Posts Tagged ‘The National’

This Week In Bay Area Live Shows: August 23rd – 29th (Outside Lands Week!)

Sunday, August 23rd, 2009

BIG week in the Bay. With several Outside Lands After-parties and the festival itself, there is no shortage of things to do here. Also a  visit from Ted Leo, a record release party, and a country music legend stops by an unlikely venue.

Tonight we have The Matches playing the final date off their tour with Judgement Day and Dizzy Balloon at the Fillmore, Six Organs of Admittance and Master Musicians of Bukkake rock The Independent, Fleet Foxes drummer and creator of one of the best albums of 2009, J. Tillman stops by Café du Nord, Jay Reatard does a set at Berkeley’s Amoeba Records at 6pm.

Monday, Ted Leo and The Pharmacists hit up the Bottom of the Hill instead of Treasure Island which they originally intended.

Tuesday features Fruit Bats riding on their new record with Death Vessel at The Independent. The Ruminant Band is a beautiful record full of sweet harmonies and lovely song-writing. Pick it up when you get a chance. Also the amazing Ramona Falls play Café du Nord.

Wednesday will find me at The Fillmore watching dredg, Rx Bandits and As Tall as Lions. All of which have released some pretty impressive albums this year. Also going on is The Dodos and Spencey Dude & the Doodles playing the Rickshaw Stop to kick off Outside Lands fever. Oh yeah and it’s sold out. Bummer.

More Outside Landish shows on Thursday; Akron/Family and Howlin’ Rain crash the Rickshaw Stop and Holy Fuck plays The Independent. In addition, we have The Famous‘ Record Release Party at Café du Nord with 20 Minute Loop and Billy & Dolly.

If you’re not going to Outside Lands this weekend, we have the Outside Lands Afterparty with San Francisco local acts Goodbye Nautilus, The Working Title and Wave Array at Café du Nord.

On Saturday we have hip-hoppers Blue Sky Black Death, Boy in Static and Boy Eats Drum Machine at the Bottom of the Hill, Calexico at The Independent, The Pretenders and Cat Power at Mountain Winery in Saratoga, and country legend David Allan Coe at Petaluma’s Phoenix Theater.

Being joked as this year’s ‘Bro-chella’, Outside Lands Festival has many unimpressive acts but a lot of overlooked impressive acts. This year’s line-up includes; Incubus, Modest Mouse, Pearl Jam, Black Eyed Peas, Thievery Corporation, Tenacious D, Jason Mraz, Dave Matthews Band, TV on the Radio, The Mars Volta, M.I.A., Band of Horses, The National, Built to Spill, Bat for Lashes, Calexico, Tom Jones, Mastodon, Silversun Pickups, Los Campesinos!, Ween, Atmosphere, Brett Dennen, Deerhunter, Lucinda Williams, Os Mutantes, Q-Tip, John Vanderslice, Conor Oberst, Akron/Family, Portugal. The Man, Cage the Elephant, Alpha Blondy, Raphael Saadiq, Groundation, Kinky, Lenka, The Duke Spirit, Matt & Kim, Lila Downs, Autolux, The Avett Brothers, Robert Randolph & The Family Band, Dengue Fever, The Dirtbombs, The Dead Weather, Heartless Bastards, Midnite, Blind Pilot, Bettye LaVette, Tea Leaf Green, The Morning Benders, West Indian Girl, Darondo, Ryan Bingham, Zee Avi, Street Sweeper Social Club, Rosin Coven, Extra Golden, JJ Grey & Mofro, Nino Moschella, Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band, Sambada, Reggie Watts, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Big Light, Eric McFadden Trio, Loop!Station, Yard Dogs Road Show, Infantree, Vau De Vire and madd vibe orchestra. A lot to digest. Well I’ll be doing my best to report on everything I see every night when I return from the festival. Photos, mp3s, and everything else I did last year (if you caught that, if not, whatever).

This week is Outside Lands Week here at Kata Rokkar. So we’ll have Kuestionnaires with OLF bands and reports on local acts making their festival debuts. Hope to see you out there!

The Working Title The Crash from About-Face (2006)

Boy in Static Young San Francisco from Young San Francisco (2009)

Fruit Bats The Ruminant Band from The Ruminant Band (2009)

As Tall As Lions Sleepyhead (Acoustic Version) from You Can’t Take It With You (Bonus Track) (2009)

J. Tillman Steel on Steel from Vacilando Territory Blues (2009)

Ramona Falls I Say Fever from Intuit (2009)

Outside Lands Festival 2009 Line-up Announced

Monday, April 13th, 2009

PEARL JAMDAVE MATTHEWS BANDBEASTIE BOYS
INCUBUSBLACK EYED PEASM.I.A.JASON MRAZWEEN
THE MARS VOLTA
THIEVERY CORPORATIONMODEST MOUSE

BAND OF HORSES
TV ON THE RADIOTHE DEAD WEATHERATMOSPHERE
TOM JONESSILVERSUN PICKUPSROBERT RANDOLPH & THE FAMILY BAND
THE NATIONALQ-TIPBRETT DENNENBUILT TO SPILLMASTODON
RAPHAEL SAADIQ
CALEXICOOS MUTANTESMIDNITEJJ GREY & MOFRO
KINKYDEERHUNTERLILA DOWNSTROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE
THE DODOS
BETTYE LAVETTEDENGUE FEVERHEARTLESS BASTARDS
THE DIRTBOMBS
LENKAAKRON/FAMILYJOHN VANDERSLICE
MATT & KIM PORTUGAL. THE MANTHE MORNING BENDERS
THE DUKE SPIRITZEE AVIBLIND PILOTSAMBADA
RYAN BINGHAMWEST INDIAN GIRLEXTRA GOLDEN

There you have it folks; one of the (many) reasons I love living near San Francisco. This is a quite an amazing line-up if you ask me. I’m actually very glad I decided not to go to Coachella this year.

I have never seen any of the headliners live, so I am most definitely excited about Pearl Jam and The Beastie Boys. Dave Matthews Band seems to be the “Jack Johnson” of the line-up to cater to the backwards ballcap bro-crowd.

I was always a fan of Incubus (a shock, I know) until they abandoned their trademark sound with A Crow Left of the Murder. Since then it’s been downhill for the band. So am I excited to see them?…kind of. But I doubt I’ll hear anything from S.C.I.E.N.C.E.

As for Black Eyed Peas and Jason Mraz, that will most likely land on “Dave Matthews Day” which will be my cue to wander around Golden Gate Park and Twitter the weird shit I see.

This will be my 2nd time seeing M.I.A. and TV on the Radio, both of which put on amazing live shows.

Indie-rock heroes Modest Mouse and Ween should be entertaining I guess. I got into both of them kind of late so I’ll be happy with whatever they decide to play.

I’ll finally get to see The National and Mastodon perform live. Both bands always seem to come to town on days I already have plans or have to work. Hopefully we won’t have any scheduling conflicts.

The hip-hop side of the festival is kind of weak. I’m no fan of Atmosphere but I am really looking forward to Q-Tip’s set. He’s only made my favorite hip-hop record of last year.

There’s some odd choices…like…uhh…Tom Jones? Jack White’s Dead Weather seems to be a band that will be forgotten about this time next year. The random toss of Thievery Corporation in the line-up seems kind of bizarre. I don’t see any other trip-hop acts in the line-up so I don’t know why they agreed to perform this year (why not Treasure Island Festival?).

The bottom of the list looks very promising with Portugal The Man, Akron/Family, The Dodos, John Vanderslice, and Heartless Bastards. Plus I’m sure I’ll discover some new acts that I’ve never heard of along the way.

All in all, it seems promising for a festival that is a 20 minute drive from my place. It gets kind of “Bro-chella” around the top, but I like what I see so far.

Anyone have any thoughts?

Click to Download John Vanderslice – Trance Manual

Click to Download Portugal. The Man – Out and In and In and Out

Click to Download

Band of Horses – Is There A Ghost

Hyping Up The Hyp

Wednesday, October 8th, 2008

Click picture to go to TheHyp.net

No not Hype Machine. Most of you probably found this place because of Hype Machine so that would be completely pointless. I’m talking about the just launched Boston based website that covers the local New England indie music scene as well as subjects like beer, film, video games, and tomato soup. Created by two friends who are willing to expose their imaginations and twisted opinions to the world, TheHyp.net is more than just another music review site. See, this website doesn’t care if you agree with its skewed view on the world of music, in fact, it prefers you didn’t. TheHyp.net opens up discussion on its message board and displays a rating system at the bottom of each page, giving you the reader the opportunity to voice your opinion on whatever is posted on TheHyp.
I have already contributed reviews, a few special Kuestionnaires, and a monthly mix to TheHyp.net. So add them to your bookmarks and show them some love.

Here’s a few highlights from theHyp.net mix…

iLIKETRAINS – Come Over

Denali – The Instinct

The National – Guest Room

Day One Symphony – A Vicious Circle