Summertime

This past week, Entertainment Weekly ran a small piece trying to predict what the “summer jams” of 2008 will be. A lot of mainstream music mags and websites generally do something along these lines around this time of year, and most lists are fairly predictable themselves. They will almost always include: 1 rap song with mail-order beats, tired references to how much money, cars and women the rapper has, and an incredibly annoying and repetitive hook; either a crappy Top 40 band masquerading as “punk” or “emo,” or some marginally “alternative” band slipped in by the editors in a desperate effort to hang on to whatever shreds of cred they might have once had; and inevitably, the list will be topped off by the current overproduced mess from the R&B or pop starlet of the moment, who 90% of the time can’t hit the high notes without the aid of pitch bending software. In recent summers, we’ve been treated to Rihanna, Beyonce, Avril, and Britney. This year, EW gives us three options: Mariah Carey (OK, she’s got a real voice), Fergie (absolutely hopeless without Pro Tools), and the coup de grace, Maroon 5 (kings of pitch shifting themselves) featuring Rihanna. Double the Pro Tools action, double the summer jam potential, apparently. Well, screw all that. If you can’t sing without a computer to help you, there’s no way you should be making money as a singer. But good luck trying to convince whoever is buying the iTunes Top 20 every week of that fact (I’m looking at you, High School Musical fans). Luckily for me, I haven’t crossed into that territory in many many years, and in that spirit, here’s my anti-summer jam mix. Perfect for rocking your Memorial Day picnic.

I Will Possess Your Heart… Death Cab for Cutie
Orange Crush… Editors
Grounds For Divorce… Elbow
Violet Hill… Coldplay*
Living Well Is The Best Revenge… R.E.M.
The Righteous Path… Drive-By Truckers
Rich Kid Blues… The Raconteurs
Just Like Heaven… The Watson Twins
Outfit [Live]… Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit
I Like What You Say… Nada Surf
I Thought I Saw Your Face Today… She & Him
M79… Vampire Weekend
Lights Out For Darker Skies… British Sea Power
The Light… Sun Kil Moon
Shooting Star… Air Traffic
One Day Like This… Elbow

*Full disclosure: Coldplay is treading dangerously close to falling into one or two of the categories I listed above (for that matter, Death Cab’s not far behind), and I’m not 100% sold on the quality of this, their new single. But I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt until I hear the new album. Plus, c’mon, it’s Coldplay. They’ll be impossible to avoid in a few weeks anyway. Might as well start assimilating now.

Metalworking

I just got back from my second viewing of Iron Man, and I have to say, I'm not at all surprised that it was just as good the second time. It’s a great movie. Not a great “superhero” movie, or a great “summer blockbuster.” It’s an all-around great movie. Sure, it hits all the right beats for a comic book movie (especially an origin story) and there were plenty of geek references for the comix fans (Rhodey eyeing up the silver armor, and did anybody else pick up on the Star Wars references?), but it wasn’t campy, it wasn’t overdramatic, and it wasn’t a commercial for merchandise—just a well-cast, well-marketed movie with a solid story at its core. Unlike most (OK, all) superhero movies, this one left me with the feeling that, given another 10 years of technological advances, it’s probably not all that far-fetched. I give most of the credit to director Jon Favreau for not letting the effects and tie-ins overwhelm the movie (OK, except the Burger King thing—that was a little gratuitous), and also to Robert Downey Jr. for making Tony Stark a living, breathing character, not just the cardboard caricature he could have easily become. I’ve always been a fan of RDJ’s, but he crushed this role (not that he had to stretch very far to play a “bad-boy” celeb). The supporting cast was great as well, if a bit under-used. Gwyneth and RDJ had very believable chemistry, and Jeff Bridges was so far removed from The Dude as to almost be unrecognizable. Even though I’ve never read any Iron Man books and only know the very basic backstory, I cared about these characters, I got sucked into the story, and I wanted to know what happened next. Happily, I’ll get that chance again. Thanks to Iron Man’s gigantic opening weekend, not only has Marvel already greenlit Iron Man 2, but as anyone who sat through the credits knows, there’s an Avengers movie in the works as well, which will tie Iron Man in with this summer’s Hulk reboot, as well as upcoming Thor and Captain America movies. The nerds truly are running the gym these days.

So after all that, I realized it’s been years since I actually went back to see a movie a second time in the theater, so the bar is set pretty high for this summer’s lineup. Next up, Prince Caspian. Let’s see if Walden and Disney can improve on a decent, not stellar, Lion, The Witch & the Wardrobe.

Interactive

Elbow at the Bluebird Theater. I always prefer small venue shows for a lot of obvious reasons—clearer sound, actually seeing the people onstage, and the chance for the artist to embrace and interact with their audience, an opportunity Elbow’s lead singer Guy Garvey grabbed with both hands last night. Kicking off off with “Starlings,” the opener from their new album, Elbow proceeded to mix their “golden oldies” with several more new songs. Elbow’s lush and layered sound came off surprisingly well live (if you’ve never heard their music, imagine Peter Gabriel fronting an older, smarter, and more cultured Coldplay). The band sounded tight, switching smoothly between rockers and the more mellow acoustic stuff. I was happy to hear “Scattered Black and Whites,” “Leaders of the Free World” and “Grace Under Pressure,” and the new single, “Grounds for Divorce” was a high point as well. The only disappointment for me was no “Fugitive Motel” in the set, but overall, I left quite satisfied. And openers Air Traffic showed a lot of promise, despite wearing their influences pretty blatently on their sleeve (I’m betting Coldplay, Muse, and even their tour mates are in heavy rotation in their van). They impressed me enough that I bought their album, and I’m happy to say it was well worth the $10.

But what stuck with me most on the night was Garvey’s electric personality and ability to handle the crowd. He provided interesting banter between each song, convinced a group of fans to buy the band a round of shots, drank toasts with the audience throughout the set, had the front row grabbing for his hand like some superstar televangelist, and shamed the ubiquitous howling Denver douchebag contingent into silence with a brilliant display of Northern English charm and wit. He even convinced the audience to sing a song of our choice instead of stomping and clapping to get the band to return for an encore. Unfortunately, the only song we could come up with that everyone knew was “The Wheels on the Bus.” Pretty lame. Still, I can count on one hand the shows I’ve seen where a performer has had the audience in the palm of their hand the way Garvey did last night. It’s an incredibly difficult stunt to pull off, which makes it all the more exciting when it happens. Most impressive.

Kaleidoscope

This one’s all over the place. In fact, I think I’ve created a new musical genre: Classic-Turkish-alt-jazz-grass-punk-hop-tronica.

1. Kelly Watch The Stars [Moog Cookbook Mix]… Air
2. Knowing… Outkast
3. Kids With Guns… Gorillaz
4. Kirmizi Biber… Bendeniz
5. Kite Flying Society… Mark Mothersbaugh
6. Kaleidoscope… Béla Fleck & The Flecktones
7. Keep Me… The Black Keys
8. Kashmir… Led Zeppelin
9. Kusursuzsun [acoustic version]… Emrah
10. Ken’s Ode to Joy… Michael Andrews
11. Knockin’ On Heaven's Door… Eric Clapton
12. Keep On… Braille
13. Koka Kola… The Clash
14. King Caesar… Head Automatica
15. KRS-Lightly (Ft. S.A. Smash)… Vast Aire
16. Kite Song [rough mix]… Rosie Thomas
17. Kephra… The Impossible Shapes
18. Knee Deep In The Beats… London Funk Allstars
19. Keystrokes… American Analog Set
20. Kare Kare… Crowded House
21. Korn Dogs… Danger Doom
22. Knock Me A Kiss… Louis Jordan

Just

Where the “I” mix was all about me, this one’s all about the ladies.

1. Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine… The Killers
2. Judy Is A Punk… The Ramones
3. Jackie Big Tits… The Kooks
4. Jamie… Weezer
5. Justine… 120 Days
6. Jenni’s Song (1:00 AM)… Matthew Good Band
7. Josephine… Teitur
8. Jane (live)… Barenaked Ladies
9. Jayme Lynn… Béla Fleck
10. Jackson… Hem
11. Jenny Don’t Be Hasty… Paolo Nutini
12. Jezebel… Iron & Wine
13. Julia… Chantal Kreviazuk
14. Jessamyn’s Reel… Chris Thile
15. Jacqueline… Franz Ferdinand
16. Jenny… Stellastarr*
17. Jennifer Save Me… Golden Smog
18. Jenny Wren… Paul McCartney
19. Jolene… Mindy Smith
20. Judy And The Dream Of Horses… Belle & Sebastian
21. Julia… Mando Saenz
22. Jen Is Bringin The Drugs… Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s

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.

I, music fan

I’ve been crushed at work lately, but I finally had some free time this weekend to get back to reality. I did some serious spring cleaning to go with my seriously annoying spring cold, and got caught up on a lot of magazines and TV (Battlestar Galactica’s back!), but mostly I was able to sort through a plethora of new music. In turn, that motivated me to finally dust off the alphabet mixes, picking up with I. It’s always interesting to me how these mixes come together as I whittle down the playlists. In the case of this one, it became somewhat of an autobiographical mix: Everything here falls between the years 1983–1997, and the artists included all had some kind of impact on my musical tastes, guitar playing, and/or romantic life during that period. Really, it seemed rather natural that a mix of songs starting with “I” should be about me.

1. I Am One… Smashing Pumpkins
2. I Am Superman… R.E.M.
3. I Can Dream About You… Dan Hartman
4. I Can’t Wait… The Sundays
5. I Don't Think So… Dinosaur Jr
6. I Love You, What Are You?… Gene
7. I Remember You… Skid Row
8. I’ll Be Comin’ Around… The Bottle Rockets
9. I’ll Stick Around… Foo Fighters
10. I’ve Been Waiting… Matthew Sweet
11. If I Can’t Change Your Mind… Sugar
12. If You Leave… O.M.D.
13. In A Big Country… Big Country
14. In Bloom… Nirvana
15. In God’s Country… U2
16. In The Garage… Weezer
17. In The Valley… Midnight Oil
18. Into Your Arms… The Lemonheads
19. Iris… Live
20. It’s Only Love… Bryan Adams (with Tina Turner)
21. It’s So Easy… Guns N’ Roses

“You’re a... teacher?” “Part-time.”

Summer movie season, here we come. Ahead of its release on Memorial Day weekend, the first trailer for Indy 4 (OK, fine—Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Blech. That title sucks.) made its way to the InterWeb this week. As expected, it looks action-packed, and I appreciate the willingness to crack jokes at the expense of Harrison Ford’s age, but there’s a few things that worry me. I’m remaining cautiously optimistic, but that shot of a car chase along the edge of an obviously CGI-created cliff is concerning. One of the greatest things about the original trilogy is that the locations were always real, and the stunts always looked like they could actually happen. George Lucas’ obsession with computer-created movies better not ruin this franchise too.

But as long as this movie remains firmly focused on Indy as the main character, and doesn't just become a setup to extend the franchise with Steven Spielberg’s boy-crush Shia LeBouf, I'll be happy. Something else that makes me happy is that Karen Allen’s character Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark is back. You can see her briefly in one shot, but she’s such a great character, I’m surprised they didn’t play up her return more. Maybe in the next preview.

Triple Threat

Editors, Hot Hot Heat & Louis XIV, Ogden Theater. As my friend Luc said last night, there's a reason you go to see bands live. I own both Editors albums, and had seen about half of their set at the Monolith Festival last summer, but none of those things in any way prepared me for their thunderous live sound. In a way, Editors are Coldplay’s evil twin. Both bands play moody Brit rock, and have lineups consisting of guitar/bass/drums and a hyperactive lead singer who alternates between guitar and piano. But while Coldplay set themselves firmly on the path to the mainstream by following in the footsteps of mid-80’s U2, Editors were burying themselves in darker 80's music—The Smiths, Joy Division, The Cure and Echo & the Bunnymen. Much like all of those bands, Tom Smith’s lyrics find the tragic beauty in the grand Romantic themes of love and death, while live, the band leans heavily on their rhythm section (something The Cure has always done to great effect). On Editors’ studio stuff and even when I saw them outdoors last summer, it was hard appreciate the power of their drums and bass, but in the Ogden last night, that solid underlying groove was impossible to miss. Plus, I love what this allows the lead guitarist, Chris Urbanowicz, to do with his instrument. He very rarely plays any chords, instead either playing chiming melody lines or ripping off squealing fills behind the melody, which creates a really interesting texture (and also increases the similarities to 80’s Goth). I said in my Monolith review that I was intrigued enough to want to see Editors in a different setting, and I'm glad I did. They put on a great show (although at 1 hour and 10 min including encore, it could have been longer). But with the two openers, it was a pretty solid night of music top to bottom.

I could say many of the same things about the sound of both Hot Hot Heat and Louis XIV. I had heard some of their studio stuff, but they sounded a lot heavier live. Louis XIV sounds like the bastard child of AC/DC, Kiss and David Bowie, while Hot Hot Heat made me consider the result if Rush had been into punk instead of prog rock. I don't know if either band made me a fan, but I'd certainly like to hear more of their stuff. The nice thing was, both of these groups have enough of a following that the theater was full and rocking for all three sets, instead of the small and half-interested or nearly silent crowds that usually show up for the openers. It always surprises me a bit to see what a difference an active crowd makes to my enjoyment of a band, but I guess that, too, is part of the appeal of seeing live music, and definitely a part of why I keep going to shows.

Speaking of which, this was show #92 all-time for me (yes, I’m anal enough that I have a list), and looking back, I’m happy to say that almost all of them have been enjoyable. I guess that makes sense, since I’m not likely to go see too many bands I don’t like, but you’d think there might be a few more bad nights or bands that just suck live. Happily, I’ve been pretty lucky. Anyway, stay tuned for some kind of special thing when I get to #100. Maybe I’ll give myself a special award or something... ;-)

Good to Be Kings

One of the first things I did after I bought my new TV and added the HD channels to my cable package was to set my DVR to record Austin City Limits. ACL has always had this legendary reputation, but it’s always been sort of a mystery to me. Despite the fact that some of my favorite artists have done incredible shows, I never remembered to watch it unless I happened to pass an episode while flipping channels. But thanks to my DVR, now I can see every new episode, and this season has definitely been worth it. For many years, ACL focused mainly on country and blues, giving the nod to local Austin acts whenever possible. But recently, they’ve begun to change their focus, booking younger and hipper indie bands. So far this year, I’ve seen sets from Wilco, Arcade Fire, Bloc Party, Explosions in the Sky, Paolo Nutini, and Ghostland Observatory. But the best so far was the band pictured above, Kings of Leon, who in just a few songs reminded me what an amazing live band they are.

I’ve seen the Kings live twice—a couple of years ago in Indianapolis at a small club, and last summer here at Red Rocks as part of the Monolith Festival—and both times, they’ve been fantastic. The Kings are pretty unassuming onstage. They don’t go for a lot a lot of banter or big fancy light shows; they just get up and play their songs (and play them well). Their music is a perfect blend of indie and Southern rock (think the Strokes meet Skynyrd), and it lends itself very well to a live show. When I saw them in Indy, they were there because they had a night off from a 3-night stint opening for U2 in Chicago and wanted to play somewhere that wasn’t a cavernous arena. They had the crowd of 500 rocking, and they sounded great, but I’m willing to bet their music sounded just as good in the United Center. It certainly sounded good at Red Rocks, where in my opinion, they were the highlight of the festival. If you’ve never heard their stuff, their ACL performance is a great place to start. PBS tends to rerun episodes fairly frequently, so check your local listings... or just set your DVR.

Other stuff I’ve been into lately:
There Will Be Blood. I had some issues with the story itself (I thought it was a little choppy and unfocused), but the combo of Daniel Day-Lewis and the score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood made this movie an incredibly intense experience.

Lost: Season 3. This season seemed a lot better when taken in a just couple of chunks, rather than spread out over seven months. I’m definitely looking forward to the new episodes, even if we’re only getting 8 of them.

GarageBand. I’m not a DJ, but I play one at home.

Salem’s Lot, Stephen King. The first time I read this book, I was 13 years old and it scared me so bad, I wouldn’t go down in the basement by myself for a month afterwards. It wasn’t quite as scary this time, but then again, I don’t live in a big house in the woods anymore with the wind blowing tree branches against my window all night. Even so, it’s still a terrific read, and it made me remember why I got so into King in the first place.

In Rainbows, Radiohead. Still amazing every time I listen to it. I’m just as excited by it as I was when I wrote this.