popwreckoning

Monday was by far the longest of the three days gallivanting around the Seattle Center, as it started at 12 Noon sharp. I met up with some people over at the Fountain Lawn stage for Motopony, one of Seattle’s newer phenomenons. I saw them play live for the first time last summer and recently heard their song “King of Diamonds” on 103.7 The Mountain, which is pretty big actually.

Frontman Daniel Blue can really put on a show, I’ll tell ya. Their early (and I mean early) afternoon show made me wish they played more around the city.

My camera and I moved over to the Free Yr Radio stage for Lake’s acoustic set, since I knew I couldn’t make it to their main set later in the day because of such a full schedule. While I found several times that weekend the people doing the short impromptu interviews at the stage were quite awkward, Lake was so chill that it made the set that much more enjoyable. I’m sure it was easier for the girl doing the interview as well.

Curtains for You was next, and they were one of the main bands I was looking forward to on that Monday. They opened for the Head and the Heart back in January at Neumo’s, and the atmosphere at the EMP Level 3 stage on Monday was just as warm and inviting as the Neumo’s show. It felt so intimate and fun – almost like a living room show.

After that was a trifecta of local talent – starting with Grand Hallway, whose brand of indie pop can only be described as majestic, with the strong instrumental melodies and orchestral quality.

I then headed over to the Free Yr Radio stage again for Ravenna Woods, since I wasn’t sure I’d be able to make it to their set later. I’ve seen them several times, so I didn’t feel that bad. But their acoustic set was fantastic. Again, dealing with the awkward interview, frontman Chris Cunningham laughed it all off with a giant smile, after rocking out to my favourite of their songs “We Want It All.” Which reminds me, I need to see if I can get into that Nirvana Nevermind exhibition, because Ravenna Woods is playing at it.

Back to the EMP Level 3 stage I went, and this time for Lemolo, who had quite a long line waiting to get in to see them by the time I got there, and it was already at capacity. It warmed my heart to see so them – like so many local bands that weekend – get such a strong audience. The two girls put on a lovely show, like always. The best part was when it sounded like everyone in the room started singing along to their song “Open Air.” It was a bit surreal, even for me.

After my heart was thoroughly warmed, I ventured into the Exhibition Hall for the first time that weekend for Eisley’s set. To tell you the truth, I used to listen to Eisley about 4 years ago, but have since moved on with my musical tastes. Because I hadn’t listened to them in forever, I was expecting something completely different at their show. I was not expecting them to rock so much. Thankfully I did see their show, or else I would have gone on thinking that they still did breathy lite indie pop. These girls have come a long way since Room Noises in 2005.

Vendetta Red was also in the Exhibition Hall that afternoon, and even though it wasn’t much of my style of music – this classic Seattle alternative punk band rocked the house. It definitely was nice for those fans to get to see Vendetta Red play live after their four-year hiatus.

The final act I got to see in daylight was Sharon Van Etten, who I had never seen before and didn’t know what to expect. While for the first couple of songs, it was only Sharon and her guitar on stage, her charm commanded the audience for a fantastic, rather stripped-down set.

Then the next hour of my evening went like this – ran over to Phantogram, stayed for a few songs and they were amazing. I was surprised because last year when they played Musicfest Northwest it was a bit underwhelming. After that, a couple of my fellow photographers and I ran across the Seattle Center to see Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside at the EMP Level 3 stage, and she was adorable, even if she admitted to being a little hungover. Then literally as soon as we were done shooting, we skidaddled over to the Key Arena to find some seats for Hall & Oates. Yes, Hall & Oates.

The main reason I saw Hall & Oates was not because I had been dying to see “Maneater” live, but merely the fact that I could say that I’d seen Hall & Oates play. The audience inside the Key Arena was hilarious – the exact opposite of the teenagers the day before. It was a bunch of middle-aged women singing their middle-aged little hearts out, which was endearing to say the least.

So it was the end of Bumbershoot 2011. It was a wild ride, but my week was far from over, as I’d be driving to Portland two days later for Musicfest Northwest the rest of the week. Stay tuned for that coverage coming soon!

For more photos from Monday, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/abbigshmail/sets/72157627482031965/

New Orleans’ MUTEMATH have announced that they will launch the Odd Soul Introduction Tour this fall. The tour finds the band, which is Paul Meany (vocals/keyboards), Roy Mitchell-Cardenas (bass/guitar), and Darren King (drums), unveiling songs from their upcoming new album, Odd Soul, which will be released on October 4^th by Teleprompt/Warner Bros. Records. MUTEMATH will perform on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on the night of release.

The Odd Soul Introduction Tour kicks off on September 7^th and concludes with a homecoming show in New Orleans on October 21^st. A pre-sale for a VIP Package (which includes tickets, a physical and digital copy of Odd Soul, and a digital download of the track “Blood Pressure”) has already begun. Regular tickets go on sale to the public on August 5^th. Prior to September 7^th, MUTEMATH will perform a few select special dates in August. Tour dates can be found below.

In other MUTEMATH news, the track “Odd Soul” is currently available to fans in a unique video mixer platform. The mixer, which premiered on digital and social media technology site Mashable.com, features a different video for each part of the song: drums, guitars, bass, vocals, synth, and background vocals. Listeners can solo, mute, and mix “Odd Soul” in real-time creating their own audio and visual mix. Due to varying connection speeds and hardware there are two versions available, a 4-track version meant for users on slower connections and a 6-track version for fans using up-to-date browsers on faster broadband connections. Versions can be chosen by visiting www.mutemath.com/oddsoul.

08/06             Tulsa, OK                            Brady District Block Party
08/13            Tokyo, JAPAN                    Summer Sonic Festival
08/14            Osaka, JAPAN                     Summer Sonic Festival
08/16            Los Angeles, CA                Troubadour (sold-out)
08/20            Mobile, AL                          Saenger Theatre
08/25            New York, NY                      Mercury Lounge (sold-out)
09/07            Charleston, SC                     The Pour House
09/08            Greenville, SC                      The Handlebar
09/09            Columbia, SC                       New Brookland Tavern
09/10            Athens, GA                          40 Watt
09/12            Raleigh, NC                          The Pour House
09/13            Wilmington, NC                   The Soapbox
09/15            Richmond, VA                      Canal Club
09/16            Charlottesville, VA               The Southern
09/17            Poughkeepsie, NY               The Loft
09/18            Hartford, CT                          Webster Underground
09/20            Providence, RI                      The Met
09/22            Buffalo, NY                             Mohawk Place
09/23            Burlington, VT                        Higher Ground
09/24            Albany, NY                             Pearl Palooza (WEQX)
09/25            Cleveland, OH                      The Grog Shop
09/27            Ann Arbor, MI                    The Blind Pig
09/29            Lansing, MI                          The Loft
09/30            Milwaukee, WI                      The Rave Bar
10/01            Des Moines, IA                   Vaudeville, Mews
10/02            Lawrence, KS                      Bottleneck
10/07            Oklahoma, City, OK                  The Conservatory
10/08            Waco, TX                               Common Ground
10/09            San Antonio, TX                Endless Music
10/11            Little Rock, AK                    Revolution Music Room
10/12            Memphis, TN                                    Hi-Tone
10/14            Baton Rough, LA                  Chelsea’s
10/16            Pensacola, FL                      Deluna Fest
10/17            Jacksonville, FL                   Jack Rabbit’s
10/19            Knoxville, TN                         The Square Room
10/20            Birmingham, AL                   Workplay Theatre
10/21             New Orleans, LA                One Eyed Jacks

www.mutemath.com

Coming straight out of Springfield, MO, Ha Ha Tonka specialize in disarming and effortless anthems that owe as much to high and lonesome Ozarks mountain music as chugging college rock. The band released its Bloodshot debut, Buckle in the Bible Belt, to much acclaim in 2007, followed up with LP Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South in 2009, and released their latest album Death of a Decade this past April.

With a handful of tour dates lined up, the band is ready to hit the road and make a special appearance at Rockhurst College on Saturday August 27. For more information about the band and to take a look at more tour dates please visit www.hahatonkamusic.com

Leading into the physical release of the band’s latest record Sympathy, Scattered Trees is hitting the road for a summer tour, taking the band to New York, LA, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Austin, and more. The tour will coincide with the physical release date of Sympathy on August 9th. The band’s intensely personal live show has been a staple of the Chicago scene. Now, with Scattered Trees hitting the road for their first full U.S. tour, a whole new group of fans will get a chance to experience the band’s celebrated live show. The band has also made their single, “Four Days Straight” available for free download. Check out the track here.

An extensive list of tour dates can be seen below:

Motion City Soundtrack are gearing up for their fifth album with a handful of career spanning shows.

The dates will feature the band playing their entire four album catalogue, 2003′s I Am The Movie, 2005′s Commit This To Memory, 2007′s Even If it Kills Me, and 2010′s My Dinosaur Life, from start to finish, over the course of two nights in seven cities across the U.S. fall.  The band originally staged a similar performance of the then three albums in three nights in Chicago in 2009 and wanted to expand on the idea.  This series of shows kicks off in Los Angeles, tickets are available on Friday, June 24^th at livenation.com and locally at all Ticketmaster outlets. Dates are as listed below:

August 19^th & 20^th House of Blues                                                Los Angeles, CA
August 24^th & 25^th The Fillmore                                                    San Francisco, CA
Sept. 9^th & 10^th Irving Plaza                                                     New York, NY
Sept. 13^th & 14^th Paradise Rock Club                                         Boston, MA
Sept. 16^th & 18^th Theatre of the Living Arts                               Philadelphia, PA
Sept. 20^th & 21^st Cambridge Room at House Of Blues              Cleveland, OH
Sept. 23^rd & 24^th St. Andrews Hall                                              Detroit, MI

For more information visit www.motioncitysoundtrack.com

A road trip with all the girls to see a show; what better way to spend a Friday night? That’s precisely what I did last week and every painful cent of gas money was worth it.

We arrived at the Firebird with what couldn’t have been more perfect timing. We walked in, paid our dues, settled into the crowd, and the show began. There was a large crowd which both bands deserved: The Antlers hadn’t been through St. Louis in quite some time, and the opening band Little Scream was an enjoyable forty minutes of music, not just a time waster that a lot of openers can be. Hailing from Montreal, Canada, the trio was reminiscent of female-fronted Company of Thieves mixed with the distorted vocals of Karen O. from the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s. I was digging it. They kept the crowd entertained, and with more than just music alone. The drummer recited celebrity birthdays and deaths in between songs. Definitely a first. Maybe a little strange, but hey, it made the band memorable.

The crowd packed in tighter and I somehow found myself right up front by the time The Antlers started their set. Sweet! The heavenly choir of angels – I mean The Antlers – opened with “Parentheses” from their new album Burst Apart and it was absolutely gorgeous. There was no introduction, no “how ya doin’ St. Louis,” just music. And I couldn’t have asked for anything better. They transitioned right into Kettering from 2009 release Hospice before taking a little break for banter about mustaches. Next was a string of five new songs which all ran together into one long symphony. The entire crowd seemed to be in a trance. I had seen The Antlers once before (the previous summer at Lollapalooza) but nothing even comes close to the experience of a small, intimate setting like the one I was experiencing. It was all I could do to not close my eyes and get lost in the depths of my thoughts for the rest of the set. And they played a lengthy one too; ten songs, with an encore of three for a total of an hour and twenty minutes of ethereal melodies.

With Hospice being such a heavy and dense album, one would think that The Antlers’ live shows would be a drag. It’s really quite the opposite though, and Burst Apart, while still somewhat mellow and somber, is on the lighter side and has its jammable moments. In the words of a Metro Chicago tweet, “FYI, I’m probably gonna cry-dance at The Antlers’ show.”

Set list:

Parentheses
Kettering
No Widows
I Don’t Want Love
French Exit
Rolled Together
Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out
Bear
Hounds
Putting The Dog To Sleep

Two
Corsicana
Wake

www.littlescream.com
www.antlersmusic.com

Primarily recorded during the same time as Kid A, Radiohead delivers Amnesiac less than a year after its predecessor.  With the successful experimentation done on the prior album, it was going to be difficult to follow up with anything at that level.  See, I am a firm believer that there are crap, ok, good, and excellent albums.  But then there are the rare albums that are a step above an excellent album, and for me that was Kid A.

So because Amnesiac was mainly recorded during the same time as Kid A, there are those same experimental elements found throughout the album.  However, a more accurate description would be to call it a unification of textures found on both OK Computer and Kid A.

“Packt Like Sardines In a Crushed Tin Box” begins with a sound like Kid A – the first 30 seconds is nothing but beats and grooves before a melodic instrument enters.  It is as if the songs “Kid A” and “Idioteque” had a baby.

The first single “Pyramid Song” is another favored among many fans of Radiohead.  One of the biggest discussions has been about the time signature.  Arguments have been made for 6/8, 2/4, 6/8 repeated.  Others have also argued there is no time signature, it is just felt, which is a sound argument in this case, but the majority of music has time signatures and one can still be “felt.”  I even once read a claim that it uses an old African time signature.  16/4, and 16/8 have also been popular claims as well, depending on where you place the value of each beat.

My own opinion is that it is a simple 4/4 time signature with the phrase extending over 4 measures.  The beauty of “Pyramid Song” is that it takes something simple and makes it complex through syncopation and beat displacement, and that is the genius behind Radiohead.

“Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” makes me think that if the voice found on the song “Fitter/Happier” was signed to a one-song record contract, this would be his claim to fame.

It takes four songs into Amnesiac and almost 2 minutes into “You And Whose Army?” for any discernable early Radiohead to rise up through all of the experimentation in an almost dreamlike flashback to the days of Pablo Honey and The Bends. In essence, the band breaks through its own amnesiac and remembers for the briefest of moments where they came from.

There is a striking similarity between “I Might Be Wrong” and “The National Anthem” from Kid A. Is it possible that “The National Anthem,” may have been some kind of blueprint for “I Might Be Wrong?”  Or that could just be crazy talk.

Amnesiac looses its momentum with the 3-song set of “Morning Bell/Amnesiac,” “Dollars & Cents” and “Hunting Bears.”  All three songs seem to start and go nowhere, and clocking in at a combined 10 minutes, that is a huge hit on the 40-minute album.

If our dreams had a soundtrack, I believe “Like Spinning Plates” would be the score.  The disjointed and cloudy music, in fact creepy sounding at times, would compliment the eerie visions that our subconscious feeds us in our sleep.

Amnesiac comes to a close with a final lounge/jazz like song, in a smoke-filled bar, with the booze flowing freely.  “Life In a Glass House” sounds like a good ol’ time drunken jam session.  Though, I don’t feel it is the appropriate closer for the album, and think “Like Spinning Plates” would have been more suitable.

CD Two contains b-sides from the “Pyramid Song,” and “Knives Out” singles, including live tracks recorded from Canal+ Studios on April 28, 2001, and “Like Spinning Plates” from the I Might Be Wrong : Live Recordings release.

I think Amnesiac would have been a solid album if the 3-song low moment was replaced with the b-sides “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy,” “Fast Track” and “Worry Wort.”  To me, these songs are far superior to “Morning Bell,” “Dollars and Cents” and “Hunting Bears.”

These B-sides are interesting in that “The National Anthem” is completely different from the take on Kid A, and the live versions of “Packt Like Sardines” and “Like Spinning Plates” have lost their electronic/experimentation feel found on the album and take on an alt-rock form.

The deluxe edition gives us a little more on the DVD than did the releases of OK Computer and Kid A. The DVD contains the promo music videos for the above-mentioned singles plus “I Might Be Wrong” and “Push Pulk/Spinning Plates.”  It also contains live footage from Top of the Pops and Later…With Jools Holland.  There are 11 tracks on the DVD, so that is a step up from the previous two releases.

The deluxe edition also contains the sleeve covers for “Pyramid Song” and “Knives Out,” the original album insert for Amnesiac and a library card for the album.

My biggest complaint with the production of the deluxe edition is that they kept the original font alignment from the album release.  While I understand the nostalgic value, I hated it then, and I hate it now.  They didn’t choose right align, or left align to keep it organized.  Instead, it’s this horrible version of “justify” that makes it very difficult to read.

And if it was done as some sort of connection to the theme of the album title or the music itself, I still don’t like it.  I wish on the deluxe edition release that they fixed the original font alignment.

Amnesiac (standalone album) – 3 ½ out of 5 stars

Amnesiac (2 CD/1 DVD) – 4 out of 5 stars

Disc 2 Track list:
(Taken from “Pyramid Song” single)
1.  The Amazing Sounds of Orgy
2.  Trans-Atlantic Drawl
3.  Fast-Track
4.  Kinetic

(Taken from “Knives Out” single)
5.  Worrywort
6.  Fog
7.  Life In a Glasshouse (Full-length version)

(Taken from Canal+ Studios – 28/04/11)
8.  You and Whose Army?
9.  Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
10.  Dollars and Cents
11.  I Might Be Wrong
12.  Knives Out
13.  Pyramid Song

(Taken from I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings)
14.  Like Spinning Plates

DVD Track list:
(Music Videos)
Pyramid Song
Knives Out
I Might Be Wrong
Push Pulk/Spinning Plates

(Top of the Pops 17/08/01)
Knives Out

(Later…With Jools Holland 09/06/01)
Packt like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box
Knives Out
Life In a Glasshouse
I Might Be Wrong

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Amnesiac to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Amnesiac and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

I was working at WUPX, the college radio station at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan during the 2000-2001 school year.  In addition to being the Classical Music Director, I also had a mid-day show where we had to play the songs in rotation.  I remember when Kid A first came out and our station director was really pushing multiple tracks in rotation, especially the title track “Kid A”.

Many of the college DJs were kind of scratching our heads at the song and the album as a whole; I mean we were all familiar with OK Computer, but where had Radiohead turned this time?  I remember the DJ before me was finishing up his show, and the last song he played was “Kid A” and he said something that stuck: “If you thought OK Computer was Radiohead experimenting, then explain to me what this is?”

In fact, even the experimentation on OK Computer, which I will call “pseudo-experimentation” compared to Kid A, pales in comparison to this album.  The closest song to the previous album would be “Optimistic,” but even then that had its alt-rock and early experimentation elements stripped from it.

While I compared OK Computer to U2’s Zooropa in terms of its experimentation and departure from anthem rock, then Kid A would be akin to U2’s Passengers. The only difference is, this was much more successful and not as pretentious.

Like Passengers, lyrics are stripped way back on Kid A, and are mostly instrumental, combining classical, techno, and just a hint of house-beats, as found in “Idioteque.”  The complete instrumental “Treefingers” always reminds me of “An Ending (Ascent)” from Brian Eno’s Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks album, which appeared in the film Traffic. The trippy “The National Anthem,” and the somewhat depressing “How To Disappear Completely” and the swirling  “Motion Picture Soundtrack” are definite standouts on this thoroughly constructed and artfully mastered experimental album from Radiohead.

The second disc contains live tracks from the BBC Radio One Evening Session on November 15, 2000, LAMACQ Live In Concert at Victoria Park in England on October 2, 2000, Canal+ Studios on April 28, 2001 and I Might Be Wrong live recordings.

The DVD is more of a let down than the one on the OK Computer deluxe edition.  This time, we are given three songs from the Jools Holland performance.  I realize that the DVD was limited since there were no official singles, and thus, no official music video promos, but surely they could have found more than three songs recorded on video for this album.

For instance, where was the video for “Motion Picture Soundtrack” that contained all of the 30-second films to promote Kid A originally seen on MTV?  After doing some searching on YouTube, I found the video that Radiohead released for this.  It appears that the poster changed some things in the video,  but it contains all of the original “blips.”  You can watch it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7RKakVGvPc

Since there were no official singles released, there are no sleeve covers in the deluxe edition.  However, in addition to the original CD insert, it also includes the hidden booklet that was in the original pressing.

Kid A (standalone album) – 5 out of 5 stars
Kid A (2 CD/1 DVD) – 3 out of 5 stars (For only 12 minutes of playing time on the DVD)

Disc 2 Tracklist:
(BBC Radio One Evening Session – 15/11/00)
1.  Everything In Its Right Place
2.  How To Disappear Completely
3.  Idioteque
4.  The National Anthem

(LAMACQ Live in Concert: Victoria Park, Warrington, England – 28/04/01)
5.  Optimistic

(Canal+ Studios – 28/04/01)
6.  Morning Bell
7.  The National Anthem
8.  How To Disappear Completely
9.  In Limbo
10.  Idioteque
11.  Everything In Its Right Place
12.  Motion Picture Soundtrack

(I Might Be Wrong – Live Recordings)
13.  True Love Waits

DVD Tracklist:
(Later…With Jools Holland -   09/06/01)
1.  The National Anthem
2.  Morning Bell
3.  Idioteque

Editors’ Note: PopWreckoning has one unopened copy of this special edition of Kid A to be given away to a resident of the United States. To win, all you have to do is comment with your favorite song from the album Kid A and explain why the song stands out to you. The comment that stands out to the Editors the most, wins.

Please remember to include a working email address so we might contact you for mailing information. Contest will run until June 10.

If only Jason Schwartzman were still a part of Rooney, then this tour with Eisley and the Chapin Sisters would have been a perfect family affair. It’s seriously amazing to see that much talent in shared among family members. Though I guess just as talent runs in families, so does the lack of talent – seriously, my sister and I tried to do karaoke together once and it was not pretty.

The Chapin Sisters started off the show with their brand of saccharine folk songs. Their voices together were great and my friend and I commented on how they sounded and even looked a bit like Zooey Deschanel of She & Him. I guess it was a sound comparison because shortly after making that comment, the sisters brought up their recent tour with She & Him in the past Fall.

Eisley followed and this Texas indie rock group of three sisters, one brother and cousin blew me away. I had always heard good things, but this was the first time I’ve ever been able to catch them live. The one sister, Sherri, had a voice like Canadian singer Lights. My friend and I kept saying she was our favorite vocalist, but then Stacy would start to sing and we’d be like, no we love her the most. In other words, we really just loved everything about whatever was happening at the most recent moment because it just got better and better. The harmonies were superb, while the instrumentals drivingly interesting and catchy.

Midway through the set I tweeted a pic of Eisley and immediately got a text back, “You’re at Eisley? I didn’t think they served your kind there.” I couldn’t help, but chuckle at the Star Wars joke, but it did make me curious about the band’s name – turns out the really are named for the Star Wars town of Mos Eisley.

The group mentioned some new music coming out this Spring and played a few new songs such as “Smarter” off the upcoming release. Definitely put this release on your radar.

Eisley Set List:
Better Heart
Golly Sandra
Many Funerals
Brightly Wound
Smarter
Valley
Invasion
I.W. Prepared
Sad
Ambulance
Mr. Moon

I must admit, I had been a little out of the Rooney loop for awhile. I was obsessed with them in high school, so I couldn’t wait to hear “Daisy Duke” and “I’m Shakin,” but I didn’t really know what to expect from the more recent material.

The set list was a great mix of old and new songs, so I was pleased to hear what I had originally fell in love with mixed in with new songs that I was pleasantly surprised by. The group also through in some covers – inviting the Chapin Sisters back out for a cover of “Magic.”

Rooney’s warm-sounding surf rock was perfect for the cold Winter night of this show and really, my only bone to pick with them were the dance moves of lead singer Robert – maybe a little bit less of the chicken-head bobbing. It just got a little cheesy as the show went on and the overdone gesture detracts from what is some really great music.

Rooney Set List:
Stay Away
Blueside
Don’t Look at Me
Daisy Duke
All or Nothing
Losing All Control
Don’t Come Around Again
Holdin On
Only Friend
Runaway – cover
Stars and Stripes
Magic – cover
Shakin
Ishbay
Can’t Get Enough
—
Not in My House
Heart

The tour is still going on, so if you get the chance to see it in your town, definitely check it out. Tour dates are here.

The Decemberists returned to Kansas City’s Uptown Monday night. The set was filled with wild antics, classic Decemberists songs and even a surprise cover. Colin Meloy had the audience in the palm of his hand – he actually got everyone to sit on the floor and jump in unison, turned the crowd mildly competitive and made a family in the balcony feel the pressures of the spotlight.

Photographer Todd Zimmer was there and shares these photos recapping the amazing show: