When Itunes shuffle played Blonde Redhead's "Elephant Woman" the other day, I couldn't shut it off fast enough. They're one of my favorite bands but the second it gets back-sweat hot outside, my taste instantly changes. This is obviously a common phenomenon, hence the term 'summer jam' — no one asks you what your winter jam is, but everyone has their soundtrack for the school's out for summer, bbq-heavy/clothing-light vibe of this season. Do you have your own hot weather band/cold weather band dichotomy?
Every year my playlist tends to consist of easy-breezy Top 40 earworms (it was Sean Kingston's "Beautiful Girls" nonstop last year, these days I'm all about Drake's "Best I Ever Had"), then songs I always come back to when the temperature creeps up, and of course some Hits of the Day. This year, though, I just don't have that many new songs on heavy rotation. Dirty Projectors' performance at Pritzker Pavilion a couple weeks ago got me more into them than I had been before, The Phenomenal Handclap Band is pretty fun, and I'm really happy to say that Diplo and Switch's Major Lazer album lived up to my expectations for the most part; I'll definitely be at the Congress for their tour stop on August 7th. But other than that? I would love some recommendations because I'm a tad bored with what I've heard lately. People are going crazy for the Vampire Weekend/Ra Ra Riot collabo Discovery, but their Lite R&B leaves me dead from the waist down. It's okay, everyone burns out a bit when they have 11,274 unread emails in their blog's inbox (true story), right? So here's five tracks that make my list every year. Straight classics. Let's make this the "all ladies" version just for the hell of it since I'm sure there will be more of these posts in the near future.
Continue reading "These Summer Jams Are the Summeriest." »
Last night was my first time at Logan Square Auditorium and I found its school dance vibe very charming. Actually, a romantic TV version of a school dance is a more apt description — my school's auditorium had the standard thick red drapes on the windows, but it definitely did not have
Baker-Miller pink walls and gorgeous circles of ornate molding surrounded by tiny bulbs. Oh, and there was definitely never any beer for sale at the dance.
Continue reading "Findlay Brown and Au Revoir Simone @ Logan Square Auditorium, 6/26/09" »
What's even better than seeing the energy of London's Art Brut at a music festival? Seeing them in a place like Schubas where you can feel the stage and the floors vibrating with their basslines! Lead singer Eddie Argos was in prime form with his typical showman gestures and classic pacing and rambling. Half the time, the lyrics are made up of his astute observations on life with everything from modern art making him want to rock out to his brother discovering rock and roll, as well as the art of the b-side. If Eddie Argos wasn't interesting enough on his own, the band also pulls it together with a bass-guitar-drum combination that manages to provide consistent catchy punk overtures. The fact that all five band members on stage appear completely animated and having the time of their lives certainly helps matters. It can't be denied that they have a certain in your face presence live with Argos even leaving the stage a couple of times and singing from the audience.
Continue reading "Art Brut @ Schubas Tavern 6/11/09" »
Like many people who grew up in the New York tri-state area in the mid 1990s, I was a huge Tribe Called Quest fan. I could say every word to their first three albums in my sleep, I was at their last show at the Hammerstein Ballroom in '98, and I've long joked that my stripper name would be Bonita Applebum (or Sin-o-Men, I go back and forth). Still, while Amplified and The Renaissance were "decent with two hot songs" and "good" respectively, I've never thought to go see Q Tip solo. So when I headed to the House of Blues on Friday for the Chicago stop on the Bacardi B Live tour, I had no idea what to expect. Would he phone it in? Would their be twenty extra dudes onstage as hype men/dead weight (I'm looking at you, Ghostface)?
Continue reading "Q Tip @ The House of Blues, 06/12/09" »