So yeah, I've been super lazy on that Kelela/Majical Cloudz review so here are some quicky scores of recent albums I've listened to.
Wild Beasts - Present Tense: 8/10
Real Estate - Atlas: 5/10
St. Vincent - S/T: 7/10
Planningtorock - All Love's Legal: 6/10
Death Vessel - Island Intervals: 7/10
Yellow Ostrich - Cosmos: 7/10
Mark McGuire - Along the Way: 6/10
Ricky Eat Acid - Three Love Songs: 8/10
Monday, March 17, 2014
Friday, March 7, 2014
Shabazz Palaces
The first concert of the year that I actually loved? Hell yeah.
Heck, most of last week was pretty damn good in terms of concerts: Audion, Shabazz Palaces, Kelela and Majical Cloudz, ending with Mark Kozelek. (The latter two I will be reviewing shortly). God damn I love Noise Pop, it's a lot like SXSW except not in the sweltering heat and it doesn't cost 600 chuckle fucking dollars for a badge.
But I digress. Review time.
Opener #1: Extra Classic
The best way I can describe this band is a chilled out Stevie Nicks.
By that I mean it's classic rock with a female singer and a chilled out groove. I'd call it reggae-esque, but that's pushing it. Cool tunes and the singer had a great voice. Would see again.
Opener #2: Cities Aviv
WHAT?!
SAY AGAIN I CAN'T HEAR YOU
WH... WHAT?!
I tweeted that this guy could've been the best rapper in the world but I couldn't understand him underneath the massive amounts of bass and shitty samples. Most of which he was struggling to maintain. After I sent that tweet, he actually rapped without the heavy beat and I was able to hear him and guess what: he wasn't that great. I even had a guy with his girlfriend walk in front of me while I was sitting down and mention "Man, this guy blows." before leaving.
Headliner: Shabazz Palaces
Awesome.
The thing that made this whole thing work was teamwork. Both of the guys worked perfectly off each other, dancing in sync as well as the beat. This was everything that Cities Aviv wasn't. Well put together, clear and concise, and they looked like they were having just the best of time.
Halfway through the performance, Tendai gestured to Butterfly and said "This guy. Best rapper alive." and he isn't half wrong. He sounds like the kind of guy who practiced and trained for the years between now and Digable and he even looks young.
Overall:
The last time I saw these guys was back in 2011 at Treasure Island when Black Up was just released and it was refreshing to see them in a much smaller venue where they belong. It was also great to know they are working on a whole lot of new material which will be on an album in June/July, and it all sounds just as good.
Score: 9/10
 | ||
| Accurate depiction of me last week |
But I digress. Review time.
Opener #1: Extra Classic
The best way I can describe this band is a chilled out Stevie Nicks.
By that I mean it's classic rock with a female singer and a chilled out groove. I'd call it reggae-esque, but that's pushing it. Cool tunes and the singer had a great voice. Would see again.
Opener #2: Cities Aviv
WHAT?!
SAY AGAIN I CAN'T HEAR YOU
WH... WHAT?!
 |
| BRRRRRRRRRRRR |
Headliner: Shabazz Palaces
Awesome.
 |
| He knows what's up. |
The thing that made this whole thing work was teamwork. Both of the guys worked perfectly off each other, dancing in sync as well as the beat. This was everything that Cities Aviv wasn't. Well put together, clear and concise, and they looked like they were having just the best of time.
Halfway through the performance, Tendai gestured to Butterfly and said "This guy. Best rapper alive." and he isn't half wrong. He sounds like the kind of guy who practiced and trained for the years between now and Digable and he even looks young.
Overall:
The last time I saw these guys was back in 2011 at Treasure Island when Black Up was just released and it was refreshing to see them in a much smaller venue where they belong. It was also great to know they are working on a whole lot of new material which will be on an album in June/July, and it all sounds just as good.
Score: 9/10
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Audion
I don't trust when websites post set times any more.
The noise pop website said that the Audion concert was going from 9 pm to 11 pm. So I assumed that doors open at 8, opening DJ starts at 9 and ends 30 minutes later and Audion was going to come on around 9:45 and end around 11-11:30. Best case scenario is that there would be no DJ and Audion would just go from 9-11. That would be great
NOPE!
Opening act: Some DJ I don't know or care about.
What ended up happening was doors opened AT 9, and a DJ played from 9:30 to friggin 11:15. Boring, repetitive beats for nearly 2 hours and I was just SICK of it. I'd go on, but just read my Pat Mahoney post, I don't want to go on about it again. Same old shit.
Headlining act: Audion
Just look at this thing:
This was it after the show ended and the lights went up. Here it is in action:
Before he went on, only the two flaps on the sides were visible as they did some tests on the projectors. I only saw glimpses of the giant geometric triangle sphere while the DJ was off to the side but to see it in action was quite a bit more impressive. The sides of each of the triangles were covered in LED lights and two projectors shone on each of the triangles different trippy images throughout. It was quite a light show, but the thing that got me excited was the fact that Matthew himself seemed so happy about the whole thing. You can't really see him in the pictures above but he was smiling the whole way through.
Overall:
Was I a little bit peeved at the long ass'd DJ set? Yes.
Did it effect my experience? Yes.
Did I still enjoy myself? Very yes.
Score: 7/10
(Edit: This concert was also free. Yay free!)
Audion – Audion X
The noise pop website said that the Audion concert was going from 9 pm to 11 pm. So I assumed that doors open at 8, opening DJ starts at 9 and ends 30 minutes later and Audion was going to come on around 9:45 and end around 11-11:30. Best case scenario is that there would be no DJ and Audion would just go from 9-11. That would be great
NOPE!
 |
Opening act: Some DJ I don't know or care about.
What ended up happening was doors opened AT 9, and a DJ played from 9:30 to friggin 11:15. Boring, repetitive beats for nearly 2 hours and I was just SICK of it. I'd go on, but just read my Pat Mahoney post, I don't want to go on about it again. Same old shit.
Headlining act: Audion
Just look at this thing:
 | ||
| LOOK AT IT. |
 | |
| Fuck yes. |
Overall:
Was I a little bit peeved at the long ass'd DJ set? Yes.
Did it effect my experience? Yes.
Did I still enjoy myself? Very yes.
Score: 7/10
(Edit: This concert was also free. Yay free!)
Audion – Audion X
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