Late last week we told you about Identity, a traveling electronic music only festival featuring the likes of the Disco Biscuits, Pretty Lights, Kaskade and DJ Shadow. Today, the promoters
Neutral Uke Hotel @ Schuba’s, April 23
A sold-out crowd gathered at Schuba’s in Chicago on April 23 to hear a live ukulele tribute to Neutral Milk Hotel’s beloved 1998 classic In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. The band responsible for the feat was Neutral Uke Hotel, lead by Golden Bloom multi-instrumentalist and singer Shawn Fogel, baritone ukulele contemporary Michael J. Epstein of the Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library and The Motion Sick, Matt Girard on pocket trumpet and euphonium, Josh Cohen on melodica and Andrew Laubacher on percussion. The complex, cryptic and texture rich “Aeroplane” was seamlessly and sentimentaly stripped down, simplified and movingly played via ukulele.
While the band tuned up Fogel set the mood for the next 45 minutes. “Tonight is not about us,” Fogel said, “but about what we are going to create. Do whatever you need to do. Sing at the top of your lungs like a big campfire and celebrate Neutral Milk Hotel!”
The audience followed Fogel’s directions and journeyed deep into the surreal twisting of Jeff Mangum’s words. From the stage the band appeared equally wrapped up in the moment, swaying between minor harmonies and seamlessly transitioning between songs.
Fogel’s vocals accurately matched Mangum’s nasally folk croon, which added to the authenticity. Neutral Uke Hotel chiseled away detailed layering the original recording held doing away with much of the heavy electric distortion and fuzz folk, and opting for the psychedelic lo-fi fixings of a melodica. Neutral Uke Hotel’s simplified acoustic approach highlighted the emotional intensity of the albums lyrical content, making way for cryptic moments of instrumental silence. READ ON for more on Neutral Uke Hotel…
Fleet Foxes and their openers The Cave Singers, two Seattle-based bands, played the city’s Moore Theatre for the second consecutive night last evening to a sold-out and enthusiastic hometown crowd. I live-tweeted from the show for @Hidden_Track and to get a sense of what it was like to attend I’ve complied my tweets and twitpics below.
Both bands had the audience’s strict attention all night. The Cave Singers, who drew enough fans to more than half fill the Moore for their set, warmed up the stage with their blend of psychedelic-folk rock lead by lead singer Pete Quirk’s raspy growls and charming stage presence. Fleet Foxes, on the day their sophomore album Helplessness Blues was released, commanded the stage and offered a blistering and genuine performance of new and old tunes.
READ ON for a look at Andy’s tweets from the Fleet Foxes gig…
After Live Nation’s disastrous attempt to change the name of Irving Plaza to the Fillmore New York at Irving Plaza, you’d think we were safe from another name change for a while.
The first go-round of Steve Kimock’s recent NYC residency at Sullivan Hall included some sublime interplay between Kimock and New Orleans keyboard vet Henry Butler as evidenced by this rendition
In today’s day and age, it’s virtually impossible to keep a secret. With social media chirping and tweeting away with constant alerts, and Facebook and the like wasting away our free time and clogging our inboxes, it’s amazing that Perpetual Groove is about to host their tenth annual Amberland festival this upcoming Memorial Day weekend – with most of you being none the wiser. As the saying goes, Amberland is not a place, but a state of mind. Please allow me to explain why.
Now, to fully understand and appreciate Amberland, one must understand the band that so graciously hosts it as well. PGroove guitarist/vocalist Brock Butler was gracious enough to chat with me about this year’s upcoming festivities. An event that initially started in a friend’s backyard, Perpetual Groove, which also includes bassist Adam Perry, drummer Albert Suttle and keyboardist John Hruby, returns to Cherokee Farms in Lafayette, GA for the group’s biggest shindig yet.
Historically easing into the weekend, the band performs in-the-round at a casual setting and treats the early arrivals to such rare treats as some side projects, special guests or cover tunes on Friday night. This serves as a warm up and whets the appetite for six, full sets of proper PGroove over Saturday and Sunday, which always serves as the meat to this overly stuffed musical sandwich. READ ON for more about Amberland X…
The Taos Mountain Music Festival (TMMF) has announced new dates, more festival days and new management. The Festival will be produced by SBG Productions, Inc., producers of the iconic Telluride
Glassnote Records is excited to announce the return of Two Door Cinema Club this Fall as they set out on a run of North American dates in support of their
Whatever happened to The Strokes? The scruffy – albeit slightly manufactured – indie sensibilities used to work for them, with raw instrumentation being complemented by the melodic and laidback vocal delivery. But Angles seems to have sacrificed some of the more uncultured garage leanings for a speculative new sound which doesn’t quite do justice to the musicianship on display.
Metal fans will get another chance to catch Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax performing in the U.S. together thanks to the addition of a Big 4 show in New York.
