Obama!

This has absolutely nothing to do with music, but Obama won! Let’s celebrate!

MSTRKRFT – MaxxCo

Attention bloggers, Attention bloggers:

If you have yet to witness a live MSTRKRFT concert, i am sorry to say you have a hole in your experience the size of the greatest state in the America. That would of course be Texas. As i arrive back to my house, the ringing in my ears is as loud as when i left the holiness that is a MSTRKRFT concert. Do I regret being so close? Hell no. I usually don’t say this, but the concert I have just witnessed is as amazing as the Paul Van Dyk show I saw earlier this summer. Very, very few live shows have yet to come close to the awesomeness that was the Paul Van Dyk show, or should i say the Paul Van Dyk/MSTRKRFT shows.

Felix Cartal was hands down the best opening act at any concert ever seen by these eyes. and these eyes have seen alot of opening bands; all of which were terrible except for two: Shy Child and Felix Cartal.

As MSTRKRFT approached the stage, the feelings I felt were equivalent to when i was a little schoolboy staring at my first love. Needless to say, my knees were shaking and I felt utter confusion yet pure excitement. This feeling will not be matched again until I meet eye to eye with my future wife. Honestly, who can mix Justice’s D.A.N.C.E. and Daft Punk’s Da Funk and other spectacular songs all in an hour and a half? The answer is MSTRKRFT, my dear readers.

I urge everyone out there in this vast planet known as earth to drive any distance imaginable to go see MSTRKRFT, and if you swear it is not worth your time, I personally will give you a full refund of your ticket.

Peace and Much Love,

Maxx

Marathon Runners at ACL – Andy

I figure now is a good time to review my experience at the Austin City Limits Festival.  This was my first ACL and I was expecting a great weekend full of fun and friends.  Well, it definitely delivered.  I had a blast and was so glad to be back in that carefree atmosphere that festivals bring.  I’ll follow suit with my comrade Hizzo and list my top ten performances of the weekend.

10. Vampire Weekend – These preppy kids from NYC were good, but not great.  They were the first full act I saw of the festival and were a great way to start off the weekend.  They’re sort of a guilty pleasure for me, and I really enjoyed it when they brought the string quartet on stage for a song or two.

9. MGMT – I’m as surprised as you are how high on the list these guys are.  I was expecting them to be one of the top 5 highlights of the fest, but I was a bit let down.  The psychedelic atmosphere these guys brought with them at Bonnaroo was simply not there at ACL.  A lot had to do with it being in the afternoon so there was no light show, but I still felt their performance was lacking compared to Roo.

8.  Fleet Foxes – This was one of the earliest shows I attended at the festival and I got exactly what I expected.  These guys put on such a chill show that I enjoyed a lot.  Probably the highlight of the show was when fellow Marathon Runner Austin held a sign up stating his love for the lead singer’s cousin and talked to him about it in the middle of the set!

7.  Tegan and Sara – I love these Canadian twin sisters soooo much!  They always put on the most relaxed, happy show I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to see them again.  It was nice to enjoy their show after the exhausting set put on by The Raconteurs.  Like the last time I saw them, their playful banter had the crowd laughing the entire time.  They even threw in a plea to us to vote for Barack Obama!

6. David Byrne – I wasn’t sure quite what to expect from the former Talking Heads frontman.  The backup singers and dancers were a nice touch which I enjoyed.  The highlight of the show was definitely when he played my favorite Heads song “Once in a Lifetime.”  It had the whole crowd singing along.

5. Against Me! – This was the second time seeing them, and the time before they were very disappointing.  I had heard a lot about their live shows and I was let down.  However, their ACL performance was a redeemer.  Although, the crowd was extremely weak during their show, I had a blast.  Also, what I was hoping for all along, Miss Tegan Quinn, came on stage and helped sing my favorite song off of New Wave, “Born on the FM Waves of the Heart.”  It was unbelievable and one of my favorite moments of the weekend.

4. The Fratellis – These lads from Scotland were the surprise of the festival for me!  I had heard a lot of praise from my friends about his band, but I mainly saw them because I wanted to get close for CSS.  It ended up being one of my favorite  shows of the festival.  This band is great and I have become quite the fan.  Their performance was full of energy, and had me enjoying every minute!

3. CSS – These Brazillians know how to rock!  Lovefoxxx is one of the strangest, yet coolest people I’ve ever seen.  They opened with my favorite song by them, “Jager Yoga”, and the rest was history.  Everyone around me was dancing their faces off (if that’s possible…) and having a blast.  And yeah, like Heather, I had the privilege of touching Lovefoxxx when she crowdsurfed.

2. The Raconteurs – Jack White.  That’s all I have to say.  I have been a HUGE fan of his for a while now and never gotten to see him.  I admit, I was completely starstruck.  They rocked so hard!  However, it was a bit disappointing that they did not play Carolina Drama or Salute Your Solution, but still a spectacular show and I really want to see them again soon.

1. Gogol Bordello – START WEARING PURPLE!!!!  I 100% agree with Heather on this one.  Dear god, one of the craziest shows I’ve ever been to!  I completely lost it during their set, and have never danced so hard in my life.  Eugene Hutz is hands down my favorite person of all time!  My only complaint is that they didn’t play for the rest of the weekend.  Here is what there setlist included: Ultimate, Sally, Not a Crime, Supertheory of Supereverything, Wonderlust King, Mishto, Tribal Connection, 60 Revolutions, American Wedding, Start Wearing Purple, and Think Locally, Fuck Globally.  I was expecting Gogol to be the best of ACL and they did not disappoint.  These guys can do no wrong in my eyes and I absolutely cannot wait to see them again!

There you have it, my top ten performances of ACL.  Overall, the weekend was a complete success.  I got to see a lot of friends I haven’t seen in a while which was great, and I can’t wait for next year!

Talk About A Sweet Jam

http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/index.php?page=ep10

Daryl Hall has bands to his house to jam out to songs of each of theirs. I thought this was pretty neat, thought I’d share it with the masses.

Marathon Runners at ACL – Heather

This is my first post here as a marathon runner and I’m glad to be here! I’ll start off with a brief (maybe) review of ACL. While this year’s lineup didn’t boast as great of a lineup as last year’s, the weekend was still a success. I’ll do a top 10 list with a description of each.

10. Fleet Foxes – The reason these folks are so far high on my list is because I only saw about 20 minutes of their set due to arriving late at Zilker Park. Had I seen their whole set, I’m confident it would be lower on my list.

9. Tegan and Sara – These girls rock. They just do. Even though I was sitting off to the side, exhausted from the Raconteurs, I still thoroughly enjoyed this show. The played a legit cover of “Umbrella” by Rhianna, which was awesome. “Walking With a Ghost” was great, and was of course a crowd favorite.

8. Vampire Weekend – These dudes were good at ACL, but not as good as they were at Bonnaroo. Could have been the time of day, who knows. They played a new song that I really loved, but I can’t remember the name of it. I do remember Joey stating that he thought the song was pretty good until he heard the title, so it must’ve been something about Cape Cod or such.

7. Gillian Welch – Wow. Surprise great show of the weekend for me. I went in expecting nothing, and left having discovered a wonderfully talented bluegrass/country/folk singer. She also had Dave Rawlings play with her, who was great too. Dave Rawlings apparently is a producer for Old Crow Medicine Show and has been involved with Bright Eyes and Ryan Adams albums (thanks wiki). Gillian had Alison Krauss come out and sing an a capella song which I’m sure gave the entire crowd chills. It was beautiful.

6. MGMT – There’s not much to say except that MGMT brought it. Hard. It was hot as balls but they carried on quite well. During “Kids”, the rest of the band minus the drummer whose name I do not know, left the stage and Andrew VanWyngarden and Ben Goldwasser jumped around ecstatically. Towards the end of the song, when the guitar player had come back on stage, VanWyngarden used what looked like a giant red crystal to make badass noises on the guitar. That’s the only way I can describe that. It was neat. And Andrew VanWyngarden is mighty sexy.

5. Raconteurs – I thought these dudes would be lower on my list, possibly number one, but alas they were not. They put on one awesome show, but Jack White had a “misplaced disk” and his voice was not quite up to par. They also didn’t play “Salute Your Solution” or “Carolina Drama”, which was a pretty big disappointment. Nevertheless, the show was awesome and I had such a great time, but it is not comparable to the Bonnaroo show in June.

4. CSS – Yes! Why were they so good!? I mean, they were so good. Everyone around me was having pure fun. Watching lovefoxxx make her hand into a claw while saying “I’ll be rude” was one of the highlights of the fest. Another highlight was when she crowd surfed over us and I got the privilege of touching her!

3. David Byrne – This show is almost indescribable, but I will try. First off, everyone on stage was wearing all white. Byrne had three backup singers, and a group of backup dancers. One of the backup dancers jumped over David Byrne during one of the songs. It was great to hear “Once In a Lifetime” and the song was stuck in my head for the rest of the day, giving me constant reminders of what an awesome show it was. How nice. Here’s the setlist, courtesy of aclfestival.com:

Strange Overtones

I Zimbra

One Fine Day

Help Me Somebody

Houses in Motion

Cross-eyed & Painless

Life is Long

Once in a Lifetime

Life During Wartime

I Feel My Stuff

The Great Curve

2. Yonder Mountain String Band – I’ve discovered that I absolutely lose my mind during Yonder shows. This one was no different. They came on a little late, and I was really eager for them to start so that was a little frustrating, but I’m sure not their fault. Once they started, it was a nonstop dance party for about the next hour. They closed with “Boatman”, which I was so so excited to hear.

1. Gogol Bordello – Pouring red wine on people and throwing red buckets around the stage has become a normalcy for these guys (and girls). Their show was full of so much energy and I never wanted it to end. “Start Wearing Purple” and “Wonderlust King” stand out in my mind, although every song they played was great. It would’ve been nice to hear “Alcohol” but I honestly have no complaints about this show except that I wish I was soaked in red wine by the end of it. But hey, you win some, you lose some.

This is my little review of ACL 2008. Great weekend with great friends with great bands. Love, hizzo.

Time Turns Elastic and a Reunion Tour!

This has been quite the week for Phish-heads all around!  Trey had his world premiere for the new orchestral piece he had been working on with Don Hart and Orchestra Nashville, Trey’s solo performance is now being streamed for free on http://www.npr.com, and then to follow that up the announcement of a 3 day Phish Reunion tour kickoff!

Time Turns Elastic

I was lucky enough to take the trip out to Nashville and see the world premiere of Trey’s new project, Time Turns Elastic.  It was phenomenal!  Let me tell you I have been to some interesting shows and seen some interesting crowds, but this was hands down the most diverse and interesting crowd I have ever seen.  There were wookied-out phans sitting right next to ritzy people dressed up in suits.  I had a lady sitting behind me who looked to be a mid 30 year-old middle school teacher, and next to her was a teenaged boy with his 50 year old father.  And everyone there was stoked to see Trey.  Everyone was talking about the orchestra, or the recent Sept. 6 sighting of phish playing at a friends wedding, or just about the iconic status of Trey.  The orchestra started off with a very tense piece entitled XL, which I enjoyed, but the real excitement started at the second song.  Trey came out and joined the orchestra for a phenomenal and innovative new take on the Phish mainstay Divided Sky, relying on the entire audience to sing the vocal line: “Divided sky, the wind blows high!”  It was wonderful to hear Trey’s ethereal guitar tone wrapped up in layers and layers of gorgeous strings!  Trey then busted out the acoustic and took a backseat with the orchestra and played along to Concertino for Two Mandolins by Don Hart.  The two guest mandolin players were phenomenal, one on the traditional Italian round-back mandolin and on one on the Tennessee flat-back mandolin!  Trey played his part and stayed in the background to showcase the phenomenal mandolin players.  Trey then left and the orchestra played two more pieces, Orient and Occident followed by a piece that i forgot the name of that was one of Trey’s big influences for Time Turns Elastic.  After a brief intermission, trey returned to stage where the entire crowd joined in on singing Happy Birthday to Trey (he turned 44 on Sept. 30th).  After that, Trey began Time Turns Elastic, an orchestral piece in 2 movements with vocals on the second movement.  It was a very nice piece, though not exactly what I was expecting, Trey let the orchestra and his composing do most of the work.  Although a few times he did bust out with some wonderful and impressive lead lines.  Afterwords, he left the stage, and the crowd stayed on their feet yelling and cheering until he returned for a interesting version of Let Me Lie from his Bar 17 album.  All in all i would give the show a solid 6.5 on the Kyle Scale of Rating.

Phish Reunion Tour

Phish announced today on their website that they would be playing 3 days at the Hampton Collesium in Hampton VA, on March 6,7, & 8.  In addition, they said “The band intends to announce additional touring in 2009 early next year.”  Both Mike and Trey will be embarking on solo tours this winter which are both staying mainly in the northeast.  So by then they will be off tour and hopefully be able to travel the whole nation, in case you can’t make it all the way to Virginia.

That’s The Way Potato Mashes

Busy day for me at the office, but I thought I’d share a link sent my way from fellow Marathon Runner Andy. It’s a recording of the 2008 Bonnaroo Super Jam featuring Gogol Bordello and Les Claypool covering Tom Waits songs. One of my favorite shows of Bonnaroo, I think I was the only Marathon Runner to witness it. I highly recommend giving it a listen!

http://www.archive.org/details/superjam2008-06-13.mk4

Loyalty to Loyalty

The Cold War Kids sophomore album, Loyalty to Loyalty came out a week ago today and frankly, left something to be desired. Of course, I’m being picky, as I hold Robbers and Cowards in high regard (were MMR to have existed at it’s release, it would have merited a 7 in my book), so I’m probably not the most fair to write about this. But Loyalty just seemed to be an effort that too much thought was put into with many tolerable tracks, but only two truly standout tracks (Something Is Not Right With Me and Every Valley Is Not A Lake). This album has the ability to grow on me, and I know it will, but for some, this will definitely put them off of the Fullerton, Ca. based crew until something else comes along. So here’s to hoping for a quick recording turnaround for Nathan, Matt, Matt, and Jonnie. As far as a rating I’ll give this one a 5, with potential to be a 5.5.

The Lovely Bones

We here at MMR have opinions on other things than music, as evidenced by the recent (ish) Dark Knight post. So today, I thought I’d say my peace about The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. I read this book after a recommendation from a confidant. It’s about a girl, Susie, who gets murdered and goes to heaven, only to look down on those she left behind, from her family to her friends, and even to her murderer. One of the things I thought was really interesting and awesome about this book (and there were many) was the heaven painted by the author, which was very abstract from anything i’d pictured. Another neat thing was how Susie got to watch over people and see how her death affected those around her, whether it be her family, or a girl named Ruth who she had only encountered briefly on earth. I don’t want to go into too much detail regarding the happenings of the book, but I feel comfortable recommending this to all. On the Kyle Scale of Rating – a 6.5!

Good Ol’ Fashion Nightmare

Please love this song!

http://www.rcrdlbl.com/2008/08/25/exclusive_new_download_matt_and_kim_good_ol_fashion_nightmare