posted by Chris on February 15, 2008 8:36 AM in Music
Ben Folds is one of those artists that when I hear his songs come on my iPod in the car, I can't help but sing along. I listened to his stuff heavily in high school and continued after he shed the "five" moniker, and this song called Not The Same is probably my favorite. I love his little stories, especially this one about a guy who climbed a tree at a party and came down a born-again Christian. I've never seen him live, though I know people who have. They always say it was the most fun they've ever had at a concert, and I believe them. You'll get a chance to experience the awesomeness of Ben Folds this year as he is touring universities around the US, including a stop at my alma mater. Check out tour dates at BenFolds.com.
posted by Chris on February 1, 2008 10:41 AM in Music
A band called The Builders and the Butchers opened for The Decemberists last night at The Moore Theater in Seattle, WA. I've been to many Decemberists shows and as a rule their opening bands are impressive and complimentary to Colin & crew's unique sound. I really enjoyed the folksy sort of Led Zeppelin thing this band does. They have a gimmick but they wear it well, passing out makeshift instruments to the crowd to join in their impressive two person percussion section. I was entranced by them, they were like some crazy two-headed ogre beating war drums. This song, Bringin' Home The Rain, was one of the highlights of the short set.
posted by Mike on December 13, 2007 8:05 AM in Music
Geriatric or not, the living members of arguably the second greatest band of all time (if I have to tell you who the first is, then you don't have a soul) reunited for a one-off show in London two nights ago. Led Zeppelin, consisting now of Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, and the late John Bonham's son Jason rocked one of my favorite Zep tunes to a pretty damn good level Monday night. This rendition of "Kashmir" - performed in front of 18,000 lucky fans - reiterates the band's status as living legends.
posted by Chris on October 23, 2007 10:11 AM in Music
Last night I had the pleasure of checking out Nectar Lounge in Fremont for the first time. I've started going to shows more frequently now that I live in a more central location, but I'd never found a show that caught my eye at Nectar until Final Fantasy came to town. You may remember Final Fantasy (the band, not the video game) as Owen Pallett, who we gush about on The Weekly Geek constantly. He is a brilliantly talented musician with his hands in almost everything these days, from Arcade Fire arrangements to his work on Beirut's newest Flying Cub Cup.
Nectar is a very intimate venue with a capacity of just over a hundred, a balcony bar area and a dance floor that opens up into a covered outdoor seating area. It's well-lit (a rarity for venues these days) allowing you to actually SEE the artist in context. I always get frustrated when I go to shows and they keep the place dark except for a spotlight on whoever is on stage. I get tunnel vision and it feels like I am somehow separated from the event. Not at Nectar.
Owen brought with him two other artists, one being a band called Welcome who sounded a bit like Pavement with a bass player/vocalist who looked like Beth Gibbons from Portishead. And by that I mean she was incredibly hot. The other opening act was Cadence Weapon, a fantastic hip hop artist often mashing 8-bit chiptunes with his "phat rhymes". No really, it was quite great. Owen himself could be seen in the back of the audience, nodding his head. When Owen came on stage the energy of the crowd changed. It went from boisterous dancing and cheering for Cadence to silent reverence and awe. That is the kind of reaction Owen gets when he starts doing his amazing looping violin acrobatics, sampling himself tapping on the strings with the back of his bow, thumping the body with his thumb or even yelling into the f-holes and looping that. All of this is perfectly timed to sound like a building, climaxing orchestral piece and every single arrangement is stunning. Owen brought along an overhead projector artist, who moved paper cut outs around to the music, painting a picture of the imaginary "8 schools of magic" world of Final Fantasy.
A couple new songs were performed from Owen's next LP, Heartland and they sounded fantastic. He brought along an electric piano and used that in his loops as well as his violin in the new songs and they felt richer and fuller than his previous material. A logical evolution. It's hard to imagine Owen not being inspired by the company he keeps, and it's great to see an artist I admire so much growing, not floundering. Owen's performances are touching, brilliant and humble with an adorable honesty shown through his apologies for mistakes mid-song, or the flustered look he gets on his face when one of his loops is even slightly off time. Someone in the crowd, during a moment of silence as Owen was setting up his next song, shouted "More like Final Fantastic!" I couldn't agree more.
It's an experience to see an artist of this caliber on stage doing what they do best, and lucky for you he just started touring the US. Check out Final Fantasy if he comes to your town, or you'll be missing out. Concert dates after the jump.
I went down to the big ol' Western Washington Fair in Puyallup, WA on Wednesday to check out the concert put on by one Alfred Matthew Yankovic. It's the new tour for his latest album, Straight Outta Lynwood. I have been to several Al concerts and he has always put on a good show, so I of course wanted to check out this one to see if he still has it, as he gets closer to turning 50 years old.
Amy, our friend Monika, and I went into the stands as the grandstand seating was included with the price of admission to the fair and the nice people of the Puyallup Fair PR and were kind enough to send us over some complimentary passes to be able to see the show. And even though we were pretty much as far back and as high up as the seats went, it still wasn't terribly far away as it wasn't a huge venue. Plus, there were a couple of fairly large video screens to either side of the stage which ended up being used to display closeups of our lead performer for the night. I also took note of a three-screen wide video display behind and above where the band would be performing. Al always adds a good A/V element to his shows, mostly used as time for him to run off stage during one of his many costume changes.
As the stands fill with the gathering crowd, we sit on a spread out little blanket to help lessen the stiffness of the bleacher style seating, waiting for his arrival. Munching on curly fries, a burger loaded with grilled onions, and the deepest deep fat fried corn dog around, Fun Zone starts to blare over the speakers as the lights flash around the stage. The moment has arrived.
posted by Chris on August 16, 2007 8:05 PM in Music
Imagine if you were walking down a post-apocalyptic Victorian Seattle street and accidentally wandered into a steam-filled alley. There you find a door to a secret club filled with various ne'er-do-wells - sky pirates, rogue dignitaries, concubines and gypsies. This is the kind of venue you imagine a band like Abney Park being quite at home playing at. I had the rare opportunity to see Abney Park last weekend at Doc Maynard's in Seattle for the Lifelong AIDS Alliance benefit show, and with their steampunk flair and hauntingly cool sounds the band is addictive and entrancing. How many bands out there actually have a storyline? And fans that show up in super classy costume? The whole experience of going to an Abney Park show is sheer fun, from the ability to escape into a super-cool world of zeppelins and steam-powered guitars, to the middle-eastern influenced gypsy rock sound. There's even a belly dancer. If Abney Park lands in your small village, be sure to check them out.
Like game music? Live in the Los Angeles area? Then check out Game Music 4 All's upcoming live show - Level Up! Here are the deets:
The official bands for the concert are:
Two Playa Game
8 Bit Bandit
Super Barrio Brothers
Toploader
The Megas
The concert will be held at CIA in North Hollywood.
Address:
11334 Burbank Blvd. North Hollywood, CA
Phone number:
818)506-6353
The doors will open at 8pm and the first band will start at 8:30pm. Tickets are $10 and this is an ALL AGES event!
Stop on by Saturday, June 2nd for their CD release party and a Guitar Hero II tournament. What else are you going to do that Saturday night? Sit at home and knit?
You can check out the full podcast and chat with Robert Khoo when it gets posted a bit later today. Until then begin to salivate for the next 6 1/2 months until PAX comes along.
Yes that's right kiddies, the Penny Arcade Expo 2007 has now opened its gates for pre-registration. If you're planning to go (and you should be), if you sign up for all 3 days before March 31, you'll get 10 bucks off the price. That's 1000 Wii points! I know I'll be there. Heck, I'm even considering shelling out the dough for a regular pass instead of just going as Media so I have a chance to be entered into the Omegathon.
Oh, in case you didn't know, the Penny Arcade Expo is the annual game-o-rama conference put on by the crew over at Penny Arcade. This year, they're moving from the Meydenbauer center in Bellevue, WA to the Washington State Convention and Trade Center right smack dab in the middle of downtown Seattle. As was apparent at PAX 06, the ol' MBC just wasn't big enough any more. Way too many nerds packed into that place made it a bit uncomfortable. So now they've got over 200,000 square feet to work with. And I'm pretty damn sure they're gonna fill every last square inch of it with gaming goodness. They'll need the space, as PA business guru Robert Khoo has predicted at least 30,000 of us spazzes showing up this year. (I took that picture of the dapper Mr. Khoo on that Wikipedia link.)
The Blip festival in NYC from November 30 to December 3 is a huge party celebrating music created with low-tech computers and consoles. From the site:
An exploration of the chiptune idiom and its close relatives, the Blip Festival is the biggest and most comprehensive event in the history of the form, and will include daily workshops, art installations, and nightly music performances boasting an international roster larger and more far-reaching than any previous event of its kind.
Certainly sounds awesome, and there are tons of DJs and artists lined up, including Tugboat, an excellent drummer who plays along live to original chiptune music he created. We saw him at the i am 8 bit art show at E3 2005, and he was incredibly talented.
Also included is an interesting movie called "Super Mario Movie", which is created entirely on a hacked NES cart. Check it out if you are in the area.
The Weekly Geek is done on a zero budget, with no funding other than ads and merch. Help support the site with a donation! Consider it like tipping your waiter. We also give gifts for larger donations.
Yes that's right kiddies, the 
