August 2010

Lollapalooza 2010 – Day Two; August 7, 2010

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Gogol Bordello served as the rowdy greeters to day two of Lollapalooza 2010.

Describing the band as gypsy punk sells them a bit short, though Ukrainian born bandleader Eugene Hütz has used the same words to describe his world circus ensemble. Racing punk drumbeats serve the backbone for snaky violin and accordion, furious chords and Hütz’s vital yelping vocals. As a testament to the combinations of Romany Gypsy music, punk rock and eastern Europe folk, Hütz introduced all band members by nationality. Those mentioned included Ecuador, Israel and Russia, after a stomp rousing Start Wearing Purple to close their set.

From Lollapalooza 2010 Day Two

Onward back up north we went through the woods back to the Sony Bloggie Stage to hear Deer Tick and their haunted blues-spiced rock sounding straight from the south. But it’s not. Somehow they are from Providence, R.I. but they sound like anywhere between Memphis and Georgia. Singer John J. McCauley III led the quartet with a high-pitched rasp, and the band keeps pace with clean tones, even with distortion.

Metric greatly aided a clear trend among the Friday and Saturday performances where the women stood out farther than many of their male counterparts, a great feat to see among male-dominated festivals. Taking better parts of dance rock like clear melody lines, dynamic changes in the instrumentation and overall high energy, Metric will likely be remembered as a stand out set from this year. Singer Emily Haines whirled around the stage, capturing the audience with her movements, but then backing it all up with her emotional vocals, especially during Help I’m Alive. Metric performed a deep set with drummer Joules Scott Key, guitarist James Shaw and bassist Joshua Winstead producing equal parts organic beats and distorted synth-inflected noise.

READ ON for more on Day Two of Lollapalooza 2010…

Lollapalooza is well underway at Grant Park in Chicago. If you’ve been following our man on the scene, Benji Feldheim’s, twitter feed then you already knew that Jeff Tweedy sat

Los Lobos @ Bowery Ballroom, August 4

Los Lobos have humility, chops and professionalism to spare, and on a good night, these things propel them, and on a less-than-good night, maintain them. They’re hard to criticize because they just don’t falter: they play that broad, experienced mix of canciones, cumbias and folk songs with rock, blues, country and a whole host of other things, and do it with equal helpings of grace, raunch and bravado.

Sure, album-wise, they’ve been in something of a holding pattern since at least Good Morning Aztlan, and their shows don’t always have the sustained spark of yesteryear. And long-held Los Lobos quibbles – maybe they could mix it up a little more? why again did they bring Louie Perez out behind the drumkit in the mid 1990s to add another guitar voice and utility player? – are what they are at this point. But you’re grateful to have ‘em; rare is the Lobos show that fails to convince you of that.

They were in a peppy and giving mood at Bowery – a small room for them – which kicked off with a passionate Emily opener and dove into range of deep-catalog cuts (how about that filthy Georgia Slop!) sprinkled among the usual rockers (Don’t Worry Baby), cumbias (Chuco’s Cumbia, the heaving Maricela), genre-shifting charmers (still love that accordion on their typically fizzy take on Flaco Jimenez’s Ay Te Dejo En San Antonio) and just plain beautiful Los Lobos staples (the ancient folk tune Volver, Volver – which always seems to hit just as the crowd is slipping from buzzed to drunk and ready to sing).

READ ON for more from Chad on Los Lobos @ the Bowery…

This week’s theme is a little looser than most Friday Mix Tapes, as it’s a collection of fun party time music from all over the map, as opposed to a