2011 Releases: A Half Year Recap

 It's a little late, but here it goes.

 Albums
tUnE-YarDs - w h o k i l l 
Gang Gang Dance - Eye Contact
Cut Copy - Zonoscope
James Blake - James Blake
Shabazz Palaces - Black Up

 Honorable Mentions
Kurt Vile - Smoke Rings for My Halo
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
Panda Bear - Tomboy
G- Side - The ONE.. COHESIVE

 Some Things to Listen To
Cults - Cults
Bon Iver - Bon Iver
The Antlers - Burst Apart
WU LYF -  Go Tell Fire to the Mountain
The Weeknd - House of Balloons

Some Things I'm Looking Forward To
Kimya Dawson - Thunder Thighs
Das Racist - RELAX
Girls - Father, Son, Holy Ghost
Moonface - Organ Music Not Vibraphone Like I'd Hoped
St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

Remembering 2010

35W North

Swampwalking

The Roy

Pitchfork After-Parties

FRIDAY 7/15/2011
Official Pitchfork After-Party
Das Racist/Smith Westerns/ Pitchfork DJs
Doors 10 PM - Lincoln Hall - 18+ - SOLD OUT

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Sun Airway/ PS I Love You
Doors 11 PM - Schubas Tavern - 18+ - $12/$6 with wristband

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Gang Gang Dance/Nguzunguzu
Doors 10 PM - Empty Bottle - 21+ - $15

SATURDAY 7/16/2011
Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Moonface/Shabazz Palaces
Doors 10:30 PM - Lincoln Hall - 18+ - $15

Official Pitchfork After-Party (all DJ sets)
Deerhunter/Twin Shadow/Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti/Pitchfork DJs
Doors 10 PM - Beauty Bar - $5

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Kurt Vile and the Violators/Woods/Arc in Round
Doors 9:30 PM - the Subterranean - 17+ - $15

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
John Maus/Twin Sister
Doors 11 PM - Schubas Tavern - 18+ - $14/$7 with wristband

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Cages/Anatomy of Heart
Doors 7 PM - Empty Bottle - 21+ -$5/FREE with wristband

SUNDAY 7/17/2011
Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Yuck/Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Doors 10:30 PM - Schubas Tavern - 18+ - $14/$7 with wristband

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Fresh & Onlys/Brain Idea/Paperhead
Doors 9:30 PM - Empty Bottle - 21+ - $10

Unofficial Pitchfork After-Party
Real Estate/Dent May
Doors 9:30 PM - Subterranean - 17+ - $12

See also this three day event at the Cobra Lounge
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I am personally attending Das Racist/Smith Westerns and Moonface/Shabazz Palaces.

Check back later for more updates!

Pitchfork Picks

Pitchfork is less than a week away and it's time to finalize some of these decisions. I am under the assumption that Green is the main stage, Red the second stage in the main arena, and Blue the back stage.

My main plan for Friday is to paint my face like Merrill Garbus of tUnE-yArDs when she was recently in Minneapolis. Getting established at Blue stage early means no EMA or Battles, but we will likely see Battles this fall in Minneapolis. I am a big fan of Das Racist and James Blake, but I'm not sure a short festival set is how I want to see them for the first time. Instead we're gonna transfer to Green stage and watch Thurston Moore from a distance. From there we can either camp at Green and get decent spots for Guided by Voices and Animal Collective or move between the two main stages to get closer to Neko Case. Animal Collective should have a great light show from anywhere and be playing mostly new music. If we work our way back gradually we can get out and get to the Das Racist/Smith Westerns after-party while the intro DJs are still playing.

Saturday is a bit more of moving around, starting off relaxed with some Woods at Red stage. With the recent set switching of No Age and Gang Gang Dance, we can now see G-Side at Blue and have plenty of time to watch the end of No Age from a distance and get established at Green for Gang Gang Dance, who I have very high hopes for. Following the dance outside in the summer vibe, we're gonna watch Destroyer at Red and get a good spot for DJ Shadow's set, which I have high hopes for. If the mood hits us we can catch a glimpse of Zola Jesus at Blue, then head to Fleet Foxes, who should be good from any distance.

Sunday we're setting up for How to Dress Well, which might be hit or miss, and then heading straight for Kurt Vile, who is playing an after-party Saturday night that we aren't going to. Depending on the energy of the crowd, we're gonna try to move in on Odd Future. They're a group we'd love to see, but the crowd will likely be rough at any venue. I would recommend seeing Shabazz Palaces at this time, but we're catching him at the Moonface show Saturday night. I have seen both Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti and Baths live, and think that Baths will put on a better show at the small stage. From there we're gonna move to Red in hopes of being close for Cut Copy, since we are also seeing TV on the Radio this fall.

A complete list of our tentative schedule follows. Any bands listed as "from a distance" are bands we plan to watch while camped at the other main stage. Make sure to have time to enjoy the incredible food and, of course, Flatstock!

FRIDAY

3:20 - Gatekeeper - Blue

4:30 - TuNe-YarDs - Blue

Eat & Move to Green

5:30 - Thurston Moore - Red from a distance

6:25 - Guided By Voices - Green Stage

7:20 - Neko Case - Red from a distance

8:30 - Animal Collective - Green Stage

AFTER-PARTY

Das Racist/Smith Westerns/P4K DJs

Doors 10:00  Lincoln Hall

SATURDAY

Lunch @ gate open & Move to Red

1:00 - Julianna Barwick - Green from a distance

1:45 - Woods - Red

2:50 - G-Side - Blue
Shopping

4:15 - Gang Gang Dance - Green

5:15 - Destroyer - Red

Eat & Move to Red

6:15 - Dismemberment Plan - Green from a distance

7:25 - DJ Shadow - Red 

8:10  - Zola Jesus

8:30 - Fleet Foxes

AFTER-PARTY

Moonface/Shabazz Palaces

Doors 10:30 Lincoln Hall

SUNDAY

Lunch @ gate open & Move to Blue

1:00 - Darkstar - Blue

1:55 - How to Dress Well - Blue

2:30 - Kurt Vile - Green

3:20 - Odd Future - Red (3:45 - Shabazz Palaces - Blue)

4:45 - Baths - Blue

Eat, Shop & Move to Red

6:15 - Deerhunter - Green from a distance

7:25 - Cut Copy - Red

8:30 - TV on the Radio - Green

The Mountain Goats

Date: June 14th, 2011

Venue: The Varsity Theater

A local Minnesota band, Communist Daughter, picked up the show on short notice. I’d heard of them before, but never listened their music. The band is made up of 4 guys and 1 girl: a female vocalist, a male front man/guitarist, a keyboardist, a second guitarist, and a bassist. 

As soon as they started playing there was a clear connection between the front man and woman. He would jokingly dance and play guitar by her, and there was a lot of eye contact between the two. About four songs into the set he told us they’re recently engaged.

Their set list included Lady is an Arsinist, Soundtrack to the End (the name of their most recent album), Minnesota Girls, a new song he wrote while in Hazelden before becoming 6 months sober, a song for his dad who drove up for the show, and Northern Lights.

The set was a good length for an opener, 45 minutes. Although none of the songs stuck with me much, I did enjoy the comedic presence of the front man.

The switch over for this show was incredible! A mere 20 minutes. I’m not sure what everyone else is doing, but they should do it like those guys.

Que black metal and flashing strobe lights. Four men walk onto stage wearing suit coats.

After an intro like that you don’t expect to hear John Darnielle’s sweet voice opening with Liza Forever Minelli. Songs they played for us included a song about “two people picked to live through a divorce” (Southwood Plantation Road), a song about dealing with “what used to be communal property in your house” (Estate Sale Sign), and a song he wrote while stuck in Portland for 24 hours (Birth of Serpents). Someone told the band to take off their jackets and John responded with something along the lines of “first you take off your jacket, then it’s your pants, and you’re fucking pant-less on stage and everything’s terrible.” The next song they played for us was “like being pant-less on stage in a really broad metaphorical way” (Dinu Lipatti’s Bones).

Everyone but John and the keyboardist left the stage and they played Tyler Lampert’s Grave. John then played a couple songs solo, including a cover of The Chiffons’ One Fine Day and the emotionally charged Woke Up New, which he introduced by telling us that most people are really impressed when he tells them how large the King of Prussia mall in Pennsylvania is, but we “have that deal in Bloomington.” 

“At the risk of pandering” the band played Minnesota for us. John clarified that we “could check the bootlegs” and they’d been playing it on tour. He told us that once you play a song on tour a couple times you really start to get into, to dissect it.

Leading into Broom People John said “you’re all lutherans here,” which got quite the laugh out of the crowd. His catholicism has always been apparent in his music.

He ended the set with a crowd favorite, This Year. And opened the encore with his most played, and possibly most well known song, No Children.

This was my first Mountain Goats show, and I’m mostly familiar with their four most recent albums, beginning with my personal favorite, Sunset Tree. I came into it knowing that he would play songs I didn’t know. But I was pleasantly surprised with the number of songs he played off All Eternals Deck, which has really grown on me. He played songs that any old fan would be glad to hear, and any new fan would love to learn.

A Night with Kimya Dawson and Aesop Rock

Date: May 22nd, 2011

Venue: Triple Rock Social Club

I’d been looking forward to this show since the instant I found out Kimya Dawson was coming to Minnesota. I’ve been a fan for over four years and was not at the Eyedea tribute she showed up at last year.

I had not heard of Aesop Rock before the announcement of the show, but began listening to Aesop Rock and Hail Mary Mallon immediately afterward. I saw a few videos online of new Kimya songs off her upcoming album ‘Thunder Things’ and Aesop and Kimya performing together on their upcoming collaboration, as well as some Hail Mary Mallon music videos. I had a general idea of the show layout from aesoprock.com, but had no clue what to expect for a playlist from Kimya.

The show opened with Kimya playing guitar and singing the new songs Delicate Cycle and Earthquake with Aesop. Kimya then played ‘Eleventeen,’ ‘Chemistry,’ three songs off of her children’s album Alphabutt, ‘Being Cool,’ ‘Loose Lips,’ ‘Tire Swings,’ a new song I posted a video of, ‘the Beer,’ ‘Year 10,’ ‘Giants,’ ‘Randy Savage,’ and the new songs ‘Walk like Thunder,’ ‘Teleprompters,’ and ‘Complicated’ with Aesop Rock.

A girl was hassling Kimya by yelling how she loved her and that she should be headlining and generally being loud. The girl was a little rude to Aesop as he came out for his second session with Kimya and then she called the girl onto stage to quiet her during ‘Walk like Thunder.’ I cried when I heard this song online and I cried again when I saw it live. 

Kimya’s set was everything I’d ever dreamed of. She played most of my favorites off ‘My Cute Fiend Sweet Princess’ and ‘Remember that I Love You,’ adorable songs I’d never heard off ‘Alphabutt,’ and emotionally charged new songs that give me high hopes for her upcoming album.

Aesop Rock, Rob Sonic, and DJ BIG WIZ came on stage next. They performed Hail Mary Mallon songs off their recent debut album ‘Are You Gonna Eat That?,’ as well as a variety of Aesop Rock songs like crowd favorites ‘No Regrets’ and ‘Daylight.’ 

As Kimya warned us, Rob Sonic had the crowd fist pumping and dancing right off the bat. DJ BIG WIZ did an individual session to a welcoming crowd and at the end of their set Kimya came back out for a few new songs with Aesop Rock and DJ BIG WIZ, one of which was ‘Aquarium.’  They performed a song they played at the Eyedea tribute last November and then Kimya went backstage.

Rob Sonic came back out, he and Aesop considered some song requests from the crowd, and they closed with ‘None Shall Pass.’

The band came back out for a meet and greet in the bar after the show had cleared out. I have heard the lines for Kimya were quite long.

Sleigh Bells / CSS / Neon Indian / Princeton

Date: May 19th, 2011

Venue: First Avenue 

I arrived to a half full main-room filled with many groups of teenagers, a surprising number or which were boys. The first band, Princeton, had an early start time of 6:20 and I came in as they finished their set. 

Neon Indian’s front-man Alan Palomo came onto stage and began the set air humping rhythmically to the samples leading into their first song. The generally pink or orange fog captured the 80s vibe of the album and the set was almost a dance warm-up for the rest of the show.

As compared with their album, Psychic Chasms, their live music is louder and more distinguishable than many recorded tracks where Alan’s voice out-weighs the synthesizers and keyboards.

It was a little disappointing that Alan appeared to have played less than a minute of theremin in the whole set. I had my hopes up from our experience with Neon Indian at Pitchfork last summer, where there was a wonderful amount of theremin in the set that also lead up to Sleigh Bells.

The crowd’s age was emphasized by the number of people singing and dancing to Justin Timberlake’s ‘Sexy Back,’ which I was surprised to even be hearing during the intermission.

I had listened to a little CSS (Cansei De Ser Sexy, Portuguese for “got tired of being sexy” ) and was surprised by the instant stage presence and energy of the band. Lovefoxxx (leadsinger) and the drummer had their faces painted in Dia de Los Muertos make-up.

Lovefoxxx danced vigorously, even provocatively and wore at least 5 outfits while on stage. Leather jacket with black capris, high waisted jean shorts with fishnets and short red sweater, sweater removed and short blue t-shirt, red t-shirt saying TRASH, and finally pink bridesmaid dress over the shorts that worked it’s way off as she danced for the last few songs.

The set included the appearance of a keytar and ended with ‘Let’s make Love and Listen to Death from Above’ where Lovefoxxx crowd surfed. I managed to touch her and a guy next to me held a patch of her fishnets, as I am sure many other people did. 

The energy of CSS was enough to head-line a show and got the crowd pumped up for Sleigh Bells. Three large banks of lights blasted the stage with color as leadsinger Alexis Krauss thrashed to the guitar of Derek Miller, and the crowd surged frantically.

This was my third time seeing Sleigh Bells live. I’d seen them first a year ago opening for Yeasayer on the same stage. The crowd was equally packed then, but not nearly as young and excited. Second was at Pitchfork Fest last summer in 90+ degree weather to another equally packed crowd that transitioned quickly from the rhythmic dancing of Neon Indian to the thrashing waves of Sleigh Bells.

The combination of the Sleigh Bells crowd and an indoor venue with a wall of amps and lights made for a better light show, more stage presence, and all around the best Sleigh Bells set I have seen yet.

I lasted about 3 songs in the wave of bodies and worked my to the side bar. The set was 6 songs and the encore 3. They played a new song ‘Holly,’ which will likely be on the upcoming album the band told Rolling Stone they plan to record this summer and release early next year.

After Neon Indian and CSS the mer 40 min set of Sleigh Bells seemed to bring the night to an end too early.