Words: Ryan Powell
Photos: Ovidio/Ryan – Inrvisn
A monumental occasion for electronic music indeed. The doors opened to The Shrine and fans rushed inside to await their favorite D.J. in the world: TIESTO.
Tag Archive for 'review'
James Ford and James Shaw twist and turn together ornate vases topped with delicate bordering outerweaving the inner rims of a thin and susceptible frame of reference. That didn’t make sense for the same reason that their music makes you dance.
Simian Mobile Disco really does care about its mobility; even though there’s enough action in the audience to distract even the most avid dancer, nothing can compare to watching the duo unfold electronic rhythms in a symphony of knob turning and wire plugging, looking strikingly similar to a 70’s operator.
They kept the tempo of the show well in the sinusoidal-fun type fashion of a graph, their low points never reaching far below normal yet soaring high above expectations.
Simian Mobile Disco – Cruel Intentions
Continue reading ‘for the record, I was watching chitty chitty bang bang’
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes played SOhO last Saturday, 10/10/09. I was there and caught up with Alex Ebert beforehand to discuss some heavy topics about the world and everything involved…
It was good. The following has been published by the Santa Barbara Independent, so give them some clicks if you’re bored and want to know where to pick up sandbags for the incoming storm.
Continue reading ‘ed sharpe interview/review – santa barbara 10/10/09′
FMLY Photographer Jesse Fulton got the chance to see that show that the internet had been buzing about. The man apparently broke his (new) camera in the past week and had to rent one, all for the love of music right?
DOOM – Gazzillion Ear (Thom Yorke remix)
Lil Wayne x Thom Yorke x Mt. Eerie – Fireman (Vicious remix)
Thom Yorke – Everything In Its Right Place (live on Johnathan Ross)
Remember we said we sent someone to cover Pickathon 2009, well they finally made it back from Oregon thanks to some car trouble and have a rundown of the highlights for you. Enjoy
Pickathon 2009 July 31st-August 2nd
-Claire Costello and Hayden Harrison
Breathe Owl Breathe – Last Dance
“They oughta give out tape for your face and your ass… and there’s beer!”
By the time Sam Quinn of Sam Quinn and Japan Ten issued his face-and-ass-melt warning on Sunday afternoon, it was too late for most of the crowd. Having been subjected to the blazing sun, swirling dust, and the constant sound, sight, and spectacle of Pendarvis farm in all it’s crowded glory for the 11th annual Pickathon festival, our faces had sufficiently melted. While the attending crowd more than doubled from last year, at around 3,000 guests the festival maintains its small and comfortable feel with stages ranging from tiny barns and forest enclosures to the typical stage set. We were instantly cued to this intimate feel when the driver of our “camp shuttle” (actually a John Deere) introduced himself as Eric Schoenborn, brother of Pickathon founder Zale Schoenborn.
Pickathon is appropriately dubbed an “indie roots” festival, as it stays close to its Americana, folk, and bluegrass influences. This is not to say, however, that the festival was limited by its foundations; we saw performances ranging from the rocking, moshing commotion of Hillstomp to the somber melodies of Alela Diane. Pickathon’s crew members, while never betraying it through their easy smiles, had to have been working constantly throughout the weekend to ensure that the sound quality stayed as solid as it did. Perhaps the most brilliant brainchild of Pickathon’s promoters was the double-booking of most of the artists who played, allowing the bands to showcase new material to new crowds throughout the weekend.
Review after the Jump
The second part of this day was the best, it went as follows:
So I went to Rock the Bells Saturday, it was hot. Besides the fact that that statement could work the two ways I wanted it too, there’s something about San Bernardino County in general that usually brings a sepia image of downtrodden industry and smog, not to mention horrendous traffic and douchebags. So when I went to visit San Manuel Theater for the first time in 7 years with this predisposition (last time I was there I was a very young punk kid trying to see the Sex Pistols), I didn’t know what to expect. The place is nestled in a beautiful little park (Pictured below at the Paid Dues side stage). Other than the beauty of the scenery, I have a bone to pick with another aspect of this festival, read the review to find out after the jump. (more pictures too!)
Continue reading ‘these bells be a rockin’ so don’t come a knockin’ (pt. 1)’
The fire hath cometh – thronging crowds of people lined up to a day which was suppose to have double the attendance of the previous day. I was prepared to hack my way through bros and e-tards like Marlow through the dank and desolate jungle of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness. I had gotten to Exposition Park right as Cosmic Gate was starting at 6pm and then left the place when Paul Van Dyk closed the main stage at 4 am. Ten hours of joyful electronica seeping through my skin and tickling every organ in my tired body with the bellowing bass of decrepit drums, the dissonant distortion of house and hardstyle, and the temporal tenderness of trance. Can’t you understand that we’ve almost made it to the promise land?
Pictures after the jump…
We’ve noticed how many folks are hitting up our Super Mash Bros posts this week so for everyone looking for the new album, All About The Scrilions, you can download it for free right here. Before I get some unnecessary backlash let me first claim that I am highly critical of mashups as I’ve used many of these samples myself and have spent the past few months developing a paper and powerpoint on how mashups transcend into a realm of hyperreality – from the quodlibet to Pachelbel’s Canon in D to the Avalanches to Girl Talk to Youtube and some developments in between. Great, lets get this started then.
Overall the samples used on Scrilions don’t touch me the same way as last summer’s Fuck Bitches. Get Euros., but once you’ve brilliantly arranged timeless party anthems from Creed, Lenny Kravitz, Blink-182, and then some into a few minute period (“I’m An Adler Girl” back to back with “Meet Me At Fantasy Island”) the bar is definitely set unfairly high. Scrilions carries undeniably catchy tunes and titles that Dick and Nicolas should feel damn proud of…actually every track title is absolutely genius. Coming from my “musical background” and taste the album doesn’t pick up until the third track and coincidentally my motto, “NPH FTW,” but as a point of reference I share this feeling for Girl Talk’s Feed The Animals. However, to switch up my tone, once “NPH FTW” kicks off this album enters new territory of fucking shit up on that Neil Patrick Harris (NPH) tip…I’ve never gotten such a high listening to Muse. The Twitter revolution shows its promise in “@LaurenConrad Get Us On The Hills” and if you don’t get the fuck out of your seat when Ludacris gets all masculine over Jimmy Eat World then you should probably press pause and go drown in the bathtub. I’m not going to get into much more reviewing as it’s not what I do or like to do, but no joke, the rest of this album is enough to put any party mixtape or masher to shame. With Scrilions Super Mash Bros have grabbed the mashup generation by the balls and brought us to a new plain of party. While their style may not be progressing the mashup genre as a whole, our Los Angeles homies have found a niche that they can kick ass and take names getting into. Combining their fantastic taste in music and knowledge of the 90’s and 00’s into a self-referential system what we have here is something special. Keep these albums close to ya’ll, our boys are going from Harlem to Hollywood and these last days of chilling on the low-key are numbered. Tough love dawgs, you’ve got nowhere to go but up and all your pals at home support ya.
Super Mash Bros – @LaurenConrad Get Us On The Hills!
Super Mash Bros – Jaein Off On My Day Off
Super Mash Bros – Livin The Dream (I’m On A Float)
Photos: Larry Mills
Portland’s Menomena generate a sound comparable to what a normal ten-piece band would sound like, yet manage to trim it down to a mere three. Each member uses a different variation of limbs to provide this texture (excluding the two-armed beast, Danny Seim, manning [or manhandling] the drums). The shared singing duties are nothing compared to the octopusal juggle that Brent Knopf performs with two guitars, a keyboard, and glockenspiel, or the rhythm-pouring-from-his-fingers (and mouth) control that Justin Harris provides to his quartet of baritone sax, bass, guitar, and floor organ (I think).
Left to right: Knopf, Harris, and Seim in action.
Continue reading ‘The Octopus Project (Not that one) – 4/17 @ the Velvet Jones’
So this was all of ten days in the making, sorry for the wait (transcribing is a bitch). This show was held on March 25th at a local living room dubbed ‘The Pink Mailbox.’ I want to say thank you to the Homosexuals, PRE, and the Mae Shi for bringing another epic night to our nice little sublet. What follows is three drunken interviews (i patched them up to sound intelligent – more to save my ass from looking like an idiot) from
Jon from The Mae Shi / Bruno Wizard / Keex from PRE
