Monday, July 28, 2008

CONTROL YOURSELF

i lied about my next show being all points west. i went to mgmt and ting tings yesterday.


i'm sort of in this picture, but that's not the important part. the important part is THE RIDICULOUS NUMBER OF PEOPLE BESIDES ME IN THIS PICTURE! this was only my second time at mccarren park pool, and my first free show there, and my first time taking the subway there, so it was no wonder i got a little lost in williamsburg. this was also the second time i attended a free outdoor concert in sinister and possibly deadly weather.

waiting in the (hot, sweaty, ridiculous) line i met two girls from a quaker private school and a bunch of dudes who were party organizers on long island -- long-haired free speech guy, guy with interesting accent, and guy from rockland county. holla please? we talked about battles (man i am psyched for battles) and when i brought up the fact that i love vampire weekend i didn't have to start a fight, which was nice. i had been expecting to be smacked in the back of the head by some asshole who comments anonymously on brooklynvegan at the mention of their name.

ON TO THE CONCERT. my buddy kayla and i weren't sure we were going to get in, but after some shoving in the rain we got in. it was awesome just to be inside. mccarren park pool has that awesome energy to it. i don't care what anyone says. when you get in you just feel like you are the coolest person alive.

ting tings were really good and they really proved they have depth and substance to them beyond that ipod commercial, because their set was awesome and they put so much energy and power into it despite being two people. katie white was dressed awesomely and had this consuming kind of energy; she sort of reminded me of kellie sutherland. but in songs like "that's not my name" she stood right on the edge of the stage or sang directly into someone's camera lens or threw mic stands when the cord kept getting tangled, and used at least three different guitars.

dear black moth super rainbow, I REALLY HATE THIS VOCODER THING, OKAY; IF I WANTED SOME I WOULD LISTEN TO T-PAIN. love, genevieve.

MGMT! i like them on the basis of the keyboard hook and verse rhythm in "time to pretend," and the best lyric of the year -- "ooh, girl, shock me like an electric eel. i said, baby girl, turn me on with your electric feel." they were pretty good, although i'm not so into ridiculous jam sessions or fourteen-minute songs. however, these things did seem necessary at the time.
anyway, weekend wars was really good. at the end when there's that little falsetto bit, "i'm a curse and i'm a sound when i open up my mouth..." that was quite good. it's like a hipster anthem. "i don't know how to begin." okay. relate.
electric feel, the geniusly-lyricked song i mentioned above, is sort of like cape cod kwassa kwassa in that everyone yells vaguely inappropriate things very loudly at the same time. but come on, that song is great.
kids as i had expected was their closer and was amazing. the lead singer put on this multicolored poncho and while the extra members of the band left the stage he and the keyboard player in his glorious wifebeater danced around and sang over a loop of the synth. now, not everyone on the glorious internet believes in the greatness of this, but i do!

download all these songs please.
my next show is now legit all points west. i'm serious. i don't know if i will post until then but maybe i will if the new noah and the whale is really good. we'll see.

m12-real
genevieve

Sunday, July 20, 2008

SIREN FESTIVAL

dear ra ra riot:

i love you.
would you marry me?

love,
genevieve


yesterday after a forty-five minute subway ride i saw the dodos, film school, and ra ra riot. lots of good stuff but it was soooooooooooooo hot. i heard a little of times new viking but i didn't see them because preeta and i had to go in the ocean to prevent fainting. what i heard sounded alright even though i don't really like times new viking except that one song that goes "i don't want to die!!!" and while they played i was eating the best shish-kebob ever!

ra ra were SO good and i was in the third row a bit to the right of center. a manner to act, and then each year, and they got around to saint peter's day festival, and then last they played ghost under rocks and then dying is fine in this quick succession and it was awesome because ghost under rocks is SO INTENSE and dying is fine is SO CUTE. just watching them onstage even if they weren't playing any music is really exciting because i wasn't sure if they actually did things like this on a regular basis, but they do. awesome: in ghost under rocks on the word "heart" (in "skin and heart") wes just grabs mathieu by the front of his shirt! like where his heart would be... get it!? and none of them stopped moving for a second. i am astounded that pictures of this band come out. i got them to sign a poster for me as well, and waiting in line to meet them a guy told me that they are playing virgin megastore at union square the day the album comes out ON AUGUST 19 (psyched!!) the only drawback: super awkward that i was the only person around me who seemed to know any words or what any songs sounded like and obviously, as usual, i was the only person dancing. but i have, unfortunately, become accustomed to this. hipsters need to stop being so self-conscious.

the dodos didn't play fools, which was upsetting. they seemed kind of rushed, which sucked, although jodi sounded really awesome. they played at three which was the hottest part of the day and i felt like i was going to die, a little.

i had heard of film school but hadn't listened to them at all and i only heard about two songs. awesome echoey drums and one song had a killer piano riff but the vocals weren't so great.


no santogold today -- my concert buddy is sick! oh well. next show = all points west. i think? right?
M12=real
genevieve

Thursday, July 17, 2008

BATTLES

BATTLES, who my dad's friend apparently is friends with, are playing central park summerstage for free on august 16, and i will be there.
my estimation is that you call this kind of music "math." or "math-core." or, as wikipedia insists, "math rock." this means it has time signatures in things like 5/12 (i'm just making up a time signature here, i don't know if battles actually do stuff in 5/12, or if 5/12 is an actual time signature). radiohead's 2+2=5 is considered "math" because it's in 7/4, fun fact! (15 step is in 5/4) .
so math music is not just shitty emo bands my brother likes! fun fact!

i really like battles, especially atlas, which is amazing. this week pitchfork posted a whole bunch of recordings from last year's pitchfork music festival, one of which was a video of atlas performed live. i don't know how to link to it but you should check it out on pitchfork.tv.

here's the mp3: ATLAS --- BATTLES.

i want to say around 5:00 in this song in the change from break to the repetition of the rhythm of the beginning is one of the best things i have heard in music in my life. sometimes i sit down and play that little bit over and over and over because it is so good. it sounds like coming back together after separating -- not people or things that would be separate anyway, but parts of one thing. like if you lost your limbs, when they were rejoined to you, it would sound like that.

here's it mashed up with a serious jam:
ATLAS / BOYZ --- BATTLES / MIA. i think this is by diplo. what would you call this, like "atlas boyz"? "atloyz"?

this weekend i will go to siren music festival (which includes ra ra riot!!!!!) on saturday and santogold and a bunch of other people on sunday!

m12=real
genevieve

Monday, July 14, 2008

REMAIN IN LIGHT


BORN UNDER PUNCHES (THE HEAT GOES ON)
so, there are eight songs on this album; they are all wonderful.

also, if you like flight of the conchords you will appreciate this band of recent graduates from the town next door.
BOOTS (JOHNNY RAMROD) --- PAULMAN BERG

Saturday, July 12, 2008

NO AGE, LAST NIGHT


this photo by some guy on flickr. nice job!

i saw no age last night at south st. seaport in manhattan. it was a beautiful night!
my buddy preeta is sort of visible in this picture. it was a good show, really sweaty. i took a shoulder to the eye pretty good around no age's second or third song.
stuff like BOY VOID and MY LIFE'S ALRIGHT WITHOUT YOU sounded great. i like particularly how the latter sort of builds up... all this potential energy. same with eraser... in the beginning it's just the guitar, you know. and then the drums come in (those drums are great). you could almost feel it coming.
i was upset by the MARKED LACK of my favorite no age song, EVERYBODY'S DOWN. even though i wasn't the only one yelling for it. i think that would have been unbelievable. when the drums come in! -- holy shit.
oh well. the show was great (although all these tourist families eating at uno pizzeria and other touristy restaurants seemed confused or perturbed). a bunch of douches on brooklynvegan keep saying shit like "the drums were flat!" and a dude behind me said "these tunes are too accessible!" whatever, maybe i'm not enough of a snob? it was a good time. thank you preeta, jen, and all you insane stoned kids, for dancing!

M12=real
genevieve

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

COLLECTION OF NEWZ

1) IF I DIE TONIGHT --- NOAH AND THE WHALE
july 29, "peaceful, the world lays me down," their debut album, is released in the US!
they did a great set for la blogotheque a while back.

2) architecture in helsinki, the greatest live band in the world, are "working at a leisurely pace on new album," apparently.

3) apparently, i have been a good girl, and the universe has rewarded me:
MERCHANTS OF SOUL (DEMO) --- SPOON

M12 IS REAL,
genevieve

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

JAMS, OF LATE

the title of this entry is self-explanatory. brief mixtape for y'all.

MERCHANTS OF SOUL --- SPOON. i do not have the words to express how i feel about merchants of soul. since may it has been pretty much the only thing i have wanted to listen to. the energy in it is inexplicable. "i was a heartbeat on the danger side." i want that to be the story of my life.
OH GIRL --- CUT OFF YOUR HANDS. this song's got knife-sharp guitar. it just cuts right through you.
ERASER --- NO AGE. i don't love no age but this is gorgeous. huge contrast from the cut off your hands because the guitar in this is fuzzy and feedbacky, but i really love the big bass drum and the vocals are really great in that classic harried no age way.
AMAZON --- M.I.A. i love this song; the percussion and the rhythm of her voice and the little yelp in the chorus: "hellooo!!? this is m.i.a." i like arular better than kala; don't kill me.
THIS FEELS PERFECT --- TEAM ROBESPIERRE. this guy's voice kind of annoys me but the lyrics and keyboard are really great.
SAINT PETERS DAY FESTIVAL --- RA RA RIOT. as always the strings in this are great and i love the words and wes miles sings like an angel and the pace is perfect, it moves just fast enough. starting at 2:32 the guitar and vocals with the strings are absolutely amazing.

it, for now.

M12 IS REAL
genevieve