TrickyBuddha Studios

I have not posted about new music in a while so I thought I would take a moment to mention a few new (to me) albums on the iPod, as well as some concerts on the horizon:

• The Dead Weather: Horehound. This is a band featuring Jack White (White Stripes, Raconteurs), Alison Mosshart (The Kills), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age), and Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs, The Greenhornes). They just released the album (July 2009). Some big names in rock. Still getting a feel for the album, but it seems good so far.
• The Dears: Missiles. It’s been out a little while (Oct 2008) but, like I said, it’s new to my iPod. I’ve really gotten into the Dears ever since we saw them live. What a great (Canadian) band. I need to listen to this one more to familiarize myself with it.
• The Cliks: Dirty King. Another Canadian band, parenthetically speaking of. They’re not widely known but they’re definitely worth checking out. Their new album came out about a month ago (June 2009).
• Wilco: Wilco (The Album). Another recent release (June 2009). I’m not much of a Wilco listener but their latest is on the iPod now so I’ll have to give it a few listens to see what I think. The Wilco Song is a catchy start to the album.

As for concerts, there are quite a few on the horizon!

• The Dead Weather is first on the list of shows, coming up at the end of this month. I’m looking forward to the show. It always helps me to get into new bands by seeing them live.
• They’re followed by the Warlocks in early August. We saw the Warlocks once before and that live performance hooked me on the band. They’re a slower, moodier kind of band but very good when you’re in the mood for that. I’m excited.
• Late August brings us Brendan Benson. I really know nothing about him, other than that he is in the Raconteurs, so that’ll be an introduction for me.
• At the start of September is the Dandy Warhols! Yay! I’ve seen them twice, and this time will make the third. It’ll be a road trip to a tiny club in Indianapolis to see them, but it’ll be worth it.
• And our current run of shows ends with Autolux. I am so excited to see Autolux. I completely overdosed on their first album when I first got it (it was the first album Candice recommended me to get, I think). Seriously. They’re in my top-ten listens of all time on last.fm, and 9-of-my-top-15 individual tracks are all Autolux. It’s going to be great to see them live for the first time. Hopefully their album, Transit Transit, comes out by then (but I’m not holding my breath).

Living in New Jersey or Tennessee, it seemed there were always plenty of concerts to attend and music to discover. When I moved to Alberta, however, all of that seemed to change. I stopped finding new tunes and it seemed as though smaller bands couldn’t afford to, and bigger bands never wanted to, venture into the middle of Canada. The local scene was thriving but only one Edmonton band ever hooked my interest (Fractal Pattern). That really just left us with the occasional mega bands playing in huge stadiums with huge crowds and high ticket prices.

2007, however, has been a musical renaissance.

First, Candice floods me with recommendations for bands. Happily enough, I love just about every one I check out. Mentioning to Keltie the new bands I’m listening to inspires her to share with me the bands she likes, resulting in a few new favorites for me to add to the list. The process repeats with an old co-worker, Alex. And a few other friends point out a band or a tune here and there. Who says file-sharing hurts the music industry? I have over 5600 songs on my BobPod, made up from almost 500 albums. When I’m not sure what to listen to, for once it’s not from a lack of options.

Then came the concerts!

The first show I went to in 2007 was Snow Patrol, with guests OK Go and Silversun Pickups. The concert was pretty good, but Silversun Pickups has since become one of my current favorites thanks to their performance (though I lost interest almost completely in Snow Patrol, hahaha).

Soon after that show, I got to check out Interpol (Lynx and Ram opened). Right after was the Dandy Warhols – definitely a highlight, as you know if you saw my post about that show, due to the combination of seeing my favorite band – both on stage and back stage. A month later, I got to see the White Stripes. They probably put on a more entertaining show than the Dandys, but I didn’t get backstage. Hahaha. In between the Dandys and the White Stripes was Amon Tobin in Chicago. That show took place in a very small club and went into the wee hours of the morning – and marks my first show with Candice.

We’ve since managed to catch a few more shows. We followed Amon Tobin up with Ours two nights in a row. Then came Ghostland Observatory.

I have to stop and elaborate on Ghostland. Of all the bands I’ve seen and loved, Ghostland Observatory is the band you haven’t heard of that you need to listen to. The band is a duo – one guy managing the drums or the keyboards (depending on the song – and oh, by the way, he wears the most fantastic wrestler-style cape!), while the other guys manages the singing and, when needed, the guitar. The lead singer also dances like a mad man! Watching him is so contagious; combined with their fun brand of music, you can’t help but want to dance along with him. I watched, unable to stop staring as he seamlessly shifted from Native American-styled dances to what looked like moves from a rave to karate stances to just general posing to Mick Jagger-looking struts to stuff that looked like latino dance steps. And he did it all with so much energy and joy. Their performance, the music, the crowd – it was all great. I don’t know if you’ll ever get an opportunity to check them out – but if you do, don’t pass it up. In the meantime, check this link out for some video clips.

After Ghostland, we were back at Schuba’s for the Black Angels. I’m not trying to make a direct music style comparison, but if you held a gun to my head and told me to name the band that affected a crowd like the Doors I’d say it was the Black Angels. Their music, though harder, more grinding, and less blues-y, left the crowd in a trance not unlike what I would expect of a Doors concert – helped in part by the fantastic visuals played across the stage. And the singer had a scream every bit as good as Morrison’s, which definitely sent a chill down my spine.

Last night, we had tickets to two performances from the band Eisley – though we skipped the second set. After the first set, since there was an hour-long break, we decided to go on a hunt for food. After food, we decided it’d be more fun to walk around Lake Michigan and ditch the concert. Unlike that incident 8 or however many years ago when I missed out on a Mr. Bungle show (*gives Devin and Linse the evil eye*), I was happy to miss this one. We walked around the lake for a while, talked to some raccoons (on the way back, one seemed to take offense when Candice called it fat), and then laid down near the water’s edge and talked the night away. Very romantic and a great time, even if it doesn’t quite match the point of this entry.

Back to music, Friday is the Cliks and then it’s a bit of a wait until we have the White Stripes two nights in a row. Who knows what else will pop up, but after years of not seeing much and listening to the same old stuff I’m really enjoying the way things are going now. If you’re curious about what-all I’m listening to, you can see a lot of it by following this link.

Tonight was amazing.

My favorite band is the Dandy Warhols, and I got to see them play live tonight in Edmonton. We got there before doors opened and were at the front of the line. Unfortunately (and this was a real piss off at the time), the venue staff didn’t have the ticket list for will call ready! That meant that we had to stand at the ticket booth waiting for them to retrieve the list – while people with tickets poured in to the venue! Ugh!

Fortunately… most of those people were under age and, a reason why I love this club, underage kids aren’t allowed on the floor by the stage. Hotness! So I picked up a couple tee shirts and then we secured our spot at the stage. (more…)