During the guitar duet/trombone interlude in “sponsor me tape”, about five minutes into Mom Jeans’s set, two thoughts occurred to me: Wow, these guys sound even better live than they…
Austin City Limits is a 3-day, 2-weekend music festival held every year in October. Nearly half a million people traverse Zilker Park in downtown Austin during these weekends to hear some of the biggest artists in the biz. This year, ACL brought in an impressive lineup, including Paul McCartney, Arctic Monkeys, Travis Scott, The National, Metallica, and Odesza. Austin is hailed as “the live music capital of the world” thanks largely in part to this festival. Here are some interesting tidbits from Austin City Limits 2018:
The number of artists who started writing music in the 1950s and are still selling out arenas in 2018 is very small. While each of the giants in this musical…
The first day of Pitchfork Festival brought a whole host of heavy hitters. We were grateful for Pitchfork’s urban park setting, making for small walking distance between stages–it would have been hard to see our favorites without that. Despite the ominous weather forecast, there was a vibrant and energetic feel to the festival–we prayed for the rain to hold off, and ventured in to start off with Julien Baker.
The frozen air immediately slapped me in the face as I stepped out of the car into Old City, Knoxville on my way to Rhythm N’ Blooms. In the same vein, watching the groups of festival goers walking around the neighborhood I wondered what conditions in the world would permit so many people to leave the comforts of their home to fare this kind of tortuous weather. I’ve always been fascinated by the culture of festivals. My fondest music memories as a teen involved violently moshing to the likes of post-hardcore bands Counterparts and Dance Gavin Dance. The collective being near-death experience that I shared with the concert goers gave me an emotional outlet; more importantly, being at hardcore shows gave me a sense of belonging in a community who also found value in these types of experiences. This near-death feeling — the screaming, fist throwing, violent thrashing — became a part of my conception of “a fun concert-going experience.” So needless to say, a festival that seeks to honor the identity and spirit of East Tennessee feel a little out of my traditional conception of “a fun concert-going experience.” However, after a weekend of exploring this new conception of “fun,” I quickly discovered the quirks of this intimate festival. Here is a list of rad things I encountered during my time at Rhythm N’ Blooms:
You want Lorde tickets. We know. Here’s the first clue: Where are you most likely to find melodrama on campus? Go to that location to find the next clue! Oh, and…
Gleams of sunlight patterned the back patio of The Basement East as WRVU chatted with Clay Frankel of Chicago-based rock band, Twin Peaks, the evening before their sold-out show. In between wisps of a cigarette, Clay shared his insights on tour life, the writing process, musical influences, his album artwork drawings, along with answers to various questions from WRVU’s DJ-created Question Bucket Hat.
Called “SXSW’s grungy little sister” by Entertainment Weekly, Savannah Stopover is a hidden gem for festival-goers. In fact, EW perfectly describes this small city fest, as it was conceptualized eight years ago to attract touring artists who were on their way to the colossal South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, TX. Savannah Stopover brings in a large spectrum of artists, from the local bands to the Grammy-winners, but gives them all the same southern welcome.
Atop the dark stage in the large ballroom of Nashville’s The Basement East sit six vintage television sets, arranged in a cultish semicircle. I’m here to see Joywave, the glitchy indie-pop group from Rochester, New York. They’re 10 minutes late. I begin to look at my watch when I hear a dull murmur emerge around the room. As I lift my gaze, I see a single man emerge from the darkness. A dim light illuminates his body from below. I can’t make out his face, but I can see his shirt strikingly clear. On it reads one succinct sentence: “I don’t like corn dogs, but I do like Korn, dawg.”
Simply put: the Snarky Puppy show was very sold out. With a packed venue, I thought I was facing a rowdy night, and every trip to the bathroom would be like a salmon swimming upstream. But instead of parting the waves, walking around was like crossing a pond—the fans were so enthralled with the musicians on stage that they didn’t move. Normally there are a good number of people walking back and forth in the pass-through to several of the bars surrounding the periphery of the floor, but the bars were nearly empty. Every patron was squeezed as close to the front as possible, eyes glued to the stage.
Lana Del Rey is brilliant. She is the queen of rootless melancholy, an emotion many people seem unable to access fully — except through her. She’s a master of her own persona, and she’s constructed it with such consistency across all platforms that it’s baffling. She remains accessible enough to still convince us of her humanity, but remains removed enough that it’s still a question asked: is she real?
Today we’ve got the spotlight on Youtube series COLORS- a series of live performances recorded at a Berlin studio with new videos uploaded weekly. COLORS first grabbed my attention during my semester abroad last spring in Chile. Inspired to understand the novel beats and lyrics of Spanish speaking artists, I found myself in different nooks and crannies of Youtube than ever before. Already a lover of music videos produced by the likes of Young Thug or the US Soundcloud rap scene, I enjoyed getting to know the rappers and trappers out of Spain who credit these US artists as their inspiration. Two brothers from Barcelona, Pimp Flaco and Kinder Malo, performed their song “Chemtrails” in the first COLORS video I ever saw, bopping Spanish verses back and forth over an antagonistic and droning chorus. This is currently the most viewed session on the COLORS channel, sitting at about 21 and a half million views.
This past Saturday, Andrew Bird gave Nashville a taste of Dutch culture by performing a concert at the Downtown Presbyterian Church in the spirit of gezelligheid. For those who have studied abroad in Copenhagen, you are probably familiar with the Danish sentiment of “hygge.” While the term has no truly accurate English translation, it is defined by feelings of warmth and coziness. Hygge is different for everyone, but it can be experienced through appreciating life’s simple pleasures, joining in community, and finding contentment. The Dutch term “gezelligheid” is similar and can be used to describe a bright, cozy atmosphere or more specific experiences such as spending time with loved ones (you can read more here). Even during the frigid dark months of winter, the Danish and Dutch continue to meet with friends and find well-being in the name of hygge and gezelligheid respectively.
Last week, I went out on a Tuesday for the first time since freshman year to catch electronic duo Snakehips at Exit/In. The late-night set on November 7th was my second Snakehips show, the first an impulse buy to justify missing their set at Outside Lands Music and Arts Festival 2016. Oliver Lee and James Carter started making music together in 2012, their stage name a reference to Carter’s shimmying dance when he puts on a tight pair of jeans.
This Halloween weekend, I had the pleasure of attending the Suwannee Hulaween music and arts festival in Live Oak, Florida. A “feel-good” festival of sorts, the artists were mostly categorized as either jam bands or electronic acts/DJs, with a fair number of hip-hop artists interspersed throughout. Besides the expertly cultivated lineup/musical experience, the three main stages are situated around the ‘Spirit Lake’- a forested area full of art installations, live performances, workshops, and hammock spots with a beautiful Florida lake centerpiece. The inspiration I was able to reap from the weekend was unreal, as festival-goers were decidedly there to kick back, connect with like-minded humans, and express themselves at their fullest.
Not many moments in my life have caused me to shake with excitement. In fact, the most recent I can think of is when I got into Vanderbilt with the…
On October 18th, Turnover, the hallmark of Indie-Emo bands, played Exit/In, celebrating the release of their most recent album, Good Nature. Iconic for their sophomore album, Peripheral Vision, they drastically altered their sound in Good Nature, shifting away from emo-esque influences and focusing solely on optimistic dream rock indie vibes. Since this is their first tour with the new album, the anticipation to see how they would sound was insurmountably high.
LCD Soundsystem’s show at Nashville Municipal Auditorium on October 20th for their american dream tour was one for the books. They’ve played the festival circuit last year and several shows in Webster Hall and Brooklyn Steel in New York, but haven’t had a formal tour to themselves since their 2016 reunion. The band announced their breakup in 2011 and proceeded to play a legendary string of shows in Madison Square Garden documented by the film “Shut Up and Play the Hits”. Their triumphant return last year was fully brought to full realization with the release of the album american dream on September 1st, put out by DFA Records, the label of LCD’s frontman James Murphy.
Festival season is coming to a close, a sentiment expressed by both Jay Z and Damon Albarn (Gorillaz frontman) during their headlining sets. Bye to wristbands, flower crowns, and drugged-up…
On October 14th, Cigarettes After Sex, a self-described “ambient pop collective,” played their second of two Chicago shows at Lincoln Hall. I brought my mom along for the show, hoping she…
Chicago-based Whitney kicked off their fall tour with a show in Nashville on September 29. The band, built upon the core singer/drummer and guitarist duo, Julien Ehrlich and Max Kakacek, blew up in the independent rock world after their 2016 freshman album, Light Upon the Lake. Combining mellow indie pop with modern jazz undertones for a unique, chill, and groovy blend, Whitney has become a favorite in the indie rock scene.