You are browsing the Blog for Live.

← Previous Entries
Next Entries →

UP IN THE NORTH: Eleanor Friedberger live in Seattle [2/9/2012]

March 8, 2012 in Music, Reviews

ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER
The Crocodile
Seattle, Wa
2/9/2012

Eleanor Friedberger is an underrated genius.  [You will be reading that word a lot in this review; "genius."]  Most people know Eleanor as one-part of the genius team of the Fiery Furnaces, but she also has her own hermetic freakishly gifted brand of brilliance that is worth casting an admiring eye upon.  The evidence is fully served up in her debut solo album, Last Summer that plays as a 10-song diaristic overview of her life at the time that she wrote it.  Unlike much of the Fiery Furnaces‘ quasi-experimental work, Eleanor’s solo release is super listenable.  It’s full of rock and funk hooks (the “funkiest” example of which carries an upbeat song tailing a meandering trip to get drugs, take drugs, and the thoughts one thinks when on drugs) that sound fresh and new, even though they are working in classic pop territory. 

Last Summer came out in July and Friedberger is currently in the middle of a big-ass US tour to promote it.  When a group of friends and I left the Crocodile after seeing her show there on Feb 9th, the conversation immediately turned towards discussing her as some sort of wunderkind.  We all felt like we had just experienced something sneakily special—there was no bravado, glitz or spectacle surrounding the show (it largely lacked pretense of any kind)—but we were kind of blown away, nevertheless.  Our friend Scotty summed it up perfectly by saying that she has a “shine.”  Here’s the full run down of the shiny-ass night that we had: Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

WIN a copy of Dinosaur Jr. – Bug Live At 9:30 Club: In The Hands Of The Fans [DVD or Blu-Ray]

February 20, 2012 in Music, With Video

CONTEST HAS ENDED!

The winner has been contacted. It was the entry submitted under the name “ills.”  It won because it was about cats drinking beer.

[CLICK HERE to jump directly to giveaway]

THE BACKSTORY

*the first 3 albums and decline of Dinosaur Jr*

Dinosaur Jr formed in 1984 out of the ashes of Westfield, Ma hardcore band Deep Wound, with guitarist, Lou Barlow moving over to man the bass and drummer, J Mascis taking over guitar and songwriting duties.  Originally, the duo recruited drummer, Emmett Jefferson “Patrick” Murphy III (aka: Murph) and asked Charlie Nakajima to carry over his role as vocalist from Deep Wound, forming a quartet known as “Mogo“.  That lineup was short-lived (only 1 show), as Mascis quickly dissolved the group as a round-about way of kicking Nakajima out of the group.  The remaining trio reformed under the name of “Dinosaur” with Mascis and Barlow opting to handle the vocals themselves.  Dinosaur recorded their self-titled debut LP for $500 and released it on the now-iconic Homestead Recordings.  Even then, they were pushing the envelope as far as style, jumping from more traditional hardcore punk elements to low-fi folk and distorted country throughout various tempos.  It’s a classic release that I still listen to regularly and when I saw Mascis play “Repulsion” during a solo show last year, it still sounded as relevant as ever.  At the time of it’s release, the album wasn’t exactly a smash hit, but the consistently-ahead-of-their-time Sonic Youth did take a shine to them, after seeing their live performances, and took the young group on tour with them in 1986.

The following year Dinosaur moved to SST records for the album You’re Living All Over Me but, due to a lawsuit, it was shortly after this point when they were forced to officially change their name to Dinosaur Jr.  While their debut explored a nice range of territory, their sophomore release found all of those elements really coalescing into a unified sound that would eventually make the name Dinosaur Jr an identifiable musical reference all its own.  Mascis confidently took the reigns with his unmistakable vocals and swirling distorted blanket of guitars screeching like harrier jets over a solid throbbing foundation of Barlow‘s bass work and Murph‘s tank-like pummeling beats and tight drum fills.  The release helped with their notoriety, but issues were already appearing with the trio.  There was some conflict created from Mascis micromanaging Murph‘s drum parts and, while the release did feature 2 Barlow-penned tracks, Lou had already found another musical creative outlet with his recently formed side-project Sebadoh.

1988‘s BUG (SST), which continued with the soaring guitar work and shrieking feedback, essentially became a one man operation for Mascis.  The frontman left little room for collaboration, writing all of the material by himself and, instead of allowing his cohorts to find their own voices within the tracks, he used hyper-specifics to instruct both Barlow and Murph on how/what to perform on their own respective instruments during the recording sessions.  Critically, BUG was successful (especially, in the UK), but it would be the last album to feature the original lineup, before Barlow‘s expulsion from the group shortly after.  As legend has it, Lou was given a similar treatment as Nakajima, with Mascis and Murph selling him the idea that the band was breaking up, only to have an immediate tour and a replacement bassist to play it waiting in the wings.  As far as potential reunion tours go, the original Dino lineup was right up there with the Talking Heads.  As far as tours featuring a group covering one of their seminal albums from start to finish was concerned, the album that epitomizes the downfall of that original union was even less likely.  Regardless of any potential factors to the contrary, that’s exactly what happened when the 80s power trio took BUG on the road last year and, fortunately for anyone who missed it or would like to witness it again, there’s actually video evidence (complete with interview footage) available to own on DVD or Blu-Ray beginning this Tuesday Feb. 21st. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
4 Comments »

ENDED: WIN Tix to ELEANOR FRIEDBERGER Live @ The Crocodile [Seattle]

February 1, 2012 in Music, With Video

CONTEST HAS ENDED

winner will be announced/contacted shortly

The brother and sister duo of Eleanor and Matthew Friedberger officially came together as the experimental Indie-pop project, Fiery Furnaces back in 2000.  Since then, they have consistently proven themselves to be one of the most adventurous and prolific groups in contemporary music.  The duo is credited with 9 releases throughout their shifts between 3 of the most respected independent record labels in the business (Rough Trade, Fat Possum, & Thrill Jockey).  With Eleanor taking on the majority of the vocal duties (both live and in studio) and Matthew handling most of the instrumentation, the brother and sister team has created everything from concept albums to incredibly inventive re-workings/re-editings of previous material, a “silent album” and even their “Democ-Rock” series, which attempts to place the fate of the music -both in content and approach- into the hands of their fans/audience.  It’s not rare to find Eleanor singing pop-like melodies over a mutated fabric of bubbling and squawking sonic confusion ala-Captain Beefheart, with glimpses of Brazillian psych legends Os Mutantes, shambolic free-jazz drum assaults, or synthed-out bleeps and blown-out bass lines forcing their way up through the film of buzzing Marquee Moon-esque guitar work.  It’s often been difficult to describe their sound for many, but the word “difficult” itself has been used on more than one occasion.  Their live performances had a tendency for becoming even more “experimental”, blending songs together or simply fragmenting and reconstructing them into new creations altogether.

Matthew dropped two simultaneous solo records in 2006, but Eleanor didn’t bother to take that same plunge into the realm of solo artist until 2011‘s 10-song effort, Last Summer.  Overall, Last Summer was received with incredibly positive reviews, even landing on multiple best of the year lists.  With her vocal cadence often coming through like a cross between Jonie Mitchell and an On Golden Pond-era Katherine Hepburn injected into the bone of verse-chorus-verse structure, it would be almost understandable for one to attempt to classify the release as a straight ahead indie-pop effort, but the stark shifts in tone, subtly off-kilter rhythms, and varied influences overlap in such manners that they often become something almost undefinable.  It’s something that is decidedly and uniquely Friedberger.

Guitar in hand, Eleanor is currently touring in support of Last Summer and our friends at the legendary Seattle venue, The Crocodile have offered us a pair of tickets to kick down to one of youz guyz, so as you can go to and enjoy the show real nice like. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
5 Comments »

No Plan B – MARC MARON Live @ the Neptune [Seattle]

January 16, 2012 in Comedy, Reviews, The Web

Marc Maron

Neptune Theatre

Seattle, WA

11.25.11

So you’re probably thinking, “Jesus Christ, Devon. What the fuck?  This goddamn show was, like, two months ago. What the hell took so long?”  I know.  I understand.  I’m a little upset about it all myself.  But here’s the thing, see… it’s Marc Maron.  I love the guy, I really do, but sometimes he can be a little rough for me.  Not him or his material per se, but the thing is that, when I talk about Marc Maron, or when I think about Marc Maron, I can’t help but think about myself.  I can’t help but think about how I think about myself, how much I do, and why and when.  Once I start getting into self-examination like that, well, it can get a little overwhelming, and it can get a little paralyzing.  But at the end of it all, it’s why I love Marc Maron.  It’s why I’ve listened to all two-hundred forty-something episodes of his podcast.  It’s why I bought all four of his stand-up records, and why I’ve read his book more than once.  It’s why I snagged a ticket to 2010’s Bumbershoot festival, just so that I could see a live taping of his podcast.  It’s all because I know that I should look inside myself – I want to and I feel like I’m ready to- and it’s not something that I was ever compelled to do before I got into this one stand-up comedian. Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , ,
No Comments »

You Gotta Move – A Conversation with KARL DENSON

January 14, 2012 in Interviews, Music

Karl Denson is arguably one of the hardest working musicians on the scene, successfully building a name for himself over the last 2 plus decades.  His early days -circa the late 80s / early 90s -found him playing sax for Lenny Kravitz, which opened a lot of doors for his own career and gave him exposure to the music industry and life on the road.  After his years with Kravitz, he worked with trombonist, Fred Wesley (James Brown, Maceo Parker Band, Parliament Funkadelic) and went on to release a series of jazz records on his own.  Then, as  jazz began to “turn soft”, Denson needed to forge his own path further.  [This is not unlike how Skerik, who grew up playing sax in Seattle alongside Kenny G, went on to start a project called the Dead Kenny-Gs, which he refers to as a "free-jazz version of The Melvins"]

Having grown up in Orange County, CA, Karl linked up with DJ Greyboy in San Diego and the duo began fusing together acid jazz grooves and beats.  By 1995, the project had acquired guitarist Elgin Park (aka Michael Andrews), organist/keyboardist Robert Walter, bassist Chris Stillwell, and drummer Zak Najor.  This marked the birth of the now-legendary Greyboy Allstars, as well as their classic album, West Coast Boogaloo (feat. Fred Wesley).

Always prolific and ever evolving, Karl thrived in several more projects, began fronting Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe, and has continuously popped up and found homes with everybody and anybody in the jamband circuit over the years.  His resume is a mile long and, most recently, he’s performed with the likes of such acts as Slightly Stoopid and none other than PUBLIC ENEMY!  Every great festival that I’ve been to has included some incarnation of Karl Denson; whether it’s a late night, post-Phish Halloween show, KDTU set, or just the saxophonist jamming with a seemingly unlikely bluegrass band – he is up to his eyeballs in music!  Through it all, one of the most impressive things about this man is the balance that he maintains between heavy touring and being a father/husband.  He specifically structures his tours to maintain this balance and one can tell from being in his presence that he truly knows how to keep all of his passions equally in check.

Once I heard that Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe was going to be covering the Rolling Stones album, Sticky Fingers in it’s entirety, with additional guitar work by New Orleans slide-guitar extraordinaire, Anders Osborne , I knew that Seattle and the rest of the cities on this tour were in for a treat.  Not only did the band absolutely tear apart the Stones album with deep heart and soul, but the KDTU second set revealed the ever evolving nature of Karl’s own music.  The show was incredible and we even got the rare opportunity to ask Denson a few questions between sets.

-Joel Ott Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
No Comments »

CONTEST HAS ENDED! WIN Tix to live podcast of Uhh Yeah Dude in Seattle

December 12, 2011 in Comedy, The Web, With Video

CONTEST HAS ENDED!

[CLICK HERE to jump directly to giveaway]

Back in the early 2000s, I lived in Olympia, Wa and there was a lot of DIY music and media production happening in the small college town.  People were mixing albums in their basements, silk-screening posters and T-shirts in their kitchens, and using DV, High-8, and/or Super-8 cameras to record short films in dusty fields and damp alley ways.  My friend Mac Dawg was taking advantage of the fact that we had a local public access station to create his own programs.  His original idea was to film a fictional, biopic-style sitcom based around Kurt Cobain in the 80s, referencing his tenure as an Olympia resident.  Being a Jewish Puerto Rican in his early twenties who had dread locks and mutton chops at the time, he came to the conclusion that I would be the perfect person to star as the dead, blonde, white grunge-rock icon in the re-imagining.  The project never actually came to fruition, but, during a random house party at Mac Dawg‘s house, I came up with my own idea for another program by the name of “TANGENT.”  The basic premise was that I would have guests on, like an informal talk show, and then just consistently shift the topic on them.  [I only have brief glimpses of memory pertaining to coming up with the idea... I was really drunk.]  One morning Mac Dawg wakes me up with a phone call and asks if I’m ready to do the show.  “What show?” I asked.  I thought that he might be referring to the Cobain thing again.  He explained that it was my idea and that I should get ready, because he was planning to film it that morning.  I threw on a slim, denim 1970s pantsuit (just vest and pants) and a large plastic dollar sign necklace, bought a case of OLY stubbies and came up with/scribbled down some topic ideas onto a piece of scrap paper during the ride over to his basement, where the video equipment was set up.  Between being awaken to sitting in the basement getting miked, it was probably 1/2 hour total.  It was about 9am, I had taken down enough alcohol to get rolling and we went from there.  There was no real podcasting back then and there was no Youtube whatsoever.  There was no real direction for the program either and, although I’d like to believe that it had it’s moments, there was a decent amount of aimlessness involved.  I imagine that doing an improvised standup routine must be similar to trying to carry an unscripted program and helping it to remain interesting; it can get awkward quicker than you may think.  If I we could have harnessed those select moments, expanded them, and worked tirelessly on them for years, I could still only have hoped to yield something half as effortlessly smooth and entertaining as the podcast, “Uhh Yeah Dude.” Read the rest of this entry →

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
1 Comment »

← Previous Entries
Next Entries →