Two bands – two sophmore albums being worked on. Both MGMT and Vampire Weekend arrived on the music scene last year with debut LPs that garnered a lot of buzz and catapulted both groups towards mainstream success. While the bands couldn’t sound more different from each other they seemed to constantly be mentioned together. Getting notable magazine interviews and seeing some songs show up in movies and commercials helped to expose these artists to a wide audience….but the question still remains – will their second albums be able to live up to the first?
Coming together while attending Columbia University, Vampire Weekend proved to be a surprise hit. Their African-influenced drumming and catchy lyrics won over many fans and got them a spot playing Saturday Night Live. The band is currently in Brooklyn, NY recording the followup to their self-titled debut album. The new album, like the first, will be produced by keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and promises to have “new sounds”. The band has said they are trying to challenge themselves and experimenting with different instruments. The album is scheduled for a release in September.
MGMT hit it big with their first single “Time to Pretend” and were the “It” band for hipsters and hippies alike. Their sound, described as psychedelic pop, was infectious from the getgo. Creating a soundscape on most of their tracks with help from David Fridmann, (music producer for the Flaming Lips) they gained popularity by making stops on many late night talk shows and having singles featured in movies and video games. Ben Goldwasser told Rolling Stone “Some of the songs are definitely a little more introspective and then there’s definitely some more surfy, beachy stuff going on. It’s going more in a rock direction”. The duo are currently recording the second album in Upstate New York.
So only time will tell if these bands prove to be successful musicians or fade away like many other bands who hit it big with a debut album.
Just added the fourth photo gallery to the shows section. Be sure to check it out. As of now they are all shows that i’ve been to but if you’d like to send in any photos of concerts you’ve been to send them to dontwakethescarecrow@gmail.com.
Newest show: My Morning Jacket – Live at MSG on New Years Eve 2008
This years lineup for the Austin City Limits music festival has been released and it is filled to the top with great artists. Makes me wish I lived just a little closer to Texas so the trip would be easier to make…..but oh well – one day. Anyway the headliners of the festival include Pearl Jam, Dave Matthews Band, and the Beastie Boys. The festival that takes place October 2-4 will also be featuring some new acts from veteran performers (Ben Harper and Relentless7, The Dead Weather) and also some of the best up and coming bands around (Dr. Dog, The Felice Brothers, Deer Tick). There’s pretty much something for everyone. Be sure to get your ticket soon! To see the full lineup you can click Read the rest of this entry or visit the Austin City Limits website.
The Dead at Madison Square Garden in NYC -- 04/25/2009
Setlist
Set I: Cosmic Charlie, China Cat Sunflower > Shakedown Street, Ship of Fools, He’s Gone, Cassidy, Sugaree
Set II: Drums > Cryptical Envelopment > The Other One > Born Cross-Eyed > St. Stephen > The Eleven > Uncle John’s Band > Unbroken Chain > Gimme Shelter > One More Saturday Night
Welcome to the first in our weekly series titled “The Friday Five” where I will post 5 awesome songs from 5 different talented bands/artists. With the power of youtube I will hope to post 5 videos/songs each Friday. If you have any requests or thoughts leave them in the comments section.
The Felice Brothers -- Her Eyes Dart Round
Cold War Kids -- We used to Vacation
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band -- Souled Out
In case you haven’t seen/heard this audio that has been making it’s way across the internet allow me to bring you up to speed. Basically this is a recording of the Howard Stern radio show where he plays and comments on Beyonce Knowles “board feed” from a performance of hers on The Today Show. Basically it’s supposed to be what Beyonce was singing into the microphone -- which doesn’t get played to the audience. No, you see most pop artists like Beyonce choose to lip synch at their shows more often than actually singing, so what is usually heard is a backing track and what’s being sang into the mic doesn’t come through the speakers. Anyway, this video is supposed to be the raw feed of what Beyonce REALLY sounded like that day.
It turns out that the whole thing is a hoax however. Rollingstone.com has found the culprit and has an interview about the whole process. The 26-year-old computer art student from Connecticut has stated that he digitally manipulated the actual audio from The Today Show performance in order to prove a point. He said to Rolling Stone, “I wanted to show people how easy it is to manipulate someone’s voice. If I can do it with a clip I pulled off of TV, imagine what they are doing on records and during live performances. The entire industry has been so manipulated, because there’s such an emphasis on perfection, so when something like this happens, it causes such a stir.”
In a world where most of the popular main stream artists can get away with lip synching and faking it (see Britney Spears, Ashlee Simpson, Mariah Carey, etc.) instead of actually performing, I was glad to see someone call out Beyonce. Too bad it turned out to be fake. The person who made the audio brings up a good point though. Why is the music industry so screwed up?
It was just announced that Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band will play a handful of shows as the opening act for Wilco. Both groups are currently on tour and have dates through the summer…but now it seems that Conor and his new group will join Wilco for a week in July.
Wilco with opening act Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band 07-08 Vienna, VA – Wolf Trap 07-10 Wilmington, DE – Frawley Stadium 07-11 Lowell, MA – LeLacheur Park 07-17 Portland, ME – Maine State Pier 07-18 Wappingers Falls, NY – Dutchess County Stadium 07-19 Lewiston, NY – Art Park
Be sure not to miss “One of my Kind” – the hourlong documentary about the formation and initial recording sessions of the Mystic Valley Band. It’s currently available for free at Conor Oberst’s website.
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– new song from “Outer South” the Mystic Valley Band’s 2nd album due out May 5th.
