Friday, December 18, 2009

My top five whatevers of the year because blah blah fucking blah.

Okay no seriously.

Top Five Singles of this year

5. Juiceboxxx - 100mph
4. Tobacco - Hairy Candy
3. Future Islands - Flicker & Flutter (Javelin Remix)
2. Future Islands remixed by Pictureplane - Old Dreamer
1. Future Islands - the Happiness of Being Twice.

Top five albums I heard this year [no, this doesnt mean it came out this year, it means i heard it this year.]
5. Math the Band & the Secret of Mystery Island
4. E-603 - Torn Up
3. Stuntrock & REGRET instruction manual Issue #3
2. Math the Band - Don't Worry
1. Dan Deacon - BROMST


Top Five Movies of the Year [because why not]
5. Funny People
4. The Room
3. the Hangover
2. WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
1. Watchmen


Top Five Shows I Went to This Year
5. Juiceboxxx [All 3 times: AS220, Matthewson, Taproom]
4. Math the Band at AS220
3. FUTURE FUCKING ISLANDS
2. Dan Deacon [Every time]
1. ZOOP II with the Mountain Goats [because Watkins Glen > Providence.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

EVERYTHING UNDER THE SUN 3000

OKAY, SO HERES THE SITUATION KIDS.

I kind of abandoned this place for whatever reason. Mostly due to the fact that I dont spend hours behind a computer anymore. This is going to change when I have a laptop, but for now all 0 of you readers can just deal with me being lazy.

So I guess we'll start relatively close to where we left off with ZOOP II with the Mountain Goats.

ZOOP has always been very close to my heart, ever since I made the drive with a couple of random strangers three years ago I have always cherished the memories of this great event. Unfortunately, the second time around I managed to get so drunk that I pretty much ruined any/all chances of remembering things like setlists & banter & etc. I do remember that John kept telling me to slow down, even when it's my idol telling me something I cant seem to listen.

I'm not going to go off at length about this show because anyone who knows me has heard me go off about this & frankly, knowing that a recording exists & will probably never be heard by anyone but George makes me quite sad.


OKAY, SKIP THAT. There was Foo Fest which was really good, even if I did just stay for Math the Band & Lightning Bolt. Both bands put on extremely energetic, fun shows. Sun-Ra was also a really nice treat, especially for 5 bucks. The whole fest was well put together & it was awesome to see a whole block of providence practically covered in artistic expression. Not to mention, hearing the music while walking throughout downtown was absolutely fantastic. I've got a soft spot for outdoor shows, I guess.

THEN MINPINZ DIED.
Yup, that's right kids. My favorite venue in Providence is under new ownership & is no longer a venue. However, the farewell show was a memorable one at that. Mark Brown, Narwhalz, Juiceboxxx, Chris Paddock & more. Was a really great show, despite the general doom & gloom feeling, knowing that most of us were practically losing a friend that night. However, there was a moshpit to a Miley Cirus song so... Damn hipsters & their drugs...

With the loss of my favorite venue I had to seek out new venues to catch bands in, thankfully, Firehouse 13 is practically in cranston & hosts plenty of bands that I enjoy watching.. Like Math the Band, who I got the pleasure of seeing in October. It was a halloween show, but the band didnt really make much information that costumes would be cool available, so most people just showed up. It doesnt help that a lot of kids there just werent super into it like the band was, & they definitely werent very happy. Well, the girl wasnt.. Oh well, you should know if you're going to play a show in Providence it's probably going to start late. Whatever. At the end of one song the singer dropped his microphone & it landed at my feet. After I handed it back to him he said he was going to "play it where it lies" so he played a cover of She is Beautiful by Andrew WK at my feet. Yus, excellent.


Next up was Dan Deacon & Nuclear Power Pants at MWM in Pawtucket. I love seeing Dan perform almost solely on the fact that I always get in for free & at this point it's almost like he knows me or something. I'm the early guy with the oil. Both bands played killer sets & JACOB BERENDES was there with his new band & they played a bunch of songs I really liked so that was awesome. White Mice also played about 3/4ths of a song before the fire dept showed up after they had an electrical fire. What can you do? Well, those there to mosh to White Mice just picked NPP to mosh to instead. It was the only Dan Deacon show I've been to with a moshpit & it was great. I also got to watch my girlfriend throw this dumb bitches who pushed us around during a song. Dans set was fantastic & he played some newer material, seems a bit darker than his current stuff, but that's good because dark is good.

I was supposed to be seeing the Mountain Goats at the end of this month, but since I am poor & prefer going to shows that say in the $6-10 range, I'm not.

HOWEVER, Juiceboxxx did play at the RISD tap room the other night with MNDR & Kokomo [CORDEYYYYYY] & that was a great set. During "Sweat" Juiceboxxx decided since he couldnt get on the speaker that was next to me [I was blocking it] that he was just going to climb up on my shoulders. My back & heart hasnt been the same since. Then he threw a trashcan at the crowd & they crowd-surfed it. Tons of energy in his performance, so happy he did three tours that hit Rhode Island this year.

I dont really have much more to say, actually. I'm trying to find another job, but that's obviously a joke. Oh well, this isnt a personal blog, so let's keep it about music, shall we?


xox

Thursday, November 12, 2009

okay seriously.

i'm going to start writing in here again because i feel i need to creatively express myself once more. however, i've got to run off to work so i'll have to work on this later.

basically going to go with a recap of where we left off & a few more shows i attended etcetcetcetcetc.

ok bye.


ps: fuck twitter in the facebook.
get off the internet, social butterflies.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

DEAR WORLD

I can't even begin to describe what the fuck happened in Provvy Dance last night.


I mean, I know for certain that there was an all girl rap group called Wide On who sung mostly songs about sex & STDs, i'm actually almost possible that they're the girls rapping on STD Fury by Javelin so that's pretty cool.

There were other acts, a dance troupe & fiinally, EARPWR. I really really really really really really really really really really reaallylylllyyyy love these guys. They're really cool & friendly people & when the show start's it's all about high-fives & dancing. Prior to their set I had a chance to sit down & smoke a joint with them & their tour manager [ALAN JACKSON SHIRT LOL]. I really would have liked to had stayed after Ear Pwr but my friends were getting tired which was annoying, so I didnt even get to see the rest of the acts.

Either way, it was a really good time over all & Ear Pwr is awesome & a fun time & THEY BETTER COME BACK TO PROVIDENCE SOON KTHXLUVYABAI

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

seriously ya'll it's been too long.

it's so hot in provvy dance that it rains boiling water

5/14
What Cheer?
Dan Deacon Ensemble
Teeth Mountain
Special Super Secret Guests JAVELIN
FUTURE FUCKING ISLANDS
& etc

Located in various parts of the wonderful city of Providence, Rhode Island, this two show extravaganza was just off the fucking hook. I took notes & also managed to interview Samuel of Future Islands fame. This isnt going to be one of those articles about how the music was precise & blah blah blah nono, this is going to be about how these musicians & this scene is what keeps me interested in music, art, & this fucking state. Keeping it alive & well is something we must do. Too often performance spaces are being shut down or even destroyed & it's just not worth it to me. seriously, i'd choose fort thunder over shaws supermarkets any day.

but this isnt that article either.

this is stuff i wrote into my phone that day
"okay guys its that time again, dan deacon & his loveable cast of baltimore bad boys are back. first there was the show at risd, scheduled to be outside but moved into an auditorium due to rain. the rain did not stop the what cheer? brigade from doing their thing all over market square. excellent energetic performance from these guys, A++ would see again.

the brigade led us inside where dan warmed us up & then we were off. I missed the last few songs due to being in a 2 hour parking zone & not wanting to get a ticket, turns out I was in a loading zone & got a ticket anyway. right on! either way he played get older, baltihorse, paddling ghost & I managed to catch the end of woof woof & most of of the mountains during a soundcheck.

I guess overall I was pissed because while one of the members of the crew, geoff, said we could park in the lot where the show was being held, & while he watched me battle the jeep into the spot as soon as I got out of the car he walked over & told me I had to leave. thanks dickbag. fuck providence cops. here's hoping that the late show doesn't get busted or something stupid."



lol foreshadowing. arrived at secret hipster warehouse with the posse in effect cold rippin up the set, talked with geoff about the oil situation & eventually met up with sam to do my interview. what follows next is what i wrote into my phone because i suck & dont have any serious recording equipment currently.


first & most importantly i'd like to let you all know that typically samuel smokes his own rolled bali shag cigarettes however on that night he was smoking a different type of tobacco that was not as good, either way his first statement was that smoking during an interview is cool. so there you have it.

what was the inspiration for the song old friend?
its a song about me talking to myself, finding yourself as an old friend when you have time to yourself.
it was inspired by a lot of different things such as leaving greenville & getting better, getting out of that scene & getting clean. starting over.


growing up what kind of music did you listen you & what influenced you today as a musician?
underground early 90s hiphop & roots. krs one, erik b rakim. in high school, hip hop & jazz. radiohead & spoon, neutral milk hotel end of high school. really into elton john as a kid, danzig & primus at 10 & 11. hip hop
is really what influenced me.


how do you feel about providence & personally what's your favorite venue in this area?
I fucking love providence, but in the beginning it was really different. last years show got us to more spaces in providence but before that we didn't really play here too often. though, i really love narwhal arms but it's not called that anymore.

the kids are very artsy & dirty & i love that vibe.


what's next for you guys?
after the tour we're touring europe for 10 days & then writing the rest of our upcoming album. we've got 5 songs that are to be for the album, we're gonna have about a week to record the album. recording in the first week of july, totally stoked. we wrote a lot of new songs on tours last year in the us & europe & we've been playing the new songs ever since. they're already getting kinda old but I can't wait to hear how they turn out in the end



so if smoking is cool then you're going to love what happened next.
after the interview was over Sam gave me a beer & we hung out on the bus for a little while longer just generally bullshitting. over all it was really cool & eventually some pretty cool people made their way to the bus, not to name drop or anything but I know that I smoked pot with BennyAdventure & Andrew Burt [OF TEETH MOUNTAIN] as well as my cold chillin krew & a bunch of other people on the bus.

eventually the show started & i heard teeth mountain, they're actually really really good but quite undescribable, i'll just leave it at the fact that Andrew OF TEETH MOUNTAIN is a pretty cool guy & everything about the whole show was just extremely chill & awesome, as andrew said "STAY CHILL"

Future Islands came on & it was just awesome, Manny was rocking face there again & I was totally pumped to see him & his crew just because he's at all the Future Islands shows, just like me & we always bump into each other. Dancing all over the place & generally just having a great time, Future Islands always puts on a fantastic show, & while I know the new record will be worth it, it's going to be sad to not be seeing them as much.

Javelin played & it was pretty cool but they didnt play soda popinski [or i missed it due to being on the bus smoking weed] HOWEVER, I did get to hear a completely fantastic live remix with vocals by Sam of Flicker & Flutter. Honestly, it was one of the musical highlights of the night, I think they should consider recording it.

CLIP CLOP UP THE STREET FEEL THE RAIN FEEL THE HEAT
YEAH.


Around 12:30 I guess Dan Deacon started to play & I was there to get pictures & video, though I dont really know how to upload any of that [other than the pictures which i'll see what i can do because lol cameraphone] so we'll just talk. Started the performance all warmed up since the early show & we were off, he played Get Older again & Red F. I cant remember much else but I do remember that right as he was going to play Silent Like The Wind the police had entered the parking lot & were trying to clear it out because a lot of people were trying to get in or something.

See, the show wasnt really supposed to be public, I dont think either way the building filled up & the bouncers if you could call them that were basically like "well, it's full right now so you cant come in without a stamp but if people leave...", so theres a bunch of people just standing outside pretty much & the Police show up & are trying to get kids to leave so we're trying to be really quiet & it's sort of working so Dan decides to lead the group in a rendition of feliz navidad which went over well until the drummers started to play, despite stopping a minute later the cops were on their way upstairs. A friend of mine from the back watched the police officer go from stone faced cool guy to HOLY FUCKING GOD HOW ARE THERE THIS MANY FUCKING OH MY GOD.

Either way, we all got kicked out & went home for the night. Dan gave me a hug for the bad luck I'd been having with his shows that day, but over all it was one of the better concerts this year. But they're all the better concerts this year. Everything is beautiful here & I love it.








Dont go changing.

Monday, February 16, 2009

I know what you're saying.. ILLEGAL...

OKAY HERES THE DEAL GUYS
i happened to have gotten my dirty little hands on something reeeeally sweet yesterday. oh yes, the long awaited BROMST by Dan Deacon.

i'm really at a loss for words here
when i say this could quite possibly be the best record
i have ever heard.

everything about it is just perfect. i dont know what to say. the xylophones on Padded Ghost to the maniacal melodies intertwined with each other on songs like Woof Woof & Red F. i really just dont know what to say. sure, it's an attempt at a more serious album, but it's just too fucking fun! it drops in march, so go buy it as soon as you can.


oh & the instrumentation on the record is spot on & amazing.


WAY TO GO DAN, A+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

BEEN TOO LONG NIGGAS.

OKAY

JUICEBOXXX IS COMING BACK TO PROVIDENCE.
as220 feb 23rd

WITH JAVELIN.

Obviously you can read about the antics of both these musical acts if you go back to september/august, but here's the first thing i ever wrote about javelin.

"okay, javelin.. i guess they were pretty, okay really interesting. but really good & pretty fun to jam out & dance to as a warm up. some friends of mine werent digging them, but i had no problem."

then i wrote

"javelin finally came on with a little delay & fucked up false starts, they finally have shit ready, so they're jamming & its great. they played soda popinski & i lost my shit, spinning my shirt over my head & dancing in front of their 3 and a half foot stack of hyphy as fuck, spraypainted boomboxes. at one point tom from javelin was on top of a bass drum dancing & singing while george did his thing on the floor. they played susie cues & oh centra then they ended, but it still wasn't over. everyone was having a wonderful time, why make it stop so soon[lol 2am]? after checking the police situation they were granted another song, they played STD fury which is a great song to get stupid to. they ended the set with vibrationz & everyone made their way to the door."

when i got back to my friends house [thanks for missing out pal] i told him, since he'd asked earlier when i played some javelin for him "how does one perform this?" i finally had a really good answer "very energetically on top of a bass drum in a loft."


& heres my first whatever about juiceboxxxxxxxxx

"next up we had JUICEBOXXX who'd already drank 4 pre mixed kaluha white russians so he was self admitted sick to his stomach & we were all going to be disappointed as fuck. after warming himself up to Born to Run by Bruce Springsteen he kicked the show into full fucking effect & jammed the night away. running & rapping & dancing through the crowd you could just tell he was having an absolute blast, not to mention he was obviously wasted. the wasted definitely came into play at the very end of his set when he decided it'd be a great idea to remove both my hat & my glasses in a spiralling motion from my face."



I GUESS WHAT I'M SAYING IS
COME OUT & FUCKING DANCE