popwreckoning

High Violet sounds like the silver lining on a cloudy day. Well, if a silver lining made a sound, that is.

Violet is filled with melancholy, moody and agitated songs. Although the album’s overall feel is dark, its songs’ light melodies are peppered with sounds of absolution and pleasant agitation.

Fuzzed electronics, solid drum beats, crisp guitar riffs and tired vocals bring Violet‘s songs together, and tell of a somewhat distracted and dreary, but determined so-and-so.

“Afraid of Everyone” serves a full dose of rainy-rock. The song drones on, while Berninger’s voice chants hauntingly, “I’m afraid of everyone.” “Afraid” sounds of complete isolation, so, keep the razors locked away during the track’s duration.

Fret not, though- the entire album isn’t filled with mope inducing ballads. Violet‘s “Bloodbuzz Ohio,” is quick-paced and while it’s still wanting, it sounds of hope. “Sorrow” bleeds a happy/sad feel. Matt Berninger states, “I don’t want to get over you,” in a way that says, “yeah, I’m down, but at least I can feel, man.” Very Dostoyevsky.

“Anyone’s Ghost” has memorable steady drum beats scattered across swerving melodies, while the slow building “Tribble Love” exudes needing want.

And then there’s “Conversation 16,” which romps along in a Joy Division way until Berninger proclaims, “I said what I said; I didn’t mean anything,” and that “I was afraid I’d eat your brains. Cause I’m evil.”

Violet‘s songs sound almost deafening at times; scratchy and rough, shrill and bleak. But the melodies and subtle instrumentals bring out each song’s beauty, and almost softens each tune’s overall grit.

The National‘s 11 track album, which was released on 4AD, is out May 11. Download a few of the album’s tracks here.

Track listing:

01. Terrible Love
02. Sorrow
03. Anyone’s Ghost
04. Little Faith
05. Afraid of Everyone
06. Bloodbuzz Ohio
07. Lemonworld
08. Runaway
09. Conversation 16
10. England
11. Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks

With ominous clouds looming overhead and the threat of a tornado, it seemed that only the most dedicated of music fans trekked to Liberty State Park in New Jersey for the second annual All Points West Music and Arts Festival. The festival, organized by the same crew who run Coachella, has struggled to define itself as an East Coast contender, this year boasting a noticeably heavier and more hip-hop inspired lineup.

Fleet Foxes
Before the storm hit, Fleet Foxes took the main stage looking gorgeous in full grunge regalia, wizard beards and tattered flannel, and pulling somewhat of a Déjà vu on us as they sweetly echoed the lush harmonies of Crosby Stills and Nash. Some say Beach Boys circa Pet Sounds, some say CSN–either way, I was in lust with the ornate detail in their rising, earthen sound; more hopeful than haunting. As the first light drops of rain began to fall and we donned our fancy five-dollar ponchos, the atmospheric, ethereal hymns of Fleet Foxes warmed me despite the murky mud my feet were slowly sinking into.

Ra Ra Riot
I was downright giddy when Ra Ra Riot, who have become one of my favorite bands of the past year, hit the stage with their triumphant cover of Kate Bush’s “Suspended in Gaffa”. The perfect marriage of quirk and skill, Ra Ra Riot and Kate Bush equal crazy genius. With a fully plugged in string section, Wes Miles’ chirping, blue-bird balladry and princely presence, Ra Ra Riot is a kind of modern day band of minstrels, redefining indie-pop as we speak. Was that a bagpipe I saw on stage? Wait, a flageolet?

Interlude 1: Happy Hippy Techno Trance Dance Party
All throughout the park there were “Burning man raised” and inspired sculptures that became makeshift rain shelter spots. Hordes of people, including myself a few times, sardined themselves under tiny winged tarps attached to tepees made of glowing branches. Inside one of these pulsing tepees was a DJ spinning a house, trance, pop goulash. It was the dance party that didn’t stop. At any point throughout the weekend you could walk by and find hundreds of people giving it all they had in the mud.

The National
My expectations for The National and the gift of Matt Berninger were extremely high. Before Friday, I had never seen them live and I, among many, hold The Boxer near and dear. For years friends have been telling me that live, The National will blow me away. They did not lie. It couldn’t have been a more perfect setting to take them in for the first time. Berninger’s baritone seemed to call the darkening rain clouds in closer and it began to downpour as the band tore through their set with certainty. The rousing intensity of the music and the heaviness of the rain began to make sense. The whole scene was gritty, rough, and completely anti. There was something romantic about committing oneself to the music despite the threatening sky as Berninger sang apocalyptic melancholy with menace.

Pharcyde
I was excited to finally see the complete and original Pharcyde crew performing together after all the breakups and makeups the band has gone through. I have fond memories of listening to “Passin’ Me By” while passing a… With my baby bro, once again by my side, we rocked our plastic hoodies with pride as we “raised ‘em up” respectfully. The reunion of these hip-hop legends had the boys throwing rhymes in the face of “those who thought we’d never sing together again.”

Interlude 2
As the rain got heavier, bulleting and beating us down, we took refuge in the State Farm tent. While wringing out our socks, Vampire Weekend announced that due to the rain, all Friday ticket holders have a free pass to attend the festival for one more day. All Points West: good peeps.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
A definite highlight and I’ll fight you on this if I have to. If you haven’t seen Karen O jujitsu posturing, body thrashing, equipment trashing, going completely psychotic, crazy, melt-downing on stage in front of you, well, you just don’t have the ammo I’m afraid. Yeah (yeah yeah!) this lady is cra-hazy, but she’s nuts in the way that ground breaking, mind-bending, authentic art is conceived. After watching her perform standouts like Heads “Will Roll”, “Zero” and “Maps”, it’s clear that she rocks with her heart on her sleeve, in every awkward yet honest moment she’s on stage. There’s a kind of rawness to both the sound and the performance that is rare. That juiciness is usually tapped by the time artists are throwing giant eyeball balloons off the stage and headlining festivals. My fingers are crossed that this chick stays bananas, for arts, our, sake.

Interlude 3
The rain is off the charts at this point. People have traded moshing for belly flopping in giant mud puddles. It’s a hipster wet tee-shirt contest if I ever did see one.

Jay Z
While most performers gave a shout out or two to The Beasties and MCA in particular, no one shouted quite as loud as Hova. By the end of day one, my feet were literal bricks of mud. As the rain subsided a chill moved in. Still soggy and beginning to lose steam, this last set of the night needed to be huge. People bought tickets to see The Beastie Boys and Jay definitely had some super sized Adidas Campus’ to fill. With the twinkling Manhattan skyline and Lady Liberty as his backdrop Jay Z stormed the stage and opened his set, a full band behind him including a three-piece horn section and two drummers, with “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”. Exactly. Car alarms, cats, the entire crowd, and pretty much the whole state of Jersey went absolutely feral. MCA, I hope you were watching ‘cause we love you. This much I know for sure: Jay Z is a certifiable superstar. With tributes to both Obama and MJ, classics plucked from across his entire catalog, and graphics of autotone machines blowing up on the Jumbotron screen, Hova owned the night.

All Points West: website

Photos: Dese’Rae Stage

Fun Fun Fun Fest (FFFun Fest) is a festival in Austin, Texas that is a blend between both Austin City Limits (ACL) and South By Southwest (SXSW). FFFun Fest is a quad-fecta of punk rock music, dance music, indie music, and standup comedy on four different stages located at Waterloo park in downtown Austin.

This year, FFFun Fest brought in a few bigger named bands that might appear at ACL, as well as some other smaller ones that you might find in the lineup of a venue during SXSW. However, since it is an Austin festival, and we do like to keep things on the weird side, this festival had it all. Everything that the concert goer might want at a music festival, they could find at FFFun Fest. The festival was equipped with the good eats of Austin, a few local shops, the 101x radio crew booth, as well as a half-pipe for whom ever wanted to skate it between bands.

The first day was filled with music pleasurable to your ears with such bands as The National (8:40 pm – 9:40 pm), Atmosphere (7:35 pm – 8:35 pm), Deerhoof (6:30 pm – 7:30 pm),…And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead (4:50 pm – 5:35 pm), all of which played their hearts out. Whether it be lions and tigers masquerading on the stage during Deerhoof or the drunkenness of The National, everything went pretty smoothly, other than the technical delays that occurred after every single band that went on. However, it did not make that big of a difference in the waiting time between each band. Unlike most music festivals, there was no hour long wait between each band. Each one went on right after the other with only a five to ten minute wait between them.

Later in the day, after everyone was done wandering from stage to stage checking out the different kinds of music that Fun Fest had to offer, when …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead came on, it was then that everyone started to stake out their own spot for the headliners that were to come on shortly thereafter. I must say Trail Of Dead put on quite the performance for their fellow Austinites. It was not until Atmosphere came on that first night that anyone could really tell how many people where there at the festival (or how dusty it had gotten from the loose dirt on the ground that everyone seemed to be kicking up). Everyone in the audience was ready and Atmosphere knew it. And like all great musical front men (or women), he knew exactly how to work the crowd and get them involved to feel like a part of the music.

Once the crowd used up the last of their energy that they had for the day, it was time for the National to come on to play their mellow indie rock, which would end the night on a perfect note. Having never seen them live, I was unaware of how much alcohol the band could consume in one night, which only added to their performance: Matt Berninger fell over after trying to sit down on one of the monitors, randomly threw his mic stand into the audience in the middle of one of his songs, and ended the night by throwing his mic into the audience to fight over as he walked off the stage. No matter how drunk he might have been, the music was perfect. And that was only the end of the first night.

The second day was not as dramatic as The National’s performance, but was nonetheless entertaining. The headlining bands of the second night included Clap Your Hands Say Yeah (8:40 pm – 9:40 pm), Minus the Bear (7:35 pm – 8:35 pm), St. Vincent (6:30 pm – 7:30 pm), and Bad Brains (8:45 pm – 9:45 pm). Starting with St. Vincent (whom I had the pleasure of meeting after her set, lovely lady!), goes above and beyond when playing everywhere that she goes. She played her music from her soul and everyone listening knew it. Unlike the day before, the technical delays of day two were minimal, so Minus The Bear went on right after St. Vincent with perfect ease. Having played several songs off their new EP, the feeling that people got from their music was contagious and spread like a wild fire in California. The night ended with Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Perfect is about all I can say: it was beautiful.

Make the journey to Austin next fall to see what all Fun Fun Fun Fest is about!

Fun Fun Fun Fest: website | myspace

New York Magazine threw a 40th anniversary bash at Hammerstein Ballroom. I was there. Comedy group Stella emceed, followed by musical acts Grizzly Bear and The National.

Stella

Grizzly Bear

The National

I’ve never been a fan of Michael Ian Black or Michael Showalter and didn’t even know who David Wain was prior to writing the preview for the show last week but, as they have all achieved some amount of fame as comedians, I assumed that they were funny. Wrong. Maybe they’re funny as singular entities, but as a group, not so much.

Michael Showalter

David Wain

I would talk more about Grizzy Bear, but to tell the truth, I missed most of their set. Here is why: the entire event was painfully disorganized and I spent most of the set arguing with producers (one of whom I told not-so-politely to shove off) and security guards in an attempt to Do My Job. Doing so was apparently a security risk, as the pit was only accessible via the stage. Yes, I literally had to jump into it from the stage. Getting out of it was the same deal. Who knows what the genius behind setting the whole thing up was smoking, but I hope it was something good.

It took quite some time, but eventually, we photographers covering the party got together to Take Care of Business. We were tired of trying to get our shots from the crowd and annoying people who paid to see the show. Once we got our credentials changed from Press to All Access, it was all downhill from there.

The National was amazing. On-point for the entirety of the set, the guys covered their entire catalog pretty evenly. Matt Berninger is a master of intensity. He broke some shit at the end of the set and the crowd (myself included) ate it up. He also mentioned that this would be the last New York show for some time, a statement received with boos, but saved the moment with the announcement that the band would be spending time in the studio working on a new album post-tour.

Photos by Dese’Rae Stage. More from the show at flickr.

PopWreckoning favorites The Walkmen played two sold out shows in NYC last week. I made it to the second one, which fell on the release date of their new album, You & Me. These shows were highly-anticipated and maybe equally as high-profile, given that I spotted one Matt Berninger (of The National) standing near the bar as I made my way up front. Here are some photos:

Photos: Dese'Rae Stage

The Walkmen: website | myspace | You & Me review | interview with Hamilton Leithauser