A moment for...

Menomena.

Why is this band not incredibly popular? They have been tweaking a unique sound for some years now, and their most recent record "Mines" is a stand-out of the summer (if you don't have it, you should). How can I post songs on this blog? Lemme know and I'll post my favorite trax (tracks) from the album. I'm sure someone reading this knows how to do that. Seriously. And don't write it in non-english. I want something legible.

Adam

\000/

Above, you will find evidence of the sole visual and audio stimulation I have needed this summer. Above, you will also find that this summer I have created a textual way to convey more efficiently that I like to "chill out".

I trust that everyone else's summer has been number 1.

Respectively,

Richard Snakedust

LCD Soundsystem (and Sleigh Bells!) Playing in Burlington

Do you regret not going to a festival this summer?

I was right there with you... Until I found out that LCD Soundsystem is coming to Burlington September 27!

Even better - Sleigh Bells is opening for them.


These are two of the best reviewed artists this year performing under the same roof in the same night.

I don't think anyone who frequents this blog needs anymore convincing as to why they should spend $38.50 (steep, I realize) to go see these guys.

Tickets went on sale last Friday and you can still get them here. I am positive this show will sell out.

Don't be the person desperately searching Craigslist last minute.

From the Past Few Months

Hey all,

I have been busy and not able to write anything non-fiction, let alone a review, interview, ethought, etc. on this brilliant but under-utilized blog space. I haven't been in a cultural vacuum, though, and with this entry, I plan to lay out what I've been spinning, watching, and hearing about recently. Some of the things are old, and some of them new, but dig it.

The song "Marathon" by the band Tennis. A fuzzy, doo-wop vibe, with the sweetest little lyrics about travelling around on a sail-boat, make this an essential summer song. On the subject, two songs from the days of yore that have been getting mad play this summer: "Summer in the City" by the Lovin' Spoonful and "Time of the Season" by the Zombies (a funny picture proceeds if ye click that link: you've been warned). "Time of..." was a crucial part to a movie I saw recently (on Netflix instant queue) and found interesting called "Dear Wendy". It's written by Lars Von Trier and was directed by the guy who did "The Celebration" (which I also saw recently and liked).

The Arcade Fire, I think, have been killing it recently. Though I haven't yet gotten "The Suburbs", I've listened to it a few times and it definitely is unique from AF's previous records. I like it a lot, though, and like this grown, mature direction their music has gone in. I also like the live performance they did on youtube a few days ago, directed by Terry Gilliam (who used to be the only American member of Monty Python before he became a famous director). You can see them performing "Wake Up" here, or a new cut "Rococo" here. I think the Arcade Fire are a lot like Radiohead, in that they are immensely successful and use that as credibility to experiment. Good for them!

There's a documentary out directed by Banksy called "Exit Through the Gift Shop", and its being touted as the first street art disaster movie. You have to see it to understand, and I highly recommend the experience. Banksy is perhaps the most forward thinking artist around. Another movie I saw recently and liked was "Cyrus", the new movie by the Duplass brothers, who after a long string of successful independent pictures featuring unknown actors, are finally moving into the mainstream and working with professionals. The movie has a strong, strange performances from Jonah Hill, and John C. Reilly is very subtly funny as the guy caught up in this unfortunate situation. Particular kudos to Marissa Tomei, who steals every scene she's in as Cyrus's mother. Catherine Keener is also in the movie, and I think I could be fascinated watching her talk about cereal. I just googled to see if she's married; she was, but divorced. Apparently she also lives in North Carolina, where I live... Fate?

The new Kanye single, "Power", is the dopest thing he's done in a long time. I think his next album is going to win back over everyone he alienated with his Katrina comments, the Taylor Swift debockle, the misstep that was 808s and Heartbreaks, etc. I've also been bumping the new discs by Curren$y (Pilot Talk) and Big Boi (Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty). Click this link and scroll down to see all the mixtapes Curren$y has put out and has available for free download. He played second fiddle to Wayne before switching over to a new label for Pilot Talk.

What have you guys been doing with your summer? Post it on up, respond, keep being culturally active. Sometime next week I'll put up a list of things to look forward to.

Peassss,

Adam

Osheaga 2010

The Osheaga Music Festival took place in Montreal last weekend over two beautiful weekend days. I was lucky enough to attend the first (and better) day and was busy from morning til night running around from stage to stage, show to show. Here's a quick breakdown of the day.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros: Full stage of bearded men and one adorable Jade as usual. Their eclectic live show thrives on the crowd buying into their happy-hippy aura which was hard, and semi-unsuccessful on the massive stage they were put on. Their music was spot on great as usual but as a fan I would have rather seen them on the smaller stage.



Jimmy Cliff: Old Jamaican reggae legend struggled to get a young crowd energized but eventually his dancers got people's hands in the air. He seemed to be having a blast which was cool to see from a veteran performer, but he didn't play "The Harder They Come" which would have made the show for me.

K'Naan: Only saw him from a far but the crowd that was close seemed to be loving him. He had a live backing band which is always cool for a hip hop show. His live performance of "Waving Flag" was pretty impressive given its post World Cup hype.

Stars: They are old, way older than I expected, which threw me off for the first portion of the show. Right off the bat they had some serious technical issues that they never recovered from. Frontman Torquill Campbell was furious at the sound crew and when he wasn't singing, he was freaking out on stage throwing water bottles and mic stands at the tech guys. This was very distracting from the professional and solid performance being put on by the rest of the band, particularly guitarist Amy Millan.

Jamie Lidell: I only caught the end of the brit-psych-rocker's weird set but I was impressed and wish I saw more, he seemed to have total control of the crowd and his sound.

Beach House: After taking significantly too long to soundcheck, they showed why with their perfectly mellowed out performance full of reverb, pedals, and angst. Singer/keyboardist Victoria LeGrand is a great performer, using her crazy mane of hair to her advantage to play up both the stoicism and the intensity of certain tracks.


The National: Everyone said I had to see them live to understand them. I get it. Vocalist Matt Berninger is one of the best live performers I've ever seen, it's amazing to imagine him getting that into it every night.

Arcade Fire: The headliners lived up to their hype, trotting out a full stage of their multi-instrumentalist line up for a hour and a half long set of songs new and old. Wyn Butler and Regine Chassagne have great stage presence and chemistry and the entire band was incredibly humble and greatful. Every song they played rocked, all the way through their finale, "Wake Up" which got a packed house of tired festival goers to dance and chant all the way to the subway home.

Great job all around by the people behind Osheaga from the artists to the little details of the venue. Festivals like this have the possibility of being uncomfortable events and organizational nightmares and Montreal really came through big in every way here.

It's just a jump to the left!

And then please look to your right.

Down a bit.

Yes, there. That shiny new calendar gizmo - it's an embedded version of our Community Calendar. It will provide information about concerts, benefits, WRMC parties - we mean, meetings, et cetera.

Yes, many of the concert listings may appear to have been lifted whole-sale from the Middlebury Arts calendar. We tried to convince them to input the data on their own, in the hopes that they would select the most relevant, pithy, and comprehensible bits, but failing that we used some copy and paste action. The UVM information we had no hope of translating.

If you are a community group/member/NGO/friend, or an artist or group that will be playing in our listening area or Burlington, please feel free to shoot us an email with your event data at wrmc911@gmail.com and we will add items to our calendar at the management's discretion.

Any and all comments and suggestions welcome as to how we can improve this service.

Love,

WRMC