Posts by Avanhizzle:
The War on Drugs play a Shed in Copenhagen
November 14th, 2011I’ve been stuck in a The War on Drugs soundtracked coma since they tore my mind to shreds in August and that means if you mention them in the subject of any emails addressed to me there’s a 99.99% open rate. Someone hit the spot today and I thought that you should all take notice of this awesome “semi acoustic” session filmed in Copenhagen. Check out the videos for two of my favorite cuts off of Slave Ambient “Brothers” and “Best Night” and then go and listen to them for the rest of the night. Oh, and check out They Shoot Music Don’t They for more of the same.
The 7 Best Concerts I’ve Seen
October 12th, 2011
I put up a list of the top 7 concerts that I have seen on another blog to see if anyone would like to share their favorite live musical moments with me and…1 person did. Thanks, Cal! So, since the readership of this blog is a little bigger and I would think that the majority of the people that read it are pretty into live music, I figured I would post my list here too.
If you’ve never put a list of your favorite concerts together, it’s not that easy. So many stick out that were great but just not as good as _____. So, here goes, comment out your lists if you like and I promise not to make fun of The Bacon Brothers or Dogstar topping them.
Best Concerts I’ve seen (based on music and sentimentality*)
1. Underworld – Riviera Theater, Chicago, IL 4-26-99
2. Phish – Deer Creek, Noblesville, IN 7-11-00
3. U2 – Camp Randall, Madison, WI 6-25-97
4. Radiohead – Grant Part, Chicago, IL 8-01-01
5. Pearl Jam – Alpine Valley, East Troy 10-08-00
6. My Morning Jacket – Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN 6-16-06
7. Ween – The Rave Basement, Milwaukee, WI 5-14-00
Honorable Mention: Pearl Jam – Alpine Valley, East Troy, WI 6-26 &27-98
*The music doesn’t always have to be the most important factor in making a concert one of the best you’ve seen. I’m specifically thinking about the U2 show I saw at Camp Randall. While the Pop Mart show was great and the biggest concert production that I’ve ever seen, it was the time spent before-walking around UW’s campus and the everlasting conversation after out on a porch that were the best parts of that day.
…..From Albums That Changed Your Life: A Brief and All Over the Place Rant about Nirvana’s “Nevermind”
September 27th, 2011
So, Nirvana’s super smash grunge-a-thon Nevermind got rereleased today. It’s remastered and brings with it a cluster of bonus features that are making a lot of people pretty damn excited.
I think I would be a little more excited if Geffen did things a little abnormal with this release. I think it would be awesome if they sold the bonus material separate and repackaged and rearranged the tracks on Nevermind to start with number 6- “Polly” and kept things in order from their.
Now of course, there’s no reason to scrap the first 5 songs, “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “In Bloom,” “Come As You Are,” “Breed,” and “Lithium.” I mean, they can always be skipped, but honestly, haven’t we already memorized them (with the exception of the guilty by association, “Breed”) or had the lyrics to those radio mainstays forcibly tattooed on our eyelids since the album’s first go round? I’ve said it before and I don’t see it changing but I could go the rest of my life without hearing any of those songs (again, except “Breed”) and not be even the least bit upset. I’ve heard them, parts of them, or shitty covers of them more than I’ve heard all, parts, or shitty covers of any other song. Ever.
I started today with “Drain You” and kept on going until “Nevermind” finished and felt like I had just witnessed the reason the rest of the world went ape shit while I was wallflowering it up to Wreckx-n-Effect at 8th grade dances. I never quite understood how radio never picked up on “Polly” or “Lounge Act” or my second favorite Nevermind song, “On a Plain,” never got the recognition they deserved. I guess I’m glad they didn’t.
But back to 8th grade dances for a second….
No bullshit, the first time I heard “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” it was at a school dance and it played out just like when Marty McFly played “Johnny B Goode” in “Back to the Future.” We untucked our rayon from our Guess jeans and covered our ears in horror.
But soon after, that all changed. It was kind of funny to see the fashion shift from baggy urban clothes to Freddie Kreuger sweaters, light washed jeans and One Stars in such a short period of time. It didn’t take me long.
But all joking aside, while Nevermind had a huge impact on my musical evolution, mainstream radio turned me off to it. It was massive and influential but it was spoon fed to me in large doses. Kind of the way Soundgarden was and yeah, way less cool. Most of my Nirvana memories revolve around storming through the halls of my high school as a freshman with EVERY track of “Incesticide” wreaking havoc on my poor self-image and trading punches with Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers).
Anyone else have thoughts or memories of Nevermind worth passing on? Please do….
And check a cover of my FAVORITE Nevermind track, “Drain You,” by Horse Feathers below!
Horse Feathers – Drain You (Nirvana Cover)
“Early Morning Rain” | Hand me down (Late) Tuesday! | The Grateful Dead / EP
September 21st, 2011
This is one of those posts where I’m dying for everyone to hear the track and I’m hoping that the music sort of speaks for itself. This song, “Early Morning Rain” (Gordon Lightfoot) performed by an early Grateful Dead, then called The Warlocks, is exactly how music sounds in my head. On a day to day basis. I’ve tangled and tussled over whether I like Elvis’ version better, but, while Elvis has a voice softer than velvet and ten times better than that of Phil Lesh, the mid 60s psychedelic jangle does it for me.
Sidenote: I first came to know this version from a bootleg tape given to me by a friend I met at tech school and second on a 4cd boxset that I bought at Mainstream for $80 back in 1999! It was later released on a compilation of early Dead material put out by Rhino Records. I think that retails for about $14 now.
A lesson to all you youngsters, before the internet, torrents, and the death of dial-up, bootlegs were a portion of your paycheck. And you had to walk 30 miles in the snow to get them. Barefoot. And every one of them came with a warped Jethro Tull record.
Oh, and the first time I went to Graceland, I bought a pair of sunglasses, a TCB money clip, and Aloha From Hawaii just because “Early Morning Rain” was on it. The more you know….
The Warlocks (The Grateful Dead) – Early Morning Rain
Elvis Presely – Early Morning Rain
Buffalo Gospel, Milwaukee’s Best Kept Secret?
September 7th, 2011
I had a major WTF moment after I opened an email from Karl that was simply titled, “Dude.” In it he asked if I had heard of a band from Milwaukee called Buffalo Gospel that were relatively unknown but reeeaaaalllllly good. I hadn’t and since I/we always dig hearing/promoting what we think is the best that Milwaukee has to offer, I clicked the link and landed upon some of the sweetest sounds I had heard in a while.
While I’ve only listened to their Acoustic Demos Ep (?), I find that it’s minimalist and masterful, sounds like a summer Sunday afternoon in a small town, and is all I needed to hear to know that I really like them. It also follows up Gillian Welch’s latest album really well.
Stroll around Buffalo Gospel’s Bandcamp to find out more information and get a better listen to their sound. I’ll do the same!
