Chrissy, Chad, Troy, and I grabbed a quick dinner of Indian food a few blocks from the venue, the Hotel Utah Saloon. This was my first show here, and it reminded me of the Hemlock Tavern — a bar with a small room attached with a stage. The Hotel Utah has a split level though and is only about nine strides deep, so there were only maybe 35 people in attendance. Our group took over half the balcony, overlooking the band. Also in attendance: Gregg and Sarah (they had been listening to the album all week), Christophe and his friend Paul (who I saw The Low Anthem with a few weeks back), Sean, John Shen, and then Sam, Praveen, and Justin from Karla’s birthday party (they swung by on their way to the Caltrain).

The band put on another terrific live show — loved the extra flourishes and jams they added to their album songs.

Everyone really enjoyed the show. After the show we went downstairs and practically everyone brought some merch. We ran into some of the bandmates outside (it’s hard not to, the venue is so small that Praveen ended up helping them get their drum out the door), and said we couldn’t wait for them to come back and play at a bigger venue. Their sound is so big.

Here is them playing the instrumental second half of On My Knees– watch for the short but sweet jam at 4:10 minute mark.

I can’t wait for this band to blow up. So good.

What made the evening even better was that Brock and Heather were going to join us! They met us inside the pub, we got drinks, and had a great time. The opening solo act was a very strange concoction…I’m trying to think of how to describe it but I’ve got nothing now. Anyway:

Being an idiot, I brought my DSLR with the 50mm f/1.8, but forgot the memory card in my computer. D’oh, so all I’ve got is this iPhone photo. There was probably 35 people in attendance, very small and intimate. But Seryn just blew us away. They put on an incredible live show with a sound that can fill much bigger venues. We were amazed at the drummer, who at times also played the xylophone, accordion, and banjo. They aren’t afraid to experiment either — the lead singer at one point hunched over and started singing (yelling?) into the pickups of his ukelele, creating a haunting sound. It kinda looked like he was making out with the ukelele, hehe. At one time the bassist was using a cello bow on his bass guitar but also the xylophone, and at the finale song whipped out a trumpet!

They added to their album songs with flourishes and mini jam sessions that were a delight to hear. This band is going to be big, I just know it. Their sound is just too good!

The first thing I thought of when listening through Burst Apart is “wow, this sounds a lot like Radiohead back during Ok Computer and Kid A“. The composition, the shimmery slightly off-kilter effects that round out some of the sounds, the songs that verge into formless structure during the middle of the album, etc. One immediately thinks of the fantastically disquieting “Climbing Up the Walls” when listening to the Antler’s song Parentheses.

It’s definitely an album that deserves a few listens, and some songs in particular definitely start to stick in your ear. Two tracks that did this to me:

The Antlers – I Don’t Want Love

The Antlers – Putting the Dog to Sleep

Also worth checking out French Exit.

Here are two songs that I liked:

The Naked and Famous – Young Blood

The Naked and Famous – Punching in a Dream

It’s smooth, warm, and feels like summer never wants to end. As for me, I just want our summer to really start!

Delorean – Grow Taragana Pyjarama remix by Mushroom Pillow

Enjoy.

Lord Huron – Into the Sun (Teen Daze Remix)

The second is of Mighty, the great song I’ve written about before. Here, Painted Palms’ interpretation is heavy on the synth, but still retains the tribal sound of the original. I like how how the aaaahhhh backing vocal washes over the melody.

Lord Huron – Mighty (Painted Palms’ Remix)

The songs lean towards the long side, with the band showing patience and exploring shifts in key and temp in their songs — which makes sticking with songs the whole way through well worth it. Harmonized vocals, soft guitar and banjo pickings, and orchestral flourishes make this album a treat to listen to. If you’re a fan of Sufjan Stevens, Fleet Foxes, and Mumford & Sons, then I highly highly recommend you give this young new band a try!  Here are two songs to sample:

Seryn – We Will All Be Changed

Seryn – Our Love

Bay Area folks – Seryn will be playing a show at the Hotel Utah Saloon on Sunday, June 19th. Tickets are just ~$8, so why not? I’m going. There’s also a Berkeley show at the Starry Plough on Saturday, June 11th. Might go to that too.

It was awesome. We talked about how he got involved with the band, what touring is like — how do you keep things fresh after dozens or hundreds of shows? — and fun moments that happen when you’re in a real bona-fide band. Here We Go Magic was Thom Yorke’s (of Radiohead) favorite band from last year’s Glastonbury Festival, and Peter described having a jam session one night in New York with Yorke himself. Like whoa. Peter is really well read — the conversation drifted deep into music theory, accessibility of music, the feel of music in different cultures and how people connect to it in a very fundamental way, etc.

The show was nice. I was going on just 3 hours of sleep from my flight back to the Bay Area that morning, but I enjoyed it. Many of the songs live get into a nice groove, and there is definitely a jam feel to them, especially near the end. Their music is often described as ‘electro-folk’, with some psychedelia mixed in a few songs. Whatever that means, heh. The band came back on for an encore, and Peter even gave us a shoutout: “Thanks to my cousin Patrick and his friends!” So cool of him!

Check out this song from their latest album, Pigeons.

Here We Go Magic – Collector

By the way — Here We Go Magic is playing at Schubas on May 9th for you Chicago peeps, and at the Local 506 on May 17th for you Triangle peeps.

We ended up splitting up for dinner after work on Friday; Chrissy and I grabbed a burrito in the Mission before heading north to Polk St. We had about half an hour to kill before the show, and just as we got our drinks I ran into Ari Picker, the lead singer and artist behind the band. Wished him luck for the show, told him how we brought a whole lot of folks, and that I was from Raleigh.

The show’s opener was a singer-songwriter named Sean Rowe. His songs were quite good — nice percussive notes on the body of the guitar, and some songs in particular showed great guitar work. His voice reminded me a lot of Tom Berninger from The National, but Joey said it also reminded him of the Pixies.

Lost in the Trees played a set that drew from their album All Alone in an Empty House and their recent EP, Time Taunts Me. Somehow, they all fit on the small stage — guitar, drums, two cellists, a violinists, a french horn / accordion player, and an electric guitar / tuba / xylophone player. The venue is quite intimate, maybe only 80 to 100 people in a long, narrow room.

One thing that will strike you about their music is how much emotion there is. Many songs deal with sorrow, yearning, longing, and loss. Ari wears this emotion on his sleeve, at one point resting on knees with his eyes closed while the strings carried the melody forward.

The highlight of the night came at the end. The band was battling sound troubles throughout the set — monitor levels not high enough, reverb through the mics, etc. After hinting at it during the show, for the encore Ari stepped off the stage and headed to the center of the small room. The rest of the band followed, and we all made space for them and their instruments. There, in the darkness save for the backlight from a few phones, we were treated to an acoustic set right amongst us. It was amazing.

I could only muster this photo from my phone, but it was really dark in there. The guy in front me held up the xylophone for one song. They called Sean Rowe to join them for one of Sean’s songs that the band had been learning (never before played in public). And at the end, Ari led the crowd to do the backing vocals, telling us that we’re going to overpower the noise from the bar.

I was really pleased to hear that Chrissy, Rishabh, Patrick, and Chris all really enjoyed the show too, even though they hadn’t heard much (or none at all) of the band beforehand. It’s an interesting mix…folk, Americana, indie, with a heavy dose of baroque classical influence. We hung around afterward, and the band members came out to meet the crowd. Almost all of us ended up buying merch, and Ari signed out limited edition tour posters. This is what I love about seeing small, up and coming bands in venues like this.

Definitely looking forward to their next album and their next visit to San Francisco. Triangle folks — Lost in the Trees will be playing at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro on Friday, May 13th!

First up was a performance of Henri Dutilleux’s cello concerto Tout un monde lointain, a piece which often had the the featured guest cello soloist pitted against the rest of the audience. It felt modern and a little abstract to me, but it was nice to see the cellist furiously play a riff, then to see all the instruments of the orchestra rise up in the ready position and fire back a response.

The second piece was more recognizable to our amateur classical enthusiast ears: Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique. Patrick played the bassoon in band and there is a famous bassoon solo part of the piece, especially in the famous 4th movement of March to the Scaffold. Chrissy has been playing the flute for many many years all the way through college and was very competitive — so good, in fact, that if it wasn’t for engineering she would have gone to music school instead.

The show was really great — I really must come to the symphony more. The night was still young when we left, so we headed to Range, a highly acclaimed cocktail bar in the Mission, and talked the night away.

I wasn’t the only crazy one, for John, Troy, and Joey jumped in on the idea too. Steve wanted to make it also, but he was stuck out of town on business. Chrissy joined in for Freelance Whales, but not Delorean (she saw them last fall with me and Jared). We grabbed dinner at a Thai restaurant around the corner from the GAMH, and timed our entrance perfectly.

photo by Human Fiction

photo by Natalye

I was impressed — they have a really tight live show. Their album Weathervanes can be pretty mellow at times, but they gave new life to the songs on-stage, adding new dimensions and textures to them. It would have been boring if they just replicated the sound off their album, but they didn’t disappoint. The whole band jumps in for the harmonies, and are switching instruments around throughout the show. The guitarist in particular was intriguing — he played electric guitar, bass, guitar with e-bow, electric mandolin, and xylophone.

After the set we bought some merch (Joey pulled a wildcard and bought a Foals t-shirt, even though we weren’t sticking around to hear them and I don’t think he’s even heard them either). We bid adieu to Chrissy and bounced. John had his car nearby, so we piled in; parking was pretty easy a couple blocks away. About 50 yards from the car, I freeze and ask John to unlock it before sprinting back to drop my jacket off in the car. I had been to Slim’s before to see Two Door Cinema Club (who, in fact, were also playing a show in San Francisco this night). Wasn’t too crowded, and I spotted Jess — slipped my mind she was coming. She had a few people along too, like Kimmie (sp?) who works with her at Arup. Delorean took the stage at eleven and we got up real close.

I had told our group in particular to watch the keyboardist Unai Lazcano — he’s one of my favorite live performers because he gets so into the moment — boogying around, bobbing his head eyes half closed, feet constantly moving, rocking the keyboard dangerously until it almost tips over. You can’t help but grin when you see it. The show was great, the band playing through several songs continuously before slowing it down and building the rhythm up again. Three songs in, Troy leans over and says “I suddenly realize why you had this panicked look on your face before sprinting back to the car to leave your jacket” — it gets really warm when everyone is dancing around.

What a fun night!

Bottom of the Hill has a penchant for cranking up the volume, even for bands that don’t really need it. This time I was sporting a pair of Etymotic ER-20 earplugs, which are designed to provide sound isolation while still preserving the clarity and full range of music. Joseph highly recommended these and wears them to all the shows he goes to. Sure enough, I saw the person next to me holding their ears two songs in.

The show was good, they asked the crowd to indulge them for a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska that they had been playing the night before. After the show I headed to the back merch table where I met Ben, the band’s front man. He actually recognized me from last time, which was kinda cool. They had run out of EPs on CD, but I did pick up a 12″ vinyl record of the Mighty EP for Joseph — he handed me some money earlier that day to spend at the show to support the artist too.

They’ll be back in San Francisco for the Outside Lands music festival in August.

Music critics throw around adjectives like “orchestral” and “expansive” all the time these days. But here’s a band that actually deserves such labels. Portland’s Typhoon is an indie rock geek’s dream: a dynamic 12-piece with a seemingly unending reservoir of energy, emotive vocals, arpeggiated guitars, horns, multiple drum kits, strings—there are so many sonic details crammed into the five tracks on A New Kind of House, the band’s second official release, that you might need two pairs of headphones to properly connect the dots.

I was pretty impressed — several longform and thoughtful songwriting, varied song structures, and nice instrumentation. They’ll be playing at a few festivals in the coming months, and hopefully do a wider tour as well.

Here are two songs that I especially liked:

Typhoon – Summer Home from A New Kind of House

Typhoon – Belly of the Cavern from Hunger and Thirst

Lyrics to Belly of the Cavern:

I was lost out in the mountains
and I had run out of provisions
I had one drop left in my deer-skin
and I had come to my last decision.

Should I lie down
or should I be laid down
I had set out in the first place
from what I gathered from rumored hearsay
I heard of treasure in a high cave
on the northern slopes of the coast range
so I climbed up
but I didn’t know how to climb down

I wandered through the foliage
I came across my own tracks
and i became discouraged
until at long last i found a cavern
I crawled inside and I lit my lantern
and it was all there
just like they told me it would be there

I was lost out in the mountains
I had no water nor food to eat
so i drank the soil from a golden chalice
I gritted precious stones between my teeth
and I regretted my lonesome palace
should have never listened to others tales
all I had left was a priceless ballast
to hold me down from the howling gales.

In my mouth there burned a fire
I was dying of a long long draught
but then a voice whistled across the mouth of my cavern
and it said to me it said that without a doubt
you will settle by the water before this is over.

All my life I’ve spent wasting time,
wasting my time just to forget again
but I don’t mind
I’ll take my medicine and I will be fine.

One of Joey’s friends from undergrad, Chris, is a student at CCRMA and was performing a piece. The exhibition floor had sound/art installations by students. Some very interesting stuff, with new ways of thinking about how to interact with sound.

One installation had the user put on a EEG sensor headset by NeuroSky and then listen to different musical compositions. The headset would study how focuses vs relaxed you were, and how much you were in sync with the music. Based on that, a marker would move around on a whiteboard.

Then there three musical performances. One was an interactive one in which the audience would send out tweets with the #modulations hashtag, and their system would scan Twitter for those tweets and create a sound tree based on that. Some of my tweets got some good reactions from the crowd. The next two were long, 20 minute compositions of “found music”, in which the composers create music from just sounds they have recorded, but have modified/distorted them in a variety of ways. One of the artists, Trimpin, I learned later was very famous, but these words were just too unstructured and experimental for my taste.

After the break we were treated to a pre-made composition that had a very trippy accompanying video. It went on like this for maybe 10 or 15 minutes?

Chris took the stage for his piece, but it had some recognizable melodic notes and beats, and Chris even did some singing (reminiscent to me of Panda Bear, and indeed I learned later that’s a big influence of his). It was pretty cool. At one point he held two walkies around the mic to get some interesting echo / reverb effects.

Photo by DoNotLick

The show was at the Regency Ballroom up on Van Ness, first time I’ve seen a show here. Röyksopp puts on quite a show in contrast to some of the small up and coming bands that I’ve seen more recently. The lights were trippy and I wasn’t expecting the costumes either — the guitarists started off with burlap sacks on their heads, at one point one of the lead singers puts this giant robot eye helmet on, and the female vocalist had something different on all the time. Everytime a new one would appear, I’d turn around to Joey (who saw them last time in SF) and he’d nod knowingly.

Photo by John Shen

Girl & the Robot, video by sushisac

The duo did a nice job at talking to the crowd with their Norwegian accents They came back out for three encores, with the last one actually being a remixed version of a Kings of Leon song. I had no idea what song it was (I don’t listen to Kings of Leon), but it sounded decent. But really, what we really wanted was to hear Röyksopp Forever!

What Else is There – jskallerup

Melih and I got to the GAMH as his colleague’s band, Culann’s Hounds, was setting up on stage. I got a Guinness of my own in my hand before their set started.

I’ve got a thing for Irish music — the melodious violin, the foot-stomping beats, the earnest guitar strumming. The band played a good mix of what sounded like traditional Irish songs, some originals, and instruments. It was a lot of fun!

Big thanks to Melih for a memorable way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day this year.

Timon actually works at Topspin, a company that develops web and marketing tools for artists, and so it was really interesting to hear more about the industry. He had seen Warpaint recently down in LA, where they are based, and raved about the new drummer they brought on board. He was right on — the drummer really shone through and was definitely the glue that kept things together as the band worked through the set. The vocal harmonies were also a nice touch.

It was an interesting show — really solid when the band were playing songs but surprisingly uneven in between songs. Maybe it was just first-show-of-the-tour jitters, or the fact that apparently one of their dad’s was in the audience, but the girls would make these really random comments or actions between the songs. Warpaint and Set Your Arms Down from their new album The Fool was good, as was was Elephants off their older EP. One surprise was 12+ minute jam on the last song of the encore — didn’t see that one coming but it was pretty cool to see them just cut loose and play. Though halfway through, the bassist and one of the guitarists sat down on the stage and remained down there until almost the very end. No one except for the first two rows could see them. Ok….but at least it sounded good.

Spin some of these albums up at your next house party. At least check out these two tracks:

Pretty Lights – Gold Coast Hustle

Pretty Lights – Understand Me Now

Raleigh folks — Pretty Lights is performing at the Raleigh Amphitheater on April 19th.

This new track is more taut — at three and a half minutes it’s their shortest song to date by far — but it is energetic and clearly retains the signature sound that is Explosions in the Sky. I wonder how much it telegraphs what’s to come next.

Their new album – Take Care, Take Care, Take Care – is due out in April and they are touring also — I’m finally going to see them live at the Fox Theater on May 1st! Can’t wait. I hear their live shows are just epic.

Explosions in the Sky – Trembling Hands

It was also the first show I saw at the Independent. Pretty decent sized for a small venue, and the sound mix was better than Bottom of the Hill, which tends to just be too loud. Geographer also played a new song, so here’s to hoping there is a new album coming out soon.

Their name is Lord Huron, which started as the solo project of Michigan-native Ben Schneider that expanded to a full band for live shows. So far they’ve only self-released two EPs for a total of seven songs. Their sound brings acts like Fleet Foxes, Animal Collective, Local Natives, and Vampire Weekend to mind. I’ve been listening to the title track of their latest EP “Mighty” almost on repeat, a track that sonically reveals Schneider’s post-graduation travels that brought him to Bali, Indonesia. This is the joy of giving new things a shot. What an interesting find! From the evocative image on the band’s website — two men at dusk on a beach, with a briefcase and a guitar, running towards an elephant in the surf — to the lyrics. Give it a go, and let me know what you think.

You were a wild thing when you were younger,
stomping through the jungle.
You were mighty and you were stronger
but I bow no longer.
All your temples will lie in ruin
once I ravage through them.
All your rivals will not go near you
but I do not fear you.
Well, you howl and you roar,
but I am not afraid of you anymore.

You think you can have it?
Then come and get it.

A great example is Undertow. I like it when the guitars kick in at the ~2:44 mark to kick the energy up.

Warpaint – Undertow

Another highlight is Bees, in which shades of paranoia creep in, evoking the mood of Frou Frou’s Psychobabble.

Warpaint – Bees

It looks they will be touring overseas for the first part of 2011, but keep and eye on this intriguing band.

A few interesting things caught my eye too — ‘Silian Rail’ is the name of the font used on Bates’ business card in the movie American Psycho. The duo liked the way it sounded. Also, they are both from Durham, NC — right nearby my home in North Carolina! From an interview they did with Signal and Noise:

The Raleigh-Durham tri­an­gle area where the two grew up has obvi­ously shaped them musi­cally and per­son­ally. A lush and fer­tile wilder­ness, a sup­port­ive arts com­mu­nity and a lot of all-ages shows make a strong cock­tail of early musi­cal prowess and enthu­si­asm. Not sur­pris­ingly though, Kuhn has a more glow­ing opin­ion of North Carolina and his time there.

“The area I grew up in is incred­i­bly warm, lov­ing, diverse, strange and rich with his­tory,” he says. “And I’ll also say hush pup­pies, fire­flies, thun­der­storms and brick. I cer­tainly miss it all the time.”

Landy misses cer­tain things (“The crick­ets, the moun­tains, the south­ern accents, etc.”) but is glad she got out when she did. “For me, it became way too small and claus­tro­pho­bic of a place and I needed to leave. It’s one of those places that if you let your­self, you could stay there for­ever, even if you are totally bored and uninspired.”

“Hush puppies, fireflies, thunderstorms, and brick.” Ah, home.

Silian Rail – Death Should Know Better

Silian Rail – I Is Somebody Else

They are playing tonight at the Hemlock Tavern, and also at Bottom of the Hill on January 7th.

I love when two different things I like intersect. Especially when they aren’t that well known!

One of the bands new to me was the curiously named Buke and Gass — which describes the two instruments this Brooklyn-duo plays. The lead vocalist, Arone Dyer, plays a modified baritone ukelele (a ‘buke’) and Aron Sanchez plays a handmade guitar/bass hybrid (a ‘gass’). They feed both through custom homemade amps, and Arone works a tamborine attached to her shoe via a bicycle toe clip mount while Aron handles a kick drum. A really intriguing setup, but one that makes you do a double take when you hear the sound they generate.  They released an LP this year called Riposte. Here’s a wonderful Tiny Desk concert they did at the NPR Music offices.

I love the way Arone interacts with the audience and her easy laugh. Really cute. They are extremely proficient musicians, and their songs have a kind of improvisational air to them — full of clamoring energy, time signature shifts, little one-off twirls and riffs,  striving beats and melodic phrases. Dyer’s voice is acrobatic, rapidly jumping octaves, switching between a staccato stanza (with unconventional lyrics, at that) to sustained notes. I’ve been on a pretty serious Röyksopp lately, so this is such a wonderful contrast to that sound.

They also sound great live. This is the album version of the leadoff song from the NPR video above.

Buke and Gass – Your Face Left Before You

Just look at how this next song takes so many turns and directions. It’s cool to see a band exploring atypical song structures.

Buke and Gass – Medicina

Jared and Chrissy came too, and sadly Dave missed it because he was stuck in China. The venue was full but not packed, while gave everyone enough room to move — and move they did. From the first song till the end, the crowd was moving. The four members of Delorean are Ekhi Lopetegi on lead vocals and bass, Unai Lazcano on keyboard and samplers, Guillermo Astrain on guitar and samples, and Igor Escudeo on drums. Unai quickly became a fan favorite because from the first song to the last he was constantly bobbing his head and dancing while moving between his gear, eyes half-closed with the look of a person who is in the moment and just loves doing what he’s doing.

The set started off with Seasun off their Ayrton Senna EP, then moved into Subiza territory. The band did a remarkably good job at bringing their well-arranged song to a live show, with greater emphasis placed on the beats.  It was a great show — a lot of fun. Hopefully next time they can play a longer setlist.

After I got home I downloaded the four song Ayrton Senna EP and proceeded to listen to pretty much only that for the next few days. It’s terrific. Check out some more Delorean tracks below, and I’ve got to put a plug out for Grow.

Delorean – The Big Dipper

Delorean – Monsoon

At one of our dinner parties, I discovered that Röyksopp makes for some good nighttime mood music. Turned it on as dinner started, and it played right through to us lounging on the couches with wine, slowly entering a food coma but talking about issues and events. Didn’t have to tend to a playlist or play DJ, the music just worked. Here are just two tracks, one that trends more pop/dance and the other which is instrumental.

Röyksopp – This Must Be It

Röyksopp – Röyksopp Forever

Sufjan and his large supporting band starts off with an enlivened rendition of Seven Swans, before diving into the new album. The new work is interesting, but much of it I still don’t understand and honestly prefer the old stuff. About halfway through, Sufjan speaks to the audience for nearly ten minutes about his recent musical explorations and his most recent muse. Kinda weird. One of the last songs played of Adz had Sufjan don a pair of white sequined gloves, a King Tut headmask, and dancing around the stage singing into an auto-tuned mic. Was I really at a Sufjan concert? Hehe. After a finale of Chicago, Sufjan came back for a solo encore of his old material — a piano version of Concerning the UFO Sighting Near Bethlehem, and acoustic guitar version of To Be Alone With You and John Wayne Gacy, Jr.  Maybe to send off the audience on a high note? Heh, either way — an interesting performance. Good luck, Sufjan.

The band sounded great, and they pulled off all the guitar riffs that made me like them in the first place. A new face was the drummer (their videos only show three of them), who bounced around his chair during the entire show with endless energy. The band even played a new song they had been working on while on the road.

Based on the reaction, the crowd really got rowdy as the first notes of What You Know rang out. Even though this song isn’t a single, everyone there was very into it — and indeed, it’s the song of theirs that I highlighted here too. I’m really looking forward to their return to San Francisco, when hopefully they will have more songs to share!

This was my first time at the Fox, and everything people told me about was true: it’s a beautiful venue and sounds terrific. The general admission area is even slightly terraced, so the folks in the back can still see the stage pretty well. It’s difficult to convey how excited I was to finally see Jónsi in concert. He played two shows in the Bay Area earlier this year, but I missed both due to work. I’d seen concert reviews saying it was like no other show they had been to….part concert, part performance art, part opera?

Photo by Benjamin Chun

Photo by Jared Hanson

How to describe it? Simply incredible. The sound flowed from atmospheric with soaring notes and rhythmic drumming, to intensely personal in which the entire theater was pin-drop silent — listening to Jónsi’s otherworldly voice. The visuals were breathtaking. The backdrop to the stage was a mural of a wintry forest, and over it animations and video were projected on it. The result was an astonishing experience, one where I felt simultaneous desires to close my eyes to feel the music and keep them wide open to take in the sights.

Photo by Gabe Lawrence

Photo by Aktiv I Oslo.no

All the songs were from the new album, and the concert flowed from song to song. Jónsi took a moment to thank the crowd about halfway through the set. We were all incredibly impressed with the percussionist Thorvaldur Thór Thorvaldsson — whether it was playing the marimba with cello bows or keeping the beat on the drumset.

Here’s a taste of the experience. The first song is Kolniður:

For the encore, Jónsi emerges wearing a tribal feather headdress and plays a new song called Sticks and Stones, which followed the same inspiration behind Go.

Photo by megathud

The finale of the concert, Grow till Tall, was simply spellbinding. I lack the words to describe the feeling…all I know is that our mouths dropped open, our eyes opened wide, and I was reminded what childlike wonder felt like. The song builds and builds as we are wrapped in a storm. Jónsi goes spastic, roving around the stage. Strobe lights flash like lightning, and the world starts to disintegrate around us. He shouts, as in defiance. The sound is all enveloping. With the video below, the closest thing you can do is put it up on a wall with a projector, turn out all the lights, and then turn up the volume to 11. (At least watch it in high definition)

As the band left the stage, I turn to my friends — we are speechless. The applause continues until the band comes back out for a bow, and the crowd finishes the night with a standing ovation that lasts for minutes. Here’s an attempt to describe it by Jonathan Pirro of Spinning Platters:

The final piece of the night, “Grow Till Tall”, however, was the defining moment that brought out the believers in those who had never seen Jónsi or Sigur Rós before, but had heard tell of the magnificence of their performances. As with many of their more enthralling compositions, the piece was a gentle, subtle crescendo, beginning from a haze of ambience and delicate notes and eventually growing to a thunderous, raging storm of violent drum blasts, soaring keys, roaring guitars, and above all the shrill, haunting siren calls that Jónsi bellowed into his microphone. The animation behind the band followed suit, going from a gentle breeze and lake to a small rainfall, and ascending into a monsoon-like storm as the strobes and stage lights exploded in time with the music. Only the band’s departure from the stage, followed by Jónsi hurling his microphone to the floor at the end of his insane thrashings around the stage, was the moment when the crowd realized that it was finally over, and the band’s reappearance for a final bow was greeted with an ecstasy of cheering that nearly matched the volume of their final notes.

Wow.

Dan made it to the venue ten minutes before us, having come from work. As Geographer was setting up, it was neat to see the electronic cello up close — you don’t see an instrument like that everyday.

Bottom of the Hill doesn’t have the greatest acoustics, and the sound guy seems to make up for it by jacking up the volume — not a good night to forget a set of earplugs. Still, it was a fun show — especially to see how the band tried to re-create the layering and mixing of the album in a live setting. We stayed after Geographer for the headliner of the night — a fellow local band called the Birds and the Batteries who were celebrating their first album release. It’s such a casual and low-key venue that they were actually standing in front of us in the audience for much of the first two shows. They popped confetti throughout their show. Good times, fun night.

And here’s some more Geographer — a really promising band that deserves to be heard more. Check out their album Innocent Ghosts and their recent EP, Animal Shapes!

Geographer – Paris

Geographer – Rushing In, Rushing Out

The band has a curiously profane name, Holy F@$% (edited here), one that both makes it memorable but simultaneously hinders it from getting clear publicity in radio and other venues. But maybe they want it like that. They have two albums out — Latin, which came out this past April and LP, released back in 2007.

Here are two songs for you. The first, Lovely Allen, actually reminds me faintly of Bittersweet Symphony and the latter, Latin America, is a good example of their sound too.

Holy F@$% – Lovely Allen

Holy F@$% – Latin America

I secured a table and more friends joined as the game progressed — Murder Bear, John, Ben, Kestrel, Joey, Sean. We quickly made enemies in the tavern as Stanford took a 21-3 lead at halftime, but were shaking our heads in admiration as Oregon came back relentlessly after being punched in the teeth. We left just as the 4th quarter got underway and made our way to the theater.

Readers might remember the last time I was at the Greek Theater — for a Sigur Rós show that was also the first time I met Joey. For this show, I had been revisiting Arcade Fire the past week and was pumped up for it. I’ve never seen Arcade Fire live before, but everyone that has had nothing but good things to say. It was also jam packed when we arrived, but we were able to make our way down into the pit and had a decent view of the stage.

The show was terrific. The set featured a billboard with video feeds projected on it. The band, as they are apt to do, hopped around the stage between songs, switching instruments. Will Butler — so full of energy! — meandered around the stage furiously beating a drum, at one point losing his stick and hitting the other percussionist right in the face. The crowd loved it. The band weaved a setlist that pulled from all three of their albums. It’s hard to pick highlights out of so many good songs, but No Cars Go, Month of May, and Neighborhood #3 (Power Out) which flowed right into Rebellion (Lies) were all great. The clip below is the start of Power Out, and we also learned that a dollar from every ticket sold is going to Partners in Health. The audio is sadly distorted, but it’s a great example of the visuals we got to see.

credit: warjianrumoelliu

And of course, the band closed with the ultimate festival closer: Wake Up. This one song is a big reason why I wanted to see Arcade Fire live. Thousands of people all singing together, knowing all the words. It’s just incredible.

credit: hongosanchome

If you get a chance to Arcade Fire live, don’t miss it!

One final random event of the night: Joey, Sean, Dave, and I walked up to the top of Greek Theater to take in the view. I approached a guy and asked him to take a picture of us. He looked at us a bit awkwardly, and took the photo. We hadn’t walked a dozen feet away when Joey calmly commented that the guy who took our photo is an actor on a TV show called ‘Party Down’…and that apparently in real life he’s just as awkward as he acts on the show. Hah.

I met up with Karla, Mike, Gloria, and Troy at a Korea restaurant just around the block from the theater, and Gloria told us about all the crazy happenings at Burning Man (she spent a week out in the desert there). We missed seeing much of the opener as we wandered around the theater looking at all the concert posters from years past. It’s a pretty cool historic venue.

Local Natives took the stage just past nine, and opened with Wide Eyes (a song Sachi loves now). One of the great things about Local Natives is that there really is no ‘lead’ singer per se — there are three main vocalists who trade off leading songs, but there’s a lot of harmonizing across many of their songs.

Another element that comes through live is the percussion. In addition to the drummer, there’s a second snare and cymbal setup next to the keyboardist. It definitely brings a new element to the songs. The band did a nice job at moving through their songs, with a slowed down version of Cubism Dream and inspired take on Shape Shifter.

And of course, Sun Hands served as their closer. Here’s a YouTube video I found on the YouTubes that captures the mood quite well:

What a terrific show.

Give them a try:

Geographer – Kites

Geographer – Wonderful

Verona is also nice.

SF folks — they are playing a show at Bottom of the Hill on Friday, October 15th. Tickets are just $10 — who’s in?

Wed, September 22nd – Local Natives @ the Fillmore

Sat, October 2nd – Arcade Fire @ the Greek Theater

Tue, October 19th – Jónsi @ the Fox Theater

Tue, October 26th – Sufjan Stevens @ the Paramount

Thu, November 4th – Two Door Cinema Club @ Slim’s

Wed, November 10th – Delorean @ the Great American Music Hall

Pretty excited – six artists, six different venues. Interested in coming to any of these? Is there a show I’m missing out on? Let me know!

And it is a balmy night — at 12:45am it’s around 85°F in my room. This brings to mind a song I’ve been wanting to post ever since summer was on the horizon, but now it’s finally appropriate:

Animal Collective – Summertime Clothes

Here are two songs for you to check out:

Delorean – Real Love

Delorean – Infinite Desert

Heads up Bay Area folks – Delorean is coming to the Great American Music Hall on Wednesday, November 10th. Who wants to come with?

Stars – Dead Hearts

Stars – Fixed

One song that managed to burrow its way into my head is Kids. It’s summertime, so let’s hit the beach. From the coy “did I forget my sunglasses? No…got ‘em” to the surging melody, the song begs for repeat listens. Or maybe that’s the mush-that-used-to-be-my-brain talking.

Sleigh Bells – Kids

One thing is for sure — there certainly nothing else like this sound anywhere else right now.

Lost in the Trees brings the full arrangement to the stage, with violins, cellos, piano, horns, surging guitars and plucked banjos. There is baroque classical inspiration here (two of the tracks are sweeping classical arrangements that would fit right in with a Bach compilation) intersecting with folk. There is a dark and brooding manner about many of the songs, but the whole production is so aurally intriguing that I can’t help but be drawn in.

Note to my friends back home — Lost in the Trees will be playing at the Arts Center in Carrboro on Thursday, June 3rd it’s apparently a Planned Parenthood benefit, but if that’s weird for you then they will be at TRKfest in Pittsboro on June 26th).

Here’s the title track of their new album, All Alone in an Empty House:

Lost In The Trees – All Alone in an Empty House by antirecords

And here’s another, called Walk Around the Lake:

I wonder if they could open for the Decemberists on their next tour — would be rather fitting, right?

Two Door Cinema Club – What You Know

And it’s practically the only thing I’ve listened to since then. It’s an incredible debut album — one in which all the songs are good. Other reviewers have name dropped these names, but it’s fair — the vocal harmonies are reminiscent of the Fleet Foxes, and the instrumentation reminds me a bit of the Arcade Fire or Grizzly Bear. And unlike some of the other artists I’ve highlighted here, these guys know how to rock — just listen to the end of Sun Hands or Shape Shifter.

I’ll spare you from having me list out all the tracks I like from this album (the first six tracks are strong, plus there is a cover of the Talking Heads’ Warning Sign), and instead highlight one in particular – Who Knows, Who Cares. There are some songs that I immediately connect with on a deeper level; songs that are so compelling to me for reasons I can’t always explain. 41 by Dave Matthews Band, There There by Radiohead, The Predatory Wasps of the Palisades by Sufjan Stevens, Sæglópur by Sigur Ros, The Trapeze Swinger by Iron & Wine, All My Friends by LCD Soundsystem, all come to mind. I have a feeling that Who Knows, Who Cares will join that list. Maybe it has to do with the feeling of when I first listened to it — cruising down 280-South with the sunroof open, the California sun streaming in, the green hills surrounding me. By the time the song entered its final moments, I could not help but join in at the top of my lungs.

Local Natives – Who Knows, Who Cares

With this album, summer has arrived.

(Hey NC friends — Local Natives is playing on May 4th at the Local 506 in Chapel Hill. Please check them out!

Freelance Whales – Generator ^ First Floor

We get up early just to start cranking the generator
Our limbs have been asleep we need to get the blood back in them
We’re finding every day several ways that we could be friends

We keep on churning and the lights inside the house turn on
And in our native language we are chanting ancient songs
And when we quiet down the house chants on without us

“Hannah” is bubbling with energy, and “Starring”, and “Location” are also nice.

The xx – Intro

Another tracks to check out are Islands, Crystalised, and Heart Skipped a Beat.

Bonus track for Greg – gotta give credit to Troy for finding this. here’s a sweet remix of DMX and the XX. I never thought I’d read those two artists in the same sentence! Caution: NSFW.

photo by John Shen

It was great to see Fanfarlo live — especially to see how much (or how little) of the instrumentation you hear on the tracks translate to the live performance. The songs have a lot of great rhythm to them. The band played briskly through their set, pulling in a few songs from older EPs. They came back for a quick encore, which ended in a rousing edition of Fire Escape. We milled around after the show, taking in the music hall. It’s neat with these small bands — the bandmembers just came out after the show into the audience area and mingled with people.

The journey home took a few turns. I accidentally ended up on the Bay Bridge after dropping John’s friend off, and ended up doubling back via Treasure Island. We actually stopped and took in a great nighttime view of the San Francisco skyline, glowing in the darkness.

This was the first concert I had been to in a long time, and hopefully just the beginning of a good year of events.

Here’s a track called Love Me Girl.

Other standouts for me include I Remember, Rome (for a funky swing feel), and Madder Red.

At times it feels like a less extravagant Arcade Fire (but not in a bad way), but also notes of Eisley or The National (ok, maybe a stretch there). Lyrically the songs have a lot of depth as well.

Fanfarlo – The Walls Are Coming Down

The Walls Are Coming Down

They swallowed it whole, they went for the gold for the gold
We fall for the same lies, we all have the same shoes to fit
The preachers and books of your empire will fight here alone
Some day they will be forgotten and die one by one

The walls the walls are coming down, the here and now is coming round
It will some day let you down
The ships the ships are coming in, the great ideas are wearing thin
There is nothing left to do

For atoms have gone as far as atoms will go
Your books write themselves, they line up in row after row

The walls the walls are coming down, the here and now is coming round
It will some day let you down
The ships the ships are coming in, the great ideas are wearing thin
There is nothing left to do

Dirty Projectors – No Intention

Bon Iver – Blood Bank

Now, I can just see Jordan’s eyes roll at my very mention of Dirty Projectors — a band he’s been namedropping for months now — but I listened to the rest of Bitte Orca and didn’t find the others as memorable. Bon Iver is a band that I’ve been wanting to explore, and this seems like a good entry point.

No Intention

The renegade feeling satisfied
You blinked and closed your eyes
You like the feeling of Saturday
You love the danger in the night
The restless corpse is collapsed wind
The breath is daffodil
What not become what is lapsing
Into the universal fill
Or maybe just

No intention
Or maybe just
No intention

When I am full with endeavor
Nothing can stop gestalt
The freshness of my reality
Makes me feel tingly and hot
When you wake up shouting “Idea!”
Is that a punishment?
You represent saying, “I’m real,”
But is that what you meant
Maybe you meant

No intention
Maybe you meant
No intention

Blood Bank

Well I met you at the blood bank
We were looking at the bags
Wondering if any of the colors
Matched any of the names we knew on the tags
You said “see look, that’s yours!
Stacked on top with your brother’s
See how the resemble one another
Even in their plastic little covers”

And I said I know it well

That secret that you know
But don’t know how to tell
It f$@!s with your honor
And it teases your head
But you know that it’s good girl
’cause it’s running you with red

Then the snow started falling
We were stuck out in your car
You were rubbing both of my hands
Chewing on a candy bar

You said “ain’t this just like the present
To be showing up like this”
As the moon waned to crescent
We started to kiss

And I said I know it well

That secret that we know
That we don’t know how to tell
I’m in love with your honor
I’m in love with your cheeks
What’s that noise up the stairs, babe?
Is that Christmas morning creaks?

And I said I know it well
I know it well …

Shaimus rocks out at Stanford University

And boy am I glad I went! The graduate student council brought the (free) beer, and Shaimus brought the rock. The music was great and the band performed admirably playing to a bunch of grad students in a hall where yoga lessons are usually held. During the mid-show break, we spoke to the guitarist and he said that some of the band members knew Harmonix, the makers of Guitar Hero, back when they were in Boston and heard about the call for local indie acts to include in the game. They submitted a song they had recently finished, and it was included in the game. Shaimus isn’t signed to a record label yet, but they have a publisher to get their stuff featured in various medium. Genre is indie alt rock, and I’m not sure if it was just the result of seeing them perform up close in a small room, but honestly they sounded better and more polished than more semi-famous acts I’ve seen featured on late night shows.

They played up the crowd too, with the guitarist shouting “#@% the Bears!” and “Toby for Heisman!”, and then some of the students even started a mosh pit (not sure it was really warranted though…) near the end. They came back for one more song, doing a cover of the Beatles’ “Something” by George Harrison that got the whole room singing along to.

I picked up their two CDs to show my support, and a big tip of the hat to Chrissy for the heads up on this fun show.

The concert was part of the San Francisco Lively Arts nonprofit group, and they rent out space at the Noe Valley Ministry, a Presbyterian Church. We had dinner some blocks away in southern Noe Valley beforehand.

The opening act was actually an instrumental trio of piano, flute, and electric bass guitar. The bass guitar used an interesting effect like a sustain with reverb, reminding me actually of some sounds I’ve heard in Sigur Ros songs. The pianist had some interest “fusion” pieces, such as “ragtime and science fiction” or “bebop and dinosaurs”….yeah. Kinda neat though overall. Something different.

The Books show was an audio/visual presentation. They’ve put together these strange and varied video and picture montages and then play in front of it. One has a guitar, the other has an e-cello. I had never seen an e-cello before, so that was pretty neat.

‘Hysteric’ is one of my favorite songs off It’s Blitz.

What have people been watching on the TV? There has been a several good shows lately, heavy on comedy in particular. There are the stalwarts The Daily Show and Colbert Report, 30 Rock, South Park. I still like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. But some other shows that I’m following now: Lie to Me (gotta hand it to Tim Roth, plus great casting), Castle (Nathan Fillon!), Glee (though the last two episodes have almost been unwatchable), and just recently Modern Family (witty writing). Any good ones that I’ve been missing?

This song, from an NPR concert in 2007, prompted these thoughts and feelings.

Iron & Wine – Upward Over the Mountain

Mother don’t worry, I killed the last snake that lived in the creek bed
Mother don’t worry, I’ve got some money I saved for the weekend
Mother remember being so stern with that girl who was with me
Mother remember the blink of an eye when I breathed through your body

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying upwards over the mountain

Mother I made it up from the bruise on the floor of this prison
Mother I lost it all of the fear of the Lord I was given
Mother forget me now that the creek drank the cradle you sang to
Mother forgive me I sold your car for the shoes that I gave you

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons can be birds taken broken up to the mountain

Mother don’t worry I’ve got a coat and some friends on the corner
Mother don’t worry she’s got a garden we’re planting together
Mother remember the night that the dog had her pups in the pantry
Blood on the floor and the fleas in their paws
And you cried ’til the morning

So may the sunrise bring hope where it once was forgotten
Sons are like birds flying always over the mountain

I just can’t comprehend how mothers do it.

It’s astonishing.

I heard  two older songs I hadn’t heard much before — Upward Over the Mountain (around the 53:10 minute mark with an amazing jam at around 57:30) and Jezebel (around the 59:50  minute mark). Excited, I found them on albums and felt that the versions I had heard in the concert sounded better (I learned later that these were deliberate reimaginations). I later listened to an NPR concert of Passion Pit, to mixed results. Which of course leads to the question:

Q: Are there bands or musical artists you prefer hearing their studio sound over their live show? Vice versa?

One thing I’ve noticed is that a significant portion of my preferred music has been carefully produced and assembled in the studio in order to get the sound that I like. Others, like Nader especially, prefer the lo-fi taped-in-a-garage-on-a-single-track type sound. That being said, I almost universally prefer the sound of Dave Matthews Band in concert rather than the studio. And I vividly remember while attending a Decemberists concert in Raleigh three years ago, I felt like I was hearing some of the songs for the first time. And I know Sachi and Sapana rave about the live Nickel Creek shows. But even still, as exhilarating it was to see Sigur Rós live, if you talk about pure music quality their studio albums win out. What say you?

Q: What song(s) do you purposefully not listen to? Why not?

For me it’s Radiohead’s Street Spirit (Fade Out) off their album The Bends. And this isn’t just because I don’t like that album compared to their later stuff, but I will go out of my way to avoid listening to that song. I’ll credit Donny and his friends Chris and Kris for this. It was the summer of 2006, and I was driving up to Philadelphia from my research stint at the University of Maryland to meet up with Donny and his New Jersey friends to attend my first Radiohead concert. On the drive up I listened to all the Radiohead albums, starting with the Bends.

The concert was great. The moments after it, not so much. See, during the show I happened to be standing next to a rather large-ish fellow who became belligerent after I told him we’d discuss how to share our photos/videos after the concert ends, rather than discuss the details during the songs. He started acting like a jerk after it ended, and to my admiration Donny’s friends immediately stuck up for me as if I were one of their own. The guy and his thuggish entourage caught the attention of some of the security guards, and we made it off into the pouring rain.

Soaking wet over greasy pizza and fine beer at a hole-in-the-wall joint near Donny’s apartment, the song Street Spirit (Fade Out) came up as a song of bad omen for Donny, Chris, and Kris. Each accounted their own stories of ill happenings. Finally,  I said: “You know, I listened to the Bends on my way up here. Including that song. And then this guy gets all in my face.” They looked me, nodding gravely.

So since the summer of 2006, I have never listened to that song again.

In other music news, I was tinkering around with the ‘Genius’ playlist generator in iTunes, which creates a playlist of songs from your music library that “sound great together.” I particularly enjoyed one of them which was seeded by Iron & Wine’s The Trapeze Swinger, and I invite you to listen to the playlist here. It’s mellow-ish, the ideal kind of music I prefer when studying or needing to focus on work. I hope you enjoy it.

Q: Imagine being given the chance to direct a music video of your choosing. You have full creative direction, you can bring on any director you want and can work with any band. What song(s) would you want to make a music video for?

I ask because on the drive to work each morning, I think about how I’d shoot a video for Fold in Your Hands by Passion Pit. Can’t get enough of that song right now.

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record (see what i did there?), I’ll bring up one other thing I like about Passion Pit — the depth of their lyrics and how they’re able to wrap them in a candy coated indie pop veneer. Consider Eyes as My Candles.

Lyrics excerpt:

Some unguarded room:
a smoky figure fills me full,
makes my head swell in ruin.
My family kneels at the pew,
They nod, “We believe in what you’re doing!”
I feel it rise above me,
the western landscape’s towering,
and from my shell of a body
the flowers blossom for picking.

Why do I always need to need you when you’re fleeing?
Where do you go when I’m around?
What have I done, what have I got that’s so defeating?
And have the nerve to wear the crown?

Oh, na na na na na na, hey! hey! hey! (x4)

I’ve waited and waited for someone to take it.
Don’t fight it, don’t bother an inch for another.
Don’t listen, don’t hear them, they’re in this together.
I’ve learned well, now hear me, there’s much to be fearing.
I’m used to your absence, your faceless distraction.
I’ve painted your patterns but found them attractive.
Now I’ve been leaning towards a life far more candid,
though lead through the dark with your eyes as my candles,
and your life, and my life’s directions can render.
And all of a sudden you left me to handle
the reasons that never forbid me to step out.
And somehow or somewhere I found out the secret -
To say it alive without actually breathing.

Maybe I’m just thinking about it to hard, but I just find it so intriguing. The interweaving voices in the last stanza, the children’s voices in the background connotating the blissful ignorance of childhood, the challenging tone of the words itself. Makes me think that if you substitute the pop for folk, you’d have a Sufjan Stevens-esque song. Pretty great.

Don’t forget to answer the question at the top!

Q: What song(s) often causes you to stop what you’re doing and listen to it.  Many of us listen to music across a range of activities, and it can often fall into the background. Writing, driving, browsing websites, brainstorming, whatever. I’m curious about the songs that — practically every time —   force your mind back on the music.

My offering:  Sigur Ros - Sæglópur

Particularly right around the 1:50 mark…it gets me everytime.

Thanks everyone for your responses!

Q: What song(s) do you like in which you feel inevitably compelled to sing along to?

We’ll be liberal with our definition of “sing along to”, because as you all can likely guess, I certainly don’t profess to carry a tone. But still, in each of our own ways, I have a feeling that there are songs in which we find ourselves going beyond merely passively listening to them. Mouthing the words, whispering them, belting out the chorus in the shower, heck — even humming or whistling along. Why not.

Iron & Wine – The Trapeze Swinger

I first heard this song at last year’s Hardly Strict Bluegrass festival. Not really sure why I have this reaction to this song, but it is what it is. Two others would be songs I’ve mentioned here before, namely The National’s Fake Empires and Sufjan Steven’s The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades. Go ahead and share yours if you’d like, just leave a comment below!

I’ll venture two: one that I mentioned earlier when I bought the new album.

Sigur Rós - Inní mér syngur vitleysingur (translation: within me a lunatic sings)

And here is one I discovered a few days ago that somehow caught my ear, particularly the near-childish sounding ending. 

Loney Dear – I am John

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

The National – Fake Empires

Another song that comes to my mind with this characteristic, although decidedly less optimistic sounding as Fake Empires, is Rob Dougan’s pensive Drinking Song.

Rob Dougan – Drinking Song

The waltz melody that emerges at the end is not quite expected….but somehow works.

So my question of the week: what song(s) do you know of that have this trait?

Q: What song can get your foot tapping everytime you listen to it?

One of them for me is Bloc Party’s Banquet.