not much crowd interaction, just a great set of mostly songs from their last record (I think).

Sea & Cake at 4. Excellent show by these indie veterans. They tore through their set and sounded wonderful in the afternoon's haze of humidity.

Jamie Lidell played at 5 and looked mad crazy. I can't even really explain what he was wearing. I really enjoyed his set, even the songs not from his last record sounded pretty good. The tracks from Multiply hit hard, and Lidell crooned the pants off of thousands. While we were walking to the bathroom during this set I heard a kid in a Tool shirt say, "Man, this guy sucks ass." That's all I have to say about that matter.

I probably should have been more excited to see Stephen Malkmus but I wasn't all that pumped. He played a solo set and we lost interest kind of quick. We headed over to the side stage and caught The Cool Kids' set. These dudes are just breaking on the underground hip hop scene but they sounded real good. They played this one "miami bass" song that just beat like no one's business. I'm pumped to hear more from these dudes.

Of Montreal was next. I really can't get into these guys. I gave the new record a couple of chances, I've tried to find what people love so much about this band, but I just can't enjoy it. They were all dressed up and looked mad ridiculous. Dylan and I watched a couple of tunes but ended up heading over to the side stage again to catch Cadence Weapon straight tear up the side stage. He went on later than scheduled and played to a smaller crowd because of Of Montreal, but still sounded great and won Dylan over for sure.

The New Pornographers went on at 8 sans Neko and Dan Bejar. I probably shouldn't have expected to see them but I really had my hopes up. The band still sounded very good and played a mix of songs from their catalog. Really one of the most consistent bands operating today.

9 pm last show of the festival. DE LA SOUL!!! One of the highlights of the weekend, no doubt. Dudes are approaching 40 but still brought energy to spare and rocked a huge crowd that was more than likely not too familiar with the group. Dylan's a big fan and I'm pretty sure he had a mild seizure when they brought out Prince Paul to DJ a couple of tracks at the beginning of the show. Wonderful ending to a memorable weekend.


If you read half of these last two posts I owe you dinner or something.

We didn't stay for Yoko, but I took one of those keychain lights anyways

forget the haters, Girl Talk live shows are mad fun



Last weekend Dylan and I took in the Pitchfork Music Festival. It was a great weekend all around. Cheap tickets, dollar bottles of water, poorly dressed hipsters and great music. We waited too long and missed out on Friday night's festivities but from the sounds of it, the night wasn't as amazing as I would have thought.

Saturday

We showed up a little bit before 2pm and caught Voxtrot's set. I didn't really know what to expect from these guys, but they were really tight and put on a great show. A good mix of there full album and songs from their string of wonderful ep's. There lead singer has a weird patch of bleached hair, I really hope he didn't mean to do that.

Next up we saw Grizzly Bear who put on a very mellow set as you might assume. Their mess of electronics and broken pop music sounded great in the sunny afternoon heat.

At 4 Battles took one of the main stages. I was interested to see these guys, and how their sound would translate to a live show. It was very technical and I was entranced for about 20 minutes, but both Dylan and I grew a bit bored (I think I was starting to feel a bit dehydrated too, what a weiner).

5 o'clock, Sam Beam took the other main stage in all his bearded glory. I wasn't expecting much from an Iron & Wine set in a festival setting but as evening was approaching the sparse sounds were a wonderful accompaniement to the great weather of the day. It was the first show I saw that the crowd demanded an encore. The new songs sounded really great also.

Mastodon was up at 6, but Dylan and I stayed at the stage I & W played at to get in good position to see Clipse. I have seen Mastodon before and even from far away, they were still loud as all hell and just melting faces.

Clipse was the highlight of the day. Even in the midst of most of the people for whom Clipse is the only hip hop they listen to, it was an amazing show. Malice and Pusha T know how to work a crowd. It was such an intense hour filled set. They played a great deal of Hell Hath No Fury and peppered in some Lord Willin' cuts and mixtape tracks. One of the highlights was when they did their verses from "What Happened to That Boy." Man, I love that song. Pusha is the showman of the group, he does most of the talking throughout the set. He was calling out people who knew all the words. I like to think he pointed at me during "Pussy" but Dylan swears it was the small asian kid in front of us (Dylan sucks). They also did an encore and it was the best song from Lord Willin', "Virginia." Great song to end a great show.

We watched a bit of Cat Power, she looked marvelous but we headed over to the side stage for Girl Talk. It was already packed and we had to stand off to the side. Gillis put on such a fun show. I've read a lot of people hating on his show, just hanging around a computer and jumping around, but it was an energetic, fun way to end the night. At one point he cued up "Knife" by Grizzly Bear as members from the band joined the other fans onstage, dancing like nuts. Great moment.

We peaced on the Yoko set, I'm not mad.

summer jamz

Roll your windows down




When the Sun's out








nighttime

the accountant just gasp at the smell of it

I'm getting hit with mad tests and projects as my summer classes are winding down. In the next few days I'll be back with some of my favorite ish of the moment and a recap of Pitchfork.




Finding that power stroke and Sheets out for 4-6 makes the loss last night a bit easier to digest.