Misc. Music Archives
Page 1 of 24 »Last Friday I got an IM from Malitz asking me if I wanted to spend Monday following the Jonas Brothers around town on Monday. At first I thought he was joking, but after he assured me he was not, I immediately said yes. Who wouldn't want to spend the day in close proximity to the biggest boy band in the world? I can hear the indie rock snickers from here, but hear me out. I had a lot of fun on Monday. It was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
My new favorite saying is "I am not a photojournalist, but I play one on the internet," and Monday gave me an opportunity to do just that. I shot the band at the White House, a packed press event at Madame Tussaud's, another smaller, more intimate press event at the venue, soundcheck and then the gig itself (You can see the evidence over at Washingtonpost.com).
Perhaps the best part was the way we got this access. We had an actual press pool and our group got to follow the band around in very close proximity all day. A press pool is a very unique (some might say innovative) way to cover a rock band.
The band's head of publicity for the tour was formerly in charge of the press pool following the Mitt Romney Presidential campaign, so this was something she was very familiar with organizing. The number of people in the pool ebbed and flowed during the day, depending on deadlines and whatnot, but we had a cool little group, including Malitz, Fox 5's Stacey Cohan, D.C. media maven Tammy Haddad, tween 'zine Twist Magazine and KOL, the kid's version of AOL. I was on the Fox 5 news at 5 and will be part of a future Newsweek video feature about the whole day.
The band, for their part, was very down to earth (as much as teenage millionaires can be) and have obviously been coached very well in all things media. Every time they entered a room, they introduced themselves and shook hands with everyone and were always incredibly polite. I also have tremendous respect for their work ethic. They had a very full day and still did a three hour meet and greet with a group of 350 or so fans right before they went on stage! When I took the assignment last week I had no idea that it would end up being such big news (well, it is D.C. in August after all) but it was very cool to have a front row seat to the whole thing.
The best part was the event at Madame Tussaud's. When we pulled up, the throng of female teens momentarily mistook Malitz for one of the JoBros. We saw looks of ecstasy turn into agony in three seconds flat. Then we got out and were ushered downstairs and planted on the front row for the statue unveilings. The girls who got access to the event were incredibly loud, all of them were just screaming their heads off the entire time. It was complete pandemonium when the curtain went down and the band was revealed to them, standing next to their wax counterparts. After a quick round of photos and some questions, the band was ushered out of the room just as quickly as they got there. We quickly followed through the same door and them we all slipped out a side entrance back into the venue's garage. After loading the band into their Escalade, we jumped into our van and our small caravan was off to the venue. Only we were being chased by girls running down the street. One of them ran out into traffic! And then we realized that TMZ was tailing us with a video camera. It was straight out of A Hard Day's Night.
Going out on tour with a band is awesome. Even better when you get to go home and sleep in your own bed. And as a bonus, we had enough downtime for me to edit all the photos I took during the day, so I had everything loaded and edited before we even started home.
The new Oasis song is 10x better than ANYTHING on the new Verve record. At least Noel knows what a hook is.
I think we've lost Captain Rock for good. A sad day.
Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything
Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything Everything
I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible
I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible I'm Invisible
Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy
Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy Crazy
You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In
You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In You Let Light In
Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager
Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager Lager
Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing
Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing Mega Mega White Thing
Wow. That was one of the best shows I've ever seen. Period.
CatPita coined the nifty little phrase of "concert nirvana" (which I have borrowed when needed) for those shows that hit you right in the gut and make you think that you couldn't imagine being anywhere else on the planet at that very moment. I reached that moment during just the second song of Spiritualized's incredibly brilliant set at the 9:30 Club on Friday.
After the chaotic drone of "You Lie You Cheat" abruptly segued into "Shine A Light" (my second favorite Spiritualized song - behind everyone's favorite) I lost myself for a moment as the two back-up singers gave their all to the song's gospel tinged background vocals. It was a moment, one you don't normally get 10 minutes into a gig. Off the top of my head, I can only think of one other time it has happened any earlier in a set, in 2000 when the Super Furry Animals opened with "Smokin'" at the Bowery Ballroom, the only time I've ever seen them open a set with that song, which they rarely play. But I digress...
I tend to go hot and cold on Spiritualized. I love Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (who doesn't) but their live CD and more recent work doesn't do much for me. I think Friday's show was the first time I've truly seen the band properly do their thing and while it wasn't necessarily a sight to behold (as you'd probably imagine, the band is quite stationary. J Spaceman stands on one side of the stage facing his band, never the audience) it was pure sonic bliss. I also realized you have to listen to the band at neighbor-annoying volume to truly appreciate what they are capable of. Which brings me to my next point. The sound for the show was quite possibly the best I have ever heard at the 9:30. Perfect in every way. You could feel the bass in your chest, but also hear each and every whisper from the vocals.
The best part of all of this is you don't have to take my word for it, you can listen to the show on NPR. You can also see all of my photos on Prefixmag.com.
It's a shame NPR didn't record The Dirtbomb's opening set. They were straight fire. Both The Future Ms. Leaf and I were dragging when we got to the club, so their uptempo garage rock stylings were just what the doctor ordered to shake us out of our doldrums. I was texting myself song titles to go buy from iTunes when I got home. The band doesn't have many tricks up their sleeve, but they do what they do very well.
Post Rock is all over this. Foo Fighters v. Underworld? That's a very easy decision.
I had an incredible weekend. Spiritualized blew my mind on Friday and then I met Ghostface on Sunday at Rock The Bells.
Beat that.
Full stories and photos to follow. V Fest schedule after the jump.
3 days, 28 bands and about 1800 photos later, the first festival of the summer is in the books. I can't show you much at this point (that will be revealed later today) but I will say that Whartscape 2008 was both bigger and better than last year. The focus of the festival this year was on the outdoor shows, which were held in an alley between two buildings last year. This year they held them in a parking lot on W North Ave and had three separate stages going on throughout the day. It was a run very smoothly (they even added a food vendor this year), although the sound was a bit shaky on Saturday due to the power generators continually giving out. There were only so many mic stands to go around, so when one set was over, someone would run them over to the next stage and then the next band could begin.
It will be interesting to see who breaks out of this pack of bands. Last year's Whartscape featured Yeasayer (very first band on the bill, I am pretty sure I missed them but have to go back and check), High Places (who I loved), Spank Rock, Beach House and, of course, Dan Deacon.
Bands I enjoyed this year: Killer Whales (had this funky, Primus thing going on), DD/MM/YYYY (very percussion heavy), Future Islands (my boys from the North Cackalack, currently B'more residents), The Death Set (lots of fun although they play to an iPod) and my favorite band of the entire weekend, Mae Shi. They were full of the manic energy that the Wham City kids get off so furiously on, but unlike most of the other bands there, they had the hooks and show to go along with it.
And hey, lookee there. They are at the Velvet Lounge tonight. I am seriously thinking about going.
Also, on the way up to Baltimore on Friday, as I was going over the line-up in my head, figuring out who I was going to shoot, etc., I realized there weren't any D.C. bands on the bill. I found out why when I got to the 2640 Space and went to the ticket booth/table. I handed them my ID and the girl at the desk said, "Arlington, huh?" and then went out of her way to roll her eyes at me. I guess that answers my question.
**UPDATE** My photos of Whartscape 2008 are up on Pitchfork now.
Guess who is playing Washington, D.C. on the night of my wedding?
Maybe we'll hit up the show after the reception? (Unlikely)
Related: The Future Mrs. Leaf, in all her worldly wisdom, has given me even more reason to love her. She insisted we hang around on Sunday and leave for the first part of our honeymoon early Monday. As a result, we can go see Ra Ra Riot at the Black Cat Sunday night. Bonus!
I am such a dork.
Carry on.
Everyone else seems to be leaving town this weekend, but not me. Tonight is the Julie Ocean / Half Japanese show at the Rock n Roll Hotel. I've been meaning to catch Julie Ocean for a while now but my schedule and theirs never seemed to match up. No longer!
I've been streaming their songs over on their MySpace all week and they are brilliant. Here is my current favorite song ever:
Julie Ocean - Here Comes Danny
So excited to hear this tonight. You can grab the Julie Ocean album, Long Gone and Nearly There, on eMusic or Amazon. Do it now. But don't take my word for it.
Saturday night is the Superliga match between D.C. United and CD Guadalajara. Should be fun!
Yesterday a co-worker of mine was shocked, shocked I tell you, that I have 151 feeds in my Bloglines RSS reader. What can I say, I like to read the interweb. One blog I am really enjoying is the WaPo's Post Rock Blog, written by David Malitz and J. Freedom du Lac. Good blogs over at The Post aren't exactly anything new (Wizards Insider and Soccer Insider are daily reads of mine) but it's nice to see the Post's music staff throw their hat in the ring as well. The reason I bring this up is they are in the process of putting together a summer mix tape, and today my favorite "summer" song came on my iPod and I had to give my two cents.
The songs, "23 Minutes in Brussels" by Luna, isn't a summer song by name, mostly by vibe and the memories I associate with the song. It just makes me want to chill out, have fun and drink a cold beverage in hot weather. It's also a staple of any road trip mix tape/playlist I make, and has been since 1995. Sonically, it's total perfection, from the tom-tom intro to the opening riff to the crack of the first snare hit 27 seconds in. After that, we are off to the races, only at Luna's leisurely pace. Having Tom Verlaine laying down some serious guitar leads certainly doesn't hurt either.
I absolutely adore this song. I'm guessing I've listened to it a few hundred times, and that's being a bit conservative. It's very easy on the ears and imminently repeatable. The guitars leap out of the speakers, the drums make your head nod and Dean's singing keeps everything chugging along. After the savage beating he's received in the press over the three R.E.M. albums he worked on, let's give a hat tip to producer Pat McCarthy. For my money, Penthouse is his finest work.
[mp3] Luna | 23 Minutes in Brussels
[mp3] Luna | 23 Minutes in Brussels (live at the Hultsfed Festival 6.12.99)
I also bring this up because I read Black Postcards on the plane ride back from San Fransisco and enjoyed it immensely. Definitely worth the purchase if you are on the fence.
If you're not familiar with Luna's recorded output, Captain's Dead has a good primer, but you should cop some of those albums, son.
Watch the live version of the song from the Tell Me Do You Miss Me DVD after the jump.
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