Concert Review: AudioDax at the Vogue

September 14th, 2011 • Concert Review

AudioDax is a two man Electronic Hip Hop band comprised of Thomas Balcom (Temble) and Matt Rivera (Krypton Flo). They met in College and their musical bromance began. Thomas and Matt make up a perfectly seasoned odd couple. Temble and Krypton Flo pass their songs back and forth; Temble crooning out smooth vocals among Krypton Flo’s clever lines. The resulting sound is fresh and catchy and party inducing.

They played at the Vogue in Indianapolis, IN on August 12^th a grungy concert hall with some history. It opened in the 1930′s and acted as a cinema and adult movie theater before slipping into its role as a dance club and concert hall in the late 70′s. AudioDax performed first, opening up to cheers from a rowdy fan base. They performed mostly from Pop Rocks their 2^nd mixtape but peppered their concert with older songs as well, but are free to download or stream online. My favorite tracks being “One Night” and “September.”

Charming their mostly younger crowd the shows vibe was energetic, upbeat and dance-friendly respective to the music itself. It was a solid turn out, fans filling-up the Vogue’s open dance floor. The band experienced some mic trouble, a few songs cutting in and out, but they recovered effectively. The duo performed for just under an hour before handing the stage over to Nappy Roots, the night’s following act.

AudioDax states their goal as crafting music for “good feelings and even better times.” A mission I feel is well accomplished. AudioDax’s tracks are fun, the music is bouncy and really fresh. Currently, the pop/hip hop drift towards electronica in popular music is obvious, giving AudioDax current relevance. Their timely mix of an emcee and singer should also help to carve out a unique place in the industry.

AudioDax’s vibe is impossibly upbeat. I think it’s part youth, part passion and a lot of talent that gives them the crisp edge. I also appreciate how they’ve played with their genre. It’s not that their songs are without roughness or some of the general themes common to pop and hip hop music–you’ve got the expected partying, sex, drinking and drugs—but these guys don’t lean on it. Additionally, the sweet flavor of their songs makes each track seem somewhat innocent and light, creating an approachable summer party sound. With their talent, enthusiasm and creativity I find AudioDax quickly painting themselves as the good guys of hip hop and look forward to the evolution of such a young group.

Richard is from the Hoosier state so all styles of music appeals to him.  He also has a website called artroommelody.com where he writes about art in every form.

Typhoon: Concert Review

August 7th, 2011 • Concert Review

The sweetness of summer is pretty much universally understood to be unrivaled, and I’ve yet to come across a band that epitomizes the epic summer anthem quite like Portland, Oregon-based Typhoon. Introduced to Typhoon last summer some months after the release of their excellent full-length album Hunger and Thirst, I have had the privilege of seeing them play twice in the last few months: once on the west coast at the 4th Anniversary bash of Tender Loving Empire, the group’s home-grown recording company, at the Wonder Ballroom in Portland; and out east at the Mercury Lounge in New York City while on tour promoting their newest EP, A New Kind of House. The band’s an unusual ensemble, with upwards of 15 members including both a string and horn section in addition to two drummers working full kits. While one might think such a cohort runs the risk of being becoming  a chaotic mess of a super-band, anchored by front man Kyle Morton’s artful lead vocals and vivid, elegant lyrics the band manages to create remarkably tight instrumental arrangements which nearly always include a particularly economical use of choral capacity — background vocals are provided by the entire band, not a single member’s voice goes unused. As a result of all of the above, the sheer volume of instrumentality, at any given moment as delightful as it is complex, entirely avoids becoming overwrought. They are, in short, alternately warm and bold, or mild and easy — that is, the perfect summer night in a musical nutshell.

Having established the good-on-paper qualification of Typhoon’s recorded music, let me also say: boy, can these guys play the bejesus out of a live show. TLE’s birthday showcase featured several other acts signed to the label, but Typhoon’s ceaselessly energetic performance saw even the most subtle songs in their repertoire completely adapted for live performance; that is, into jams you couldn’t help but rock out to, making them the memorably unequivocal focal point of the night. The venue and the band’s following may have been significantly smaller in New York than their Portland counterparts, but the performance ethic translated with crystal clarity. After playing at Lollapalooza on August 6th they are headed back to Oregon via Missouri and Colorado, so if you can’t catch them before the summer ends do check out both Hunger and Thirst and A New Kind of House.

Check out some of their stuff here.

Recommended tracks: CPR-Claws Pt. 2 (Hunger and Thirst)
The Sickness unto Death (Hunger and Thirst)
The Honest Truth (A New Kind of House)
Summer Home (A New Kind of House)

Also recommended: video of the lead singer performing a cover of Bruce Springstein’s “Atlantic City” with Danielle Sullivan, who’s also in a pretty great Portland band, Wild Ones. (They date each other.)

Lily Joslin is a Portland, Oregon native. How cool.

Concert Review: Titus Andronicus at SPACE Gallery

March 30th, 2011 • Concert Review
Tags: concerts

In the early 1590s, William Shakespeare wrote what was thought to be his first tragedy, Titus Andronicus- who knew? Well, probably a lot of people. On March 29th, when New Jersey (although recently relocated to Brooklyn- shocking) based band Titus Andronicus took Space Gallery’s intimate stage in Portland, no one was thinking about 16th century theater.

The five-piece band opened with “No Future Part Three: Escape from No Future,” introducing the band with a steady build that gets you pumped because they started playing and then gets you pumped because they started rocking. The show really seemed to start with the unified yell of “or ever again” from all fans in the audience marking the transition from the “aforementioned” playing to rocking.

Marking the one year anniversary of Titus’ sophomore album, The Monitor (vaguely Civil War themed…belated riling is so cool), and their second tour since its debut the set list had more flexibility than their 2010 post-release tour (“The Monitour”…I love it). They equally sampled songs from both The Airing of Grievances and The Monitor, allowing for enthusiasm with every introducing riff whether it be inspired by thoughts of “this was the first Titus song I heard in 2005!” or “they didn’t get worse on their second album!”

Guitarist Patrick Stickles admits that “Titus Andronicus has gotten old  because when [they] first started playing [they] wouldn’t play any slow songs live and then [they] would maybe play one but now [they're] on to two.” While understated because slow for Titus still makes you dance, this was so necessary. The seven minute epic “To Old Friends and New” allowed the audience to breathe and get water and introduce themselves to the people they had just been smashing up against for the past few songs before heading right back into it. This break was only the prelude to, as Stickles introduced it, “13 minutes of straight rocking.”

Those 13 minutes told you what Titus is all about. You didn’t know if they had started a new song. You didn’t know if they were just jamming. You didn’t know anything, except for the few brief gasps of recognition from included songs “My Time Outside the Womb,”  “Upon Viewing Brueghel’s ‘Landscape With The Fall of Icarus” and even a classic Clash “White Riot” cover.  It barely mattered if they were playing in tune (which they were); it barely mattered if they were playing in time (which they were);  it barely matter if they knew the lyrics (which they did). What mattered was the energy they generated from sharing with the audience the best night of their lives, just like every other night of their lives.

After a short breather, the band knocked out a few classics, including a short Ramones cover (are Ramones covers ever anything but short?). They concluded with The Monitor‘s opening track, “A More Perfect Union” and there was never a more perfect union than the yell of “give me a cruel New England winter” from Mainers sick of the cold and jacket-less Jerseyans unprepared for winter in March. At Space, however, no one was cold the entire night.

Titus was preceded by Portland’s own Brenda and Brooklyn based Dinowalrus, both of whom were thoroughly impressive.  Brenda is a three piece band who rocks even without a bass (that space filled, rather, by a keyboard). Formed in 2008, the band is pretty young and this became evident in the first few moments of each song, where they searched for a common ground. They locked into it quickly, however, and from there on out it was nothing but forward momentum interwoven with slight, single changes in a beat or a riff or an anything that wasn’t repeated immediately, leaving the audience with gripping attention to when the next surprise would come. Seriously, that was awesome. Similarly awesome was the drummer whose arms must be made of rubber with magnetite implants. It was as if they were free form from his body and just naturally attracted the kit at the right time and in the right place. Definitely a highlight.

Dinowalrus, another three piece band, was similarly skeptical about always having a bass (what’s up with this?) which proved itself somewhat disappointing, not because the synth wasn’t cool (which maybe it wasn’t always), but because when the synth/bassist Liam Andrew chose to play bass instead of synth he was mesmerizing. Seriously, this guy can move his fingers. He made climbing fifths actually interesting to listen to, if only because they were the “simple” part of the bass line, used to underscore a fleeting guitar (from former Titus guitarist Pete Feignebaum) or drum hype.

Both of the opening bands were able to leave an impressive mark and were still remembered even after the almighty Titus Andronicus. Well played by all. Well danced by all. Well done by all.

Review: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals (Hollywood/Ragged Company)

June 10th, 2010 • 4 comments Album Review, Concert Review, Folk, Rock

I recently had the opportunity to watch Grace Potter perform live.  Each time is a treat. She shakes and drops, teasing the crowd with her rockin’ legs and “candy ass.”  Abandoning her trademark soul, Gracie has gone rocker-girl with her new partner-in-crime Catharine Popper, formerly of Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. Popper’s smart, up-beat baselines and sexed-up style bump the Nocturnals to a new level. But on the new album, and to some extent in concert, our Gracie has gone missing. The soulful organ-grinding girl from Burlington has gone Hollywood, literally. While This is Something certainly marked a shift Potter’s style, she maintained her seductively bluesy sound. However, signing with Hollywood Records seems to have finally hijacked the bands studio sound, turning our Gracie into a magnate for 15-year-old high school girls, alienating the old-guard hippie crowd that gravitated to her during tours with Gov’t Mule.

It isn’t simply the turn towards hard-core rock that has me rattled. It’s that she abandoned what made her special, and worth listening to: The Organ. Without it, she looses the soulfulness that makes her hard-core rockin’ so damn sexy, its distinctiveness in a world of blonde country stars with cookie-cutter verse chorus repeat bridge banality. With Grace Potter and the Nocternals, the band’s latest effort, the B-3 largely fades into the back. Its sound varies. Alternating from choir accompanist to circus master, the Hammond has lost is soul in Ms. Potter’s latest album.  For all those who crave the unnerving, reverb-saturated, rock grind that drove tracks such as  “Treat Me Right”, “Ragged Company”, and “Sweet Hands” on Nothing but the Water, the reality will soon set in that Gracie likes to shake it, and the B-3 hides what all the men in the 9:30 club want to see.

Ms. Potter played many of her new songs, returning briefly to NBTW for brilliant renditions of “Sweet hands” and “2:22”.  She remains a force to be reckoned with on-stage, even if her voice sounds constrained at times. Slipping her shoes back on after a raunchy opening set she remarks, “ I don’t care what anybody thinks, I’m putting then back on ‘cuz they make my butt look like candy. See?” turning her back to the audience and accentuating what could never be even intentionally obscured. Just as her new songs feature a smart lyrical compactness, her on-stage banter maintains a sharp and witty character. Popper eggs her on. “Take it off,” she taunts.  Potter retorts, “talk about womanizing ourselves” as the band plunges into “Ah Mary”, the crowd-pleasing political scorcher about America.

Her new songs however, offer little of the sound that first attracted me to Potter’s music. They are marred by backup vocal tracks that dilute the sheer power of her voice. She rarely lets loose, with outtros comprising loud guitar rock and the occasional Potter shriek instead of the heart melting blues notes she used to hold for miles.  Electrifying guitar solos replace jazzy organ jams. “Tiny Light” showcases her vocal talents at moments, but they become lost in the country-pop choruses. The organ finally breaks through in earnest in “Only Love” a Bonnie Raitt styled throwback about heartbreak and love. It’s truly one of the more enjoyable tracks on the album; the chorus has a jazzy fullness, delivered with a guttural emotion missing from many of the country-tinged offerings.

The single “Medicine” represents some of the best elements of Ms. Potters revamped sound, most notably her songwriting and thumping classic rock guitar lines.  The song describes a seductive “policy woman” who pulls the narrator’s lover away. The seductive intruder has “the medicine”, but our storyteller steals “her bag of rattling bones” and “magic stones” en route to securing “the medicine”.  Our storyteller gets herself a pair of “mojo hands”, ending the song proclaiming, “I got the medicine that everybody wants.”  The phrases are bright and sexy, there’s a sense of achievement in Potter’s voice that mimics the song’s lyrical theme.  Missing from the album is the bands one-of a kind rendition of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” as featured in Tim Burton’s Almost Alice. I’m not sure what prompted this decision, but I regard it as a significant oversight that reeks of big-label money-sucking tactics. The band’s cover is magnificent. Live, it’s spectacular. Popper bangs out the iconic baseline with an addictive coolness and suave that sets the tone for Ms. Potters picture-perfect vocals.

The album is overall quite good. Ms. Potter’s vocals soar on several of the tracks, revealing how truly talented she is. The album seems to be an attempt to channel the electricity and vibrancy of the band’s live work into a studio album. On this level, they have succeeded spectacularly; the album simply rocks from start to finish.  But I can’t help longing for the soulful organ rock that first attracted me to Gracie. It’s there; It’s just in the background now.  Just like her concerts, the album is chocked full of erotic grunts, ohhs and ahhs, sensual reminders of watching Ms. Potter perform live.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals leaves me asking one question. Where has Gracie gone?  I know she’s still there somewhere, waiting to break loose live in the nation’s most prominent music clubs. The new album however seems to pander to a different crowed. In front of me was a group of high school girls. “They don’t get it,” my concert neighbor, a long time Potter fan remarked about the bands music and the girls. They may not get the old stuff, the music that first seduced me; music that made Grace a tiny light on the otherwise marginal roots-rock throwback scene. However, they do get the new Grace, the Hollywood Records Grace with harmonized back up vocals and mainstream normalcy.  They get it because they are used to it, and GPN puts it right in their laps, no work needed.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: B

Live Concert: A

CONCERT REVIEWS: A fantastic week of music for Paris – Frightened Rabbit and The Very Best

April 15th, 2010 • Concert Review, Electronic, Rock, Video
Tags: frightened rabbit, radioclit, The Very Best

It was a fantastic week for music in Paris. Frightened Rabbit played Tuesday night at Le Flèche d’Or, and The Very Best graced Social Club the following evening. The groups put on shows that are practically polar opposites, but both nights proved to be brilliant in their own right. Read more »

Why? plays in Paris

March 27th, 2010 • 4 comments Concert Review
Tags: Why?

Listening to Why? sometimes feels like the audio equivalent of voyeurism. Lyrics to songs like “Good Friday” are raw and gritty, evoking images that are twisted and grotesque. Between the dirt, however, the Independent/New Wave group somehow manages to weave in extremely heartfelt and wholly relatable matters of the heart. Considering the band’s body of work, it is unsurprising that lead singer Yoni Wolf lists MF Doom and Lil’ Wayne next to Joanna Newsome and Bob Dylan as sources of inspiration.

The contrast between the clashing sentiments in Why?’s music makes the group entirely intriguing, if not irresistible, and the large crowd at their show at La Maroquinerie in Paris last Thursday March 25 is evidence of their universal, however bizarre, appeal.

The night began with a set by Josiah Wolf, Yoni Wolf’s older brother and an up-and-coming solo act in his own right. British band Popular Damage followed, and the headliners took the stage after making the Parisian crowd wait what seemed like an inappropriate length of time. But Why? didn’t loose any lovers for the delay. On the contrary, Yoni Wolf knew all his lines, lamenting between songs on the set list, “Paris, man… everyone here looks so good it makes me self-conscious.” The Cincinnati-based band put on a great show, and despite having caught a cold, Yoni’s distinct voice was both controlled and vivacious. The often-brutal honesty evident in Why?’s lyrics is intoxicating, and makes the group a live act not to be missed. Read more »

Concert Review: Toro Y Moi/Washed Out/Small Black/James Cook

March 16th, 2010 • 1 comment Concert Review, Electronic, Maine
Tags: chillwave, Jamie Cook, Small Black, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out

Editor’s Note: This article was originally written for The Bates Student, and was published in that publication on March 9, 2010.

Music lovers of Bates turned out in distinct droves and waves on Friday night, March 5^th for a WRBC-sponsored event at The Benjamin Mayes Center. The concert was much promoted by the campus radio station, in an effort to get students listening and excited for these up and coming groups.

The artists, who fall under the blog-spun catch-all genre “chillwave” all actually sounded pretty distinct. Each group brought a distinct and enjoyable sound to students who were clearly very excited to dance and enjoy what the bands had to offer. Read more »

Concert Review: Snoop Dogg in Lewiston, Maine

February 28th, 2010 • 1 comment Concert Review, Hip Hop, Maine
Tags: Dephonic, Snoop Dogg

There are few things that I can imagine more ridiculous than me meeting the rapper Snoop Dogg, the mastermind behind such classics as Gin & Juice, Drop it Like it’s Hot, and Beautiful.

Now, if you told me when I was a young naive first year student that not only would I, within the next four years, not only see Snoop Dogg live in concert but also that I would meet him, I would not have believed you in the slightest. Furthermore, if this was all to happen at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, I would have categorized this among the mythological, something only possible in the world of Harry Potter.

However, this actually did happen. I did see Snoop Dogg perform. I did meet Snoop Dogg. This did happen at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. Read more »

Concert Review: Le Loup in Paris (with Video)

February 26th, 2010 • 1 comment Concert Review, Folk, Rock, Video
Tags: Le Loup, Paris

Le Loup, The Wolf in English, is Jim Thomson, Sam Simkoff, Robby Sahm, Michael Ferguson and Christian Ervin. Their most recent album, Family, was released on Hardly Art in September of 2007, a record label started by the founder of Sub-Pop, Jonathan Ponerman. Read more »

Lucid Dreaming with Sweden’s Fredrik

February 22nd, 2010 • Baltimore, Concert Review, Rock
Tags: Baltimore, Fredrik

I’m in love, and not to the bear of a man squished against me wearing a Veckatimest shirt or the beautiful couple to my left who were doppelgangers of Beach House. I have never been so ecstatic about a band since the Cotton Jones Basket Ride (now Cotton Jones).

Fredrik, a Swedish dream duo composed of Fredrik and Lindefelt, “use music as a medium to talk to people”, words taken from a hero of theirs, Sun Ra, and, over February Break, on Feb. 20, I attended a show of theirs in Baltimore’s Metro Gallery. In between spacey, intoxicating tunes, their narrative vocals steal your mind, irrevocably intriguing you into some faraway escapade. In a stark yet much welcomed juxtaposition to folk guitars, many of their songs build midway with the addition of horns and strange bellows. The crowd is swept into Fredrik’s lullabies in which our wildest dreams come true and everything is euphoric, strange, and alive.  All the sounds pulsate through you, shown through songs such as Alina’s Place, which was extended to 7 strong minutes, where the entire crowd cooed in like birds and chanted  “we’re all in.” They’re the best of the Cary Brothers , with leads resembling early Calexico, and the captivating backgrounds of Broken Social Scene.

So I leave you with these recommendations, because I know I have convinced you to join me in my praise of Fredrik: If you’re looking for a song to hook you, check out Ava. It’s bouncy, breathy, and a little creepy. In my mind a perfect combination. Definitely check out Na Na Ni, along with their newest album, Trilogi. Read more »