Langerado 2008 Day 2: Friday

Friday morning started with some early cocktails and chilling at the camp site. So far, this has been a larger battle against the environment than a typical fest. While I was initially worried about alligators, snakes, and mosquitoes, it turns out the most menacing wildlife is evil swamp ants with a nasty stinging bite. Between that, the "Rainarado" weather elements and the logistical issues that seemed to have plagued a fest at a new venue for the first time, it has made for an interesting adventure, but I firmly believe a great road trip requires obstacles to conquer, so it has been fun overcoming them.

The first band I caught were The Walkmen. I had not really heard these guys at all before going, but I decided to check them out because they were touring with Vampire Weekend. I thought they did a decent set, but they are not really my style.









After that, I walked around taking in the vibe. The festival area is really huge, which is good for sound between stages but bad for walking the long distances. I casually caught some of Ozomatli and The Wailers. They both did very typical sets, not really something that I can stay interested in for long.









After a little campsite rally, I headed to the far away "Chickee Hut" for !!!. They put on an energetic and captivating performance. The dancer/singer dude and the woman with the mohawk went crazy for the whole show, jumping off the stage at points and coming down to the audience. I really dug the double drummer setup. I think the "drumline" concept is something that is underrated and something I enjoy when I see because it is rare in pop music.







Built To Spill came on next and did one of the best shows I've ever seen them do. It was as if they said "Hey, you hippies think you know what a jamband is? No, we're gonna show you what a jamband is." The epic hour set was pure sonic bliss for me as they roared through great tunes like "Time Trap", "Stab", and closed with a "Carry The Zero" superjam. Everything they did was filled to the brim with stunning guitar solos, even adding an extra ending to "Conventional Wisdom". Not only was this the best performance of the fest so far, but I think this is the best show I've seen all year. If you are in Atlanta, don't make the mistake of not going to the BTS show Wednesday night at Variety Playhouse.









I went to catch the Beastie Boys next, but after the overwhelming badassity of the previous BTS set, I was totally not feeling it and dipped out to the campsite to party. I skipped the late night sets as word of a tornado watch spread. I was awoken late night by an incredibly intense storm that obliterated our camp. The storm actually destroyed the media tent, so I'm blogging in the open air today struggling to see my monitor. Well, it is time to catch more music, keep it here for updates.

Langerado 2008 Preview

Langerado just released the schedule today and it looks pretty good. Here is my personalized schedule so far. If you are still on the fence whether to go to this one, I'm gonna go through some of the smaller acts that I'm really excited about. The first band on the "Swamp Stage" is right here from Altanta, Dead Confederate. I believe they are going to be one of the ATL bands that get big nationally by the end of this year (they were handpicked to open for R.E.M. at SXSW), because their new EP is really awesome. Jam this track and pick up this EP:

Dead Confederate : The Rat




Vampire Weekend is another band that is on the super-hype lately in blogland. While I enjoy their new album, I think it is one of those "good but not great". They are just a little too gimmicky and lacking a tad bit in substance. Regardless of that, though, I'm very excited to see them live because I think they will be pretty cool to see. Check them out:

Vampire Weekend : Walcott




An album I really enjoyed from last year is !!!'s Myth Takes. They are organic dance rock that sort of sound like a an indie-rock version of STS9 or those sorts of bands with lyrics/vocals. I've been wanting to catch them live for so long because I've heard how much fun their shows are. If 311 isn't quite your bag, or you've seen them like 10 times like me, this band is really worth checking out:

!!! (chk chk chk) : Break In Case Of Anything




So, one of the biggest draws to Langerado for me is Built To Spill. They are one of my all time favourite bands. Since I have like a million BTS live shows, this seems like a good time to share one. Behold 1999-05-09 (Early Show):

1. Made Up Dreams
2. Center of The Universe
3. Kicked it In The Sun
4. Reasons
5. I Would Hurt A Fly
6. Twin Falls/Some (instrumetal)
7. You Were Right
8. One Thing
9. Terrible/Perfect
10. Car
11. Big Dipper

Blitzen Trapper was a band that was full of blog buzz last year. A little bit country, a little rock 'n' roll, a little bit weird:

Blitzen Trapper : Devil's A-Go-Go




The Benevento-Russo Duo is one of my favourite jambands. The keyboard/drums power duo that backed up Trey and Mike of Phish are not only a great live show, but they are one of the few hippy bands who know how to make a great album too. Check them:

The Benevento-Russo Duo : Play Pause Stop




Pelican is a post-metal band that I really got into last year. You were probably thinking that Bonnaroo was the only hippy fest this year to bring in some metal, but you were wrong:

Pelican : City of Echoes




Dan Deacon is another big draw to Langerado for me because he is so awesome. He was just here in the ATL last month, so you should check out our review and jam him:

Dan Deacon : Wham City


Minus The Bear is another artist that had an album in out Top 50 album list from last year. They do music that sounds very radio-friendly and accessible, but has some serious musical depth:

Minus The Bear : Burying Luck




Finally, a band that I was totally obsessed with last year was Of Montreal. I caught them plenty of times last year, but they are so good live I can't wait to see them again. If you go to Langerado, be sure to catch this:






So, now go get tickets to Langerado and we'll party down!

Langerado Website

This Week In The ATL

Here's my picks for shows to check out this week:

Tonight: Pinback at The Roxy

Tomorrow: Yo Majesty, The Coathangers, Rob Wonder at the Drunken Unicorn.

Wednesday show of "has-beens" that would probably still be cool: Alice in Chains, Velvet Revolver, Sparta at Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre.

Wednesday show that I will actually go to: Untied States, These Are Powers, Gold Painted Nails at the Drunken Unicorn

Thursday show I'm hoping to score a cheap ticket for: Foo Fighters at the Tabernacle

Thursday show I'll check out late: Je Suis France at the Drunken Unicorn

Saturday show that might be worth driving to Athens for: !!! (chk chk chk), The Field at the 40 Watt

Sunday show of bands that will drive from Athens to the ATL (Also the show I am most excited about this week): Cinemechanica, We Versus The Shark, So Many Dynamos, Scars at the Drunken Unicorn

Hot tracks:

Untied States : I'll Prove You Wrong (Again)


These Are Powers : Little Sisters Of Beijing


Cinemechanica : Ruins Of Karnac


We Versus The Shark : I Am A Fantastic Battle


So Many Dynamos : Search Party

Monday Mash-Up

!!! (chk chk chk) and The Field will be at the 40 Watt in Athens, Ga on October 6th. Here's a !!! video:



Here's a track from The Field's From Here We Go Sublime: Good Things End

Minus The Bear will be at The Variety Playhouse on October 12th. Vid:



Liars will be opening for Interpol at The Tabernacle on September 21st.

Check out some hot torrents to download:

• Tortoise (6-30-2007)
• Blackalicious (7-14-2007)
• Ween (Bonnaroo 2007)
• Ben Folds (7-25-2007)
• Smashing Pumpkins (7-03-2007)
• Deftones (7-22-2007)
• Gogol Bordello (7-14-2007)

Broken Social Scene has presented a great video. Check it:

This song was recorded with Joules Scott Key of Metric and Bang Lime on drums and J Mascis and Kevin Drew on guitar and vocals. The video happened last minute after a Dinosaur Jr show in Toronto where J, Lou, and Murph all came to the shoot to hang out. John Caffery from 'Kids on TV' was hired to come and dance his ASS off and a spontaneous party was put into effect.
There were seven mirrors, one disco ball, four lights, one bottle of rum, three bottles of tequila, 62 beers, four crew, and 17 people. It got put together on the day of the shoot and became the party of the year. It cost three thousand dollars to make... It was priceless.

Bradford Cox of Deerhunter got robbed after their show Friday night. If you're at Lenny's late night, beware:

We got a friendly homecoming suprise last night in Atlanta when Lockett and I got robbed at gunpoint after our show at Lenny's last night. We literally had just walked off the stage and I was pretty wasted. Lockett was trying to take care of me and get me home. He grabbed my guitar and my stuff and we walked to his car which was parked about a block away from Lenny's because it was so crowded. I heard a commotion behind us but like I said I was pretty out of it. I just opened the door to the car and collapsed in the passenger seat. Then I heard all this yelling and I hear this loud metallic banging on the window and look up and there is a gun in my face and a guy yelling "get the fuck out the car man" I stumbled out and see the other guy has Lockett with his arms spread on the roof of his car and is patting him down. Lockett was begging them to leave me alone. The guy put his gun up to my temple and said "give me EVERYTHING motherfucker I aint fucking with you" I just mumbled something and he put his hands in my pants and took everything I had. My cellphone, my wallet (empty except for credit / bank cards which kristin immidietly cancelled, and about 450 dollars in cash I had for my rent.) They also got all of Lockett's money. They even took my fucking Camel Ultralights and Orange Bic. All I can say is that I'm glad we are not dead. Or more specifically, I am REALLY glad they didn't hurt Lockett. He was just trying to help me get home and would not have even been there at that time otherwise.

Bradford

Atlanta's own, Auditioning Alice, have posted a great new song on their myspace.

Creative Loafing talks about the Rock The Bells festival this thursday at Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre.

New Architecture In Helsinki video:



Listen to a Blitzen Trapper show at Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Interviews:

• Fiery Furnaces
• Architecture In Helsinki
• New Pornographers
• St. Vincent
• Spoon

Learn about the "Nu-Gaze" genre.

NPR has some Andrew Bird for you to listen to.

The National on Letterman:



White Rabbits on Letterman:



Tokyo Police Club on Letterman:

Torrent Of The Day: !!! (5-11-2007)

!!! (Chk Chk Chk) 2007-05-11 Magic Stick, Detroit, MI (16-bit) (FLAC)

!!
Magic Stick
Detroit, MI
May 11, 2007

audience recording

Left of stage FOB, ~20 feet back

Church Audio STC-9000 mic system > iriver iHP-120 > WAV (M) > Sound Forge 8 (Merge files, DC Offset Correction, Fade in/out, Track Splits) > WAV > FLAC v.1.1.4

Setlist:

01. Must Be The Moon *
02. Pardon My Freedom
03. Myth Takes
04. Dear Can *
05. A New Name *
06. All My Heroes Are Weirdos
07. Hello, Is This Thing On?
08. Yadnus *
09. Bend Over Beethoven
10. Heart of Hearts *
11. Intensify > Happy Birthday > Intensify *

* feat. Shannon (a.k.a. Sha Na Na Na) of Durty Nanas

Recorded and transferred by Paramnesiac.

Friday Free-Style

Battles will be at the Drunken Unicorn June 15th.

The Fiery Furnaces will be at the Earl on July 7th. Here's a vid:



June 1st Deerhunter, The Carbonas, Selmanaires, and The Coathangers will be playing at the Whirly Ball in Roswell, Ga. You can gain free admission to the event by going to Criminal Records and picking up a copy of the Whirlyball 7", featuring songs from all of these artists.

Modest Mouse's Eric Judy has been missing some shows mysteriously.

Jam Cruise 6 has announced its line-up. The drug-induced boatride festival lasts 5 days and leaves Ft. Lauderdale on January 4th, 2008.

Aesop Rock's new album, None Shall Pass, is due out August 28th.

The Go! Team has a new album coming out this year.

Some Smashing Pumpkins stuff got stolen and they still have no non-festival US dates.

Cee-lo is starting his own record label. Here's a vid:



Tori Amos is working on a Broadway musical.

New Order have split up again.

Marilyn Manson and Slayer will be at Hi-Fi Buys Amphitheatre on July 28th.

The Summer Slaughter Tour featuring Necrophagist, Decapitated, Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, As Blood Runs Black, Arsis, The Faceless, Ion dissonance, Beneath the Massacre will be at The Masquerade on June 6th.


Here's some shows I recommend for the weekend:

Friday:

Son Volt, The High Strung at the Variety Playhouse.

Luigi, The Jupiter Watts, Parade at Lenny's.

Lady Sovereign, Matt And Kim, King Kong (Ethan Buckler from Slint) at the Drunken Unicorn.

Saturday:

The Clientele, Beach House, The Close at The Earl.

Ben Gibbord (Death Cab For Cutie, Postal Service), David Bazan at Center Stage. (Sold Out)

Cypress Hill, Galactic, Sick Puppies, The Zac Brown Band at Centennial Park.


Interviews:

• Arctic Monkeys
• Clientele
• John Vanderslice
• St. Vincent
• Wilco
• Silversun Pickups

Here's a new video from Air:



Here's a new !!! video:

Live Show: !!! (4-9-2007)

!!! (chk chk chk)
Black Session

Studio 105, Maison de Radio France, Paris

Recording and simultaneous broadcast : 04-09-2007

Lineage : FM -> CDWAVe -> FLAC -> you

(click to listen)

01 Myth takes
02 All my heroes are weirdos
03 Track 4
04 Bend over Beethoven
05 Heart of hearts
06 A new name
07 Yadnus
08 Must be the moon
09 Hello? Is this on?
10 Me and Giuliani down by the school yard (a true story) (cut)


Last track is cut out by the news break. No future broadcast was announced.

Recorded and cut by svp, for you. No edit at all. bernard Lenoir's comments are situated at the end of some tracks. Two minor drop outs.

The broadcast ended half an hour ago. Goodnight now!

Support the artists and independent (record) stores!

Download Lossless Torrent Here

Lollapalooza Line-up Breakdown

Ok, so the Lollapalooza site still hasn't updated itself with all of the line-up, but everyone is reporting it as:

Pearl Jam, Daft Punk, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, Muse, Iggy & the Stooges, Modest Mouse, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, Satellite Party, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Snow Patrol, the Roots, Patti Smith, Kings of Leon, the Black Keys, Regina Spektor, Spoon, Lupe Fiasco, TV on the Radio, Pete Yorn, G. Love & Special Sauce, Paolo Nutini, Amy Winehouse, LCD Soundsystem, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Silverchair, Femi Kuti, Yo La Tengo, the Hold Steady, Jack's Mannequin, Stephen Marley, Sound Tribe Sector 9, M.I.A., Slightly Stoopid, Blonde Redhead, Sparklehorse, Sean Lennon, !!!, Blue October, Son Volt, Motion City Soundtrack, Polyphonic Spree, Peter Bjorn & John, Silversun Pickups, CSS, the Rapture, the Wailers, Roky Erickson, Tapes n Tapes, Heartless Bastards, the View, the Cribs, the Fratellis, Ghostland Observatory, Tokyo Police Club, Rhymefest, Soulive, Cold War Kids, Annuals, Fields, Electric Six, Jim Noir, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, Sam Roberts Band, Black Angels, Charlie Musselwhite, Aqueduct, Juliette & the Licks, Dios, Viva Voce, David Vandervelde, Los Campesinos!, Chin Up Chin Up, Ryan Shaw, Colour Revolt, Satin Peaches, Illinois, Arckid, Mickey Avalon, The 1900s, Bang Bang Bang, Bound Stems, High Class Elite, Carey Ott, Matt Roan.

Daft Punk:



Iggy And The Stooges:



!!!:



Peter Bjorn And John:



So, now it is time to break it down and decide whether I'm going to travel to it again this year. First, The bands that I have not seen yet but want to really bad include: Daft Punk, Iggy And The Stooges, !!!, TV On The Radio (I won't be able to catch the shows tonight or tomorrow), and Peter Bjorn And John. Bands that I've seen multiple times but I will still travel to see include Pearl Jam and Yo La Tengo. Bands I want to see and haven't yet, but wouldn't necessarily convince me to travel to see include Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Black Keys, Amy Winehouse, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Son Volt, Silversun Pickups, The Rapture, Tapes n Tapes, Annuals, and Illinois.

The big decision all depends on The Smashing Pumpkins and Virgin Festival in Maryland the same weekend. Seeing the Smashing Pumpkins is a big priority for me this year, and so far the only US dates they have are Virgin Fest and Live Earth (and I'm not going to Live Earth). I think i will wait a little while for Virgin Fest to announce its line-up, but I'm leaning towards Lollapalooza for 2 reasons:

1. There is no doubt in my mind that The Smashing Pumpkins will do a plethora of US dates. Billy Corgan is trying to hype this thing up as much as possible with the album drop weirdness, being so mysterious about the Pumpkins tour line-up, and I think he is purposefully not announcing US dates yet to get people to want them to more and create more hype.

2. Besides SP, i doubt that Virgin will be able to deliver a better line-up than Lolla. That line-up there is pretty deep, and if Virgin is going to exclude most if not all of those acts, i just don't see how it could be much better. Here's the mini-line up of the two Canadian versions of Virgin Fest: Vancouver and Toronto. Other than Bjork, who will definitely not be in Maryland, those line-ups are way too commercial radio and small.

Another thing is i am kinda put off by deciding to compete head-to-head with such a great, already established festival. When Music Midtown in Atlanta tried to go head-to-head with Bonnaroo, how did that work out?

So, my final decision is Virgin Fest has about a week or two to put their cards on the table, and if not, I'm heading to see Perry and Company again.



Versus


Hey baldy, where them US dates at?

What The Hell Am I Listening To?!?

!!! : Myth Takes

!!! (pronounced "chk chk chk") are sort of a punk version of the Disco Biscuits. Aggressive rock meets funky disco dance music. This is a great driving album and you should scoop it up:

• Myth Takes
• All My Heroes Are Weirdos

Buy Myth Takes Here

!!! Myspace


Beach House : Beach House

Since seeing them at the Earl on Sunday, I've been jamming this album hard all week. Beach House is Alex Scally on guitar and Victoria Legrand on keyboard and vocals. They play live with sampled drum tracks they recorded. Really chill stuff that certainly has a beachy aesthetic. Check it:

• Master Of None
• Auburn And Ivory

Buy Beach House Here

Myspace Page

Friday Free-Style

Mastodon will rock the Tabernacle Saturday May 26th with Against Me! and Cursive. Tickets go on sale tommorrow at 10am . Here's a Cursive Video:



Damien Rice will be at the Tabernacle on May 30th.

The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are working on a new project according to frontwoman Caren O. I've heard rumors that Deerhunter is involved and that is why they cancelled their shows last weekend, but I have no evidence.

Beck's drummer, Matt Sherrod, has joined Crowded House.

The NAACP says that Bono cares about black people.

Some Guns 'n' Roses fan website has shut down in protest to the new album getting delayed. I can't believe there are still GNR fansites.

On the reunion tip, Michael Jackson is trying to put the Jackson 5 back togther.

The hot rumor is that Shea Stadium will be a location for Al Gore's Live Earth concert.

Ben Folds is doing a college campus tour, but is not hitting any in Georgia.

Roger Waters wants to play with the rest of the boys in the Floyd. Come on Dave! He's reaching out dammit!

Riding high on the reunion bandwagon, Genesis is touring the US, but nowhere near here.

Watch Queens Of The Stone Age in the studio working on the new album:



Lightning Bolt are touring the US, minus the south. They're doing a show in New York in two weeks with Marnie Stern. I bet that will be a helluva show.

Joanna Newsom new EP info.

Iron And Wine have a new album due out in September.

Here's a track off of Bright Eyes' new album due out April 10th: No One Would Riot
Bright Eyes will be at the Fox Theater May 18th.

Here's a track off of The Rosebuds' new album due out April 10th: Get Up Get Out
The Rosebuds will be playing with Beach House sunday night at the earl. I can't wait.

West Virginia's All Good Fest has announced their line-up. Notably Rat Dog, Les Claypool, Dark Star Orchestra, and STS9.

Lollapalooza sold some $60 secret tickets yesterday that I tried to get unsuccessfully for like 3 hours. Official tickets go on sale April 4th and the line-up gets revealed afterwards supposedly.

I'm gonna break down the Bonnaroo artist addition and schedule times rumors over the weekend so stay tuned.

Blues Traveler's John Popper got arrested for marijuana.

SXSW is so big, there's a festival in Lousiana that's theme is being a gas station and lodging stop on the way to SXSW. Really good line-up for a spring break stop.

It looks like Tool drummer Danny Carey is cool, and they've rescheduled their tour before Bonnaroo, so the Bonnaroo date looks like it's still on.

Lots 'o interviews:

• Iggy Pop
• REM
• Hold Steady
• Rosebuds
• Menomena
• Feist
• Xiu Xiu

Friday is a good day for a !!! video. From the new album:

Releases Of The Week

RJD2 : The Third Hand

Buy Album Here

Son Volt : The Search


Buy Album Here

Arcade Fire : Neon Bible

Buy Album Here

!!! : Myth Takes

Buy Album Here

Air : Pocket Symphony

Buy Album Here