digitalrobert

My top ten live performers for 2011 pt. 1

2012-01-05T02:15:00.004-06:00

2012 is here, and as the past year comes to a close so appear the top 10 lists. Lists for movies, TV, albums, songs, books are all great reads but none that I feel qualified to write. So instead I will stay in line with the predominant topic of this blog and present my list of best live musical acts for the year. Ranking all the great shows I saw this year is extremely tough considering the setting and circumstances can be just as important as the music itself, so while the final ten that made the list are ranked it's in some ways in no particular order, just a matter of how affected I was by each. I am lucky enough to see over 100 concerts a year, mostly due to the many festivals I attend so it is no surprise that many of the acts that make this list I saw in such a setting. Some groups don't necessarily translate the best in this kind of setting, but in general the enthusiasm of the crowd is hard to resist and I was able to catch many acts that would never pass through Nashville. Some acts I was lucky enough to see here as well, and that definitely helped ensure some artists position on the lists. So on that note let's get right to it since the first name on this list is one of those groups:

10. Das Racist

Das Racist could be a tough sell for someone who's never heard of them. When people think of hip-hop they don't picture of a crew of indian dudes on a tear through a ridiculous mish-mash of pop culture references that no one could possibly catch just by listening. Das Racist flies in the face of what I have come to expect from the rap scene, and that's probably one of the reasons they had to be on this list. Their music is zany and creative, bordering on the absurd at times yet somehow remaining connectable and thought-provoking (sometimes at least). Live they are a whirlwind of energy, whacky beats accompanying their rhymes which come at you so fast it's impossible to catch all the references. But no matter, the energy is impossible to resist be it in a festival setting (many thanks to Pitchfork) or in a small club (exit/in in Nashville). I was fortunate enough to do some photography for their Nashville, but even though a picture may be worth 1000 words I'm sure they wouldn't be as funny or interesting as what Das Racist could come up with. So props to them for their creativity and giving the rap game a major facelift, definitely one of the most entertaining groups I saw this year.

9. Röyksopp

Röyksopp has been on my wish-list for many years, ever since I first heard Melody A.M. back in 2002 After many years of being disappointed by their lack of US appearances I was finally able to catch them at Ultra music festival in Miami. So very worth the wait, from the minute they dropped Happy Up Here the crowd was in their hands. Röyksopp crafts some of the most beautiful electronic music out there, shimmering with gorgeous sounds but still chock full of danceable beats and melodies. Despite the english lyrics you can totally hear the Scandinavian influence, and no doubt the bit of weirdness that comes with this adds to the charm. Really my only complaint was that the show was too short, and that there were a few key songs that I would have loved to hear. Hopefully I'll see them again soon so that may be rectified.

8. Gang Gang Dance

Gang Gang Dance was probably my biggest discovery this year as a live band, having never really listened to them until I started brushing up on bands Pitchfork signed up for their festival in Chicago. They were no doubt one of the biggest surprises there, their unique dance music played way better than I would have imagined in the middle of the afternoon on a hot summer day. The sounds they make are hard to describe, almost a world-music type of groove with a heavy electronic influence. Their music is very percussive based which keeps the beat alive and moving and the crowd right along with it. I highly recommend picking up a copy of their album Eye Contact and judging for yourself, as I was pleased to find their experimental grooves also translate very well on record. Definitely not for everyone, check out this live version of one of their songs of Eye Contact to get a sense of what I'm talking about. You may want to skip ahead a little as it takes a while to get going, they're big on the build ups:

7. Ratatat

I've been listening to Ratatat for years (not quite 17) and even saw a small part of one of their shows at Coachella back in 2007, but it wasn't until this year I got the full Ratatat live experience. I was interested to see how their sound would come across in a live setting, previously I had heard mixed things from people although more positive than negative. I definitely have to side with the former, their performance was tight and funky as they careened through a great set's worth of their unique down-tempo electronic groovy music. Despite the somewhat slow tempo of their tunes the music has such a slippery and delicious feel that it was impossible to stand still. The whole crowd was super into it, and this certainly helped to make it my favorite show at Bonnaroo this year. I've been listening to their records in heavy rotation and I just can't seem to get sick of them, as it seems to fit the mood for many occasions. Check out this video to Loud Pipes and maybe you'll get some idea:

6. Big K.R.I.T.

Big K.R.I.T. was everywhere this year, and deservedly so. His mixtape Return of 4Eva was so good it's tough to give it the label of a mixtape considering it was better than several full length hip-hop records I heard this year. But as good as KRIT's records are it is in the live setting where he really shines. Many artists can make a good hip-hop record but as I've come to learn only a small portion of them can translate it in a live setting. I think I saw KRIT no less than 5 times this year, 3 at SXSW and 2 in Nashville. I was also lucky enough to meet the guy, and I can attest to the fact that he is a genuinely humble and awesome person. His southern-fried rhymes have something for everyone, ranging from party-centric to introspective. Check out a couple of videos I shot at his amazing show at Mercy Lounge, definitely the best hip-hop show I saw of the year. All of his shows were great but this one was truly one to remember. I think we're going to be hearing a lot from KRIT in the coming years.

So concludes part 1, I'll be back with numbers 1-5 as well as some honorable mentions in the next few days. Cheers to live music and all that 2012 will bring!

Big news, BreathalEyes announcement!

2011-11-18T18:57:00.001-06:00

It's been way too long since I've updated this thing. There's been much I've been meaning to write about because a lot has been going on but I just never got it together. Big news has come though, finally after nearly a year's worth of work our iPhone App BreathalEyes is coming out on Monday 11/25. But first let's roll back to February.

In February 2011 I started XplorCorps LLC with two Nashville partners, Russell Ries and Clay Bradley. XC was formed as a creative software and development company with our first product in mind to be what would become BreathalEyes. BreathalEyes is the most advanced method of approximating Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) on the iPhone to date. Revolutionary Patent Pending technology puts the functionality of a breathalyzer on your iPhone. Effective range: 0.02% - 0.17% (+/- .02%) BAC. Once downloaded, BreathalEyes can approximate an intoxicated individual’s blood alcohol content (BAC), anytime and anywhere! You can visit our website at http://www.BreathalEyes.com for more information, or check below for some facts and a video showing the app action.

-BreathalEyes scans the eye to detect and analyze Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN).
-Technology based on 40 years of public and private testing.

-Only works on intoxicated individuals.

-Effective range: 0.02% - 0.17% (+/- .02%) BAC.

-Visit BreathalEyes.com for tips and videos.

-You can “SCAN” an individual with BreathalEyes immediately. With a breathalyzer, the subject has to wait 20 mins, after drinking to “BLOW”.

-No network connection required.

-Flash function for low lighting conditions.

-No data is recorded or retrieved from your phone by BreathalEyes.

-Works on iOS 4.3 and later.

BreathalEyes is for entertainment purposes only. Each person reacts differently to alcohol. The test results are for reference only and maybe affected by conditions such as high altitude and interaction with medications. BreathalEyes does not take any legal responsibility.

Please remember to ALWAYS DRINK RESPONSIBLY.

Young Man Lollapalooza videos

2011-09-08T16:33:00.001-05:00

Been super busy lately, moved into a new house and have a lot of exciting projects in the works. It's been too long since I posted though, now seems a good time to share the first videos from the Young Man shows I shot during Lollapalooza weekend. I have worked with this group on several occasions, mostly because my brother is in the band (he's the drummer) but also cause I think they're really awesome. Colin Caulfield is the front man and brainchild of the group but they are all an extremely talented bunch of musicians. These videos were shot at their Lolla after show opening up for Pains of Being Pure at Heart. They played a great show and I am very happy with how the videos are turning out so far. More will come, and I will be back to write more about many things in the future, but for now I'll leave you with the videos. Enjoy!

Lollapalooza 2011 pictures

2011-08-11T13:09:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not this was my first time ever attending Lollapalooza. It was a perfect time to do so, as I knew two of the bands personally who were playing on Sunday and I was given the awesome opportunity to film their shows and take some sweet pictures. My brother is a drummer in the Chicago based group Young Man, who I've filmed several shows for over the past year but this probably had to be their biggest stateside so far. Congrats to them on an awesome show and good luck on their new album (who they are recording with John McEntire, genius producer of Tortoise, Sea and Cake, and more). Videos will be coming soon.

The other group I was lucky enough to film was Cage the Elephant, whose guitarist I have become good friends with lately. They're originally based out of Bowling Green, KY but some of the members live in Nashville. And good thing because they put on an incredible live show and it was an amazing opportunity to be able to film it. They've really blown up too, the crowd was massive (estimated 20-25k) and it was one of the wildest shows I've seen all year. When the rain started to fall it only added to the energy, it truly was a special concert moment. Thanks to the band for giving me the chance to film it, I can't wait to go through all the videos.

Besides those two shows I didn't see much else except for Daedelus in Perry's dance tent. I fucking love this guy, ever since I saw him back in 2007 at SXSW he has always been one of my favorite electronic artists. He samples the best stuff, everything from Cut Copy to one of my new obsessions James Blake, and puts it amidst a barrage of electronic beats and warbles that is both danceable and thought-provoking. Kudos to him for pushing the boundaries of what electronic performers can do.

Overall it was an incredible experiences, I only got to go Sunday but it was more than worth the trip up to Chicago. I'll have some sweet videos in the coming weeks but for now check out some of my favorite pictures from the day. All shot on my Canon 5D, which I love more every day I spend with it.

Chicago skyline

Daedelus

Young Man

My brother killing the drums

Crowd at the Playstation Stage

Cage the Elephant

Thanks again to the bands for giving me the chance to capture these amazing concert moments. I wish them all the best, from what I've seen they still have much more to do.

Pitchfork Music festival report: Saturday

2011-08-09T18:58:00.002-05:00

I wanted to update at least one more day of Pitchfork before I get to the crazy Lollapalooza experience I just had. I got to film my brother's band Young Man as well as the awesome Cage the Elephant show, but more on that later. Now back to the Pitchfork recap which I've been writing off and on for the past few days but have now finally finished.

The first act we made it into the festival for was Sun Airway, a mellow rock band who provided a good start to the day. Their performance was solid although not that impactful, but I guess that kind of goes with their mellow vibe. Nonetheless it was a good way to begin the afternoon, the crowd was light so it was easy to get a good spot and soak up the music.

In spite of the blazing sun we went to check out some Cold Cave next. I could hardly complain about the heat though with the members all fully decked in long black clothes. They were bringing it hard too, from the singer's bombastic delivery to the big beats and synths they dropped it was quite a spectacle. They sort of had a Joy Division and New Order kind of feel, definitely the 80's vibe was thick with their music. We only caught the latter half of the show but it was a lot of fun, and I hope to see a full show of theirs soon.

No Age was up next on the adjacent stage, a pretty sweet noise rock band I had seen a couple of times before. They've been around for a few years now, and over time they have really tightened up. They're still a raucous mess but it's a much more controlled one. The crowd on the other hand felt free to let loose, with plenty of movement up front as the two members of the band kicked it into high gear. Their songs are short blasts of pure energy, the drummer sings and for some reason that always adds a level of intensity. Definitely reminds me of Death From Above 1979, who are a superior band in my opinion but still a reasonable comparison. Overall it was my 2nd favorite show I had seen of theirs, and was a great lead-in for the next group.

Because Gang Gang Dance was next and they just blew the festival up, in many ways it was the most exciting show I had seen so far at the festival. A New York based band fronted by an intense front woman who seemed to be the band leader in many ways. Their music is somewhat tough to classify, because while it is definitely dance oriented it is also very experimental and weird. With 6 members on stage they took their music many different directions throughout the set but the energy always remained high. Throw in some stage diving from the lead singer chick and the crowd was definitely right there with them. I was a bit worn out after their show, but we went to meet up with some friends and check out some Destoyer next.

Now for a band called Destroyer it was a pretty low key affair, compared to No Age who had played previously on the same stage they were radically different. Cool grooves, mellow vocals and saxophone riffs set the tone. Unfortunately the stage they played at had pretty weak sound from where we were standing so it didn't really hold my attention that much. At this point all I could think about was the next show.

Because up next was Dismemberment Plan who were easily my most anticipated act of the day. If you don't know Dismemberment Plan it wouldn't surprise me because they are an older band that actually broke up in 2003. I was luckily able to catch them on their farewell tour but that was 8 years ago! They used to be one of my favorite bands later in high school, but that shouldn't lump them in with some of the not-so-great stuff I used to listen to. Their album Emergency & I is an absolute indie-rock classic, and their follow up Changes is also a stellar album. Lead singer Travis Morrison writes some of the best lyrics I've ever heard, truly thought-provoking and insightful stuff. But beyond that the band has amazingly creative guitar sounds and an absolutely killer rhythm section as well. This was one of the few shows at Pitchfork that I knew every song. I wasn't just familiar with them either, I knew most of the lyrics by heart even though some of their work came out nearly a decade ago. As you can probably guess it was an extremely fulfilling show for me, definitely my favorite of the day. I really can't say enough about how great this band is, you really just have to hear it for yourself.

After the Plan we staked out a spot where we could watch DJ Shadow from and be posted up for a good spot for Fleet Foxes' headlining show. Now I am an absolutely huge DJ Shadow fan, but this was not one of my favorite shows of his. First off he came with his latest crazy visual setup which involves this orb his tables are in, so for nearly the first half of the show you couldn't even see him. And since it was still light out the visuals were barely even visible, especially from my vantage point. His tune selection was mostly still on point, with lots of classic tunes thrown in there from his incredible, ground-breaking albums Entroducing and Private Press, although some of his newer material crept in there which is no doubt inferior. No doubt this show in the proper setting would have probably been a lot better, but in the end you just can't have DJ Shadow playing in daylight. This show couldn't hold a candle to the insane show I saw at Bonnaroo in 2007 or even what little I did catch at Coachella that year for that reason. Shadow belongs at night, enough said.

Luckily though we still had one more act to go, and in many ways it was my most anticipated headlining act of the weekend because I had only seen Fleet Foxes one time before and it was only partially fulfilling. Fleet Foxes has gained a lot of popularity over just the past year or two, and you could tell as the crowd got very thick as they were about to take the stage. My vantage point was not ideal but at least I could hear the music very well. Fleet Foxes is almost a band you could enjoy even more with your eyes closed, their beautiful harmonies washing over you amidst the throngs of people. Their music has some folk elements for sure, and is definitely of the slower pace but no doubt absolutely beautiful. Best to hear it for yourself, check out the video I shot below. Then go get some of their records, great music to chill out to if you know what I mean.

So with that Day 2 of Pitchfork was over and another great day of music came to an end. I'll be sure to write about the last day soon, although I may have to first get to the insane Lollapalooza experience I just had. Right now I am in Casper, WY on a job and will be traveling back to Nashville soon (after I visit some friends in Denver) so I should have some time to write in there. For now though I sign off, and hope you will check out some of the awesome bands mentioned above that you haven't heard of.

Pitchfork Music festival report: Friday

2011-07-28T00:43:00.002-05:00

Pitchfork is one of my favorite festivals because of how different it is than most I go too. It is small by comparison (about 15k) and with only 3 stages there is minimal overlap and it is easy to see nearly every act you really want to. I went to the first one back in 2005 (back when it was the Intonation fest curated by Pitchfork, which changed the following year) and have been every year since except for 2009 due to some family issues. If you aren't aware of Pitchfork Media I urge you to check out their site, it is a great place to find out about awesome new music. They also put on a damn good festival, it is hard to rank all of the years but this definitely has to be near the tops as I believe they had one of the most solid lineups I'd ever seen for the festival from the headliners to the obscure bands that started each day.

Friday however started with fewer obscure bands as it was a shorter day. We arrived a little late and caught the end of Gatekeeper on the smaller stage, an electronic duo I had never heard of before. Their sound was rather dark compared to a lot of electronic music, it was an interesting scene because the crowd was pretty big but mostly just standing around. Just as we were getting into it though they abruptly ended, so we headed back to the field with the two main stages.

Battles was one of the main acts we wanted to see, but I was upset to find out Tyondai Braxton was no longer a member of the band. If you don't know Battles they're a so-called "math rock" band, almost entirely instrumental experimental music that is very rhythmic. Their album Mirrored is a classic, and Braxton was in many ways the defining member of the band. I had seen Battles play several times and my favorite show of theirs was at Pitchfork in 2007, and in the same setting minus their most crucial member it was hard to compare. Nevertheless they blasted through several of their most popular songs as well as material off their new album Gloss Drop. I enjoyed it but couldn't shake of the loss of Braxton, especially when they sampled vocals that he used to perform, loop and mix live. Here is an awesome old live clip of them from that time to give you an idea. If you haven't checked out Battles I strongly recommend checking them out:

Next we wandered back to the smaller stage to see Curren$y perform, a rapper I have mentioned a few times on this blog and have actually filmed a show of in Nashville. Pitchfork always has a few hip-hop acts each year that they are big fans of so Curren$y fit right into the lineup this year. Having seen him several times I knew what to expect, lots of wordplay about living the good life set to chill beats. His shows are less hype than most hip-hop shows I normally see, there's no shoutouts with the crowd or calls back and forth, just a stream of rhymes coming at you constantly. I knew a large portion of the songs but there were a few I had never heard before off his recent album Weekend at Bernie's so that was cool to hear. It wasn't my favorite show of his but great time nonetheless. Here's an old video I filmed at Phat Kaps in Nashville last year:

Das Racist was up next on the same stage, so we scooted up to get a better view of the wackiness that was about to ensue. I just found out about these guys this year and was really excited to see them. They're kind of a joke rap group except they're actually really talented. The songs are stream of consciousness in parts and often very tongue-in-cheek but still though-provoking in strange ways. I don't think they are for everyone, I can easily imagine fans of hip-off who would be turned off by their kookiness, but in this day and age after seeing the same thing so many times they are a welcome breath of fresh air. Their show was a blast and while they didn't play all of my favorite songs that was basically a given with their short festival set. Would love to see a full show from these guys, check out one of my favorite videos of theirs below:

We had worked our way up so close at the small stage that we decided to stay put and wait for the next act, James Blake. He recently caught my attention with his minimalist, evocative self titled album. It's a rather incredible debut record, full of introspective lyrics set amidst electronic arrangements with some elements of guitar and piano in there. It is definitely not the type of record you'd expect from your average singer-songwriter, and James Blake was rewarded for his efforts for a nomination for the Mercury Music prize, which is essentially the UK's best album award. Yes he's British if I didn't mention that, and you could definitely tell when he played. His voice comes out soft but runs right though you and hits with a lot more power you would think a soft-spoken Englishman capable of.

Despite the use of electronics in nearly all his songs Blake is a strongly opposed to the use of computers on stage, so it was very interesting to watch him and his 2 band mates get by without their use. He uses looping amazingly effectively, especially in the haunting "I Never Learnt to Share" which repeats the same line over and over again with James Blake singing on top of himself. Unfortunately the original version of that song is nowhere to be found on youtube (you can find a decent live version though from the SXSW pitchfork showcase which I actually attended but left before Blake took the stage) but I did pull up a video for another of my favorite tracks of his. This was my favorite performance of the day, and knowing how new to the scene this guy is I think we can expect some great things to come from him.

Last but certainly not least was the headlining performance from Animal Collective. This is one of the reasons I love Pitchfork so much, it is among the very few that a band like Animal Collective could headline. I've been a big fan for a long time and have seen them on numerous occasions, but they are by no means an easily accessible band. Their sound is strange, almost tribal at times, and with the different movements crashing into each other it is often hard to tell where one song ends and another begins. This has especially been true of their latest tour, which has seen the band playing lots of new material amidst a few of their older songs. Animal Collective are known for doing this, fleshing out material in a live setting before committing it to an album. Sometimes it can be a bit alienating as a fan, for instance their Coachella performance this year left many scratching their heads. Perhaps it was because many we just waiting for Arcade Fire or to hear their favorite AC songs, but only a few recognizable tunes were heard. Combined with the psychedelic visuals that obscured the view of the band on the screens it didn't capture the audience's attention in the same way I had seen at previous Animal Collective shows.

The Pitchfork show on the other hand was a different story entirely. Everyone in the crowd was there to see Animal Collective, the only performance remaining in the evening. Full attention was given despite the small amount of recognizable material. The stage was set with a strange backdrop , and the crazy visuals were back but with the screen to the far side of the stage they were way less distracting. The ebbs and flows of their music led the entire crowd through a literal kaliediscope of sound, punching up the energy way beyond the last show I had seen of theirs. No more so was this apparent during the Merriweather Post Pavillion closer "Brothersport" which caused a rush of the stage. Other classics like "Feels" brought out the good vibes to, a welcome familiarity amongst the weirdness. But weirdness is what Animal Collective does best, and in this environment it was perfect. Despite my lack of knowledge with their new material I think it even surpassed their Pitchfork show in 2008 (which was also a headlining slot). Fantastic ending to the day, check out this video I found for "Brothersport." Quality is not great but it paints a good picture of the show:

One bad thing with a festival like this is that it ends early, so by 9:45 the music was done. Another was the memory card for my camera failed and I lost everything, so no pictures from that day. At least it wasn't something wrong with the camera itself I guess. But with all the great music these are easy things to overlook. My favorite show of the day had to be James Blake, followed by Animal Collective's awesome performance. But this was just the beginning of a long weekend of music to come.

Coachella vs. Bonnaroo: The defining music festivals of our generation

2011-07-20T19:55:00.002-05:00

I never got around to posting a report about Bonnaroo this year and I only managed write for one day of Coachella, for my favorite day at least. But now after just coming back from Pitchfork in Chicago, which I am going to write about, I want to at least address the two before any other recaps. In the future I will go back and list some of my favorite shows and some of the awesome new bands I found out about but for now I want to write a more general comparison of the two because I believe they are the two most influential festivals in the country currently. They have also had a great effect on me personally as well.

I started going to music festivals in 2004, and that was also my first year of Bonnaroo. While I enjoyed the festival itself I had a bad experience with a girl and I took a year off in 2005. In 2006 I went to Coachella for the first time and started back up at Bonnaroo again and have been to both every year since, so it is here where I feel I can accurately begin to compare them. As you may likely infer at this point I go to a lot of music festivals, this Bonnaroo was my 40th one. Bonnaroo and Coachella have long towered above the rest for the sheer enormity, experience, and lineup. It has been very interesting to observe and experience the transformation of the two over the years, especially Coachella's.

When I first went to Coachella in 2006 it was a 2 day festival, only tent camping and no ins and outs (once you're in the festival you're in for the day). While it was an amazing and life-changing event (Sigur Ros and especially Daft Punk made sure of that) the festival experience was lacking at this point compared to Bonnaroo's. Part of the magic of these festivals is the community experience, setting up camp and being in the same setting as nearly everyone for the whole weekend really creates a better setting. At Bonnaroo basically everyone camps with their cars and is allowed to flow freely between the festival grounds and the campground whenever they please. These are policies that Coachella would adopt in the coming years, and while it took some trial and error for them figuring out how to best make it happen it was all for the better.

If you had asked me in 2006 or 2007 which festival i thought was better I most likely would have said Bonnaroo. While Coachella's lineups were a bit more my taste (they focus way more on electronic and less on jam-band type music, plus get more rare acts) the overall experience had to go to Boannaroo. 2007 was when the tide started turning though, as this was the first year Coachella became a 3 day festival. Bonnaroo has since responded (not directly or anything) by beefing up their Thursday lineup and making it a full blown 4 day festival. But in 2007, even with an incredible 3 day lineup the festival experience itself still paled in comparison to Bonnaroo's. Campers were forced to have their bags rigorously checked for substances, including alcohol which you were not allowed to bring into camp. And this was if you were able to actually get a camping ticket (which yes you have to pay extra for, unlike Bonnaroo) because they sold out their limited space quick. But seriously no alcohol?! Now I don't drink that much at festivals but there's no denying how lame that was. At Bonnaroo the security check is a joke, they put faith in their attendees and let them camp with their car for free and bring in whatever they want as long as it's not glass and you're not a dumbass.

But even with the negatives of the camping that didn't keep me from going, it just made me want more. Coachella had Bonnaroo beat in many ways, better setting, weather, art, and music (IMO of course). All that was in the way was the lack of community, and of course that pesky midnight curfew. One thing I didn't mention that Bonnaroo will always have over Coachella is the fact that it is private property and Bonnaroo can have shows go all night long. This leads to increased fun and longer sets for every artist which is a huge plus. Coachella was forced to end at midnight although in the past two years they have finally been able to extend that to 1am. That was in 2010, and this was a huge year for Coachella and the one that led it down the path to completely overtake Bonnaroo as the best festival in American in my opinion.

2010 was an absolutely huge year for Coachella, After selling out in 2007 sales were defintely down in 2008 and and 2009. Some blame the recession, some the weak lineups (I disagree on that one) but for whatever reason Coachella wasn't doing as well as it could have been. I believe in 2008 they actually lost money. But all that changed in 2010. Coachella made the announcement that it would no longer sell single days tickets, only 3 day passes for the entire festival. There would be no more casual goers, just there for one or two bands on one or two days. The festival would now only be attended by those who wanted to be there for the whole thing, to experience it all and become part of the community for the best weekend of the year. The also (FINALLY) decided to greatly expand the camping, allowing people to camp with their cars AND to be able to come and go between the festival grounds and camp as they pleased. I was very happy with this announcement, and despite complaints from a lot of people (mostly about the lack of single day tickets) the festival completely sold out. 2010 was definitely a major experiment for Coachella, and it showed.

Because while it was a blast 2010 was the biggest clusterfuck I'd ever experienced at Coachella. Well over 15,000 people were able to sneak in with fake tickets or just by climbing/breaking fences. The ticketing system failed and volunteers were overwhelmed with hordes of people. Coachella is supposed to be capped at 80,000 attendees. Festival creator Paul Tollet estimated that attendance that year was closer to 100,000 people. You could tell, it was unbelievably crowded that year and the experience suffered because of it. And while the camping grounds were much improved and expanded they stupidly (so, so stupidly) clustered all the showers and sinks into one massive area which people waited up to 3 hours in the blistering heat to use. Despite the problems though the improvements were worth it. Being able to go back to your campsite during the day to rest or even just have a beer (which you could finally bring in now, thank god) was incredible. The community feel of the fest was greatly enhanced, we became great friends with our neighbors and setup community shade spaces for all to share. It was clear Coachella had some kinks to work out, but the festival was definetly on the right path.

Now I haven't mentioned Bonnaroo for a bit in this entry and that is because during this time the Roo just kept doing its thing. Every year was great for a different reason, and being so close to my hometown of Nashville there were always a bunch of my friends there (although we have a really solid group for Coachella that has grown every year). I think this year though was the first year where the quality of the experience had clearly swung in Coachella's favor in just about every way. While it wasn't my favorite Coachella lineup it almost had to be my favorite year of going to the festival ever. They reinvented their ticketing system, sending out wristbands to patrons in advance and discontinuing the use of volunteers which cut down on the over attendance immensely. And incredibly enough Coachella sold out within a week of going on sale. But despite the sellout the festival felt a lot less crowded than in previous years. It was Bonnaroo this year that felt super overcrowded. And dirty, oh so dirty.

Now dirtiness is something you must come to accept at a camping festival. You're going to be sweating all weekend and using port-o-johns constantly so it's basically unavoidable. What is controllable is the state of the bathroom situation, and Bonnaroo kind of dropped teh ball this year. I don't know for sure but it feels like they sold more tickets and had less bathrooms than ever before. Lines were terrible, but that wouldn't have been so bad if there were clean stalls to use. It was a mess this year, I won't go into details but it's a fact, they screwed up. Coachella on the other hand has mastered their bathroom setup. They have 3 major areas of stalls, each having tons of units which are constantly being taken care of. It was extremely easy to find an acceptably clean stall basically every time. This was nearly impossible at Bonnaroo and it's something they need to improve upon next year because it really was about the worst I had ever seen in my 7 years of attendance. There are certain things a festival can't control (i.e. humidity and dust) so at least this is something they can improve on.

There will always be drawbacks to attending a music festival but to me they are always worth the price. There are many great ones out there but I believe these two festivals have played a huge part in setting the blueprint for these great experiences since they have each been doing it for 10 years. And while music festivals aren't for everyone most anyone who goes to them has a blast and wants to go back. For me they are among the two best weekends of the year. Coachella has gotten so popular that next year they are going to do the same festival 2 weekends in a row! Same lineup, same place, unprecedented for a US festival of that magnitude. It should be an interesting experiment, and you know I've already got my ticket (first weekend FYI). Maybe someday Bonnaroo will follow suit, but it needs to stop coasting and step up its game a little to match the growing number and experiences of other festivals popping up all over the country. A field I hope to enter one day, as I believe I know what it takes to create a great festival experience. It may sound a little crazy but it is something I truly want to do at some point in my life, and hopefully I will start it sooner than later. For now though I will continue to be a spectator, enjoy myself and at the same time learn from the experience. Plus takes lots of pictures, which go a long way to capturing the experience. Shit is way better than school, that's for sure.

Coachella crowd

Coachella sunset

Bonnaroo crowd / dust

Bonnaroo sunset

New Dee Goodz Culture video - Big K.R.I.T. in Nashville

2011-07-14T13:20:00.003-05:00

Just finished up the new Dee Goodz Culture video from the Big K.R.I.T. show in Nashville last night. All shot on my Canon 5D with a 50mm 1.4 lens, pretty pleased with the results. One thing I am noticing as that these DSLR's do not handle direct light sources well, distinct horizontal lines appear when flashes go off for example. Mostly everything looks dope as hell though with this fast lens on the camera. Check out the video below, and if you haven't checked out Dee Goodz yet then GET ON THAT SHIT. www.deegoodz.net

He actually plays a show tonight with Big Boi in Nashville which I am furious I am missing because I am headed to Chicago today. Talk about bad timing, but Pitchfork will be worth it.

Korea in pictures

2011-07-08T14:30:00.002-05:00

I have just recently finished going through the 1000+ pictures I shot in Korea, and rather than go through a narrative of all the sights I figured it'd be cooler to show. All of these were shot on my new Canon 5D, I chose 25 of my favorite shots through out the trip. Some have descriptions but several are just cool shots I liked. Hopefully this will give you a taste of the visual aspect of Korea. Only one more blog entry to go about this trip, detailing my exploits in the amazing city of Busan. Now on to the pictures:

Incheon, home base

Seoul Station, major hub of the city

Myeongdong shopping district

Taken inside a subway station

A rare empty train car

Namsan Tower

Locks of love

Incredible views of a city of 20 million people

Minutes before sunrise

The meat of Shabu Shabu

Some form of protest

Changgyeonggung palace

Macro temple decorations

All of these pictures were taken in Seoul or Incheon and are in semi chronological order. One day I hope to return.

Big K.R.I.T. in Nashville w/ Dee Goodz

2011-06-25T13:21:00.001-05:00

I've been terrible with updates lately. Back in Nashville now, post Bonnaroo now and I haven't updated in nearly 3 weeks. I guess I've been a combination of busy and lazy. Still sorting through Korea pictures, I will get to the rest of that later this month. I have had great feedback from my previous writings about Korea, thanks for that. But now let's move back to what this blog usually focuses on, music.

This past Saturday June 18th I witnessed one of the most exciting shows I've ever seen in Nashville. If you can't already tell I see a lot of concerts, and being from Nashville it is probably where I have seen the most (not counting festivals). Big K.R.I.T. is someone who has been doing the rap thing for a while but I have just now heard about because he's been everywhere lately. He was all over SXSW this year, I saw him 3 times while down there and during one showcase featuring Odd Future and Curren$y he was the best performer out of the group. So I was very happy to hear he was coming to Nashville, and even more excited that my friend Dee Goodz would be opening for him! Thanks again to Mercy Lounge, probably the best venue in Nashville right now for my tastes at least.

The day started with a in-store appearance at Phatkaps up in Antioch. They put on a lot of good events like this and even shows sometime on top of being an awesome store. Big K.R.I.T. was really cool, letting people interview and take pictures with him plus handing out signed copies of one of his mixtapes, K.R.I.T. Wuz Here. He stayed for nearly two hours before having to leave, here are some of my pictures below (and one taken by the staff of breakonacloud.com, one of the best blogging sites out of Nashville hands down).

So that was part 1. Part 2 took us to Mercy Lounge for the show. The place was packed, not sure if it was sold out but it was damn near close. I missed the first openers but did make it in time to capture Dee Goodz' performance. Despite the heat (it was hot as hell in there) and the anticipation for Big K.R.I.T.'s performance Dee delivered a banging show, riffing through material all through his catalog as well as some stuff I'd never heard him play before. We're gonna have a video detailing the evening within a week so keep on the lookout for that. And if you don't know Dee Goodz by now and you read this blog you NEED to fix that, go check out his website deegoodz.net now.

After Dee's show the audience was near ready to burst, and they did pretty much just that once he popped out on stage. I was again covered in sweat within minutes just watching and filming the madness unfold. Big K.R.I.T. tore it up for an hour, and despite the heat I'm sure the audience could have gone for another one. I took a couple of videos along with some pictures that probably do a better job capturing the madness. It is fair to say though it was one of the hypest and most exciting shows I had seen in Nashville in a while. He showed major love for Nashville and his fans, which goes a long way for a show like this. Major props to Big K.R.I.T., all the supporting talent, Rocksmith, The Smoking Section, Break on a cloud, and Love Noise for helping bring this show together. I had a blast and I'm sure the fans did to. Proof below lies in the videos, also posted several of my favorite pictures form the night. Still a learning process with stills versus video, note to self to try and shoot a faster shutter speed next time.

Korea trip part 2: The DMZ

2011-06-04T00:49:00.000-05:00

Well, a lot has happened since the last time I updated my personal Korea journey. I did write an entry on the pros and cons of South Korea from a more general perspective, which you should check out below if interested. But now that I'm leaving Seoul and Incheon onto the final leg of my trip it is definitely time for an update.

Friday May 20th where I left off was a big day, as probably anyone would say of their day if they visited North Korea. Unless you've been living in total isolation (much like the people of NK) you know what a crazy place it is. What you may not know are the details surrounding the border between the two countries. I learned much on this trip about the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The journey started out extremely hectic though, as my friend Adam and I had booked the 7:30am USO led tour (which is the best and only one you should do but I"ll get to that later). We woke up around 6am, and still feeling some jetlag effects plus the rain outside, I almost had a moment of abandoning the mission. But we rallied, figuring we had plenty of time to make it over there. Wrong.

There is simply no quick way to get to Seoul from Incheon, this place is massive. What resulted was us sprinting through subway stations and up escalators (which is the worst thing ever when you're tired). But somehow we made it with approximately 2 minutes to spare, we were the last ones to arrive and had we missed one of the trains we barely caught at Seoul Station we definitely would not have made it. Anyway enough about that, luckily we had an hour bus ride to rest and get ready for the tour.

We arrived at the entrance to the DMZ and met up with our American guide who was part of our Army stationed over there. He rode with us to the one of the main military compounds (along the way we were strictly forbidden from taking photos) where he gave a slideshow presentation which really brought things up to speed. If you want all the details I suggest you consult wikipedia, but a few highlights stuck out. First was the general concept of the DMZ. The Korean war was a very costly battle for both sides and many other countries involved, and eventually it became clear that neither side was going to be defeated anytime soon (the war lasted for about 3 years and hundreds of thousands of people died). So eventually a ceasefire agreement was reached and a 2km Demilitarized zone was established. From where the exact border was drawn each army was to pull back 2km each effectively creating a neutral zone 4km wide. This pact still stands today (which is why we can tour there) but the area is not without incident. One of the most notable was the infamous Axe murder incident, when some soldiers attempted to chop down a tree that was blocking their view from one of their posts (each army still had posts within certain parts of the border they just weren't allowed to bear heavy arms) and was met with fierce resistance. 2 US soldiers were chopped to death and 9 others injured (both American and South Korean) in the resulting skirmish. 3 days after Operation Paul Bunyan was launched, described as the biggest military tree cutting operation in history. Read more about the incident here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axe_Murder_Incident

Recreation of the Axe Murder Incident

Once the presentation finished we were taken outside where we got our first glimpse of the North Korean compounds and the South Korean ROK guards who were patrolling the area. We were allowed to take pictures but instructed not to point or make any threatening gestures as we were being watched by the North Koreans across the way. We we then taken into a building that straddled the border where many talks had taken place over the years between the two sides. It was here I was actually able to set foot into North Korea, even if it was only about 6 feet or so in. You could feel the intensity and tension of this place, as a guard was placed close to the end of the building and we were instructed not to pass him for any reason.


Adam (left) in South Korea and me (right) in North Korea

North Korean compound

This was definitely the most interesting part of the tour, and I was very glad we took the USO tour because it is the only one that takes you there. So if you ever do want to tour the DMZ be sure to get that one. After the compound we got back in the bus and were taken to a couple of spots mentioned in the slideshow such as the place of the Ax Murder incident and the Bridge of No Return (a bridge dubbed as such when upon the armistice signing and DMZ creation residents of that area had to chose to head to either the North or South part of Korea, for good. Bet some were kicking themselves for that). At these areas we were allowed to take pictures but shortly thereafter as we were taken to the next part of the tour the photo-ban again went into effect.

The bridge of no return

The next stop was one of the tunnels the North Korean sides were excavating into the South but was discovered before completed. These tunnels were definitely not dug, as it was several hundred feet below the surface and solid rock so they had to use dynamite. There was a small museum and monument at the entrance which our guide attempted to explain parts of but the cacophony of a large group of school children drowned out much of what she was saying so I just kind of wandered around. After that we were taken to the tunnel, a long and very steep pathway led down into the entrance of what the North Korean's actually dug. And wow what a nightmare that would have been to work on. We had to hunch over slightly almost the whole way through, and you could feel how immensely solid the rock was and what a bitch it would have been to demolish and take it out of the tunnel. We probably walked no more than 1000 feet into the tunnel before we hit one of the 3 barricades that had now been installed within to prevent its use and stymie any possible North Korean invasion. Not exactly an amazing site but again you could feel the weirdness of the area and what was at stake between these two sides. And of course once discovered the North Koreans claimed it was actually the South trying to tunnel into their side. Keep in mind this was only one of four found tunnels, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if more are being worked on right now. Also photos were not allowed here either although I have no idea why.

Our next venture took us up top one of the highest areas in the DMZ where an observation post was stationed and we could there get our most comprehensive view of the North side. Unfortunately we were only allowed to take pictures behind a marked off area that gave a much poorer view than what you could see with your eyes (much less the coin-operated scopes) but either way there it was stretching out for miles in either direction. North Korea, one of if not the most enigmatic and scary countries in the entire world. Through the scope we could even see small town with people working in the fields, obviously completely unaware that they were being looked at from people of all nations from across the way.

The view into North Korea

There was only one more stop on the tour although luckily we finally got to have lunch first as I had been starving for a good while now. After lunch we were taken to Dorasan Station, easily the most eerie train station I've ever been to (not that there are many in the running, if any). For a time it was part of a line that connected the North and the South via train but has now been shut down. It is only open for visiting.

We got back on the bus and were taken back to the Camp Kim (the USO base). While I wouldn't call the tour a fun experience per se it was definitely the most significant and culturally interesting thing I did here while in Korea and if you do ever visit I'd say it is a must see. It is also most deserving of its own (and very long) blog entry because of its importance. My trip later that night into Seoul is hardly worth a paragraph because all we did was get trashed and visit some Korean clubs. So I'll get to the rest of the trip soon but this had to come first. Only a few days left here now, I'm actually in Busan which is this beach area on the east coast of Korea (and actually the 2nd biggest city here) which I am very excited to be in for the next few days. Some serious R&R coupled with some partying and some gambling thrown in for good measure should be a great way to end this amazing trip. I'll also have a lot more pictures to post since I've been snapping them constantly, as they will tell a lot more in some cases than my words ever will.

The pros and cons of South Korea

2011-05-30T00:30:00.003-05:00

While I've only been here about 2 weeks on my trip I have observed several things about the Korean society, both positive and negative. Overall my feelings a positive but I felt a list like this would give others a good sense about the country and what to expect if they do happen to visit.

Pros:
Money - The Korean Won not only goes far in this country (a good meal with drink is usually around 8000 won or so, $1 is about 1000 won) but tax is almost always included in prices which are mostly rounded to the 1000. The custom of tipping that we are so used to in the states is also nowhere to be found here, making your money stretch even further. The so called T-money cards which are loaded for transportation are also extremely efficient, Korea is closer to a cashless society than almost any in the world.

Public Transportation - Although not without it's negatives the transport system here is Seoul is amazing. The subway system blows anything else in the states away, it is well organized, super clean, fast, and cheap. Even as a foreigner it is easy to navigate as long as you know where you are going. Also taxis are way cheaper than in the states, I'd say probably half the cost. There is also a massive bus system that goes all over the city and it only costs 900 won to ride in most cases (around 85 cents). The subway system is the best though, it is mind blowing.

Safety - Never have I traveled somewhere, or even lived for that matter, where I felt so safe. While I cannot find exact statistics on it there is no doubt that this is a far safer place than the US. I've heard stories of people leaving their belongings behind in places, even their wallets, and coming back hours later to find them untouched. It probably helps that there are cameras strewn all across the city, but if it keeps people safe then it's hard to disapprove.

Food - While a bit tough on my former vegetarian diet the food here is delicious, interesting, and cheap. It is very meat centric, usually meals consist of some cut of meat which is grilled at the table. With that come side dishes from basic salads to the infamous Korean dish kimchi (a fermented vegetable usually cabbage or radishes). Often the meat is wrapped in lettuce leaves and dunked in various sauces, or in others (as in shabu shabu which I really like) it is cooked in a broth mixed with vegetables. Oh and there's definitely lots of garlic, which I love. Just last night too I had probably my favorite meal at this all you can eat tuna place where they bring you fresh sashimi cuts of delicious tuna. I still eat fish back in the states, so even though this was the most expensive meal I had at around $20, it was probably the most satisfying. While they could stand a bit more variety I definitely think the food here is a major positive about Korea.

Girls - Holy hell there are an amazing amount of attractive ladies in this place. Almost everyone wears high heels and shorts skirts, legs are on full display here. Girls get done up to go just about everywhere, and a part of the scenery I must say it is enjoyable.

Terrain - Even though Seoul is an absolutely enormous city you are never far from nature, as you can see mountainous terrain all over the place. You feel much less boxed in than a city like New York. There are lots of parks and beautiful sites around to see amongst the huge buildings (although I will say the architecture here is rather drab). If you want to see a good view of Seoul and the surroundings check this video I shot up in Namsan tower:

Friendliness - While plenty of people won't approach you being a foreigner that still hasn't stopped a few from coming up just to ask if we needed help (sometimes I must look pretty lost). In some cases if you ask for directions people will actually take you to where you want to go rather than just pointing it out. And anytime you buy something from a store or are served in anyway you are always greeted by a smile. Definitely can't say the same thing for your average convenience store employee in the states. Also I recently discovered the "information" girls around certain parts of town who are just there to answer questions people (mostly foreigners) may have about the given area. Does such a thing exist anywhere in the states? Maybe but not as prevalent at least.

Bath houses - Pure relaxation and comfort, althougt surely not everyone's cup of tea. Jimjilban's are Korea bathhouses where you can go to shower and relax amongst hot and cold tubs, saunas, get a massage and even sleep. Certain parts are segregated by sex because they are fully nude which at first may seem a little weird but when in Rome as they say. After a night of drinking nothing feels better. I've been to 2 different ones at this point, the second one was a lot more involved at had this great heated room with the bed of hot rocks you could lay down on. That was in the coed part, which everyone can go to after the bathhouse and throwing on some relaxing pajama style clothes. And after the hot room hitting a cold room was invigorating. When finished you emerge feeling better than at any other point during the day. It's like a public spa that costs $6, awesome.

Public bathrooms - Koreans probably think nothing of it but living in America so long it really stands out. Why is it so hard to find a public restroom in the states? Even in big cities like New York I don't see them at most subway stops, and almost anywhere you go is for customers only. Sometimes they even say employees only! Here they are everywhere, very easy to find especially if you know where a subway stop is. Maybe it's due to the lack of homeless people of which there are hardly any. Seriously though America should catch up, I guarantee there is a direct correlation between the amount of public restrooms and public urination.

Cons:
No trashcans - I'll start this list off with a small gripe, but what's with the lack of trash cans in this country? People are often encouraged to throw their garbage on the ground because someone will pick it up later. Sometimes your best bet of finding a trashcan is a public restroom. At least when you do find them there's a series with different ones for recyclables and the like.

Substances - I rip on the US drug laws often, but being over here I realize I should feel lucky. Alcohol and nicotine are what is condoned here, marijuana and other drugs are heavily criminalized and looked down upon. I could write a lot about this but it is my belief that other drugs can have much more positive effects on people, their well being and world views can be changed and improved. Alcohol has more negative effects, not saying I don't enjoy them often times but they can not do the good that others can. I can only hope one day this world will wake up and recategorize the dangers of different drugs as the British drug czar famously did in 2009 before he was fired. And Korea is WAY behind Britain in this issue. Plus Soju gives you terrible hangovers. But when that and sub-par beer is all that is readily available people end up drinking a lot more than they should. Korea has a very high alcoholism rate as a result (11th I believe I was told, although I couldn't find exact figures).

No dryers - While it is nice that the most of the small apartments here have their own washing machines it seems that almost no one, even big places, use dryers. Rack drying ruins your clothes, making them brittle and scratchy. And towels are just awful. I guess if you grow up using small rough towels your whole life you don't really mind but man they don't know what they're missing in a big, fluffy towel.

Music - The music here is terrible. K-pop (as Korean pop music is dubbed) is lame and almost all your hear besides American music. Being from the states we are spoiled with musical (and people) diversity, but there is no convincing me their music is good. Derivative and lame through and through. In fact the best song I have found here is a comedy "joke song" called Itaewon Freedom which is pretty good in it's own right. Check it out, but just remember it's all WAY downhill from here:

Public transportation shuts down at midnight - For as good as the public transportation system is here it's a pretty big fail that the subway and buses shut down at midnight. If this happened in New York there would be riots. And even in big cities like Chicago some of the lines shut down but not all of them, they just run slower. Often this means on the weekend people stay out drinking until 6am when everything opens back up. Madness.

Lack of diversity and individualism - This is my biggest knock on Korea. In some ways it is hard to fault a country for being what it is, but never have I visited somewhere in all my life that exhibited such homogeneity throughout their country's peoples as if it was a good thing. People of different nations are looked down upon, I'm all for a feeling of nationalistic pride but here it is very close minded. Some in the US exhibit this trait but I would consider them less intelligent than the average Korean. When I ride the subway here I am usually the only white guy doing so. This is also NOT a country that promotes individuality. What results is a culture of productive followers who look and act alike. There is no real counter-culture here, and that really shows in their music and general attitudes of always trying to act like everything is sunny and great even when it is not. It is then no surprise that Korea has the 2nd highest suicide rate in the world currently (according to wikipedia which places Lithuania number 1 and the US 39 for comparison). When you aren't encouraged to by yourself and feel how you feel it puts great strain on your person. There is immense pressure on school children to succeed, I've heard stories of kids freaking out over getting 98% on their tests because their parents will punish them. That's just one example, and while the US could learn a lot from Korea's schooling system the Korean people could learn a lot from the States' emphasis on individualism and our free thinking society.

While I could probably think of a few more things to add to both sides of this list these are the original things that stood out to me. I also want to be clear that even though I wrote about a lot of negative stuff I still think South Korea is a great country and am very glad I visited. They have done great things with their society, but they could benefit a lot form loosening up a bit and being more accepting of other cultures and ideas. So if you get a chance to visit Seoul and the surrounding areas you should go for it. If you come from the US though you will most likely find a place that is not as different as you would have imagined from the big cities of America, but is lacking in many of the things that makes places like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and even Nashville so great. For now that is all, I'll detail more of my personal experience later but I just felt like writing this first.

Korea trip part 1

2011-05-23T04:09:00.001-05:00

It is something else over here. Tuesday I left Nashville and after nearly 25 hours of traveling I arrived in Korea. The airport I flew into was Incheon, which is a neighboring city of Seoul. Seoul is the capital of South Korea and is the 2nd largest city in the world (or 9th depending on how it is measured concerning the surrounding areas, regardless is is fucking enormous). A couple of my friends who are over here teaching English were nice enough to meet me at the airport and show me the way to the city.

The first thing I noticed was how amazing the subway system is here. It makes Chicago's look like a toy, it's sleek and new and each station is massive. After arriving at my friend JP's place I dropped my bags off and we headed out for some drinks. Alcohol is widespread here, unfortunately the beer they serve on tap here (mostly Cass) is subpar but the Soju runs plentiful. Soju is distilled from any things such as rice and potatoes and has a flavor similar to vodka just slightly sweeter (and less alcoholic at around 20%). It is also cheap as hell, a bottle normally runs between 1000 to 3000 won depending on where you order it (think of 1000 won as $1). Needless to say I got pretty drunk on my first night, especially factoring in the jetlag and lack of sleep I was experiencing.

I woke up feeling a bit woozy, being slightly hungover and on the other side of the world will do that to you. Once we collected ourselves my friend Adam and I (who was also visiting from Nashville) headed out into downtown Seoul to explore some of the sights. We were trying to find this river walk but got kind of lost so we ended up in this temple-like sanctuary with an impressionist art museum in it (I later found out it was called Deoksugung Palace). We wandered around a bit more after that just taking in the views of the city. It is an interesting juxtaposition of a place, this huge city surrounded by mountains and filled with a mix of Korean shops and restaurants as well as Americanized businesses such as 7-11's and Taco Bells.

It was about time to head back and grab some dinner with my friends, and wow here comes the meat. I'm a semi-practicing vegetarian back in the states, I eat fish on occasion but never mammals. Just a personal choice which I may explain more later but here it was clear going that route was not an option. My first major meal consisted of a pile of meat (some cut of pork I believe) which we cooked on a grill at our table. When cooked the meat was wrapped in lettuce leaves and dunked in various sauces with a little garlic thrown in there. And of course lots of Soju on the side. Gambae!

We went out drinking some more after we ate and after a few drinks my exhaustion was really catching up with me at this point. I nearly fell asleep at the bar, so after a bit we grabbed a cab and headed home because we had an insanely busy day lined up for Friday, which I will explain about as well as the rest of my weekend in my next blog entry. I was also hoping to finish my Coachella reports before all this started but I lost a huge chunk of what I wrote on the plane over here for some unknown reason so that's going to have to wait. Not that anyone should care but myself, but I do want to get it down at some point before I get. C'est la vi. I'm in Korea now, for 2 more solid weeks.

A change of pace

2011-05-11T09:46:00.001-05:00

Time for a break from the music reports. Things are changing around here, I haven't even really had a good time to finish my Coachella recap, my mind is definitely preoccupied with all the changes taking place in my life right now.

First let's start with something fun. I purchased a new camera recently, a pretty serious DSLR (my first ever) I plan to use both for movies and for photography which I am starting to get more into. It's the Canon 5D Mark II, definitely a big step up from my little point and shoot Canon that I take to shows. Thing is a beast, and it does shoot incredible video but definitely lacks the complete package of a nice video camera. The lack of auto-focus I can deal with in most instances, but not being able to change any aperture or image controls when rolling can be annoying. Also the lack of an articulating screen hurts the overall usefulness of the camera, but I'm still learning. My first video on it is due out soon, May 17th probably, delayed in many parts because my inexperience with the camera (and lack of lenses) really showed in a lot of the stuff I shot. But with a couple of new purchases (most notably my Canon 100mm 2.8 L macro lens, fucking amazing) and some more shoots I'm getting in the groove. Still a big change, but a definite welcome addition to my arsenal. Here are a couple of random photos:

macro nail

Melba

Part of the reason for acquiring new gear was to distract me from the other shifting realities of life. Getting a bit personal here, but I've been dating the same amazing girl for nearly 5 years now. If you know me personally then you know who I'm talking about, if not then you'll just have to imagine. We've lived together in different places for almost 4, the past year in her Mom's house back in Nashville which we were renting from her. Were being the operative word, as currently we are just about moved out of the place. Moving always holds a special kind of suck in life, but never has it been this terrible. For this time the move is taking us to different places. While I'm staying put (for the most part) she's moving to New York for grad school. And while I completely support her choice and the new path this will lead her down I cannot escape the fact of how much it sucks. Distance may be something we need for a while, we have talked about it before, but as the reality sets in it is still very hard to accept.

Which is probably why it's a good thing I've got a lot of stuff going on while all this is going down. I'm about to embark on my most serious travel expedition of my life. It's nothing really that crazy, as I'm pretty inexperienced when it comes to foreign travel so it doesn't take a lot to make it a serious endeavor. I will be exploring a new continent and hopefully distracting myself from the tough to swallow changes in life with new experiences. On May 17th I will leave for Korea where I will rendezvous with friends from Nashville who are working there teaching English. I don't even know exactly what I'm going to do, mostly I just hope to see new things and get a different perspective on life. And also to take a lot of pictures, you can bet that beast of a camera is traveling with.

So distractions are in order, I feel if I stick around Nashville right after she leaves I'll be miserable. Better to be moving around. Plenty of that going on, I'm currently in North Carolina with said amazing girl on a mini-vacation before we depart. Then on to Chicago for my brother's graduation for 4 nights. Return on Monday, hopefully wrap up some work which has been hanging over my head for a bit. Then Tuesday it's off to the other side of the world. A definite change of pace this will be.

Coachella 2011 report: Day 1

2011-05-01T21:41:00.003-05:00

Coachella has now officially cemented its place as my favorite (and I think the best) music festival in the country. This was my 6th year attending and looking back it definitely has to be my favorite (2008 is a close second). If you've never been I can't stress enough how much you should if you're at all into the festival thing. Get your tickets early, because it will sell out super fast. It only took 6 days this year and probably will take even less next.

Now in it's second year of using a car-camping system with ins/outs between the festival and camping, as well as making the only ticket available a 3-day pass, it has now attained the all-inclusive festival experience it was lacking in previous years. The stunning setting combined with the top-notch booking spanning just about every genre (still could use more quality hip-hop though) and sprinkled in with beautiful is to me paradise. If you haven't been you really must experience it at least once if you are at all a fan of these types of experiences. Be forewarned though you will need to get tickets early, it sold out in a week this year when tickets went on sale after the lineup was released. 2011 has been the year of the quick music festival sell-out, I would be stunned if Lollapalooza doesn't sell out (lineup comes out tomorrow, look for Young Man on the lineup!) and Bonnaroo most likely will as well. Despite the sell-out this year though Coachella did a fantastic job of dealing with the crowds this year, which got totally out-of-hand last year with some 15,000 people sneaking in or using duplicate tickets. Last year Coachella took 2 steps forward and one back. This year they didn't take any back, and like I said before Coachella officially put itself at the front of the pack of US festivals.

Even though the festival happens Friday through Sunday the journey really begins on Thursday, with travel from Nashville Los Angeles (thank you southwest for the direct flight and 2 free bags, clutch for camping gear) then the drive down to Indio, CA. And a journey it is, meeting old friends and new as we formed the biggest Coachella camping group since I have been going to the festival and finally headed into the camping area. Waiting in line and checking in was a bitch but it could have been worse I guess, took a solid 3 hours to make it to our designated camping zone. After setting up it was basically 5am when we got to sleep, and so began a theme for the weekend of short rests between long days. At 9:30am it's rise and shine, even a good shade setup doesn't keep the heat out. Then you can kind of nap in the shade or the car for a bit, but by noon we were itching to head in and get things started.

Walking in early on the first day early is a unique experience, seeing the grounds clean and empty before they get trampled and trashed by tens of thousands of people. Friday was the perfect weather day, warm but never unbearably hot. First thing we wanted to check out was Tokimonsta, an awesome electronic artist on Flying Lotus' label I had seen at SXSW earlier the year. Her set was a lot of fun and a great way to start the weekend, dipping into samples ranging from Jimi Hendrix to TV on the Radio mixed with laid-back electronic beats. The Sahara tent looked awesome this year, with help from the Creator's Project. Great way to start the weekend.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears was next, a blues band I knew little about but had been reccomended by a friend. It was a fun show to check for a while, definitely had some James Brown vibes but it wasn't enough to make me miss !!! who was to play during the latter half of their set. We chilled in the back for a little while and headed over to the Outdoor Theater to meet up with some friends and go see !!!

If you don't know about the music/antics of !!! (pronounced chk chk chk) I highly recommend you check them out, a great dance rock band in the vein of LCD Soundsystem but more kooky. The lead signer Nic Offer is a wild character with some of the best dance moves ever. Not in terms of grace or composure but just for pure the inspiration to get down and groovy. This was my 5th time seeing them and they have yet to disappoint, everyone in the crowd was dancing around despite the intense sun beating down on us. You must check out their records and show if it ever comes around you, so much fun.

After the !!! show we needed a slight breather, we wandered around the grounds for a bit to get some food and check out some of the sights. Next on my itinerary was Omar-Rodriguez Lopez of the Mars Volta and At the Drive-in fame. I used to be a huge At the Drive-in fan, a lesser one of Mars Volta but I do really like their first album even still. Seeing this show was interesting as it turns out Cedric Bixler was part of his group, a member of both bands with Omar. It was so tragic when At the Drive-In broke up, they were definitely one of my favorite hardcore bands ever, and this show was in some ways a painful reminder of how much I missed them. The show was at turns brooding, hard, and psychedelic but they just didn't capture the magic that was At the Drive-In or much less the Mars Volta. Still glad I saw them though.

It's kind of unfortunate I had to witness a Skrillex set twice this year, dude is just not a good DJ but his popularity is sky-high. I swear I could do about 80% of the stuff he does "live" and I'm not a talented DJ by a long shot and his song selection was obvious (sorry Warp 1.9 was played out several years ago, much less in 2011). The tent was crowded and hot as fuck but really I was there to see Odd Future next, and give them another shot after the SXSW fiasco I had witnessed 4 weeks earlier.

Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All. OFWGKTA. Perhaps the most random acronym to have caught on so quick as if late. The stage was set, albeit a bit late and perhaps a tad big (why they were put in the Sahara dance tent remains a mystery to me), but Coachella could have been a ground-breaking show for Odd Future. They've been tearing up the independent rap-scene lately, and they've got a (potentially) long career ahead of them considering not a one of them is even 18 yet. And to be honest maybe that's the problem here, their immaturity shows and not in a good way. The show started out with a bang, "swag" and "golf wang"chants abound as they launched into "Sandwitches." The momentum was quickly lost though as the group struggled to get their rhythm going, it was hard to distuguish who was rapping at times especially when backing tracks could be heard so clearly. I'm sorry but I just can't take any rap show seriously that uses the vocal tracks of the raps played over the live rapping. I don't care who you are, it's just never going to work. We stayed for about half the show and decided to go check out the last half of Cee-Lo's show.

This was probably the most disastrous run of Coachella, as Cee-Lo was a whole different kind of train wreck. Despite showing up 25 minutes into his set he had not even started yet. He did take the stage soon after we got there, claiming that his flight ran late and he had just arrived. I'm sad to say the show couldn't ever really get off the ground from there, he seemed pissed and complained about his early set time. Seems his travel should have been handled a bit better, he knew when he was supposed to play. Of course he still sounded great, but you could tell he wasn't bringing his A game. It got so bad that they even cut his microphone off at the end, which definitely did not go over well as he left the stage while the band continued to play. At least I got to hear him play one of my favorite tracks off his new album:

After Cee-Lo on the mainstage was Lauryn Hill, we scooted up to get a good spot for we had never seen her before. Obviously the woman is a near legend, her work with the Fugees and on her Miseducation album coupled with the mystique of her being so out of the spotlight this decade. I was very curious about what her set would be like, I'd heard both glowing and completely dismissive reviews of her performances, blaming lateness and weird song restructuring as one of the main problems. I will say though I really enjoyed her set, although with the insanely large band up there with her (I think about 18 people!) sometimes I couldn't help but feel they were there to distract from the fact that her voice has taken a tumble in recent years. Granted she was at such a high level back in the day, but the reworking of her songs often sped them up and didn't allow her to vocalize them as maybe they should have been. Still though I enjoyed the vibe, hearing some of her classic tunes was pretty amazing even if they didn't sound as I remembered them.

Next on our list was Sleigh Bells but we had a little time to kill so we walked by one of the tents on the way and checked out Kele, an artist I had never heard of before or at least so I thought. I came to find out afterward that he was the lead singer of Bloc Party, which makes sense but I definitley didn't put together at the time. His vocals were sharp and he sounded really good with his band, soulful rock and roll emanated from the stage and even though I knew none of his work (as a solo artist at least) I was drawn in. Props to Kele, I need to grab his solo album soon. We stayed for a good chunk before we headed to the adjacent tent for Sleigh Bells.

And what a noise fest they were. If you don't know Sleigh Bells I wouldn't be too surprised, because while they've become really popular over the past couple of years (they played Coachella last year too) they still only have one album of material to speak of. A doozy of a record that is, Treats is a whirlwind of sonic ear-fucking with intense, distorted guitar sounds accompanied by poppy vocal stylings. The final product is unique and definitely not for everyone, especially in the live setting, but I was totally enthralled by their show. It was better than their last at Coachella IMO, granted I was way more familiar with their material at this point but I think they were also better at playing it as well.

Next up in the same tent was Cut Copy, and as soon as Sleigh Bells ended we didn't hesitate to move up in the tent and stake out a great spot. GOOD DECISION! Cut Copy fucking killed it. It is hard to put into words how good their show is, the energy and sheer joy through out the crowd was absolutely sensational. Every song was a hit, people were jumping up and down going bonkers and the energy was nearly unmatched all weekend. Check video below for an example. I was sad to have to leave even one song early but we had a date with the Chemical Brothers.

So I won this ebay charity auction that ended just a few days prior to Coachella that included 2 VIP tickets and a chance to meet the Chemical Brothers. I had been eying it for a while and in the closing moments I sniped it for a relatively reasonable price, about what VIP tickets normally go for. And being that it was a charity auction to help out disaster relief in Japan made it all the more gratifying. I can honestly say this experience certified this as my favorite Coachella day ever.

We met up with the label head of Astralwerks who was to have us taken backstage to the Chemical Brothers trailer. I was slightly nervous at the prospect but Glenn made us feel comfortable off the bat, super cool guy. Once both the Chemical brothers had arrived (they're not really brothers) we made our way inside their trailer. They offered us a drink and their whole crew was really accommodating, conversation flowed nicely and we riffed on how much we disliked the Kings of Leon. Seems they were a sore spot for both of us, their crew were described by the Chemical Brothers' as one of the least accommodating they had ever had to work with, definitely a poor representation of Nashville hospitality. And remember these guys have been touring since the 90's, so they've dealt with A LOT of different artists and their respective crews. All in all it was amazing experience, we hung out for half an hour or so and they were cool enough to grant us a photo-op before we went on our way.

At this point we were totally on cloud nine, especially considering we still had some great music to see. We were able to check out a little of the Aquabats which was a great moment of ska-infused nostalgia, but it was a bit hard to focus at the time. I was really pumped about seeing Nosaj Thing next, so after a couple of songs we made our way over to the small Gobi tent to rendevous with our friends.

And Nosaj Thing rocked it, definitely met my expectation which I had raised pretty high after watching some live videos of the guy. His down-tempo vibe really fit my mood and he used a great collection of original music with samples woven into the mix. It was in the vein of Flying Lotus' performance last year, not quite as epic but a very similiar vibe. I particularly enjoyed his mix of Portishead's Wandering Star. A great lead-in for the main act of the night.

What else is there for me to say about the Chemical Brothers at this point? Having seen them play one of the most amazing shows I've ever seen only 3 weeks prior I knew what to expect, and meeting them just moments before cemented my belief of them being some of the best/coolest musicians on the planet. Their show is nothing less than art, it takes you on a journey and everything is crafted from beginning to end. The only thing that kept this show from being quite as epic as their Ultra show was they had to cut it short due to the asshole Kings of Leon crew and the imposed curfew, which luckily they were allowed to break a little. It was unfortunate they had to start about 30 minutes late, and maybe this caused some people to leave early or not stick around for the whole thing. But those who did were handsomely rewarded.

The Chemical Brothers really have tapped into something. They inspire both dedication and joy in their followers. Long-time followers were well prepared and new believers were made as they launched through a collection of tunes spanning many ranges of emotion. At turna joyous, beautiful, intense, awe-inspiring and even at times bordering on frightening, their music careened throughout their brilliant career while back-dropped by some of the best visuals I'd ever seen. So good in fact I've been inspired myself to cut together a full-length video of their set from all the fan videos out there on youtube. Hopefully they do not mind, it is their content but here it is presented directly from the fans' point of view. It's also an excuse for me to relive the experience again, something I hope to be doing for a long time. Check out the first part here, and see also the dedication of some of the audience members who set out to glow the place up. You'll see what I mean:

If you want to check out my of the videos visit my youtube page, and go ahead and subscribe while you're at it. Overall it was a mind-blowing way to end likely my favorite day at Coachella ever, and if you made it this far through this long entry then hopefully you've begun to understand why someone like me would spend so much time at these type of events and even want to create on of his own one day. Hopefully soon that will be a reality and not just a dream. For now though I will continue to experience and write, and the other day recaps should come a bit quicker because there was just so much to say about this one. And it wouldn't have been half as special without the Chemical Brothers as a part of it, so big thanks and love to them. Go get their new album Further NOW if you don't have it. Spectacular.

Ultra Music Festival Report: Day 3

2011-04-14T19:55:00.002-05:00

It's difficult to get to Ultra as early as you want most days, especially when you're on day 3 of such a crazy weekend. Originally our goal was to make it there in time to see !!! (yes that's a band, they're fucking awesome too, say it/search for it like “chk chk chk”) play at 1pm, but when I woke up at 12:30 in the afternoon it was clear that wasn't going to happen. We were slow moving, worn out by the previous two days but determined to make it through the end of the third, something no one has ever had to do at Ultra before since this was the first year it was 3 days.

We did get our shit together and make it in time for the Disco Biscuits, which was crucial because they are one of my host for the weekend's favorite bands. They were a lot of fun, I'm not the hugest Bisco fan but their vibe was impossible to resist in this setting. Accompanied by LEBO doing live painting they definitely brought out something different in the Ultra crowd, more of a normal festival feel than the non-stop rave atmosphere of Ultra. It was a welcome change, we stayed for the whole show and had a blast.

Next up was Fake Blood, we had a little time to go cool off in the Heinken dome first though and drink a beer and get blasted with some AC which was much needed. Then back to the live stage we went to see one of my current favorite DJs of the moment. Fake Blood was at Ultra last year too, his performance really sold me on his style then and completely cemented him as one of my favorite Djs of the festival. His grimy electro style really appeals to me, big beats with fat drops and great bass lines. I highly recommend you check this guy out if you ever get the chance, or just look up some of his tunes to get a feel.

Steve Aoki was to follow on the same stage, and while I'm not a huge fan of the guy he has a huge following and the energy was off the charts. He isn't the best DJ, in fact artists on his label such as Bloody Beetroots make much better music than he does and he played their shit often. One track he even played twice, the dance floor hit Warp 3.1 (I think that's what it's called), but the crowd didn't care they went off both times. We hung out in the back near the water and got silly, the energy was irrestible and while no one in our group would claim Aoki as a favorite I think most secretely enjoyed it. I sure did.

The live stage was simply where it was at today, for me at least although that really was the case most of the weekend. With Crystal Castles being slotted to play next there really was no point in leaving. We made our way up to get a good spot and soak in the craziness that is the Crystal Castles live experience. Fronted by Alice Glass, Crystal Castles has become known for their insane live shows, bright strobes obscuring the view of the band while intense electronic noise pummels the audience and Glass shouts, squirms, throws shit around and maybe sings a little here and there. This was my 5^th time seeing Crystal Castles, and they were the same as always. Lots of new tunes mixed with the old and plenty of mayhem thrown in the mix. We didn't stay for the whole show but I heard plenty of my favorite songs, if you don't know what their about I suggest you just check it out for yourself, pretty hard to describe.

We decided to go check out a little Glitch Mob playing at the Tower of Ultra before the real main act of the evening. I like Glitch Mob's style, kind of like dubstep but it almost predates that in some respects. It's 3 dudes cutting up sounds together, and they earn the name Glitch Mob because it does have a glitchy sound at many times. I couldn't tell who was doing what most of the time, but the crowd was going hard even if everyone in our group wasn't.

We went to check out some of trance at what was the Carl Cox now labeled “State of Trance” tent. ATB was playing at he was doing the trance things, lots of female vocal samples with big buildups to high pitched crescendos. Overall not really my scene, but it was an enjoyable atmosphere and a good warm up for the rest to come. I bailed a little early to go corral some friends and catch one more act before the the highlight of the weekend.

MSTRKRFT was absolutely killing it at the live stage, the crowd was huge and just going berserk. Their hard electro style had everyone moving, each drop met with wild enthusiasm from the large crowd. I wish I could have stayed longer, probably should have left ATB a littler earlier than I did, but luckily I had seen them several times. The energy was awesome and they had the crowd in the palm of their hands throughout. I danced through the crowd to find some friends and lead them back to our bigger group to get ready for the Chemical Brothers, the clear main event of the evening in my mind.

I had been dying to see the Chemical Brothers live for seemingly forever. They were one of the original groups that got me into electronic music, their classic albums Dig Your Own Hole, Surrender, Exit Planet Dust, and Come With Us were all ground-breaking, feet-moving, and just plain amazing. I had seen them play two DJ sets before, one at Ultra and one at Coachella, and while they are definitely masters of that craft (see their album Brothers Gonna Work it Out for proof) it is their live show I had been craving. They have long been known for being on top of the live performance game in electronic music, tying an incredible visual aspect in with their music. Which of course they play live, their rig is enormous and they keep busy behind it at all times.

From the moment they opened with Galvanize I knew why I had been so anxiously awaiting this day. From there it was a non-stop thrill ride through their catalog , all accompanied by some of the best visual work I have ever seen. It is hard to put into words how great this show was, and made even more so by the incredibly large group I was with at the time, definitely the biggest of the week. Many didn't know what to expect and others had seen it before, but nevertheless everyone was floored. I talked to some who had seen the Chems before and they said this was their favorite show they had seen, the hardest and most intense but definitely the best. My amazement was capped off by something I had never seen at a festival before, as this glowing web passed over the crowd when the brothers launched into their epic tune Escape Velocity. I was able to capture the moment on video, but even that and the pictures I took can't do it justice.

The Chemical Brothers are legends, and very much deserved to be closing out the festival. They put on the best show of the weekend in my opinion, and though It was sad to depart the festival it was an incredible way to end the weekend. And luckily I'll be seeing them again tomorrow, and I'm even going to meet them due to some other craziness that I'll have to tell you about later. For now I sign off, and the next journey begins.

Ultra Music Festival Report: Day 2

2011-04-14T19:37:00.001-05:00

We were up super late the night before so we weren't in that big a hurry to get to the show, especially because we knew we wanted to stay to the end. Getting in was a madhouse again, although a bit faster this time. Funny enough the first act we ended up seeing was Skrillex, not sure if you know about this guy but he has really caught on in popularity lately. He is also the subject of much ridicule at the same time, Skrillex produces crazy dubstep music that is the definition of love-it-or-hate-it but he is a terrible live DJ. He's relatively new to the scene so maybe he will improve, but this video has already become infamous around the net:

Skrillex and his fans are pretty much the definition of brostep, and if you don't know what that is then good. He does the the crowd going though, just not my type of crowd.

As such we didn't stay too long for Skrillex and decided to make our way to the Tower of Ultra stage to see some drum n' bass. I was definitely feeling the vibe more, dubstep can become tiresome unless it's done really well (Rusko for instance) but drum n' bass is much harder to resist. We caught the very end of Feed Me and saw a good bit of Goldie, neither of who I had heard before but both rocked it. The wind was whipping through the shaded tent which felt incredibly refreshing and energized the crowd. Next up was Simian Mobile Disco, and when it got close to time that became all I could think about.

Simian Mobile Disco is one of my favorite electronic groups ever. I love their sound, but more importantly it is their style and musicinaship in a live setting that really sets them apart. Their tower of equipment is fully visible and you can see them working to make the music. I've always preferred being able to fully realize the talent it takes to create this music, not just play and mix others' tunes. Acts like Orbital, Prefuse 73, Chemical Brothers and Simian stimulate me the most with their live rigs, and if you've got great songs to match then you're golden in my book. Simian did however get stuck with a weird time slot this year, still fully light out playing a little before sunset on the live stage. Last time I saw them at Ultra they closed out the live stage and it was literally seizure inducing (as in I saw a guy drop right in front of me into a seizure and had to help carry him out of the crowd because his fucked up friends did nothing). So really the reduced risk of that happening again and the lack of conflicts at the time made me able to enjoy their set fully and really watch what they were doing.

Not that I understand half of what the guys of Simian can do, but it didn't matter. Their show was banging, they played most of their hits and although it was slightly skewed to their newer album (which is not as good as the first) they made the songs come alive a lot more than on record. An instant highlight for me.

After the show there was some small debate about staying for Boys Noize or heading to Moby, but we decided we wanted to check out the crazy tent and I knww for a fact that Moby was going to destroy the tent. And damn he brought it hard, if you think a Moby DJ set sounds anything like his stuff off Play you'd be in for a surprise. The big beats he was dropping combined with the insane setting of the tent (just look at that thing) made for a completely wild and satisfying set. Props to the diminutive vegan for coming hard with such a large sound. I had to leave before he finished to catch some Cut Copy, but what I saw was more than satisfying.

Cut Copy has been one of my favorite bands the past couple of years. I remember first listening to their album Bright Like Neon Love, which seems like forever ago, and definitely enjoying their mellow electronic sound but it wasn't until their second album In Ghost Colors that sold me on them. It was a more fleshed out sound, big anthems of feel-goodness which move you both physically and emotional. Their new album Zonoscope came out this year, and while it didn't grab me as much at first as their previous it has steadily grown on me to be one of my favorite albums released this year. I was dying to see them again with their new material, so I was pretty bummed they were matched up against one of my other must-sees, Underworld. Luckily there was time to catch 3 songs, and each of them were perfect. They opened with one of my favorite tracks on In Ghost Colors titled Nobody Lost, Nobody Found and instantly the crowd was connected to the good vibes. From there they played one of their new tunes Corner of the Sky which crescendoed to an amazing finale, something Cut Copy does incredibly well. Their songs lend themselves to the build, and when those big drops hit it's nothing but pure euphoria. As the song ended I knew I would have to leave soon, but the opening chords of Lights and Music required me to stay for one more tune. We danced our asses off and then immediately began to hustle our way to the mainstage for Underworld.

Underworld are legends in electronic music, and have long been a favorite group of mine. Most known for their track "Born Slippy" used famously in Danny Boyle's Trainspotting they've been making great music since the early nineties, and continue to do so as their new album Barking is fantastic. Karl Hyde, the lead singer of Underworld, gives their group a unique energy that very few electronic groups can match, simply because they don't usually have vocalists that can amp up the crowd in the way that he does. This was my second time seeing Underworld, the last being at Ultra in 2008, and as soon as I got there I instantly was ok with having left Cut Copy early. Beginning with their classic live mash-up of Rez and Cowgirl set things off right, their tunes are often stretched out over long periods to build and build into crazy crescendos of energy with Karl running about the stage hyping the crowd up.

The show was a mix of classics including Two Months Off, King of Snake, and the aforementioned Born Slippy, mixed in with a healthy dose of new cuts. I had only heard a bit of the new album but their new songs really struck me, particularly Between Stars and Scribble which I took some excellent video of and I think captures the energy of their show quite well. Karl's enthusiasm was palpable, and their team of producers behind their custom mixing board (Underworld always plays with a custom setup, they don't rock the normal DJ decks that most people playing the mainstage can just switch off on) gave him the music to feed off of. Even though the crowd was littered with Deadmau5 fans, many of whom probably didn't even really know who Underworld was, they were still enthralled. The extended tracks which could sometimes last over 10 minutes built to powerful endings that were impossible to resist. I'm sure Underworld made some new fans at this show, and he sure as hell pleased this old one.

Our group didn't want to stick around for Deadmau5, who was labeled as the true "headliner" for the day which is pretty bogus considering his body of work, so we pushed our way out of the thick crowd to go see Empire of the Sun. This is a band that's been on the radar a lot recently, their hit Walking On a Dream is known by many and I'm pretty sure has been in commercials as well. I wouldn't say that tune really gives an accurate depiction of their live show, it was a lot harder and intense than I expected. Adorned in some outrageous costumes with even more ridiculous visuals it was probably the trippiest show of the day I saw. The music went through many different movements, sometimes there were vocals and it was more traditionally song based and other times it was straight hard electronica. Discenerning their setup was ahrd sometimes, because often they played with instruments, guitar, drums and keyboards but then at other time it just seemed to be more sequencers and controllers doing all the work when they went deeper into the dance music side of thing. Whatever was going on it was clearly appropriate for the Ultra crowd, everyone around me was loving it. And when they closed with the hit Walking On a Dream the crowd went nuts, a completely satisfying conclusion to their crazy show. I must say also they were very photogenic with the costumes and awesome backdrop they had, so I definitely got some good pictures:

After Empire of the Sun ended I was beginning to succumb to exhaustion from the long day. We hung around the live stage for a bit and I caught the beginning of Sasha's set, which was cool but didn't get me going as much as some shows I had seen of his before. Sasha is another legend of the electronic music scene, often paired with John Digweed they were one of the premiere electronic duos stretching back into the 90s. It's hard to pigeonhole his music into one category of electronic music because he can pretty much do it all, to me it's sort of a best of both worlds mix of house and trance. His set here included a crazy visual setup which was cool, but it couldn't touch some of the legendary shows I'd seen of his before so we I didn't stay for too long and decided to wander around for the final 45 minutes of the day.

As I walked around I could see Deadmau5 playing, his show was in full swing, and it was a MUCH better scene than his disastrous show he played last year at Ultra when the speakers blew and the crowd was a horrendous mess. This time there was actually space to move around and you could hear and see well from the back, Ultra's new mainstage setup really was an improvement over previous years'. I guess though I've grown a bit weary of Deadmau5, his popularity is just so high and I don't feel he brings that much new to the table. His best album Random Album Title seems like a longtime ago and I'm just not that big a fan of his new work. I'm sorry but 4X4=12 is just nothing groundbreaking, for all the acclaim it gets it should be much better. His visual setup is one of the best in the game, but the best Deadma5 shows I saw were in 2009 before he had all that going on and it was more about the music (and better music). So I just kind of absorbed the scene for a bit, the crowd was definitely feeling it and I will say it was fun but still nothing as jaw-dropping as when I first saw him at Ultra in 2009 and he was causing stampedes from twirling peoples brains around so hard. I also wanted to check out some of Claude VonStroke before the evening was over so I booked it over the the Root Dome Society Tent which I had yet to have visited yet.

The scene here was much calmer than Deadmau5, a lot fewer people and a much simpler setup. Claude VonStroke is DJ I only knew a little about, mostly his infamous tune The Whistler, and clearly the Ultra crowd was in a similar mindset because the tent was no more than a third full. He played some cool stuff but the energy wasn't really there, and he seemed maybe like he was a little drunk himself (I definitely caught a sloppy mix into a new tune during his set). I did appreciate the dancers strewn about the stage but I only stayed for a bit and went back to check out the end of Deadmau5 and try and work out my ride situation.

Luckily I ended up catching a ride to and from the festival today from old Miami friends, which was clutch considering my car was still locked up and unmovable just blocks away from the festival. I went to check on it, I had gotten a ticket at this point but it was still there so that was really all I could ask for. My old roommate came and picked me up and we rendezvoused with my other friends and headed home. Another satisfying day in the books, this one definitely much smoother than the last. But still one more day to go...

Ultra Music Festival Report: Day 1

2011-04-09T21:52:00.002-05:00

So this is coming 2 weeks after the fact, plenty of time to reflect but still fresh in my mind. It seems all I'm writing about right now is these music events I've been going, but besides that and work there's not too much else to report in my life right now. I've been taking these trips and doing the music festival thing for a while now, starting in 2004 this would be my 38th event if my counting is correct. That may sound excessive, but I plan to keep doing because in many ways this is research. I am definitely going to start a music and arts festival of my own someday, with other friends obviously, and hopefully you'll come one year. Anyway onto my Ultra report, which if you don't know is the biggest all electronic music festival in the US held in Miami, FL every year. Being that I went to school in Miami it is the event I have been to the most. The first year I went it was only 1 day and about 15,000 people came. Now it has expanded to 3 days for the first year ever and was completely sold out, 50,000 people per day. As you can see these events are growing in popularity.

I didn't arrive in Miami until 8am Friday morning, drove all night with some other festival goers I met through craigslist rideshare. It was the first time I had ever done that and it worked beautifully. As such I was glad the first day started at 4pm instead of noon like the other days. We didn't get over there until nearly 5:30, and the line was absolutely insane to get in. Luckily my friends and I did a pretty good job weaving through the crowds of people and we got in within 20-30 minutes, I heard some waited an hour. On the way in my friend was assaulted by a cop for doing basically nothing, a story not really worth going into, so Ultra wasn't really sending out the best vibes as you entered the fest. But we got past the festival security just fine so I guess it worked out. Dude didn't even care I had my camelback full of water.

Walking in I immediately how different the arrangement was this year than any other year. Miami has been constructing a new museum in Bicentennial Park where Ultra is held, and they were dealing with approximately two thirds of the space this year. And I must admit for the most part they did a really good job with it. I thought the mainstage was in a great position that allowed big crowds to gather without too much bottle-necking. There were a couple of unfortunate instances of stairs at the festival, something I've never seen at any before, but other than that they adopted to the terrain really well. Well everything except for the new bathroom situation, but I'll get to the later.

First thing we checked out was Cedric Gervais on the so-called Korea stage. It was an appropriate way to start the weekend, seeing a house DJ who frequents many Miami parties and has become a staple of WMC. Ran into some friends, danced around, mostly we were just pumped for all that was to come.

Next our group decided to check out the mainstage for the first time since Benny Benassi was on. I've seen Benassi a few times at Ultra before, this performance fell in the middle for me. Definitely better than last year, he played less cheesy shit and even dropped some dubstep on us which really set the crowd off. So is the trend I guess, it was interesting to hear Benassi, a long-time house and electro artist, give in to that. But he did it well and the crowd loved it.

I wanted to check out some of the CSS show on the live stage while we had a break, so we decided to check out the live stage for the first time. It was a different setup this year, the stage now faced the water and there was a small hill to the back side, versus in previous years where the stage was . The crowd was relatively small for CSS, and as soon as they started up I sort of realized why. CSS is a very fun group, but their vibe was almost a little too punk for Ultra and their small crowd started to make sense as they played.

I only stayed for a few songs because my friends wanted to wander around, so we checked out the adjacent stage where DJ Icey was playing. Icey has been on the scene a long time, I've even seen him play a show back in Nashville many years ago. He definitley drew the biggest crowd I saw all weekend to the small UMF radio stage, was fun for a bit but we didnt' stay too long.

We wandered around for a bit more and bought some overpriced food (Ultra really fucked people on the food this year, it was at best over-priced and ok and worst a total jack and disgusting). We even caught a little Erasure, I can definitely appreciate Ultra bringing a classic artists like Erasure and Duran Duran but I don't feel the Ultra audience returns the same interest. It was one of the smallest crowds I saw at the mainstage in the peak hours of the night. At this point all I could think about was the upcoming Röyksopp show anyway, so we watched a couple of tunes and headed back the live stage.

I have been a huge fan of Röyksopp for some time now, starting back with their album The Understanding. I had never had a chance to see them live before, so I was super pumped for the show. I didn't even really know what the setup would be, I had watched some live videos before and mostly they consisted of the duo of Norwegian duo Svein and Tjorbjor (awesome names) and guest vocalists here and there. So when they strode out on stage as a multi-piece setup and busted into their hit “Happy Up Here” I was floored. The two main members did most of the work and The crowd blew up along with them, jumping up and down as the lights hit the audience and they launched into their set. Most of the members were costumed, and the feel of the music flowed up and down as they plowed through an all-too-short-set-list but was never anything less than beautiful. The mood was great the whole time, definitely my favorite set of the day. Couple of pics and videos below, but they can only do so much:

Next up at the same stage was Trentemøller, a band I had been hearing a lot about recently, most notably they appeared on my radar ever since Coachella put this insane video of them up on youtube:

What a whirlwind of a show. They started behind this cloth fence-like structure which partially obscured the view of the band, letting the music be heard over any individual performance. The best way I can think to describe their sound is a more upbeat and electronic version of Nine Inch Nails, two parts hard house and one part industrial music. It was spellbinding, the Scandinavian artists were bringing it tonight. Eventually they pulled away the covering and the band became more visible, more people gathering around the stage as they got deeper into their set. I didn't know most of their material but it didn't matter. And when they concluded with Silver Surfer, Ghost Rider Go! I was compelled to take a video, although the sound didn't turn out that great (I love my camera but the mic sucks on it) so I recommend watching the video above instead to get a feel for the group. The show we saw wasn't quite the same spectacle but nonetheless it was amazing, and I hope to see them again at Coachella.

Once the show ended our group stayed at the same stage to see STS9 next, listening to Miss 9 on the decks in the meantime. I'd seen Tiesto enough and he's not really my thing anymore, plus since he headlines Ultra every year (literally) I felt I could miss him. Granted I've seen STS9 an even more ridiculous amount of times, second only to Miami's Awesome New Republic, and both of which I've lost count past a dozen, but I like their style better especially cause it's 5 of them playing live. And they did not disappoint, from the moment they started the crowd was into it. They careened through some classics that I recognized and definitely some new material I hadn't heard before, the visuals and sound were on point and the vibes were great. Or so I thought.

Unfortunately tragedy struck, some total fucking asshole stole my backpack off the ground while we were partying. I was in a large group at this point and had set my bag down at the edge of everyone, and had my eye off of it for about 5 minutes and some low-life took it. I had my wallet, ticket for the next 2 days of Ultra, and my car keys inside. Sadly this kind of ruined the show for me at this point, I could not enjoy the last 20 minutes while I frantically searched the surrounding area for my (hopefully) discarded bag. My friends tried to help but to no avail, too much craziness going on with STS9 finishing their set. Then I really got angry, and my main gripes with Ultra came into play.

Once the show ended some of us spread out to look for my bag, praying someone had fished whatever they wanted out of it and left it somewhere. I especially needed my keys, I had driven not only me but my hosts for the weekend to the show and was parked at a meter. But as we started looking we were ushered out of the venue, the staff would not let me continue to look for my missing bag. I inquired about a lost and found (not marked on the map) and was told by numerous people that it was near the exit. Just go out and to the left they said, someone will help you. Bunch of liars. I come to find Ultra, which considers itself an elite music festival, doesn't even have a lost and found, much less a staff willing to help its patrons. Ultra often pretends it puts the fans first, but that is a bunch of horseshit. They charge $5 for a small bottle of water, have shitty over-priced food, design the WORST bathroom situation I have ever seen at a festival*, and have the most unhelpful festival staff I've ever encountered. My shit was stolen and every worker and police officer at Ultra refused to help me, much less even just let me look for my stuff.

It's unfortunate that an event that is in some ways so amazing could have such deep rooted problems. I've been going to Ultra since 2004, this was my 8^th year, and still to this day I consider it one of my least favorite festivals. Don't get me wrong it's still an incredible experience, especially because the past few years their booking has just been amazing, for the type of festival it is no one has a better lineup. But the way this festival is run is an insult to its attendee, from the sheisty food vendors to the joke of a bathroom setup. We still come though for the music and the people, my friends are what make me come back every year more than anything. And they're the ones who helped me collect myself and make it through the rest of the weekend.

My new friend Matt who could only attend Friday gave me his ticket, an amazing move considering this was a sold out show. We took a cab back and chilled out on the beach for much of the night, contemplating the rest of the weekend. Ultra is a lot of fun but they don't have your back if you get screwed over, that's what friends are for. 2 more days to go.

*Seriously Ultra totally screwed the pooch on the bathroom situation. They essentially had one are of port-o-potties, 2 very long rows with tons of stalls going all the way down. But they made the unbelievably terrible decision to have one opening to get to all of them, and this because a total clusterfuck as people swarmed to get in and out of the same place, just to use the bathroom. People were getting knocked over, some of my friends couldn't even deal with it. It got so bad at one point that I knew I wasn't going back there again unless absolutely necessary. Whoever decided not to open up the area like it had been before should be fired immediately, it was one of the dumbest things I've ever seen a professional festival do. 50,000 people come to this thing, come on Ultra if you want to pretend to be concerned about your fans at least give them a place to comfortably relieve themselves when needed. /endrant

Groove to this

2011-04-05T00:39:00.000-05:00

These are some videos I shot of a good friend of mine's recital last November. He's got another one coming up on April 11th at Belmont University, I just felt like sharing these because they're awesome and just another example of some of the awesome music I've had the pleasure of recording.

Joe Schneider - bass
Trevor Root - drums
Wesley Winfrey - tenor sax
Daniel Gaynor - guitar
Jeremyck Smith - keys

Ultra recaps starting tomorrow...

SXSW day 4

2011-04-02T15:55:00.000-05:00

Today was to be my busiest working day with both Dee Goodz and Young Man having two shows I wanted to film. Barely made it in time for the first Young Man show, our secret parkign spot we had been using all weekend got jacked and I had to bail on the car and hustle to get to the show, which I still ended up missing a song of. This was their first show outside and it was a beautiful day to play outside. Their sound mixed wonderful in the setting, the crowd wasn't huge but everyone was enjoying themselves. In some ways this may have been the best footage I captured, you could see everyone really well and the sound was pretty good. I hope to get my videos out for the Young Man shows soon.

Went back to their hotel room after for a bit to offload some of my footage and relax before the long day ahead. We went to check out the poster sale at the convention sale, I got two sweet posters neither having to do with bands just some cool art. I also checked out two bands at this tent setup right across from the convention center with free booze. The first, Scars on 45, was good but nothing to write home about although they seemed to be having a blast playing for everyone. It was the second band that really struck me, the Joy Formidable as they were called. Fronted by a very cute lead singer they rocked out hard and the place was jam packed to see them. I only stayed for about 4 or 5 songs but it was more than enough to sell me on them. I'll definitely be checking out more of them in the near future.

Afterwards I walked across town to try and catch the second Young Man show of the day. Unfortunately the venue was running a bit behind schedule so I could only stay for the very beginning of the show. I did snap some cool pictures though and take some good B-roll footage so it wasn't a total loss. I also found out from the band afterwards that the show went really well, a bunch of people wandered in last minute and that coupled with a good sound setup made it one of their best shows of SXSW.

Luckily the venue they were playing at was a mere one block away from the Rocksmith showcase where I was to catch the next Dee Goodz show. This was a much better setup than last time, and Dee did all he could with his 10 minute set time, I think he even went a little over. Took some great video here and some friends were able to join me. He got the crowd a lot more invigorated than the other acts I saw at the showcase, particularly when he played Bananas and Lisa Lopes which really got the crowd going.

Took another break after the show back at the hotel room, I knew I had one more show to film and then there was another showcase my brother and I really wanted to catch. We thought about checking out some other bands playing at the time but opted for food and relaxation instead, which was probably a wise choice considering the mayhem that followed.

The last Dee Goodz show was by far the best, playing at the Fuggin' Awesome stage atop the roof at the Blind Pig. It was a great setup and a very big crowd and he totally rocked it. I made it just in time too, started filming straight on but then weaseled my way on stage and god some really sick footage of the show. Definitely going to be heavily featured in our video, which is coming out very soon. The energy was high and the crowd was feeling it. It's pretty hard to beat an outdoor venue like that too for several reasons. Great show, very pleased my brother finally got to catch a show of his too.

We had to bounce immediately to go see a showcase nearby featuring Curren$y, Big K.R.I.T. and most notably Odd Future, who has been catching a ton of buzz lately and I'd been dying to see, especially since I had to miss their Fader Fort show. We got to the venue and they wouldn't let me in with my camera ,which was no surprise, so I had to dash back to the hotel to drop it off. I went as fast as I could so I wouldn't miss Curren$y and to be sure I would get in. This happened to be the only venue I had been in so far that was using a metal detector on people as they came in. I wouldn't have cared about this except for they found my other personal camera and said I wouldn't be to come inside with that on me either. I tried to explain that I just dropped off my real camera and that I wouldn't even use this one if that wasn't cool, I just wanted to get in because I could tell it was getting full and the lines were getting long. The guy said no though, so I had to get creative. I walked away for a couple of minutes and tied my camera to my badge's lanyard and hung it down the back of my shirt. I entered the venue again, awkwardly leaning back ever so slightly and praying they wouldn't scan my whole body. Luckily they didn't pay too much attention to me this time and I slipped right in just as Curren$y was starting.

This probably was my least favorite Curren$y show I had seen but you could tell the room was packed with serious fans. He would often drop the beat and let the crowd take over on the lyrics for him, they knew them so well he even commented that he hardly had to do anything. It was almost aggravating at times, sometimes a song would be in full swing and the beat would cut out which, even though most knew the lyrics, still dropped the energy level of the show. Plus the sound was consistenly too low when it was just the DJ responsible for the music. Despite patrons and staff pleading with the sound guy to turn the beat up he never came through. This became an utter disaster later in the evening.

After Curren$y ended Big K.R.I.T. was up next. This would be my third time seeing him at SXSW and this was definitely my favorite show of his and really the whole showcase for that matter. He brought a full band for much of the show, which was excellent because that seemed to be the only scenario in which the sound guy could get a decent mix across. His southern-fried rhymes coupled with a solid backing band really made the show come alive. Good stuff.

Odd Future was next, we scooted up close in the crowd and you could tell the anticipation was high. You can bet the place was at capacity and a bunch of people were standing outside. Unbeknownst to me at the time though there was a large part of the crowd that hung back near the bar, it was a deep room and clearly there were lots of industry and reporter type people there who were more curious than fans. As soon as Tyler the Creator stepped out and the first beat dropped though you could tell something was not right. The sound was not coming through as it should have been, and while the energy up front was extremely high (this was the first hip-hop show I had ever seen which induced moshing) clearly many in the back appeared disinterested. The show was a blur from where I was, but before I knew it Tyler was cursing the crowd, restarting songs, and when he launched into his latest hit “Yonkers” he did it seemingly out of obligation. The whole crew became frustrated. Hodgy Beats threw his microphone down and along with Tyler and the rest of the gang they bolted after a mere 10 minutes of playing. At first I couldn't believe it was over, but it was clear they had left when I saw people pulling wires and offloading gear. We were pissed but what could we do? Just hope to see them again I guess...

We stumbled around Austin for a bit more but didn't see anything of note (except maybe Quintron & Miss Pussycat out of New Orleans who I had seen before but wasn't really feeling at the time). Our group went back to the Hilton to relax and recap the week a bit before we parted ways. We unfortunately were forced to park very far away today so we knew we had a long walk back. Pedicabs (bike cabs) were even turning us down, so we made the trek on foot which was exhausting, never been so glad to get off my feet.

It was a crazy week, I didn't see as much as I had some previous years at SXSW, but I found out about some great new music and got some awesome footage of two artists I love working with. So all in all a great experience, glad I'm now finally caught up on reporting so I can get to my Ultra recap.

Dee Goodz SXSW video

2011-04-01T04:00:00.001-05:00

Here is the first video I cut together of some of the Dee Goodz footage I shot at SXSW. He had 3 shows and it was cool to see each one be bigger and better than the last. Hope you'll check out the recap:

I'm going to finally finish my SXSW report tomorrow once I get done with some other work, gonna be a busy next 2 weeks...

SXSW day 3

2011-03-31T01:11:00.001-05:00

I'm running very behind keeping this updated, need to get caught up so I can report on my latest experience at Ultra. I go to a lot of music events every year, I first started in 2004 when I was 19. I love the experiences and doing these things with friends, but in some ways also research. I'm going to start my own music festival one day, hopefully within a couple of years. And for now any experience I get will be valuable towards building what I hope to be an awesome event that hopefully you will attend. So, SXSW day 3:

I had to wake up a little earlier on Friday at SXSW to go film the first Dee Goodz show. It was a bit early to draw a big crowd but he still put on a great show considering he only had 10 minutes. Some really good artists were playing later in the day such as Freddie Gibbs and Big K.R.I.T. but I didn't stick around. I wandered around a lot during the day, even tried to go the Fader Fort party to see Odd Future play but my plans were thwarted due to a dinner obligation with my Uncle who got me the passes. But I got to chill out at the convention center a little and see some random bands whose name I don't even remember, which was much needed.

First act I really got a chance to see was a new find, this girl named Tokimonsta who is on the same label as Flying Lotus. She was pretty excellent (cute too) and definitely have a similar sound to FlyLo which is good in my book cause I'm a big fan of his. We stayed until the very end even though her power cut out randomly at one point and they had to hook her back up.

Tokimonsta

Next we decided to go the the Vice showcase at Kiss n' Fly, this place I had actually never been to before and honeslty may not have existed in 2006 when I first went. Our goal was to make it in time for Jeff the Brotherhood, a local Nashville band that has been doing well lately. But by the time we made it there after a good and crucial bathroom detour it was too packed to get in for that show. Luckily I was interested in the rest of the night's lineup.

Once we got in it was pretty easy to get a good spot for the next band, a group I had never heard of called Yuck. They had an intersing vibe, a sort of English garage band with a weird female bassist who for some reason was put right in the middle even though she seemingly did the least in the band. Seemed to fit their dynamic, their show was raucous but never overly so, no moshing or anything like that. Once they finished some of my friends left as some others tried to get in for the remaining shows. I debated leaving to see Menomena back at the awesome church but I was pretty happy where I was (despite the $5 Lone Stars) and I really wanted to check out Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, a band I had been hearing a lot about recently.

Yuck

Ariel Pink's album made lots of best albums lists last year, but for some stupid reason I still don't have it. I decided to see first hand what all the fuss was about. They did not dissapoint, easily my favorite show of this showcase. Their music was at turns poppy and psychedelic, definitely giving off a cool and relaxed vibe it was not hard to see why people like them so much. I will be getting their album shortly, and will probably check them out again at Coachella in a few weeks.

Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti

Ariel Pink

Bun B was next, a rapper who I have seen and had the pleasure of filming before at Phatkaps in Antioch, TN. A bunch of us were there to see him and were really pumped for the show but it was a slight let down. While his energy was there the sound-man was not behind him. He had a full band with him who was coming through loud and clear but he was simply not. In fact even one of his backup vocalists could often be heard above him. Pretty tough to have a banging show when your mic is fucked up, still mad respect for the guy though. We bounced a bit early to head back to the room and beat the rush. All in all a great night.

Bun B

SXSW day 2

2011-03-24T14:32:00.003-05:00

I was totally exhausted after the first night of music and the super long car ride which got us into Austin at 8am the previous day. I had planned to make it to the earlier Young Man day party show but just couldn't get going in time. Luckily I made it just in time for their second though, which was at a packed dive bar. I'd say a lot of the people were their for St. Patty's day drinking before seeing music, but Young Man won them over. Playing a trimmed down set of the same tunes as the night before there was never a dull moment save for tuning up between songs. The sound wasn't perfect but it was definitely loud and again the band often shined the most when their music swirled into crescendos with the whole band rocking out together.

After the show it was a welcome relief to head back to their hotel and relax, I still felt pretty worn out from the night before. We decided to go see Big K.R.I.T. again at a party nearby the hotel, which proved to be a great decision. The venue wasn't the greatest but he brought the energy and a crowd of loyal fans, several of whom knew basically every word. Also ran into my man Dee Goodz who had just made it into Austin that day and Big K.R.I.T. gave a shoutout to him so that was cool. We moseyed on back to the hotel for a welcome dip in the pool and hot tub, which did much to soothe my already aching body. We knew we had a long night ahead of us so it was nice to get some relaxing in beforehand.

The show we were most interested in checking out was the Pitchfork showcase at a church a few blocks away. This was hands down the most acoustically impressive place to see music at SXSW in my opinion. I wasn't even familiar with the bands but I had been to the church before and really enjoyed it (despite the lack of beers sales and public bathrooms) so I was down. And I'm glad to say the first show I saw their may have been my favorite of all of SXSW. This group Glasser, based out of LA and fronted by Cameron Mesirow I have come to find, had an amazing sound that definitely appeals to me. It was reminiscent of Bjork and Fever Ray, an incredible female vocalist backed up by a band that used a lot of electronic elements in their music that blended into a beautiful soundscape. I took one good video from the show, doesn't entirely do them justice, but this will definitely be a band whose material I will purchase:

After the show I went to rendezvous with some other friends. There was a slight delay so I snuck back into the Parish again for a second to check out Calvin Harris at this showcase featuring a bunch of awesome electronic artists. The club was bumping, I would have definitely stayed longer if I had known people there. But as it was I left to meet my friends at another club to see a band some of them were interested in.

I arrived first and was displeased to find that their show was to take place upstairs at at a venue that also had a band playing downstairs which bled terribly into the upstairs' puny soundsystem. I didn't feel like sticking through that, and I gathered some of my friends and urged them to come back to the church with the amazing acoustics.

There we saw Twin Shadow, another band I had recently heard of but not had a chance to listen to their music. They were really cool, and again the sound was amazing in the Church. We left a little early to go meet our friend who had just arrived at the Driskill hotel, but I'm very glad we got to catch some of Twin Shadow.

After we rendezvoused with our friend and had another couple of drinks we went to see our friends' band the Outerlys who were playing the Red Gorilla festival, an off-shoot festival that takes place during the same time as SXSW. They were a lot of fun, fronted by my good friend Mick Utley who always brings great energy to the table.

After their show we didn't have time to check out anything else, so we gathered everyone up and headed home after another long day. Officially reached the half-way point now.

SXSW day 1

2011-03-24T01:29:00.000-05:00

Going backwards in time here with this recap of SXSW, finally just getting the time and energy to write it. After getting into Austin at 7:30am we crashed for a little while before heading downtown. I went to drop my camera stuff off at the Parish for the Young Man show later, then finally went to pick up my badge. First show we saw Tristen from Nashville, good rock group with a slight country vibe.

Same showcase saw Dale Earndhard Jr Jr who were very entertaining, I had heard the name before (kinda sticks with you) but never their music. Cool setup and a great cover of the Beach Boys God Only Knows had me sold.

After that I wanted to be back at the French Kiss showcase to get a handle on things for filming Young Man at 11. Saw the 123's who were cool although I didn't really focus too much attention on them as everyone was preparing for the show. I was very glad to see the Parish looking full, it's a big venue and could easily feel empty even with 100 people in it. But I'd say there were at least 250 people, maybe even more, and they were in for a treat.

Young Man hooked the crowd in from the beginning. The sound was on point and their energy was palatable. I took some really good video although the sound was rather poor because I was right next to the speakers getting a good angle. Should be able to still cut something up nice though, I'll be posting videos in the future. Particuarly I thought the band did amazing on their tune School,which careens through several movements and ends in a frenetic climax with the band rocking out in unison. Their chemistry really shone through on the tunes that allowed a good buildup, their set climaxing with another highlight Just a Growin'.

After the show we packed up gear and debated about what to do next. Luckily several people were interested in checking out the rapper Curren$y who I am a big fan of and have had the pleasure of filming play a show before. We made the trek to the Mohawk (another great venue, luckily hit all good ones on the first day) just as he was starting. The crowd was really into it and even though his set was short he made the most of it, rolling through lots of tunes and playing abbreviated version (often too much so) of many great tracks. Took one solid video, although the audio sucks for the first half:

After Curren$y was Big K.R.I.T. from Missippi who I had heard a lot about recently but again not his music. My brother and I were only able to stay for a the start because we had to load out our equipment from the Parish but it was good enough that we knew we needed to catch him later during the week.

Back at the Parish we checked out some of the Dodos who were closing the French Kiss showcase. I had only heard a couple of tracks from the Dodos before hand on some compilations but it was more the reccomendations of others that made me want to check them out in the first place. They were probably my favorite act of the Frenchkiss showcase (besides Young Man of course :) and definitley deserved the headlining spot. The crowd was really feeling them as they wove dense melodies with great guitar work and pedal effects. You could tell these guys really spent a lot of time mastering their instraments and playing together. We watched a few tunes and then went backstage to relax during the end of their show. Couldn't hear as well but it was amazing just to sit down and relax after the long first day.

So ended day 1 at SXSW. Gonna try and write these other recaps soon so I don't get too behind. I should have started keeping track of all this a long time ago, it will be great to have a record of all this to look back on someday.

SXSW half way point

2011-03-18T03:57:00.000-05:00

I was originally planning to write a full recap of SXSW every day, but when you get here and everything gets going there's just too much happening. Not to say I couldn't have found time at some point, but it would have been at the expense of something else. And that includes rest, which has been on short supply after our 13 hour journey to Austin 7pm to 8am. Hopefully tonight I catch up a little on that, but even though our lodging is very convenient there is a kitten dwelling in the same room as us and it makes its prescence known, disturbing sleep at odd hours of the night.

Regardless of how sleep-deprived or rested you might be SXSW continues on, and with music pouring out from all corners it is easy to get overwhelmed. This is in fact is the year I am most without a plan, often going on the reccomendations of others. Slightly strange since it is my 4th SXSW, but in some ways maybe it makes the most sense. I've been working more this year than ever, filming a couple of Young Man shows and Dee Goodz' showcases that are coming up in the next 2 days, so it's been nice to find out about new groups and their shows without having to do my due diligence. I feel after this is all over I'll break down all the great artists I've seen as well as sort through all the video I've filmed over each day. Right now though I just can't muster the energy to go back through that all, much less get all the visual content uploaded.

So far I'll say my highlights have been Glassers, Curren$y, Dodos, Dale Earndhart Jr Jr, and Twin Shadow. Most everything has been pretty good though save for a show ruined by sound bleed. Only 2 more days to go, and they might be the busiest yet so I better get some rest (shit it's 4am). I'll probably end up writing lots of stuff in the car...

SXSW & Dee Goodz' new mixtape: Floetic Justice Vol II

2011-03-15T18:34:00.000-05:00

Very pumped for my 4th SXSW, leaving in less than 2 hours! This will be the first time though I'll officially be working, filming shows for both Dee Goodz and Young Man while I'm down there. I'll be posting more while I'm down there hopefully, going to keep this brief for now, but I must mention Dee Goodz' new mixtape that just dropped, Floetic Justice II: B.O.T.H. You need to grab this now if you're a fan of hip-hop, because it is killing. And I'm not just saying that because I work with Dee (I know this may seem like a Dee Goodz blog a lot of the time LOL), I am saying it because it is a great listen. DOWNLOAD HERE:

http://www.2dopeboyz.com/2011/03/14/dee-goodz-floetic-justice-volume-2-b-o-t-h-mixtape/

Here's our latest video from the previously mentioned Quest Love show:

You know we'll have more video after SXSW too.

Also pumped for my brother's band Young Man, they have at least one show every day! Congrats to them and best luck at the fest:

Now we're off on the road, 13 hour drive here we go.

My latest work

2011-03-10T17:09:00.002-06:00

It's nice to have different kinds of work going on these days, hopefully I'll eventually have the time to do a real movie. But until then I'll keep cranking away on whatever I can get, like this latest ad we finally finished for a bank in Clarksville, TN of all places:

Also just premiered a new interview with Dee Goodz and my new friends at GoodMusicAllDay.com:

Been doing a lot of stuff with Dee Goodz lately and that is about to continue when we go to SXSW in less than a week. The support for our new video (scroll down for that) has been tremendous, already our most viewed video in just 2 days! Thanks to everyone for that, we're going to be updating a lot in the coming weeks with more content. Follow @dgoodz on twitter (and me while you're at it @digitalrobert) and hopefully we finally get that Floetic Justice Vol II!

Dee Goodz & Questlove: Another crazy night.

2011-03-08T01:00:00.006-06:00

Pretty crazy day all around actually. Starting a new commercial project today, same day our Bananas video is getting blown up so much they froze the view count at 300 to sort it out. And to top that off Dee Goodz has a show tonight at Mai in Nashville opening up for Quest Love. If you don't know Quest Love you're probably not reading this blog, he was throwing down a sick DJ set tonight props for all the good tune selections. Clearly I have a long way to go before I become a high-caliber DJ. Sure I can rock a wedding, but I can't do nothing like he can.

As for my man Dee Goodz he prevailed through some sound/DJ difficulties and tore the roof off the place. We're gonna get a video together of that real soon, props to Dee for getting me into the show for free. Met up with some friends and we partied hard, a great way to start off the week. Being that this is my birthday week and all I'm feeling starting off with such a bang.

Lots more coming soon, check out the Bananas video below and stay tuned for lots more videos on the horizon.

Also follow @dgoodz on twitter NOW, new mixtape is dropping later this week! Stay connected for details.

New Dee Goodz video - Bananas

2011-03-07T12:53:00.001-06:00

Finally the time has arrived to drop my new video with Dee Goodz. This is our best video yet, and the hardest to edit, but it was well worth it. I hope you enjoy, pass it around.

Floetic Justice Vol II: B.O.T.H. is coming very soon...

New music and the lost art of the CD

2011-03-05T20:26:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I've bought a bunch of CD's at once. I hate to admit it but I mostly download now, sprinkled in with an occasional LP purchase on vinyl. But I think I need to get back in the habit, even if just a little bit.

As I listen to these new CD's (currently Pantha du Prince's Black Noise, which is excellent and something I should have bought a long time ago) I have come to realize how lost the CD has become on me. In this era of the digital age it has become the blank CD that has power, not the printed ones that retail for $17.99 but settle for $12.99. Hell this new Cut Copy CD I bought was only $9.99 on amazon, and it was just released a week ago! I guess they have to do something. I probably do download too much music illegally. Most of the money I spend on music is for shows and festivals, plus the vinyl records I buy from time to time. In fact lately I've felt a little out of the music loop, I used to feel I knew a lot of the up and coming bands and was really on top of that shit. My how the years have flown by, now many of these bands have either gotten really big or disappeared and a whole new crop has come up from behind.

Take this year's Coachella for example. Several of the top acts (Arcade Fire, Animal Collective, Kings of Leon even) I saw for the first time years ago when they were still gaining their following. Hell I even remember when Kanye played dancing in the district back in Nashville several years ago. Dancing in the fucking district ya'll. Now they're headlining arguably the best festival in the US (sorry Bonnaroo, you're 2nd though). I guess I'm still ahead of the curve in some respects, especially when it comes to seeing shows, but I do want to be more a normal music consumer and actually pay for the art which I so dearly love. Things sure are changing though, some of the best music is free especially in the rap scene where the mixtape is king. It's hard to convince anyone but young people to plunk down nearly $20 for something you can get for free, and they're not even the ones paying most of the time. Taylor Swift and Big Machine know this and worked it perfectly to have her become one of the best selling artists of this era. Oh Tay Sway.

Truly one of the saddest things about the movement to mp3's over CD's and records is the death of audio quality. Every single person who ever reads this is a victim of this terrible tradgedy. From laptop speakers to the shitty DAC's (digital audio converters) in iPods to the very coding of mp3's themselves we are amidst a crumbling of audio fidelity. And as a lifetime lover and still part-time consumer of music this saddens me. Things have picked up a bit with the development of great lossless codecs like .flac and apple's lossless version of the same thing, as well as the widespread usage of DAC's in home audio. Which btw if you don't own a DAC but listen to music off a computer on a nice stereo you need to get on that, it's one of the biggest improvements you can make and doesn't break the bank.

This being said I am obviously all for the digital age of music, as it has only made it's reach broader and consumption and research that much easier. We can never can backwards, and the CD will soon become a lost art form. I'll miss the cover art and the feel of it in my hands, but I'll do without the scratches and skipping that naturally occurs with heavy use. I've been trying to finish this post for a while now, and luckily that time has given me the chance to throughoughly listen to each of these CD's (the 3rd is The Kill's Midnight Boom). CD's help to cure my musical ADD somewhat, something I'm sure we've all battled with upon the advent of the iPod and iTunes. It's great to listen to an album back to front. Hopefully I'll be doing more of it in the future.

New live Dee Goodz video

2011-03-01T17:40:00.000-06:00

Dee Goodz help put on an amazing showcase last week, here is a sample of his performance:

Also I have changed the look of my blog and also figured out a way to encode youtube videos much better. Considering how often I do this I should have done this a while ago, too lazy to go back though. This blog is still very much evolving so bear with me on that front. Hopefully I have entertained at least one person along the way.

Been digging up some old videos

2011-03-01T03:39:00.002-06:00

Still plowing ahead on new shit but being that festival season is upon us I realized I had a bunch of sweet videos from some of the best shows I saw last year that I never posted. Here was one of my favorite concert moments last year:

Set to drop the new Dee Goodz video for "Bananas" very soon, pumped about that. SXSW is right around the corner too, gonna be deep up in that this year. Can't wait, March should be a great month. Hell all of spring for that matter.

crazy night

2011-02-24T04:12:00.001-06:00

Been trying to finish this other blog post about these new CD's I bought but I just haven't found the time. Definitely couldn't happen tonight. I filmed this crazy hip-hop showcase at the End in Nashville, was quite a spectacle (a very hot one too). It was interesting because I've been living in Nashville for a long time and I go to a lot of show but I had never one like this. 12 different hip-hop artists performed over the span of 4 hours, a marathon that payed off well with the debut performance of Gab (@_whoisgab) as the closer. I know 8 off 8th and I've seen a couple of other showcases in Nashville but it's pretty much rock groups of some kind. There is a demand for this shit. Maybe just few less performers next time, a bit longer set times, and definitely a different venue no offense to the End but they're not coming back. But all around it was a great show, the first time I have ever filled my footage capacity at a single event (which is currently 153 minutes with the way I format everything now in a combo of 1080p24 and 720pn24 between my Firestore and P2 card respectively, figured I'd go technical for a sec, I still do love my amazing Panasonic HPX-170).

So there will be more blog updates and definitely more videos in the near future, spring is about to get crazy! Hell SXSW is less than 3 weeks away, going to be throwing down harder than ever this year in Austin. Dee Goodz is playing along with my brother's band Young Man on top of more people coming to the festival than ever before. On that note I sign off...for now...

I can see clearly now

2011-02-19T17:30:00.001-06:00

Just got a new pair of glasses the other day, things do look different. I've been without a pair of prescription glasses for a while, and I pretty much can function in every way without then. But when I saw a groupon for $150 off a pair of glasses at a store near my house I couldn't resist. It seemed like time to see again.

You see I'm nearsighted, meaning as the distance of my vision increases the blur factor comes into play. It is not that I can't see things far away, it is just that detail is lost. But I'm finding that they only really help in certain situations. For instance I couldn't wear them now, it would make staring a computer swing uncomfortable pretty quickly. And I've developed quite a tolerance to look at computer monitors several hours a day normally, although they are for sure way easier on the eyes these days.

I was slightly disappointed about my result with wearing them at a movie I saw recently (127 hours, which is incredible btw). Sometimes a little bit of blur works well with film viewing. After all motion pictures is a trick on your vision, running at 24 frames per second (30 on TV, or 29.97 really) convinces the eye there is constant movement. So a little blur is nice, the new sharpness kind of threw me off. Where my glasses really make a difference is outside. This is where the vibrancy of life really comes out, the detail is wanted there. Because in general I don't mind life a little blurry. I'll post a picture of them soon, for now it's time to get back to work.

New Dee Goodz video coming soon

2011-02-13T14:36:00.001-06:00

It's been too long between updates of this thing, gotta get better about that. Thankfully I've been spending a lot of time working and filming new shit, not just sitting on my ass. It's been a super busy start of the year, doesn't even compare to last year. I'm liking it for the most part, except when the stress of deadlines hits or when there's so much to do I don't know where to start. But that's work I guess.

This next project is something different though. This is going to be pure craziness. Teaming up yet again with Dee Goodz and Black Rob we filmed some wild shit on Friday for our next music video. I know we just finished one last week, but Dee Goodz' new album Floetic Justice Vol II: B.O.T.H. is coming out by month's end, and so is our video. And this is going to be the most insane one yet.

Yup. Crazy. So stay tuned for that. And next time I'll write about something not work related. For my sake and yours.

Deerhoof report - live in Nashville 2/4/11

2011-02-05T16:22:00.002-06:00

The Deerhoof show was awesome last night, I really do love them. This show was at the Mercy Lounge in Nashville, TN, and it was my 4th time seeing them over a period of 6 years. They've been doing their thing since the late 1990's now! I've seen them as a 3 piece and 4 piece band (which is what they were last night) and I definitely prefer the 4 member setup. They ripped for a solid 80 minutes of whimsical, feel-good indie rock. I didn't recognize a good bit of the material, most likely because a lot was off their new album Deerhoof vs. Evil which I immediately purchased on vinyl after the show.

Deerhoof has so much material under their belt only the most die-hard fans would know it all. Their latest album is their 11th, and craziest of all it was their biggest gap in new material from being their last album was released in 2008. They did still manage to play several of my favorite tunes off Milk Man and Apple O which are my two favorite albums. Their music is definitely not for everyone as it's weird and funky, but their energy and obvious enjoyment of what they do spreads throughout the crowd when they do play. Here are a couple of videos from the show that I took, and some more pictures below that:

New music video for Dee Goodz - "Lisa Lopes"

2011-02-02T01:15:00.002-06:00

We finally finished the latest video for Dee Goodz, the track is Lisa Lopes off his forthcoming mixtape Floetic Justice Vol II. It was a simple shoot but I think we got a lot out of it. It has been great working with Dee Goodz so far, dude has a lot of potential and it has been a blessing to finally to be making some music videos. It's something I've wanted to do for a while and just never got it together. Our next one is going to be even better, so stay tuned.

Music Video: Dee Goodz - Lisa Lopes

2011-02-02T00:29:00.001-06:00

So much work

2011-01-31T23:41:00.001-06:00

I have so many projects swirling around right now. It's awesome but almost overwhelming at times. Especially considering all the different places they're coming from. These include a bank in Clarksville TN, a new music video for Dee Goodz, a commercial for elderly mental health facilities, and all this Yelawolf craziness. At least half of it is paying, although not much.

And as per usual the ones that pay are the least fun, especially the BCA Generations commercial I've been working on for forever and I'm still not very happy with. But supposedly they've already gotten calls as a direct result of the ad so mission accomplished. One of the great things about this day and age is how easy it is to share and spread this type of work. I can be in Nashville doing a series of ads for places all across the country. Or when a great artist like Yelawolf comes to town and puts on a kickass show I can share it with the rest of the world. This is one of the main reasons I wanted to get into this field, and a good reason I finally got back into blogging.

So, check out some of my latest work if you gotta sec:

New music video coming very soon so get ready for that too!

Yelawolf killed it

2011-01-28T18:54:00.001-06:00

Yelawolf tore it up at Phatkaps last night, I am so glad I got to be there and film this awesome show. We got a lot of videos we're going to put out but I wanted to go ahead and share one of my favorite moments when you played his verse off of Big Boi's "You Ain't No DJ."

The show was incredible, Yelawolf seemed like a really down to earth dude and was really accommodating. Big shout out to him and to Phatkaps for putting this awesome event on. Lots more coming so stay tuned...

Busy working but lots of good stuff coming

2011-01-27T20:41:00.000-06:00

It's pretty easy to get behind on this thing, but I've had a lot of stuff going on recently. Been doing some great work with Dee Goodz (we're working on 2 videos right now) plus other ad work on top of that. I'm even at a show right now that I'm about to film, a performance by Yelawolf @ Phatkaps in Nashville. For those that aren't familiar with Yelawolf he was featured on Big Boi's incredible song "You Ain't No DJ" produced by Andre 3000, probably my favorite song on the Big Boi album. If you're not familiar you shoudl check it out NOW.

In the meantime here is the last part of the interview series I did with Dee Goodz and 2lsonacloud as well as a new ad I am working on for a bank in clarksville.

Yeah, I'm all over the map, but staying busy is keeping me productive. Stay tuned, lots more to come soon...

My top ten live performers for 2010

2011-01-16T14:44:00.005-06:00

In honor and anticipation of the incoming Coachella lineup (and all the other ones that will soon follow) I felt it was time to write this. There are a million best of lists for albums and movies of the year, but I thought I'd offer my take on something I'm more of an expert in. I'm not as on top of the hot albums and arty films as I used to be, but I never miss a good show when possible. So, in no particular order I present my top ten live performers for 2010:

1. Jay-Z
I have always liked Jay-Z's music but I've never been a diehard fan. His production often outshines his lyrics and his flow is good but far from great. But damn he knows how to put on a show. He might be one of the greatest "solo" artists I have ever seen. I've seen dozens of hip-hop shows over the years and in many ways they are the hardest to pull up. When it's just one guy and some beats to get the crowd going everything falls on that one individual's lyrical and performance talent. This is where Jigga shines. His energy is palatable, and no entertainer that I have seen has made the crowd feel more welcome. He seems truly thrilled to be there, and you can bet everyone else was too.

Bonnaroo 2010, Saturday headlining act. 70,000 people in attendance. And miraculously me and my friends made it into the pit, not more than 10 people in between us and the man himself. I had seen Jay-Z 2 years previous in Miami but as soon as he took the stage I knew this would be even crazier. He was backed up by a full band who rocked tight with him all the way, and once the show began he never let up. Obviously with only 90 or so minutes there were some classic songs that didn't make the cut and others you wished hadn't ("Encore" anyone?). But it really didn't matter. Absolutely incredible.

2. Orbital
In some ways I feel more privileged to have seen Orbital this year than anyone on this list. That may seem crazy given some of the heavy-hitters at the end, but much of that comes from the fact that they had been on a touring hiatus for about 6 years, and regardless hardly ever played in the states. For those who don't know Orbital are seminal figures in electronic music and performance, responsible for some of the most legendary performances ever at Glastonbury where they became staples. They put TO SHAME almost all DJ's on the scene now. That is because they aren't DJ's at all, they are musicians. Their music, while classified as electronica, is just as composed and calculated as the best works from any artists. In Sides and the Brown album are classics, beautiful and haunting with hardly a human voice to be heard save for some samples here and there. Enough about their records though, onto the performances.

I saw the same show twice from Orbital, both were different but equally amazing experiences. First was at Ultra, an almost entirely electronic music festival in Miami. Sadly large portions of the audiences at Ultra don't know shit about electronic music and so Oribital's first performance in the states in over 6 years was woefully under-attended as compared to Deadmau5 and the like. But no matter, I was able to get a spot about 6 people deep with some of my best friends on the planet. And once the music started it was pure ecstasy. Sure you could be chemically enhanced for such a show, but for Orbital it's not even necessary. Behind their huge rigs of keyboards and sequencers the brothers Hartnoll bounce around while always keeping the music moving. Their melodies are beautiful and the beats divine, they rank right up there with Daft Punk, Underworld, and Simian Mobile Disco as some of the best electronic performers I have ever seen.

Which is why I am so lucky to have seen their show at Coachella as well. Now here is a crowd that appreciates the masters, although with no notable electronic alternative on at the time some may have been forced to check them out. But I'm sure they were convinced. The soundsystem in the massive sahara tent did their sound justice that almost no place in the world could, and the crowd was so into it. They played for 60 minutes of pretty much non-stop feel-good music, and even converted several in the group who were largely unfamiliar. Respect the masters I always say, and Orbital are no less than masters of their craft. Amazing.

3. Fever Ray
Fever Ray is a group steeped in mystery, and I think Karin Dreijer Andersson likes it that way. If you're not familiar with Karin and her other project the Knife you REALLY need to get on that, check out the song "Like a Pen." Fever Ray was another Coachella speciality, a group I would have no chance of seeing otherwise. Their set came at the end of the first day and was a perfect closer. When I describe their music and the show for that matter it is impossible not to mention the word tribal. The percussive elements and costumes really set the tone, and once the music begins you are transported to another world. And did I mention the lasers?!

Damn this show was incredible, I was hooked from the very first note up until the last. It's hard to describe, and the music is not for everyone, but to me it was nothing short of breathtaking. I feel very fortunate to have seen this group, and I'm still dying to see the Knife, but I'll never forget this show. Karin was the whole group was absolutely amazing.

4. Thom Yorke / Atoms For Peace
I've seen Radiohead 3 times and Thom Yorke's "solo" outfit Atoms For Peace was better than 2 of those times. Never have I heard such a funky and dancy set from Thom York but still complete with all the melancholy and angst his music touches on so well. Thanks Flea! Played in front of a huge crowd at Coachella immediately following the aforementioned amazing Orbital performance I was in a daze but Thom and co. snapped me right back into something beautiful.

He ripped through the entire Eraser album and it sounded better than it ever did on record. If memory serves he even went in order, which, if you've listened the album, meant the show's intensity grew as it went on. By the time they got to "And it Rained All Night" I could barely contain myself. The show ended with an encore of Thom performing some Radiohead tunes solo on piano. Especially "Everything in it's Right Place," an incredible concert moment. Again this show had more energy than two of the times I saw Radiohead (can't top their legendary Bonnaroo show in 2006), and was easily one of the best shows I saw this year.

5. Big Boi
Big Boi is one of the greatest rappers I have ever seen perform. His flow is amazing, and his small stature lends him a larger than life personality that is infectious. I was lucky enough to happen onto a Big Boi show last year at SXSW, but this one took the cake. It was at the Pitchfork festival in Chicago, and his performance was the most anticipated amongst our group.

He started off with an Outkast melody, a surefire way to get a crowd pumped up. Sprinkled into the show were several tunes off his amazing new album "Sir Luscious Leftfoot," which if you haven't heard yet, well, that's a shame. There's honestly not much to say, when a hip-hop show is good you can feel it. And this one blew it down, even a mediocre guest verse couldn't derail it. Ending with "You Ain't No DJ" was a stroke of genius and I will surely think of this awesome show for a long time to come.

6. Bassnectar
Bassnectar has been all over the place recently, and for good reason. I saw him no less than 4 times this year and it could have been even more. And what better reason to be included on a list of year's best performers that his shows NEVER disappoint. In fact whatever the opposite of a disappointment is, that is a bassnectar show. From Ultra to Coachella to Bonnaroo to a parking lot in Nashville he knows how to get a crowd going. You can feel the energy the moment the music begins. Good sonics and beats are all you can ask for from a DJ and Bassnectar delivers in spades. The wildest nectar show I saw this year was at Ultra but the one at Coachella was probably the best although i didn't see all of it. The thing is though about 5 minutes of Bassnectar packs more of a punch than many acts do in their whole show. In other words you may need to see it to believe it, but if you ever get the chance you better jump on it.

7. LCD Soundsystem
What can said about LCD soundsystem that hasn't already been said? Another amazing album and another amazing tour. Supposedly their last for a while, but with the huge success of it all I bet they'll be back. And man they were everywhere this year. And while no show I saw topped their mind-blowing 2007 Coachella show (one of my top ten all time) they still managed to amaze every time. Along with Bassnectar I saw them at 3 festivals this year, with LCD veterans and novices alike and most everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Two things always stand out to me at an LCD show, and that's James Murphy and the rhythm section. James Murphy is like the anti-frontman, his banter and lyrical deliver borders on taunting at times but at the same time is impossible to resist. He knows music better than just about anyone, head of the DFA label and leader of one of the best (IMO) bands of the decade. And his arrangements shine their most in the percussion section. Crafting the most danceable of tunes with a heart is tough, and doing it with 9 people on stage in perfect time borders on the absurd. But there they are every time getting it done.

8. Yeasayer
Damn Yeasayer, where have you been all my life? Yeasayer definitely wins for my new favorite artist of the year, not that this is their first year in existence but 2010 was the year I discovered them. And luckily they have the live chops to back up their awesome records. Go get All Hour Cymbal and Odd Blood NOW if you're not hip to these guys. Their music is hard to categorize, blending complex arrangements of live instrumentation and sampled electronic sounds, their tunes often build to wild crescendos of joy and excitement. On the other hand they can craft very moving and touching songs as well.

I was lucky enough to see them twice this year, and the second show was key for inclusion on this list. Because while I did very much enjoy their show at Coachella, I was forced to miss some of it due to conflicts. But I loved their energy and the crowd responded in tune. So when they were declared the semi "headlining" act of Next Big Nashville this year I was ecstatic. They played a fabulous show at Cannery to a large but not too densely packed crowd. The lighting and opening song "Children" (of which I am not a fan of on the album) drew everyone into their spell. For those who haven't checked out this incredible band I can't recommend them enough. They are the rare band that can serve up even better live versions of already very complex songs. The emotions of the show ranged all over the place, but in the end you're left with a big smile on your face.

9.Tortoise

Maybe the most obscure band on this list to some, but definitely worth the inclusion for how amazing they are. Tortoise has been around for a long time, and if you don't know is responsible for a ton of influence on the post-rock movement. Composed of 5 of some of the most amazing musicians I've ever seen, Tortoise can craft songs invoking all types of emotion without a single word. In fact rarely do they even say a word while performing, except for the cursory John Herndon thanking of the crowd.

This was my fourth time seeing Tortoise but it was the first time in a small venue (Exit/In) at a show they were headlining. When you're right up close you can really get a sense of how incredible these guys are. Several of the members switch instruments between songs, making each arrangement sound unique. I can't say enough about this band, they're some of the best musicians I've ever had the pleasure of listening too and if you ever get the chance you owe yourself the experience. If you have the patience to listen to this 30 minute clip I think you will be amazed, just throw it on in the background.

10. Paul McCartney / Stevie Wonder / Neil Young

Ok this is obviously "cheating" by listing 3 names here, but I couldn't leave off any of these legends and I didn't want to drop anyone else. Props to Nashville for bringing both Paul McCartney and Neil Young this year, and Stevie Wonder saw it fit to come to Bonnaroo on top of that. All are amazing in their own right, although Paul probably takes the cake.

Speaking of Paul, I was lucky enough to see him last year as well when he headlined Coachella, and even though this show was very similar it was impossible to resist his charm. Everyone was going berserk, which is really saying something considering how many older people were at the show. I must also say I was very impressed with the sound and staging at the Arena in Nashville. 2 years ago I would never have thought I'd get to hear classics like "Blackbird" and "Hey Jude" and "Yesterday" performed live. Again props to Nashville for getting this amazing show.

Stevie Wonder was a joy to behold. While I'm not a fan of all of his tunes (sometimes they get a little cheesy) there is no denying his mastery. From the moment he was led onstage and sat at his piano he had the whole audience (I'd guess 30k minimum) in the palm of his hand. Another musical legend I feel had to be on this list, he sent out good vibes for miles. He rocked for a full 2 hours and even though I was crammed up next to a bunch of people waiting to get into the pit for Jay-Z I enjoyed every second of it.

Neil Young was the most raw of the three, but that was to be expected. He played a solo show at the Ryman, switching between electric and acoustic guitar and a couple of songs on the piano and organ. I've been a fan of Neil ever since I was young and my Dad used to rock Harvest Moon and some of his live albums. But that is not to say I'm an expert, as there were several songs during his set I was not familiar with. But it didn't manner. His aura was spellbinding, and the 90 minutes he played was nowhere near long enough. This video can hardly do it justice, and is not from the Ryman because they're super uptight about using cameras.

So there it is, what came to be my top 12 live acts of 2010. Some incredible ones just missed the cut, including Flying Lotus, Wolf Parade, Pavement, Fake Blood, Jonsi, Dead Weather, Lightning Bolt, Freddie Gibbs, and Chromeo.

Expect lots more reports on music this year now that I have this blog going. Coachella lineup set to drop very soon, can't fucking wait.

If you have a moment drop a comment on who your favorite shows were this year.

New Barbaric video, album coming soon

2011-01-12T18:55:00.001-06:00

Here is another video I shot of my brother and Joe Bailey's band on New Year's. They're called Barbaric and they're releasing their first album soon. Warning: Not for the feint of heart.

Subscribe, follow, and check out more videos:
www.youtube.com/BarbaricChicago
www.twitter.com/digitalrobert

Dee Goodz interview

2011-01-11T19:24:00.000-06:00

This is part 2 of an interview I filmed with Dee Goodz and 2lsonacloud. You can check out the other part on my youtube channel (as well as other videos) http://www.youtube.com/digirobproductions.

Part 3 coming next week, enjoy!

2011-01-08T17:39:00.001-06:00

Palin's "take back the 20" worked on 18/20 targets. I guess someone took it upon themselves to try and finish the job on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. She has had surgery and is in recovery, we can only hope she makes a full recovery and we can move on to better things. What a mess.

Damn.

2011-01-08T16:39:00.002-06:00

Then you hear about stuff like Jared Loughner's rampage and football seems pretty silly.

An attempt at explaining the NFL's appeal

2011-01-08T15:28:00.001-06:00

The NFL playoffs are moments away, which for many is one of the most exciting moments all year in sports. And then there are others who couldn't give two shits. To try and explain the NFL's appeal to people who don't care is tough, but this is how I feel.

Football, and more specifically the NFL league itself, is the most intense sports competition in America. With only 16 regular season games played per team and a single elimination playoff system every game counts. And while football is definitely a sport of the super-athlete it is also BY FAR the most team based and strategic sport out there. In no sport is the coach and the gameplan as important.

It may seem odd but football is not so different than chess. With a variety of pieces (players) it is up to the commander (coach) to reach checkmate (scoring more points). This is how in a game filled with incredible all-star athletes teams like the Patriots, who rely on strategy more than just buying the best players, excel. Obviously they have one big star in Brady but it is really more their coaching and how the organization is run that propels them to so much success. It is incredibly interesting to see how teams pull off wins, all the different ways you can make for many mesmerizing finishes. Plus fantasy football is one of the greatest things ever, no other sport lends itself as well to the art of fantasy. Only some can understand this, but that number grows every year and it is totally mainstream now.

I think this is going to be yet another great playoff series, I'm rooting for the Packers personally. No matter what though it will be an exciting test for the 12 best teams in the league. Well maybe the Seahawks aren't among that group but hey they made it and have a better chance of making the superbowl than the other 20 teams. Just barely though.

New speakers!

2011-01-07T21:25:00.002-06:00

Got a pair of speakers for Christmas and they just arrived today! They are Totem Arro loudspeakers, 4 OHM's rating, loving them so far. Replacing some total crap speakers I had up before this is really gonna take my audio game to the next level. Still a lot of tweaking to do in terms of setup, most notably placement and putting in some new cables.

Overall very psyched for this new acquisition. The speakers are a lot smaller than I expected but they pack quite a punch. Having just configured my DAC (digital audio converter) for my computer I can already tell a huge difference. Gonna be posting about some music stuff from the past year upcoming, just wanted to put some pictures up of these bad boys for now.

So far have tested with some Beck, Kanye, Van Morrison, Aphex Twin, Caribou, and Deerhunter. All sound awesome, working well across many genres is key.

Dee Goodz Floetic Justice II & my first music video

2011-01-06T16:23:00.001-06:00

I've been wanting to do a legit music video for sometime now, and thanks to Dee Goodz for getting in touch with me and making it happen. Video is a preview of his upcoming mixtape Floetic Justice II coming out later this month. Follow him at twitter.com/dgoodz

And while you're at it follow me twitter.com/digitalrobert, we're gonna be doing more videos soon. Hope you like this one, considering we shot it in only 3 hours there is lots of potential for improvement.

Barbaric is sweet

2011-01-06T02:11:00.000-06:00

Barbaric is another crazy band my brother is in, really dig their sound. This video was shot on New Year's eve, on guitar is Joe Bailey who plays with Dylan in Young Man. Hopefully soon you'll get to hear their album which is being produced by Drew Akers.

TV broken, first PS3 move accident

2011-01-05T20:33:00.002-06:00

Speaking of TV's, mine got smashed on the last day of 2010. Maybe this post will clue others in on some definite safety issues with the PS3 Move which I got for Christmas. Always make SURE you stand in the right area, clear of other people who are playing. What happened to me was my girlfriend made a wild swing playing Bocci Ball while standing outside of the zone. Her controller knocked a glass out of my hand right into my TV, game over.

Ideally if someone breaks your TV just hope it's not your girlfriend. Trouble may ensue. Let this be a lesson, albeit a rather expensive one. But in the end, it's just a TV :)

The state of TV

2011-01-04T17:45:00.001-06:00

The amount of television shows produced today is staggering. Sadly most of it is total crap, but amidst all the reality shows and failed sitcoms there are some true gems. I was watching some episodes of the Wire last night, 5th season. If you don't know about the Wire it's easily one of the best television shows ever made, you must check it out. But as I was watching I was amazed at how what is largely considered the show's worst season (too short and the most outlandish) it's still better than 99% of anything else you'll see on TV.

Here is a list a friend recently showed me of the best tv series of the past decade. Seems fitting as we start a new one, some big shoes to fill. I love all of these shows except for Lost, fuck that show.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-best-tv-series-of-the-00s,35256/

Starting a blog

2011-01-03T18:16:00.000-06:00

It's the new year, new decade even, and it's time to record more of my doings and thoughts in a digital format. This is the blog of digital robert, aka Rob Andrews.

More to come.