Archive for the ‘the new pornographers’ tag

The New Pornographers @ The Crofoot 6.14.10

This past Monday marked my second time seeing The New Pornographers live. And just like last time, the show was at the Crofoot, a venue I really enjoy, especially in the summer. They’ve always got the doors open creating a really nice breeze inside, and there’s an enormous two level patio just outside the main room with it’s own bar and lots of room to hang. Nothing better on a summer night. I hadn’t really planned on going until a few days before so there was no buildup leading up to it, which is always nice.

I decided instead of missing every opening band ever, I’d get there extra early to catch all three acts playing that night. First up was The Dutchess and The Duke out of Seattle. The group was made up of two guys and a gal, two guitars and a tambourine. I’d heard of them but hadn’t heard them before and it was really enjoyable. Nice folky music with lots of really great harmonies. I was at first confused by the tambourine man, but they informed us that the actual second guitar player (tambourine man) was putting away his dishes a day or two before leaving for tour and dropped his food processor and caught it by the blade. So the de-facto second guitar player (who was actually the bass player) learned all the songs on guitar in a few days. Got all that? Either way, I liked them, and I’d imagine they are even better at full strength.

The Dutchess and the Duke – Reservoir Park

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Up next was The Dodos. Before I start, I know I’m going to do them no justice. You just have to see them if you ever get the chance. I knew one or two songs by them, but they were all pretty light, so I was completely shocked by the ridiculous energy that I saw that night. It was a pretty unorthodox makeup, with a drummer, guitarist and mallet player (I couldn’t decide if it was a vibraphone or a marimba). The first song started out pretty mellow and acoustic, but within the first minute, the tempo sped up out of the blue and lead singer/guitarist Maric went crazy on his guitar finger picking faster than my eyes could keep up with. Just about every song ran the gamut of tempos, key changes, time signature changes, and all around awesome energy. And at times the vibraphone player would play the notes with a cello bow, which I have never seen before. It’s pretty much impossible for me to describe how much I wanted their set to continue all night, but let me just say that I had a huge grin on my face throughout their set which is pretty rare for a band I don’t know very well. This video won’t do them justice either, but it at least gives you a general idea of the awesomeness I was lucky enough to witness.

The Dodos – Red and Purple

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Last but certainly not least was the main event (although I would argue that The Dodos may have stolen the show), The New Pornographers. Even though I’d already seen the same band at the same venue, the biggest difference was that this time the full band was present, including the previously absent member Dan Bejar. Let’s talk about Dan Bejar for a second. This guy is a character and a half (which I think is pretty apparent just from listening to his music). My favorite part (besides his awesome hair and general too cool for school attitude, which I think is justified) is that he would only come on stage for his songs, play them, and then leave the stage, never even putting down the beer in his hands, except for the few tunes when he played guitar. But I will say that he was a welcome addition to the group.

I think what I like most about this group is that their music is just so damn happy. And with 9 members on stage at times, it’s pretty tough for it not to be high energy as well. A winning combo. They played a really great combination of new and old tunes, so even though I’m not 100% familiar with the new album, I still had plenty of jams to sing along with. It’s always a pleasure to hear my girl Neko singing live and even though she was experiencing some technical difficulties, we still love her a lot. For me, one of the highlights was probably “Jackie Dressed in Cobras” mostly because they played it last time they were in town as a request but mentioned they hadn’t played it in a long time, so they got a chance at redemption. And I will never get tired of hearing “The Bleeding Heart Show” on my ipod, much less live. The “New Pornographers” backdrop was a really nice touch. Simple but effective (not to mention pretty great for picture taking if I do say so myself). I almost wrote this show off since I’d already seen them at this venue, but I’m pretty glad I decided to make it happen. All in all there aren’t too many better ways to spend your Monday night.

The New Pornographers – Your Hands (Together)

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the hood internet – decalogue

We all know that I love a nice mash-up as much as the next person. But it is rare that we hear a “concept mashup”, which is exactly what we’ve got ourselves today thanks to The Hood Internet. That is, each portion of the track is a mashup of two songs from each year of the past decade. Two songs from 2000, 2001, etc. See the full list of tracks by year below. I first heard this track last night thanks to James at Mediated Media and it was pretty much love at first site. I definitely smiled more than once when the song would break into the next year/mashup.

How many of these songs were you able to identify on your own?

2000 – Dr. Dre vs Radiohead
2001 – Missy Elliott vs Daft Punk
2002 – Ludacris vs The New Pornographers
2003 – Kelis vs The Rapture
2004 – Twista f/ Kanye West vs Arcade Fire
2005 – Three 6 Mafia vs Sufjan Stevens
2006 – T.I. vs Peter Bjorn and John
2007 – Rich Boy vs LCD Soundsystem
2008 – Lil Wayne vs Hot Chip
2009 – Jay Sean vs Phoenix

I think the strangest part for me is realizing that Idioteque is 10 years old. Holy Canoli!

The Hood Internet – Decalogue

PS. how awesome is this pic? I borrowed it from My Old Kentucky Blog and they are good.

michael jackson tribute part 2 – the hood internet – billie “wildcat” jean

before we get into todays tribute to MJ song, i just want to talk about how excited i am to see the handsome furs tonight at the detroit cityfest. formerly known as the tastefest, this event takes place every year centered around the 4th of july in detroits new center area and combines tons of delicious restaurants with tons of music stages. the best part is, all the music is free, and they usually draw some pretty big names. in the past, ive seen broken social scene and common. i think the year in between, spoon was playing and the new pornographers played another year as well but i missed them both. it should be wicked awesome.

ok, on to the second and final part of our tribute to the late and great king of pop. seriously, those leg moves where he lifts his leg and moves his foot from side to side are crazy to me. todays track is courtesy of the hood internet and was just released this past friday and you can download it on their webpage. the hood internet is comprised of abx (aaron brink) and stv slv (steve reidell) and they specialize in awesome remixes of hip hop and indie rock. i am a huge fan of mashups and have a great appreciation for them because they not only give you a fresh look at some of your favorite songs, but i feel as though its extremely difficult to make them work.

todays mashup is of billie jean and “wildcat” by ratatat, a favorite instrumental group of mine. and by group, i mean its made up of two guys from new york, evan mast and mike stroud. i saw these guys live a few months back and it was killer. now heres the beauty of mashups. if you would have told me about this, i would have thought about the two songs and would not have been able to imagine them actually working in harmony, but after listening to the song, it really works much much better than i thought it would. and thats why i would not be good at creating mashups. rest in peace mike.

the hood internet – billie “wildcat” jean

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climax week day 3 – the new pornographers – the bleeding heart show

we interrupt your regularly scheduled program so i can acknowledge the king of pop. alls im gonna do is mention how awesomely 70s the “dont stop til you get enough” video is, and how i still really really want to learn the thriller dance.

back to the task at hand….it just wouldnt be climax week without the new pornographers. get it?! i am hilarious. but seriously folks, im not. anyway id heard about the new pornographers for quite a while way back when before id ever heard them. they seemed to be yet another one of these canadian supergroups, except there are some americans too. but the group features tons of other people that have their own projects. there’s the unofficial leader of the group, ac newman, his partner in crime dan bejar of destroyer fame, the ever classy alt-country crooner neko case, and kathryn calder (who i believe is also a niece of someone in the band) of immaculate machine. and those are the ones i know off the top of my head, so im sure there are other side projects by these and the other members of the group. because of this, you never really know who will show up on stage when they tour. i was lucky enough to catch them last spring at my favorite new venue the crofoot and while dan bejar wasnt there, i was happy to see that neko case was.

regardless, id been hearing about their super poppy sound but never really gave it a shot until i heard this track, the bleeding heart show. i think it was featured in some sort of commercial a while back for a college or something but cant remember which one. luckily for me, i picked up a copy of “twin cinema” and then explored the rest of their catalog and am stronger and wiser because of it. is there really anyone who hasnt heard “use it” and loved it instantly? place a few of these catchy as F songs next to some neko case ballads (like “these are the fables”) and youve just got a great, well-rounded album thats loved by both young and old. it even ends with another climactic track, “stacked crooked”, which is also a favorite of mine. while this is definitely my favorite album of theirs, the ones that came before or after are nothing to bawk at, which i thought was a real saying, but spell check is telling me otherwise.

whats so great about this song? the change from start to finish. if you listen to the song, you will know exactly what im talking about. this song has a nicely defined beginning, middle and end, each section a little louder, a little bolder, a little happier than the last, until you arrive at the final theme in all of its major chorded, harmonized glory. cap it off with some excellent drum fills and the one-of-a-kind voice of neko case and you can thank me later.

the new pornographers – the bleeding heart show

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