Sasquatch 2012

Update (2-8-12):  The Pre-Sale password  is  "electronic"

Buy tickets here

Update (2-7-12) - New Additions: Santigold, Of Monsters & Men, Graffiti6, Anthony Jeselnik

The Sasquatch Lineup has just been released.

The festival will be held on Friday, May 25^th to Monday, May 28^th.
Tickets [4-day passes + camping] on-sale: Saturday, February 11th at 10am

Price: approx $315 for 4-day passes. (YIKES!!!!)

The line-up isn’t amazing or terrible, just kind of ehh.  There is a lot of initial negativity pouring out from festival-goers, probably because they are depressed that Coachella is sold out without them. I’m somewhat in that boat.  

Being previously on the East coast I have not paid too much attention to the lineup as I knew it was out of reach, but looking back at past line-ups, this year does seem to be missing the big guns. Had this been my festival stomping grounds, and my yearly escape-from-reality destination, this lineup probably would have been depressing.

For me it will be a whole new festival to experience, so I guess I’m not as let-down as others who have been going for years. It is still a music festival, with quite a few bands I could fill up a 4 day weekend with.  I haven’t made up my mind about going yet, but initial feelings point to no, based on the price versus lineup factor. Update: I am now pretty sure I am going, I am now going! So if you are in the PNW and are going, let me know! What changed my mind you ask? Well I don't know who I was kidding, thinking that I just sit home while a festival is going on this close by! And some good friends are going (which makes it all the more exciting) and ....who can turn down a festival?

The Artists. Bold are the ones I am currently interested in seeing. I have to do a bit or research to add to my ‘to see’ list. If you have any recommendations on who to see please feel free to give them!

Jack White, Beck, Bon Iver, Pretty Lights, Tenacious D, The Shins, Beirut, Girl Talk, The Roots, The Head & The Heart, Portlandia, Feist, Silversun Pickups, Metric, Explosions In The Sky, The Joy Formidable, Mogwai, Nero (DJ), M. Ward, John Reilly & Friends, Childish Gambino, St. Vincent, The Civil Wars, Jamey Johnson, Little Dragon, Tune-Yards, Wild Flag, Blind Pilot, Wolfgang Gartner, Beats Antique, Apparat, The Walkmen, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Mark Lanegan Band, Spiritualized, Blitzen Trapper, The Cave Singers, Shabazz Palaces, Fun., Grouplove, Tycho, Sbtrkt, Strfkr, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, Deer Tick, Imelda May, Alabama Shakes, Dum Dum Girls, The Helio Sequence, Kurt Vile, Cloud Cult, We Are Augustines, Ben Howard, Here We Go Magic, Zola Jesus, The War On Drugs, Shearwater, Cass McCombs, Active Child, Trampled By Turtles, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Araabmuzik, Star Slinger, L.A. Riots, Com Truise, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, I Break Horses, Walk The Moon, Dry The River, Allen Stone, Pickwick, Hey Marseilles, Gary Clark Jr., Purity Ring, Electric Guest, Yellow Ostrich, Nobody Beats The Drum, Coeur De Pirate, Lord Huron, Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside, Beat Connection, The Sheepdogs, Hey Rosetta!, Said The Whale, Howlin Rain, Gardens & Villa, Felix Cartal, Craft Spells, Vintage Trouble, Poor Moon, Black Whales, Gold Leaves, Greylag, Awesome Tapes From Africa
Thee Satisfaction, Dyme Def, Fresh Espresso, The Physics, Sol, Metal Chocolates, Grynch, Spac3man, Don’t Talk To The Cops, Scribes, Fatal Lucciauno, Fly Moon Royalty, Katie Kate

Comedy: Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Todd Barry, Beardyman, Rob Delaney, Pete Holmes, Howard Kremer, and more!

Here is the Lineup Announcement Video

and here is a CLASSIC Sasquatch video to hold you over until May!

tUnE-yArDs - whokill

(experimental, freak folk, indie)

tUnE-yArDs has been on my Last.fm Recommended Artists list for a long time, but I have been reluctant to venture out of my music bubble to find new tunes. After seeing mentions of this artist in various places and on several best-of-2011 lists, I finally gave it a listen. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised to be pleasantly surprised!  whokill is by far the most interesting and unique album that I have encountered from 2011.

Merrill Garbus’ androgynous vocals combined with layering and distortion produces an intriguing ‘sound’. This album may not be for everyone, as it is a bit sporadic, off-beat, and wild at times, but I find its oddity draws me in. It implants these intriguing, catchy little snippets in my brain.  In a way, this album has become an addiction; constantly plaguing my thoughts with cravings for a specific riff.

All the songs are interesting and most are great, but Gansta is a good place to start.

Recommended Albums of 2011

It is (past) time for end-of-the-year lists. 

Now that I have been perusing other people's Best of 2011 lists, it is clear that I have been seriously "out of the loop" of good, current music. I feel that I am still discovering fantastic music from 2011, so I am not proposing this as a "Best of 2011" list. 

It is pretty much what I have listened to the most this year. I do however feel that there are many very good albums here that I would love to share, so you should listen to them right now!

If you click the Artist or Album text, it will take you to the corresponding Last.fm page with all kind of additional information. Clicking the album art will automatically play the album in Spotify! In parenthesis are the top 3 tags from Last.fm so you can get a general genre. 

My Recommended Albums of 2011

M83 - Hurry Up We're Dreaming

(electronic, shoegaze, post-rock)

A masterpiece! For my full review of this album see my previous post.

Fleet Foxes - HelplessnessBlues

(folk, indie, folk rock)

A fantastic album. Just like ALL previous Fleet Foxes albums; perfect harmonies that are done far to well, for an almost completely beautiful album.

The Rosebuds - LoudPlanes Fly Low

(indie, indie rock, indie pop)

Another great album by The Rosebuds. 

This one has some fantastic violin work to add to an already great sound. 

Other Lives - TamerAnimals

(indie folk, indie, alternative)

They have a kind of folksy sound combined with backing beautiful grand orchestral expansiveness.And they got their song writing figured out as well.

Side Note: This band is blowing up! I saw this band open for The Rosebuds, knowing nothing about them, but immediately loved them. They then went on to open for (and ride the coattails of) Bon Iver as he exploded into mainstream famousness. This year they will be opening for Radiohead! From The Rosebuds to Radiohead...in less than a year... folks that is either insane... or this band has a fantastic sound going for them. Check 'em out and decide for yourself.

St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

(female vocalists, singer-songwriter, indie)

I have a crush on Annie Clark, who makes up St. Vincent. She is adorable, and she has great vocal chords. But she also writes great, witty, music. If you dig this, check out her previous 2 albums.

Radiohead - TheKing of Limbs

(alternative, alternative rock, rock)

So yes, I feel this album is less than most Radiohead albums, so in that regard it was a tiny bit disappointing. HOWEVER, Radiohead is greater than most bands, so this album is still great.

TV on the Radio - Nine Types of Light

(indie, indie rock, experimental)

Another great album showcasing TV on the Radio's unique sound. Maybe a little more somber than previous albums, but great nonetheless. Check out "Killer Crane".

 Explosions in the Sky - Take Care, Take Care,Take Care

(math rock, experimental, post-rock)

Another fantastic album from Explosions. How can a band so consistently make epic albums?

 Guards - Guards

(lo-fi, indie, indie pop)

I saw this band open for Deer Tick, and they blew me away. They have a really cool sound featuring an omnichord! I think we will be hearing more about this band in the near future.

Panda Bear - Tomboy

(experimental, psychedelic, freak folk)

Just as the 3 tags above hint at, you will probably think it is "weird", but what do you expect from a member of Animal Collective? It may take a few listens, but if you give it a chance you may find that there is something interesting here.

The Antlers - Burst Apart

(indie, indie rock, slowcore)

The Antlers are the masters of beautifully depressing music and this is just another installment of a perfectly depressing album. This falls into the 'not for everyone category.' but I love it.

Coachella Line-up Released!

UPDATE: Coachella is now SOLD OUT! Tickets went on sale on Friday Jan 13th, 2012, and ALL tiers for BOTH WEEKENDS were sold out in a matter of hours!   Friday the 13th...an unlucky day, indeed.


Coachella! Well.... its awesome....as usual...... who wants to go!?

This year, there are actually 2 different weekends of the SAME festival! Coachella will “attempt to produce two identical festival weekends. That means same lineup, same art, different people."

April 13-15     or    April 20-22  in  Indio, California

Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming

There have been several fantastic albums released this year, but the one that I just cannot turn off is Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming by M83. It seems to mesh so well with my brain that it is has become the soundtrack of my synapses. This refreshing and nearly flawless album has almost immediately risen to one of my favorite albums of….life.

M83 rejuvenates 80’s-style synth and produces fresh modern synth rock. This coupled with their mastery of the shoegaze sound creates fluidity and maintains continuity throughout the album, even as the songs ebb and flow. I feel they have delivered a masterpiece: the perfect mixture (and sequence) of upbeat rocking synths and fantastic drumbeats, interlaced with leisurely soundscapes which slowly build anticipation as the song progresses and then…… aaahhhh, aural bliss. 

M83 has made several good albums, but it seems that they have reached new depth with Hurry Up, We're Dreaming; a new depth of sound as well as emotional depth. My only criticism is the fairytale/trip Raconte-Moi Une Histoire, whose purpose is to put you in the youthful, carefree open-mindset of which the album is best listened. It does this well, and is not a bad track, but upon continued listens it is skip-worthy. This minor inconvenience does very little to tarnish such perfection.

So do your auditory cortex a huge favor: gather up a pair of good headphones (not earbuds), lay down, relax, close your eyes, free your mind, listen to it straight through in it’s entirety, and send your imagination on a delightful adventure. Just as the title implies, it is the perfect listen-straight-through on the cusp-of-consciousness album.

Listen to it now on Spotify.

Before you get too comfortable with Spotify, know that it's free awesomeness won’t last.

If it is too good to be true, it is probably... Spotify.  You may have been unaware, as I was, of the limitations that will be imposed within a few months of use. So unless you plan on paying for the service, you should read this, as I hope to clear up some of the confusion, so the less informed will know what is up.

Read the fine print: After 6 months there are serious limitations.

Once you have used the free version of Spotify for 6 months you will be subject to the following stifling limitations (unless you begin paying for the service):

1                     A limit of 10 hours of use per month,

 and

2                     A limit of 5 listens to any song, FOREVER! (until you pay).

This essentially continues to allow you to have endless, free, access to a service which has been rendered practically useless. 

What does this mean? 

If you do not intend to pay: What is your favorite song?... You can listen to it 4 more times. Your favorite playlist is now nothing more than a list of songs you can no longer listen too! [I assume you can still use it as music player for music you own, if you don’t already have a better program (iTunes, Winamp, Songbird, etc).]

So what is my point?

Enjoy Spotify while it lasts, but do not get too excited about it being an awesome free service. Spotify’s business plan is quite brilliant: Offer a great service, rope in users, get them accustomed to the ease of Spotify for six long months, have them invest time in their profile and share-able playlists, and then render the best features useless, until you pay.

There is nothing wrong with this business plan, except they have been misleading users by burying the limitations in their Terms of Service, which of course no one reads. And that is what gets my goat.

What are the versions of the service?

• Free version: Works great with ads for 6 months. Then it essentially becomes a piece of software for previewing new music.
• Unlimited: $5 a month gets you no ads and no limitations (obviously, because you paid)
• Premium: $10 gets you amazing features. Any (available) song, anytime, anywhere, and on any device. There is even an offline mode where you can download 3,333 tracks and take them with you. A pretty freakin’ sweet service.

How does Spotify make money?

Spotify offers free music and makes money by selling advertisements. They then keep some of that cash, and pass most of it to the music conglomerates who share the tiniest little fraction to artists.

Artists making money is a farce.

Although you may think you are passing some 'internet-money' along the artists, the actual amount is minuscule. It is no doubt based on some complex algorithm, but the end result is that artists still get virtually nothing. Spotify refuses to be transparent about this (most likely because it is embarrassed that it runs ads boasting artists make money from Spotify) but it has been leaked that the going rate at about 0.001 to 0.002 cents per play.  That is one-thousandth of a penny per play!

Lets put that absurdly tiny amount into perspective. Assuming an average song length of 2 minutes, if you play a single artist ALL DAY (24 hours straight), they will make between 0.7 and 1.4 cents!  An entire weeks worth of play (24/7) will earn them about 5 to 10 cents! So in all of your play time, you have earned your favorite artists less than a penny.

How vast is the library?

There are a reported 15 million songs available on Spotify. That’s a lot, but not nearly all (with some major omissions). And let’s not get too comfortable. There is no reason to think the library is static as many music labels have already dropped out.

Just recently an electronic music distributor STHoldings pulled 234 labels from Spotify, noting that services like Spotify “cannibalize the revenues of more traditional digital services.” No kidding, since certain independent music is so off the radar (read as: not pirate-able), that it is usually only available via paid download. So it is very likely the amount of available independent music will continue to dwindle. Most large labels are still trying to decide if this will make them enough money. Here is the list of major Labels that are in.

Spotify and the Music Industry

The music industry is the poster-child of an outdated industry, desperately trying to ride out its sinking-ship business model as it drowns in the internet’s vast oceans of potential. Along comes Spotify (the life preserver in this drawn-out metaphor) to help the music industry float on a bit longer. The potential offered by Spotify could have an immense impact on the drowning music industry. 

At first glance it appears that Spotify could be the saving grace for the music industry. It offers such easy access to music, that it even makes music piracy seem like an inconvenience. In this capacity it has duel benefits to music industry; it curbs music downloading and directs those retired Pirates back to a revenue-generating model.

Bowing to pressure from the music industry, who were demanding more money (sooner), Spotify has altered its Terms of Service and halved the original amount of limited hours from 20 to 10 hours per month (after 6 months of use) and implemented the 5 song limit. So let’s not be deluded into thinking that the music industry will allow itself to benefit from the very thing that could save it.

It may very well be that the Spotify model is already eroding: Large labels are tightening their grip to squeeze out a quick buck, and the small labels are starting an exodus that could snowball.

In Summary:

If you can afford the monthly fee, the service provided by Spotify is superb. My real issue is that their free model is nothing more than a trap, into which they are more than willing to lure users by misleading them. And I do believe they are misleading users.

Do not get me wrong; the very idea of having access to most music for a mere 5 to 10 bucks a month is revolutionary. Who could possibly balk at that deal? I will tell you who. People who can have ALL the music in the world for free (and not to mention commercial free) with just a modicum of extra effort. Those people have been sailing freely across the internet since its creation. They are known as Pirates. So, as the music industry punctures holes in its own life preserver, the Pirates are re-boarding their vessels.

A Glorious Dawn

This is not new by a long shot, but better to share late, then never. Here is a beautiful, awe-inspiring auto-tune remix of my idol, Carl Sagan. This mash-up mainly contains clips from Sagan’s Cosmos, a mind-blowing, all-inclusive look at the science of basically everything we know (or knew in 1980) about the universe.

The remix has been embraced by Sagan’s estate, as it has inspired a resurgence of interest in Sagan and his work, which is can only be considered a boon for science and humanity. Jack White loved the song so much, that his label, Third Man Records, has released a special edition 7” vinyl, with an etching of Sagan’s “Golden Record.” So nerdy. So awesome!

Enjoy!


...and The Sequels.

Show Review - Yeasayer @ 9:30 Club

This much anticipated Yeasayer show certainly lived up to my expectations. From the Setlist, you can see they concentrated highly on tracks from Odd Blood, as it is the Odd Blood Tour, but managed to squeeze in the bare essentials from All Hour Cymbals ( Wait for the Summer, 2080, & Sunrise). I was quite thrilled to hear Tightrope, a fantastic single that should not be overlooked, which can be found on the charity album, Dark Was the Night.

The show was a complete dance off as Yeasayer has evolved into a very danceable band, which is fine, as that is what the masses want at live shows. We unfortunately missed the opening band, Javelin, so I cannot comment on that performance, but Yeasayer is about all the excitement I can take in one night. Yeasayer was spot on, and nailed down every track, despite my fears that some of their obscure, fancy sounds would be difficult to replicate live. Fantastic show.

Photo Courtesy of “Bad” Blake

Fever to Sing Festival

Last weekend Blacksburg saw it's first music festival, Fever To Sing, take place at bars all over town! Put on by a group of people unofficially affliated with WUVT, the festival showcased a multitude of bands; local, regional, and a few traveling as far as DC and Philly. Genres ranged from folk to death metal and talent was just as variable, as some bands were quite enjoyable, while others left you no option but to walk out.

20 bucks got you a wristband to see all the bands, all weekend, at all venues, so the cost was unbeatable for weekend of fun and good listening. I had a great time and discovered several bands I'd like to keep my ear on. Let's hope the festival was sucessful enough to see it expand next year, and continue to bring music to Blacksburg.

For additional info, see this 16 blocks article.

Band of Horses New Video/New Album

Swing on over to the Band of Horses Website to check out their cool new music video, a preview of there upcoming album, Infinite Arms, to be released in May. As I have previously posted, I am fairly excited about this album. Since I first heard them perform the song "Older," I have patiently waited to see if the rest of this new album will be as great, and if letting the other band members take the lead will live up to Ben Bridwell's vocals. I think we will be pleasantly surprised.