Music You'd Better Listen To

The National - Squalor Victoria

Website / Myspace / iTunes

—-

And here I was, thinking that I would write on Beirut’s Elephant Gun. But nope. This song was the highlight of yesterday’s Pitchfork for me. Kind of weird, considering how much further away from the stage I was in comparison to everything else.

Outdoor concerts/festivals have this weird dip. It’s exciting to be very close, it’s beautiful to be very far… but anywhere in between is just boring and impossible to enjoy. At least for me.

Yes, I know the timestamp right now. I’m still wondering whether or not I should go for today’s festivities. I have very little cash, and it costs me an absurd amount to pull out of the ATM (considering that I’m in a “foreign” country). That means that I can’t pick up a shirt if I want one, let alone dinner/water/a drink.

M83 and The Flaming Lips are on today, which is exciting… but I missed what I consider the best part of these festivals: just exploring, checking out a band and making a decision in 5 minutes whether or not I want to stay.

Bowerbirds - In Our Talons

Website / Myspace / iTunes

—-

Boo. I just wrote this post, but it got deleted into the vast etherwebs somewhere, so I now need to write it again. Oh well, I get to listen again!

Anyway, Bowerbirds are one of the bands I’m most looking forward to see at Pitchfork today. I would have liked to save this track until later to report on their set, but with two awesome afterparties going on tonight, getting home before the midnight deadline would be impossible.

I’ve been in love with these guys-and-girl since September (or was it October?) 2007, when I was lucky enough to catch them opening for The Mountain Goats at Toronto’s Lee’s Palace. The fullness of their sound and stage presence, in spite of their 3-member size, impressed me like few opening bands ever have before — let alone a band opening for one of my absolute favourite bands (those opening for The Mountain Goats, The Hold Steady, and the now-unfortunately-defunct Ninja High School are not to be envied in my books).

But what *really* gets me about Bowerbirds is their dedication to their music. When I was accidentally sold an empty CD case, I shot them an email. I got a call from Beth the next day, apologizing and being super-friendly and just wanting her beautiful music to travel. When the package containing their CD arrived, I noticed it was postmarked the day after the call.

And now to go catch their set… I only have an hour to get there!

Built To Spill - Liar

Myspace / iTunes

—-

Built To Spill opened their Pitchfork Fest set with Liar, and it was exactly what I needed to hear.

I’ve only been to one indie/rock concert in the past way-longer-than-it-should be (and that was The Daredevil Christopher Wright, who I’ll probably blog next week but you should check out now) until tonight’s night-before-P4K outdoor awesomeness. And Built To Spill just brought back all the greatness that was my uber-indie-rock days, which probably hit their apex during my last (and only other) time at P4K Fest, back in ‘06.

The amazing thing about outdoor concerts, to me, is that they’re amazing. They tend to be subpar sonically — the open field definitely wasn’t built to conform to and enhance acoustic properties. You also often end up way further from the band than you would in a closed-venue show.

But what it lacks in what you would normally hope for, it makes up for in sheer… magic. The feeling of being outdoors, with the wind in your hair, and the constantly changing backdrop is musical beauty.

One of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever had at an outdoor concert, possibly rivaled only by Built To Spill’s rendition of Conventional Wisdom tonight, was when I saw The Smashing Pumpkins at VFest Toronto 2007, performing what was either Bullet With Butterfly Wings or 1979… to be honest, I just can’t remember, and it doesn’t matter.

What was special was that I saw and heard it from this unique perspective: across a river, through trees, under a starry sky. How many others can claim to have witnessed that?

Stars (performed by Final Fantasy) — Your Ex-Lover Is Dead

Website (Stars) / Myspace (Stars) / iTunes (Stars) / Website (FF) / Myspace (FF) / iTunes (FF)

—-

So I’m still at the office, writing this post a bit early today because I’m heading to the new Harry Potter movie with a friend, then I’m off to catch Willy Joy playing at the Debonair, and I highly doubt I’ll be back home before the midnight deadline rears its ugly head.

Anyway, I was listening to a bunch of Final Fantasy today, in preparation for Pitchfork Fest this weekend, and this song jumped out at me more than any of the others. While most of his library is fantastic, and I have a lot of connection to his songs (particularly This Is The Dream of Win and Regine and he poos clouds), this was just… what I needed.

Stars are a band I identify with a certain ex-girlfriend — and, interestingly, not the one who I first listened to them with. No, these memories were with an ex of mine from the second year of university.

Anyway, the relationship was pretty disastrous, and Owen, with his use of the violin and piano (I want to say dischordant, but I know that that’s the wrong term — help me out?) this version of Ex-Lover encapsulates exactly how I feel.

It’s funny, actually… I’ve recently started talking to her again, and it’s been nice. Not in a “we should get back together”, but just… kind of like how the piano is ending this track right now. Peace has returned. The world is okay.

Beirut - Postcards From Italy

Website / Myspace / iTunes

—-

The first time I heard this song, I was driving, at the corner of Sherbrooke and Victoria, going to my bank in Montreal. And, to be honest, I didn’t find it all that great. But I remembered it.

My *real* first experience with this track, and where my appreciation of Beirut comes from, was my “first” drive from Montreal to Toronto, with my mother and grandmother, to go visit the University of Toronto. It was Mother’s Day weekend, and the two of them went to visit my aunt and to let me tour the University.

I remember listening to this album (Gulag Orkestar) and The Cold War Kids’ EP. My mom hated them both on principle of their pretentious names.

Now, in spite of listening to Beirut since the spring of 2006, I’ve never seen the guy (or his band) live. Which is why I can’t wait for Pitchfork this weekend.

Postcards From Italy, Elephant Gun, Scenic World, and The Penalty are four songs that have been more important to me these past 3 years than most others. This is going to be epic.

LMFAO x Will Smith - Welcome To Miami Bitch (DJ Mashup)

Myspace (LMFAO) / iTunes (LMFAO) / Website (Will Smith) / Myspace (Will Smith) / iTunes (Will Smith) / Myspace (DJ Mashup)

—-

Can you believe I hadn’t heard this track before the mashup? LMFAO, I’m talking about. Obviously.

Man, today’s been good. I miss doing music work so much! Seriously, it’s been over 7 months since I last really promoted a party. And today I got to chat with a Chicago DJ/promoter/manager buddy of mine and I’m pretty sure things are gonna pick up, at least a little bit this summer.

So yeah, today deserves a little bit of a proud jam. (We playin’ naked Twister back in my hotel!)

I also got some tickets to the new Harry Potter movie on Thursday night, got some major work done on a huge project I’m about to pitch, and wrote another (slightly smaller) pitch.

Forgive me for gloating. Seriously.

I sincerely hope your day has been as good as, if not better than, mine. Email me and let me know? anulman AT gmail DOT com. Do it.

What do y’all want to hear? I mean, I’m gonna do some Pitchfork Fest-related posts tomorrow through Sunday, but what next?

Tom Waits - Jockey Full of Bourbon

Website / Myspace / iTunes

—-

In spite of listening to this song (rather, a cover of it) since I was about 10 years old, it took me way longer than I’d like to admit to get into Tom Waits. But when, finally, my buddy recommended Rain Dogs to me, Jockey jumped out as not only one of the best tracks, but the one I knew the lyrics to already.

Familiarity really has a lot more to do with our lives than we like to think or admit. I remember one time when I was designing a flyer with that same friend, a year or so before I listened to this track (you’re all going to make fun of me, but summer 2007. Or maybe 2008?), he was telling me that he was going with traditional stylistic conventions. Even though something looked nicer, it would be a lot harder to get picked up if it didn’t look familiar.

I disagreed with him then, but there’s still an element of truth to that statement.

Jeffrey Lewis - Roll Bus Roll

Website / Myspace / iTunes / via ZoeRadio

—-

I know what you’re saying right now: “It’s 11:30 or so! Aidan, you should be out at Steve Aoki!”

I’m about to leave, so stop hassling me. But I couldn’t go without giving y’alls a hot trakkk today.

Found this guy yesterday through @zmonster90, who has a pretty great radio show on the MIT campus radio (at least, I think it’s that. I could be totally wrong). Got turned onto her shows through her Dad, @iancr. And if you don’t know what those @-things are for… ummmm… yeah.

(I’m sorry, am I coming off too pretentious? It’s just… I think its fairly obvious by now. Or at least very Google-able.)

Anyway, haven’t heard anything new that was this lighthearted and fun in a LONG time. I mean, yeah, there was the Juno soundtrack a year and a half ago, but not too much of that was “new”. Plus, it was a year and a half ago.

Oh man, I remember when I got the Juno soundtrack. Hehehe… I had just met this girl, the daughter of an old business-friend of my Dad’s. She was cute, it was almost New Year’s, and she was taken. But, as you all know, I’m not made entirely of libido (though some people claim it can be up to 80%, depending on the night). So we had some fun snowboarding and stuff in Colorado, and just generally hanging out.

I wanna snowboard now. Thanks, Jeffrey Lewis.

N.A.S.A - Gifted (Steve Aoki remix)

Website (N.A.S.A.) / Myspace (N.A.S.A.) / iTunes (N.A.S.A.) / Website (Aoki) / Myspace (Aoki) / iTunes (Aoki)

—-

I think I’ve been way too introspective/questioning/philosophical on this blog lately. Music kinda does that to me, or at least some of the music I’ve been posting. Life events too. But you know what? It’s time to get back to raw me.

Aoki’s in town tomorrow night, and that’s going to be a HUGE night. Last time I saw the guy, he was in Montreal for a party me and my buddies were promoting. That was one helluva night - seriously, things were up in the air and going crazy from about 7PM when I left to start setting up the afterparty until 7 or 8AM, when the afterparty was shut down because of… just, craziness.

Anyway, the guy brings the party. He’s the only person I’ve ever seen with the balls to drop raw Rage Against The Machine on the dancefloor, and people eat it up. It kind of surprises me, actually, that so many DJs fall into this cookiecutter bloghouse mold, while the really successful ones like Aoki and DJ AM are doing crazy things with music you’ve never thought of dancing to, or bringing live punk drummers into the act.

I don’t think I’m going to be spending the whole night there, though. I’ve heard some weird things about Crobar, and my buddy Willy Joy is spinning somewhere else. He’s one of those guys who’s been around for a while, known out of the city, but hasn’t reached national stardom yet. Kind of upsetting, actually - I like him a lot better than many of the DJs I’ve worked with this past year.