Archive for the ‘mgmt’ tag

MGMT/Tame Impala @ The Fillmore Detroit 6.16.10

I had very mixed feelings about the MGMT and Tame Impala show last Wednesday at The Fillmore Detroit (aka the State Theater before The Fillmore became a chain of venues). On the one hand, I was pretty excited to see MGMT live at last since I’ve had 3 chances at festivals and none of them have worked out for various reasons I won’t go in to. And I have been absolutely reeling over this Tame Impala album the past couple of weeks, so I was more than stoked to see these guys in the height of my fasciation with them. On the other hand, I’d heard some not so good things about MGMT’s live shows, and I knew it was going to be tweenypalooza which I don’t usually love. But as I always try to do, I went into it with an open mind ready to form my own opinions.

After some crazy scheduling mishaps at the very last second and thanks to a Tigers game taking place across the street from the venue, we rushed downtown as early as we could to secure a parking spot and a place for Tame Impala. After learning that my friend Anne Marie can literally do just about anything she wants with no hesitation, Tame Impala took the stage. First impressions: Holy crap, they look like super young Australian hippies! I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised because I’ve listened to their music and have reveled in its psychedelic goodness, but I guess I just didn’t think they would look so young. But really, when it comes to fantastic music, age don’t mean a thing. The two guitars, bass and drums (just a classic setup for a rock band) sounded just as great as the album if not better. I was a little worried about all of the crazy pedal effects on the album not holding up live but the guys can work their pedals with the best of them.

What was maybe the most surprising part of Tame Impala’s performance? At times, they straight up became a jam band! There were at least two or three times when I suddenly would just feel as if I was in the 10th minute of an ambient Phish jam for a few moments before they would head back into the main theme. I feel really fortunate that I was able to see these guys live so early in a career that I think has enormous potential.

Tame Impala – Jeremy’s Storm

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Up next was MGMT. They took the quasi black light laden stage and played a pretty good mix of tracks from both Oracular Spectacular and Congratulations. Lead singer Andrew VanWyngarden came out wearing some sort of blue animal hat much to the delight of the girls in the front row who were screaming like they were watching the Beatles in their first ever US appearance. I was worried one of the gals was going to pass out or something. The backdrop of the stage was a few giant shapes (including one reminiscent of the wave on the cover of Congratulations) that seemed to have images being projected at them from the inside leading to some pretty cool and crazy visuals.

So now back to my attempted lack of expectations. In the end, sure, MGMT wasn’t the greatest live band I’ve ever seen. And sure, I felt a little old among the sea of tweens (every single one of which had purchased a t-shirt that night. I can’t even fathom how much the band made on merch sales alone). But you know what else, I still had a lot of fun, because I let myself instead of talking myself out of it. And you know what else? The songs from Congratulations actually had me bopping my head most of the time, so I think I even like the album more than I thought I did. And I have to admit that it takes some major cajones for a band to play what is essentially a 12+ minute slow song in the middle of a set. I was a little worried that the balcony was going to collapse during “Kids”, but it was nice to see both MGMT and Tame Impala on stage basically goofing off the whole song, trading tambourines and maracas. Because music/shows should just be about having fun.

MGMT – It’s Working

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Check out the pics below. Do you hate this new gallery view or like it? Or do you not care? Check out even more pics from the show on the dailybeatz Flickr page too.

coachella 2010: the video! (and final thoughts)

For the last three days, you’ve all been hearing about the video. I’ve never made a video before, so I was a bit worried about it, but just tried to capture as many moments in time as I could in hopes that they could be spliced together into something not terrible. And now that the video is complete (thanks to iMovie being super easy to use), the time has come to share it with the world! I’m mostly happy because normally I would talk about doing something like this and find myself with 15 seconds of video at the end of the weekend. So I was happy to learn that I can, in fact, sometimes follow through.

WARNING: This was all shot on my old point and shoot camera, so the quality is going to look extremely grim in comparison to any other Coachella videos you’ve likely already watched. But I think it gives mine a more “authentic” feel to it. The everyday man’s Coachella recap video.

The theme of the video, much like the weekend, is night and day. And this seemed to be the perfect song to use for such a theme.

Here are some other final thoughts on the weekend, and then I will stop talking about Coachella, except for constantly and incessantly referencing it.

- This was my first Coachella ever, so I have no frame of reference, though it seemed like a lot of people were bitching about how crowded it was. Compared to other fests I’ve been to, this was by far the least crowded, and not only that, it was extremely easy to get relatively close up for almost any show, minus maybe a headliner or two, without camping out all day. It seemed that for the most part, this crowd didn’t really stick around from one show to the next, so if you were in position as soon as the previous show ended, you could usually get within the first 15 or 20 rows without a problem. Major plus.

- Favorites of the weekend. In no particular order, Fever Ray (queen of darkness), Local Natives (killer afternoon set. Just killer), Miike Snow (they always bring the heat, but it got even more broughten in a packed tent as the sun went down), Aeroplane (of all the fantastic DJs I saw all weekend, their mix of songs was the most right up my alley. And they saved what started out a miserable day). Honorable mention to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I loved everything about it but I couldn’t get over the vocal issues. That being said, they got huge bonus points for happiness, quirkiness and energy and general fun. But really, I enjoyed most of the acts I saw quite a bit.

- Wish I would’ve seens. Thom Yorke, not sure what I was thinking on this one. Hot Chip, because I don’t know when I’ll get to see these guys again. Deadmau5, despite conflicting with Fever Ray and even though I just saw him recently, mostly because of this video I saw of his SIIIIIIIICK dj table. Shit looks crazy!

- I said it before, but the Sahara tent is off the hinges. The crazy lights and all day dance party are not to be missed. The only downside, the kids and their drugs. I’m not juding anyone based on what drugs they want to take, but I am judging people who are stupid and irresponsible about it. I had at LEAST 5 people directly surrounding me throughout the weekend just collapse and pass out. It was really gross to see. At the Gorillaz show, the guy behind me collapsed right on his face and didn’t wake up for a solid ten minutes. His friends’ response? “He’s done this a few times today, but he always gets right back up.” Like I said, I’m not juding anyone’s recreational drug use, but at least try to be responsible about it, and look out for your friends. It didn’t help that most of these people looked like they were barely old enough to drive a car.

- Cancellations. Shit happens, and it sucks. Nothing anyone could have done about any of it, but still grim to say the least. But overall I was happy with the acts I did get to see. And the people who are like “I maybe saw one good performance this weekend” on the message boards need to stop going to shows, because what’s the point if you never have a good time?

- The overall ambiance of the fest is the best I’ve ever experienced. The Chicago skyline as the backdrop of Lollapalooza is pretty spectacular, but being surrounded on all sides by endless palm trees and mountains is both spectacular and extremely relaxing.

- The layout of the fest is also one of the best I’ve seen. The long and narrow Lolla setup leads to inevitable clusterfucks left and right. And Bonaroo’s circular setup is a better alternative. But it seems like it only takes 10 minutes to walk from one end of Coachella to the other. A major plus when you’re trying to catch consecutive shows at opposite stages. The setup does lead to some issues, however, like when the whole world was trying to see MGMT and the crowd was essentially surrounding the Outdoor Stage (where the band was performing) and extended all the way back through the Gobi and Mojave tents.

- Cameras. What do people think about bringing their nice cameras? I saw millions of them and it seemed like security was allowing them for some reason, so I was debating all weekend if I wished I would have brought mine. I think that I wouldn’t want to have to worry about it getting damaged, a very distinct possibility in those crowds, but I was also pretty underwhelmed with my shots, so I guess it’s a trade-off. I think a small handheld video camera may be in order for my next fest, however.

- Diplo got some major props this weekend. Aside from what I hear was an absolutely bonkers Major Lazer set, both David Guetta and supergroup Club 75 included “Pon de Floor” in their sets. Not too shabby.

- The tents. The tents are good and bad. If you are inside the tent, they are amazing. I love the enclosed feel, the shade they provide, and the great sound. However, when the tents start to overflow and you find yourself on the outside, they kind of blow. But as long as you can arrive a little early to the show you’re seeing, this is usually not an issue.

Misc.
- Throw away your garbage, people.
- Children, stop trying to get to the front 5 seconds before (or after) a show starts with all 45 of your closest friends hand in hand. Spend more time making sure your 45 friends aren’t on course to have a drug-induced death scare before the day is over.
- What’s with all the feathers and face paint?
- There’s going to be traffic whenever tens of thousands of people are in one place. Deal wit’ it. Or drive over the fence like the guy in front of me did, saving me at least a half hour on the way out.

Thanks to Beta Mike for the rad pic above that I stole from him.

Here’s to a great Coachella 2011. I leave with a few remixes by Aeroplane, the act that really kicked things off for me this year.

Robbie Williams – Bodies (Aeroplane Instrumental Remix)

Au Revoir Simone – Another Likely Story (Aeroplane Remix)

coachella day 2: low expectations lead to huge success

Day 2 started out with extremely low expectations. I was up really late the night before and couldn’t sleep in that late, so I thought I would be a little out of sorts all day. But luckily after 3 breakfast burritos (the third with extra jalapeno and hot sauce) and a few bottles of water, I was feeling a little more like myself again. I took a look at the set times for the day and while I was looking forward to a few acts, I hadn’t made any decisions about the night, and nothing really struck me as must see.

And I think its because of these low expectations that day 2 of Coachella was one of my favorite festival days of all time. It started out simply enough, with us sitting outside the Mojave tent to listen to a few tunes from Camera Obscura. I’d decided that since I just saw Beach House, I would head over to the Outdoor Theater to see The Temper Trap, but not until I met up with my cousin who was also in town for the fest. By the time he and his friends were ready to head to the Outdoor Theater, we could only catch “Sweet Disposition”, which was good and kind of made me wish I’d seen the rest of their set.

But up next was one of my festival must-sees, none other than Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. Their album is a favorite of mine, and it’s one of those that I just love every single song so much, so I couldn’t wait to see it live on stage, complete with their huge cast of characters. They opened up with “40 Day Dream” and went into “Janglin’” and their performance was exactly what I’d expected (though this was one part of the day that I did have high expectations for). About 10 people on stage, all playing various instruments from trumpets to pianos to guitars to washboards, and some of the happiest music on Earth. The love and energy up on the stage really carried through. My personal favorite was “Up from Below”, which really came to life on stage. A few songs after that were a bit out of key at times, but the set finished strong with perennial favorite “Home”. Various members of the band jumped in front of the stage to crowdsurf at various times, and Alex Ebert lent his shirt to a young man in the front who had a cut on his head. Hopefully that young man doesn’t have any sort of infection now. Just kidding, Alex, we love you kids. And special thanks to girl on guy’s shoulders #2834 for taking a few pics for me from up there.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros – Om Nashi Me

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At this point, my two highlights of the weekend were hilarious because they were COMPLETE 100% opposites. The upbeat, free-love Edward Sharpe et al, and the dark, haunting Fever Ray. The mere fact that I got to experience both within just a few hours of each other said enough about this weekend.

Next up, we decided since we were already at that stage that we would just stay for the XX. I wasn’t particularly excited to see the XX mostly because I thought that it would not live up to the happiness of Edward Sharpe, but I gave it a shot and really enjoyed it in all its minimalist glory. I was surprised to see that they didn’t have a drummer, but rather a sort of live beat-maker. And Jay-Z even showed up, since he loves the indie rock now. Also notable was that during their set, the top of the main stage seemed to catch on fire, with black smoke billowing away. But it stopped after about a minute fortunately.

After stocking up on water for the rest of the night, we headed back to Mojave to catch some of the Dirty Projectors. It was great to see them again with their interesting compositions and incredible and versatile voices. We didn’t stick around too long because we all needed to stock up on some food and water before spending some time at the Sahara tent.

Now, let’s take a minute to talk about the Sahara tent. If you recall from my Lollapalooza recaps, I spent a lot of time at Perry’s last summer. Perry’s, which was expanded last year and I believe is being expanded again this year, is the DJ section of Lollapalooza. It’s all open air and under the trees, and the crowd forms a sort of semi circle around the DJs, and there’s always some great dance music going on. It’s the perfect place to spend some time when there isn’t really another act going on that you want to see.

The Sahara tent is the same concept, only it is in a humongous tent which has a crazy light setup both on stage and throughout the whole ceiling. I described it on twitter today as Perry’s times a million on crack. Just unreal. I can’t wait to get this video put together next week so I can show some of the radness that goes on there.

After devouring a delicious falafel wrap and some garlic fries, we headed into the Sahara tent to catch the rest of Kaskade’s set. It was fun beyond belief and we had such a great time that we decided to stay for David Guetta, who, as you may recall, I had a ticket to see in Rio last summer before we unexpectedly cancelled the trip. So it was sort of fate that I was going to see him on this night. And wow, did he deliver. Some of the hotter drops that I can remember were Imogen Heap’s “Hide and Seek” (she seems to be a positive recurring theme this weekend) and with Major Lazer performing at the same time next door in the Mojave tent, Guetta paid tribute dropping in “Pon de Floor” at one point.

On the walk back to the other stages, I noticed the large string of balloons again in the air that stretched from basically one end of the fest to another, blowing violently in the wind, which had changed in color from white the day before to purple today. They were also flying free in the morning and tied down in the evenings, or so I thought. I’d been wanting to check out the pot of gold at the end of the balloon rainbow, basically to see how this thing was held in place without going away. And today I found out. There is a human being who literally holds this GIANT string of balloons down all day. I was so shocked that I had to take a picture. And all the while he’s just chatting up a storm with whoever’s around, as if it’s no big deal. But believe me, it’s a big deal, and crazy.

So, I skipped Hot Chip, MGMT, and Faith No More, but it was all worth it. We danced our behinds off for hours between Kaskade and Guetta, but the best part was, Tiesto was still to come. We made it back to the main stage in time to catch the end of Muse’s set, which I wasn’t planning on since I’d just seen them, so that was a nice added bonus. Then, like salmon swimming upstream to fertilize their eggs, we fought the crowd leaving Muse to see just how close we could get for Tiesto’s night-closing set. Amazingly, we ended up nearly dead center, about 20 rows back. This is not that impressive unless you’ve been to a night-closing set at a main stage of a major music festival. I’ve never even been remotely that close before in a similar scenario, so I was pretty pumped.

After the 40 minute wait between sets, it finally began. I couldn’t believe that the day had turned into a straight up electronic music festival, and had not planned on that at any point throughout the day, but as Tiesto killed it over and over again (man, those lights/lasers were intense!), I was glad that this was the way the day had turned out. Some of my favorites were his take on Editors “Papillon”, a song I didn’t particularly care for when it first came out but that I loved on this night. The other songs I recognized that found their way into the mix were Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ “Heads Will Roll” as well as “Feel it in my Bones” and Tiesto’s Adagio for Strings remix, which he introduced by saying “Here’s the old Tiesto classic of the night”, or something like that. Once energy had reached a fever pitch, the set ended with a Flaminglipsian touch, with gobs upon gobs of confetti being thrown into the crowd. As we walked out of the show, the ground was pretty much completely covered.

Then we left the parking lot with no wait, again driving over the fence that someone had knocked down the day before, and proceeded to blare fantastic 80s tunes the whole way home. A great ending to a great day and night.

So, the moral of the story is, sometimes music fests turn out exactly the opposite of how you expected them to, and sometimes that’s for the best. Looking forward to day 3, which features some of my favorites. Plus I get to see my friend Sarah spin at 3:45 in the green zone area, or whatever it’s called, between Mojave and Sahara.

I probably forgot a lot, but I’m glad I’ve been able to get down in writing whatever I can remember from each day, and I hope you’re enjoying it too. How I wish, how I wish you were here.

Again, sorry for the lack of pics, but I promise you I will make up for it with my video, if I can figure out how to use iMovie once this fest is over. My goal is to get a full glimpse of all aspects of the fest, and I think I’ve done a decent job at capturing lots thus far. But I really really like the picture below of the girl on the guys shoulders. So I’ve got that going.

march most popular posts

As another month goes by, let’s take another moment to look at the posts that you liked the most this past month. They are half new and half old songs. But the top two were new, so that’s a good sign at least. Below you will find the links to the original posts as well as a stream of them, unless we’ve already been asked to remove said song. In that case, you get NOTHING! You LOSE! Good DAY sir!!!! Do you like knowing the top posts from last month? Did they match your personal list of favorite posts from last month that you keep in the notes section of your blackberry, iphone, or other smart mobile device? Or do you keep them in a word document on your computer? Or are they just a .txt file?

1. The Hood Internet – Decalogue

2. MGMT – Someone’s Missing

3. Yuksek – So Down

4. The Smiths – This Charming Man

5. CocoRosie – By Your Side

Here’s to a fantastic and warm April, full of concerts and Coachella.

mgmt – someone’s missing

The new highly anticipated MGMT album “Congratulations” was leaked this weekend. This got me thinking. Is it even possible to release an album these days without it leaking weeks, if not months, before the release date? And sure, sometimes it’s done intentionally, but it’s just interesting that it always happens, and I wonder if records/labels think that this will be the one that doesn’t get out early, or if they just expect it now. In this case, MGMT addressed the leak and quickly posted a free stream of the album on their website, stating that they wanted to offer it as a free download but that they are “the only ones who thought it was a good idea.” So what are my thoughts on the album?

Well, to be perfectly fair, I must state that I’ve only given it one good listen. And I definitely did not have that feeling of “I must listen to this album immediately and frequently” like I did after the first time I listed to “Oracular Spectacular”. But I’m still going to give it it’s fair chance, as I do with all albums, because so many albums I didn’t think I liked snuck up on me after repeated listens. There was, however, only one song that sort of jumped out at me and was clearly different than the rest. It’s the third track, “Someone’s Missing”. While the song only clocks in at 2:30, there’s still plenty of time for it to start out slowly and quietly and gradually build up. At about the 1:45 mark, we hit the peak, and suddenly find ourselves in the middle of what sounds like a straight up motown song (well, aside from the heavy vocal reverb). I only with that this one carried on a little longer. So my early favorite has been established, but I’ve got a lot more listening to do before forming any formal opinions.

MGMT – Someone’s Missing

UPDATE: Track has been removed at the request of the label, but you can still stream the song (and the whole album) at the official MGMT website

chiddy bang – sooner or later

its become abundantly clear to me that ive been grossly neglecting the hip hop world. on that note, id like to officially declare this entire week HIP HOP WEEK! are you so excited that youre lizzing right now? me too. this week should be full of twists and turns, including our very first in what will hopefully become a quasi-regular influx of guest writers.

i definitely dont listen to as much hip hop as some other types of music, but that doesnt mean i dont like it. on that note, im going to try to make an effort to post some hip hop tunes a little more often, starting today with a track by chiddy bang out of philly, as their website name suggests. chiddy bang is made a duo comprised of chiddy and xaphoon jones, and they are two 19 year olds who some believe are on the verge of blowing up in 2010.

i was sent their new three-song EP “the opposite of adults” recently and my favorite track was this one, “sooner or later” (although the title track, which samples mgmts “kids”, is a close second). i like when a few different genres can be combined into one song ,which is maybe why im liking kid cudi so much, since he is clearly in touch with his indie rock side as well as his hip hop side, and i feel like chiddy bang could be headed in the same direction. and if this wasnt hip hop enough for you, im expecting my official first guest post soon which should have some more classic hip hop flavor, but hey, im trying.

chiddy bang – sooner or later

before you depart today, id like to request your assisstance in helping out a great charitable organization, and all it takes is 30 seconds of your time. a friend of mine is a director with the generation project which allows donors to design educational opportunities for children living in poverty — anything from sports programs to essay contests, art classes and everything in between. the organization is currently in the final 100 organizations in the chase community giving program (which many of you may have seen on facebook) and it would be great if you could all take a few moments to vote. its free, and no spam/registration is required. just click here, click “allow”, click “become a fan”, and then click “vote”. its that simple. voting ends 1/22 so get those votes in and thanks in advance!

mgmt – electric feel (justice remix)

what happens when you take mgmts electric feel, a song with a heavy beat to begin with, and justice, known for their heavy beats, remixes it? just take a listen. this remix is probably really old. and im pretty sure ive heard it before at, you guessed it, urban outfitters, but that dont mean its not pretty sweet still. i dont think ive ever actually posted anything by mgmt even though “oracular spectacular” was one of my albums of 2008 (whether or not it was technically released in late 2007). i love how you can listen to any song and tell instantly whether or not justice had something to do with it. but dont confuse the dj group justice with the rod of justice. or the rod of justice will smite you. heres to hoping that 2010 provides some sort of new release from both mgmt and justice. and hopefully a tour from both as well.

mgmt – electric feel (justice remix)

miike snow – silvia

i know that i already included a song by miike snow (pictured above, another one of the few pics on this site that i actually took) in my lollapalooza recap earlier this week, but ive been rockin out to their self-titled album so much this week that i physically had no choice other than to post another track off the album while im still all about it. pretty much the exact same thing happened after last years lollapalooza too, but with mgmt. i got their album “oracular spectacular” after the fest and listened to it over and over and over again and told everyone i knew about it. i still remember sitting at my desk at work til 830pm the night before i got my wisdom teeth out (the week following last years lolla) listening to that mgmt album (which everyone else pretty much already obsessed over by that point) for the 8th or 9th time that day.

miike snow’s self-titled album is so great because its unique and electronic but still accessible. if you know anyone whos afraid of electronic music because of its sometimes overwhelmingness (crystal castles, i love you, but im looking at you), this is the perfect album to get them in the spirit for the great and vast world of electronic indie rock (whatever that means anyway). the melodies are so great and catchy that i feel like i can sort of trick electronic haters into liking it by playing this album for them. try it, it works.

in the spirit of unofficial dance track fridays, todays track “silvia” seems to be a perfect choice. it starts out slowly and unassumingly enough, but once the beat kicks in at around 1:20, its full speed ahead. this is one of the other tracks i remember hearing live, and i also remember the audiences reaction. maybe the best part of this song is how long it is without it feeling long (thats what she said). it clocks in at over 6 minutes, and most songs that clock in at over 6 minutes just feel like they are never going to end. this one, on the other hand, is so driving and interesting to listen to that when it does end after 6 plus minutes, you wonder where the time went. i hate to sound like a broken record but i just cant say enough good things about this group.

ps. this is the 90th post, which means we’ve been around for THREE MONTHS! (actually more, since ive been skipping sundays the past few week)….how crazy is that? very crazy.

miike snow – silvia

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