popwreckoning

PopWreckoning is giving away tickets to see songwriter Chuck Ragan, the former guitarist/singer for punk rock band Hot Water Music, on August 6 at the Riot Room in Kansas City, MO.

We only have a three pairs of tickets up for grabs. The contest will end at 2:00 p.m. the day of show (August 6). The show is 21 and over. Winners’ tickets will be at the door when you arrive at the show. Please also include your full name and email in the comment so that we can get in touch with the winners of the contest.

Winning is easy, simply complete the following steps:

1. Comment in this article and tell us your favorite Chuck Ragan song and why? PopWreckoning staff will read your answers and choose from our favorite ones the day of show.

2. Repost this article on either your facebook, twitter, myspace, blog, website or other social media tool. Spread the wealth, then send us the link (by posting it in your comment).

Then, best (and easiest) of all, show up at the venue and enjoy the show, compliments of PopWreckoning. Good luck!

Saturday dawned early for the Emerald City, sunny and with a hint of heat in the air. I arrived a little late due to traffic and the insane amount of tourists that crammed the streets on one of the prettiest days we will have all year, guaranteed – and the perfect day for CHBP to keep kicking some serious indie music butt. I arrived to find out that Blonde Redhead had cancelled for the evening, so the main stage schedule was skewed for the rest of the day, throwing a wrench in my plans- I had already missed the Redwood Plan and was more than a tad disappointed.

Even though I was late, I headed straight to the Vera stage to get set up and ready for Cold Lake. I had heard about them in passing and never had a chance to see them live. Needless to say, I was superbly stoked. Turns out, I wouldn’t be disappointed either. Frontman Cory Brewer came out and screeched breathtakingly into the mic to match the sharp, stinging guitar riffs. It’s almost hard to believe that that screaming actually makes it way out of the mouth of said singer, due to his rather small stature and the glasses that sit atop his nose. Even with that small distraction, it was great to see them actually rock the crowd for the first time all weekend on one of the all ages stages. It’s always a good thing to see a crowd full of younger teens rockin’ out to some seriously epic punk rock.

After this, I grabbed a cup of coffee and relaxed a bit, wandering around for the first time that afternoon to see if anything was going on. At one point, fellow local rocktographer Alex Crick snagged me and drug me to the Cafe Vita/KEXP Bean Room, a room full of bags of Cafe Vita coffee beans and the home of local indie station KEXP for the weekend for their live coverage of CHBP. !!! (pronounced chk chk chk) was just setting up and the energy was almost palpable in the room. Despite the mixed smells of dust, sweat, and warm roasted coffee beans, the place was absolutely packed. Soon !!! was done warming up, the KEXP dj announced them, and the best act of CHBP 2010 started playing.

In the small intimate venue that is the Bean Room, you can see some of the best acts playing for a crowd of less than 200 people- something that rarely happens. With !!!, the experience was almost religious. Their newest change in lineup, singer Shannon Funchess, came out to sing along with Nic Offer, banging a tambourine whilst spitting out some of the best singing in town. On the other hand, Offer danced around, interacting with the crowd famously: dancing with them, grinding on them, climbing on the bags of bean strewn around, and seriously had some fun with the small show. Backed by a great saxophone, some seriously low drum and bass, and some sick synth, the band throws out a truely dance-funk sound with a touch of dub thrown in. By far the best show of the festival, and one of the best I have ever seen EVER, I was hooked. Their show at the Main Stage that night was now a must see. After some seriously awesome tunage, I headed back to the Main Stage a little more excited for the night to come.

Avi Buffalo was up next at the Main Stage. The recent Sub Pop acquisition means that they are now being held to an almost impossible standard. That aside, the youngsters are doing pretty darn well for themselves, playing their own indie rock sound, complete with a bit of twang. Sounding mildly unfinished, they hold a ton of potential, something I am sure Sub Pop saw in them. Even though they are incredibly cool now, I am stoked to see what they come up with for the next few years. See them now while they are still green and wet behind the ears before they start selling out stadium shows. I was ready for a change of pace and was thinking metal.

Metal and I have a long, convoluted history. I was raised on metal gods, old 80’s hair bands, and newer, more technically complex metal. I love it all. When I head that Black Breath was playing CHBP, I was a little skeptical of their appearance at a mostly indie fest. Good god, was I glad I was wrong. Coming out and playing one of the best metal performances I have seen, the show was pure metal awesomeness. The roar of the singer, the chugging guitar riffs, ground-trembling bass, and their incredibly decent drummer means this Seattle quartet definitely have a place amongst our local hardcore scene- and I think they just found a new place in my heart. I stayed for awhile until I had to bail to go figure out the main stage schedule.

Next up was Blitzen Trapper, a band that I was expecting to be a little too country for my tastes. I was pleasantly surprised with their lovely and mellow sound, and as the Stranger suggested beforehand, they did remind me quite a bit of the Eagles- but I have to admit that they do put their own little twist on the general sound. To top it off, their melodic and complex lyrics were a great breather for many from the general mainstage feel.

Once again, !!! turned the masses into one giant dance party. Nic once again hopped off the stage and mingled with the crowd along the barrier, the band danced their butts off, and frankly, I think everyone involved had a good time. You can tell that he was the kid that was made fun of in high school for his dancing, but up on stage, it is totally awesome. He worked the photographers wonderfully, including counting down in my face, giving me a chance to grab a few special shots. Shannon was dancing with her tambourine and the rest of the band was having a blast as well. Almost as good as the show in the Bean Room, but on a much larger scale. I walked my way down the Pike Street corridor to the sound of them laying down some seriously amazing beats. I danced my way down the street, past a band of naked cyclists (regulars to the Seattle area for events), past a group of people playing some seriously sick double dutch, and made my way home to grab some sleep and head back for a seriously busy day on Sunday.

Day 3 review up soon! In the mean time, check out the rest of the photos from Day 2 here! And the recap of Day 1 here!

Scandinavia is just bursting with talent right now. In the last 2 years, I’ve seen acts like the Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Peter Bjorn and John, Lykke Li, and Miike Snow (well, two-thirds of the band are Swedish) go from virtual obscurity to worldwide attention. Soul singer Jenny Wilson might just be the next big thing to come from the land of IKEA. Stateside success appears to be just around the corner for Wilson, who awed industry types when she performed at CMJ in October 2009. In August she will release her second album, Hardships!, in America.

On the album cover, Wilson is sporting boho chic (black beret, black turtleneck sweater). But oddly, she is striking a potentially incendiary pose akin to Morrissey on the cover of his 2006 comeback album You Are the Quarry; she is seated and holding a rifle. In the case of Morrissey, it was assumed that this was a tongue-in-cheek gag to get people talking about his album, because he is widely known as a pacifist and impassioned supporter of animal rights. But I don’t know if Jenny Wilson hunts. Maybe she means to simply say, “don’t mess with me”?

But the cover doesn’t reflect the beautiful music contained within. Wilson may have been a bird in a past life. The title track is evidence of this, allowing Wilson to stretch her voice in different directions, with wonderful results. Her soulful warblings are of the pleasant kind, and not in the vein of, say, Jesca Hoop. This is a very rhythmically dynamic album, mostly dominated with dark piano touches. Touchstones include hip hop soul popularized by artists like Mary J. Blige and Erykah Badu (check out “The Wooden Chair,” “Porcelain Castle,” “Anchor Made of Gold”) and the idiosyncratic whimsy of Bjork. “Pass Me the Salt” and “Like a Fading Rainbow” (watch below) remind me of tracks by the late, great Aaliyah. To be honest, if I hadn’t read the words “Already an award-winning national sensation in her homeland of Sweden” on the promo material I received in the mail with the CD, I would guessed Wilson was from the ‘hood, not from Scandinavia.

Songs like “Only Here for the Fight” and “Strings of Grass” show reverence for ‘70s soul, complete with brass section. Speaking of brass, the instrumentation used to record this album is varied and interesting – how often do you see marimbas on pop records these days? Forget the album cover: you need this album.

Track Listing
01. The Path
02. Like a Fading Rainbow
03. Clattering Hooves
04. The Wooden Chair
05. Porcelain Castle
06. Anchor Made of Gold
07. Bad Waters
08. Only Here for the Fight
09. Pass Me the Salt
10. Motherhood
11. Hardships
12. We Had Everything
13. Strings of Grass

Hardships! by Jenny Wilson will be released on August 24 in America on Wilson’s own Gold Medal Recordings label. Wilson plans to tour here in early fall in support of the album.

Capitol Hill Block Party is one of the Pacific Northwest’s biggest, most anticipated music festivals of the year. Located within one of the most culture-rich neighborhoods in the city, CHBP takes over the street level of the Pike Street corridor from Broadway to 12th Avenue, providing great music entertainment all weekend, and some of the best eateries, bars, coffee and venues in town. Knowing this, I was super stoked to cover the fest, and ditched my day job a little early to head up to the Hill. Catching a bus seemed harder than normal as most were packed with attendees heading to downtown Seattle, where parking is sparse and not cheap. Public transit was the way to go if you lived outside of the city limits and everyone else had that in mind too.

Arriving at 2 pm, I was informed that the press list hadn’t been released yet (no surprise there), although general Will Call had been open since 11am. Hipsters were already lined up en masse to gain entrance with their tickets and security already looked bored, so I wandered down to the nearest grocery store to grab lunch and a few bottles of water before heading back. By 2:45, the press list had been released and myself and a handful of other fellow rocktographers were allowed in before gates to mingle and get our bearings. I pulled out my schedule and my camera, cleaned my lenses and geared up for what I knew would be a great start to the weekend.

First and foremost, I wandered over to the Vera stage. Naomi Punk kicked off a fabulous first day of both CHBP and their fall tour. The Seattle natives had a decent sized crowd, despite the lack of people actually being admitted into the festival yet. The great indie rock quartet came out and played a mellow yet almost bluesy set of mellow yet loud vocals floating along with the gritty guitar riffs. They kept it generally low key, vaguely reminiscent of the Moonhearts and creating a wonderful juxtaposition between the vocals and the guitar. To me, they needed a little more drumming, and a little more of their keyboardist (who was completely adorable when sitting there during songs he wasn’t playing).

After that, I decided to walk through the festival for the first time and head towards the main stage. You could tell that they were still letting fans in as the view down Pike was almost desolate. I grabbed a cup of coffee from Vita and wandered around the beer garden, checking out the Dickie’s 847 stage and shaking my head as the few hipsters that milled around went crazy at the mention of free pants. After enough lolly-gagging, I wiggled my way past the security guards and waved my credentialed wrist in the air, entering what was sure to be my favorite photo pit of the weekend.

Bear in Heaven took the stage at approximately 5 pm to a chorus of clapping and cheering from the now decently filled out pit behind me. I grabbed my camera and smiled, grabbing a few choice shots of Jon Philpot, both founder and vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist as the band started rockin’. With their eclectic, electro-rock feel, you can definitely tell that their latest release Beast Rest Forth Mouth, was meant for outdoor summer shows like this. They filled the corridor with favorites such as “Lovesick Teenagers” and “Wholehearted Mess” and made the crowd dance and sway accordingly. Very atmospheric rock filled every nook and cranny that it could inducing an almost psychedelic feel in the crowd. Every rocktographer in the photo pit was dancing or at least bobbing their head along with the beat and as I exited the photo pit after my three song allotment, I saw numerous people dancing along. I headed to the Vera stage, dug out a bottle of water and sprayed on some Bullfrog.

While waiting for Francis and The Lights, I heard more than a few people talking about the sound quality and a few of the sound engineers could be spotted running around fixing things. Unfortunately when Francis came out on stage, his mic didn’t work, so he swiped one from guitarist and proceeded to dance around the stage with a pair of purplish-blue butterfly shaped sunglasses on. Not only does he sound scarily like Phil Collins, but The Lights is a decent enough backing band that they have a lot of potential to be a great band, if they can tighten down their sound a little more. The were a little jazzy with enough indie rock still in them to be fun and dance worthy. However, a lot of people had already started on heading over to the Main stage to catch Yeasayer. I followed their lead and headed over just in time.

I have to say – Yeasayer was my first FUN band of the day. So far they were the only band of the day that had been actually fun to shoot and a lot of the day shift crowd was starting to pour in, making them the first band of the day for many folks. Definitely bringing out the more pop influences than the past work, they still have their own shiny brand of experimental music. Honestly, they sound even better live then they do recorded; and while I am sorta biased towards bands that sound as such, they have quickly found an empty place in my heart and claimed it as their own. Rocking out to the sultry sound of frontman Chris Keating, he almost reminded me of Switchfoot (a la Hello Hurricane) thrown in a blender with some Local Natives for style and mixed with a dash of Animal Collective. If you have a chance to catch them live, do it. Seriously. Your brain will thank you for it.

After Yeasayer, fellow rocktographers and I had one hell of a time climbing through the now PACKED pit to get out. Security was nice enough to let us start entering and exiting from behind the main stage due to the mass of people that had almost instantaneously shown up out of nowhere. The group of us hung around, the crowd starting to anticipate the next band. During their sound check, I all of a sudden felt a familar beat in the ground. Out of the blue, Titanium Sporkestra, Seattle-based heavy metal marching band had shown up and began playing for the already excited crowd. A few of their horn players managed to get up onto the balcony of a north side Pike Street condo and provided entertainment while the main stage was almost silent. When Holy Fuck‘s drummer sound checked his kit, it was to their rendition of “War Pigs” and the band geeks kept it up with twenty three minutes of Slayer and Black Sabbath covers with a typical Sousa band twist. For a band nerd like myself, seeing them stream through the crowd was insanely awesome and provided a great segue way between the standard indie music of the fest.

When Holy Fuck came onstage, you could feel the crowd visibly surge forward. The Canadian quartet brings a totally new spin on electronica, using such non-insturments as a 35 mm film synthesizer and toy phaser guns to make sounds that would otherwise be made with programming and laptops. Not only are the vaguely reminiscent of innerpartysystem, they are wonderful live and are incredibly unique. The crowd was right at home with their sound and danced along while bringing a new sound to the table for the festival. This definitely geared the crowd up for MGMT.

Here’s my take on MGMT: in the past two years, they have stagnated horribly. Granted, they are still decent live, but in all honesty, a lot of fans were disappointed by Friday night’s performance. They were fun in a way, the photo pit was packed, and the crowd did show some interest. However, they killed the mood for main stage for the night. I grabbed my gear and caught a bus, heading back to a friend’s house for some tabletop gaming and a few hours of sleep on a couch.

I’ll be back with more recaps for Saturday and Sunday here soon! Keep your eye out for them, and in the meantime, catch the rest of the pictures from Friday here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49888788@N04/sets/72157624605257072/

Usually, Mondays are the worst day of the week. But the sun was shining and by some last minute graces, my schedule cleared just in time to check out the bands playing at one of the most beautiful venues in Lawrence. For once, this was my favorite weekday.

The venue, Liberty Hall, doubles as a movie theatre and because of that construction, it promotes great visibility of the entire stage no matter where you’re located. This attribute would actually be very handy for what was lined up for the stage on this particular evening, one of Canada’s many overly-talented collectives: The New Pornographers.

I arrived just after the start of Imaad Wasif.  I had seen Wasif tour with Yeah Yeah Yeahs way back in the day, but this was my first experience with his solo work. I had been told to expect folk rock, but while I braced for a Dylanesque sound, I think the time with Karen O had pushed Wasif more to just a rock sound. Sure, the guy was on an acoustic guitar, but as he thrashed his wild mane around, and bursted out his raw, edgy vocals, there was no way I could call that anything, but rock. But even that isn’t quite the right genre. Wasif sometimes incorporates nontraditional tunings and tonations, which is cool, but since it isn’t what most ears are used to, it is a bit hard to access at times.

The next act also incorporated some nontraditional sounds, but in contrast to the Wasif, this music was incredibly accessible whether you like rock, classical, pop or some other genre. The trio is riding on that wave of popular NW US, sunshine indie sound with big percussive elements and lots of harmonies that’s making acts like Local Natives garner buzz. And when I say big percussive elements, I mean BIG. Did you know it was possible to bow a vibraphone? Because apparently it is and when you do that, it sounds like playing the glass harmonica. Nearly every song featured some sort of syncopation between the percussionist and the drummer, resulting in every song being upbeat with not much downtown to lose interest. Then the icing of all this was that they actually used dynamics. Like real dynamics! A lot of times, I see a band and they have loud and one louder, but the use of crescendo and decrescendo in a rock band is something I rarely hear. After seeing them live, I think I might have a new CD to take over the car stereo.

Boston‘s “Foreplay” heralded the entrance of our Canadian superstars in the New Pornographers: Dan Bejar (Destroyer and Swan Lake), Kathryn Calder(Immaculate Machine), John Collins (The Evaporators),  Kurt Dahle (Limblifter), Todd Fancey (Fancey), Carl Newman (A.C. Newman), Blaine Thurier, and finally perhaps the most recognizable member, Neko Case. It’s almost unfair to the rest of the bands in the world that that much talent can be in one band together. Almost. I’m just glad I got to see all eight members together on a stage, which has become harder and harder to achieve as each continues to gain individual success (I’m looking at you Neko). As can be expected when you have 8 members on a stage, the show was like a party. With so many people, I was glad to see them keep the stage set up simple; they were accompanied by ‘The New Pornographers’ in dangling lights as the backdrop. The next hour and a half of music was filled with hit after hit song, smiles, alternating group vocals between the three primary singers and occasional fourth and lots of tambourine. One of my favorite moments of the night was when Newman and Case bantered about an upcoming waltz number.

“This might be the greatest waltz time ballad we ever wrote,” said Newman.

“It’s the only waltz time ballad we ever wrote,” retorted Case.

Newman smiled: “So we’re in agreement?”

“That a passive hint that you should waltz. Make love to the dance floor,” said Case.

And as the band began their greatest waltz, sure enough, people coupled up and began dancing. I couldn’t believe how many couples were at this show and the wide variety of them. Apparently, the New Pornographers equals a love fest. I really enjoyed one couple, probably in their 50s, down in the front row take up the band on the waltzing suggestion. It was a lot more tasteful than the significantly younger couple directly in front of me that took the band up on the “make love to the dance floor,” suggestion instead.

Aside from that one disgusting PDA couple threatening to damper my show experience, I couldn’t have asked for a better night. If you want an evening of carefree, happy, indie pop music, this tour is the perfect night out.

The New Pornographers Set List:
Sing Me Spanish Techno
Up in the Dark
Myriad Harbour
Crash Years
The Laws Have Changed
Jackie Dressed in Cobras
Adventures in Solitude
Twin Cinema
Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Go Places
Jackie
My Rights Versus Yours
Moves
Your Hands (Together)
Use It
Silver Jenny Dollar
Mass Romantic
Bleeding Heart Show
Challengers
Testament to Youth in Verse

Check out Holy Ghost!‘s new video for “I Know, I Hear”, one of the four tracks from their Static on the Wire EP released earlier this year. It features Caroline Polachek of Chairlift.

Holy Ghost!: website | myspace | Friendly Fires / Holy Ghost! – 12” Split Single| Interview with: Alex Frankel of Holy Ghost! | @ U Street Music Hall | @ 9:30 Club

Ever wonder how your personal or favorite website sounds? It’s a weird question to ask, we know, but we’re not talking about those websites that play songs automatically. We’re talking about the actual aesthetic sound of a website. If you weren’t wondering before, perhaps you’re wondering now.

Indie dance darlings Yeasayer must have pondered this question quite a bit. They’ve thought about it enough to come up with an algorithm to capture the sound of any website using samples from their single “O.N.E.”

To try it out head over to the band’s code organ here and enter the link to your favorite website. Make sure you have your speakers turned up and enjoy. The code organ scans the body html of the site and outputs it as a song. We tested it out with PopWreckoning.com and a few other sites, and sure enough, it works. Fun stuff!

The CAVES' five songs EP

The Caves’ music can make a person feel light-hearted.

Giddy, really.

Andrew Ashby (guitar, voice), David Gaumé (bass), Elizabeth Bohannon (keys, percussion, voice), and Jake Cardwell‘s (drums, percussion) talents effortlessly blend together on the band’s refreshing Five Songs with the Caves EP, Volume 1. Five Songs is a bit haunting, completely mind clearing and undoubtedly calming.

The heartbreaking and beautiful “Low Slung” eases listeners’ ears into the crisp sound of the EP while the indie rock inspired, “The Latest Song,” is short and cute and speeds up the EP’s pace slightly.

The cool, melancholy “Bad Astronomy” sweetly slinks along. Each note is sung delicately. Bohannon’s voice gently sits atop each chorus lyric like icing.

“Consuela” contains a gentle romping beat, echoing chorus, and a deliberate, but slightly delayed lyric delivery, while the gentle pop melody and driving chorus in “The Ballad of Jiminy Cricket” brings the EP to a powerful close.

Hear The Caves play at the Replay in Lawrence, Kan., on August 7, at 10 p.m.

Track Listing:
Low Slung
The Latest Song
Bad Astronomy
Consuela
The Ballad of Jiminy Cricket

The Caves‘ MySpace and Facebook.

It’s been my experience that the 9:30 Club in Washington is not the ideal place to see a dance band. Or maybe I have been going to the wrong shows? Monday night the club played host to the first night of Montreal electro-funksters Chromeo‘s Business Casual Tour. One look at the keyboard stands – women’s bare legs with red heels – should have immediately told you this was going to be an unusual gig.

The first of two opening acts was New York City-based Telephoned, a duo comprising of the mustachioed Sammy Bananas (that’s got to be a stage name, surely?) on turntables and electronics and the prettily coiffed Maggie Horn. It turns out Horn is a local D.C. girl, so the duo had plenty of friends on hand to cheer them on. The two take popular songs and give them their own spin. I’m not really a fan of the songs they “spun” – to give you some idea, their set included mishmashes of Rihanna‘s “Rude Boy,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs‘ “Runaway,” and even their tour host’s, Chromeo‘s, “Night by Night.” Not really my thing, but there were plenty of people on the floor who disagreed. At one point, I was nervous as a man in a Don King outfit got into an argument with a girl who is a big fan of Telephoned as the two discussed their merits (or lack thereof). People: whatever floats your boat, to each his own, etc…

The second opener was Holy Ghost!, a band near and dear to my heart. Having seen them in June play to their fans at the U Street Music Hall, a venue specifically designed for dance music, I did not have high hopes for the 9:30. First there was a problem with the bass levels. Then there was a microphone wire problem. All in all, I have to say Alex Frankel (lead vocals / keyboards / additional percussion), Nick Millhiser (drums) and their two backing band members on guitars and synths did an admirable job despite the technical cock-ups that weren’t their fault. When it came time for “I Will Come Back,” all those equipment issues were forgotten as gig-goers gave themselves over to the beat. In the coming months and years, this will become every bit of a dance anthem as “Hold On” did for them at the start. Trust me. Dance bands often have too much in the way of exciting lighting going on around and behind them, and in the case of Holy Ghost!, less is definitely more. They didn’t have an elaborate stage set-up with them on Monday night, and they didn’t need them.

Holy Ghost! Set List
Say My Name
Hold On
It’s Not Over
Static on the Wire
I Will Come Back
New song (title unknown)

But Chromeo was who everyone had come to see at this sold-out show. My knowledge of them was limited to “Night by Night,” which had a very sexy promo video released last December. Appropriately enough, the focus is on the dancing. I knew they had two members – David Macklovitch (Dave 1) on guitar and lead vocals and Patrick Gemayel (P-Thugg) on synths and talk box – but assumed live they had to have more members, like Holy Ghost! Wrong. Gemayal had so many synths, even I lost count. For several songs he also wailed on bass, something I really appreciated. Macklovitch may be “the cute tall one” but Gemayel is the master onstage. Something I found strange: most of the duo’s songs are short, not what I would have expected for a dance band. It’s too bad they haven’t found more mainstream commercial success.

At the start, I wondered why Macklovitch was wearing sunglasses. Um, we’re in a dark nightclub, what gives? With a guitar, he had the opportunity to move around more than his synth-playing counterpart. I quickly learned that the sunglasses were to shade his eyes from the powerful light show that was going on directly behind the two of them. There was enough wattage on the 9:30 Club stage to land a jumbo jet. My eyes hadn’t been through such a workout since the Phoenix show at Constitution Hall in April. They granted us a short reprieve with “Momma’s Boy,” a tender but funny ’80s-sounding song that begins with keyboard effects and Macklovitch’s sweet vocals.

“Fancy Footwork,” the title track to their 2007 album release, had a bass effect so strong that I could feel the insides of my face vibrating. Not kidding. I tried holding on to the barrier, thinking this would dampen the effect. No such luck. Between this, the strobes, and the dancing-induced claustrophobia (including people’s limbs in your body and face), it was not a comfortable situation. Definitely not for the faint of heart. But if you’re in the mood for cutting a rug and don’t mind moments of temporary blindness, this would be the show for you. And good news for Chromeo fans: they do preview songs from their new album coming out in September, Business Casual.

Tour Dates
Jul 29 – Bowery Ballroom / New York City*#
Jul 29 – Love / New York City (afterparty / DJ set)
Jul 30 – House of Blues / Boston*#
Aug 02 – Capital Music Hall / Ottawa*#
Aug 03 – Phoenix / Toronto*#
Aug 05 – Majestic Theater / Detroit*#
Aug 06 – Lollapalooza / Chicago
Aug 06 – Official Lollapalooza Afterparty / Chicago (DJ set)
Aug 07 – First Avenue / Minneapolis*#
Aug 10 – Flames Central / Calgary*#
Aug 11 – Commodore Ballroom / Vancouver*#
Aug 12 – Showbox Market / Seattle*#
Aug 13 – Roseland Ballroom / Portland*#
Aug 15 – Outside Lands Music Festival / San Francisco
Aug 16 – House of Blues / San Diego*#
Aug 19 – Twilight Concert Series / Salt Lake City
Aug 19 – W Lounge / Salt Lake City (afterparty / DJ set)
Aug 20 – Ogden Theater / Denver*
Aug 24 – Stubb’s / Austin*#
Aug 25 – Palladium / Dallas, TX*#
Aug 26 – Cannery Ballroom / Nashville*#
Aug 27 – Masquerade / Atlanta*#
Aug 29 – Hollywood Bowl / Los Angeles^
* with Holy Ghost!
# with Telephoned
^ with the Chemical Brothers and Yacht

Chromeo: website | myspace
Holy Ghost!: website | myspace | Friendly Fires / Holy Ghost! – 12” Split Single| Interview with: Alex Frankel of Holy Ghost! | @ U Street Music Hall
Telephoned: myspace

In December 2005, I witnessed the most catastrophic concert lineup of my life, courtesy of 96.5 The Buzz‘s The Night the Buzz Stole Christmas: Against Me!, Alkaline Trio, Hot Hot Heat, The Psychedelic Furs and Death Cab for Cutie.

Yep.

That show left me with a giant purple bruise on the inside of my arm from clutching the barricade to keep my front row spot until Death Cab took the stage, but that faded after a week or two. The image of The Psychedelic Furs‘s Richard Butler strip teasing out of his women’s sweater can never be unseen.

I walked into last Friday’s Buzz Under the Stars event worried 96.5 had put together a repeat wreck of a lineup: Crash Kings, Against Me! (total fluke that they were involved in both shows), Devo (…), the Silversun Pickups and Ben Folds. Much to my relief, the diverse lineup resulted in a fast-paced show that managed to hold my attention (normally equivalent to that of a six-year old) for nearly five hours of music.

Well…and I had a couple beers. And I left early because Ben Folds was unimpressive. We’ll get back to those later.

Crash Kings, hailing from L.A., kicked off the night. They coaxed a notable number of concertgoers down to the River Market early considering the boiling July heat. The trio played Afentra’s VD Party in February and clearly earned themselves some fans there — and how could they not? Crash Kings features a drummer, a bassist and a Clavinet player. No lead guitar? No problem. Slap a whammy bar on that keyboard and you’re good to go.

The group’s Myspace just calls their sound “rock,” which is accurate, but lacking. Let’s go with “piano-driven rock with a touch of blues influence that feels as comfortable as your favorite corner bar.” Crash Kings filled the outdoor venue with catchy, danceable jams that had me bobbing energetically despite the stifling heat. It was impossible to stand still while watching keys player/lead singer Tony Beliveau flip his hair and hop up and down off his stool without ever missing a note.

Against Me! filed in next, and was my first concern regarding the evening’s lineup. I don’t think I’d listened to Against Me! since seeing them back in 2005, but if memory serves correct, they were pretty punk rock. Lo and behold…they were still pretty punk rock. But I liked them more this time. I don’t know if that means they have improved or that my music taste has widened. I don’t know enough about punk rock to have much commentary here, however I would like to point out the ridiculousness that was keyboardist Franz Nicolay‘s mustache. Very distracting. (Side note: Nicolay is not technically a member of Against Me!. He’s the former keyboardist for The Hold Steady and World/Inferno Friendship Society, and joined up with Against Me! for the band’s current U.S. tour with the Silversun Pickups. That tour also explains why they were at Buzz Under the Stars. Kind of. I still don’t entirely understand why Against Me! is playing with the Pickups at all.)

And then Devo happened played. I was ready for another The Psychedelic Furs experience, and I stepped into the photo pit wearily. All I can say is that I’ve never had such a tough time keeping my professional face on while working. I wanted to laugh, dance and clap along with the jumpsuit-clad band members. Those men brought the red and blue energy-domed crowd to life as they robot-danced across the stage and robot-played their instruments. The commitment to character made it one of the most fun sets I’ve ever watched. Devo, my deepest apologies for ever doubting your ability to rock a Buzz event. But please, never hip-thrust against when your junk is at eye-level for me and I’m two feet away. Awkward.

I am a spoiled girl who expects only the best. So even after an evening filled with whammy bars on keyboards, curlicue mustaches and robot dancing, I wanted more from the Silversun Pickups. Friday night was my first time to see the four-piece alt rock band, even though it’s been one of my favorite music acts for several years (“Lazy Eye” is my theme song). I floated through all of their set, amazed to see that lead singer Brian Aubert‘s voice actually sounds like that — I can’t be the only one who thought it was a recording trick. One complaint, which might line up with Popwreck Managing Editor Bethany Smith telling me she thought the set “boring”: considering the intensity of the Silversun Pickups‘ music, I expected a larger stage presence. The band almost disappeared, spaced out on a nearly empty stage with purple and blue lighting. The musicians stayed mostly still through their set; while artist movement is of course the choice of the artist, I struggle to understand how the quartet could stay so planted. I think the band’s somewhat calm demeanor might have reflected onto the crowd, toning things down a bit after Devo‘s enthusiastic performance.

Ben Folds finished up the night, and if you read the beginning of this article, you already know how I feel about that. Someone told me the next day that unless you are really into Ben Folds, it probably wasn’t that great of a show (that “someone” happens to be a huge fan and nearly smacked me when I told him I got bored and left). Listen, if you’re headlining that big of a show, and you’re doing it totally solo, you better have some damn good stage presence. All I saw was a goofy kid with way too mellow of songs to fit in with the rest of the evening. Maybe things would’ve been different if he at least had brought a chick to sing Regina Spektor‘s part in “You Don’t Know Me.” But he didn’t. So I drank some beer, swapped high-fives with my friends and went home.