Best Music Videos of 2009: PART 2
Saturday, December 5th, 2009
Posts Tagged ‘mewithoutyou’
(NSFW!) Division Day – Surrender
The Dead Weather – Treat Me Like Your Mother
The Decemberists – The Rake’s Song
Fanfarlo – The Walls Are Coming Down
Kata Rokkar’s Mid-Year Review 2009
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
So far this year has been quite musically mindblowing. But wasn’t that kind of expected? With even more anticipated albums, songs, and tours on the horizon, 2009 is shaping up to be one of the better years on the decade.
Top 5 Albums That Met/Surpassed My Expectations
Simplistic and a combination of years of timeless work.
Meticulously crafted and easy to get obsessed with. An instant classic.
Too easy? STFU! This album will forever be an example of when everything we knew about experimental pop changed.
Sunlight and skill in a 12-track album. Way better than expected.
Took some time to love but there is something special going on here that is beyond a simple rock album…
Top 5 Songs That Caught Me Off Guard (in a good way)
Sleepy Sun – 
White Dove
St. Vincent – Save Me From What I Want
Bat for Lashes – Glass
Mos Def – Auditorium – Mos Def,
Clues – Remember Severed Head
Best Compilation For Anyone With Good Taste
The Grizzly Bear and Feist song alone is worth purchasing this perfectly crafted comp.
Top 5 EPs That Teased Me To The Point Of Joyous Anger
The amount of imagination and playfulness is undeniable. I can’t wait to see what they do next.
They never cease to amaze and pull at the heart strings.
This is the evolution of true rock music in the making. I can’t wait until August 25th for the full product.
Spoon at the their most dramatic and dreamy. An interesting listen.
Is he seriously of this world?
Top 5 Instrumental/Ambient Album That I’ve Been Reading To
This is a monster that has been awakened to destroy your eardrums.
A moving debut masterpiece.
Refusing to be pigeon-holed or classified. Gifts delivers their most personal record yet.
I am so happy this finally got a proper release. An emotionally effusive debut.
Calming and disarming for anyone with a heart.
More Albums That Are Blowing My Mind This Year
This Is Week In Bay Area Live Shows: June 21st – 27th
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
I’m seeing Grizzly Bear Today!
If you haven’t already immersed yourself in their newest album, Veckatimest, you need to do that right now. I’m serious, this is no joke, Veckatimest is one of the better albums released this year. If you’re already on the Grizzly-train and in the Bay area, you probably already have ticket to their Sunday and Monday shows at The Fillmore. It’s going to be a special night. Oh and I’m hearing great things about the opening act, Here We Go Magic. So show up early.
If you’re not attending the GB show tomorrow night, check out post-metal giants Isis and Helms Alee at The Blank Club in San Jose or at The Great American Music Hall on Tuesday. Also going on Monday is an early performance by non-other than Elvis Costello at Amoeba Record in San Francisco. It’s at noon, so those of you who don’t have to work, you’re in luck!
Tuesday brings post-rock spoken word act mewithoutYou with prog-rockers The Dear Hunter (no, not that one) at Slim’s and electro-pop band Starfucker hits up the Bottom of the Hill.
Wednesday has folk artists Papercuts and Port O’Brien at The Independent, Canadian indie rocks Sunset Rubdown at the Rickshaw Stop, and synth-pop act Deastro (Kuestionnaire on Tuesday) and Tempo No Tempo at Bottom of the Hill.
Yanni in Oakland at the Oracle Arena on Thursday!!! I didn’t even know he was still around. You can also check out noise-pop act Sugar and Gold, Castledoor, and Music For Animals at the Rickshaw Stop and The Karriem Riggins Virtuoso Experience Tour with special guest DJ Pete Rock.
I will be in NY for this but …
…if it’s not already sold out (probably is though), The Grand Ballroom At the Regency Center is hosting Phoenix, Boys Noize, DJ Vadim, Diplo, Amazing Baby, and a monsterload of Bay area DJs for this year’s Spectrum Festival on Friday. Meanwhile, David Byrne and DeVotchKa brighten up the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, funk-trnoica act Major Lazer hit up San Francisco’s Amoeba Records at 6pm, and Wilco and Okkervil River will be at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga as well as the Greek Theatre on Saturday.
Saturday also bring one of the most soulsucking tours in recent memory, Vans Warped Tour 2009. What used to be a celebration of individuality for young kids quickly turned into a Monster Energy Drink sponsored shitfest. There are (very) few exceptions though. Prog-metal act Thrice, indie rockers Dear and the Headlights, and brutal hip-hop artist P.O.S. light up the line-up…but only a little.
If I were not in NY on Saturday, I would see Cursive and Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band at the Great American Music Hall or the heavy metal onslaught of YOB and Will Haven at Slim’s. But I won’t…oh well.
See you out there!
Sunset Rubdown – Apollo and the Buffalo and Anna Anna Anna Oh!
Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band – Cheer For Fate
Grizzly Bear – Cheerleader
Dear and the Headlights – Talk About
Major Lazer – Hold The Line (DJ Edit)
Kata’s Weekend Showcase
Saturday, May 9th, 2009
All-around awesome band, mewithoutyou will be releasing their upcoming album it’s all crazy! it’s all false! it’s all a dream! it’s alright on May 19, 2009. From the looks of this video it seems like their taking a poppier approach while still holding that spoken word/prog-folk feel.
Track Listing:
1. every thought a Thought of You
2. the Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie
3. the Angel of Death came to David’s room
4. goodbye, I !
5. a Stick, a Carrot & String
6. bullet to Binary (pt. two)
7. Timothy hay
8. Fig with a Bellyache
9. Cattail Down
10. the King Beetle on a Coconut Estate
11. Allah, Allah, Allah
Pre-Order Album here.
mewithoutyou – The Fox, The Crow And The Cookie
A megaload of amazing albums came out this week. First off, if you haven’t heard anything off of St. Vincent’s (Annie Clark’s) new album, Actor, yet…you’re missing out. The album is rich with cinematic pop epics and that undeniably charming nature Annie Clark is known for. Pick it up when you get the chance, it’s brilliant. Akron/Family’s Set ‘em Wild, Set ‘em Free came out this week and will get a proper review this week, so stay tuned. Cryptomnesia, the first release by El Grupo Nuevo De Omar Rodriguez Lopez, which is a new outfit differentiated from the guitarist’s other namesake projects by his selection of players, specifically Zach Hill (Hella) on drums, Jonathan Hischke (Hella) on synth bass, and Juan Alderete de la Pe¤a (The Mars Volta) on bass guitar and a guest appearance from frontman Cedric Bixler Zavala (The Mars Volta). I like this album more than some Mars Volta albums, which is a pretty good thing. Electro-freaks had a good week with Peaches releasing I Feel Cream and Fischerspooner with Entertainment. Post-metal giants Isis came out with Wavering Radiant this week. Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band released their first album credited to the group with Outer South.
St. Vincent – Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood
(the above song is a likely candidate for Song of the Year)
