The Pickup

Here’s a list of the notable bands I’ve seen play live, in case anyone was curious. I’ve seen a lot of other local bands and stuff, but I figured no one would know who they are so I didn’t include them.

Akron/Family

Alela Diane and The Wild Divine

Allie Moss

Aunt Martha

Bon Iver

Coldplay

David Crowder Band (twice)

Death Cab for Cutie (twice)

Delicate Steve

Dm Stith

Explosions in the Sky

Fleet Foxes (twice)

Hillsong United

In Tall Buildings

Ivan & Alyosha

Jamie Cullum

Kathleen Edwards

Liz Janes

Local Natives

Lord Huron

Mat Kearney

My Brightest Diamond

Nickel Creek

Son Lux

Sufjan Stevens

Switchfoot

The Civil Wars

The Love Language

The Octopus Project

The Rural Alberta Advantage

The Welcome Wagon

Timbre (twice)

White Dress

Bucket list for bands to see (in no particular order):

•Kings of Convenience

•Jose Gonzalez

•The National

•Discovery

•The Swell Season

•Ray Lamontagne

•Andrew Bird

•Vampire Weekend

…..the list goes on and on….

Hi tumblr friends! 

Just wanted to thank you for following. I love how I’ve made friends over tumblr who love music just as much as I do. I’ve really enjoyed talking to you guys and posting random music stuff the last few months! 

If you know anyone who you think might like my blog, send ‘em over!

Thanks again!

Katie 

thelolitaco:

Sufjan will be making a radio performance on WNYC - Soundcheck (2:00 p.m. EST) 
http://www.wnyc.org/schedule/2011/jul/22/

It can be streamed online @ http://www.wnyc.org/ Check it out. 

I’m so glad I made it to this show…I had to get tickets on craigslist because it sold out before I had a chance to buy them, but it was well worth the semi-frantic search. I showed up about an hour before the doors opened and secured the fourth spot in line…which I was a bit surprised about. I thought there would be more people than that, but apparently people don’t like sitting in the 100 degree weather very much. 

Alela Diane & Wild Divine (Wild Divine is the name of her band…she is a solo recording artist as well) opened the show. Alela and her band are a slightly twangy/folky/country group consisting of many beards, cowboy boots, and fancy belt buckles. She introduced us to each member of the band and to my surprise, her dad plays mandolin and electric guitar in the band…which is pretty cool. She has a beautiful voice, it’s sort of a mix between Norah Jones, Neko Case and Dido, but unfortunately, overall their performance was rather unimpressive. Few songs stood out to me and there was little to no expression, movement or overall excitement coming from the stage. I am curious to know what other people thought of the band’s performance because it just didn’t have the spark I would hope and expect a Fleet Foxes opener to have. 

A little history: I saw Fleet Foxes open for Death Cab back in 2008 and I just remember being hooked after they opened the show singing their incredible harmonies all a capella. Fast forward to this show and they opened their show with “The Cascades”. It was beautiful and simple, but I think I would have loved it even more if they had opened with some harmonies. I wouldn’t say watching the Fleet Foxes perform is incredibly exciting or anything, but just listening to them play live is an experience. Robin is probably the most animated, and there was a lot of funny banter during the show. Apparently Robin is allergic to St. Louis because before the show he tweeted about needing some Afrin and then during the show he asked if anyone in the audience had Claritin on them. At another point in the show, Josh Tillman, the drummer, publicly prayed and asked Jesus to bring some sort of “beverage” to him…that was pretty funny and got everyone laughing and added to laid back atmosphere of the show. People in the audience didn’t hesitate to participate in the conversations either, one person yelled out “Fleet Foxes rock my sockses” which triggered a humorous chat about what other phrases rhyme with Fleet Foxes.

Something that has stood out to me with this new record is the lyrics, which made hearing these songs live even more meaningful. Maybe I just haven’t paid enough attention to their lyrics in the past, but the lyrics in Bedouin Dress, Helplessness Blues, or Montezuma, are pretty marvelous and were even better to hear and see Robin express in person. 

It’s hard to say for sure, but I think my favorite moment during the whole show was during Sim Sala Bim right as the band and Robin broke out during the lyrics “Then the earth shook that was all that it took for the dream to break”. It was loud and great. 

The show ended with Blue Ridge Mountains, then Robin came back out for the encore to sing Oliver James solo, which was beautiful…everyone just kept cheering and he seemed to kind of just be in awe or something and stood there thanking us. The band returned and finished out the show with Helplessness Blues. 

If you are trying to decide whether or not to go to see them…you should go. Definitely worth the $35-40. 

Bonus stories: 

After Robin requested some Claritin from the audience, this strange, and very possibly intoxicated girl came pushing her way to the front (I made it to the second row of the pit) and obnoxiously asked the guy standing in front of me “What’s the name of the guy singing?!?” I wanted to say, “umm…girl, you don’t know his name???”, but I restrained. Anyway, after he finished the song she started yelling “ROBIN!!! ROBIN!!!!….here’s some Claritin!!” and threw it on stage….and I’m pretty sure he didn’t even see it. She returned to the back after that, so it didn’t end up being too much of an annoying situation, but it was strange, nonetheless. 

After the show one of his roadies handed out a few setlists, none of which I got, but I was determined to leave with something. I stood there for a second then got my friends to help me call one of the guys over…I asked him if there were any setlists left and he said no, but he gave me a pick, so I was happy. I’m guessing it’s Robin’s or Skye’s…so that’s pretty rad. 

We went outside afterwards to the back of the venue and found that Josh Tillman was out there as well as Casey Wescott (keys, mando, piano…other things). I brought my Helplessness Blues cd and got them both to sign it as well as a picture with Josh. Both guys were super friendly and talked to a bunch of fans for a while. My friends had to leave but I decided to stick around and eventually Robin came out and I met him and had him sign the cd as well. He was wearing some pretty fantastic khaki cut offs which made me laugh. He was also really nice and so willing to take pictures, talk, sign, and hug fans. 

It was a good night. Pictures to come. 

So it was a fantastic show tonight! I waited around for a while and got to meet the drummer (Josh), the piano/keys player (Casey), and last, but not least, Robin Pecknold!! He was super nice! I will write a lengthier post in the next couple of days about the concert overall, but for now, I will leave you with a picture of Robin and myself.

Here are my favorite albums from the last couple of years that have gotten many a play on my itunes. These aren’t really in any order as they have all had some impact on me and I like them all a lot!  

•Riot On An Empty Street (2004) by Kings of Convenience

•Why Should The Fire Die? (2005) by Nickel Creek

•Once Soundtrack (2006) by The Swell Season

•The Pursuit (2009) by Jamie Cullum

 •Age of Adz (2010) by Sufjan Stevens

 •Plans (2005) by Death Cab for Cutie

•Bon Iver (2011) by Bon Iver

•Trouble (2004) by Ray Lamontagne

•LP (2009) by Discovery

•All Delighted People (2010) by Sufjan Stevens

•Give Up (2003) by The Postal Service

•Dark Was The Night Compilation (2009)

•Veneer (2003) by Jose Gonzalez

•Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends (2008) by Coldplay

•Armchair Apocrypha (2007) by Andrew Bird

•The BQE (2009) by Sufjan Stevens

A few that are really close to being on the list- The Eraser by Thom Yorke, The Suburbs by Arcade Fire, High Violet by The National, and Barton Hollow by The Civil Wars. I think the reason I can’t put these albums on the “official” list at this point is because I’ve only been listening to these last few musicians for less than a year. I’ve been listening to all the bands that made it on the list for at least two years, and I don’t want to prematurely name some brand new album or band I don’t know very well onto my list.

That’s all for tonight folks. Sorry I haven’t had a ton of posts recently! I’ve been working a lot.

Photo: From The Basement

Here’s a little list of some cool sites that record musicians doing their thing then share it with the world. Some of these websites have some really great videography, while others simply take musicians out of their element to create something interesting and stripped-down. Check them out if you haven’t already! 

La blogothèque: the Take Away Shows film bands playing in buildings, outside, in public places, behind closed doors, everywhere. 

Tiny Desk Concert: NPR gets bands to come in and then they film them playing three or four songs behind a little desk. Not much to it, but they are always really fun performances. 

Daytrotter: Records (no video) bands playing three or four songs and then puts the sessions online to download for FREE! 

The A.V. Club Undercover Series: This series puts a little spin on things- they’ve chosen 25 songs and 25 bands to cover the songs. When a band comes in they choose what song they want to cover but the later a band comes in, the fewer options they have for songs to cover…makes for some interesting combinations. 

The Black Cab Sessions: Bands playing a song in a cab. Cramped quarters, raw sound, and pretty video. 

Bandstand Busking: They describe what they’re doing pretty well- “Bandstand Busking brings life to unused bandstands across London. There are dozens of bandstands spread across the city, but when did you last spot one surrounded by a crowd excited to watch a talented band? We’re here to fill that gloomy void.”

Mason Jar Music: Although they don’t have many recordings under their belt yet, their efforts to find unused or abandoned spaces to record music has been really interesting so far. This NPR article takes a more in-depth look at Mason Jar Music’s goals in the music world. 

From the Basement: Beautifully recorded videos and great photos in a more formal recording space. Definitely check this one out! 

The Wild Honey Pie: This site has a lot of sessions, but with lesser known musicians (at least I don’t know a lot of them…). I’m thinking this could be a great place to discover some new music! Note- the link above is for their Vimeo page, their website can be found here. 

They Shoot Music: Last, but not least is They Shoot Music, which is similar to La Blogotheque, but based in Vienna. They tagged the locations where they have shot on a google map on their website, which is sorta neat. 

Send me a message in my ask box or reply to this post if you know of any awesome sites similar to these…I’d love to add more to this list! 

This is what Nedelle said on the Cryptacize blog:

“ I have a new band called Paradise.Here is a new page with three rough mixes on it. www.advicefromparadise.tumblr.com Hoping to finish an album by early September

See you this fall

Nedelle”

Check it out. I’m liking the mixes so far. Kind of 80’s, low-key, dancey-sounding.