Concert Review: Snoop Dogg in Lewiston, Maine
February 28th, 2010 • Concert Review, Hip Hop, Maine • 1 comment
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 »
Week in Review (2/28/10)
February 28th, 2010 • Maine, News • No comments
Thom Yorke’s new band is now called Atoms for Peace. He announced a tour and played some new songs.
“World Sick”, a new Broken Social Scene song, hit the internets.
Vampire Weekend made a pretty good video.
People are liking Joanna Newsom.
Of course, Toro Y Moi, Washed Out and Small Black are this upcoming Friday.
Pretty sure Snoop Dogg was here. Read more »
Concert Review: Le Loup in Paris (with Video)
February 26th, 2010 • Concert Review, Folk, Rock, Video • 1 comment
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 »
Jonsi announces film to complement upcoming release
February 26th, 2010 • Commentary, Iceland, Video • No comments
It would seem that a number of my favorite musicians are now following the trend of producing films to accompany their album releases. Recently, English anti-folk musicians Noah and the Whale released album and film The First Days of Spring, and now Icelandic post-rocker extraordinaire, Jonsi, has announced a film to complement his forthcoming release Go, due in stores early April.
The film, titled Go Quiet, is billed on his website by director Dean Deblois (Director of the Acclaimed Sigur Ros documentary, Heima) thusly: “The concept behind ‘go quiet’ was simple: it’s New Year’s Day in Reykjavík, and Jónsi awakens to a trashed house in the wake of his party. he avoids cleaning up and instead procrastinates by playing songs that reflect the night before, the bittersweetness of new year, and the melancholy of a year gone by”
This full length DVD will be released alongside the album as a part of various special edition packages.
Check out the trailer, it is pretty epic:
Lucid Dreaming with Sweden’s Fredrik
February 22nd, 2010 • Baltimore, Concert Review, Rock • No comments
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 »
Album Review: Blackroc by The Black Keys (and friends)
February 19th, 2010 • Album Review • 1 comment
When Pharoahe Monch belts, “Rock ‘n’ roll I lose control/ f*ck the white ones, the Black Keys got so much soul”, he pretty much touches the heart of Blakroc.
Ever since Elvis began shaking his hips, rock ‘n’ roll has been primarily for white production and white consumption. The Black Keys naturally want to question that. The blues-rock duo the Back Keys, consisting of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney, have spent the better part of the last decade thriving in a white dominated rock world.
Their latest project, Blakroc is a compilation. The duo does rock instrumentals for eleven tracks featuring thirteen rappers and r&b singers. The artists play with the line of hip-hop and rock throughout the album. They aren’t the first band to do put live instrumentals behind some rap lyrics. The Roots have been doing it as long as anyone can remember, driven by the airtight drumming of ?uestlove. Galactic released From the Corner to the Block a couple years ago giving hip-hop and funk edge. Despite those recent efforts, this album is truly something new. While wailing raw guitar noise leading the way, its much more reminiscent of Saul Williams. When the Black Keys dare to stray from the backbeat the album explodes and enthralls. Aurbach’s guitars pervade the entire disc and create with spacey solos grip the listener, when he chooses to let loose. Read more »
Trivia Night XXXI
February 19th, 2010 • Maine, News, Video • No comments
The legendary night of Trivia is quickly approaching. Those of us on the Monkey Editorial Staff thought making a video to honor the occasion was in order.
Music Video Log 2/10/10
February 10th, 2010 • Commentary, Video • No comments
This week was a huge step back for those of us who grew up with Music Television (MTV). The cable channel originally set up to feature predominantly music based programming, specifically music videos officially dropped the subtext of “Music Television” from their now-famous logo.
Granted, I personally only had a few years of ‘real’ MTV before the network was, in my opinion corrupted by the influences of reality TV, notably The Real World and Road Rules, which ultimately are, at this point, among the most influential shows of our time, leaving us a legacy of ratings hits ranging from Survivor to The Mole and even the insufferable Jersey Shore that is apparently the new craze on MTV itself.
Fortunately for the next generation of music fans, which I might as well be a part of as well, online video sites, such as YouTube and Vimeo are constantly being flooded with music videos from artists of all levels of fame and genres. These videos are available for free and whenever I want them, so, I am willing to see music television go the way of the Dodo, just as long as the record labels do not stop producing this subgenre of film of which I have much affinity.
There are always new and different videos being released on the Internet, here is a sampling of a few of my most recent favorites.
Jonsi – Go Do
The Icelandic singer (of Sigur Ros) is putting out a solo album (Go), this is the video from the first single, Go Do
The Very Best – Warm Heart of Africa
The interplay between Esau Mwamwaya and Ezra Koenig (of Vampire Weekend) in this video is hysterical.
Toro y Moi – Blessa
For the video for the first single from his new album, Causers of This, Toro y Moi (Chaz Bundick), buzz artist of the moment, creates a dream-like, lap dissolve heavy recreation of a good old fashioned house party. Pay attention to what he is drinking from.
Beach House – Silver Soul
The Baltimore duo presents a rather fantastic hula hoop user in sepia with an intricate use of speed augmentation and fantastic cinematography, very befitting of the song
Preview: Go by Jonsi (with Audio)
February 7th, 2010 • Album Review, Iceland • 1 comment
Lead singer of the band Sigur Ros, Jón “Jónsi” Þór Birgisson, has dipped his toes into the world of solo work before under the pseudonym “Frakkur,” but none of that early work comes close in quality or sound to his most recent venture, his forthcoming album Go, which is slated for a global release on April 5th. So far, two tracks have been released officially by the artist “Boy Lilikoi” was given away as a free download to fans on December 4th, and, just this week, the second track, “Go Do” (The opening track on the album) was released on YouTube by his label.
In support of the album, Jonsi will tour North America, including two stops in Boston’s House of Blues on May 5 and 6. Tickets are going to be $30 and go on sale on Tuesday 2/9/10. Read more »
WRBC Charts 2/9/10
February 7th, 2010 • Charts • No comments
