CONCERT: Sasquatch '09

I don't even know where to begin. (And by the length of this post, I don't know when to stop either.)
Except maybe to say, "Never forget your camera."
Followed by, "Don't stand too close to the guy with no pants."

Two adages I learned the hard way this year at the Sasquatch Music Festival.

Right now I'm in some pretty dire financial straits and in the weeks leading up to Sasquatch the $60 some odd dollars I spent on my one-day Saturday ticket months before seemed ill-advised. ($60 can purchase a fair number of Hot and Ready pizzas. 12 before taxes.)

Then the prospect of driving from Provo to the Gorge was pretty daunting. We've had a lot of good memories Idaho, but driving through your southern portion...not one of them. I only stopped to go to the bathroom there. Seemed like a fitting tribute...

At the Gorge I started thinking of the full day I was about to endure in the hot sun, craning my neck for a better view, all the while avoiding having the drunk co-eds who sneaked alcohol in plastic baggies stuffed into their bikini tops (point for creativity) from vomiting on me. I became prematurely exhausted and muttered to myself, "Maybe I'm getting too old for this stuff." (For the record, I'm 25)

So that was my attitude going into this. Pretty crappy. (And $10 for a personal pizza didn't help my already cash-strapped self)

Then the music started and 800 miles suddenly seemed like nothing. A paltry distance to travel for what I was suddenly seeing and hearing.

I forgot about the sun, I forgot about the heat, and I forgot that I really didn't have the money to be there, but I was reminded why I love music.
I was entranced. I simply could not believe that there were people not fixed 100% on the stage. Were they not hearing what I was hearing or did they simply want pleasant background music to enjoy their $9 beer?

Why I love music and who reminded me of that love...playlist style.

How much crazy fun can music be? Whatever the answer is to that question Animal Collective is pushing that. They turned it up to '11'
mp3: Animal Collective - Summertime Clothes

The Hazards of Love from beginning to end. Simply astounding. The Rake Song blew me away. Heck, the whole thing blew me away. (And as though you need any other reason to see them, they're touring with Blind Pilot. Another festival fave.)
mp3: The Decemberists - The Rake Song
mp3: Blind Pilot - Oviedo

The Kings of Leon were always meant to play the Gorge. Their huge arena rock sound deserves to be played at such venues. This song has been played in the back of my mind since. ("...given the chance I'm gonna be somebody. If for one dance I'm gonna be somebody.")
mp3: Kings of Leon - Be Somebody

And at the top of everything. The King of Whisper Rock and the Queen of the Taiga. Breathtakingly beautiful.
mp3: Bon Iver - Flume



Thanks for reading.

PLAYLIST: Twilight Concert Series in SLC

I give you this year's Twilight Concert Series. Remember, all of these concerts are outdoors and FREE.

July 9:
Bon Iver - mp3: For Emma (from The Myspace Transmissions)
Jenny Lewis - mp3: Acid Tongue

July 16:
The Black Keys - mp3: Wicked Messenger (Bob Dylan cover)
Human Highway

July 23:
M. Ward - mp3: Chinese Translation
Land of Talk

July 30:
Sonic Youth - mp3: Sacred Trickster
Awesome Color

August 6:
Q-Tip
B.o.B.

August 13:
Toots & The Maytals - mp3: True Love is Hard to Find (w/ Bonnie Raitt)
N.A.S.A.'s Intergalactic Circus

August 20:
Iron & Wine - mp3: The Devil Never Sleeps (demo)
Okkervil River - mp3: Pop Lie

August 27:
Robert Randolph & The Family Band
Black Joe Lewis & The Honey Bears - mp3: Sugarfoot

Too bad I have to be at school, in INDIANA, on July 7th, two days before all this amazing-ness starts. Talk about bad planning.

ALSO: The Iron & Wine song I included above is from an EP of acoustic demos he's giving away for free on his site. Go grab it.

SONG: Sufjan's contribution to Dark Was The Night = mind-blowing

So, apparently we're gonna have six more weeks of winter. That doesn't worry me so much as long as I've got some good music to bundle up with in the interim.

Luckily, here's some samples from the highly anticipated Red Hot charity compilation, Dark Was The Night. Produced by The National's Aaron and Bryce Dessner, it's a double-disc (triple-LP) compilation to raise money and awareness for HIV and AIDS. I've included the full track-list below, and it's pretty insane, actually. Names you might be excited about include Feist, Bon Iver, Grizzly Bear, Spoon, Sufjan Stevens, Arcade Fire, Beirut, The New Pornographers, The National, and Andrew Bird (just to name a few). Yeah, like I said, insane.

Below are some streaming mp3's of what I think are a few of the stand-out tracks so far. The National and Bon Iver's offerings are both solid, as expected - but the Sufjan piece is something else altogether. A reinterpretation of 'You Are The Blood' by his label-mates Castanets, it's a sprawling 10 minute epic touching on just about every musical influence Mr. Stevens has entertained in the past - from electronica to symphonic pop, to Gershwin-esque piano solos. Take a listen below and see if it blows your mind like it did mine.

The album is out February 17th (in the US).



DARK WAS THE NIGHT

DISC 1
1 Knotty Pine – Dirty Projectors + David Byrne
2 Cello Song (Nick Drake) – The Books featuring Jose Gonzalez
3 Train Song (Vashti Bunyan recorded, written by Alasdair Clayre) – Feist + Ben Gibbard
4 Brackett, WI – Bon Iver
5 Deep Blue Sea – Grizzly Bear
6 So Far Around the Bend – The National (arrangement by Nico Muhly)
7 Tightrope – Yeasayer
8 Feeling Good (popularized by Nina Simone) – My Brightest Diamond
9 Dark Was the Night (Blind Willie Johnson) – Kronos Quartet
10 I Was Young When I Left Home (Bob Dylan) – Antony + Bryce Dessner
11 Big Red Machine – Justin Vernon + Aaron Dessner
12 Sleepless – The Decemberists
13 Stolen Houses (Die) – Iron and Wine
14 Service Bell – Grizzly Bear + Feist
15 You Are The Blood – Sufjan Stevens

DISC 2
1 Well-Alright – Spoon
2 Lenin – Arcade Fire
3 Mimizan – Beirut
4 El Caporal – My Morning Jacket
5 Inspiration Information (Shuggie Otis) – Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
6 With A Girl Like You (The Troggs) – Dave Sitek
7 Blood Pt 2 (based on original song “You are the Blood” by the Castanets) – Buck 65 Remix (featuring Sufjan Stevens and Serengeti)
8 Hey, Snow White (Destroyer) – The New Pornographers
9 Gentle Hour (Snapper) – Yo La Tengo
10 Another Saturday (traditional song) – Stuart Murdoch
11 Happiness – Riceboy Sleeps
12 Amazing Grace (traditional song) – Cat Power and Dirty Delta Blues
13 The Giant Of Illinois (Handsome Family) – Andrew Bird
14 Lua – Conor Oberst + Gillian Welch
15 When the Road Runs Out – Blonde Redhead + Devastations
16 Love vs. Porn – Kevin Drew

NEWS: Beirut! M. Ward! Neko Case! Hooray 2009!

I apologize in advance for such a scatter-shot post. I'm just so excited for 2009 for so many reasons that I just had to throw it all up here.

First and foremost, I'm getting married on Saturday to the love of my life. But since this isn't a personal blog, I'm going to assume that you don't care and that's all I'll give you. Let it be known though, I'm pretty stoked.

On a more musical note (heh), 2009 is already shaping up to be pretty fantastic.

As Logan already pointed out, one of my very, very most anticipated releases for some time comes out in less than a week. But that's not all folks, that same day will see the release of Bon Iver's new EP, Blood Bank and The 1900s' EP Medium High (a collection of old odds and ends tracks).

A close second on my anticipated releases of 2009 is M. Ward's Hold Time, which like most-anticipated-release-number-one, you can stream in its entirety at NPR. Fantastic.

My third most anticipated album of the year (third only in order, not in amount of anticipation), is Joshua James' new record, which finally has a release date - April 28th (according to his myspace)! Mark your calenders friends. UPDATE: According to a recent email, it looks like sometime in May will be the official release.

Okay just two more! Zach Condon will be releasing two EPs next month - one, titled March of the Zapotec, he'll be releasing as Beirut, and the other, titled Holland, will be released under his lesser-known Realpeople moniker (UPDATE: the second will be titled Realpeople Holland and will also be released as Beirut). Each will reflect a particular culture in music, as we've come to expect from the talented Mr. Condon. Read more here.

And finally, we just got a taste of Neko Case's new album, Middle Cyclone, today. It's called 'People Got A Lotta Nerve', and it's as awesome as her record cover. Check out the song below.

Every one of these deserve their own post, but due to reasons stated in paragraph two, I'm pretty busy right now. But let's all just take a moment and get excited for the great year of music we have ahead of us! Alright. As you were.

Neko Case - People Got A Lotta Nerve
from the album Middle Cyclone (out March 3rd!)


Beirut - Elephant Gun
from the Lon Gisland EP (iTunes)

WIAC's Top 15 Albums of 2008

So here it is. Whale In A Cubicle's Favorite 15 Albums of 2008. We know you've probably all been waiting for it with bated breath, wondering what on earth we would finally choose. Well, the wait is over.

Note: This is purely a list of our favorite albums of the year, not necessarily the best albums of the year. If we had to pick what we thought were the very best albums critically, it would be a slightly different list. But we're no critics, so that's not what we're gonna do. These are our favorite albums of the year - the ones that made us laugh, cry, dance, smile, press repeat, wet our pants, etc. These are what we'll remember when we think back on the year.

So.

Here we go:

15. Ode to Sunshine
Delta Spirit
(iTunes)
mp3: People C'mon

I love the bands that take me totally by surprise. I had never even heard of Delta Spirit before I saw them open for Matt Costa but I immediately fell in love with the clangy piano, chunky acoustic guitar, and the joy they exuded as they sang and performed. There are some obvious standout songs, but in the end you'll find yourself falling in love with the more subtle almost soulful tracks. All in all, what a pleasant little surprise. -Logan

14. Unfamiliar Faces
Matt Costa
(iTunes)
mp3: Mr. Pitiful

Speaking of Matt Costa. This is an album that only seems to get better and better with time, I find myself listening to it more now nearly a year after its release than I did when I first bought it. I can't wait to revisit this album 20 years from now. The whole thing is a pleasure; nothing more, nothing less. I can't help but think the world isn't such a bad place while listening to this album. -Logan

13. The Rhumb Line
Ra Ra Riot
(iTunes)
mp3: Dying is Fine

After completely falling for these guys when we saw them back in May, this became one of my more anticipated releases of the year. A short and straight-forward indie rock record; each member of the group contributes just enough to carve out a full, churning sound on just about every track. Though we're also fans of Vampire Weekend's debut, Ra Ra Riot's offering just resonated with us more. It may be due to their more thoughtful lyrics - tackling topics like death and friendship, rather than frat parties and grammatical arguments. Or maybe we just like it better. -Chris

12. Volume 1
She & Him

(iTunes)
mp3: Sentimental Heart

Right from the opening lines of the very first track, Sentimental Heart, this album hooked me. Zooey Deschanel's simple songwriting and rich vocals paired with M. Ward's quirky arrangements made one of the all-around most likable albums of the year - it's a pure AM pop delight. While the second half of the disc has a few minor miss-steps, the first half is nearly flawless, and Zooey is never anything but incredibly lovable throughout. -Chris

11. The Odd Couple
Gnarls Barkley
(iTunes)
mp3: Going On

Ok, this album is just too much fun. I don't even know what else to say about it. -Logan

10. Honeysuckle Weeks
The Submarines
(iTunes)
mp3: You, Me and the Bourgeoisie

It's sheer feel-good music sung by two people who've got a lot to feel good about. They're each married to their sweet-heart (each other) and their song You, Me and the Bourgeoisie, was the official tune for Apple's iPhone this entire year - which may or may not be ironic considering the song bemoans our society's focus on excess and consumerism. Either way, every song is buoyant and fun, always feel-good, never sappy - it's basically a single shot way to feel great about the world. It may only take our number 10 spot, but it's highly recommended. -Chris

9. Re-Arrange Us
Mates of State
(iTunes)
mp3: Get Better

Trading in their straight organ/drum formula for a more textured, piano-driven sound, Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner may have re-invented themselves, but all the best stuff is still here. The opening track, Get Better, has been known to make me cry on occasion. Just putting that out there. -Chris

8. Keep Color
The Republic Tigers
(iTunes)
mp3: Fight Song

In a previous post I described the Republic Tigers as electro-folk and it is that unique blend of acoustic guitars and synthesizers that made this one of my most listened to records of the year. Even with standout tracks like Buildings and Mountains and The Nerve you'll find yourself never wanting to skip a track. It's a solid debut from a band that has found an amazing sound. -Logan

7. Oracular Spectacular
MGMT
(iTunes)
mp3: Kids

Very few things in this world make me want to dance. IRS refund checks, showering, and MGMT are the only things that come readily to mind. I don't know how to dance and I don't actually know if one can even dance to MGMT, but all I know is I sure want to when this is playing. It's really kind of a quirky album, but I think that's why I love it. -Logan

6. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Sigur Rós
(iTunes)
mp3: Inní mér syngur vitleysingur

Translated as "With a buzz in our ears we play endlessly", words cannot describe what I've felt while listening to this album. Arguably their most accessible record to date, it's the first one that's hooked me completely from start to finish. It was my soundtrack during many many long nights at the library this spring, and it only snuggled itself deeper into my heart after I saw them play in Denver. A simply beautiful record. -Chris

5. Narrow Stairs
Death Cab for Cutie
(iTunes)
mp3: I Will Possess Your Heart

I fell in love with this album exactly 1:39 into the first track, it is precisely when the drums come in hard and the guitar distorts. It felt like I had just sunk my teeth into something initially familiar but which became an altogether new sensation to me and frankly, I loved it. I'm a sucker for Death Cab for Cutie and a sucker for rock music and maybe I'm wrong, but that's what I'm hearing, Death Cab with a little more rock. Each song still retains that Death Cab feel, but tracks like Bixby Canyon Bridge and Long Division have made me fall in love all over again. -Logan

4. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends
Coldplay
(iTunes)
mp3: Violet Hill

One of the reasons this is so high on our list is the fact that it came out of left field for me and Logan. Neither of us have ever really been Coldplay fans, and we weren't anticipating this album almost at all. But after hearing the whole thing streamed before its release, I can honestly say it floored me - I must have listened to it 4 or 5 times at work that first day. It's a near-flawless album as a whole - a tribute to the band's talent and producer Brian Eno's ability to bring out a group's best. -Chris

3. For Emma, Forever Ago
Bon Iver
(iTunes)
mp3: The Wolves (Act I and III)

I finally stumbled on this gem late in the year, and am I ever glad I did. Spare, honest, powerful writing and performing. One of those rare examples of music as poetry - a catharsis caught on tape. I really can't stress enough how much you need this in your life. -Chris

2. Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
(iTunes)
mp3: White Winter Hymnal

One of two records on our list to sport fine art on its album sleeve (it's by Bruegel if you're wondering), this has probably been the most consistently listened to album for us this whole year. It's good from beginning to end, top to bottom, through each and every song. From the choral rounds of White Winter Hymnal to the resounding swells on Your Protector to the spare closer Oliver James, there just isn't a weak song on here. As a record it's incredible - as a debut it's mind-boggling. If you haven't already heard it, don't put it off any longer. -Chris

1. The Grand Archives
Grand Archives
(iTunes)
mp3: Sleepdriving

To me, there could be no other choice for our top pick. No album this year, or in recent years past, has demanded the amount of attention I have given to Grand Archives. The harmonies, the melodies, and the orchestrations create an almost tangible feeling of peace and warmth. The standout track (among a flawless album I should add) Sleepdriving is simply epic. The strings, the guitars, the grandiose buildups, it all just works so perfectly and although this may seem a little extreme, life is better having this album in it. -Logan

Individual Top 10 Lists (in case you were wondering):

Chris:
1. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
2. For Emma, Forever Ago - Bon Iver
3. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay
4. Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust - Sigur Rós
5. Re-Arrange Us - Mates of State
6. Grand Archives - Grand Archives
7. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie
8. Honeysuckle Weeks - The Submarines
9. Volume 1 - She & Him
10. The Rhumb Line - Ra Ra Riot

Logan:
1. Grand Archives - Grand Archives
2. Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes
3. Narrow Stairs - Death Cab for Cutie
4. Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends - Coldplay
5. Oracular Spectacular - MGMT
6. Keep Color - The Republic Tigers
7. Honeysuckle Weeks - The Submarines
8. Unfamiliar Faces - Matt Costa
9. The Odd Couple - Gnarls Barkley
10. Ode to Sunshine - Delta Spirit

A couple of honorable mentions: Mason Jennings' In The Ever, Ryan Adam's Cardinology, The Mountain Goats' Heretic Pride, The Helio Sequence's Keep Your Eyes Ahead, and The Little Ones' Morning Tide. They're also worth checking out.

ALBUM: For Emma, Forever Ago

I finally did it. I went out and I bought Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. Why did I wait so long? (it was officially released way back in February) - I really don't know. I've had Skinny Love on my iPod for several months now and loved it, but for some reason I just never went out and listened to the whole album. Maybe it's because of all the blog-buzz they were getting earlier in the year, or maybe it's just because Pitchfork liked it so much - who knows.

Well whatever the reason, I still hadn't listened to the whole thing last week when I got onto Daytrotter and downloaded their 4-song set from last July (check it out here), and immediately I started to re-think my ways. I went out and purchased the cd for myself just a few days ago, and it's pretty well floored me.

Recorded almost exclusively by Justin Vernon during his solitary stay in a remote Wisconsin cabin following several trying months (involving a breakup with his girlfriend and his band, and a bit of illness) - the record plays like you're reading several of his diary entries. The music is minimalist and the lyrics are often profoundly poetic - creating layers of possible meaning and personal interpretation. I've been moved by the moment in time that's been captured on these 9 tracks - a moment that is both intensely personal in its recollections and experiences, but totally universal in its isolation and ultimate catharsis. That is where I think For Emma, Forever Ago stands as an example of the power that music has to tie us together through shared experience. Does that sound a little over-the-top? It might be. I only mean that i find music to be a powerful way to express and understand the human experience more fully - and in that way, I feel, these achingly beautiful songs have given me a little more insight.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love

from the album For Emma, Forever Ago (Amazon/iTunes)