Look What I found!!

A really nice articel about Owen Pallette. Speaking of Owen, when are the Polaris prizes due? I know they announced the short list last month....Ok, Monday September 29th wait with baited breath. Also seems to me like its about f-ing time for Basia Bulat to get her day. I want her to win. Badly.

<3 the Elephant

Foals: Why Haven't I been listeneing to you?

I have known about you for 6 months, yet I continue to ignore you. Such energy. Such dance. Such fun. Much better math rock than Battles.


<3 The Elephant

Blip.fm Might Change Your Life

I'm not exactly sure how this works yet, but I'm hoping that someone with some free time can look into blip.fm and let me know if it really lives up to its hype. Once again, I stole this from PSFK, I can't take credit for it. Its like twitter...you post your songs, with blurbs about the songs, and then you network with DJs. So I'm going to give it a test run, but I'm interested in other people's take on it.


<3 the Elephant

CMJ 2008

Check it out here. I. Can't. Wait.
via stereogum

<3 the Elephant

Dirty Projectors Friday @ South Street Seaport

If you are willing to deal with outdoor shows, Brooklyn's Dirty Projectors are playing Friday evening in the financial district. They are quite experimental and interesting, so if anyone is interested, I'll be there "rocking" out. Or whatever you do to semi-orchestral rock.

<3 The Elephant

P.S It's free. You can drink outside too.

BandsinTown

Dear PSFK, I love you. You alerted me to Bandsintown, which is such an excellent interface for finding shows. Sigh. Thanks man.

<3 The Elephant

My Weekend of Music

When was the last time you had fun? No, I mean a lot of fun. The kind of fun that you can't stop talking about for days, the fun that lingers in your mouth, and blood. The kind that makes you drag your sorry ass out, and do spontaneous things just because you can. For me, it was Friday, followed by Saturday. I want to share my fun with you all (including Hercules, carbonated Mojitos, and of course, T. Yorke.) The longer I wait the more of a challenge it becomes (read: I can't remember why I liked it) and therefore I would like to write soon. So stick it out. Check back soon. Also, there are pictures from Saturday (thats right! I won't have to steal them!)


<3 The Elephant

Notable Albums from the First Half of 2008

So I was looking at what has been released this year, and it is already going strong. Here is a list of the 5 most notable albums so far this year, in no particular order (except the first one):

*Sigur Ros-með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust
Do I need to comment on this? I could listen to this album in pretty much any mood. Feeling down? Listen to Sigur. Elated? Listen to Sigur. Seriously, tremendous job guys. I would be proud to be your mom.

*Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson-S/T
What would you do if you were a drug addict and homeless? Write some damn cheeky lyrics, thats what! Additionally, you might somewhat get your shit together, and record and release an awesome album.

*Fleet Foxes-Everything They have Released this Year-
I had some pretty strong feelings about these guys when I first wrote about them back in March. Then I saw them live. I have a whole new set of respect for them now.

*The Dodos-Visiter
I am a person who tends to looooove the first album I hear by an artist. Usually I don't like the second album as much. Not the case here. Superb sophomore effort.

*Hercules and Love Affair-S/T
Love all things 70's. Cannot wait to go dance it out with these guys on friday night (I am hoping that all of the cool kids and bros alike will be at APW, and that this will be a seriously excited croud).

Some other albums that are noteworthy, but probably won't make my top ten of 2008 list:
-Cut Copy
-Crystal Castles
-Basia Bulat
-Thao
-Cave Singers

Thoughts?

<3 The Elephant

Concert Review: Wolf Parade at Terminal 5

{Cough, cough} thanks BV

Dan Boekner and Spencer Krug played a show on Thursday. I was there....wait....so were you. And the rest of your dorm? And your buddy's frat? And their girlfriends? Needless to say, Wolf Parade, lured an amazing turnout at Terminal 5 last week. The venue is definitely a mega venue, with a capacity in the several-thousand-range, spread out over three levels. (Note: the ration of bros & hos to regular people, was about on par with the number of iPhone cameras to regular cameras.) We were on the floor, towards the back, but the sightlines were decent, the stage must be at least 5 or six feet high. I mean, I'm a really bad judge of space, but from where we were standing about a street block away from the stage, I could more or less see. The space is also quite nice, clean, big bars plenty of space, excellent air conditioning. But. The sound quality. What happened there? It seems that Bowery Presents went to all the trouble of creating a beautiful space, but didn't feel the need to install some audio architecture. Perhaps fans of bands big enough to draw those kinds of crowds tend not to notice bad sound? I'm not clear on what the deal is, but lets leave it at that.

So of course I'm a weak kneed little girl at any event involving Spence, and having never seen Wolf Parade (gasp) I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I had an odd little group of people with me, ranging from preppy Wolf Parade old-timers to ultra hip Wolf Parade newcomers.

Highlights: Kissing the Beehive, which I don't love in recording was crazy tight. Also, I <3'd Language City. I remain an Apologies fan to the core, reveling during Dear Sons and of course, I believe. The overall show was surprising for two reasons. First, Dan and Spencer's sounds mesh really well live, you can get a little taste of each flavor, but they worked beautifully live together that night. Second, the over-polished sound of the second album mixes with the rough-stone sound of the first album, to create a much more unified sound. I personally love the youthful sloppiness of the first album, but I have heard from that WP doesn't like that sound. Instead they prefer the cleaner sound of Mt Zoomer. As it turns out, live, they are able to pull off just enough zestiness to not sound sound too perfect. I can't really dive into something that sounds like it was recorded until each note was perfectly heard. I can however, float in the half-way ground that they achieved live.

That said, maybe I should have gone again on Friday. If you get a chance to catch these guys, you won't regret it.

<3 The Elephant

ps...this is my 101st post. And my blog has been viewed more than 700 times. Thanks Dave.

Concert Review: Chairlift at Knitting Factory

Stolen from itsnothebandihateitstheirfans.blogspot.com

For a number of reasons, mostly involving bitchy firewalls, I didn't get a chance to listen to Brooklyn based Chairlift before I went to Knitting Factory on Wednesday. Turns out that it was for the better, because they were pretty awesome live. I was actually there to see LA crazy man Ariel Pink, but you all know how I feel about getting my beauty rest, and I wasn't about to hang around for hours waiting for his set to start. After Chairlift finished their set, I was satiated musically.

At work on Thursday, I listened to Chairlift on hypem, and was sort of disappointed. They didn't seem nearly as exciting in recording as they did live. It essentially sounded like Au Revoir Simone occasionally mixed with Stars.

In concert, it was surprisingly ethereal, there was something about the way that they performed, even their slower, spacier sounds made us want to dance. The lead singer was very powerful live, her voice sounded sweet and confidant, and not at all dependent upon her background music. The synthy sound wasn't overpowering either, it wasn't just some chick with a casio, there was solid music making happening.

Chairlift's album releases on Kanine sometime this summer....although I doubt that I will buy it, they are more of a live band anyway. We'll see if I'm eating my words in a few weeks, but for now, I'm holding off on home listening.


<3 The Elephant