popwreckoning

This year’s Monolith Festival held September 13th and 14th in Morrison, CO at Red Rocks Amphitheatre has an amazing line-up. Check out Saturday’s schedule now:

Esurance Main Stage
*10:30 PM :: DeVotchKa
8:45 PM :: Silversun Pickups
7:15 PM :: Vampire Weekend
5:45 PM :: The Fratellis
*4:30 PM :: Cut Copy
3:15 PM :: Superdrag
*2:00 PM :: Foals
1:00 PM :: Dressy Bessy

New Belgium Stage
*9:45 PM :: Atmosphere
*8:00 PM :: Del tha Funky Homosapien
6:30 PM :: Mickey Avalon
*5:00 PM :: Holy Fuck
3:45 PM :: John Vanderslice
2:45 PM :: The Muslims
1:45 PM :: The Veils
12:45 PM :: Electric Touch

WOXY.com Stage @ Southwest Airlines Heart of the Rock Theatre
*8:30 PM :: White Denim
7:10 PM :: Pop Levi
*5:10 PM :: Liam Finn
4:40 PM :: The Hood Internet
3:10 PM :: Cameron McGill & What Army
2:00 PM :: Port O’ Brien
1:10 PM :: Lovelikefire

Rock Room Stage
*9:10 PM :: The Presets
7:50 PM :: The Night Marchers
6:30 PM :: A Place To Bury Strangers
5:10 PM :: The Photo Atlas
3:50 PM :: Blitzen Trapper
2:30 PM :: The Morning Benders
1:30 PM :: Colour Revolt

MadeLoud.com Acoustic Stage
10:00 PM :: Rob Drabkin
8:15 PM :: Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons
*6:45 PM :: PWRFL POWER
5:15 PM :: Scratch Track
4:00 PM :: Rock Plaza Central
2:45 PM :: KaiserCartel
1:15 PM :: Noah Harris
12:30 PM :: Erin Ivey

Monolith Festival: website | customize schedule | buy tickets

*check these sets out for sure!

Despite some rain late Thursday night, the weather in Chicago’s Grant Park was perfect for this year’s 2008 Lollapalooza festival. A nice breeze off the lake made this the perfect weekend to host the excellent and diverse lineup of music. The park was kept in pristine conditions as crews constantly walked around encouraging recycling and a cleaner environment. This festival knows what it’s doing and is one of the best organized and most considerate (they even had lots vegetarian options at the food booths!) shows in the business.

Lollapalooza by Jeff Gentner

The whole weekend was sold out for the first time in the history of the festival. Friday had a record-breaking turnout as headliners Radiohead drew a sold out crowd of 75,000. Although, the earlier portion of the day wasn’t quite as packed, a solid crowd showed up to see the fine bands performing at the different stages leading up to Radiohead.

Starting off my day was Butch Walker on the PlayStation 3 Stage. Walker started his set solo with some fun loops on two new songs off his highly anticipated new album Sycamore Meadows before his band joined him on “State Line.” Walker performed a solid set showing that he is just as good an artist as he is a producer. If the new songs from his set are any indication of his new album, it is going to be phenomenal.

Butch Walker by Adam Bielawski

Any act following up the strong set by Walker would have a hard time not falling a little flat. Sure enough, the next act on the Bud Light Stage The Go! Team did just that. Maybe it is all that jumping around, but just because you want to be energetic in your presence doesn’t mean you should let the vocals suffer. Instrumental tracks like “Junior Kickstart” were just fine, but anytime Ninja would open her mouth I kind of wanted to go ninja and karate chop her throat.

Ninja of the Go! Team by Alberto Trevino

After the poor pitches of the Go! Team, Welsh singer Duffy‘s soulful vocals were a welcome refreshment at the PlayStation 3 Stage. The young singer definitely has some pipes, but her stage presence could use a little work. Her hand motions quickly got repetitive, but maybe with a little experience, her set will get a little fresher.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pmk_DTKpAw]

Following Duffy, I caught a few songs by rockers Louis XIV over on the Citi Stage. Despite a few technical difficulties, the crowd went wild over radio single “Finding Out True Love Is Blind.” I didn’t stick around too long for Louis XIV because I didn’t want to miss a second of gypsy punk group Gogol Bordello over on the AT&T Stage and this was definitely not the set to miss. This raucous set was exactly what the crowd needed as an energy boost to get through the rest of the day. After walking around all morning in the sun, Gogol Bordello brought the crowd back to their feet for a big dance party as the band played through their accordion rock set.

Gogol Bordello by Chase Agnello-Dean

Next up was Lawrence, Kansas indie rockers Mates of State. Their gentler set on the MySpace Stage was beautiful and it was a nice touch when the couple was joined by some strings. The crowd loved them, but it was hard to settle into their set after jumping around with Gogol Bordello.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-3xCSSSkHA]

Playing at the same time as Mates of State across the venue at the PlayStation 3 Stage was songstress Cat Power. Cat’s voice was just as great live as it is recorded. It is a shame that her set had to be the same time as Mates of State because they attract the same crowd.

Cat Power by Alberto Trevino

Toward the end of Cat Power, the crowd quickly scrambled for a place to see The Raconteurs perform on the Bud Light Stage. Jack White and crew sounded great, but there was something a little off about their set. It could have been that they weren’t in their usual uniform, but street clothes or it could have been the technical difficulties causing Brendan Benson to drop out during the vocals of “Level,” but it just wasn’t as tight as their club performances.

Jack White of the Raconteurs by Stephanie Janisch

I stopped at the Citi Stage for a few songs from Brazilian electro group CSS. Lovefoxxx must be tired of looking sexy because she sported a bright red spandex outfit with ruffles wrapping around it. CSS sounded a lot better live than their recording, surprisingly, and the crowd loved dancing around to their beats.

CSS by Abbey Braden

Radiohead closed out Friday on the AT&T stage. Thom Yorke and the rest of the guys thrilled the crowd by combining their tight instrumental skills with an amazing light show and fireworks as they performed songs like “Airbag,” “Fake Plastic Trees” and “There, There.” Friday’s crowd went home pleased after Radiohead’s double encore.

The crowd during Radiohead by Alberto Trevino

Radiohead by Alberto Trevino

Radiohead wasn’t the only reason to attend this festival and Saturday looked just as packed. British group The Ting Tings was the perfect start to the day. Katie White (Interview at Diesel U Music Lounge at the Hard Rock Hotel) easily draws the eyes of the crowd as she energetically moves around singing their hits, but Jules de Martino should not be overlooked as he plays and sings with precision.

The Ting Tings by Alberto Trevino

There was a little lag after the Ting Tings. Dr. Dog took to the MySpace stage, but was unmemorable. Foals played some fun dance songs over at the Citi Stage, but didn’t stand up to the high standard for other electro dance groups set by the Ting Tings. MGMT sounded phenomenal live, but their disinterest in a majority of their own set detracted from the performance. They finally loosened up and started bantering by the end of their set.

MGMT by Abbey Braden

Brand New was the band to beat for best performance of the day, although Jesse Lacey‘s attitude may have detracted from the musical experience causing many to quickly forget just how good this performance was in actuality. Joined by Kevin Devine for their first song, they took to the AT&T Stage and put on the most powerful performance of the day. Jesse Lacey’s performance is better than ever, but he appears just as moody.
He seemed to be in a good mood at first as he seemingly jokingly told the crowd, “You should all be at Explosions in the Sky. You’re all fools.” But as the set progressed through “Sowing Season,” “Sic Transit Gloria,” “Jesus Christ” and a new song (tentatively called “Bride”), Lacey grew more and more frustrated with a pocket of disinterested crowd members before finally climaxing and throwing his guitar into the drum set and leaving the stage a full fifteen minutes before the set was meant to end. Despite this mishap, this was still one of the best performances of the day and the part of the crowd that was interested was left confused and chanting for an encore.

After Brand New, I caught some of Okkervil River‘s set across the venue at the PlayStation 3 Stage and their sweet indie rock was a nice respite. They were followed by Broken Social Scene over on the Bud Light Stage, but BSS is more suited for a smaller setting where their fun instrumentations can completely engulf the listener. As great as Okkervil and Broken were, they just couldn’t match the amphitheatric power of Brand New’s set.

Okkervil River by Amrit Singh

To be quite honest, the crowd gathering for Saturday’s headliners Rage Against the Machine didn’t really appeal to us and we headed out early to get a head start home, which is lucky we did because the Chicago Transit system got backed up by three hours from the large crowd leaving Lollapalooza.

Lollapalooza continued on to Sunday and featured the usual buzz acts like Black Kids, but the real buzz swarming the venue all weekend was the suspected appearance of democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. Unfortunately, Obama didn’t put in an appearance, but there were still plenty of special guests present at the festival. While Stars member Amy Millan joined the boys in Broken Social Scene on the Bud Light Stage, guitarist Slash joined festival co-founder Perry Farrell for a few songs. Plus, there were plenty of celebrities to spot like Lindsay Lohan and the Wentzes if you just kept your eyes open. This festival was filled with fun surprises and definitely not a weekend to miss.

Lollapalooza: website | schedule | setlists

Written by: Bethany

SUNDAY, JULY 13th

Day 2 at Redmond, Wa.’s Marymoor Park was just as hot and sunny as the first, with only white fluffy clouds passing overhead instead of menacing rain clouds that are said to always hover over the city of Seattle. After 20 years in the major northwest city, Sub Pop knows a thing or two about Seattle weather and couldn’t have picked a more gorgeous weekend to host their birthday party.

The Ruby Sun, Photo: Brian Tamborello

Paranoid at arriving late again, I showed up at Marymoor Park with an hour and a half to burn before the second day of Sub Pop 20 got underway. I was in good company, so the time easily passed before newly duo’d The Ruby Suns hit the stage at noon. The recent loss of now former band mate Imogen Taylor had little effect on Ryan McPhun and Amee Robinson as they each tackled an array of instruments throughout their experimental set. McPhun and Robinson, both of whom play guitar, keys, percussion and sing, created sweeping melodies along with afro beats and pulsing bass lines that had the audience dancing under the hot sun.

Despite their place as the day’s opener, The Ruby Suns pulled in lots of support as their set wore on. The early birds in the crowd made their way up to the stage to admire McPhun and Robinson’s stellar set and they stayed put for the 20 minutes in between sets to ensure a good place for Grand Archives. The afternoon pressed forward as more Sub Pop fans arrived to the sweet sounds of Grand Archives’ super airy melodies and ridiculously upbeat tunes.

Grand Archives, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

After powering through their first song, guitarist/keyboardist Ron Lewis announced, “I just got a 97% on Rock Band, so I think this is gonna be a good show.” And a good show it was! The Grand Archives’ sounds matched their surroundings: sunny; vibrant; energetic; and just massively fun. In addition to staples of their debut, self-titled album like “Torn Blue Foam Couch,” the guys played 2 brand new songs just as jaunty and carefree as you’ve come to expect from the surprisingly bubbly rockers.

The energy and intensity with which Grand Archives played was matched by successor Blitzen Trapper. The indie folk rockers were laid-back playing some mellow tunes reminiscent of Tom Petty or Neil Young but also shocked the audience with some harder songs. Blitzen Trapper had a great energy that pumped the crowd up for one of my favorite acts of the 2-day birthday bonanza, Kinski, a Seattle native.

Kinski, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

The primarily instrumental experimental, space-rock quartet puts together a dynamic set that both rocks hard with killer riffs and mellows out with ambient melodies. On the occasion that Kinski front man Chris Martin lends his voice to a song, he never once draws focus from the sweeping and intense guitars or sudden bursts of sound. They ended their powerful set with my favorite Kinski song “Semaphore” (download), from 2003′s Airs Above Your Station. With a huge crowd packed in front of the stage, Martin and crew nailed the song proving themselves to be a powerhouse of indie rock.

Following Kinksi was British dance, art rockers Foals. The five-piece brought an energy and intensity to the stage that no act before them that weekend could match, exhibited by guitar Jimmy Smith‘s ability to rally through the the band’s 40 minute set after having gotten sick on stage around minute 20. His warped riffs coupled with the intense energy of drummer Jack Bevan‘s high-powered beats created a non-stop dance party in front of the crowded main stage.

Foals, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Foals vocalist/guitarist Yannis Philippakis remained very subdued throughout the set, engaging in the stereotypically British demeanor. Despite his calm on stage, Philippakis ripped through power chords on his guitar and banged away on a floor tom, at one pointing using the microphone as a makeshift drumstick after an actual drumstick flew out of his hands and into the crowd. Watching Foals perform reminded me of Tokyo Police Club, whose wild energy they match but whose attention span they trump.

No Age, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Les Thugs followed energetically and enthusiastically with a loud, fast, post-punk set rife with ripping and driving riffs and pounding beats. L.A. duo No Age was up next. Their performance left much to be desired, despite a Nirvana cover in tribute to Sub Pop and Seattle. While the instrumentation was on par, drummer Dean Spunt‘s vocals were pretty torturous. To be completely honest, I left Sub Pop 20 about halfway through No Age’s set. A friend had traveled all the way to Seattle with me and we wanted to soak up as much of Seattle as we could before leaving the next afternoon.

The remainder of the day saw performances by Red Red Meat, Comets on Fire, Beachwood Sparks, Green River and Wolf Parade. As for Red Red Meat and Comets on Fire, I was told that their sets were “solidly unremarkable” by a source who stayed through the latter’s set. I am bummed out about missing headliner Wolf Parade’s set, which I can only speculate was amazing, but that’s nothing short of my own fault.

Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Wolf Parade, Photo: Shawn Brackbill

Despite my sneaking out early on Sunday, I’d like to extend a huge thanks to Sub Pop for putting on such a special and amazing event. To those of you lucky enough to attend, I hope you had as wonderful a time as I did. If you weren’t there, make it your business to get to Seattle in another 20 years — it’s an amazing place — and hopefully I’ll see you at Sub Pop 40.

Happy 20th Birthday, Sub Pop!

Sub Pop Records: website | myspace | SP20 photos

Structured patterns, poppy dance-rock, and, considering their Myspace page possibly pot-induced, dreams of vampires and “marching bands which never rest” may not sound like they’d go together but combined, it makes up Foals first full length album Antidotes. The self-proclaimed “snotty art school dropouts hungry for the dollar” have managed to connect mathy guitars with rarely changing, nonchalant vocals while keeping the fun alive.

Horns swell into the first song, “The French Open,” until changing into jazzy guitars. Just when you think you’re moving forward, the unlikely transition repeats and you’re back to the beginning. While you’re anticipating this happening again (it doesn’t), vocals finally come in; first he’s singing in (you guessed it) French then in English and mid-sentence, the song runs right into “Cassius.”

“Cassius” is a cocky, would-be jock anthem on beating out the competition and then rubbing it in their face. The music is like putting a puzzle together without going in any particular order: you don’t know what the picture is yet, but you place pieces by guess until it turns out to be a work of art. This song, as most of the others on the album, has so many timing changes and alternating sounds that it could easily come out messy, but they are so precise, it’s a nice surprise rather than annoyance.

The next song, “Red Socks Pugie” is my hands down favorite. The sound in the verses is casual and indifferent with mostly drums and guitars only once in a while, then the chorus grabs you in and even after one listen, you’ll be singing along to: “Oh what the hell, we set it on fire.” It took me a while to finally change it and move on.

“Olympic Airways” is made for a road trip to the coast. It’s driving with the windows down on a cool night; it’s that feeling of being completely aware of the breeze off the ocean, knowing you’re getting close. The lyrics match the moment with simplicity: “Let’s disappear ’til tomorrow.”

While many of the songs on the record take a similar path, “Big Big Love (Fig. 2)” stands out the most. They’ve created a hazy, clouded atmosphere, like walking through a dream that takes a bad turn when Yanni Philippakis yells, “Oh! Electric shocks, no!” Then the following track, “Like Swimming” is nearly two minutes of overly upbeat guitars and clapping that is so lazily done, I can’t really see it as an attempt to pump up the crowd during live shows. Really, there’s seems to be no point of it at all (like “Space” which is exactly one minute of complete silence). Whatever the reason they put these on the album, they don’t take anything away from it – just makes you pause and laugh to yourself, “What the?”

The album overall is nothing short of excellent. I will say it may be a little too repetitive for some. Being that it’s 14 tracks of comparable sounds, the songs following “Big Big Love (Fig. 2)” are almost too much of a good thing. Antidotes is more than worth a listen, though; it’s sure to make you a fan. You can pick up a copy of in stores now.

Foals: website | myspace | download “Balloons”
Sub Pop: website | myspace

by: Melissa