17 posts tagged “dbt”
Have you bought any concert tickets this year? What shows will you be going to?
Just last weekend I finally dealt and bought tickets to the following shows:
* Drive-By Truckers at the Mezzanine 2/14
* Built To Spill @ the Fillmore (can't remember the date)
* Mountain Goats at the Bottom of the Hill (3/2) This will be an all-ages afternoon show, which should be interesting. I believe it's part of Noise Pop.
What's your musical horoscope? (Put your music player on shuffle and write down the first 10 songs that come up.) Inspired by Stephanie.
Which one? I bring both my ipod nano and 60gb ipod w/ video to work every day. Well, what the hell-I'll do both. I am "dj" chall after all.
First my ipod nano, which contains mostly recently released and acquired music:
1. "Take to the Sky" – Guided By Voices "Under the Bushes Under the Stars" under the tables, under the bars. Not my most favorite song from this album. Possibly my least favorite, actually. Ah well... such is life when you shuffle all.
2. "Fire Eye'd Boy" – Broken Social Scene "Broken Social Scene" This upbeat raver could be my anthem, and it one of my favorite songs on one of the best albums of 2005. Really bummed I missed seeing these guys live last fall-went to U2 at the Oakland Arena instead. This song and "Large-Hearted Boy" by GBV would make a good double-shot were there any radio station cool enough to do it.
3. "The Numbered Head" - Robert Pollard "From a Compound Eye" This menacing number is a virtual epic by Bob Pollard standards, clocking in at five minutes, ten seconds. From the first of five solo releases from Bob this year, the last of which "Normal Happiness" is due on Merge Records in a matter of weeks. I wouldn't call "From a Compund Eye" the second coming of "Bee Thousand" or "Isolation Drills" but it still one of the best indie rock records I've heard this year. Pollard still puts on a hell of a life show, too.
4. "Translation" – Songs: Ohia "My Morning Jacket/Songs: Ohia Split EP" This is the only Songs: Ohia song I own. I do however, own much more of Jason Molina's more recent project "Magnolia Electric Co." which I like a lot. This song is slow and moody, and sounds like Magnola Electric Co. minus the Neil Young-isms, which I suppose is the point. I can't claim I really like this as much as Magnolia, but it definitely has atmosphere. It just feels a bit aimless and unformed, lacking the classic rock/blues-isms which provide a context for the extended jams on MEC's live album.
5. "Field Jacket Blues" – Robert Pollard "From a Compound Eye" Back to Bob. This song is energetic and catchy, and is a much more usual length for a Bob Pollard composition, coming in at just under two minutes.
6. "World of Hurt" – Drive By Truckers "A Blessing and a Curse" Patterson Hood's affecting half-spoken/half-sung ode to acceptance and maturity. I really want to hear this song live. "To love is to feel pain." As is usual with the Truckers, only Patterson Hood's utter conviction and sincerity save this song from descending into schmaltz or worse, regional affectation. There's some beautiful guitar work, both electric and lap steel, on the fade-out.
7. "It's All Gonna Break" – Broken Social Scene "Broken Social Scene" Another song I bet would be epic live. It makes me a bit nervous that this song showed up on my musical horoscope what with it's lyrics about being f-ed up the ass.
8. "Evenflow" - Pearl Jam "Bill Graham Civic 7/16/06" Pearl Jam always tear it up with this song, which when played live provides Mike McCready and Stone Gossard to show off their considerable chops, creativity and chemistry. Actually the whole band shreds on this song, beause the rhythm section really lays down an awesome groove underneath the soloing. Hilariously, on the version of Evenflow Pearl Jam played the night after this one, Matt Cameron actually played a drum solo, which I had never seen at a PJ show. Complewtely unironically, too-he went at it with all of the gusto of a teenager in his parent's garage having just listened to Exit... Stage Left. I saw this show in person last July, along with many other Voxers, including Krissy, Rachel and even Runt. I wouldn't really classify Pearl Jam as a "jam band" but listening to all of the different amazing versions of Evenflow I've heard over the years, both in person and on the copious live bootlegs I've obtained, makes me understand why PJ have a substansial coterie of fans who follow them from show to show. I like the fact that Eddie Vedder gives props to the SF audience for being cool and taking care of each other-since this show is one of the few PJ have played in the last few years with an open floor.
9. "The Perfect Life" – Guided By Voices "Under the Bushes Under the Stars" Another throwaway track from this album.
10. "She Saw the Shadow" – Robert Pollard "Choreographed Men of War" Uh, did I mention I like Guided By Voices and Robert Pollard? I don't know this song that well, actually. It's okay... nothing that special.
So there you go. I'm not sure what it says about my future. Things will flow evenly? I will be hurt, but learn to accept it? I'm going to be spending a lot of time under bushes? (So what else is new?) You tell me.
Later I will do my 60gb ipod-that will be much more eclectic and random mix of music. First, though, must write more test cases.
The Drive-By Truckers released their epic double-CD "Southern Rock Opera five years ago today-the day after 9/11. Today group co-founder Patterson Hood sent out a cool email with his memories of that album's inauspicious debut, which I'm posting here in lieu of posting my own memories of 9/11/01, which I didn't last night due to the need to post yet more pictures of my cats.
Y'ALL:
It was five years ago today that we first released SOUTHERN ROCK OPERA.
September 12, 2001 was the second worst day imaginable to release a
project that we had all worked 6 1/2 years on and all of us feared that
it was all some kind of terrible omen. Wednesday's, of course are never
release days, as the industry ALWAYS releases albums on tuesdays,
however at that point in our lives, there was no industry. We had
showcased at SXSW before a sold out crowd, previewing our then almost
completed magnum opus before a sold out crowd of industry fucks to no
real avail. Folks kept coming up to us wishing us well and telling us
how much they liked it, but no one was making any offers of any kind. A
month or so later, we received our only bid, and it was so horrifyingly
bad, that upon doing the math, I realized that we would be bankrupt
within a year if we took it. (At that time all of our income was based
on merch sales and the wording of that offer combined with the high
wholesale price we would have paid, rendered that impossible). We
turned the offer down and set out to find a way to put it out
ourselves.While raising the money from private investors (all of whom we promised
to pay back in a little over a years time plus 15%) I also booked our
fall tour, 75 shows in 90 days. The first booking was to be in
Murfreesboro TN on Wednesday September 12th. We were hoping to have the
CDs pressed, artwork printed and all of the package put together in
time. My sister took the artwork that Wes Freed did, compiled it with
the art of the other contributors (Felicia Graham, Patrick Hood, Byron
Wilkes AKA Rev. Rex Ubu, Jeff Owens, and Kathleen Judge), designed the
package and hired the printers and the folks who actually put the discs
in the cover and shrink wrap them. On monday the 10th, Lilla called me
to tell me I could pick them up in Birmingham on Wednesday.On Tuesday the 11th,, we were all glued to the TV all day like most
Americans, terrified of what was happening and trying to reach friends
in NYC to make sure they were all OK. The next day we had to decide
whether there would be a show or not. The club informed us that they
would be open regardless, as folks were starting to come out for a much
needed drink and diversion. I think we were all feeling the same way,
so we headed north and spent the next three months or so touring the
eastern half of our beautiful shellshocked country.Its been five years, three more albums and countless tours since then.
We leave this Thursday for the fall leg of our latest tour. The band
has never played better (or even as well) as right now and this one is
putting us in some amazing great rooms in some of our favorite towns.
There's a new page on the Drive-By Truckers website , tour notes written by group co-founder and lead raconteur, Patterson Hood.
This is what Patterson had to say about the show I saw at the Fillmore two weekends ago:
Our friday night set was a little sluggish to my taste, Brad broke his kick pedal in two on song one (Feb 14) and we had to whip out Bulldozers and Dirt (usually a late night staple when played nowadays) to cover a bit of time while he replaced it.
I didn't really notice any lack of energy, and hearing B&D so early on the set was awesome, and really got the crowd going. I like the fact that he's not complacent, though. This is something I definitely agree with:
We were starting to adjust to the shorter sets that a double bill required, although it did sometimes seem that we were just really kicking it into overdrive when it was required that we call it a night.
This is true of a lot of great live bands, like the Grateful Dead and Guided By Voices, to name two diametically opposed (GBV could play twenty songs in the time it took the Dead to play two) but equally awesome examples. With both of those bands, the first hour could sometimes drag a bit, then at some point there would be this sudden click, and then the rest of the night would be magic.
At the Fillmore show, it was the song "Marry Me" when I felt DBT really lock-in. After that point they played less of their new songs, which don't quite seem to bring it live the way their older material does. I'm not sure why-because I'm less familiar with them, or because they were, unlike most of DBT's songs, written in the studio instead of on the road. I'll have to see DBT again though, before I can really answer that question.
Right now I'm formenting plans to attend the Drive-By Truckers show at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC on July 15th. Believe it or not, this would not be the first time I've flown across the country to see a concert in DC-I flew there in 2004 to see RUSH on their 30th Anniversary Tour.
This weekend is going to be huge. Friday night is the Son Volt/Drive-By Truckers show at the Fillmore. After that, I drive to Ukiah and spend the night in a Motel 6, then get up thet next morning and drive straight to (hopefully sunny) Boonville, CA for the 10th annual Boonville Brew Fest. Camping in town this year since camping at Hendy Woods has gotten lame due to the alcohol ban.
"Just when I thought I was out... they pull me back in." Can't resist linking to this interview with Mike Cooley on Popmatters, which concludes with this great quote:
You have a reputation for being a bunch of rabble-rousers, with a bottle of whiskey on stage and such. Is it tiring to be seen that way?
Being seen that way doesn't get tiring, actually doing it wears my ass out.
I've been there. Drive-By Truckers have been getting a lot of press recently with the release of "A Blessing and a Curse" (which is great) but many of the articles have just been regurgitations of the band's bio with some predictable comments about southern rock. This article in Harp Magazine, though, is a cut above that, and long enough to get to some interesting drill-down on the writing and recording process for the Truckers' new album:
“Instead of having an agenda of what we wanted to do with this record,” Hood explains, “We went in with an agenda of what we did not want to do: A concept record, a rock opera, anything that anyone would call Southern. I’m not running from where I’m from, but I don’t necessarily have to write about it all the time. There’s been enough said about that for now.”
The article also examines the "sixth Drive-By Trucker", producer David Barbe, whom some of you may remember as being a member of Bob Mould's legendary early 90s outfit Sugar. His production work has been essential to taking DBT's music to the next level, and unlike some bands , he and the Truckers seem to have a good time doing it:
“I think I’m going to use [Barbe and Hood] as an example to the people that are uptight,” Easter says. “[They] were constantly just joking around and living it up, and at the end of the week you look up and you have basically made a record.”
Still working through my credit. I picked up the new Drive-By Truckers album, Sufjan Steven's critically lauded "Come On Feel the Illinoise!", plus two cheap things I found the used section: the Rolling Stones rarities album from last year and one of the few Neil Young albums I don't already own: "Hawks and Doves." I was unable to find, though, the new Fiery Furnaces. Not sure why-seems like the kind of thing you'd be able to find at Amoeba.
The best thing is that even after all this splurging, I still have credit remaining for all of the epic albums coming out in May. Amoeba credit r00lz.
Lots going on today. First off, it's the release day for Drive-By Truckers' long-awaited new album A Blessing and a Curse.
Indie rock online kingmakers Pitchfork has now reviewed it . A long-time DBT supporter, they too seem to be hung up on the different approach the Truckers took with the song-writing and recording of the album:
If the Drive-By Truckers once sounded like they were speaking for a wide populace that is rarely represented in contemporary rock music, here they sound like they're speaking only for themselves. Yet, while the songwriters are front-and-center, they actually sound less prominent without their regional distinction to amplify their personalities.
Update: NY Times have also reviewed ABaaC , and as an added bonus, same link has their review of the new Fiery Furnaces.
It was also announced yesterday that the Truckerzz will be opening up for Black Crowes
on their not very much awaited at all reunion tour. Is it really a break up if no one notices? Actually, I don't really hate the Crowes, they're just one of those bands that's fun to rag on. Maybe I'll even go to the W
Shoreline show.
This is good because more poeple will be exposed to DBT, but bad because this means they'll spend the whole summer playing 45-minute sets in huge sheds and ampitheatres. Hopefully they'll make a good amount of money doing it, so they can go back to headlining clubs in the fall.
Also, there's a new Veronica Mars episode tonight, next to next to next to last 'sode of season 2. Titled "Nevermind the Buttocks" (hmmm) it apparently concerns a runover dog. It's interesting, because last season one of the last episodes before the final sequence was "Hot Dogs," about a dognapper. It will be interesting to see how the A-plot hooks in to the continuing storylines of the season, which are legion:
i) who caused the bus crash? and why?
ii) what's the Beav up to with Kendell Casablancas?
iii) who killed Felix? (this one seems to be resolved)
iv) will Neptune get incorporated?
v) can Keith Mars save Terrence Cook?
vi) willl anyone find true love?
Tonight at 9pm, don't forget.
Finally, today is the 100th anniversary of the great quake of 1906. I don't remember the quake, since it happened sixty-two years before I was born, but I do remember the 1989 quake. I was working a black from the mall in Santa Cruz when it happened. By the way, kids, if you think you know what an earthquake feels like because you've been through a 4 or 5 or 6, you have no idea. A larger magnitude quake is hundreds, if not thousands, of times more powerful. It's an experience of complete and utter terror. For years after Loma Prieta, I would wake up from sleep witih intense feelings of vibration and terror. Pray to whatever god you worship you never experience one.
Pitchfork reviews Fiery Furnaces "A Bitter Tea"
Billboard previews Drive-By Truckers' "A Blessing and a Curse"
Also I heard the new TOOL song this morning, "Vicarious" on Live 105's Morning Music Co-op, the morning show the station slapped together after losing Howard Stern to Sirius. It rocked, not unsurprisingly-I thought it sounded a bit like "46 & 2", but the DJs on the show thought it was like "Schism." I couldn't really understand the lyrics, so I have no idea what the song is actually about. Hopefully it will be released on ITMS tomorrow. Actually maybe not... Tool are one of those retrograde bands not on the ITMS. Perhaps they will, like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, take the opportunity to get themselves on there.
