Your Music Notes (3/11)

Most notably for me in music news today (and should be for you if you are in driving distance of Louisville) is that WFPK announced the first half of their Waterfront Wednesday summer concert series. These shows take place on the fourth Wednesday from April-September on the Waterfront under the pedestrian bridge. Shows have been getting bigger with every year and this announcement revealed this year is no exception.

April 23:   Moon Taxi
                 The Apache Relay
                 House Ghost
March 28: Spanish Gold
                 The Broken Spurs
                 TBA
June 25:    Old 97's
                 The Whigs
                 TBA

SKRILLEX has conquered the EDM world--without releasing an album. Next week that changes when he releases his debut album, Recess. He recently announced The Mothership Tour w/ Dillon Francis and others (which includes a stop on Louisville's Waterfront Park) and he will have some new material to play. The debut album is 48 minutes long, includes 11 tracks, and features Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos, Chance The Rapper and more.

CHVRCHES took to the BBC Live Lounge yesterday and gave a very interesting take on Lorde's "Team." It serves singer Lauren Mayberry's vocals well and leaves room for them to put their own symth twist on it. Check it out here.

Big day for tour dates in the indie world. Beck, Vampire Weekend, Modest Mouse, and the Jerry Garcia Symphonic Celebration feat. Warren Haynes announced more summer tour dates.
PHISH has also announced their summer tour dates. They stretch from NY to CO. The band says no additional tour dates will be announced for the east coast for this summer or fall.

The big festival today to release its lineup is Canada's OSHEAGA. Jack White, Outkast, and Arctic Monkeys will headline. Other great artists to appear include Foster The People, Chromeo, Chvrches, Band of Horses, Local Natives, Haim, Old Crow Medicine Show, Volcano Choir, Kongos, Vance Joy,  Jagwar Ma, The Mowgli's, St. Lucia, Cherub, Wild Cub, and Bleachers. See them all August 1-3 for $250.

Notable releases today--Albums: THE DIRTY GUV'NAHS "Hearts on Fire"
                                      Singles: YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE "Pressure"

Arcade Fire Kicks Off Reflektor in Louisville

We can sit here all day and use any superlative or generalization about how Arcade Fire performs on stage. All I know is I just went to one kickass show.

It was a whole body of work and something to definitely stay engaged with. Firstly, they didn't keep anyone waiting. They showed up on stage (or shall I say side stage?) at about 8:50 when Win, Regine, Owen, and the mirror man played a haunting version of "My Body Is A Cage" on an elevated stage among the crowd.

Thrusting right into "Reflecktor," the band was playing in a interesting space I thought. I believed they wanted to start their tour in Louisville because it could be a good tune up and testing ground for what they want to do. Louisville is no NYC. The KFC Yum! Center had the top level of the arena curtained off. But they were a raucous crowd there tonight and Arcade Fire could test the success of a second stage and a fake The Reflecktors acts to start the encore.

They were able to take the show they played years ago when they were playing to 2000 people and transform that into a great show tonight. If it meant lowering the lights they did that. But they did a bunch of stuff: shooting confetti during the climax of "Here Come The Night Time," calling for the house lights on during "Wake Up," using stage 2 for multiple songs including "It's Never Over (Oh Orpheus." They will absolutely rip a festival to shreds but in this arena, in their own shows, they had to find a way to pull off their bigger sound. They did it.

Speaking of sound, these guys blast you in the face like Phil Spector. And the mastery of instrumentation is incomprehensible. The drummer leaves to play guitar. The guitarist plays the drums and piano. Regine plays anything from drums to accordion and hurdy gurdy. Horns section. Haitian percussionists. There is so much there and it shone through especially in songs like "Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)" and "Haiti."

And abnormal for Arcade Fire, they pulled out a cover of The Rolling Stones's "The Last Time" during an energetic five song encore.

For me, it took a bit to get adjusted to their show. It was actually the concert that I have been to at the KFC Yum! Center with the least people in attendance. (I've seen anyone from Zac Brown Band to MMJ and Miranda Lambert. Remember folks, this is Kentucky). I don't think they hit their stride until the third song. This show was not my favorite of all time or anything. These are songs I wanted to hear live and so glad I did. I was amazed at what I saw tonight.

More observations:

• Win is a big dude
• Regine is really dramatic
• Tim should enter into a Thom Yorke look a like contest
• The dress code suggestion brought a lot of diversity to what people wore. I saw everything from bros with jeans, Ghostbusters, overalls, mini skirts, prom dresses, and tuxedos. 
• They played a cover song tonight, but in saying that, The Rolling Stones is not who I would expect for them to cover
• The tour will get better. They are working out the kinks.
• They played for 1 hour and 43 minutes.
• 7 songs from Reflektor, 3 from The Suburbs, 3 from Neon Bible, 5 from Funeral, 1 cover

Your Music Notes (3/5)

I've been mentioning Lock'n Festival here quite a lot because it seems like every day they are dragging up along with another important announcement. Yesterday they added Gary Clark Jr. Today they added GRACE POTTER & THE NOCTURNALS. Potter guested last year but she will bring the full band with her this year.

WOLF GANG, a British arena pop/rock band, who does not come over to the United States enough, announced today they will be back for a May/June headlining tour as well as a couple of dates opening for Bastille in Indianapolis and Covington.

So SXSW hosts an ornate, complete cluster of music over four days. So many venues, showcases, and genres to go around, some say it is impossible to have a satisfying experience. Some say the saturation just intensifies how awesome Austin is during this time. To help and highlight for you here, I've got a few list from other sources to help you crawl through this schedule.

Listen Hear: The 50 Best Bets of SXSW 2014 (Part 1)
CMJ: SXSW 2014 25 Must See Acts
Contact Music: 10 Acts You Cannot Afford to Miss
Dallas Observer: 10 Must See Acts at SXSW 2014
Daily Candy: Must See Indie Acts at SXSW

Good luck...

I left my house the other day and came back with the weirdest combination of tunes I've probably ever purchased. I returned with The Pass 7" (Without Saying/Never Compromise), Sundy Best CD (Bring Up The Sun), and Skaters CD (Manhattan). Synth pop/rock, folk/country from the holler, and harsh NYC guitar rock.  

In odd combination news. ST.LUCIA, recently an announced Forecastle artist, is opening for, yes you definitely assumed this, SNOOP LION this Sunday at Stubb's.

More on SKATERS: You must know them. If you didn't watch the first link, here's another to blow your mind. They are NYC rock that you should hear playing outside an apartment window on a hot day--rough guitar rock with enough pop chords in it that it distracts you from how loud they are.
This is Miss Teen Massachusetts: 

Your Music Notes (3/4)

I meant to include Forecastle in this but I got in a good ol' rant and that one got a post of its own. Here's the remainder for March 4.

In Lock'n Festival news, Steve Winwood will be sitting in with Widespread Panic this year. John Fogerty had a very successful time playing with the band at last year's fest and I think we can see Winwood have the same success.

In today's world, collegiate national championships can only be celebrated by massive concerts. Massive FREE concerts. This year's Final Four will be no exception. With 24 hours of music over three nights, the March Madness Music Festival will draw thousands. Acts announced so far include Jason Aldean, Tim McGraw, The Killers, fun., and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. It'll be a wild time in Dallas. Do you think they gave Bruce a four hour slot?

Notable releases this week: Pharell Williams "Girl," American Authors "Oh, What A Life" Sundy Best "Bring Up The Sun"

Forecastle Analysis

Forecastle released an anticipated lineup today. They had teased many bands via social media and today it finally came to fruition. Headliners: Outkast, Jack White, Beck.

I'll give Forecastle credit because they are in a special situation. While some festivals like Bonnaroo or Coachella do not associate with a neighboring city, they don't have to please an already existing audience. Chicago has Lollapalooza but that festival is so commercial, they grab the big names. Forecastle on the other hand has to please a Louisville crowd who not only love music but also a specific kind of music.With the exception of a handful of diversifying bands, you can look to WFPK, Louisville's public radio station, for a big influence on what kind of music Louisville listens to. Their demographic is predominantly white middle class people aged around 28-52. They have become very successful and Forecastle knows it. You can thank WFPK for acts this year like Jason Isbell, Brett Dennen, Hayes Carll, Spoon, Hurray For The Riff Raff, Leagues, and the influence of others. I don't put a negative blame on it, but it may limit Forecastle in expanding its sound.

With that being said, there are some absolute gems here in this year's lineup. Outkast, Jack White, and Beck make for very formidable headliners. Two worries though: Will Outkast be stale by the time they get to Waterfront Park because they have been playing every other festival? Is Beck too mellow on his most recent album to bust out tunes like "Where It's At" or "Loser?"

The top of the lineup is very legit. Band of Horses (esp. with their recent acoustic arrangement), Spoon, the recent comebacks of The Replacements and Nickelcreek, Twnety One pilots, Gary Clark Jr., Local Natives, Trampled by Turtles, Lord Huron are all must sees for me.

The next half may become questionable. Upon furthur research I may retract this but as it stands now I would see St. Lucia, Brett Dennen, Lucius, Spanish Gold (side project of Patrick Hallahan for all you MMJ insufferables), The Weeks, and Jalin Roze. I hope I have the desire to see more, but we'll see. I would have expected more undercard names to intrigue me.

But regardless, if it wasn't cemented before it is now. Forecastle is a top tier festival and it will stay that way. I'm proud that it is in my city.

Your Music Notes (3/3)

Jam Band festival news

• Lock'n Festival (Sept 4-7 in Arlington, VA) already has booked a slew of jam band veterans including Widespread Panic, The String Cheese Incident, and The Allman Brothers Band. They also have released Bob Weir & Ratdog, Willie Nelson, and Phil lLesh & Friends. Today Lock'n announced their first youthful act: GARY CLARK JR. The blues thrashing stud will infiltrate this group of vets at Lock'n this September.
• Phases of the Moon festival (Sept 11-14 in Kennecuk County, Illinois) take place the weekend right after Lock'n. Some bands will play both. Phases of the Moon also added to their lineup but it was a much bigger addition. Already announced acts included Widespread Panice, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Galactic, and Gov't Mule. Today they added Bob Weir & Ratdog, Railroad Earth, JJ Grey & Mofro, Vintage Trouble, as well as tributes to Phish and Allman Brothers Band. Many bands will play multiple sets. Rumpke Mountain Boys will play 4. 
• Mountain Jam (June 5-8 in Hunter Mountain, New York) revealed today that Allman Brothers Band will headline. They will perform their first two albums in their entirety. They join a great lineup that includes Bob Weir & Ratdog, Gov't Mule, Pretty Lights, Tedeschi Trucks Band, The Avett Brothers, Jeff Tweedy, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Umphrey's McGee, Trampled by Turtles, Moon Taxi, and The Weeks.

• BUFFALO RODEO, a product of the fine music scene in Bowling Green, Kentucky, has been hitting on all cylinders recently. They announced a tour in the south and released their first official for "Treehouse." They said a video for "Compass" will come soon enough but today they rolled out their first official website. You can find all news Buffalo Rodeo style at http://www.buffalorodeomusic.com/
• COLDPLAY is back! But not necessarily with a vengeance. The first song they released from their upcoming record called Ghost Stories (out May 19) was "Midnight." Everyone comparded it to Bon Iver because yeah, it kind of was influenced by Bon Iver. Their first official single is "Magic." They pick up the tempo a little but this is not the Mylo Xyloto, arena commanding Coldplay of late. Also you are going to want to get the deluxe edition of the new album because the basic one will only get you nine songs. 
• CHROMEO brings us another tune from their upcoming album White Women (out May 12). It's called "Jealous (I Ain't With It)" and it could be their emergence into mainstream pop radio. It tosses around some Katy Perry influence, but don't let that deter you. It's still as funky, still great dance beats. 
• SUNDY BEST'S coming out party has begun. They released their second album today called Bring Up The Sun. Say no to bro country and pick these guys up. It's real and honest. There are tunes on here that are good for anything from driving with the windows down to sitting by a campfire. Singles "Until I Met You" and "These Days" lead the pack of this 15 song record. Watch out country music--you will know these guys soon enough. 

AND FINALLY FORECASTLE'S LINEUP COMES OUT TOMORROW. STAY POSTED FOR WHAT MIGHT BE THE BEST LINEUP OF THE SUMMER!

Sundy Best at Bellarmine Radio/The New Vintage

Moon Taxi at Headliner's

Toy Tiger at Bellarmine Radio

Listen to the performance here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/nfdm5kkqxac0udo/toy%20tiger.wav