MUSICBLOGR – Music Video Blog

Check out what TheRirry dug up on the internet. She’s keen to stuff like this. If standing around for hours listening to the same song over and over is your thing, get on it! Music video shoots are magic fun!

People say everything in Texas is bigger – especially the emerging music scene. The five things that pop into my head when I hear the word Texas are: Dallas Cowboys, The Secret Handshake, Forever The Sickest Kids, The Rocket Summer, and last, but not least, Artist Vs. Poet.

Look, I don’t like to use the word EPIC often, lest it lose it’s force, but I just watched this trailer, and it was the only thing that came to mind.

 

Ohhh March 5th, GET HERE.

I don’t think you need much convincing, but it’s going to be in Disney Digital 3D™. Directed by Tim Burton! JOHNNY DEPP as the Mad Hatter!  If you weren’t hip to the concept (it’s not simple a remake of the animated feature film) Mia Wasikowska stars as 19-year-old Alice, who returns to the whimsical world she first encountered as a young girl, reuniting with her childhood friends:  the White Rabbit, Tweedledee and Tweedledum, the Dormouse, the Caterpillar, the Cheshire Cat, and of course, the Mad Hatter.

Soak it all up at the official site here, and become a fan of it on Facebook by clicking here.

 

WHO’S EXCITED?

A band’s opportunity to win over a new fan happens when they are on stage performing. Find out the 10 shows that won me over in 2009. 

Sometimes I find myself saying that I am “concerted out”. No I am not spoiled, but I am fortunate enough to attend 3-5 concerts a week. Some months I even manage to squeeze in a festival or two. If I am lucky, I get to attend a showcase during the day and skip out from work. All in all, these are the 10 concerts that I would go see again and again if I could.

#10 

Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros at SXSW

This performance of Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros at Rachael Ray’s SXSW party won me over. This was by far the best concert I saw at SXSW. They are an interactive band, both with eachother and their audience. There is an awkward love, theatre-like relationship between the two main vocalists, Alex and Jade. Their performance is engaging and a total dance party.

#9  

Phoenix & Kid Cudi at the Pre-VMA’s Party at Terminal 5 in New York City on 9/12/09

When I was invited to attend the Pepsi pre-VMA party and I saw Kid Cudi and Phoenix on the line-up I was totally pumped up, but totally confused. They are a very odd combination in theory, but in reality and live, they were perfect. Kid Cudi opened up and got the crowd rowdy with his top hits and covers of Kanye and Notorious BIG. Then the most popular French men to overtake the US in 2009 hit the stage – Phoenix. They were overwhelmingly on point. I had seen Phoenix 3 times prior to this show, but seeing them inside, in a more intimate setting at Terminal 5 was just perfect! And soooo fun!

#8

Tahiti 80 at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA on 11/5/09

I have been listening to Tahiti 80 since 2001 and I never thought I was going to get to see them live in the United States. Fortunatley someone smart out there thought to bring them to the U.S. for two shows, one in NY and one in LA. Tahiti 80 is a French electro-pop rock band and although they have not made it big like Phoenix yet, it is possible that 2010 just might be their breakout year. Xavier Boyer’s vocals are even more chilling live then they are on their albums. Check out this track ‘Good Boy’ and find out just how likable this group is!

#7

Mew at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA on 9/1/09

What more could I have asked for? I got to see one of my favorite bands, at one of my favorite venues perform tracks from my favorite album of 2009. Mew made my 2009 complete and this performance was only a morsel of the love I can express. Mew’s live show is comforting and warm. They offer a welcoming sound, one that even a new-comer to their music would find pleasure in embracing. Their music is catchy, but its not dance-a-long tunes, rather sway and take-in tunes. This show was peaceful and absorbingly entertaining. I would welcome back Mew to The Troubadour any night!

#6

Animal Collective at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, CA on 2/26/09

Animal Collective never lets me down. They pull off being that really cool band that feel untouchable, but instead of hating them for being that “cool” you love them even more. Their live show is visually and aurally inspiring. They throw multiple ideas and multiple layers of sounds on top of each other and they make it all work out. You must have a patience and be able to dance a bit like a hippy to enjoy Animal Collective, as their strangeness and conventional use of awkward sounds tests the tolerance of their audience. All of which I love about the band.  Oh and their fans are really fun too! I had this awesome guy Max dancing around me, which made this show stand out more then others.

#5

Miike Snow at Spaceland in Los Angeles, CA on 10/7/09

If I was making a list for concerts I was most shocked by, then Miike Snow would be at the top of that list. Miike Snow is on my top albums of 2009 list and I think they are unbelievable producers, but after seeing them at Spaceland, I now know how talented they truelly are. There is a lot to say when 3 producers and 3 other band members step out of the studio and put on a mindblowing powerful pop show. Each of the 6 band members on stage played a very particular role in creating the ambient sound that Miike Snow makes. They each proved their worth at the closure of their performance, when they stepped off stage 1 at a time, demonstrating to the audience the sound element that each member contributed to the overall production. Miike Snow will be back in the US in 2010 and touring worldwide, I strongly suggest you catch this show.

#4

Dirty Projectors at The Troubadour in Los Angeles, CA on 7/8/09

What a unique show? I went alone and felt surrounded by a choir of beautiful vocals. Dirty Projectors may look like your average high-school band, which is what I said last year about Ra Ra Riot, but when Dirty Projectors hits the stage they hit your ears with a whole-lot of charm and grace. Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian have perfected the art of harmony. They are just two small girls, but when they sing, they do so with so much passion that they sound like a church choir having fun. At SXSW I waited outside Emo’s to get into Dirty Projectors, but the line was too long, so when I got to see them at The Troubadour in July, I was ecstatic. They met my expectations and then some.

#3

Bon Iver at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery on 9/27/09

The live experience should be lively and fulfilling for all. Justin Vernon (frontman of Bon Iver) knows exactly how to make a live show an experience for all. Bon Iver’s music is romantic, enchanting and even somewhat eerie at times. I can’t think of a better band then Bon Iver to put on a sunrise performance at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The gates to the cemetery opened for the audience at midnight. When you entered the cemetery there was bells and a piano playing, so you would follow the music through the grave sites to find the seating area for the show. There was a DJ set and a Buddhist Monk band that opened for Bon Iver. Everyone cuddled in sleeping bags and got cozy until sunrise. At about 5:35 am, Bon Iver took the stage and then took the crowd with magical vocals and beautiful sounds. By far this was one of the coolest experiences I have had to date in Los Angeles.

#2

Sasquatch Music Festival at The Gorge in Washington on 5/29-5/31/09

This is my list, so I am allowed to include a festival. Sasquatch Festival deserves all the credit and recognition it can get. With the perfect line-up and the perfect setting for a three day camping weekend, Sasquatch Festival was by far the most enjoyable weekend of my 2009. Three days with over 100 live bands and a lot of Canadian campers. What more could one ask for? Gogol Bordello, Girl Talk and Santigold were my favorite performances at the festival.

Gogol Bordello has been a band I have always been shy of watching, due to their reputation of mosh-pits and punkers who follow them. I was extremely nervous, but I stayed in the pit and danced my ass off through the set of Gogol Bordello. I felt like I was at a Ukranian wedding, dancing up and down, just to keep up with all the fun.

For Girl Talk I got on stage, which is what I generally tend to do after leaving the photo-pit at a Girl Talk show. But, this time around I got on stage in front of 10,000 people having the party of their life, during the sunset. This was both beautiful and crazy. I got great pics!

Santigold got a band and she got this band a few days before Sasquatch. This made for a completely different live experience then Santigold standing alone. Her band was just the ingredients she needed to make for a perfectly entertaining performance.

#1

Steely Dan at the Gibson Amphitheatre on 8/21/09

I grew up on Steely Dan and my Dad listens to Steely Dan, I used to have dance routines to Steely Dan’s ‘Peg’ – Steely Dan is old school, that I can not deny. I bet you didn’t know that Steely Dan was the best live concert in 2009. 

Steely Dan’s Rent Party Tour hit Los Angeles 4 nights in a row. I had the pleasure of catching the evening where Steely Dan peformed Aja in full and then some greatest hits. It totally worked to my advantage to be one of the youngest fans at the show, because I got to occupy the aisle when I wanted to dance and their 2 hour set felt like 2 minutes to my young soul. I enjoyed myself so much at this concert that I even cried out of pleasure when they performed Aja. Their music is moving and touching and evokes memories and feelings from me that not many new bands do. They have perfected the art of stage presence and choreography. Donald Fagen & Walter Becker pieced together an 11 person band of the best musicians you can find to date. This concert was so perfect that I don’t really expect anything to live up to it.

When it comes to live music I am all about the energy. If a band isn’t enjoying themselves on stage and exerting smiles and postive motions, then how do they expect their audience to enjoy them? In my opinion a band must give it their all on stage, because that experience the music listener has at the concert can either make or break their opinion on the band.

What were your favorite concerts in 2009? Feel free to question me on mine.

Greta Salpeter’s solo project takes another step forward!

What do you think of it?

Credit: Darlinggreta LJ Comm