Beirut – Live @ Pitchfork

When I first saw Beirut, I was completely blown away by Zach Condon and his group of spirited young troubadours playing songs you would think were coming from a Balkan folk band in Eastern Europe. That was three years ago and Zach and co. are now seasoned professionals wielding their trumpets and accordions with ease and incorporating an even larger array of sounds and influences. Seeing him headline a main stage at Pitchfork Festival, it’s hard to believe that when Zach started out a few years ago he was just a twenty year old with a ukelele and some home recordings.

Beirut has certainly not lost their exuberance through the years and seem to thrive on stage whether it’s quickly switching between a variety of unconventional instruments or joking about someone who attempted to crowd-surf to one of their slower ballads (the exact song is escaping me at the moment. Anyone remember?).

The band know how to please a crowd swooning them with a number of classics like “Postcards From Italy”, “Elephant Gun”, and “Scenic World”. From what I could gather, the diehard Beirut fans in the front row rivaled only Flaming Lips in their love and devotion to their band. They closed with a beautiful rendition of “A Sunday Smile” joined on stage by Owen Pallet of Final Fantasy. Overall Beirut provided my favorite set of the day, which taking into account the quality of bands playing is saying a lot.

MP3 Scenic World (EP Version)

Follow the jump for more Beirut pictures. Click here to see the full set.

this is how forever will be

It’s about time somebody made an album like this. jj n° 2 is sweet, blissful dance pop built on a foundation of world-music percussion, ethereal string / synth samples, and exquisite vocals that floats along as freely as the summer breeze.  The fact that this album seemingly was plucked from obscurity to be released on Swedish label, Sincerely Yours,  and no one is really sure who made the album (except that they go by the name JJ), makes it ever more enchanting. The songs on here are deceptively simple, and yet seem to incorporate a vast array of musical influences from reggae to electronica, new age to hip-hop. Yet it’s all tied together by the it’s liberal use of samples and sublime, dream-like quality found throughout the album.

The label-approved free download  from the album is “from africa to málaga” which is about as instantly-gratifying of a song as they come. The celestial vocal harmonies are perfectly complemented by Caribbean beats and uplifting 80’s-era synths. It’s all so incredibly transcendent and refreshing. My hands down favorite on the album is “masterplan” a pop tour de force with the most exhilarating synth line since M83’s “Graveyard Girl”. The song is lush, triumphant, and exceptionally pretty. In the short time I’ve had the song, it’s been playing non-stop and has quickly jumped up to one of my favorite tracks of the year. Hear both tracks for yourself below and head over to Sincerely Yours for the full album.

MP3 jj – from africa to málaga
MP3 jj- masterplan

Doom – Live @ Pitchfork

Doom was one of the only rappers to play on the main stage this year and while seemingly his creative rhymes and mysterious persona would have played well to the crowd, Doom felt like he was sleep-walking through his set.  I guess we should be thankful that he showed up at all, as the entire press pit was talking about his occassional practice of having a double in the mask performing for him. 

Even with the real Doom on stage, rumors of lip-synching and demanding cash before going on stage as well as a general lack of energy plagued his performance .  I guess the fact that I’m not familiar with hardly any of the songs played didn’t helped my enjoyment much either. Still though, if there’s one artist that I’d label as a complete flop, it’s this one.

Follow the jump for more Doom pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Yeasayer – Live @ Pitchfork

It was pretty amazing to see how far Yeasayer has come since I saw them two years ago opening up a Pygmalion Festival show with just over a dozen people watching. The band’s popularity has obviously seen a huge increase, their electronica-based psychedelic jams were played in front of one of the largest and most enthuiastic crowds of the day. The band itself has made some changes as well adding the ever-talented Sinkane (of Caribou, Of Montreal fame) on percussion/keys which intensified their highly danceable rhythms. Yeasayer’s performance was fantastic in nearly every way, Chris Keating has evolved into a soulful, dynamic frontman and each his bandmates played their roles to perfection.

The band’s setlist was filled with both new songs from their still-untitled fall album and some of the most memorable tracks from their debut, All Hours Cymbals. The new tracks all sounded brilliant, incorporating a more full-bodied and upbeat sound.  I twittered during the set that the new Yeasayer album is going to be epic, and that opinion still stands. One of my favorite moments of the festival occurred during the lush, spacey grooves of  “2080” when the skies briefly opened letting the rain pour down. This only served to invigorate the crowd as they chanted along to the song’s magnificent refrain. Immediately after, the band  went into “Sunrise, which fittingly brought the sun out from behind the clouds for the rest of their set.

MP3 Get In The Sunrise

Follow the jump for more Yeasayer pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Will Sturgeon covers Fanfarlo, Grizzly Bear

The “YouTube cover” is one of the most overcrowded and typically amateurish forms of musical expression out there, and thus it is a rare occasion when someone makes one that is really worth watching. Will Sturgeon, a 19 year old student from Southern California, has done just that with these superb cover videos.  What really makes these stand above the rest is that Will records all the instrumentation / vocals in the song separately, synchs the audio tracks, and edits the video together, making the production quality considerably higher than the typical “sit in front of a web cam with an acoustic guitar” shtick. He also gets a big plus for choosing two of my favorite songs of the year. Here’s the videos. Enjoy!

Fanfarlo – The Walls Are Coming Down

Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

Originals:

MP3 Fanfarlo – The Walls Are Coming Down
MP3 Grizzly Bear – Two Weeks

You can also watch him and some of his friends playing “White Winter Hymnal” on his youtube page. In addition to these wonderful covers, Will is releasing an digital EP on August 24th. I’ve listened to a couple samples and it’s pretty good stuff. Take a listen:

MP3 Unfinished Thoughts of the Underbrush

Final Fantasy – Live @ Pitchfork

Final Fantasy may seem at first like an odd choice for the Pitchfork main stage, except for an brief appearance by Beirut trumpeter, Kelly Pratt, Owen Pallet stood alone on stage depdending solely on looping violins and keyboards for instrumental accompaniment. Pallett seemed to be up to the difficult task aproaching the stage humbly, explaining that he’s a bit nervous since he never plays festival shows and then captivating the audience with his complex musical arrangements and delicate melodies.

His sample looping was as impressive a technical feat as could be seen at the festival, but I couldn’t help but think that I would appreciate it a bit more in a club than in the outdoor environment.  Still though ethereal songs like “He Poos Clouds” and “This Lamb Sells Condos” are wonderful pieces of experimental pop and Owen performed them beautifully.

MP3 This Lamb Sells Condos

Follow the jump for more Final Fantasy pictures. Click here to see the full set.

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Live @ Pitchfork

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart got a huge boost when Pitchfork gave them BNM this year and the band played in front of a sizable crowd anxious to hear their fuzzy twee pop anthems. For being as young as they are, the band certainly have some impressive live chops. It seemed, at times, they may have little ways to go before being completely comfortable on stage, but arguments could be made (and won), though, that the shy glances and the sometimes awkward stage movements all add to their charm. And really though, with enormously catchy source material like “Stay Alive” and “Young Adult Friction”, it’s hard to go wrong.

What ultimately won me over about the band was their giddy enthusiasm, something which was very much reflected in the crowd, who mouthed along to the songs and laughed at their playful stage banter. I felt like they really hit their stride during the set’s end, closing with two soaring pop tunes “Come Saturday” and “Everything With You”. Here’s hoping I’ll get another chance to see these up-and-coming indie pop kids as they continue to sharpen their already quite grand live act.

MP3 Stay Alive

Follow the jump for more Pains… pictures. Click here to see the full set.

Light in the Attic

A few months ago I sent Taylor an e-mail with a deceptively simple question: does he prefer digital downloads or physical products. It was something I was thinking about a lot at the time. I had just bought my first few things from iTunes and was slightly weirded out. I’m a very tactile person and a collector by nature, so paying $9.99 for something I could neither hold in my hands or file with the rest of my collection just didn’t sit right with me. Sure iTunes organizes everything, but it will never replace the shelves that line my walls. I like seeing what I own in physical space, it gives it the feel of a real library. I ended up re-buying all everything I got from iTunes on CD because it bothered me so much. (You’re welcome for the double sales, Cymbals Eat Guitars, Junior Boys, and Wavves.) Of course, all of this boils down to personal preference. Some people prefer storing everything on an external hard drive, content with the music and some cover art. Some people enjoy the physical package. These are the things I think about all the time. I already feel like an old man.

One of the the main factors in my decision to abandon downloads, other than my general annoyance, was Light in the Attic. A label/distro based out of Seattle, Washington, Light in the Attic produce the kind of products that make me proud to still by CDs and records. Earlier this year, I received their reissues of Serge Gainsbourg‘s Histoire de Melody Nelson and The Monks‘ The Early Years 1964-1965 and Black Monk Time and, jeezer, are they some beautiful packages. Light in the Attic must be full people who care a great deal about music, because the amount of time and love that went in to just these three records is almost embarrassing.

Plants and Animals – Live @ Pitchfork

Photo by George Aye

As far as music that sounds better with a beard and flannel on goes, this years’ Pitchfork Festival seemed to pale in comparison to the offerings of previous years, but there was plenty of noise to be seen from Plants and Animals, a three-piece from Montreal that got stiffed with one of the earlier sets on Saturday afternoon. If I had ever bothered to listen to their 2008 album Parc Avenue, I would have been able to compare and contrast their own brand of prog-tinged roots rock with the likes of their folk contemporaries. Instead I stood there in awe of what was happening before me, which felt an awful lot like the result of Black Mountain covering the less pastoral material in Wilco’s catalog. All without a bass player!

Photo by George Aye

After a more or less instrumental opener that singer/guitarist Warren Spicer informed the crowd was new and yet to be given a name, the shuffling snares and tangled guitars of “Good Friend” made me feel like that much more of a rube for completely ignoring these guys for the better part of a year. “Feedback In the Field” started off with the drummer whistling a ditty that had me bristling in anticipation for some yet another backwoods shit-kicking session, but the tune turned on a dime and ended up sounding like a Built to Spill retooling of “Sultans of Swing”. 

Other highlights included “Mercy”, one of the many choice nugs off Parc Avenue that would serve as an excellent bait and switch for your friend with the embarrassing post-collegiate obsession with Phish, and “Bye Bye Bye”, the first of many truly great boozed out sing-alongs that took place this year.

MP3 Bye Bye Bye

Photo by George Aye

The Antlers – Live @ Pitchfork

I was overjoyed when The Antlers were added at the last-minute to this festival, seeing as their debut album, Hospice has been one of my most listened to albums of the year.  I’ve been highly anticipating seeing the live reproduction of the well-crafted songs that I’ve grown to love. Turns out their live show as just as melodic and haunting as their record. Peter Silberman’s captivating vocals really came alive during their performance and the occasional bursts of shoegazey guitar sounded magnificent.

The band was able to produce a very full-bodied sound for a three-piece and I was entranced by the impassioned performances of truly gorgeous songs like “Bear” and “Two”. The combination of melody and the heartbreaking lyrics sent shivers down my spine on a couple different occasions.  I was able to chat a bit with Peter (who had never been to Chicago before that day) after the set and he seemed thrilled with the response from the show. Their set made me even more excited to seeing the band play again at Pygmalion Fest in a couple months.

MP3 Two
MP3 Bear

Follow the jump for more Antlers pictures. Click here to see the full set.