I Predict A Riot

On a Saturday evening few months ago, I saw Ra Ra Riot at the Westword Music Showcase, and I don’t remember being all that impressed. Granted, it had been a long day of standing outside in the sun, and the crowds had been full of annoying douchebags who apparently only came to hold shouted conversations over the music, so my tolerance level was pretty low. I remember thinking RRR might have some promise, but I wasn’t really in much of a mood to give a new band a chance that day. Well, after listening to The Rhumb Line for the first time this weekend, I won’t make that mistake twice. This album has pretty much been on repeat since I downloaded it—at home, at work, on my iPod while I work out—and while I can’t exactly pin down what it is I enjoy about it so much, it really struck a chord with me. The closest I can come to describing their sound is like a darker Vampire Weekend without the Afro-Pop influence. The strings (in this case, violin and cello) are central to RRR’s sound, and I think that’s part of it for me. I’ve gotten into larger bands that use strings (like Arcade Fire and Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s) in recent years, and I’ve always loved Mark Mothersbaugh’s chamber-pop-ish scores to Wes Anderson’s films, so it makes sense that a large part of why I love Ra Ra Riot is that they seem to be influenced by all of that music, but have taken that influence to its next logical step.

I could go on, but I feel like I’m not coming close to doing the music justice with my description, so just have a listen for yourself.

“Dying Is Fine” (mp3)

“Ghost Under Rocks” (video)

Fall Music Preview

Lots of potentially great new music coming out this fall. Here’s a list of what I’m looking forward to (I’ll continue to update as I find more info):

8.19
The Verve, Forth
The reunited Manchester outfit’s first album since 1997’s Urban Hymns. They’ve been playing new songs on tour this summer, and early buzz is good. Even if Forth is only half the record Hymns is, that would still make it a quality reunion album.

8.26
Matthew Sweet, Sunshine Lies
I’ve heard a couple tracks on his MySpace page, and I can’t tell if they're rough mixes, or if his production is that raw. His last few albums have been hit or miss for me, so I’m hoping this one will be more along the lines of In Reverse or Kimi Ga Suki, and not another Living Things.

9.12
[UPDATE] Metallica, Death Magnetic
I can’t decide about this one. It’s hard for me to get excited about a new Metallica album since their last few have sucked so hard, but the word is that they’ve returned to their roots for this one, tapping into some ...And Justice For All-type riffs. That sounds good... after all, Justice is the album that made me love these guys in the first place, but then again, it’s hard to forget how bad St. Anger was. I think I’ll give this one a listen before I drop any cash on it.

9.23
Kings of Leon, Only By the Night
Their last one, Because of the Times, was such an amazing leap forward, I’m interested to see if this is more of the same, or if these four Southern boys keep pushing their sound.
[UPDATE] If the first single (now playing on their MySpace page) is indicative of the whole album, I’d say they haven’t strayed too far from Because of the Times. I’m good with that.

Mogwai, The Hawk is Howling
Same here. I liked Mr. Beast a lot, and Mogwai’s the type of band that sticks with what works. Fine by me.

9.30
Ben Folds, Way to Normal
On the other hand, we have Ben Folds, coming off the underwhelming Songs For Silverman. I’m hoping he can get back to the fun of Rockin’ the Suburbs on this one.

10.07
Margot and the Nuclear So & Sos, Animal! & Not Animal! (2 separate releases)
No idea what to expect here, although I do know the excellent “Broad Ripple is Burning” will be on one of these.

Oasis, Dig Out Your Soul
It might suck, but I’ll still play the shit out of it. Easily worth it for the two or three Noel-sung songs that are sure to appear, like [UPDATE] the newly-released “Falling Down”. I'll buy it on the strength of that song alone.

11.18
U2, No Line on the Horizon
Early word is that U2 are “very, very pleased” with this one. Bono is happy, and just in time for the holidays. Looks like we’re in for 7 years of peace and prosperity the world over.

(Most of these dates come from Metacritic.com)

Festivus (for the rest of us)

Summer approaches, and that means summer music festivals. I’ve got several options to choose from this year. I can stay nearby for the return of the Monolith Music Festival at Red Rocks (which was a great success, for me anyway, in its inaugural year but has yet to announce a lineup for this year) or the new, well-intentioned but somewhat mish-mash Mile High Music Festival at DSG Park. If I feel like traveling (which seems likely, since Radiohead has decided not to play a solo show anywhere within 1,000 miles of Denver), there’s the pretty spectacular lineup of this year’s Lollapalooza in Chi-town.

But as fun as festivals are, they also have their drawbacks. Weather (hot or wet), overpriced food and beverages, and general music fatigue from watching 30 or 40 bands over 2 or 3 days can sometimes make festivals a trying experience, not to mention the high prices promotoers can charge for gathering so many artists in one place. So to avoid all that, I decided that this year, I’m flipping the script and putting together a summer music festival the way I want it. To start, I’ve worked with different concert promoters to spread the bands out so that this is truly a “summer” festival. None of this BS 3-day nonsense. This puppy lasts four months (from May to September). By spacing the artists out this way, I avoid music overload, but get the privilege of paying the ridiculous food and beer prices on multiple occasions, not to mention getting to see a good number of the more disgusting bathrooms in the Mile High City. Plus, as an added benefit, this setup lets me give Ticketmaster a lot more of my money. And trust me, there’s nothing I enjoy more than paying an extra 50% on top of the ticket price in “convenience fees,” “venue fees,” “sales tax,” and whatever other bullshit those greedy bastards have come up with so that their fat fucking pig of a CEO doesn’t miss out on his $12 million bonus check this year.

Aaaaaanyway... I’ll be announcing more acts as they come along, but so far, I’m pretty excited about my lineup. (Confirmed means I have tickets, unconfirmed means I’m still debating.)

April 28: The Raconteurs @ The Fillmore Auditorium (I’m considering this a pre-festival warmup show—Unconfirmed)
May 2: Elbow @ The Bluebird Theater (Confirmed)
May 16: Margot & The Nuclear So and So’s @ The Larimer Lounge (C)
May 20: Sea Wolf @ The Bluebird (U)
May 29: The Kooks @ The Ogden (U
June 2: The Roots @ The Fillmore (U)
June 3: R.E.M./Modest Mouse/The National @ Red Rocks (C)
June 5: Rush @ Red Rocks (U)
June 14: Drive-By Truckers @ Westword Music Showcase (U)
June 21: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss @ Red Rocks (U)
July 21/22: The Police/Elvis Costello @ Red Rocks (U)

So far, so good. Rock ’n’ roll will never die. It just gets more expensive.

Standing on the Mountainside

I spent the past two days at Red Rocks taking in the inaugural Monolith Festival, and other than some sore legs, I’d call it a rousing success. The festival had five stages (the main Red Rocks stage plus four smaller areas), and over the course of two days, I saw 19 bands. Having been to a few festivals in my time, I was pretty impressed with the efficient timetable by which the bands’ sets were staggered (and the fact that everyone basically stuck to it), especially since this was the organizers’ first shot at this. Over the two days, I caught bits and pieces of a lot of performances, but here’s who I stayed to watch play more than one song:

FRIDAY
Everything Absent or Distorted
The Broken West
Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah
Das EFX
Kings of Leon
Editors
The Decemberists
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Cake

SATURDAY
Nina Storey
The Little Ones
Meese
Margot & the Nuclear So and So’s
Ian Ball (of Gomez)
Lords of the Underground
Art Brut
Spoon
The Flaming Lips

Whew. When I look at that list, it’s no wonder I’ve been so looking forward to chilling on the couch today.

After hearing so much about them, I was really looking forward to seeing the Lips, and they didn’t disappoint. They put on a great show (although I could have done with a little less speechifying from Wayne Coyne) with smoke, lasers, confetti, streamers, and dancing aliens and Santa Clauses, and were a great way to end the two days. Kings of Leon were definitely the highlight for me, but I was impressed by The Broken West and Ian Ball (who did some great covers and solo versions of Gomez songs), really happy to finally get to see Margot & TNSAS, and had my interest piqued enough that I’ll try to see Editors and BRMC in a different setting. It was also very cool to discover some great Denver-area bands (Everything Absent..., Meese, Cat-A-Tac, Nina Storey)—there’s a pretty solid music scene developing out here. Overall, this was a great festival experience, and hopefully, next year’s will be just as good. Parking was a breeze, it was easy to move between stages (as long as you don’t mind climbing stairs... lots of them), the food and merch was fairly reasonably priced (although they could use some more variety in the food department next year), the lineup of artists was solid, and of course the setting couldn’t be more amazing. I’m already looking forward to seeing next year’s announcement.

As a side note, I was really pleased to see woxy.com as a sponsor of Monolith. As I’ve said before, WOXY was the local college radio station in Oxford, OH (where I went to school) for many years, and turned me on to a lot of the music I still love today. Through a series of strange events, WOXY was forced to go internet-only, and has twice been snatched from the jaws of bankruptcy. I talked to one of their DJ’s, Shiv, about the happy fact that they’re still in business, and we reminisced about Oxford. Then he gave me a free t-shirt (rather appropriately, the graphic is a phoenix emerging from the ashes). Sweet.

Local flavor

One of the perks of working for a media company is that every once in a while, something really exciting passes across your desk. Friday was one of those times for me, when I was given an advance copy of the first major release by a local band, Margot and the Nuclear So and So's. Their name has been popping up around town for the past year or so (they played several nights of the Midwest Music Summit and a lot of dates at the now-defunct Patio), but I was never really that interested in seeing them. I kept envisioning a female-fronted ska band. Well, I'll happily admit my mistake on this one. The Dust of Retreat is one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. The music is bittersweet and gorgeous, and the first comparison that came to my mind was Bright Eyes without Conor Oberst's lisp. Aside from the usual guitar-bass-drums setup, the band also incorporates cello, keyboards, and trumpet, giving the songs a rich, layered texture that creates a surprisingly mature sound for a band that's only been together for less than two years. Dust has actually been released already on a small local label, but it's been remixed and remastered by Artemis and is slated to get a national release in March. MNSS is already touring the East Coast in support.

You can hear the album streaming at Margot's MySpace page, and read more about them in their official bio (not much help), AllMusic's bio (better), and NUVO, the local alternative weekly paper here in Indy (the most interesting read of the bunch). Me, I'm just excited. I had pretty much given up hope on the local music scene, but if stuff as good as this is coming out of here, maybe it deserves a second chance. I have a feeling big things are ahead for MNSS, but even if that's not the case, I'll keep listening. I mean, they named their band after a character from a Wes Anderson movie. Obviously, genius at work.

Other news from the weekend: Fox ran two hours worth of Arrested Development on Friday night as the "season finale". But as Kristin at E! Online reports, it might as well have been a series finale. Sucks that Fox had such little respect for this show that they put it up against the opening ceremonies of the Olympics and probably ran a total of two commercials over the month leading up to it. At least AD went out on a high note. I still hurt from laughing.

Later that night, the US men beat up on Japan in San Francisco. The final score (3-2, good guys), was in no way reflective of the game. Japan got two late goals after the US had started subbing out half of their starters. Granted, I'd like to have seen the Nats close out the game in a better fashion, but they had played 60 minutes of full-throttle soccer with their foot on Japan's throat, and it's hard to maintain that pace for an entire match. Great games again from Taylor Twellman, with a goal and two assists, Clint Dempsey, who was beaten down almost every time he touched the ball and still managed to score a classy goal, and Eddie Pope, who seems to be rounding into form after a long recovery from injury. For a game that was supposed to be a much tougher test after walking over Norway, the US still looked mighty impressive. And that's always a good sign in a World Cup year.

And finally, I guess the Olympics started. Yawn.